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Time for everybody to show greater restraint

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Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward

Case study

Is it possible to get an add-on international credit card for my daughter, who will be going abroad for higher studies ? What are the  options? Yes, it is possible to get an add-on international credit card for your daughter on the basis the internationally accepted credit card issued by your existing bank. Once you complete the Know Your Customer requirement for your daughter, post the bank will issue the card. In fact, with the advent of Chip and Pin technology, the transactions have become far more safe and secure. Alternatively, you can also give your daughter an internationally enabled debit card or a prepaid forex card. These are much better options compared to cash.Can I take a home loan to build a house on a plot in my mother's name? Or should we take a joint loan? Since she is retired, can she get a loan? If the plot is in your mother's name, you should apply for the loan with your mother as a co-borrower, as all property owners are required to be part of the loan structure. H

Banking: Rajiv Anand

Even if the reaction of the global financial markets were considered extreme, the United Kingdom's impending disengagement from the 28-nation European Union (EU) should be viewed with deep concern not just because of the dangers to one of the most remarkable economic projects in modern history but also for its influence on the tone and direction of global politics. Already, the demands for exit from other EU nations - France, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden - are becoming increasingly strident. The fact that these calls are being made by the right-wing elements underlines the single-minded xenophobia that motivated the pro-Brexit voters - specifically on the critical "free movement of labour" clause that created the illusion that Balkan and Polish people were appropriating low-level jobs and the issue of participating in the EU's controversial deal to accommodate West Asian refugees. It is worth noting that exit talks in the Eurozone were muted even at the height of the badly m

Brexit's follies

Last week, India's quest to become a full member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, or NSG, received a setback at the grouping's meeting in Seoul. In spite of efforts led by the United States to move forward on India's membership, countries could not even agree on a mechanism to discuss it. The opposition was led, reportedly, by the People's Republic of China, which argued that countries that had not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT, like India, should be subject to a specific process and there should be no "India exception". In effect, China wanted Pakistan and India to be considered together for NSG membership. It was on this unsatisfactory note - in which India was once again "hyphenated" with Pakistan - that the meeting closed with no consensus.In this context, it is perhaps necessary to ask why membership of the NSG became the focus of Indian foreign policy in the first place. Was it necessary to go so far out on a limb at the Seoul meeting of the NSG? Or for the prime min

A failed campaign

It seems that Congress President Sonia Gandhi is giving her customary iftar party a miss this year. It has been a tradition with the Congress president to host leaders from across the political spectrum for iftar during Ramzan. The ostensible reason for not hosting the iftar this year is that several Opposition leaders such as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav are said to be disinclined to attend. The Congress is no longer the force it used to be in national politics. Also, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi - who had visited some temples during his trips to Uttar Pradesh in recent months and had even trekked to Kedarnath - is on a short break.

Break from the past

A media briefing after a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday was addressed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, flanked by Ravi Shankar Prasad, minister of information technology and communications. Jaitley took the opportunity to defend Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian against the attacks on him by Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy. The Cabinet had taken decisions related to Prasad's portfolio but the most important decision related to policy changes in the textiles sector. Many were intrigued to see Textiles Secretary Rashmi Verma representing the ministry, while Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar, who was present at the Cabinet meeting, was missing at the media briefing. Gangwar, an important Other Backward Classes leader from Uttar Pradesh, is unlikely to be dropped from the Union Cabinet with UP Assembly polls due early in 2017. It is a mystery as to why Gangwar was absent from the media briefing.

Confusing signals

The recent move of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi to rope in a public relations (PR) firm to "publicise" its work has given the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress more reason to criticise it. "Instead of spending on public welfare, AAP government spends taxpayers' money for professional help to build its image," Ajay Maken, president of the Delhi unit Congress tweeted. Delhi BJP legislator Vijender Gupta said, "Eighteen months after the historic win, the Kejriwal government requires a PR agency and is spending crores to improve its image!" Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who also holds the information and publicity portfolio, defended the government's decision. "Some TV channels are saying the AAP government has spent Rs 200 crore to hire a PR agency," he said. "This is incorrect. Hiring a PR agency to publicise a government's work is not a crime. Let the Lt Governor order a probe into the matter."

