Sunday, December 27, 2020

Bagavad Gita

 Gandhari chose to blindfold herself because her husband was blind. Why did she marry him in the first place?

Bhishma played a significant role in this. He was acutely aware of the need to continue the Kuru dynasty though he had sacrificed his claim and chose bachelorhood to foreclose future claims from his descendants. Bhishma wanted to ensure that Dhritharashtra would have a male progeny. He set about solving this problem in a scientific way. Define the goal, constraints and alternatives and arrive at an optimal solution.

Bhishma worked out his problem as follows:

 Objective: to find a life partner for Dhritharashtra.

Constraints: 1) She must be a princess.

2)She must not know his blindness before marriage

3) She must deliver a male progeny without fail.

The constraints were daunting. Bhishma did not give up. He came up with a solution that satisfied all the constraints. After considering many princesses, he zeroed in on Gandhari in a way any problem-solver would admire.

Gandhari was a princess of a kingdom called Gandhar. It was a place in present day Afghanistan. Every place has a unique feature. The feature may not be praiseworthy. Afghanistan was and is a place where women do not enjoy equal freedom with men. Those were the days when, in other parts of Bharat, women chose their husbands through Swayamwara. Elopement was not unknown. (Rukmini and Krishna.) How to ensure that the would-be wife would not know the groom's blindness? Afghanistan provided the answer.

Gandhari was a stoic lady who discovered her husband's blindness only after marriage. The epic brings out all human qualities. We may not admire all qualities. But knowing about them is educative. How to satisfy the third constraint? This is where Bhishma's knowledge stood out. He knew that Gandhari had obtained a boon from Lord Shiva that she would beget 100 sons. Bhishma was confident that this was enough of a guarantee to ensure continuation of the Kuru dynasty.

Gandhari was totally devoted to her husband. This gave her enormous spiritual powers. Whoever she looked at with affection would become enormously powerful. She wanted to have one look at her eldest son, Duryodana. Krishna knew this and arranged for this exceptional meet between mother and son. He also made sure that Duryodana had a large loinscloth when the fleeting meeting took place. The consequence was that Duryodana became very strong ; his body could withstand any attack in warfare; his thighs were covered and so his thighs became his Achilles heel. This was exploited by Krishna and he advised the Pandavas at the right time how to get rid of Duryodana.

Bagavad Gita (contd)

 In the sixth verse, Duryodana completes his enumeration of warriors on the Pandava side. He ends with reference to "Draupadi's" five sons. Just like the first reference namely 'Saatyaki', this last one also is significant. The mention of 'Saatyaki' was supposed to kindle hatred for Arjuna in Drona's mind. Reference to Draupadi's sons is the outcome of Duryodana's obsessive thought about her. It is an exposure of his revengeful thought.

Duryodana was insulted by Draupadi on an earlier occasion. (This is supposed by some to be a later day addition to Mahabharata and not in the original. The original itself is too voluminous for our comprehension!)

Duryodana was visiting the place of Pandavas. The assembly hall was astoundingly resplendent. As Duryodana was taking in its luxury, he mistook a lake of water for crystal floor, slipped and got wet. Bhima saw this and laughed aloud. Draupadi was not there. But Duryodana imagined she was there and that she also made fun of him. He took it as an insult. (Some of us have a need to feel insulted.) Duryodana wanted to avenge this insult. What better way than to kill her sons! So he specifically mentioned their names so that Drona would remember to do away with them. During the war, Aswatthama, Drona's son, killed them while they were asleep.

In life, we come across many imaginary situations perceived as insults misleading us to adharmic acts.

Friday, December 25, 2020

Bagavad Gita (contd)

Sanjaya continues to inform Dhritharashtra what  Duryodana is haranguing / pleading with Drona. Duryodana is intent on defeating the Pandava forces by hook or by crook. He has not realised that for every hook of his, Krishna has a more effective hook. He is under the delusion that he is up against Arjuna. The fact is that he is pitted against Krishna, the invincible. Earlier we discussed the metaphorical interpretation of Sanjaya's ability to see what is invisible to others. There is also an episode to continue the non-metaphorical narrative.

Vyasa offers to provide his son, Dhritharashtra the Divya Dhrishti (Divine Vision) to enable him to see what is happening in the battlefield. The son spontaneously rejects the offer but requests that it be provided to Sanjaya. Why is it that the blind Dhritharashtra does not want to see the battle? If he was confident about his son's victory, he would have seized the divine opportunity. Did something tell him that things would not go his son's way? The father's scepticism was matched by the son's anxiety. Yet, they would continue the war. Such is the misleading power of greed and spite.

Could Vyasa not persuade his son to advise his son to give up the suicidal path? There is a clue available in the literal meaning of the word , Vyasa. Vyasa means 'classifier' or 'divider' or analyst. He classified the Vedas in to 4 parts and thus earned the name Veda Vyasa. For good decisions, one has to analyse and then synthesise to arrive at an optimal solution. Vyasa could only analyse and then leave the decision to the other party.

Vyasa is gifted with Divya Dhrishti permanently. (He is also immortal, a Chiranjeevi.) He could also provide this gift to others, but for only a limited time. Is it not ironic that a person endowed with such a grand vision fathered a son who was born blind? (This gives rise to a Tamil proverb, "A teacher's son is a fool",)

Divya Dhristi can also see what is happening in people's minds, the present and also the past events. Thus Vyasa was able to bring before him the past events so that he could chronicle them correctly.

Dhritharashtra's wife, Gandhari, blindfolded herself after her marriage as she did not want to witness what her husband could not see. If Dhritharashtra had accepted the Divine Vision, Gandhari would have removed her blindfold and she too would have been told about the carnage involving the deaths of their sons, then and there. Did the husband want to protect the wife from this worst tragedy that could ever visit a mother?

Bagavad Gita (contd.)

 Why did Duryodana mention the name of Drupada's son while addressing Drona? This is a lesson in the art of advocacy! Duryodana wanted to arouse the base instincts of hostility in Drona's mind. What is a more effective tool for this than to invite attention to past enmity? Drona and Drupada were once classmates and thick friends. The friendship was so strong that Drupada promised Drona that he would give one half of his kingdom to Drona in future. Drona forgot all this till an occasion arose. Drona was satisfied with a penurious life. His son, Aswatthama was a friend of Duryodana; they were playmates too. One day, Duryodana told Aswatthama that he liked milk which he drank every day. Aswatthama had not seen milk till then and so he asked his parents to give him milk. Love for one's children changes the direction of many lives. Drona was now caught in this spiral. He remembered Drupada's promise. He went to Drupada who was now king. When Drona reminded Drupada his assurance, Drupada was upset. "We are not equals now and therefore we are not friends now. A king that I am cannot share his wealth with a commoner that you are. Don't live in the past." Thus Drupada repudiated his own promise. Had Drona asked for milk or for a cow, Drupada would have readily obliged. But the eagerness to satisfy one's child's desire blinds some people to reality. Drona returned home disappointed. Later on, Drona avenged Drupada's letdown by capturing his kingdom through Arjuna and went on to ensure his death in the Kurukshetra battle. Drona's animosity to Drupada was leveraged by Duryodana to remind him of the past when reference was made to Dhrishtadumna, Drupada's son. Duryodana was an intelligent administrator but bitterness towards cousins and resultant greed (or was it vice versa?) caused his downfall.


