Maximum governance

Sidharth Birla in ‘Where there’s freedom to deliver’ (September 21) raises important pointson “minimum government” that is of less relevance to ordinary people who look to the Government to free them from the hassles of day-to-day living.

Should poor and ordinary people be put to more hassles through ‘Aadhaar’ just to claim what they already deserve, such as restricted statutory right to work, service pension or welfare pension, LPG, etc.

The Government’s intention is to monitor the activities of ordinary people and thereby make inroad into their privacy. This clearly violates the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The behaviour signifies “maximum governance” for the poor that is more oppressive in the context of labour law reforms that seek to thrust oppressive conditions on labour while at the same time denying to workers internationally recognised core labour standards such as the right to organise and the right to collective bargaining. It’s a case of minimum government for the rich and powerful, maximum governance for the poor and workers.

KVA Iyer

Kochi

Kudos to SC

The Supreme Court goes about its job without fear or favour. Directing Karnataka to release 6,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from Wednesday till September 27 and ordering the Centre to set up the Cauvery Management Board in four weeks is a case in point. One must not be oblivious to the fact that water is a natural resource and must be shared equally and used judiciously.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Ranipet, Tamil Nadu

The apex court’s direction to create the Cauvery Management Board is a welcome one. Political bosses only care for votes, even at the cost of unwarranted animosity amongst otherwise good-intentioned people and huge losses to public property and the economy. If political elements are debarred from having a say in the matter of resources of rivers which are precious national assets, the nation will not only be heading to constructive growth but also live in peace. There should be a separate board to control all the rivers of the nation so that acrimony over water-sharing will subside considerably.

VS Ganeshan

Bengaluru

TRAI needs vision

The row over interconnection usage charges between RJio and others is showing up in TRAI. It was spectrum auctions pricing that first put its policy vision to the test. Number portability, call drops, interconnect charges between telcos, net neutrality, spectrum usage charges : the complexity of maintaining a stable grid with multiple operators, a rapidly transforming technology that would demand extreme operating speeds and exceptional quantum of throughput is huge.

If every issue should need frenetic patchwork from TRAI, then a nation that swears by e-commerce ,e-banking and other enabling digital platforms for modern day business and governance must face disillusionment. TRAI must constitute a “future group” with tech gurus, service providers and industry geeks to predict the future course of domestic and global telecom.

With exacting and perhaps unprecedented demands yet to explode on the telecom sector, even this group may be found wanting. That is the exorbitant privilege of evolving technologies.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Pulse factor

This refers to the observations of Arvind Subramanian, the CEA, on the availability of pulses and reining in prices. His suggestions are very valid. Tur dal and urad dal are widely used irrespective of economic status all over the country. The festival season will trigger a rise in consumption and thus prices.

These pulses are not generally preferred by farmers for cultivation because of low returns on MSP and poor market conditions. There is need for special attention increase the areas of cultivation and also ensure a fair return for farmers. These can be achieved by hiking MSP and procurement.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

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