Letters to BS: Should RBI officers be generalists or specialists?

This refers to "It's divided house at RBI over new oversight cadre". I retired from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about 36 years ago after serving it for over 35 years. I was associated with the work of RBI supervision and control of commercial banks during most of my years there. The controversy whether the RBI officers — entrusted with overseeing — should be generalists or specialists arose at the very inception, way back in 1949 when this function first devolved on the RBI. Under the then dispensation, it was decided that officers who were not specifically trained for