Food for thought

Sir — Socialists have finally caught a break: an unexpected ally to the cause has rallied more people behind the idea of an anti-capitalist utopia than ever before. Priyanka Chopra recently launched a homeware collection in which a rectangular table cloth is worth approximately Rs 30,612. The tablecloth brought home the reality of Karl Marx’s theory of commodity fetishism like no socialist ever could. The items on sale also sent a message about global food insecurity, showing how out of reach survival is for the masses — more than 48 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger, with the threat of acute malnutrition, starvation, and death — while the rich feast upon their expensive tablecloths. Chopra has given the world some food for thought.

Ronita Das, Birbhum

Rule by proxy

Sir — It was shocking to learn that husbands or other male relatives took oath instead of the elected women representatives in several of the newly-formed panchayats in Madhya Pradesh. The state has taken action against officials and staff at the ground level who are in charge of ensuring that the right candidates take oath. It has also issued an advisory so that such an incident does not recur. However, this is not enough. It is no secret that even in cases where women members of panchayat do take the oath of office, the power is concentrated in the hands of their male relatives. This needs to change and the government must come up with checks and balances to stop such misuse of power. Saloni Shah, Bhopal

Sir — An assessment by the Centre for Catalyzing Change revealed that 77 per cent of elected women representatives believe that they cannot change things easily in their constituencies, while just 23 per cent felt that they could. This lack of confidence is the result of social conditioning. The fact is that women invest more in public goods that are reflective of community priorities, such as drinking water. This was found in a research by the Nobel-winning economist, Esther Duflo, and her colleague, Petia Topalova. This showed that women leaders have a higher delivery of civic facilities — drinking water, schools, health centres, fair price shops — and the measured quality of these facilities is at least as high as in the non-reserved constituencies if not more. Women must be made aware of their abilities.

Yashodhara Sen, Calcutta

Too steep

Sir — The Reserve Bank of India is being hawkish in increasing the policy interest rate by 50 basis points to 5.4 per cent — the third hike in a row — to cope with inflation. As a result of this rise, personal loans, automobile loans, home loans and so on will get dearer and borrowings will be affected. This might slow down the economy and retard growth. The RBI could have raised the benchmark repo rate — the interest rate at which commercial banks borrow money by selling their securities to the central bank — so as to shrink money supply in the economy and thus resist inflation. Further, the RBI’s claim on the Indian economy being an island of macroeconomic and financial stability in an ocean of turbulence and uncertainty sounds highly doubtful.

Sukhendu Bhattacharjee, Hooghly

Razing inequality

Sir — It was heartening to read that bulldozers swung into action against the illegal construction at the residence of the self-proclaimed Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Shrikant Tyagi. Tyagi has been booked by the Noida Police for allegedly assaulting a woman after a spat with her inside the Grand Omaxe society in Section 93 where his house is located. This is a lesson for other power-hungry leaders who consider themselves above the law. It is high time all political parties across the states look into the actions of their members. Political power must not breed impunity.

Bhagwan Thadani, Mumbai

Change the game

Sir — A spate of retirements by cricketers who are finding it difficult to keep up with all three formats of the game should serve as a wakeup call for the International Cricket Council. The proliferation of national cricket leagues is commercialising the game, with players picking this lucrative format over one-day internationals. The ICC must come up with ideas to make ODIs more attractive. Instead of promoting cricket leagues in various countries, the ICC could consider organising a triangular series among equally balanced sides that are formed irrespective of nationalities. This will garner attention across the globe. Iftekhar Ahmed, Calcutta

Lost charm

Sir — The business model of Bollywood is not feasible. People now prefer OTT platforms over going to the theatres to watch films. The former is more feasible and allows people to get a greater value for their money. This is why the charm of Bollywood is on the decline. Swati Pandey Ujjain Earthy lesson „Sir — We have lost touch with our roots in this age of technology. The initiative of the Epic Public School in Cooch Behar to take its students to a paddy field is thus praiseworthy (“Sunday classroom in paddy field”, Aug 8). This will not only bring students closer to nature but also make them aware of the hardships faced by farmers to put food on our tables. Shyamal Thakur, Ramnagar, East Burdwan New ties

Sir — On Raksha Bandhan, sisters seek protection from their male relatives or friends. However, such ideas have become outdated. Raksha Bandhan should now be celebrated to mark kinship and camaraderie. It can also be used as an occasion to highlight the equality between the sexes. Jubel D’Cruz, Mumbai