An institutional icon

With reference to ‘Re-energising the India Post model’ (August 22) our Postal Department, one of the oldest and people-friendly institutions, has become the victim of modern technology and bureaucratic, inefficient working. The ineptitude precipitated the launch of many private couriers and deprived India Post of revenue. Subsidised mail service and diminishing business have led to its precarious condition. Yet it is still a necessary service for rural population and must stay alive.

In addition to useful suggestions made in the article, the government may think of other measures to improve its systems and procedures. The US Postal Service (which has about 617,000 employees and delivers some 660 million pieces of mail) could be a good model to revamp our IP. Simplified and efficient working will reduce delays in delivery of mail, and enable India Post to charge competitive rates and compete with private entities in urban areas.

Pune

With reference to ‘Need to cut energy demand in urban areas' (August 22), with the rapid pace of urbanisation, metropolitan cities are already facing the problem of ‘energy deficit’ and find it difficult to fulfill energy requirements due to increasing pressure of vehicular traffic. The opportunities of employment, education and health are available only in bigger cities which compounds the problem. If companies, educational institutions and hospitals are established in rural areas as propounded by late President Dr. Abdul Kalam through PURA (Public Utilities in Rural Areas) model, the movement of people and urbanisation can be controlled to a great extent. One of the strategies can be to develop more small towns with all the required utilities in the vicinity of metropolitan cities. It should be made mandatory for companies to open new establishments in these towns for restricting peoples’ mobility to the bigger cities. It will also boost rural development and growth coupled with reducing carbon footprint. There is need of restructuring the development strategy by setting up PURA and for achieving this objective integrated policy making at local, state and central government level is required.

Hisar

With reference to ‘Growth in bank lending to corporates sustains in Q1’ (August 22), the recent reforms initiated in select sectors like infrastructure has thrown up more business opportunities while the IT sector is still reeling under western policy paralysis and trade restrictions. The significant credit growth in SME is welcome, as the risk for the lender is diversified among various small corporate entities, contrary to the fiasco experienced in case of large corporates. However, the sustainability of a majority of SMEs is at stake due to their poor financial viability and marketing skills. Though the MSME Ministry provides adequate credit guarantee support to lending banks, SMEs are still unable to access to bank lending due to their poor financials , poor compliance standards and recovery mechanism.

Bengaluru

WhatsApp CEO gets an Indian platter. The government has placed many demands regarding the adherence to the Indian Law to curb fake or counterfeit texts. Nevertheless, the government has to design a strategy to educate the citizens to employ the platform legitimately and sensibly. Outlawing the numerous apps won’t fix the problem and will definitely impact authentic users.

Thoughtful efforts have to be channelised towards boosting media or digital know-how. Proper guidance has to be provided to sift genuine news from fake news. If the government manages to do this, users of various apps will feel secure and add to accountability. Moreover, politics should be kept out of this segment.

Goa

In the article ‘Results Round-up: The picture gets brighter’ that appeared in the Stock Calls page of Portfolio section on August 20, the line should read as Asian Paints is the third largest in Asia, and not as published. The error is regretted.

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