Rain-Bow

Multi-coloured and perhaps the only feather in the cap of finance minister Arun Jaitley is supposedly the banking reforms. Opening of bank accounts, followed by loading of various insurance and pension benefits was the first part of this narrative.   

Proudly the government wears the certification from Guinness Book of World Records on opening most bank accounts in a week. It also does not fail to mention that how increasingly most of these accounts have seen a spurt in deposits thus ensuring that they do not remain dormant. 

Then there is the unsaid promise that once the government finally gets a hold on hoarders of black money abroad, some of it will flow into these accounts and the prophecy of Jan Dhan will be fulfilled. Some naysayers, however, predict that the government may dole out cash in the grab of subsidies at the fag end of its stint. In both cases it only looks like the proverbial gold pot at the end of the rainbow. 

But it was the second spate of reforms that was said and meant to be more qualitative than quantitative. In August 2015, the rainbow was launched. Dubbed as Indradhanush, the government ushered a seven pronged plan to free the public sector banks in India from the clutches of crony capitalism being pursued during the tenure of previous government.

Mr Jaitley at various fora has eulogized these measures as path breaking and that which changed the landscape of banking in this country.

But if you look closely, Mr Jaitley and his lieutenants have only rearranged the VIBGYOR, with little or no effect. 

Through Indradhanush, the government promised a comprehensive reform in state run lenders. So far, it has appointed only two private sector candidates in the top five public sector banks, and one of them had previously worked with country’s largest lender, State Bank of India.

In line with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) suggestions, the post of chairman and managing director has also been split. Though the verdict on appointing private sector guys and splitting the post is yet to be out, till date none of these newly appointed heads has embarked upon an innovative approach.

Then comes the appointment of independent directors, which the government had promised to do in three months. There has been no movement on that. The proposed bank board bureau, where members were to be selected in six months has not seen any action too.

The government which revamped the selection process of top executive in PSBs and had cancelled appointments done by previous government has also done little to revolutionize the selection process. It has only divided the existing selection committee into three groups and added one more member with rest of the process being mostly the same. 

The government promised Rs 70,000 crore towards bank capital allocation till FY 2019. It said it has ‘estimated’ the capital needs and that banks valuations will increase significantly due to ‘far reaching governance reforms’ helping them to raise the remaining capital from the markets. 

The UPA government in its last stint had allocated around Rs 62,000 crore towards bank capital allocation when the more stringent Basel norms were yet to be set in and banks enjoyed the leeway to manage their books and hide their non-performing loans. 

If not for RBI’s asset quality review (AQR), the bad loans may have never tumbled out of the closet. The AQR directly resulted in most banks reporting losses or a sharp drop in third-quarter profit. Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of many banks have since climbed to nearly 10%, thus stripping them of the government’s ‘estimate’ that they will be able to raise over Rs 1 lakh crore from the markets. 

Step down from the rainbow, and the banking sector in the country doesn’t look that it has moved much ahead. There has been no talk of consolidation in public sector lenders. The weak banks are not to be on the block and the large banks are still averse to mergers. 

Mr. Jaitley like always may argue that the legacy issues are too big to be sorted out this quickly. The rainbow, however, mostly comes after a shower, and for now it looks like it will pour, and pour hard.

India 2016.

Finance, and Information & Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley in a tweet has condemned the recent attacks on journalists. Mr. Jaitley with quite diligence and hopefully conviction too, have been condemning similar incidents 'online', such as he did when a journalists in Uttar Pradesh suffered similar fate. In the same vein, Mr. Jaitley has also mentioned that politicians and journalists should know their facts.

Through Mr. Jaitley’s Facebook post and some blogs, a large section of this country is aware that the well renowned lawyer does not have a reputation for thrift in words, or ideas. In fact, he has come up with some seething headlines and quotes – tyranny of the unelected, manufactured revolt – much to both envy and delight of editors in newsrooms.  So, going by that high standards there were expectations that he may ditch the 140 character platform and expound a bit on this issue as well.

