Startups will get a boost only if Modi can make government employees, especially those working in tax departments, the public sector and nationalised banks discharge their duties efficiently and without personal motives. Officers and clerks are not assigned any responsibility or accountability. They do not perform their required duties. He must take action against late-comers and for not discharging their duties within a reasonable time. A time limit may be fixed for clearing pending files. Also, it must be ensure discipline and friendliness.

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

There is no dearth of talent and ideas in India, but too much government interference prevents entrepreneurs from executing their ideas and creating jobs. India should learn from the US government. In Silicon Valley, risk-taking is encouraged and entrepreneurs are heroes. It appears the US government has practically no role here. It funds basic research, and provides education and infrastructure, and does not come in the way of entrepreneurs. We can draw lessons from it by providing good infrastructure, uninterrupted electricity, and expertise to young entrepreneurs

Those who want to set up their businesses in rural, tribal and backward areas should be given more concessions. This will help locals find employment. Farmers who depend entirely on the rains for their income can find alternative employment.

Veena Shenoy

Thane, Maharashtra

There’s more to insurance

This refers to your edit, ‘Crop insurance boost’(January 18). Basically, any insurance is a contract of indemnity to indemnify the loss one suffers. Hence the insurance scheme must address the fact that the insured wants to get full compensation for the loss that may be incurred and there cannot be any arbitrary ceiling based on past yield on crops. Considering the loss based on input cost or bank loan does not make it a proper insurance scheme as this does not indemnify the loss incurred.

Until this is addressed, there may not be takers for the scheme. Insurance will be viable only when spreading the losses of a few over the entire group is possible. Instead of subsidising premium, funding to settle total loss incurred would attract more takers. Producers should also be able pass on the insurance cost while selling their produce; the support price decided by the government must address this.

S Kalyanasundaram

Email

The scheme initiated by the Centre is an improvement on the previous scheme. However, there are some serious issues with the current scheme: there is no detailed roadmap in the public domain regarding the ground implementation of the insurance, and it is not clear how the government plans to evaluate the yield and what will be the parameter for such evaluation.

The yield assessment is important as it will decide the premium and protection cover amount. There is no clarity on whether tenants will benefit from the insurance as most tenants work without formal contracts. The absence of digital land records will make it difficult to identify the beneficiary. The prevalence of low financial literacy among farmers and cultivators is another hurdle.

The scheme must accommodate and acknowledge the differential level of risk associated with different crops. The record of the government coupled with insensitive bureaucracy do not instil much hope for fair implementation of the much-needed crop insurance scheme.

Naveen Agrawal

Puducherry

The glut will come

With economic sanctions Iran getting lifted, the international oil market can expect a glut. The result will be a further steep fall in the per-barrel price of crude, which is approaching its lowest in the last four decades.

Hovering around $30, it may reach the level that prevailed in October 1973, after which the OPEC cartel started artificially raising prices to protest against the defeat suffered by the Arab armies in the 17-day Yom Kippur war against Israel.

Arun Malankar

Mumbai

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