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Crackdown On Leather Units Hits Jobs, Exports Despite PM Modi's Goal


A government crackdown on Muslim-dominated abattoirs and the trade of cattle dragged down India's exports of leather shoes by more than 13 per cent in June, as leading global brands turned to China, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan to secure supplies.
The drop in exports of shoes and leather garments comes as a setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has sought to create millions of jobs by more than doubling the leather industry's revenues to $27 billion by 2020.
Emboldened by the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2014 general election, Hindu hard-liners became more assertive in their calls for a clamp-down on both the meat and leather industries, which are largely run by Muslims, who make up 14 per cent of the population.
"The writing was already on the wall," Nazir Ahmed, CEO of shoemaker Park Exports, told Reuters by phone from the shoe-making hub of Agra. "We have killed the goose that laid the golden egg."
India, the world's second-biggest supplier of shoes and leather garments, exports nearly half its leather goods, with overseas sales estimated at $5.7 billion in the 2016/17 fiscal year to March, down 3.2 per cent from a year earlier. Footwear exports fell more than 4 per cent in April-June, to $674 million.
In March, after being appointed chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and a major leather exporter, Yogi Adityanath, a firebrand Hindu monk, ordered a closure of abattoirs operating without licenses. Hindus consider cows as sacred.
Slaughterhouse owners complain that much of India's meat and leather trade takes place in the informal sector, and it is hard to get licenses, especially for smaller units.
In May, citing cruelty to animals, the central government banned the trade of cattle for slaughter, and restricted livestock sales only for agricultural purposes such as ploughing and dairy production.
But the Supreme Court overturned that order, citing the hardship the ban had caused. That has not brought relief as repeated attacks on trucks carrying cattle still rankle the leather trade.
"The Supreme Court has allowed the resumption of trade for cattle, but the ground reality is that cow vigilante groups continue to be active and no one wants to risk his life by transporting cattle," Ahmed said.
Deterred by a clutch of measures that squeezed the supply of leather, a key raw material, brands like H&M, Inditex-owned Zara and Clarks, cut back their orders to India, said M Rafeeque Ahmed, a leading shoe exporter from Chennai and former president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations.
"We lost orders because our buyers were sceptical of our ability to meet their requirements. Instead, most buyers moved to rival suppliers in Asia and southeast Asia," he said. A spokesman for the Trade Ministry declined to comment.
Earlier this year, a Finance Ministry report said India should sign more free trade agreements, make tax, and labour reforms to drive leather exports, which offer “tremendous opportunities for (the) creation of jobs
The industry is also grappling with the national Goods and Services Tax, introduced in July, which has pushed up production costs by 6-7 per cent, exporters said.
The crackdown also hurt day-workers employed at shoe and garment making units and hit leather supplies, forcing manufacturers to import hides from the United States, Australia, and some European nations, raising the cost of production and squeezing margins.
Many tanneries, as a result, have run out of leather. "My business has come to a standstill because I don't have any inventory at all. Most large shoemakers are importing hides now," said a tannery owner, who asked not to be named so as to avoid retaliation from cow vigilante groups.
Nearly a third of the roughly 3 million-strong workforce, mostly lowly-paid casual workers employed in the leather sector, have lost their jobs in the past six months, according to six shoemakers and two tannery owners interviewed by Reuters for this article.
Since most states have outlawed cow slaughter, the supply of leather largely comes from the legal slaughter of buffaloes whose skins are used in many leather goods.
"Everyone must abide by the rule on cow slaughter and respect sentiments, but by choking the supply of other animal hides, we have nearly killed a thriving industry," said Ahmed of Park Exports.

© Thomson Reuters 2017
Source: NDTV - Click link here - October 4, 2017

Aadhaar-Linking Deadlines: Ensure You Link Your Aadhar Card

Deadline for linking Aadhaar with PAN is December 31, 2017
The government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar cards with bank accounts, permanent account numbers (PAN), income tax return (ITR), social security schemes and even mobile phones. If one does not have the 12-digit Unique Identification Number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India, he will have to now get it made in order to avail all these facilities. In fact, the government recently extended the deadline for obtaining Aadhaar for availing government schemes and subsidies by three months to December 31. The extension is, however, only for those who are yet to apply for Aadhaar, an order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said. As many as 135 schemes (of 35 ministries) including the free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertilizer subsidy, targeted public distribution system and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will be covered by the extension.
Be it linking of Aadhaar card with PAN, mobile SIM cards or bank accounts, there are different deadlines specified in each case. Read Further:
Last day for linking Aadhaar with mobile SIMs is February 6, 2018 
Supreme Court decides to stop sim cards running on fake identities, now it is mandatory to link aadhaar card with mobile number i.e SIM Card through bio-metric verification to keep it active. If you don’t link your sim card with your Aadhar card then your number is going to disconnected very soon. So if you don’t want to loose your mobile number then make sure that you link your sim [Airtel, Idea, Vodafone Any] with Aadhar before last date.
In case, you have purchased sim card with biometric verification then you don’t have to go through this verification process. The linking process is very simple and free of cost and can be done at any retailer shop. Also you don’t have to give your id card photocopy or photographs to retailer as this process is based on biometric verification which gets completed online so all you need a aadhaar card, sim card along with owner of aadhaar card as this process includes biometric verification so you will have to verify your fingerprints at retailer shop so your linkage can be authenticated. Read Further:
Deadline for submitting Aadhaar to banks is also December 31, 2017
Linking Aadhaar Card with Bank Account via Online & Offline Mode | Updation of Aadhaar details to Bank Account for LPG Subsidy
Our Government is encouraging people to update aadhaar card details with their respective bank accounts. People often get confused with the process of Linking aadhaar card with bank account. The process is actually quite easy and can be completed easily. I will be explaining the methods that will be applicable to almost all Banks. No matter if your Bank is State bank of India(SBI), Punjab National Bank(PNB), Oriental Bank of Commerce(OBC), HDFC, ICICI,Canara, Axis Bank or any other. However, i also try to explain the process for each bank separately under a separate category. This particular post is dedicated to provide the general steps of updating aadhaar number and other details with bank account. Read Further:
Last date to give Aadhaar details to avail social schemes - December 31, 2017
Aadhaar number has to be provided for availing of all social security schemes by December 31, 2017. In order to avail pension, LPG cylinders or government scholarships, one must provide his or her Aadhaar card details.

Meanwhile, the government also plans to make linking of Aadhaar mandatory for driving licence. "It (Aadhaar-Licence linking) would be done soon to check the menace of multiple licensing," Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has said. (With agency inputs)
According to latest judgement by Supreme Court which came on 11 August,2015 .It has clearly stated to   center as well as states that   no Indian citizen would    suffer or denied from any Social Welfare Scheme if he /she is not having Aadhaar card. The Aadhaar card is issued by Unique Identification Authority of India. In this decision Supreme Court has allowed the   centre to link the Public Distribution System (PDS) and LPG Subsidy with the Aadhaar card data. Further the court has rejected the appeal to connect other schemes with Aadhaar card. Read Further: