Champion of EMI payers
You don¿t say!
Darius Nakhoonwala
This column has often pointed out how, as far as editorials are concerned, there are three types of editors: those who accept what the resident expert has written; those who re-write compulsively; and those who tinker with the copy, sometimes improving it and sometimes wrecking it.
This week I want to focus on the first type, namely, the one who leaves it entirely to the expert even when the rest of the world is saying that the expert has an agenda. The question is: should the editor not pay heed to this criticism? Should he not check what is going on? Should he not enquire why the same point is made again and again and again, regardless of the context? Should the edit sound like a peeve and rant?
I am referring to the Indian Express whose edits on economic matters have becoming a laughing stock in the trade because they pertain, almost to the extent of 90 per cent, to just one topic: monetary policy and exchange rate policy. And the point is always the same: the RBI is mismanaging both.
It is no one¿s case that the RBI is always right. But, equally, it cannot be anyone¿s case that it is always wrong. This can be seen from the edits in other newspapers who, in general, judge on merits and not on some pre-conceived notion of what needs to be done.
Consider this long preamble in the context of the RBI¿s decision not to change the key policy interest rates. For a few days previously, the Express had been campaigning for a rate cut. Then when it didn¿t happen, it freaked out. In an extraordinarily stupid edit, this is some of what it wrote:
"…when the RBI left key rates unchanged, it was falling into a by now laid-out pattern. In nearly four years of UPA rule, one version of it has gone like this: the Congress government goes after inflation with a sledgehammer, and hurts the aam aadmi it swears by, but refuses to see."
"In its frantic bid to moderate inflation, it allows interest to go up for the average Indian on credit. But of course, we know that the Congress does not deem ordinary folk burdened by brutal EMIs in
The edit then went on to discuss Congress and BJP politics. "the Congress is confused on both economics and politics…Meanwhile, if statements at the National Council meet are any indication, the BJP is for once getting its act together. Among the reiterations of its pet Hindutva issues, party president Rajnath Singh talked of the EMI-paying people, struggling with rising loan rates. Time is running out for the Congress…"
Contrast this with the papers that compete with it.
The Hindu had this to say: "opting for the status quo in interest rates, the central bank has given itself some flexibility; it can choose to modify the rates at a later date, depending on exigencies arising from domestic and global developments."
The Telegraph said this: "Given the RBI¿s conservatism and caution on inflation, this hawkish tone is not out of place. That said, the policy statement also emphasizes the RBI¿s willingness to act quickly and change its stance if circumstances so warrant."
The Hindustan Times and the Times of India also wrote balanced edits about the constraints and the complexity of the issues before the economy and that a small wait for a cut would not matter much.
This was the key central point which the Express missed entirely.