MxMIndia

Tag: Montek Singh Ahluwalia

  • Ranjona Banerji believes that the papers must devote half a page so that hapless viewers can make sense of all that the news channels air

    Newspapers must make sense of TV news

    Ranjona Banerji

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    Something has to be done about newspapers being so serious and stick-in-the-mud. Look at yesterday on television. There was so much excitement over two loos at the Planning Commission’s offices – spending Rs 35 lakh to do potty comfortably while millions of Indians were consigned to surviving happily on Rs 32 a day (am being generous here). To rub salt in the wound, Rs5 lakh was spent on a security system to keep the janata-public out. Everyone was spitting fire, from the opposition to activists to ordinary people. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission also had a wee tantrum – at the media and also RTI, which opened the bathroom doors as it were.

     

    Then Thursday morning comes and you open the newspaper. Hmmm. Does anyone oblige you by putting the story upfront with lots of diagrams and graphic details? Of course not – there’s just news on display like the economy and monsoon and a murder here and there. You have to trawl through the newspaper – page 12 or 15 or something to get a small little story about this toilet transgression. Even that CWG man who said that Indians have different cleanliness standards – anyone remember him – because of dirty bathrooms at CWG homes got more purchase on the press. Of course, I don’t remember his name but that may be because my brain has very strict hygiene protocols.

     

    If this example of newspaper perfidy is not bad enough, how about the other big story of the day? Some folliclely challenged man in Indonesia had something to do with Jharkhand politician and former chief minister Madhu Koda’s ill-gotten crores of rupees. The part of the day that wasn’t about Montek’s potty was about Koda’s friend. Some squeaky tapes played on and on as the anchors’ voices tried to match them for squeakiness and outdid them in decibel levels. Don’t ask me what the whole thing was about because I never figured it out. I must also clarify that I have nothing against men or women who don’t have a lot of hair on their heads but I have no other way of identifying this man who has something to do with Indonesia.

     

    Is one to find a code in the morning’s newspapers? Nyet, nada and all the rest of it. The monsoon and its arrival got more play in the newspapers than Koda’s not too hairy on the head friend and all that money. There will be at least one grateful person.

     

    It’s been said before, but it has to be said again. Newspapers must dedicate at least half a page a day making sense of TV news stories for hapless viewers.

     

  • This time, in its final report, the Planning Commission lowered the number of poor people by lowering the numbers. This has led to a dramatic reduction in poor people.

    [Noosemaker] It doesn’t add up for poor Monty

    By Ranjona Banerji

     

    I suppose, if you add it up, you have to feel sorry for Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India. Of course, it is important to remember that I cannot add and neither, it seems, can Ahluwalia. He can however subtract. That is, if you have so many poor people and you want to reduce their numbers, you just reduce the numbers that make them poor. This is an effective tool but sadly no one in this country, except business journalists (the same ones who see any schemes for the poor as burdens on the exchequer), agree with Ahluwalia. Most people find subtraction a heinous and reprehensible method especially since people seem to be multiplying.

     

    About here is where I run out of mathematical analogies. Because everything sounds like those school maths problems now – if a train is running at 100 km an hour and Peter has six apples, how many oranges does John deserve? For all I know, Ahluwalia also subscribes to my version of mathematics.

     

    Anyway, where were we? Ah, yes, how many poor people in India? A few months ago, Ahluwalia and the Planning Commsion (subtraction department) told us that if you could live on Rs 32 a day in a city and Rs 28 in a village, then you were above the poverty line. Faced with universal outrage – where many tried to live on that amount and couldn’t last more than 10 minutes – Ahluwalia huffed and hawed in his very good accent and told us that his figures have nothing to do with whether these magician-like poor people were eligible for benefits or not. The Planning Commission, it seemed, just needed these figures to help them in some way or the other.

     

    So now we know in which way: to reduce the number of poor people in India. This time, in its final report, the Planning Commission lowered the number of poor people by lowering the numbers. Instead of Rs 32 in a city, now you are poor if you manage on Rs 28. In villages, the figure is down to Rs 22. This has led to a dramatic reduction in poor people.

     

    Sadly for Ahluwalia, no one bought it this time either – except business journalists. The prime minister just quietly dumped the Planning Commission’s number and decided that someone else would start counting. Hopefully, it will be someone who can add, subtract, multiply and divide. Even fractions might help – the way business journalists and the rest of the tribe appear at times.

     

  • The theme of the third edition of the ET Financial Inclusion Summit, being held on December 7, is 'Customer-Centric Finance: Steps toward Sustainable Solutions for the Poor'.

    ET summit to focus on solutions for poor

    By A Correspondent

     

    The third edition of the ET Financial Inclusion Summit, being held on December 7 at from 9am at The Oberoi, New Delhi, is on the theme of ‘Customer-Centric Finance: Steps toward Sustainable Solutions for the Poor’. The keynote address will be delivered by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

     

    The summit intends to take stock of the current scenario and focus on customer-centric financial inclusion, whether it needs to redesign what it offers so as to attract the poor and enable them financially, and to explore sustainable solutions for the poor in the realm of financial services.

     

    The topics that will be covered in this session of the ET Financial Inclusion are: Regulations that Protect the Poor – Perspectives on the recent RBI regulations and Draft MFI Bill; Designing Insurance to meet the needs of the poor; SHGs, No Frill accounts and Beyond: The Government’s role in Financial Inclusion; and Alternative MFI Financing: Diversifying beyond Bank Funding.

     

    Some of the other prominent speakers are:
    A P Singh, Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India.
    Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary (IF), Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.
    Gregory Chen, Regional Representative for South Asia, CGAP.
    Sameer Kochhar, Chairman, Skoch Group.
    V Saikumar, OSD – Life, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority.
    Shahid Vaziralli, Programme Head, Centre for Micro Finance.
    Sanjay Datta, Head – Underwriting and Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Ltd.
    N C Kulbhe, General Manager, Bank of India.