Letters to the Editor

Need for Industry andInstitution Interface

This refers to your cover story The Best Companies to Work For (March 12). It was, indeed, a page-turner on all aspects of the employees and organisations. The organisational behaviour expert Keith Davis underlines - if you dig very deeply into any problem, you will get people - and this unquestionable truth has been vindicated and a message has been made by the Business Today team. It has shown that the competence of the Indian employees and their quality services are on a par with globally proficient human resources in other countries. The analysis has clearly conveyed that the HR theories are practically validated. It has also underpinned the increased need for industry-institution interface. In total, BT's delicate task of churning out the best companies to work for has been fantastically done. Hats off to you all.

B. Rajasekaran, Bangalore

Limiting Working Hours

This refers to your article The Work-life Balance Conundrum (March 12). At present, many companies, including the MNCs, pay best salaries, but make the young generation to work for 12-16 hours, reducing their work-life balance to a great extent. France is going for fixed working hours even if one is working from home. Such a legislature is much needed all over the world. Mostly, the rules of employment - working hours - are flouted by the private sector employers. The government also does not take any action against these employers. There is social corporate governance, but not on employees' front.

Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi

Seeking a Holistic Housing Policy

This refers to a column by Shikha Sharma (Towards Housing for All, March 12). It is time high-density structures with modern amenities should be considered to replace urban slums. Aiming to provide housing for all by 2022, the finance minister offered a tax sop for homeowners by extending the additional tax incentive on home loans. The housing sector, which witnessed poor sales in the last three years, was hit hard by demonetisation. To beat the slowdown, many developers got into affordable housing projects. Indeed, slums are a degrading way for people to live in. The slum population in the country has grown 25 per cent between 2001 and 2011, during which total urban population rose 32 per cent. One thing is clear that unless we have a holistic housing policy, which addresses the full spectrum of requirement ranging from ownership to rental accommodation and shared housing, univ-ersal housing will remain adistant dream.

Vinod C. Dixit, Ahmedabad

Jio Ready for a Fierce Battle

Your story on telecom (Losing Strength, March 12) is quite interesting. Reliance's aggressive entry has severely shaken the telecom stalwarts like Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea Cellular. All the major telecom operators have registered a sharp decline in revenues and net profits. Also, Jio's further investment plan to boost the network may force its rivals to explore new escape routes. But definitely, Jio's move is a blessing in disguise for the customers to get maximum benefits in this tussle in the times to come.

Biswaranjan Mishra, Bhubaneswar