PENURIOUS

 Penurious (Adj):-  lacking money; excessively unwilling to spend, not having enough money to pay for necessities.

Synonyms: parsimonious, hard up, impecunious, in straitened circumstances, penniless, pinched

Uses:- Government assistance is available for penurious families who cannot afford to purchase food.

-Because jonny is in penurious circumstances, he has been obtaining his meals from a soup kitchen.

-when reena lost her job, she found herself in the penurious situation of not being able to pay her rent.

Fools rush in

Deadlines help. Hard ones help even more. After all, years of false starts have turned the goods and services tax (GST) into the boy who cried wolf. Let alone some corporates and auditors, even part of the general government machinery does not seem fully convinced that April 1, 2017 is a realistic start date. For the tens of millions of people who need to prepare for this transformational change, there is nothing like a hard deadline, akin(similar,के समान) to a hanging sword, to focus attention. And that will be needed, for if passing the GST constitutional amendment bill was tough, the steps going forward to get the GST started are likely to be much tougher. We highlight the four major ones here.

The first step: Should we have one standard rate or ten? A large number of rates can distort supply chains and complicate administration as well as compliance, introducing undesirable discretion(sense,विवेक) in the system. At the same time, just one standard rate may be inappropriate because currently each of excise (a central levy) and (state) sales tax schedules has a low band (4-6 per cent) and a standard one (12-14 per cent).

This is to offset the regressive nature of indirect tax: For instance, when buying shampoo, the factory worker and the CEO pay the same sales tax. Items presumed to be consumed by the poor fall in the “low” category, and those by the rich in the “standard” category. So biscuits below Rs 100/kg have zero tax, those priced higher have a low tax rate and cream biscuits get the standard rate. Half of India’s consumption basket currently has zero tax, a third is taxed at a “low” rate, and only 15 per cent is taxed at a “standard” rate. Applying one rate would mean this nuance is lost, and inflation could rise for the poor.

Thus one needs a “low” rate and a “standard” rate. Then what explains the four-rate structure (8 per cent, 10 per cent, 18 per cent, 26 per cent) being proposed to the GST Council as reported in this paper? It could be an attempt to replicate the current tax structure to address the states’ primary concern about losing revenue.

That brings us to the next and what could be the most critical step for the GST: Mapping the hundreds of product and services categories to the few GST rate slabs. It could be a trivial(small.तुच्छ) exercise accomplished in a few weeks, but it should not be. Despite much simplification since 1991, the schedule of taxes remains highly complex and distorts supply chains. Some rates also embody efforts to incentivize(encourage,प्रोत्साहन) “Make in India”: A hurried mapping effort could hurt. A senior OECD economist recently asked: “What is the commerce ministry’s assessment of the impact of GST on India’s trade competitiveness?” I had to tell her with much disappointment that such an exercise in all likelihood had not been undertaken.

The costs of commencing(start,शुरुवात) a major simplification of rates are the time it may take, the one-time disruption, and getting all states to agree to a completely new rate schedule. That said, getting states to agree will be challenging anyway, as sales tax rates already differ meaningfully across states (for instance, biscuits in Gujarat attract 8 per cent sales tax but 14.5 per cent in Karnataka).

The third step would be the GST law itself. Enormous(large,बड़ा) effort has gone into the draft bill put up for public comments as state and Central bureaucrats hammered out a consensus(agree,सहमति). But now that it has started to see public scrutiny(examine,जाँच), the list of necessary changes is growing rapidly.
This is not surprising, given the massive number of new use cases thrown up, particularly as services are to be taxed at the state level (for instance, who should get the service tax on an ad campaign designed in Mumbai but run in UP, Karnataka and Telangana?). A draft of the IGST law, which will deal with contentious inter-state transfers, has not been made public yet. A hurried passage may be inappropriate.

one of the most important expected gains of the GST is improved compliance.

But without a simplification of the compliance process, this improvement could prove illusory: One senses this design intent has been lost. As Bharat Goenka of Tally Solutions pointed out, small enterprises are concerned about the complexity of compliance more than the cost of the tax itself — that is, dealing with the day-to-day maintenance of registers and sometimes with corrupt officials. Easier and possibly automatic filing of returns is likely as important as the invoice matching that is expected to widen the GST tax net.

The fourth step is the software and its rollout. One assumes this is well advanced. However, development can only stop and implementation and training can only start once the rules of the GST are finalised, that is, encoded and passed in every state and the Centre. Vendors of enterprise software like SAP also need to roll out their GST modules, and they cannot do so till the GST software is finalised. All this as the organisational structure in the government(s) itself would be changing.

It is clear the choice is between time and perfection. There is very little time left: Clarity on rates must emerge in the next few months for the next year’s budgets. Moreover, the rollout cannot be too close to the 2019 elections: Economic disruption due to the GST can be minimised, but not obviated(escape,बचना). Further, prices of some items may rise, and for others, may fall: The items that see increases could become poll issues.

It is tempting to think of the process as an incremental one: Get the economy into the GST mode first, and later simplify the tax rates and ease the compliance burden. However, the best time to make structural changes is when a new system is starting; making them later risks creating a patchwork that can never be as efficient. As the GST Council’s internal politics evolves, it may become tougher, not easier, to build consensus on structural changes. As Pratap Bhanu Mehta has said in these columns, the GST is a “constitutional adventure”: Who really owns the GST schedule? The Central government is not the sole driver now and must take the states along.

Perhaps a middle-path exists. A handful of taskforces working in parallel over four to six months could make the whole plan much more considered. A senior bureaucrat appointed to the GST secretariat and put in charge of the whole GST project could improve coordination. It could also help build the necessary conviction among those who need to contribute to the change — deadlines that seem implausible(impossible,असंभव) hurt that conviction.

      

courtesy:indian express

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Weighing the burden of proof

 “An honest civil servant should not be harassed by anybody or agency or institution while in service or after retirement. It would make the civil servants working in the system nervous and edgy, which would not be in the interest of the country,” Sanjay Bhoosreddy, Honorary Secretary of the Central IAS Officers Association has said.

Ponderous(burdensome,कष्टकारक) words indeed in the context of former Union Coal Secretary H.C. Gupta, who is facing trial in several Coalgate cases, choosing not to have any lawyer to defend him. Mr. Gupta told the trial judge recently that he did not have the money to hire a lawyer. He also turned down an offer of state aid made by the judge. In all likelihood, he will argue his own case. This is an extraordinary decision that could prove to be a double-edged weapon. The skill required to defend an accused in a criminal case is a specialised one. In my view, Mr. Gupta is taking too big a chance out of desperation and disgust at the way things are taking shape around him.

Appeal to good senses

Mr. Gupta is obviously outraged(angry,गुस्सा) at the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) action. He probably understands that the law on the subject is against him, and he would therefore appeal directly to the good senses of the judge, something bordering on an attempt to play on emotions. Not for him the technicalities of what he is accused of. In his own eyes, he has done nothing wrong, and cannot be placed in the company of the corrupt and wily. He is only partly right.

