A new 0.4% fee on merchant UPI transfers above ₹2,000...
🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
A new 0.4% fee on merchant UPI transfers above ₹2,000, scheduled from October 15, has triggered concern among retailers, who warn that some small merchants could return to cash to avoid additional transaction costs. The policy question is not whether payment infrastructure should be free forever—banks and payment providers incur genuine costs—but how those costs should be distributed without weakening one of India’s most successful digital public-payment systems. UPI grew rapidly partly because merchants and consumers encountered very little friction at the point of payment. Even a seemingly modest charge can influence behaviour in low-margin businesses where every fraction of a percentage matters. The government therefore needs to explain the economic rationale, expected revenue, incidence of the fee and safeguards for small merchants. Digital formalisation took years to build. Any new pricing model should be designed carefully enough that collecting a little revenue does not push transactions back into cash.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
Maharashtra’s reported move towards a new land-titling framework could address one of the most persistent problems in property transactions: uncertainty over ownership and the litigation generated by incomplete or conflicting records. But passing a new law will not automatically create clean titles. Maharashtra already has multiple layers of land records, registration documents, mutation entries, municipal records and legacy disputes. Unless these databases are reconciled and responsibility for errors is clearly assigned, digitisation can merely reproduce old disputes in a new format. For homebuyers, farmers, businesses and banks, a reliable title system could reduce litigation, fraud and transaction costs considerably. The reform should therefore be judged by measurable outcomes—how quickly ownership can be verified, how errors are corrected, who compensates a citizen harmed by an incorrect official record, and how legacy disputes are resolved. A “conclusive title” is valuable only when the State is prepared to stand behind the accuracy of that title.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The debate over noise pollution during Ganesh festivities has returned to Thane, where police have been reminding mandals of court-mandated limits and restrictions on loudspeakers. Citizens, however, are asking the familiar question: will the rules actually be enforced when processions begin? This is the real issue across Maharashtra. Religious freedom and the right to celebrate festivals are protected, but neither creates an exemption from environmental and public-safety laws. The solution is not selective hostility towards one festival, nor blanket bans imposed without practical enforcement. Authorities need calibrated sound meters, transparent monitoring, clearly communicated limits and uniform penalties for violations—irrespective of the organisation or political patron involved. Permissions without measurement reduce regulation to paperwork. Maharashtra does not need another annual argument between “festival” and “noise”; it needs predictable enforcement in which organisers know the limits beforehand and citizens know the administration will enforce them consistently.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The “Adivasi School Thik Karo” campaign launched from Gadchiroli aims to inspect infrastructure, safety and living conditions in schools serving tribal students. Its founder Abhijeet Dipke has made several serious allegations about student deaths, inadequate facilities and educational access; those figures require independent government verification. Yet the underlying issue deserves attention regardless of party politics. Residential schools in remote tribal areas deal with challenges ranging from buildings and sanitation to healthcare, teacher availability, transport and student safety. Governments should not need an agitation or viral campaign before basic deficiencies are identified. Maharashtra already has an administrative machinery responsible for tribal education; the useful response would therefore be a transparent, school-by-school audit with measurable deadlines and public compliance reports. Campaigners, too, should place verifiable data in the public domain. Tribal education deserves neither neglect nor political theatre—it needs institutions that can be routinely held accountable for outcomes.
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🖋️ *From The Desk of Abhijeet Rane*
The Kasarvadavali flyover on Thane’s heavily congested Ghodbunder Road, opened barely 14 months ago, has been shut after cracks and concrete damage were detected. Closing the structure for inspection is the correct immediate safety response, but it cannot be the end of the matter. A new public structure developing visible defects so soon raises questions about design, construction quality, supervision, certification and maintenance. The crucial issue is accountability: who designed it, who constructed it, who supervised the work, and who certified it fit for traffic? Those questions should be answered through a technical investigation rather than political accusation. Maharashtra is spending enormous sums on flyovers, elevated corridors and highways. Infrastructure cannot be judged merely by how quickly it is inaugurated. Its real test is how safely it performs over decades. Public disclosure of the investigation would therefore be as important as repairing the cracks.
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