The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the government have for some time been sparring over various issues, just about managing not to differ acrimoniously in public. It is, therefore, surprising that the two should have expressed the same views on full convertibility of the rupee with such alacrity. RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan and Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha have come out in quick succession in favour of this happening in a few years.The economic reason for this to be placed so firmly on the agenda right now is unclear. There is, of course, a political reason, which has been articulated by Mr Sinha, who has said that for India to be a "global economy" it needs its currency to be fully convertible, like those of the big boys. India being recognised as a global power is high on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s agenda, just as there is another section that holds that the first need is to end having the largest number of poor people in the world who severely lack access to s

Subir Roy: Full convertibility talk a red herring

Business Standard

The paterfamilias in one branch of our extended family recently passed away at 92. He was a legend to the family and, in particular, his many younger siblings. After quickly establishing himself, even while their father was around he took over the task of helping them get ahead in life without a single one being left behind.He was so respected and adored not just by his siblings but also the next generation that whenever anyone needed advice he would automatically turn to the in-house elder statesman who, in turn, would not just impart advice but also support the person in whichever way needed. He rose to a very senior position as head of the legal department and company secretary in what was then a leading British firm and post-retirement was part of the faculty of several professional institutes.But for someone who was so helpful to all around him, fate could not have been more unkind. The last several years of his life were trampled upon by creeping Alzheimer's. At times, family mem

Subir Roy: The end, in twilight

How do India's current concerns measure up to the concept "design thinking", much in vogue in the world of business? The country has just been aggressively launched into a campaign to "make in India" in order to overcome its manufacturing deficit. This is unexceptionable - but is India trying to board a train that has already left? At a time when value added through large-scale (read commoditised) manufacturing is lagging behind, the more desirable aim, the argument goes, should be to get the maximum out of the notion "serviced out of India". Not only does it tie up with what India is good at, value added through services in the United States, a key market for India, is about three times higher than through manufacturing.But to get the best value out of services, or for that matter any offering, it is necessary to think things out in a comprehensive way. And to make that happen, what the most progressive firms are now adopting is "design thinking". New Infosys chief Vishal Sikka has in

Subir Roy: Forget 'Make in India', try 'design thinking'

I have received word that the animal home where we used to leave our dog when we went on a holiday is excited

Subir Roy: Till the cows come home

The railways have won plaudits for bringing down the number of employees from 1.6 million in 1990-91 to 1.3-1.4 million in the last three years - but at what cost? One hundred thousand positions of safety employees are vacant

Subir Roy: Cleaning up Indian Railways

Here is a cautionary tale for towns and cities across India.Most middle-class people in them will vociferously protest the way hawkers are spreading across pavements and parts of the road. In Kolkata this hawker "menace" has reached epidemic proportions. But it is the same middle class which provides custom to the hawkers, making them belligerently fight for the right to ply their trade wherever they can.The inexorable logic of this contradiction led to a unique bandh in Kolkata a few weeks ago. Shop owners in the city's iconic New Market, once the poshest shopping area in town, and several shopping complexes nearby in what is the heart of town, downed shutters for three days to protest against the way hawkers were taking over the area.After having a free run of the pavements, they have now occupied virtually the entire carriageway of most roads around the area so that cars have to move slowly in single file. Parking a car even in a designated area is virtually impossible, thanks to ha

Subir Roy: Hawker-nama, Kolkata style

The draft national health policy, issued by the Union ministry of health and family welfare late last year, does not just stress implementation. It adds that there should be a framework that will "specify approved financial allocations and linked to this measurable numerical output targets and time schedules".It is just as well that this is a draft policy, as the Union Budget for the coming year (2015-16) has allocated just under Rs 30,000 crore, which is virtually the same as the revised estimate for the current year (2014-15). But this is after the estimates were slashed by 20 per cent late last year - in the mindless manner in which allocations are cut as the end of the financial year approaches, in order to achieve the semblance of a more balanced Budget.So over a two-year period (2014-16) the Union government expenditure on health is set to go up by just nine per cent, that is, at a pathetic 4.5 per cent compound annual rate of nominal expenditure. If you adjust for inflation, the

Subir Roy: Say goodbye to national health policy

You cannot reduce the number of cars on Indian city roads so as to check auto pollution as long as the middle or upper middle classes who own cars do not start using public transport

Subir Roy: Get a ticket to ride

The alarming level of air pollution in Indian cities, highlighted in reports from academia across the world and global agencies, has at last woken up people who matter in India. What has struck home is that Beijing, till now widely reported as among the most polluted cities in the world, has been overtaken by Delhi, which has risen to the top of the poor air quality league.The most alarming is a recent report in The Economic Times by Urmi Goswami citing research by environmental economists from Chicago, Harvard and Yale that finds that well over half of the Indian population may be set to lose three years of their lives due to the adverse effects of breathing air with highly excessive levels of pollutants.It has been known for some time that the air that people breathe in Indian cities is among the worst in the world. Over half of the most polluted cities in the world are in India, said a World Health Organization report released in the middle of last year. Later in the year, the Union

