Once again, rumours of PSU banks getting merged is doing the rounds. This is just a stop-gap tactic of the ministry of finance. PSU bank mergers will not solve the problem of bad loans in banking. Special Debt Recovery Tribunals, Sarfaesi Act, and Assets Reconstruction Companies?all have failed to recover bad loans. This is because banks were on loan-giving sprees for the last 10 years. The mere size of a bank is not important. It is the health of the bank’s balance sheet that matters. Merging PSU banks will reduce promotion opportunities to bank executives as top and upper-middle management posts will be reduced. The government will also not be able to accommodate many on bank boards. This rumour looks set to die in few days.
Sudhir Keshav Bhave, Mumbai
Ebola outbreak
The current outbreak of the Ebola epidemic has confronted the world with another dreadful scourge. There is no vaccine against Ebola virus infection. There is also no drug that has proved efficacious in treating and saving people infected with this haemorrhagic virus. The disease is contagious and it is transmitted through body fluids and secretions. It is not spread by airborne transmission. Still, given the mode of transmission preventive measures like screening people coming from affected parts of the world ? mainly West Africa ? and avoidance of direct contact with Ebola-positive patients need to be taken. It is worth noting that the epidemic outbreaks of this kind mostly occur in countries where economies and public health systems are in ruin due to civil wars and failed development models. The countries worst affected by Ebola virus disease are Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Congo, Sudan and Nigeria. It is horrifying to know that some people in India too have been kept under observation. The correlation between deprivation and diseases of this kind is worth in-depth study. The sudden surge in cases of Ebola virus disease has set off enough concern for the WHO to ring the alarm bells and think in terms of declaring it as an ?international health crisis? and for governments to stop short of pressing the panic button. The Ebola outbreak represents a public health risk to the ?global village? and calls for a coordinated international response.
G David Milton
Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
Mixed bag government
Three months into the new government, no holistic picture has emerged. The pattern seems uneven and many ends stay loose. On the one hand, Modi’s party and the Parivar seem to be driving a non-growth-linked agenda, be it on Article 370 or the Hindutva slant in education policies, the LOP issue or on judicial appointments. As the PM stays quiet through all this, these elements might harbour the notion that Modi has been commissioned by them for the exclusive and limited purpose of delivering on growth that would yield high dividends in 2019. On the other, Modi, perhaps in his primary zeal for avant garde governance and growth, has decided to don the suit of CEO India Inc., keeping the PM hat in the closet. Modi’s penchant for operating through the bureaucracy rather than his ministers, is a double-edged sword. The babus seem eager to compress time without factoring in larger socio-political aspects that need to be sieved.
Janaki Narayanan, Ghaziabad