Congress poll strategy Affordable housing
With reference to “The wrong message” (November 28), it is a bit difficult to understand whether Rahul Gandhi’s election speeches reflect his view of Indian economy, social reality and political policy or they are mere rhetoric. His vision is unclear because he rarely spells it out with conviction and his vocabulary isn’t empathetic. However, his poll strategy in Gujarat is aimed at achieving three beneficial but insubstantial outcomes for him. The party leadership has succeeded in making its followers forget about a possible defeat in Himachal Pradesh, the results for which are clubbed with those of Gujarat.
On the other hand, the party will boast about its comeback if it gets through in Gujarat. Further, Gandhi’s admirers have been led to believe that the party is giving a strong opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even though it has stitched hasty alliances with disgruntled elements on the latter’s terms — something it did not do in 2012. Also, its ardent followers are very hopeful of the Congress displacing the BJP although the organisation on the ground is weak and lacks a leader with mass appeal. Lastly, the party has hedged its bet by saying that even if the BJP wins, it will not get 150 seats (as targeted by the BJP president) or will get less seats than in 2012. It will thus claim moral victory if this happens. Whether Gandhi is clever in his Gujarat plan or proves to be too clever by half will be known on December 19.
Y G Chouksey Pune in manufacturers’ and consumers’ approach to costs and prices. All the three phenomena are bound to disappear, but the messages will linger on and influence politics and pricing patterns.
Till IAC used social media in a big way to expose corruption, we were taking corruption for granted and willing to live with it. Now, whatever may be the perception of those handling India’s governance preKejriwal and pre-2014, “we the people” have woken up and raise voices against corrupt practices with a confidence that was unthinkable during the 20th century. Similarly, every ingredient in the price consumer pays is getting an online check.
Since the days Tata announced the proposal to sell a car at one lakh rupees, car buyers have started thinking about price as a factor in addition to “brand” names, look and “size”. Through the affordability concept, what G R Gopinath signalled was a competitive pricing of air travel factoring in reasonable costs and margins, reducing chances of cartelisation and monopoly in pricing. Beyond losses and gains to the individuals/corporates who participated in these experiments, the messages they sold to Indian citizens are invaluable.
M G Warrier Thiruvananthapuram With reference to “Unsold realty inventory may be taxed” (November 28), if traders hoard essential commodities, they face action from authorities. The prices of flats are astronomical, out of reach for the middle-class. How the builders are managing unsold inventory needs to be investigated. How much money banks have lent to the real estate industry needs to be discovered. Unsold inventory is in contrast to the economic theory of demand and supply. There is a big demand for housing as well as supply, but buyers are not able to buy. This is strange. Will the move to tax unsold inventory result in price fall? It should. It is a welcome move.
For affordable housing, the government should provide land to people and also help in construction — be it redevelopment, or new construction. The public sector (National Building Construction Corporation) should also be roped in. The situation is alarming. Because if people cannot afford flats, it affects the entire economy in terms of the quality of manpower as people have to commute long distance to go to work. Gone are the days when even a mill worker could buy a plot of land in Thane. There is also the menace of corrupt managing committees in cooperative housing societies.
Deendayal M Lulla Mumbai