Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Inclusive growth

This refers to the article "CEOs and the wealth of notions" (June 12). There is no denying that poverty is a threat to stability. At the same time, absolute equality is neither practicable nor desirable. What any system can realistically aim at is eliminating glaring disparities where a sizeable number does not know where the next square meal is going to come from, even as the millionaires and billionaires indulge in obscene display of wealth.

Unfortunately, five year plans notwithstanding, income disparities have widened in India. Removal of poverty is not impossible. What is needed is political will and empathy for the poor. The UPA Government's heart is in the right place. One hopes it will make inclusive growth a reality soon.

G.G. Menon,
Udupi

* * *

This refers to industry's outrage at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remark on capping CEOs' salaries. The Prime Minister's accountability is to the entire nation, not just to the captains of industry. What the government needs is professional help and participation, not criticism.

Can industry not persuade its employees to help the government deliver on its social commitments? Can it not contribute 10 per cent of its net profits? Or levy a special cess on CEOs' salaries? Can industry not contribute well-paid professionals to monitor and streamline government projects?

M.S. Sastry,
Bangalore

* * *

The yawning economic gap between India's rich and poor is ever widening. Inclusive growth implies uniform and symmetrical sectoral growth.

The government should intervene through timely and appropriate legislation. Otherwise, the flourishing democratic state will turn into an oligarchy soon.

Amandeep Samrao,
Patiala

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It is not the CEOs' salaries that create divisions in society. Criminalisation of politics, cancerous growth of corruption, defective economic policies, the government's failure to curb price rise, business-politician nexus, and divisive and sectarian politics have contributed to social and economic inequilibrium. The political class is shifting the blame for its failure to provide even basic amenities on the prosperity of individuals who have made it to the top by dint of hard work.

Let us not forget that whistleblowers Manjunath and Satyendra Dubey paid with their lives trying to correct the rot in the system. It is the affluence of politicians, not individuals who have contributed positively to society, which needs to be questioned.

K.T. Krishnaswami,
Singaperumal Koil

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