VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 186                 Date:  30.01.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:

1.      Amit Shah & The Parrikar Ploy

2.      Railway Accidents Wake Up Call For Suresh Prabhu

3.      In Support of Traditional Sport & Against Irresponsible NGO's

4.      Nationalistic Sentiment Spreading Around The World

Amit Shah & The Parrikar Ploy

The electorate in Goa should not fall for Amit Shah's ploy that Manohar Parrikar will come back and head the government if the BJP are successful in the upcoming elections. It is just being said so that those of the voters who are undecided should vote for the BJP with this comment what with the multiplicity of choices with the new parties  Goa Suraksha Manch and the Goa Forward Party among others . A rebuttal has been made by the Goa BJP President in saying that the Legislature Party after the elections results are out will name the Chief Minister. This is not to kill the hopes  and to leave the door open for some of the Chief Minister aspirants within the local BJP for the post once the Central leadership finally declares that Manohar Parrikar cannot be relieved from his responsibilities at the Centre.

Railway Accidents Wake Up Call For Suresh Prabhu

There have been a spate of railway accidents in the tenure of the present Railway Minister, Suresh Prabhu, touted to be one of the more competent ministers of Narendra Modi's cabinet. There has been also an attempt to deflect attention from the working of the Railways to blaming the accidents on sabotage and that too from ISI across the border in Pakistan. Though the claim deserves to be given attention and an investigation conducted to erase these doubts, it is better that Suresh Prabhu and the Railways move away from these flights of fancy and look internally in their working methods. Cracks in the rails, missing fishplates, rails placed on the tracks, signalling and driver errors are all controlled by improved working and a proper approach to issues that need to be tackled and resolved. The emphasis of the present minister has been to introduce bullet trains, hike tariff in the aim to compete with airlines and introduce dynamic pricing which are all good ideas and need to be done but their time has not come. It is understood among these measures the tickets for the bullet train between Mumbai and Ahmedabad would be close to many times of the air fare between the two cities and the dynamic fare system has fallen flat with very low demand for the facility. The focus should have been on improving passenger amenities, track restoration, better signalling systems and track inspections to make the aam admi's journey more safe and comfortable. Suresh Prabhu should therefore wake up from building castles in the air and get his feet firmly rooted to the ground and deliver on his portfolio. When you know that you are not performing on the job it is easy to raise the old and convenient bogey of sabotage from across the border since it is a sure fire method to deflect attention away from yourself with the Indian people. 

In Support of Traditional Sport & Against Irresponsible NGO's

In the context of the recent uproar in Tamil Nadu over Jallikatu since resolved will lead to demands in Karnataka for the holding of the Kambala races as also bullock-cart racing in Maharashtra and the dhirio - bullfights in Goa, to be legalised.  One needs to recognise that these traditional sports are required to be accorded approval since they  have been held since the days of yore. The number of deaths on these could possibly be attributed to lack of practice which has needlessly been given publicity in the media at the instigation of set-ups like PETA. Such organisations like PETA and others need to be advised that they first need to love their fellow human beings particularly those who are less privileged and who depend upon simple and inexpensive ways to keep themselves entertained. Following the dictates of the West in these matters by these NGO's is not being responsible to our society. Aping opinions and values just to be fashionable and justify the funding that these NGO's receive from their foreign sponsors is completely wrong. The injuries to animals  are no more than those that we impose on them when we slaughter and kill to eat meat. 

Nationalistic Sentiment Spreading Around The World

Many have been critical about Donald Trump's speech at his Presidential inaugural when he called for - America First. This is nothing new since every country in the developed world has been lately putting their interests first and raising the flag of nationalism. Brexit was a form of this sentiment in the U.K. Pen in France has been gaining increasing popularity in the Presidential elections in that country for the same reason. Standing up and speaking up stridently for your own people is very popular in Western democracies today. The greater outcry of these nationalistic sentiments if you notice are coming from the countries that were considered progressive in their immigration policies and welcomed citizens of other nations, mostly the lesser privileged, to come and settle in their country. These same citizens in their adopted country started first to take away employment opportunities from the locals and then slowly some of the Muslims among them started to get involved in terrorism. Apart from the gripe that locals have about their jobs taken away, these emigrants lost the sympathy of the larger part of the people in their country of residence because the locals largely felt completely let down when the emigrants started involving themselves in terror. We see this in a smaller way even in India where  the people of a backward State move to other States mostly the urban areas and take away jobs from the locals. Thus we have to learn to live with the philosophy of - Think Local - that is spreading around the world. It will change but not too soon since it may take a decade or more that the prevailing sentiments will persist. As for Donald Trump one thinks that he has been elected by the people he should be given a chance to prove himself. We should not be overly critical even before he puts his policies into practice. The principal to be followed s give him a break and provide him an opportunity to trip and fall over his actions. This way it will hurt America no doubt but it will hurt America more if you do not allow Donald Trump to function as the US President at all. 

