In your edit “Trivedi’s Budget surprise” (March 15), you have rightly admired the initiative taken, but the critical question is whether the UPA II will be able to increase passenger fares in the face of opposition from both Mamata Banerjee and from her sworn enemy, the Left Front. Banerjee is clearly mortally afraid that unless she continues with an even more extreme populist programme than that of the Left Front, it will make a comeback. But that road does not lead anywhere.
Most important steps towards the empowerment of the poor in post-independence India have been schemes like midday meals for primary schoolchildren started in Tamil Nadu, bicycles for senior schoolgirls started in Bihar and the laptops and notepads being proposed for senior students in Uttar Pradesh. Instead of depending on handouts from the Centre, Banerjee must take action on these lines to cement her position for the future.
Alok Sarkar Kolkata
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