Warrier's Collage on Wednesday July 27, 2022

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday July 27, 2022 1) Sinduraruna Vigraham... https://youtu.be/yDEz1KWUwEU (K S Chitra) 2) Thekkady in Kerala https://youtu.be/z1-yy-YRbbY Good Morning 🙏 Nice Day M G Warrier A Messages/Responses 1) C V Subbaraman RBI Governor's Hopes! Will advanced banking protect the interests of stake holders? particularly, the depositors who are the back bone of every bank , be it old generation bank or new generation bank? And what about RBI's own initiative for protecting customer interests? More than ten years back, I had given a cheque for about Rs.126 for collection and credit to my account in a co-operative bank in Ahmedabad. The coop bank did not charge me anything. It was sent to Hyderabad by them to a new generation bank branch for collection and remittance of proceeds. The collecting bank charged Rs.100 towards commision and other bank charges and sent me Rs.26! Continued at H1 (This response is included in Collage as it's content will give a fair idea about the philosophy guiding private sector and public sector/cooperative banks. How one group is making profit and why the other depends on government support. Those who praise private sector and are waiting for the bright future when the entire service sector will be in the private sector will get some clues about what they can expect. 🙏-Warrier) II Babusenan's Column in Collage on Tuesday : Made interesting reading. Vararuchi was a great personality. The story of his travels in Kerala is described in a column as under: Legend as per Castes and tribes of Southern India Continued at H3 2) R Jayakumar Regarding contribution to social causes and getting tax benefits while filing returns, in the last financial year I had contributed a total amount of 19000 towards medical and social causes and claimed deduction un 80G while filing Tax Returns. The CA showed details of all donations and claimed only 50% (9500) as eligible under 80G. I don't think contributing 5000 to PM/CM relief funds would have saved 1500 tax for me. On the contrary it is gladdening to note that if I buy liquor* for 5000 I am contributing 3800 to govt as taxes, besides creating employment opportunities for countless people of the nation. R Jayakumar (*If someone buys from regular outlets which keep proper accounts... Collage View) 3) V Sundaresan Caution about reversal of wrong credit : It is good that such instances are shared widely to caution others not to get trapped, resulting in financial loss to them. It is quite natural that the account holder out of ignorance or innocence or by instinct could have acted in haste losing his money but by sheer diligence it was avoided. Sundaresan V 4) Media Response : M G Warrier July 26, 2022 Post-retirement welfare* This refers to the report "EPFO trustees to consider report on expanding coverage"(The Hindu Business Line, July 26). Expansion in coverage and other improvements in the EPF Scheme are welcome measures long overdue. Post-retirement welfare of employees in India has been a neglected area which is causing concern among senior citizens for obvious reasons. It is high time we thought of an apex body to coordinate among organisations handling pension, health care and other welfare needs of the aging workforce irrespective of whether they belong to the government, public/private sectors or maybe informal sector. The last category deserves more attention as the employers are these days depending on outsourced labour. Post-retirement welfare costs need to be factored in in the wages at all levels and perhaps employees irrespective of the tenure or nature of job should be encouraged to save that part of the wages in PF/Pension Funds of their eligibility/option. M G Warrier Mumbai *Published in The Hindu Business Line on July 27, 2022 : https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/article65686682.ece B Collage Charity : M G Warrier "Suggestions... We pay subscription to news papers and news channels.. Likewise why don't you collect a monthly dues for the Collage 😀? Can be utilised for charity 🤔" Friends The above message, meant as a joke, received last week from Dr T V Surendran Mananthavady was included in Collage after removing the Emojis :). Some readers took it seriously and responded. I had promised to respond this week. This is my view 🙂 : For now, I don't need any financial support to compensate the resources (Time and Money) I invest in Collage. Collage has no infrastructure to build an institution or manage any kind of charity/funds. Collage has, in good faith, shared appeals for help from one or two NGOs. That kind of sharing 🙏 of information will continue. As of now, I am not planning to receive any contribution C/o Collage for any purpose. If any reader is interested, s/he may buy/gift books published by