Some Reminiscences by M Narasimhan

Anecdotes from an eventful life
Punam Khaira Sidhu

From Reserve Bank to Finance Ministry and Beyond: Some Reminiscences
by M. Narasimhan. UBSPD. Pages 189. Rs 395

CAMBRIDGE-Majlis Annual Dinner: Chief guest High Commissioner Krishna Menon and guest of honour Dr Todd, professor of chemistry who went on to win the Nobel Prize. Krishna Menon goes against convention and in his after-dinner speech gives a serious long account of India’s dams and projects. Dr Todd responds with an anecdote of a white man and an Australian aborigine. The aborigine was so impressed with the white man’s gun that he threw away his boomerang, which on its return felled him. Dr Todd used the parable to make the point that India’s economic development should not be at the expense of its traditional values, but the High Commissioner was not amused and pulled up the author, then a student at St John’s College in Cambridge and the president of the Majlis, for inviting Prof. Todd.

Then there is a story of a German student brought to Oxford and Cambridge for "political re-education" who was asked by the author whether he had been to Britain earlier, only to be told with a smile, "Many times. I was in the Luftwaffe." Anecdotes such as this pepper Reminiscences, M. Narasimhans look back at his exciting career, a career that commenced when the author was recruited to the Reserve Bank of India as a temporary Research Officer in April 1950 directly after his Tripos. Anecdotal evidence is not without relevance as a source of history, states the book’s jacket and this grandson of Sarvapalli Radha Krishnan has evidently played an important part in the post-Independence economic policy formulation.

HVR Iyengar as Governor of the RBI initiated the practice of sending for junior officers and discussing issues with them. One such matter referred to the author was whether the RBI was obliged to accommodate the government. The author prepared a paper on treasury–central bank transactions, which was sent to the Finance Ministry. It was to be material in the evolution of the RBI. The role of the Central Bank is determined largely by the functions it performs in various countries. The Euro-zone, UK and the USA have independent central banks, which are charged with delivering stable prices and other economic objectives, since popular governments, it is believed, are too easily tempted into inflationary choices. Central banks have either "instrument independence," where there is a target, but the Bank has freedom on how to meet it, like the Bank of England, and "goal independence," where it sets the target too, like the German Bundesbank. Given the "unauthorised overdrafts" of state governments not matched by their funds, clearly the RBI has autonomy only "within the government." There certainly was history in the making at the time. In 1958, Governor Iyengar used the author’s draft paper suggestion for a refinancing agency for utilising the Cooley funds, a part of PL-480 counterpart funds to encourage the private corporate sector in India. He set up the Refinance Corporation, which later merged into the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI). Shortly thereafter the author, who used to publish anonymous letters in Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) against the World Bank and the IMF, was selected to be the IMF South Asia Division Chief. On his return to India he traces an interesting anecdotal journey from bank nationalisation in July 1969 to helping set up the State Bank of Mauritius to support the sugarcane farmers, the formulation of the Lead Bank Scheme in India, and suggestions for demonetisation of the Pakistani currency in the newly independent Bangladesh. As Additional Secretary in the DEA he supervised the "swing credits" with Russia and the Eastern bloc and worked to prevent "switch trading," devised the interest tax and exported silver through the STC for BoP benefits and examined the foreign exchange requirements of the defence sector. In February 1978, after serving as RBI Governor, the author went to the World Bank as Executive Director and to the IMF in 1980 in the same capacity and played a critical part in the sanction of SDR 5 billion EFF loan from the Fund. Interesting nuggets dot the narrative like how the Thal Vaishet fertiliser project lost World Bank funding for switching consultants from the World Bank-approved CF Braun to the Haldor Topso Snam Progetti technology and how the then CBI Director T.V. Rajeshwar knew that Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had risen from her seat to shake his hand, when there was none except a chaprasi to see him out, making the author wonder about the reach of the CBI. After a brief stint in Delhi as Finance Secretary and after voluntary retirement as Principal of Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), the author was to return as Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to Manila. The author reports two events in his tenure which were to convert the bank into "a Bank for half the world." These were the entry of the Peoples Republic of China as a full member and the commencement of ADB lending to India. The author, who counts among his friends and colleagues Dr Bimal Jalan, Mantosh Sondhi, Abid Hussain, Montek Ahluwalia and Y. V. Reddy, all significant players on the Indian economic horizon, wrote the book while convalescing after major neuro-surgery. For a book written without notes or a diary, it’s a remarkable and very readable account from one actively involved in policy formulation, detailing the evolution of central banking and India’s economic policy, relationships with international financial institutions and major trading partners.

