Rap for poll panel

Finally after the damage is done the Madras High court has found fault with the Election Commission for having given consent to conduct elections. But had these instructions been given at a time when the green signal to conduct elections was given by EC the damage would been minimised. One is unable to understand why the apex court did not step in to stop elections having seen the huge gatherings of people at election rallies. The political parties and the Centre too have share the blame for organising big election rallies . Another grave mistake on the part of centre is allowing kumbh Mela in this hour of crisis. As expected lot of cases have been emerged. Hence even now also we can minimise the cases as well as deaths by strict compliance of Covid-19 protocol/precautions by people and ensuring accelerated vaccinations by the Centre are a must to achieve success against the deadly decease.

N Lalitha

Bhimavaram (AP)

Pricing woes

Apropos the edit “Pricing problems” (April 27) the two Covid-19 vaccine making companies seem to have a good case for profit-oriented high pricing. Still, is there any room for big reconsideration? AstraZeneca (Covishield in India) charges between $2.15 per shot for some EU countries and $4 for US while India pays between $5 (₹400) and $ 8 (₹600) per jab. Allowing for the fact that SII pays 50 percent of its revenue to Astra Zeneca by way of royalty the effective prices come down to the comparable ranges in other countries.

However, with India's huge vaccine requirement the profits will soar with risk capital investment recovered quickly. So, there could a possibility of scaling down the pricing. As for Bharat Biotech, the prices of ₹150 per dose for the Centre, ₹600 for state governments and ₹1200 for others surely call for rationalisation.

YG Chouksey

Pune

With reference to the editorial ‘Pricing problems’ (April 27), while it is paramount to make available a sufficient quantity of vaccines to accelerate the speed of vaccination to cover the entire population, it is also essential to regulate and control their price to make it affordable to consumers but without hurting the manufactures. A uniform price of the vaccine across the nation without discrimination between the Centre and States is crucial to avoid extra burden to the state governments, particularly at this juncture when their finances are under stress.

Containing the growth and spread of the deadly virus is vital and for that getting the entire population vaccinated is of utmost importance. Encouraging the production and distribution of vaccines by private and public sector enterprises will pave the way for ample supplies against the surging demand for the vaccines. The persisting panic situation due to vaccine shortage, oxygen and other bottlenecks at vaccination centres, and hospitals being faced by the public is creating anxiety and pushing the speed of the transmission of the virus. The violation of Covid protocol at vaccination centres is abundant and therefore the governments are required to drastically speed up the supply of vaccines at a lesser price to make vaccination affordable to all sections of the society.

VSK Pillai

Changanacherry

Welcome guidelines

The RBI guidelines prescribing the term of 15 years for MD and CEO of private banks (Àpril 27) is appropriate. Continuity of leadership is essential to carry out a vision and the guidelines are positive in that perspective.

Even though the CEOs of public sector banks do not get such a long tenure in view of scale based promotion policies the tenure does not affect much as these banks are not run autonomously and work within the statutory provisions and government guidelines. During this long tenure the private banks should be able to groom a second line and chalk out a clear vision and business continuity. The flipside of such a long tenure for the CEO and MD is that a particular management culture gets set and complacency may set in. Though not prescribed by RBI it is desirable for banks to have a Committee of Independent /non executive directors who can meet periodically and share their collective ideas to the management.

M Raghuraman

Mumbai

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