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1A. WEFARE SCHEMES- ONLY 10% REACHES PEOPLE-Rahul
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AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that mismanagement of central funds continued to be a major bane in the implementation of the central development and welfare schemes for a long time and claimed 'only 10 paise out of Rs. 100 reaches beneficiaries even now'. "My father Rajiv Gandhi used to say that only ten paise out of Rs. One reached genuine people, but I say that the needy people still get 10 paise out of Rs. 100 under the central development and welfare schemes," he told a public meeting at Paljor Stadium here. |
The country has no shortage of funds, but the same it has to be used judiciously so that genuine and needy people benefit from development and welfare projects, Mr. Gandhi said. The youth leader added that it was the state governments that should be blamed for the unsatisfactory implementation of the central schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Centre could only design programmes or schemes for the benefit of the people, but the onus lies with the state government for implementing them to ensure that the fruits of such schemes reached the needy, he said. Mr. Rahul pointed out that a number of states have not sincerely implemented NRGEA, which was meant to provide 100 days employment to poor people. TH 250409 |
1B. Mother of all corruptions- Politicalising institutions :
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Indira Gandhi began the politicisation of the institutions of governance: the judiciary, civil service, police and even intelligence apparatus were prime examples. She also tried to muzzle the press, limit if not eliminate inner-party democracy (by ending elections to the posts of office-bearers), and appointed tired party hacks as state governors. The general aim was to ensure that nothing would stand in the way of the leader of the government, if he or she was hell-bent on a course of action—whether it was placing a state under President’s rule or anything else. Many other politicians have seen the short-term advantages of this course and followed in her footsteps. Most civil servants in the states are now allied with one party or politician or another, which explains the mass transfers that take place in states when a new government comes into office. |
The government of the day has far too much influence over supposedly independent organisations that are expected to exercise their professional judgment without being influenced by the political executive of the day. In this context, it would be hard to find an organisation more in need of an image boost than the Central Bureau of Investigation, or CBI. Set up as an elite force, it has more or less completely given in to political pressures—with the comprehensive botching up (accompanied by sundry twists and turns) of the Quattrocchi case being a good example. It is not the only one. Whether it is the investigation into the roles of Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar in the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, or the off-on investigation into cases against Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati, the heavy hand of political manipulation is there for all but the deliberately blind to see. Depending on individual perspective, one or other case may seem particularly outrageous, but the general lack of organisational credibility is beyond dispute. The government may claim that it has no hand in what the Bureau does, but this simply does not wash. High time the CBI has to be given institutional autonomy. There are many ways of doing this, all that is required is for the government to decide that such autonomy is required. BS-300409
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2. Rural demand helped economy in weathering global crisis: FICCI : |
Sustained demand in rural and semi-urban areas has helped the Indian economy weather the global financial turbulence and stay afloat, apex industry chamber FICCI said on wednesday. |
"Despite the recessionary trend across the world, growing demand in both rural and semi-urban areas in the country has helped Indian economy stay afloat," a senior functionary of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) said. |
The Government expenditure on infrastructure projects, National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, farm loan waiver scheme and the Sixth Pay Commission award, he said, has increased the flow of funds towards rural and semi-urban areas generating demand for consumer durables and consumer goods. He said demand for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) has grown by 14-16 per cent despite the economic slowdown. The FICCI official further said increasing consumption of goods in rural and semi-urban areas is prompting companies to tap markets in smaller towns. "They are establishing their businesses in rural areas." On the government's move to focus on infrastructure sector, he said, the initiative has helped in increasing construction activities leading to higher demand of basic inputs like cement. TH 290409
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3. Banks' non-performing assets to triple: Crisil :
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The slowdown in the economy and aging of loans will deteriorate banks' asset in the next two years, a report from Crisil Rating agency said. This will be driven by delinquency in the corporate loans.
Crisil projects that, by March-end 2011, the sector's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) will increase to around five per cent of its advances, from 2.3 per cent at March-end 2008.
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In absolute terms this will mean tripling of NPAs to Rs 1,90,000 crore.
Banking sector advances have grown roughly four-fold over the past seven years, to an estimated Rs 27,70,000 crore. Raman Uberoi, senior director, Crisil Ratings, said: "The increase in NPAs will be driven by delinquencies in corporate loans; this asset class accounts for about 56 per cent of banks' advances."
The gross NPA ratio in this segment is projected to more than double by March 2011, to around 4.1 per cent, from 1.6 per cent as on March 31, 2008.
"The deterioration in the asset quality of corporate loans will result from the increasing intensity of the demand slowdown, a lack of access to funding at reasonable rates, movements in foreign exchange rates, and the lengthening working capital cycle. The effect of these factors on loans made to small and medium enterprises will be severe," Uberoi said. BS 230409
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NOTE: Adverse impact of recession on repayment of agri advances is not foreseen. Agri lendings are a safer than advance to other segments. |
4. India needs better warehousing, higher agri productivity : |
Commodity markets development will be a thrust area as the country needs better warehousing facility and higher agriculture productivity, a senior SEBI official said. "The approval of bill of Warehouse Regulatory Authority Act in Parliament to make warehouse receipts a negotiable instrument will set a new trend in Indian commodity sector," Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Joint Director, Prabhakar Patil, said on the sidelines of a conference of Indian Structured Products Forum 2009 here. India's cotton production is 565 kg per hectare as compared to 1,900 kg per hectare in Australia and aroung 1,000 kg per hectare of China. PTI300409
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