Diminishing returns

With reference to “A pushover power” (July 13) our most-travelled prime minister’s visits to numerous countries across the globe have failed to create political impact significantly. Whether it is extradition of Vijay Mallya from the UK or Zakir Naik from Malaysia or reining in Pakistan by the US — nothing has worked. Pakistan carries out terrorist activities in spite of warnings from US President Donald Trump.

There are two reasons for this. Our PM seems to be giving precedence to economic and business relations over political bonds. He has succeeded in bringing in more investments and make-in-India ventures.

Secondly he has avoided the much talented and highly experienced Foreign Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj — she has exceptional interpersonal skills. also. He depends more on his chosen bureaucrats and advisers to decide foreign policy. His attempts to design and maintain relations with other countries alone have started giving diminishing returns.

Pune

With reference to the news report ‘Karnataka CM announces additional relief for famers’ (July 13), the latest move of the JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka in providing additional relief for the State farmers could tantamount to ‘wilfully’ making yet another ‘political’ investment to further ‘cement’ its vote bank here as a prelude to the impending 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It may be highly significant to recall that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had announced the farm waiver aggregating to ₹32,000 crore while presenting the budget in the State Assembly. Needless to say that offering such financial bounties to the politically sensitive farming community could largely be ‘self-serving’ as it is the PSBs which will have to bear the brunt of the State government’s largesse.

Mind you, suitably ‘compensating’ the affected banks, in some time bound manner, always remains shrouded in mystery in all such cases.

Ironically, the State government has already hiked the duty (local taxes) on both petrol and diesel as a part of its ‘resource mobilisation exercise’ and this move comes on the back of the sharply rising prices thereof as mandated by the PSU oil marketing companies which usually use the pretext of globally rising crude prices.

However, amidst all this, the moot question is: ‘Why rob Peter to pay Paul’. Is its surprising that the Centre, despite its earlier promise, has still kept petrol and diesel out of the GST ambit?

Bengaluru

With refernce to “BASF’s China move should worry US” (July 13), US President Donald Trump seems to have singled out his own country from the rest of the world, citing the national interest.With BASF’s huge investment in China, the economic ties between Germany and China will get a further boost and so will trade cooperation with the European Union. All this willdefinitely intensify the conflict with the US further.

Trump must understand that the US, having done the abscission of relationship with other nations, can’t achieve growth in isolation. The trade-war between the US and other (potential) countries – in the form of more tariffs, sanctions – has completely gone against the agreed principles of international trade.

After all, most of the countries in the world with different beliefs, ideologies seek to work together – having established a modus vivendi for the mutual benefits, as they strongly believe in “United we grow, Divided we fall”.

Cuddalore

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