Taking cue from a Saakshi TV9 news item on 'Who is going to be No.2 in Telangana cabinet?' I wanted to forth my view on this matter. There are array of thought processes in this regard. It is an important issue considering the fact that the TRS Foundation Day is around the corner.

During last year's plenary, it was discussed and deliberated on elivating  KTR  as party's vice-President or Secretary-General, but since nothing of that sort happened. This time again there is a speculation that he would be made party's Working President.

I have  a  feeling that he deserves to be elevated and KCR being a very shrewd politician, should not do the mistake made by Sonia Gandhi, abnormally delaying the elevation Rahul to the post of Vice President, and  now even for the President. But my personal feeling is KTR should immediately be elevated as working President  of TRS, without any further delay, for obvious reasons.

 A correspondent asked KTR at Armoor rally whether there was any elevation contemplated this time, for which, he said, that he really doesn't know, and if we see the style of functioning of KCR , certainly such issues of sensitive nature, neither he would discuss nor share with any one.

His elevation is important as KTR is very important man both in party as well as government, and it is widely accepted fact. He is has to learn the ropes of business in politics.  I observe him in both print and electronic media he seems to be a tough task master. KCR entrusted him both Hyderabad Municipal Corporation elections, and Khammam Municipal Corporation elections last year, where the party's position at that point of time was very weak, but having been given the task, he had proved his mettle and by winning both corporations. The fact of the matter is if he failed in even in either election, like Rahul in various polls. KTR would have taken the bullet if the TRS failed to get the corporations. I'm of the opinion that if someone is blamed for the defeats then his successes  should be equally rewarded. Moreover what we hear, that there seems to be a communication gap between, KCR and Ministers and legislators and with his elevation this problem could be addressed too.

I have finished reading Sharad Pawars's "On My Terms From The Grass Roots To The Corridors Of Power"   My old boss and a close personal friend and colleague Sudhir Chaturvedi, ex- CMD Powergrid, suggested me to read this book. I must honestly admit that it is an excellent, rich, insightful and remarkably frank memoir by one of the India's most experienced and influential political leaders and a valuable document of the country's recent history.
   Pawar is one of the key public figures, and in his 50 years of political carrier he has never lost any election. Honestly speaking, before reading this book, I had no such high regard for him as I was of the impression that he is a great manipulator. Other wise how could he become CM of Maharashtra 4 times? But after reading his memoir I feel by his sheer hardwork and intellectual abilities he could become CM 4 times and a successful Union Defence and Agriculture Minister. As an eye witness at the highest levels to Union of India and Maha 

rashtra 's history since 1960s . You will find his reflections on coalition politics, the Congress party and its state of affairs, and the position of Agriculture, and Industry in the country. You will also find rare and sensitive information about many crises, topics on Emergency, it's impact on national and regional politics, fall of Chandrasekhar Govt, in1991. ,Signing of Punjab Accord, BabriMasjid Demolition,vis -a-vis the role of PV NarasimhaRao,1993 Mumbai blasts, Latur Earthquake. He has also touched on Enron power Project Controversy, Sonia's decision to give up PM's post. All this contemporary political topics makes it a very interesting read.

I'm happy to read lot of fascinating assessments of great Indian leaders like Indira, Rajiv, YB Chavan, Morarji Desai, Vajpayee, Chandrasekhar, PV Narasimha Rao, George Fernandes and Bal Thackrey etc. I would recommend this book to anyone with interest in politics. 

First it was a sad end for Srinivas Kuchibhotla then Vamshichandar Reddy, then Harnish Patel, now alas a now Sikh man has become the victims of hate crime in US. The suspect who shot at the Sikh man allegedly shouted "go back to your country."  This is the latest in series of disturbing incidents where the members of Indian community were targeted.Therefore the question before us is who is to be blamed for all this?  Whatever it is the nightmare continues without respite for India. The unprovoked killings of Indian immigrants by the locals in a very short span on American soil, and the policy of the Govt that temporarily suspends expedite process of H1-B visa, both are the causes of concern for India. The security of individual lives there and protection of jobs in Indian IT sector should be the main agenda for Indian Govt has to take up with Trump Administration immediately. 

