Understanding all religions

This refers to D Sampathkumar’s objective analysis, “Should we teach our kids Hindu epics?” (August 6). Unlike in the past, it is the undue overemphasis on secularism that has led to the vehement opposition to Hinduism’s moral building stories and episodes.

If madrasas can rightly teach the Koran and missionary schools the Bible, why should there be cribbing about teaching the Bhagavad Gita in other schools? The Gita is not a religious book but a treatise on managing human frailties.

The appropriate approach is to teach all religions with the objective of understanding them and appreciating their similarities. Any attempt to establish one religion’s superiority should be thwarted. As Gandhiji said, “A friendly study of the world’s religions is a sacred duty. Nowhere is this more apparent than when we are studying our own and other people’s cultures and traditions.”

YG Chouksey

Pune

Good tonic

This is in response to your editorial, “Tight isn’t right” (August 6). Raghuram Rajan has prescribed a good tonic with a view to boosting the sluggish economy. As the measures adopted by the Government have failed to control inflation, the RBI has not changed the interest rate. It has also supported the Government in its task to control fiscal consolidation. Projecting GDP between 5.5-5.6 per cent during 2014-15 is good provided it materialises.

However, Corporate India has been in favour of a cut in interest rate on the ground that CPI-based inflation is moderating and that as inflation rates are coming down, the retention of lending rates may not help revive growth. But can Corporate India show where the prices of essential cereals for the common folk are available at affordable prices? It is the duty of the Government to go for massive economic reforms and building investors’ confidence.

Jayant Mukherjee

Kolkata

It is time the RBI comes up with a “forward guidance” on its monetary policy. While the fiscal picture is not good, the ongoing monetary policy too has lost traction. Food inflation is toning down. It’s time we address fiscal balance through increasing revenue. The Government can utilise the festival break to put its house in order. The RBI’s interventions to check money supply to rein in inflation have elevated borrowing costs and the global economic stasis is elevating input costs. Though the Government is vocal on upward GDP targeting, it is yet to marry divergent requirements, both monetary and fiscal, to spell out a road map tying policy to specific goals.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad

Knee-jerk reaction

While it is true that a good command of English by itself does not make an IAS officer a better administrator, it must be understood in the right spirit that, given India’s linguistic diversity, he would certainly require at least a rudimentary knowledge of the language to do justice to the job. Meanwhile, it is only fair to admit that there is some substance to the contention that candidates from rural areas are put to disadvantage as it is hard for them to compete with their urban counterparts. This has to be remedied by enabling rural students to develop a certain level of proficiency in English. The language issue is complicated by the fact that the Government’s simple expedient of abandoning English comprehension from the CSAT to cater to ‘Hindi heartland’ politics now puts non-Hindi speaking candidates at a disadvantage. The inclusion of all ‘recognised national languages’ and the retention of English (and of course, Hindi) in the UPSC examinations have now become necessary to give a level playing field to everyone.

G David Milton

Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu

Unsporting behaviour

That squash doubles gold medallists, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal, were given a lukewarm reception at Chennai airport is really disheartening. And the fact that the federation itself did not evince interest in organising a grand reception for the champions adds insult to injury. Had they been cricket players, the place would have been flooded with fans.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

Ridiculous request

It has been reported that Indian Oil Corporation Ltd has been exhorting consumers through SMS that they join its campaign of ‘nation-building’ by giving up the LPG subsidy. While it is true that the ‘burden’ arising out of the subsidies is very heavy, instead of making a request to the public, the oil companies must first supply LPG cylinders at full cost to all its employees. Furthermore, like the Ministry of Petroleum and Oil has clamped the cap of 12 cylinders per year to the public, similar restriction must be imposed on all, starting with the first citizen of India and including MPs, MLAs and bureaucrats.

Further, oil companies must keep a tab on its distributors so as to check diversion of subsidised cylinders to eateries. There is widespread diversion of subsidised cylinders of consumers who do not normally consume the entire capped quantity, and pocketing a sizeable amount. If the Aadhaar card is made mandatory, even if the distributors resort to diverting stocks, at least the subsidy amount would get credited to the consumers who do not use up the entire capped quantity.

When there are so many ways to restrict the supply of subsidised cylinders, the request of the oil companies is ridiculous The common man is very proud to contribute towards nation-building by paying his taxes.

VS Jayaram

Chennai

Great idea

This refers to the article, “Two for one” by Vivek Saraf (August 6). The announcement of a ₹100 crore package for installing solar PV modules over canals is a really good move. This will solve issues like water evaporation and algae growth, and improve the quality of water. However, these things should not happen at the cost of the reliability of the PV panels. If the modules are exposed to a damp environment over a long period, the moisture will lead to the PV panels cracking and that will be catastrophic.

R Bairava Ganesh

Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu

Missed opportunity

With reference to your editorial, “Tight isn’t right” (August 6), the RBI’s focus seems to be more on CPI which is clearly vindicated through maintaining the exisitng repo rate with a cosmetic change in SLR bringing it down to 22 per cent; this may not have a significant impact on growth. The surprising aspect is that RBI policy measures are generally expected to be in tune with the policy measures of the finance ministry. For example, the finance minister recently gave some tax incentives to the home loan sector by raising the interest rate exemption limit from ₹1.5 to 2 lakh. The housing sector would havebenefited more had the RBI policy measures created an environment leading to reduction in interest rates. The standard norm of the RBI seems to be that when the choice is between inflation control and growth, the RBI invariably seems to preferinflation control.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Bogus ruckus

It is amusing to see the opposition, especially the Samajwadi Party supported by the Congress, makes a big show in Parliament over communal disturbances, which are mainly confined to UP. For this, the SP, which is the ruling party in the State, should first bear the responsibility. Suppose if the Centre uses its forces to take action in UP, the same opposition will cry hoarse for encroaching on the State government’s powers and SP will make a big drama on this count. Now, having failed to contain communal clashes and to hide its barbaric misrule, SP plays a cunning game by egging the desperate Congress. VS Ganeshan

Bangalore

A curious impasse

The root cause of the political impasse in Delhi is the reluctance of both the Congress and the BJP to adhere to the rule of law in a manner in which it is enshrined in the constitution and indulging in politics of convenience. While the fear of defeat in Delhi assembly elections forced the Congress party to keep the assembly under suspended animation, it appears that the BJP, despite its spectacular show in the general elections, is not ready to face the minuscule Delhi electorates due to the AAP factor. Maybe, the BJP is just waiting for the achche din arrive to face the electorate. The only recourse to break the deadlock is a fresh poll. Ettirankandath Krishnadas

Palakkad

Right ruling

The Supreme Court has rightly taken serious view of keeping the Delhi Assembly in suspended animation leaving the MLAs to sit at home without work. At a time when BJP was just short of five MLAs to form the government, the problem was compounded by fielding three MLAs to contest the Lok Sabha election leading to their victory followed by resignation. There is an urgent need to move amendments in the Representation of People Act to bar the sitting MLAs from contesting Lok Sabha polls and sitting MPs in Assembly elections. In the present situation, it would be better for AAP to support the single largest party BJP and run the government if election is to be avoided and the public exchequer is to be spared of enormous expenditure on election. KV Seetharamaiah

Hassan, Karnataka

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