Friday, November 1, 2024
Home Blog Page 732

Twitter never forgets things Ms Shobha De

chiragkhetan
-
0
Twitter never forgets things Ms Shobha De

Yesterday a journalist and a known intellectual, Ms. Shobha De tweeted questioning Ex-RBI governor Raghuram Rajan on PNB Scam.

And Here is the tweet she posted-

And She really got some hilarious replies from twitter users. Have a look-

Few users dug out her old articles and tweets to make sarcastic comments on her-

We all had our doubts on Raghuram Rajan. But Shobhaa De questioning him was a bit surprising. By the way Shobhaa De was one of those who questioned Narendra Modi government for not expanding his tenure as RBI governor. She has also been his ardent fan.

So I too wonder what made her question Raghuram Rajan.

Are we going to be transformed from the sovereign republic to a colonial market?

Rohit Dhyani
-
0
Are we going to be transformed from the sovereign republic to a colonial market?

Scandals of PNB and other banks have sparked new concerns about corruption. The claims of transparency and good governance are scorching in their flame. It seems that Prime Minister Modi’s promises of freedom from scams have now been reduced to accusations.

The bank scandals that are coming out here have been called the scam of scandal. So far, the scam seems like a movie story. The BJP and the Congress are busy blaming each other; the ministers of the government are rendering cleanliness in front of the media and counting the examples of the Congress rule, but the fifth year of the rule of BJP has not answered for such long-term silence.

Even when newspapers, social media and certain TV media were filled with reports of these scandals, the Prime Minister was discussing the exams with the children and giving tips on confidence. He inaugurated the BJP’s largest central office, reached the Global Investors Meet in Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, laid the foundation for the Navi Mumbai International Airport and delivered speeches in his familiar style in Karnataka and Tripura. There is no word left anywhere on their bank scandals. They did not come anywhere to believe that zero tolerance would be on scams. The scandal continued, the accused kept on making safe passages and praising the Prime Minister.

If the banks add the bad loans of various banks to the lending amount, then the liability of about 20 thousand crores comes out on Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. It seems that Modi government is also helpless like the Manmohan Singh government to tighten crores of capitalism. The big capitalists are playing arbitrarily with the financial structure of the country and the governments are frustrated.

Are we going to be transformed from the sovereign Republic to a colonial market? On every small matter, the powers that shout slogans of nation, religion and patriotism disappear on this issue. This is also the nation’s religion – trying to keep the people in a hidden way and misguided will not be called treason. According to reports, Narendra Modi had recently claimed that his government has done austerity to three lakh dormant and shadow companies registered in the company registrar. But it seems that they were missing 200 companies of Nirav and Mehul, who, according to the CBI and Enforcement Directorate, were allegedly used to invest around 11 thousand crore rupees from the fraud.

On the other hand, the improvement in the internal reforms and administrative strengths in banks is that PNB has issued a lot of letter of endorsing and did not touch any address. If this is not a joke with this country then what is it? Instead of scrambling in the accusations, and surrounded by the country’s first Prime Minister, the present Prime Minister should say something on the scandals. This is not the question of credibility of them and the government; it is a matter of concern over the country’s sovereignty and dignity. Regrettably, the current individual centrifugal discussions of Indian power politics have given a backlash to the possible action. The society is being scolded by scams.

What would have been more shocking was that there was such a deep penetration in the banking system of scamsters that they could easily pass passwords and highly communicated messages. Such a country can also have a devastating dent in the security system of the country. It should be understood that these times seek accountability on crises, not a collapse of the crisis.

Dear Mr Jaitley, this is why auditors of PNB failed, and you can help prevent this in future

anindianca
-
0
Dear Mr Jaitley, this is why auditors of PNB failed, and you can help prevent this in future

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday broke his silence on the PNB scam. Among others, he laid the blame on the auditors of PNB, for not having detected the fraud. A lay person may be justified in holding the above view. But Mr Jaitley, being the finance minister should know the background and context. As a Chartered Accountant who has been part of several bank audit assignments in the PSU banking space, I would like to elaborate on the situation we deal with it.

Role of an Auditor

The primary objective of an auditor is to critically is to express his opinion regarding ‘true and fair view’ of the financial statements and in doing so he should take all necessary steps to prevent and detect frauds and errors. But obviously, there is a possibility that a fraud may get detected later. Would that mean that the auditor did not do his/her duty responsibly? The answer to this question was given in a landmark judgement, from the year 1896 i.e. the Kingston Cotton Mills Co. Ltd. Case. It was held that:

An auditor is a watchdog not a bloodhound

The import of the above is that the auditor must act in neutral manner, applying reasonable skill and care, but is not expected to have a suspicious mind. The role of a “bloodhound” is investigative in nature, and needs deep, critical research into the material, which an auditor is not generally expected to do. Refer to any audit report, including that of PNB, for the year in question, and you will find a standard line in the auditor’s report:

An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements.

