This refers to “The nut paradox of democracy” (March 9). In today’s democracies as much destruction is caused by ‘nutty’ heads of government with personality traits like being “eccentric, mercurial, impetuous or narcissistic” as by those who misuse power their position gives them.

US President, Donald Trump, has shown scant regard not only for the judiciary in the matter of tariffs, but also for international rules and practices in waging a war with Iran. Some of his traits accentuate his inexplicable behaviour in dealing with friends and foes alike.

India’s strong democratic roots have taught a lesson to those who abused their power, as in the Emergency case, but in some states the phenomenon of twisting Constitutional power persists, as in West Bengal.

However, the democratic process is too slow to get rid of them before they cause damage.

YG Chouksey

Pune

CAD worries

This refers to the Editorial ‘Stress management’ (March 9). India’s current account deficit (CAD) is under pressure primarily due to rising crude oil prices. Continued withdrawals by Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) from Indian markets have also weakened the rupee. The services sector remains a key cushion by generating a strong export surplus.

Reducing CAD sustainably requires structural changes. India needs to significantly expand manufacturing to narrow the merchandise trade deficit, while the IT services sector must upgrade its capabilities, particularly in artificial intelligence to move beyond traditional back-office services and sustain high-value service exports in an increasingly AI-driven global economy.

Srinivasan Velamur

Chennai

Digital guardrails

Apropos ‘I-T dept’s nationwide crackdown targets restaurants in ₹70,000 crore tax scam’ (March 9), this is a stress test of India’s tax plumbing in the age of smart billing.

If a PoS system can help a diner split a bill, it can also help a business split reality, log every sale, then “forget” it before GST time.

That is not clever accounting, it is ‘productised’ fraud. Enforcement must follow the data trail, but the bigger fix is upstream.

Mandate tamper evident audit logs for PoS systems, certify vendors, and penalize deliberate “delete button” features the way we penalize fake weights and measures. Digital compliance needs digital guardrails, not just digital raids.

K Chidanand Kumar

Bengaluru

Time to rejoice

Hats off to the Team India for outplaying the Kiwis successfully defend the ICC T20 World Cup title.

Notably, such a splendid victory came amidst various odds that heavily favoured New Zealand team, just prior to the beginning of this most crucial cricketing encounter.

However, display of some superb batting skills in the first place as also some outstanding bowling performance later, eventually put India on the driver’s seat.

Congrats to team India.

Kumar Gupt

Panchkula (Haryana)

Published on March 9, 2026