Privatize PSBs else be ready for another Choksi & Modi!

Another Mehul & modi episode will strike if our government will continue with 21 PSUs.

Over the last one week, PNB fraud by diamontaire Nirav Modi & Mehul Choksi is trending above all hash tags across media. More & more people are coming out with their own methods/recommendations of how we could’ve prevented this massive scam. No doubt, finding out the cause is the need of the hour but the main problem lies somewhere else. PNB is not the first public sector bank who got a whole of Rs 11000 Crore in its pockets and it’s certainly not the only one.

Now there are few problems which engulfed PSBs over the last few decades and due to this they are grappling with never ending issues and they are:-

1. No Authority/ Responsibility/ Incentive:

In PSBs, employees are rarely gets promotion. Take example of GokulNath Shetty, the main accused in the PNB Scan who offered fake LOUs to the Nirav Modi’s group companies.  He had retired from PNB after 36 years of service. In those 36 years only once he got promoted.  In PSBs, employees rarely gets promoted based on their promotion. Even they do not have fear of getting fired for non performance. As a result, lack of motivation plays a pivotal role in putting a barricade on the minds of employees which eventually stops thinking and that result in lack of innovation. They do not bring up news ideas on the table. Due to lack of innovation & creative thinking, there is little chance for employees to make good decisions. On the other hand, in a privately run bank, lack of not doing new things is itself a crime and overstepping lending parameters would lead to losing a job.  In case of PSBs, both the stick and carrot ( in the form of punishment & reward) have been missing.

2. Rising number of Frauds:-

In a recent report of willful defaulters compiled from CIBIL database says that the total amount of outstanding on the loans which are above 25 lakhs in which law suit have been filed have grown exponentially from Rs 28416.93 crore as of September 2013 to Rs 1.11 trillion as of 30 september 2017. Within four years, the amount has been growing at a CAGR ( Compound annual growth rate ) of more than 40%.

Till September 2013, nationalized banks had a share of 32.8% of the total amount outstanding in the willful defaulters list. After four years, this share had gone up to 58.7% The CAGR of the amounts in these accounts with nationalized banks was a eye popping figure i.e. 62.92%. For PNB its CAGR was 95.13%

3. Lack of systems & Low Pay Scale:-

The main cause behind the PNB Scam was the breach of three levels of security & checks which every bank does to prevent frauds. Many PSBs are depriving themselves to get latest technology & implement them to prevent wrongdoings & scams. They have no incentive linked to this. In this case, SWIFT ( Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication code) system was not linked to the CBS ( Core Banking system ) of the PNB. That’s why the entries of the LOUs which were issues by those two officials of PNB were not entered into the system and due to this it went unnoticed over the last six years. Other than SBI and Private Banks, I don’t know whether all PSUs had integrated their SWIFT system into their CBS. The management of the  PSB does not get paid well as compare to their private peers. You can easily find out the salary figures of top CEOs of PSBs & private Banks  and you will witness that it’s a gigantic difference in terms of pay scale. These poorly paid bureaucrats with no incentive failed to install a system to check links & balances. PSBs systems are more vulnerable to frauds as they are not updated with the latest technology. For instance, Kotak 811 account, it is a fully digital zero balance account which any one can open within two minutes by having one aadhaar number and a pan card. How many of the PSBs offers such kind of offerings to its customers? They don’t pay heed to their customers. A simple request for debit card change would take weeks to solve & deliver it to the customer’s registered address. Private banks are more responsible for their depositors, investors, owners while on the other hand PSBs are just guzzling tax payer’s money which is like a limitless resource for them to cover all mistakes.

4. Political parties:-

Have we ever asked anyone why several governments like Vajpayee, UPA, NDA didn’t reverse bank nationalization decision which was taken in 1969 despite being heavily relied on private sector banks for steel & power projects?  We have witnessed decisions regarding sale of Air India, Bharat Earth movers Ltd ( BEML ), HAL ( Hindustan Aeronautics Limited ) but not banks. These governments are not willing  to give up their control over PSUs.

