Sir,
Since the day you have announced your resignation, there has been lot of buzz/noise going around. Media has brought in a new term called "Rexit". Many are talking about the politics around your exit. There are too many theories and too many explanations about "Rexit". In country like ours , where listening is considered as a skill, everybody loves to express and put forth their views. I am no different. Since the day you have announced your resignation a feeling of discomfort has crept in me. People like me are born to follow many models , but I had never imagined that a Governer of India can be one of my role models. That's how ordinary I am. So, This letter is devoid of all the logic and is just a formal thank you.
I don’t know a way by which a youngster of almost half your age who hasn’t been trained in economics can decide whether or not to thank you for your service to the nation as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India. I always wondered how much knowledge an average Indian would have of the man whose ‘promise to pay the bearer’ a particular sum of rupees makes the money in the former’s pocket valuable. Since the time I began to realize the importance of the institution, I’ve seen only four RBI Governors, including you. But I can confidently tell you that I don’t remember the expiration of their terms becoming a matter of public debate.
When you assumed office three years ago, yours truly had grown up into an engineer working in a IT company with no knowledge of economics or Indian economy. But, it was your dynamic nature and continues public address that made me read about you and in turn about our economy. Never would’ve India’s central banker got so much applause from the common people like me who are otherwise put off by terms like ‘rate cut’, ‘repo rate’ or ‘CRR’. The reason for your popularity is not just the ‘excessive coverage’ by the media as claimed by a section of people, but something bigger than that.
Yes, of late, you were targeted by some politicians (and I dont want to discuss that debate here as I unsure about my credibility to comment), and it definitely drew the media’s attention towards the issue of expiration of your term, but you had caught the attention of average Indians like us much before that. Be it explaining economic liberalization to schoolchildren or your views on corruption and intolerance, you interacted with the common people unlike a typical economist.
Thanks to the expert opinions in the aftermath of your exit that we know how you kept rate cuts in abeyance to curb inflation, despite the government demanding the contrary. You were quick to point out the fallacies in the new formula to calculate the Gross Domestic Product which had pushed India’s growth rates beyond 7 per cent overnight. The most important role in making you ‘famous’ among the common people like me was played by your regular addresses at public events, in which you didn’t restrict yourself to economics but also spoke on why does corruption prevail in our society, asked educational institutions to encourage students to ‘challenge authority’.
Your frank comment about India’s economy a ‘one-eyed king in the land of the blind’ was taken and criticized for a wrong reason. It was actually a smart comment. If you are ‘not mentally fully Indian’ then the mental state of people like us does not exist at all.
Despite what people say about you, for common people like us, you were a central banker about whom we came to know well while you were in office. And, therefore, this youngster of half your age and untrained in economics thanks you for your valuable service and being a pioneer for
the future generations.
Since the day you have announced your resignation, there has been lot of buzz/noise going around. Media has brought in a new term called "Rexit". Many are talking about the politics around your exit. There are too many theories and too many explanations about "Rexit". In country like ours , where listening is considered as a skill, everybody loves to express and put forth their views. I am no different. Since the day you have announced your resignation a feeling of discomfort has crept in me. People like me are born to follow many models , but I had never imagined that a Governer of India can be one of my role models. That's how ordinary I am. So, This letter is devoid of all the logic and is just a formal thank you.
I don’t know a way by which a youngster of almost half your age who hasn’t been trained in economics can decide whether or not to thank you for your service to the nation as the Governor of Reserve Bank of India. I always wondered how much knowledge an average Indian would have of the man whose ‘promise to pay the bearer’ a particular sum of rupees makes the money in the former’s pocket valuable. Since the time I began to realize the importance of the institution, I’ve seen only four RBI Governors, including you. But I can confidently tell you that I don’t remember the expiration of their terms becoming a matter of public debate.
When you assumed office three years ago, yours truly had grown up into an engineer working in a IT company with no knowledge of economics or Indian economy. But, it was your dynamic nature and continues public address that made me read about you and in turn about our economy. Never would’ve India’s central banker got so much applause from the common people like me who are otherwise put off by terms like ‘rate cut’, ‘repo rate’ or ‘CRR’. The reason for your popularity is not just the ‘excessive coverage’ by the media as claimed by a section of people, but something bigger than that.
Yes, of late, you were targeted by some politicians (and I dont want to discuss that debate here as I unsure about my credibility to comment), and it definitely drew the media’s attention towards the issue of expiration of your term, but you had caught the attention of average Indians like us much before that. Be it explaining economic liberalization to schoolchildren or your views on corruption and intolerance, you interacted with the common people unlike a typical economist.
Thanks to the expert opinions in the aftermath of your exit that we know how you kept rate cuts in abeyance to curb inflation, despite the government demanding the contrary. You were quick to point out the fallacies in the new formula to calculate the Gross Domestic Product which had pushed India’s growth rates beyond 7 per cent overnight. The most important role in making you ‘famous’ among the common people like me was played by your regular addresses at public events, in which you didn’t restrict yourself to economics but also spoke on why does corruption prevail in our society, asked educational institutions to encourage students to ‘challenge authority’.
Your frank comment about India’s economy a ‘one-eyed king in the land of the blind’ was taken and criticized for a wrong reason. It was actually a smart comment. If you are ‘not mentally fully Indian’ then the mental state of people like us does not exist at all.
Despite what people say about you, for common people like us, you were a central banker about whom we came to know well while you were in office. And, therefore, this youngster of half your age and untrained in economics thanks you for your valuable service and being a pioneer for
the future generations.
