This is a true story which was evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, so no debate there (“What excess death data shows: Bihar, Gujarat undercounted Covid-19 toll by 30 times”). But why are you trying to obfuscate or misdirect people by using lakhs and millions in the same article? Instead of three million just say 30 lakh – it is just as valid and easily understood by the general public who live in India and not in the US. This attempt at sensationalising data erodes your credibility in the same manner that it does the governments that did it. Secondly, why is it that you couldn’t provide a link to this data if it is available publicly? – Rakesh Haridas

Editor’s note: It isn’t clear how this inconsistency constitutes sensationalism but it has been rectified.

Bengaluru infrastructure

The problem with Bengaluru infrastructure development, compared to Navi Mumbai, Noida, Gurgaon or even Amravati, is that the government of the day is not concerned about the road layout, acquisition of old, unplanned properties and moving dislocated people to better facilities, or even removing illegal properties (“Bengaluru: Foxconn factory turns rural town into real estate goldmine”). They allow unplanned structures to come up randomly – and after everything becomes crowded, they scratch their heads and wonder how to build new roads, metro, water and sewage pipelines. Devanahalli is a new beginning but it’s already late and authorities should at least create a town plan for the city for the next 100 years. – Rajesh Achary

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Middle-class debt

It is wrong government policies that are causing distress to the middle and lower-middle class in India (“A hidden debt crisis is silently wrecking the dreams of India’s middle class”). The government reduced corporate tax with the hope that corporations will invest the saved tax amount to create jobs. But corporations instead invested in automation causing, thus increasing unemployment. The government has capped income tax at a maximum of 30%, allowing the rich to escape. No wealth tax is allowing the rich to amass wealth. Wealth above a certain threshold needs to be taxed. There should also be an inheritance tax. GST on items of daily use by the common people should be abolished. Income tax should be increased by reducing the tax-exempt threshold while deductions and exemptions are reduced to the bare minimum. Agricultural income needs to be taxed. – Vasant Kalegaonkar

Gujarat Samachar

This newspaper has no ethics or morals (“Gujarat Samachar: A newspaper with a long history of criticising Modi is now under siege”). People get money for propaganda and you might be one of them too. Shame on you both. Such media should be taken to task at the public square where people should decide the future of such crooks in the presence of Supreme court judges. – Sharad Sheth

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With this article, you are dissenting while at the same you say the government doesn’t allow dissent. – Shreekanth

Academic publishing

It is time to evaluate researchers – by name and institutions – who undeservedly extracted many things in their academic tenure (“Indian academia is rife with research and publishing misconduct”). Even so, this is a recurring problem. – SN Mishra

Caste and sanitation

Please employ Brahmins and see the results (“Swachh Bharat Mission: Caste and contracts in sanitation work”). Let the Dalits who work be paid high wages. – Sheilaja Varghese