Hartal Kerala

Protest against the perils of demonetisation on the cooperative sector is admissible, however government sponsored hartal in Kerala is incomprehensible. No other state like Kerala is in India where a government calls hartal to put its people in trouble.. No buses  operated, no factories opened,
all passengers  stranded at various bus stands, all shops and establishment closed, all fish and vegetable merchants with no work, all schools and colleges not working, all daily wage workers with no money, the hartal brought immense difficulty  to common man while political bosses remained happy in their glass houses with snacks and drinks. Common man's plight is not a concern for ruling and the opposition leaders.

One interesting matter is; exemption of tourism sector from hartal keeping in mind of the peak tourist season. Is tourism a matter of top priority when even cancer patients are denied transportation to  hospitals? The central government's thoughtless act  of paralysing cooperative sector was certainly a misery, nevertheless it was augmented with the hartal call by state government.

K A Solaman

Utopian dream

Today's India population exceeds 125 crores and that more than 90 percent of the Indian population are ignorant of English. It would require  decades for English knowing population to increase significantly. Furthermore, about ten percent of the population are sixty five plus people who are  unable handle a communication gadget like smart phone or computer. As cashless transaction can be done only with electronic gadget and knowledge of English, the Modi Inc. proposal for only online transaction is a difficult task for majority Indians. PM Modi, therefore, needs more experts and good economists in his company in order to avoid further embarrassment.

Fish vendor Mariyamma of Cherthala market swiping a debit card in her machine kept in the fish basket and selling sardine for rupees fifty  is of course a utopian dream.

K A Solaman

Kindly cooperate

Demonetisation is a historic event that would check the black money menace. But denial of currency exchange by co-operative banks has put Kerala into a real financial crisis. The cooperative banking system in Kerala holds more than ₹60,000 crore in deposits and has disbursed more than ₹30,000 crore in loans.

This sector has been paralysed because both the Reserve Bank of India and the Finance Ministry are suspicious of its dealings. Unlike in the case of nationalised and private banks, it’s not a question of long queues, but a total collapse.

The politics played by the CPM, Congress and BJP should not damage the co- operative sector in Kerala.

KA Solaman
Kerala
The Hindu Business Line
Nov 18, 2016

Speak rubbish

O Rajagopal, the lone BJP member of Kerala Assembly speaking  that the co-operative banks in the state have become a safe haven to convert black money into white, is rubbish. In Kerala no banks other than cooperative banks cater the need of people of low income group. No other bank could claim such a popular support. If any person has back money in co-operative bank it could be investigated  and action could be taken. Interestingly, it is hi-tech banks whom the RBI had given permission to exchange currency, are involved in most of black money deals .

Demonetisation move of the Centre is a novel attempt to curb the use of black money but it should not be by putting poor man into utter difficulty. Co-operative institutions are the back bone of majority country men and hence any attempt to paralyse its function, is intolerable.  

K A Solaman

Law degree or journalists

Law degree for journalists is a must.

It is unwise to permit all and sundry to report about court proceedings and in that case the  Kerala High Court issuing  new norms for accreditation of the journalists covering court proceedings is in the right direction. If  any journalist or reporter covering the High Court proceedings, possesses a degree in law he will never indulge in reporting  silly matters and will keep dignity of the court.

The court  saying that journalist should have five years of court reporting experience is certainly an added attraction for such reporting. The channel friendly politicians like V D Satheesan or  advocate of the rebel  group A P Udayabhanu coming against HC decision is unwarranted.
The news channels should stop airing abusive remarks against lawyers  because they did not own a channel to convey  their experience to the general public. Reporting should not be one-sided.

K A Solaman

Cooperative damage

Demonetisation is a historic event that would of course check the black money menace. But denial of currency exchange by co-operative banks took Kerala  into a real financial crisis. The cooperative banking system that holds more than Rs 60,000 crore in deposits and has disbursed more than Rs 30,000 crore in loans has been paralysed because both the Reserve Bank of India  and the Finance Ministry are suspicious of its dealings. Unlike in the case of nationalised and private banks, it's not a question of long queues, but a total collapse.
So what is needed is an immediate verification of shady deposits, if any, in co-op banks by RBI or IT  department and give permission to operate them normally. The politics played by  CPM, Congress and BJP should not damage the co- operative sector in Kerala.