Many in government and outside may dismiss him as a maverick(unorthodox,अपरंपरागत). From whatever I have heard of him, Mr. Gupta was an outstanding officer with a reputation for integrity. Remember also that the formal charge sheet against him by the CBI do not allege that he ever obtained any gratification for showing favour to the private companies that had received licences to operate a few coal mines. The charge sheet indicts him only as part of a ‘conspiracy’ to confer undue favour on private parties, and which caused loss to the public exchequer. This implied that he was negligent(careless,लापरवाह), and there was no application of mind on his part when the screening committee headed by him decided to examine the licence applications in question. There is no recorded evidence, however, that hedissented(disagreement,असहमति) from the majority opinion which favoured the grant of licences to some firms.

The conclusions of his committee were purely recommendatory in nature. That the final authority here was the Coal Minister, who, at that point of time, was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and that he was not prosecuted by the investigating agency, is not very relevant to Mr. Gupta’s defence — although the CBI decision, possibly backed by legal opinion, smacked of double standards. Remember, in Bofors, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi figured posthumously in the charge sheet as ‘accused not sent for trial’ only because he held charge of Defence. There was no charge that Bofors made any payment to him. Interestingly, what many of us would look upon as a moral or constructive civil liability comes to be defined as ‘criminal misconduct’ under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, which was enacted to lend more deterrence(obstacle,अवरोध) to what was being considered for long as a weak and toothless — the 1947 law against public servant corruption.

Element of ‘abuse of office’

Several judgments over the years had exposed the lacunae(lack,खामिया) in the 1947 Act, which enabled the corrupt to get off scot-free on being given a benefit of the doubt. Significant was the Supreme Court observation inM. Narayanan Nambiar v. State of Kerala, that under Section 5(1) (d) of the 1947 Act, an element of abuse of office was a necessary ingredient while trying to establish that a public servant used corrupt or illegal means to obtain pecuniary(financial,धन संबंधी) benefits. And ‘abuse of office’ was too vague(unclear,अस्पस्थ) an expression that let many corrupt officers off the hook. In several other judgments on the subject, courts had narrowed down the circumstances under which a public servant could be prosecuted for corruption. This is the background to the promulgation of the 1988 Act, which, under Section 13(1) (d), laid down five forms of criminal misconduct by a public servant. Finding that some officers were giving in too easily to corrupt demands from above — and did not do anything to resist such demands under the belief that as long as they were not beneficiaries, no criminal liability was liable to be attached to them — the government decided that such kind of abetment(incite,उकसाना) of graft in high places had to be penalised. This accounts specifically for Section 13(1) (d) (iii), according to which, a public servant commits the offence of criminal misconduct if he, “while holding office as a public servant, obtains for any person any valuable thing or pecuniary advantage without any public interest”.

The tirade of the IAS and several senior servants belonging to other superior services against Section 13(1) (d) (iii) is on the ground that the burden of proof in criminal cases, which normally rests with the prosecution, shifts here to the public servant arraigned by law, and the latter had to prove to the satisfaction of the court that he did not at all benefit from the transaction under probe. This incidentally is germane(relevant,सार्थक) to the defence of H.C. Gupta. This criticism is not true, although on a superficial(external,सतही) reading it appears as if the prosecution had no responsibility at all to establish the guilt of an accused.

Several decisions related to the 1947 Act and expert views on the 1988 Act clarify that court presumption of any accused’s guilt contemplated here is not automatic. Such presumption follows only after the prosecution had done its duty of presenting evidence that the accused had “obtained or (has) agreed to obtain for himself or for any other person gratification (other than legal remuneration)”. Also, Section 20 of the 1988 Act, which deals with the circumstances under which a court can raise a presumption against an accused is specific to habitual offenders and not to others. Besides, the presumption is one of law and not facts. These interpretations alone should allay(reduce,कम) the misgivings and fears of an honest civil servant that he would be hauled up for transparent decisions which stand the risk of going wrong and causing loss to the exchequer.

Amendment before Parliament

An amendment to the PC Act of 1988 is before a select committee in Parliament. It deals with Section 13(1) (d). It is just possible that this subsection may be eventually substantially diluted or wholly deleted. If this happens, the logical question would be one of how to introduce deterrence against a civil servant who, though honest, would like to just drift and permit himself to cave in against a dishonest Minister. This is a serious issue that negates(invalidate,नकारना) the basic concept of civil service accountability. This would actually promote the tendency of the executive to choose weak civil servants who may be personally honest but are known to be extremely timid(afraid,डरा हुआ), and from whom no resistance at all to dishonest decisions could be expected. The malady(illness,रोग) is particularly prevalent(popular,प्रचलित) in some States where dishonesty is the order of the day.

The popular impression now is that in our country there is no fear of the anti-corruption law on the part of government officials. When this is the hard reality on the ground, concerned citizens would do well to collectively protest against any dilution of anti-corruption safeguards as the proposed amendment seeks to do.

A final word. What is the IAS Officers Association doing to promote integrity among its members? I would like to ask the same question of those holding positions in other associations, such as those for the IPS and IFS. Such groups cannot be mere trade unions fighting for rights. Their obligations include a stout(strong,मजबूत) advocacy of adherence by their members to ethics while serving the public. Whatever I hear on the subject may not however be music to the ears of those who currently stand for probity.

 courtesy:the hindu

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Investors who turned their back are coming back: Nitin Gadkari

Union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari is confident of pushing through Rs 25 lakh crore of investments in the critical transport sectors under his watch over the NDA government's tenure. While private sector developers who had abandoned[u'ban-dund(leave,छोड़ना)] highway projects in 2014 are now coming back into the fray, the minister said the biggest challenge he faces is not financing, land acquisition or environmental clearances, but slow decision making processes in the administration. Edited Excerpts from an interview with The Hindu's Somesh Jha and Vikas Dhoot:

Two years after taking charge, do you feel India's economy is out of the woods yet?

Look, when we came to power, the GDP (gross domestic product) growth stood at 4.25 per cent, now it has gone up to 7.5 per cent. There was a shortage of coal – we have a surplus coal after two years and similar is the case with the power generation. We can’t also say that everything is sailing smoothly, but the train that got derailed during UPA regime is back on track. Talking about infrastructure, road was built up at the speed of 2 km per day earlier. Now, it stands at the highest ever pace of 25 km per day. In our sector, after completion of two years, I have commissioned work worth Rs 2.5 lakh crore. For the first time in history, the profits of 12 major ports and three flagship organisations – Cochin Shipyard, Shipping Corporation of India, Dredging Corporation of India – more than Rs 6,000 crore. In the port sector, it is for the first time that our efficiency compared to the private players is better. While one of the largest private port's efficiency declined 1.6 per cent, ours rose by 2.46 per cent. There is improvement in ports, inland waterways sector has opened up and work worth Rs 4,000 crore has been initiated inGanga. There were landmark decisions in the automobile sector –Euro VI emission norms will set in by 1 April 2020. We have launched ethanol, bio-diesel, CNG and electric buses and encouraging its use. These are import-substitute, cost-effective and pollution-free. Talking about irrigation, there were around 89 projects valued at Rs 1.5 lakh crore under AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefits) which were dead assets. We will spend Rs 80,000 crorein four years to complete these AIBP projects. For the first time, Rs 20,000 crore per year has been budgeted for Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana which will assist states. There were 3.60 lakh bank accounts earlier and today, 21.7 lakh crore accounts have been opened. The petroleum gas subsidy savings has helped 5 crore people to get gas cylinders. The health and insurance schemes for the poor has been a success. We have had a positive approach in development programmes for all the strata -- villagers, poor, labour and farmers. There was an indecisive[in-di'sI-siv(undecided,अनिर्णायक)] government (earlier) but now we have a government with a vision for development. Our relations have improved with neighbouring countries. We are making roads connectivity to Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Mynamar andBangkok. Earlier, it used to take 18 hours to travel via road from Agartala to Kolkata but now it’s possible to travel from Agartala to Kolkata via Dhaka. In all the countries that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited – be it theUnited States, Russia, Australia, UK or Dubai our prestige and respect has gone up. We have tried to build good relations with Pakistan. We have been able to control Naxalite movement and due to state support, we have successfully kept a check on cross-border terrorism. I think, overall, on all the fronts there has been good work.