Bhima and Arjuna are among the Pandavas. There is no surprise they are in the battle field. Duryodana names Yuyudhana alias Saatyaki first; this is with a view to poison Drona's mind a little more. Yuyudhana was in Krishna's forces. As Krishna had agreed, he must be in the Kaurava army. But he is not. Why? Has Krishna violated his own word? No. There is a rule that a disciple should not fight one's guru. Yuyudhana  was trained in warfare by Arjuna. So there was nothing wrong in his supporting Arjuna. Here we find one dharmic principle (fulfilment of Krishna's promise) in contradiction to another (disciple standing by the guru). There are many such tradeoffs in Mahabharata. The subtle way in which such quandaries are resolved in this epic makes interesting reading. Duryodana seems to tell Drona, "Your disciple Arjuna is battling you; contrarily Arjuna's disciple is with him. You are wronged." This is to create malice and hatred in Drona's mind against Arjuna.

There is a saying that there is nothing that happens in the world that is not in the Mahabharata.

Thursday, December 24, 2020

Bagavad Gita

 Sarvam SriKrishnarpanam!

There is a metaphorical explanation for a blind person asking his aide to tell him what happens in a place that the latter also does not see. Sanjaya means a person who has conquered himself / his senses. So if we are self-controlled, we can do what normal people cannot.

The meanings of most verses are recondite and multiple. One can dig as much as one has either patience or interest for. Time and temperament to understand will be the constraints. Sometimes reading a couple or more verses together will be more meaningful. For example, the second verse and the third make a unified pair.

Prima-facie, the third verse reads like a bland statement from Duryodana to Drona. If we relate this statement to some past events, more meanings emerge. After Krishna's mediation efforts ended, Krishna was taking rest, pretending to be asleep. Duryodana goes to Krishna to probe his mind and seats himself near Krishna's face. Arjuna comes later and stands near Krishna's feet. One person's hubris and the other's humility are demonstrated by these acts. Krishna 'wakes up' and looks at Arjuna first and enquires what he wants. Duryodana interrupts and tells Krishna that he came first and therefore he is entitled to be heard first. Krishna now poses a question to Duryodana. "Now that the war is certain, do you want me or my armed forces with you?" This appears to be a no-brainer to Duryodana who settles for the armed forces. This is why Krishna unhesitatingly came on the Pandava side. Now back to Duryodana's bland statement. This betrays envy, taunt, anger and trepidation. Drona was the Acharya to both Pandavas and Kauravas. His favourite student was Arjuna. Duryodana calls the Pandava army mighty. Actually it was much smaller than his own because Krishna's forces were with him as he had already arranged with Krishna. Despite his superiority in numbers, Duryodana develops cold feet and becomes fearful. This is what happens when one is unjust. Duryodana taunts Drona pointing out his partiality towards Arjuna. Duryodana is envious that Drona had perhaps taught better skills to Arjuna against whom he has to fight. So Duryodana refers to 'your wise disciple'.

Monday, December 21, 2020

The Hindu and China

 The Hindu published a full-page advertisement on behalf of the People's Republic of China on October 1st. Questions were raised in the social media about the propriety of the newspaper (Indian?) sporting this advertisement when China had started border clashes with us. The newspaper calls this as a vicious campaign against itself. 'Vicious' according to Merriam -Webster dictionary means 'dangerously aggressive', 'marked by violence or ferocity', 'malicious, spiteful', 'having the quality of immorality', 'defective, faulty' and 'impure, noxious'. We do not know what The Hindu means.

The Hindu has now responded to the 'vicious' campaign adopting what it calls 'a rational view'. The newspaper has justified the publication on the following grounds: 

1) It was clearly marked as an advertisement. (So what? The so-called vicious campaigners recognised this as an advertisement only)

2) It was from a neighbouring nation-state, with whom India has excellent diplomatic relations. (This is a breathtaking justification. I feel too paralysed to respond.)

3) Can we use the Galwan valley exchanges, where the PM himself is yet to name the aggressor, to deny advertising space to an embassy to celebrate its foundation day? (The newspaper ought to know who is the aggressor. Does The Hindu think India is the aggressor? If the PM had named China as the aggressor, would the Sinophiliac newspaper have refused to carry the ad? Does The Hindu want many more of our soldiers to be killed by China before stopping such advertisements?

4) We have trade relations with China. (Trade with China cannot stop abruptly. So continuing trade with China does not mean the newspaper must advertise for China.)

China has violated our sovereignty. Similarly, it has border disputes with many neighbours. If the newspaper is unaware of this, it is moribund. China has done injustice to the entire world by exporting the Wuhan virus. By associating with China, The Hindu is complicit in China's anti-world activities.








9So what?)

Thursday, December 17, 2020

'Constitutional' protests

 The Chief Justice of India, while hearing the petition regarding farmers' protests, has observed that protests are constitutional as long as they do not endanger lives and damage property. This is a simplistic and controversial observation. This amounts to legalising gheraos and bandhs. 

Police has no authority to prevent constitutional activities. If a group of people blocks a road (minor or major road makes no difference) and if this activity is certified as constitutional by the highest judicial functionary in the country, how can the innocent public exercise its right to free movement? Does the CJI say that we have a constitutional right to inconvenience others in whatever way we want provided we desist from hitting them or damaging their property?

It appears that the anarchist forces are succeeding in perverting the course of justice. Farmer unions have welcomed various observations made by the court as a moral victory for them. In that case, they must be happy about the suggestions of the Supreme Court. They have also claimed that setting up new panels as suggested by the court will not resolve concerns. Are they happy that the issue will not be resolved?

The Supreme Court is losing its direction because of lobbying by the media. For example, The Hindu today carries an article by Mr.Harish Khare containing direct attacks on the Supreme Court and indirect attack on Modi. (Attacks on Modi and disparaging statements on institutions like courts are an essential requirement for publication of an article in the newspaper.)

Khare argues that 'judges are not in the business of soothing and smoothing.' What is the sin committed by the Supreme Court to warrant this argument? The author is annoyed that the court has shown politeness in dealing with the central government. While passing an order on Central Vista inauguration, the court had said, "We thought we were dealing with a prudent litigant and deference will be shown.... We have shown deference to you and expected that you will act in a prudent manner. The same deference should be shown to the court and there should be no demolition or construction." This is a polite way of warning the government to know its limits. But Khare is aghast that the court is polite towards the government. He calls this 'a protocol of deference' that is 'baffling and inexplicable.'

Deference means respect and politeness. In a democracy, institutions like courts and the government are not expected to deal with one another impolitely or disrespectfully. Anarchists are desperate to create misunderstanding and animosity among institutions.