Audit reports themselves always highlight the limitations of the exercise and declare very clearly that the audit is performed on a “test-check” basis where random samples of transactions are selected and audited. Given all of the above, an auditor can be held guilty for not detecting a fraud, only if it can be demonstrated that he has not exercised the basic checks he is expected to use.

Practical challenges in Bank Audit of a PSU Bank

A PSU bank branch of substantial size, will typically have a concurrent auditor and a year-end external auditor.

A concurrent audit is a year round exercise where-in an auditor is expected to audit the dealings of the branch, through-out the year on a monthly basis. In theory, these people are the best suited to detect such issues, but due to archaic audit report formats and practices, they end up checking more routine transactions and are seldom in a position to add value. Moreover, these auditors are appointed by the bank itself, so there is always the fear that if such an auditors plays tough, he maybe replaced.

The position of the external year-end auditor is even more precarious. Typically, a PSU bank will itself appoint the external auditor for its branches. The choice is completely left to the bank, out of a pool of auditors who have been deemed to be qualified enough. The conflict of interest is apparent: a bank chooses who will question it.

These auditors are usually appointed in the last week of March and are expected to audit 2 to 3 branches within 2-3 weeks (on a higher side). Within this restricted time, auditors are expected to assemble a team, travel to the branches allotted, which can often be in other states, complete the audit and sign off on hundreds of papers. The audit reports of each branch are further sent to higher ups which are then collated and given to the Central Auditors, who prepare the consolidated report for the bank on an all-India basis. Auditors are told that all this has to finish by April end since they have to publish the final accounts soon.

The question is: Why this tearing hurry? Why do PSU banks have such a hurry to get their branches audited and publish the accounts? Why not allow a comfortable time-schedule to get a thorough audit done. Why are auditors appointed almost at the end of the year? Why not appoint them in advance and let them get even more time to check the bank’s accounts in a comfortable time frame?

At this point it is important to mention that due to the above short time-frame, such audits have become lucrative for CAs as well. For work of 2-3 weeks, the CAs are remunerated substantially well. PSU banks have in fact cribbed about this often, that their cost of audits is too high, and have asked to reduce the number of branches needed to be audited. Instead of asking the auditors to provide more value, by increasing their scope and period of audit, banks have been batting for doing away with audits in this fashion.

Next, the structure of these audits is also peculiar. A CA has to audit a branch, and both he and the branch manager have to sign off on the reports. If an auditor is expected to audit a branch i.e audit the performance of the branch manager, should he report to the same manager, or should he directly contact the higher ups? In every bank audit, the auditor’s report is seen by the bank manager himself, and it is a common sight to see the manager plead with the auditor to drop various observations which may put the manager at risk. Many auditors succumb to this pressure. One of the reasons could be that since the bank controls their appointment, and since the assignment is lucrative, the auditor may fear being dropped for being “uncooperative”.

The reports asked from auditors are also an issue. Many of the reports and documents asked to be signed off by auditors are old, out-dated and have no relevance in a computerised, core banking system, which all PSU banks use. The volume of these reports is also substantial. It is not uncommon to note that many of these reports are not ready with the branch itself, until the 2nd week of April. This brings us to the same issue again of insufficient time. With pressure from the bank officers, unrealistic deadlines, and huge volumes of documents, auditors often find themselves signing thick bundles which they can barely read, let alone comprehend.

Time for an overhaul

The PSU bank Audit system in our country is certainly broken. A bank is allowed to choose the auditors it pleases, gives them a very small window of operation, makes them sign on huge sets of irrelevant data, and fails to extract actual quality work. Auditors are made to report to the very managers who they are auditing, and are under constant threat of losing a lucrative assignment.

The system is broken, but can be mended:

A. All audit appointments must be made by a third party, like the RBI. PSU banks should not be allowed to choose their auditors

B. Auditors should be given sufficient time to do their duties

C. Auditors should directly be asked to report to the higher ups at the Zonal offices etc

D. Audit Reports need to be upgraded to ensure clerical work is minimised and value addition is maximised.

If after all of the above, an auditor is found to be negligent, then surely action should be taken on him. Till then, do realise that we are all working with the best possible tools and opportunities available to us.