Since he has not, let us assume what he could have said if he had decided to…

Facts & Beyond

If one is to dispassionately analyse the present issue, it may be not unfair to say that journalist were thrashed because they went beyond their brief. As you all know I have been regularly interacting with senior editors and in some cases promoters, so I am mostly aware of what makes a good story and in some cases the news list.

In this case in particular, I am told – not by OP Sharma – reporters wanted to know that on what basis some JNU students were arrested on charges of sedition. Now that is going well beyond their brief. They were to report on what’s happening and not on the why and how. That part has been already covered by some channels and dailies in detail and I do not see any reason to go further into that debate.

The other argument, which I am hearing that how can those reckless students be anti-national just for mouthing some slogans against our country, and that BJP should not have a problem because after all we have a coalition government, till now, with PDP in J&K, where shouting anti-India slogans is the norm.

Now, here am speaking with some experience for you know that I have been active in politics since my university days. In fact, this is nothing like the Emergency era, when whatever you said was deemed anti-national. I have been through those times and trust me we are doing a much better job. Borrowing a line from my Rajya Sabha speech, I will like to stress that…“there are worst illustrations in history when Constitutional systems are used to subvert the Constitution.” So lawyers taking up violence in the court premises do not fall under this constitution category.

As you all know that I can easily tear apart any argument on what is the definition of nationalism, but remember that those who opposing us has always had ‘ideological intolerance towards the BJP.’

This whole JNU issue is again “politics by other means,” for if these JNUites are as patriotic as they claim, why did not their “their collective conscience was shaken by the corruption involving lakhs of crores between 2004 and 2014?”

As the outgoing Delhi police commissioner has said on hacks being thrashed that it was a minor incident and rightly pointed out that it was fallout of emotive issue, you may appreciate that ‘nobody has alleged any governmental complacency in these crimes.’

The shouting of slogans by some foolhardy students was a manufactured paper rebellion, which ought to be crushed at the very outset for otherwise it would have led to a manufactured crisis of a larger level.

Jai Hind.

Fault in Our Stars

It has been good long 19 years since the spectators or rather crowd, at India’s cricket Mecca – Eden Gardens – decided that they will not let Sri Lankans complete their annihilation of the Indian squad at the semi final game of the World Cup.

Stands were burnt, bottles were used as missiles and ultimately the game was called off in favour of the Lankans, who later went on to clinch their first and only World Cup title.

But that was 1996, the Indian economy had opened just a few years ago, India’s youth was still restless, jobless and perhaps – there is nothing official about it – resonated with the public at large.

History, as they say, repeat itself and for us it took just three years and that too at the same dubious venue. This time, the crowd cannot digest a run out. They decided it was unfair and that was it.

Those who dig for cricket trivia may know that that the boorish behaviour of the crowd at Rajkot in 2002 was not because India was on a slide. Let us, however, agree that 2002 was a year of aberrations and more so for Gujarat.  

Since then, we hoped and assumed that we have moved on, learning from our mistakes, or simply letting bygones be bygones.

After all in this while we have sent a probe to Mars, won the World Cup and elected a leader to prove that we believe in giving second chances.  

But after the latest debacle in Cuttack, when the spectators again transformed into a rioting crowd, maybe now the time has come to pause and reflect on the fact that somehow, we have missed an evolutionary phase.

And perhaps, in some way what happened at Cuttack and Dadri, is a reflection of our stunted growth. It takes a few runs on board, or a rumour to incite our animal spirits. We catch fire quickly than it takes sodium to burn in air.

So, are we not only sore losers and get hurt easily but also naïve and equally intolerant? 

Some may argue that it is not so, after all, arson and rioting does happen in the more civilised West. In sports, fans of soccer teams are renowned for that. The latest such incidents have, however, been reported from Malaysia and Egypt and both countries are already battling their own demons.

