OPERATION KUBERA- BANKS RESPONSIBLE FOR BLADE MAFIA?

This has reference to the "Operation Kubera Phase 2" launched by the Police department of Kerala to weed out the "Blade" mafia and the statements of Home Minister related to it.

First of all, the Blade Mafia exists only because there are takers for it. The people who take the loan from these gangsters very well know the high rate charged by them and other inherent dangers in it, still put their neck out to take these loans and finally complain about harassment. To avoid this, the Home Minister says banks should be more liberal in giving loans to the public to ensure that they do not go to the money lenders. The point is well taken. But the Banks function under some laid down norms regarding their functioning. They cannot lend money to anybody and for any purpose as they wish. The paramount point to be considered by them is the repayment capacity of the prospective borrower and the purpose of the loan. If the person has capacity and willingness to repay the loan taken, I am sure they will not default with the loan sharks also leading to harassment. More important is the purpose for the loans. Most of the time these loans are taken by these people for consumption purposes like buying consumer goods, conducting marriages etc. beyond their capacity and without any steady source of income. Both these are not acceptable in the Banking activity as the Banks are dealing with money mobilised from the Public.

I am sure the Banks in Kerala generally do not decline any loans applied for falling within the guidelines fixed and hence the blame on the Banks is misplaced one.

Similarly the Chief Minister also asked the Banks in the meeting of SLBC to consider giving soft loans to the repatriated NRIs for their rehabilitation. He also reminds the Banks that NRIs had helped the Banks in mobilising deposits and hence it is the duty of the Banks to help them in need. As a retired Banker, I would like to mention that while depositing their money into the Banks, they used to bargain very heavily to get the maximum interest and used to switch the deposit to others even for a slight difference, which implies that they were doing a commercial transaction and not favouring any bank while depositing the money. So they can expect similar considerations only from the Banks while asking for loans.

It has become a fashion with our ministers and politicians to blame the Banks on the loan front to gain some popularity without either trying to understand the facts or conveniently closing their eyes on the facts. I would urge them to desist from this dangerous practice of pitching the customers against the Banks for cheap publicity. 

I also wonder why no organisation of Bank Officers have come out against this practice of blaming the Banks and its officers for all ills in the financial sector.

PARTY ACTIVITIES BY MINISTERS

Two current happenings have prompted me to jot this.

The completion of one year in power of Narendra Modi Government was celebrated by the BJP in various ways. While the government announced slew of programmes on the occasion, the party also arranged meetings across the length and breadth of the country, which was attended by various ministers.

Similarly, after the declaration of bye election in Aruvikkara Assemble constituency in Kerala, almost all the ministers of the Kerala Government are touring the constituency to campaign for the UDF candidate.

Both the above activities raise some pertinent questions.

Once an elected representative assumes office as a minister in the State or Centre, the person owes allegiance to the entire population of the State or the country and ceases to be a mere representative of the party on whose ticket the person was elected. While so, is it correct for the minister to attend the functions organised by the party purely for party matters? Does it not amount to misuse of official machinery? The expenses incurred by the ministers for travelling form Delhi to various states to attend the meetings organised by the party is met from the exchequer, which means it is a burden on each one of the population. It is true that the ministers might have got arranged some "official" programmes at each state to circumvent this. But again the question of propriety in a minister attending the concerned public meeting by the party needs to be considered. I fully agree that the minister continues to be a member of the political party and hence he should attend the meetings convened by the party. But this should be limited to the internal meetings of the party only and not a public meeting organised by the party, I feel.

Similar is the case where the State Ministers actively indulge in the election campaign of the candidate. The public attending the campaign is bound to consider the promises made by these leaders as the promises from the minister and not the political leader and hence this should amount to misuse of official machinery or be considered as election misconduct. The ministers also use their official vehicles during the campaign which also should tantamount to election misconduct. I urge upon the State Election Commission to look into the issue and initiate suitable steps in the matter.

