Darwin’s theory wrong, nobody saw ape turning into man: Minister Satyapal Singh 01-22

Darwin’s theory wrong, nobody saw ape turning into man......... Minister Satyapal Singh.

Union minister Satyapal Singh said Darwin’s theory needs to change in school and college curriculum.
This great statement is coming from a person who is Minister of State in HRD ministry.
Thank god, he did not say, no one alive has ever seen Darwin, so, even he is a fiction of imagination. Darwin faced a lot of opposition from the Christian church and clergy, and One of them most probably has reincarnated as our #MoSHRD.

Sometime back we had a statement from the health minister of Assam belonging to the same party telling us that Cancer is caused by the sins of previous birth by the person.

The medical world found this statement so amusing, it was shared by the leading health association magazines the world over..

It did not cure cancer anywhere, but certainly did provide some comic relief to the overworked medical professionals.

This is in line with the statements we had in the past like. Peacocks don't mate, earth is flat and others.

Yes peacock's don't mate ..

Most probably, the peacocks and peahens have a spiritual intercourse to reproduce offspring..

Darwin probably missed out on this important aspect. What Darwin missed out on is being made good by this minister.#FatalisingEducation.
Probably, this is also part of Modi's "Make In India" programme with the objective of making India a laughing stock in the eyes the people of the world.

This government is probably planning to export the ignorance of these people Which is available in huge measure, to all the parts of the world..

ARE THERE ANY BUYERS, BEST PRICE ASSURED...

I am a very possessive and fanatic student of Genetics and Evolution and hold Darwin and Darwinism in high regard.

Still wondering, how such people become ministers in education ministry.. As if one Smriti Irani wasn't enough.....One more to create laughs among people.

Finally Charles Darwin quote...

"We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities... still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin."

Now the news item....

Darwin’s theory wrong, nobody saw ape turning into man: Minister Satyapal Singh

Union minister Satyapal Singh said Darwin’s theory needs to change in school and college curriculum.
Union minister Satyapal Singh has claimed that Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of man was “scientifically wrong” and it needs to be changed in school and college curriculum.

Singh, minister of state for human resource development, said our ancestors have nowhere mentioned that they saw an ape turning into a man.

“Darwin’s theory (of evolution of humans) is scientifically wrong. It needs to change in school and college curriculum. Since the man is seen on Earth he has always been a man,” he said while speaking to reporters on Friday in Aurangabad.

The IPS officer-turned-politician was in this central Maharashtra city to attend the ‘All India Vaidik Sammelan.’

“Nobody, including our ancestors, in written or oral, have said they saw an ape turning into a man,” he said.
“No books we have read or the tales told to us by our grandparents had such a mention,” the minister added.

Darwinism is a theory of biological evolution that states that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual’s ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.

It was developed by Darwin, a 19th century English naturalist, and others.

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Towards a Hindu Pakistan? India may never mirror its western neighbour, but already apes some of its worst aspects 11-18

By Sadanand dhume (Resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC.)

Is India in danger of becoming a Hindu Pakistan?

Though, it is a bit preposterous even to imagine such a thought in India, (not as of now at least) in other countries, such thoughts are germinating in the minds of people.

In Washington this question, once too ludicrous to contemplate seriously, has lately acquired currency. For an Indian, it’s a query that can trigger a powerful emotional response. At one extreme stand those who greet it with bilious outrage. At the other are those for whom it evokes quivering concern.

Let me start by stating the obvious: the odds of the officially secular republic of India ever fully mirroring the Islamic republic of Pakistan are vanishingly small.

To begin with, look at demographics. About one-fifth of Hindu-majority India’s population consists of religious minorities; the Pew Research Center predicts that this will rise slightly to nearly one-fourth by 2050. By contrast, Pakistan is 96% Muslim. The only minority group of note is the beleaguered Shia community, estimated to number between 10% and 15% of the country’s 208 million people.

Founding principles matter too. India was born as a secular republic in 1950. Indira Gandhi only wedged the word “secular” into the Constitution’s preamble in 1976, during Emergency, her infamous suspension of democracy. But right from the start India’s Constitution guaranteed equality before the law and freedom of worship, and prohibited any religious test for office.

