Ban Gadhimai fest

The letter “Ban Gadhimai fest”(November 5) refers to a forthcoming event in Nepal in which thousands of animals are killed to satiate the deity. The Himachal Pradesh High Court has done well in prohibiting animal sacrifices. There has been no such killings of animals in this year’s religious events in HP. Hindu scriptures do not promote such killings. The practice began because of wrong interpretations of the holy books. Nepal should also ban the practice by convincing the public that killing is not permitted by the Vedas.

Mastan Singh Rana, Chandigarh

Bank lockers unsafe

With regard to the recent bank heist in Gohana, Haryana, my experience of working in a PSB says that there are two types of bank lockers: locker safe and locker cabinet. A locker safe is akin to the safe used by jewellers for storing cash and jewellery, but much larger in size. Within these locker safes, lockers are found arranged in rows. Access to these lockers is possible only when the safe door is opened. A locker cabinet, on the other hand, is like a steel cabinet with open accessibility to the lockers. A locker cabinet is not secured against physical force. A locker cabinet should, therefore, be provided only in RCC strongrooms constructed as per RBI specifications under proper supervision. In case of doubt, only locker safes should be installed. It is not unusual for local contractors to claim that the construction is as per RBI specifications when the reality is not so.

From the photographs of broken lockers that were published in some newspapers, it seems that the bank in Gohana had provided only locker cabinets and the room in which these were installed was not a strongroom in the real sense.

The banks should review the security arrangements and replace all locker cabinets with locker safes in branches wherever necessary.

Balaji, via email

Make cars safe

Apropos the news item “Swift, Datsun Go fail crash test”, basic life safety guards should be provided even in the base model of every Indian car. Companies are justifying themselves by stating that they are following the Indian standards of safety measures. This means that the Indian standards need to be reviewed with safety as the prime concern. Indian roads are accident prone. All cars should have basic features like front air bags.

Nikhil Sharma, Bilaspur

Make in India

Apropos the article “China overtake the US” by Pritam Singh (November 3), it is heartening to note that the Indian economy has improved. Notably, the 20th century belonged to the British and in the 21st century, China surpassed British to reach the second position. It is believed that China’s rise is due to the structural changes in global competition. India too has become a big market now and we must encourage the concept of ‘make in India’.

Jatinderbir Nanda, Ludhaina

China's proficiency

China's proficiency in utilising its manpower has made the country become an economic powerhouse (“China overtakes the US”, November 3). But in reality, it is still a developing country, where the affluent and poor coexist. Despite economic reforms, the increasing inequalities and disparities among urban and rural China are visible. There is a huge gap between the per capita income of China and the USA. Alongside developing infrastructure, emphasis on human development index is essential to uplift the socio-economic status of the masses. India needs sustained efforts to emulate China and the developed world.

Dr SANJIV GUPTA, Perth (Australia)

Flow of wheat

Apropos the news report about the lifting of paddy in Jind (“Govt agencies yet to lift paddy in Jind”, October 30), farmers in India will benefit if the government set up a wheat board on the lines of the Canada Wheat Board. It will facilitate the flow of wheat from mandis to the point from where it is transported. In Canada, the farmers are paid for their product without delay and at the same time there is no wastage.

Daljit Singh, Toronto (Canada)

Service tax

Perhaps the government has introduced the service tax levied on traders from their profit margin but the traders have shifted it to the customers/consumers. The central government should have defined whether it is a direct tax or indirect tax at the time of its introduction. If it is direct tax, the traders should not have been allowed to shift it to the customers/consumers. Always the customers/consumers are taxed because they are helpless.

RK Katoch, Kharar (Mohali)