me. The entire royalty on books received by me, as of now, is ploughed back for buying/publishing books, or goes to charity (Sometime back, 10k was contributed to PM's Relief Fund while sharing my article "Agenda for Modi.2.0" with PMO. Edited version of the article originally published in The Global Analyst appeared as a chapter in my 2020 book "Restoring TRUST in Governance" Thanks, especially to Nallasivan, Chittanandam, Shaji Kurup and other readers who responded and of course to Dr T V Surendran who opened the discussion. Some such occasional diversion adds salt to life 🙏-Warrier) C Collage Essay : Vishnu Kelkar Shriram B Velankar : Founder of PIN Code System in India Unsung legend of our country, Shri Shriram Bhikaji Velankar is the father of the PIN (Postal Index) code system in India which has the biggest postal network in the world and has about 1.5 lakh post offices across the country. While there have been rapid technological advancements in methods of communications over last two/three decades the pin code system introduced fifty years back on 15 August, 1972, revolutionalised postal delivery of letters and packages. India being multi linguistic, multi script country with low literacy rate , Shri Velankar knew the difficulties very well. In 1971 Bangladesh war took place. The need for transformation in delivery especially in border areas was badly felt. Continued at H 2 Collage adds a couple of related links : https://m.facebook.com/OldDoordarshanTvSerials/photos/a.575064649175725/3441064959242332/?type=3 https://www.thehindu.com/books/books-reviews/post-haste-review-glimpses-of-india-through-stamps/article6305151.ece/amp/ D Babusenan's Column Thunjath Ezhuthassan In the same 'Aithihyamala' there is a story about Ezhutthassan's birth. A brahmin traveller took shelter in the house of a lower caste man when darkness fell. Much before it was dawn, the home maker came out of the house to pass urine. She found to her surprise the guest walking to and fro on the front yard. Naturally she asked what was troubling him. He said that the position of certain planets at that time was astrologically very propitious for conception and the child born out of that union would surely become great. Had he been at home! That thought had upset his sleep. Thereupon the woman requested him to give that precious chance to her and the result was Thunjath Ezhutthassan, the father of modern Malayalam. Here the underlying presumption was that, to have such qualities, the real father should have been a brahmin. In my limited acquaintance with puranic characters, the male partners of an intercaste alliance, where the progeny displayed superior qualities, were always brahmins, the major reason being the conviction that the offspring belonged entirely to the father and the mother's role was to grow his child in her womb. I think that was the main reason why in one's life, father has such an oversize status. This conviction has recently been exploded by the science of genetics. According to it, in every human cell, there exists a pair of 23 chromosomes-one supplied by father and the other supplied by mother. This clearly shows that mother has equal, or even slightly higher, role in the birth of a child. Paternity's dominance has dwindled. What actually count are the individual characteristics of the father and the mother. Neither caste nor religion has any role except those artificially created. Bonus : Collage Poem : Franklin Misquith Happy Parents Day & Happy Grand Parents Day* (July 24, 2022) Today let our parents and grandparents have their way, Let us make them happy in everyway. When we were young, they huddled and cuddled us, And saw to it that we boarded the right school bus. Over each one of us, They made a lot of fuss, Once in a while we were given a mild cuss, Which helped us study and secure an A+. Our grandparents will soon pass away, They were always kind and filled our hearts, With gladness each and every day. Our parents we love them both very dearly, They've guided us at each step we took very, very clearly. May the good Lord keep them around us for many a day, For in due course they will also fly away. F R Misquith *Shared in Group Email E https://twitter.com/CharanSingh60/status/1551643160618553349?s=20&t=yKkiDDnLRbiM2xFTTfSEaA Unity in Diversity - 324 गुरु नयणि बयणि गुरु गुरु करहु गुरू सति कवि नल्य कहि जिनि गुरू न देखिअउ नहु कीअउ ते अकयथ संसार महि Let Guru reside/guide in sight & in words; Guru is Truth Those who have not found or adopted the Guru have wasted their visit to this world Bard Nalh, 1399 F Leisure S Venugopal Chennai writes : Cricket : ODI Series Win Dhawans young Team India won the ODI Series by two straight wins! Windies in the second match hit up 311 runs and it was in the true style of Caribbean batting. Hope raised the Windies score with a breezy ton and with