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 185                                         Date:  23.01.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:

1.      Of Leader's Family Getting Tickets In The BJP

2.      A Separate Cadre For The Election Commission

3.      Chatrapati Shivaji’s Statue In The Sea Off Mumbai

4.       How Banks Have Changed!

5.      Serious Action Needed To Speed Up Economic Recovery

Of Leader's Family Getting Tickets In The BJP

Nobody seems to be heeding Narendra Modi's advice not to give election tickets to the family of sitting MP's and MLA's as also those holding high office in the BJP. With Rajnath Singh's son being nominated from NOIDA in the 2nd list of the BJP for the UP elections this advice seems to have fallen on deaf ears. This has been happening not only in UP but also in Uttarakhand where the Congress leader who recently defected to the BJP has been nominated for elections. And adding insult to injury to Modi's advice his son has also been given a ticket for the upcoming elections. That much for the lip-service of getting candidates from as wide a field as possible by Modi.

A Separate Cadre For The Election Commission

There may be more than a grain of truth in Arvind Kejriwal's allegation of the Election Commission siding with one or the other party during the conduct of the elections. He had made this comment in the context of Goa where the Chief Secretary is in charge of the Election Commission in the State. This situation one would feel would be true across India since the Election Commission does not have a separate cadre of officials to conduct elections and depends on the Central Services cadres to provide them staff. These officials are more often drawn from the State in which the elections are being held. Thus these officials but naturally will show their allegiance and favour the party that is most likely to win the elections which may not be necessarily the incumbent party. Thus it is best that we develop a separate cadre of officials to run elections in this country which will staff the senior level of officials in the Central Election Commission as also the State level commissions to ensure free, fair and impartial elections. This kind of a cadre will be worthwhile since for a large country like India some or the other election is happening all the time. 

Chatrapati Shivaji’s Statue In The Sea Off Mumbai

Chatrapati Shivaji’s statue to be installed in a man-made island in the sea off Mumbai would be a welcome tribute to one of the great and legendary figures of Indian history. A symbol of Maratha pride who singlehandedly kept the Muslim kingdoms of the Adilshahis, Nizamshahis and the Mughals at bay and was successful in carving out in the hills of the Deccan a nationalistic kingdom which at one time extended from near Madras and Bangalore in the South and Bijapur in the East to almost Gujarat in the North along the western coast. This was further consolidated by Chatrapati Shivaji’s son, Sambhajiraje Bhonsle and then expanded later by the Maratha chieftains of the Bhonsles like the Holkars and the Scindias into almost ruling the whole of India during the decline of the Mughal Empire. These achievements of the Marathas owe their seeding to Chatrapati Shivaji who instilled in the Marathas the feeling of patriotism and the consciousness of nationalism. Even today close to four hundred years since the birth of Chatrapati Shivaji, his name and that of his family is taken with reverence and great respect. Which figure in history is remembered in this manner and for so long is what we need to ask ourselves when we want to raise the questions of necessity of the statue and the cost involved in its construction? In fact Chatrapati Shivaji’s name is in the annals of our history alongside that of Emperor Ashoka and Chandragupta Maurya. It is rather unfortunate that in today’s times everything tends to be measured in terms of money. The fact that it will cost some Rs. 2300 crores to construct this Chatrapati Shivaji’s memorial in the sea off Mumbai is of no consequence when you assess his contribution to the thought and philosophy of a united India. Just for the information of the naysayers like the Statue of Liberty earns the USA in terms of tourism dollars so also this memorial to Chatrapati Shivaji will be a tourist attraction for Mumbai and will pay back the cost in constructing it within a span of about twenty years easily.

How Banks Have Changed!

