Warrier's blog

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2017/04/30/thousands-expected-for-may-day-protests/101132580/ History on the verge of a REPEAT? M G Warrier

http://googleweblight.com/i?u=http://wap.business-standard.com/article/opinion/letters-economy-in-words-117050100001_1.html&grqid=R1J9L3xA&hl=en-IN&geid=1005 Submitted version posted earlier M G Warrier M 134

https://www.google.co.in/amp/ wap.business-standard.com/ article-amp/economy-policy/ wrong-choice-of-words-can- create-big-news-arvind- panagariya-117042800037_1. html#ampshare=http://www. business-standard.com/article/ economy-policy/wrong-choice- of-words-can-create-big-news- arvind-panagariya- 117042800037_1.html Economy in words This refers to the report “Wrong choice of words can create big news: Panagariya” (April 28). In Malayalam there is a saying that ‘four men may agree, but no two women will agree’, but that was the position long back! Remembered when thought of a situation now when “four politicians may agree, but no two economists will have the same view”. Otherwise, how one can explain the following: a)      Post-Demonetization observations by Manmohan Singh, Amartya Sen, Raghuram Rajan, Dr Y V Reddy and Arvind Subramanian, some of  which were made controversial later. b)     Positions now being taken by members of NITI...

EVMs are tamper-proof, says maker ECIL : Bags ₹2,100 cr order for supply of EVMs, paper trail machines... Tamper-proof  EVMs Apropos V Rishi Kumar’sreport “EVMs are tamper-proof, says maker ECIL” (The  Hindu Business Line, April 28), one finds comfort in the reassuring words of Debashish Das, CMD, Electronic Corporation of India Ltd (a PSU) printed side by side with the report “Uttarkhand High Court sends notice to poll panel over EVM ‘tampering’” filed by PTI. The message is loud and clear. The EVMs are meant to be tamper-proof and are produced and handled with utmost care. Where allegations surface, government and judiciary are willing to probe and make efforts to make corrections and use higher levels of technology to preserve trust in the system. This is the takeaway from the Election Commission’s move to try Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) units in future elections and the judiciary’s earnest efforts to probe into the allegations brought to notice ...

WEEKEND LIGHTER*: Cooperative federalism  (April 29/30, 2017, No.17/2017) Feel free to mail your views on this edition of WL to   mgwarrier@gmail.com *Posted at www.warriersblog.com on April 27, 2017 Section III: Leisure: Remaining... A poem by Balachandran Chullikkad I Cover Story Cooperative federalism* With reference to “CMs want a more consultative NITI Aayog” (Business Standard, April 24), Prime Minister Modi has taken forward his commitment to rebuild the Planning Commission that he made from the ramparts of Red Fort in his Independence Day speech in 2014 with all sincerity. There has been visible effort from the government to professionalise governance at various levels and across institutional structures. The inadequacies being felt emanate more from the stagnant status of reforms. In the Sunday meeting of NITI Aayog, in addition to the  development agenda with long-term perspective, keeping a 15-year time span, issues like change i...

Time’s AAP : Delhi municipal polls signal the end of the road for Arvind Kejriwal and a further fall into irrelevance for the Congress... Understanding what’s AAP This refers to your editorial “Time’s AAP” (The Hindu Business Line, April 27). By comparing Aam Aadmi Party’s performance in elections with that of other political parties, we are doing a great injustice to the commonsense of the common man which conceived the idea of AAP. Media and analysts today are using the same scale to measure the performance of Congress which had monopoly over the country’s political platform from pre-independence days to 1970’s, BJP which emerged as a power to reckon with during the current decade in certain circumstances and AAP which is the off-shoot of a movement called India Against Corruption(IAC) and did not have political ambitions till its leadership by experience realized that politics was the only route to influence governance in India. It wouldn’t be off the mark to observe that ...

http://www.thehindu.com/society/faith/serving-him-three-ways/article18227962.ece

http://www.thehindu.com/ opinion/op-ed/caught-in-the- crossfire/article18230126.ece Excerpts: " For all citizens of the world who believe in basic humanity, the time has come to demand urgent and immediate intervention. The UN Security Council (UNSC) has the military power to bring this unceasing genocide to a halt. Perhaps the time has now come to add moral authority to that. At the end of the day, it is all about morality. Saving children and giving them an opportunity to try to build a better future is a sacred moral duty of all mankind. Scoring diplomatic debating points is fine, but we have crossed the stage of rhetoric. Future generations will never forgive us if the global powers which have the means to stop the genocide do not act now. Who said morality doesn’t have the power to impact the powerful?"

Mr Modi's Panchatantra : Here are five key aspects of Mr Modi's leadership style... Excerpts: "Next month, Narendra Modi will complete three years as India’s prime minister. It is a long enough period for anyone to get a sense of his leadership style. What is clear by now is that Mr Modi is completely different from his predecessor, Manmohan Singh, and indeed almost all his predecessors.  Indira Gandhi, who served as prime minister for almost 15 years in two different stints, is perhaps the only one whose operational style is a little closer to that of Mr Modi. Both were strong leaders. Both had a connect with the ordinary people of India. And both understood power ..."

http://kamadenu.blogspot.in/ 2017/04/the-forest-provides- ornaments-to-gopala.html?m=1 Enjoy the drawings and paintings by Keshav at kamadenu.blogspot.in M G Warrier

Public sector banks merger could help banking system: Urjit Patel : The RBI Governor said a challenge that India’s central bank was grappling with was the large stressed banking sector balance sheets.... Excerpts: " Patel said in the instance of the insolvency and bankruptcy code, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been preparing actively for the next step in an orderly resolution and this will be undertaken concomitantly with the resolution of the weakest bank balance sheets under the aegis of a revised prompt corrective action framework. “One of the things that the public sector banks need to do is to raise private capital from the market and not rely on government largesse,” he said. Public sector banks have to be required to share the burden of recapitalising, Patel said. This will be a good way to restore some market discipline and get the banks and their shareholders to more seriously care about management decisions, he said. Patel also said that cons...

http://www.moneylife.in/ article/if-whistle-blowers- want-action-they-have-to- interact-and-trust/50319.html If the whistle-blowers want action, they have to interact and share:  Moneylife article  By Sucheta Dalal Excerpts: “Soon after the first exposé, I wrote another report, which put the size of the scam at Rs5,000 crore (a stupendous figure in those pre-liberalisation days) that included UTI units, fake banking receipts (BRs), deals, portfolio management schemes (with PSUs), bill discounting, etc. On the day the report was published, the then Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, S Venkitaramanan, called a press conference to deny the report. Such denials by RBI are unheard of even today; in 1992, it was an extraordinary event. I thought it was the end of my career. On checking with DT (since my information had indirectly come from the central bank itself), we gathered that the RBI governor, indeed, had no concrete basis to deny my report. He had pro...

NITI Aayog tells Centre to review tax exemption on farm income : The Central Goods and Services Tax Act has changed the definition of 'agriculturists' Excerpts: "The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has recommended a review of the tax exemption on agriculture income.  In its three-year action agenda, circulated among chief ministers on Sunday, the Aayog said this was necessary as the blanket relief was being misused by non-agricultural entities to generate black money. Officials in the know said the exemption was meant to protect farmers but many non-farmers were declaring agriculture as their source of income to evade taxes. “This loophole needs to be plugged,” the Aayog said...." My VIEW: Really commendable initiative from NITI Aayog M G Warrier

Letters: Cooperative federalism : Hopefully, the coming days will see NITI Aayog revisiting 'concurrent subjects'... Cooperative federalism With reference to “CMs want a more consultative NITI Aayog” (April 24), Prime Minister Modi has taken forward his commitment to rebuild the Planning Commission that he made from the ramparts of Red Fort in his Independence Day speech in 2014 with all sincerity. There has been visible effort from the government to professionalise governance at various levels and across institutional structures. The inadequacies being felt emanate more from the stagnant status of reforms. In the Sunday meeting of NITI Aayog, in addition to the  development  agenda with long-term perspective, keeping a 15-year time span, issues like change in financial year from April-March to January-December and simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies were mooted. It is comforting to see that serious discussions over issues on which difference in...

Letters: RBI's concerns : Politics can never be good unless the economics to be pursued is also good... RBI’s concerns With reference to “Restoring credibility”* (Business Standard, April 13), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor’s apprehensions with regard to loan waivers and other critical issues are a good sign to lend a durable credence to the regulatory mechanisms and in its endeavour to make the banking system strong. The fact is that over a period populist measures indulged in by the political class have retarded the growth process, thereby widening the fiscal deficit. Politics can never be good unless the economics to be pursued is also good. Agreed that there are exceptions, but massive loan waivers are something that can severely impact the recovery process of banks, which has already taken a big hit. Urjit Patel has warned that such loan waivers serve to undermine an honest credit culture. Concerns about the mounting non-performing loans of public sector ...

