A system by which those who require emigration check will be issued orange-coloured passports while others will get blue ones is retrogade. This will lead to the segregation of citizens on the basis of socio-economic profile and discrimination against vulnerable sections of society.

Any effort to colour code the vulnerability of citizens on their passports militates against the equal social order as envisaged by our Constitution. It is time the Government focussed on measures to prevent the exploitation of Indian unskilled workers overseas and not on ways that institutionalise discrimination.

M Jeyaram

Sholavandan, Tamil Nadu

Sense and nonsense

This refers to the editorial, ‘Finally taking off’ (January 17). It is welcome that the Government has finally seen that state intervention in the economy is warranted only in the event of market failure or an overarching non-economic objective, and that it should not have nationalised and monopolised an industry that could sustain market competition.

However, approval for privatisation through 49 per cent foreign investment in Air India does not inspire much confidence. UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik) is a typical network of bureaucratic controls that manifests inefficient policymaking and shoddy implementation.

Shreyans Jain

Delhi

Virtual currency, real plummet

While regulators have cautioned potential Investors of cryptocurrency market risks, a penal framework is also required to safeguard the interests of stakeholders with unhedged positions in the instruments. Bitcoin and altcoins pose money-laundering and clearance/settlement risks on account of nil-intrinsic value and lack of transparency at various levels.

The uncertainty is further aggravated by the missing underlying, unregulated exchanges, non-categorical asset class, undefined tax norms, hyper price volatility and poor market liquidity.

Girish Lalwani

Email

Too taxing

The Government may be finding it very hard to strike a proper balance between political populism and the economic rationalism with regard to the Budget. However, the fact remains that the expectations of the common man may get totally belied once again.

The moot question is: Why are some people more equal than others in India? Why has our FM never ever thought about the millions of ordinary citizens who may have to bear the brunt of double taxation by first paying taxes on income, and then on consumer goods and services?

S Kumar

New Delhi

Pertinent argument

‘Shadow over solar’ by M Ramesh (January 17) clearly puts in perspective the tardy achievements in solar power and the latent devastating impact of the proposed high safety duty of 70 per cent on cells and modules.India’s solar power utilisation is still meagre. The policies should be inclusive of the precept of low price for high quality.

The proposed high safety duty will endanger the growth of the industry. Moreover, it will demotivate prospective users and create short supply in the energy sector forcing it to go back to square one. Geopolitical challenges need to be circumvented with the fostering of multilateral treaties and smart diplomacy, not murky policies.

B Rajasekaran

Bengaluru

Jallikattu deaths

The Supreme Court had rightly banned the jallikattu but the Tamil Nadu government passed an ordinance to bring it back. Had the ban been in force, the four persons who lost their lives would have been alive.

If an ordinance can be an easy tool to defy the orders of the apex court, every Supreme Court order and orders of High Courts can be ignored without attracting a contempt of court charge. The Sate government should wake up to the threat posed by the sport. It must take the initiative to ban the sport and fall in line with the Supreme Court judgment.

KV Seetharamaiah

Hassan, Karnataka

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.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW