Sir — A study has shown that air pollution in cities does not only affect the respiratory and cardiovascular health of human beings — it is also causing significant behavioural, physiological and genetic changes in wild bees. This is alarming news, for bees are already rapidly declining in number, thereby throwing an already fragile ecological balance even more out of gear.

Unfortunately, it is unlikely that these findings will have enough impact on the administrational will to bring in changes. This is a pity, because concerns for the protection of biodiversity in city spaces must also inform a large part of the strategy to combat air pollution.

Natasha Ganguly,
Calcutta

Still stuck

Sir — It was deeply disheartening to read about the new research which has shown that women in the United Kingdom still have a hard time getting top corporate roles, even though their presence in boardrooms has increased. It seems that the age-old belief that women cannot be leaders persists to an uncomfortable degree even in purportedly advanced economies in the Western world. The study has shown that while women are getting an increasing number of non-executive director roles, they are not being considered for actual positions of executive leadership.

This is an exercise in self-sabotage for corporate bodies and big businesses, for women have consistently proved to be great leaders over the years. Research published last year on the Harvard Business Review blog showed that women scored at a statistically significantly higher level than men on the vast majority of leadership parameters they were measured on. Given that making women the chief executive officers of companies are likely to benefit the latter in a significant way, one wonders why such an obvious step towards greater growth is consistently rejected by company boards.

Sayantan Banerjee,
Calcutta

Sir — The dogged refusal to allow women to take on more leadership roles is prevalent even in India. This is not restricted to businesses — recently, even the Centre had expressed great consternation at the idea of male army officers having to take orders from their women superiors. For as long as such regressive mindsets persist, businesses and institutions will keep missing out on the expertise women bring to the table.

Junaid Akram,
Delhi

Way forward

Sir — The Indian Railways, in order to boost infrastructure, is planning to explore the public-private partnership route. The ultimate aim is to increase the availability of train services for the public. However, it will be interesting to observe how the government will adopt this model. It is estimated that the Indian Railways would need a capital investment of around Rs 50 lakh crore up to the year 2030 for this project. To support such an endeavour, the Union government should frame policies that are geared towards developing and providing regulatory support to banks to encourage them to fund rail projects.

Khushbu Ved,
Calcutta

Time for change

Sir — The United Nations seems to have become an outdated organization in its present form. What it needs is a significant overhaul if it has to meet the challenges of the new world order. With only five member countries with veto powers in the security council — there is no representation from the African, South American and Australian regions — the UN certainly cannot fulfil its stated goal of maintaining peace and friendly relations among countries. Decision-making powers in the UN must be democratized, and the privilege of the veto for a handful of nations must be taken away.

D.V.G. Sankararao,
Nellimarla, Andhra Pradesh