Subir Roy: Save lives, fight air pollution

The grand finale of the three-day Sufi Sutra festival in Kolkata earlier this month began with a brief rendition by an Egyptian team which raised an invocation to Allah and ended with the Baul team from West Bengal chanting "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna". You can hardly do better than emphasise the oneness of faith in today's India.At another level, the finale also had a Samba dancer from Brazil improvising to the robust beats of a dholak player from West Bengal. Sufi Sutra, a yearly international Sufi and traditional music festival started in 2011, is a celebration of cultural diversity and plurality. "It is music for all and music for peace," says Amitava Bhattacharya, the spirit behind it all, an IIT graduate-turned-Silicon Valley techie-turned-social change agent.Sufi Sutra is distinctive in several ways. Admission is free. It is held at Mohar Kunja, the large garden area next to the Victoria Memorial which earlier used to host the annual book fair and lie derelict for the rest of the

Subir Roy: The peacock still dances

Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal seems to have been elevated to the national level where, in whatever limited a way it may be, he has become a sort of de facto choice of most of the opposition to be posited against the overwhelming presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Subir Roy: Delhi results a national milestone

Kolkata's Rabindra Sarobar, earlier known as Dhakuria Lakes, has probably never seen better days in a generation or more

Subir Roy: Fenced and walled off

The path-breaking 2006 India-United States agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation, which had been gathering dust because of the subsequent Indian law on nuclear liability, appears to have been taken off the shelf. One of the key agreements finalised during United States President Barack Obama's Republic Day visit, it has four elements. India will not change its nuclear liability law; instead, it will create a government fund to address claims resulting from an accident. India will also take a fresh look at the provision of its law that permits claims made under tort law for damages caused; and the United States has given up its demand to track material supplied under the peaceful nuclear programme.Only very broad features have been outlined and, hopefully, when the details become known the Indian government will not be found to have given away where it matters. If a negative picture does eventually emerge from the details, then the question will be - what for? The Bharatiya Janata P

Subir Roy: Why persist with nuclear power?

The shanties along the railway line for local trains near Park Circus station in east Kolkata are not so different from similar encroachments across the country. Many of them are home to rag pickers, who occupy perhaps the lowest rung in urban India's social ladder. They are mostly Scheduled Caste and Muslim landless labourers who have migrated from nearby districts in search of work. Across the country rural scavengers often escape to a better life in a city as rag pickers.This colony of rag pickers, who forage into garbage dumps across the city to fish out recyclables, has been there for decades now. One kindly light for some of them though is the Tiljala Society for Human and Educational Development, Tiljala SHED for short. Founded by a retired government schoolteacher, Muhammad Alamgir, it has for over two decades worked among rag pickers in mostly deprived slum-ridden east Kolkata, which has a large concentration of Muslims.Tiljala SHED was one of the 30 NGOs selected to participa

Subir Roy: What does life hold for a rag picker?

Cashless transactions are one of the very important solutions to tame black money and should be promoted, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said. There is a problem of emphasis here. It is good for people to use as little cash as possible as non-cash (through book transfers in banks) transactions leave a trail that law enforcers like income tax authorities or those tracking money laundering find extremely useful. But going off cash does not offer a major solution to the problem of black money.To understand what works best in fighting black money it is critical to understand what black money is and is not. It is income that is not declared for income tax purposes. This can be simply tax evasion by a businessman or a professional engaged in legitimate activity. It can also be much more serious criminal offences like handling money that fuels trafficking in drugs or humans.An enormous amount of black money flows in and out of the banking system and still remains black. A government officia

Subir Roy: The political roots of black money

When a daughter was born to my sister-in-law (wife's elder sister) the happiness among my in-laws knew no bounds. Not only was she the first grandchild, she was such a pretty baby. But soon storm clouds gathered.The baby appeared not to respond to sound. Visits to doctors and specialists followed and the final verdict was heart rending. A rare nervous disorder had developed that had damaged her auditory nerves, causing her hearing to be "profoundly impaired". Apparently, there was no cure or chance of reversal.Then followed years of effort and struggle by her parents, with most of the burden being carried by her mother who was a school teacher. Her father, an engineer, chipped in with his technical knowledge and reasoning.They visited any number of reputed centres for such patients around the country and through use of hearing aid, speech therapy and training could enable her to hear and speak a little. She could hear only low frequency vowel sounds at high decibel levels and her speec

Subir Roy: The triumph of Mou Majumdar

There can be no end to the violence unless Bodos are reconciled to the fact that the non-Bodos in Bodo areas are there to stay

Subir Roy: Why Bodo violence is so intractable

A trip to Rajasthan leads to the revelation that you live in a polluted city which makes you ill, so that you are near good doctors and hospitals

Subir Roy: Quandary of the urban India - clear air or a good hospital?

High growth is not only not a must to improve our level of well-being, it is doubtful if it can be pursued for too long. High growth is good for those who sell motor cars and home appliances, but it can make better sense to tell people they must first learn to clean their own toilets, find cheap ways to produce enough safe drinking water and reform the way we teach children in government schools.The latest numbers on the Indian economy aren't cheerful. While inflation continues its downward trend, the Consumer Price Index for November recording 4.38 per cent, below the Reserve Bank of India's comfort zone of five per cent, the Index of Industrial Production has registered a staggering negative 4.2 per cent for October. When industrial output and inflation fall simultaneously, though it is both a piece of good and bad news, taken together they can signal clear signs of an economic slowdown.What makes the picture more forbidding is that the global economy is also moving in the wrong dire

Subir Roy: High growth is no panacea

Wagon shortage has now begun to show even during the lean season

Railways has a wagonload of woes

Nobody thinks much of much of the moral integrity of a corporate hospital, but if I were a doctor, I would be worried

Subir Roy

Subir Roy

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