One-sided fiscal report
This refers to the editorial ‘Indebted State’ (dated Dec.13). The recent RBI report on the fiscal position of State governments projecting the positives in terms of reduction in fiscal deficit does not reflect the true financial status of State finances and as such it is one sided. It does not reflect the off-budget borrowings and outstanding guarantees. For instance, several State electricity boards are in red and huge bank loans are outstanding against them guaranteed by State governments. Also, several bank borrowings made by State public sector enterprises are backed by respective State government guarantees. Several such SPSEs’ financial status is precarious. Though they are contingent in nature, the increasing debt burden of these enterprises puts pressure on respective State governments. The only silver lining is increase in the capex which has a higher multiplier effect when compared to revenue outlays.
Srinivasan Velamur
Chennai
Ambitious climate targets
Apropos ‘Empty talk on climate change’ (December 13), it is no exaggeration that ambitious targets are being set at COP conferences, but the efforts made to achieve the same by many countries are abysmally low, albeit for varying reasons. The latest pledge made by 118 countries to triple their renewable energy by 2030 at COP28 is too ambitious and India did well to not to sign the same, as such unrealistic targets are simply unachievable given the fact that most of the countries have utterly failed to achieve even the targets committed in the Paris Agreement way back in 2015.
As long as the developed countries shy away from accepting the fact that they are primarily responsible for most of the historical emissions and voluntarily come forward to transfer technology and contribute to the climate finance, the annual COP conferences will remain a mere ritual.
Kosaraju Chandramouli
Hyderabad
Food inflation hurting
Retail inflation at 5.5 per cent may well be within the tolerance limit of the government, but the food inflation of 8.7 per cent is hitting the poor where it hurts the most. To make matters worse garlic prices have skyrocketed and so have egg prices. Among onions, tomatoes and potatoes there is grief to the people from one item or another making survival hard.
The failure of the government in reining in food prices belies its claims of sabka saath. The hungry poor do not figure anywhere in the government’s calculations.
Anthony Henriques
Mumbai
Promote millets
This refers to ‘Making millets trendy’ (December 13). The Food and Agriculture Organisation has declared 2023 as the ‘International Year of Millets’ and the government of India refers to millets as ‘Sree Anna’, that is, food that has divine grace. More and more people are realising the health benefits of millets. The Covid pandemic made people conscious about a healthy diet. Millets that are rich in proteins and fibre have become popular. Hence this is the right time to encourage farmers to grow drought-resistant millets, that require less water and can grow in poor soil conditions.
This makes them a suitable food crop for areas with unpredictable weather patterns and water scarcity. With due encouragement from the government, farmers can be motivated to cultivate millets. This will help boost their income.
Veena Shenoy
Thane