skipper Pooran a very good partnership! India was in fact struggling after losing 5 wickets and an elusive target of 312 runs. Axar Patel had different ideas and won the match for us! Dhawan's Team India won it! Kudos! G Quotes on postage stamps https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/stamp-quotes Like : Be like postage stamps. Stick to one thing till you get there. Josh Billings H 1) Continued from A1 On taking up the matter with the bank, it had temerity to say that they had charged their commission and also courier charges amounting to Rs.70. On further enquiry, it was found that the collection advice had been sent to Ahmedabad by them along with fifteen other advices in the same cover sent by courier, but it chose to charge individual customers each the full courier charges. A complaint to RBI elicited the simple reply "it is not our practice to interfere with the charges levied by banks in such matters". Hypothetically, had this cheque been for Rs.90 or less, the customer would have got nothing at all or something would have been levied from him? In another very recent instance, a customer wanted statement of his account for a particular month from a branch other than the base branch of another new generation bank, where the account was maintained, because he had not taken the pass book for updation. The bank charged him Rs.85 for a one page statement containing ten entries! On enquiry the bank official said "you should have asked for an email statement in which case we would not have charged you anything." But this was not told by the official earlier. In any case, why charge so heavily for a simple statement? Most of the banks do not have updated Rules governing various types of deposits and they do not supply copy to the customers even if asked for although they take the undertaking that the customers had read and understood the rules! Will Shaktikanta Das listen? In a third case : one of the erstwhile associates of SBI had advised its clients that on merger of it with SBI, the old cheque forms would be invalid from a specified date. A client said to the bank "I have 20 unused cheque forms, for which your bank had charged me. You should therefore supply 20 new cheque forms free." The matter was under correspondence. The customer had also intimated the Banking Ombudsman (c/o RBI) about it with request to advise the bank suitably in the matter. The bank settled the matter within ten days by supplying the new cheque leaves free of cost. Five months after the matter had been settled and the customer had perhaps forgotten about it, he received an intimation from the Banking Ombudsman that the customer complaint had not been received in the prescribed form and therefore he should down load the form and make a complaint in the form!! It took five months for RBI Ombudsman to find that the complaint had not been in the prescribed form. This was conveyed by him to the Ombudsman effectively. There was no response. I have always held that customer service is an elusive concept in practice. While Gandhiji is often quoted to say that " the customer is always right", in practice customer is always at the receiving end. My definition of customer remains confirmed : A customer is one whose "kasht amar" Hai or one "Jo Kasht se Marthaa" Hai. subbaraman 2) Continued from C When he was posted in Kolkata, a soldier from Kerala approached him. He was very sad. He told Shri Velankar that his father was sick back home. He does not get timely information on his father's health as it takes nearly a month or even more for a letter to travel from Kerala to border areas in Arunachal where the he was posted. This incident prompted Shri Velankar to seriously think about the solution and thus emerged the the 'पिनकोडप्रणाली'. The PIN code system eased delivery in a very efficient manner. The system removed confusion from incorrect addresses, similar place names etc. India was divided into eight zones, and six digit PIN codes were allotted to each zone. The first digit of the code indicates the zone in which the destination is located. For instance Kerala and Tamilnadu are in the same zone and have the digit 6 as their unique number. The second and third digit denote the sub division and the district of the recipient respectively. The last three digits denote the unique identification number of the destination Post Office. This helped the postmen deliver letters and packages in the quickest possible time. Shri Shriram Velankar was born on 22nd June, 1915 in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. His father was a primary teacher. At the age of 10 Shriram gave presentation of 18 chapters of Gita from 1 to 18 and 18 to 1 before Swatantryaveer Savarkar. He was a brilliant student. He ranked 15th in the SSC examination held in 1931. Shri Velankar took admission in Wilson College, Mumbai. In Inter Arts he stood 1st in Maths and Sanskrit. The scholarship alongwith boarding was available only to those who chose Sanskrit as a subject for further studies. He decided to major in Sanskrit. He stayed in Gokuldas Tejpal Guest House where only dinner was served. He became a Sanskrit schola, passed B.A. in Sanskrit in first class. He got first rank in M.A. in Sanskrit in 1937 and was awarded 'Vedanta' prize . 