One of the reason behind this is that PSBs are like a cheap credit facility for netas to run their risky businesses in exchange for campaign finance. They use this resource & later on pass that bill to the tax payers and this will keep on continuing till the time another government comes to the power. If in case any PSU hit with a scam then recapitalization will take place in which they inject tax payers money into the coffers of PSBs. Recently, ace investor Mr. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala also said that we only 3 PSUs. We simply do not require 21 PSUs. Today if you look at the combine M-Cap of all 21 PSBs together it is less than that of HDFC, India’s largest private bank.

This scam is a wake up call for the government to take a radical decision by reversing bank nationalization policy by selling the government stake & exit the business.

An open Letter to Mr. Nitin Gadkari!

Oil demand will keep on rising regardless of how many electric cars are plying on our roads!

In a recent public meeting, our honorable minister for Road Transport & highways, Mr. Nitin Gadkari had issued warning to all the automobile company’s CEOs that adopt cleaner fuel till 2020 otherwise they will be bulldozed by the government. According to him, it will eventually help in curtailing the pollution from petrol & diesel vehicles. Recently, Bloomberg news energy released a report which says that the five biggest oil companies – Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal dutch shell Plc, Chevron Corp., BP Plc& Total SA collectively curbed their pollution at an average of 13% between 2010 & 2015.

Now, one of the hottest debate over the developing as well as developed countries is demand of oil. If we adopt greener fuel then it will help in reducing our dependence on crude oil.
No doubt the recent announcement by Mr. Gadkari will grab more headlines over the coming few years for the adoption of electric vehicles and industry experts will join as panelists on news channels to discuss how it could be the crucial beginning of the end for crude oil and we are assuming that it will help in reducing the oil demand but at the same time we are neglecting the role of heavy trucks & freight play in driving demand.We need fuel efficient vehicles across the developing as well as developed countries that are currently not using required fuel efficient standards. If we will not use this then no matter what policies our government will announce, oil demand will keep on rising. 

Economist look at the increase or decrease in the movement of heavy trucks & freight before predicting anything about the economy as both are the indicators of economic growth and both of them are correlated to the GDP. Recently, an international agency published a report that out of 40 countries, only four (US, CHINA, CANADA, JAPAN) have fuel efficiency standards for heavy trucks that means only one-tenth out of the total. Heavy trucks alone contribute 40 percent of the total growth in oil demand. Trucks burn about 17 million barrels of oil per day (mb/d ) or about one fifth of the total global demand. Much of the growth in consumption of oil will come from India & China in the coming few years where 90 percent of the additional barrels for freight will be consumed.

Now, given the circumstances, our government should encourage & adopt cleaner fuel efficiency standards so that the heavy trucks emit fewer pollutants.
There are three possible areas for improvement:-
First, Heavy trucks should have GPS enabled  to optimize trucks routing so that it can reduce empty trips. Second, Zero Emission/fuel efficient engines, it will help in emission of fewer pollutants. Third, adoption of bio fuels.

No matter how much you or any other minister put out schemes in the automobile sector to curb pollution, if we do not look into the segment which is contributing 40 percent of total global oil demand then regardless of every car which is plying on our roads is electric, oil demand will keep on rising!   

"Small steps to address burgeoning NPA Woes"

Hello reader, I would recommend you to take an auto rickshaw today and start a conversation with the driver, after a brief discussion, he will must say that “Sahab cost of living has been keep on rising and in this period of time also a person has managed to flee from India with Rs 9000 Crores of public money and the government did nothing to nab him. . 

After a much discussion on this topic, he will ask you instantly after looking at you, ‘Sahab, from your appearance you are looking like an educated person, can you tell me how these banks can survive and bear this so much losses ?

The banking sector in India is under stressed and one of the reasons behind this is NPAs.  In the last quarter of 2015-16, many PSU banks including the State Bank Of India reported a loss of hundred of crores where in Bank Of Baroda reported  NPAs of more than 3300 Crores. Now to deal with this crisis, small steps need to be taken like the way a small baby starts walking with the help of their parents.

Many industrialists, banks had recommended many solutions over the years but few of them are now being addressed. The much awaited recommendation has now being function ( i.e ) BBB      ( Bank Board Bureau ) and will be headed by none other than, Mr. Vinod Rai, Former CAG ( Comptroller & Auditor General ).  BBB is like a regulator which will decide who will go to sit on the Coffers of Public Sector Boards.  The problem of NPAs or I would say stressed assets need to be addressed with effective ways for recovery.

