Letters to the editor dated November 5, 2011

Apropos the article ‘Climate action should focus on cities’ (November 4), acronyms like AQI (Air Quality Index), PPM (parts per million) have been frequently used for a decade or more now. No doubt, reducing the dependency on fossil fuels such as coal and oil is the need of the hour. Despite being the third largest emitter of greenhouse gases, India has been making major strides in switching over to renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

Planners can tackle the issue of pollution better by focussing on the following. One, split the sectors into transport and non-transport. Two, liberalise the norms for reaching the targeted 10 per cent of ethanol mix by 2025 instead of 2030, besides tightening the vehicle scrappage policy norms.

Three, use solar energy to power all street lights in residential and commercial areas of cities and towns. And, four, sensitise States about the benefits of renewable energy and provide the required funds to make the switch.

Chennai

This refers to ‘Leave the Railway PSUs alone’ (November 4). Generally, due to historical reasons, there exists a misunderstanding about resources management in India. Let’s not forget that East India Company, which became instrumental in perpetuating British rule here for long years, was in the private sector.

As we have seen in the case of banking sector since 1968, ownership change is a matter of government policy. What is missing in India is a level-playing field for private and public sector organisations. Policy shifts to pursue political interests rather than public interest is to be blamed for this.

The abuse of policy for political gains has to be minimised. If there’s consensus on this, it will be easier to ensure running of public and private sector enterprises professionally.

Mumbai

Private sector participation in the railways does not appear feasible as time and again it has been proved that the former isn’t keen on investing in long-gestation infrastructure projects.

Profit is what drives private players. Creating railway corporations will be meaningful only if they are allowed to function independently.

Sivakasi

This refers to ‘Bollywood and economics’ (November 4). Indeed, teaching economics through Bollywood movies can be great fun provided most of the students are familiar with the films. Professors can use OTT platforms and web series to provide some fun-mixed lessons to their students. At the end of the day, it is all about making a particular topic as interesting as possible.

Noida

The Prime Minister is right in asking States to do their best to vaccinate the population. It has been reported that Himachal Pradesh has fully vaccinated all its eligible adult population. Other States should follow the Himachal Pradesh model and vaccinate as many of the eligible population as possible. The governments, both at the Centre and the States, should take steps to smoothen the vaccination process. Big corporate houses should come forward to bear the vaccination costs through their CSR fundsVaccinating a majority of the population is the only way to avert a third wave of the pandemic.

Thane

This refers to ‘No case to cut fuel taxes’ (October 4). The burden of financing the development programmes must not fall mainly on middle-class taxpayers, but should be increasingly shouldered by large corporates. Fuel taxes have generated lakhs of crores for the government, and now the middle-class deserves some relief.

While small businesses and MSMEs need tax sops, the same should not be extended to large profit-generating corporates. The tax system has to be progressive.

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