Letters to the Editor dated January 13, 2020

This refers to ‘How to tap music’s employment potential’ (January 13). In India, the entertainment industry in general and the music industry in particular are victims of a lax intellectual property regime and even poorer implementation of whatever laws we have.

Especially in this online era, one is able to download and listen to all kinds of music without paying a penny. This seems grossly unfair to the performing artistes and the title owners.

In the time of gramophone records, cassettes and CDs, one had to buy these in order to listen to music. Not anymore.

We as a society need to respect intellectual property rights and be prepared to pay (through subscriptions) to listen to music online. Such a regime will enable fair and sustainable income for artistes and, thereby, attract more talent to the industry and create employment/self-employment opportunities.

Pune

This refers to ‘Prevention is the cure’ (January 13). After the creation and delivery of the loan, nurturing and maintaining the quality until its liquidation is paramount, as good quality assets are vital to sound banking and to the growth of the economy. In spite of the robust systems to ensure proper monitoring and end-to-end follow-up, loans are turning bad immediately after delivery or in the near term, pointing to the fact that banks have failed in the selection of the borrower. The selection of the borrower on commercial considerations is critical to build up quality assets.

Human capital having undoubted integrity and skills must be entrusted with the management of credit. Not entertaining any kind of influence in credit decisions and executing timely measures to enable the borrower withstand the impact of the business cycle and/or the economic turbulence are imperative in sustaining the quality of the assets.

Kottayam

This refers to ‘Turning adversity into opportunity, used-car sales running on fast lane’ (January 13). It will be not be proper to term it as a positive since the reason for the development is the slide in the economy causing car buyers to reduce the cost of owning a car. This has affected the sales of new vehicles. The automobile industry remaining healthy is essential, as otherwise there would be major consequences on the economy.

Coimbatore

This is with reference to ‘Why is the Government sitting on unutilised cess of over ₹3 lakh crore? (January 13). It is indeed a staggering sum of money lying idle with the government. It is difficult to fathom that on the one side the Centre is not paying States’ GST dues and on the other it is sitting on this huge cash-pile.

States’ revenue cannot be compromised for the larger scheme of things. It is not only about whether dedicated reserve funds are given to specific schemes or not but on whether they are optimally utilised or not.

Noida

There cannot be two opinions on the fact that the much sought after transition (from cash to FASTag usage) across the country should be given effect in a phased manner to the ease the pain of highway users. This view gains more prominence since, from January 15, the Centre plans to strictly implement the rule by allotting just one lane at toll plazas for accepting cash.

One wishes that the Indian Highways Management Company, which has been tasked with rolling out the Centre’s FASTag programme, had done its homework better before embarking on the project.

In fact, it reminds us of the hardship caused by the government’s earlier measures such as demonetisation and GST due to their poor implementation. Some of the adverse fallouts thereof are being felt even today.

So the government must ensure that its prestigious FASTag programme does not run into rough weather, owing to the lack of proper planning.

Panchkula, Haryana

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