People have more expectations from us and it will take us some more time to fulfill those. It took 60 years for the Congress here we have only completed two years and not all expectations can be met in two years but I can confidently say that the work that has not happened in last 60 years, we will make it happen in five years.

What about road links to Pakistan?

The Prime Minister himself visited Pakistan and extended his hand for friendship. Till the time Pakistan stops sponsoring cross-border terrorism and doesn’t keep a check on terrorist and terrorist organisation coming into India, there can’t be good relations. Pakistan too is suffering from poverty and malnutrition and I feel at this point, we all should joins hands in fighting these issues and move towards development. We have good relations with Bangladesh and we will do our best to maintain good terms with Nepal. We are good with Bhutan. Everywhere we are putting our efforts to maintain good affairs.

The Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government had launched the Golden Quadrilateral project of four-laned national highways connecting all metros. At the time, it was said to be one of the most ambitious national projects embarked upon, since Sher Shah Suri's times. What's the big plan for Infrastructure in this government?

In our country, the road length is 52 lakh kilometres but out of this, only 96,000 km is the national highways network. At present, 40 per cent of the entire traffic commutes on this two per cent road. This has caused five lakh accidents, three lakh injuries and 1.5 lakh people dying on road (every year). Now, we have decided to increase the national highways network to 2 lakh km from 96,000 km. We have already declared 1.55 lakh km of roads and when the highways network will expand to 2 lakh km, 80 per cent of the country’s traffic will ply on it. Earlier, four-laning of roads was done when traffic volume was more than 25,000 PCUs (passenger car units per day) which has been decreased to 10,000 PCUs. We have taken two historic steps. One per cent of the cost of construction (of roads) will go into plantation, beautification and maintenance and one per cent on road safety. So, Rs 5,000 each will be spent on this in the next four years. We will come up with 1,300 road side amenities and the tender for 60 is already out. We have identified 300 spots for parking plaza, hotels, motels, restaurants, petrol pump, service centres, handloom stores, fruit and vegetable shops, helipad and a small hospital for treatment of the locals. It will boost employment.

We will open Logistics Park on the Easterly and Westerly bypass road so that godowns are located outside Delhi. I have also told (Delhi chief minister Arvind) Kejriwal if all the godowns can be located outside Delhi, it will reduce the traffic and pollution here. We are building 14-lane Delhi-Meerut expressway. So, we are building roadways, expressways, highways in the entire country and I think this will create huge jobs. Usually, investments worth Rs 1 crore give employment to 70 people. I will complete Rs 2.5 lakh crore investments by 26 May, and I will give you the list of the projects, you can calculate the jobs that it will create with that scale of investment. The country needs a policy that generates employment and without infrastructure, both industry and agriculture cannot prosper and the GDP will not grow. I have kept American President John Kennedy’s quote in my office which says, ‘American roads are not good because America is rich but America is rich because American roads are good.’ So, prosperity comes with roads.

But our first priority is waterways, followed by railways and roads. In China, 45 per cent of the passengers and goods travel through waterways, similarly in Japan and Korea it is 43-44 per cent, in European countries it is more than 40 per cent but here it stands at only 3.5 per cent. If you go by waterways, you spend 20 paisa (on logistics), through railways Rs 1 and by road you spend Rs 1.5. That’s why we have decided to convert 111 rivers into national waterways. We have 7,500 km coastline and we are building six new ports out of which work on three new ports will commence[ku'men(t)s(start,शुरू)] this year.

You claim that the Ministry doesn’t lack funds but private sector interest has been lukewarm[look'worm(unenthusiastic,निरुत्साह)] and the the Finance Ministry is facing burden from the Seventh Pay commission...

Please understand my economic model. The budget for the road sector is Rs 55,000 crore. Then, our income from toll collection is Rs 10,000 crore. If I securitise my toll income for 15 years, I will get Rs 130,000 crore which leaves us with around Rs 2 lakh crore. If I securitise the government’s funds that went into completion of 111 projects, I will get 1 lakh crore. This makes it Rs 3 lakh crore in total. Apart from this, the government has given us approval to raise Rs 70,000 crore tax-exempted bonds, so that becomes Rs 4 lakh crore. Then, if I build more roads from this fund, I will get more toll collection. So, out of my target of completing work worth Rs 25 lakh crore, I will spend Rs 10-12 lakh crore in roads and Rs 15-20 lakh crore in shipping.

Can you elaborate on the securitisation aspect?

The pension funds and insurance funds are ready to take my funds. I will go into tripartite agreement and tell them we will give six per cent returns. That’s not an issue. The budget provision for shipping sector has been only Rs 1,800 crore. I have made a profit of Rs 6,000 crore last year. Next year, it will go up to Rs 8,000 crore and then 10,000 crore. So in four years, I will have profit worth Rs 40,000 crore. Then, I have fixed deposits worth Rs 15,000 crore in banks. This means a total of Rs 55,000 crore add to that Rs 10,000 from creditors so it comes out to be Rs 65,000 crore. I have a turnover of Rs 4,000 crore in ports and shipping in dollar terms. Now, for eight-laning concrete road project from JNPT to Panvel, I took loans in dollar terms at the rate of 2.75 per cent, instead of the borrowing rate of 12 per cent that I took in other projects. So, I took a loan of Rs 3,000 crore at 2.75 per cent. So on this Rs 4,000 crore (forex-based) turnover, I will take loans worth Rs 50,000 crore at 2.75 per cent in dollar terms. So, I have funds worth Rs 1 lakh crore. Then, I will get returns on these projects too.

You are talking of external commercial borrowings (ECBs)?

No, it is not ECB. Recently, I took loan from banks for the eight-lane Panvel project in dollar terms instead of rupees. So, I have Rs 50,000 crore. I am not dependent on the finance ministry for budget. I am spending Rs 4 lakh crore in ports – Rs 1 lakh towards port rail connectivity, Rs 2 lakh for port road connectivity and Rs 1 lakh crore on mechanisation and modernisation of ports. I will spend Rs 8 lakh crore towards 27 industrial clusters barring the investments on inland waterways and smart cities. So, I have targeted spending Rs 25 lakh crore whereas the actual work is worth around Rs 30 lakh crore. I am not amongst those ministers who make shallow promises. I say what I mean and I mean it.

What are the kinds of problems you have faced in executing the projects?