Two men two Choices

Two men and two choices
Punam Khaira Sidhu

IT's the examination results season. Every day has results splashed across the newspapers: ICSE, CBSE, ....the list seems endless. The toppers have scored higher marks this year than ever before. They all want to become doctors, engineers, or IAS officers. Everyone is waiting for the results of the competition exams to come in the IITs, CETs, PMT etc.

Like a film rewinding, reading through the papers brought to mind the time my younger brothers had waited anxiously for the IIT JEE results a decade ago. Life is about choices and the successful man is the one who makes the right one. But what is the right choice is also relative. The perspective you view it from, determines your assessment as the story of Khaira and Khemka illustrates.

Khaira came from a professional family in Punjab, the son of an Army Colonel, Khemka from Calcutta from a Railways family. Their rivalry was the stuff that IIT legends are made of. Willy nilly everyone on campus was drawn into the awesome conflict. While one had blazing intellect, the other was a brilliant strategist with nerves of steel. Students, staff, they were all on one side or the other. At stake was the Ultimate award, the PGM, ie the President’s gold medal. No one bothered to enquire into the origins of the rivalry. No one was quite sure whether it was the outcome of the ego of two intelligent young men or whether their ambitions had been stoked by staff who felt that competition brought out the best in young minds.

What bothered Khemka was that Khaira acknowledged the superiority of Khemka’s intelligence privately but still challenged him and promised to beat him, God willing, with better strategy. So the two sides worked, guided by a superior power. More midnight oil had never been burned before. The lights blazed through the night at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. The two young men set determinedly trying to pen their destinies. Strategy won eventually over sheer intelligence. Khaira walked proudly down the aisle at the convocation to resounding applause to receive his President’s gold medal.

Their paths thereafter forked in separate directions. Khaira went on a scholarship to do his MS in the USA. Khemka took the civil services exam. Khaira was recruited by Intel Corp and rose to be their youngest ever Principal engineer. Khemka qualified in the IAS and was allotted the coveted Haryana cadre. As time and the travails of their careers took their toll of them, each thought of the other and the heated rivalry of their youth. Each knew the other would make his mark.

And then years later as Khemka opened the business page of The Tribune, there it was, a little piece on Khaira and the company he had founded after quitting Intel. In a reversal of roles, Khemka, was now the career bureaucrat and strategist, who routinely made headlines. He was comfortable in his job and daily routine. The afternoons meant a leisurely siesta and the evenings a time for pleasant social interactions. There is time for the family and especially for his growing sons. He can be there for his parents. Cynicism and the civil service has perhaps taken the edge off his drive to excel and create. The days meld seamlessly into a pleasant epiphany for him. When he drives out in his white official Ambassador, the red light atop blinking, the people stop and stare admiringly.

Khaira is now the techie-manager building his own hardware company on venture capital. For him the day is too short. He travels six days out of seven overseeing operations around the world, touching down at home base only once every week to the children and wife who provide him the inspiration to back his dream. He’s still chasing his aspirations, strategising to achieve it, albeit business class. His parents yearn to see him and their grandchildren. But he doesn’t know the world leisure or relaxation. He’s still driven by his passion to excel and create. When he drives out in his BMW the people stop to admire.

Two men who made two different choices. Who won? Who got life’s ultimate prize and what if any is it? Who made the right choice? I will let the readers answer and decide.

Rakhi musings

Rakhi musings
Punam Khaira Sidhu

YOU know what they say about sons being sons until they acquire a wife, and daughters being your little girls all their lives. Well, as I grew older I found that this homespun adage is perfectly true of real life. My brothers who were part of a close knit family unit changed after they married. No more phone calls, or flying visits to renew the sibling bonds. No more caring or sharing and keeping each other updated on every new pimple or itch.

