The southwest monsoon, currently hovering around the Andaman & Nicobar islands, is expected to reach the Kerala coast in a day or two and make steady progress across the country thereafter, with minor delays of 2-3 days, according to private weather forecasting company Skymet Weather Services. The monsoon usually reaches Kerala around June 1. The forecast is with a model error of plus/minus two days, Skymet says.

Monsoon's progress

Business Standard

This refers to the editorial "After an ambush" (May 27). The growing Maoist attacks pose a serious threat to the country. Also, it's shocking to read reports about the pathetic conditions of the camps in which our security personnel are based. What's worse, such camps are also found short of food and water. First off, the Centre should take stock of all the camps and act accordingly.Â Also, the Centre should not go back on its efforts to fight the Maoist threat. A delay on the administration's part will only embolden the rebels. The government needs to bolster its strategies to tackle them head-on.Besides, strong political will, along with co-operation from the states, will go a long way in dealing with the Maoist menace. In this regard, the proposal to set up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre is welcome. In fact, Naxalism and other forms of terrorism are nothing but the result of successive failures on the part of the states and the Centre to enhance the internal security system.

Letters: Fight plan

Apropos the news report "Aruna Roy ends NAC tenure, to work 'from outside'" (May 30), activist Aruna Roy has rightly decided to quit the National Advisory Council (NAC), which is chaired by Congress president and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The reason cited by Roy is that the prime minister rejected the NAC recommendations on payment of minimum wages to workers under the  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).The NAC, an extra-constitutional organisation created by the government in June 2004, was said to be an advisory body set up to monitor the implementation of the United Progressive Alliance government's common minimum programme. However, it acts as a super Cabinet and formulates populist policy and programmes. Not only has this weakened the constitutional office of the prime minister but it is also an encroachment on Parliament's powers. The MGNREGA and the food security Bill are the brainchild of the NAC, imposed upon the elected government. The MGNRE

Letters: The trouble with NAC

Despite negatives, 82% of 550 entrepreneurs would again do start-ups

Indian entrepreneurs display never-say-die attitude

Govt should streamline its free medicines plan

The right medicine

Closer relations with Japan are a strategic must

Natural partners

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think AICTE could help better management education in the country?

Student's corner

This refers to the news report "UB Group takes lenders to court" (May 27). This is the ultimate news report on the stand-off between Vijay Mallya's UB Group and its lenders. In the case of the UB Group, of the company's 17 lenders, only two are private lenders; the rest are from the public sector. This speaks much about the lack of lenders' appraisal skills. Moreover, other banks of the consortium did not join United Bank of India when it filed a winding-up petition against United Breweries Holdings Ltd (UBHL). This shows lack of co-ordination among lenders.K V Rao, BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Lessons in lending

Apropos your editorial "Appointing regulators" (May 27), the regulators are required to handle onerous responsibilities in a fair and impartial manner. Why not think beyond retired bureaucrats to fill those positions? Is it difficult to find suitable people of eminence with impeccable record of integrity and expertise?Kishor Kulkarni, MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: No vacancy

This refers to D G Shah's "Indian pharma's generic challenge" (May 29). It was appalling on Ranbaxy's part to fudge data and keep supplying substandard drugs to the US. Presumably from the same plants, substandard drugs were also supplied to markets in India and other countries. Now that Ranbaxy has been found guilty by the US Food and Drug Administration, what action does the Indian government propose to take to save India's reputation as the world's largest manufacturer of generic drugs?In the US, most cases of healthcare fraud are qui tam actions, in which whistle-blowers with direct knowledge of the alleged fraud initiate the litigation on behalf of the government. Qui tam means: "he who sues in this matter for the king as well as for himself". India, too, needs a strong law for whistle-blower protection.H N Ramakrishna, BangaloreLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E

Letters: Time for remedial action

That "RIL will make windfall gains from gas price hike: former secretary" (May 29) is a revelation. Former economic affairs secretary E A S Sarma has disclosed that Reliance Industries Limited offered to supply gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin to NTPC at $2.34 per million metric British thermal unit (mmBtu), but the group of ministers constituted by the government at that time chose to close its eyes and ignore the advice given by officials. This suggests the ministers concerned had a vested interest.Also, it's difficult to fathom why Sarma was silent all these years. The implications of this development are not hard to guess - perhaps another major scandal is brewing. Fixing fair prices for natural resources such as oil, gas and coal is difficult. We must benchmark these prices to international levels. Moreover, if the government has reasons to suspect that companies are making windfall profits, then tax or royalty rate can be modified to moderate such practices.M M Gurbaxani, Bang

