Some food for thought
"A beast does not know that he is a beast, and the nearer a
man gets to being a beast, the less he knows it."
—George McDonald (Scottish Novelist, 1824-1905)
Word for the day
Repartee (n)
A quick and witty reply
First thought this morning
In a popular 1992 Hollywood movie "A Few Good Men",
two US marines face court martial for causing death of a fellow soldier while
torturing him at command of their senior officer. The court holds them "not
guilty" of the charge of murder, but still orders them to be dishonorably
discharged from the service.
Hearing the decision, the junior marine Downey asks his senior
in bewilderment, "what did we do wrong? We did nothing wrong. We just
obeyed the orders!"
The senior marine Dawson answers with brilliant composure
"Yeah, we did. We were supposed to fight for people who couldn't fight for
themselves. We were supposed to fight for Willie (the deceased marine)."
I could not help this climax scene from the movie replaying back
of my mind, while receiving numerous phone calls regarding resignation of RBI
Governor, Mr. Urjit Patel.
I feel that silently agreeing to the "political command of
demonetization", was a disgrace to the office of RBI Governor. He should
have fought for the system, he was supposed to manage and regulate.
I believe that in past most governments have tried to influence
the central bank to suit the monetary policy to its political agenda. There is
nothing new in this; and perhaps nothing wrong. Most governors brilliantly
resisted all such endeavor and maintained the autonomy and dignity of the
institution; making RBI one of the most respected central bankers globally.
I strongly believe that if we want to become a relevant economic
and political force globally, we need to strengthen our institutions and free
them from random political discretions. To meet this end, an autonomous
constitutional body must be formed to make all senior level appointments, like
heads of all regulators, public corporations, and secretaries to various
ministries, etc.
For RBI, my suggestion would be to amend RBI Act, and provide
for appointment of the Governor from amongst the head of the largest five
commercial banks, provided such person has served minimum two years as such
head. Any lateral appointment like Mr. Patel or his predecessor Mr. Rajan,
should be made at the bank level. Let them serve there for two years,
understand the intricacies of the Indian economy, markets and financial system.
Chart of the day
2018 and beyond - Key highlights
Global economy
Domestic economy
Global markets
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India markets
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