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23 August 2024 at 4:29:04 pm

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local....

Festive Surge

India’s bazaars have glittered this Diwali with the unmistakable glow of consumer confidence. The country’s festive sales crossed a staggering Rs. 6 lakh crore with goods alone accounting for Rs. 5.4 lakh crore and services contributing Rs. 65,000 crore. More remarkable still, the bulk of this spending flowed through India’s traditional markets rather than e-commerce platforms. After years of economic caution and digital dominance, Indians are once again shopping in person and buying local. This reversal owes much to policy. The recent rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which trimmed rates across categories from garments to home furnishings, has given consumption a timely push. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s September rate cuts, combined with income tax relief and easing interest rates, have strengthened household budgets just as inflation softened. The middle class, long squeezed between rising costs and stagnant wages, has found reason to spend again. Retailers report that shoppers filled their bags with everything from lab-grown diamonds and casual wear to consumer durables and décor, blurring the line between necessity and indulgence. The effect has been broad-based. According to Crisil Ratings, 40 organised apparel retailers, who together generate roughly a third of the sector’s revenue, could see growth of 13–14 percent this financial year, aided by a 200-basis-point bump from GST cuts alone. Small traders too have flourished. The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) estimates that 85 percent of total festive trade came from non-corporate and traditional markets, a robust comeback for brick-and-mortar retail that had been under siege from online rivals. This surge signals a subtle but significant cultural shift. The “Vocal for Local” and “Swadeshi Diwali” campaigns struck a patriotic chord, with consumers reportedly preferring Indian-made products to imported ones. Demand for Chinese goods fell sharply, while sales of Indian-manufactured products rose by a quarter over last year. For the first time in years, “buying Indian” has become both an act of economic participation and of national pride. The sectoral spread of this boom underlines its breadth. Groceries and fast-moving consumer goods accounted for 12 percent of the total, gold and jewellery 10 percent, and electronics 8 percent. Even traditionally modest categories like home furnishings, décor and confectionery recorded double-digit growth. In the smaller towns that anchor India’s consumption story, traders say stable prices and improved affordability kept registers ringing late into the festive weekend. Yet, much of this buoyancy rests on a fragile equilibrium. Inflation remains contained, and interest rates have been eased, but both could tighten again. Sustaining this spurt will require continued fiscal prudence and regulatory clarity, especially as digital commerce continues to expand its reach. Yet for now, the signs are auspicious. After years of subdued demand and inflationary unease, India’s shoppers appear to have rediscovered their appetite for consumption and their faith in domestic enterprise. The result is not only a record-breaking Diwali, but a reaffirmation of the local marketplace as the heartbeat of India’s economy.

Divide and Rule – Do It Yourself (DIY)

Updated: Dec 23, 2024

DIY

So, friends. Did you try that banana peel experiment yet to learn how fresh, yellow peel turns crumbly, black soil? Ever wondered why and how it has happened? The soil is full of huge number of microorganisms namely ‘decomposing’ bacteria and fungi. There are also larger animals like earthworms and different species of insects. Soil is essentially the natural residence of these organisms. So, did you enjoy observing the banana peel turning into black soil? Now here is a bigger thing you can do.


First, learn and develop the habit of ‘segregating’ your household waste. Segregation? What’s that? Oh. Come on. Simple. All you have to do is sort out your waste into two main categories. All the waste generated in the kitchen that is ‘wet waste’ which is ‘biodegradable’ and comprises waste produced after cleaning the vegetables, fruit peels, nirmalya (stale flowers), even stale or leftover foods, tea powder left after the tea is strained etc. etc.


Do you know that just by sorting out and segregating the household waste in this way, you are reducing the volume of the waste that is going out of your house almost by 50 per cent! Wow! It means that only 50 per cent of the dry waste will be dumped in your dustbin which is relatively easy to manage. That is how ‘divide and rule’ works.


You are now going to learn the simple but most effective way of converting all your kitchen waste into compost which is full of essential nutrients and minerals necessary for normal and healthy growth of plants. This composting can be done by using a culture of decomposing bacteria (Bi-ocomposting) or by using the earthworms (Vermicomposting). Both these methods are equally efficient and effective. However, at the individual, household level biocomposting is most preferred method. For larger scale operations such as at the community level, I would prefer Vermicomposting. We are going to learn both these methods through these articles.


Bio-composting: This method of home composting is now being encouraged as a means of reducing the organic waste being discarded and sent to the landfills. It uses certain specific varieties of soil bacteria which are already present in the soil. The starting mixture enriched with these bacteria is available in the market. It is commonly known as Bio-culture or Bio-inoculum. You can get it from the plant nurseries or you can order it online.


Once you get this readymade culture as a startup mixture, get ready for the very exciting act of converting all your kitchen waste into a dark soil or the compost. It can be done in a suitable container. Bin composting is the most popular and advanced version of home composting system that overcomes problems experienced in other composting systems. There are bins of different types and different sizes available for home composting in the market.


However, you try to use an old, discarded container for this purpose. The most preferred containers are those made up of plastic such as plastic buckets, bins, bottles etc. collected from waste. Even earthen pots or wooden boxes can be used alternatively. Oh! Our time is over for now. Will continue with this exciting activity next Saturday. Till then, have a great weekend and Merry Christmas to all the readers!


(The author is an environmentalist. Views personal.)

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