Still the king

Sir — Elvis Presley died at the age of 42 in 1977. This singer-actor was one of the greatest entertainers of all times. His influence is evident in the dance sequences even of recent films. Elvis would set the stage on fire with his song and dance numbers such as “Jailhouse rock”, “Hound dog” or “Bossa nova baby”. I am sure that if you play the videos of these songs on a giant screen to young audiences, the response will be overwhelming even today. They would forget Justin Bieber and embrace Elvis as their idol.

Yours faithfully,
Jayanta Sinha, Calcutta

Shadow lands

Sir — Warren Anderson’s death may have buried a few answers but it will never be able to bury a few burning questions (“A death buries Bhopal answers”, Nov 1). One cannot but ask a question here: were the governments of both the United States of America and India really keen to prosecute those responsible for the Bhopal gas tragedy? Would the outcome have been the same had this incident taken place, say, in the US or in West Europe? Did the Indian judicial system respond appropriately to the severity of the case — the huge loss of life, property and long-term environmental damages caused by this incident?

Did the then Central and state governments, and subsequent governments, show adequate enthusiasm to take the matter to the highest possible level? Moreover, one wonders whether the case has progressed at all since 1984. One cannot quite get rid of the feeling that we stand at the same point where we started at the time of the disaster. And, most importantly, who helped the foreign culprits of the Bhopal gas tragedy leave the Indian soil so silently, efficiently and without a trace? There are possibly more questions than answers —they will continue to be so, with a number of dubious characters hiding behind the veil of circumstantial evidence.

Yours faithfully,
Saikat Kumar Basu, Lethbridge, Canada

Money wise

Sir — People using ATMs to withdraw money or for other purposes such as balance enquiry beyond five times in home bank ATMs and beyond three times in a non-home bank ATM in a month are being charged Rs 20 per transaction from this month. This is absurd. Why are ATM withdrawals being discouraged? ATM transactions save lot of time and stationary for banks since they involve no submission, encashment or withdrawal of cheques. Instead of charging for extra transactions, a reward, say, Rs 10 or so, should be credited for each of the withdrawals.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, said in his Independence Day speech that banking facilities would be made more easily available in villages so that every person, including the poor, has bank accounts. It is a welcome step. But what about the unnecessary charges levied by banks and the deplorable quality of the services? Even pass-books are not updated unless one visits a bank several times. Some banks now levy charges for sending SMS alerts without informing the customers. There are sometimes charges for using the debit card too. When the application form for a debit card is given to customers, the bank should spell out all the conditions for usage in clear print so that customers are not duped later.

Last but not the least, while providing the information asked for in KYC forms, one feels that one is being assessed for income tax payment. The requirement of absurd details must be done away with.

Yours faithfully,
Mahesh Kapasi, New Delhi