DHARMA SASTRA* The conduct of an individual depends on many factors, such as one’s innate nature, swabhava, his moral standpoint, swadharma, the circumstances of his upbringing, and so on. In a discourse, Kidambi Sri Narayanan pointed out that Rama emerges as one who laid down rules of good conduct for all in the world by precept and example. Rama deals with the dilemmas in His life and chooses the Visesha dharma required of His role as king and protector of the people to His personal dharma towards family, wife, etc. In the Ayodhya Kanda, Jabali asks Rama on what grounds he stands justified in renouncing the inheritance of the kingdom to lead a life of penance in the forest beset by dangers. Is He not evading His duty towards the citizens, being deluded by His attachment and respect to Dasaratha and his word? How can one be sure about the word of sastras that promise a world of bliss to one who practises austerities, charities, penance, meditation, renunciation and so on? ...

http://m.thehindubusinessline. com/portfolio/macro-view/no- quick-fixes-for-indian-banks/ article9659086.ece A balanced analysis of the action proposed M G Warrier M 134

http://www.thebetterindia.com/ 97321/serve-india-adivasi-lp- school-wayanad/?utm_source= onesignal&utm_medium= pushnotif&utm_campaign= pushnotif&utm_content= pushnotif Nostalgia Remembered my first visit to Wayanad during 1950's. My brother-in-law was working as a teacher in a primary school in interior Wayanad. The school was about 12 km away from the nearest bus terminus. We enjoyed the walk carrying bags and other articles. M G Warrier

http://www.thehindu.com/ opinion/op-ed/the-line- between-fiction-and-fact/ article18195703.ece#comments Interesting observations M G Warrier

http://www.thehindu.com/ opinion/op-ed/racism-and-the- reality-in-japan/ article18195730.ece#comments Such narratives help us in understanding that problems  exist even in countries which we consider  as  economically developed and culturally advanced. M G Warrier

To realise ‘New India’ vision, States too must pitch in: PM : Modi makes a case for shifting the financial year to January-December... Modi’s vision of ‘New India’ Prime Minister Modi has taken forward his commitment to rebuild the Planning Commission given from the ramparts of Red Fort in his Independence Day speech on August 15, 2014 with all sincerity. There has been visible effort from GOI side to professionalize governance at various levels and across  institutional structures. The inadequacies being felt emanate more from the stagnant status of reforms for decades. In the Sunday (April 23) meeting of NITI Aayog, in addition to the development agenda with long term perspective, keeping a 15 year timespan, issues like change in financial year from April-March to January-December and simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies were mooted. It is comforting to see that serious discussions over issues on which difference in perceptions across states and p...

http://m.thehindubusinessline. com/portfolio/macro-view/no- quick-fixes-for-indian-banks/ article9659086.ece A balanced analysis of the action proposed M G Warrier

NITI Aayog flags judicial, governance reforms : Governing council meets on Monday to discuss three-year strategy... Excerpts: " The NITI Aayog is likely to advocate a radical shift in judicial, police and bureaucratic systems at its governing council meeting at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Sunday.  The proposal is part of a three-year strategic paper the Aayog has prepared in place of the scrapped five-year Plans. If implemented, this could open the door for outsourcing some tasks done by these institutions and facilitate lateral entry of talent in top positions.  The idea, mooted by the Aayog, is likely to be shared with chief ministers at the meeting to be chaired by Prime Minister ..."

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/come-save-relationships/article18191617.ece Come, save relationships* Swati Sharma Excerpts: "When you think everything is someone else’s fault or doing, you will suffer a lot. It’s when you realise that everything springs from only yourself, you learn both peace and joy - The Dalai Lama ***         ***  The girl that just updated a status about being cheerful, was crying two days back and is seriously messed up in her career right now. But she is not going to update that. The couple that updated their trip selfies actually had a fight right before them. The “food porn” photos don’t necessarily mean it was a lovely dinner. Nor do foreign trips symbolise an enriched life. But a generation living with ideologies of FOMO*, YOLO* and Never Settle will not get it. We want it all and we want it now. And we don’t have the time, patience or energy to build a meaningful relationship. A longstanding relationship i...

Remaining*... Buddhist Monk Pragyasheela said: "When you wake up in the morning, And while going to bed everyday, Imagine The ten thousand years, prior to Your arrival on this planet, and The ten thousand years, after You leave here..." Imagining like that... Blurring of the clear and unclear... Led to fading of my conscious existence! Still, the first human touch on my body... The first inhalation of atmospheric air, Which my nostrils squeezed in fast. The sweetness of the first drop of, Mother's milk...The piercing smell of, The boiling wild blood of youthfulness... The burning flame of ecstasy... The short-lived brightness of rainbows... The amazing power of nuclear energy... Even if... I'm able to imagine and know, The hidden secrets of, Ten thousand years, back and forth... Alas!!! I remain... That miniscule piece of camphor... Melting...And flaming out... Leaving some ashes... When 'consumed' finall...