Parents usually accommodate and come to terms with their sons’ changed priorities. They appreciate that their progeny are busy with new-found mates, even as they strive in pursuit of life’s goals. Sisters usually find it harder to fill up the yawning, aching, emotional abyss that deep-rooted brother-sister bonds leave behind. Initially every sister tries to cling to a relationship under threat. Its not easy to watch bonds, you thought were held together by something, far more durable than any fevicol commercial promises, being rapidly frayed by new emotional equations. I know it wasn’t easy for me. But eventually sisters retreat, deep into their own family unit and try valiantly to hide behind a shield of “as if I care, bravado”. I know I did too.

But deep inside they hurt and pine for their brothers “Bhais”, or ‘Veers’ and the warmth and succour of the brother –sister bond of old. We all use different methods for coping. I use my mother as a punching bag for releasing my angst over brotherly apathy. Rakhi is the time I give passionate vent to it.

She starts reminding me at least a month before Raksha Bandhan. An updated list of addresses follows. Then comes a reminder to send the “Rakhi” so that the brothers get it on time. I usually ignore it, determined to get even with callous brotherly indifference. “Do you know he hasn’t written me a letter or even acknowledged my rakhi?”.”But he sent you a cheque, didn’t he?” I ‘m not interested in their rupees/dollars. “It would be nice to get a letter of thanks, or a greeting on a birthday, or an anniversary “Remember he’s set up a new business,/or he’s got a new posting/or he’s just moved house…….. I’m sure he has his problems. .” “He could call or e-mail if he can’t find an envelope and stamps.” “He could at least have expressed some concern over what appeared to be a huge trough in my life.” “He didn’t even express an interest in my son’s wonderful achievements or congratulate me on my promotion.” . “…..So why do I have to send him a Rakhi?. He’s hardly ever there for me. Fat chance, they will protect or care for me if I should ever need it.”

I moan and groan and my mother lets me. It’s a pattern we have fallen into. Very gently she does, however, make the point that, relationships need to be nurtured. It dosen’t take much to break off a bond, but its difficult to rebuild it. What better occasion than Rakhi to remind them as an older sister of brotherly obligations. “Its your duty to do your bit darling they’ll come around.” “That’s what family is for-understanding and standing by each other” “ Its certainly not about scoring points and getting even”. And so it goes on and every year she blackmails me, emotionally, into sending that symbolic thread of Rakhi that was devised perhaps to remind brothers each year that they have a duty, indeed a responsibility for the well being of their sisters.

This year, however, at that time of the year, came news of a different sort. A biopsy and an emergency operation later, one of my brothers is minus his stomach. There’s a long haul ahead. Chemotherapy, dietary restrictions, a whole change in lifestyle. Life is never going to be the same for any of us. For me, coming as it did, at the time of the year when I usually find reasons why I do not need to renew the bond which puts me in a position where my brothers can hurt me with their careless indifference, I suddenly realise that I cannot bear to think of life without them.

How ephemeral life is? You just can’t take anything, especially those you love for granted. Who knows what destiny has waiting for you at the next corner. More than ever before, I realise, how important my brothers, my ‘Veers’ are to me. Childhood memories, dreams, sibling rivalries inundate me washing away the trivia of my perceived neglect. Cherished memories framed in sepia suddenly come alive. As lachrymal glands go into overdrive I resolve to act, rather than brood in impotent melancholy, for a relationship and indeed a brother I value and cherish.

I can act constructively to do something about it while there is still time. I pack my bags, put in a leave application and tell my husband that Raksha Bandhan is when I need to be with my brother. So what are you waiting for?. Just get together a thali, a Rakhi and a box of sweets and go visit the recalcitrant truant who is an inextricable part of your memories of growing up.

Neelu Tuli: Lady of hope

IT’S difficult to accept that one is suffering from a terminal disease," she says as the wind blows in from the Shivaliks through her garden, lifting the hair off her pale face. The pallor of her face is discouraging, but there’s an aura of calm about her. Her eyes are the windows to her soul — the soul of the steel-willed ‘Lady of Hope’.