A small request to the morally bankrupt Billionaires

abhishekdalal
-
0
A small request to the morally bankrupt Billionaires

The nation is yet again ensnared in scandal, this time involving infamous billionaire diamond dealers. To summarize, these audacious businessmen were able to hoodwink India’s lax public bank systems leading to the misappropriation of close to $1 billion dollars. Before the scam came to light, the accused brazenly fled the country leaving us, the citizens of this country to deal with the mess they have created.

All this comes in the midst of a massive effort by the government to recapitalize floundering Public Sector Banks. So, the government in effect plugs the leaks in the creaky system without addressing the problems that caused the fissure. Granted, the issue of NPAs is a legacy inherited by this government. But what have they really done to address it beyond railing against its predecessors? Instead of nudging India away from public sector banks, we continue to kick the can down the endless road. Laws to enhance risk controls within banks or stricter lending checks are almost just as vital as injecting state bank coffers with much-needed juice.

There is a case to be made for the continuing existence of public sector banks, that is of course that they are likely to serve those citizens’ that are historically shut out of the formalized banking sector. While we have seen increasing evidence of this through various financial inclusion schemes such as Jan Dhan Yojana. And yet, I find it hard to fathom the fact that the biggest beneficiaries of these banks and also the biggest abusers include some of the shadiest business moguls of our country. For far too long, the insidious crony capitalist system has taken the Indian exchequer for a ride and profited from our blissful ignorance.

The absconders recently wrote against the “media frenzy” that “destroyed their brand”, written from the comforts of a luxurious five-star hotel. What a sad life they must be living. I also ask them in return, if you are so confident of your innocence, why flee the country in a shroud of secrecy? Come back, and negotiate your liabilities.

Secondly, what responsibility do they have to their own employees? Surely, they owe innocent and helpless workers a decent severance package as they navigate the uncertainty of this scandal. Instead, they were coldly informed to “look for other career opportunities”.

Lastly, thank you for destroying whatever little faith we had in our own banking systems. While we lambast politicians for handing out loan waivers to hardworking financially bankrupt farmers, we often forget them to keep the morally bankrupt rich in check.

To those who choose a life in exile, I finally request, work with the banks and government to repair the damage you have wrecked in this great country. You can run away from the world and its cousin, but not your own conscience.

With AAP showing its true colours, time to revisit how Arvind Kejriwal won Delhi

Gene Augustine Blake
-
0
With AAP showing its true colours, time to revisit how Arvind Kejriwal won Delhi

(this was published in NitiCentral in Feb 2015 after AAP won Delhi)

Language of Development decimated by Grammar of Anarchy

“If we wish to maintain democracy not merely in form, but also in fact, what must we do? The first thing in my judgment we must do is to hold fast to constitutional methods of achieving our social and economic objectives. It means we must abandon the bloody methods of revolution. It means that we must abandon the method of civil disobedience, non-cooperation and Satyagraha. When there was no way left for constitutional methods for achieving economic and social objectives, there was a great deal of justification for unconstitutional methods. But where constitutional methods are open, there can be no justification for these unconstitutional methods. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.”

That was way back in 1950 during the final session of the constituent assembly.

Fast forward 55 years into 2015 one of the most educated, urban and cosmopolitan state in modern India, Delhi, has just elected Kejriwal, a self proclaimed “Anarchist!” Holy Christ!

Today the Immortal and Prophetic words of our dear Babasaheb Dr B R Ambedkar “. These methods are nothing but the Grammar of Anarchy and the sooner they are abandoned, the better for us.” ring true. In fact they blare like sirens!

Now let us look at the opponent he had. Was it against an extremely corrupt anti democratic single family party which keeps winning polls by dividing the polity? No!

Was it (AAP) against the casteist forces that plunder the Hindi heartlands, working for the betterment of their caste and above all ultimate enrichment of their family members? No!

Was it (AAP) against politicians debarred from contesting elections, who shamelessly continue their rule through wives and daughters? No!

Was it (AAP) against leaders who take immense pride in pushing their states backward? No!

Was it (AAP) against toxically communal politicians who announce cash rewards for the killers of free speech in some foreign country or shamelessly ask their laity to openly support candidates on religious grounds? No!

Kejriwal’s opponent was a development oriented party called BJP who had the legendry female police office Kiran Bedi, the quintessential dream Chief Minister!

Incidentally all the other parties described above were the overt and covert supporters of AAP to various extents. Kejriwal was supported by everything that is politically wrong with the Nation!

