Diwali is not a festival of lights but occasion to exploit children who should be in school. Instead they work in dingy rooms making firecrackers to bring smiles on the faces of other children. They are paid a pittance and their hands turn yellow from prolonged exposure to chemicals, which leads to lung, skin and visual ailments. It is high time we automated the fireworks industry.

TS Karthik

Chennai

Logic and reason

This refers to ‘Milk has fare lessons for the Delhi metro’ by Tina Edwin (October 13). There is a need for rational thinking while fixing tariffs or hiking the prices of essential commodities. A steep hike will have a psychological effect on people who have no choice but to accept. This time there’s conspicuous silence from politically-motivated groups that normally protest when prices are hiked.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Delhi-NCR has a population of 20 million and its huge purchasing power adds vehicles at double the rate it builds roads. The metro which daily carries 20 lakh passengers — 10 per cent of its population — has largely contained the commuting mayhem. It thus makes sense to leverage the metro for travel convenience, save oil import, reduce pollution, and save time.

The gross notional savings should be credited to a national ‘Green Fund’ from which the revenue expenditure of major metros could be subsidised provided they meet set operational and accounting standards. Tax/cess from vehicles registered under a metro jurisdiction should be earmarked for capital requirements for metro expansion. Escalating fares will undermine the purpose of the metro.

R Narayanan

Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh

Keep the faith

The decision of the Election Commission of India not to announce simultaneous polls for Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat despite the fact that the terms of the two State assemblies end within the two weeks of each other is unfortunate.

The ECI may say this is to avoid unreasonably long imposition of the model code of conduct and its resultant negative impact on governance but it casts a big shadow on credibility. The ECI is one of the few institutions in India that enjoys trust and respect for its exemplary role in asserting institutional independence and keeping intact the citizens’ faith in democracy by holding free and fair polls. Any suspicion of it playing to the gallery does not augur well for our parliamentary democracy.

M Jeyaram

Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Media silence

This refers to ‘Having wrecked the economy, BJP is creating a post-truth society: Yechury’ (October13). It is unfortunate that we have a compliant media. It does not challenge the PM when he asks what progress the nation made during Congress rule in the last 60 years. Why is there no counter-narrative in the established media?

Now, there is a manufactured slow-own because of GST and demonetisation. Most people are familiar with women selling steel utensils for our old clothes. Can we expect such self-employed women to have GST number? If the Government cannot create more jobs, it should not destroy the jobs created by the self-employed. People are creative. Policies have to be user-friendly.

Deendayal M Lulla

Email

Ban waivers

Though the fiscal deficit measured as percentage of GDP has been within the prescribed limit the worrying factor is that while the fiscal deficit of the Centre has been declining that of the States is slipping out of control. This was largely because of the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana.

Farm loan waivers leave State exchequers in loss for which they borrow from the market at higher interest. This not only adds a funds crunch it also severely disturbs the financial stability of the economy. The election commission must ban promises on loan waivers; tax rates should be slashed so that higher tax receipts are received.

TSN Rao

Bheemavaaram, Andhra Pradesh

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