BSNL DEAD! Just Sack the INCOMPETENT INEFFICIENT LETHARGIC Managers and Engineers! Sixth Pay Commission Has NOT Helped WORK CULTURE of the CREAMY Layer DETACHED from Public Service Liabilities. Masses Persecuted Do Justify DISINVESTMENT and Privatisation. GOVT. and PSU Employees DIG Their Own Graves! SORRY!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams, Chapter 280
Palash Biswas
I have been CONSISTING writing that I am DISCONNECTED since 21st June, Sunday after a ROADWAYS Accident in Sodepur damaging BSNL Lines.
My landline number 91-33-25659551 remains DEAD.
I am connected to an EMERGENCY Service, INFORMATION and day to day, Minute by Minute Analysis.
I have to talk to the people of different spheres countrywide and abroad.
I post my write ups to the President Of India.
EX President APJ Abdul Kalam did take actions accordingly, I remeber, but Mrs Pratibah Devi patil seems rather a little bit DETACHED as her GOVERNMENT of India Incorporation is.
I do post the copies to Media at large scales, social Activists, Politicians, Ministers, MPS and so on. But I am sorry that NO BDY Noticed the INCONVENIENCE.
In my area, SODEPUR and HB Town, more than Three Thousan Land Line BSNL Telephone sets remain DISCONNECTED with Broad band and dial Up connections DISCONNECTED. Since I shifted to cable for my Internet connections, I may write at home.
Since the Cell phones do work other than the BSNL Network, the Professionals and specilly those who are INVOLVED in Emergency Service may work out the Inconvenience. But you may not distribute CELL PHONE Number to everyone! I was OBLIGED to do even that. I had to Post my Cell phone Number Public. But it may not Compenset the land Line Loss!
Meanwhile, in Kolkata, at least 64,500 phone lines and 12,000 broadband connections have gone dead in the heart of the city following the fire at BSNL's Circus
exchange on Hungerford Street on Tuesday night.
PROS in Government sectors have NOTHING to do. They remain FINANCIAL Burden! They have no ANSWER when the BSNL Connection would be ACTIVATED. You may not interact with the managers and Engineers! No one is there to bail you out. No network is so much so UNPROFESSIONAL and INefficient as BSNL.
I had always PROTESTED DISINVESTMENT. I had been on speaking tour to mobilise our people against AMERICANISED Market Oriented Privatisation without Social COMMITMENT. I have been writing and working TIRELESS against AMERICANISATION of the Economy as well as POLITY. I had always been very HARSH against the LPG mafia and its MASS Detruction EXECUTIVES including RBI, FINMIN, PMO and Parliamentary Reality Show.
But I had been realising that the Government Employess, whether IAS or IPS, PCS or Executives or the Fourth Class Employees do BEHAVE as ANTI PEOPLE as their masters, the EUNUNCH politicians do. They simply PERSECUTE the masses. If it is Global Market, then you should SATISFY the Consumers as you never care for the UNDERCLASS UNDERPREVILEGED Citizens without Plastic Money! But the Governemt Institutions, departments , sections, cells, stations, exchanges and PSUS in General FAIL. Despite COMPUTERISATION any Public sector Bank including SBI, Never lose the OPPORTUNITY to harrass the Massaes and make them helpless SCAPE Goats!
I have been warning the PSU and GOVT. sector friends time and again that the CREAMY layer status mostly for CO OPTION, Appeasement, Equation, Reseravation and Quota won`t help them to get ESCAPE Route in false Recession. I had the OPPORTUNITIES to fly with Indian AIRLINES which have been WORST of my Experiences. Even in head Quarters , under the survillience of supreme Authorities, WORK CULTURE happens to be quite Absent. CORRUPTION Overwhemling! Because these WHITENED People have disaasociated from teir own people, even families, UPROOTED they live in IVORY TOWERS and never face HEAT and DUST as we feel rouns the clock! Isolated as they have been, Masses have no SYMPATHY for the DAMNED Lot living in LUXURY Heavens. But the JOB LOSS Trend, the AMERICANISED Economy and POLITY would NEVER let them go UNPUNISHED!
Sant Poet KABIR DAS warned such people, NEXT TURN is yours!