The Language of Development defeated soundly by the Grammar of Anarchy.

Now politicians will think twice in fact thrice to speak the language of Development.

Back to the arcane and pestilential concepts of casteism, religious polarization, freebies, lack of development and above all Anarchy!

Positive “can do” spirit dominated the nation ever since Modi government came to power in May 2014. Ministers working late nights to solve problems, the prime mister throwing political wisdom to winds in order to chide his supporters to rein in their urge to kill their daughters, Government becoming super responsive and sensitive to the common man etc. It was truly unbelievable. There was hope all around and thought that India has finally arrived!

In short we had the talk and walk of development from team Modi.

Sadly all the talk had no affect on Delhi and they chose an Anarchist to lead them for next 5 years.

Why should any politician speak the language of development and progress if electorate rewards casteist communal and irresponsible leaders, who take support of anti national elements?

No body thinks that that BJP is full of saints; in fact there are never any saints in politics.

At least BJP headed by PM Modi and their CM candidate Bedi have a vision plan and above all the will to change things for good not just to kick the can down the road.

But alas the honorable electorate had another thing in their mind.

The author wishes Kejriwal the best and sincerely hopes he does well for Delhi. But more appalling than his victory is who was defeated? Sadly it was the Language of development!

Language of Development fell on deaf ears of the electorate and all they could hear was the cacophony of Freebies and toxic communal narrative from the Grammar of Anarchy! Grammar of Anarchy soundly defeats Language of Development!

Should those titans who created the Indian constitution, now sitting in heavens above, laugh at us for royally letting them down or shed painful tears at the sad turn of events in their beloved nation?

No, for a setback is but a part of life and this is politics which is based on extremely fickle voter preferences.

BJP and Team Modi should keep walking on this glorious path of development and progress. They must not bow to the quirks of electoral bumps. The stars need them, our glorified ancestors need them and above all the nation needs them. Team Modi needs to do exactly what they have been doing all together! In fact do it with even more vigor. Development, Development and more Development! Progress, Progress and More Progress!

Keep the war waging!

It is war against freebies, lack of development, communal polarization, divide and rule politics, poverty of soul and mind and above all the idea to keep India divided and poor!

Team Modi has just faced its first genuine setback.

Grammar of Anarchy has won this battle but team Modi please make sure that it’s the Language of Development that wins the War!

Then only will Babasaheb and his team of Titan’s, who drafted the Indian constitution, will be happy way up in the heavens.

*******

This article was published in niticentral in Feb 2015.

Sadly website’s articles were removed when niticentral went belly up. (Thanks Shashi Shekhar ji. I sincerely pray Shashi makes it up for niticentral’s demise by doing justice to Prsara Bharathi and de-toxifyng it)

Many of the points in the article were separately reiterated by the PM… “Development Development and Development.” etc

The article appears mildly prophetic (every right winger predicted it right?) in the sense Kejri was nothing short of Anarchy in Delhi .Anarchy seems to grow day by day in Delhi even in Feb 2018. Sad.

I live in the USA, am Passionate about India. I see hope in Mr Modi’s governance.

I wrote in 2015 as a part of my cover letter to this Article; was appalled when French, Arab and American news media started rooting for the defeat of PM Modi in New Delhi. For Christ’s sake why on earth would foreign forces root against a strong leader? Unless he is doing something right. Hence this article.

No need to bring Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi back, government should just do this

theangryindian
-
0
No need to bring Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi back, government should just do this

Corruption is just another form of tyranny! – Joe Biden

I am sure a lot of fellow right-wingers are jumping out of their chairs, waiting to throw their kitchen sink at me for suggesting that there is no need to bring Vijay Mallya or Nirav Modi back from the foreign shores they have fled to. I have a very simple argument that I need the government, citizens and media to consider! All I ask for is a teeny bit of patience:

Vijay Mallya’s propensity to default on bank loans was a topic of conversation common among the coffee shop circuit of Bangalore, way back in 2008. (Probably because Bangalore was and still is a city, largely, of government employees!) Yet, the loans flowed freely and gladly into the hands of the well-known and beloved defaulter, till they reached a gargantuan size of 9000 Crores (including interest).

Then all hell broke loose and everyone from our neighbourhood milkman, to the screaming prime time anchor, to the twitteratti, to the government was clamoring for Mallya’s blood! Everyone wanted Mallya to be brought back to the country and treated like a common criminal. We, the long suffering middle-class, would love to see him sing like a canary and cry like a broken man, cause in our minds he had stolen some of our future. A future that we literally gave up on when we voted the poison ivy that is Congress party back to power in 2009! Anyways, that is a discussion for another day!