My problem is not related to land acquisition and environment clearance. My problem is addressing the decision-making process in administration. We have taken 21 Cabinet decisions and a lot of committees have been set up. The decision in such committees takes months to complete. I want to fasten this process. That is my responsibility and I don’t blame anyone for that. You go to any contractor and they will say we have saved them. When I became the highways minister, 403 projects worth Rs 3.85 lakh crore were stalled and today, only 14-15 projects worth Rs 30,000 crore are languishing[lang-gwish(fall,गिरना)] and the problems related to the rest are solved. Had I not addressed those issues, the banks’ NPAs (non-performing assets) would have shot up to Rs 3 lakh crore. I have saved the bankers and the industrialists from this trap. I held thousands of meetings with contractors and bankers. So I called all the stakeholders and solved the big issues. So, a positive approach, transparent system, time-bound approach, team spirit and development-oriented system are the strengths of our management.

Out of the stalled projects, how many did you have to terminate?

We have terminated 43 projects out of 403 projects. We have issued fresh tenders and work on many of these has already begun. Four such projects have started on the hybrid annuity model too.

What about the expressways?

This year, we will begin work on the Vadodara-Mumbai expressway. The highway alignment on Delhi-Jaipur is almost complete and similar is the case with Delhi-Katra expressway. We have planned Delhi-Meerut, Bangalore-Chennai, Hyderabad- Bangalore and Vijaywada-Bangalore projects.

How will the land packaging work in such projects? The developers have demanded the land access along the highways in the past…

There are three successful models of land acquisition in the country – one is in Amravati, another in Surat and third is Navi Mumbai airport. The model is that we will acquire land and return 40 per cent of the land to the owner after development, 20 per cent will go into building infrastructure and the rest 40 per cent we will take. The cost of land will decrease with this model. Now, let’s say we build a logistics park on a 1,000 acre land. We will give 400 acre land to the land owner, NHAI will get 400 acre land and the rest 20 per cent land can go into building petrol pump or road side amenities so a new township will be created in the form of logistic park. This innovate model will help farmers, create employment and lead to development.

What is the response you have got on the hybrid annuity model for highways?

When I became the minister, the PPP (public-private) model was not getting any response. Already 17 projects have been commissioned on the hybrid annuity model. The response on the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) toll model was tepid[te-pid(lukewarm)] as the market situation was not good. I will tell you an instance. Larsen & Tourbo (L&T) Chairman AM Naik came to me and said his company’s board has taken a decision to not do any road projects and he decided to exit the road projects taking a penalty of 1.5 per cent. Now, L&T is doing nine projects worth Rs 15,000 crore. So, the situation has changed and investors who had exited are coming back.

Your ministry is also planning to develop roads through the Swiss Challenge model. But Dr. Vijay Kelkar panel had criticised the model recently in its report.

We have drafted a Cabinet note and if the government permits us, we will go ahead. But I feel the Swiss Challenge model is not required in the road sector. We don’t have technology and resources and land problems.

And you will acquire the land for developers?

We have made it a rule that without acquiring 80 per cent of the land, we will not give work orders or permits.

But you said decision making in the administration is an issue…

File is pending for months with various committees. That’s the biggest challenge for us. Although we have succeeded to a very large extent, but more work needs to be done.

What about the Chabahar port you were supposed to develop in Iran?

The Prime Minister is going to Iran on May 23 and I may also accompany him and finalise the agreement.

What will be the model?

We have formed a global company and Kandla port and JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port) has claimed equity in it and we will build the port.

So, Iran will also have stakes in it?

We will develop the port and return it to Iran in some years.

There were NPA issues with banks. How do you plan to get their support?

The banks are not giving loans and financial closure is taking years. Banks are scared of giving loans looking at pending cases with CBI and CVC and also because of the media. I have told this to the finance minister. I plan to set up an Infrastructure Finance Corporation on the lines of the Power Trading Corporation. We have floated a Cabinet note. We plan to bring foreign funds.

What is the timeline to double the national highways?

Within three months. At present, we have completed 1.55 lakh kilometres and till the next Parliament session, we will achieve that target.

What was the response of the Delhi government on the logistics park proposed by you to ease congestion and pollution in the capital?

The Delhi government is very much receptive[ri'sep-tiv(acceptive,ग्रहणशील)]. I extend help to everyone -- all Congress chief ministers or whether it is Kejriwalji or Lalu (Prasad)ji. I don't do politics in my work.

There were a lot of issues related to the diesel cars…

In Delhi, there are 18-20,000 diesel taxis. The Supreme Court had put a ban on them. We requested the court that we respect your judgement and we will not give diesel permits going ahead and try to convert diesel vehicles into CNG.

Don’t you think diesel recently got unfairly demonised campaign?

Look, there is no denying that diesel causes pollution. That’s why ethanol, bio-diesel and bio-CNG are the future. Fifty buses in Nagpur run on ethanol provided by us. We made a royalty of Rs 18 crore from Mahrashtra government by selling toilet water and 100 buses are running from the bio-CNG produced from it. It is a import substitute, cost effective and pollution-free model. If you go for innovation, entrepreneurship, technology, research and Digital India, then sky is the limit.

Five Indian cars recently failed the Global NCAP safety test…

Along with safety, we also need to take the cost of vehicles into account. We are trying to align with the western country standards but we also need to look at the paying capacity of our citizens. We will look at the report and will take decisions through an integrated approach. But if we conform to those standards, the cost of vehicle can go up by 15 per cent and if that happens, it will hit the affordability of the people.

Even after two years of the government, industry sometimes feels that they are unable to see the progress on ground…

All I can say is that I can give you the details of whatever I am telling you right now. We don’t claim that all the sectors are a success. We are still facing issues in some sectors. For instance the sugar industry had collapsed, a few projects in the power sector were stuck, shipbuilding industry was facing tough time, steel industry also collapsed but recession is there on a global scale too. We are doing our best to bail out industry from these problems.

What is your message to the young voters? Hold on for how much time?

We are moving ahead on a positive tangent on development. Our programmes are getting positive results and going ahead, the country will go ahead. Our economy will be at par with China and there will be robust[row'búst(strong,सुदृढ़)] employment generation. Villages, poor, labour and farmers will prosper and our dream of corruption- and terrorism-free country will be fulfilled. Congress was in power for 60 years. We have done a lot in these two years and we will continue to do so and people should give us more time.

Courtesy:the hindu

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Standing up to patent bullying

Access to low-cost quality medicines plays a critical role in public health systems. In the last decade, the public health challenges facing developing countries have expanded beyond infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases (“NCDs”) in large part due to changing lifestyles and environmental risks. The World Health Organisation estimates that 80 per cent of all deaths from NCDs occur in low- and middle-income countries like India.

Affordable prices for medicines are vital to ensure that governments can progressively realise the sustainable development goal of universal access to health care. In particular, low-cost, quality generic medicines have played – and continue to play – a critical role. Generic medicines are essentially identical versions of a branded medicine which can be manufactured without a licence from the innovating company and are marketed after the stipulated time under the patent laws. They are sold under non-proprietary names rather than brand names.

