Real shame

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s appeal to bank employee unions to call off their proposed four-day strike while stating that the banks are already in negotiations with bank unions over their demands is misleading.

The wage revision is negotiated at the industry level by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) with the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation for bank employees.

The IBA has been maintaining a rigid and arrogant stand right from the beginning. No solution has emerged despite more than 15 rounds of talks because of the patently unhelpful approach of the IBA.

The bank employees have displayed extraordinary flexibility and are even willing to come down further. The UFBU leaders met Jaitley recently and pressed for an early end to the impasse. It is a matter of deep regret that the demands have been hanging fire for the past two years.

J Anantha Padmanabhan

Tiruchirappalli

Solar solutions

This refers to your edit, ‘Bright spot’ (February 23). We need to get the State electricity boards in good financial shape so that they can buy power from solar installations.

Right now almost all our SEBs are in severe financial stress and they cannot get loans from the banking system without sovereign guarantee from the States. First we need to set this right.

The other problem with solar power is that sunlight is available for about 10 hours; what happens to the facility at night?

There is very good technology available which produces electricity throughout the night. The government should make sure these technologies are adopted. In Germany households are connected to the grid, in effect selling their excess electricity through the grid. This system has propelled their solar installations in the last few years. So we need to make changes in our power ecosystem so that we can become the world’s largest producer of solar energy.

CR Arun

Email

While adopting a SWOT analysis of the government’s ambitious aim of raising solar power generation to 1,00,000 MW, what emerges is that the vast wastelands are an advantage, the willingness of major players in installation is important, and falling silicon prices. The weaknesses are the variable installation and battery costs. But there are great opportunities for India to become a major player in the solar PV market.

The down side is that grid connected power generation may not reach the remotest villages in India.

As rightly pointed out we should evolve the German model of generating solar power from each household. This can become a reality only by integrating major power grids with micro grid coupled with roof-top based plant generation of solar power. Then the reality of solar lanterns will become a perfect substitute for kerosene.

VK Sridhar

Erode, Tamil Nadu

Leak link

With reference to the news item, ‘Oil leak: tip of the iceberg’ by Richa Misra and Thomas K Thomas (February 23), there has always been a cynical synergy between political India and corporate India. They complement each other and one cannot survive without the other. Corporates supply funds to political parties in return for favours to conduct their dubious business activities.

When corporate leaders talk of business friendly policies of the government, what they actually want is a passive government that winks at their misdemeanours. The leaks which have been regular and routine for long have been detected within less than a fortnight of the Delhi drubbing of the BJP. Is the Modi government on a course correction mode trying to shed its pro-business image?

TG Venkateswaran

Chennai

Well done

The government deserves praise for getting the release of Alexis Prem Kumar from his Afghan Taliban captors. We hope this lease of life will give Fr Alexis the impetus to continue serving society.

Tharcius S Fernando

Chennai

Ethics go for a six

With reference to the report ‘Oil leak: tip of the iceberg’ (February 23), the leaking of policy information to some business houses right under the nose of the Prime Minister reminds one of his claim of not taking bribe nor allowing anyone else to do so (“ na khayenge, na khane denge ”). The incident also exposes the utter disregard for business ethics and national security by so-called captains of industry. In fact, barring honourable exceptions, the ethical consideration does not seem to determine information sourcing by many big companies. According to a 2012 Assocham study, over 35 per cent of companies indulge in corporate espionage.

It is surprising that only low paid staff of the ministry have been hauled up so far. The ease of making duplicate keys and accessing sensitive documents tempts one to think that some higher-ups also must be involved. The commitment of Narendra Modi to eliminate corruption will be tested by the speed in completing the enquiry and punishing the high and mighty.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Well said

In his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ broadcast, the Prime Minister rightly advised students as well as parents to be calm and confident, and that exams are not the end of the life. Modi has exhibited the right concern for the young generation who are the future of India. This is the first time we’ve heard a Prime Minister talk about such things.

VS Ganeshan

Bengaluru

With reference to the edit, ‘Bright spot’ (February 23), the increase in silicon cell capacity worldwide, with China and US being the chief producers, has led to a drop in solar power costs from ₹10-15 a unit about a decade ago to just ₹6-7 a unit now. Generating solar power would be an exciting option for India with the natural advantage of 300 days of sunlight in a year and vast areas of wastelands in some States. A solar installation entails virtually no maintenance cost. This adds to the attraction, the sweeteners being tax breaks and policy incentives in the form of land on long-term lease as well as generation incentives. Economies of scale also work in large projects. The need to conserve energy should not be forgotten. Make solar lanterns substitute kerosene.

TV Jayaprakash

Palakkad, Kerala

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