Mallya left India on 2nd March 2016,  reasoning that he needed to be in Britain, closer to his kids! His passport was revoked in April 2016 and in June 2016 he was declared a “proclaimed offender” under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. What followed after that was a series of arrests by UK authorities and subsequent bails. An extradition story that is continuing still and will by all accounts last beyond this term of Modi government.

In meantime there is a new scam king on the block!

A recent slew of RBI directives led to the discovery of a mare’s nest, another gargantuan scam in Punjab National Bank. The prominent jeweller Mr. Nirav Modi had defrauded the country of another 11000 crores, right under the watchful gaze or perhaps at the behest of illustrious economists, such as P Chidambaram  – from the hallowed halls of Harvard, Manmohan Singh  – from the august corridors of Cambridge, Oxford and finally the blue-eyed, boy-wonder from Booth, Raghuram Rajan, our ex RBI governor!

Predictably, the cronies of the corrupt moved faster than the arms of law. The scamster was tipped off and made his way to foreign shores, protected by a foreign passport. In all probability this extradition too, like Mallya’s, will play out over the next few years, while back home news anchors will shout and milk this issue for TRPs, sowing doubts into the hearts of the core voters of Mr. Modi.

Then one day the government will change and all the prodigal scamming pigeons will return to the comforts of the corrupt mother-ship, back to feast off the system.

That my dear middle-class Indian has been happening so far! Between the political will, the long arm of law and the systemic corruption, the ones left holding the hideous bundle of corruption and loss both as tax payer and small-time investors are you and Me! Unfortunately, there is no fairness in this world. We better get used to it!

So, here is my radical new approach to the problem instead!

I am proposing that the government should stop trying to extradite these scamsters to India. As it is, by running after them we are spending more tax payer money on lawyer fees in a foreign land.  Talk about good money being thrown after bad ones!

Once they come back they might spend time in jail, living off on more tax payer money. They might even get VIP treatment in the jail. After all, the Indian judicial system is famous for stringing out verdicts and cases for years. All the while, the tax payer will be paying to keep these miscreants alive and kicking.

In the meantime, should the political dispensation change, these criminals would be out of jail and the whole seedy saga would begin again at the behest of the political bigwigs!!

The government and we, the citizens, should instead, enter into a quid pro quo with these thievesI

The thieves get to stay in their foreign homes forever in return for refunding the principal amount sans interest in full. This can be done by attaching their foreign properties, Indian properties and selling their stakes in the business.

The second step would be to revoke their Indian passport, OCI cards etc, debar them from entering India, trading, starting businesses or contesting any political offices in India, forever! These people should never be allowed to come back to Indian shores!

In the interim, the government and more importantly RBI should start the privatisation process of the banks which despite repeated scams, have refused to change their processes. A case needs to be made of such banks that systematically destroy share holder wealth without any consideration for the tax payers, whose money is used with impunity to recapitalize every time. Privatization will never eradicate corruption completely (its rampant in developed nations too) but it will make it very difficult to carry on such large-scale exploitation of systemic loopholes with little discomfort. I am sure the finance ministry and RBI are more than capable of looking at that, at setting an example strong enough to deter future bank employees from exploiting the system with impunity!

It’s time that we the citizens, you and I, started accepting and using the system for our own good instead of lamenting about it!!

~ by The Angry Indian (Swati)

Disclaimer: This article is purely based on the author’s understanding of the whole sordid saga, with an intent to save further loss of tax payer money!

New office address in Delhi for the BJP, and what it means for the party

Adhish Kumar Sinha
-
0
New office address in Delhi for the BJP, and what it means for the party

Under the Supreme Court order, BJP became first political party to vacate Lutyen Zone and relocated at new address, 6, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Marg spread over 170,000 Sq Ft.

New headquarter is beyond just being an address, it is gallery of BJP struggle and echo of determination.

LK Advani with Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had inclination in adapting modern technologies (PM in his address at Rajya Sabha recalled Advani vision of “Aadhar”) for better supervisory and governmental purposes. Atal Bihari Vajpayee laid efforts in developing world class infrastructure and highways, “Bharatmala” and “Sagarmala” illustrates those vision.

And new headquarter is precisely erected on such manifestation. Need assumed in 2009 under Nitin Gadkari, then acting president and subsequently gained attention when Amit Anil Chandra Shah took the responsibility in 2014, who has set target of having offices in 635 districts out of 695 by next year. Interpreting profoundly and deeply will apprise public of rationale that new headquarter is replication of BJP.