Generic drugs cost a fraction of the monopoly prices charged in countries like the United States, and the presence of multiple generic competitors in India has reduced the price of cancer and HIV treatment by as much as 90 to 1,000 per cent. For instance, first-line HIV treatment that costs over Rs.16 lakh annually to treat just one patient in the U.S. costs the Indian AIDS programme approximately Rs.7,000.

Access to quality generic treatment is particularly important for households that pay for medicines out-of-pocket. When poor households lack access to affordable generics, they must forego treatment, sell precious assets, or make difficult choices between paying for medicines and other basic necessities like food, clothing and children’s education.

India’s crucial role

India is at the centre of the world's generic drug production as it is one of the few countries with the technical capacity to produce raw materials, also known as Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), and formulations of newer medicines as generics. Medicines produced by generics companies in India are among the most affordable in the world. When generic substitutes are not available in India --- for instance due to patent monopoly --- it leads to high pricing of medicines as only the proprietary companies can manufacture them. They become inaccessible to manufacturers at large and their high prices place them out of reach for the majority of patients who need them.

The Ministry of Commerce must be cautious of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), such as the ones it is presently negotiating with the European Union as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), that further strengthen or extend intellectual property monopolies. These will subsequently delay generic competition and the associated drop in prices, which will have a negative impact upon access to affordable medicines from domestic producers.

Parliament’s inclusion of public health safeguards in its patent law through an amendment in 2005 set a progressive precedent for the entire world. It substituted Section 3(d) of the Patents Act such that frivolous changes which did not increase the efficacy of a medicine would not make it eligible for a patent. Through this it protected generics from the deadly practice of ‘evergreening’, where pharmaceutical companies endlessly extend patents based on frivolous[fri-vu-lus(unimportant,तुच्छ)] modifications to their drugs that have little to no effect at best and are active health hazards[ha-zud(risky,जोखिम)] at worst. The use of these safeguards by patient groups, courts and the patent office has now become a target of the multinational pharmaceutical lobby which seeks to get rid of them so it can pursue its goal of profiting from higher medicine prices. This can be seen as the reason behind intensified pressure from the U.S. against affordable medicines that are ‘made in India’.

The U.S. Trade Representative operates under the office of the American President and is somewhat like India’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, mainly responsible for foreign trade. It prepares a report known as the ‘Special 301 Report’ where it has a ‘Priority Watch List’ where it lists countries whose intellectual property laws it dislikes. This is generally used to threaten and intimidate countries and is a pressure tactic to get them to change their laws so they are to the U.S.’s liking.

This year the U.S. Trade Representative released its report on April 26 --- World Intellectual Property Day --- and put India on the ‘Priority Watch List’. This move is to create pressure on the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and force it to comply with its demands on Intellectual Property (IP) enforcement so U.S.-based pharmaceutical companies can reap super profits.

Not satisfied with this move, the U.S. Trade Representative is now coming up with an ‘action plan’ for India with concrete benchmarks to hold India ‘accountable’ for IP-related trade practices that disadvantage American companies. The Indian government should reject such blatant[bley-t(u)nt(openly,खुल्लमखुल्ला)] interference in our internal policies on intellectual property. Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has rightly pointed out that the Special 301 Report is inconsistent with the WTO’s norms which clearly state that any dispute between two countries needs to be referred to its Dispute Settlement Body and unilateral actions such as the Report are not tenable.

India must clearly reject the intellectual property laws which the United States is trying to force on us. These have led to an unprecedented[ún'pre-si,den-tid(new,अभूतपूर्व)] health crisis in the U.S. itself, with spiralling prices of medicines under lengthy and multiple IP monopolies, with American insurance companies struggling to manage the cost of reimbursing expensive new medicines, all of which threaten people’s access to treatment. Current U.S. intellectual property laws have done nothing but enable pharmaceutical companies to charge exorbitant[ig'zor-bi-t(u)nt(excessive,बहुत ज्यादा)] prices for medicines, such as over $1,00,000 annually for new cancer medicines and $1,000 a pill for new hepatitis C treatments. This has made health care simply out of reach for the vast majority of Americans and the issue of affordable health care has dominated the primaries in the ongoing American presidential elections. This failed model, which has allowed companies to profit from human misery and is even rejected in its own country, is not worthy of our consideration.

India’s laws and policies on the other hand are entirely compliant with the World Trade Organisation’s trade rules on intellectual property (TRIPS), promote generic competition and limit abusive pharmaceutical industry practices including patent evergreening. They follow a middle path between granting monopoly patent rights and public health imperatives. Far from modifying our IP policy, we should be proud of the fact that our country has a vibrant pharmaceutical sector that has become the ‘pharmacy of the developing world’ supplying affordable, life-saving medicines used to treat communicable and non-communicable diseases in many developing countries.

Courtesy:the hindu

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Bank on the brink

There is much talk these days around consolidation[kun,só-li'dey-shun(integration,सुदृढ़ीकरण)] in public sector banks (PSBs). There are good reasons for fewer and bigger PSBs. Larger PSBs can support the corporate sector better in overseas acquisitions, bigger banks are less susceptible[su'sep-tu-bul(sensitive,सवेंदनशील)] to being taken over by outsiders (if government ever ceded[seed(surrender,समर्पित)] control) and large synergies are available in mergers that could alleviate capital requirements. In India, moreover, there is a certain jingoist[jing-gow-ist(extreme nationalist,कट्टर राष्ट्रवादी)] thrill in being able to say that we have a few banks that are globally significant.

But there could not be a worse time for this talk. When bank portfolios are uniformly strained[streynd(tensed,तनावपूर्ण)], as they are today, mergers can accentuate[ak'sen-choo,eyt(emphasis,जोर देना)] the strains. A bank merger is never easy but when both banks have strained balance sheets, it can lead to a collapse. Mergers eat up a lot of top management time — IT systems, organisation structures, risk systems, exposure limits, and product portfolios need to be aligned. Branches need to be rationalised, customers need to be informed, brands need to be reestablished and people have to be placed in jobs. At a time when PSBs need a razor focus on cleaning up credit portfolios, mergers will be very distracting and will bring the sector to a halt.

In fact, Indian banking operates under three disparate[dis-p(u-)rut(different,भिन्न)] regulatory policy regimes creating the PSB industry, the private bank industry and the foreign bank industry. These industries have had different freedoms, incentives and constraints in respect to branch licensing, compensation, regulatory prescriptions, M&A and capital raising. PSBs are also overseen by the dreaded[dre-did(fearsome,भयानक)] Central Vigilance Commission and the Central Bureau of Investigation. The constraints that PSBs operate under, therefore, are well known and require them to address three specific challenges — recapitalisation (to deal with NPAs, Basel requirements and for growth of their balance sheet), governance autonomy (from Parliament — for strategic moves like acquisition, the vigilance apparatus, and the ministry for CEO and board appointments), and HR autonomy (in recruitment and compensation). In the current structure, none of this works. The recent attempts to address their plight (Indradhanush), while useful in themselves, have not come close to addressing the core issues.

The current talk of consolidation provides an opportunity to address these issues once and for all. The approach I suggest can clean up the mess, release capital, and create five large, structurally unconstrained government-promoted banks that do not require any parliamentary permissions. How?

