Towards a clean India
With reference to ‘Creating a shared vision for a clean India’ (October 2, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should be appreciated for making cleanliness a national issue.
For clean cities, we should have good drainage system, good public transport and good infrastructure and clean roads. But one issue which all us forget is that to have smart cities, we must have people who are aware of their duties. If we as a country had civic sense many problems related to our environment, civic amenities, health would not arisen. We always think that keeping our surroundings clean is a job of the government/municipal authorities and we do not have any role in that.
A civic sense should be imbibed in children at a formative age so that they will grow up to be citizens who are not only aware of their rights but will also discharge their duties. Spitting on roads, littering in public places, should be discouraged not by coercive methods but by educating the public. Many Indians believe that it is all right if we, keep our house clean by throwing the litter on the on the road. This mentality should change.
One of the main causes for various diseases in cities the open filth that is accumulated due to careless throwing of litter by the people. Let the people change their mentality, and half of the task of smart cities/clean cities will be executed.
A clean and litter free nation attracts investment, tourists and makes the nation prosperous.
Veena Shenoy
Thane
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s article ‘India unites to fulfill Bapu’s dreams’ (October 2), in commemoration of Bapu’s 150th birth anniversary, is a timely reminder to the countrymen to rejuvenate the prosperity and sustained development of the country which is being derailed.
The Swachh Bharat mission’s objective does not end with a clean India and upkeep of the dignity and pride of women. It must also inculcate honesty, integrity and freedom from corruption and violence. Whatever missions planned would be a futile attempt unless and otherwise every citizen feels his personal responsibility and adopt Gandhian principles towards elimination of many social evils that plagues the country.
Sitaram Popuri
Bengaluru
CAD worries
With reference to the editorial “More pain, little gain”(October 2), raising import duties on some items to maintain the CAD is a valid move on the government’s part to bridge the current account deficit. But the government must ensure that import duty hike on select items does not impact the common folk adversely.
Instead of raising import duties the attempt should have been to restrict imports and to try to increase exports by giving incentives to export sectors. The efforts to shore up the value of rupee are laudable. Curbing the consumption of petroleum products can also help save foreign exchange.
TR Anandan
Coimbatore
Board change
It is good that the government moved quickly to change the Board of ILFS, but it was quite shocking to read from the news ‘IL&FS seeks bailout package from LIC, SBI’ (October 1). LIC’s good money chases IL&FS’ bad money. That ILFS had defaulted on several repayment obligations such as Bank Loans, both Short Term and Long Term Deposits, from mid - Sept. 18, reflects very sorry status of the financial behemoth, particularly in the project finance sector. This is a very serious matter, which can't be sidelined and side stepped.
How did the authorities allow IL&FS to float as many as 169 subsidiaries to mobilise borrowings to the extent of ₹91,000 crore, and deploy financial assets aggregating to ₹1.15 lakh crores, is still a puzzle. Institutions like ILFS should not have entered the field of Commercial Paper, which is purely a short term instrument of raising finance.
The RBI must address the flaws in Long Term Lending/Funding and appraisal mechanism. It appears that the rating agencies, grading the instrument and not the entity issuing the instrument, took only myopic view.
Vazhathur Raghavan
Bengaluru