In multiple address PM Modi, conveyed the belief of inaugurating the work, whose foundation is laid by him. Inauguration of 4th terminal at JNPT and now new BJP office exemplify such convictions. Foundation stone was set on August 18th, 2016 and planned to be completed by December 25th, 2018 (Birthday of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee). However, it was constructed beforehand and got inaugurated on February 18th, 2018 by Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Damodardas Modi.

PM Modi has utter inclination towards technology and digitization, and his party new office is representation of such notion. Headquarter is equipped with modern communication tools and video-conferencing facility to run party effectively and efficiently. With systematic communication channels to stay connected with all state headquarters. The new building has offices for the party leaders, auditoriums, meeting rooms and studio to connect them with TV studios. It also has library with party literature and subscription of journals from across the globe.

BJP has a bitter but driving history from winning two seats in general election of 1984 to gaining absolute majority in 2014. This history have opprobrious chapters of humiliation and mocking. Atal Bihari Vajpayee despite having mandate (not majority) as single largest party after 1996 and 1998 general election, has to step down twice. But with continuous hassle he received third break to be 14th Prime Minister of India till 2004. In new party office, they have museum dedicated to such sacrifice, struggle and rise. And have mnemonic from earlier avatar “Jana Sangh”. BJP has been august and honored of their history, and for evident reasons. They would look certainly to enlightening their upcoming talents with the yesteryear memoirs.

World biggest political party office is accoutred with two auditorium with 450 and 150 seating arrangement and lotus shaped Lotus pond. Supported by large parking area, media facilities and eateries to other essential requirements to grease the wheel. Amit shah in his compassionate appeal dedicated the new headquarter to 110 million party workers (largest in the world) and previous collaborators for their atonement and backing. Envious opposition has all grounds to be belligerent.

Modi stood with ‘Punjab Ka Kaptan’ but Congress wanted to hug ‘Canada Ka Rahul Gandhi’

Adhish Kumar Sinha
-
0
Modi stood with ‘Punjab Ka Kaptan’ but Congress wanted to hug ‘Canada Ka Rahul Gandhi’

Since his arrival, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has been in news for all wrong reasons except his son who recently became social media obsession. Hadrien Trudeau who has been put in race against Taimur by imprudent and cretin Twitterati.

PM Modi famous for receiving the head of states like Benjamon Netanyahu and Shizo Abe in his own warm style, often by breaking protocols. He was missing and blue- eyed Trudeau was received my MoS for agriculture, despite India and Canada share important strategic relation in terms of free trade. This aloof hospitality and reception continued in Agra, he visited Taj Mahal escorted by district magistrate and commissioner. Here, Uttar Pardesh CM Yogi Adityanath followed PM Modi and snubbed Justin Trudeau. PM Modi was delivering message in coherent and straightforward manner, no room for “Separatist Sympathizer” and it is award for disrespecting our “Punjab Ka Kaptan CM Captain (Retd.)Amrinder Singh” (Punjab Ka Kaptan was campaign launched during Punjab Assembly election).

Justin Trudeau turned down the traditional custom of meeting Punjab CM on Amritsar visit which is schedule for 21st of the month. Trudeau purposely behaved to defend his image of “Pro-Khalisatani Critic” and maintain distance from Captain Amrinder Singh, who has been vocal in antinomy for encouraging such movement and accused Trudeau to be negligent. It’s clean that such miscreants are getting space in Canada and regularly targeting India. Some of the past incidence of holding Indian official from entering Gurudwara or passing of resolution to acknowledge Anti-Sikh riot as genocide by pro-khalistan legislature inducted in Trudeau cabinet.

But in such circumstance, silent Congress turned paradoxical with whim to hug Justin Trudeau. Divya Spandana tweets: “I’d give him a hug!! India loves @JustinTrudeau”

Divya Spandana head of INC social media cell, responsible for image makeover deceit through efficient and effective use of “bots” and “fake accounts”. And similar reaction same from Sanjay Jha in scoot to welcome Trudeau and he Tweets “Welcome PM @JustinTrudeau to India; easily the epitome of progressive liberalism whose ecumenical, catholic approach to a world increasingly ruptured by religious divisiveness and parochial politics is such a welcome relief”.

