In RBI who trusts?

The article,“What price people?” by Ila Patnaik, is a perfect piece of investigative and analytical journalism in the field of Indian...

•The article, “What price people?” by Ila Patnaik, is a perfect piece of investigative and analytical journalism in the field of Indian monetary economics. RBI must be accountable for the design of monetary policy and its implementation. Why should the common man and the industrialist pay the price of inflation as a rising interest rate on housing loans and small-ticket loans, and why is the government spared the same?

Your editorial comment of the day, “Rating votes”, about the political perspective on monetary policy, points out a trade-off between inflation and growth with respect to votes, which is beyond the imagination of an economist also. The government will try to control the inflation by all means through RBI, even at the cost of growth. Only RBI should be held accountable for inflation (and not the government or its deficit). Dincer-Eichengreen prepared an Index on Bank transparency based on many parameters and on a scale of 0 to 15. While the central banks of New Zealand and the UK scored 12 or more, RBI managed only 2, a fact reported in the draft of the Raghuram Rajan report as well.

– Shishir Sindekar

Nasik

Arms and the law

•This refers to Soli J. Sorabjee’s ‘Arms and the men’. The case involving the sale of military aircraft by BAE to Saudi Arabia and the commissions paid into the Swiss bank accounts of the bigwigs of Saudi Arabia invites comparison with the Bofors deal, which implicated Rajiv Gandhi.

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The point in both the deals is that the buyer benefits by way of hefty commissions, paid to those in power, who pocket them, and the seller of the defence equipment bribes his way into the contract. Now the contrast. In Britain’s case the court upheld the SFO’s efforts so that the rule of law is not impaired whereas in the Bofors case even our Parliament could not nail the guilty, and the CBI has not been allowed to do a thorough job till date. This when Britain has not a written Constitution. The important point the writer makes is that timorous judges can do immense harm to the rule of law.

– M.K.D. Prasada Rao

Ghaziabad

Costly representation

• The editorial, ‘Cheques, balances’, rightly observes that there is an urgent need for proper accounting for and monitoring of private contributions to the political parties to keep tabs on “political corruption” through the mechanism of RTI. Even though state funding of elections seems to be marred by limitations of our crowded politics, the EC has to take a holistic view of huge sums of money that even corporation elections involve.

– S.K. Gupta Delhi

Many kings

•The king is no more the king — take the last Hindu king of Nepal. Yet kings abound — take MPs, members of state assemblies and local bodies. Are they any less a king each? They are above the law of the land in that mostly they think so and behave that way.

– Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

H-1B $100,000 entry fee explained: Who pays, who’s exempt, and what’s still unclear?

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The White House's decision to impose a $100,000 entry fee on H-1B visa holders has sparked worry among Indian tech workers and students. While uncertainties remain about its implementation and exemptions, major tech companies have cautioned employees against traveling. The policy could lead to a shift towards other visa categories and potentially change the STEM immigration pipeline.

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