Letters to the Editor – The Hindu BusinessLine

money laundering

The government’s tightening of beneficial ownership regulations under the Anti-Money Laundering Prevention Act, while a welcome step, only partially addresses the problem of money laundering.

In reality, the challenges compliance officers face are related to ownership when based in tax havens, leading to information opacity.

In such cases, the legal threshold for determining ownership control will not help prevent money laundering due to the lack of transparency in the information shared. Therefore, there is a need to tighten the norms related to the money trail, facilitate the exchange of information, require registration of beneficial ownership, and allow the free exchange of information from country to country. International organizations’ support for the exchange of information between financial intelligence agencies needs to be further strengthened

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Unsecured Loans

This refers to “Time to Curb Unsecured Lending” (September 6). Instead of tightening the purse strings on unsecured loans, banks should improve their monitoring and recovery mechanisms to reduce NPAs on these loans and continue lending prudently. It is wrong to assume that unsecured lending would impair credit discipline, since it is well known that small borrowers are more honest than their richer peers when it comes to repaying loans.

Kosaraju Chandramouli

Hyderabad

rainfed farming

What is meant is the editorial “Follow the rain” (September 6). One really wonders why India’s agricultural growth is still dependent on rain/monsoons. Had successive governments in India (from 1951, when the First Five Year Plan began) invested adequately and effectively in agricultural infrastructure – such as irrigation, transportation and storage facilities – the sector would have been stronger than it is today.

EI Nino is just a new phenomenon affecting the industry. One should keep in mind that India is basically an agricultural country. By this time it should have set high standards for primary sector growth for other developing countries to emulate. But unfortunately it is not there, although it would have enabled self-sufficiency in some agricultural goods.

S Ramakrishnasayee

Chennai

water management

It is unfortunate that after 75 years of independence we still depend on the monsoon for our agriculture. This is because we have failed to build dams, scientifically conserve water, and otherwise provide water to agriculture. Raising people’s awareness of water stewardship, training farmers for alternative occupations, and mechanical storage of food crops are some of the measures that, if taken wholeheartedly, will save the country from drought-like situations. NGOs, government agencies and retired bureaucrats should be brought in to assist.

NGOs should be asked to spread the message of saving water. If people don’t fully participate in this mission, we will face a difficult situation due to the irregular monsoon.

Veena Shenoy

Thane