In such context, our Honourable PM sensed correctly that opposition is going against country, to oppose PM Narendra Modi. This backlash could further explain the discontent in INC against Captain Amrinder Singh. Recently, his name has been dropped from newly formed steering committee which has past regular CWC members. Possibly because present CM of Punjab was aggressive during Punjab assembly election and forced INC to announce him as CM candidate reluctantly. And offered little room and authority to present INC president in functioning.

Nevertheless, the strong signal by honourable PM Narendra Modi has communicated Canadian PM Justin Trudeau the message. And he has proved that national interest for him is above party politics.

Assam government plans to go solar

Rohit Dhyani
-
0
Assam government plans to go solar

In the northeast state Assam, which has been facing long-term climate change, it is now taking steps to curb its effect through the State Action Plan on Climate Change.

The Assam government has now also decided to create a solar energy policy to cut carbon emissions from power plants. The reason for being ecologically biodiversity area is very sensitive to the changes in the Assam climate.

Due to climate change, the average temperature of the state increased from 0.01 degree Celsius in the year 1950 to 2010, while the rainfall decreased. Experts say that it is possible to curb it through joint measures. The development agency Action on Climate Today (ACT) is also assisting the government in this matter.

Experts say that these measures may not be possible to fully curb the effects of climate change, but they can be substantially reduced. Likewise, reducing carbon emissions will increase dependency on green energy. The SAPCC has decided to focus on six areas in the state at present for the study of climate change and curbing its impact. These include the continuous availability of livelihoods, besides natural disasters, health, water resources, urban planning and energy.

Climate change can be dealt with in two ways. The first of these is Adoption Conversion. Another method is mitigation. It means to try to overcome the reasons for climate change. The plantation is the best way to do it.

During the last six decades, the annual rainfall has decreased by 0.96 mm. Along with that, the rainfall has decreased during the year and the maximum rainfall in 24 hours has also decreased. AK Jauhari, the principal conservator of forests (Bio-Diversity and Climate Change) of Assam, says, “After the monsoon and the increase in temperature in the winter season, it is more visible.” He says that the effect of climate change can be restricted to a great extent by research, proper technique, increase in capacity and through effective governance.

Rizwan Ujjamman, head of the Assam team of the Action Agency Action on Climate Today (ACT) says, “It is important to move forward by adjusting according to changes in the climatic conditions of the current period so that by reducing its impact, Could be used better.” He says that the biggest impact of climate change is on low-level people. People of low-income groups are sensitive in this case because of its direct impact on their livelihood.

Experts say that the sensitivity of such people increases due to any change in the climate due to lack of awareness and poverty. For this to reduce the impact of climate change any scheme should be started at the local level of the administration. Traditional knowledge and experience of such people can be very important in making a concrete plan on this issue.

The planning and applying them at the top level will not be of any use. In order to deal effectively with this issue, any such scheme will be started from the grassroots level.

Assam’s Chief Minister Sarwananda Sonowal has recently instructed the Power Department to formulate a concrete policy for exploitation of solar energy. He says, “There are many proposals for investment in solar energy, but they are not working in the absence of any concrete policy.” They say that with solar power, where the power requirements of the state can be met, the carbon emissions produced from conventional power stations will also be curbed.

The Assam Energy Development Agency will soon launch a scheme to install solar power panels on roofs for exploitation of solar energy under which solar panels will be installed on rooftops at low cost by giving government subsidy.

State government and climate experts say that Assam has to face severe flood and drought like every year. The economic development of rural areas can be ensured by reducing the impact of climate change through SAPCC. But experts have warned that the government will also have to show serious will for these schemes. Without implementing these plans in a solid way at the grassroots level, it will not be possible to control the impact of climate change.

(The author is an environmentalist and New Delhi-based correspondent.)

PNB scam and its fallout is actually going to benefit BJP in the 2019 elections

RAJEEV GUPTA
-
0
PNB scam and its fallout is actually going to benefit BJP in the 2019 elections

On 7th February 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a historical speech in the Parliament. In his speech, he not only attacked the Congress party for the misdeeds done by it while it was ruling the country, but also warned that the time has now come to face the consequences of the misdeeds. Let us first see the relevant portion of the speech, which rattled the Congress party:

PM Modi said, “I have proof of how the Congress looted and plundered India. You will pay for your sins. Time has come for you to be held accountable and answerable to the people of India. Loans were given without any scrutiny, they were distributed like sweets. Your bad decisions have directly been the reason for failures.”

If we read carefully what has been said by PM Modi in the above few words, we will find that this was the most severe attack by any PM in the Parliament directed at the main opposition party. Congress party was well aware of its impact inside and outside the Parliament as the proceedings of the Parliament were live telecast and being watched by the whole country.