Meanwhile it is time for India to explore more new avenues so that we are not at the receiving end of Trump's policies, as his out look on foreign nationals is unlikely to change.
 But let us remember that the racist attacks in US are not in the interest of that country, a country has been a beacon of Liberty and freedom. The recent few killings are certainly crimes against humanity and it demands unequivocal condemnation from all quarters. However at last President of US has agreed to accept the killing of Srinivas as an act of racial hatred for which he is only responsible. But I fail to understand as to why he has not announced any measures to stop such heinous acts in future. All Trump's actions since coming to power seem to be weeding out all the non-whites from US. But the fact of the matter is, that such acts wouldn't keep US a top nation in the world. May be this is a good opportunity for all Indians to come together and work to overthrow the US dominance in the world just as we showed our might in launching 104 satellites in one go.

 

Delving into demonetization issue, when the Govt of India went in for note ban of Rs 500 and Rs.1000 it was very clear that it had not done its  home work. And in the process, within 50 days 65 different notifications have been issued, confusing the bankers and the people in general, leading to utter chaos every where. In order to cope up with this failure and to divert the attention of masses another misadventure was launched I.e Cashless Economy, and even this was an unprepared initiative. Implementation of  complete digitisation would mean heavy buying  of "swiping machines " from them or to some extent from Taiwan. Digitisation would also entail buying cards from US. Every time you are swiping a card at restaurants, clubs and malls, you are swiping a MasterCard or Visa card, you are making these US giants rich in the process. 

According to reports, the conservative estimates put the commission on the transaction earned by  the card companies of VISA and Banks, at Rs 8000/ crores in year ,2015-16.This commission also called transaction cost, is expected to touch, Rs 68.000 crores, (about $10 billions) a year on the so-called cashless purchases and now with the present situation it may increase tenfold  from Rs 4 lakh crores in the last fiscal to 34.11 crores or 15 percent of GDP by the year 2020. Is this not a staggering amount of benefit for these CARD companies?
  It seems there are about 2.74 crore credit cards in India while the debit cards are around 73.92 crores by the end of Oct 2016, taking total credit and debit cards together 76.66  crores.Interestingly India's homegrown card brand RUPAY leads the global brands with as many as 31.7 crore cards linked to Jan-Dhan Yojana accounts but majority of them are said to be inactive.
  As per another report, the RBI made Rs. 78.57 crore transactions valued at Rs 240. 662 crore through cards at "point of sale" (POS) machines during 2015-16 and total credit and debit card transactions were valued at Rs 4 lakh crores, ( $58.5 billion) last fiscal. But we have to remember that the card transactions won't come free.They come at a staggering cost ,however the service charges they levy may not be revealed.
   As per RBI mandate the Banks that provide swiping machines are allowed to charge 1 percent of the transaction amount, on debit card transactions exceeding Rs 2000/ and it is 0.75 percent MDR ( Merchant Discount Rate) or say Commissions on the transaction lower than Rs 2000/. The interesting element here is that merchants shouldn't collect MDR from customers as they are required to absorb it , but as we see it is not true, as many of them collect routinely higher MDR , 1 to 2 percent.The service charges appear to be insignificant but they bring in windfall gains to the Card companies and Banks. In the current fiscal card transactions totaling amount of Rs 2,95,000/ crores were made during 2015-16 till Oct 2016, with service charges working at Rs 5900 crores at the rate of 2 percent and now it may increase 10 fold in the cashless transactions in due course.
 As India pushes for digital transaction post note ban ,there is an unlikely beneficiary from country's cashless journey--China .We all are aware, India has sent Rockets To Moon and Mars, but surprisingly we have no company that can manufacture Swiping Machines on a large scale. .As a result we are importing 90 percent from China and to some extent from Taiwan. With digital push reaching higher scale, the traders are scrambling for Swiping Machines to tide over cash crunch.
As per estimates India has imported nearly 1 lakh units only last year and now in the present demonetised situation the total imports may be around 2 million units.The devices are priced between Rs 5000--15000/ and it is estimated that India requires around 5 crore units and we have to shell foreign exchange between Rs. 2000 crores to Rs 67500 crores to import 90 percent devices from China.
 This is the net effect of present day Demonetisation,and cashless economy and this is bird's eye view of what I have understood for all the TV discussions and media reports. 

