 Good afternoon. Yes. Shruti is from Nasik. Yes. This, I have seen your email, this 40, what it signifies? Sir, nothing. That was the only thing that was available. I thought there is something special about this. Okay. You have worked in some NGO, Salam Balak Trust. Yes. Can you explain what was it? Sir, I worked with underprivileged children, primarily children of the slums of Bombay. I used to teach them after their school was done to help them with their coursework. Primarily taught to students from class 8th and 9th. This was only boys or girls also? One girl, one boy. Girls and boys both. So, but why this name is Balak? Balak is generally taken as boy. No, sir. I think in that context it signifies children. Yes. Okay. See, because of this war, we are affected. Russia, Ukraine, war and all. Oil, lot of exports were there from Russia. Now, Russia also needs some imports. Yes. And I think Russia requested India also. You know all that? What imports Russia wants from India? Sir, I am not specifically aware of. Not specifically aware of. They want some supply of food and sugar and all from India. Okay. Something about fair price swaps. Fair price swaps. Yes, sir. How many we have in the country? Sir, I am not aware of this. Okay. What has happened? What developments have taken place in the last seven or eight years? As far as fair price swaps are concerned? So, we have the one nation, one ration card scheme. That is very recent. Yes. Two years old. Yes. We have that scheme so that migrants are able to get ration everywhere in the country. Apart from that, sir, there have been reforms in warehousing and storages. No. Not only that, some big reforms have taken place. I am sorry, sir. This one ration, one card is because of this COVID only, the migrant problem and all. But before that, are those linked to some other or something? Sir, I have no idea. Because fair price swaps are sort of hub of corruption after this introduction of Adhaat, linking with Adhaar and all. So, direct benefit transfer has happened. Yes, sir. I recall it. It has been linked to Adhaar card. So, now at fair price shops, you require biometrics also and Adhaar also to get ration. Pin phrase has been reduced drastically and number of ration cards also. Yes. That has stopped. Yes. That has happened and it has also led to people receiving more ration without this government increasing the amount because diversion has reduced. PM Adhaar's Gram Yojna. What of this? Or Sansat Adhaar's Gram Yojna. Yes, sir. It is the, sorry, I am unable to. When it was started, any idea? No. What was the objective? Sir, I think its objective is to create model Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats in the country and to help them become more self-initiated. Okay. Labour laws? Yes. How many Labour laws we have? We have four Labour courts. Nearly 44 Labour laws were codified into four Labour courts that we have. One is on occupational safety, other on social security, other on wages and fourth one on illustrious relations. So, see there was one report in newspaper. Some Kerala nurse has been convicted in Yemen. Yemen. Have you heard of that? I am sorry, sir. One country is, if some crime has taken place, say murder or something, then that case can be done away with, if some blood money is given. You know about that? Blood money. What is that blood money? No, sir. No, sir. Okay. For social security, some sectors have been reorganized. Ishram. Yes, sir. Ishram, you know? Yes. Sir, Ishram portal is to facilitate registration of informal workers so that they can be provided with social security, the economy workers, the platform workers. They can all be registered at the Ishram portal. Migrants can also be registered there so that it leads to better data collection and better social security for them. When it started? It was provided under the Labour courts and it recently started I think in the year 2021 only. Rusty. Yes, sir. What is the word Rusty means? Sir, it is Sanskrit for monsoons. Monsoons. Okay. Do we have a good monsoon this year? It is predicted by the IMD that we are going to have a normal monsoon this year. Okay. What is special about Indian monsoon? Sorry. What is special about Indian monsoon? So, the Indian monsoon, the special thing is that we receive rains because of the changing of pressure belts and there are two specific tanks that we receive. We receive rains from the south-west monsoons also and from the northeast winds also. So, that's all. Nasik is famous for its vineyards. Yes, sir. Can you tell me something more about what geographic factors and climatic factors makes it ideal for vineyards? Climatic factors would be that it is Nasik is on an elevation of nearly 800 metres. That helps. Secondly, it has abundance of black soil and red soil, which is also good for production of grapes. Thirdly, it is on an average of cold climatic region, which is why storage of grapes is also for longer times. Thirdly, apart from that, there is also market available in terms of cosmopolitan regions of Pune and Mumbai, which have also helped Nasik emerge. What are the types of vines manufactured in Nasik? So, there are different kinds of vines that are manufactured. So, I do not know the specific type. Where is this wine manufactured in India? Globally, which are the largest manufacturers of wine? So, the western nations in America, there is the Napa Valley, which is very famous for the production of vines. In Europe also, there are famous regions of Switzerland, France and Italy, where vines are produced. In India, where else is