Saturday, January 6, 2018

Danger Signal

Researchers from University of East Anglia in U.K and Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in China are of the view that aridification caused by the rise in global mean temperature by 2.0 degree Celsius poses a threat to critically impact areas such as agriculture, water quality and biodiversity. It can also lead to more droughts and wildfires, similar to those seen raging across California.

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Peculiar & Pitiable Position - A Paradox at the Peak?


- Bengal's burning shame:

The 2016 report of the NCRB (National Crime Records Bureau) recorded 283 incidents of acid attacks in India of which 76 were from West Bengal. The state has a poor track record in compensating victims. It's conviction rate too is a cruel joke.

One-sided love developed by male adults (heroes in their reckoning) leads to  sadistic pleasure by pouring acid on their love birds when they refuse to make love or marry them. Such cruel creatures escape with the least punishment under the law of the land thanks to our benevolent police and careless judicial authorities.

A state ruled by an efficient leader like Mamta Banerjee hardly provides safety and security to the female population. A sad state of affairs indeed!

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Friday, January 5, 2018

Right or wrong? Scam or not? A ₹1.76 lakh crore scam - just notional?

CBI and Enforcement Directorate of Government of India, based on CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) report, said that it was a big and unprecedented scam. The Supreme Court of India cancelled all the 122 telecom licenses in 2012.

After the criminal prosecution launched by the agencies was rejected and closed by the CBI Court in Delhi recently, there has been a great uproar on the entire episode. 
Who is at fault? -the CBI & ED for want of proper presentation and prosecution? Or the CAG who misread the procedure adopted by the GoI under the PMs - Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda, I.K.Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh in this regard.

Everyone - in all the three wings of Constitutional Authorities - seems to have forgotten the basic and simple economic principle, namely, the "Law of Demand and Supply". When the demand was less and the supply was not scarce, the spectrum was allocated on the basis of administered prices - everyone including the consumers benefitting in the process. But when the demand increased and the licensees wanted to make a killing at the expense of public interest, the matter became serious and the credentials of the concerned players were doubted and interpreted to the disadvantage of all. Unfortunately the Apex Court too failed to read the distinction and differentiation in the application of a procedure adopted by the Government over a period of time and cancelled the entire basket of licenses and led to a chaotic situation that we are observing today.

Manish Tiwari, former I & B Minister in the UPA government and member of JPC that examined the telecom sector for 1994-2009 opines that the conclusions in CAG reports were flights of fantasy and an exercise in fiction writing.

Well, the truth is that the auction procedure was the appropriate and best method of allocation  as and when the time was ripe. And the people involved in the allocation of spectrum in different periods made money, no doubt, according to their needs and skills. 
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The banks and NPAs

The RBI (Reserve Bank of India) expects NPAs (NonPerforming Assets) to continue to rise as high as 11.1% of total outstanding loans by September 2018. Private Banks' NPAs also increased (up to March 2017) by almost 41% , as compared to 17% in the case of public sector banks at the end of September 2016.

As reported in the editorial of the Hindu (dated December 29, 2017) future credit cycles will continue to stress the banking system unless there are systemic reforms that address the problem of unsustainable lending and simultaneously RBI given greater powers to regulate the public sector banks efficiently and also by reducing state ownership as expected by the International Monetary Fund.

A tough task indeed to be tried successfully for better days ahead!
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