RAILWAYS-Staff Cuts at What Cost

to May 23, aggregate deposit growth of scheduled commercial banks has crossed Rs 10,000 crore, whereas their bank credit has experienced an absolute decline. On the other hand, investments have grown by Rs 10,469 crore. Seasonality alone cannot explain such a blatant neglect of the banking system's responsibility for rendering credit for productive purposes. On the other hand, it looks as though the industrial sector activities have come to a grinding halt due to non-availability of institutional credit and also the usurious rates of interest charged to such credit. Construction activity, which provides employment to a vast section of the migrant labour, has also received a jolt. On account of the high interest rates prevailing in the debt market and general weakness of the corporate performance the capital market in particular and the financial system in general is in a moribund state. All of these, together would have adversely affected the growth in employment in the non-farm sector to the same extent as it happened in the initial years of the stabilisation and structural adjustment programmes. Who would the parliament hold responsible for such a sorry pass except the Reserve Bank of India? Is not the parliament entitled to ask as to why in such a capital-scarce economy, vast resources are frittered away in treasury operations and speculative financial dealings to the total neglect of rendering production and investment credit?