This refers to the editorial "What Modi didn't say" (January 21). The biggest problem with the Modi economic outline is its one-sided elitism. Bullet trains, IITs and IIMs in all states and 100 smart cities, whatever that means, will not address the biggest issue of the poor earning power of the majority of Indians, which manifests itself in 30 per cent of the urban citizens living in slums, 50 per cent of Indian children being under-nourished and the abysmal condition of basic health, hygiene, education, public transportation and housing facilities. Poor buying power is the reason behind the need to transfer payments such as subsidies, and the failure of infrastructural public-private partnerships with a revenue model. India already produces more than sufficient number of engineers and management graduates. In fact, many such colleges are closing down. Even with that, there is a serious deficit of faculty. The Congress believed that a lack of earning capacity can be bridged by handouts. The Bharatiya Janata Party seems to believe that a few mega projects will generate an adequate and quick trickle-down effect that will benefit the poor.
P Datta Kolkata
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