I believe the government should promote five new banks under the RBI guidelines for new private banks. The RBI guidelines stipulate that promoters can own no more than a 40 per cent stake at the time of launch, which needs to come down to 15 per cent in 12 years. No other shareholder can hold more than a 5 per cent stake. The government could even seek an exception from the RBI and ask to be allowed not to reduce its stake below 26 per cent. The five banks should be promoted in five different cities — Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and Kolkata. Consolidation would occur by getting all the public sector banks located in the same city (in the case of Bangalore, the state) to transfer all their good assets and liabilities to the single new bank promoted in that city over a period of three years. So, for example, in Mumbai, the good assets and liabilities of Central Bank, Dena Bank, Union Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and IDBI Bank across the country should be transferred to the newly promoted Mumbai Bank and so on for each of the new banks. However, government capital should not be transferred. An equitable scheme for minority shareholders in the new banks would be required. Just the structure of the new banks promoted by government would allow them a much higher price to book than the less than 0.5 per cent that PSBs currently enjoy. These five new banks would enjoy all the freedom of the new private sector banks with the government just being the promoter of these banks. They would have full HR autonomy, they would not be under the CBI or the CVC, and they would each have independent boards akin[u'kin(similar,के समान)] to say an Axis Bank. They would raise capital from the market. They would start out on new technology and would look to digitise bank operations from the start. They would have fewer branches and would use partnerships and alternative channels (mobile) a lot more. The State Bank of India (SBI) could be allowed to carry on as it is but at some point the government should reduce its holding below 51 per cent to provide a similar freedom to its staff.

The existing PSBs could be provided the minimum additional capital necessary for basic ongoing business and essentially to work out their impaired assets. It is not even important to close these banks down after three years but they will become a small SUUTI type rump (the impaired assets company of UTI) that will fade away. The big bulk of their senior officers would retire in three years and their employees under 55 would get very favourable consideration in the new bank, where the bank assets are transferred, on the new terms of employment. We should recall that Axis Bank started with a bulk of their employees coming from the SBI and SBBJ.

What a move like this does is that in three years’ time, we will have five large banks, with government as the single-largest shareholder, but without any of the constraints of the present PSBs. No permissions are required to do this, no debates in parliament and in one stroke we clean up the entire sector, make the banks bigger and allow the rump to be worked out over the next three to five years. The consolidation discussion provides the required fillip. It will be a lasting legacy the Modi government could leave India — a robust[row'búst(strong,मजबूत)], large and clean banking system.

Courtesy:indian express

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What makes a video go viral

The joke goes that learning the secret to making a viral video is like hitting the jackpot. Sample this really curious mix of videos that went viral in India last year — the peppy ‘Every Bollywood Party Song feat. Irrfan’ by AIB; an episode from the hugely popular show for children, Chhota Bheem; an episode from Sony Television’s Crime Patrol; Sujoy Ghosh’s Radhika Apte-starring thriller Ahalya; an episode from the decadent MTV show Splitsvilla. A hotchpotch[hóch,póch(mixed things,खिचड़ी)] proving that we are nowhere near answering that vexing[vek-sing(annoying,खिजाऊ)] question: what makes some videos go viral and others fizzle out[fi-zul awt(unsuccessful,असफल)] ?

Last year, the Harvard Business Review reported that Unruly, a tech company that “gets videos watched, tracked and shared across the Open Web”, analysed about 430 billion views and 1,00,000 costumer data points in an attempt to answer this question.

According to its findings, viral success is often driven by two factors: how the video makes a person feel and his or her social motivations in sharing it. People shared those videos that made them feel warm, fuzzy and happy. People also shared those videos on which they wanted an opinion, or which featured subjects they are passionate about. Videos that capture people’s imagination, or are funny, valuable or meaningful have been found to go viral, according to other studies. However, this by no means provides an answer to how to break the Internet; luck obviously plays an important part too.

Videos promoting peace

In India, where everyday headlines are about failed efforts by the Indian and Pakistani governments in reaching out to each other, or of attacks along the border — news that largely desensitises people or makes them cynical[si-ni-kul(disrespectful,दोषदर्शी)] — videos that promote peace seem to strike a chord. Partition may have taken place more than half a century back but its repercussions[ree-pu'kú-shun(indirect result,अप्रत्यक्ष परिणाम)] continue to be felt today; people on both sides of the border still have stories to recount of carnage[kaa-ni(slaughter,हत्याकांड)], torn families, of daughters and sons who grew up without fathers, of displacement.

A video that has gone viral now can tick off both the success factors of Unruly’s study. Jalandhar-based Gurmehar Kaur’s heart-warming silent video #ProfileForPeace, which had been liked by more than a million people on Facebook before being removed, not only brings a lump to the throat but is also being shared because the subject is of interest to everyone. The daughter of Captain Mandeep Singh, who was killed in the Kargil War in 1999, Gurmehar makes an appeal through placards to all Indians and Pakistanis to “pull up their socks” and make peace, not war. Her father’s death when she was just two years old left her with hatred for Pakistanis and Muslims, she says, before she came to realise that the blame was to be pinned on war and not people or countries. “If France and Germany can become friends after two World Wars and Japan and the U.S. can work towards progress, why not us,” the 19-year-old asks. “Share the video if you wish for peace” is the last message on screen before Gurmehar walks out of the frame as wordless and expression- free as she had walked into it. The messages on the 30 placards are razor-sharp, the point is driven home.

The video in its poignancy[poyn-yun(t)-see(sorrow,मार्मिकता)] is similar to a Google advertisement that has been viewed by more than 13,036,440 people since it was released in 2013. In that video, two friends separated by Partition are reunited decades later through the efforts of their great-grandchildren. The themes are similar: India-Pakistan camaraderie[ka-mu'raa-du-ree(sociability,सौहार्द)], separation, memories, and love between people in the time of hostility[hós'ti-lu-tee(enmity,शत्रुता)] between governments.

But this does not mean that every video on India and Pakistan will go viral; YouTube has thrown up many similar ones that have simply not made the mark. Going back to the examples in the beginning shows us that there is no magic formula. India is obsessed with Bollywood, and with all party songs mixing and matching the same elements — women, alcohol, bright lights, pools — it isn’t surprising that the ‘Every Bollywood Party Song’ went viral. Catchy? Tick. Intelligently done? Tick. Good lyrics? Tick. Humour? Spot on. Or, for that matter, why Ahalya was watched by so many people: twist in a mythological tale, great actors, well shot, and a spectacular climax. But it is mysterious why that particular episode of Splitsvilla did well. What made it different from the other episodes? All of them feature women screaming and men flexing their muscles in exotic locations anyway.

Audience is king

There is also a difference to be made between promotional videos and those shot at home. To think content is the sole reason why most videos go viral is naive; companies work hard to make sure that certain promotional videos are posted everywhere — YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and so on. And it is hard work.

But that’s only the second step. The first is making the video itself. You can put in all the cutesy elements — babies and dogs, for instance. Or make it emotional, funny, or intelligent. Ghastly[gãst-lee(offensive,बेकार)] videos also go viral because human beings are voyeuristic[,v(w)oy-yu'ris-ti-kul(viewer,दृश्यरतिक)] — the one of an Indian woman thrashing her 70-year-old mother-in-law or of the man whose body was cut in two in an accident in Kerala immediately come to mind. But one thing is definite: videos are not about you, they are about what the audience wants. And if you are just yourself with no pretence or obvious effort, most experts say, the job is half done. You are on your way to that jackpot.

