My Views on Gifting to officials is as follows
I sincerely praise Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi for his advice given to CMDs of all banks to refrain from distributing gifts on festivals to officials of Ministry of Finance. As a matter of fact gifts worth hundreds and hundreds of crores of rupees are distributed very year on each occasion by all senior officials of each government departments, by every Head of each Public sector undertakings, by promoters of high profile corporate houses and also from political stalwarts of various parties aspiring for several types of favours from Ministries. This gift culture is root of all types of corruption in all offices directly or indirectly under control of central or state governments.
Advice has been given to chiefs of banks to stop gifting government officials. As a matter of fact Branch Manager of each branch, Regional Head or Zonal Head of controlling offices of every bank, Public sector or private sector are in habit of distributing costly gifts on many occasions to government officials of various local departments like District Rural Development Department, District Forest Office, Pollution control Department, Land Acquisition office and so on and they use to get deposits or other business gains in return of gifts.
I have no doubt in saying that lacs and crores of rupees are spent on gifting only by each office each year , not from personal pocket but from government fund or public fund to serve self interest or to gain in business. Not only bankers but all are getting huge returns in business or in tax concession or in tax evasion or in getting valuable contract orders or in getting license for various jobs or for getting high value supply order or to push inferior products in various offices by process of gifting to government officials and VIPs and thus it is they who are causing huge losses to public money and it is this culture which is the beginning of large scale corruption.
Gifting of costly jewels to big bosses for getting promotions is not new in banking . If an officer is able to give costly gold ornaments and diamond ornaments to members of Interview panel or to bosses on birth day or inaugural occasions , he is sure to get promotion to higher scale. Similarly if a businessmen offers huge gifts to bank staff and specially to Branch head and Regional Head, his proposal for credit facility get immediate sanction and with minimum hurdles. This culture of gifting is root cause of rise in bad debts in each public sector bank. If one has to take his worked done without nay hassle , he or she has to oblige key persons of the office by gifts , either in cash or in kind.
I hope Mr. Modi will slowly and gradually try to stop this gifting culture and I have no doubt this will help in controlling corruption to some extent. Real war on corruption will take place only when the government starts carrying out surprise raids ( either by CBI or CID ) at houses of top government officials and at houses of CMDs or Top officials of each bank and start punishing who are found to have accumulated huge wealth by illegal means . Gifts worth cores of rupees are given for winning the post of ED or CMD of a bank or Public sector undertaking. Gifts worth thousands and lacs of rupees are given to higher officials and ministers for getting the post of CM or AGM or DGM or GM in a bank. And when post are bought by spending money , it is but natural that these officials will get much more valuable gifts from their juniors and from their clients.
Clever officials use birth day or wedding anniversary day or festivals to oblige their seniors by gifts. They organise some function in branches and call seniors and government officials to inaugurate or to cut the ribbon. They organise meetings from time to time on flimsy grounds and call seniors to become Chief Guest and then award such guests with various gifts sometimes directly and sometimes through customers. Customers take advantage of such gifts by asking for loan and government officials parks their fund in such bank to oblige bankers offering huge gifts to them or honouring them with the tag of Chief Guest.
GOI will have to stop this dirty culture of gifting which leads to flattery and bribery . Mr. Narendra Modi will have to take a lead in this respect if he really wants to reduce the level of corruption and to save the nation from corrupt officials.He will have to stop political leaders of his own party first gifting seniors and media men. The culture of obliging political leaders by gifting costly items when they come to inaugurate any big project or any meeting or any gathering have to be stopped to send a message to other departments and to give a lesson to other officials.
Charity begin from home and Mr. Modi will take a call on this soon , I hope so. It is proper to mention here that dirty gifting culture starts from offering a piece of flower or a bouquet to higher officials and VIPS and then ends in gifting articles of crores and hundreds of crores of rupees as happened in 2G or Coal Scam or Harshad Mehta scam or CWG scam .Obviously Gift is the mother of all types of corruption .
My Views on following news is given above
Finance Ministry instructs banks not to send festival gifts to bureaucrats-Economic Times
MUMBAI: The finance ministry has issued stern instructions to the heads
of state-owned banks not to send gifts to bureaucrats during the festival season, a traditional practice at Diwali, as it looks to clamp down on influence peddling and stem the damage caused by a recent corruption scandal.
Some insiders say the gifts are aimed at keeping officials happy, so that the bankers can get to know about personnel changes. The current system of top management appointments of state-owned banks is quite opaque.
Senior executives are often dependent on finance ministry officials for information on people movements, including their own promotions. "This is a key reasons that bankers often shower expensive gifts on government employees," said a retired bank chief who did not want to be named.
The letter from the finance ministry to bankers also reflects the Modi government's determination to clean up the system that's been rocked by corruption allegations in recent weeks. Some bankers said the arrest of Syndicate Bank chairman and managing director SK Jain by the Central Bureau of Investigation for allegedly taking bribes in return for enhancing credit limits may have led the government to send the message.