Thus, DISINVESTMENT DRIVE and Economic Reforms Continue without any PUBLIC RESISTANCE!
Why should the General masses satan United for those who always TORTURED them? Ask anyone, they Damn care for the IDEOLOGY and SUPPORTS PRIVATISATION simply for better SERVICE! It is so HOPELESS and such a RED ALERT for the SHORT Life of our SIXTH Pay Commission friends country wide that they would NEVER REalise. I am AFRAID that these PSU and GOVT. Employees are DESTINED for worse DESTINY than already DESTROYED Indian PEASANTRY!
Twenty Five Percent of the TENLAC Corore Budget is allocated for Defence and security Forces!
Twenty Percent goes to feed the KILLER Money Machine!
REST of the MONEY is destined for SIXTH Pay Commission and Flag ship Progrrammes!
Where does goes the INDIAN Economy with Projected ZERO Percent Inflation and INFLATED Growth rate depending on NASDAC Replicated share Index?
It is a SHAME for any Sovereign democracy that we SPEND so much so on DEFENCE just to have SWISS BANK Accounts for our Politicians and policy Makers riding the waves of BLIND Nationalism and so called WAR against Terror!
Fiscal DEFICIT has not to be made up as we NEVER Happen a CORE ECONOMY and had no COLONY like India or CHINA to EXPLOIT!
The GOVT Employees and the PSU EMPLOYEES would suffer more than the Massaes as the Masses are habitual to live with FOOD Insecurity. But the STATUS People have NO OPTION but to COMMITT SUICIDE along with the family to save false honour once they are OUT of the System and the JOB. They have not RETURNED anything to the SOCIETY and the Society has no PLCE for thes SLAVES of BASTARDISED EUNUNCH RULE under MANSMRITI APARTHEID HEGMONY!
The Political Parties, the Ideologies or the Tarde Unions would NEVER HELP You!
PLEASE come on the tough Reality Grownd amongst the MASSES and only the MASSES may SAVE you!
In Kolkata Metro, at least 64,500 phone lines and 12,000 broadband connections have gone dead in the heart of the city following the fire at BSNL's Circus exchange on Hungerford Street on Tuesday night.
Worse, it may take BSNL nearly a fortnight to restore all the connections. The sphere of disruption touches Park Street in the north; AJC Bose Road, Bondel Road and Picnic Garden in the south; EM Bypass in the east and Jawaharlal Nehru Road in the west
Calcutta Telephones chief general manager S K Chakra-varti said critical lines like hospitals and banks would be restored in 24-36 hours, followed by major corporate networks within a week. However, it could take 12-14 days for the entire network to go online. In the meantime, BSNL has provided wireless telephone connections to key subscribers like chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti.
With the Camac Street-Park Street-Shakespeare Sarani commercial hub located smack in the middle of the affected zone, businesses are taking a battering, with losses pegged in excess of Rs 5 crore a day.
Altogether, 52 ATMs and several hundred credit card swipe machines went blank, crippling transactions at travel houses, hotels, restaurants and other retail establishments. Several hospitals including National Medical College & Hospital, Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital, Sambhunath Pandit and Belle Vue were hit.
The exchange that is the nucleus of CalTel's commercial activity, handles 4 lakh voice calls and 1 tera byte (1,000 giga bytes) data daily that results in annual revenue earning of Rs 116 crore for the telecom company. In revenue terms, it is the largest of the 24 mother exchanges that BSNL has in the city.
Among the interim measures rolled out by BSNL include free voice and data services at Telephone Bhavan, Ballygunge Place and the Entally phone exchange from 10 am to 10 pm for affected customers and a discount of Rs 100 from the next telephone bill.
Tuesday's fire at BSNL's Circus exchange on Hungerford Street has damaged equipment worth Rs 1 crore besides disrupting 64,500 telephone lines, 12,000 broadband lines, 57 switching nodes and 60 high value business establishments connected by ISDN primary route access.
A forensic team inspected the site on Wednesday morning and ruled out sabotage, pinning the blame on a short circuit. Ironically, it is not the fire but the water sprayed by fire fighters that caused such damage to equipment at the exchange.
A similar fire-fighting exercise during a fire at the CalTel headquarters two years ago had also resulted in such damage.
