For generations, public sector banks [PSBs] have been used by the political establishment with impunity to appease their constituencies viz., waiving farm loans especially at the time of elections; salvaging state electricity boards [SEBs] who are made to supply power at throw away tariffs or even free in some states; granting loans to favoured industrial houses without carrying out due diligence and allowing wilful default by certain borrowers [involving quid pro quo] which are clear acts of corruption. All such exogenous imposed actions in total disregard of financial prudence have led to proliferating non-performing assets [NPAs] – a sophisticated nomenclature for bad loans or in simple terms, money lent which cannot be recovered. Together with restructured assets [these are also...
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Stepping on economic independence – Modi’s report card
Commentators across a wide spectrum have felt that prime minister N Modi speech on the 69th Independence Day was stereotyped, lacking in new ideas and did not cover a number of important issues such as foreign relations, relation with neighbouring countries [especially Pakistan], terrorism, internal governance, cooperative federalism, conduct of business in parliament and so on. Some have gone that far to say that the entire 85 minutes address was an extrapolation of his “Mann Ki Baat” [a few have branded this as an exercise in self-adulation]. These are perceptions of all those who for decades have got used to stereotyped addresses from prime ministers who technically though represent the people of India but in their dispositions behave like aliens,...
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Fix coal, fix the economy
If, a person has a vision, chases it with missionary zeal and a robust action plan driven by an apt strategy mix, he is bound to achieve success. Luckily, at this critical juncture when India needs accelerated growth to fulfill the aspirations of millions of unemployed youth and the poor, we have a prime minister in N Modi who embodies all these qualities. The manner in which he has addressed the challenges facing the coal sector proves the point. The position is best encapsulated in a cryptic observation [Anil Swarup, secretary, ministry of coal recapitulated] Modi had made to him 9 months ago when he took charge of the department. Hon’ble prime minister had said “Fix coal, fix the economy”. What...
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Climb-down on Land bill [2015] – blow to development
Nearly 13 months ago on June 26, 2014, central government had convened a meeting of all state chief ministers where almost all of them had expressed serious reservations over the “Consent” and “Social Impact Assessment [SIA]” clauses in the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement [LARR] Act passed in 2013. They felt that these two clauses were major stumbling blocs in the way of acquiring land for development and infrastructure projects and pressed for necessary amendment in LARR [2013]. Modi – government which had taken charge only a month back [having got a resounding mandate to deliver on its development agenda] responded positively. It came up with amendments to exempt 5 critical areas viz., defence, rural infrastructure [including electrification], affordable...
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Direct income support – half-a-dozen speed breakers ahead
In January 2013 the then UPA – government had announced a nation-wide roll-out of direct benefit transfer [DBT] – an acronym for transfer of subsidy amount in to the bank account of the beneficiary. But, the mission remained on paper as even in LPG [liquefied petroleum gas] where it was launched on a limited scale June, 2013, the plan was abandoned in January, 2014. Modi – government resurrected DBT for LPG in November, 2014 in select districts and by January, 2015 embraced all 676 districts in India. Emboldened by its success [leakages have been completely eliminated and this alone would result in saving of over Rs 10,000 crores annually] is now planning big to cover all other subsidies viz., kerosene,...
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Gas policy – judiciary must not enter executive domain
Union government has received a notice from Supreme Court [SC] on a petition filed by Independent Gas-based Power Producers Association [IGPPA] seeking priority in allocation of gas produced from the Reliance Industries Limited [RIL] operated Krishna – Godavari [K-G] basin. IGPPA has contended that the gas allocated from KG basin was not allotted to them on priority basis but was given to fertilizer units. Besides, they wanted a direction to the Central government to frame a policy for country’s energy security. Federation of Farmers Associations [FFA] has also filed a public interest litigation [PIL] demanding more allocation to power sector so as ensure “adequate” electricity supply to farmers. Major companies in steel sector viz., Essar Steel, Welspun Maxsteel and others...
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Land bill – legal conundrum
Thus far, Congress and other like minded opposition parties have leveraged the vulnerability of ruling BJP in Rajya Sabha [where the latter is in minority] to stall the land bill brought by Modi – government that seeks to amend the Land Acquisition Act [LAA] [2013] by exempting projects in 5 crucial areas of ‘strategic’ importance like defence or critical to development from “Consent” and “Social Impact Assessment [SIA]” clauses. Faced with a stalemate, in a recent meeting of the NITI [National Institution of Transforming India] Aayog Governing Council [GC], chief ministers of the BJP ruled states proposed that the state governments may enact their own legislation suiting their requirements. The central government concurred this being a pragmatic approach as individual...
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PM Jan Dhan Yojna – panacea to end farmer suicide
Close to seven decades since independence, Indian society continues to suffer from the stigma that ‘farmers feed the whole country but are unable to feed themselves’. The proof of pudding is in eating as thousands of them are forced to commit suicide every year. During the last one-and-a-half decade or so, about 300,000 farmers have committed suicide and the numbers continues to increase unabated. Invariably, analysts attribute this to their inability to generate adequate income [on an average, a farmer earns just about Rs 5000-6000 per month from cultivating land] because of generally low crop yield on one hand and un-remunerative price for agricultural produce on the other. When, viewed in the backdrop of government giving huge subsidies on inputs...
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Oil PSUs – ‘haemorrhage’ stops
For several decades, central public sector undertakings [CPSUs] in the downstream oil sector viz., Indian Oil Corporation Limited [IOCL], Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited [BPCL] and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited [HPCL] have enjoyed a virtual monopoly position in refining/production and marketing of petroleum products. Although, in the last around 2 decades, private sector players such as Reliance Industries Limited [RIL] and Essar Oil limited [EOL] have also emerged on the scene setting up refining capacity on a large-scale, the position of oil PSUs in the domestic market remains unchallenged. This was primarily because of a discriminatory policy and regulatory environment that not only erected entry barriers in marketing but also rendered their operations unviable. In this backdrop, while one would have...
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Unburden judiciary, boost revenue
Time and again, top brass in the government has lamented at the woefully inadequate infrastructure at all layers in the judicial hierarchy vis-a-vis the ‘mindboggling’ number of pending cases [and still ever increasing]. Accordingly, the ministry of law justice and company affairs has asked the Supreme Court [SC] and all High Courts to fill existing vacant positions besides increasing the bench strength to fill the void. But, has the government ever bothered to examine as to why the cases have proliferated? In how many cases, the state or any of its organizations are involved? Could the authorities have prevented cases from moving to court? Is a maze of ambiguous laws and rules/regulations alone responsible for this? Or is there something...
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