There are as many as 50-60 key government employees in the finance ministry alone and almost every chairman and managing director is in the habit of giving gifts during festivals. Most CMDs say this is merely a goodwill gesture.
"In fact, even large corporate houses give gifts to government employees. Instead of asking banks not to send gifts, they should ask government employees not to accept gifts," said a bank chief.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/42653687.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
BJP welcomes Modi's decision not to celebrate birthday
New Delhi: BJP welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision of not celebrating his birthday, and joined him in appealing to the countrymen to help the flood affected people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The party also hailed the initiatives taken by the central government in leading the flood relief operations in the state where lakhs of affected people have been evacuated and taken to safety after the floods.
Modi appealed to his friends and well-wishers not to celebrate his birthday and instead dedicate time and resources towards relief work in this hour of need for flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.
BJP secretary Shrikant Sharma said the BJP-led NDA government has taken a number of initiatives for flood relief in the valley and added that the party will follow the directions of its president Amit Shah in helping the affected.
He said the party president has asked all MPs, MLAs and public representatives in the state to collect relief material and contribute in the rescue and relief operations.
Sharma said that the country should unite in helping in the rescue and relief operations.
Narendra Modi pulls up minister for gifts to journalists-Times of India
NEW DELHI: He is supposed to be among those who enjoy the trust of Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of his familiarity with complex policy matters and the ways of big business. That the PM likes this young minister is borne out by the importance of the portfolio he handles.However, that could not buffer him against Modi's displeasure for having deviated from the policy discouraging distribution of freebies. The minister has handed over gifts to journalists covering his ministry. Although the gifts were rather inexpensive and would have been politically kosher in earlier times, they failed to pass muster with the PM who recently acknowledged being a "hard task master".
Sources said the PM confronted the minister at the meeting of the Cabinet, rejected the explanation and made his displeasure known. "This is unacceptable," Modi is learnt to have said as he frowned upon the infringement of the "zero tolerance" policy he has laid down.
PM Narendra Modi calls off birthday celebrations, will meet Chinese President in Ahemdabad
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today appealed to friends and well-wishers not to celebrate his birthday and instead dedicate time and resources towards relief work in this hour of need for flood-ravaged Jammu and Kashmir.
Modi's appeal came amid plans to celebrate his birthday on September 17 across the country, including in Gujarat where he will be present that day. "I am hearing from different places that friends & well-wishers are planning various programmes and events for my birthday. My humble request - do not celebrate my birthday.
Instead, dedicate yourselves towards relief work in Jammu and Kashmir through your time and resources. The need of the hour is to stand shoulder to shoulder with our sisters and brothers of Jammu and Kashmir," Modi said ahead of his 64th birthday.
BJP workers had planned a celebration for his birthday, they wanted to thank him for leading the party to a historic victory but after Modi’s tweet the workers have dedicated themselves to the accumulation of aid for the Jammu and Kashmir flood victims.
Modi is set to arrive in Ahmedabad on September 16, PM will reach the Ahemdabad airport on Tuesday afternoon, this will be Narendra Modi’s first visit to Ahmedabad after taking over PM’s post. Gujarat’s BJP government has planned a grand welcome to the former CM of the state but after Modi’s tweet the celebrations will be toned down.
Events planned for Modi’s birthday
Morning: Modi, who will be in Gujarat on September 17, will start his day by taking blessings of his 95-year-old mother Hiraba following which celebrations by state administration and BJP have been planned to mark his birthday. PM will attend a welcome ceremony at Mahatma Temple. The state government will then present the progress report of last 100 days. PM Narendra Modi will announce new schemes and policies for the state.
Afternoon: On Wednesday, September 17, Chinese president Xi Jinping will visit Gujarat, before he lands in New Delhi. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to receive him. Modi will then conduct a meeting with the Chinese President and the delegation from China. PM will then visit Mahatma Mandir along with Xi Jinping.
Evening: PM Modi will visit Sabmarmati Riverfront with Chinese President. Modi will also host a dinner for Xi Jinping at the riverfront after which both the leaders will depart for Delhi.
Autonomy to public sector banks key to better credit appraisal
The finance ministry's missive to bankers to hone their skills of judging a borrower before writing a cheque is unexceptionable. After all, a banker is paid for making the judgement call.
It's relevant always, and particularly now, given the huge burden of bad loans on public sector banks (PSBs). Bankers should be extra alert in their credit appraisals, both in terms of granting new loans and monitoring loans sanctioned earlier.
Changes in credit appraisal norms are are due, indeed. However, the reality is that government ownership of banks does come in the way of viability of loan applications being assessed in a purely
professional manner.
Letting PSBs function as independent entities is the key to better credit appraisal. And that calls for systemic reform. RBI governor Raghuram Rajan rightly wants the government to stop meddling in banking decisions. It should give them full operational autonomy.
State ownership is fine, at ..
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