With reference to to the report “LIC board gives nod for IDBI Bank buyout” (July 17), hopefully now the other regulatory approvals necessary for the LIC-IDBI Bank marriage to consummate will not get delayed. Any delay will give room for hair-splitting analyses by media and legal experts about the pros and cons, without leading to any practical solution.
Public memory may be short, but there is the example of Air India, where the government has failed to find an investor despite its best efforts . Though comparing Air India and IDBI Bank is risky, both have their common public sector tag. Air India too should have been allowed to revamp and remain within the public sector as the service the carrier has been providing will have to continue.
The last three years have been stressful for banks. The efforts to cleanse the financial system from various chronic ills resulted in several weaknesses of the system surfacing and rising demands for budgetary allocations to support ailing banks. The period also brought to light deficiencies and vulnerabilities in the management of institutions across public and private sectors. During this period the institutional system in the Indian financial sector has proved its resilience to withstand pressure and has retained public trust.
Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary solutions. Taking a cue from the observation that “…the returns on stressed assets are quite different from biotechnology, IT and private equity funds,” made by Sunil Mehta after submitting the report on NPAs, the government should consider tapping ‘idle domestic assets’ for long-term investment in the public sector.
Several individuals and organisations are holding assets in cash, gold and real estate, a part of which, if allowed to be main-streamed and invested may partly cover the huge funding needs at this juncture. Of course, creating a national consensus and building public trust for the purpose will be challenging.
MG Warrier
Mumbai
Pakistan in tumult
With reference to “Pakistan in turmoil”, the three wings in Pakistan — Executive, Military and Judiciary — have had an uneasy equation for decades. The feudal roots go deep in Pakistan and mutual suspicions and rivalry have transcended time. Justice normally brings closure to internal conflicts, but Pakistan seems to be denied of that too.
A change of guard in Pakistan, be it civilian or the army has seldom led to stability as its trust on the military chief had almost always, been belied. For a nation that had been looking constantly inward, any change would remain peripheral and synthetic. Its democracy is held in leash by its army for most of its existence and its institutions systematically de-stabilised.
Its ideology is circumscribed by its tenuous relations with India and its economy dependent on big powers’ largesse. Pakistan has long been led by circumstances and very seldom by its leaders. A major internal upheaval alone can bring change to the nation. Till then Pakistan will be confined to acquiring a fresh set of PMs and army chiefs from time to time.
R Narayanan
Navi Mumbai
‘Muslim’ row
The row over Congress being a ‘Muslim party’ has been taken to a high pitch by the BJP. Evidently BJP needs the Muslims to play its political game of polarisation. By now it is clear that the BJP’s strategy is to play the Hindu card in the 2019 general election.
No right-thinking citizen can support BJP if it chooses to fight the 2019 election on the plank of virulent Hindu nationalism. The consolidation of the Hindu vote transcending caste divisions is what the ruling party aims at.
Elections should be ideally fought on existential issues without being subsumed by the overarching appeal of religion, a centre of devotion for many. The elevation of religion as a vote-catcher is not worthy of a mature secular democracy.
BJP’s insistent characterisation of Congress as a Muslim party cannot alter the fact that the Congress is secular.
Rahul Gandhi’s assertion that he stands with the ‘last person in the line’ and takes up the political cudgels on behalf of the exploited, marginalised and persecuted, irrespective of religion, and caste is worthy of a great leader.
G David Milton
Maruthancode, TN
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