Renewable surge
With reference to the news item ‘Driven by solar energy, renewables set for third year of record capacity addition’ (March 24), it is good to note the progressive growth in solar capacity addition for the third consecutive year.
This gives a confidence that India can reach the self imposed target of 500GW by 2030 under the Renewable Energy Sector. The recently launched PM Surya Ghar : Muft Bijili Yojana (PM-SGMBY) too has been making satisfactory growth in harvesting rooftop solar energy.
It is time that necessary budgetary support is extended in increasing the pace in augmenting the power storage capacity besides making a constant review of the ongoing PM-SGMBY and its brief extension till 2030 to cover more homes under the scheme.
RV Baskaran
Chennai
Govt-academia jousting
The article ‘Govt vs academia: A futile tussle’ (24 March) is quite interesting. The fusion of bureaucracy with the academia will quash confusion of conflict. The recruitment pattern of civil services and even subordinate services provides enough and equal opportunities for the aspirants of the Government jobs, of all educational backgrounds.
There may be reasons to criticise the government officers, but the truth is that our bureaucracy is the most educated lot in comparison to even the advanced countries. It gives a smooth momentum to our progress over seven decades of independence.
Vinod Johri
New Delhi
Managing global turmoil
Apropos ‘VUCA ambience’ (March 24), US Fed, Bank of England and Bank of Japan are managing their policy rates in the context of the current global uncertainties -- Trump trade war, Ukraine-Russia and Gaza conflicts. These constraints are impacting the central banks’ policy moves. Central banks adjust their bank rates to control inflation. RBI prioritises inflation control by controlling the repo rate.
Given the geopolitical uncertainty being caused by Trump’s tariff policies, RBI can’t be blamed for taking a cautious stance on policy rates.
NR Nagarajan
Sivakasi
Fertilizer selection
Apropos “Potash, the neglected nutrient in Indian Agriculture” (March 24). Out of three basic ingredients of chemical fertilisers used — Urea, MoP and DAP, farmers have a tendency to select them ‘quantitatively’ not on their intrinsic attributes but solely on price structure.
The importance of complex fertilisers takes least priority due to their cost. Therefore it is time to enlighten farmers on the importance of basic ingredients vis-à-vis the crop and timing of application, otherwise vegetative growth of plants and yield will be impacted.
Rajiv Magal
Halekere Village (Karnataka)