this manufactured wine? In India, it is also being manufactured in Bangalore and Karnataka region. You majorly have red vines and white vines. What is the primary difference between these vines? Sorry, sorry. People from Nasik should know about vines. Yes, I should know. You are a student of sociology. Yes. How do you look at the farm suicide in Maharashtra from Durkheim's theory of suicide? So, we can look at farmer's suicide from all the four suicides that Durkheim lists down in his theory of suicide. For example, it is fatalistic suicide also because when there is a change, there is, can I just take a minute to recall his four deaths of suicide? Yes, sir. Egoistic suicide would be because a lot of farmers feel helpless. They feel that they are not being able to provide for their family, which is why they commit suicide. It can be anomic suicide because there is a lack of social security and safety from the state, which is why they feel a sense of alienation, which is why there are a lot of suicides. And apart from that, there is also the altruistic suicide because many of them believe that the state will compensate their deaths, which is why their families will be better off. So, there are various ways we can look at it. Can you tell me more about your college, San Xavier's college Mumbai? Sir, it was built in the 18th century primarily by the Spanish Jesuits. And it is a premier college for humanities and primarily for humanities. It also houses a specialized division for study of ancient history and also for the study of gemology and public policy. Who are some of the prominent alumnus of this college? There are various prominent alumni of our college. From the entertainment industry, there is Vidya Balan. There is Ratna Bhatak Shah, Naseeruddin Shah. These are from the entertainment industry. From the industrial sector, we have Azim Premri. From the politician side, we have also Aditya Thakre, who is an alumnus from San Xavier's college. And that's... Economics. How do you look at the current economic situation in Sri Lanka as a student of economics? Sri Lanka has been going through a balance of payment crisis. It is set to default on all of its loans, which is outstanding in the state. And as a student of economics, I see it as a culmination of a lot of populist policies such as the reduction, the ad hoc reduction in taxes, the overnight shifting of the economy to say organic agriculture without banning fertilizers. And thirdly, diversification. There was a lack of diversification. Primarily, their revenue came from tourism, which plummeted during COVID. Which Indian states can be compared to Sri Lanka in terms of economic policies? Sir, recently we can say that the state of Punjab can be compared because Punjab has one of the highest debt-to-GDP ratios. Less than 5% of its state's budget is spent on capital expenditure. And majority of its revenue is gone into interest payments. So we can say that it could be one of the states if it does not take. So how do you look at the government's recent announcement to give 300 units of power? Do you think they'll be able to fulfill that? What do you think about this? Sir, I believe that freebies such as free electricity and other things should be a prudent policy decision which needs to be taken by taking into account the fiscal situation of the state. For example, Delhi can afford to give 300 free units because it is usually a budget surplus state and a budget surplus city and it also has a lot of... Do you think even if we can afford to give it, is it a right decision to do? Sir, I believe that it will depend on a lot of circumstances. Under these situations, Punjab should ideally not be giving it because it is not in a situation to afford more revenue expenditure. No, I'm saying if a state could afford to do it, right? Should the state do it? If you are an economic advisor to a state, would you recommend this policy? Sir, I believe that the electricity, the 300 free units of electricity is in a way, for example, right now due to COVID, the disposable incomes of people have gone down. So if they are able to reduce their expenditure on electricity which has been rising, it will also lead to more disposable income in their hands which can be spent on other economic activities. So as a temporary measure in a state which has a good fiscal situation, I wouldn't think it is. Sir, you are from Nasik. Yes. Nasik is situated at an elevation of nearly 800 kilometers. It is a primarily agrarian as well as industrialized city. It enjoys big industries of agro-processing like those vineyards. It also has a cantonment area nearby which is the Devlali cantonment board. It has industrial regions in terms of many plants such as car-making companies such as Mahindra. And considering its demography, it holds a lot of potential to emerge as one of the major cities of Maharashtra. All right. You also do trekking. Yes. How often do you do it? Sir, I usually go twice or twice a year. So where have you been in the last year? So in the last year, it was primarily in Maharashtra near my hometown. It was Ramshade Fort, the Harishchendra Ghat. These are the two places that I went. Any other trekking sites in Maharashtra? Sir, Maharashtra has various trekking sites primarily because it is in the western Ghats. So there is Kalsubai which is one of the highest peaks in Maharashtra. Apart from that, majorly in the western Ghats, we have a lot of areas. Okay. How is trekking different from hiking or mountain climbing? Sir, trekking would come somewhere in the middle of hiking