Scent of a retired Judge

Mr.Justice Markandey Katju, the Chariman of the Press Council of India, is known for his legal acumen and out spoken nature. He is famous for his open mouth comment in the open court aimed at senior counsel P.P. Rao. He has been writing many articles some of those make good sense and many of those go otherwise. Of late, Justice Katju seems to have a gross contempt for his fellow countrymen and is very much open mouthed in his criticism.

The Politics of Love and Loyalty

Contemporary politics is an idiosyncratic trade. People stay mum for allegations which would attract a tight slap in normal situations and even an attempted kill in flared up moods. An example of one such (chronic) behaviour is that of the Gandhi family, not of the Barrister from Gujarat, but of the heirs of the person to whom he lent his surname. Feroze Gandhi. There were some retorts and repartees during the times of Feroze's wife Indira and his son Rajiv. But right after Rajiv's wife Sonia Gandhi took over the family organisation i.e the Congress Party, a lot of allegations were levelled, some even make the listener think as if hurling vitriol at will were the order of the day. But not even a murmur heard against such allegations, leave alone law suits being filed.

Reforms - Do we really need them this way?

The meaning of Reform is to put an end to (an evil) by enforcing or introducing a better method or course of action. When we talk about economic reforms it is about the course correction of an already dilapidated socialist economy of our nation till 1991. 

Coal gate - Nothing to forget about

Aping the west especially USA is  the way of most of the walks of life nowadays. Even in naming a corruption charge. The Union Government's latest in the list of it's corruptions is the loss of Rs.1,86,000 crore to the exchequer, in allocating the coal mines in our nation. The CAG has come up with a clear and methodical approach is exposing the loss, which is termed as presumptive, to the exchequer. But given to understand that this loss to the exchequer has been a gain for someone, makes one sit up and ask a list of questions, which the Government feels uneasy to answer.

Applaud PM's honesty - His silence is honourable!

"Hazaron jawabo se achchi hai khamoshi meri, na jaane kitne sawalo ki aabru rakhe. (My silence is better than a thousand answers, it keeps intact the honour of innumerable questions)," The PM prefers silence when questions are asked.

Desi Subprime?

A news report that the RBI has a package proposal to accelerate the growth of the dawdling real-estate sector, by offering special consideration to the upper middle and middle class people who plan to take home loans up to Rs 20 lakhs, ring an alarm bell. The reason for the slowdown in the real estate sector is e unreasonable spike in prices, and the upward interest rates. The high interest rates, indeed, saved many from the inflated sale price of the property market.

Now that the proposal through banks to infuse money and induce people to buy houses would give only a notional stimulus to the real estate market, but would not be beneficial to the buyers in the long run. With a constantly inflationary economy, such packages would not do much help to the common man, but for pushing him into more troubled finances, as the constant price rise and slow growth of the economy are antithetic in nature.

The moot question is whether naturally savings minded Indian middle class would plunge into such offers and find themselves in the middle of a meddle. The Indian home buying scenario is not dominated by market forces or economic incentive packages. It is a family event and the women of the family have a definite say in the decision making. Given fact that Indian women are not price sensitive but price performance sensitive, we cannot expect that the inflated prices would be paid by the Indian middle class families for a few thousand bucks incentive from some banks.

The mathematically shrewd lot of Indian middle class men would calculate the interest rate/EMI and would finally conclude that the few thousand Rupees of discount/incentive by the banks would not be beneficial to them at the end of the day, as they would end up paying more than the incentives they got vide EMI and interest on loan. So, this stimulus package would induce people who have no financial plan and care free of the money spent, as they could easily be dragged into a financial deal which might not be beneficial to them.

Come to think of the IT professionals, they were the lot to be wooed in by such packages. But given the volatility of the industry, and the stress many from IT industry have undergone during the meltdown of the US economy and it's global impact, only a few takers could be found for such an incentive to home buyers.

The need of the hour is to curb the unreasonable price hike of the property and related materials, so that the industry could be trimmed from the economic obesity. In general, the Government, instead of putting money in people's pockets, should try and keep inflation under check. Any deal without having inflation under control would not work and deliver the expected result. Instead this stimulus package would further feed the inflation, and hence fillip would be given to the inflation not to the economic growth.

With this step the Government has started a walk into a land of financial mines and economic quick sand. Let us hope the mindset of the Indian middle class would help people from falling prey to such failed economic models and save the nation from a desi subprime.