Khare is unaware that firmness can be exercised politely. Such writers only endeavour to browbeat the judiciary into submission to their extraneous and heinous agenda of causing unrest in the country. He accuses the High Courts of being 'plainly unsympathetic to those who have had reason to critique and protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Act'. Do we see the cat out of the bag now? 

Harish Khare concludes his intimidation of the judiciary arguing that in the absence of 'countervailing judicial constraints' on the government, the 'kisans are manning the barricades at the Sindhu border' !

There is no wonder that the CJI is bullied enough to make the observation mentioned in the first paragraph.


Friday, December 11, 2020

Role of opposition in a democracy

 Democracy is a fragile political system that can be nurtured and sustained only if the parties both in government and the opposition play their roles responsibly. Otherwise democracy will degenerate in to dictatorship or anarchy.

It is the duty of the government to act in accordance with the Constitution. It is only to be expected that the policies of the ruling party and the opposition parties are different. They are not Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Therefore, many steps taken by the government will not be agreeable to the opposition, though they are perfectly legal. In such cases, the opposition can express its views but does not have the right to torpedo the government moves.

The opposition can also contest the government action legally. Adoption of demonstrations to create nuisance, inconvenience and traffic snarls are blatantly anti-democratic.

It is unfortunate that almost all opposition parties in our country now or earlier have misunderstood or misinterpreted their role. For example Ms.Kanimozhi, an M.P. from Tamil Nadu has argued in the Madras High Court that accusing the Chief Minister of corruption amounts to discharge of her duty as an elected representative of the people! In her view, this accusation cannot be a cause for a criminal defamation case. The honourable M.P. has not produced any evidence of corruption before the court and has gone on to add that she has said only Edappadi in her speech which is the subject matter of the criminal case and that this is not necessarily a reference to the Chief Minister Edappadi K.Palaniswami. This is a disingenuous argument that cuts little ice.

If the opposition thinks that its function is only to criticise and deactivate the government on an ongoing basis, there cannot be anything but inertia in the country's economy. This will only lead to widening the distance between the voters and the opposition. This is what seems to be happening in our country as the results of many recent elections show. Opposition's acts need to be such as to regain the confidence of the voters. If the acts only betray bitterness towards the party in power, they will only ensure a longer term in power for the ruling party.


Sunday, December 06, 2020

mRNA

 mRNA (messenger RNA) is a molecule of RNA that is read by a ribosome while forming a protein. Its history is interesting and it epitomises the significance of global efforts. mRNA is now in the news because Pfizer - BioNTech and Moderna have developed mRNA-based  vaccines against COVID-19.

Existence of mRNA was conceptualised / visualised by Jacques Monod, a French biochemist and Francois Jacob, a French biologist. Later it was discovered by Sydney Brenner, a South African biologist.

An Hungarian biochemist, Katalin Kariko,  revolutionised the understanding of mRNA by speculating on its various uses. She even suggested its utility in vaccine development. She was far ahead of her times. Her views were not taken seriously by other scientists. (Her daughter, Susan Francia won Olympic Gold Medal twice in rowing.)

The Turkish couple, Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, set up the biotech company, BioNTech in Germany and developed the vaccine against COVID-19. The vaccine is marketed by Pfizer, an American pharma company. It is manufactured in Puurs, Belgium.

The first regulatory approval was given in the U.K.

Saturday, December 05, 2020

Interfaith Marriage

 Interfaith alliance is a perennial hot potato. There is a lot of controversy of late about marriages between persons of different religions. In particular, Hindu brides marrying Muslim bridegrooms are attracting suspicious notice by some state governments as a device for forcible conversions.

Religious conversions are not prohibited by law. But forcible conversions are unlawful. The argument against the government intervention is that these conversions are of persons who are adults and as such involve legitimate exercise of freedom of conscience. 

There is a lot of truth in the statement that love is blind. It requires an inordinate amount of rational jingoism to claim otherwise. Love is an emotion. There is nothing wrong about emotion. In fact, in the absence of emotions, life will be an unbearable drudgery. However, it is illicit to exploit emotions as a religious tool for conversion.

Love is a strong emotion that prods an individual to do even untypical acts. A person in love is prone to perform some acts which the person would not do otherwise. It would be unlawful to take advantage of this emotion to convert a person's religion. At the same time, it would amount to denial of fundamental right if a person is forced not to marry a person of his or her choice. 

So, what is the way out? It may be legislated that interfaith marriages need to be performed only under the Special Marriage Act. This would legitimise the marriage and also obviate the need for conversion. Under the Muslim personal law, marriage with a non-Muslim is in most cases a nullity.

Thursday, December 03, 2020

HDFC Bank

 HDFC Bank is arguably one of the most respected banks in India. Its digital facilities have recently been plagued by frequent outages. (In digitals, even one outage is deemed frequent.) The customers have reasons to be dissatisfied. Its reputation is so robust that the banking regulator, RBI, would think twice before reprimanding it.

On December 2nd, RBI imposed some curbs on extension of digital services by the bank. For instance, the bank is prohibited to issue any new credit card. These curbs will be removed after the failures are rectified. The bank's Board has been advised to examine these lapses and fix accountability. A real reputational loss for HDFC Bank.

What is stated above is bad enough; on top of this, the assurance given to its customers is baffling. The bank has informed the exchanges, "The  Bank  has  been  taking  conscious,  concrete  steps  to  remedy  the  recent  outages  on  its  digital  banking  channels  and  assures  its  customers  that  it  expects  the  current  supervisory  actions  will  have  no  impact  on  its  existing  credit  cards,  digital  banking channels and existing operations."

In brief, the bank 'expects' that its customers will not be adversely impacted. This is not an assurance. This is only a statement conveying expectation. One really expects this bank to communicate more responsibly.

This amateurish response may be because HDFC Bank is not used to being in a tight corner. This is a real test for the new MD.

Tuesday, December 01, 2020

More (Less?) on COVID-19

 The more the information that we get about COVID-19, the less we seem to know about it. This is strange, but this is what makes the disease very challenging.

Any disease can be fully defined or understood only if there are unambiguous details about its symptoms, prevention and cure. There are people who imagine they have a disease though they do not have any symptoms and clinically they are disease-free. We call them hypochondriacs. Asymptomatic carriers of SARS-CoV-2 (as the virus causing COVID-19 is called) may be called the reverse hypochondriacs. They deny the existence of COVID-19 in their case, but doctors assert they are diseased.

The whole world seems to be cheering the sighting of vaccines with 90 -plus % efficacy. This is despite Merck, a large pharma company that has been a pioneer in introduction of many vaccines, throwing cold water on the cheering billions. Merck wonders how it is possible to engineer a vaccine against a virus whose behaviour remains largely enigmatic now. Merck ought to know!

Pfizer and Moderna have designed a gene-modifying m-RNA based vaccine. The long term effects of GM products are mostly unknown. Vaccines are to be administered to the entire global population. Is  humanity becoming a global guinea pig?

