At a time when the whole world is looking for an effective model of good governance, it was really a pleasant surprise to come across a document from South Africa entitled, State of the Public Service Report 2008, published by the Public Service Commission of South Africa. It was further encouraging to know that this document is being published annually since the last seven years.

The amalgamation of regional rural banks has been completed. This paper builds up a case against it. Amalgamation would be a death blow to the credit starved rural poor, most of whom are small and marginal farmers, agricultural and landless labourers, and artisans. The paper calls for an immediate de-amalgamation of RRBS in the interest of the vast majority of the rural poor.

The loan waiver will lighten the debt burden of the farmers. But in the long term this will adversely affect the rural credit institutions that extend loans to farmers. A discussion of the likely fallout.

It was interesting to read the article 'Rural Short-term Cooperative Credit Structure' by Mandira Sharma and Rajiv Kumar (March 1, 2008) but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. The authors would have done well to fist understand some basic concepts like capital, non-performing assets, majority shareholding, etc, before commenting at such length on the Vaidyanathan Committee recommendations and implementation of the government of India's revival package based on it. (Letter)