By contrast, as early as 1949 the Objectives Resolution passed by Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly declared that “Muslims shall be enabled to order their lives in the individual and collective spheres in accord with the teachings and requirements of Islam as set out in the Holy Quran and the Sunna.”
In ‘Purifying the Land of the Pure’, a compelling history of Pakistan’s religious minorities, Farahnaz Ispahani argues that this was the first step towards the country’s further Islamisation over the decades. In Pakistan, by law only a Muslim can become president or prime minister.

Nor do Indian secularists face the ideological challenge faced by their counterparts in Pakistan. The Sangh Parivar’s Hindu nationalism may look upon Muslims and Christians with suspicion, but it lacks both the global organisation and the overarching ambition of Islamism, the quest to order all aspects of the state and society according to the tenets of Islamic orthodoxy.

Islamists can fall back on vast jurisprudence and relatively recent historical memory to make their case for a state governed by sharia law. Luckily for India, even the most rabid Hindu fanatic does not seek to reorder 21st century life by the ancient laws of Manu.

All this is for the good, but suggesting that India’s record on minority rights will likely always be better than its western neighbour’s is not really saying very much. Once we get beyond the false question of equivalence, we’re left with an unpleasant truth. In some ways India has already begun to copy some of Pakistan’s worst aspects.

Take, for instance, impunity for violence against members of a religious minority. A string of high profile lynchings of ordinary Indian Muslims by Hindu cow vigilantes has yet to lead to a single conviction. In some cases, as in the 2015 murder of Mohammad Akhlaq in Uttar Pradesh, powerful politicians have instead demanded an investigation of the victim’s family.

Or consider the gradual ghettoisation of concerns about minority rights. Increasingly, India’s secularists appear almost as inconsequential as their Pakistani counterparts. They can draw attention to outrages, such as the roadside lynching of dairy farmer Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan this year. But their ability to sway public opinion has withered.

Chief minister Vasundhara Raje may well receive a thrashing from Rajasthan voters next year. But it won’t be on account of her failing to protect the lives of Pehlu Khan or Ummar Khan, another alleged victim of cow vigilantes, or to swiftly bring their murderers to justice.

In parts of India, cow vigilantism has come to resemble Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy law. Merely the accusation carries with it the implicit threat of mob violence. Earlier this month, Reuters reported on vigilante gangs in BJP-ruled states that seize cows from Muslims with impunity. Apparently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s calls to end cattle-related violence have not worked.
Given what has come to pass already – with little effective pushback – it’s not hard to imagine things taking an even darker turn.

Take the term Islamophobia, described by one wag as “a word created by fascists, and used by cowards, to manipulate morons.” A new generation of Hindu activists has begun to actively promote the related term Hinduphobia. While framed as a tool to fight discrimination, it will likely have the same malign impact as its Islamic equivalent – of shutting down critical inquiry and fostering a destructive culture of conspiracy theories and self-pity.

From here it’s only a short hop, skip and jump to a Hindu version of takfirism, the dangerous Islamist innovation that allows radicals to declare fellow Muslims as apostates. I grew up in an India where a person who seldom visited a temple and was known to enjoy a fine steak was no less a Hindu than anyone else. It’s fair to wonder whether in the promised new India this will remain the case.
In sum, it’s absurd to claim that India will turn into a Hindu Pakistan. But the readiness of some Hindu nationalists to pilfer the worst ideas from Islamism suggests that fears about India’s trajectory are not entirely misplaced.

DISCLAIMER : Views expressed above are the author's own.

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India's first bullet train isn't 'free of cost' as Modi claims 09-18

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has claimed the bullet train offered to India by Japan is virtually free of cost. A 50-year yen loan amounting to Rs 88,000 crore at 0.1 % interest is being described by the prime minister as free of cost. This is patently absurd.

India can have as many bullet trains as it wants on these terms from the Japanese, but nobody should be misled into believing they are free. For one, India may have to repay much more than Rs 88,000 crore over a 50-year period because the rupee will most likely depreciate against the Japanese yen over a long period.

Why is this? Simply put, it’s because the exchange rate between the currencies of two countries is determined by their inflation differential. If India’s inflation rate is average 3% over the next two decades and Japan’s inflation rate is zero, as is widely anticipated, then it stands to reason that the rupee must depreciate 3% every year because the rupee’s value is eroding by 3% as against no erosion in the yen. So, the rupee is bound to weaken by over 60% in two decades. This means that on a loan of Rs 88,000 crore, the repayment, in rupee terms, goes up to more than Rs 1,50,000 crore at the end of 20 years.

