With reference to ‘MFN’s worth’ February 18), one tends to agree with the author’s candid observations that the loss of MFN status will hardly hurt Pakistan and getting the optics right is one among a government’s many imperatives. He also justifiably goes on to add that “while the government’s move may not be vacuous, it is essential to realise that the step itself means nothing”. Further, since Pakistan could always bank upon many other “lucrative” options as mentioned in the article, it truly makes little sense to rely on such self-encouraging ‘tokenism’ as it could be more detrimental to our own economic interests.

Of course this step could largely be aimed at assuaging the badly hurt sentiments of the people across the country apart from sending a strong message to the global trade community. But now is also the time to nip the evil in the bud. Mind you, enough is enough now.

New Delhi

The resolution of cases under Insolvency and Bankruptcy code has been progressing at a snail’s pace. The FICCI-IBA survey of bankers suggests strict adherence to the timeline and reduction of unwanted litigation and introduction of provisions similar to DRT. In DRT cases some percentage of loan outstanding is insisted upon before filing an appeal. Establishing more number of NCLT benches and increasing the capacity of staff are need of the hour. Another useful suggestion by the survey is to give banks the option to convert a part of their debt into equity proportionate to the amount of haircut. As per the ICRA Vice-President, the corporate Insolvency and resolution process of seven corporate debtors of the 12 cases identified by RBI in 2017 are still pending which have now exceed 500 days, hitting investor sentiment. A serious concerted effort in speedy resolution of cases under IBC will only serve the purpose of establishing the IBC which in turn help the bankers reduce their losses.

Bhimavaram (AP)

With reference to ‘Engineering education needs serious rethinking’, tells us that we are living in a very dynamic environment where things are changing and evolving at a fast pace with rapidly changing job requirements in all technology fields. With artificial intelligence becoming a core part of the technology world, it is all the more imperative to realign ourselves as none of us can afford to live in isolation. Yes there are commercial interests at play, but if promoters of engineering colleges can’t produce employable and skilled graduates, sooner or later they will be out of business. And for that regular industry interface is paramount so that all the new changes and requirements become part of curriculum. Last but not the least, we as a society need to take more risks and learn from the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg, who without engineering degrees blossomed into great entrepreneurs. We need to encourage our kids if they want to foray into uncharted territory.

Noida

Recently NR Narayana Murthy made an observation that in 60 years, India has failed to make any earth shaking invention. This is mainly due to our faulty education system which do not encourage research and invention. When even a small country like Estonia, takes credit for invention of Skype, India despite having so many engineering colleges has failed miserably to make any impact on innovative technology/ new inventions/or research.

This goes to show that our engineering colleges are merely churning out graduates. One of the solutions to make our engineering colleges/premium institutes research and invention oriented is to make them autonomous with minimal or no government interference.

Only people of repute with expertise and knowledge known for their academic flair should head the various Educational Institutes. The IITs/IIMs should be hubs for invention and research and should create more entrepreneurs who will create jobs.

The day we revamp our education system especially engineering colleges India will be a hub for innovations, and research.

Thane

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