VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 194                                         Date:  27.03.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

       1. Dealing With Violence Against Public Officials

       2. Stayzilla Going Zailward

       3. Women's Opinions On Their Rights

       4. Criticism of EVM's By Politicians Who Lost In Recent Elections

       5. Bhagwati Spiking Sen May Affect His Own & Modi's Credibility

Dealing With Violence Against Public Officials

We have had recently incidents  of people assaulting public officials while discharging their duties. In the first highly publicised incident a Shiv Sena MP beat up a relatively elderly official of Air India and by his own admission with a chappal 25 times (That means he kept count? Or maybe a lucky number for him.) Where the man irrespective of being a MP should have been arrested and thrown into jail immediately after the incident, he was allowed to go on public television and further upbraid the national carrier with no sign of regret or apology. Why Air India did not take this action is not known? Because he was a MP? Cooling one's heels in a jail for at least 12 hours would have drilled some sense in him maybe prompting him to be more cautious in future. There is no question of denying him justice since he would be allowed to have recourse to it. This incident shows that the caste system or its more modern structure is imprinted on our brains since a MP is a high caste in our society today and assumed to have more powers and influence. If this had happened abroad then on matters of security the person would have been summarily sent to jail with no qualms whatsoever.

In the other scenario our officiating doctors in government hospitals were beaten up in multiple incidents in Maharasthar over the last ten days with one doctor likely to lose an eye because of the thrashing he received. Here again the police were lax in arresting the assaulters since a larger group was involved. But the fact remained that a public official was assaulted while performing his duty and the government should have provided the doctors protection. The doctors went on strike because of these incidents and they were supported by their compatriots in other cities like Delhi which has also seen similar incidents. The High Court in this matter in the first instance upbraided the doctors saying that if they were afraid to do their duty they should leave the jobs. Even the State CM came out with a similar statement that if the doctors do not report for duty then they will be summarily discharged. This is strange indeed since where your employer in this case the government should have ensured security for the doctors to perform their duty and the judiciary should have given proper justice,  the doctors are at the receiving end for protesting against a just cause. It is time therefore for our society to realise that things have changed and that we should deal with proper respect and sensitivity towards public officials particularly doctors and that the employers are by law responsible to provide an environment of safety of life and limb for their employees to work in.

Stayzilla Going Zailward

The arrest of the promoter of the start-up venture Stayzilla has the entire start-up community calling it a foul and that it would have affect on the growth and investment in that sector. On one hand it is good to see the community show this spirit of unity but at the same time they need to realise that bills need be paid and if there is a default then the affected person has every right to seek recourse to legal means. The Indian justice system is generally considered to be fair though its wheels may turn very slowly. The best option for the Stayzilla promoter is to get a good lawyer which should get him out of his current predicament but even then that will cost money.

Women's Opinions On Their Rights

There has been a fair amount of opinion expressed about women's rights and their position in our society lately with expressions of outrage against their dress habits and propriety in the context of social etiquette. But what women do not realise that they are their own worst enemies. About dress if you look at the West where the epitome of fashion is considered to be evening attire or while attending a formal occasion like a reception or party going up to maybe the Oscar nite. If you observe here the man who has less things to hide is dressed in multiple layers of clothing while the woman who has more attributes shows them off blatantly if not brazenly. Now if you do not want to attract attention or get 'looked at' why dress like that. Women who tend to dabble at exposure need to accept that they will be 'stared at'. Now we as a society have been aping  the West for quite some time and have lately been seeing our women dress in outfits which are different from the customary Indian women's wear be it for informal or formal events. The tendency towards exposure by our women has also been increasing on social occasions or on the street. The same yardstick applies to our women that they should be prepared to be 'stared at' at such times and at the same equip oneself to stare down these experiences if they have the guts. But more often than not what our women do is to express outrage and ask for everyone in the rest of the world to be reformed rather than adapt themselves. Another thing that women talk about is objectification of women in our media and films. Who's responsible for this? Is it not the women themselves? If they all refuse the denigrating roles that they are given in TV serials or films or do not do 'item numbers' which all require dressing differently then the producers or directors will have no choice but to change their story lines or plot. But that does not happen because the actress is worried that if she does not do it someone else will. That is why it was said earlier that women are their own worst enemy. The other day in the newspapers there was a report that some women think that staring at their cleavage is tantamount to sexual harassment. A few days earlier there was another report that in a public bus in Bengaluru a man was arrested for flashing his genitals. Thus if women think that  staring at their cleavage is sexual harassment then they should be prepared to be arrested for exposing their cleavage. After all justice has to be even gendered. Anyway our women should understand that it is important to be a good person and as for dress, wear anything you like depending on the occasion or time of day or whatever as long as your immediate family accepts it, respect the guidelines laid down by institutions you attend as long as they are rational  but do not go out of the way to attract trouble in public and then blame everyone else in the world except yourself since after all it is you who will have to bear the major brunt of the nuisance or trauma involved. Postscript: Recently a Tamil bridal magazine carried a picture on its cover of a bride in traditional dress but exposing one of her legs up to above the knee through a sari-slit which has created widespread debate among women in Tamil Nadu. Now debate is fine but about what, is the question? Should women not draw a line between common-sense and gossip? On the pic itself, if it is a traditional dress for the bride then should one not respect tradition or go completely the other way where nowadays beach weddings take place with the bride in a bikini or in a swimsuit when they marry underwater. Dress appropriately and as your and your family’s sensibility allows.