Courtesy:the hindu

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Know your English

“I heard you made poor Sujatha cry. What did you do?”
“Nothing, actually. She asked me what I thought of her essay, and I gave her my honest opinion. I pointed out a few errors she’d made, and then went on to ...”
“Good grief! Don’t you know that Sujatha is too thin-skinned for all that?”
“Thin-skinned? Is it the opposite of thick-skinned?”
“Very good! A ‘thin-skinned’ person is someone who gets upset by what others say about him. He is easily hurt or offended by their comments.”
“In other words, he is hypersensitive. He breaks down or becomes very angry when people don’t have nice things to say about him.”
“That’s right! If you want to survive in politics, you cannot afford to be thin-skinned.”
“Nagesh is very thin-skinned. So, don’t make the mistake of making fun of him.”
“You, on the other hand, are very thick-skinned. You ...”
“Let’s not talk about me! Let’s talk about you, instead. How was your trip to Kolkata? Did you manage to see the places you’d planned to?”
“Didn’t get a chance to. I couldn’t even leave the hotel room because the three days I was there, it was raining pitchforks.
“Raining pitchforks? Does it mean it was raining heavily?”
“That’s right! When you say it’s raining pitchforks, it means it’s pouring.”
“I see. So, can I say, every time we decide to go on a picnic, it rains pitchforks?”
“Sounds like a good example. Last Saturday, it rained pitchforks all day.”
“I know! It completely ruined my weekend. By the way, what is a pitchfork?”
“It’s a farm instrument. It looks like a fork with a long handle, and farmers use it to lift or move hay and grass. Tell me, how are your plans for the surprise party coming along?”
“The surprise party that I wanted to give my mother is no longer a surprise, I’m afraid. My sister told Kala about the plans, and ...”
“That was a big blunder. Doesn’t your sister know Kala has foot-in-mouth disease?”
“Foot-in-mouth disease? What kind of disease is that?”
“A person who has foot-in-mouth disease finds it difficult to keep a secret. He shares information with people he is not supposed to. He talks too much and ...”
“In other words, this person gets into trouble because of his big mouth. He talks about things he shouldn’t be.”
“I guess you could say that! He usually ends up saying the wrong things to wrong people at the wrong time. My friend Rahul has foot-in-mouth-disease.”
“Isn’t he the one who told the Principal about your plans to go on strike?”
“That’s right! The CEO doesn’t allow my boss to take part in any negotiation. She has foot-in-mouth disease. This expression has the same meaning as ‘to put one’s foot in one’s mouth.”
“I see. How about this example? Hari put his foot in his mouth when he told his pregnant wife to lose some weight.”
“I’m sure that made her really angry. Last week at a party, I really put my foot in my mouth. I asked my boss if the man next to her was her husband. She said it was her father.”
“Such things shouldn’t worry you. After all, you’re pretty thick skinned.”
******
“I don’t think anybody should write his autobiography until after he’s dead.” — Samuel Goldwyn

Courtesy:the hindu

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Know your English

“Do you remember my friend Sudhakar? The chap who ...”
“Sudhakar? Is he the chap who keeps running off at the mouth all the time?”
“Keeps running off at the mouth? What are you talking about?”
“A person who ‘runs off at the mouth’ talks too much. Usually about unimportant things.”
“I see. People avoid Dileep because he has a tendency to run off at the mouth.”
“Didn’t Sudhakar run off at the mouth at your birthday party?”
“That was Dileep. Sudhakar doesn’t talk much. He’s very quiet. Anyway, yesterday was his birthday, and his father gave him a brand new BMW car.”
“A BMW! Wow! Call me old fashioned, but I think it’s over the top.”
“Over the top? What do you mean by that?”
“The expression is mostly used in informal contexts. When you say that something is ‘over the top’, you’re suggesting that it is excessive. In this context ...”
“You’re saying that a BMW is an outrageous gift to give a college student.”
“In my opinion, it’s not a suitable gift. But times are changing. It’s becoming common for parents to throw over the top birthday parties for their children.”
“Very often, it’s the children who demand it. Anyway, how about this example? Some of the remarks made by the Chief Minister about the Opposition Party were over the top.”
“Sounds good. The way some of our politicians behave in public is over the top.”
“Meaning, they behave in an outrageous manner?”
“That’s right! Well, I hope you’re not expecting a BMW from your father on your birthday. He’s not made of money, you know.”
“My father’s not made of money? Are you trying to say he’s not rich?”
“That’s right! When you say that someone is made of money, you mean that the person is very rich. You need to be made of money if you want to buy land in Mumbai.”
“That’s true. How about this example? When my friend asked me to lend him a thousand rupees, I told him I wasn’t made of money.”
“Sounds good. Your friend Sudhakar is certainly made of money.”
“He certainly is! He got the BMW in the morning. When he went to college in the afternoon, he found out that he’d been made the captain of the cricket team.”
“Really? I’m not really sure if he’s captain material, though. You see ...”
“What are you talking about? He’s a wonderful batsman and a terrific bowler. Also, ...”
“That’s true. But it’s the fire in the belly that makes someone a good captain.”
“Fire in the belly? What does it mean?”
“When you say that someone has fire in his belly, you are suggesting that the person has a fierce determination to succeed. He is ambitious, full of vigour and ...”
“In other words, he has the inner drive to succeed.”
“I guess you could say that. As a captain, Saurav had a fire in his belly.”
“He certainly did. I wish some of my teachers had fire in their belly. It would make learning so much more interesting.”
“That’s true. At this year’s Wimbledon, Federer and Nadal will probably try to show the world that there’s still some fire in their belly.”
“Let’s hope they succeed. It was sad to see them lose in straight sets at the French Open.
******
“Happy birthday to a person that’s charming, talented and witty, and reminds me a lot of myself.” — Unknown