There was a time when your neighbourhood bank was your friend in need. The manager was your consultant and advisor in matters of finance as well as on many other general issues. Slowly things have been changing with the bank becoming a shop for multiple financial instruments with the manager rarely getting the time to even smile at you. He will be in between measuring the weight of gold that some customer has brought for a loan or finalising a home loan for another buyer. This transition of reduced customer interaction actually started with the introduction of ATM's where customers no longer had to enter a bank for drawing money from their accounts which used to be the major activity of ordinary account holders. The person to person interaction reduced with this transition and has been deteriorating since. The only exception in recent memory was that on Nov 10th 2016 every bank in India got the maximum number of customers ever to come into their branches since they had opened shop! The bank branches over time automated with computers replacing the age old ledgers. The musty environs of most bank branches at least in cities and major towns were revamped to look sleek, modern and were air-conditioned. This became more intimidating to some customers what with frequent transfers of bank staff where they would not see the familiar face at the other side of the counter. Around this time came the focus on costs at the bank. This was more so with the private banks where it started with charges for issuing cheque books which came as a shock to some old customers of the banks. Though the banks personalised the cheques with the names of the account holders to soften the charges that they would recover. Then there were more restrictions with minimum account balances being mandated and if you went below the limit charges were levied. The public sector banks followed with these practices though the usury was more moderate. All this led to the feeling among customers that you would be charged for just visiting the bank. More charges for breathing the air inside! And pay through your nose for sneezing in bank premises! When the ATM's came the above trend was fortified by the banks encouraging people to use the ATM's so that you did not have to step into the bank. Initially though you could use your card at your bank ATM 's, it was later modified to be used at any bank ATM's. The idea was to make it easy for the customer to provide anywhere access to cash but then actually it was keep you out of the bank premises. This went to the extent of banks saying that Fixed Deposits are expensive for the banks and they would prefer to discontinue them. This sent a shock to generations of fixed deposit holders mostly senior citizens who had considered banks as their very own monthly salary generators. But then again the bank realised that if customers do not come into the bank, then the selling of different instruments not really related to banking like personal loans, life insurance, mutual fund transactions etc. were going to suffer. Thus the wooing of customers started all over again. This initiative was again led by the private banks. Customers started getting calls at lunch times with bank executives eager to inform them of this, that or the other instrument which would transform the customer's life! This became so irritating after some time that most customers put their bank telephone numbers on the DND list. When this did not work so much the banks started pruning the number of times you could use the other bank ATM's and now the situation is coming to how many times in a month you can use your own bank ATM. From the first unlimited use, to 5 times a month to the newly proposed thrice. This will make customers step into the branch premises. As you can see the wheel has turned full circle with customers being brought back so that they can be milked for the multiple financial instruments that the banks handle. This is supplemented by Narendra Modi's initiative sometimes of demonetising one or the other currency note which will bring in an avalanche of customers to the bank like on 10th Nov 2016!

Serious Action Needed To Speed Up Economic Recovery

The IMF has scaled down the Indian economy growth projections for this year down to 6.6%. At the same time one of the UN reports cites that in the long-term the Indian economy will grow at 7.7% or more. The Narendra Modi led government that has been clutching at straws in the wake of criticism of its inefficient implementation of the demonetisation exercise should not latch on to the UN report and claim that 'all is well' with the Indian economy. In fact the demonetisation exercise and the consequent cash shortage which has been continuing for almost 70 days now has put back the Indian economy by a decade. All the sectors of the economy have been affected with everyone trying to pick up the shattered pieces of their enterprise and trying to make the best of a bad bargain. At the same time the government is not taking cognisance of adverse reports like the FII's having pulled out more than US$ 10 Billion from the Indian stock market in the Oct - Dec 2016 quarter. SEBI has expressed concern on this matter and fears that the FII's staying away may not be good  for the Indian stock markets. It is time therefore that Arun Jaitley and his cohorts in government should put their heads together and instead of just looking at giving sops in the coming Budget to both the individuals and corporates in terms of income tax benefits should provide for structural reforms that will set the base for recovery of the economy and put it on a path of consistent growth in excess of 8%.

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 184               Date:  16.01.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:

1. Urjit Patel Running Away from Media @ The Vibrant Gujarat Summit
2. Modi On The KVIC Promotional Items For 2017
3. Army Chief Should Concentrate On Core Business
4. Modi As A 'Visionary Leader'!

