J&K imbroglio

With reference to the editorial ‘Back to the brink’ (June 20), the BJP’s decision to withdraw support from the J&K government is unbecoming of a seasoned national political party. The decision projects Kashmir in a state of anarchy and erodes the faith of people in democracy. Given the recent incidents of violence, the move will pave way for negative sentiments of surrendering to vested interests in the valley.

Chennai

After an abortive attempt at selling the ailing airliner, the Centre’s decision shelve its plans of disinvestment in Air India not only reaffirms the fact that it’s no easy task to put a loss-making State-owned carrier on sale but also that it is not prudent to expect the investors to take the ownership and run it profitably. It is no secret that Air India was run like a public sector undertaking with no control over its finances. Instead of putting systems in place, improving its services, and reinvent policies with a long-term vision to sustain itself, Air India looked for government bail outs that led to mismanagement and the accumulation of huge debts, which had become a major disadvantage in finding a suitor. Given the present circumstances, it’s no surprise that the government’s efforts have come a cropper.

Bengaluru

With reference to ‘Centre grounds AI divestment’ (June 20), the government’s decision not to go ahead with its decision to sell a 76 per cent stake in Air India is a result of its continued “dithering” over adoption of some realistic and/or a rational approach towards its entire divestment process. The genesis of its failure to attract investors lies in the government’s ambiguity on retaining 24 per cent stake. It may be recalled that the government was reportedly thinking of dropping its earlier condition to retain even 24 per cent stake apart from issuing various clarifications to woo the prospective bidders. But the government seems to have already scored a self-goal by jumping into the fray without doing its home work properly.

However, it was quite amusing to observe that this high level meeting was convened by none other than Arun Jaitley himself, which was also attended by Interim Finance Minister Piyush Goyal among other key cabinet ministers of the Modi government. Why is Jaitley is so desperate to take over the reins of the Finance Ministry despite being on 'pre-sanctioned' Medical leave? Interestingly, in his latest tweet he has urged people to pay their taxes “honestly” while ruling out any “cut” in the excise duty that currently applies to various petroleum products.

New Delhi

With reference to ‘India must lead the emerging markets’ (June 20), there is clear danger to markets world wide, thanks to Trump’s trade policies. The EMs are most vulnerable as tariffs shoot upwards of 40 per cent for them.

Trump took serious note of reports from leading analysts on the rapid decline of US manufacturing and jobs overall. The soaring US trade deficits is threatening the recovery of manufacturing. The real value of the dollar has sharply risen against a basket of major currencies between December 2013 and March 2015. More than 20 countries spend about $1 trillion per year buying foreign assets to artificially suppress the value of their currencies. We could be looking at reduced exports to major nations while desperately managing the rupee value. We would then need to induce higher domestic consumption, find other buyers for our exports as also foot higher crude bill. The resultant deficits, fiscal and current account, will divert our attention from the larger canvas laid out in the article.

Navi Mumbai

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