Warrier's blog

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday March 1, 2023 1) Forget words, follow figures and shapes : Dosas for kids https://youtu.be/nEjS0e2UatQ 2) Robotic elephant in Kerala Temple https://youtu.be/E9BCTY1NVmE 3) Dust, If You Must https://www.ellenbailey.com/poems/ellen_218.htm Dust If You Must by Rose Milligan Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better To paint a picture, or write a letter, Bake a cake, or plant a seed; Ponder the difference between want and need? Dust if you must, but there's not much time, With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb; Music to hear, and books to read; Friends to cherish, and life to lead. Dust if you must, but the world's out there With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair; A flutter of snow, a shower of rain, This day will not come around again. Dust if you must, but bear in mind, Old age will come and it's not kind. And when you go (and go you must) You, yourself, will make more dust. (Poem shared by V T

Soft credit This refers to the report "Credit card spends in January at over Rs1-lakh cr for 11th month in a row : RBI" (The Hindu Business Line, February 28). Accidentally, my thought got mixed up with the one page advertisement on page 7 about the auction of gold articles by a finance company. While banks and financial institutions do the business of resources mobilisation and lending, one wonders whether the clientele on the other side of the table get adequate information inputs to plan their finances judiciously. If they received appropriate guidance, a section of the credit card users would have shifted to debit cards and a large number of gold loan beneficiaries would have started selling and buying gold in the market, instead of pledging and redeeming their jewellery for management of temporary financial liquidity issues. M G Warrier Mumbai

Silver lining This refers to the Business Line interview with Ashok Lahiri, author of "India in Search of Glory" (The Hindu Business Line, February 27). The attitude of Lahiri is positive which made me respond to his observations even before getting and reading the book under discussion. Richa Mishra's poser "Many of the UPA's proposals have been rechristened under the current NDA regime..." had an unintended negative tenor. But Lahiri, smartly responded even before the question was completed. The beautiful conclusion that "to abandon a good policy just because it was proposed by a previous government under a different political party would be preposterous" is a welcome caution which should be internalised by all political parties irrespective of the colour of the flag. M G Warrier Mumbai

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday February 26, 2023 1) Kavach https://youtu.be/z0gn4W8YYYc Indigenous Train Protection System 2) Funny animals, cute birds https://youtu.be/daB54dKaAnY Good Morning Happy Birthday and Ayurarogyasaukhyam to all readers having Birthday during the week ending Saturday March 4, 2023. Today my sister(Rugmini Echi) is completing 84. Prayers for her Ayurarogyasaukhyam 🙏 and Best Wishes to all readers. Nice Day M G Warrier A Messages/Responses 1) Sharada Nayar Chennai Rules to be followed while eating Dosa was interesting (Had not noticed. Read now. During 1990's, a foreigner (I think from Switzerland) had come for some work to RBI. On a day he was wrapping up his work in RPCD I had to take a day's leave and before leaving he wanted to discuss with me something. My boss sent him to my house for a discussion over breakfast. We welcomed him with bread and Dosas for breakfast. We didn't have knife and fork etc. When dosa wa

February 24, 2023 When dissent is a positive sign This refers to the reports about dissenting notes by two external members in the February 2023 MPC meeting. Categorisation of MPC members into internal and external by media could have been avoided. All the members are on the committee as professionals and the MPC since inception has been doing the job assigned to it professionally, within the constraints emanating from multiple ingredients in the inflation influencers, which are external to the impact of policy tools with RBI. In the above context, Prof Ashima Goyal's observation that "Inflation has many administered price components and all regulators need to internalise the inflation target in order for it to be achieved" need to be taken in the true spirit. The public feeling that "inflation is RBI's baby" should be removed first from the mindset of media and analysts. Fortunately the FM and the RBI are on the same page on inflation, as of now. M G

