Letters to the editor dated September 17, 2020

‘Bond Vigil’ (September 17) highlights the need to protect the bond market from volatility in order to make way for smooth borrowing for managing the pandemic-time fiscal deficit. Government borrowing through bonds is needed now since tax collection is dismal. But the volatility in the bond market with oscillating rates of interest forces investors to take the back foot in spite of the government’s interventions.

Sivakasi

Although agriculture is the main source of income in rural areas, the government should encourage other activities which can generate employment in villages (‘The right hand left hand problem’, September 17). One of the solutions to prevent migration of rural population to cities is creating employment opportunities and developing villages on the line of smart cities: we should have smart villages. If we can make our villages smart by providing good sanitation, infrastructure, roads and creating employment we can solve the problem of migration of villagers to the already overcrowded cities. Sustained economic growth with investments in infrastructure projects, investments in labour-intensive industries, encouragement of small scale and cottage industries in rural and semi-urban areas goes in a long way in creating employment for the youth in villages.

Thane

Our granaries had a reserve of 73.85 million tonnes of grains in March 2020 and that gave succour to a nation in lockdown. All this despite years of drag imposed by farmer vote bank politics, pitiful support infrastructure, pseudo-reforms and loan waivers that never benefited the marginal farmer. It was the agro-sector that demonstrated the strength and resilience to grow during the pandemic, while the urban economy just folded up. With IT tools, good political leadership, quality educational institutions and healthcare facilities, a new class of rural micro-entrepreneurs will emerge to end sending daily wage labourers to the cities.

Navi Mumbai

PSBs have done doyen service in taking banking to rural areas and in poverty alleviation. Over time, they lost the sheen and they are not able to compete with their private-sector peers (‘Stake dilution in PSBs’, September 17). Besides high NPA and low-capital adequacy, lack of autonomy is also a concern for PSBs. It is time the government exited the ownership of the six banks which were kept outside the consolidation phase. If the government retains even 26 per cent stake, there is not likely to be bidders for these banks and it has to be a total divestment. Before that, these banks also have to clean their books and rationalise manpower and restructure to make them attractive for take-over. If corporate houses continue to be a taboo for owning banks, successful NBFCs may be given a chance.

Mumbai

This refers to ‘Government clueless on number of jobs lost during pandemics’ (September 17). The government is blowing hot and cold on LAC; the labour minister is blissfully ignorant on the availability of data on employment amidst pandemics, rather than replying to pointed questions candidly is eloquently evasive. However, it is praiseworthy that misleading and fudged data are not furnished like in the past.

Chennai

‘How fertiliser is making climate change worse’ (September 16) delivers a clear and loud message to the society, with a specific caveat to the authorities, who are legally bound for corrective actions.The degradation of the climate is majorly due to unscientific and rampant soil application of “soil and crop-based” chemical manures, compounded with lack of GAP (good agrarian practises), which is attributed to a dearth of awareness of the farmers, which needs to be addressed on a war footing.

Hassan, Karnataka

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