Congress party, in a damage control tactic, tried to divert the attention of the House and the public through Renuka Chaudhary episode. To some extent, the Congress succeeded in its tactics as the media began discussing the Renuka Chaudhary and Shoorpnakha episode instead of discussing the “organised loot” by the Congress during the last 10 years of UPA rule.

After assuming power in May 2014, Modi government has completed roughly 4 years and the people of the country were getting restless and impatient that no action is being taken by the government against the people involved in corruption during the UPA regime. The speech delivered in the Parliament on 7th February 2018 was merely a warning to the Congress and a clear message to the people of the country that enough is enough and now the time has come to take corrective action and punish the people involved in corruption.

Many people will ask that why PM Modi took almost 4 years time to initiate such steps against the corruption and misdeeds of the previous UPA Government? The Congress and other opposition parties were very much aware why he took so much time. During the last 4 years several such measures were taken, which were opposed by the Congress and other opposition parties in the strongest possible terms. These measures were demonetisation, implementation of benami property law, implementation of GST and linking of Aadhar.

If we look carefully, all these measures are designed and enforced to ensure the detection of black money already accumulated and to ensure that further generation of black money is minimised if not eliminated. Opposition parties were protesting that all these measures are anti-people and the public is badly affected by such measures taken by the government. But in reality, opposition parties were scared that after all these measures are in place, they will be trapped and all their misdeeds will be exposed.

Now we come to the infamous PNB scam. Let us first understand how there can be a scam or fraud in the banking system. Banks provide loans and other credit facilities to its clients and charge interest and other charges mutually agreed between the bank and the clients. To secure its credit facilities, banks take adequate security from the client, so that, in case of default, the bank can sell the security and realise its loan or credit facility. Only personal loans of very small amounts are exception to this rule. If any bank is providing any loan or credit facility either without taking any security or by taking inadequate security, then this is a “scam” or “fraud”.

Nirav Modi was sanctioned the letter of credit facility without taking any collateral security in 2011, during the UPA government was in power. What happened thereafter is of no relevance. Let us try to understand this scam or fraud with the help of a simple example. When a common man goes to the bank for taking a home loan, the bank gives him the loan for an amount not exceeding 80 per cent of the market value of the property, after mortgaging the property of the borrower. If the value of the property is Rs. 25 lakh, the bank will give you a loan of Rs. 20 lakh only, keeping the sufficient margin to meet any eventuality of the downward price fluctuation in the value of the property mortgaged.

Now consider the case of Nirav Modi where no security was taken at all by the bank, while the amount involved was huge. Such scams or frauds are not possible without the connivance of the erstwhile chairman of the bank or the Finance Minister.

People are also asking how this scam was not detected by the internal control systems of the bank or by the auditors. The answer to this question is that scams are executed in violation of the system. Even if there are systems in place, if you want to commit a fraud in connivance with a set of corrupt bank employees with the blessings of the top management of the bank and the finance ministry, who is going to stop you!

Now the whole scam is being investigated. It is possible that auditors have given their report clearly indicating the extent and nature of the fraud, but the question is, who is going to take action if top management of the bank or Finance Minster himself is involved in the scam. The responsibility of the auditor is to report the matter in the audit report and submit the same to the competent authority. If competent authority himself is responsible for the fraud then nothing more can be expected from the auditors or from the system. If the top management of the bank was not involved in this scam then how they allowed the same staff to work on the same seat and same branch for such a long period when staff of the bank gets transferred generally in a period of 3 years.

As PM Modi said in his speech that loans were distributed like sweets without any scrutiny, I must say that Nirav Modi scam is not the last case. One more such case of Rotomac Pens Limited has also been exposed recently, many more such cases will be exposed. All government banks have accumulated huge NPAs. Vijay Mallya was also given an unsecured clean loan despite the fact that he was already a defaulter.

Let us hope that we will see more such scams and more arrests and punishment to the relevant officers. However, merely arresting the junior officers will not serve any purpose as they have not sanctioned such huge credit facilities. The persons who have sanctioned the huge credit facilities without taking any security or inadequate security should be arrested and punished. If PM Modi can do this, then there is every possibility that the BJP will return to power in 2019 with a thumping majority.

1...731732733...890Page 732 of 890

Contact: [email protected]

About us

User generated chapter of OpIndia. Selected articles submitted here are published at main English or Hindi websites of OpIndia.

ऑपइंडिया

OpIndia

© OpIndia.com