Building Castles in the Air
This refers to your cover story on Railways (Mission Impossible?, August 28). A well balanced review by the author. The hurdles in the administrative structure of the Railway Board, unproductive hierarchy, rickety recruitment system, labyrinth of inter-departmental procedures, formation of unviable divisions on political compulsions, and faulty administrative zones on regional parochialism are to be blamed for the Indian Railways' sorry state of affairs. No railway minister so far has run trains for the betterment of the nation. They only cater to their states and constituencies, unmindful of the economically unsound demands. Abruptly changing its business model will certainly put the nation out of gear. The Chinese model is not a globally benchmarked one for straight adoption. Aping them without structural changes will derail the development of Indian Railways. Probably Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu builds castles in the air, while former minister Lalu Prasad finds flaws in every move of the government. The ultimate aim of governments of all hues is the well-being of the commoners, and on any count it cannot be discarded. It is only a fallacy that fare escalation will increase revenues and solve all railway problems. Misuse of free coupons and unfair passes to political class and retirees are never addressed appropriately. The software applications for ticketing and reservations are also not the best in class. All the zones must be reorganised to build a profitable model for Railways. It's going to be a long haul for Prabhu, who is known to be a good administrator. Turning around the Railways is going to be his acid test. - B. Rajasekaran, Bangalore
GST Bill: Time to Remove Small Glitches
This refers to your article on the GST Bill (The Final Frontier, Aug 28). It would not be an exaggeration to term this bill as the most important indirect tax reform since 1991. Once implemented successfully, it will boost tax collection for the Centre and states. The biggest bone of contention is the uniform GST rate, which started from 12 per cent and now they are talking about 18 per cent or even more. Opposition states like UP, Bihar and West Bengal should not be a problem because they will be among the major beneficiaries. Whatever rate is finalised, the common man's interest should be kept in mind. If the government wants to implement the new tax regime from April 1, 2017, then it should try to remove all small glitches by then. - Bal Govind, Noida
Curbing Menace of Pesky Calls and Texts
This refers to your feature on telecom (Spammed!, Aug 28). TRAI has completely failed to curb the menace of pesky calls and texts. Strict legal action must be taken against all promotional SMSes. Also, there should be a blanket ban on phone calls from business establishments with heavy financial penalties. - Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi
Projected Figures Mind-boggling
This refers to your feature on banking (Just Not Enough, Aug 14). The write-up highlights the gravity of the situation. The projected figures of capital requirements are mind-boggling. The need of the hour is assessment/reassessment of the asset quality and recovery norms, which might result in phased reduction of dependence of institutions on the government. - K.M. Muthuraman, Chennai