In these inflationary times one would not be surprised if the nation's central bank - RBI - finds its way into news stands every now and then. But it is a surprise when the top executives of RBI - banker to the nation's banks - while expressing their concerns over an apparent gap between common man's language and the banking language, mention that "Hindi has become the contact language of the country," and also go on to say that "Encouraging the use of Hindi is not only our statutory responsibility but it is also necessary for taking banking to the common person."
Somehow everything here doesn't seem to be in place. I am finding it difficult to link this set of words, as found in the RBI Act 1934, describing RBI's charter in India:
On one hand we have a billion strong nation and a substantial percentage of them unable to support a square meal for themselves every night, and now the relentless food inflation has only made matters worse. On the other hand we seem to find RBI digressing, or unreasonably extending its charter (as said in the RBI Act) to include encouraging the use of Hindi under the pretext of statutory responsibility. It is also shocking to find RBI reasoning this by saying that it is necessary for taking banking to the common person. Is RBI aware of the problems such policies are actually creating to people of various languages in this country? Isn't RBI shooting itself in the foot by implementing such blind policies in the name of increasing financial inclusion?
Is RBI free enough to think & operate?
Looking at the caliber of statesmen that RBI has always employed, the tone in their words could drive anyone to speculate over the degrees of freedom RBI enjoys in performing its regulatory duties. Is RBI given enough freedom to perform independent research about the reasons for lower financial inclusion in this linguistically diverse nation? Is RBI under any diktat that spells its surrogate language policy instead of independently designing one based on its research? Are the people & businesses of this diverse nation being shown an empowered institution as the caretaker of policies related to banking, while being kept blind to the supply of these surrogate policies, themselves from the bygone era, through the back-door? By means of such policies that not only ignore the nation's diversity but also make-believe diversity to be anti-growth, is the RBI not being implicitly projected as the body that lowers, and not elevates, the bar when it comes to achieving higher financial inclusion. In this age of globalization, liberal markets and free information, how can such a statute body conclude Hindi to be the contact language to bank with the entire nation whereas people are actually demanding banking in their respective languages, day-in day-out? Isn't RBI being denied its prerogative to operate freely and instruct banks on topics of higher gravity and let the individual banks design their remaining policies based on market demands?
Wasteful, imposing policies
With an announced goal to achieve higher financial inclusion in the country, the RBI through its policies appears to be setting up the economy for exclusion, for such policies are only digging a moat separating the financial system from the non-Hindi peoples of India - a moat that is difficult to cross even if it were to fetch financial inclusion.
For instance, by making provision of service in Hindi & English mandatory, but service in regional language optional across all functions of banks & financial institutions under its ambit, people speaking non-Hindi languages are conveniently excluded from, not included in, the financial ecosystem. While assuming Hindi to be the contact language in India is grossly wrong, this assumption has catalyzed Hindi imposition in India and fueled programs that also waste huge amounts of taxes paid by non-Hindi people of India.
The need of the hour is much more independent and federal banking regulation in India, with freedom to base their policies on their own market research. There's an urgent need to limit banking regulation to policies that cannot be based on market forces. Bottom line is that banking in India is in urgent need to steer clear of all aberrations and usher in a truly fair market to all Indians.
Somehow everything here doesn't seem to be in place. I am finding it difficult to link this set of words, as found in the RBI Act 1934, describing RBI's charter in India:
...to regulate the issue of Bank notes and the keeping of reserves with a view to securing monetary stability in India and generally to operate the currency and credit system of the country to its advantageand the following words uttered by RBI top executives:
Encouraging the use of Hindi is not only our statutory responsibility but it is also necessary for taking banking to the common person.What on earth is the RBI actually heading towards?
On one hand we have a billion strong nation and a substantial percentage of them unable to support a square meal for themselves every night, and now the relentless food inflation has only made matters worse. On the other hand we seem to find RBI digressing, or unreasonably extending its charter (as said in the RBI Act) to include encouraging the use of Hindi under the pretext of statutory responsibility. It is also shocking to find RBI reasoning this by saying that it is necessary for taking banking to the common person. Is RBI aware of the problems such policies are actually creating to people of various languages in this country? Isn't RBI shooting itself in the foot by implementing such blind policies in the name of increasing financial inclusion?
Is RBI free enough to think & operate?
Looking at the caliber of statesmen that RBI has always employed, the tone in their words could drive anyone to speculate over the degrees of freedom RBI enjoys in performing its regulatory duties. Is RBI given enough freedom to perform independent research about the reasons for lower financial inclusion in this linguistically diverse nation? Is RBI under any diktat that spells its surrogate language policy instead of independently designing one based on its research? Are the people & businesses of this diverse nation being shown an empowered institution as the caretaker of policies related to banking, while being kept blind to the supply of these surrogate policies, themselves from the bygone era, through the back-door? By means of such policies that not only ignore the nation's diversity but also make-believe diversity to be anti-growth, is the RBI not being implicitly projected as the body that lowers, and not elevates, the bar when it comes to achieving higher financial inclusion. In this age of globalization, liberal markets and free information, how can such a statute body conclude Hindi to be the contact language to bank with the entire nation whereas people are actually demanding banking in their respective languages, day-in day-out? Isn't RBI being denied its prerogative to operate freely and instruct banks on topics of higher gravity and let the individual banks design their remaining policies based on market demands?
Wasteful, imposing policies
With an announced goal to achieve higher financial inclusion in the country, the RBI through its policies appears to be setting up the economy for exclusion, for such policies are only digging a moat separating the financial system from the non-Hindi peoples of India - a moat that is difficult to cross even if it were to fetch financial inclusion.
For instance, by making provision of service in Hindi & English mandatory, but service in regional language optional across all functions of banks & financial institutions under its ambit, people speaking non-Hindi languages are conveniently excluded from, not included in, the financial ecosystem. While assuming Hindi to be the contact language in India is grossly wrong, this assumption has catalyzed Hindi imposition in India and fueled programs that also waste huge amounts of taxes paid by non-Hindi people of India.
The need of the hour is much more independent and federal banking regulation in India, with freedom to base their policies on their own market research. There's an urgent need to limit banking regulation to policies that cannot be based on market forces. Bottom line is that banking in India is in urgent need to steer clear of all aberrations and usher in a truly fair market to all Indians.
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