Masquerading as protagonists and saviours of the common man the BJP government spewed venom on the working class, middle class and peasants of our country for the 1st time since Independence by imposing charges of Rs 100 per month if balance in the savings bank is not maintained adequately or if Monthly Average Balance MAB falls below the prescribed minimum required balance to be maintained which may be Rs 2500/ in rural and Rs 5000/ urban areas. Such a dictat of the Reserve Bank to various banks will mark the downfall of many families across the country fill in the coffers of the nationalised banks and ultimately may lead to the prosperity of the big corporate houses which once before emptied the coffers of a few banks.
India is a land of the masses. May be we have a few Lords and these Lords have been created by people who are in power. Having said this, a section of the media in May 2014 had predicted the government headed by Modi who be pro-corporate and down the line 3 years hence these words have come true. NPA’s or Non Performing Assets is not knew in any banking industry in the world and some of the nationalised banks were always diagonised with NPA’s and banks being autonomous bodies some banks corrected or brought down the NPA’s to a large extent. As of December 2014 the figured of NPA’s was around 2.61 lac crores which eventually shot up 6.97 lac crocres at the end of December 2016. NPA’s are large sums of loans advanced by a consortium of banks to big corporate houses which borrowers fail to repay the principal amount or the interest thereon which affects the profits margins of the lending banks. The top 10 business houses or borrowers alone have to repay 5 lac crores and as of date the total figure of NPA’s has risen to 10 lac crores, these are unimaginable figures for the common man that a few corporate houses are holding to ransom the banking industry and what is surprising is some of these borrowers have the ability to pay but has chosen otherwise resulting they have been declared as wilful defaulters. Apart from RBI, Supreme Court had to intervene to tackle the issue of NPAs.
RBI has now made public the total figure of NPAs knowing well TRUTH always prevails. Government of India now does not know how to deal with a problem of such a magnitude due to mismanagement and interference by the bureaucracy, political society and middlemen who seek monetary benefits for themselves. Now having imposed such charges of Rs 100/ per month for failing to maintain monthly average balance the Modi Government or the RBI will certainly invoke “Insolvency” and declare these high end business borrowers as insolvent meaning bankrupt or collapsed
Banks were nationalised on 19th July 1969 to take the banking services to the door steps of the common man and the wide network of nationalised banks and its branches spread across the country both in rural and urban areas that we see today is because of the decision taken in national interests at that time. Nationalisation of the banks was met with fierce resistance from the private owners and even from the Finance Minister Morarji Dessai at that time. Defending her decision the then PM I. Gandhi stated banks are national treasuries and should be in the hands of the government.
The rot and the loot in India is deep, wide and extensive. Those who are rich want to become richer in the process those who are poor become poorer. The top business houses who owe the banks 5 lac crores are hands in glove with people in power and hence the RBI Governor who has wide discretionary powers should have used his powers and maintained the autonomy of the banks and kept at bay bureaucracy in meddling in the functioning of the banks because of a simple reason “the money belong to the people of India”
The step taken by the Modi government by virtue of its arithmetical superiority is bound to have wide ramifications on different stratas of society specially the working class who live from hand to mouth and are ill formed about such a sudden change and who will not be able to maintain the monthly average balance thereby all or a part of their hard earned savings will be transferred to wipe out the NPA’s of the banks. In such a context it is to be remembered what Modi said during the canvassing for general elections in 2014 before his elevation as the Prime Minister of the country. He had promised to get back all the black money stashed abroad and deposit Rs 15 lacs each for the credit of accounts of all poor people which had raised high hopes and dawn of silver lining among the people of India.
The present dispensation launched GST Goods and Services Tax by holding a midnight session. Some of the Opposition parties did not attend the session and while doing so they displayed their disapproval not for GST but for the midnight session. The 1st ever midnight session of Parliament was held on 15th August 1947, it was Tryst with Destiny as a New Nation was born. India is known for rigid tax structure since Independence and launching of GST where many taxes have been hiked and the common man is affected does not make any sense.
Every responsible citizen has a right to voice his or her opposition to the Government of India. Opposition is indispensible and sacrosanct in the functioning of a democratic welfare state, which in turn should treat as fundamental and basic rights of the people of India.
