A hole lot of air

According to NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an expert in marketing. But everyone knows that firstly, Modi does whatever he says, and secondly, he has no vested interests in sugar, cricket or any other money-minting lobby.By the way, what has Pawar’s coalition government with the Congress given to Mumbaikars except potholes all across this financial capital instead of good, smooth roads in the last 15 years?

Hansraj Bhat

Mumbai

Bogus spirituality

The Haryana Police should be praised for arresting Rampal. It is really amazing how such people manage to deceive and have such a large following. He deserves serious punishment. The Government of the day should come up with innovative measures to prevent dubious people from occupying the religious space in society.

VS Ganeshan

Bangalore

Poor are lured

This refers to your edit, ‘Kisan Vikas Patra 2.0’ (November 20). The masses in this country are not deprived of financial instruments, they are deprived of returns. The greedy ones go after Ponzi schemes. The ones with a lot of black money will use this new KVP.

The Government should weed out these elements from the scheme for it to make any sense. This country needs small savings mainly in villages where there is a lot of mis-selling in Ulips, mutual funds and insurance. To educate our people we need these schemes in our villages; that will enhance their savings and in return get some infrastructure which is vital for this country to move ahead.

We see full-page ads in all our popular Tamil dailies put out by Ponzi players, and no action is taken in the initial stages to mitigate the damage. The RBI should monitor this and expose the Ponzi players; any high return schemes should be clamped down with an iron hand so that others are discouraged. The Government remains absent while the uninformed and the poor are lured and getting killed.

CR Arun

Email

The KVP is not a bearer instrument as suggested by you and though there is no PAN requirement, KYC norms will be applicable. It is issued in the names of persons and can be transferred from one person to another any number of times.

Mere easy transferability does not mean it is a bearer instrument. As these investments and subsequent transfers can be tracked down, its vulnerability to money laundering will be similar to that of any other savings instruments such as NSCs. But how the Government expects that the scheme will be popular is not known when the features are in no way better or more attractive than NSCs.

S Kalyanasundaram

Email

Farmers’ woes

This is with reference to the news report, ‘Now, growers in tears as onion turns cheap’ by Vishwanath Kulkarni (November 20). When the produce does not bring the desired money to the grower, with prices plunging as low as ₹100 per quintal, farmers are in tears.

This is what has happened in Karnataka. On earlier occasions in certain parts of Karnataka, growers scattered the roads with their produce when prices crashed abysmally; they were angry and they wanted to get the attention of the powers that be. Under such circumstances, the Government may want to step in and come to the rescue of farmers by offering a support price.

There is the very real possibility of farmers taking the extreme step of ending their lives, given the financial setback. The poor farmers take loans from private parties paying high rates of interest, expecting their produce to fetch well. But in the face of nature’s fury, their dreams shatter.

HP Murali

Bangalore

Erratum

b Due to an editing error in the article, ‘Can the lotus bloom in Bengal?’ (November 20), it was stated that the Trinamool improved “its vote share from 19 per cent to 34 per cent in the last general election”. It is its seat share in the Lok Sabha that improved from 19 to 34. The error is regretted.

Flush them out

The arrest Rampal, who was flushed out by the Haryana Police from a bunker in his sprawling Satlok ashram after a 10-day stand-off has been met with much jubilation and obviously so. The armed resistance by Rampal’s supporters and his efforts to evade arrest resulted in clashes that left over 200 injured. The discovery of five dead women and a child on campus raises eyebrows. The shocking accounts that have come to light are disturbing. There could be scores of similar ashrams all over the country run by persons of dubious credentials.It is high time gullible followers realised that these self-styled godmen are mere mortals and refrain from seeking them out for favours or blessings.

NJ Ravi Chander

Bangalore

Filmy drama

The politics being played in connection with the International Film Festival of India leaves a bad taste, and should be avoided. For instance, Amitabh Bachchan was invited to be chief guest when the UPA was ruling, but was dropped on political considerations. Now he’s been made chief guest again.

The IFFI has been held annually for almost a decade in Goa. But for the films to have a bigger audience, they should also be telecast on DD at prime time. If this is done, Prasar Bharti-DD can earn much needed revenue by getting sponsors for the films to be shown.

M Kumar

New Delhi

Fishy matters

While the release of the five Indian fishermen on death row in Sri Lanka has come as a comforting relief, it is a cause of anxiety that the larger question of fishing rights in the Palk Straits remains unresolved. Sadly, ethnicity regarded as an important aspect of citizens’ identity and the way the Sri Lankan government responds to it shape and explain its manner of treating Indian fishermen. Unjustified hostility to Indian fishermen because of their ethnicity, religion and nationality is eminently avoidable.

New Delhi and Colombo must put in place mechanism to ensure that Indian fishermen are not hauled up in Sri Lankan courts on false charges of straying into Sri Lankan waters.

G David Milton

Maruthancode,Tamil Nadu

Save animals from plastic

The very technology that has provided us with material prosperity has also created unparalleled environmental problems. Plastic, which was once hailed as a revolutionary invention, is posing a serious threat to the environment, disturbing the ecological balance. Many plastic bottles and polythene bags in vacant lands and garbage bins find their way into the stomach of animals, which prevents digestion and can lead to slow and painful death.

The Chief Justice of India’s insightful remarks on the lack of implementation of environmental laws in connection with cases of animals suffering after ingesting plastic bags should serve as an eye-opener on the urgent need to ban plastics. It is high time we realise that we who consider ourselves superior to animals in many ways, understand how much pain we are inflicting on these voiceless creatures. We must use and popularise only environmentally friendly products.

TS Karthik

Chennai

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