A portion of the railway foot over bridge in Mumbai collapsed in
Mumbai. Last year also a bridge had fallen in Mumbai.
It is totally unfortunate to note that the concept of preventive maintenance
to the civil structures is still not very popular in India. At the core of this
apathy is perhaps our total disregard for the value of human life and right to
people to live with dignity.
Thought for the day
"Fools may our scorn,
not envy, raise. For envy is a kind of praise."
—John Gay (American,
1685-1732)
Word for the day
Kakaesque (adj)
Marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing
complexity:
Malice towards none
Delhi government wants to teach happiness to school
children!!
What are you scared off?
A chance conversation with a
reputable fund manager and a small group of businessmen was quite perplexing. They
discussed the political scenario at length. In the view of the said fund
manager, PM Modi getting reelected to the office in 2019 is a key risk to the
Indian financial markets, especially equities. The businessmen mostly nodded in
agreement.
When I asked, "is there any
substantive evidence to establish that full majority governments have performed
better than the minority governments or coalitions with numerous parties having
divergent agenda?", no satisfactory answer came through.
I realized that this thought is in
fact be bothering many market participants. In recent months some prominent
global fund managers, brokerages, and business advisory firms have also
highlighted PM Modi not getting reelected would be a key risk to Indian
equities.
To my knowledge, no one has so far
specified any substantive reasons for this fear and concerns. I am afraid to
say this, but unfortunately, this view is mostly driven by deep prejudices,
ignorance and arbitrariness.
For example consider this—
Resolution of Satyam Computer has
so far been one of the best examples of efficient government intervention in
resolving the cases of corporate fraud and misgovernance. The intervention was
swift, effective and acceptable to most stakeholders.
Do you remember who steered the Satyam
resolution from government side?
Prem Chand Gupta, a minister from
Lalu Yadav's RJD quota in UPA-1.
In the memories of the current
generation name of APJ Abdul Kalam is etched in indelible ink. He inspired the
young and old alike. It would not be an exaggeration, if I say that APJ is in
the same league as Mahatma Gandhi, insofar as commanding the reverence of
common people is concerned.
Do you remember who was one of the
key instruments in APJ's election as the President of India?
Mulayam Singh Yadav, who broke
ranks with the united opposition (People's front) in supporting NDA's nominee
APJ Abdul Kalam.
On my recent visit to UP, I
enquired from people about the law and order situation in the state. Almost
everyone agreed that law and order situation in UP was much better during the
Mayawati's tenure as CM.
Sharad Yadav, Omar Abdullah, Mamta
Banerjee, Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Pawan, et. al. handled key ministries during
AB Vajpayee led NDA's regime and there are no exceptional complaints of
inefficiencies and corruption!
I. K. Gujral who ran a government with handful
of MPs, is still respected as honest and good PM. Whereas there are few who
remember Rajiv Gandhi (who had brute majority of 414 MPs) as a great PM!
What I am trying to say is that
with her 1.3bn children Mother India is far stronger than a few politicians.
Enterprise of the millions of
Indians forms core of the Indian economy. Few good politicians can perhaps
enhance their capabilities and output a little. Many bad politicians can
perhaps slow them down a bit. But no party, individual or group of individuals
could stop them.
The worries over who is and who is
not prime minister in my view are mostly unwarranted.
If market does correct materially
only due to this reason, I would take it as a massive opportunity to avail
maximum possible leverage and buy Indian equities.
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