Criticism of EVM's By Politicians Who Lost In Recent Elections

Arvind Kejriwal is an insult to IIT and IITians at large for his comments on the security issues related to EVM's. An engineer should realise from his education that the EVM is a fail-safe method for holding elections and has eliminated almost completely the malaise of proxy voting by way of booth-capturing that was very rampant in the past since if anyone tries to vote more than a designed level of votes in a set period of time then the EVM automatically shuts down. It has largely also reduced the confusion related to the process of voting that of stamping on a ballot paper when large number of candidates are involved in a constituency to a simple pressing of a switch against a very visible candidate name and symbol on a spacious ballot board. The EVM's are also not tamperable by any physical or electronic means, at least the first designs, since they then used EEPROM chips that can be re-programmed only by ultraviolet device readers. Other than in office or lab environments it is difficult to use these readers and re-program the EVM's. The software programs are one can say almost hard-wired into the EVM and cannot be randomly changed. Since the first generation of the EVM's in the late 1980's, the design agency Bharat Electronics Ltd. has developed them further and today one does not know what chips are being used today. The functional parameters of the EVM's have over the years been improved and now they have the VVPAT feature to provide a paper trail for each vote polled. Such EVM's were extensively used in the 2017 Goa Assembly elections. With this feature the single biggest objection of those criticising EVM's that 'all votes get transferred to the BJP' is eliminated since the voter is able to see what vote he has cast. It is understandable for politicians like Mayawati to be critical of EVM's to convey to her sympathisers that she is not responsible for the BSP's major debacle in the 2017 UP Assembly elections but it is surprising that Sitaram Yechury of the Left joining voice with her and shocking for Kejriwal to come out against EVM's in the upcoming Delhi Municipal Elections. The major advantage of EVM's s that it saves tonnes of paper that was required to print ballot papers in the old system and also drastically cuts down on the time to hold elections since one does not have to wait for ballot papers to be printed etc. which administrative savings of time and effort add value to the use of EVM's. The UN was also considering to start using the EVM's in elections in African countries after seeing the successful use of the machines in India. So when in India you make an easy to use, functional device that is good we need to learn to embrace it and not criticise and try to reject it with the intention of moving back to the bullock cart age. 

Bhagwati Spiking Sen May Affect His Own & Modi's Credibility

Jagdish Bhagwati, Narendra Modi's go-to person on economic policy, the other day criticising Amartya Sen by saying that the latter was out to 'get both of them' on the demonetisation issue is a bit difficult to digest. Firstly, because one would believe that eminent people are expected to show balance and propriety in speech and word. This is necessary since even if they do not believe so, there are many who look up to them as icons and want to emulate their achievements. Secondly,  coming forward with views on government policy or initiatives is part of a democratic process and Sen is fully entitled to express his views unless  Bhagwati's intention is to stifle free speech. In whatever Bhagwati said in relation to the GDP not having been affected by demonetisation, the figures are up in the air since only the CSO seems to have shown a growth for GDP in the demonetisation quarter - Oct - Dec 2016, and has forecasted a GDP close to 7.1% while all other agencies in India and abroad including the 'Harvard' ones have predicted a drop and position GDP in 2016-17 to be around 6.5%. Even the head of the CSO, T C A Anant  has been ambiguous about his own forecasts and has gone on record even until y/day (20th) as covered in national newspapers  saying that there are 'many' factors which affect GDP and that they have 'made many assumptions'. But he still maintains that this may not change the GDP figure! Thus Bhagwati taking figures which may not be correct and then going overboard based on these may not be proper unless he is not bothered about his own credibility. This is the state of affairs in our country now where Narendra Modi on the first input about the GDP increase in the Oct-Dec 2016 period from the CSO pounced on it and went about deriding his critics on demonetisation in his inimitable manner and then it was his Man Friday in Arun Jaitley and now Bhagwati in the manner of Don Quixote is tilting against Sen's windmills on the same subject. The immaturity in our top leadership in all this is stunning. 

