Pat on the back

This refers to ‘Driven by capitalism’ by Raghuvir Srinivasan (From the Viewsroom, November 5). It is heartening to see the communist party acting as a facilitator. To be fair, the party does not hold any stake in the new entity; it will just facilitate members to compete more vigorously in the marketplace. The party is stepping in to teach its members how to improve themselves and be relevant instead of indulging in violence. This deserves a pat on the back.

CR Arun

Email

The app-based taxi aggregator helps drivers optimise the cost of service without charging customers for the return trip. At the same time, this disruptive technology and the terms of contract cause the drivers to lose the protective coverage of labour laws. This is the real problem. It would have been more appropriate for the CPI (M) to demand that the UDF government notify rules under various Acts concerning minimum wage, EPF, industrial disputes and so on to include ‘taxi aggregator as ‘employer’ for the purpose of these Acts, considering that labour is a concurrent subject under the Constitution.

KVA Iyer

Kochi

People expect efficient service, free from fleecing and hassle-free travel commensurate with the money they pay. All the stakeholders should make concerted efforts to measure up to the level of travelling people as a survival instinct. Taking out processions and objecting to the services provided by Uber, Ola and Meru cabs is nothing short of fishing in troubled waters for the political class.

HP Murali

Bengaluru

Consumer cheer

The editorial, ‘Goodbye GOSF’ (November 5) reflects the growth of e-commerce in the country. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages, for instance the customer will not get the look and feel of physical shopping. Low smartphones penetration is a grey area. The flip side is the loss of earning opportunities for middlemen and retailers.

Vikram Sundaramurthy

Chennai

Insulting the nation

It has become a fashion to return awards under the disguise of protesting against intolerance. By returning the awards they actually insult the nation and not the people in power.

M Raghuraman

Mumbai

Feudal mindset

This refers to ‘The journey to urban landscapes’ by Narendar Pani (November 4). The migration of rural poor from Bihar and other provinces is neither inevitable nor an Arther Lewisian process of transition from the primary sector to the industrial sector for better wages.

The feudal socio-cultural mindset is the root cause of this painful migration process. The local dabangs (landlords and neo-politicians ) from dominant castes not only extract forced labour but also humiliate the lower-caste poor every day. They are economically deprived and humiliated. Urban centres provide money wages and lost caste identity.

Trupti Goyal

Jodhpur

Miles to go in business

This refers to ‘Doing business rankings don’t seem right’ by Madan Sabnavis (November 5). To the extent that the parameters used by the World Bank to rank nations on ease of doing business show where we realistically stand globally and why, we need not quibble too much on the methodology. Some of our achievements indicate that it was the lack of will and not the lack of ability that prevented us earlier. Our slow progress is also due to political bickering for sectoral gains.  It is in the national interest that  the Centre, States and Opposition work together, starting with GST.

YG Chouksey

Pune

Unprecedented move

The Election Commission’s reprimand to political parties not to publish advertisements in newspapers during the fifth and final phase of Bihar polls on Thursday without approval is unprecedented. The move comes on the heels of the BJP splashing an advertisement in Bihar newspapers showing a girl petting a cow with a caption questioning Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s silence over repeated insults heaped on the “revered cow” by his “friends”. It is clear the party is trying to win over Hindus to their side by playing the cow card. The Grand Alliance is right in objecting to the advertisement.

NJ Ravi Chander

Bengaluru

Sartorially savvy RSS

Synonymous with khaki shorts since its inception in 1925, swayamsevaks are all set to cast off their well-worn khakhi shorts for full length trousers. High time, some would say, given that the pleated and flared shorts seemed designed to make even the most muscular legs seem scrawny! It seems the decision to adopt trousers was taken to appeal to the youth. There are some 50,000 shakhas or branches of the RSS. Even on the conservative assumption that each has just 10 regular swayamsewaks, the organisation needs to find half a million pairs of trousers. When the RSS replaced its canvas belt with a leather one in 2010, the change took two years to implement.

JS Acharya

Hyderabad

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