"Fighting a fire in a bazaar is very different from that in a telecom office. The priority of the fire brigade is to put out the flames. Since they use conventional means, it leads to extensive damage. If we can set up a team that specialises in fires in an electronic environment, it can contain the damage," Caltel chief general manager S K Chakravarti said.
Deficiencies in management of PSUs cost Rs 1,846 cr: CAG
Irregular payment incentives to employees, excess expenditure, non-compliance of rules and other deficiencies cost Rs 1,846 crore to
public sector units, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in a report.
The Department of Public Enterprises has issued several instructions regarding the manner in which payment of incentives are to be made to the employees of the PSUs.
"It has been observed that various PSUs are paying incentives in the form of ex-gratia, honorarium, reward, cash award, stagnation relief, leave encashment etc to their employees in contravention of these guidelines," the report for the year ended March 2008 tabled in Parliament today said.
This has been pointed out in various audit reports since 1994 and also brought to the notice of DPE and concerned Ministries, it said.
"Despite this, the practice of payment of various types of incentives in contravention of DPE guidelines is still continuing and no corrective action has been taken by the concerned Ministries\companies," it said.
Sectors and PSUs in which major irregularities have been reported include petroleum and natural gas, coal, civil aviation, power and heavy industries.
The report said that ONGC had taken different stands for deciding viability of the projects for acceptance of bids. "Bids re-invented consequently resulted in extra expenditure of Rs 193.97 crore," the CAG found.
72 govt cos accumulated losses of Rs 94,428 cr by FY'08-end
Equity investment in 72 state-run entities has been completely eroded as they accumulated losses of Rs 94,428 crore by the end of
2007-08, more than five times their paid up capital, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in a report.
The report, tabled in Parliament today, said that as on March 2008 "the accumulated losses in these 72 companies were Rs 94,428 crore against equity investment of Rs 15,762 crore as on March 2008, making their combined net worth negative at Rs 78,665 crore".
This included six listed companies, whose accumulated losses were Rs 11,349 crore against equity investment of Rs 1,451 crore, making their combined net worth negative at Rs 9,898 crore, the report said.
During 2007-08, the total outstanding government loans in 46 firms, out of those 72, amounted to Rs 49,926 crore, it added.
The principal amount of government loans remaining unpaid on the due dates amounted to Rs 11,973 crore, it said.
As the capital of 46 companies was fully eroded, the recovery loans amounting to Rs 49,926 crore became doubtful.
Besides, it said that recovery of loans of Rs 2,755 crore given by government companies to their 14 subsidiaries (included in the 72 companies the equity capital of which had fully eroded) has also became doubtful, the report added.
Air India needs Rs 4,500 cr bailout package
Air India would need a bailout package of around Rs 4,500 crore to bring the national carrier out of financial crisis, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said in New Delhi.
"The Government needs to put in around Rs 2,500 crore of equity, which can be repaid in future once partial disinvestment takes place. You can look at another couple of thousand crore by way of soft loans, which is again repayable," Patel told a TV channel.
On the proposition of eminent personalities such as Ratan Tata, N R Narayan Murthy and Sam Pitroda joining the Air India board of directors, he said, "Why not? Ultimately if such people are willing to contribute for a public cause, for bringing the national carrier back on track, I think it is a great thing."
Explaining their role, Patel said "they would be independent directors".
He said that the Government was still talking to some eminent personalities and would come out with the names of those who would be part of the AI board once it is finalised.
Government invites EOI for starting 4 universities for NRIs
The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs has invited Expression of Interest (EOI) from academic institutions for establishing four
universities for children of NRIs and Persons of Indian Origin (PIO).
The EOI has been called for setting up universities in cities other than Bangalore as one NRI university is already going to come up there.
The EOI said preference would be given to those institutions which are already in possession of at least 100 acres of land and have experience in the field of university education as compared to primary and secondary education.
The government had indicated about plans for starting universities for children of NRIs\PIO at a Pravasi Bharat meet held last year.
The guidelines for setting up these universities, put out on the website of the ministry, said that 50 per cent of the seats in these universities would be reserved for children of NRIs and PIOs while the remaining 50 per cent seats would be given to resident Indian students.
