During a recent debate in Parliament, Defence Minister A K Antony agreed that the ultimate solution to the scourge of corruption in defence deals was indigenisation. The contention that imports are needed because services require the most modern equipment is fallacious. On many occasions, foreign suppliers don't deliver the latest technological inventions, and in others, they supply equipment that are obsolete in their own country. Moreover, imports are often based on people's extraneous reasons guided by foreign jaunts and commissions. They not only drain our foreign exchange reserves, but also are risky. In the unlikely event of a war, foreign suppliers cannot be relied upon, since dealings depend on several political equations. Also, many foreign suppliers indulge in unfair trade practices by selling the main equipment at a competitive rate and subsequently, supplying spares and accessories at exorbitant rates.

Letters: Defence procurement

Business Standard

This refers to the article "Necessary virtues" (Swot, March 14). Beyond the comfort that corporate social responsibility (CSR) is gaining recognition as a necessary feature of "being rich", it is soothing to find that entrepreneurs like P N C Menon are leading by example by stating that at least half of his wealth belongs to the society, and individuals who own such wealth have a "trusteeship right" to canalise resources. Such gestures, hopefully, will open a debate that will ultimately redefine CSR.

Letters: Responsible charity

Delhi Police's objections to Aerocity make little sense

Blocking hotel blocks

Govt should get real about its expectations from PSU stake sale

Pricing disinvestment

Finance Minister P Chidambaram may have spared industry a lot of trouble by not making too many changes in tax policy in the recent Budget. But by doing so, he has disappointed his own officials. Knowing Chidambaram's penchant for new taxes and cracking down on tax evaders, revenue department officials made many proposals to this effect. However, in internal Budget meetings, the finance minister made it clear he did not want too many changes in the law in the interest of stability. Naturally, Chidambaram killed all the excitement around Budget-making, but in retrospect, the officials would be happy that he ensured them a relaxed post-Budget period unlike previous years.

Non-taxing Budget

Bollywood joined in to help the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Central armed police force that protects most airports, nuclear installations and government buildings in India, to prepare a theme song for the force. Javed Akhtar wrote the lyrics of the song and Sonu Nigam and Sunidhi Chauhan came together to sing it. This is the first time that any paramilitary force has prepared a theme song with the help of the film industry. The song is now often played at the CISF functions to boost morale.

CISF sings a new tune

In Rajasthan, some landowners have made money by selling their land to new and upcoming solar projects. Others who do not want to sell their land or haven't found buyers still want to get a piece of the action. They found a way by charging money for posts that need to be erected every 200 metres for the transmission of power generated in the solar plants to the power station. While developers are ready to pay up to Rs 10,000 per post, owners have started demanding up to twice this sum. Developers are working with authorities to make the approach roads wide enough, so that they can put the posts there and skip paying the landowners.

Pillar to post

This refers to the debate "Was Wharton right to disinvite Modi?" (March 12). One of the participants, Ashwani Kumar, talked about the majoritarian nature of electoral democracy as the reason for Narendra Modi's three consecutive victories in Gujarat. If that be so, the Bharatiya Janata Party should have ruled India for decades. But not even once has the party been able to form the government at the Centre on its own. That makes a mockery of the majoritarian nature of our democracy.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) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: A mockery of democracy

This refers to the debate "Was Wharton right to disinvite Modi?" (March 12). Had it been US President Barack Obama inviting Modi and later withdrawing the invitation, we should have been lamenting. But with the Wharton School, the hype created by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members and Narendra Modi's supporters are unwarranted. By now, Modi himself should have publicly conveyed to his supporters that there was nothing wrong with this rejection. There are bigger issues to worry about. If Modi wants to be projected as India's next prime ministerial candidate, he needs to change a few things about the BJP and its approach.Bal Govind  NoidaLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Wharton - No big deal

It's shocking that the Central government let go off the two Italian marines accused of killing two Indian fishermen. In this light, Salman Khurshid's statement that it was the collective wisdom of the government to send them back is flawed. This decision compromises the sovereignty of Indians. Now, the Italian government is insisting on "negotiating" with India. How can we expect the Italian government to respect Indian law when we have little respect for it? The ruling government clearly disrespected the judgement of the Supreme Court. We have also demeaned our democracy and its election process. Saying the law will take its own course is not enough.D M Rajan Carnzelem, GoaLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: A case of great escape