About the cure, the less said the better. EUA (Emergency Use Authorisation), repurposed medicine and immunity boosters are bandied about as if we have caught the virus by the scruff of its neck. The virus continues to hold us as its hostage.

Tuesday, November 24, 2020

Banks and Business Houses

 RBI seems to be considering permitting NBFCs and large corporate / industrial houses to promote new commercial banks. This has been described as a 'bombshell' by Raghuram Rajan and Viral Acharya. They argue that such houses are themselves big borrowers and we cannot expect them to choose good borrowers and therefore credit quality of banks would suffer.

This criticism is debatable and is one-sided. Though it is fashionable to condemn large industrial houses as purveyors of corruption and spewers of malpractices, facts do not bear this out. Fourteen banks were nationalised in the year 1969. Prior to this, many of these had been promoted by industrial groups. Central Bank of India, UCO Bank, Indian Bank and Indian Overseas Bank had industrial houses as their promoters. They were doing well; therefore, the government did not have any problem in managing them. They became sloppy and corrupt subsequently because of political interference.

The private banks which went under had been promoted by 'eminent bankers'. Global Trust Bank (Trust was an oxymoron here) and Yes Bank (Yes for mismanagement?) were the babies of Ramesh Gelli and Rana Kapoor, both banking doyens. They got banking licences because they were professionals and not industrial / business magnates. They taught industrialists how to be corrupt!

Thus there are examples to show that the problem is not with industrial houses. It lies elsewhere. If potential promoters are not subjected to strict due diligence, whoever they are, banking mishaps will happen. Industrialists at least know the difficulties faced by businesses and as bankers they will not be indifferent to customers. To dismiss them as fraudulent as a group is a sign of unpolluted prejudice.

RBI's former Governor and Deputy Governor could have proposed better due diligence before sanctioning licences to open banks. Unfortunately they have chosen to mouth populist condemnation of businessmen and industrialists. This goes to show that what is ailing us is a closed mind. Any attempt to open it will spontaneously evoke cynicism and contempt.

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Barack Obama on Manmohan Singh

 Barack Obama's memoir 'A Promised Land' promises some confusion also. His observation on Manmohan Singh is as inscrutable as the latter's face.

There is no disputing the fact that the former prime minister of India was poker-faced. He was impassive. He was also considered to be a person of integrity. This of course is not an undisputed fact. He trivialised the unethical conduct of his ministers as the consequence of 'coalition dharma'. He could easily put up with the shenanigans of both his ministers and his leader. At least to that extent, his integrity was diluted and doubtful.

Barack Obama, according to pre-publication reviews of his memoir, says that Manmohan Singh possessed 'impassive integrity'. Does this mean that Singh does not wear his integrity on his sleeves? Integrity cannot be opaque. It is transparent if it exists. If it is hidden or if it is sought to be hidden, it does not exist. Crooks hide dishonesty. Nobody can hide one's honesty. So this interpretation of Obama's enigmatic (impassive?) comment does not lead us anywhere.

Is there a printer's devil? Does Obama simply want to say that Singh is known for his deadpan expressions and also integrity? Maybe yes. It is not only that MMS is inscrutable but any characterisation of him also ends up being incomprehensible. Obama is known for clarity of thinking and ease of expression. Manmohan Singh has confused him!

Friday, November 13, 2020

Barack Obama on Rahul Gandhi

 Barack Obama is considered to be a sensible politician. Of course, he has the advantage of being compared with other American politicians. Obama has now proved that nothing prevents a sensible person from making inappropriate comments.

Obama has, in his autobiography, referred to Rahul Gandhi as someone who is unformed, nervous and lacking in passion and aptitude. These are all subjective remarks which do not do justice to Obama's sensibility.

Everyone is unformed in the sense that everyone keeps evolving. If Obama considers himself as 'formed', it means he refuses to grow further. No one can claim that one has reached the zenith of growth. When meeting Obama, Rahul would have been overwhelmed by protocol requirements causing him to be nervous. Probably, Obama lacked the ability to put Rahul at ease. Passion and aptitude cannot be measured easily even by experts. One wonders why Obama has chosen to be so pretentious.

The Congress party has matched Obama in lack of maturity. "These are only Obama's views." Obama says these are his views.

Thursday, November 05, 2020

Arnab Goswami

 Arnab Goswami of the Republic TV is a thorn in most politicians' flesh. It is natural for the targeted politicians to be desperate to put him in the dock. The Maharashtra government which has been at the receiving end for quite some time is anxiously trying to silence him.

The government has been clutching at any straw to browbeat the inconvenient TV anchor. It tried to pin him down in the TRP case. It has not succeeded so far. The government has filed FIRs against each and every employee of this TV channel. The employees have not started squealing against Arnab, further infuriating the government. So the government started reopening a closed case (in which he was accused of being responsible for the suicide of an interior designer) against the crusader.

The government wanted to take him under police custody and teach him a lesson. But the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Alibag, Maharashtra did not oblige; he denied police custody because in his judicial view 1) Arnab Goswami was not clearly connected with the victim's death, 2) No court order was issued for the present investigation, 3)The prosecution has not shown any defect in the earlier investigation, 4) No magistrate has permitted reopening of the case.

But revenge brooks no opposition howsoever lawful the latter is. The government will continue to go after him. Various organs of the media have been unfair to him. Most of them have chosen to be silent, perhaps relishing their competitor's plight. Even the few which have opposed the unlawful treatment meted out to Arnab have done so perfunctorily to avoid being criticised for not standing for one of their own.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Nature's Ways

 Nature has announced the onset of NE Monsoon with a bang. Chennai (particularly Mandaveli and its neighbourhood) experienced blinding lightnings and deafening thunders early this morning . They were so threatening that one could be forgiven for thinking that the end of the world was at hand.

Luckily (am I using the right word?), the apocalypse has not happened and I continue to live. The dry monsoon as the NE Monsoon is called, has arrived imperially. What can we predict about its course this year? Weathermen console us that the delayed onset (the monsoon is a week late this year) does not mean that the rains will be scanty. It is strange that we focus only on the possibility of a weak monsoon at the start of the season. At this time, we do not realise that a very strong monsoon might cause greater havoc than a failed monsoon.

The beginning of monsoon is usually portrayed as a harbinger of good tidings in Bollywood. In real life, it creates apprehensions. This time, the possible cataclysm is twofold. One natural adversity can make us squirm in paranoia. The combination of an unpredictable monsoon and the novel coronavirus is sending shivers down our spine.

We experience monsoons periodically and yet we have been unable to fully fathom their behaviour. It is no wonder that we know little about SARS-CoV-2 which we are facing for the first time and hope does not become a regular visitor like the monsoon. Europe is now battered by a repeat wave of the virus. Belgium and the Czech Republic are the worst affected as of now. 