Top guns likely to join Air India's International Advisory Board
New Delhi (PTI): Air India is in the process of having a seven-member International Advisory Board, with former top officials of global carriers, to turn the organisation around.
The Board, which is likely to be headed by industrialist Ratan Tata, may have former heads of leading carriers like Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, sources said.
Discussions are on to finalise the names of other members on this global advisory board, sources said, adding that an advertisement would soon be issued for the newly-created post of Chief Operating Officer so that a professional airline manager works under Chairman cum Managing Director Arvind Jadhav to improve AI's operations.
The names of National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda, Infosys mentor and Chairman N R Narayana Murthy and TCS CMD S Ramadorai are doing the rounds for appointment as independent directors of the airline.
Hectic activity is on at the national carrier's headquarters for preparing a comprehensive financial restructuring plan, which is to be submitted to the government in the next few weeks. Air India's losses mounted to about Rs 5,000 crore in 2008-09.
The plan would be vetted by a high-level committee headed by Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, which would be monitoring each month the steps taken by the airline to cut cost and enhance revenue generation.
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US did not ask India to sign CTBT: Govt
New Delhi (PTI): Government on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that the United States has not requested India to sign the CTBT in recent bilateral discussions.
In a written reply, Minister of External Affairs S M Krishna said CTBT does not affect the October 10, 2008 agreement which enables civil nuclear cooperation between India and Pakistan.
"India has declared a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear explosive testing," he said.
Giving a list of the countries which have signed the CTBT, he said India, Pakistan and DPR Korea have not signed it while 181 states have signed the treaty.
Satyam's Raju, others to undergo lie-detector test
Hyderabad (PTI): A local court on Thursday allowed the CBI to conduct lie-detector and brain mapping tests on Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju and two others to help unravel the multi-crore accounting scam in the IT firm.
The CBI had filed a petition on March 24 seeking the court's permission to conduct forensic tests.
Fourteenth Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate K Sudhakar, who is designated to try CBI cases, on Thursday allowed the agency to go ahead with the tests on Mr. Raju, his brother Rama Raju and Satyam's former CFO Vadlamani Srinivas anytime within the next eight weeks.
Mr. Raju and the others were arrested in early January after he wrote to the company board disclosing falsifying profits and cookings the books for years.
The CBI was handed over investigation of the case and is probing whether Mr. Raju siphoned off money from the listed company, which has since been sold to Tech Mahindra by a government appointed board.
Congress appreciates Zardari's statement on terrorism in Pak
New Delhi (PTI): Congress on Thursday appreciated the honesty of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari in admitting that terrorism has been "created and nurtured" by the establishment there for tactical gains.
The party also demanded the terror camps in that country be dismantled with the same honesty.
"Pakistan President has admitted with honesty that the extremists were created and nurtured as a short term policy.
The same honesty should be shown in dismantling the terror camps in the country," party spokesman Shakeel Ahmed told reporters here.
For the first time, Mr. Zardari admitted during an interactive meeting with former senior civil servants on Tuesday night, that militants and extremists were "created and nurtured" in Pakistan as a policy to achieve some short-term tactical objectives.
Mr. Ahmed hoped Mr. Zardari would not change his statement due to internal or external pressure.
Pak downplays Zardari's statement on 'nurturing' militants
Islamabad (PTI): Playing down President Asif Ali's remarks that Pakistan "created and nurtured" militants to achieve short-term objectives, the government here on Thursday said the statement should be seen in the context of the situation that prevailed after Soviet forces pulled out of Afghanistan.
Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the President was referring to the period when the "West left Pakistan high and dry after the withdrawal of Soviet troops" from Afghanistan.
Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, Pakistan has been dealing with the "spill-over effects of the Afghan war," Mr. Basit said in reply to a question about Zardari's comments.
He said there is a need to "transcend limited objectives" and to adopt a comprehensive and holistic approach to tackle issues and problems in the region.
During a meeting with former senior civil servants on Tuesday, Zardari had said militants and extremists were "deliberately created and nurtured" in Pakistan as a policy to achieve "some short-term tactical objectives."
"The terrorists of today were the heroes of yesteryears until 9/11 occurred and they began to haunt us as well," he had said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Zardari said in an interview that military operations were required against militants who were considered as "strategic assets" in the past.
