Bank mergers

This refers to ‘Merger of Dena, Vijaya Bank with BoB gets Cabinet nod’ (Janaury 3). By going in for merger now, instead of consolidation, and treating Bank of Baroda as ‘transferee bank’ and Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank as ‘transferor banks’, the government has backtracked on its promise. Vijaya Bank, incorporated in 1931 by a few agriculturalists, was set up with a genuine intent to help the farming community. Unfortunately, this bank, qualitatively better than the other two, is sought to be extinguished from financial year 2019-20.

Bengaluru

Kerala has virtually been on tenterhooks following the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of all ages to visit Sabarimala shrine. The BJP and Hindu right wing outfits have been organising protests and hartals at regular intervals. The ongoing hartal in protest against the entry of two women of menstruating age into Sabarimala temple and the subsequent closure of the temple for purification rites, which brought normal life in the State to a standstill, is totally unwarranted and deserves an unequivocal condemnation from all conscientious citizens of one of the most literate States of the country. The very disturbing culture of hartal at the drop of a hat has put the State in bad light. It is time parties across the political spectrum in the State abstain from calling for hartal considering the hardships it causes to people from every walk of life.

Sholavandan, TN

Recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented that the vicious cycle of polls/elections and farm loan waivers must come to an end. This is a welcome view. The reality, though, is that India is almost always in election mode — with polls being held for local bodies, municipalities, assemblies and parliament one after another. This results not only in the loss of precious resources — financial, physical or otherwise — but also puts undue strain on the government machinery, police, and the public. However, this aspect needs to debated not only by the political parties but also by the people. It should not be that one cycle of simultaneous elections benefits a political party, an agenda or personality.

Nagaon, Assam

This refers to ‘What if HR is designed for irrational humans’ (January 3). An organisation’s success to a large extent is determined by the quality of people and, hence, right investment for the well being of the people in terms of education, health and training will go a long way in building a strong organisation and, in turn, a strong nation. People are in fact the biggest asset of any organisation and the most complex one too.

Many organisations treat human assets like other assets. Human assets, if properly handled, groomed and counselled, will become invaluable and will help boost the other assets of the company/organisation.

An employee who is encouraged, whose emotions are taken care of and whose talent is appreciated, will deliver more to the organisation than an employee who is merely paid higher wages/facilities. An employee has various roles to play in society and the organisation has to respect them and not consider him/her merely as an entity on their pay rolls.

Thane

This refers to ‘Centre to provide ₹600-crore subsidy sops to merchant exporters’ (January 3). Considering the present export scenario and cash liquidity required by all sectors of exports, the 3 per cent subsidy by way of interest equalisation will come as a big relief, especially for MSMEs facing acute financial shortage. As most of them are in labour-intensive areas of production, such as leather, garments and handicraft, the subsidy will come handy for completing the pending outbound shipments. Also, it will encourage MSME exporters to face global competition and market their products competitively.

New Delhi

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