Go villages

With reference to ‘Why a smart villages scheme makes sense’ by Ashok Kumar Shukla (July 14), when we are propagating inclusive growth, the same should be practised in the formulation and implementation of schemes.

All the consumption needs of urban areas are met by villages. But as in other spheres, the small percentage of population in cities corners the major allocation of funds. It is not only good roads, digitalisation and other infrastructure that make a place smart but the environment and quality of life besides values. Today, our villages have most of the infrastructure such as power and internet, connectivity.

What is lacking are healthcare and education. To start with, specific programmes can be implemented. The outlay required will be minuscule compared to the cities, and will boost tourism, agriculture and handicrafts besides preserving our culture.

S Veeraraghavan

Coimbatore

Abjure mediocrity

This letter refers to ‘B-schools and the art of going global’ by Narayanan Ramaswamy (July 14). There are innumerable B-schools of dubious quality that don’t even measure up to a modest standard in India. Our priority should be to weed out schools that come up purely for commercial purposes. The rest should look to improving standards on multiple parameters and not be content with mediocrity. Realistic self-assessment is important instead of racing to compete globally with the best. Certifications may help.

Anand Srinivasan

Bengaluru

Indian business schools still lack proper infrastructure and faculty. That only three out of about 5,500 business schools in India figured, and rather low down, in the Global MBA Ranking 2016 of the Financial Times is a sad comment on Indian business schools.

Jitendra G Kothari

Mumbai

Change comes dil se

This is with reference to your editorial, ‘Battle against bulge’ (July 15). The majority of youth are attracted to fast food and street food, to the detriment of their health. Parents also are responsible for this situation, to some extent. Almost 90 per cent of parents are both employed and they do not find time to supervise their wards’ activities, let alone their food. This leads to all types of health hazards at an early age.

Roadside food is more dangerous because the oil is used repeatedly; this makes the food item toxic, not to speak of dodgy hygiene. Regular checks of eating places is a must.

TSN Rao

Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh

The imposition of illogical taxes fails to give the desired results. For instance, the manifold increases in parking charges over a decade in Delhi has never solved the parking space problems. Habits pertaining to essentials such as eating or commuting cannot be changed by imposing taxes. Such moves only benefit the governments without their doing anything about the problem. Change happens only when it comes dil se . The government should hold refresher courses, seminars, public meetings and awareness building campaigns.

Mahesh Kapasi

New Delhi

Copy that!

We saw on TV how smoothly the change of prime ministers happened in the UK, without any fuss. David Cameron went and met the Queen in a businesslike manner, submitted his resignation and quietly went out by one route. In came Theresa May within minutes by another route, met the Queen and took over. The change-over was done in minutes with clockwork precision. There was no gathering of thousands participating in a big tamasha, as in India. Road traffic was not affected nor was a single member of the public inconvenienced. It is time we got rid of extravagance.

K Venkataraman

Mumbai

Erratum

b In the item headlined ‘Northern Coalfields brings smarts to mining’ (July 14), it was wrongly reported that NCL dispatches 20 per cent of produce by road. The correct figure is 9 per cent. The error is regretted.

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