After the introduction of arbitration acts No. ( 9 ) and  (17 ) there is a sigh of relief for smaller NBFCs but it is alone not helping the bigger assets which have been offered to bigger conglomerates. Filing of cases, speeding of hearings, smooth process and fast action need to take place in our judicial system. The judgement need to take place and that too within a reasonable period of time.

According to the recent report of some news channels, SBI Chairman, Arundhati Bhattacharya was asked about the recovery and court proceedings about Kingfisher airlines, which led the consortium of 17 Banks, she said, ‘Around 81 hearings have been held since 2013 and they are yet to start the recovery’.

Some industrialists suggested for DRT (Debt Recovery Tribunal) but DRT alone cannot help to cut the burgeoning NPA crisis. According to some media reports, SBI moved to DRT for prohibiting Vijay Mallya to flee from India and to seize his passport but the liquor baron had managed to flee from our country due to our stalled and lengthy judicial system. There are many factors of DRT which proves that it alone cannot function properly due to shortage of Staff. We do not have enough judges in proportion to the numbers of cases which are pending in our Indian Courts. For instance, we do have around 13 judges per million of our population where as the developed nations have more than 50 judges per million of population. Our judges play the role of god and goddess in our country who can do and take any decision because of their power given by our government.

The infrastructure also does not support or I would say justify the workload of a normal court.  For instance, a normal court in Delhi would get allotted more cases in comparison to the maximum number of cases it can handle.  Even appointment of judges can’t fulfill our objective to remove this menace of NPAs from our banking system.

We need more judges, faster judicial system, steps like introduction of BBB, faster judgement especially in the cases of willful defaulters, more crackdowns on defaulters, more training to the employees who are responsible for the disbursement of loans.

I am sure this will help in the effective utilization of tax payer’s money as it will get used in the development of our Country rather than siphoning off for the personal/ private use. 

"From 2 To 2000,The Journey of My Chairman"

Short biography of My Company's Chairman

34 years ago, one man came to Delhi with a dream in his eyes and a spark of learning. He had one briefcase in his hand which he carried with himself and his wife accompanied him. He came to Delhi for the preparation of CA exams.

Now he is the one who has been running a fully fledged NBFC which is working in Delhi NCR over the last 25 years. He is none other than Mr. R.A. Kila, Founder Chairman, Perfect Group of Companies.

When he came to Delhi he had to dwell in one of the Jhuggi’s (Slum area) for many months where leakage of water from the roof was very common, and he prepared there for his CA exams to which he successfully passed. After many months of struggle, he shifted to one apartment on a rent basis where he lived for many years with his wife. 

After becoming CA (Chartered Accountant), he joined one CA firm in Nehru Place (I guess) where he worked under people who had many years of experience; he was the one who possessed a fighting spirit in himself. He never had any fear from anyone in this mundane world. He was like a whistleblower in his firm. Whenever he found a wrong thing in his firm, he was the one who used to inform his boss first and he not only used to solve it but he always made sure, that the same wrong thing shouldn’t get repeated again. When he used to work, his boss always used to tell his staff that this 20 year old kid has brought sweat to many high profile staff through his work. The man who inspire through his work. 

Whenever he meets anyone in his cabin, he always says one thing, “Always keep a fighting spirit and a spark of learning within you”. He is the one who is the most humble person I have ever known. He told me once that, “If you want to achieve something good in life then you have to do things which others don’t to achieve what others won’t”. He once had to visit one Navy officer’s place for audit related work and he found some loopholes (fraud bills) in the accounts of the firm and he told that this to the officer who was the most powerful person at that point of time. The officer threatened him not to reveal this to anyone but he wasn’t having any fear in his eyes and he replied to the officer in his high voice, “Shut up!  You can’t stop me from revealing this and it’s my job and I can’t betray my boss. You can do whatever you want and I am standing in front you at your place only”.

He started off “Perfect Group” in 1987 ( I guess ) with just one room in Green Park Extension and that too was on rent.  Now the head office is itself spanned across two big buildings. He always says to everyone, “Do not deter yourself from experiencing difficulties in life because it will teach you the wonderful lessons from your life.” When he started the operations of Perfect Group, he sold only two bikes on the very first month and that too within that one room only.

