Rebuilding institutions

This refers to the article, ‘Killing our very own grameen bank’ by PSM Rao (August 14). This brilliant analysis is an eye-opener for government and financial sector regulators while dismantling existing institutional frameworks, before replacements are in sight. Urban cooperative banks which came into being with the investment and credit needs of local clientele are also transforming and reportedly, the RBI has approached the government to consider making them full-fledged commercial banks.

There cannot be two views on the need for institutions to change, but this should not leave their existing clientele or target groups in the lurch. Nabard was established in 1982 to oversee and protect the then existing rural credit infrastructure in the form of cooperatives, RRBs, and rural and semi-urban branches of commercial banks. Along the way, Nabard lost its original vision and started depending more on commercial banks. If roles are not defined transparently and promoters are not clear about their constituency advantages and disadvantages, even the RBI governor’s efforts to have multiple categories of institutions in the Indian financial sector may meet the fate of cooperatives, RRBs and local area banks.

MG Warrier

Mumbai

Right on track

With reference to ‘How to solve a problem like the railways’ by Singh, Raju and Agarwal (August 14), when we know that more than 95 per cent of the revenue goes to pay salaries, we know there is something seriously wrong. As rightly pointed out, subsidising passengers fares highly is putting the bottom line of IR under serious stress. It is about time rationalisation of passenger fares takes place so that we can generate higher revenues to create a pool for taking advance safety measures.

Bal Govind

Noida, Uttar Pradesh

There are unending problems in the railways sector. To pool up resources, passenger fare may be increased, with the higher class a little more. Though passenger fares include the safety element, the efforts to implement and improve safety measures seem to be minimum in the railways. A lot still needs to be done on the passenger amenity front, such as improving facilities at stations, neat maintenance of coaches, speeding up of trains, providing quality food, curbing intrusion of unreserved passengers into reserved coaches, and so on. Unless some extraordinary measures are undertaken by government, nothing is possible.

TSN Rao

Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh

Chinese dumpyard This refers to your editorial, ‘China challenges’ (August 14). One reason for allowing the yuan to fall may be to satisfy IMF to include the yuan in the basket of currencies for settlement. On the other side there was a fall in China’s export by 15 per cent during the March quarter and recovery was only 2.8 per cent in June; so China allowed the yuan to depreciate to prop up exports. China is facing the problem of overcapacity. India has to watch the situation carefully and ensure that no dumping takes place in the country due to cheaper imports. Necessary duty hike may be required to protect local industries and the government has to act fast.

S Kalyanasundaram

Email

‘Are instant foods off the plate and soft drinks losing fizz?’ by Meenakshi Verma Ambwani (August 14) makes a good point. Given the recent Maggi issue, people are now scared of eating anything anywhere. Also social media has contributed to creating awareness about the harmful effects of junk food and aerated drinks. It’s good to see the steps initiated by schools; however more needs to be done outside school .

I would not blame the kids but the parents. They have to maintain control over their children’s diet. Also, it’s important to educate kids via media and newspaper articles about the ill effects on health and the waste of money. Don’t keep kids in the dark. If kids are deprived of eating out, the will be tempted to eat junk. Ensure that they eat good food outside and drink juice and coconut water instead of aerated drinks. There are plenty of good substitutes for junk food and aerated drinks.

Kamal Anil Kapadia

Mumbai

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