Letters to the editor dated August 19, 2021

Apropos ‘New locker rules’ (August 19), the relationship between a customer hiring a locker and a bank is one of lessor and lessee, guided by Section 105 of the Transfer of Property Act. Hitherto, banks have not assumed any liability in case of loss or damage to the contents.

However, for that reason, banks cannot wash their hands of all responsibility. Every lessee has the implied right to quiet enjoyment of the leased property, which assumes reasonable safety measures.

The RBI has now come out with the directive, at the prompting of the Supreme Court, that in the event of fire, theft and fraud, banks’ liability would be 100 times the annual rent paid for the locker. RBI also needs to lay down clear guidelines on how the three events would be established. A customer, whose articles are damaged or stolen from the locker should not be made to run from pillar to post.

Chennai

This refers to the report ‘Apex court allows women to appear for NDA examination, asks UPSC to issue notification “ Directive from apex court is welcome but in patriarchal society it shall hardly be an emollient. The crimes against women, depleting workforce have been aggravated during the pandemic.

Why is the women’s reservation Bill hanging fire?. Also the defence forces are not a big draw for the youth these days. Post-reforms, MNCs are providing remunerative and gainful employment and the best talent is poached by them.

Noida

The ‘White Paper on the Tamil Nadu Government’s Finances’ is a comprehensive appraisal of the State’s financial affairs. The document says the ‘revenue-deficit-driven fiscal deficits' are bridged mainly with borrowings, which increased from ₹3.46 lakh crore in 2018-19 to ₹4.86 lakh crore in 2020-21, and is estimated to reach ₹5.70 lakh crore in 2021-22.

Tamil Nadu - and also the other southern states – has been facing multiple challenges on the economic front lately. Its share in the total tax revenue of the country has been scaled down in the Fifteenth Finance Commission (FC-XV) report. Due to Central cesses, the quantum of overall divisible Central taxes has come down from 42 per cent to 32 per cent.

The White Paper states the switch from the population of 1971 to that of 2011 for weightage adversely affected the finances of the State.

In recent interviews, the Finance Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have expressed reservations about the criteria adopted for the apportionment. Cross-subsidisation must end — as is being attempted in every field now — at some point in order to achieve a fair distribution.

Kozhikode

The news report, an outcome based on scientific study, ‘Dwindling pollinators may hit food output: study’ (August 18) needs evaluation retrospectively. Prior to Green revolution, ‘man-made’ derivatives did not exist in the farming sector and the peasants co-lived with natural habitats, including pollinators, without much debate on their roles. With the changing situation, where quantity of food production is the focus, the farming community needs to be aware of the consequences of dwindling pollinators, if not its advantage — as his mindset is deep rooted to harmful chemicals, which is causing havoc in the farm sector. State governments must offer budgetary support for apiculture, develop barren lands in addition to mandating diversification and rotation of crops, incentivise organic farming by luring them with palpable benefits that gives them pecuniary gains.

Halekere Village (Karnataka)

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