Letters: Pressure points

On the sidelines of Dena Bank's platinum jubilee function last weekend, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru (pictured) was asked whether he and the finance ministry were concerned about the fact that most public sector banks had reported lower profits in the fourth quarter of 2012-13. "That's an interesting question. It is akin to asking someone who got bashed up on the road how he feels about it," he said with a chuckle. And then, just in case the journalists hadn't got the message, he added, "I am not in love with it, no."

Feel-bad situation

Karnataka minister Abhay Chandra Jain has found himself in a piquant situation. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has given him, a Jain by religion, the fisheries portfolio. Jain believes it contravenes one of the five principles of Jainism - ahimsa. But how do you convince a chief minister who is an avowed atheist?

Minister's fishy dilemma

The Amway India chief's arrest in Kochi has caused jitters for many in the multi-level marketing sector who conduct their business on the fringes of the regulatory framework. Russian Ponzi king Sergei Mavrodi's India point man Alexei Muratov, who was touring such places as Motihari in Bihar and Guwahati in Assam to make motivational lectures, has suddenly taken off. Muratov will attend "an international conference in Jakarta on June 2," the mmmindia.in website said on Tuesday. So has he booked his return ticket from Jakarta or is this going to be a long conference?

Chain reaction

India's sports administration is top-down, and thus corrupt

Sports' structural problem

Feeling the pinch

This refers to your editorial "SBI heads downwards" (May 28). It's true that the recent performance of State Bank of India (SBI) and other public sector banks, particularly in terms of non-performing assets (NPAs), is not on expected lines. However, it is unfair to treat pubic sector banks on a par with private sector banks on the NPA front; public sector banks are burdened strictly with priority sector and agricultural lending. It's no exaggeration to say that most of the agricultural advances are NPAs ab initio. Moreover, it has been proved that there is no dearth of talent in public sector banks since they have been a favourite hunting ground for private sector bank's middle- and senior-management cadre.Ravi Kant, MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: On unequal terms

This refers to your editorial "Losing the day job" (May 28). Even though his son-in-law has been arrested, N Srinivasan, head of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has refused to resign. The main cause of all these troubles is that the BCCI amended its own constitution to allow office-bearers to profit from the sport that they were expected to promote. Action should be taken against Srinivasan. Also, the law to control sports bodies and punish those who commit fraud should be introduced without delay.Jacob Sahayam, ThiruvananthapuramLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Fix the sport

Madhya Pradesh Finance Minister Raghavji is widely regarded as the man who is hindering the roll-out of the goods and services tax (GST). Whenever he is present at a discussion on GST, he can be relied on to strongly air his opposition, even if his viewpoint is contrary to the Centre's view, as it often is. At the last meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers in Mussoorie, however, Raghavji was unusually quiet and scarcely intervened in the discussions. Just as reporters thought they had a news story of a possible volte-face, it transpired that the real reason for the minister's placidity was a mundane bout of seasonal flu rather than a philosophical change of heart.

Off message

Her qualifications may have been the subject of debate in court yesterday but Radia's proximity to former telecom minister A Raja was not in doubt, if the fresh transcripts of phone taps submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation are anything to go by. One of them records a conversation between Radia and Nita Chandolia, wife of Raja's personal secretary. They were discussing a particular stone, a yellow sapphire, that Radia said the minister needed to wear and which she was trying to source. Apparently, Chandolia said, he was averse to wearing the stone as a ring and wanted to keep it in his pocket instead, but Radia was insistent that the stone needed to touch his skin. So, Radia suggested perhaps he could wear it on a chain around his neck. It is not clear whether Raja actually got to wear this auspicious stone; if he did, it was clearly of little use.

No stone unturned

In a country where people set great store by qualifications, some lawyers arguing in the 2G spectrum licensing case were heard loudly questioning former corporate lobbyist Niira Radia's ability to discuss the intricate issues involved. This happened right after Radia revealed to the court that she was an undergraduate and had completed her studies in the United Kingdom. Later, however, a senior politician robustly defended her outside the court, saying she was more intelligent than many graduates.

Business Standard

Business Standard

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