This refers to “Digging for gold, once again” ( Business Line , October 18). The decision to reopen the KGF mines is a welcome step. Private players such as Deccan and the Baldota group have also shown interest in gold mining. They have done the basic groundwork — obtaining the reconnaissance permit and prospecting licence — and are waiting for mining lease approval. Timely approvals from the ministry will go a long way in increasing gold production.
S. Ilangovan
Double standards
It is quite amusing to see the supposedly secular governments both at the Centre and in UP eagerly waiting to unearth the treasure ‘dreamt of’ by a so-called sadhu. Hitherto, we have seen how these governments hardly care for the majority community, and brand any talk about this as communal.
Now, the greed for gold has made these people forget their progressive views. People must see through the bogus secularism followed by our politicians who are all after luxuries and material life, at the cost of the nation.
V. S. Ganeshan
Bangalore
Divine aura
“Gold: Economists need to change” ( Business Line , October 18) suggests that people in advanced countries invest their savings in shares and stock markets, while Indians tend to rush to acquire gold. This needs to be viewed in a historical and cultural perspective: in India, gold symbolises Goddess Lakshmi and so in the Indian psyche, it has a divine aura.
This apart, the stock market in India is certainly not big enough nor advanced enough as in the US, UK and Japan to induce people to acquire shares and stocks. Indians are more familiar with deposits in commercial banks than the structure of public companies and the scope for investment in them.
K. Gopalan
Bangalore