Go for short-term goals

This refers to ‘How to judge the Modi years’ (October 30). The argument either the “means justify the ends or the ends justify the means” would hold good only when the approach is fair and when they are applied equally without any discrimination. While lots of credit could be attributed to the BJP government in terms of its governance structure and composition of ministers who are efficient and corruption free compared to erstwhile regimes, one area which the government needs to focus upon is in its economic policies.

The policy measures seem to sacrifice too much of the present for future. The vision of the government transforming India to become a $30 trillion developed economy by 2047 is laudable but there are many hurdles on the way as the future is uncertain.

Already the goal of India becoming a $5 trillion economy could not materialise due to the unforeseen Covid pandemic. Hence it is better to go for short-term goals and try executing them.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Bank boards must step up

This refers to ‘RBI wants bank directors to fully engage in board meets’ (October 30). At a time when governance is not robust in banks, the Reserve Bank’s move to upscale the governance in banks is welcome.

With the extensive use of advanced information technology, banking activities and businesses are becoming more complex and, therefore, require foolproof systems and procedures to curb frauds connected to loans, internet banking, and payment and settlement systems.

The board of directors is responsible for the growth of quality business, besides audit, inspection and its compliance. Since every aspect of the banking business is vital, the board must ensure effective participation in framing all types of policies and their execution to guard the interests of all stakeholders.

VSK Pillai

Changanacherry, Kerala

70-hour week

Apropos ‘Time motion study’, while Narayana Murthy’s statement generated a lot of public debate, the essence of what he said seems lost. He has sought to convey that the work productivity of Indians is poor and needs to be substantially improved. Consider the disappointment among the IT employees now that employers are demanding that they attend office more often.

Given that this category is already ‘privileged’ — working from swank campuses, air-conditioned offices, and with plush food-courts — the employees’ disappointment seems unfair. His other point is that India has a lot of catching up to do to reach advanced country levels on the economic front. This generation is expected to contribute in a big measure.

V Vijaykumar

Pune

Productivity will suffer

It would be simply insane to go by what Narayana Murthy has advocated. Spending as much as 12 hours a day for six days a week will only result in huge burnouts and productivity is bound to suffer. It should not be about 50 or 70 hours but how productivity is achieved for the organisation. Work moved from 9 to 5 to ‘work from home’ during the pandemic, and now hybrid is the new work model. Evolving as time changes is a good thing but not at the cost of both physical and mental health of an employee. During appraisal time an employee is judged by what he/she has achieved in the last one year and not how much time he/she spent at the workstation.

Bal Govind

Noida

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