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Charitable trusts and US-64
It is heartening to learn that in an interview, Mr Damodaran
the UTI chairman, has hinted that the Trust may consider increasing
the limit for redemption for small investors from 3,000 units
to 5,000 units. There are many public charitable trusts which
have invested their funds in US-64. Also, US-64 units have
been known to be donated by people to charitable institutions.
The dividend received has been utilised for purposes of education
and medical purposes.
Some relief by way of redemption facilities should be given
to such charitable trusts so that they do not suffer losses.
10 per cent of their investments in US-64 or Rs 10 lakh whichever
is lower should be allowed to be redeemed. In this way charitable
trusts can continue with their good work. These trusts must
not be equated with corporate bodies.
-- K B Dabke, Mumbai
Silent Valley
Apropos ‘Move to revive Silent Valley Hydel Project raises a
storm’ (July 27). One of the early successes of the environmental
movement in India was the abandonment of the Silent Valley Hydel
Power Project in Kerala. Located in the Kundali Hills of the
Western Ghats in Palakkad district in Kerala, the Silent Valley
National Park (SVNP) is a valuable reserve of rare plants, herbs
and wildlife. The movement succeeded without any involvement
of the local people as they were not going to be displaced.
The major concern was the dangerous environmental impact upon
the Silent Valley, one of the last surviving natural tropical
forests in India and home to rare species like the lion-tailed
macaque.
In 1980 Mrs Indira Gandhi requested the state government to
stop further work on the project until all aspects were fully
discussed. A multi-disciplinary committee with Prof M G K Menon
as chairman was created to decide if the Hydro-electric project
was feasible without significant ecological damage. After a
careful study of the Menon Report, Mrs Gandhi decided to abandon
the project. This project is a closed chapter of history. Its
revival will be suicidal for the newly formed UDF government.
-- Sreekumar, on e-mail
Pay-back time
The current happenings with respect to US-64 have rocked the
small investors in the country. It has been gathered from news
reports that Mr P S Subramanyam, former-Chairman of UTI, was
in touch with the high-ups in the government while he was proposing
investments in particular companies. This shows that he alone
was not responsible for the disastrous outcome. Now, the finance
minister holds the management of UTI responsible for the mess.
Mr Sinha informed the Rajya Sabha that even the Joint Parliamentary
Committee on the stock scam in 1993 had warned UTI against such
risky investments but it ignored this warning. What was the
nominee of the Ministry of Finance doing in his capacity as
a member of the UTI board? No nominee on such an important board
would give a suggestion or contribute to the deliberations of
the board without consulting his seniors.
How can the finance minister disown his responsibility? He is
not only responsible for the small investors’ loss of faith
in government securities, but he has also let down the retired
people whose hard-earned savings have almost been lost. Will
the finance minister through UTI or otherwise, arrange to pay
them back what they have lost, in the near future and not as
per a scheduled plan ending March 2002?
-- Anand P Seth, on e-mail |