***************************

VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 193                                         Date:  20.03.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1.      Need To BeTough to Resolve NPA's & Clean Up Our Banking System

2.      Development Is The New Currency for Our Politicians

3.      The Congress Was Sleeping In Goa

4.      Democracy Under Threat In India

Need To BeTough to Resolve NPA's & Clean Up Our Banking System

We are back again talking about the huge NPA's at our scheduled banks and what to do about them. One of the methods has been to suggest that creating a 'bad bank' would help concentrate the recovery process and generate a special expertise in dealing with these huge unrecoverable loans. This is essentially a bad idea since you are letting those who had sanctioned these loans within the existing banking system off the hook. These people should be made accountable irrespective of the fact that some may have retired. Moreover the very idea of creating a 'bad bank' will have many applicants to staff it since the corridors of that institution will be paved with gold allowing easy money to be made. Thus it is best that each bank be responsible for the NPA's they have generated and find a solution to the problem within the normal ambit of their operations. This resolution method being decentralised will make for more time bound action and also ensure that they are tackled properly and speedily disposed since the concerned bank will have better knowledge of the defaulter. This should work as long as the bank management is empowered with adequate powers to deal with the loans. The known fact that the top corporates account for more than 80% of the NPA's has been admitted by the government which augurs well for the resolution of these bad loans since the defaulters are recognisable and known.

Arun Jaitley, our esteemed Finance Minister has been talking about these NPA's suggesting that global conditions and market downturns were responsible for their creation. Are these not normal conditions for operating businesses? Were the management not privy to the risks that they were taking? So when the risks did not pan out on the positive side why are the banks being made to hold the can? The management at these Cos. should pay as also if any of the banking officials who had connived to sanction these loans. For those of us have been in top management in business we all know how difficult it is to raise money for projects particularly when bank consortiums are involved. If so then how were the NPA's able to obtain money from these consortiums when surely each bank in the consortium knew the borrower was stretched to the limit and tending towards default? That is precisely how Vijay Mallya hoodwinked the banks to generate his NPA's that now amount in excess of Rs. 8000 crores. Another aspect here is that the banks are expected to hypothecate properties to equivalent levels to that of loans disbursed. Every individual in this country knows how cumbersome and tedious the hypothecation procedure for assets and property is but how is it that big industrial groups manage to hypothecate assets so quickly and more importantly get loans far in excess of the sale or book value of the assets. This is proved by the fact that 3 times has SBI tried to sell properties of Vijay Mallya in Mumbai and Goa including houses, buildings, planes and cars but all three times they have been unsuccessful despite reducing the prices in each successive round with no takers. Thus were prices of these assets deliberately inflated and with connivance to justify the amount of loans that were sanctioned? These matters need to be investigated and the truth brought out since each and every NPA that constitutes the burden of Rs. 800,000 crores with the scheduled banks today will have a similar story to tell albeit with variations.

In this context one does not understand why the Finance Minister is playing soft with the banking system and their officials firstly in allowing things to drag since 2014 by encouraging the argument put forward by bank officials to give them protection from the Anti Corruption Act since any concession shown to the defaulters may be interpreted as being given for a consideration. You see how rotten the system is, the bank officials get bribes for sanctioning loans, then no action is taken against them for delaying recovery and thereafter they have the audacity to seek protection by law for what they will take to resolve the loans. Secondly, the banks have been writing off each quarter a portion of their NPA's for the last two years and more. Considering these NPA's are mostly attributed to the well-heeled, the rich and the powerful, Mrs Arundhati Bhattacharya, CMD of SBI will have to answer why the principle of the banking credit system is not compromised in these cases but it does get compromised when farmer's loans are written off. She has famously said that farmers once their current loans are written off will never pay the next loans they take but will wait until the next loan waiver mela takes place. Is this not the same with trade and industry who seek re-scheduling of their loans and wait for one-time settlement schemes to be announced by the government or the banks either sector-specific or across the board? Why are we making the poor farmer the culprit when everybody in the system is tainted starting from the politicians, ministers, the government bureaucracy, the banking system, industry and trade and even common individuals. This is India, Madam and jugaad is the way of life and as long as you do not get caught everything is fine!

As for farmer loan waivals, do it on a region basis where drought or common reasons have really affected harvests and made the loans go bad, so that the farmers are not needlessly left at the mercy of loan sharks to whom they may have to go to pay off the bank loans. The last time this was done for some Rs. 60,000 crores, Sharad Pawar was the Agriculture Minister and he made sure that the small farmers could not get anywhere near the loan waiver but his constituency of farmers with larger holdings benefited. At that time it was seen that the banks had not been very co-operative in entertaining farmers who came in  for loan waivals. Thus this time around if the loan waiver scheme comes into being then the banks need be instructed to be more pro-active in clearing the loans. It is being commonly said that Narendra Modi has captured the mind space of the poor at the present what with his saying that every India will get Rs. 15 Lakhs after all the black money is brought back but that never happened. After the demonetization exercise he has said that Rs. 25,000 will be credited to each BPL or Jan Dhan account, one does not know which, and even that has not happened. Thus one is not in favour of such obvious gifts to our poor or farmers since that will not motivate them to strive harder. Instead of that what should be done is to provide them proper inputs for their work at competitive rates, waive off loans if it has got affected because of natural causes, streamline the system that they operate in be it the input suppliers, the banking system or the marketing agencies that finally sell their produce or products. This will encourage the poor to contribute more productively and pull themselves out of the poverty situation. But the present tendency is to go overboard on both extremes while dealing with them like give them some money and shut them up or like the SBI CMD asking them not to seek any concessions. In India close to 40% of the population hovers around the poverty line and we cannot afford to ignore them. If that Bharat improves, it will also give a boost to the rich, corporate and well-heeled India that has this tendency to ape the West.

Thus it is suggested that the NPA's be resolved at the banks where these were generated, action be intimated against banking officials if they are found complicit with out of the way sanction of loans which infringe the bank's guidelines, have the RBI Oversight Committee meet regularly and be given sufficient teeth to drive the banks to resolve the NPA's in a pecific time-bound manner. Wherever assets need be seized and/or auctioned from industry, big corporates or otherwise, get this done and if found necessary launch disproportionate asset cases against at least one top head honcho of banks, to set an example and send the message across to the banking system that the time to cosy up with their borrowers is over. This is what Jaitley has to get Narendra Modi to do so that the banking system is cleansed once and for all of the NPA's which by some estimates is expected to reached Rs. 15 lakh crores by end of this month, 31st March 2017, inclusive of interest and charges.

Development Is The New Currency for Our Politicians

Narendra Modi has been harping on the plank of development during election times which is the new currency for our politicians. The more the development the more they are able to feather their nests. As for development, mind you no one is against  it as long as it is relevant and sustainable but that is not the way the cookie crumbles when projects are taken up. Right now the number of crorepatis dominate the political spectrum among candidates filing their returns with the Election Commission. The recently elected 40 MLA’s to the Goa Assembly all have assets in excess of 1 crore. In another few years you will find them filing asset returns in hundreds of crores which will remain unquestioned by the authorities or no investigations launched as to how they got these increase in assets. This is where just like the NOTA option is being put on the EVM's now, we should evolve a methodology of giving the voters a right to recall their elected legislators. A legislator should be asked to give up his seat for known reasons of corruption, lack of performance, health reasons or any other as determined by more than 50% of the voters in his constituency. This could start as an annual review through the EVM's and progressively move up to computer terminals in each locality of the constituency as our IT technology advances when the period of review could be made smaller like every 6 months. This kind of a system will at the least instill the sense of responsibility in our legislators towards their constituencies on a more definite basis. The AAP for all its faults started this process of obtaining feedback from the people for its major policies or initiatives which has been a good thing and our government could examine whether asking this initiative forward. 

A point relating to the BJP hijacking the public mandate in both Goa and Manipur which gave a larger number of seats to the Congress shows how flawed our democratic system is. The people gave a verdict but now a curtain is drawn upon them saying your act is over and it is our, the politicians, turn now. We will overturn the mandate and not entertain and tolerate any opinion from you the people. We have seen this behaviour of our politicians  and their political parties at other times also where once elected they do what they like and not what people like. This done in most cases for 4 years of the 5 year term they act without caring for the electorate and then in the last year they go around sometimes patching up on promises made to the people so that they are given yet another 5 year term. This is a rather sad state of affairs for democracy in India and hence the Right To Recall Option (RTRO).

The Congress Was Sleeping In Goa

The Goa Assembly elections 2017 have been reduced to a farce. The Congress winning the largest number of seats must have come as a shock to the party itself and in the trauma thereafter the party went into somnolent euphoria with the top local leadership debating more who would be the Chief Minister rather than concentrating on the task of forming a government. The urgent need to get those 4 MLA's to cobble out a majority was somewhat missed and that is where Manohar Parrikar and the BJP, not the ones to miss out on an opportunity pulled the rug from under the Congress party's feet. There is no point in blaming the Congress leadership in Delhi or their representative, Digvijay Singh since it was the local leadership that should have seized the moment and driven the matter since they are more aware of local conditions and allegiances. But the problem with the local Congress leadership was that they had lost self-belief and did not even have a plan in the event of a development like a hung verdict leaving them as the single largest party. They had convinced themselves that they were losing. This is the sad story of the Congress who have watched from the sidelines as the verdict of the elections was hijacked by the BJP. All this going to the Supreme Court and getting a ruling for Manohar Parrikar and the BJP to prove their majority on the floor of the house on Thursday, 16th March is part of the farce being played out as said earlier and in the nature of damage control to recover their public image in the eyes of the voting public. When Manohar Parrikar could parade his 21 MLA's and submit letters of support to that effect on Sunday, 12th March, what stops him from winning the vote of confidence on 16th March? The Congress has been at fault at this time and they should admit as much. 

Democracy Under Threat In India

Modi has gone overboard to correct the image of the recent Assembly election results that he lost 3 out of the 5 States that went to the polls by drastic action in overturning the public mandate in Goa and Manipur and claiming that the BJP can form governments in these 2 States. Though there are some who have said that Modi & the BJP have taken UP with a landslide win, which has more seats than all the other States put together. But in my opinion the true test of leadership is its spread and not its depth. Winning just UP also shows the single mindedness of Modi which is not necessarily a good thing in statesmanship since you have to look after everyone. It can be presumed from this that he can maybe do only one thing at a time which for a child is a good virtue but for a Prime Minister a bad weakness. The seriousness of Modi’s purpose in overturning the public mandate in Goa can be gauged by the fact that he was willing to let go his Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, whom just a few weeks ago he had called a 'navaratna' of his Cabinet. Forget that since Modi will tell you that most of the time he does not mean what he says and in any case Parrikar was more than homesick for Goa. But what the BJP has done is to undermine democracy and its due process by cancelling the verdict of the elections which gave the Congress party the highest number of seats in both Goa and Manipur. The role of the Governors in the 2 States is in question since they have acted against the basic principle of elections in a democracy and that is to first give opportunity to the party which has secured the largest number of seats. Only if the largest party expresses inability then the next party has to be called to form the government. There is no matter in quoting precedents and the assessment aspect in the satisfaction of the Governor as to who can provide a stable government, since the latter is after the fact. Thus both the Governors of Goa and Manipur who are BJP government appointees have not discharged their office as required under the Constitution and in the interests of democracy and hence they should voluntarily quit office or be discharged from their duties by the President. On a broader aspect it needs to be said that all the finer points of derailing the edifice of democracy anywhere in the world has emerged in India. Whether it is using money to bribe voters in elections, cultivating dedicated vote banks by segmenting the  voters on religion, caste or any other basis, organising defections, suborning the results of elections as covered above, horse trading, using money power in elections etc. etc, happens only in India. Thus the democracy in India stands totteringly, propped up by bandages and bandaids of this rule, that amendment or yet another court judgment, tired, dejected and remorseful and praying that it is put out of its misery as early as possible. At the same time our politicians continue to threaten voters with the sanctity of democracy to which they just pay lip service to make it work for their own selfish interests and with no desire or intention to pursue a truly functional democracy.