Image issue

Apropos Archis Mohan's report, "India singles out China for putting 'persistent' hurdles as NSG bid fails" (June 25), in saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has embarrassed India by raising expectations about the country becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Congress leader Anand Sharma has not wished any good for India.Instead of appreciating Modi for his efforts to get India a seat at the NSG, Sharma has taken a jibe at him. Sharma said the same kind of lobbying should have been done to get permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).China, holding hands with Pakistan, was hell-bent on thwarting India's bid to get entry into the NSG. How can the Congress be sure that China won't do the same when India lobbies for permanent membership of the UNSC? If any one of the five permanent members of the UNSC objects, the membership issue cannot be taken forward.China has always been a stumbling block for India. It is the twinge of sourness that spoils th

Letters: Time to tackle China

After 43 years in the European Union (EU), Britain has decided to exit the bloc. As the process of negotiating with the EU on the terms of withdrawal is likely to be a long one - almost two years - Britain will have to abide by EU treaties and laws till then. The separation will no doubt be messy.Although the 51.9 per cent of people in the UK who voted for Brexit - over growing immigration and some other issues - would be a happy lot, they should not forget that Britain will now have to negotiate trade treaties and agreements almost from scratch with both the USA and the EU. The road ahead will be anything but smooth.Of course, the EU will be in shock as no country has left the bloc since Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty - which enumerates how an EU member might leave the grouping - was framed. The EU will likely lose its global clout and threats of exit from the remaining 27 countries cannot be ruled out. Germany and France now have a strong role to play in the EU to keep all the 27 me

Letters: Changed reality

In the column, "Don't praise Rao" (June 25), Mihir S Sharma says the 40 per cent increase in fertiliser prices was the centre-point of the Budget in 1991. The column gives the impression that the increase was completely rolled back. This is factually incorrect: the price was decreased to 30 per cent - itself a significant change. This was possible because of the initiative of then finance minister Manmohan Singh and the full backing of then prime minister P V Narasimha Rao.Ravi Vira Gupta   via emailLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Not a total rollback

Yoga Day should kick off a wider personal health campaign

Making India fit

Gurudas Kamath, a Congress Lok Sabha member from Maharashtra, was ready to quit the party until colleagues convinced him to take back his resignation

The resignation that wasn't

A top Bharatiya Janata Party Union minister from Uttar Pradesh wanted a Rajya Sabha seat for one of his lieutenants, who is a party spokesperson

How times change

Looks like the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M)-Congress bonhomie in West Bengal is causing considerable disenchantment among CPI(M) allies in the state. After CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said on Sunday that "the support of all forces opposed to Trinamool has to be strengthened", Kshiti Goswami, state secretary of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, a prominent Left Front partner since its formation in 1977, said the party did not "approve of the CPI(M)'s tie-up with the Congress". While Front partners continued to give out mixed signals, Bengal Congress put up a brave front - state Congress chief Adhir Chowdhury told a gathering that "we haven't got any message from the CPI(M) that the alliance doesn't exist any longer".

Mixed signals

As the controversy over certification of Hindi movie Udta Punjab raged, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said his party would solve the drug menace in the state in a month, if it is voted to power. Addressing a protest rally in Jalandhar on Monday, he said, "If Punjab needs a better future, there is no other way but to stop the drug menace in the state. On one side there is the drug menace, and on the other, there are law and order, unemployment issues." Gandhi added that the Congress intended to give more authority to the police, which would, in turn, help tackle these two problems. Reacting to his claims, the Aam Aadmi Party alleged that the Congress had double standards as it had failed to initiate action against these problems when they were brought to the notice of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

No problem too big

When he was a full-time member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), he was among the most qualified with a doctorate degree and a CFA designation. Not content with his academic prowess, KM Abraham, 58, who investigated Sahara during his tenure at Sebi, recently got himself a second degree black belt in tae kwon do. News channels in Kerala, where he is the state finance secretary, had fun covering his exploits in a white dress and a new black belt.

Black belt bureaucrat

With reference to "Coca-Cola faces case under SC/ST Act in Kerala" (June 13), Coca-Cola is back in the news again for wrong reasons. Its unit at Plachimada in Kerala was jinxed from the beginning, dogged by fierce controversy over its deleterious environmental impact on the region that attracted the nation's attention in 2004 when the company was finally forced to shut down its business. The battle against the company was waged by a group of local women led by Mayilamma, as they had to suffer acute water scarcity after the former's operations began to take a severe toll on the groundwater levels. The beverage giant was extracting 1.5 million litres per day through powerful pump sets which led to the depletion of sources like wells, ponds, water tanks and canals. Also, the toxic sludge from the plant's effluents containing high levels of cadmium and lead was having an adverse effect on the nearby agricultural fields. The company had even vainly sought to bribe the panchayat president wh

Letters: Skewed priorities

With reference to "A reset in policy" by A K Bhattacharya (June 13), the concern aired in the conclusion, "But a reset in equations gives rise to many difficult situations and spawns controversies", can become real only if the central government confronts the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) within the latter's mandated territory of administering monetary policy. It has to be said to the credit of government of India (the period from 1935 to Independence included) that the RBI has been all through manned by competent top management and its views were respected by successive governments in New Delhi.In all these years, the politics of ruling parties or the personal biases of the RBI governor and his deputies did not, by and large, affect the smooth functioning of the central bank. The game of numbers on the representation on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was an aberration that can be traced back to the partisan Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission report, which was a product

Letters: Caging the RBI

Cybercrime in India

As many as 9,622 cybercrimes were reported in India in 2014, an increase of 69 per cent over the previous year

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