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Shocking plight

The consumer article `Plug the loopholes' (May 15) clearly exposes the lack of concern of Indian manufacturers about the safety of domestic electric equipment. As a practising electrical engineer, I share your concern and would like to na rrate an instance which again reflects the callousness of these manufacturers.

Nowadays MCBs are extensively used by apartment builders and house builders in place of the traditional main switch with fuses. Even traditional fuses in outgoing circuits are replaced with these MCBs of lower rating. Further, isolators are available in the market of the same rating and they look identical to MCBs, with no distinguishing markings. However, these isolators do not have the short-circuit protection available in an MCB.

The isolators are cheaper by 25-30 per cent, which obviously attracts consumers who do not realise that their house wiring is without any protection. My enquiries with manufacturers and retailers reveal that they expect the consumers to diff erentiate between an MCB and an isolator. They claim that the interrupting capacity is mentioned on an MCB which is not found on an isolator. Also, there is a difference in the colour of the operating switch-knob!

It must be clearly indicated by manufacturers that an isolator does not have a protective feature against short-circuit. Necessary action may be taken to educate the people on this aspect and curb this practice by manufacturers.

T. Ramakrishna, Cuddalore

MNCs may help

The article, `Plug the loopholes' (May 15) was very interesting and useful. On testing, we are likely to find that no equipment (electrical or mechanical) adheres to standards. I hope competition from multinational companies will make domestic manufactur ers more quality-conscious.

P. Sivaprakasam

Labour problems

The problems discussed in the May Day article (May 1) cannot be swept under the carpet. The labour scene in the industrial sector is indeed dismal.

But for how long are we going to speak only about the workforce in the organised sector? In 1973-74, our present Defence Minister organised a massive railway strike, crippling the economy, in support of 25 lakh workers who were demanding the ir dues. Assuming that each had a family of four members, that works out to a figure of one crore. And what would you say about the 60 crores that suffered because in this country we have a strong (there is no alternative) TINA factor?

The workers must get their dues. Yet, look at the fate of the organised mill workers of Mumbai, 1976 onwards, under the stewardship of the indomitable Datta Samant. It was common knowledge that the unions were collecting Rs. 2 per wo rker per month. The figure, at a conservative estimate, was Rs. 1.20 crores a year. This was at a time when Mumbai's Udipi restaurants were selling thali meals at Rs. 1.50.

But after the mills closed, what did the unions do for the workers with that accumulated sum? There are no satisfactory answers.

Today all that the citizens of this country would like to know is whether the political parties are competent or merely inefficient; worse still, whether they are running an extortion racket. The time has come when every political party s hould be questioned about their effectiveness in governance.

West Bengal has a surfeit of organised labour, all probably controlled by the Left parties and their militant cadres. Yet the results are there for you to see. The intellectuals, the sociologists, the political pundits have a singular rol e, which is to earn their livelihood. I appreciate that. But their pronouncements are not in tune with reality.

The industrial decline in Bengal started in 1977 when the Communists came to power, not when Narasimha Rao started the liberalisation in 1992. I hope some of your readers would give the national crisis a thought and see the need fo r a new beginning.

Arindam Dutta

Needs encouragement

I am a student of Indian origin in the United States. I read the article `Social entrepreneurs' by Preeti Mehra in the May 1 edition. I think the work that Ashoka Innovators is doing is truly great and should be encouraged. Although being a student not l iving in India limits the avenues for my contribution to Ashoka, I would like to find out more about them. I would appreciate it if you could give me their contact information.

Dandapani M.R.

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