Industrial activity

This is with reference to the editorial ‘Anaemic revival’ (January 14). The economy has witnessed industrial stagnation for many years now due to subdued domestic demand combined with sluggish net exports owing to global crises. But what was unfortunate is that the government imposed demonetisation on an unsuspecting economy. This compounded the industrial sluggishness even further.

The small-scale sector suffered heavy damage and unfortunately the IIP has no adequate means of assessing this. The IIP in February 2017 was 1.2 per cent below the February 2016 figure; and for manufacturing, the index was a full 2 per cent below.

The IIP dipped to 0.5 per cent year-on-year in November 2018 from a 11-month high of 8.4 per cent a year ago. It was the smallest gain in industrial activity since the contraction recorded in June 2017. Gross fixed capital formation has been tepid and the government has not been able to revive private investment and hence job creation.

Navi Mumbai

The sudden demise of Meera Sanyal, a seasoned banker turned politician, came as a rude shock. When she conveyed her New Year greetings on twitter one thought all was fine. As an ex-banker of ABN AMRO and RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland), and having participated in few meetings presided by her, it was a personal loss.

She was a highly versatile and results-focussed banker, with a diverse range of skills. She was gentle and gracious and was easily approachable. By joining the AAP, she wanted to bring in a paradigm shift in the way politics is run in the country, by trying to bring in people with ideals, integrity, and competence.

Chennai

This is with reference to the article ‘Explaining Swachh Bharat’s success’ (January 14). One of the main reasons for the scheme’s success is that the Prime Minister has taken personal interest in the mission and given it a right direction which, if followed by the people, will make the country litter-free, boost hygiene and reduce hygiene-related diseases. Modi has given momentum to the campaign and it is the duty of the people to ensure its success.

One of the main reasons for low tourism growth in the country is non-maintenance of heritage sites and garbage accumulation near temples, shrines and historical places. Hence if people vow not to litter, the job of the government becomes easy and tourism can get a boost.

Thane

Alok Kumar Verma took over as the Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation with clouds of corruption charges hanging over him and relinquished the post with another set of unsubstantiated allegations staring at him. In a change of role, the Prime Minister, who argued vehemently for his coronation, turned hostile and the leader of the largest Opposition Party, Mallikarjun Kharge, who had opposed his appointment referring to the taint of corruption, stood by him when the high-power committee deliberated his continuation. In this sordid episode, the Central Vigilance Commission was seen enacting a role that hurt its credibility.

It wouldn’t have surprised us this much if we had followed the sequence of events closely. An Additional Director, an obliging IPS officer with not all that good a reputation, belonging to the Gujarat cadre, was foisted on the CBI as a counterforce to keep the Director under surveillance. Sensing trouble, the latter moved swiftly to disarm him by lodging an FIR against the former to investigate his corrupt deals. The AD hit back with a litany of corruption charges against the Director, and the ruling dispensation at the Centre quickly employed the CVC for an ad-hoc report. Armed with the report, the government struck when the world was asleep, purportedly to end the internecine war between the Director and his deputy. However, it needed no super-intelligence to discover the sleuth under suspicion, Alok Verma, was the actual target.

Kozhikode

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