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| LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR |
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LIC has had an unfair headstart
Recently the insurance sector has been thrown open to new players.
Hitherto only the monolith LIC was in the game. It earns interest
on the premia invested in the early nineties, at12-14 per cent interest
bracket. But the new entrants will earn interest at only about 9
per cent. Moreover LIC’s corpus is a phenomenal Rs 1.20 lakh crore,
something which the new entrants will only dream off. It is because
of this 45-year headstart that LIC is able to quote a lower premium
on its policies. Moreover income-tax benefit for LIC policies was
100 per cent in the early days, even in the nineties. The IT benefit
at present is only 20 per cent and upto Rs 60,000.
The new entrants should also be given 100 per cent tax benefit for
at least 10 years. Also, the new policies being marketed by LIC
should be separately accounted for by way of investments and its
premium must be on the same lines as that of new entrants.
-- K Ramani, on e-mail
Another blow to IT
Recently the already beleaguered IT industry received another jolt
with two private training institutes shutting down their centers across
the country. The government-run training company ET&T was also
forcibly closed by Prime Minister Vajpayee’s government. This was
when the company had confirmed orders worth crores of rupees and its
employees were working without taking salary hikes due to them.
People must be made aware of the draconian laws government-run companies
are subjected to, in order to maintain their profitability. Moreover,
they have to go by the whims of politicians. They have to employ manpower
as per reservation policies, send their manpower for election duties,
spend money on 20-point programmes etc. With such wasteful expenses
forced on government companies how can they be expected to compete
with MNCs? In fact, they should be given preference in orders and
prices.
-- Manish Garg, on e-mail
Congress misrule
The functioning of central government offices and public sector undertakings
has been steadily improving. On the other hand, the conditions of
state governments, especially the Congress-ruled ones, have deteriorated
fast. In Karnataka this year there was massive corruption in the transfer
of employees, with many paying sums of money for choice postings and
even promotions. This is a natural consequence of decentralised power
and the wrong priorities of union leaders.
Law and order has collapsed, unemployment has been steadily increasing,
farmers are committing suicide due to wrong policies, many small-scale
industries have closed down. And the state government’s coffers are
empty. How much of the promised Rs 27,000 crore worth investment has
actually materialised? Despite regular gimmicks such as e-governance,
transparency etc, Congress rule for Karnataka has been a disaster.
The powers that be seem to have lost control over what is happening.
The Congress has failed to read the results of the last parliamentary
elections after sweeping states such as Delhi, Rajasthan and others
with the ‘manufactured’ onion crisis. If Congress rule in Karnataka
is an indicator, similar fate awaits them in the next parliamentary
elections in all the Congress-ruled states!
-- RK Mani, Mangalore |
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© 2001: Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd. All
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