  

Urjit Patel Running Away from Media @ The Vibrant Gujarat Summit

Urjit Patel, Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) running away from the media at the Vibrant Gujarat summit recently is representative of the inability that the Governor has in facing up to situations. This started with the demonetisation exercise commenced from 8th Nov 2016 when Patel & the RBI was railroaded into accepting the decision. Thereafter it appeared to observers that the RBI was being run by the Finance Ministry with one or the other Secretary announcing decisions that were the domain of the RBI. The status of this venerable autonomous institution was then clearly eroded. Even internally within the RBI the same feeling was existent as is brought out by the unions of both staff and officers of the organisation in their representation to government recently. No amount of verbal assurances will be enough for the government to claim that they respect the autonomy of the RBI since in emergency situations they will repeat the same action. Under the present BJP government the independence of autonomous institutions like RBI is constantly under threat. The same situation exists with the government's approach with the Supreme Court with the venerable court being hobbled by not appointing judges on its recommendations  for one reason or another. This is being done in the background of the the huge number of cases piling up in courts across the country which surely the government in association with the judiciary has to tackle and bring it down to reasonable proportions. 

Modi On The KVIC Promotional Items For 2017

The furore on Narendra Modi replacing Mahatma Gandhi on the KVIC diary and calendar for 2017 needs to be understood in the background of the officials in government seeking to please the Prime Minister in the manner of acolytes. For various reasons the head of KVIC may have taken the decision without any guidelines from the government and for very mundane reasons like seeking an extension to his term or wanting to be noticed so that he could be considered for any other plum assignment that he desires. This is being stated since you have to give the benefit of the doubt to the government and/or the Prime Minister. In continuation of the argument one also needs to state that Mahatma Gandhi does not have the monopoly on the promotion of khadi. As one expert said that the khadi favoured by the Mahatma and what is in vogue today is completely different. At the same time the Haryana minister who said that the sales of khadi did not increase by using the Mahatma's image to promote it is measuring the great man's contribution in a very miniscule way and weighing it on the scale of commercial success, which is representative of the mediocre minds of our leaders today. 

Army Chief Should Concentrate On Core Business

The Army Chief Rawat needs to stop the bluff and bluster approach in talking tough but concentrate on brass tacks to do his basic job of protecting his men and country. When the Army is unable to protect their own camps in Kashmir for reasons of administrative lacunae and lax operational procedure as was evident since the attacks on Pathankot, how will they protect the country? Rawat also needs to de-emphasise  the 'surgical strike' narrative since it has become more of a political weapon in recent times. As Rawat would obviously know that any such sensitive operations are not to be given needless publicity and the maxim to be applied is - Talk Less, Work More. That is the way the effectiveness of the Army operations would improve. Defence Minister Parrikar need also mull on these issues and cut out the frivolous talk and concentrate on matters to make the Indian armed forces the best fighting-fit force in the world as he himself had said in the recent past.

Modi As A 'Visionary Leader'!

People are always willing to sacrifice for their country as long as there is a just and noble cause. But a leader should know  when to ask for this sacrifice since in that decision lies the making of a humane and sensitive leader. A leader loses credibility if he asks for this sacrifice for mistakes committed by him and for irrelevant issues. At the same time if a leader admits his mistakes either committed directly by him or by his government in the event this leader holds the reins of office and apologises for these mistakes then the stature of the leader is greatly enhanced in the eyes of his people. It is not important that the leader compensates the people affected by the mistakes but if that is done then the belief of the people in the leader is cemented further. It is important for a leader to empathise with the people and just not mouth pithy words and shed crocodile tears. He should also not take people for granted. We will touch upon these premises in the context of PM Narendra Modi unleashing the demon of demonetisation on the country on 8th Nov 2016. 