Meanwhile, the influential Dawn newspaper, in an editorial on Thursday, suggested that the military faced some hard choices.
"Perhaps more than anything else impeding the defeat of the militants today is the inability of the security establishment to revisit the strategic choices it made in the past and hold up its hand and admit candidly that grave mistakes were made," it said.
While the religious justifications of the militants remained the same, what had "changed is that the militants were fighting the state's 'enemies' yesterday but have turned their guns on the state and its allies today," the editorial said.
"Whatever the catalyst, the fact remains that it was because a 'jehadi' network was allowed to flourish inside the country that we were left exposed to its eventual wrath against us," it added.
In its editorial titled "Waning power of Taliban", the Daily Times said "Zardari's comment can only be described as brave though greatly needed."
Previous report:
Pakistan admits to creating militant groups
Manmohan to meet Gilani in Egypt next week
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet in Egypt next week on the margins of NAM Summit to decide on the future course of ties on the basis of what Islamabad has done to address India's concerns on terrorism.
Mr. Singh will be travelling to Sharm-el Sheikh on July 14 for the two-day 15th Non Aligned Movement Summit beginning next day focussing on the global financial crisis and international peace.
On his way to Egypt, the Prime Minister will visit Paris where he will be the Chief Guest of Honour at the French National Day, Vivek Katju, Special Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry, said while briefing mediapersons on the two-nation visit beginning July 13.
During his three-day stay in Sharm-el Shaikh, Mr. Singh will have a meeting with Gilani besides some other leaders.
Prior to the meeting between Singh and Gilani, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir will discuss terrorism and steps taken by Islamabad to bring to book perpetrators of November 26 Mumbai attacks and dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism.
Mr. Menon and Mr. Bashir, whose meeting is expected on July 14, will then report to their respective leaders who will take stock of the situation and decide on future course in bilateral ties.
"There will be a meeting," told reporters here on Thursday when asked whether Mr. Singh and Mr. Gilani will meet.
Mamata unveils measures to tone up functioning of Railways
New Delhi (PTI): The Railway Budget was passed on Thursday by the Lok Sabha with Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing a slew of measures to tone up the functioning of the Railways in terms of amenities and safety and deciding to set up an expert committee to prepare a blueprint for future.
Replying to a marathon discussion on the Budget, she said two more non-stop 'Duranto' (fast) trains --Delhi-Secunderabad and Delhi-Nagpur-- would be introduced in addition to 12 such trains already announced.
Two of the 14 such trains would start within a month, she said but did not identify them.
Catering to regional sentiments which have often erupted in the form of violence in recent times, she favoured 50 per cent quota for locals in induction in Railways through the Railway Recruitment Board and question paper in regional language as she promised to review the process of intake.
She also included several more stations in the list of those to be developed as 'adarsh' (model) and world class ones, responding to demands by members from all parties, who accused her of only focussing on West Bengal while neglecting rest of the country.
The Budget was passed by voice vote after suspension of a rule which provides for referring of Demand for Grants and Appropriation Bills to the Standing Committees.
Govt to roll back fuel prices if crude rates dip
New Delhi (PTI): Government will roll back the Rs 4 a litre hike in petrol prices and Rs 2 a litre increase in diesel rates if international crude oil prices stabilise between USD 50 and 60 a barrel, Oil Minister Murli Deora said.
"Yes, we will cut prices if crude prices stabilise for sometime between USD 50 and 60 per barrel," he said here.
The Government had last week raised petrol and diesel prices citing spike in international crude oil prices to USD 70 a barrel.
International rates have eased since. The basket of crude oil India buys was at USD 61.58 a barrel yesterday but the average for July was USD 65.34 per barrel. The July average was certainly lower than USD 69.12 a barrel average price of Indian basket of crude for June.
Mr. Deora said the price rise was unavoidable as India was dependent on imported crude oil to meet 75 per cent of its domestic oil needs. Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum were projected to lose Rs 4,870 crore in revenues every month on selling petrol, diesel, domestic LPG and kerosene below the cost.
