Common concerns over technology in financial sector - The Hindu
Common concerns over technology in financial sector - The Hindu
The article has quoted from my email dated July 15, 2014, copied below:
The article has quoted from my email dated July 15, 2014, copied below:
Concern for common man
This refers to the article
“Concern for common man” (July 15,2014). It is very rarely that mainstream newspapers
devote space to highlight the problems faced by the category of human beings
branded as ‘middle class’ which is really the majority of people sandwitched
between the rich and the poor and facing extinction in the near future by
migrating downwards to the BPL(Below Poverty Line) category as and when the
poverty line is drawn realistically.
Welcoming the widespread technology adoption by the
financial sector, the auther has rightly raised the question,
as to whether the users, like bank depositors, are really comfortable with
interfacing banks through a computer and mentioned that there is a widespread
alienation and it is unrealistic to expect all common people to be net savvy. This
is an understatement, if one factors in the literacy level across the country
with the exception of states like Kerala and some urban areas.
The concern expressed by Narasimhan in the article need to be
addressed by the new government by immediate review of the following measures
initiated by UPA I and UPA II:
i)
The withdrawal of existing defined payment based
pension scheme for regular employees and introduction of National Pension
System which in reality does not have any features of a Pension Scheme as
commonly understood.
ii)
Keeping the concept of minimum wages caged. The fear of
increased outgo for programmes like ‘Employment Guarantee’ Schemes and pressure
from industries which are now dependent on ‘outsourced’ labour prevent government even from getting the
position reviewed by experts.
iii)
The concept of making users of services and commodities
pay the ‘real cost’ and offering international market price to companies for
products like oil, gas and coal without factoring in the advantages they enjoy
in India has allowed prices at retail level for all essential services and food
articles shoot up. This is not a problem that can be solved by giving an
‘Inflation Target’ to Reserve Bank of India.
M G Warrier, Mumbai
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