and mountain climbing. Hiking is usually a one-day, very small stroll sort of thing that we take over usually plain areas. It is not so much of slope. Mountaineering is even higher version. It is climbing big, big mountains at a much larger elevation. Trekking is usually five to six days or it ranges anywhere between 2 to 7 to 15 days. And it is somewhere in the middle. It is not as tough and it is not as easy as hiking. Alright. IMF and World Bank have released their studies on extreme poverty. Yes. Have you gone through the reports of the news article? Yes, sir. IMF and World Bank have said that India has been able to reduce its absolute poverty to less than 1% and it has been able to maintain this even during COVID times. Absolute poverty or extreme poverty? Absolute poverty, sir. What is absolute poverty and what is relative poverty? Sir, absolute poverty is not being able to afford even the basic necessities of food, clothing and shelter. And relative poverty is in terms of other people in the country. Alright. Why you want to join the civil services? Sir, I want to join the civil services primarily to work in the development sector. The services provide me an opportunity to work with diverse sectors in the country and make an impact at a much larger scale is the reason why I want to try it. You didn't think of doing MBA, so your BA honours, eco-honour or BA general? BA general, economics. Alright. So you didn't think of joining the private sector? Sir, I thought of it for the first time I wanted to give my time to the civil service preparation but apparently because it is such an unpredictable cycle and after that I would have exploded. Alright. So you have worked in an NGO also? Yes. So do you think the government has been using the FCRA Act and various provisions of FCRA to stifle the NGOs and is often used as a tool to stifle the opposition also? Sir, the FCRA Act is aimed at ensuring that foreign fundings are not used for anti-state activities and I believe that the government is primarily just making the rules more stringent so that they are not used that way. The ED has also pointed out that there are a number of NGOs who have not filed their returns who have used their, who have diverted the foreign funding for various reasons and the government has also said that it has given a lot of warnings to the NGO to submit their returns and after that they have been banned. So I do not think that it is being used for us. Okay. Alright. You have also taken up sociology as your option, right? Can you tell me why many social reform movements and many leaders have emerged from Maharashtra? So one of the reasons why they have emerged from there is because of large scale education. For example, we can see from the times of Jyotiba Phule and Savitri Bhai Phule there has been a general spread of education in the state of Maharashtra. Secondly, there have been a lot of rulers like Sahumaraj Shivaji who have in general taken reforms for the lower caste and the lower sections which has proliferated into a wider movement for social reform. Okay. Last question. India has agreed to participate in the virtual meet of BRICS leaders in couple of months. Do you think BRICS holds any relevance given the conflict with India with China and then again Russia? So I believe that BRICS has emerged in order to bring about reforms in the financial institutions and other multilateral institutions and I believe that now more than ever it holds more significance because these are economies with similar economic and social conditions and this can be a platform to smoothen out the situations at a geopolitical and at a global level. Thank you. So Rishi, you've read for economics, read commerce, read accounts. Tell me something, how the problem of information asymmetry plummets the share price markets? Can I just take a second one? Man, due to information asymmetry, it can lead to general panic and people may not know in general about what the asset is worth and that can lead to mass, say, selling of shares which can lead to plummeting of share prices. How can we correct this? How can we solve this problem? One of the ways would be a greater level of financial inclusion, more education to retail investors on how the markets work because now we are seeing a lot of retail investors in the country who are primarily young. So one of the ways would be to improve their education levels. We can also include more courses on finance at a high school level. So this can in a general level help. That's a very interesting point you've made. So let's take this further and understand that what are the current challenges that the Indian financial sector is facing according to your view? One of the challenges it is facing is the capital flight. FBI's have, there's a capital flight. Secondly, with the US Federal Reserve said to increase its rates and reduce the purchase of assets. This can again lead to a tapered enter that is one of the issues that we can face. But because we have a decent level of the foreign exchange reserve, I think the financial sector part, we are a resilient economy. But in terms of, say, the financial regulations that we have in India, what do you think are the challenges that the financial sector faces on account of inadequate regulation? Do you see any problem with the regulatory framework of financial laws in India? We are seeing a rise in non-performing assets, that is one of the issues. And because of the regulations, for example, IBI has a much greater control over private sector banks compared to public sector