The very title of G Parthasarathy’s article, ‘India still a pawn on the strategy board’ (May 21), sums up the game-plan of the US. American administrations, Republican or Democrat, are birds of the same feather as they are always preoccupied with furthering US interests. It is for other countries to ensure they are not taken for a ride.
CG Kuriakose
If we’re really smart
A few comments on the news item ‘Gift-Quinhai partner to develop smart cities’ (May 21): Don’t include the metros and capitals of the States (other than those in the North-East) in the list of 100 smart cities. Including them will mean trying to pick the low hanging fruits. Over three decades back, an urban ministry report called for the development of smaller towns, such as Gwalior and Kolhapur. Even now these towns remain what they were without any significant development. Every State has some region that is neglected. It will be fair if new smart cities are selected from these regions.
Let the government not chew more than it can digest. People will judge the success of the project not by the long list of towns selected but by the civic infrastructure added to them in a time-bound schedule. The barrage of consultancies offering their services is scary: they sponsor nonpriority items such as CCTV coverage and geo-positioning. What our people want are cities with quick transport, top class educational and health facilities, and employment opportunities. Unlike China which has built ghost cities, our objective is to create new cities where lakhs of people live happily, go to work with ease and comfort, and enrich themselves and the economy. In this effort, ensure a role for the common man in decision-making.
S Subramanyan
Navi Mumbai
The dollar still rules
The dollar has been declining for three decades now, losing almost half its value against other major currencies since 1985 and down 33 per cent in the past 11 years alone. Yet it is the tallest world currency. Also, even as the US economy remains sluggish, their Fed pressed on with massive quantitative easing, a euphemism for printing of notes, for upwards of three years. Such monetary recklessness ought to have pulled down the dollar value and yet, investors continue to shift cash to the US. Doubling as the world currency, the dollar acts as an incentive for safe parking.
China is too far placed to challenge the dollar. Its overt financial system burdened with huge non-performing loans, bad banks, inefficient state-owned enterprises and real estate bubbles, makes for an unreliable lead economy. Its yuan/renminbi is not a trading currency and stays nonconvertible. China’s fiscal and monetary burden imposed by unhealthy levels of money circulation remains caged within and cannot be passed to other economies. The dollar has long had the “exorbitant privilege”, with every other world economy underwriting its continued global pre-eminence.
R Narayanan
Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh
Heed the governor
The positive remarks of the RBI governor on the performance of the Modi government are worth noting. What is more important are the initial efforts undertaken in important aspects such as investor confidence, rural development, unemployment, economic development, the issue of subsidies, respite from rising prices and corruption, sops to the corporate sector, and a promise not to bringagain the issue of retrospective tax The Opposition and other parties must support the important Bills in Parliament and see that the government functions smoothly.
TSN Rao
Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh
ISRO and insecurity
This is with regard to ‘Hot on Mars, but short everywhere else’ by M Matheswaran (May 20). I hope ISRO has enough checks and balances in place to ensure we are safe given that thanks to their failure, foreign satellite service providers have access to my home and know my TV viewing patterns, which essentially means that someone sitting in China or Russia knows what time I enter my house and when I go to sleep.
Shankar Iyer
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