The editorial, ‘Dodgy index'( Business Line , January 14) shows how the Governement pays little attention to important index figures pertaining to production, which is a key factor in preparing economic data.

This assumes larger significance when the governement talks of high growth and projects better GDP during the end of the fiscal.

It is well-known that almost all the government figures and data are prepared in a perfunctory manner, without going through the facts. No doubt, this may suffice for the parliamentary proceedings. But the common man finds it difficult to digest the figures as they seem to be far-off from reality.

The CSO should be directly responsible for the IIP data, which is supposed to be created out of proper sampling of the units.

The associations and organisations may prefer to present figures of their choice but the CSO should arrive at the data in the larger interest of the nation's economy.

C. P. Velayudhan Nair

Kochi

Infrastructure blues

Most metros are facing problems on the infrastructure front. Damaged roads, long-pending construction of flyovers and bad drainage systems reflect the administration's lethargic attitude towards public facilities. It is time the administration understands that infrastructure, such as roads and bridges and adequate water supply and drainage systems, are the country's economic foundations.

To clear the infrastructure bottlenecks, the Governments, both at the Centre and the States, should have strategic and innovative plans, with blueprints of the landscape.

Firms with experience in the sector should be encouraged and timely completion of the contracts should be rewarded by incentives.

P. S. Durai

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