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VOX POPULI

by

S Kamat

as

Aam Admi

Issue: 192             Date:  13.03.2017

skamatblog.blogspot.com or aamadmivoices.blogspot.com

Contents:

1.      The Real Truth About the 2017 Assembly Elections

2.      Goa Poised For Political Uncertainty In the Days Ahead

3.      Steve Smith Getting Off Lightly

4.      Cash Transaction Tax & Other Levies At Banks

5.      US Hate Crimes & The Transition In India

The Real Truth About the 2017 Assembly Elections

One hates to be a party pooper but facts are facts. Narendra Modi and the BJP have lost 3 out of the 5 States that went to the Assembly polls. Albeit their victories in UP and Uttarakhand have been handsome but here one has to give in and compliment Modi's charisma which has brought home the BJP in these States. Modi is a good election manager but fails on the aspect of governance which he can concentrate upon in the remaining 2 years that he has in the present term. With UP in the bag, this task will be made easier since he can hope for more support in the Rajya Sabha as time goes by to pass much needed and crucial legislations smoothly. There are some who have said that Modi & the BJP have taken UP with a landslide win, which has more seats than all the other States put together that went for elections this time. But in my opinion the true test of leadership is its spread and not its depth. Winning just UP also shows the single mindedness of Modi which is not necessarily a good thing in statesmanship since you have to look after everyone. It can be presumed from this that he can maybe do only one thing at a time which for a child is a good virtue but for a Prime Minister a bad weakness. Losing a State like Goa that it held for 10 years does not also augur well for the BJP’s future. The same thing with Punjab, where it is a slap in the BJP's face that the SAD, its ally got such a drubbing and the big leader could do nothing! 

Goa Poised For Political Uncertainty In the Days Ahead

The Goa elections have brought home a surprise leader in the Congress party scooping 17 seats beating the BJP at 13 in the 40 member House. After major issues of dissidence within the party leading up to the elections this is indeed a creditable achievement helped no less by the division in the votes of the BJP to the MGP and the misguided BBSM movement's foray into politics. AAP's full fledged outing in the Goa polls was a no-no without a win and the party was able to just get a maximum of 4000 votes in one constituency while in all others it scraped only upto 2000 votes. The AAP should realise that it is not easy to fight elections far from their home base of Delhi though many a leader including supremo Arvind Kejriwal did come down to Goa and campaigned here. AAP need to back their words with performance which has been more than dismal in Delhi irrespective of their overdone publicity and the successes that it has achieved in Punjab are a flash in the pan or like a 'summer storm' as Amrinder Singh of the Congress has said. Coming back to Goa the wheeling dealing would have begun not amounting hopefully to horse trading with the Congress having the better chance to form the government because of their numbers. But getting those 5 MLA's on their side for a comfort in the Assembly is going to be a uphill task unless it goes to the MGP requesting for a bailout. The MGP led by Sudin Dhavlikar long used to sitting on fences should make the most of this unless on 'ideology grounds' both find the alliance a bitter pill to swallow. All in all from a stability in the political arena for close to ten years now Goa is going to dive into uncertainty come the next Assembly gets into session.

Steve Smith Getting Off Lightly

The Steve Smith incident at the Bengaluru Test is against the spirit of cricket as it is played. Considering this anyone who infringes this spirit should be suitably penalised. There is no question of Steve Smith trying to explain away the matter as a 'brain fade' which is obviously not a mature way to handle the matter. Otherwise we will continue to have such incidents and precedents Iike the above will be quoted to defend the transgressors leading to further degeneration of the game as it should be played. Thus BCCI having withdrawn its complaint from the ICC is completely wrong and needs to be re-instated. As Sunil Gavaskar has said - Why do we hasten to withdraw our complaints against cricketers from other countries since if our cricketers are involved, they will never be given the grace by the other opposing party particularly countries like Australia and England? At the least Steve Smith should be penalised to the extent of not being allowed to play in the last Test in the ongoing tour? Not only that the Australian press like the Daily Telegraph has been very acerbic on incidents purported to be of bad behaviour by both Virat Kohli and Anil Kumble against the Australian officials and the umpires during the Bengaluru Test. These reports are iare being made as diversionary tactics and to create a smokescreen to hide Steve Smith's referral to the pavilion which they know was a grievous mistake. That is precisely the reason why if we have to be generous, we should do so with those who deserve generosity and not waste it on the Aussies. 

