Now Government wakes up to credit card fraud

An article that appeared today in the Mumbai Mirror, edition dated 22nd June 2007 talks about MRTPC getting into act to probe the wrong doing of Credit Card companies.

It is a known fact amongst people who watch this industry that this kind of skimming has been happening for year. The Credit Card Industry is so loaded with money that they have been able to buy silence from the authorities.

My question is, when a person commits a robbery by snatching a chain on the street, you first beat him up, then haul him to the nearest police station, then the police extracts their pond of flesh from the thief. Later he is consigned to the legal system where the reason why he did the act in the first place is ignored and he is sent to prison.

How many such cases can you remember of corporate thieves going to jail? Not many I believe. Therefore it becomes all the more important that this industry is reined in and the MBA's who head and manage these schemes be sent to jail. Only then the white-collar people will realize that they can not get away with fraud and larceny.

Imagine a credit card issuing company like ICICI which has 20 Million cards committing a fraud of 100 rupees on 10% of their card base. Do you think this does not happen? Wait for the MRTPC report which will tell you the truth unless these companies are able to buy the investigators from here too.

Article reproduced below for your reading pleasure.

MRTPC orders probe into credit card fees

NEW DELHI: Alarmed by reports that credit card companies have collected over Rs 6,000 crore in a decade from customers by way of fines and late fee, India’s antimonopoly w a t c h d o g has ordered a probe into the fees levied by them.

The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has asked the Director General of Investigation and Registration (DGIR) to probe the issue and report back, sources have revealed.

The commission ordered the probe after taking cognizance of reports that claimed credit card issuers extracted more than Rs 6,000 crore as late fee, cash, advance fee, billed finance fee, overlimit fee, cash withdrawal fee, insurance charges, cheque pick-up fee and service taxes during the past 10 years.
DGIR would direct banks to furnish details of their income during last three-four years derived from other than the credit limits (extra charges), the sources added.

As per the MRTPC Act, DGIR has to submit its preliminary investigation report before the commission within 90 days.

The commission has already initiated judicial enquiry against Citibank, HSBC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank for adopting unfair practices for selling credit cards, as the DGIR submitted its preliminary report in which it suspected these organisation to have violated norms.

In its report, DGIR had found that these banks were making false promises to their credit card customers and caused loss to the general public by violating the rules framed by the Reserve Bank of India. It also alleged that the banks were delaying delivery of bills and realisation of cheques toward payment just to charge increased interest rate, late fee and fines, etc.

The commission had initiated judicial enquiry against HDFC on November 10 last on the same grounds.

The sources added enquiries against American Express Bank, ABN Amro and country’s largest lender State Bank of India on the same issue are also going on. PTI

we-the women

I am here to write about the common problems faced by the "common woman"
No doubt that we all need basic amenities (decent ones) to be able to lead a good life. But there is something more than that a woman would want from the society. Before I venture into that, lets just chalk out what the present woman's life style is all about.
She rushes in the morning to college/work, spends the whole day slogging over her assignments, travels back home in local buses (and reaches home stinking with others' sweat, not to mention other bonuses that come with the package of boarding a local bus).
This is just the goodie-stuff.
Now lets explore what lies beneath the surface......
While on her way to the college/work, she has to either wait for a bus or an auto...neither being an easy job. To get into a jampacked bus and come out intact is a struggle. Its a struggle to find a seat, another one and the tougher one is to safeguard oneself from protruding eyes, wandering hands and cynical smiles. Somehow or by sheer virtue of everyday practice she manages to reach her destination. In the college, she faces competition. There are challenges at every step. Devils in disguise are there too... She often has to work in an unfriendly environment, amidst lechers, cut-throst competition and of course boss's boot-lickers. safeguarding herself from all these and more...she tries HARD to rise up the ladder. step by step she moves up.
but is it all worth it? at the end of the day, she has to come home and face the music for getting late from work, for not being able to be a domestic goddess(just a euphemism for a housemaid).
her husband expects her to be the obedient servant that his mother has taught him to expect from his wife; the mum-in-law wants her to take all the responsibilities; to top it all they make it more and more difficult for her to work, whether at home or outside. and then they want her to look stunning and smiling 'coz she's a prized possession that the husband would want to flaunt at parties.....
if she has children, she's made to live with a guilt of not paying enough attention to them.
in such circumstances, anyone would crumble and give up her career. but she fights and fights hard(silently though) to save her identity....
again i ask, is it all worh it?
by the time she's a mother of a daughter, she's scared and apprehensive and pushes the daughter to the same life that she herself had lead so far.....
can anyone rise up and do something about this?
doesn't a woman need love,encouragement, appreciation for all that she does...?
i seriously need comments and discussions on this topic....

What does a common man (aam admi) require for a decent living

Our governments fail to rise to the aspirations of the common man. There is a total disconnect between the people and the government. This is essentially due to the structure of our democracy, where there is no single person or body that can be held responsible for the mess that we live in. So, what does a common man want from the government.

Here is a list of few things

• Roads are maintained in good condition.
• Street lights function
• Whenever roads are dug up, proper signs and safety precautions are put in place
• Garbage is collected on a regular basis
• Road digging should be a planned activity with the involvement of all agencies that require to dig the road and repair it subsequently. We often find a road dug up, resurfaced and then dug up again in a very short span of time.
• Gardens, if any are available, should be maintained properly
• Water supply, the bane of all metros, should be clean and adequate.
• All construction firms and their promoters should be black-listed for not obtaining occupation certificates for buildings constructed by them singly or as a partner/director.
• Illegal construction should not happen in any urban conglomerate.
• Information of local authorities should be made available to the people such as
  
• Ward officer
• Police Officer/ Constables
• Sewerage and Garbage In Charge
• Water Supply In Charge
• Electric Supply In Charge
• Local Municipal Representative of the people
  
• Local elected MLA
• Sports clubs should be created and sports activities encouraged to foster closer community integration.
• Senior citizens should be enumerated, protected and provided for
• Community interaction and gatherings should be organized
• Library / Reading Room facilities should be made available to all free of cost.
• Business establishments should be made to follow fair business practices and subscribe to a fair practice code.

It is not that all these activities are not happening, some are indeed taking place, but almost all the effort is a local level and often propagated by a political party.

It is time that the authorities that be wake up to these simple and small needs of the people