Economic Highlights
New Delhi, 6 August
2018
NGT,
RBI Decisions
IMPOSE
SEVERE COST ON NATION
By
Shivaji Sarkar
The regulators are
failing the people. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) and the Reserve Bank
(RBI) in their wisdom are unable to protect them.
The NGT has passed an
order of removing 10-year-old green diesel vehicles, leading to over a lakh
people in the national capital region to be forced to scrap their operational
and virtually no-pollution creating cars. Shortly, 15-year-old petrol vehicles
too would meet same fate. The RBI has been raising interest rates to counter
inflation, but it has not been able to force the banks to pass on the benefits
to the depositors.
In both the cases the
common man is the worst sufferer. Nowhere in the world quixotic order such as
the NGT has passed is imposed on the people. The regulator may not be promoter
for car manufacturers but in default ignoring the hardships of car owners has
actually become so.
The banks are adding
to their profits by not passing on the higher repo rate benefits to depositors.
An obvious that is being seen is in the falling rate of deposits during the
past many years. The RBI has done little to save the interest of depositors. It
has not been able to stop the banks from hiking fees and rates and deducting
amounts from their accounts for services that are not availed.
A vehicle in a
country with rickety and expensive public conveyance is a necessity. It is
needed for the sustenance of individuals and their families and growth of the country.
Most vehicles are purchased with bank loans and in many cases the repayment
period exceeds the stipulated ten-year-period.
The NGT decision is
to impoverish the people, benefit the car industry and ruin the economy of the
country. It needs to learn from the UK, where 40-year-old cars are not only
allowed to remain operational but as an incentive for good maintenance the
annual licence fee is waived off.
Is the UK less
conscious about pollution? No, the British are aware, having gone through
severe toils through many wars and economic hardships that depriving people of
their wealth on silly pretexts helps none. They also know that fuel of any
kind, including CNG and battery -- an essential component of solar power, is a pollutant.
But they do not pass orders that are anti-people.
India also needs to
be careful. The petroleum lobby has been targeting diesel as a pollutant fuel
because poor countries like ours uses it the most to reduce crude import and
save precious foreign exchange.
The NGT has failed to
clean the Ganga and ensure clean air for many cities suffering heavy air and
water pollution. It has made a soft target of the vehicles, which as per many
records and studies contribute not more than 2 (two) per cent of the total air
pollution. But it has been harping on it repeatedly because it gives them good
and easy publicity. It also apparently has not taken into account the losses
that would accrue to the nation in scrapping these cars, a process itself which
adds to effluent, metallic and plastic pollution.
The manufacturing of
new cars also goes through a pollutant industrial process. Of course, it rakes
up phenomenal profits for the industry at the cost of pollution and public
health. The society pays for such unnecessary manufacture causing a severe
loss. It also calls for a probe if such profits are being shared or not.
This apart, it even has
an unnecessary law and order as well as policing cost. A country that finds
appointing policemen not an easy task for its high cost would be forced to do
an unnecessary job of removing the condemned vehicles. Further, it would
increase rent seeking. A country of 130 crore people have 191 million vehicles.
How many of these can really be removed? The NGT has not taken these basics into
account.
The nation is passing
through crises -- it is economic, poverty and even political unrest. More the
people are forced into this kind of misery supposedly “legal”, the more would
be the unrest and again a cost on policing.
It is also a mistaken
belief that this would earn the nation carbon points. It would lose more
because of adding carbon emission in scrapping and manufacturing of vehicles
that would not be needed if the old well-maintained vehicles are operational.
Another cost of dumping the old vehicles has not been taken into account. Where
these would be dumped -- at new dumping grounds or river beds?
Instead of a
draconian destructive decision, the NGT should emphasise on having “swachha” vehicles and reduce pollution
all around. It must allow vehicles to run their life and may be an extended one
too. Clearly, it is a myth that old vehicles add to pollution and new ones don’t.
In reality, a new vehicle during its first six months of run causes more
pollution and also emits fine metallic particles in the air. Importantly, the scrapping
order must be reversed to save the country from additional pollution, policing
cost and rent seeking.
The banking system is
also getting convoluted. It shows that the regulator, whether in the areas of
pollution or any other, is unable to protect the interest of the consumers. The
banks also delve into another malpractice. While these do not mind reducing
interest rates automatically, when it comes to take the benefit of rate raise,
a rare phenomenon now, they blame it on the customers -- that they have not
made a “request”. This is sheer malpractice.
Note that in Australia,
ANZ customers resorted to taking class action against the bank to get rid of
excessive and illegal charges. Consumers in India need to learn. But why cannot
RBI take suo moto action? The depositors are the unhappiest lot. There is no
succour for them.
Also in the US the fees
have only gotten pricier. Overdraft charges, ATM fees and other fares are big
business there. It earned them an illegal $42.3 billion in 2015. This is
happening in India too. Where is the remedy?
The failure of
regulators such as the RBI and NGT are severe burden on the society. It costs
billions of rupees to the poor Indians. They must have not only rational
approach but also have to act in the interest of the people and not their
perpetrators whether it is the industry or the banks.
The regulators do not
take into account the political costs. Their inappropriate actions lead to
unrest and for that political masters have to pay a price. The RBI and NGT have
to act to prevent such unnecessary harmful costs.---INFA
(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)
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