This refers to the editorial "A right to be a citizen" (March 11). The proposed law seems to primarily bring in place a "stick" - a threat of a fine if the government's goods and services are not delivered within a stipulated time. However, as has been seen time and again, the actual enforcement of the penalty provision is likely to be tardy because of the feeling of "fraternity" within the bureaucracy as also its political bosses. It may, therefore, be considered if some "carrot" can be offered for delivering services within the stipulated time. For example, a part of the salary of the government employees may be linked to meeting a certain stipulated minimum delivery target. Additional incentives may be granted for exceeding the minimum target. A carrot-and-stick approach is likely to work better.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) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsma

Letters: Carrot-stick, hand in hand

LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think UGC's move to make accreditation mandatory for higher education institutions will help better the quality of higher education institutions in the country?

Student's corner

Retail inflation at all-time high...The rate of retail inflation rose to a record 10.91 per cent in February, against 8.83 per cent in the corresponding month last year

Ahead of policy review, RBI gets conflicting signals

Equities reached the highest valuations relative to commodities in four years on March 6. Commodities have suffered this year as supplies outpaced demand, while low global interest rates and stimulus from central banks boosted company earnings, according to Barclays and Rabobank International.

Equities beating commodities

West Bengal is not as peaceful as its government claims

Don't oppose the EC

The IIP numbers do not indicate a bottoming out

No green shoots

If there is one member of Parliament (MP) who defies the traditional complaint that our elected representatives do not work hard enough in Parliament, it is Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. Prasad is the only MP in the country who sends handwritten questions to the Lok Sabha secretariat. He also has the distinction of having the highest number of questions listed against his name when Parliament is in session (at least two questions are listed against his name on any given day). Prasad, who earned praise for successfully running the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as minister, thinks an MP should ask as many questions as possible to extract correct, factual information from the government.

A question of answers

Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai's annual dinner party for the media last week stood out as it always does for its informal hospitality. After greeting his guests, Mathai pointed out that the tables on the lawn had been arranged in such a way as to create a dance floor for those who wanted to shake a leg. But that was not all, he added. His team had taken pains to make sure that nobody from the adjacent building that overlooked the lawns would peep at the revellers. The building in question: the West Bengal state guest house.

Leg room

Apropos the editorial "Reforming diarchy" (March 6), the analysis of the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh relationship overlooks the constraints that the two United Progressive Alliance (UPA) terms faced. The palpable relief in Singh's tone when the government survived after the Left parties withdrew support in 2008 was short-lived given the tantrums of the Trinamool Congress in UPA-II. Things really started moving for India after the Trinamool Congress withdrew support to the UPA-II in a huff - expecting the government to fall within months. In this light, it's important to understand that any Indian government is constantly pulled in two directions - towards helping poor and towards helping the industry. Although both are necessary, there are fanatics on either side. On one extreme, there are those who do not allow university fees to be raised for 40 to 50 years, and railway passenger fares for 12 years; hold up steel plants for as many as eight years; and even oppose fully ready nuclear

Letters: Making diarchy work

This refers to the recently envisaged provision in the Budget to give exemption from penalty or interest payments to assessees who have not filed return, or not remitted collection of service tax, or have received no notice from service tax authorities from 2010 onwards. This benefit is, however, not available if the assessee has received a notice from the department, or furnished details to the authorities about the service tax due. This is patently irrational and requires an urgent review. The rule of equity demands that this facility be extended to all assessees. Otherwise, it would mean that those who intentionally wanted to avoid liabilities will benefit, while a bona fide assessee who had partially paid taxes or furnished details is penalised. Moreover, the liability to pay the service tax should be on a cash basis, i.e. immediately on the collection of the amount, and not on mercantile (billing) basis. This is because every business has enormous uncollected amounts (from sundry

Letters: Paying service tax liabilities

Vijay Mallya has been burdened for the past three years with debt at United Spirits spiralling and Kingfisher Airlines, well, on a downward spiral. Various theories have been discussed threadbare on how Mallya should have handled these two companies and steered them out of crisis. An interesting theory has come to the fore now. Vaastu experts are talking about how the UB Group's corporate headquarters' towering shadow falls on a nearby temple of Lord Ganesha and the troubles for Mallya started because of that. For the record, the UB Group started occupying the new headquarters from 2007 and Kingfisher Airlines was started in 2005. And the temple has been around for decades.

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