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Big defaulters and non-assets
This refers to Mr Yashwant Sinha’s advice to catch the big
defaulters. But who was stopping the banks from acting till
date? If the government has the will, this can be done even
within two months. Most of the defaulters are well known figures
-- members of Parliament and various assemblies, regular financiers
of political parties and well-known industrialists.
There are two aspects to this. The first is to recover the
lost money, which seems difficult thanks to our legal system,
which has become synonymous with delays. The second is to
see that more loans are not allowed to become non-performing
assets (NPAs). This is possible if banks convert the present
working capital loans into term loans. With short product
life, this old concept should be replaced by term loan funding.
Otherwise NPAs are bound to increase with every passing year.
-- Bhartendu Sood, on e-mail
Historic Agra?
People invested a lot of hope in the summit between President
Musharraf and Prime Minister Vajpayee and considered it a
historic chance for achieving peace between the two countries.
But why did they consider it a historic chance? Was not the
Lahore bus yatra and the subsequent process initiated by Mr
Vajpayee a historic chance similar to the one presented now?
In fact the Lahore process was more genuine than President
Musharraf’s visit. But it was throttled by the same Mr Musharraf
who initiated Kargil and has now come to India after giving
out hawkish statements.
How Indians have been taken in by the charm of this man is
a matter for research into the phenomenon of short memories.
I would like to modify Mr Gujral’s statement that Mr Musharraf
is coming to India with a pistol aimed at our head. He has
not put the pistol but it is we who have offered him our head,
a shamefully hanging head.
-- Brijbihari Gupta, on e-mail
II
This refers to the mindless euphoria surrounding the Agra
summit. While the Indian government wholeheartedly announced
many confidence-building measures, the Pakistanis hardly reciprocated
except for freeing an Indian cyclist who meant no harm to
Pakistan in the first place.
It seems that the Indian government is making no effort to
get back either the terrorist-hijackers or Dawood Ibrahim.
Shouldn’t the government be asking for Dawood’s deportation
since he is not a jehadi fighting for Kashmir? The government
is also reportedly considering handing over Jinnah house to
Pakistan. If we can build memorials for assassinated leaders
then why not build a memorial at Jinnah House in honour of
those who lost their lives during partition?
-- Amit K Vyas, on e-mail
Share the credit
Apropos the editorial ‘Regulating the revolution’ (July 9).
While it is not disputed that the current revolution in the
IT sector is due to the non-interference of the government,
the credit for the telecom revolution must go clearly to the
government.
It successively followed aggressive telecom policies between
1994 and 1999. The liberal attitude adopted by the government
with respect to foreign direct investment limits in the telecom
sector also helped in increasing forex reserves.
-- Sanjoy Banka, on e-mail |
