It?s true that nationalised banks are mismanaged by boards (?New boards and old games?, Jan 5). However, the real debility comes from inefficiency of middle level officers. It would be better to have a common cadre for all nationalised banks along the lines of the IAS. Had it been done at the time of bank nationalisation, Indian banking would have been in a better shape now and one of the world?s most competitive, too.
?Naval Langa, Ahmedabad
Spare the suffering
For the income-tax assessment year 2005-06, four lakh cases were selected for scrutiny, including 60,000 big spenders. There is nothing wrong to put big spenders under the scanner, but then, many honest taxpayers are covered as well (might be at random). And, IT scrutiny is feared by most assessees not because they have evaded taxes, but because of the harsh and unfriendly attitude of scrutiny officials. Moreover, IT scrutiny opens more avenues for corruption for some officials?very often, they must be bribed just to escape unfair harassment and the scare of a never-ending IT case. Rather than such ill-advised steps, the best course of action for the IT department would be to minimise scrutiny cases to a small number of assessees. A limit could be fixed by the department on ?small assessees? under scrutiny. Also, the tax exemption limit should be raised to a realistic level to give a reprieve to India?s overburdened lower middle class.
?Mahesh Kumar, New Delhi