Why the panic?

This is with reference to the news report, ‘You have just 10 days left to exchange your old currency’ by G Naga Sridhar (December 23). There are two deductions one can make: the currency notes issued prior to 2005 will cease to be legal tender after January 1 and the notification relates only to currencies of ₹500 and ₹1,000 denomination.

The RBI had issued a notification on January 22, 2014 to the effect, “The Reserve Bank of India has today advised that after March 31, 2014, it will completely withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005. …..that the notes issued before 2005 will continue to be legal tender….however, to exchange more than 10 pieces of 500 and 1000 notes, non-customers will have to furnish proof of identity and residence to the bank branch in which she/he wants to exchange the notes”. Further, while extending the date for surrendering the currency notes at banks the RBI had made it amply clear that “the public can continue to freely use these notes for any transaction and can unhesitatingly receive these notes in payment, as all such notes continue to remain legal tender”.

In light of this it seems clear that the intention is to withdraw all currency notes issued prior to the year 2005 and not just higher denomination notes. Secondly, the currency notes would continue to be legal tender until every currency note is withdrawn from circulation in due course.

It would help if the RBI would make its intention clear so that there is no panic and needless rush at bank counters.

S Ravindranath

Coimbatore

More old wine

The recent RBI guidelines on classification of defaulting borrowers are nothing but old wine in new bottles, while the extant ‘wilful defaulters’ guidelines are more than adequate. One wonders what the logic is to stipulate a cut-off of ₹5 crore for the new classification. The real need is to strengthen the legal process for timely recovery of bad loans. DRTs, with mounting undisposed of cases, have failed to serve the purpose; on the contrary, they only create hurdles by granting indiscriminate stays under Sarfaesi action by banks and FIs, for legitimate recovery of their dues from wilful deafulers.

It is time Super DRTs, with minimum claim amount of ₹10 crore and to be presided over by sitting or retired High Court judges, are created in every State and UT capital, by amending the Recovery of Debts Due to Banks and Financial Institutions Act suitably. Let the existing DRTs continue to dispose of cases below 10 crore. Let the extant DRATs continue to hear appeals from the DRTs. Let appeals from Super DRTs be heard by Supreme DRTs to be set up, which may be located centrally either in Bhopal or Nagpur and with serving or retired Supreme Court judges as the appellate authority.

Under Sarfaesi action, DRTs shall have no jurisdiction for granting a stay; such power shall lie only with the DRAT. Likewise, Super DRTs also shall have no right of stay; let the power be vested in the Supreme DRT. No stay shall be entertained unless 50 per cent of the claim amount determined is paid either in cash or by way of bank guarantees. Let’s think along these lines.

N Swaminathan

Tiruchirapalli

All or nothing

This refers to the news item, ‘Reserve Bank comes down hard on evasive borrowers’ (December 23). Formulation of policy will not help unless it is implemented in toto . It is clear that in spite of accumulation of bad debts in the form of NPAs, there is no positive signal on the part of government or banks to make realistic efforts to recover the bad debts.

The steps introduced by the RBI are nullified by banks making a realignment of debts. We cannot afford to waste public money to meet the requirements of non-genuine borrowers.

D Sureshbabu

Hyderabad

Erratum

b With reference to ‘Sigh of relief for float glass producers’ (Stocks, December 16), Saint-Gobain India Ltd has clarified that it is not a listed entity on any of the stock exchanges in India. Saint-Gobain Sekurit India Ltd, a group company, is listed on BSE, but is involved in the automotive glass business and not in the float glass business.

India’s being targeted

This is with reference to the article by NR Krishnan, ‘Lima wasn’t all hot air’ (December 23). The world must recognise that the three most “super polluters” are China, the US and the European Union, in this order. As of now, India does not emit even 25 per cent of the carbon emitted by China, if one makes a calculation on the mmt of carbon emitted. According to 2012 figures, China emitted 8,500 mmt, the US 5,400, the European Union 3,800, India 1,900, Russia 1,800 and Japan 1,300. China still uses its coal deposits for a large part of its energy generation, and India, if it should put in place an environmental friendly climate policy, should be wary of coal. Coal is a very big polluter.

Like many other international organisations, some of the key spokesmen in climate talks are generalists and not hardcore scientists. For instance, all the climate talk veers around carbon dioxide, while millions do not know that it is nitrous oxide, a by-product of urea hydrolysis in soil, which has the capacity to remain in the atmosphere the longest — 150 years to be precise — on equivalent basis compared to carbon dioxide which stays put in the atmosphere just for a fifth of this time span. In other words, nitrous oxide contributes much more to global warming than carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion. And this dangerous gas is the by-product of the highly extractive, energy intensive agriculture, euphemistically known as the green revolution. It is the global chemical fertiliser lobby that is behind this perfidy.

If the world should target an ambient temperature cap of 2 degrees Celsius to contain global warming, the three big polluters must reduce their emission by as much as 70 per cent by 2050. Will they? It is prudent to remember that unlike China, India has a much younger and aspiring population which looks for a better life, and a “better life” will not necessarily go with low emission. As of now, India’s emisssion at 1,900 mmt is just a notch above Russia’s. But a lobby is being created to target India and, very surprisingly, not find fault with Russia, Canada or even Japan, all with equal levels of emission. There is more to climate talks than what a casual eye can see. There is much politics behind global warming, and unlike what the writer of the article says, climate talks still continues to be a lot of “hot air”.

KP Prabhakaran Nair

Email

Retail strategy

The change in strategy of retail chain stores to reduce the number of standalone stores and relocate to malls would definitely improve visibility. But it is debatable whether it will improve sales and compete with e-commerce players because of high discount pricing, which results from low cost of operations due to the high purchasing power of their currency. It is akin to MNCs outsourcing call centre operations to other countries due to low and efficient cost of resources.

Vikram Sundaramurthy

Chennai

Time to get tough

For the past few days, Parliament has been stalled for various reasons. It is clear the Opposition is not interested in allowing Parliament to function. The Prime Minister’s silence in the face of communally polarising remarks by ministers, MPs and RSS leaders is really worrying.

Precisely because of his failure to act against the perpetrators of violence in Godhra in 2002, he was made an untouchable internationally. All his performance records went flying. After remarkable hard work and loud assurances to people, he was voted into office. The vote was not for his party or his candidates. It was for his assurance: Sab ke saath, sab ka vikaas . Now it is a time for him to act against those who flare up communal tensions through talk or action.

A Prabaharan

Tiruchirapalli

Distracting issues

This refers to the edit ‘Beyond Mr Modi’ (December 23). People from different strata joined together and gave Narendra Modi a clear mandate to put the wheel of growth back on track. Though six months is insufficient to judge one’s performance, the enthusiasm witnessed in the beginning is fading away fast. The main reason, it seems, is that even with his unassailable authority in the party and the government, the Prime Minister is hardly allowed to function freely and is often distracted by the Sangh Parivar on various issues like building the Ram Mandir, reverse conversion, moral policing, sanskritisation and hate speeches. The Prime Minister has the responsibility of dealing with a plenty of vital issues of national and international importance. If he is compelled to micromanage the affairs of his ministers, then the revival of the economy, sustained growth and the desired development will be a distant dream.

MA Khan

Chennai

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