Some epidemiologists have thrown in the towel reasoning that the virus is behaving 'arbitrarily' and therefore any prognosis is out of place. Why should our inability to understand the virus make its natural behaviour arbitrary? If all that we do not comprehend is to be dismissed as arbitrary, most of the universe is arbitrary. Our ignorance must not be interpreted as nature's arbitrariness.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

COVID-19 travails

 The world has been literally on edge ever since the novel coronavirus-SARS-CoV-2 emerged from China. The panic started in December,2019 and the end is nowhere in sight. With every new development, we are becoming more perplexed. Recently it was reported that this virus can stay on many surfaces including stainless steel, glass and paper currency for as long as 28 days.

No one can remain unconcerned about the virus. It is recommended by health authorities that those with symptoms like cold, cough, fever, diarrhoea, breathlessness and fatigue need to get tested for COVID-19. It is commonly known that it can also be asymptomatic. So, whether one has symptoms or not, testing is indicated. This is only the start of a series of dilemmas.

If one decides to get tested, one needs to be wise to the fact that many test results are false-positive and a few false-negative. If COVID-19 is confirmed by a test that is anyway unreliable, the next stage in the puzzle revolves around quarantine. The purpose of isolation is to protect others from infection. This is another quandary because the virus is even more contagious before onset of symptoms. Thus, by the time one is quarantined, the virus has already performed its dharmic duty of invading other hosts.

What medicine to take? It is admitted that there is no medicine and the virus itself has to decide when to leave a host. Yet, medical aggressiveness and patient's anxiety result in use of drugs. Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malarial and anti-autoimmune disorder drug, dexamethasone, a steroid used for asthma, cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, azithromycin, convalescent plasma and vitamin D are used depending on the situation in a hit or miss fashion. Depending on one's luck, the patient may get cured or the condition may aggravate.

Recovery will be signalled by a few negative results from further tests. The reliability of these tests is again subject to question.

No disease has flummoxed patients, doctors, epidemiologists and pharma companies alike like COVID-19. (Some pharma companies are , however, making money while the sun shines and the disease remains enigmatic by proferring false claims on efficacy of their drugs.)  In sum, combined absence of vaccine, fool-proof test and medicine makes COVID-19 a horrific gift from China for which the world is pathetically unable to make the donor accountable.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Life is a rat race!

 Life is a rat race. Period. However, we acknowledge it, if at all, only when life is almost over. Little do we realise that even if we win the rat race, we remain as rats.

There are some differences between us and rats. Rats get caught only in a rat trap. But we are caught in multiple types of traps. Once trapped, rats try to get out of the trap. When we are ensnared by 'pleasures', we try to get deeper into them. It becomes a race to the bottom for us. Who are more intelligent, rats or us?

Rats do not gnaw at its food, say nuts, when they find that humans are around and watching. They have the fear of being caught. Human beings do not have this fear. Despite knowing that the Almighty keeps an unfailing eye constantly on us, we keep committing deliberate mistakes as if we will never be caught. Rats must be laughing at us!

Friday, October 02, 2020

IDFC First Bank

 Mr. V.Vaidyanathan is the CEO and MD of IDFC First Bank. The bank has advised the stock exchange as follows on Sept 28th.. It does not say that VV is the MD of the bank. Does the bank think that anyone reading the announcement should know who he is? (Of course, he has done well in donating shares to his teacher.)

" Dear Sir / Madam, Pursuant to Regulation 30 of the SEBI Listing Regulations read with Regulation 7(2) and 6(2) of the SEBI Insider Trading Regulations, we wish to inform you that Mr. V. Vaidyanathan has transferred 1,00,000 fully paid-up equity shares of IDFC FIRST Bank Limited held by him in his personal capacity to his former school teacher, Mr. Gurdial Saroop Saini, as a gift, without any consideration as a token of gratitude for his teacher’s help to him at an earlier stage in his life. It is clarified by Mr. Vaidyanathan that Mr. Saini is not a related party under Companies Act, and that the recipient will pay taxes as per applicable tax laws. Kindly take the above on record and acknowledge receipt of the same. Thanking you, Yours Faithfully, For IDFC FIRST Bank Limited Satish Gaikwad Head – Legal & Company Secret"

Here is another interesting announcement:

"Limited has received an intimation vide letter dated September 4, 2020, from Dr Rajiv B Lall wherein he has tendered his resignation as part-time non-executive chairman from the board of the bank with immediate effect citing that he has been dealing with his prolonged personal health issues for a while now," the bank said in a regulatory filing.

Dealing with prolonged health issue for a while?

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The Babri Masjid judgement

 At last, the CBI court has given its verdict. It has acquitted the accused who were alleged to be responsible for demolition of the Masjid. The court has been unequivocal in declaring that there was neither any criminal conspiracy nor any planning by the accused for demolition.

It is easy to fault any judgement; it becomes easier if one has not read any part of the judgement. It seems that ignorance about any judgement gives one the inalienable right to denounce it outright. It has now become the habit of  political parties to condemn any inconvenient judgement as repugnant to law. These parties assume they are always on the right side of law and therefore any judicial decision not acceptable to them is prima facie defective.

Sitaram Yechury wonders how the Masjid could self-implode. The verdict clearly says that the demolition was the handiwork of some miscreants who were not the persons who are accused. His trick is to put words in the mouth of the judge and then criticise the judgement for what it does not say. This is not expected of a seasoned leader.

Randeep Singh Surjewala is more understandable. Any judgement that does not criticise his party's antagonists is ipso facto incorrect. He argues that this judgement is contrary to a pronouncement of the Supreme Court. What did the SC say? It said that the demolition was an egregious violation of the rule of law. The present judgement accepts this and goes on to conclude that the culprits are different; they are not the accused in this case.

The judge of the CBI court has delivered a reasoned verdict. Unfortunately, in our present scheme of things , he will get pilloried because he has been reasonable. It is now open season for unfair criticism of any fair judgement.

Sunday, September 27, 2020

Protests against Farm Bills

 The Farm Bills have now received presidential assent and therefore have become Acts. However, the protests against the Bills are continuing. Remarkably there is similarity between these protests and those against Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Both protests are anticipatory in nature.

The CAA does not adversely affect the interests of Muslims who are citizens of India. Yet, a canard was spread that the CAA was anti-Muslim. A fear was created that this was a prelude to an attack on Indian Muslims. Similarly, the Farm Bills are not against the interests of farmers. Despite this, the farmers are egged on to protest. An impression is sought to be created that the government will, in future, abandon APMC and MSP. The charade is complete in Bihar where the RJD is protesting 'to safeguard farmers' interests' though Bihar is one of the three states which do not follow the APMC system at all (the others are Kerala and Manipur.)

The Bills widen the scope of marketing for agricultural products. This can be pernicious only in the wild paranoid imagination of politicians. Only 6% of farmers sell their crops at MSP rates. The main benefit of sales in APMC mandi yards is reaped by the arhatiyas or commission agents who play multiple roles as brokers, money lenders, guides etc.

The incomes of arhatiyas will be reduced in case APMC becomes more unpopular. The farmers are in the stranglehold of arhatiyas and therefore easily misguided by them. The stranglehold of these middlemen can be loosened only if the commercial / rural banks come forward to lend more and on time to small and marginal farmers.

