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THE HIMALAYAN DISASTER: TRANSNATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT MECHANISM A MUST

We talked with Palash Biswas, an editor for Indian Express in Kolkata today also. He urged that there must a transnational disaster management mechanism to avert such scale disaster in the Himalayas. http://youtu.be/7IzWUpRECJM

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

THE HIMALAYAN TALK: PALASH BISWAS TALKS AGAINST CASTEIST HEGEMONY IN SOUTH ASIA

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Pranab`s Exit from North Block exposes the Bottomless Indian Economy as Rupee Continue to fall, Revenue Deficit knows no Border and Inflation associated with Economic ethnic Cleansing Grips Ninety Nine Percent population!Pranab just Focused on the Re

Pranab`s Exit from North Block exposes the Bottomless Indian Economy as Rupee Continue to fall, Revenue Deficit knows no Border and Inflation associated with Economic ethnic Cleansing Grips Ninety Nine Percent population!Pranab just Focused on the Recycling of Black Money all on the name of Foreign capital Inflow!
Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - Eight HUNDRED FORTY Two


Palash Biswas

http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/



http://basantipurtimes.blogspot.com/

Pranab just Focused on the Recycling of Black Money all on the name of Foreign capital Inflow!This may be the catch line to describe his tenure as the Finance Minister of India

Pranab`s Exit from North Block exposes the Bottomless Indian Economy as Rupee Continue to fall, Revenue Deficit knows no Border and Inflation associated with Economic ethnic Cleansing Grips Ninety Nine Percent population!For the ruling Hegemony and Corporate Economy, it is most Opportune to dislodge the veteran Politician who bgan with Indira`s socialist model and adopted neoliberal role to fit himself in the Open Market Politics in the Neo Liberal PRO US Pro Israel Emerging Free Sensex as he was detected as the inflicting virus  which disabled the Government of India Incs to activate more fatal measoures of reforms in the best interest of the Ruling Corporate Imperialism though for Pranab, it happens to be a great achievement that as India's finance minister Pranab Mukherjee having resigned from his post yesterday to campaign for the more lofty and ceremonial office of President of India and there also he has to play for the Market tune which has already been set by President Pratibha Patil issuing decree against Coal India ensuring Coal supply for the private Electricity Companies!As Finance Minister, his measures as finance minister of the country called into question and knowing that he tried his best to boost the market in an attempt to invite Free Foreign Capital Income mobilising RBI service in yet another futile monetary exercise while no fiscal policy is ever tried to address the fundamentals lest the interest of the ruling elite might be risked.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has kept the Finance Ministry with himself, while putting Vilasrao Deshmukh in charge of the Steel Ministry, sources said on Tuesday. Pranab Mukherjee resigned as Finance Minister on Tuesday.Pranab Mukherjee resigned as Finance Minister on Tuesday. The UPA's Presidential candidate said he was honoured at his nomination.Meanwhile, the PM has forwarded Pranab Mukherjee's resignation to President Pratibha Patil who will demit office on July 24.While forwarding his resignation, PM Singh told Pranab, "Our government owes a deep debt of gratitude to you for your contribution."

Pranab`s Guns always fired against the Excommunicated, ecxcluded communities in a ultra militarised stae where internal security is handed over to CIA and MOSSAD, Governance and Policy Making have been hijacked by Extra Constitutional elements by passing pariament, democracy and constitution and moreover, a war is declared against the People!Pranab had been elevated to the post of Field Marshall  of the Ruling Hegemony in the Genocide War as he was acting as defacto Prime Minister and headed almost all policy making parliamentary committees and enpowered group of ministers. The Corporate India chose to get rid of of him gifting him a luxury life in the heaven called the Raisina Hills!Corporate India insists that there are many steps that can be taken to arrest the slide of the rupee but, among those, the government and the opposition need to take a closer look at the immediate need to open up the economy. Ambitious policies to attract overseas investors and businesses cannot be delayed due to needless ideological debates in the parliament.Hence, the Exit has been manipulated and executed with surgical precision!