How does one handle life that is slowly ebbing away? How does one come to terms with the end of life?

The woman sitting before me and speaking so matter of factly has done this and more. Since 1997, Neelu Tuli has been the public face and founding Director of the Sahayta Cancer Sahyog, a non-profit organisation, working for the aid, assistance and rehabilitation of cancer patients.

Neelu’s first acquaintance with cancer was when her sister was diagnosed with the disease. Her involvement deepened as she supported her sister through her treatment and the aftercare. It was then that she realised the lack of awareness about cancer and the significance of support groups. That was the beginning of Sahayta. Today nine years on, Sahayta volunteers are a reassuring presence for cancer survivors and patients in Chandigarh.

"Cheer up, you will be fine," everyone says with a genuine feeling to cancer patients but the latter are aware that this is a hollow assurance. What they really need is silence and someone who can listen to them. And that is why support groups like Sahayta are such an important presence in palliative and end-of-life care. There’s a wonderful bond between survivors and support group workers. Just being able to share with someone the agony and pain of chemotherapy, losing one’s crowning glory and finding tips on getting the right wigs, wonderdrugs, mastectomy bras, walkers and braces can be tremendously soothing.

Supports groups strive to make survivors determined not to lose today worrying about tomorrow. As one survivor puts it in Sahayta’s July newsletter, "Life is a mystery to be lived, not a problem to be solved".

Survivors get together to celebrate each precious month of life at a monthly luncheon meeting. Interacting with these bright, gifted, talented and courageous ladies, gentlemen and children is a lesson for lesser mortals: each one’s story is an awe-inspiring lesson in coping with adversity.

From many a forum, Neelu had articulated, "There is life after cancer and it is meaningful." Even as she worked tirelessly to promote greater awareness and early detection of the disease which, she believes, is the key to survival, the diagnosis in her own case was however too late. The cancer had already metastasised. She’s gone through several phases, fluctuating from hope to resignation and finally the acceptance of God’s will.

Chemotherapy, which she could barely endure; ‘talking’, yes talking to her drugs to cure her as Anup Kumar writes in his book The Joy of Cancer; ayurveda; and even a faith healer — she’s tried it all, egged on by family and friends. But she is calm now when she says, "I have seen so many go, but also so many fight and survive."

Neelu has now refused further chemotherapy. "Let it be used for those who have a chance," she says. She is grateful that doctors treated her with love —a treatment stronger than medication. Even today, prayers of survivors, patients, friends and family are buoying her through each day of pain.

She talks of areas which have yet to be visited such as rights of cancer patients, health insurance, disability benefits, and jobs for the afflicted. Sahayta has many milestones to its credit. Neelu has also been a founder member of Cancer Care India and a member of International Confederation of Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation (ICCCPO).

International Childhood Cancer Day is held on February 15 by Sahayta. It lays special focus on the Advanced Paediatric Centre and pediatric oncology in the PGI. Paintings and toys dot the children’s ward. The kids themselves demand "empathy not sympathy". Sahayta’s stalls and collection cases are ubiquitous in retail outlets and schools throughout Chandigarh. A Sahayta card or stationary means medicine and comfort for a cancer patient. This goes a long way in fulfilling Sahayta’s mission that no one should go untreated for want of funds.

Neelu is thankful for her family’s loving support, which has helped her determined fight against cancer. Each day after a painful night, she awakens with a fresh resolve to get through her list of things to do for Sahayta. "That’s the way I’d like to go", she says, "…working for Sahayta."

Here’s hoping that all our prayers will give her strength to go on and on.

Senior citizens deserve a safety net

Senior citizens deserve a safety net
by Punam Khaira Sidhu

The world is going white. A demographic restructuring of the world populace is underway. United Nations estimates put the number of those aged 60 plus at 600 million, i.e. 10 per cent of the world population. The number is expected to approximate two billion by 2050. But a large proportion of senior citizens would now live in the developing economies.

Care of an ageing population is no longer a G-7 issue; it is a critical problem for the developing countries. The Economic Survey 2004-04, states that the elderly population (65 plus) is expected to “rise sharply by 2.6 per cent per annum from 45 million in 2000 to 76 million in 2020.