Sales in APMC mandis are subject to payment of taxes and commission. Therefore, sales outside the mandis are advantageous to the farmers. One of these Acts facilitates contract farming. A bogey is created that the farmers will become slaves of corporates. On the contrary, the farmers will benefit from R & D of corporates and enhanced certainty of offtake.

It is easy to torpedo any attempts at reform. The politicians will render good service to the nation if they realise that their role is not to oppose any sensible move by the government.

Thursday, September 24, 2020

Religious tolerance

 In the Sudarshan TV case, the Supreme Court has observed, "A message should go out to the media that it cannot make a religious minority the target of its attacks. The dignity of a community is as important as journalistic freedom." This is indeed a sober advice that cannot be faulted except that it seems to excuse targeted attacks on the majority community.

In an intervention application, Sashi Kumar of Asianet has claimed that hate speech in media should not be allowed to be disguised as free speech or religious freedom by majoritarian forces. Do only majoritarian forces indulge in hate speech? 

It is necessary for institutions and individuals to observe neutrality and to abstain from demonising either the majority or a minority. Targeting either is equally nefarious.

Sunday, September 06, 2020

The Hindu's Success

I have been a reader of The Hindu ever since boyhood. The newspaper helped me to cultivate interest in reading. Its editorials and articles have always fascinated me. 

I also have a nostalgic thankfulness to The Hindu. While I was in school, I was awarded the first prize in an elocution competition conducted by the Mylapore Academy. In a way this was unfair because another competitor spoke much better and the audience rightly expected him to get the first prize. That was my expectation too. During my talk, I referred to a leader piece in The Hindu and this obviously tilted the scales in my favour. A sub-editor of The Hindu was a judge in the panel! I felt guilty and pacified myself thinking that that is how life is. (The speaker who must have won the prize is Dr.G.S.Kailash who is presently a chest physician and a popular public speaker on health-related issues.)

So my delight knew no bounds when The Hindu claimed on May 12, 2020 that it is the fastest growing English daily in India. It added 4,61,000 readers nationally in Q4 of the calendar year 2019. This count was 1,03,000 more than what Times of India could achieve. 

However, my delight was deflated when I read what the Social Affairs Editor, G.Sampath has written today. He writes that five qualities are necessary for success in the world. What are they?

1) Hate: The Hindu's hatred for our prime minister is phenomenal.

2) Lie: The daily's false stories about the Rafale purchase cannot be forgotten.

3) Cheating: The newspaper's propensity to ignore anything positive about its bete-noire is well known.

4) Ability to bully the weak: The newspaper bullies and gets bullied too. This is not surprising because the country it admires most is the world's most powerful bully. 

5) Toadying up to the powerful: This is second nature to the newspaper. Till 2014, the daily excelled in this attribute. It bent over backwards during the emergency days when The Indian Express displayed its spine.

Thank you Mr. Sampath for your unintended explanation.

Monday, April 27, 2020

COVID-19 : a terrestrial black hole?

Terrestrial COVID-19 can only be compared to a black hole in space in terms of its mystery. We know they exist, but little else is certain about either. With the recent discoveries made regarding black holes, we may even say that COVID-19 is the more mysterious one.

Where did COVID-19 originate? We need to be thankful that China does not now contest that it originated in China. Initially, the Chinese claimed that it was brought to China by American soldiers.

There is no preventive either as vaccination or as anything else. There is as yet no cure either. Will the virus that causes COVID-19, namely SARS-CoV-2 revisit us seasonally? It is hard to say. We can only say 'it is more likely than unlikely'. However, the devastations caused by the disease are daunting. It is known to have ravaged almost all organs including lungs, kidney and the brain. It has caused strokes among the middle-aged, aggravated DVT (blood clots) among the pregnant and has discoloured the skins of some patients. The discolouration has occurred particularly in China. Like everything else about the opaque nation, we will never know whether the discolouration was caused by the virus or the Chinese treatment.

Certain data presented by The Economist are revealing. Air pollution kills 1.2 million Indians every year. Lockdown enforced in many parts of India has helped to clear air pollution substantially though this was not the objective. So, many lives have been saved which otherwise might have succumbed to air pollution. NASA reports that Indian atmosphere now is the cleanest for the past 20 years. (NASA started scanning our atmosphere only 20 years ago.)

The Economist also reports that rapes in Delhi have reduced by 83% in the aftermath of lockdown. Deaths caused by vehicle accidents in the country are down by 20,000 per month.

Different countries have fared differently in their encounters with the pandemic. Reasons are yet to be established beyond doubt. It is useful to compare Spain and Portugal which are neighbours with a border extending to about 1,200 km. Spain's experience has been a disaster. Portugal is comparatively unscathed. The differences are stark. Till date, Portugal has lost 800 lives to COVID-19 compared to 22,000 in Spain. That is, Portugal's loss of lives is 3.6% of Spain's. Population-wise, Portugal is 21.3% of Spain (10 mn vs 47 mn). Portugal's mortality rate from the disease is 3% against 10% for Spain.

What accounts for so much contrast between two neighbours ? Some epidemiologists argue that BCG vaccination is the differentiator. Portugal implements BCG vax for its children unlike Spain. America does not; India does. Is there some lesson here?


Monday, April 20, 2020

vendor payment


Economic Times has reported that large companies are planning to defer their payments to suppliers because of tight liquidity positions caused by the Covid-19 lockdown. For example, Tata Steel may delay payments by 45 days and Asian Paints by 30 days. Both these companies are respectable leaders in their respective industry. We view this development with concern for several reasons.
There is no doubt that these are difficult times for all business units. Every company has to try to solve its problems as much as possible without shifting the problems to other stakeholders. Let us now see if companies like Tata Steel and Asian Paints can mitigate their liquidity travails without endangering the liquidity of their vendors.
These companies are valuable customers for their banks. Credit Risk posed by them to the banks is the least. When banks are having surplus funds for lending, their customers of choice will be the likes of Asian Paints with creditable credit history. Banks are now sitting on a mountain of liquidity. As on April 15, the funds placed in Reverse Repo amount to Rs.6.9 lakh crore. This has even resulted in RBI reducing the Reverse Repo Rate from 4% to 3.75% on April 17 sending a clear signal to banks that they must lend more and depend less on depositing money with RBI.
Companies with good track record must make use of their easy access to banks and borrow more. This will create a win-win situation for both the lender and the borrower. The benefit for the banks will be the opportunity to lend to better-rated customers with potential for easier and timely recovery. Logically banks will treat this as a heaven-sent blessing. These large companies will also be able to retain the goodwill of their vendors who will respect the companies for standing by them even in perilous circumstances. This will ensure seamless movement of funds from banks to large companies and from these companies to  vendors many of whom are MSMEs. If this flow of funds does not happen, MSMEs which are already in dire straits will be forced to approach their banks for enhanced loans. The ground reality is that banks are more hesitant to increase their exposure to units whose credit history is already dented by adverse economic circumstances.
There is a long benign chain effect in the process. Vendors who are promptly paid by these large companies will be in a position to service their suppliers in time and the chain goes on.
An additional benefit the banks can reap in the process is the requirement to monitor a few well-maintained accounts instead of spending sleepless nights involved in dealing with too many customers. The consequent round of benefits accrues to the bankers of these vendors as the latter will be in a position to honour their bank dues on time. There are many instances where the banker to a large company is also the banker its vendors.
Tough times do not necessarily call for tough decisions. Postponing payments to vendors is a tough decision which will have snowballing  adverse impact on the economy. If banks and their large corporate customers get their act together and quickly exploit the opportunity to facilitate purposeful cashflows without taking undue risk, they will ensure their health apart from playing a productive part in sustaining the economy.
Supply Chain Management and Channel Financing: Extended lockdowns are a threat to sustenance of supply chain. Disruption of cashflows in any part of the chain will have its inexorable negative impact on the entire chain thereby posing a logistics problem. Success of channel financing depends not only on the willingness of the banker to lend to the channel partners  but also on the readiness of the manufacturer to come to the rescue of any entity in the supply chain who may be facing liquidity constraints. It is hoped that large companies and their banks will rise to the occasion and thereby quicken the economic recovery process.