FLASH STRIKE BY AIBOC IN KERALA

Banks in Kerala saw a flash strike by officers on 12.06.2015. The provocation for the strike was the termination of the services of state president of All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC) by the management of the bank in which he was working as a culmination of the disciplinary proceedings against him which was started almost an year ago. The flash strike raises some pertinent questions. 

Can the officers of public sector bank resort to such flash strikes without serving proper notice on the managements? 

Is it correct for the organisation to go on strike to protest against disciplinary action taken against its president, when other options like appeal, challenge in the court etc are available?

How is the president of the organisation above other ordinary members in the matter of disciplinary proceedings?

In the past, many officers have been removed from service by various Banks for the misdeeds committed by them. Why the association or Confederation did not resort to any organisational activity, leave alone going on a strike , on these occasions?

Is an organisational action, against disciplinary action taken against any member, warranted or justifiable? Is it the role of the organisation to protect its members from any disciplinary action taken by the managements concerned against any misdeeds/ offences committed by the members part from defending the member in the enquiry conducted under the proceedings?

Will the leaders of the confederation explain these to its members as well as the general public?

PACKAGED COMMODITIES ACT- SALES AT TEMPLES

The Packaged Commodities Act is very much in the news for the last few days after the Maggi noodles affair. It is reported that Nestle has violaed the provisions under the act by not mentioning/ wrongly mentioning the contents in the noodles packets and also not mentioning anything about the taste maker packet kept inside.

In the light of the above, I would like to raise another instance where the provisions of the act are violated with impunity. Perhaps this may be an area which many would not dare to tread. I am talking about the sale of 'Prasadams' at temples, duly packed, be it laddoos at tirupati or aravana and appam at sabarimala. I have also noticed many other temples sell these items across their counters as vazhipadu in sealed packets/containers. I wonder whether such sales at temples are covered under the above act as well as the Sales Tax Act of the States concerned.

As such the offerings or vazhipadu are expected to be placed before the deity while poojas are conducted and then it would be distributed among the devotees. However, in the modern era the manufacture and packing of these 'offerings' are automated and it never sees the sanctum sanctorum, leave alone being placed in front of the deity. Many temples sell the 'payasams (aravana)' in sealed containers collecting a price for the same. The containers do not have any indication regarding the contents, date of manufacturing, best before date etc. which are mandatory for any packed food products (eatables). It also does not bear the MRP, batch no etc. One would like to know whether these items are exempted from the provisions of the various acts and if so how do they plan to ensure the edibility of the contents. Or is it that the authorities will wake up only after something untoward happens?

Similarly, it is also observed that one temple in Kerala was selling gold in the form of gold gooseberry on Akshaya thrithiya day claiming it to be blessed ones. However, the price collected by them was much higher than the market price of gold on that particular day and it is also not clear whether they pay any tax on the sales effected by them!

I am sure the above observations made by me are going to raise hackles especially in the present "Hindutva" days, but somebody has to call the bluff of these people, no? I hope somebody will file a public interest litigation to prevent the temples from indulging in such illegal sales of items through their counters

Mis leading advertisements

The Central Government's decision to initiate action against the brand ambassadors of Maggi 2 minute noodles for appearing in a misleading advertisement is a welcome one.

However, one would like to know whether similar action will be initiated against all the so called ambassadors appearing in other advertisements as well, as it is a widely known fact that these brand ambassadors actually do not use the products they promote.Examples are aplenty- Hema malini promoting washing powder, Sachin and Dhoni promoting Boost etc. By misleading their fans that they were actually using the products, they cheat their fans into buying these products.

It would be advisable if all the celebrities on their own take a decision not to endorse any products in advertisements, which will lead to a reduction in advertisement expenditure and in turn to a reduction in cost of the product. The corporates spent crores of rupees on advertisements taking advantage of the exemption available for such expenditure from income tax. If this exemption is removed, they will automatically cut down their advertisement costs to the benefit of the ordinary consumer.

Similar action should also be initiated against the doctors/models appearing as doctors in the advertisements for toothpastes, health tonics etc.

If the Advertisement Standards Council of India, IMA, IDA, Ministries of finance, Health and Commerce take a collective action this menace can be stopped and the consumer can be benefited