The initial objectives of demonetisation were to fight black money, corruption, counterfeiting, terror and drug funding. Lately with the first two objectives of black money and corruption not being achieved, the subsidiary aims of counterfeiting, terror and drug funding are being touted as being hit badly if not eliminated. Further the PM's demonetisation narrative is yet again emphasising that it empowers the poor. How it does that, is not clear? With the bungling of the demonetisation exercise it is the poor and the lesser privileged who have got the most affected. Modi had said in the initial days after 8th Nov 2016 that the rich are spending sleepless nights and the poor are sleeping the sleep of the comfortable. But with the cash shortage it turned out exactly the opposite with the poor spending sleepless nights more so because of their empty stomachs. The jargon of benefiting the poor is just like election promises say it for now, the dummies are not going to come back and question you later. Even, if they do, we will handle it with another story. This approach was also seen in Modi's speech on New Year's Eve where announcements were made for benefits which are not significant and for schemes which are not operative and with confusing guidelines for implementation. The attempt is once again to delude the poor and benefit the middle class and the rich  just like about a decade ago when the BJP riding on the plank of the India Shining campaign lost massively in the succeeding general elections. Cash shortage like a virus has spread everywhere from the leather goods fabrication sweatshops in Dharavi to the bangle makers of Firozepur to the farmers mandis that sell produce  across the country to the small industries that depend on cash to get their production materials to the micro finance agencies that fund household industries etc. Daily wage workers were hit and food and commodity markets slack with the trading community reporting sales had fallen by more  than 50% in Nov 2016. Apart from the realty sector the organised industry sector has been hit with FMCG and the auto industry taking the major brunt. When newspaper headlines including that in the financial papers are screaming about slowdowns, job losses where Modi and his team are seeing the silver lining in the dark clouds of demonetisation is something that they need to explain clearly. 

Thus you will see that Modi has been talking in multiple voices at multiple times. Then there is the emphasis on a cashless or less-cash economy which is nothing but an attempt to deflect the attention from the failure of the demonetisation exercise. The problem is that no one knows what  Modi  is seeing in the demonetisation exercise irrespective of what he has been saying.  And the people within the BJP are blinkered and they can it seems see only Modi. Thus we are in a crisis created by Modi on a program which has many confusing objectives, which any administrative or management person will tell you is a recipe for disaster. At the same time those pointing out the difficulties of the people because of the cash shortage are being branded as speaking for the black money hoarders and also lacking in patriotism. For pointing out that someone is making a hash of an economic measure being called anti-national is a first by any standards. In fact the words sacred and patriotism are being bandied about liberally by the BJP which is devaluing their importance in our way of life. As commented above on patriotism, to call the the demonetisation exercise a ‘sacred’ task is insulting religion and in turn our gods. These are not indicators of a cultured and civilized society.

Ever since Modi has come to power it has been seen that his government has been bent upon dividing society, creating an atmosphere of mistrust that one has to keep looking over one’s shoulder to see if anyone is keeping an eye on you.  This happens now whether you have something to hide or not  like the other day a friend of mine, 75 year old to boot, got an IT notice though he has not been liable for tax for more than a decade and lives off his savings in FD’s. Just the nuisance for this senior citizen to go to the IT office, queue up before the officer and explain himself is clearly completely avoidable harassment. While the big fish get away the IT picks on the weak and defenceless to exercise and show off their power. Even when Modi asks people publicly to report on those having black money on an email id of the IT department, is it not instigating one fellow man against another? Not that Indians need an additional invitation for such activities. But with all this, unnecessary tension is being fostered in the country. 

On the issue of demonetisation as it is coming out now it was Narendra Modi's decision, which he has admitted even earlier, the RBI was not consulted and that institution used to just ratify the decision. Even the Niti Aayog was not consulted  though Arvind Panagariya, its Vice Chairman,  believes that it advises the government on major policy matters. Why was it isolated? On such a major decision when you were pulling out 87% of currency out of circulation, is it not necessary for a leader to consult the experts on monetary and economic matters and arrive at a considered decision? By not doing this Modi is laying himself open to the charge of being insensitive. In this demonetisation exercise he has followed what is called the ‘scorched earth’ policy in military parlance wherein you focus on victory irrespective of the grievous impact on those impacted or involved. This happens in instances in comments n society where lack of education of a person makes him unable to assess consequences. In misplaced bravado the person moves ahead in the belief – Dekha Jayega. Jo Bhi Hoga Dekh Lenge! This is disastrous as we have seen in the implementation of the demonetisation exercise in the country. If the demonetisation was so important for Modi to do then by if by withdrawing 87% of the currency it has created so much problems then he could as well have pulled out the remaining 13% and it would not have added much more problems than those created in the existing situation. But it would surely have satisfied Modi's larger than life ego.  He could then have introduced a new currency for India to break away from the past and maybe called it Modi or Modiah or Modyah. That way he would have left a permanent stamp of his contribution to the history of India. We need a balance in judgment and considered decision making without which Modi may lead us to a precipitate war with either Pakistan or China and then ask us whether we are not prepared to sacrifice and suffer for our country. 

