With reference to the article “CSR, a great idea” by Francis Kuriakose, instead of making companies spend 2 per cent of their net profits for CSR, the Government should tax the dividend income received by shareholders at the same level as other income rates. By this we can generate more revenue which can be used for various development activities.

Dividend income should taxable after a certain limit. Let all the dividend income above ₹10,000 be calculated as income and appropriate tax be paid on them. Because the net value of shares will be more than ₹10 lakh, CSR can be left to shareholders who should first pay their share of income tax.

CR Arun

Email

Voters’ rights

It seems the former Karnataka chief minister, HD Kumaraswamy, doesn’t see anything wrong in party leaders asking for bribes from aspiring candidates; he says he has not done anything other politicians haven’t done, after all only money matters in politics. If this is true, then we the people have some serious introspection to do.

Voters must understand their rights, that their votes cannot be misused by greedy, power-mongering, undesirable elements. They must understand the serious repercussions of being lured to vote. They must not fall for considerations like caste, religion, region, language and so on. Only the sincerity and capability of the candidate matters.Also, every voter should consider voting as his or her sacred duty. The media should play a constructive role in this regard.

VS Ganeshan

Bangalore

Rain, rain will come again

We are anxious about a late monsoon. But if total rainfall comes to around 95 per cent of normal rainfall, there is not much to worry about. This year it is likely to be less.It has been observed that in a cycle of five years, India gets two years of heavy rainfall, two years of below-normal rainfall and only one year of normal rainfall. The Government must plan on the basis of this pattern. Further, in recent years, the cycle of seasons has advanced by 15 days to one month. Hence the monsoon being delayed by one month is not unusual.

Mahesh Kumar

New Delhi

Full marks

After a 25-day nightmare in Iraq, the return of the 46 nurses from the clutches of militants is a rebirth of sorts. The Government’s discussions with the US senator on how to grapple with the situation was a good move. Well-wishers inside and outside Iraq have contributed to the safety of the Indian nationals. Full marks to the Indian Government, even though Opposition parties accuse it of not doing enough. This is not the time to play politics.

HP Murali

Bangalore

Good ideas

This refers to the editorial “The stabilisation opportunity” (July 7). The Centre’s move to set up the Price Stabilisation Fund (PSF) to even out the swings in the prices of essential (agri) commodities is widely acclaimed but the real success lies in its effective functioning.

Employing private players like Reliance as procurement agencies on behalf of the Government is a bad idea. There are chances for conflict since Reliance has its own retail outlet. At the same time, private players should be allowed to partner with the Government to establish infrastructure facilities like cold storage.

The National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing and the National Dairy Development Board (are potential organisations that be charged with procurement and timely distribution of produce without bias.If this move succeeds, the people at the back (farmers), in the middle (government) and in front (end-users) of the supply chain will benefit from the absence of black-marketeering.

Farmers will get the right price and consumers will be able to buy at reasonable prices. This will be the best way for the Government to beat food inflation.

S Lakshminarayanan

Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu

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