Put a sock in it.

Finance Secretary, Mr Rajiv Takru is an angry man. Very angry, it would seem by the way he tore into bankers the other day. Livemint, 6 June. Referring to Cobrapost exposures of bankers offering to launder black money belonging to politicians he threatened to increase the quantum of penalty from Rs 1 crore to Rs 500 crore or Rs 5 billion. Bankers should have been quaking with fear, instead most of them would have been sniggering with contempt. They know that should he even try to stop banks from laundering black money made by politicians Mr Takru will be transferred instantly to some innocuous department such as the employees' canteen. Ask Mr Ashok Khemka who has been transferred 9 times in 5 years. Referring to Non Performing Assets, as bad loans are called, which have risen from 1.9% a few years ago to 3.9%, to Rs 1.79 trillion from Rs 1.51 trillion last year, he said," There is no point in saying these are minor aberrations here and there. You have very little scope for fooling around with basic banking practice. I am very conservative and have zero tolerance for anybody who steps out of line. My advice to banks and insurance companies is ' get your systems in order '." I think he should talk to his boss instead who forgave all loans to farmers in 2008 to win elections in 2009. The MNREGA scheme which pays villagers Rs 214 a day for 100 days a year for doing nothing and the 80% increase in salaries of useless civil servants, of course Mr Takru is definitely not useless, has caused double digit inflation and loose monetary policy has increased property prices by 1000%. Diesel and gas prices should have been adjusted in 2007 when oil was at $64 a barrel and the rupee was 39 to the dollar. They are being raised now when inflation is already high and will zoom up if the rupee falls further. The previous Finance Minister, now the President, boasted how companies paid premiums to be allotted contracts to build road on completely fanciful projections of traffic flow. Coal mines were given away as Diwali presents to friends and relatives who just sat on them hoping to make windfall profits once prices went up. So now we are having to import expensive coal from abroad.  Is it any wonder that NPAs are concentrated in property, infrastructure and power sectors. Public sector banks are required to lend money to priority sectors regardless of ability to pay. Kissan Credit Cards dish out cheap loans to farmers who use the money to buy luxuries and lavish weddings because they know they will not be asked to pay back. Total loan outstanding on these cards - Rs 2 trillion. Perhaps sir should put a sock in it.