Now his company has been selling 2000 vehicles every month. The journey from 2 to 2000 has been commendable and inspiring for those who come to metro cities with just dreams in their eyes.

Today, if you can gaze in his eyes, you can clearly see how hard he has gone through to achieve what he has at present.  At present, his company has more than 60% market share in Private two-wheeler Finance in Delhi NCR. His company is currently having one branch in Jasola and head office in Green Park which span across two big buildings. Now, his company will soon open their 3rd branch in Gurgoan.

He always tells to every employee of the company that, “do something new every day”.  Whenever I enter in his cabin, I always have a fear about what he will ask. I still remember, once I went in his cabin for taking approval for one file. After looking at the file for 30 seconds, he instantly asked me a simple question, “For few minutes, forget that you have prepared this file and now ask yourself, do you think that a management grad has prepared this file? If your answer is “No” then do something so that I can easily recognize that this file has been prepared by you”. Trust me; I have never repeated the same mistake again which I did in that particular file.He always keeps numbers on his finger tips. Whenever he want to seek any information of any department, he simply dial random extension number from his landline phone and he normally talk to the person whosoever receives his call and what is worth noticing is that whenever he talks to anybody over telephone, he automatically figure out the wrong thing at that particular moment only. He always says through his lectures that once you pass out from college then only your real experience begins.

From Re 1, he used to eat two chapattis. Now his company has financed more than 2 lakh vehicles.He was the president of the Rotary Club which is working across India to spread smile on the orphans and underprivileged children. Everyyear he donates money to organize camps where kids who are having problems like clefts can get free medication and sometimes get free surgery treatment. He has been doing projects in many MCD schools. Every year he installs water cooler at one place where people don’t get proper drinking water. His company provides loans to the people where nationalized banks do not lend. He is the Founder President of Marwari Yuva Manch South Delhi hostel in which I studied during my Post graduation time. It is the hostel which provides good home food at subsidized rates and the members of the hostel plays a vital role as guardians of all the hostellers. He got the award for best CA in India who worked the most for the society.  He has been getting innumerable number of awards through his work.  

Now I am ending up this short biography of Mr. R.A. Kila with this note, “If you want to become a leader, then you need to inspire people through your work.”

Wish you a very Happy Birthday Sir. I wish you a wonderful year ahead.

Keep Shining!
Keep Inspiring!

 Your Kid

Rahul Agarwal

"Short letter to Mr. Jaitley"

Few hopes, few questions, few numbers, few sectors, few decisions, few days for Mr. FM.

Before Mr. FM announce his much awaited Union Budget on 28^th February 2015, let me write a letter to him about the questions which arises in the minds of the people.

My questions would be very specific like how well can you shape our economy which wants to grow like other developing nations?

Some of my questions are:-

Will you give more priority to infrastructure?
Will you give more focus on the consumption need?
Will you tilt towards the fiscal deficit situation or you tweak from this and will look after  the ways to boost the growth of this economy?
 

Well, to give answers to these questions, Mr. FM needs to look after the current estimated of GDP (Chinese govt. thinks that India can actually grow faster than China in the coming decades.) which shows that Private Consumption (PFCE) at constant 2011-12 prices is estimated to grow at a rate of 11.8% in the current quarter.
Mr. Jaitley would take few decisions on the budget day on the basis of data which are not appropriate. Let me put some facts and suggestions in front of him so that he can draw and focus on many things instead of few.
 

Mr. FM should need to focus more on investments which can reap benefits to this economy. If India wants to grow @ 8% growth rate then there is a need of sharp rise in Investments.

In March 2008 quarter alone, investments were made up close to one third of economic output. After that, it had plummeted by four percent since then.
Mr, FM needs to revive public investments and it should be replaced by private investment with a suitable PPP (Public Private Partnership) Model. There is a need to push Infrastructure as well.

To make this into reality, government can play crucial role by bringing private players for investment through speeding up stalled projects which have been stranded in the middle of somewhere, increase capital expenditure so that it can create more jobs in the economy.
To control the burgeoning Fiscal Deficit numbers, government has been reducing public investments from many years. (During 1980s time public investments were 37% which is now plummeted to 12% only)
Capital Expenditure has also been decreasing from past many years.

