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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China on the rise - 

Road to riches since 1962! 

It has economically progressed to becoming a world super power! as rightly and effectively portrayed by Prasenjit K.Basu (based in Singapore) in his book "Asia Reborn"

Well China is indeed worth watching. I remember, it used to be a iron curtain till sixties and seventies till Mao Tse Dong was the chief of Communist Party of China. His successors including the present leader Xi Jinping have opened up the economy in such a way that the economic growth has maintained its speed and vigour continuously for about 3-4 decades. It is only next to USA in economic prowess and progress right now.

India, a colony of the British, suffering from the bad legacy in terms of administrative structure and political setup is still a developing economy. It is afflicted with all the drawbacks of ill-equipped systems with lack of real patriotism from top to bottom. It is so much politicised at every level that no scheme or programme escapes the eyes of selfish politicians with the result the outcome is a big zero. 

Mr Xi, 64, has emerged as the most powerful Chinese leader in the recent times who was conferred a second five year term by the ruling Communist Party of China. Millions of officials across China have been asked to study President Xi Jinping's book on governance which contains his speeches, ideological thoughts and instructions.

China, the equivalent of India in size and population, history and culture, is far ahead because of its disciplined political setup. The central leadership is able to execute things the way they plan both in the short term and long run with less wastage of time and money which is next to impossible in India in the given political scenario at the moment. Even the countries like South Korea, Taiwan, Japan have done a wonderful job in economic development.

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Political funding in India.

I agree with Zoya Hasan, Prof. Emeritus JNU that when party funds are raised and controlled centrally, this weakens the State units and rank and file vis-a-vis the central leadership on a range of issues including leadership selection and nominations for elections. It also discourages democratisation that would otherwise limit their power to accumulate wealth or promote personal power at the expense of public interest.

Political parties - with the exception of Left parties - still refuse to lay down settled and predictable procedures for almost everything they do from the selection of candidates to the framing of a manifesto.

God help this country!

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South Africa

Nelson Mandela led ANC party to power in the euphoric 1994 election that marked the end of white-minority rule.

Things turned worse after Mandela retired from politics just after one term of five-year in office as the President of South Africa. Great leader to be emulated by other politicians in other countries!

Soaring unemployment and government corruption have fuelled frustration among millions of poor black South Africans who face dire housing, inadequate education and continuing racial inequality. It is a curse for many a nation in African and Asian continents to be ruled by third rate and hopeless leaders. What will the citizens of these countries do for transparent and efficient administration at the end of the day?

President Jacob Zuma whose reign has been marred by graft scandals, will step down as ANC chief but remain as head of state ahead of general elections in 2019.

Hell with such politicians found wanting badly in their life and working style!

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Xi Jinping & Narendra Modi

Two stalwarts - Mr Xi Jinping and Mr Modi - are heading currently two super powers, namely, China and India. Both richly deserve to rule their respective countries for more than a decade initially.

Both are strong-headed nationalists in their own style and action. China is a communist country ruled by a single party for more than 6-7 decades while India got independence from the British in 1947.  India is a democratic country practising parliamentary system of governance by duly electing public representatives to both the Lok Sabha and state assemblies once in five years.

Governing China by a single party with minor differences in terms of religion, culture, language, food habits, living style among its citizens is comparatively easier whereas India is having several languages, umpteen number of political parties at the national level and regional levels vying with each other and competing during and after the elections.

Ruling a nation like India is not a joke. After a long time the country has given a massive mandate to Modiji to take this country forward on the path of "development" 

As an economist-cum-administrator my only wish is that Modiji gets a good and competent team to advise him correctly and carry forward his programmes in right earnest.

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Means and mode of conveyance

I learnt cycling at the age of 11 by hiring a bi-cycle from the market. It was indeed a pleasure to drive for an hour or two and cover a distance at a speed. My uncle Dhanasingh Raja, my father's younger brother got me one second-hand cycle to commute between Dalavoipuram village and the Higher Secondary School in Sankaran Kovil while studying Tenth and Eleventh grades. It was certainly a luxury compared to walking a distance of 3 Kms one-way to the town.

College education was totally residential staying in the hostels. So no means of conveyance until I became the Sub Divisional Officer at Jashpur Nagar in Raigarh district of Madhya Pradesh State and enjoyed an old jeep provided by the Jashpur  Janpad Panchayat for two years. As Additional Collector of RAIPUR and Collector of Betul I had a new and well-maintained jeep and of course as Collector Sagar I had for the first time a lucky ambassador car to drive around in the district. 

Till my retirement in 2007 I had the fortune of using the official vehicles only & mostly the Royal ambassador car. At the time of marriage  I bought a scooter after taking a loan.  Four years later my father-in-law bought a second-hand ambassador car for my family use between 1976 and 1985.

After retirement I bought a new car for the first time - a Chevrolet U-va model for a price of ₹3.75 lakh in 2007 with the money returned by Ram Mohan, my son.

Although the car was submerged in flood waters of chennai during November-December, 2015 it was repaired at a cost of Rs 45,000/- and being used now at the age of 70!

My spouse - the grand lady-  still prefers to travel by train in the 3-tier sleeper coach (Non-AC) while travelling alone. With a lot of persuasion she manages to travel with me in 2-tier AC coach at times. Between the home town and Chennai we currently travel by omni-bus from safety and convenience points of view.

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