No place for racist slurs

The news report ‘Pitroda singes Cong with racial remarks’ (May 9) has caused much anguish with Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacking the Congress over it. Such racist remarks are not only insulting to Indians but also to people of other nations.

Sam Pitroda’s exit from the Congress was only expected. But his remarks were baffling given his important role in Congress policy-making over the decade.

For the remaining phases, the political parties should focus on issues such as development, education, industrial growth, job creation, healthcare, and environment.

Vinod Johri

New Delhi

Updating borrowers

With reference to the editorial ‘Borrower beware’ (May 9), banks tweak their deposit and lending rates based on the MPC’s policy rates.

However several guidelines related to interests on advances/overdue interest/ penal charges etc are not given adequate importance.

Banks must provide their customers at least half-yearly statements of loan accounts to their borrowers via mail.

RBI’s diktat to lenders to issue a standardised ‘Key Facts Statement’ is notewtorthy.

Borrowers need to updated regularly regarding the status of their borrowings.

Katuru Durga Prasad Rao

Hyderabad

Vaccine worries

AstraZeneca’s recent statement in the High Court of London that their Covid vaccine, in very rare cases, cause deadly Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome, shocked the world.

India’s Covishield is an AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd (SII), Pune.

In November 2021, India initiated negotiations with Moderna and Pfizer to get their vaccines, without any headway.

Recent reports reveal the government withheld consent to the terms of Moderna and Pfizer as to accountability and prosecution in cases of deaths after taking the vaccine. As of March 2023, India had administered over 220 crore doses of the Covid vaccines, of which 175 crore were Covishield. Nevertheless, it is not clear if AZ or SII could be held accountable for the side effects caused by Covishield.

Haridasan Rajan

Kozhikode

Catch them young

With refernce to the article ‘Financial literacy must begin at school’ (May 9), children’s knowledge of technology must be channelised by their schools to prevent them from falling prey to financial frauds. It is here financial literacy in school curriculum plays a key role.

As a teacher of economics, I have seen that students evince a lot of interest in monetary economics. It is imperative that schools teach them the significance of earning wealth through honest means and avoid greed.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Chennai