Letters to the editor dated October 23, 2020

Apropos ‘Non existent Covid vaccine in a political storm’ (October 23), it was Nikita Khrushchev, who said: “Politicians are the same all over; they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river”. Indian politicians are adept in making such promises. Who can forget the catchy slogan of ‘ Garibi hatao ’ (remove poverty), on which the Congress party won the parliamentary elections in 1971, which, however, turned out to be a cruel joke? In Tamil Nadu, we have heard promises like providing three measures of rice for one rupee, making the Cooum river fragrant, and providing free colour TV sets to the poor when the whole State was reeling under power shortage.

Compared to such past promises, the present pledge to provide ‘Covid vaccine shots free of cost to the people’, made by the BJP and the AIADMK is implementable, though its ethical aspect may be debatable.

Chennai

By promising free vaccine against Covid-19 to every person of poll-bound Bihar, the BJP has taken poll populism to dizzy heights. Such a populist poll promise amounts to nothing but manipulation of the anxieties caused by the most debilitating epidemic to have ravaged the world in more than a century.

Development of vaccine for Covid-19 is work-in-progress and everyone is hoping for an early breakthrough and availability by the beginning of 2021. Even if the vaccine is available, the country requires an equitable and transparent distribution mechanism to ensure it does reach every vulnerable sections without any hiccups. Throwing such a complex issue of vaccine development and distribution into the hustle and bustle of electioneering and with an intent to reap electoral dividends isn’t right.

Sholavandan, TN

This is with reference to ‘FSSAI initiates pan-India khoa quality survey’ (October 23). It is a welcome move on the part of FSSAI to conduct a survey to test the quality of khoa/mawa and other ingredients used while making popular sweets. This is especially important in view of the fast approaching festival season when demand for sweets is high.

Harmful/cheap ingredients are often added to mawa/khoa to increase the quantity of the sweets. Strict laws should be enforced by the FSSAI to stop such adulteration of sweets. One of the remedies is to appoint officials to inspect khoa mandis /factories and submit their reports directly to the Food Ministry. Also, small players should be given facilities/subsidies so that they can make the products hygienically and also market them easily.

Thane

This refers to ‘Loan revamp: Clubbing of sectors won’t help’ (October 23). The premise that banks should always bailout is faulty to say the least. When the series of rate-cuts aimed at convincing banks to start lending has failed, the government should realise that it needs to do far more than that to revive the economy. The Kamath committee did a good job to come out with its recommendation in such a short span of time, but to really make suggestions work the government has to adopt different tools for different sectors and some hand-holding, especially for smaller firms, would also be needed during these stressful times. Ultimately, the intent should be to provide a workable solution to all sectors.

Noida

At present, issuer companies proposing to raise long-term funds by way of issuing of debt securities require to comply with several regulatory norms. Now, SEBI has directed issuers to create a ‘Recovery Expense Fund’ and deposit cash or bank guarantee with stock exchanges from January.

This may provide an additional safety gear from the investor protection point of view, but with mounting expenses and provisions, it would hurt the resources position of the issuers, leading to more defaults on the return front.

Bengaluru

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