Over 50 years, the repayment value will be much higher based on the inflation differential, which is bound to persist between Japan and India because the latter is a rising economy with a sizeable poor population and is striving to become a middle to high income country over the next few decades. India, therefore, could end up paying a much higher value of rupee debt over 50 years. If this happens then we are not being fair to the successive generations, which will be saddled with this high debt component. Inter-generational equity is an important aspect of national debt accumulation even if it is a yen loan coming at 0.1% interest rate.

Therefore, Modi must be careful while describing the 50-year yen loan as “in a way, free”. I remember some Indian corporate houses had shown similar enthusiasm two decades ago by raising international debt via 50-year dollar bonds using the same logic that such money need not be repaid over a long period. Subsequently when the rupee weakened against the dollar – by 50% – over 15 years, the same family-owned business houses got wise and prepaid large portions of the money. Perhaps they did not want to saddle their next generations with such risky loans. This logic holds even truer for countries.

This loan is just for a short route – Ahmedabad to Mumbai. As is being anticipated, if the Japanese build three more such projects connecting other cities in the south, north or east, one can well imagine the total foreign debt burden that will arise. After all, the loans will have to be paid back with the exchange risk built into it. The yen is considered the most volatile currency among all the hard currencies today.

Another factor to be considered is that while an interest rate of 0.1% may appear free from an Indian perspective, it is not so in Japan. Japanese short term interest rates (Tokyo Inter Bank Offer Rate) is 0.06%. The interest rate offered by ten-year Japanese government bonds is 0.04%. India’s ten-year government bond offers 6.5%. The gap between Japan’s 0.04% and India’s 6.5% is explained by the inflation expectations in the two countries. This perspective cannot be lost sight of. So what you pay back to Japan in rupee terms will be way higher than what you borrow. There is no free lunch, as the saying goes.

One last point that needs to be emphasised is the bullet train project covering just Ahmedabad and Mumbai will cost Rs 1,10,000 crore. Just compare this with former rail minister Suresh Prabhu’s first Budget which projected a five year expenditure of a similar amount for network expansion in the entire country. Or a similar amount for strengthening safety over five years.

What would be your priority? After all, there should be something called sequencing of expenditure in a nation as poor as ours.

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99% of banned notes returned after demonetisation: RBI annual report 09-10

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it estimated that people had returned almost 99 per cent of the scrapped Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes after demonetisation, effectively putting a question mark over the government gaining handsomely by the unreturned money turning into a special dividend by the central bank.

In its annual report, the RBI also said the face value of fake high-value notes was minuscule at Rs 41 crore.

The central bank said people had returned Rs 15.28 lakh crore of the Rs 15.44 lakh crore banned currency, or 98.96 per cent of the scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, to the banking system.

“Subject to future corrections based on the verification process when completed, the estimated value of Specified Bank Notes received as on June 30, 2017, is Rs 15.28 lakh crore,” the annual report said. 

The old notes came to the RBI either directly or from bank branches and post offices through the currency chest mechanism.

Some of these notes were still lying in currency chests, the RBI said, adding it could only estimate the value of the notes and could not provide an accurate figure.

The RBI data showed the unreturned Rs 1,000 notes in March 2017 amounted to Rs 8,900 crore. The segregation of old and new Rs 500 notes were not that clear. The RBI incurred a cost of Rs 7,965 crore in printing notes in 2016-17, against Rs 3,421 crore incurred in the previous year. The central bank also increased its provisions by over Rs 13,000 crore in order to boost its contingency reserves, a practice it was adopting after three financial years.

The net effect was that the dividend paid to the government was halved to Rs 30,659 crore in the July-June financial year 2016-17. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on November 8, 2016, announced demonetisation in a televised address, rendering 86 per cent of the currency in circulation invalid. The nation subsequently queued up at bank branches and automated teller machines as the central bank struggled to supply new notes. About Rs 15.3 lakh crore of notes are in circulation in June, against the pre-demonetisation level of Rs 17.9 lakh crore. Economists said the government may have overestimated the extent of black money in the system, but increased tax collection should be counted as a long-term gain.

“Data analytics of deposits have thrown up unusual patterns. Previously we did not know who held black money. Now we do, and this is a clear gain,” said the chief economist with a private bank. The number of suspicious transaction reports by banking system increased by 345 per cent, which could possibly lead to an increase in future tax revenues. Coupled with the goods and services tax, this will help in improving tax realisation,” said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, group chief economist, State Bank of India.

