SBI lacks facilities

SIR, if you have a saving account in Syndicate, Corporation Bank, they update the account holders’ pass book with all required info viz. to whom cheque has been issued, amount & number of cheque etc. But these facilities are not available in State Bank of India (and its associate banks). Their staff give the excuse that their top management has developed a new computer software that shows only cheque number but not to whom it has been issued.

This creates a lot of inconvenience to the customers as telephone, electricity, water  authorities ask for copy of the passbook as confirmation of payment  in many disputed  cases.  As SBI has the largest branches in the country, maximum people face problems due to unavailability of the above facilities. The RBI and new Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram should look into the matter and issue  necessary guidelines  to all the banks to follow customer-friendly practices strictly.

Mohan  Bhatnagar
Gurgaon

Bad losers must learn

YOUR editorial "Don’t insult the youth" touched my heart as it must have touched the hearts of many of your readers who belong to Generation next like us. It is sad that frustrated old men of politics, issueless after the defeat, turned their wrath on the youth during and after the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, accusing them of lack of experience and scoffing at them. May I ask what was the experience and knowledge of all these big mouths themselves when they first entered politics? Were not Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L. K. Advani, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh too young once a time and picked up by their respective mentors to be trained to practice politics, which brought them into higher elections of their own political parties? Bad losers must learn that they must shut their bad mouths. By shouting loud they cannot stop the Indian youth from taking over the political parties and the parliamentary institutions, which they have to run tomorrow. If the old fogies have any sense of history left in them they must retain from creating bad blood with the youth who are the future of the country.

Vithal Shekharan
New Delhi

Lick your wounds but…

I hope the people like Amar Singh, Arun Jaitely and Mahajan would learn their lesson. As you have rightly pointed in your editorial "Don’t insult the youth", they are licking their wounds because they never thought that the electorate would reject them. Even their opponents, the Congress led by Sonia Gandhi also did not think so. But Indian electorates have given their verdict. It is a verdict for youth and against those who are anti-youth. So they can link their wounds but save their breath.

Supriya Gowda
Banglore

Shut up manipulators

YOUR editorial "Don’t insult the youth" shows that you know the core of the character of the "manipulators and middlemen" of politics. Of course, they are shocked, furious and frustrated and instead of accepting the defeat of their commission agency politics are taking out their wrath on the youths, whom the voters have returned in large number to parliament this time. Can you please tell them that the Indian youth like us not dumb and deaf. They have learnt only their first lesson at the hands of Indian youth whose message will be loud and clear, "Please shut up and go".

Yasser Kidwai
Lucknow

The power brokers

YOUR DayAfter story" Checkmating the power brokers", was thought provoking as usual. Well sir, we in Lucknow know the power brokers too well. In fact, there are more power brokers in this city of brokers of all kinds than in any other city of India. After all Uttar Pradesh contains one-fifth of the population of India and hence has the proportionate army of power brokers. You must have noticed that some of the power brokers have been rejected, not only by the people but by their own masters too because their manoeuvres and manipulations have gone wrong awefully this time. Today UP itself is power broken and the "king makers" are themselves unmade. Wait, we will break the backs of more power brokers when the next election come.

Manohar Singh Sisodia
Lucknow

Will PC win over EB?

YOUR cover story "Political Chidambaram’s litmus test" has rightly focused on the question everyone is asking "Will economist Chidambaram be able to fulfill the aspirations of Left parties which have radical views on many reform initiatives and dreams of bringing back the Congress to its pristine glory?" None can doubt Chidambaram’s credentials and the credentials of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as economists who want to build a people-happy and fast track development oriented India. The budget presented by Chidambaram is only a test budget as I see it. It is just to tide over the 7-month period till he unfolds his real budget thrust and directors of the UPA Government. At the moment, he seems to be under siege of economic black mailers of the extreme right and the extreme left who want to curtail the overall economic advantage of the budget to gain their own short time political advantages. As a wit asked, Will PC (the finance minister), win over EB (the economic bullies)? Frequent blockades of Parliament for unacceptable political motivation, are already making the people of India wise to what someone called "pressure group terrorism" and the string pullers might find the people’s anger rising against themselves. Please walk cautiously and do not jump the guns, seems to be the writing on the wall.

Paraalekha
Chennai

Good economist vs bad politicians

IN your story about budget 2004, has called PM Man- mohan Singh as a politician with a difference. Although Sonia Gandhi is making history with steps she is taking these days in creating new political structures and picking the right people for the fight responsibilities inside her own party and the UPA coalition which she heads, the question would remain whether good economics would triumph over bad politics which has been left as the last resort of the defeated and the disgruntled in the Lok Sabha 2004 poll. She has also brought a large number of clean young parliamentarians into the Lok Sabha and sought training facilities for them as parliamentarians to enable them to do their jobs better. The message is clear: Deliver what you promise! Bad politicians please note.

Jagtar Singh
Chandigarh

Stretcher-waiting pensioners

M.J Akbar has rightly commented that "an accidental Government can only present incidental Budget". From the window of a pensioner it is seen that except specifying the 9% rate of interest for deposits in banks on their life-long savings collected drop by drop nothing has been done for them.

Concessions in the Railway Budget are selective. There is glaring omission about any concession to senior citizens and Central Govt. pensioners. Also nothing has been mentioned about continuity/non-continuity of old meagre concessions. Ahde peeree mein doston(Mantrion) kee berukhi ka kaya gilla; aksar girti deewar se pare hatt kar lok chala karte hain. (In old age there is no grievance about the indifferent attitude of friends (Ministers) as often people walk away from the crumbling wall).

All Railway pensioners are entitled for free railway pass for the purpose of traveling. Now railway coolies, who are not even bona fide employees, have been authorised to avail railway travel pass for their spouses. Blind is distributing rewaris to his own folk. Unfortunately all Central Govt pensioners other than Railways have been denied free travel pass despite their consistently and persistently demanding the same on equity.

There is one more suggestion that in all stations there should be availability of carts such as at airports so that the passengers can carry their own luggage. Due to this deficiency in service senior citizens are put to great difficulty. Pensioners had been pleading for exemption of pensionary benefits from income tax. This has not been done. The raising of upper income tax limit to Rs 1 lakh is not going to give any benefit to those whose total income exceeds Rs 1.3 lakhs. In fact, the raising of the limit is not going to affect them and they will be governed by the existing income tax limit. Let the Finance Minister clarify the actual implementation of raised IT limit.

Also Finance Minister is silent about continuity of future Pay Commissions system for assessing pay scales; nominating one pensioner as Rajya Sabha MP.

The Finance Minister has not even scrapped the new pension scheme made effect from 1 January 2004. Rather has retained it. The Minister consciously or unconsciously has also omitted the formulation of health scheme for pensioners living in areas not covered by the CGHS Scheme. These pensioners may be called as stretcher-waiting pensioners. Fifth Pay Commission has already recommended the same followed by relay of court/high court/apex court judgments specifying the immediate need for the same.

Living to be 120 years might be attainable by preventing aging and modifying the aging process itself, says Louria. But is it desirable if the governments and finance ministers keep on neglecting the pensioners for even curable diseases.  "Will the future buy us more life, or just more days alive" wonders Vincent Mor, a gerontologist at Brown University.