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Habitual ridicule

A newspaper is read for getting information on what is happening, comments on events and also for humorous takes on current events. Thus the newspaper has to inform, shape opinions and entertain. Most importantly, these responsibilities have to be performed with diligence and decorum.

Relentless ridicule of what the government is doing without taking into account the totality of government's purpose and action falls far short of the requirements of both diligence and decorum. You may have guessed what I am coming to.

If you continue to be a reader of The Hindu despite its partial ideological views, chances are that you would have noticed with dismay the consistently irresponsible and indecorous comments made by Mr. G.Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu under "Allegedly" columns every Sunday.

The Editor is unable to write any piece without making snide references to prime minister's actions. The writings drip with base sarcasm which the author apparently mistakes for humour. For example, read the following which appears today:

"Yes, I'm talking about Phase III of the battle against the virus. It's simple: you donate your next 10 months' salary to PM CARE, a fund set up specifically to enable every Indian to demonstrate how much they care for the PM. In case you are unemployed and therefore unable to donate salary, don't panic. You can donate one finger a month for 10 months. This collective show of love and loyalty to the PM, modelled on the highly effective practices of the Yakuza - Japan ------------"

Yakuza is a criminal syndicate in Japan. It is unbelievable that a newspaper compares PM CARES FUND with Yakuza. Mr.Sampath does not seem to know it is PM CARES and not PM CARE. CARES is an acronym for "Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations" (Fund).

Mr.Sampath is not the only one in The Hindu engaging in mindless criticism of the government and the prime minister. Ms.Vaishna Roy's 'Speech Melba' every Saturday is of  similar sinister genre.

Monday, March 16, 2020

Yes Bank and ICICI Bank

There has long been a debate on comparative merits (and of course demerits) of professional managers and promoter managers. The recent controversies involving Yes Bank and ICICI Bank have settled the issue. There isn't much to choose between the devil and the deep sea.

Chanda Kochhar had her bonuses clawed back and deservedly so. Yes Bank is yet to extend a similar treatment to Rana Kapoor. It is difficult to say who has betrayed the bank more. Apart from settling the controversy regarding professional vs promoter, they have also proved there is no gender difference as far as managerial misdemeanours go. Lehman Brothers would have failed had it been Lehman Sisters also!

The Reconstruction scheme of Yes Bank is a bit dicey. It readily attracts legal challenge. Investors in perpetual bonds have two credible grounds to assail the write-down of these bonds. One is that their interests cannot be sacrificed before a similar treatment is meted out to existing equity holders. Secondly, since the bank has come to grief because of reported frauds by the promoter, the bank is liable to compensate the bond holders. The bank cannot gain from misdeeds of its promoter.

Thursday, March 12, 2020

Jim O'Neill on India and coronavirus

Jim O'Neill, the economist who coined the acronym 'BRIC', has gratuitously commented that he is thankful that coronavirus started in China and not India. In his view, India could not have managed the situation as well as China. His counterfactual wisdom is unwarranted on many counts.

Prevention of an ill is better than its cure. China failed miserably in preventing this zoonotic malaise. Yet, neither WHO nor any other global organisation has been truthful or bold enough to chastise China. O.Neill who is critical of India's medical preparedness has no observation on Russia (another of the BRIC economies). Is this because any criticism of Russia will result in this British economist becoming persona non grata in Russia?

It is not without reason that India is known for medical tourism. Medical prowess of its doctors is well known. Further, India being a thriving democracy, news of any viral attack would have spread like wild fire and its government would/could not have hidden it so long as the Chinese government did. Its voluble opposition would have informed WHO the very first day. (This would have been one of the few good things done by the vituperative opposition!)

What does O'Neill think of the preparedness of his own country, U K ? Its health minister has also unfortunately contracted the virus. On a lighter note, Indian ministers are known for taking better care of themselves!

Monday, March 09, 2020

Yes Bank: What went wrong?

Yes Bank is a new generation private sector bank. (Called new generation because it was fully computerised from its inception unlike the old private sector banks like Karur Vysya Bank which started with manual operations and then became computerised.) So far, so good. But this is also a 'rogue bank'. A rogue bank is one which makes substantial profits for some time and then, when profits start waning, starts fudging books.

NPA figures reported by the bank in the last two years were far less than what RBI inspectors discovered. Technically the bank did not come under the PCA (Prompt Corrective Action) net of RBI though the regression of the bank was clear. (The precipitous fall of Yes Bank points to the need for revisiting the PCA norms.)

Credit-Deposit Ratio (CD Ratio) speaks volumes about a bank. Some comparative figures (as on 31-03-2019) are:
                                      Yes Bank -  106%
                                  ICICI Bank  -    90%
                                  HDFC Bank -    89%
                  Kotak Mahindra Bank -    91%

Public sector banks typically have CD Ratio around 80% because they are risk-averse and not aggressive. Efficiently managed private sector banks have CD Ratio about 90% CD Ratio above 100% indicates that loans are given not only from funds sourced from deposits but also from borrowings. This is not healthy for a bank.

Borrowings of Yes Bank are very high in relation to its deposit. Following figures speak for themselves.

                                                                               Deposits                 Borrowings   (Rs. Crore)

      Yes Bank                                                         2,27,610                  1,08,424

       ICICI Bank                                                     6,52,920                  1,65,319

       HDFC Bank                                                    9,23,141                  1,17,085

       Kotak Mahindra Bank                                    2,25,880                     32,248

A  part of borrowings of Yes Bank is in the form of IPDI (Innovative Perpetual Debt Instruments.) RBI has proposed that these IPDIs (Additional Tier 1 capital) will be totally written down. IPDI investors are likely to legally contest this proposal despite Basel III provisions. These investors claim that their interests cannot be subordinated to the interests of shareholders. In other words, the shareholders also need to take a hit directly from the bank when the rights of IPDI investors are adversely affected. These investors are on strong legal ground. It may turn out that when the chickens are counted, the present paid-up capital is fully written off and therefore IPDI investors cannot protest. It is worth noting that the shareholders of Global Trust Bank had their investments totally eroded.