1938 - Shri Velankar stood first in ICS written examination. Three Indians and 147 British cleared the examination. He was rejected due to history of contacts with Savarkar. He obtained LL.B. degree in 1940 and also passed IAS . He Joined as officer in P & T Department. 1950 - The Minister declared a scheme for overnight delivery by air. Sudden announcement without consultation with the Department posed a challenge for Shri Velankar. However he was successful in implementing the scheme within fifteen days. He was respected for his leadership, imagination and knowledge of the working of his Department. He faced many challenges during his career. In his career he was transferred multiple times and in the process saw 300 districts. 1956 - There was robbery at Delhi PO. The robbers were followed by post office van. They were caught. Mr Velankar felicitated the driver without waiting for boss's concurrence . 1967-68 - Shri Velankar headed the Department of Post of MP Government. During his tenure, Datia P O cash box was stolen from the office. While fighting with the thieves, the post master lost his life. Shri Velankar without obtaining consent from higher ups arranged for the livelihood of post master's family and rewarded the post master appropriately. He became the Post Master General and later was appointed as the Additional Secretary, Department of Communications, GOI. He was a member, board of directors of communications department, GOI and remained so till his retirement. He was leader of India two times of the World Post Organisations seminar. He retired as Additional Secretary of P&T Department. After retirement he wrote a book on 'Indian Postal System'. Mr. Velankar was a lover of Sanskrit from the days of his schoollife. He wrote his first poem in Sanskrit when he was in high school. Apart from Sanskrit he was well versed in Pali , Ardhamagadhi and Hindi. Sahitya Academy entrusted him the task to compile an Anthology of Sanskrit poetry in the 20th century by the name 'Kavyaganga Pravaha'. Simultaneously he learnt German language. His work 'Similis in Vedas' (translated into English) was published in a journal of Bombay University. While in Government service whenever he travelled and also after retirement he wrote extensively in Sanskrit. He worked hard in promoting that language. Out of his 143 books, 138 are in Sanskrit, three in Marathi and two in English. He wrote dramas in Sanskrit such as 'संगीतसौभद्रम' ।, 'कालिदासचरितम्' ।, 'जन्मरामायणस्य' ।, ' राज्ञी दुर्गावती' ।, 'तनयो राजा भवती कथं मे' । etc. He was a poet, music composer, director, editor and a playwright. Under his leadership, 'DEVVANI MANDIRAM' produced Sanskrit dramas, books, lessons, broadcasts in sanskrit on Aakashwani /Doordarsan. He published a monthly magazine regularly by name 'GIRVANSUDHA' till he died on 1st April, 1999. His 'Geetgeervan' received lot of praise. It contains notations of 524 ragas and 72 lakh matras. With his minute study of maths and science of music he introduced a new Raga - 'Shriram Bihag' and a new tala called 'Sudha'. धन्य: स: विद्वद्वरेण्यः येन वयं पिनकोड्प्रणाल्या उपकृताः । VNKelkar 3) Continued from A3 In these legends, Vararuchi, a son of a Brahmin named Chandragupta and his Brahmin wife who was an astute astrologer, became king of Avanti and ruled till Vikramāditya, son of Chandragupta by his Kṣatriya wife came of age and the king abdicated in his favor. Once when he was resting under an aśvastha (ficus religiosa) tree he happened to overhear a conversation between two Gandharvās on the tree to the effect that he would marry a certain, just then born, paraiya girl. This he tried to prevent by arranging, with the help of the king, to have the girl enclosed in a box and floated down a river with a nail stuck into her head. After floating down the river through a long distance, the box came into the hands of a Brāhman who was bathing in the river. Finding a beautiful and charming little girl inside the box and accepting it as a divine gift he adopted her as his own daughter and helped her groom up accordingly. Vararuci in his travels happened to pass by the house of this Brāhman and the Brāhman invited him to lunch with him. Vararuci accepted the invitation on condition that the Brāhman had to prepare eighteen curries and would give him what remained after feeding a hundred other Brāhmans.... ******. *****

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