"To cover this (revenue loss), the retail prices were required to be increased by Rs 6.94 per litre on petrol, Rs 4.11 a litre on diesel, Rs 96.68 per LPG cylinder and Rs 16.01 per litre on kerosene," Mr. Deora said. "However, the Government increased the price of petrol only by Rs 4 per litre and of diesel by Rs 2 a litre."
The price hike had been necessitated as international prices of crude oil had jumped 75 per cent – from USD 40 a barrel in December to USD 70 per barrel.
The monthly revenue loss on sale of petrol and diesel came to Rs 2,800 crore and urgent cash flows were needed to keep the capital expenditure plans on track, Mr. Deora said.
The price increase will reduce the revenue losses by about Rs 13,000 crore during 2009-10. "Even after this increase, oil PSUs are projected to suffer a burden of around Rs 27,000 crore on the sale of petrol and diesel," he said.
Mr. Deora said the Government has not increased the retail price of kerosene and diesel and a projected Rs 30,000 crore subsidy burden would have to be borne by the Government on this account.
He said since 2003-04, the Government has issued oil bonds worth Rs 142,203 crore to oil marketing companies IOC, BPCL and HPCL to keep retail selling prices below the international rates.
Upstream firms like ONGC contributed another Rs 101,285 crore while the three retailers absorbed Rs 55,734 crore of losses instead of passing the rise in crude oil prices to consumers.
Railways to introduce 'clone trains' to meet festive rush
New Delhi (PTI): "Clone" trains may just be the answer to your travel woes during the holiday and festival season.
Considering the long waiting period during festivals and lesser frequency of some trains, Railways has decided to introduce "clones" of existing trains in that period.
"These set of trains will have the same stoppages, timings and coach composition," a senior Railway Ministry official told PTI, adding two such trains will run during the ensuing Puja vacation.
One would be a clone of the Sealdah-Delhi Sampark Kranti and the other of the Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri Darjeeling Mail, the official said.
"Running of these clone trains would not pose any technical challenge," the official said.
Eastern Railways have announced that they will run as many as 120 puja special trains to various parts of the country with a 50 per cent increase in availability of berths.
The Sampark Kranti will leave Sealdah at 1 pm on Wednesdays from September 16 and from Delhi at 7.10 pm on Thursdays from September 17.
Similarly, the Darjeeling Mail will leave at 11.45 pm on Saturdays from Sealdah from September 19 and from New Jalpaiguri at 6.50 pm on Sundays from September 20, the official said.
Economic crisis may hit micro finance industry's growth, funding
New Delhi (PTI): The global micro finance industry may see a fall in growth and funding due to the economic crisis and declining investor confidence, a survey says.
"Far from being insulated from the economic mainstream as traditionally thought, micro finance could face a fall in growth and funding because of the global recession and declining investor confidence," the 'Microfinance Banana Skins 2009' survey said.
The survey, published by the CSFI and sponsored by Citi Foundation and the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) and supported by the Council of Microfinance Equity Funds (CMEF), was designed to identify and rank the main risks or "banana skins" facing the industry at a time of economic crisis and change.
It reflects the views of more than 400 practitioners, investors, regulators and analysts in 82 countries.
The survey shows that the greatest risks all stem from the crisis, which include-- a surge in bad loans, shortages of liquidity and funding, and declining profitability.
Other top concerns surround the ability of micro finance institutions (MFIs) to manage their way through the crisis because of weaknesses in management and corporate governance, the survey pointed out.
This would present the industry with its first major stress test since it emerged in recent decades as a fast-growing provider of small-scale financial services to the world's poor.
The survey updates a previous poll carried out in early 2008 at the beginning of the crisis, and shows how sharply risk perceptions have changed since then.
Most of the risks which are now seen as threats to the sector's prospects, such as the world recession and the credit crunch, were considered negligible only 18 months ago, it added.
"Last year's result reflected the traditional view that micro finance operates in a world of its own with abundant funding and loyal customers. But the crisis has shown that it is also exposed to the shocks of the "real economy," survey editor David Lascelles said.
The Banana Skins report said that the crisis was global in its impact and every one of the 82 countries participating in the survey reported that financial and economic conditions had worsened, and were affecting local MFIs, though with regional variations.
However, the main sources of comfort are that MFIs have traditionally shown resilience to stress and could emerge from the crisis with a better reputation for looking after their customers than mainstream banks.
