Prepare for change

As rightly pointed out in ‘What’s the prescription?’ (January 12), an independent health regulator is called for. Before embarking upon the prescription, the new national health policy must proscribe infant mortality rates and maternal mortality rates. It should also curb procedural lapses like smart cards not being distributed even months after enrolment. Another lacuna is rural hospitals not being equipped with modern technology. The worst is the practice of private hospitals prescribing on the basis of reimbursements rather than medical requirements.

VK Sridhar

Erode

We need a single payer healthcare system for this country. Spending more on the system will increase our capacity to serve the people. We need more doctors, nurses and beds in hospitals, both public and private. Where are we going to get these professionals if we don’t increase the capacity to train them?

First, increase the capacity of healthcare professionals and make adequate investments in capacity building in rural and urban areas. In depth debate is needed to retrieve the regulatory system. The health insurance industry should be regulated so that they don’t deny claims on the grounds of pre-existing conditions. Obamacare had a very important clause regarding this pre-existing condition. The private sector can complement the public sector in providing quality services.

CR Arun

Email

Behind every woman

The article, ‘Gone with the ring’ by Saudha Kasim (January 12) should make educated women choosing to remain unemployed as well as their spouses, ponder. It should be the moral obligation of every married man to encourage his spouse to take up assignments or vocations commensurate with education, talent and taste. He must willingly let her enjoy her rights by sacrificing some of his comforts and pleasures. The ring or the mangalasutra should not stand in her way of being/becoming creative and inventive.

CG Kuriakose

Kothamangalam, Kerala

False all the way

This refers to the reported statement that bringing back black money is a complex issue. The u-turns, the exploitation of voters through false poll promises, and the defiance of political parties after coming to power with regard to implementing promises can only be stopped by the Election Commission evolving a regulatory mechanism. This should be part of the election reform pending for decades. This will compel parties to come up with only deliverable poll promises. The BJP sought a mandate on the plank of bringing back black money within 100 days and loudly proclaimed that the account of every individual would be credited with ₹15 lakh. Even now the innocent voters believe that the reason for opening compulsory bank accounts is to credit this money into their accounts.

Ettirankandath Krishnadas

Palakkad, Kerala

Better way

A credit guarantee fund is a good idea, but a credit guarantee insurance would be cheaper, more scientific and rule out the need for a corpus. The IRDA can provide the necessary claims experience and it is under the same finance ministry. Given the fact that most of the underwriters to public issues have been non-insurers and financiers or bankers, the banks may feel they can insure this themselves. Yet the fact remains that the IRDA is more competent to handle this; they can also review it scientifically every year. Then we can also avoid the paradox that the corpus, if created, has to be invested in the same banking sector (so why not do away with the corpus and treat the overdraft under PMJDY as any other bank deposit/loan?); on the other hand the IRDA spreads the risks and also re-insures it.

The fact that only 27 per cent of the accounts would eventually qualify for the overdraft, and there is a ₹8,545 crore aggregate balance against these, means the risk at the hands of the IRDA is lower. The insurance/corpus should not encourage defaults. The incentive to give a higher loan in case the account is well managed should take care of wilful defaults.

R Santhosh

Chennai

Move the capitals

This is with reference to the article, ‘Move State capitals to secondary cities’ by Rajkamal Rao (January 9). The biggest city in Kerala is Kochi, but it is not the capital. It and other cities such as Kollam, Thrissur and Kozhikode have all grown. But in Tamil Nadu, for instance, only Chennai gets priority with respect to power and flow of black and white money in real estate. So other industrial cities such Coimbatore face a great disadvantage. The textile industry in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode and Salem are forced to spend a lot on generators.

Only after Andhra Pradesh was divided are investments flowing to Vijayawada region. Even Ranchi, Dehradun and Raipur grew only after they were made the capital of new States. If southern Tamilnadu and western Tamilnadu are made into separate states, then Madurai and Coimbatore will certainly grow well. So too Belagavi, Hubballi, Davengere and Gulbarga.

If district level administration is given more powers, there will be an opportunity for district headquarters to grow. It has become more painful to live in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, given their pollution and congestion. If a fraction of the amount spent in big metros is diverted to smaller metros, lots of good work can be done.

During the rule of MGR there was a proposal to move the capital near Trichy. States should take some tips from Kerala and Punjab, where many cities have grown in the last decade.

KN Rajan

Kolkata

Sheer waste

When thousands of schools in the State don’t have toilets and the existing ones are mostly non-functional, is it not astounding that about a crore of ration card holders in Andhra Pradesh will be given a gift bag each containing food items worth ₹240 for Sankranti! With this ₹240 crore so many schools can be provided with toilets.

TH Chowdary

Secunderabad

Hardly edifying

Arjuna awards and such honours are in recognition of the contribution the recipient has made to the country. These can never be on demand as they are above politics. When they are awarded under pressure, there is no dignity. Where is the spirit of true sportsmanship?

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

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