An open letter from Mr. Nobody to our beloved PM and FM - PART I

Dear Sirs,

I am the Mr. Nobody of our country and I thank you very much for governing me for more than 1 year.  We (me and other nobodys) do really like your governance style and want to tell you that in your raj (unlike the previous ultra-corrupt foreign and familial raj) the corruption has really come down and now the government servants are really showing some willingness to work towards the betterment of the "nobodys" like us.

But as with all systems in the world, it can do better.  And we just want to share our thought processes with you regarding the same.  Please note that this letter will not be a "happy song" about your governance style and your achievements, but some deep introspection regarding some anomalies in our system - and we sincerely apologize if we are causing any discomfort to you with our views.  And we also hope that you DO ACT on what we are requesting for.  So, here goes the first part of this:-

Is my money really safe in a bank or any other financial institution including the stock markets??

Of course, you will answer in the affirmative stating that there are institutions like RBI, IRDA, SEBI, etc. to safeguard our interests.  But let us just inform you that in this era of fast information, we do have some info regarding the functioning of these institutions.  Like for example, your RBI tells (literally forces) the bankers not to take any security for giving loans to farmers (up to Rs. 1 lac) and to businessmen for loans up to Rs. 10 lacs. (What about we salaried class nobodys???).  So, if there is no security, then why are you distributing the loans like giving prasad at the Tirupati Temple?  Now the bankers tell that there is something called primary security, which is the asset which the borrower purchases out of the loan but then I have never seen any instance wherein the banker has sold any primary security like crop, sarees & dress materials, machinery, etc.  Otherwise, we would have definitely purchased something for cheap!!!  Furthermore, to make things worse, our courts are burdened with litigations from bankers and other institutional lenders regarding non-payment of our dues by the "sticky" borrowers who just misuse the loopholes in the system (like non-requirement of collateral security, etc.) and just eat our money.  When a banker lodges a cheque bounce case in any of our courts, there is no distinguishing factor between the banker who is guardian of our money and a local businessmen who has sold the goods on credit.  Then how is my money safe???  Why can't you just make a FIRE Act (Financial Institutions Recovery Act.....he he he ...... we are getting better day by day in making stupid acronyms) wherein it should be made a non-bailable cognizable offence wherein the willfully defaulting borrower is first sent to jail and afterwards his/her assets are auctioned off to recover our dues??  We have also taken various loans from our government banks and believe me, they never harass anybody whatsoever the reason and give you multiple of multiple chances to repay your debts before taking recovery actions (which are nothing but blunt useless notices which the borrower uses to eat samosas!) when pushed to the brink.

We have also heard that you want the banks to give our money to the farmers and waive their loans.  It does not really matter to us whether the banks waive the loans from their profits or whether you waive the loans from your exchequer - in both the cases, it is our hard-earned money that is going to be lost.  And is there any end to this cycle.  Next year, drought or flood or famine or any other natural or man-made calamity may occur and you may again waive the loans resulting in a culture of loan delinquency wherein "people just love eating away the money."  We also come from rural backgrounds (just like you!) and know that there are big farmers who are very well capable of not only repaying the loans but also lending their surplus to other small farmers, which they generously do and suck the small farmer's soul out in order to get his dues back which will never end since the interest will be around 3 times the principal at any point of time.  Really sorry to say, but we will be blunt over here - YOU DID NOTHING TO STOP SUCH BLOOD-SUCKING MONEYLENDERS.  Instead you just forced the banks where we keep our money to lend not only the farmers but also to sugar factories (who are run by the kith and kin of politicians only!!) and what not.

Now regarding the stock markets - first of all, why are we letting the people gamble in the stock markets without even understanding the basics of market dynamics.  What happens is that - any company who starts an IPO (initial public offering) gets say around Rs. 10/- per share and sells say 100 such shares and raises Rs. 1000/- from the public.  Now these 100 people will start selling these shares for various prices starting from Rs. 12/- to Rs. 15/- and whoever has purchased the share for a particular price will not be much willing to sell it for a lower price.  What this results in??   You already know the answer.   A company whose intrinsic asset value was Rs. 10/- is now being traded for Rs. 20/- or Rs. 30/- depending on the "market perceptions" rather than economic conditions.  This results in extra income in the hands of the junta which ultimately results in the price rise and other inflationary effects.  We just want to request you to limit and restrict the entry to the stock markets to either institutional players and if you want to permit the public, then at least put some entry level filter so that a difference is made between a sane person and a gambler.

We do hope that you just take some of your precious time and give us a patient hearing.

Regards and Happy Ethmos to You!