That India’s reform process was in the doldrums was evident from the constant opposition by our Left comrades to even minor reforms. But what is indeed surprising is that even the UPA government led by stalwarts trained in Oxford and Harvard (the PM and FM) seem to confine the reform process only to their speeches. Otherwise, how can they allow semi-educated Congress politicians to be nominated to PSU banks as independent directors in this age of hard-core professionalism and stiff competition from private sector banks?(‘Cong opens PSU bank account’, IE, October 16). Meanwhile, three cheers to the Express and its daring reporters for a splendid job once again! — G.S. Kulkarni Delhi • Your editorial,‘Nailing the Board’(IE, Oct 18), finds fault with politicians for becoming independent directors of PSU banks. Unfortunately even experts fare no better when it comes to matters of integrity. The nominee of a bank on a mutual fund misused his access to sensitive information and withdrew his bank’s stake before UTI went bust. Instances of MF managers who work to increase the value of their personal stake sacrificing the interest of investors are common. Therefore what matters is the understanding and commitment of independent board members rather than political affiliation. — J.M. Manchanda On e-mail • The Sunday Express expose followed by your editorial couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. It is not only an unfair but totally uncouth move. Public sector banks are already reeling under massive NPAs — mostly created by political pressure. Now they have a pack of stooges whose only “qualification” is their political heritage, being put in charge. We have an abundance of expertise to successfully lead public sector banks to face the stiff competition from private players. Let us induct them on boards. One way to bring the government to its senses is “mass withdrawal” of our hard money from those banks that have politicians sans any qualifications on their boards. That may be a surefire way of “nailing the boards”! — Kishore Karnad On e-mail Reckless guardians • The hon’ble judges of the Mumbai High Court have opined that “if Mumbai is deprived of green lungs, the city may get a next generation full of idiots and morons” (sic). I would like to elaborate that the present mess in Mumbai in every department is because the governance of the city is in the hands of idiots and morons who have concrete lungs! How else can one explain the reckless and thoughtless hacking of mangroves along the Malad creek? — Harischandra Parasuram Mumbai Remember this • I was shocked by a news item quoting Minister Taj Moideen saying, “I am the government, he is a government servant” (IE, Oct 17). It brought back memories of the early ’50s, when G.B. Pant was the CM of UP. Once, some people came to him with complaints against the collector. Pantji said: “The collector is a government servant, and though I represent the government, I am a public servant. In other words, I am your servant. You don’t have to complain to your servant against your servant’s servant.” Moideen would do well to remember the words of one of the stalwarts of his party. — Maj Gen V.K. Singh (retd) Gurgaon Loosing it • Was it something our forbears did which caused the language to loose it’s beerings (‘Loose character’, IE, Oct 18)? — Mukul Dube Delhi