Without  transacting  any business the parliament adjourned sin-die ,but it is a matter of satisfaction and hope, for the future that atleast one very senior member from within the ruling dispensation has reacted very sharply, to the continued disruption of both Houses of Parliament and Mr Advani's condemnation of the behaviour of MPs is justified. It is highly disheartening to note and find that the Parliament has virtually become a battleground where proceedings are obstructed by the unruly behaviour of its members.But here again I appreciate Advani for squarely blaming the Speaker and his own party as it goes without saying that the ruling party has the greater responsibility to solve any impasse.when the NDA was in opposition, during last stint of UPA's rule, the present ruling dispensation didn't allow the Parliament, to function, and Mrs Swaraj , leader of the opposition in Lok Sabha and Mr Jaitley in Rajya Sabha vehemently shouted saying that this is their prerogative.
  The background for all this scenario is the Demonetisation. This demonetisation has been politically clever but it looks, economically disastrous. Its consequences are still unfolding before us, ( for people with unbiased outlook). The attempts to politicise this issue further and paint those against the move as being supporters of black money are the examples of divergence from the main issue, as is inherent in the political arena. Since there is no possibility of rollback, the government should introduce policies to address the issues, in a proper perspective, and aid the honest and helpless citizens but now it is the other way round.  Demonetiastion as such was to be a jewel in the present government 's crown, but if the policy impacts the very people it intended to benefit, the very purpose of its entire exercise will naturally gets defeated. Can we be smug and say all is well in the long run when people are facing genuine cash problems leading to deaths, wasted human hours, unemployment and several other ailments? As a senior citizen I would say that this has been very harsh on people like me. As a matter of fact we were allowed to draw a maximum of Rs 24000/a week, but on any day we could only draw Rs 10000,/ only from Savings bank account. This condition makes me to go to the bank on all its working days, but it never works out, as there is a huge crowd even on 47th day or the bank soon runs out of cash thus my attendance in the bank is 100 percent  .
   Surprisingly Government is changing its goal posts, black money, corruption, counterfeit currency all gone and now it is harping on Cashless or Digitisation etc, "Necessity is the mother invention" goes a proverb. All of a sudden can we make wonders. It definitely takes time to switch over to Digitisation technology. If Iam right, it may take 5 to10 years time. Majority of the people despite being educated are not willing to do net banking and the fact I am one among them, because there is a possible threat from cyber thefts. In the instant case more than 60% people are living in villages, which do not have adequate swipe machines nor banks, nor ATMs. Our government is expected to think on all these aspects and implement in a phased manner. Dr Subramanium swamy MP BJP, had the guts to accept the fact, that their FM had not done proper home work in its implementation and that's common mans feeling too. But leaders are not prepared to accept and I don't hesitate to say that this is all due to misplaced enthusiasm as the Union government's penchant seems to have no bounds. It has been acting more like an Ad-agency, than a genuine educator, in promoting cashless economy. The introduction of monetary gifts by the government on par with "Kaun Banega Crorepathy"  for the lucky winners among digital money users, is intriguing.
  The official programs, Lucky grahak Yojana, DigiDhan Yojana, etc are they not making mockery? Any way , in my view, it is not the right way for the government to go such an extra mile, and make all our efforts in promoting an alternative route for the currency shortage. Instead the government should make the digital transactions risk-free first, secondly, easily accessible, and then trust worthy. It should ensure that the amounts are insulated fully from hackers. When cyber crimes are on the rise, the government as a great advocate of digital transactions should rather introduce insurance schemes for individual accounts against losses caused by hacking and other cyber crimes. I'm making this statement here because I'm already a victim and my FIR is still pending in "CyberCrime Police Station, in Cyberabad Commissionerate.

I 

Its been more than a month since the demonetisation of high value currency was implemented with the objective of tackling the menace of black money, counterfeit notes and corruption. But for a common man like me there is no respite.

Yesterday me and my wife went to nearby Indian Bank where she has an account and stood in the queue, as we wanted to draw around Rs 20000/ and when our turn came we were told to take only Rs 4000 that too 2 notes of Rs 2000 and the ICICI ATM which I only got it installed doesn't have any cash for more than two weeks. This is the position after one month.  A very sad state of affairs. For the common man there is no respite from crippling cash crunch. The intentions, no doubt praise worthy but the way in which it is implemented is attracting lot criticism.

  We have been repeatedly told by the PM, FM and others that this will help in curbing corruption but I really fail to understand how they have reached to this conclusion. The bribe seekers will receive new notes in place of old ones. If people have any problem because of the paucity of Rs 500 notes the corrupt would gracefully receive new Rs 2000 notes. Our corrupt public servants have the ability to adapt themselves to the change, Management of Change" is their second nature.

 The government seems to have failed to note a midst all its great planning that the demonetisation has hit the rural population more than the urban dwellers. Where are the banks and ATMs in rural areas? It is fine for the PM ,FM, RBI Governors to talk about electronic transactions, net banking, and digital payments etc. Where is 3G connectivity? How many shops are equipped with POS machines? Is there adequate connectivity in our villages? Without taking all these factors into consideration the government went ahead and if any one points it out he will be branded otherwise. Having run out of excuses to explain the reasons for the currency shortage the government is trying to push people into using digital payments. A predominantly cash based economy like India can not abruptly shift the gears and transform itself into a cashless economy. Before promoting digital payments the centre should have put in place the techno-infrastructure.