Government needs to curtail its  Non discretionary expenses(Partially first) or check the frauds which usually happens in the Non- Discretionary expenses which accounts close to one-third of its expenses like defense, subsidies, salaries, pensions, interest payment etc.

Mr. FM should take more steps like coal auctions ( monopoly of CIL ) through which private players can enter into this sector, Spectrum sale (Grappling with corruption charges) through this, government gets more and more funds from telecom operators which are sitting on the coffers of huge cash and last but not least divestment of sick PSUs.
He should also focus on growth of other sectors as well like agriculture, forestry and fishing sector which is estimates to be a mere 0.4% in the current quarter.

If Mr. Jaitley read this suggestions carefully and look out the actual numbers, then his priorities might change before he can finalize his steps which he will take on the budget day.
After looking at the favorable conditions ( Huge drop in the prices of Brent Crude Oil since August 2014,  bank credit growth at 11% (Approx) i am quite sure that this time Mr. FM has many choices with him which he needs to look after.
We will wait and watch…!!

Twin Deficits: Daunting task for RBI Governor & Finance Minister!

Rahul Agarwal

With whopping oil subsidies of Rs 96000 crores in 2012 and a high fiscal and current account deficit, Can Finance Minister & RBI Governor revives the sluggish Indian Economy?

From past three years Indian economy has been on a very slippery path with a GDP growth rate which is below 6 percent. Now after these three years, we can see the sign of recovery in the Indian economy in which UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government has been taking reforms in the form of steps to revive this Indian economy. But, after the massive reforms taken by the UPA government, still there is a concern for both Finance Minister and RBI Governor and that is “Twin Deficits”. With a record high CPI (Consumer Price Index) around 10% in December 2012 and WPI (Whole Sale price Index) around 7.4% (It’s still very high) in December 2012. Fiscal deficit, which is excess of expenditure over its income was also very high around 5.3% of GDP where as CAD (Current account deficit), which is excess of imports over exports was also very high around 5.4% of GDP. Both these deficits lead Indian Economy into a Twin Deficits. So to curtail the effect of this Twin Deficits, UPA government has been taking steps of reforms to boost the Indian economy like FDI, deregulation of Diesel prices, cap on LPG cylinders etc.

Reasons for these huge Deficits…

1.  Subsidies:

In 2012 alone, the burden of subsidies on the head of the government was around Rs 2.16 lakh crores in which Petroleum subsidy’s share was 31.7%, fertilizer Subsidy’s share was 31%, Food subsidy’s share was 33.7% and rest for others. Due to this whooping subsidy bill, the expenditure of the UPA government had increased and on the other side its revenue decreased and this lead to fiscal deficit which UPA government had been tackling this menace from past many years. This is a huge concern for any government of a nation which has a fiscal deficit of 5.3% of the GDP. Now to tackle this menace government took serious steps like increase in the prices of diesel (decontrol of oil prices) which will reduce the gap between petrol and diesel and will curtail the subsidy bill of the government.

2. Yellow Fever:

In past one year the demand for precious yellow metal gold had been rising due to sluggish economy with high cost push inflation. So, people of India felt that gold is the safest investment because gold prices were kept on rising. Due to this, Indian jewellers were importing gold from Thailand. In the (FTA) foreign trade agreements between India and Thailand there was a point of import duty. So when someone import gold from Thailand then the person have to pay Import duty of 1% where as if someone import gold from any country other than Thailand then they have to pay import duty up to 10% approx. Due to this, a massive demand of gold emerged and huge amount of gold imported from Thailand and this lead to Indian currency going outside the country which increased the CAD (Current Account Deficit).  To curtail the demand of gold, Finance Minister P Chidambaram took the step of raising import duty on gold to 6% percent. Due to this, people need to pay higher prices for gold to import which lead to the demand of gold fallen down.