Sunday, March 08, 2020

Yes Bank

The following was blogged on November 27, 2018. Is RBI's action too belated? Another post will soon  follow.

"Yes Bank is oddly named. No bank can say 'yes' to all requests from customers. There are better ways of communicating one's positive outlook than through an ill-advised name.

What is in a name? There are occasions when everything is in a name. What is the bank saying 'yes' to? Subterfuges and shenanigans? Ever since RBI stalled Rana Kapoor's attempts to continue as the bank's CEO, many reports have emerged disclosing borrowings by shadow banks (NBFCs) belonging to the yes group from mutual funds on the security of shares in Yes Bank. These loans have been ploughed back into some companies of the group as equity.

These transactions are not unlawful. But when under a regulatory scanner, any ethically dubious transaction is  viewed as an egregious transgression.

These are not isolated transactions. There has been a pattern. There have been marked divergences between NPAs disclosed by the bank and those flagged by RBI. Why did Rana Kapoor take to devious ways when the bank was doing well? Or, was the bank doing well only thanks to these difficult-to-justify methods?

Ashok Chawla could not continue as Chairman apparently because there are some allegations of corruption against him. A whistle blower is supposed to have alleged that the bank's CEO had indulged in corrupt transactions. Coincidental charges against both the chairman and the CEO  make Yes Bank more notorious than ICICI Bank. Neither bank was able to deal with the reputation risk adroitly.

Is there a giveaway in names of organisations? Satyam, Global Trust and Yes - all are indicators of qualities these organisations did not possess!"

Thursday, March 05, 2020

Judiciary, the punching bag?

John Roberts, Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, has taken exception to a warning issued by Schumer, an American politician and Senate Democratic leader, to two judges of the Supreme Court. Schumer had earlier said that the two judges appointed by President Trump would 'pay the price' if they voted against abortion rights. (Judicial reconsideration of Roe vs Wade is a recurrent theme in the American legal world.) (Senator Schumer has since admitted that he should not have used the words he had employed.)

Harsh Mander is playing Schumer with the Indian Supreme Court, but without any remorse. He has attributed partiality to judges of the Court on many occasions. He is in the habit of condemning some judgements for not interpreting constitutional provisions 'correctly.' The Supreme Court must come down heavily on persons like Harsh Mander who are bent upon trivialising the course of justice. Inability to accept judicial pronouncements not in accord with one's ideological predilections is an extreme case of intolerance. It is a mark of such intolerant persons to accuse others of intolerance and subversion of 'secularism'.

Saturday, February 22, 2020

Judicial restraint

Justice Arun Mishra said in a function that "under the stewardship of internationally acclaimed visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India was committed to constitutional obligations and was responsible and most friendly member of the international community."

Predictably, Mishra's utterance has been excoriated by legal luminaries like Justices (retired) A.P.Shah, R.S.Sodhi and P.B.Sawant. Their contention is that Mishra has sent a wrong message to other judges and that a person who expresses such a view about the executive head cannot be neutral in cases involving the executive.

Has Justice Mishra erred in voicing his opinion about the Prime Minister? The judge also said, "We  thank the versatile genius, who thinks globally and acts locally, for his inspiring speech." One may also argue that this is indulgence in hyperbole. There is however a distinction between correctness or otherwise of a view on the one hand and the right to express that on the other.

The only consequence that automatically follows is that in case there is a petition questioning constitutional propriety of any action of Modi, Mishra would be well advised to recuse himself in the case. In this regard the judge's record is less than exemplary. In an ongoing petition in the Supreme Court regarding land acquisition, Justice Mishra chose not to recuse himself though a judgement earlier delivered by him is a subject of the case. (In our legal system, recusal is left to the discretion of the concerned judge.)

It is easy to criticise a judge for what he says. It is not possible though to accuse a judge for an opinion he may hold which he never expresses. When a judge is vocal about his views, we are at least aware of his propensity. In this sense, we ought to welcome judges expressing their views frankly. We cannot deny the judges their freedom of expression in our enthusiasm for judicial restraint.

We may never know whether a judge who praises a minister is ipso facto biased. At the same time, we expect the judge to keep his predilections away while pronouncing a judgement. Are we expecting superhuman behaviour from a human judge?

Tuesday, February 04, 2020

Numerical nihilist

Prof. Jayati Ghosh, a development economist, has blamed the central budget 2020-21 as containing only lies. "Every single number in the budget is a lie."

How so? According to the learned professor, since the budget was presented on February 1st itself, the figures for 2019-20 contained in the budget include data up to December, 2019 only and estimates for remaining three months. Does the professor want accurate current figures before the budget is presented? Is it possible?

The professor ought to know that even the figures up to Dec 31 are only approximate. It is natural that numbers undergo a lot of revisions and corrections in a country of our size. Comfort with approximations is one of the requirements for a practical economist. Is discomfort with all numbers a prerequisite for a JNU professor?

Prof.Ghosh claims that current slowdown is worse than 1991 and 2008. One may respond to her with her own argument. What are the numbers in her calculations which have enabled her to come to the conclusion about the severity of current slowdown? Are they not a bundle of lies?

"Every single item of receipts, the revised estimates for what they are spending this year and all what they have received this year is a lie."

Monday, February 03, 2020

WHO on coronavirus

Coronavirus has spawned a huge infodemic that makes our heads spin. If there is one incontrovertible fact, it is that the problem started in China. Thankfully the Chinese government has not denied that what is now a pandemic originated in China. There are limits even to the Chinese opacity and deniability.

If China is unable to deflect the blame elsewhere, the World Health Organisation has come to its rescue. "This is the time for solidarity, not stigma" asserts WHO's Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. In other words, do not question what went wrong in China.

Initially, WHO tried to soft-pedal the issue and refused to declare the viral outbreak as PHEIC (Public Health Emergency of International Concern.) On January 30th when the seriousness of the contagion could not be contained in vague phrases, WHO relented and declared the epidemic as PHEIC. At the same time, the UN body insisted that this move was not a criticism of the Chinese policy or action (was it not inaction for a week or so since the virus started spreading?) but was meant to help those countries which were less equipped to deal with deadly infections.

WHO does not want travel and trade restrictions from various countries to China. The famed organisation has said that such restrictions are a social, political and economic recipe for disaster. WHO thinks that these restrictions would shame China, the country that WHO does not want to antagonise. WHO can afford to be more professional and less scared of big powers.

The DG has advised that the only way we can defeat this outbreak is for all countries to work together in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation. "We are all in this together and we can only stop it  together." So, China is off the hook! Tedros has also certified, "Were it not for China's efforts, we would have seen many more cases outside China." Really? (Some observers believe that China delayed informing the world and its own citizens about the viral outbreak and a lot of damage was done before the country started shutting down the entire Hubei province. Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, is the epicentre of the epidemic.)