Letters: Trust deficit

This refers to Shubhashis Gangopadhyay's article "Trust in reform" (July 29). Those at the top should remember that there is a perceivable difference between the thinking of managers and workers of pre-reform days and those who have joined these categories in recent years.

The need to keep managers and workers equally satisfied and secure for improving productivity has been brought out well in the article. The conflict between those who want to treat employees as partners and those who want to exploit labour will continue as long as the ownership of resources and laws governing their management continues to be in the hands of those who represent the latter.

Though the judicial system will remain helpless if the political will to reform is missing, open debates on issues such as employers' frustration with labour laws, lack of infrastructure, lack of skill among Indian youth and so on, will go a long way in putting the thought process of policymakers on the right track. The writer has rightly said that "borrowed ideas" cannot help India protect business entrepreneurship since the countries that are "lending" ideas have a different social security environment.

M G Warrier Mumbai

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