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With reference to ‘Will it rain or not?’ by Yoginder K Alagh (April 18), the IMD personnel are weather wise, but most of us, especially planners, are otherwise. While the IMD can predict the country’s expected rainfall accurately, it needs to improve local forecasting , both short-term and long-term. The Government, public and the planners should accept both excess as well as deficit rainfall as a fait accompli and farming experts should guide farmer to go for alternative crops in rain-deficit years and additional cropping in rain surplus years.
The water resources department should strive to increase storage capacities and optimise storage levels. They should encourage people to go for water harvesting. The trade and agriculture ministries should advise on timely import of goods to avoid distress sales and loss to farmers. The agriculture ministry should budget for farm produce not in rupee terms but in quantitative terms. This is the best way to face the effects of negative weather forecasting.
P Esakki Muthu
Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu
Disquieting figures
This refers to ‘Sharp rise in number of cases to recover banks’ bad loans’ by Radhika Merwin (April 18). The disclosure by CIBIL that banks and financial institutions had filed over 12,300 cases in respect of loans above ₹1crore is good enough to throw light on the gravity of the NPA problem hounding the financial sector. The most disquieting revelation is that the suit-filed bad loans are only 40 per cent of the total bad loans. It is surprising that banks take up to 15 years to recover the money after completing the legal process. By that time the value of the collateral assets may also erode substantially. The recovery rate in India being only 25 cents to a dollar compared to 36 cents in China and 80 cents in the US is another disincentive for banks to resort to legal recovery. It seems the Sarfaesi Act has not armed the banks in recovering loans fast.
Philip Sabu
Thrissur
To give loans, bank managers need not see their asset or capital base, they need to see the character of people. Bankers say the salaried class is their target audience because they will return the principal amount with interest, promptly. An interesting point raised by bankers in a television programme is that personal loans should not be got for meeting emergency expenses, they should be only for getting comfort goods.
S Ramakrishnasayee
Ranipet, Tamil Nadu
The initiatives taken to recover the bad loans are appreciable. If recovered, the amount would provide significant resources to investments on infrastructure. In this connection it is necessary to point out that the differences between the RBI and the Supreme Court on the issue are resolved in a smooth way and quickly.
TR Anandan
Coimbatore
A good opportunity
This refers to your edit, ‘Open Sesame’ (April 18). We have just provided the MSP for produce for a few commodities and left our farmers to fend for themselves. Now comes NAM which has the potential to shift the decision-making in favour of farmers after all these years of having no choice. With NAM there will also be some sort of clear price discovery of agricultural commodities which will help in futures trading in the commodity exchanges. The States should reduce taxes and join this national platform. But it is far-fetched to claim that this initiative will double farm income.
CR Arun
Cruel cut
The Central government cutting down over 1 crore work days for Kerala under NREGS is cruel. NREGS is intended to feed underprivileged people without specific jobs. These people are often aged and many ailing. The rural work guarantee scheme provided them an opportunity to earn a livelihood without begging or selling lottery tickets. Rendering these people jobless is cruel. When liquor barons are allowed to loot thousands of crores it’s not fair to take back ₹300-400 crore spent to feed the poor by way of NREGS.
KA Solaman
Alappuzha, Kerala
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