It has also helped Mrs Sonia Gandhi to make clear the Highway of power for the Crown Prince, Rahul Gandhi. At least, Pranab may not stake his claims for the post of Prime Minister in case of a divded hung verdict most imminent in the Next Loksabha elections!There are many steps that can be taken to arrest the slide of the rupee but, among those, the government and the opposition need to take a closer look at the immediate need to open up the economy. Ambitious policies to attract overseas investors and businesses cannot be delayed due to needless ideological debates in the parliament.The 77-year-old veteran politician leaves office at a time of growing criticism of his stewardship of Asia's third-largest economy, which has slowed dramatically at a time of stubbornly high inflation.His last full day as finance minister Monday coincided with the announcement of measures to boost the rupee, which has lost nearly a quarter of its value in the past year and hit a record low of 57.32 against the dollar last week.The steps included raising the limit on foreign investment in government bonds by $5 billion to $20 billion, but the markets were underwhelmed and both the Indian currency and Mumbai's Sensex index fell on the announcement.

While the economic growth rate in 2011-12 slipped to a While the economic growth rate in 2011-12 slipped to a nine-year low of 6.5 per cent, current account deficit (CAD) touched a high of 4 per cent. Besides, a sliding rupee, which has reached a historic low of 57.97 against a dollar, has added to Mukherjee's woes. In his last message as Finance Minister to the media, a sentimental Mukherjee said he is leaving his job to "embark on a new journey". "Yet, standing on the brink of such an honour, I will also feel a pinch of sentiments at the thought of leaving behind my life as a political activist, spanning over four decades," he told reporters covering him regularly in his North Block office. He said he felt honoured and humbled on his nomination as a candidate to contest in the Presidential election by UPA-II, supported by SP, BSP, JDU, Shiv Sena, CPI-M, Forward Bloc and some other parties. He said he would miss "not being stopped by media persons while getting into car or coming out of his car in front of his office in North Block". Mukherjee has always been obliging to media-persons waiting for comments outside his office on various issues plaguing the economy, and sometimes on politics. Rarely did he disappoint reporters by not offering comments. Earlier in the day, he even asked media persons not to torture themselves standing in the scorching sun for his remarks.

Talk about over promising and under-delivering.The rupee's weakness is likely to continue as the RBI measures failed to boost market sentiment. Pranab Mukherjee inflated the market's hopes that he'd take bold measures to boost investor confidence, but came up with a few small tweaks - on his last day as finance minister. Hopefully his successor will talk less and act more.Exporters and traders are expecting the rupee to breach 58-60 against the dollar.The markets were expecting too much from policymakers.Markets are ignoring the easing in oil and commodity prices, he said, adding that the rupee will continue its weak run given the current trend.On Monday, the RBI announced a hike in the FII limit in government bonds to $20 billion, while allowing up to $10 bilion from overseas borrowings by India Inc. for financing new projects and refinancing of rupee loans.The rupee made a new record low of 57.32 levels against the dollar. Substantial dollar demand in the local market and risk aversion sentiment across global markets boosted demand for the greenback.Last week, investors dumped assets in emerging markets like India, China, Brazil and Russia in favour of safe havens like the dollar on account of uncertainties over the eurozone crisis.

"I know that not every decision I have taken might have been right, but they were taken in the interest of the people," Mukherjee told reporters before handing in his formal resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.Singh has yet to announce who will take over the finance ministry, and there has been widespread speculation that he will keep the portfolio for himself.India's once-booming economy is suffering from slowing industrial growth, troublesome fiscal and current account deficits and a stalled reform agenda.

The economy grew just 5.3 percent in January to March, its slowest quarterly expansion in nine years.

Sonia might be aware of the fact that Pranab was too ambitious to become the Prime Minister of India after the demise of Mrs Indira Gandhi in 1984 as he was the second man in the cabinet but failed miserably as Rajiv gandhi took over the helms in a silent coup and Pranab was marginalised so much so that he converted himselves into a rarest rare speci of Enslave executive for the Dynasty Ruling India!

Well! Now it is most opportune to celebrate for the injured Bengali Nationalism as after such a long time, as Jyoti Basu was denied to become the First  Bengali Prime Minister by his own party comrades,the elite Bengali Brahamin from Kirnahar is all set to get the Consolation Prise despite a revolt by the fire Brand TMC Supremo Ms Mamata Banerjee who has rightly branded him as the Son of the World. Mamata should know to correct her objective knowldege of economy and polity that only the sons of the world may rule in these days, not the sons of the Land!However,Set to file nomination papers for the Presidential poll, a sentimental Pranab Mukherjee today resigned as Finance Minister to "embark on a new journey", leaving behind his four-decade stint as a political activist.Mukherjee handed his resignation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of filing papers to contest the presidential post. Although largely a ceremonial role, the position gains importance in the event of a Parliament with no clear majority, when the president gets to decide which parties can form a government.

Thus,Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stepped down Tuesday, leaving behind a faltering economy and a plunging rupee as he set his sights on the country's presidency.India is due to hold its next parliamentary elections in 2014.

Mukherjee also has the support of two major regional parties. His rival is Purno A. Sangma, a former speaker of the lower house of Parliament. Sangma is backed by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party.It happens to be quite a relevant Fun that the latest Amul advertisement is inspired by the race to the Presidency between Pranab Mukherjee and PA Sangma. Mr Mukherjee, the ruling UPA's candidate for next month's Presidential elections, resigned today as the Finance Minister!

Mukherjee, 77, was the main troubleshooter for the government in managing its fractious coalition partners. He told reporters that he was "ready to embark on a new journey."

A governing Congress party veteran, Mukherjee has been a lawmaker since 1969. He held numerous Cabinet positions including defense, external affairs and commerce before being appointed finance minister in January 2009.

The Congress party did not immediately indicate who will replace Mukherjee as finance minister at a time of rising inflation, slowing growth and the declining value of the rupee.

India's economic growth of 5.3 percent in the last quarter was the slowest in nine years.

The president is chosen by an electoral college composed of lawmakers from state assemblies and the federal Parliament. The election is scheduled for July 19.

The winner will succeed President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, India's first female president, whose five-year term ends July 24.

politician whose popularity cuts across party lines, Mukherjee was selected last month as the ruling coalition's nominee to succeed Patil as president.

"Today, I stand ready to embark on a new journey," Mukherjee said, adding that he felt "honoured and humbled" by his nomination.

"Standing on the brink of such an honour, I also feel a pinch of sentiment at the thought of leaving behind my life as a political activist spanning over four decades," he said.

Although the president is India's titular head of state, real executive power resides with the prime minister and the cabinet.

Indian presidents are selected by an electoral college comprising MPs from both houses of parliament and state legislatures.

The election will be held on July 19.

At the end of last week the rupee hit another all time low against the dollar. Over the weekend, the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, returned to India from the G20 summit and outgoing Finance Minister, Mukherjee, began his election campaign for the ceremonial role of President. Both men briefed the press about the bold steps that they were preparing which would raise India out of its present slump.

Investors salivated at the prospect of substantial change, but on Monday afternoon they received only thin gruel - the highlight of which was a $5 billion increase in the limit of foreign ownership of Indian government bonds. The rupee and the Sensex fell slightly on the announcement.

It's a measure of the appetite for economic reform in India that people allowed themselves to get carried away. In fact, political U-turns are now more likely than follow-through. Remember flip-flops over foreign direct investment in retail and the ban on cotton exports? There's the long list of pending but yet-to-materialise initiatives: reduction of fuel subsides, a more efficient tax system, increasing FDI in insurance and aviation, and land and mining reforms. The best hope now is that eventually the government may do the right thing, after all other options have failed.

While waiting, loose talk creates unnecessary market volatility. It's too late for Pranab Mukherjee to learn the lesson. He's retiring on Tuesday. Manmohan Singh will take on the role - with a lot of unfinished business - until a full-time successor can be found. Singh, the notoriously tight-lipped architect of India's first economic revival, is likely to realise that actions will count more than words.

However, Pranab Mukherjee, who resigned as the Finance Minister on Tuesday to contest for the post of President as a Congress nominee, sought to justify some of his tough and contentious decisions saying that they were taken in the interest of people.