The total number of suspicious transactions detected in 2016-17 was 473,003, up from 106,273 in 2015-16 across banks, other financial institutions and intermediaries . In banks alone, the number of suspicious transactions detected was 361,214, against 61,361 a year ago.

This is the first time since 1952-53 that reserve money for the whole year contracted, by 13 per cent. The RBI incurred a loss in seigniorage, the profit made by the central bank on account of currency issuance.A committee headed by the RBI board member Y H Malegam had suggested the central bank did not need to build additional reserves for three years starting 2012-13.

This being the fourth financial year, the RBI increased its provisions to Rs 13,190 crore and allocated them in various reserves. “In value terms, the share of Rs 500 and above banknotes, which had together accounted for 86.4 per cent of the total value of banknotes in circulation at end-March 2016, stood at 73.4 per cent at end-March 2017. The share of newly introduced Rs 2,000 banknotes in the total value of banknotes in circulation was 50.2 per cent at end-March 2017,” the RBI said. 

In volume terms, Rs 10 and Rs 100 banknotes constituted 62 per cent of the total banknotes in circulation at end-March 2017, against 53.0 per cent at end-March 2016.

The RBI said  processing and destruction of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes kept in various currency chests and regional offices of the RBI “pose a challenge.”

“In this regard, the agenda for 2017-18 includes the procurement of Currency Verification and Processing System/Shredding and Briquetting Systems.”  The RBI’s agenda also include introduction of new series banknotes in other denominations; procurement of security features; and “introduction of varnished banknotes.”

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RBI's dividend to govt halves to Rs 30,659 crore 08-11

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will transfer Rs 30,659 crore of its surplus to the government for the financial year 2016-17, less than half of the Rs 65,876 crore it transferred a year earlier.

The RBI did not provide any reason for the decline in dividend but economists said this indicated the cost incurred by the central bank in printing new notes as well as in sterilising liquidity after old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes were scrapped in November and subsequently returned to the banking system.

The dividend paid is the lowest since 2011-12, when the RBI had transferred Rs 16,010 crore of its surplus to the government. In 2012-13, the central bank paid Rs 33,010 crore. The RBI’s financial year runs from July to June. The central bank is expected to publish its annual reports next week after its board met on Thursday to clear the accounts. 

In 2012-13, the YH Malegam Committee recommended the central bank transfer its entire surplus to the government. The RBI has been transferring its entire surplus to the government since then. It paid Rs 52,679 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 65,896 crore in 2014-15.

In the Union Budget for 2017-18, the government had accounted for a dividend of Rs 74,901 crore from the RBI and other nationalised banks. An official later said the RBI’s share would be Rs 58,000 crore. 

RBI Governor Urjit Patel told a parliamentary panel in July that the central bank had not finished counting the old returned notes. 

He has also said notes not returned remain the RBI’s liability and cannot be passed on to the government as dividend. 

The Union Budget had not accounted for any special dividend from the RBI against demonetisation, which some economists had estimated would be in the lakhs of crores of rupees.

The low actual dividends, meanwhile, will exert pressure on the government to meet its fiscal deficit. Care Ratings Chief Economist Madan Sabnavis said the fiscal deficit could increase from 3.2 per cent of the GDP to 3.4 per cent this year. At its peak, the excess liquidity parked by banks neared Rs 5 lakh crore, on which the central bank had to pay them 6 per cent interest. The average daily liquidity absorption continued to remain above Rs 2 lakh crore after demonetisation was announced.

According to Devendra Pant, chief economist of India Ratings & Research, the appreciation of the rupee against the dollar depressed returns, in rupee terms, on the RBI’s foreign holdings. The rupee has appreciated by more than 6 per cent against the dollar since January.

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Is Demonetisation Illegal? 02-27

Probably the tail end article on Demonetisation in my collection..

Everyone has a right to say and speak his/her mind. And 'every say' needs to be heard.  Agreements. Disagreements not with standing....

Image credit : Shyam's Imagination Library

Upadate: The Lok Sabha on February 8, 2017, passed the Specified Bank Notes (Cessation of
Liabilities) Bill, 2017. Under the new law, holding, transfer and receiving of old 500 and 1000 currency notes is a criminal offence. The bill has thus ended the liability of the RBI and the government on the demonetised currency notes.

At eight O'clock on November 8, 2016 evening, India was wide awake. Reason: In his televised special address, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had unveiled an economic tsunami where 86 per cent of the currency in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations ceased to be legal tender.

