Report card

On the whole, given the time constraint and the bequeathed by the UPA government, Modi and his team have performed well. But, the one nagging issue is the state of agriculture in which the performance has been less than satisfactory.

Is this because there is no one close enough to him to advise seriously on the importance of Indian agriculture to the economy? Nehru made a terrible mistake neglecting agriculture as he was in a hurry to industrialise India. Indira Gandhi went with a begging bowl to the US and the ignominious PL450 followed. Only for a brief period during the Shastri regime did agriculture receive some attention, while Charan Singh made a mess bringing in the caste factor in everything he did.

If one carefully analyses the upswing of Indian economy it all goes back to how the agriculture sector performs. Just giving a higher MSP to farmers is no answer.

KP Prabhakaran Nair

Email

Picture imperfect

An assessment of the first year cannot be a review of the entire canvas that today has a few bold splashes and many hesitant strokes. The loud theme of instant industrialisation it started with is fading and now empowering the lower rungs of the economic ladder has come into main frame. External relations got extravagant Impressionist treatment. The second year may see the enthusiasm for inclusiveness die down with a poor monsoon and the industry starved of funds and policy reforms. In year three the Afghan-Pak muddle could peak and set before us an acid test of diplomatic bonhomie pitted against raw global realpolitik. The fourth year could see a global economic recovery but our domestic industry may not be at the dining table as it would be battling three years of neglect. The fifth year be elections again, when nothing moves. Today is the time for the BJP to step back from the canvas and conceive of a composite theme rather than yielding to attractive but transient subjects.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Looking up

With reference to ‘One year on, bure din are gone: Modi to people’ by Shishir Sinha (May 26), it is the same Narendra Modi for whom Mani Shankar Aiyar had said the Congress would provide a stall to sell tea, suggesting he could never become Prime Minister. International crediting agencies and media are positive about the Modi government’s efforts to put India’s derailed economy and growth on track and to make doing business in India hassle-free.

While analysing the first year of Modi’s rule, it is necessary to take into account the ground reality today in comparison to what obtained a year ago. There is not a single corruption case against the government, inflation is looking downward, various social security schemes have brought hope for the poor and the weak, the economy is reviving, the allocation of natural resources has been done transparently, and much more.

New warmth has been infused in India’s relations with global powers. Modi made his way to the covers of international magazines such as The Economist and Time . The biggest plus point is that people’s confidence in him is not only intact, there is also a realisation that the hopes from Modi were unrealistically high and one year is too short to set right all that has gone wrong with the country.

MC Joshi

Lucknow

Boosting banks

Bank employees have got a huge boost in their salary and allowances. They should have been linked to performance, productivity, efficient service, tangible increase in business, lowering of costs, etc. However, the IBA and the finance ministry have to look into the following: Loss-making branches should be shut down. Where employee productivity is abysmally low, those banks should be merged.

No fresh recruitment need take place. Introducing privatisation of public sector banks is essential when globalisation, competitiveness, better services and so on are increasing. Reducing deposit rates to pay for expenses is not sensible management. Action against employees for low productivity is required. Merely transferring them won’t do.

Ganesh Sitaram Iyer

Mumbai

No more symbolism

With reference to your edit, ‘Modi and the year ahead’ (May 26), the one issue which needs to be addressed quickly is the recapitalisation of public sector banks. They control 70 per cent of the banking system and they are not able to fund the needs of industry and individuals with their current capital position. You either give them the capital or find a way to get the required capital by themselves. But don’t make our PSBs just another symbol.

We are a nation of symbols and symbolism. Look at our government schools; an overwhelming majority of the population sends their children to private schools but our government schools remain open symbolically. The other problem is that of power plants stranded for want of gas. Whatever is being done is not enough because these power plants should operate at 60 per cent plant load factor to repay their debts. They are on their way to becoming nonperforming assets. The revival plan for these power plants is also a symbolic gesture and nothing is going to change on the ground when they can operate only at 30 per cent plant load factor according to the revival plan. Let us solve problems for real.

CR Arun

Email

The edit is an excellent appraisal. The one mistake that the ruling party committed in its pre-poll campaign was not making a study of what could be done quickly and what could not. Again, the government should have given priority to certain items. They are: relief for the common man by bringing down the cost of living and reduction of the cost of essential commodities. A visible change is the total absence of reports of corruption in higher levels of government and avoidance of politicising issues. The Prime Minister has set the example for this. A democracy of India’s size would need some time to undo wrongs. The people have to wait patiently for some more time for achhe din to commence.

TR Anandan

Coimbatore

Wage revision for all

At last, the protracted wage revision for bankers has been settled. Why not go in for inflation indexed wage settlement, akin to the capital gain index? This can be a permanent package in the settlement, worked on by a noted economist. It could benefit the entire working class, and not only bank employees.

The purpose of any negotiation or bargaining is to reconcile divergent views and objectives, without resorting to obstinacy so as to achieve an acceptable balance. While the concept of cost to company (CTC) is an engineered terminology, it is a quantitative term having the capacity to measure. The other side of CTC is CBE, contribution by employee. In a service industry like banking, while CTC can be easily and uniformly computed across all the employees, it is difficult to assess CBE, which is intangible. What about personalised services, intellectual capital, and risks to which employees are exposed? As such one cannot or should not assess the performance of bank officials purely by financial figures. If figures alone matter, how do you deal with NPAs, write-offs, customer complaints and so on in assessing a bank official’s performance?

RS Raghavan

Bengaluru

What a waste!

The news that by 2025, India could face a severe water scarcity should shake up the people who blatantly waste water. There are reports of land sharks encroaching water bodies for short-term gain with officials surreptitiously supporting them or remaining silently for a price. Stop the construction of sheds and dwelling houses in catchment areas, blocking the rainwater flowing into ponds and lakes. Concerted efforts should be made to facilitate rainwater to gush into the lakes instead of falling into stormwater drains.

It is reported that the panchayat in Kaushanbi district of Uttar Pradesh has decided to levy a fine on those who waste water; this seems to work as a deterrent. Water saved is water gained; this mantra needs to be followed in letter and spirit. Day in and day out we see people use pipes to wash their vehicles and water plants without realising that most of it flows out without serving any useful purpose.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Be stern but fair

This refers to the news item, ‘Squeeze the parallel economy fairly, Jaitley tells the taxman’ (May 26). This doesn’t make sense. There is no soft-pedalling the issue. Here are some suggestions for the minister.

An amnesty scheme for bringing out black money within a time-frame of say one year for taxing at the normal rate provided 50 per cent of the disclosed income is spent on infrastructure development would reduce the burden on the government to develop infrastructure. Undisclosed income found later should be taxed at a minimum of 50 per cent. Get rid of exemptions and relief, but start the tax rate for everyone, with the step-up rate of 0.25 per cent based on income slabs. Let everybody contribute to the tax kitty, however small it may be, but the higher the amount, the higher the tax rate basis. The cumulative effect of all this would unearth black money quickly.

Vazuthur Raghavan

Bengaluru

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