Peppery worries

The trading as well as the growing community have been tryingto find a solution to the problem of pepper with respect to import and export. With the import of poor quality pepper affecting domestic growers, one possible solution is to announce a minimum support price for locally grown pepper. This exercise must begin with this plantation crop. We must guard the interest of growers, but not at the cost of traders.

Halekere village, Karnataka

This is with reference to ‘No jobs:It is not all the Government's fault’ by M Ramesh (March 22). The issue should be looked at from another perspective. There are numerous unemployed youth looking for jobs even if they are not related to their qualification. It is a well known fact that in government almost all the departments are overworked because of insufficient staff strength and a growing work-load. Why can’t the Government directly announce its job requirements instead of waiting for proper data? Why should the government always talk about employment opportunities in the private sector?

This refers to ‘Cambridge Analytica CEO claims influence on US election, Facebook questioned’ (March 22).The scandal affecting more than 55 million Facebook users has brought to light the vulnerability of ‘digital citizens’ to theft of their digital identities and misuse of a powerful infrastructure like Facebook as an instrument of data-based mass surveillance. The Government should take up this issue at the appropriate fora and intervene with regulatory safeguards that should include, but not be restricted to, a technology agnostic law, informed and meaningful consent, accountability of the data controller, statutory authority for enforcement, and penalties for wrongful data processing.

Delhi

This refers to ‘Shortage of coal continues to hit power generation’ (March 22). The Government should not think of importing coal, nor opt for renewable energy; it should liberalise the policy and import coal mining machinery and technology from abroad. For instance, Eastern Coalfields Ltd who have imported mining machinery and technology from Australia has performed very well. Their output recently increased to 3 million tonnes in one of the underground coal mines in West Bengal as a result of deployment of Driftrunner Free Steered transportation system and other mass-production technologies. The Government should not always think of importing coal but should tap its own resources. For instance, there are 700 million tonnes of good quality coal in Assam and Meghalaya.

Sydney, Australia

According to the minister of state for defence, the armed forces face a shortage of 52,000 soldiers. This is serious. Drastic austerity measures on non-planned expenditure to minimise the strain on the exchequer is appreciated but when it comes to filling the vacant posts of soldiers, there should not be any delay, compromise or laxity.

Bengaluru

IBC regulations encourage the highest bidder, to acquire the business via IRP. While this benefits stakeholders, viability, governance and dubious intent must be validated as well. Business ethics demand that lenders ensure the sale of business only to promoters who can viably continue the operations.

The new entity should aim for better corporate governance and safeguard employee interests. Usually, promoters are reluctant to invest in a venture that is potentially insolvent. A very high bid could be indicative of a dubious intent to gain backdoor entry and re-acquire the lost business. Lenders must compute the net liabilities accurately and auditors should verify conformance to prevent tax evasion or misrepresentation of financial statements.

Delhi

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