The Unborn Genius

The Unborn Genius

There was once a king who commissioned some of his noblemen to identify the geniuses in the kingdom. The noblemen went around the kingdom and soon produced a list of a few such geniuses in the field of learning, art etc. Surprisingly, the list included the kingdom's richest merchant's yet to be born child. When asked about it, the noblemen said that  the child woud have to be a genius since the highly credible and influential rich merchant was fathering it.

The Lexicon Divide

Nearing 80, I am hard pressed to learn the new lexicon to converse with the younger generation,   Gen X and Millennials (Google it out to find their difference, if you wish!)

 A formal greeting like “How are you”, is replied with” I am good”, which is like the person giving him/herself a character certificate!  I would have expected the simple “Thank you, I am well. How are you”?

 

That we are not in sync with each other is now expressed by the phrase “we are not on the same page”. I ask, Are we as if reading a book together? Like what we used to call, Combined Study (a euphemism for jolly good time spent with a friend) during our school days?

Then there is this word “space” which I have understood   mainly in the context of interplanetary or galaxy. Today it is used in several other contexts like culture, heritage and even diplomacy. I would prefer the simple and elegant “place”, but then there is no place (or is it space) for the good old King’s /Queen’s English anymore!

The word “shut’ has almost replaced the word “close”. We used the word Shut only and very exclusively to stop a person from crapping, and said   Shut Up. Not close up perhaps to escape from his bad breath!  In our days markets and schools were closed rather than shut on holidays.

Your stand on an issue is now what your “Call” is and therefore when one says he will take a Call, don’t be confused thinking he is answering a phone call.

Now a days many youngsters work” out of” their homes, meaning their offices are their homes. The phrase “out of “if followed by a noun has different meanings. For instance, when you say out of place, you mean incongruence / non- conformity or like out of stock means unavailability.

 Offices are now “work stations” and one’s department there is a “vertical”. “Analytics” is the bug word for the good old data analysis.

There must be a lot more of such words/expressions used by the youngsters which I can learn if I talk with them.  But then many of them avoid meeting and talking with me as my conversational language is not on their page.

Wait and Watch

In the past few years , there often was the criticism that the RBI was not reducing the the primary lending rate due to which the cost of borrowing was high for the industries. The government too wanted the interest rate to go down citing the need for faster industrial growth to generate employment. The RBI was more sinned against than sinning in this regard  maitaining that its main responsibility was to control inflation.

The mega bank scams involving big and mighty industrialists have proved that high borrowing rate should not be an issue since  there is no intent to repay the loans !

According to a news item in The Economic Times today,the collateral damage across markets and the banking industry arising out of the mega PNB scam  is around Rs 70000 crore in market value for the PSU banks and about Rs 40000 crore for the government. Can this loss  be written off as mere valuation loss ? There is also in addition the loss of Rs 11,300 crore for the PNB and other lenders plus about Rs, 3000 -40000 crore loss from the Rotomac fraud case.


 Extradition of the big cats who have fled the country  are not going to easy and quick. Imposing travel restrictions on promoters of defaulting companies is stated to another option. Even these  measures are considered by some as harsh enough take a toll on credit disbursal.

In the mean time,  people whose  money has beenn swidled can do nothing but wait and watch.

Where are we heading ?

Another default of bank loan to the tune of some  4000 crore rupees has been reported by another nationalised bank  involving a  Kanpur industrialist . He is said to have been sanctioned the loan as export financing but utilised the loan for other purposes.

This case too will follow the same ineffective process of raids, investigation, filing of FIR, arrest of some persons and their immediate bail, court proceedings etc over long periods of time. In the after math, there will also be the usual blame game by political parties.

Where are we heading ?

Unscrupulous elements in the path to becoming a strong global power

In Novemeber 2014, I wrote a blog  following up  the then Governor RBI's  comments on some Indian businessmen's propensity to cheat the banks from whom they have taken loans giving rise to stressed assets , popularly called Non Performing Assets(NPAs)

The new dispensation in the governance of the country since 2014 has attributed the  NPAs of nationalised  banks  (estimated around Rs. 6,41,057 crores in 2017 or Gross NPA ratio of 12.47 of  total assets),  mainly to the lapses of the banks' management in not enforcing the recovery of loans sanctioned to  big business houses allegedly on the directions of the previous governments, even as   some major defaulters of bank loans have  fled the country after 2014 !.