  If the circulation of counterfeit notes is said to be rampant it speaks poorly of the vigilance agencies. If the new notes reach anti-social or terrorist groups, say after an year or so, will the government again roll out demonetisation? When much of India is outside the internet age, why talk of cashless mode now is the moot point? 

 The question lingering in the minds of people is why Govt of India is frequently coming out with new reason for demonetisation? I read recently that the shift has been quantified. Initially people supported the move assuming that it was an honest attempt to wipe out black money and the counterfeit currency. Soon it was said that the measure was to root out terror funding-still people believed it, later another new reason cropped up saying it was to persuade people for cashless transactions. Now people noticing that things are going awry.

On the one hand as many as about 100 people died in queues at the banks and ATMs and on the other side bid fat weddings kept taking place, (Gali, Bhandaru Dattatraya, Gadkari). We have been seeing everyday that several crores of rupees of Rs.2000 notes are being caught in most of the states indicating a pan India conspiracy and utter lack of control on cash disbursement. Infact it is no money for law abiding citizens but plenty for manipulators.

   The remarkable step planned to cut the parallel economy to size but the basic assumption where parallel economy and black money were seen synonymous is where the problem started. Every citizen who had saved cash at home suddenly became a potential black money holder.

People like me who were all for fighting black money in first few days of the announcement, were dismayed with the implementation and started loosing hope when faced with practical problems.The common man a daily wager, a patient or a senior citizen is being hassled for his or her own cash,which could have been avoided with better planning and implementation.

  After carefully reading few good articles of Mr PK Prusty, ,Manmohan Singh etc,I have understood that the cash economy is country's biggest strength. For instance over 80% of the wholesale and farm trade is done in cash. It also has the least default, there is no chasing for realisation and it ensures smooth trading. Furthermore all cash transactions are not black. And a failure in payment has limited impact. On the contrary a failure of bank transaction can have wider economic and social impact. 

The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in Rajya Sabha on Demonetisation on last Thursday has left a lot to be pondered over. To me it appears, he has rightly pointed out how and where Modi went off the mark. Perhaps there may be justification in his saying, that there is a " monumental disaster" in implementation of demonetisation is understandable as ordinary people are put to tremendous hardships in withdrawing their own money, from Banks and ATMs.To call spade a spade, during the debate, to use very strong epithets like " organised loot, and Legal plunder"are not desirable, since this government being graft free. The fact of the matter is that the government owes a straight explanation to the nation on its failure to cope up with the situation even after 2/3weeks, of demonetisatio. A bad excuse is better than none. Now that former PM Manmohan Singh was very categorical in saying that it was a monumental " management failure"  Modi could challenge him on the floor of the house. If he doesn't do that soon, this chapter will remain deep wrinkle on the face of India's financial history as he will be proved right in saying that " for those who are poor and from the deprived sections of society even 50 days of torture can bring about disastrous effects. And what has been done can weaken and erode our people's confidence in the system of banking.

   In Telugu TV5 news channel, during panel discussion on Friday,  Bhandaru Srinivas Rao a renowned journalist, had made very dispassionate comments which I fully appreciate. Instead of paying attention to what Singh had to say about the economic impact of demonetisation move, our FM Jaitley struck to his government's cynical, political script of continuing  to badmouth the Govt led by Singh two and half years after Congress 's rout of 2014 elections. Going by this logic the MPs of Congress should seal their lips for ever and stop speaking so that the ruling side face no criticism. Even our PM Modi, has shown the same traits regarding Bengal CM Mamta, and BSP leader Mayawati. People would expect response for the issues they raise, but here, there were only indirect allegations of corruption, instead of defending the action of demonetisation.
     Restraining millions of people from accessing their own money is very a sad. Moreover the customers money will automatically flow into banks which the banks in turn will use it to coverup bad debts given by them to the ultra rich with very good connections with the powers that be, and can any one say that this is pro- poor measure.
 Who can object to the goal of ending corruption, black money. Terrorist funding etc. ? But it has still to explain how any of these goals will be met by its demonetisation drive. Again many economists are advocating both versions, some for it and some are against, as such there is no standard opinion on the subject, and therefore government can't offer any scientific explanation as such the results would only speak but not now. If you happened to see today's RK' s weekend comments in ABN Andhrajyothi channel, you will understand the element of truth.