Now to overcome from these twin deficits Finance Minister P Chidambaram would likely to announce higher tax rates for the rich ones in his next budget which he will announce on February 28. But according to some top economists, tax rate shouldn’t be increase for rich because if tax rate would increase for super rich then it directly encourages tax evasion because the tax base is not rising. In 2002, the number of tax payers was just 316.88 lakh where as in 2012, it was around 324.16 lakh. If the tax base will not rise and if the tax rate will increase of super rich people then it will lead to tax evasion and the rich will shift income to tax havens, it will also lead to massive under reporting of incomes by professionals and traders and companies will structure salaries to make their employees less taxing. So it shouldn’t be increased for the rich, as high income earners already pay bulk of tax. The solution for this is widening the tax base so that more and more people will pay their tax honestly. So this is one of the challenges for the Finance Minister to curtail fiscal deficit.

After increasing the tax rate proposal, to reduce the fiscal gap, UPA government would likely to reintroduce the inheritance tax in the Union budget which will be announced by the Finance Minister on February 28. This tax was introduced in 1953 and abolished by former finance minister VP Singh in 1985. Inheritance tax is a tax which imposed on a person who inherits assets. It is also known as death tax. This is the recommendation of finance minister to reduce the fiscal gap but the argument against this proposal of implementing this is when the deceased had already paid income tax on income earned and possibly wealth tax every year for possessing the assets, to pay tax on it again is harsh and may result in multiple taxation. This argument could lead to create problems for Finance Minister.

Recently, to reduce the consumption of diesel, government wanted to impose green tax on diesel vehicles and the tax rate is 25 percent of the cost of the vehicle. This would lead to discouragement of diesel vehicles by consumers. But there is also an argument against this proposal that if the green tax will impose then the demand of second hand diesel cars will increase abruptly and will extracts more carbon than the newer one. Already consumers are paying premium on diesel models over petrol models and if this green tax will impose then the demand of diesel models will decline sharply which lead to huge losses to the auto sector. Due to this, many foreign companies who are planning to increase their share in India will go back to their respective nation and remove India’s name in their lists of investment destination. So this is also one of the challenges for the finance Minister

Deregulation of oil prices:

With a view to revive the economy, Finance Minister took the step of Decontrol of oil prices in which prices of diesel will increase by 50 paise every month for ten months which will ease the pressure on OMC (Oil Marketing Companies). This was one of the good steps taken by the Finance Minister. But, after implementing this step, Sales of diesel soared up to 22 percent in Delhi in December quarter. This happened because the bulk users of diesel like malls, public transport buses etc are directly purchasing diesel from petrol pumps because the bulk users which usually purchase diesel in tankers directly from oil companies, now have to pay about 20% more than the price at retail pumps. This has triggered a rush of big buyers to petrol pumps where they find diesel about Rs10 cheaper. This increase in the sales of diesel is a bad news for all the OMCs (Oil Marketing Companies), which were hoping bigger margins from big customers.  So this is also another bad news for the Finance Minister as well because it is very difficult to prevent malpractices.

Rate Cut/CRR:

On 29 January 2013, RBI Governor Duvvuri Subbarao nodded for the market sentiments and lowered repo rate and CRR (Cash reserve ratio) by 25 bps which created boost for the inflation hit economy. Lowering the two key variants will no doubt increase in investment but also benefit the borrowers which will take loans from the commercial banks at a lower rate. But, after the announcement of the rate cut, Subbarao said Twin Deficits leave little room for further easing. This means that in coming months RBI can increase repo rate and CRR and that will depend on the situation of the economy. Subbarao also said that CAD (Current account deficit) poses a barrier on the easing of the monetary policy. This means monetary policy cannot be further down due to high Current account deficit in a slowing economy.
Moreover, Subbarao told to the reporters that high Current Account deficit in a slowing economy with a huge fiscal deficit of 5.3% of GDP exposes our economy to the risk from Twin Deficits. So we are keenly watching the market and will take appropriate steps in the future.

So a question comes in the mind of every citizen of India “Can RBI Governor & Finance Minister revives the sluggish Indian Economy”?
Let’s wait and watch!

Loss of Humanity!

Rahul Agarwal

On December 16, 2012, A 23 year old girl was enjoying the day with her friend by watching a movie in a theater, but she didn’t know that, that day will be the horrific day of her life which leads to her death.  The victim’s name was Nirbhaya, Damini which were given by the Times Of India and the nation. All these names are just merely the identity of that girl who came to Delhi by having dreams in her eyes. The girl was doing a job as well as studying and who was a medical student by profession. She is the elder daughter of her parents and who had two younger brothers. Her father spent all his savings into her daughter’s study by only one hope she will become the backbone of our family and will feed her family by getting a good job, but on December 16, the most heinous crime took place in which she was gang raped by six people in a moving bus and was thrown out of the bus on a chilly winter night. After fighting for nearly thirteen odd days with courage and determination and after that, she lost the battle of her life and India lost a brave daughter. This gruesome incident shocked the nation about the safety of women not only in urban areas but also in rural areas.

