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This is with reference to the editorial ‘Too pessimistic’ (April 17) which discussed the lowest rating Standard & Poor’s has given to India. As rightly pointed out, the assessment of the rating agency has been misguided and devoid of comprehensive data analysis. Its warnings are nothing new but what we already know.
Efforts are actively underway to tackle the issues. Rising external debt, one of the negatives the agency had attributed, does not project the correct picture as it has overlooked the fact that India’s short-term debts are declining and the increase is only on account of NRI deposits or external commercial borrowings which are of long term in nature.
While S&P harps on the negatives like the substantial levels of ‘fuel and food subsidies’ or ‘short-term debt burden of the government’, another rating agency Moody’s has seen the glimmer in our economy and upgraded its outlook on India to ‘Positive’.
Regarding external shocks, the government and RBI have already identified and are engaged in managing the risks building up on the horizon in the near future, like the US withdrawing its easy monetary policy for good and consequent rise in interest rates which are awaited. Poorly, S&P has only seen the negatives and shut its assessment tools to what we have done to plug these negatives as also all the reform measures in the offing, reflecting its biased and poor assessment.
Rugmani Vinod
Thiruvananthapuram
This refers to your edit ‘Too pessimistic’. We need to accept the fact that the combined fiscal deficit of the Centre and states is 8 per cent of the GDP and this is the highest for any country in the world. Yes the government and the Reserve Bank are moving in the right direction and this high deficit will come down over a period of time. But we need more spending room and speedy implementation of projects on the ground to kick start our economy again. The external demand is weak because of which exports are not picking up. If we move to clear the deck of stalled projects, it will clearly help our economy to come back from the slump. Greece is dying a slow death and Grexit can destabilise the financial markets and hit us when we expect the least. So risks are clearly there in the air, we need to get our act together before something somewhere blows up and derails our comeback.
CR Arun
Neutrality is the key
We want freedom of access to the internet. We are already paying so much for internet packs. I support net neutrality. If we pay for internet, we will decide how to use it. The issue is not only of net neutrality, telecom regulator Trai has failed to protect the interest of citizens.
Like the internet, we need neutrality in direct-to-home television as well. Today, we are paying DTH operators for watching advertisements on television; we have really made it an idiot box. There must be a cap of maximum five minutes advertisements per hour. Is the regulator listening?
Santhosh Mathew
Puducherry
Return of the native
This refers to reports on Rahul Gandhi’s return after a break. We remain a questioning nation, for right reasons to an extent. We question everything; from Rahul’s return to Kejriwal’s thoughts! We ask, why at all did the BJP get together with the PDP to walk into controversies on a daily basis and why could not the Janata Parivar get together far earlier and end up much the same way?
Why the Congress had to pay heavily for the silence of its Prime Minister and why the BJP is yet to realise it could suffer similarly over discordant notes from its fringes.
Again, why a government that bats for net neutrality today is still thinking of rechristening 66A of Indian Penal Code? The thirst is endless and we would have answers to none of them!
R Narayanan
Ghaziabad
Erratum
In the photo caption “Wilted hopes” on page 15 in the April 17, 2015, edition, the crop that been affected should have read as cauliflower and not cabbage. The error is regretted.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters by email to bleditor@thehindu.co.in or by post to ‘Letters to the Editor’, The Hindu Business Line, Kasturi Buildings, 859-860, Anna Salai, Chennai 600002.
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