Thus you have a country that was touted to be a Super Power in the future and an economy regarded as the fastest growing in the world in the present times irrespective of the fact that the world over recession-like tendencies are prevailing, has been through the hands of its own Prime Minister,  just as it was picking itself up to get on to the path of growth and his adamant and stubborn attitude not to accept that he has made a mistake in his implementation of the demonetisation exercise launched on Nov 8th reduced it to a pathetic state of economic uncertainty. The RBI & the World Bank have aleady scaled down the projections for India's GDP growth to around 7%. This does not factor in the impact of demonetisation which is sure to pull it down further to 6.5% or so.

Thus you will see there is a serious doubt on Narendra Modi's leadership abilities, his balanced judgment and his willingness to stand up and accept responsibility for his own actions. He also needs to realise that Analysis is a basic virtue that all leaders must have.This crisis generated from the demonetisation exercise is all the more surprising coming from a man who had promised minimum government and maximum governance in 2014 when he came to power while now it is completely the opposite. 

There are benefits in Modi's proposals like demonetisation to fight black money but it has to be implemented right. Like increasing people that are in the IT net to boost revenues which can then be used for development and to lessen IT rates for those who pay tax. Like a less-cash or cashless economy will have a significant impact on the black economy. That with the black economy fading out the white economy would grow and thus boost GDP. But these are goals that are progressive and need to be taken up with the the singleminded focus to derive success and not all together as we have seen since Nov 8th 2016. 

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 183              Date:  09.01.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

 

Contents:

1.      Modi's Government Failing The Trust Test

2.      The 'Mass Molestation' At Bengaluru

3.      Thakur Refused To Read The Writing On The Wall

Modi's Government Failing The Trust Test

The mess regarding the demonetisation measure continues with the latest being the RBI refusing to accept the demonetised notes after 30th Dec 2016 from the general public. In defence of this position Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister has said that RBI is an autonomous institution and they are within their rights to take any decision while clarifying that the PM in his speech announcing the demonetisation had said that  RBI at their denominated offices will accept notes until 31st March 2017 for which terms and conditions would be advised. One wonders when the Finance Ministry was running the RBI from 8th Nov  to 5th Dec 2016 where its autonomy was hidden? In all this PM Narendra Modi is losing credibility is what his colleagues and the institutions involved do not realise. It is not only in this but in many of the things that Modi has announced since 8th Nov 2016 that there is confusion like the PMGAY - Prime Minister Grameen Awas Yojana is a dud scheme and a State like Maharashtra has not even sanctioned even one application under it and also the Rs 6,000 grant to pregnant women, no one knows how to implement it. This is just like the earlier advice at the height of the cash shortage that you could draw Rs. 2.5 Lakhs for a wedding in the family where after the initial confusion a set of rules were framed by the RBI which were so strict that many preferred not to avail of the scheme and some even deferred the marriage of their children. 

The reason why the RBI is not accepting any more of the demonetised notes except from NRI's and those who had been abroad in the period since 8th Nov is because it and in consequence the government would lose face what with at last count 97% of the demonetised notes having come back into the banking system. And if they continue to accept the old notes they would get more than 100% of the demonetised notes! If this were to happen then the premise that demonetisation was done to eliminate black money would be seriously jeopardised. Not only there would be no question of the 'special' dividend that RBI would pay the government on which basis the poverty alleviation measures were to come. Added to that it would expose the shabby state of accounting of the notes in the banking system under the RBI's stewardship for which now a detailed assessment is being done to show that at least some of the demonetised notes did not come back. 

While all this has been happening the fatuous Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister has been crowing about the boost in collections of taxes, both direct and indirect, in the current year which is but natural since if you analyse the collections you will find that most of it came after 8th Nov 2016 and in the majority it was direct taxes. This happened because the demonetised notes were used to pay up advance tax in excess rather than go through the embarrassment of going through the exchange process or depositing it through the banking channels. That is also the same reason why public utilities have recovered old dues and are current with their tax receipts and why loan repayments to banks peaked after 8th Nov 2016. Why does Jaitley not speak of credit offtake from banks being the lowest in decades in the current year and that the PMI for both manufacturing and services sector has been shrinking month by month and more so after 8th Nov 2016. Jaitley does not seem to be perturbed about serious issues affecting the Indian economy where sector after sector has been reporting slowdowns but is celebrating in his new role of tax collector par excellence.

This is been the state of affairs of the bold demonetisation measure of PM Narendra Modi to eliminate black money, corruption et al which has fallen flat with a resounding splash across India while at the same time putting the billion and more of its citizens to misery which is continuing to this day.

