Lacking consent  

This refers to the report “RS discusses working of Labour Ministry, wants Indian Labour Conference reconvened” (March 31). The government showed undue hate in condensing the 44 labour laws into four Labour Codes without building a consensus among the three stakeholders — workers, employers and the government itself. It consulted representatives of workers and employers but mostly for information sharing and not for resolving the conflict of interest arising from massive changes in the labour laws.

It did not convene the ILC which might have helped in sorting out the disputes and objections from workers and management.

Absence of this consensus is likely to make the implementation of labour codes very difficult.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Agenda for Railways

This refers to the article 'Getting Railways on track, financially' (March 31). Indian Railways has been undergoing a lot of makeovers in the recent past. 100 per cent electrification, track doubling, elimination of unmanned level crossings, replacement of rolling stocks, introduction of new LHB coaches and improving passenger amenities are a few.

Freight earnings and passenger fares are major sources for revenues. The suburban passenger fare was last revised in 2014, which needs to be hiked. Though it is politically sensitive, the government needs to bite the bullet. States who wish to keep the suburban tickets untouched can be asked to bear the differential cost from their budgetary support.

Railways got a massive capital expenditure allocation of ₹2.45 lakh crore from the Budget. The Centre needs to keep certain capital intensive new projects such as hyperloop, bullet trains and high speed trains in abeyance till revenue earnings improve.

Railways also needs to focus more on non-fare sources such as monetisation of land and other assets, leasing out vacant lands at major railway stations through Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA), sale of scrap and allowing branded shops at major stations.

RV Baskaran

Chennai

Fuel price pain

The daily steady rise in retail fuel prices is a cause for concern. The cost of India’s crude oil import basket has spiked by 50 per cent since November with a similar rise in prices of coal, natural gas, fertilisers and edible oil. These are sure to raise overall inflationary pressure. It is difficult for the government to absorb all these costs, and the RBI can’t do much either in a supply-side crisis.

Thus, to stave off inflation and pre-empt a stagflation, the government must devise a fuel pricing mechanism that subsidises energy for food, public transport and essential commodities, and passes on the costs for other discretionary consumption.

MB Bhargav

Bengaluru

Fund Pepper-in-stock

Apropos “Pepper prices lose sting on subdued demand, limited upcountry buying” (March 31) — such situations have become regular and haunt the actual growers, who face liquidity issues.

With the fixing of MIP for Black pepper, its domestic prices have been hovering around it which indicates that a lobby is working towards suppressing growers’ interest.

It is time banks fund pepper–in-stock at subsidised interest, so as to facilitate its stowage and forward trading, which helps Robusta growers more than Arabica growers as Robusta cultivation with pepper as subordinate crop is proving to be unviable, unlike Arabica, which bolstered them financially this season due to record price.

Rajiv Magal

Halekere Village (Karnataka)

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