Quick Take on Current Affairs

It is a known fact that Bangaldeshis have been crossing over to India in Assam and neighbouring States during the past couple of decades and the number run into millions. An over populated country like can ill afford this. The Congress and UPA Government turned away from tackling this issue as they saw this as a vote bank. It is another matter that 99% of the migrants are Muslims. From Assam, they have migrated to all parts of India, and in far away Kerala, we can see them working in lowly jobs. Places like Perumbavoor have virtually been colonized by them. They have brought in law and order issues. But no one dared touch them for fear of losing votes. Even Supreme Court had raised concerns and ordered the Government to take appropriate action. Modi Government went ahead and released the National Register of Citizens. 40 lakh illegal immigrants were identified as non citizens and illegal. It is inconsequential that most of these are anti BJP. It should not matter. They should not have, in any case, any voting rights in India. It is amusing to see all the Opposition parties taking up the cudgel against the BJP Government for just doing their duty. The biggest noise was made by Mamata Bannerjee. It is a crying shame. Along with Rohingyas, all illegal Bangladeshis have to be deported en masse - Supreme Court Decision or not. An illegal has no place in our Country. It is as simple as that.

 

The list of Crimes by the Church is increasing. Church, is microsm of the Society and bad elements have entered into it, as it is elsewhere. However, what is appalling is the reluctance of the Government to treat sexual harassment by Pastors or undervaluing land while transacting as a Legal issue that need to be judged as per the law of the land. There has been a spate of incidents of complaints against Pastors in Kerala and Jalandhar, where Nuns and Housewives have come out and complained against the Pastors with sexual misconduct. But the Kerala Government, for fear of losing votes, have been moving so slowly, that if they move any slower, they will be going backwards!. And Catholic Church has even brazened it out saying they obey only the law of the Vatican and only Pope has the right to investigate and punish them! And no one, including BJP, have come out strongly against this. The National and State Council for Women are silent, as are all 'progressive writers' and so called 'seculars'. It is funny to note that even the Channel discussions have only Christians as panelists, and no one from other Religion, though a Sexual misconduct is a social evil.

 

I have always wondered why the Lutyens media is blatantly anti hindu. Though one can attribute it a lot to the Convent Education most of the anchors had, and their pseudo secular image, it doesn't explain their silence on crimes by minorities and blowing up even the minutest issue that is anti hindu. The only logical explanation is money. The Channels and Newspapers with their dwindling viewership and falling advertisement revenue are being funded by overseas Christian and Muslim organizations illegally. And this makes them dance to their agenda. News is doctored. This can be fought on two fronts. One by cutting the source of this money, which Modi will be able to do only if he kicks out Jaitley, Rajnath and Sushma, the Congress moles in BJP Government. And that is not likely to happen. The alternate option is to create a bigger network of monetary sources that funds 'hindu' money. That would take a decade or two to establish. Till then we suffer.

Network Power

One of the more sensible developments is that of LIC acquiring majority stake in IDBI. The latter has been in deep trouble due to nearly 28% NPA. LIC enjoys customer confidence, and has a wide network. It has to change the name of the bank to LIC Bank on priority, and look at ways and means of restructuring the bank.

 

 Though digital platform is not a forte of LIC, it would be advisable to take that route. In addition, LIC can spare space in its offices for the Bank to have miniature branches, giving it more reach. It can also encourage all its Policy holders to open account in the new branch and shift their policy payments through these accounts. Even if LIC decides to shift 50% of its premium collection to the Bank, it would make a huge difference to the liquidity.

 

As any seasoned Financial guy knows, the real business of an insurance company is in its investments. LIC has a track record of investing in most of India's Blue Chips over the past 50 years, and this should serve it in good stead in managing the Bank.

 

This is one development that will be watched with interest in the days to come.

 

While Government has been innovative in agreeing to LIC's acquisition of IDBI, it is still surprising that the Government has taken only reluctant steps to utilize the core competency of India Post. India Post has its presence in every nook and corner of India, is trusted, and provides the last mile connectivity to the remotest person living in the country. Its core business of delivering letters is redundant. While Courier companies have moved deftly to become logistic providers for the online distributors, India Post has been sluggish and may have missed a good opportunity.

 

While India Post has been given permission to start Payment Banks, the penetration is slow. What it needs is a Minister like Gadkari, Piyush Goyal or Dharmendra Pradhan - someone with the conviction to push the sluggish manpower.

 

India Post can also play a major role in supporting farmers in the hinterland and can be linked with procurement agencies to manage procurement of Agricultural Produce.

 

The sheer reach of India Post is an immense asset that needs to be harnessed. Its network can be thrown open to the Private Sector to use it as a Distribution Channel. It can sell anything from Postage Stamps to Internet Cards to Facilitation Services for the Rural folks for a variety of online activities.

 

The infrastructure is available. The manpower needs to be retrained, but that is not difficult. What is required is vision to exploit the opportunity.