"I know that not every decision which I have taken might have been right. But I have taken those decisions keeping in view the interest of the people whose faces appeared before me more than often," Mukherjee said before demitting his office in North Block.

Mukherjee demits office at a time when investors have hit a sour note on India due to a number of controversial policies like GAAR and retrospective amendment to tax laws. His leaving office is also marked by yawning current account deficit, rupee at all-time low and a plummeting economic growth rate.

His tenure also coincided with the world economic crisis in 2008 and again the renewed prospects of a slowdown in 2012.

Mukherjee, who received both bouquet and brickbats for his decisions, said criticism and appreciation reminded him of his duties.

"Members of the media, friends like you, have always reminded me my responsibility most of time through your criticism, sometimes through your appreciation, what I should do as a representative of the people," he said.
"I hope these duties you will continue so long I am in public life," he said.

On the other hand,Global financial services firm Nomura has sharply lowered India's growth forecast for this fiscal to 5.8 per cent, way below the government's projection, saying the country's monetary and fiscal policies are at loggerheads.

Joining its peers in lowering the forecast, Nomura, which had earlier projected Indian economy to expand by 6.7 per cent, said India's "public policy continues to disappoint".

"With monetary and fiscal policies at loggerheads, we lower our growth projections...Given weaker initial conditions and limited scope for a major stimulus, we revise down our GDP growth forecast to 5.8 per cent for FY13...," it said in a report. It has also cut its India GDP forecast for 2013-14 to 6.6 per cent form the earlier 6.9 per cent.

The government is aiming at GDP growth rate of about 7.6 per cent this fiscal. India's economic growth rate slowed to 6.5 per cent in 2011-12 from 8.4 per cent in the previous two fiscals.

Amid GDP slowdown, rupee depreciation and warnings from rating agencies, market still harbour hope that that a new finance minister will redirect the economy towards reforms after the presidential election.

Nomura pointed out that in light of the government's failure to take steps to boost the supply side and rein-in its fiscal deficit, the Reserve Bank chose to keep policy rates unchanged in June, despite a sharp growth slowdown.

"Fiscal policies are boosting inflation, to which the RBI has responded by keeping interest rates at an elevated level, hurting growth, and in turn exacerbating the fiscal deficit," it said.

It revised upward its inflation forecast to 7.6 per cent for the current fiscal from earlier 7.1 per cent due to higher food prices and rupee depreciation.

On yesterday's announcements by RBI and government to attract more capital inflows, Nomura said "unfortunately, these actions are another set of stop-gap measures.

The underlying issues of an elevated current account deficit and weak investment climate are still not being addressed, it said.

It pointed out that a hike in diesel prices or opening up limits on foreign direct investment are measures that the "economy requires", but these are not yet forthcoming.

Nomura further said that with tough economic reforms difficult to make ahead of general elections, the "window of opportunity for any difficult decisions is the next six to nine months".

The fiscal deficit projections for 2012-13 too has been revised upward at 5.8 per cent from 5.2 per cent by the financial services firm.

Government aims to bring down the fiscal deficit to 5.1 per cent in 2012-13 from 5.76 per cent in the previous fiscal.

Meanwhile, a sharp deceleration in hiring by companies in the first quarter of this financial year has pushed the job market to an 18-month low, according to senior executives from Manpower India, Randstad, TeamLease, GlobalHunt and Futurestep, all leading hiring and staffing consultants. But the worst is yet to come, they warn, forecasting that hiring could shrink by another 2-5% next quarter. Some companies have started revising their manpower requirements downwards, they add.

A crippling combination of factors ranging from the rupee's fall, global economic turmoil, a volatile stock market, policy paralysis, poor growth numbers and lack of investments has conspired to weaken corporate sentiment this quarter, leading to poor hiring.

"Hiring demand from clients has come down by as much as 30% when compared to 2011," says Sanjay Pandit, MD, Manpower India, a staffing and placement firm.

"This is the worst we have seen in last six quarters," adds Randstad MD & CEO E Balaji.

