Precious labour

sun in spite of alternatives looks inhuman.

Callous government

This is with reference to the article, "A continuing disaster" (December 1-15, 2014). Many governments have changed in the 30 years since the Bhopal gas tragedy. But none of them has addressed the root cause of the glaring denial of justice, which is the way multinational companies are set up across the world; as an absentee landlord that outsource the work overseas. Unfortunately, by using this approach the responsibility gets diluted. The farther the parent company's head office from the overseas branches, the more diluted is its While visiting even remote areas, you can see styrofoam plates, empty snack packages and water bottles littered around because city dwellers visit those places and leave these things behind responsibility. Indian companies are behaving in a similar manner. Such structural weaknesses in business models need to be addressed by the present government if it wants to make a success of its Makein-India programme.

"Scheme against jobs" (November 16-30, 2014) was a very good analysis of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). It covered change in the ratio of fund for wage and material components, states' designs and the coverage areas of the scheme. Labour-oriented schemes have always suffered in India.

It is important to recognise the people who actually need the jobs under this scheme. Otherwise, it may lead to tailoring the muster rolls to suit the scheme. The unskilled labour force of MGNREGA is precious and it should not be wasted on ordinary earth works, which can be done easily by machines with precision. It should be used for agriculture, horticulture, forestry, sericulture operations and for assisting constructions of all engineering works in the interest of food production and building better infrastructure. The sight of labourer, digging earth in hot

Streamline PDS

This is with reference to "Model in a fix" (November 16-30, 2014). The 1.3 million bogus beneficiaries of public distribution service (PDS) in Chhattisgarh came as no surprise. There are touts and middlemen who can do anything for money. However, 0.3 million out of those whose ration cards were withdrawn have applied again for below poverty line (BPL) cards. This indicates that the decision to recall 1.3 million cards was not based on facts. We need a better system to identify the BPL beneficiaries so that only the deserving get the benefits. Through picnics, we create panic in the forest ecosystem Plastic bottles and bags can easily be seen on the national highway along Bandipur Tiger Reserve (in Karnataka). Forest officials keep collecting the garbage, but seems it is not enough. Animal deaths due to plastic is common in the forest but other dangers like forest fires also lurk

SORIT / CSE