Since that day, the Reserve Bank of India and the Centre have taken many steps to lessen the problems of the common man faced due to demonetisation. At the same time, the Supreme Court has been flooded with public interest litigations (PILs) challenging the constitutional validity of the move. But the million-dollar question is: Is demonetisation legal?

While the matter has been referred to the five-judge constitutional bench, Propguide studies the legal aspects of the order which has hit the country’s booming economy.

Violates the constitutional right to property under Article 300A: The only right ever to be erased from the list of fundamental rights was the Right to Property. It was demoted to a mere constitutional right. So, is cash-rationing a valid restriction on the constitutional right to property? Yes, because cash and bank accounts are property.

In Jayantilal vs RBI, in the context of the 1978 demonetisation, the top court had held that demonetisation is not merely a regulation of property, as the government is presently arguing, but constitutes compulsory acquisition of a "public debt' owed to the bearer of the notes declared illegal. Article 300A states that the state may deprive an individual of property only through 'law', and not by executive notification as the government has done.

Excessive delegation: Section 26(2) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, says that on the recommendation of the central bank, the central government may pass a notification in the Gazette of India that any series of bank notes cease to be legal tender. Fixing the date from which the demonetisation would come into force is the foundation of section 26(2) and constitutes an "essential law-making function" which cannot be fixed by the central government on behalf of the central bank

Abridgement of fundamental rights: The currency ban had caused a lot of hardships to the common man as many of them could not carry out their business and trade (19(1)(g) and violated the Right of Life (Article 21) of those 100-odd people who died while standing in the long bank queues. While the government is within its right to curtail fundamental rights in the larger public good, it needs to prove that the curbs were 'reasonable'.

Act of Parliament needed: The precedent is that on the last two occasions of demonetisation (1956 and 1978), the law was effected through an ordinance. But, this time the law was effected through a government notification. The rationale is that to have a rule which would have a draconian effect on the lives of people, a notification can't suffice.

Article 19(6) has no significance: The Centre would want to hide behind Article 19(6) of the Constitution but it has no relevance here. Article 19(6) says that nothing in Article 19(1)(g) shall affect the operation of any existing law in so far as it prevents the state from making any law imposing, in the interest of the general public, reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the rights conferred by the sub-clause. But the exception of Article 19(6) is not available to the central government as the notification is beyond "police powers".

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IMF says demonetisation a big dampener, cuts India's growth to 6.6% from 7.6% 01-18

The IMF today cut India's growth rate for the current fiscal year to 6.6 per cent from its previous estimate of 7.6 per cent due to the "temporary negative consumption shock" of demonetisation, days after the World Bank also decelerated India's growth estimates.

"In India, the growth forecast for the current (2016-17) and next fiscal year were trimmed by one percentage point and 0.4 percentage point, respectively, primarily due to the temporary negative consumption shock induced by cash shortages and payment disruptions associated with the recent currency note withdrawal and exchange initiative," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update released today.

The IMF said that after a lacklustre outturn in 2016, economic activity is projected to pick up pace in 2017 and 2018, especially in emerging market and developing economies.

The global growth for 2016 is now estimated at 3.1 per cent, in line with the October 2016 forecast.
Economic activity in both advanced economies and emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs) is forecast to accelerate in 2017-18, with global growth projected to be 3.4 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively, again unchanged from the October forecasts, it said.

As per new IMF projections, India's growth in 2016 is now estimated to be 6.6 per cent as against 7.6 per cent earlier forecast.

In 2017, IMF has projected a growth rate of 7.2 per cent as against its previous forecast of 7.6 per cent.

The Indian economy is likely to revive to go back to its previously estimated growth rate of 7.7 per cent in 2018, according to the WEO update.

The cut in India's growth rates comes days after the World Bank decelerated India's GDP growth for 2016-17 fiscal to 7 per cent from its previous estimate of 7.6 per cent citing the impact of demonetisation. But forecast issued on January 11 said that India would regain momentum in the following years with a growth of 7.6 per cent and 7.8 per cent due to a reform initiatives.
Despite IMF's downward revision of India's growth rate and a slight upward revision of China's growth projections, India continues to be the fastest growing countries among emerging economies.
But in 2016, China with 6.7 per cent has edged past India (6.6) with 0.1 percentage point.
The growth forecast for 2017 was revised up for China (to 6.5 per cent, 0.3 percentage point above the October forecast) on expectations of continued policy support, the IMF said. India's growth rate in 2017 as per the latest IMG projections is 7.2 per cent.

