Letters: Behavioural change

Behavioural change

With reference to “Toilet mystery: Blaming and shaming not the way” (July 31), Sunita Narayan is right in appealing for providing incentives in order to effect a behavioural change in renouncing open defecation and switching to the use of toilets. However, it would be even better if this incentive also addressed the aspect of sustainable sanitation, which is the need of the hour given the scarcity of water. The Swachh Bharat Mission should aim to build eco-friendly toilets like the urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) or alternatively bio-toilets which use little water and also do not contaminate groundwater.
 

The UDDT, unlike the conventional toilet, does not flush urine, excreta and wash water but rather has separate chambers to collect the same which can be recycled, composted and reused (for agriculture) by the user, which also obviates manual scavenging. Such toilets are in use in villages across several districts of India, with some in Tamil Nadu being enthusiastically built by the Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment in collaboration with Unicef. At some places “use toilet and get paid” incentive operates to encourage the use of these toilets. Ecological sanitation presents a great opportunity to enlist the public in the success of Swachh Bharat at the grassroots.

C V Krishna Manoj, Hyderabad

Verbal restraint

With reference to the news report “Jethmalani to Kejriwal: You used worse abuses than ‘crook’ for Arun Jaitley” (July 29), though counsels do enjoy the privilege of free speech inside courtrooms, they are expected to exercise the same judiciously. Surely, it is not Ram Jethmalani’s (pictured) contention that he is justified in using any unparliamentary word against a plaintiff, in open court, at the behest of his client! It also makes one wonder if his outburst against Kejriwal is due to the latter’s refusal or inability to pay the astronomical fees quoted by him. There was originally a move for the Delhi government to foot the bill, which was reportedly dropped after the hue and cry over it in the media.

Not long ago, when Justice C S Karnan made scurrilous corruption charges against brother judges of the Supreme Court and high courts, Jethmalani wrote to him an open letter questioning his mental balance. One expects the eminent jurist to follow his own advice and practise some restraint in speech, in and out of court, now that he is “sitting in the departure lounge of God’s airport” (to quote his own words).

V Jayaraman, Chennai

Adding to NPA pain

It has been reported in a section of press that non-performing assets (NPA) are growing with an increase in default cases in repayment of education loan. It has been estimated that the total NPAs in education loans have shot up to 140 per cent in the last three years. According to disclosure made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), borrowers failing to make repayments for more than the stipulated 90 days reportedly stood at Rs 6,336 crore at the end of December 2016 as against Rs 2,615 crore in March 2013. This means, in 45 months, the NPAs rose by 242.29 per cent due to non-payment of education loans.
 

It is not bad to disburse education loans at nominal rates of interest. Those in need must be financially supported to get education. The unfortunate aspect is that the students who have availed themselves of loan are reluctant to return the amount soon after they get a job. The financial resources are draining due to the policy of waiver of loan on the one hand and due to the borrowers not repaying the amount on the other. This has been resulting in the drastic cut in interest rates. At one point of time, the banks used to give a maximum of 12.5 per interest on fixed deposits. Now, the interest rate is hovering around seven-eight per cent.

The hackneyed policy of the banks is putting a premium on dishonesty. People who depend on interest income are the worst sufferers. Added to the paltry rate of interest, a part of the interest income should be earmarked for payment of income tax. If this aspect is also taken into consideration, the present rate of interest on fixed deposits is equal to savings bank interest at the contemporary period of interest at 12.5 per cent on fixed assets. The fall in interest rates on deposits threatens that one day or the other the depositors will have to be prepared to pay for keeping the amount in banks safe.

K V Seetharamaiah, Hassan