With reference to the article “How to avoid MBA trap?” by Ambi Parameswaran (February 26), several management institutes follow a bait-and-trap strategy to lure candidates.

Regardless of the curriculum and infrastructure, they attract students with freebies such as laptops and gizmos. Most institutes still have run-of-the-mill syllabi, which is not in accordance with the current industry requirements. MBA is no more a professional qualification.

M Vignesh

e-mail

Vodafone dispute

With reference to Vodafone’s fresh notice to the Centre seeking international arbitration on the ₹20,000-crore tax demand, the editorial “Vodafone redux” (February 26) has pointed out how it shows India in poor light, especially its inability to solve problems through conciliation. When P Chidambaram took over as finance minister, we had high hopes that India’s image would be restored. Will the finance minister now act fast?

Jacob Sahayam

Thiruvananthapuram

Tourist arrivals

It is disturbing to note that tourist arrivals in India have drastically declined from 11.8 per cent in 2010 to 2.6 per cent till June 2013 and are not expected to increase significantly.

This disclosure by the Parliamentary Standing Committee must prompt the authorities to encourage tourists inflow. A conducive atmosphere has to be generated to encourage the foreigners to visit India. Encouraging tourism should not be guided just by the desire to augment foreign exchange reserves; foreign nationals should be treated fairly. Firstly, fears about visiting India should be allayed so that foreign countries do not warn their citizens not to visit India. The promotion of the tourism industry will also generate more jobs. The infrastructure should be improved. There should be no discrimination between Indians and foreign nationals in the collection of revenue through sale of tickets.

KV Seetharamaiah

e-mail

Slipping up

This refers to “Slip, side, belly-aap into politics” by Ashoak Upadhyay (February 26). In the last 15-odd months, the AAP has grown from nowhere to rule the capital for 49 days. Dissidence is growing rapidly in the ranks over the choice of candidates and other issues. Arvind Kejriwal at times look like a confused man.

I agree that he should have ruled Delhi for a longer time to ensure that he matched words with his actions and gained some experience at the same time.

Bal Govind

Noida

Press freedom

It is a pity that Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde threatened to crush the media without realising that a minister cannot simply infringe a constitutionally-guaranteed right to backtrack in the face of public furore. This is not to accept uncritically everything that sections of the media do.

The image crisis the media faces is of its own making. At times, the presentation of news and views is so slanted in favour of vested interests that people lose confidence in it. In this context, it is important to distinguish between the media’s ‘unfettered freedom’ and the licence given to media houses to run propaganda campaigns purely to further their own interests.

Given this backdrop, journalists must not try to influence the electoral outcome. The time has come to protect the media from government control as well as excessive corporate control.

G. David Milton

Maruthancode

New bank licences

With the Bimal Jalan-headed committee having submitted its recommendations with regard to granting new bank licences, it is up to the RBI and the government to take this forward. It will be unfortunate if licences are granted to industrial houses for setting up banks. Even in countries like the US and the UK, bank licences are not given to corporate entities. Indira Gandhi enacted a legislation in 1969 to take over banks owned by industrial houses and nationalise them. But her descendents have succumbed to corporate lobbying.

KS Krishna

Kochi

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW