Thumbs up for Chandrayaan-2

The successful launch of Chandrayaan-2 has gladdened our hearts and given us a sense of achievement. Our perseverance has paid off. Indeed, we, as ISRO Chairman K Sivan put it, ‘bounced back with flying colours’.

Enhancing the rocket’s performance by 15 per cent and, thereby, saving fuel is no small feat. We can rightly claim it as a great leap for India in its space programme.

As lay people, we are not quite able to understand the minute and precise details of advances in space technology, but the visuals of the lift-off of Chandrayaan-2 rocket were a treat to our eyes. It will be a major breakthrough when the mission, after a series of crucial manoeuvres, reaches and explores the hitherto unexplored region of the moon — the south pole.

The Finance Ministry’s plan to reduce the rate of GST on electric vehicles (EVs) and solar power systems (July 22) is a positive development as it will help reduce global warming and environmental pollution. The ministry must also consider subsidising the purchase of private EVs like commercial vehicles. In the initial stages of introduction, EVs are likely to be costlier, as has been the case with most products at the time of launch; the cost of CFLs and LEDs are cases in point. The subsidies can be phased out once the costs of the vehicles start coming down.

Manimala, Kerala

The decision of the Centre to compress 44 labour laws into four broad categories — wages, social security, industrial relations, and occupational health and safety — is welcome. But any move to deprive the rights of workers to form unions and collective bargaining just to promote ‘ease of doing’ business is unwarranted. While acknowledging and appreciating the minimum wage law to all activities and not just the 45 scheduled ones, we should not be oblivious to the move to curtail the right of workers to form unions, which is undemocratic and needs to be revisited. After the onset of globalisation, legitimate concerns have been raised about the erosion of workers’ entitlements. It is time we addressed the concerns of workers, ensuring that their legitimate rights to decent wages and better working conditions are not compromised.

Sholavandan, TN

This refers to the editorial ‘Rebooting labour reforms’ (July 22). Given the archaic notions of trade unions and the anti-labour attitude of employers, labour law reforms cannot be effective unless the government is able to bring the two on the same wavelength through a series of consultations. They can maximise gains only by working in tandem. Even as the government removes the shackles of inspector raj and rigid laws, it should ensure that the bipartite forums of communication and dispute resolution get deep roots and unstinted managerial support.

The core issues in management-union relations are to find an accepted method of union recognition for collective bargaining and ease of closure of business without hurting the interests of the workers. A tripartite consensus is necessary to find the optimum solution.

Pune

Media reports indicate that RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has taken public sector banks to task for not reducing lending rates despite there being ample liquidity, bond yields being at a multi-year low, and policy rates having been lowered by 75 basis points (bps) in the past six months. For sure, he truly deserves the appreciation of various stakeholders who have been waiting from quite some time for a positive response from PSBs on this count.

Further, as revealed on the RBI website, Das also appears to have provided these recalcitrant banks with enough ‘food for thought’ while making available a roadmap for their operational guidance too. Thus, there seems to be nothing wrong if he now expects them to quickly deliver in the larger national interest.

Panchkula, Haryana

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