Everything costs

This refers to the article “Why this fuss over the price of milk?” by A Narayanamoorthy and P Alli (November 17). The increase by about 30 per cent of the prevailing price itself is an unjustified step. Though milk is thought to be a middle-class requirement, the recent price rise has resulted in a huge rise in the price of tea which is consumed even by daily wage workers and labourers; it’s too expensive for them. Patients and babies need it too.

Even if the rearing of cows has become very costly, the reasons for this should be examined as also the possibility of easing the situation. The hike could have been done in stages over a period of time. It should be noted that not only has the price of milk gone up, the price of almost every consumable article is rising from time to time.

Any hike in the price of essential consumable articles should be preceded by an examination of the factors necessitating the rise and made gradually.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

The rise should have been done in stages over time. A sharp increase of ₹10 in bound to evoke strong criticism. Unless milk producers are given remunerative prices the success in raising milk production will be set back. Milk has to play a significant role in improving nutrition standards and it is desirable that India maintains steady growth in the production of milk.

MM Gurbaxani

Bangalore

Play fair

This refers to your edit, “New Subsidy Regime” (November 17). The Government should try to create a middle-class in this country for us to preserve democracy. There should be fair rules for businesses and a living wage for citizens, with the rich paying their fair share of taxes.

When we can’t collect taxes in a proper way how is it possible to build more schools and provide free education to all up to the university level? Without an educated population how is possible to preserve our democracy?

Policies should be formulated with the objective of protecting our democracy and freedom. The rich are not paying their fair share of taxes and we are slowly moving towards corporatocracy. We have a very large poor population because of our economic policies and not our fate. The policy on subsidies should have at its heart the provision of essentials for the poor.

When the middle-class takes a majority of it and still blames the Government for all its problems, we have a problem on our hands.

CR Arun

Email

Right moves

This refers to the news item, “G20 commits to boost world growth, fight climate change” (November 17). It is gratifying to hear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s prudent and timely call for transparency and disclosure of tax information by countries was endorsed at the summit.

If the participants work unitedly the vexed issue of black money can be effectively dealt with. His raising the link between black money and security issues such as terrorism, arms smuggling and drug trafficking should make the right noises.

CG Kuriakose

Kothamangalam, Kerala

That’s the way

The picture by Dipankar Bhattacharya in “By The Way” (November 17) depicts a wonderful scene of the modern day Dhobi Ghat. The contrary scenes with a modern washing machine being observed by the old-fashioned dhobis look very realistic. Moreover, two people carrying a load of clothes on their head is also drawn very aptly with the bunch clinging at the ends. The best part of the picture is the person sleeping with a cloth on his face and a book on his tummy. Overall, a great picture.

Milind S Kulkarni

Badlapur, Maharashtra

Spot on

Superstar Rajinikanth’s remark that “it is easy to enter politics, but making it count is difficult” is undoubtedly correct.  It’s better Rajini confines himself to the film industry and does not try his hand at politics.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

Dam the dam trouble

The fire over the age-old Mullaperiyar dam row has once again ignited. This time the Kerala government is approaching the court for relief to its people living near the site. The Tamil Nadu government has been operating the dam, produces hydro-electric power and distributes it in the state. Apart from providing drinking water to the people of Madurai, Theni, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram, the diverted water is used to irrigate about 80,000 hectares of dry land in these districts.

Originating in Kerala and fully flowing through the State, the Periyar is a rich source of water. For more than 100 years Tamil Nadu has been irrigating and making power. Now the question is not water sharing but safety of the dam. In an earthquake-prone area, a 120-year-old dam constructed without cement is a potential threat to 40 lakh people in Kerala. All reliable studies suggest a possible Mullapperiyar dam collapse would collapse Idukki dam and eight others. And then the damage would be colossal.

As such it is the responsibility of the Tamil Nadu chief minister to talk with his Kerala counterpart to alleviate the fear of several lakh people living on the banks of the Periyar.

KA Solaman

Alappuzha, Kerala

Enabling change

The Petroleum Minister said that reforms in the energy sector doesn’t mean subsidy reduction. A lot more needs to be done internally to expedite reforms, increase jobs, reduce fiscal deficit and secure energy for the future. India needs more than $10 billion worth investments every year to secure its rapidly increasing energy needs.

To facilitate such a massive investment, India has to provide enabling conditions to do business in India; identify issues and then amend policies that have forced certain O&G companies to exit India; adopt a simple, forward-looking contractual framework; look at some of the issues around NELP including the much-debated PSC (Production Sharing Contract) terms and conditions; provide automatic PSC extension that helps companies to plan investments in advance; increase domestic production so that the Government can earn more revenue from royalty, petroleum and other taxes vis-à-vis imports.

This will largely help in opening up the domestic market, making it conducive for large O&G players to invest, explore and produce.

Rahul Shah

Mumbai

Spare the senior citizens

The Income Tax department has issued notice to over 0.5 million taxpayers who didn’t file returns. This is a welcome move but it has some negatives especially for retired and senior citizens whose income has gone down and they have stopped filing returns. They too are getting such notices and they have to reply compulsorily electronically. They are not computer savvy They have to spend on consulting a professional. They have to register on the e-portal and since many of them do not have email ids or even mobile phones, it’s a real nuisance.

At least senior citizens should be exempt from issuance of such notices. If at all department wish to have record the reasons for their not filing returns, they can get a simple letter signed by them — hard copy only — and close their files. Further, once they are registered on the e-filing portal they may continue to get such or more unnecessary notices which shall result in waste of time and extra cost for both senior citizens and the I-T department too.

M Kumar

New Delhi

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