The latest is the fraud on  Punjab National Bank to the tune of about  Rs.11,300  crore by a big business house in the diamond trade, whose kingpin too has bolted away. These cases perhaps demonstrate how it is easy  to commit  fraud in India, as much easy as it is for doing business in India !

Spokespersons and analysts say that the fraud on  PNB  is due to systemic failure.Any  system,  however perfectly designed,  will ultimately involve human interaction in operating it and that in the case of a massive financial fraud like this, it can not be just a single individual within or outside the organisation.

Our methods of investigation and legal action to book the culprits  are prone to long  delays and appeals, whereas in cases like financial frauds the conviction has to be quick and salutary.

To solve the NPA problem the present government is proposing to enact the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill to enable the recapitalisation of banks to mitigate the NPAs. However, some provisions of this Bill are said to  compromise the interests of the depositors and give the government absolute power in deciding the the fate of the banks if they go under.

The path to becoming a strong global  economic power is not going to be easy with unscrupulous elements

Executive Position

In most democracies, the separation of powers among the legislature, executive and judiciary is well defined and respected. Occasional transgressions do take place however but then these are quickly resolved .

Within the executive , there are are two pressure groups - 1) the political bosses as ministers with joint responsibility to the legislature and 2) the bureaucracy with constitutional safeguards for the executive functions they discharge under the direction of the political bosses.

 The bureaucracy's  selection, appointment and service conditions including disciplinary action for  misconduct are  all well enshrined in a plethora of rules and regulations with a good amount of objectivity built with the involvement of UPSC and Administrative Tribunals.

Over the years however, there is a growing perception that the mutual relationship between the political bosses and the bureaucracy has got strained. Bureaucrats not in the good books of  the minister are transferred even when there is the system that at and above the Joint Secretary's level the bureaucrat is " selected " by the minister to work under him from a panel of eligible officers. Other instruments like the PMO too have become power centres for postings and transfers.

Then there is the direct interaction between the minister and the bureaucracy where the latter are exhorted to implement plans and programs and make them  a success. Is this a strategy to make the bureaucracy a scapegoat if  the plans /programs fail to deliver the goods.

 It may be remembered that there was in the past a demand for a committed judiciary.

The Angry Husband - Part 3

The Angry Husband - Part 3

Ram Gopal has gained strength from strength in conducting his household affairs as well as in his relations with neighbours.

 When he became Chairman of the Municipal Committee, he chose the other office bearers carefully,  appointing  only those who toed his policy and programs on cleanliness, transparency, vegetarianism. Loyalty to his own self was a crucial factor. Similarly, he took care to ensure that some public bodies like the city library, the Art Council, etc., would be headed by new incumbents who shared his philosophy.

  He monitored his colleagues’ work closely and did not reprimand/criticise them openly if found wanting in performance but quietly changed their portfolios.

Counter-views on his policy and programs  were  aggressively challenged and dubbed as reflecting anti- civic sense and even asking those who aired them to move to other cities.

He was careful in creating and maintaining a popular image of him in the minds of the public by addressing meetings regularly even on matters pertaining to the other office bearers. His colleague office bearers missed no opportunity to sing his praise. 

The Municipality had been a hot- bed of corruption and bureaucratic malfunctioning. His first task was to root out corruption and bring about accountability of the Municipal officers.  This alone brought him many admirers. Delays still occurred in settlement of citizens’ cases but the citizens were ready to suffer the delay in the belief that corruption has at last been eliminated.

The previous members of the Municipality and other powerful businessmen who were their patrons and beneficiaries were systematically reduced to low importance.  Many of them had several skeletons in their cupboards and Ram Gopal gained a lot of public acclaim initiating court cases against these persons.

His personal integrity and zeal to transform the city to conform to best international standards is conceded even by his opponents as unquestionable. However, it is marked by one blemish, i.e., some elements of the citizenry have taken upon themselves the responsibility of punishing those who either showed some reservation or reluctance to abide by his philosophy. The question as to why he is silent on this and why no action is being taken to rein in these elements looms large in the minds of many.