Postscript: Modi on his recent visit to Patna is supposedly to have greeted Nitish Kumar with - Aapne to Daru-bandi kar ke sirf peenewalon me tabahi macha di, maine to Note-bandi kar ke sare desh me tabahi macha ke rakkhi hai. (If you have created a nuisance for drinkers by banning alcohol, I have created a nuisance for the entire nation with demonetisation.)

The 'Mass Molestation' At Bengaluru

There has been two much hype in the media with regard to the supposedly 'mass molestation' incident that happened on New Year's Eve at Bengaluru and also related to the Kammanahalli incident where the lone woman was attacked. In both cases the basic question is what are normal times that women should be out in the streets. This was more so in the Kammanahalli incident since what was the woman doing alone on the streets at 2.30am, even if it was New Year's Eve. Those women who are concerned with their own safety would have been escorted by someone or the other to venture out at that hour. The persons who attacked her were obviously lumpen elements who were seeking some satisfaction of their sexual  urges and the woman was unfortunately the hapless victim. She was lucky to get away with her life since anything could have happened at that time. As for the 'mass molestation' on Brigade Road and MG Road, here again people and particularly women should know where and what times they are safe. There was a condoning clause here that the place was a public place and the occasion was New Year's Eve but even those accompanying the women be it friends or family should have taken care and extra precautions. The more the crowd and with drunken people in them are no place for women to be around at any time of the day or night. The police are also helpless at times when they are outnumbered in a crowd, so blaming them is like using them as a punching bag for your own discretions. The police would do as much they can to protect people but there is a limit to their ability defined by the particular situation. When such incidents happen, women groups become hyper but essentially every citizen of India should remember that his or her safety is first the individual's job and then the police comes in. It is not that you deliberately invite danger and then complain of police inaction is not being a responsible citizen. In India the times are changing and because of the divide between the rich and the poor, no jobs for the youth and therefore no money in their hands, there is a jealousy and grouse that they develop when they see people being of their same age group celebrating freely and possessing things that they themselves aspire to own. This grudge is accentuated at festival times or on days like New Year's Eve and a revenge motive develops which gives rise to incidents as above. Therefore every right-minded citizen is better advised that he or she should take care of themselves and their family first and take necessary precautions rather than depend on the public authorities. Does not sound too good but that is what this country has progressed to. 

The Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru while talking to the media a couple of days back said that 6000 CCTV cameras would be installed around the city to prevent such incidents. Unfortunately this is typical of authorities who gain wisdom after the incident and is typical of closing the stable door after the horses have bolted. He also does not understand that the cameras cannot prevent anything from happening that is being carried out with deliberate intent and will only serve in the trial of the assailants, in the event that they are caught, as evidence. What the police even on the New Year’s Eve incident should have done is anticipated the incident as the crowd was building up and intervened to control the crowd by releasing them in batches or spread them out to the extent possible given the road topography as is done in Kolkata while managing the huge Durga Puja rush. On the contrary our police wait for the incident to develop before they intervene. A training course in better crowd control is recommended for the police not only in Bengaluru but across the country.

Thakur Refused To Read The Writing On The Wall

The removal of Anurag Thakur at the BCCI was on the cards a long time back when he fell foul with the Lodha Committee report and thereafter with the Supreme Court. One needs to have a certain amount of maturity not to play games with the highest court of the land which is what Thakur was doing. He was directly instigating the State Cricket Associations to come out against the Lodha Committee report which was not the proper thing to do. As the apex cricket organisation in the country BCCI was expected to fight its own wars and not hide behind the State bodies. The problem was that BCCI had become arrogant suffering from the syndrome that money can buy you anything and in that attitude has been Anurag Thakur's downfall. 

Another thing that Thakur failed to handle properly was the Pakistan issue. That country is going to drag India to international courts for refusing to play cricket against it and sue India for some US$200 - 300 million for that reason. All cricket playing countries around the world know the dangerous security situation in Pakistan for which reason all matches of that country are being played in the Gulf. Now obviously this is not a normal situation and BCCI should have insisted that Pakistan play its international cricket in its own country. Going further the matches that Pakistan plays in the Gulf should have been denied official status. This would have taken the wind out of Pakistan's sails and they would have concentrated to bring back normalcy at home. Instead of that the offender country -Pakistan is dictating rules to India and threatening it. A rather unfortunate and incongruous situation, indeed!

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