Confused argument

This is with reference to the editorial, ‘Now, for the long-term fixes’ (December 4). You seem to be as confused as the government with regard to gold imports. Just because lower crude prices have helped reduce CAD, we cannot afford to spend those savings by buying gold. The control measures for gold buying should be implemented irrespective of macroeconomic policies and plugging smuggling should not be difficult. Investing in gold is uneconomic and India cannot afford to encourage its citizens to do so.

Sridhar Narasimhan

Email

The removal of curbs on import of gold while the market was thinking the opposite has taken everyone by surprise. Hopefully it achieves the desired results such as checking smuggling, hoarding and improved tax collections. Yes, there will be some impact on our import bills. Although Diwali is over, the marriage season is here and will involve huge purchases of gold. I agree CAD must be monitored as it looks manageable at the moment because of drop in crude oil prices but it might again go up considering the winter months ahead. So we will have to take cautious steps as situation demands.

Bal Govind

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

It’s true, they’re maligned

This refers to the article, ‘The much maligned public servant’ by Akshay Mangla (December 4). There is need for a factual description of government employees with regard to their position in the office and the relationship between them and the upper echelons of the department. There is some truth in the fact that they are a much maligned lot. Since the number of the employees is huge at all levels of government, there is a need to revisit the working atmosphere where the employees will feel satisfied being part of the government and not merely for the sake of the salary.

It is the responsibility of the supervising staff to make them feel that their views are taken into consideration while important decisions are taken and their job is a very important function for the administration. They must get opportunities to rise in their department based on performance. Items of discipline such as punctuality and quality of work, and application of the mind in problems being dealt with are more important than satisfying the boss. Periodical examination of the attitudes of the employees towards the job is a must. The problems and the steps being taken to deal with them should be transparent.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Well tuned

‘Let them make waves’ by Jinoy Jose P (December 4) is in tune with the times. As the print and television media are free to inform, express, broadcast news and views, the restrictions placed on private FM radio stations with regard to airing news and current affairs defy common sense and logic. For reasons best known to them, these days the general public is more inclined to listen to and watch private media channels than government-owned ones. As rightly pointed out, FM stations and community stations reach a large number of people. It is time they are given platforms to air news and views which will add variety, spread and range to programmes. The powers-that-be need not sit in judgment on the discerning ability of the people as they know how to sift the wheat from the chaff.

CG Kuriakose

Kothamangalam, Kerala

What about the customers?

Of course bank employees forfeit their salaries during the strike, but what about the customers who lose their banking transactions during this time? Bank employees always choose to strike on long weekends or when there are continuous holidays to put customers in great trouble. This time also they chose a region-wise strike for three days to paralyse the entire country’s banking sector. Will they pay for this loss? It’s well known that efficiency has reached an all-time low in PSBs.

Bank employees and their families enjoy many indirect benefits such as healthcare, loans, LTC. These are costs borne by depositors and/or borrowers.It’s a fact that these banks are overstaffed and are steadily losing their business to the new generation and/or private banks.

George A Pais

Mangaluru

Justice denied

The Bhopal gas tragedy case is a standing example of the lethargic attitude of our administration towards addressing the grievances of the victims of the country’s worst-ever industrial disaster. We cannot forget those horrible moments of December 3, 1984. And the way cases have dragged on, with the sort of verdict that was given, is an insult to the victims, who have been left in the lurch in the process.

The verdict has raised many crucial questions. Does the judiciary lack enough laws to deal with cases like the Bhopal tragedy? What is holding back the government from enacting stringent laws? Worst of all, the assurances of compensation and job security for victims have not yet been fully fulfilled. The government should come up with an appropriate response to the court verdict and look at giving justice and care to the victims.

P Senthil Saravana Durai

Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu

Modi’s dilemma

Instead of giving Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti her marching orders for her slur on the paternity of religious minorities in the ‘national interest’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen to appeal to MPs to function in the ‘national interest’. The minister who dons the robes of a sadhvi cannot use a worse epithet. Thankfully, the biology of procreation is indifferent to the moral order of human societies; ‘legitimacy’ and ‘illegitimacy’ are things that occur across the religious, racial and cultural spectra.

Modi’s half-hearted disapproval has shown his dilemma. His hesitation to condemn outright and refusal to sack her means that he either subscribes to her world view or cannot afford to incur the displeasure of the hardcore elements in the sangh parivar. It would be a tragedy if the BJP’s rise to power winning an astonishing 282 seats on its own were to hasten a retreat from the secularism that keeps our vast and diverse country from self-destruction. India is a disparate mix of race and religion. The BJP must know that the primary role of the ruling party is to hold the nation together and act accordingly.

G David Milton

Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu

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