In 2018, China's growth rate is projected to be 6 per cent against India's 7.7 per cent.
IMF said, in China, continued reliance on policy stimulus measures, with rapid expansion of credit and slow progress in addressing corporate debt, especially in hardening the budget constraints of state-owned enterprises, raises the risk of a sharper slowdown or a disruptive adjustment.

These risks can be exacerbated by capital outflow pressures especially in a more unsettled external environment, the IMF said.

IMF said global activity could accelerate more strongly if policy stimulus turns out to be larger than currently projected in the US or China.

Notable negative risks to activity include a possible shift toward inward-looking policy platforms and protectionism, a sharper than expected tightening in global financial conditions that could interact with balance sheet weaknesses in parts of the euro area and in some emerging market economies, increased geopolitical tensions, and a more severe slowdown in China, it said.

Maurice Obstfeld, Economic Counsellor and IMF Research Department Director, at a news conference here, said among emerging economies, China remains a major driver of world economic developments.

"Our China growth upgrade for 2017 is a key factor underpinning the coming year's expected faster global recovery. This change reflects an expectation of continuing policy support; but a sharp or disruptive slowdown in the future remains a risk given continuing rapid credit expansion, impaired corporate debts, and persistent government support for inefficient state-owned firms," he said.

In light of the US economy's momentum coming into 2017 and the likely shift in policy mix, IMF has moderately raised its two-year projections for US growth.

"At this early stage, however, the specifics of future fiscal legislation remain unclear, as do the degree of net increase in government spending and the resulting impacts on aggregate demand, potential output, the Federal deficit, and the dollar," Obstfeld said.



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"Humiliated" by post-note ban events, RBI staff write to Urjit Patel 01-14

Feeling "humiliated" by events since demonetisation, RBI employees today wrote to Governor Urjit Patel protesting against operational "mismanagement" in the exercise and Government impinging its autonomy by appointing an official for currency coordination.

In a letter, they said autonomy and image of RBI has been "dented beyond repair" due to mismanagement and termed appointment of a senior Finance Ministry official as a "blatant encroachment" of its exclusive turf of currency management.

"An image of efficiency and independence that RBI assiduously built up over decades by the strenuous efforts of its staff and judicious policy making has gone into smithereens in no time. We feel extremely pained," the United Forum of Reserve Bank Officers and Employees said in the letter addressed to Patel.

Commenting on "mismanagement" since November 8, when note ban was announced, and the criticism from different quarters, the letter said, "It's (RBI's) autonomy and image have been dented beyond repair."

At least two of the four signatories --- Samir Ghosh of All India Reserve Bank Employees Association and Suryakant Mahadik of All India Reserve Bank Workers Federation --- confirmed the letter. The other signatories are C M Paulsil of All India Reserve Bank Officers Association and R N Vatsa of RBI Officers Association.

The forum represents over 18,000 employees of the RBI across the ranks, Ghosh said.

The letter said appointment of an officer to coordinate currency management is a "blatant encroachment" on the exclusive jurisdiction of the RBI on currency and accused the Government of "impinging on RBI autonomy".

"May we request that as the Governor of RBI, its highest functionary and protector of its autonomy and prestige, you will please do the needful urgently to do away with this unwarranted interference from the Ministry of Finance, and assure the staff accordingly, as the staff feel humiliated," it said, soliciting "urgent action".

The RBI has been discharging the role of currency management for over eight decades since 1935, it said, adding the central bank does not need "any assistance" and the interference from FinMin is "absolutely unacceptable and deplorable".

The letter comes days after concerns about RBI's functioning being raised by at least three former Governors -- Manmohan Singh (former PM), Y V Reddy and Bimal Jalan. Former Deputy Governors, including Usha Thorat and K C Chakrabarty, have also voiced their concerns.

The letter said the RBI staff has carried out its job excellently following the move to ban 87 per cent of the outstanding currency by the government.

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Modi’s Cash Ban May Have Been in Vain as India Outlook Dims Bloomberg 12-27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi needs a new narrative for his banknote ban.
            

He’d touted the surprise move to scrap high-value bills as India’s biggest step against unaccounted cash, which the government estimated at 5 trillion rupees ($74 billion). The bulk of this money has already been deposited with two more weeks to go before the deadline lapses, meaning the shock to the system may have been in vain.

