Power play

This is reference to ‘Is India really power surplus?’ by Maulik Madhu (July 11). We must not forget that a large number of our rural households still do not have electricity, even though technically many of these villages are connected to the national grid. Our priority must be to provide power to these homes at low cost. Having surplus power and providing 24x7 power in every home have to work in tandem.

Rahul J Gautam

Bengaluru

Hardly charity

This is with reference to Maulik Madhu’s interview with Pramod Deo ‘Cheaper electricity is not all that easy’ (July 11). Non-availability of electricity is an important reason for the closure of many industrial units and small scale industries. If India has to generate employment opportunities, the government has to improve supply of electricity to the most backward areas.

However, saving and preventing wastage of electricity are very important too. People have to be educated about this. Conservation is one of the main ways of solving the problem of lopsided availability of power. Further, State governments must arrest power theft and stop giving free electricity to the powerful. The electricity board is not a charitable institution.

Veena Shenoy

Thane, Maharashtra

I disagree with Pramod Deo. After installing 2 kwp solar equipment on the roof of a house, electricity is available in plenty and free of charge. I am planning to produce electricity in every house in my mother’s ancestral village, without borrowing. .

It is all a one-time investment. We will not be dependent upon sarkari bijlee which costs ₹5-7 or more a unit. After installation it will be free and plentiful.

SC Aggarwal

New Delhi

Emulate the best

With reference to the book review, ‘Natural disorder’ by Narendar Pani (July 11), recent research reveals that the increase of paved surfaces in Bengaluru between 1973 and 2016 has adversely impacted its natural resources.

There’s an 88 per cent decline in vegetation, 79 per cent reduction of wetlands, higher air pollutants and a sharp decline in the groundwater table. We have already seen how fish have died in Ulsoor lake and billowing foam covers Bellandur lake thanks to untreated effluents.

Bengaluru must emulate initiatives such as the successful restoration of a polluted Kaikondrahalli lake through a multi-stakeholder socially inclusive model involving the municipal administration, an NGO and a society formed by local residents and concerned citizens.

CV Krishna Manoj

Hyderabad

Radical approach

Every appointment in the Indian banking hierarchy has a price and once the price is paid the incumbent necessarily will choose the path of multiplying wealth. Thus, corruption breeds, leading to NPAs. Statistics will prove that the NPA showed uponly after liberalisation, so it is to an extent a corollary of liberalisation.

How do we tackle this piquant situation? We should create a platform to monitor the fiscal data at the server maintained by the bank without the knowledge of the client. Select operational data deciphered under this process will give insights into the institution’s financial discipline to large extent. If RBI opts for this with respect to commercial banks, the story will be different.

Lakshmanan N

Email

Less is more

The need of the hour is not just merger of associated banks with SBI but slimming down the organisation by closing down branches with low transaction.

Banks which were once busy are now  significantly empty because of core banking, ATM and internet banking. In other words, most banking transactions are being done without visiting the bank, which means the number of visits to banks have come down significantly.

Further, no bank provides services significantly different from other banks. So, why duplicate this? It’s time to do more with less.

HK Lakshman Rao

Chennai

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters by email to bleditor@thehindu.co.in or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.

COMMENT NOW