New innings Dairy optimisim
It is heartening that after the longest-ever political apprenticeship, Rahul Gandhi has been sworn in as 87th president of the Indian National Congress. The fifth member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty is taking over the reins of the grand old party from his mother, Sonia Gandhi, who led it admirably for 19 long years. Rahul Gandhi bashers may welcome his coronation, but to his well-wishers the timing has been impeccable. It is widely expected that he would begin his presidency with two defeats (Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh), as suggested by the exit polls. But political pundits believe he has now become like pure gold, because for the past five years the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) top brass and their core strategists have not only been targeting his every move and they successfully built an image of Rahul showing him as a weakling and non-entity. It shows they are worried by the response to him, particularly from the youth of Gujarat.
On the eve of his decision to take over as party president, Rahul seems to have benefitted doubly — by joining the game of image-making but, at the same time, being in the limelight thanks to the desperation of his detractors led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. As a president of the largest democracy’s grand old party, he should think over former US President Dwight D Eisenhower’s advice: “A leader must take complete responsibility for what the subordinate does — leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that gives wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well.” Also, one hopes Rahul would not fall in the trap of BJP’s abuse.
Bidyut Kumar Chatterjee Faridabad in Bengaluru, a city which has one of the highest vehicle densities in India. However, its reported action plan to experiment with no private vehicles one day a month starting February 2018 could be akin to serving some half-baked food to one who may be hungry for weeks. No wonder then that such a one-off idea of the state government to resolve the city’s longpending problem of frequent traffic jams has been termed as a “band-aid solution” by some harried residents.
One wishes the government had risen to the occasion by coming out with some more effective and well-meaning proposal/s to deal with the extant worrisome situation instead of quite inappropriately targeting only the private vehicles, that too on a specified day alone. But why “exclude” the government vehicles for this noble cause? Let all the residents make the best use of the city’s public transport/Metro trains at least for four days a month. The government should take the lead by lending a helping hand and keeping all its official vehicles off the roads on such days. As we know, “where there is a will, there is always a way”, and “charity should begin at home”.
Vinayak G Bengaluru With reference to “Dairy shares jump on growth optimism” (December 12), the contribution of the dairy industry to economic growth has for long been dismissed as trivial. It has for long been considered more for consumption than marketing. Further, the present market environment demands high-quality finished products to compete aggressively and increase returns. It is indeed commendable in this regard that both the management and the skilled labour of dairy companies have innovated and diversified to promote growth amidst competition. It is a typical example of starting small to grow big. Further, the increase in shareholder investment will besides promoting growth in production will also help improve its marketing strategies by way of advertising to attract consumers, and increase profits. Finally, development can be promoted only when there is optimism coupled with the determination to overcome challenges.
C Gopinath Nair Kochi