banks, which account for a larger share of loans that are given to the countries. So, that is something that we should work on. Okay. As a common student, what do you understand by a start-up? What is a start-up? A start-up is an institution which is relatively new, starts by raising capital from various sources, is usually less than five years old, as per the definition that we have. Which is the current department, ministry looking after this in India? Ministry of Commerce looks after start-ups. Yeah, but which particular department? I am not aware of the particular department. Okay. What are the criteria required for a start-up to be recognized by the concerned department? That is department for promotion of industry and internal trade. So, that looks after start-ups. So, what are the criteria that the government looks for, for a start-up to be recognized? First would be how old the start-up is. It has to be relatively newer for it to be classified as start-up. And other than that, I am not very aware of it. Okay. You must have read about price when you started studying for economic side, what is the price, demand, supply. In your understanding, which is a best form of a market? A best form of a market? A monopolistic competition market is a good market, a market in which there are firms which, there are reduced barriers to entry, which are able to interact with the market. There isn't a lot of government intervention in the market. There is easier exit available. I think that kind of market is. But you are in a monopolistic position. Monopolistic competition. Okay. So, who is going to be the price taker there? And who is going to be the price maker there? There won't be a single price maker over there because there will be a lot of firms in one department. It will be based on the competition in the market. Whoever gives a better product, better quality and tries to price it, it will be according to that. And the price takers would be the consumers. And they also have a lot of say in, because it is a market which will be driven by demand and supply. So, in that kind of market. Can consumers influence the prices in the market? Yes ma'am. Consumers can influence the prices in the market. For example, if there is a huge demand for a particular product, the price is raised. If consumers stop consuming that product. For example, if the trend for a certain type of clothing, if a celebrity uses it, everybody else would want to use it. And that's how consumers influence the price of the market. So, how do you differentiate between a price competition and a non-price competition? We discussed about the price. So, what is the difference between competition which is primarily price based and a competition which is non-price based? You mentioned something about celebrities. What are your views about celebrities endorsing products which are harmful to general public? And are you aware about any government framework or the legal framework regulating this? Ma'am, I believe that as celebrities as people in positions of power, they have a moral responsibility towards the people. And they must endorse products which they are correctly and properly aware of. So that consumers can also not be misled about the product. As far as the act is concerned, we have the Consumer Protection Act which provides for liability for celebrities who endorse products which have harmful effects on the people. And one last question. I want to know from you, what is the current regulation with respect to the Netflix, the OTP platforms that we watch? Because this needs to be regulated. There's a proliferation of this on the web space. So, do we have a framework for this? Right now, we have a voluntary framework for it by which these OTP and all of these other channels and subscription based modules regulate themselves. We do not have a legislation right now as far as my limited understanding goes. Okay, Rusty, your interview is over. Thanks. We're happy with the performance. So, I think there are a lot of things that I didn't know. I'll have to work on that. You're done very well. Well-composed and smiling. The only thing is, eye contact with other members was not there. You're ignoring when you're replying to ignoring other people. I will work on that. Don't do that. Keep on revising your contacts. You've got time almost 20-25 days after that. And I just noticed that when the question is posed to you, immediately you tend to reply. Then all of a sudden you stop realising that you may not be knowing that. Maybe take some few seconds before starting to reply. And if you don't say sorry, I don't know. I think the same thing before starting. Like, you know, I think, wow, I think more than two three instances, you started out and then you realize you don't have sufficient contact. I think Nacic wine, I think there's a direct connection. There's a lot of questions that could come and I was not satisfied. Neither do I know the difference between red and white. You should know. Very confident, poised, composed, knowledgeable, eye contact would be better. And I think in between you have a kind of a smile. Like, you know, sometimes it feels like it's a smirk. But like in all places, just go back and watch the videos. And one question she asked, I think, you were not knowing the reply, then you smiled. Sorry. I shouldn't have. Good personality overall. Calm and composed, you have a smiling face. So many, many good points. Just two, three points which have been all given to take care of that. Nothing you do at whatever the source is. All the best.