Warrier's blog

The draconian ban on prisoner voting - The Hindu My VIEW: First read this excerpt: " India’s ban on prisoner voting is draconian in two respects. First, it makes no offence-based or sentence-based classification — prisoners are debarred from voting irrespective of the gravity of the offence that they have committed or the length of their sentence. Second, the Indian statute (unlike its British counterpart) makes no distinction between convicted prisoners, undertrials, and those in lawful police custody. This means that those whom we presume innocent until proven guilty — and comprise more than 65 per cent of the prison population — are denied the right to vote." Now, read the whole article. Chandrachood has a valid argument for review of the decision. M G Warrier

  Centre’s delay in approving pension updation scheme irks RBI retirees | Business Line My VIEW: October 8, 2015 ‘Tort’ liability This refers to the report “Centre’s delay in approving pension updation scheme irks RBI retirees” (Business Line, October 8). Although all financial transactions have a cost, if there is delay in completion, in the case of payment of pension, the tort liability on the establishment stands out. This is because, if the beneficiary dies before receiving the benefit, the purpose of paying pension which is meant for sustenance of the individual post-retirement gets lost. One is sadly aware that civil servants are well protected from any consequence from such ‘tort’ liability as their action ‘in due performance of their duties’ (anything under the sun can be covered here) cannot be questioned in courts. RBI Pension Regulations, 1990 enable RBI management to revise pension which was re-confirmed through a circular of March 13, 1992 (quoted in the...

A V Rajwade:: Monetary transmission, base rates and ALM | Business Standard Column My VIEW: One need to ponder over the concluding paragraph. I quote: " High interest rates can have two opposite consequences for the banking system: on the one hand, they would help increase the net interest income while, on the other, they also tend to worsen the quality of assets, increasing the level of non-performing assets. No wonder, capital intensive industry and infrastructure projects seem to have a disproportionate share in NPAs." My response: October 8, 2015 Base rates basics This refers to A V Rajwade’s column “Monetary transmission, base rates and ALM” (THE OTHER SIDE, October 8). The article helps us to look around and search for reasons other than the (earlier) adamant approach of RBI to managing base rates. Bad Asset Liability Management (ALM), high NPAs, inefficiency infused by bad HR policies and government interference in conduct of banking business contribut...

A pinch of salt | Business Standard Editorials My VIEW: October 7, 2015 Poor estimates This refers to your editorial “A pinch of salt” (Business Standard, October 7). Poverty in India has all along, since independence, been a propaganda tool for governments and opposition alike. For external agencies including World Bank, showing results of their efforts to reduce poverty is a survival need. As lifestyle of people improve world over, there has to be change in scales for measuring poverty. Till, say, some thirty years back, poor in India had certain social security systems and their expenditure/investment on housing, healthcare and disability costs including survival costs post-job were not as huge and alarming as are today. Last independence day, Prime Minister Modi was talking about poverty eradication as different from poverty alleviation. If that is the vision for 2025, the attack on poverty has to be bottom-up. Bluntly put, increase in expenditure on meeting nutriti...

The grand delusion of Digital India - The Hindu My VIEW: Excellent analysis. The observation “India’s economy finally grew faster than China’s in 2014. But on a variety of social indicators, it is decades behind China   because the latter, as Amartya Sen has repeatedly emphasised, invested heavily in health and education under communism before it turned to market-led growth.” is multi-dimensional. India has several growth models within the country, from ‘Kerala Model’(where women are fighting in Munnar for raising their daily wages to Rs500/-)to ‘Colaba Model’(Not heard about it? Colaba is a ‘pocket’ in Mumbai city(Maharashtra) where per square foot price for residential flats starts from six digit figures) co-exist. By now, economists of different schools seem to agree that economic growth of a country is not an indicator of poverty level of the country. If Modi also fails to understand the need to reverse the flow of resources to support literacy, healthcare and eradica...

Banking on Aadhaar: What concerns the RBI? - Moneylife My VIEW: In my article posted here on January 7, 2013 captioned “Will the “Direct Cash Transfer” scheme benefit the common man?” and in an earlier article, I had expressed apprehensions about the utility and future of AADHAAR. No, I am not suggesting abandoning the idea at this late hour. Apex Court is examining the whole issue and a discussion on the subject may not be in order now. If one is permitted to make a suggestion, I would submit that AADHAAR concept should be demystified. If it has to serve as ‘Universal’ (U now stands for UNIQUE) identity card, the base information collected and used should relate to those any individual would like to make public. Like, (a) Name and parents’ name/s (b) Address (c) Normal place of residence and (d) Occupation. Instead of insisting on, such an identity card should be accepted by service providers like banks in lieu of other documents giving the same information. My personal experience s...

World Happines Index 2015 – Where does India stand? - Moneylife My VIEW: An excellent analysis of the survey. The observation “The demography of our country is so complex, any survey on parameters mentioned above will not only be grossly inadequate, but also simply inequitable and cannot be a fair comparison with the developed and the less populous nations of the world. Our Country is unique in its composition, unusual in its character, incomparable in its diversity and peerless in its ethos. So much so, this report does not reflect correctly the happiness or unhappiness of our people which is purely a state of mind based on several social factors which do not get captured into the survey.” says it all, if you need any comment on India’s poor show in most of the international assessments. Though for ‘my own readers’ this will be repetition, one has to concede that the comparisons made in such surveys do not make any sense for a country like India. The ranking of countrie...