Protest across Nation

After the incident happened, huge numbers of youth were protesting against the government for the safety concerns of women in the national capital. Students from various colleges joined and protesting at the India Gate with only one hope that this could open the eyes of the government and can punish the perpetrators. After the protest, government took serious steps to overcome from this incident. Government ordered DMRC to close down ten metro stations which were near to India Gate areas. Almost every road was close with barricades and huge amount of police force deployed near to India Gate and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Huge numbers of individuals were praying for the girl with candles in their hand but no candles and no pray saved the girl who was brutally assaulted and gang raped by six men in a moving bus.

Furore after comments by Asaram Bapu

After this incident, many politicians and yog gurus came into the center and made some unacceptable comments which no one can expect and this created vigilante euphoria in the media. First, Asaram Bapu came who has known for his lectures and yog, made the atrocious comment that “The girl was as guilty as the rapists, she should have called one of them brother and beg them before those six heading towards her.”  This pathetic comment by a Yog guru created huge outrage across the nation, as this was not expected from a yog guru. Perhaps, “people should preaching a yog guru like him” said by the brother of that girl after knowing the comments made by Asaram bapu. After this, one of the politicians made a comment that “Biharis were responsible for the Delhi gang rape”. After this comment, people made their mindset that this incident benefited politicians a lot. Many of them came forward and had sympathy for the family of the girl but none took the appropriate steps to improve the safety of women in the Delhi. After this incident, when news reporters of various channels took the initiative to find out how much Delhi roads are safer for the women? Then news reporters were also became the victim of eve-teasing and got weird comments by the bad boys and nobody took any action against them.

Justice by the Blind Law

Only one good thing about Delhi police in this case was culprits were nabbed by police within 24 hours when they did the most heinous crime in the history of the India. But only putting all the perpetrators behind the bars is not the only solution. So far the hearing is going on as usual in the Indian law. Police already gathered huge amount of proof and only eye witness in this case is the victim’s friend who was with her when the incident took place. Now, according to the news the six prime accused who is a Juvenile (according to his family) will get maximum punishment of three years and will come out from the bars after three years. This shows how bad the Indian law is. Now let me start with the law. Juvenile is defined under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act as someone below 18 years. This Act states that the justice system, as available for adults, is not suitable for application to juveniles. Thus, the purpose of the Act is to provide for the care, protection, treatment, development, rehabilitation and social integration of delinquent juveniles. Disputes relating to juveniles are heard by specially constituted Juvenile Justice Boards.
It’s important to clarify a common misgiving that an inquiry initiated against an accused, who at the time of the offence was a juvenile, does not abate merely upon such person crossing 18 years during the course of such inquiry. The societal changes over the last decade, changed nutritional diet and the exposure that the children have from a very young age, it is true that they are maturing faster and hence, the age of the juveniles must reduce it to 16 or up to 14.


This brutal gang rape of a 23 year old girl in a moving bus is a grim reminder of how unsafe the capital is for women. The Horrific incident draws attention once again to the disturbing phenomenon of crimes against women and weak enforcement of law.
The primary reasons of the crimes and the perpetrators are fearless because of low conviction rate for sexual crimes, absence of police reforms and a pathetic judicial process.
After the confession of the incident by the victim’s friend on the national TV, it was confirmed that India lost not only a brave daughter but also its humanity. A moving bus which was roaming for more than two and half hours was not seen by anybody. When both the girl and boy thrown out of the bus and they were not having clothes on their body, nobody gave them clothes and three PCRs came and were discussing this case will go in which police station instead of taking them to hospital. This was the ridiculous part of duty from police side. A girl lost her life, a father lost his daughter, a brother lost his sister, a friend lost his prestigious friend,  a nation lost his brave daughter but nobody will understand the pain of a mother who lost her princess. After this brutal gang rap murder India definitely lost its humanity!