This, however, is not about comparisons. It is very easy to be outside the field and call judgements. Kohli is not playing well cause Anushka or they had beef in their refrigerator – are not aberrations. It is a mindset. And with each passing day our belief in passing on the blame, or making someone a scapegoat is strengthening.

We intuitively practice it in our daily routine. There is always someone there who can be blamed. A section of the stadium, some incited mob, one party ideology, or even a road, named after a king long dead 300 years ago.

August 15, 1947 was supposed to be our day of awakening to life and freedom. But in no measure we have kept our pledge. We are still fighting on the same issues that eventually led to partition and the unfortunate fact is that the trust deficit among ourselves is widening every year. We feed the Brutus inside us and yet we claim that the fault lie in our stars and not ourselves.

Maybe now it is time to have another tryst with destiny, first as individuals and then as a country. The Prime Minister perhaps needs to redefine Swachh Bharat. The journey from an uncouth nation to a progressive one cannot be limited to cleaning the muck on our roads. But then again, do we need someone to tell us that?

Helen & Faust

“A face which launched a thousand ships,” – is attributed to a German character, ‘Faust’, made immortal by a British play writer, in reference to Helen of Troy, for which Greeks waged a war.

If Faust had to vote in the recent referendum, I bet he too would have chosen ‘OXI,’ after all he made worse deals than this. And at this moment, Grexit, looks like a better deal than any on the table.

Germans, meanwhile, have become bilingual. “Humanitarian aid,” has already emerged as a key word, and may be it will be the next ‘Trojan Horse.’ 

While those defending Greeks are narrating that how Helen or Gretchen was betrayed. It was the cupid, or the devil. She was innocent, never knew what hit her. And then even if she willingly enjoyed all the attention, or in this case, benefits, that is not her fault.

As for Faust, he knowingly made a deal with the devil. And when the term ends, he has to go with him. Germans perhaps will not like to embrace this fate again…

Tspiras and Greek can don the role of being wronged, but they will need to admit that the mess they are in is because of their own shortcomings. A humanitarian aid at this junction cannot be bestowed on them only on the notion of ‘eternal femininity.’ 

Stricter tax laws, self-imposed austerity measures and a return to drachma may just be the beginning. 

When the victorious Greeks started to return from Troy, most of them fell during the journey. The one, who returned unscathed was the righteous, Nestor. According to the Odyssey, it took the protagonist a decade to reach home. And this time it will take more than “Deus ex machina,” to set things right…

Grexit

As I had argued previously, Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras are running in the same marathon – against their electorate’s expectations. By calling for a ‘referendum’ on whether to accept the strict conditions imposed by lenders, Tsipras has unburdened his responsibilities on the people of Greece. 

All across the globe, whenever a question on relinquishing basic amenities – “do you think we should cut your salary for a possible better future?” – will be asked to the populace at large, the answer will be resounding ‘No.’ It will come as a big surprise if the Greek think and vote contrary to this, and perhaps in the future this may serve as an indicator to other struggling nations in the Euro Zone.

Back in New Delhi, Kejriwal’s government, is also taking a leaf out of Tspira’s book. Decisions which an elected government should take on its own are being posed backed to the voters. The recently presented Delhi budget is also said to be formulated after taking public opinion on various issues. We have already seen the party’s attempt to remodel their strategies based on feedback over the phone. 

Seeking public opinion is welcome, it is a part of the overall democratic structure. In some cases it may help to gauge the public mood, which the elected representative, may not be able to convey for reasons of fear, sycophancy or simply that they do not have an ear to the ground. But going to the electorate repeatedly defeats the very purpose of the whole election process. 

A voter has voted you in power because he trusts you, or he thinks that you are the lesser evil amongst all others. In politics it is ok to take a step ahead and retreat two, but to shrug off responsibility and tell your voters to decide on nearly every issue is equivalent to abdication. On that, Tsipras is close to the finish line, Kejriwal still has some time left.