Without wanting to strike a discordant note on the occasion of Independence Day, may I candidly say that liberal and secular-minded Indians would watch Narendra Modi delivering the Independence Day speech from the Red Fort with a heavy heart. It is hard to come to terms with an avowed ‘Hindu nationalist’ without remorse for 2002’s tragic events.

True, Modi won a decisive victory. But the election victory cannot invalidate our long-cherished secular values. While the privileged classes may cheer and celebrate Modi’s performance of ‘ritual’ duties, the underprivileged sections of the society have no cause to rejoice.

Despite his pledge of allegiance to the Constitution, of which secularism is a basic feature, Modi is eloquently silent on RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat’s and Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar’s spurious thesis that ‘all Indians are Hindus’. G David Milton

Kanyakumari

Getting to the bottom

In an otherwise excellent analysis by D Sampathkumar in “What Bhushan Steel tells us about ‘strategy’ ”(August 14), how come the writer missed out on the banks’ exposure of ₹40k crore? When banks take such a massive exposure, they are supposed to get into the details of the project including the business strategies adopted by the company.

The promoters would have adopted the wrong set of strategies as narrated by the writer, but that was not checked by anybody, including the banks and they got into the wrong group. What happened to the risk management strategy of exposed banks when they rolled out a red carpet to Bhushan Steel?

It is quite well known that promoters build up their margin by escalating project costs resulting in their zero per cent stake in the project. So, promoters of Bhushan Steel have not lost anything. Bankers simply accept the information provided in project reports for two reasons: firstly, they themselves do not have the lending skills to vet the project details.

Secondly, the possibility of nexus between the lender and borrower cannot be ruled out. That has already been proved with the Syndicate Bank Chief getting caught red-handed. What about other banks in the consortium?

KV Rao

Bangalore

Indifferent Bankers

The article clearly brings to fore that Bhushan Steel’s fiasco is caused by the over leverage of the company on new projects and the global slowdown in the steel market. It is astonishing to note how banks are incessantly financing a company even after knowing its sickness. NPAs are not only caused due to by borrower’s defaulting but also by the bankers’ indifference in lending and monitoring the loans.

NR Nagarajan

Sivakasi

Decriminalise suicide

The proposal to scrap Section 309 of Indian Penal Code, which makes the attempted suicide a punishable offence, is welcome. By punishing the persons who attempt suicide, the law should not further wound the already wounded.

Further, if a person commits suicide, the police take recourse to torture the members of the family. A law should be passed to stop the police from using third degree methods to elicit confession from the surviving members of the family. It is not fair to think the decriminalisation of attempted suicide will result in more suicide cases. KV Seetharamaiah

Hassan (Karnataka)

Cheaper petrol

The Government move to slash petrol prices by a hefty ₹1.89 to ₹2.38 per litre has come as a surprise and an Independence Day gift. The second reduction in a month and the steepest in 11 months will put more money in consumers’ pockets and will also rub off on the prices of essentials.

The southward movement of global petrol prices and dollar-rupee exchange rate also warranted a reduction. What is heartening is that the Government still seems to call the shots on decisions related to revising petrol prices though they were freed four years ago and the Oil Marketing Companies were allowed to tweak prices according to market rates.

NJ Ravi Chander

Bangalore

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