K A Solaman

Staff created turmoil in banks

The bank employees had a tough time with exchange of demonetized currencies across the length and breadth of the country. Many staff spent extra hours in banks after their scheduled duty time in support of government's firm action to contain black money. However,  a few employees had turned their back to the endeavor. The 12th state Conference of Bank Employees Federation of India(BEFI) was on these days compelling a few staff to keep away from bank. About 450 bank employees from across the state who are supposed to  work in their respective banks to mitigate the problems relating demonetization drive were away for the meet. The currency boxes and ten rupee coin containers issued by RBI to bank branches still remain unopened. What the available staff done was issue of 2000 rupee notes.

The turmoil in banks was thus a planned service dereliction of  some staff and they are to be  be blamed for the trouble caused to the people. The argument that BEFI conference did not affect the functioning of the banks, is is not correct.

The extra ordinary difficult situation in bank branches was thus a planned action created by some  unscrupulous bank staff.

K A Solaman

Abuses shocking

Abuses shocking

The demonetization move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been hailed by most of the financial experts and common man. Experts have opined that scrapping high denomination notes will help in the fight against terrorism and the black money menace. The corruption will also decline due to this bold measure.

However, the Finance Minister of Kerala and a few CPM cadres are seemingly annoyed with Government decision, their Facebook posts tell in that direction. The words used by some Facebook writers  against the Prime Minister are really shocking and do not suit the stature of any civilized Indian citizen.

It may be true that there is temporary  difficulty for common man by the decision of demonetizing but  it is a decision  taken in better interest of the country. After a few days of inconvenience everything will come to normalcy. It is not about how much cash a common man had stashed in his home, but its about underworld, Pakistan Terrorism, Dawood Ibrahim, Naxalites, Communal outfits, Corporate foul players, mischievous  co-operative bank holdings  and many anti social elements.

As demonetizing decision is a collective one by the government higher-ups, hurling all abuses on PM alone is unwarranted. The abusers  including certain channels  should  be severely dealt with. Could all and sundry abuse the honourable PM of India?
K A Solaman

Traders' decision false

The traders' decision to shut down  shops indefinitely from Tuesday in the wake of the currency shortage will not make any impact. Traders are a class that find joy in fishing in troubled waters. And it is the practice of them to open shops just after one day, if closed.

It is some unscrupulous  traders, business men and bank managers who are responsible for the extraordinary outflow of fake currency in the country. The present demonetisation of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes  will give real value for hard earned money and boost our economy.

Meanwhile the government can make more arrangements to reduce the shortage  Rs 100 and Rs 50 notes. Like commercial banks  the co-operative banks and societies also should be permitted to deal with currency collection and distribution.

K A Solaman

RIL will not pay a single coin

Kerala speaker's regret

Kerala Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan's  regret to Governor P Sathasivam for not inviting him to the diamond jubilee celebrations of the Kerala formation day seems curious. If the regret is to become genuine the Speaker has to explain the technical issues behind the denial of invitation. As Governor did not express in open his displeasure the Speaker seeking the co-operation of the Governor for all its future programmes and also for the functioning of legislature, is out of the ordinary.
Besides Governor, three former  Chief Ministers V S Achuthanandan, A K Antony and Oommen Chandy were also not invited to the function.The technical snag behind their exclusion also need clarification.

K A Solaman

ODF State?

There is no wonder to see why Governor Justice Sadasivam did not attend the function in which  Kerala had been declared  open defecation free state. Governor is aware of actual situation of the state that there are lakhs of homes with out toilets.
The announcement of the sort is intended make people aware of the need for toilet. However, this awareness can be done in a meaningful way without hiding facts. No wonder Kerala is becoming a fools' own country day by day.

-K A Solaman