The decision sucked out 86 percent of currency in circulation, akin to withdrawing all U.S. dollar bills except about half of the $1 notes. Only 50 percent of this is projected to be replaced by the year-end, leaving authorities scrambling to push digital payments as public anger rises.

"India’s ‘own goal’ currency swap initiative has put a crimp on the cash-dependent economy," said Singapore-based Paul Gruenwald, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at S&P Global. The government’s "well-intentioned but poorly thought through demonetization program" is driving down the pace of economic activity, he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said there’s no official estimation of black money, the local term for unaccounted wealth. He submitted a written reply to a lawmaker’s question about a month after the government’s lawyer told the Supreme Court that Indians won’t deposit about 4 trillion rupees to 5 trillion rupees of bank notes of the 15.4 trillion rupees invalidated by Modi’s move, implying that this was ‘black.’ The top court was hearing petitions questioning the rationale behind Modi’s decision after Modi in his Nov. 8 speech to the nation said "the specter of corruption and black money has grown," without providing figures.

So far, about 13 trillion rupees of bills have been deposited in banks. The central bank on Monday tightened deposit rules, adding to a list of regulatory flip flops since Nov. 8.

GROWTH

As investors try to assess the impact of Modi’s move, all eyes will be on the government’s forecast for the year through March -- due Jan. 7. The central bank and private economists have lowered their projections for the economy where 98 percent of consumer payments are made in cash.

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FACTORY OUTPUT

The Nikkei purchasing managers’ index signals a contraction in the key services sector, which accounts for about 60 percent of gross domestic product. Car purchases, a main indicator of manufacturing demand, grew at the slowest pace in nine months in November while sales of motorcycles and scooters -- where about 65 percent of payments are in cash -- fell for the first time in almost a year.

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LOAN GROWTH

Commercial credit sank to a 19-year low as backlogs piled up at factories and banks stayed busy with the task of exchanging currency notes. Meanwhile deposits surged, pushing the credit-deposit ratio to a six-year low.

"For a cash dependent economy, a cash crunch is not good," said Madhavi Arora, Mumbai-based economist at Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.

TRADE

The trade deficit widened to a 16-month high as export growth slowed in November and imports surged. Most worryingly, gold shipments jumped 26 percent in November, triggering speculation that consumers were converting their cash into non-productive holdings of the precious metal.

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JOBS

Export numbers also hinted at the employment outlook. A decline in gems and jewelry, a sector that depends on unorganized manual labor, suggested the cash crunch was affecting employment, said Kapil Gupta, an analyst at Edelweiss Securities Ltd. Rafeeque Ahmed, chairman of the council for leather exports, said Modi’s move has slashed about 75,000-100,000 jobs from his industry. 

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INFLATION

As demand dips for goods, price pressures are easing. The benchmark consumer inflation gauge plunged more than estimated to below the mid-point of the central bank’s target. However, this wouldn’t be the first time that economists have been surprised and it may not open much room to ease policy. So-called core inflation -- excluding food and fuel -- is sticky, the central bank said this month. 

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RATINGS

India’s currency clampdown won’t impact the nation’s credit ratings, according to S&P Global Ratings. However, the company said Indian corporates and banks will face short-term "execution and adjustment risks."

Fitch Ratings called the demonetization a "one-off event" and said that while the short term hit will be significant, people will find "inventive ways" around the cash crunch. Moody’s Investors Service placed on negative watch three micro-finance lenders, indicating that their ratings may be downgraded.

DIGITAL PAYMENTS

Data on card transactions indicate plastic is taking the place of currency usage at a faster pace. With the data incomplete, conclusions are tentative, but the analysis strengthens Bloomberg Intelligence Economics’ view that demonetization will not deal a major blow to growth.

CONSUMER SENTIMENT

A central bank survey of 4,686 respondents also pointed to robust consumer sentiment despite the cash ban. Perceptions of general economic conditions and financial situations have improved, the central bank said Dec. 7, adding that the surveys were conducted between Oct. 27 and Nov. 13 and more data must be analyzed to draw conclusions.

"A puzzle has arisen of late -- why are some activity indicators still in the positive range, albeit slowing, when cash has contracted so sharply?" said Pranjul Bhandari, chief India economist at HSBC Holdings Plc. "One answer might be that growth will be affected with only a lag. Another is that informal arrangements, like vendor credit, have helped to fill the void." 


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