In this scenario, are we ready to handle the special problems of care, medicine and social security of our rapidly ageing population?

In India, the absence of a safety net for the aged has exacerbated the problem. Traditionally, the joint family took care of the aged. Rapid urbanisation and the exodus of persons from rural to urban areas have created a vicious situation. Slums are areas without housing or healthcare. In the absence of the ability to earn, and without community support, in the form of kinsmen or the extended family, the aged are rendered destitute.

The World Health Organisation’s document, Active Ageing: A Policy Framework (2002) emphasises that equal access of older persons to health care and services are the cornerstone of healthy ageing.

The Government of India’s policy (May 1999) postulated that the states take affirmative action to improve the quality of life of senior citizens and ensure that the existing public services are user-friendly and sensitive to them. The states, however, have responded with piecemeal plans.

The Vajpayee government envisaged exclusive fast track courts for senior citizens. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has introduced a new savings scheme, through post offices, and senior citizens with gross income below Rs 50,000, are allowed an income-tax rebate of 10 per cent.

The private sector and NGOs have, however, taken a head start in catering to this growing market. The Singapore-based Corporate Physicians International has launched a senior citizens’ package, including house calls and door delivery of medicines. Palms Life Care, has projects for senior citizens in Mumbai, Gurgaon and Bangalore. Dignity Homes of the Dignity Foundation, Mumbai, are planned to be self-financing, and have income generating programmes. Reliance Senior Citizen’s Home has psychological workshops, and geriatric nurses.

There are special holiday packages and camps designed for 50 plus senior citizens like www.campsingoa.com. Most banks have introduced special loan schemes with low interest rates for ‘pensioners’, free collective and remittance of retirement dues etc. Welcome though these initiatives are, their reach remains limited.

What do our senior citizens need? Their target population is diverse and needs vary considerably. Policies need to be fine-tuned to ensure targeted delivery. Senior citizens need to be classified or categorised correctly - rural or urban, and then within the rural and urban categories further sub-categories for destitute and old, solvent and old and infirm.

For destitute and old, food, shelter, and medicines are essential. For the solvent and old, the need to feel useful, productive, more and significant. For the old and infirm, professional care for personal tasks such as bathing, eating etc and assistance to perform even daily chores could be required. The problems of old women, single, widowed, or divorced are quite different from those of old men.

There is need for a compulsory community-based insurance policy for all to help the poor. It can fund an old age pension on the lines of the Universal Health Insurance Scheme launched in July, 2003. The present scheme of old age pensions needs to be strengthened and its coverage enhanced. Incentives for private developers investing in housing for the aged should receive precedence.

Re-employment of ex-servicemen (most retire at 52) and other active elders needs priority. Special vocational courses should be formulated to provide professional care for elders with debilitating diseases such as epilepsy, cancer and diabetes. Above all, the administration and police machinery needs to be sensitised to senior citizen issues.

There is need for a directory of senior citizens on the basis of area of residence. The data from voter identity cards can be used to identify the target audience of 60 plus citizens in every district. Also needed are senior citizens help groups, liaison with the police for their security based on the Delhi Government Model, compilation of yellow pages for elders listing home delivery facilities for groceries and ration, doctors and chemists, dentists and labs, services for bill payment, cheque collection, banks etc.

A 12-hour Helpline (9 am to 9 pm) for senior citizens coordinated and manned by Red Cross, Rotary, Lions etc for assistance and mobile medical vans (government and private) to visit each residential area by rotation each fortnight are also needed.

More important, schools and colleges should organise adult education programmes and evening classes for elders on computer awareness and volunteer work in offering help to senior citizens.

Senior citizens’ groups should be involved in managing stationary shops and canteens on cooperative basis in schools and colleges, organising day-care centres and crèches for working women, in monitoring of schemes such as PDS and mid-day meal, providing emotional support and care to patients in hospitals suffering from cancer, AIDS and TB, forming support groups for disabled elders and access to fair price shops for them through priority issuance of ration cards and organising community and environment action groups.

— The writer is presently Director, Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, Chandigarh