Build human capital
Apropos ‘Should we push financial or human capital?’ (July 10), the greatest asset that India possesses at present is its young population, and this current “phase of demographic dividend” is not going to last forever. The country’s future development squarely depends on the extent to which this power of the youth is harnessed and channelised towards productive purposes. Governments at both Central and State levels need to have specific and time-bound plans to build the human capital of our youth. Immediate attention needs to be given to make education from the high school phase more practical and skills oriented. Skills development should become the first priority. Also, the youth should be incentivised to take up self-employment and start small and medium enterprises that would in turn create more jobs. Building human capital is synonymous with building the nation.
Kosaraju Chandramouli
Hyderabad
French elections
Apropos ‘Bewildering verdict’ (July 10), the French snap election has thrown up a fractured verdict — leading France into a period of political uncertainty that threatens to weaken its role both domestically and on the international stage. The silver lining for now is that France has stalled the march of the Le Pen’s far right. A country founded on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity has shown the way to the world. On the geopolitical front, a majority for Le Pen’s party would have been a big blow to the West amid the Ukraine war. But what Paris still needs is a stable government in the best interests not only of France but also of Europe and the world at large.
N Sadhasiva Reddy
Bengaluru
Safety of train travel
President Murmu in her address to the joint session of Parliament announced plans to conduct feasibility studies for bullet train corridors in the northern, southern and eastern regions of the country. The tragic triple train crash at Balasore last year is still fresh in memory. Over 300 people were killed, and well over 1,000 were injured in the accident. The need of the hour is to avoid such incidents in the future on a priority basis by extending Kavach, an automatic train protection system indigenously developed by Indian Railways. The government should give top priority to the safety of passengers over the luxury and time-saving travel of bullet trains.
Nagendra Kumar Vempally
Hyderabad
RBI’s surplus transfers
This refers to ‘Nothing wrong with large RBI transfers to govt’ (July 10). The RBI’s recent surplus transfer of ₹2.10-lakh crore helps either in reducing government borrowings or to cut down the revenue shortfall.
There are several ways for the government to effectively utilise the windfall surplus in the economy without any impact on creating inflation-like scenarios. First, a portion of it can be allocated to meet the additional capital requirements of ailing PSBs. Second, enhanced allocation can be made for Kavach implementation in Railways and for road infra. Third, the Centre can clear all the outstanding payable to the States from the GST pool. And, fourth, requests for additional financial aid from the allied partners in strengthening the fiscal position of their States may also be given a considered review.
RV Baskaran
Chennai