Apropos ‘Not so poor’ (April 28), India has beaten back the worst poverty, but the next phase — building a fair, resilient, middle-income society — is still very much a work in progress. India’s extreme poverty rate has fallen sharply, making it one of the largest poverty reduction stories globally. Meanwhile, a massive new middle class is emerging — but many are still “near poor,” meaning one bad illness or job loss could push them back into poverty. While absolute poverty is down, wealth and income inequality are increasing. A small elite is getting very rich while many remain in vulnerable, informal-sector jobs. Furthermore, urban poverty has fallen faster due to industrialisation and services jobs. But rural poverty is stickier. Farmers, daily wage workers, and small landowners still struggle. Structural changes like better education, healthcare, skilling, and formal job creation are needed for a full victory.
N Sadhasiva Reddy
Bengaluru
Reining in Pakistan army
The article ‘Pakistan army: The monkey on our back’ (April 28), succinctly lays bare the ‘perilous (for India) generosity’ shrouded in Indus Waters Treaty and the fact that ‘army has a country’ in Pakistan. Any amount of ‘feeding and quenching the land’ and efforts at reforming the Pakistan army is not going to yield any meaningful outcome as the army’s tantrums fit and conform to the classical definition of madness.
The geopolitical realities of China’s meddling in others’ affairs, raises risks for ‘action’. Soft skills of adroit diplomacy, sensitising the larger comity of nations on our suffering the perils of cross-border terrorism and selective application of pressure, coupled with fine tuning our security and intelligence apparatus, is the need of the hour.
Jose Abraham
Vaikom, Kerala
Dress code for CIL staff
This refers to ‘CIL mulling dress code for 2.20 lakh employees’ (April 28). Coal India Ltd has been in existence for more than 50 years and it is an adequately long period of time to instil oneness and a sense of belonging among the employees of an organisation. One can understand a new organisation introducing a dress code to instil these qualities that foster emotional connection among employees. But in an already well-established organisation, it is but natural for the employees to develop a degree of harmoniousness and sense of belonging over a period of time, even without a dress code, and feel proud of being part of the organisation. Introduction of a dress code at this late stage may create resentment among the employees. Also, dress code for a large workforce of about 2.20 lakh would entail huge expenditure for the organisation.
Kosaraju Chandramouli
Hyderabad