It is our piggy bank. Leave it alone.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to transfer Rs 1.76 trillion from its reserves to the government, apparently as recommended by the Bimal Jalan Committee, set up to calculate how much money the government could extract from the RBI without it becoming bankrupt and reducing India's credit rating to junk status. Seems that the committee had recommended that the money be transferred in tranches, presumably to hedge against a sudden outflow of funds in case of a global currency war, but capitulated completely after meeting the new Finance Secretary Rajiv Kumar. Even so we can wipe our nervous brow in partial relief because the government denied that it had actually demanded Rs 3.6 trillion. R Jagannathan holds the RBI responsible for the slowing of the economy because it failed to detect the Punjab National Bank scam and because it kept interest rate too high for too long. Although the RBI is the regulator, the government owns the Punjab National Bank and appoints its directors who prepare its balance sheet. Hence, Finance Ministry officials should have been held responsible and not the RBI. As for high interest rates, how has Jagannathan forgotten that the RBI was reducing interest rate to 4.75% in 2009 when the average inflation for the year jumped to 10.83% that year from 8.32% in 2008. Excessively low interest rates led to excessive borrowing by companies which they are unable to repay, leading to a large pile of bad loans at public sector banks. According to a notification from the Ministry of Finance, public sector bank lending zoomed from just over Rs 18 trillion in March 2008 to over Rs 52 trillion in March 2014, while gross non-performing assets (NPAs) at public sector banks soared from Rs 2.79 trillion in March 2015 to Rs 8.95 trillion in March 2018, the famous 'twin balance sheet problem'. NPAs have come down slightly to Rs 8.06 trillion in March 2019. The central bank is coming to the government's rescue "without any risk of exposure to its own credibility", or, "As recently as last month the government was expecting a Rs 90,000 crore payment from the RBI, which was already 80% more than the previous year. For it to end up with double the budgeted amount smacks of pressure," wrote A Mukherjee. As per Section 7(1) of the Constitution the government is empowered to give directions to the RBI but if disaster strikes the RBI will be held responsible. Indian politicians enjoy luxurious benefits which few in the world can dream about. Without any accountability. Civil servants actually asked "whether the central bank, which is owned by the government, can technically have a rating which is above the sovereign's". Intoxicated with power and arrogance politicians and civil servants have forgotten the first words of the Constitution -- "We The People of India". The RBI's reserves are owned by us and not to be squandered for political gain. Leave our piggy bank alone.