February 23, 2023 Standard gold, Advantage India This refers to the report 'WGC to digitise gold ecosystem' (February 23). The message WGC's Chief Executive David Tait is conveying here is significant for India. Imagine a day when India mainstreams, accounts and standardizes at least 50 percent of the country's estimated domestic gold stock of 25,000 tonnes. Besides the country's economic growth moving to fast track, the overall attitude of Indians to the yellow metal will change for the better. If India decides to manage the gold the country owns productively, by providing facilities for conversion of domestic gold stock to standard gold, giving higher returns on gold deposits and increasing the component of gold in Banks' Statutory Liquidity Ratio (this doesn't even need a change in regulations!) and giving such other incentives as may be necessary, to reduce household gold stock, gold will play a hitherto unheard of proactive role in the country'

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Wednesday February 22, 2023 Maheswara Pancharatna Stotram By Shankaracharya Let's listen to the Maheshwara Pancharatna Stotram rendered by Dr Mangalampalli Balamurali Krishna and broadcast by AIR in the Bhakti Ranjani Programme a few decades back (Vijayawada/Hyderabad stations). https://youtu.be/v5HKqyz7pDM *Shared in Group by C.S.Murthy and forwarded by K Balasubramanian Good Morning Don't miss Masala Dosa at F. Nice Day M G Warrier A I 75 years of Nationalisation of Reserve Bank of India The Reserve Bank of India was nationalised with effect from January 01, 1949 on the basis of the Reserve Bank of India (Transfer to Public Ownership) Act, 1948. All shares in the capital of the Bank were deemed transferred to the Central Government on payment of a suitable compensation. ‘2023’ marks the 75th year of another milestone in the history of the Bank. Source : RBI Newsletter February 15, 2023 shared by S Thyagarajan II My Vi

Gold as a productive asset This refers to the article "Why gold loans don't shine" (The Hindu Business Line, February 19). The article covers various advantages of converting solid gold into other monetary assets and argues for sale over pledge of gold for raising funds. The motives of money lenders in taking gold as security is well exposed. There is a felt need for a change in our mindset towards gold as a liquid asset. For a change in public mindset, there has to be transparency in government's gold management policy. National Gold Policy should aim at accounting, mainstreaming and purifying domestic gold stock now idling in private vaults and lockers. If Tirupati temple gold can become a productive asset in SBI vaults, there's no justification in allowing tons of gold to remain underground and securing it at taxpayers' cost. Having said that we need to do a lot more to create awareness in the public mind about safe migration from the trust in the yel

Welcome To Warrier's COLLAGE On Sunday February 19, 2023 1) S Jaishankar : Man to watch, 2023-24 https://youtu.be/4FYrtlU-ueU 2) And a woman to admire... Malavika Hegde https://youtu.be/S8CSoDoAfHE 3) Optional : Sadguru on Mahashivratri https://youtu.be/v3VMVQEVKB4 Good Morning Happy Birthday to all readers having Birthday during the week ending Saturday February 25, 2023. Ayurarogyasaukhyam 🙏 and Best Wishes to all readers. We need not wait for miracles to happen. For someone falling, your hand extended at the right time, can be a miracle. Nice Day M G Warrier AA Mahashivratri : M G Warrier Listened to Sooryagayatri's recital* : https://youtu.be/5Rqa4IpR9CU Shivaratri is a day every year which brings back nostalgic memories about my school days : എനിക്ക് നല്ല ഓർമ്മകൾ ബാക്കി വെച്ച ഏഴ് ശിവരാത്രികളുണ്ട്. 1953 മുതൽ 1959 വരെയുള്ള ഏഴ് ശിവരാത്രികൾ. ആ കാലത്ത് താമസം അച്ഛന്റെ കൂടെ പുറമേരി ഉദയപുരം ക്ഷേത്രത്തിനകത്തായിരുന്നു. ആദ്യത്തെ കുറച്ചു കാലം രുഗ്മിണി ഏച്ചിയും കൂ

HAL and Air India This refers to the reports on HAL getting orders for export of LCAs to three countries and Tatas finalising Air India-Airbus deal to acquire 250 planes (The Hindu Business Line, February 15). These are positive developments in the India growth story which would have received more media attention, but for the distractions caused by some unpleasant developments in the corporate sector, which hopefully will fade out sooner than later. India has huge unexploited potential in defence industries and manufacture of aircrafts. The other two sectors which can help India prosper faster are tourism and gold management. We have to shed the hesitant approach thrust upon by traditional reasons and move faster in these areas. M G Warrier Mumbai