Cash Transaction Tax & Other Levies At Banks

 After starving the people of cash from 10th Nov 2016 the government and the banking system are back at the game of inflicting more misery on the hapless citizens. This is coming in the form of a penal fee for more than 4 cash transactions in a month, separately for withdrawals and deposits into bank accounts. Though the government is paying lip service to the ploy of asking banks not to implement this, covertly it is behind the measure since otherwise how will the cashless economy come into place? After demonetisation, the exercise of stopping people from withdrawing their own money and then allowing it to be removed in trickles even to this day while at the same time limiting the number of outlets like ATM's, since they were all cash-dry, from which money could be withdrawn, are all impinging on the personal property rights of every single citizen and business entity of this country. It also clearly shows up the inability and consequent irresponsibility of the present government on an important function of governance and that is to provide adequate amount of currency to its people for personal needs as also trade activity. Adding insult to injury instead of accepting this failure and apologising for it, the government has been spinning another yarn, that of the cashless economy. Now the banks too are joining in the game by charging for the number of cash transactions that you can do, remember it is all your own money. This indirectly confirms the continued inability of this government to provide currency and to hide this fact they are taking the aggressive posture of - Why do you need cash? Is this not a form of 'indirect' direct taxation where on a manufactured reason the government is asking its agencies to pull out money from people's pockets. They are also getting banks to do it since the decision on transaction fees relating to credit and debit cards, mostly the latter, is hanging fire for which the banks have been hammering on government's doors for a decision to improve their profitability. Similarly for going cashless the government has announced a scheme on which hundreds of crores have been budgeted. Why is that scheme not being withdrawn and the money given the banks so that they need not levy the cash transaction charge on common citizens? As said earlier in all this the government has failed miserably and since one can interpret this as an infringement on the fundamental rights of the citizen, it is time that someone files a PIL on this in the Supreme Court so that the government can no longer hide behind its inefficiency and their bluff is called. As for SBI's rule for maintaining minimum balances in bank  accounts, that is a matter of competition since customers have the option to move away to other banks who may may not have this rule and it is only SBI who may suffer in the long run. SBI has since clarified that the minimum balance rule is being done to offset the costs of Jan Dhan accounts. So it's a situation of robbing Peter to pay Paul, for lack of a better way to manage costs. Further there is also the move to limit the number of times that you can use ATM's which should be the same as what was prevailing earlier and there should be no attempt to curb it further. After all, banks should remember the basic principle that they exist because of money deposited by common citizens and if all people withdraw their money and keep it at home, the banks are likely to go bust. There will come a day not far into the future where you may have to pay just to step into the bank. 

US Hate Crimes & The Transition In India

There have been three hate crimes in the US against Indians in the last two weeks. This has been  fostered by Donald Trump's attitude and publicly stated policy towards immigrants which has created an atmosphere of mistrust and hatred encouraging some people to take advantage of it. Notably Narendra Modi the man who claimed an equation with Donald Trump soon after the US Presidential elections was over, has not even picked up the phone and spoken to the US President seeking justice for the victims and assurances of safety for the large Indian expatriate population in that country.

There is a parallel here in India with Modi and his party, the BJP creating communal tensions since May 2014 all over the country here in India with their intolerance and under one pretext or other, notably over the slaughter of cows and the eating of beef. This has been compounded by the senior BJP leaders including Cabinet Ministers making provocative statements and in that process putting their foot in the mouth, more often than not. Here again there is a situation of double standards where one can safely say that when anyone from the BJP makes a controversial statement however outrageous it may be, then they are defended or at most a comment is made that they did not 'actually' mean what they said or what they said was this, putting out a diluted or vapid version of the statement or comment. But if it is anyone else who makes even a simple comment particularly the Opposition parties then it is blown up in a manner of making a mountain out of a molehill and all within the BJP go hammer and tongs against the person or party even extending to physical attacks, legal course and slandering. This kind of thing has resulted in a kind of uncertainty and unease across the country. Moreover the rank and file of the BJP cadre has got encouragement by this situation and the courage to foment trouble knowing full well that the top leadership will back them up. Avoidable incidents like this have generated an alarm in Indian society on how to deal with this kind of boorishness, intransigence, crass behaviour and a general feeling of disappointment at the transition of our society and country's image from that of an ancient civilisation, educated, cultured and compassionate to a wannabe culture desperate to show off their supposed achievements exposing the shallowness of themselves as well as their claims. 

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