Gold’s no good

This refers to your editorial, “Golden opportunity” (September 30). Whatever action we take on the imports front we should have an eye on CAD. There is the risk of US interest rate hikes destabilising our rupee and since the geopolitics is fluid, easing up on gold imports now will not be a good idea. We should educate the population that investing in gold is actually a dead investment. It does not produce food or anything for that matter; it is not a productive asset. The change in cultural habits is possible through education and our public needs a lot of it. Let’s not ease up on gold for the moment.

CR Arun

Email

We are not yet out of the woods and to relax the 80:20 rule now is not advisable. Control on fiscal deficit, CAD, inflation and stability of the rupee have all to be ensured before we tinker with the rule. Let’s wait for the Fed’s decision on interest rates, let’s wait for our economy to start growing, let’s wait for a stable rupee and in any case investment in gold is wasteful and should be discouraged. The fall in gold prices could be because of reduction in demand and strengthening of the dollar. If we relax the rule and the dollar keeps on strengthening, then it will impact the CAD adversely. Please don’t advocate investment in gold.

Sridhar Narasimhan

Email

Still, she’s inspiring

Jayalalithaa may have erred but that she has been an inspiration to many women cannot be refuted. Her calmness at all times and bold decision-making has made me feel proud many times. She gives importance to law and order in governance which somehow makes me feel safe on the streets. She also makes me wonder at her language skills, be it English or Tamil, always rendered in an unhurried manner even when she’s had no time for prior preparation.

Rekha VK

Chennai

Promises and reality

Even his staunchest supporter wouldn’t have expected Narendra Modi to announce visa on arrival for US citizens considering the ban imposed on him by the US in last decade (“India has lots to offer” by Jyotsna Puri, September 30). This move will create huge confidence amongst US citizens. If he creates a clear road map with no hurdles for investment in India for local investors, it will automatically spur demand by NRIs who are not short of cash but apprehensive about investing in India. With Japan contributing to our smart cities goal and Australia supporting our nuclear power mission with assured uranium supply, it is essential that we get assurance from the US on other areas of cooperation. Modi is hitting all the right notes when it comes to promises; it remains to be seen how he converts them into reality.

Bal Govind

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

India and the US can cooperate to each other’s benefit in all five Ts: technology, trade, trade, tradition and tourism. Besides this they must actively engage in global issues such as climate change and terrorism so that the partnership can be truly strategic and global.

Ankit Garg

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Gutsy pitch

“Clean the real filth” by Aditi Nigam (September 30) is a gutsy, radical and striking call. The humiliation heaped on the lower class in India over the years is a national crime. It is also a matter of national shame that even after 65 years of independence, we are yet to shake off the inhuman and despicable practice of caste discrimination. Narendra Modi’s call for a clean India by 2019 is imaginative. But it falls short of the target. Let all Indians remember that the time is up and long overdue to make India free of caste discrimination and the abhorrent practice of untouchability.

CG Kuriakose

Kothamangalam, Kerala

Shocking

That a KG teacher (in Thiruvananthapuram) locked up a child in a kennel for defying her is shocking. If the child did not obey the teacher, it was purely the latter’s fault. Love makes teachers popular, not authority.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

Start talking

This refers to the article, “The RBI needs a course correction” by Pulapre Balakrishnan (September 29). Let us start a debate on our insurance companies investing in the infrastructure bonds issued by banks for seven years and more. This will be the long-term funding which will help the infrastructure sector. The IRDA needs to allow the insurance companies to go ahead with this so that banks can lend to the infrastructure sector without having to worry about CRR and SLR. The IRDA, in not allowing these funds to be invested in long-term bank bonds, is not doing the correct regulatory work it has been trusted to deliver.

CR Arun

Email

Grand show

The Prime Minister’s speech at the UN was measured, driven by a world view not misted by current and transient inter-regional politics. His riposte to Nawaz Sharif’s earlier speech reflected the high level of Indian self-confidence. Modi’s pitch for UN reforms may find little echo. Nevertheless someone had to bring it up and who better than Modi. The grand show in Madison Square was firstly orchestrated to erase any residual bitterness between the two nations as a result an eminently forgettable visa denial episode. Secondly, it set the stage for the demonstrably popular Indian leader to meet the US president subsequently. But Barack Obama is in the last two years of his second term with an unfriendly Congress and perhaps a weakened Senate. If the talks do turn out well, it would be to the personal credit of the two leaders.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Though Modi has announced lifelong visas for the Indian diaspora, giving them an opportunity to vote in the elections is a must. Expatriates in West Asia have been pitching for this for a long time.The votes of the expatriates can tilt the political balance in many States in India especially those with a strong NRI community. The NRIs who are pumping a lot of money into the country deserve our attention.

Kiran Jose

Pala, Kerala

Advantage India

To me India is at an advantageous situation now and have to be neutral to the US/China equation (“India and the art of riding two boats” by Stanly Johny, September 29). But at the same time, it must engage with neighbouring countries to check China’s influence in the Saarc region. China needs India for growth given that its economy is slowing down and it is to India’s benefit if it can re-balance its trade with China. India should continue having strong relations with the US and Japan too to attract investments. We cannot afford to take sides now, especially against China knowing it posturing along the border.

Sridhar Narasimhan

Email

Quotas for the poor

Former law minister and governor of Karnataka HR Bhardwaj’s thoughts, in accordance with Jawaharlal Nehru’s, is right that there should be no quota system based on caste and communal lines. The present caste-based reservation is 15 per cent for the scheduled castes, 7.5 per cent for the scheduled tribes, 27 per cent for OBCs and 50.5 per cent for the general class, of course including SC, ST and OBC. Reservation should always be totally based on the financial condition of a person; it should be only for the really poor. Otherwise it is another form of communalism.

Hansraj Bhatt

Mumbai

Doing business in India

This refers to the interview with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (September 29). The positive approach to doing business which keeps Bezos smiling all through is admirable and worth imbibing by any entrepreneur anywhere in the world.

The $2 billion cheque brought in by Amazon is a good omen when Modi is inviting the world not only to do business in India but to ‘Make in India’ and do business with the rest of the world. The World Bank Group (2013) which rated India 179 under the parameter ‘Starting Business’ in a group of 189 countries, should revisit its assessment and see how many of the countries which were positioned above India got an individual single external investment of $2 billion or above in 2014.

The assertion made by Bezos that “Every country in which we do business, there are regulations. Our job is to accommodate those regulations. So, let us use it as an opportunity, instead of just complaining about it” should be an eye-opener for all those who grumble about the business environment in India. This is not to say it is perfect. But the progress made in improving the ‘ease to do business’ by various States and the present efforts by the Central government to make things better need to be taken note of.

MG Warrier

Mumbai

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