Hiring, which had peaked in March-April 2011, has since been on a roller coaster and has now hit the rock bottom. "The job market is at an 18-month low," says Asim Handa, MD (India) for Futurestep, a Korn/Ferry company.

Another top executive at a leading placement firm says on the condition of anonymity that some companies have already started revising manpower requirements downwards. "This was not the case even in April," he says.

"Everybody is waiting to see where the situation is headed...the current quarter is the worst in the past one-and-a-half years," says Sangeeta Lala, senior VP, TeamLease Services.

Job market watchers say a number of factors will determine hiring next quarter: the monsoon, the state of the European markets and, of course, the state of the economy. "At best though, it will be similar to this quarter's trends, a muted kind of growth. On the other hand, if the overall situation doesn't improve, it can decline another 3-4% from here," says Balaji.

The rupee ended flat on Tuesday, and not far from record lows against the dollar, as strong end-of-the-month greenback demand from state-run oil firms and weak global risk sentiment pressured the domestic currency.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) was forced to intervene heavily in markets to prop up the rupee after it fell to as low as 57.20 at one point in the session, threatening to approach the record low of 57.32 hit on Friday.

The session was also marked by continued disappointment after the central bank's steps on Monday to bolster the embattled rupee -- including raising the foreign investment cap in government bonds -- were seen as too mild by investors.

That continues to leave the rupee whipsawed by the volatility in global risk assets, with the currency seen as one of the most sensitive because of longstanding concerns about the India's economic and fiscal outlooks.

"The euro seems weak, which may lead to a lower rupee opening on Wednesday. But as long as the rupee doesn't close below 57.15, it may still have some positive upside," said Naveen Raghuvanshi, associate vice president at Development Credit Bank.

The rupee settled flat at 57.01/02, unchanged from Monday's close.

Demand for dollars from oil refiners were a drag on the rupee, traders said. Such purchases tend to spike at the end of each month.

Analysts see few catalysts that could lead to a significant rebound in the rupee, unless India can deliver on plans to attract long-term investments.

One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 57.43, reflecting expectations for further weakness ahead.

Some of the positive news on this regards, such as IKEA's plan to invest 1.5 billion euros in India or Coca-Cola's KO.NS announcement on Tuesday it would invest $5 billion from 2012 to 2020, helped sentiment, but not enough to change concerns about the lack of bolder government measures.

Nomura downgraded India's economic growth forecast for the year ending in March 2013 to 5.8 percent from its previous 6.7 percent forecast, citing a "deadlock" in fiscal and monetary policy.

"The longer the economy stays in the current deadlock, the bigger the policy shock that will be required to get out," Nomura said in the report dated on Monday.

The rupee has hit a succession of record lows this year in a slide that began in the middle of 2011. It has fallen about 7 percent this year, making it the worst performing currency monitored daily in Asia by Reuters.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the United Stock Exchange and the MCX-SX all ended at 57.03. The total volume was at $6.02 billion.

Not enthused by RBI steps unveiled yesterday to attract capital flows, SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri has said the central bank measures were short-term in nature while the country required equity and foreign investment for long-term growth.

Sharing India Inc's views, SBI chief said, "There is a need for more equity investment in the country and enhancing capabilities for raising exports as at present we import more and export less."

"These are short-term measures while the country needs steps for long-term growth," Chaudhuri told reporters here last evening while commenting on the measures taken by the Reserve Bank to arrest the slide of the rupee.

India Inc has termed steps taken by RBI as "minimal" since the industry was hoping for "strong actions" at this time.

Rupee has declined by about 25 per cent in the last 12 months.

The government and the RBI yesterday announced the much- hyped measures to boost foreign inflows, including raising FII limit in sovereign bonds and liberalising overseas borrowing norms for exporters.

Foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) ceiling on investment in government securities (G-Sec) has been raised to USD 20 billion from USD 15 billion.

Moreover, the lock-in period for FII investment up to USD 10 billion into G-Secs has been reduced to three years from five years.

On the Indian economy, Chaudhuri said that only government could comment about it, but emphasised upon the need for raising foreign investments.

The bank also said it will recruit about 10,500 employees during the current financial year to manage the growing business of the bank.

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