Courtesy:the hindu

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Know your English

“I ran into your new colleague at the bank. She said she loves her new job.”
“That’s not surprising at all! Shalini’s been with us only for a couple of days. So, right now, I’m sure everything is peachy.”
“Everything is peachy? I guess it means things are fine.”
“It doesn’t mean just fine. When you say things are ‘peachy’, it means things are excellent or wonderful. This informal expression is mostly used in American English.”
“I see. So, when somebody asks me, ‘How’s life?’, can I say, ‘Peachy’?”
“If things are great, you certainly can. So, what are you planning ...”
“Shalini also said she had to quit her previous job because people were jealous about her success. Apparently, she worked really hard ...”
“Please change the topic. I don’t wish to talk about anything related to work.”
“Let’s talk about you, then! Are your colleagues jealous about your ability to ...”
“People are not ‘jealous about’ something, they are usually ‘jealous of’ something. For example, there’s no need to be jealous of Priya’s good looks.”
“When I was young, I used to be jealous of my brother’s popularity.”
“As you grow older, you realise that you don’t need to be jealous of anyone.”
“That’s true. So, did you have dinner at the new restaurant yesterday?”
“Yes, I did. I went there with ...”
“What did you think of the place? Wasn’t the food just great?”
“The food was great all right. But the service was downright bad.”
“Downright bad? Are you trying to say that the service was terrible?”
“That’s right! The word ‘downright’ is frequently used before a noun to mean ‘completely’ or ‘absolutely’. It is mostly used to emphasise how bad or how terrible something is.”
“I see. The working conditions in some of the local factories are downright unhealthy.”
“The way some of our politicians behave in Parliament ... it’s a downright disgrace.”
“Talking about politicians, did you hear what our local MP said this morning? He said that women should not be allowed to run in tomorrow’s marathon.”
“That’s downright stupid. Somebody should tell that man not to talk to the press. Every time he opens his mouth, he shoots himself in the foot.”
“I’ve never heard that expression before. What does it mean?”
“When someone shoots himself in the foot, he says or does something really silly. And in the process, makes life difficult for himself.”
“It’s actually other people who make life difficult for the individual, right? They make fun of him by constantly reminding him of the silly thing he said or did.”
“That’s true. Here’s an example. The person we just interviewed doesn’t have the required qualification or experience. If you hire her as your PA, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot.”
“Ranjan thinks he has a good sense of humour. But every time he tries to say something witty, he shoots himself in the foot.”
“The Vice Chancellor shot herself in the foot by suggesting that cell phones should be banned in all educational institutions.”
“I’m sure the students didn’t like that one bit.”
******
“The other night I ate at a real nice family restaurant. Every table had an argument going.” — George Carlin

Courtesy:the hindu

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Know your English

How is the word ‘esprit’ pronounced?
(S Sudhesh, Faridabad)
The vowel in the first syllable sounds like the ‘e’ in ‘yes’, ‘mess’, and ‘nest’, while the following ‘i’ sounds like the ‘ee’ in ‘free’, ‘tree’ and ‘fee’. The final ‘t’ is silent and the word is pronounced ‘e-SPREE’ with the stress on the second syllable. It comes from the Latin ‘spiritus’ meaning ‘spirit’ or ‘soul’. In English, the word is mostly used to refer to someone who is witty and full of life.
*His infectious esprit ensures that his classes are seldom boring.

What is the meaning of ‘five deep’ in the following sentence: “People were standing five deep waiting to be seated.”?
(Munavar Basha, Valasaravakkam)
My first impression was the people were standing in a pool! The expression ‘x-deep’ — it could be ‘five deep’, ‘seven deep’, ‘ten deep’, etc. — is used in informal contexts to suggest that there are many people present; there is, in fact, a big crowd. The sentence that you have given suggests that there were a lot of customers who were waiting their turn to be seated. In this context, ‘five deep’ could mean that people were standing in rows and there were five individuals in every row. The expression can also be used to refer to objects standing next to each other — and not necessarily behind each other. For example, if we say taxis were standing fifty deep, it could mean that there 50 taxis standing next to each other — and not behind each other. The expression has been around for several hundred years.
*The protestors couldn’t break through because the police were standing ten deep.

What is the meaning and origin of ‘put on your thinking cap’?
(K Gayathri, Chennai)
When you ask someone to ‘put his thinking cap on’ or ‘put on his thinking cap’, you want him to stop fooling around and do some serious thinking. You would like the individual to give the matter you have raised some serious thought, and come up with a solution. The expression has been a part of the English language for several centuries.
*Please put on your thinking cap and come up with creative solutions to our problem.
*If you wish to get out of the mess you’re in, you need to put your thinking cap on.
The ‘cap’ in the expression has nothing to do with the kind of caps we wear when playing games. According to some scholars, it refers to the tight fitting cap that a Judge used to put on before sentencing a criminal. The common people believed that the cap helped him think!

Which is correct? ‘She hardly exercises, does she/doesn’t she?’
(J Maya, Nellore)
The rules for using question tags are the following: if the statement is affirmative — i.e. it does not contain a negative word — then a negative question tag is used. For example, ‘My cousin Malathy is very beautiful, isn’t she?’ If, on the other hand, the statement contains a negative element, then the question tag used is ‘affirmative’. ‘My cousin Malathy isn’t very beautiful, is she?’ Since words like ‘hardly’, ‘scarcely’, ‘seldom’, ‘barely’, etc. are considered negative, they are usually followed by a non-negative question tag.
*She hardly exercises, does she?
*You seldom eat in restaurants, do you?
******
“Humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less.” — Rick Warren

Courtesy:the hindu

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Know your English

“What happened to your car? Where did you get the big dent?”
“It happened last night. I slowed down near an intersection, and an auto-rickshaw driver who had been sitting on my tail, hit me.”
“A driver was sitting on your tail? I didn’t know you had one.”
“Very funny! When someone sits on your tail, he follows you very closely. He doesn’t maintain the required distance between his vehicle and yours.”
“But that’s the way people drive in India. When we drive, we always sit on someone’s tail!”
“That’s true! We usually sit on someone’s tail because we want to pass or overtake him.”
“I get terribly irritated when someone sits on my tail and keeps honking.”
“A lot of people find it irritating. But honking is something that what we all do!”
“I know! I do it too, sometimes. Tell me, how is your company’s new product doing?”
“It’s too early to tell. Our CEO is very bullish about the success of the product.”
“Very bullish? A bull is known for its stubbornness. So, does ...”
“It doesn’t mean stubborn, but optimistic. When you say that someone is bullish, it means that the individual is very confident about something. Sometimes, even aggressively so.”
“Ravi Shastri was bullish about India's chances of defeating Australia in the World Cup.”
“He wasn’t the only one. I think the entire country was in a bullish mood after we had won six games in a row. Or was it seven?”
“Nobody cares about that now. Understand you’ve started taking the bus.”
“It’s the company bus. I leave for office twenty minutes earlier than usual. But the good thing is, I get my forty winks on the bus.”
“Forty winks? You wink at the people on the bus?”
“Of course, not! Do you think I’m nuts? The expression ‘forty winks’ is used in informal contexts to refer to a very short nap that one takes during the daytime.”
“My grandmother usually has forty winks after her morning walk.”
“That’s a good example. The thing about forty winks is that you don’t have to actually lie down on the bed. You can have your forty winks while sitting.”
“Like my grandmother! She has forty winks while sitting in the rocking chair.”
“I read somewhere that Napoleon used to have forty winks while riding a horse.”
“That must have been very difficult to do. Anyway, what are your plans for the evening?”
“Nothing much, actually. I thought of cleaning my motorcycle. Then, I ...”
“How boring! Surely, there are more exciting things to do.”
“You know me. I don’t like to go anywhere on weekdays. Why don’t ...”
“A movie! Let’s go for a movie, can we?”
“It’s not ‘can we’ but ‘shall we’?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The usual question tag for statements beginning with ‘let’s’ is ‘shall we’. Let’s go for a movie, shall we? And the standard reply is either ‘Yes, let’s’ or ‘No, let’s not’.”
“I see. How about this example? Let’s take part in next month’s marathon, shall we?”
“No, let’s not! Let’s sit at home and watch the marathon on TV.”
“You’re such a bore!”
******
“Just taught my kids about taxes by eating 38 % of their ice cream.” — Conan O’Brien

Courtesy:the hindu

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