Mysore Boat Ride in Karanji Lake. Very pathetic administration.

 I happened to visit the lake this Sunday the 28th July with family consisting of six members including two kids. Just for the sake of Kids, I purchased tickets at 12.20 Noon for six passengers for Pedalling Boat but it was a total chaos at the boarding place in the  absence of any organised approach to have a queue in order of tickets numbers and timing of Booking , distribution of jackets, priority for seniors and elders and kids to  have the ride. Might is right was the approach and literally pushing pulling and shouting were the arrangements to get into the boat. After spending an hour and finding no way of handling the crowd in a decent way, I decided to approach the counter clerk who was unfortunately found not only arrogant but also defiant of the way things are handled. Since argument with such insensitive fellows made no sense I decided to get back without going for the ride . I handed over the tickets to some uniformed person at the  main entrance of the Lake and in the absence of any supervisor worth the name advised the officials found  in Kwaki Uniform at the main entrance the matter and left the place for our good. It is not the question of loss of money but the way one carries an image of the arrangement and callousness  and insensitivity of the administration is something definitely avoidable if at all some attention and care are taken care of by those who manage the show. Only very few will take the pain to report out of love for the country and better image of the administration.  

Since Mysore attracts tourists from all over the world and having experienced by them top class arrangements in handling the crowd in a decent and highly organised manner, the expectation of the crowd in enjoying a visit to Mysore and having the joy of seeing the Mysore attractions in a dignified manner and carrying an image worth keeping for long is natural. But unfortunately the arrangement was missing and no semblance of any supervision and accountability for such a small avoidable lapse was found except for selling tickets .Very sorry state of affairs indeed. In this context, I would like to draw the attention of the readers to the concluding para of the  Editorial that appeared in Times of India dated 30th July 2024 "Cities Our tragedies" which says' Urban Chaos and zero oversight by municipal bodies are India's terrifying new normal.' 

Dr T V Gopalakrishnan.

     

RBIs message of ZERO TOLERANCE on Banks'Regulatory and Compliance lapses.

                             RBIs message  of ZERO TOLERANCE on Banks' Regulatory and Compliance lapses.

Apropos to the  news item RBI to Hand -Deliver a message of Zero Tolerance on lapses (Et 9/7/2024), the need to boost the trust in banks and bring them back to be the powerful engine of growth to the economy though mobilisation of deposits and judicious deployment of credit is paramount in the background of depleting household savings in banks and the need for expansion of growth of credit to the essential sectors of the economy to meet the target of the Government to achieve the status of a developed economy by 1947. Having ensured better management of credit portfolio through reduction of non performing assets of banks by solid steps, now it is time for banks to take care of depositors who provide the bread and butter to banks, by enhancing their entitled real  interest rates on their savings devoid of taxes , improved customer service particularly the elder and super senior customers and rebuilding the trust in banks which is  seen to be eroding for  no valid reasons other than the tendency to ignore the customers and adopt technology without human intervention and need based Artificial intelligence. The fiscal policies of the Government need to be essentially people and growth oriented and the financial system particularly the banking system which holds the key to ensure fast and equitable growth needs to be sufficiently strengthened and secured from fraudsters, fraudulent borrowers, misuse and abuse of technology and laxity in Governance standards. The proposed address by the Dy Governors to the Chief Financial Officers and External Auditors are very timely and this needs to be supported by the fiscal incentives from the Government through the ensuing budget to be presented on the 23rd of this month.

T V G Krishnan

( Views are personal)

Sustaining Capital Market and the Highly Bullish Sensex need Imaginative Fiscal policy.

 

Though the trend seen in the stock market is encouraging  due to both enhanced participation of retailers in the market and improved performance of the economy, the need to sustain the stability in the market and confidence in the economic growth is paramount to realize the dream of the Government to achieve the developed status for the economy by 2047.The fact, however, remains that the entire bull run does not seem to have  the full backing of the strong  fundamental macroeconomic factors like mass physical production and employment expansion in tune with the global expectations and also not so encouraging global trends in terms of growth, employment and favorable geopolitical conditions. Even domestically, the widening inequality and uncertainties seen in retail inflation in particular food inflation affecting national savings , employment, investment and production trends can have an adverse impact on the capital market as this segment alone cannot prove to be a support system to sustain the economic growth envisaged. No doubt political stability and the well deserved psychological boost provided by it so far in the system can do a lot of wonders , but the real success can be counted only through very imaginative fiscal and monetary policies capable of taking the full potential of the country to meet the global challenges seen politically, economically, socially and technologically. The capital market boost is welcome but needs to be  made healthy, reflective of all round progress in terms of sustainable savings, investment, employment, production and above all fair and equitable distribution of wealth. Rationalization of both direct and indirect taxes factoring therein the need to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, aiming at fair distribution of wealth created through dividend distribution, inflation control to help the poorest of the poor, enhancing the  household savings potential to generate demand for goods and services and  keeping the cost of production at reasonably low levels are perhaps some of the  the essential  measures available to the Government to achieve the economic growth  and keep the macroeconomic factors at encouraging levels. This may call for some harsh decisions  to include petroleum products under GST and rationalize GST rates in such a way that the change in rates does not add to inflation but helps to reduce the inequality between the haves and have nots through tweets in the rates by differentaiting goods and services which have inflationary and non inflationary impacts.For instance while any change in rates in respect of mass consumption items like food and travel which has cascading effects on inflation can be minimized where as change in the prices of luxury items like Gold , diamond, foreign travels and high luxury items which are non inflationary can be thought of to lessen the inequality and fair distribution of wealth. Security Transaction Tax and some other innovative products to augment revenues of the government without affecting the cost of living of the masses can also be thought of. The overall approach should be to generate more wealth to benefit all people through enhanced employment, productive investments, fair distribution of wealth through salaries, dividend, bonuses, etc and ensuring perfect and full  utilization of all resources without any leakage of income generation by capturing and improving quality data.  

         

                                Loka samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu 

T V G Krishnan