Economy
G-8 meeting at Genoa -- Recurrent ritual and recycled rhetoric
THERE would at least be one member -- Mr Sylvio Berlusconi, recently elected Prime Minister of Italy -- of the Group 8 nations at its 26th annual meeting starting today at Genoa, Italy, whose mind would be elsewhere than on the monotonous drone of the pa
rticipants holding forth on what has by now become stale and familiar fare at such meetings. Far more pressing and relevant for him would be the tumult of the 1 lakh demonstrators protesting outside the venue (Palazzo Ducale) of the meeting against the r
ich nations' club relentlessly thrusting economic globalisation down the throats of the developing countries with no concern for what the protesters regard as its iniquitous and deleterious consequences, especially for the world's poor.
G-8: Summitry of another kind
GENOA, the industrial port city in Italy's northwest, is in a state of siege. Thousands of troops from the army, navy and air force, including specialists in chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare have taken up positions. A missile defence system has
been installed to ward off airborne attacks. The airport, harbour, and railway stations have been sealed. The passport-free travel permit granted to other European Union citizens under the Schengen Treaty has been temporarily revoked.
Clearing corporation -- Getting ready for the long haul
WHILE commenting on the New Basel Capital Accord announced in January, the Reserve Bank of India has stated that low technical skills, structural rigidities and less-than-robust legal systems characterise emerging markets. The RBI has spoken with candour
about emerging economies and their inadequate legal environment.
Editorial
Time to act on edible oils
BOUNTIFUL RAINS ACROSS the country -- with the exception of some meteorological sub-divisions in the southern region -- have considerably brightened the prospects of recovery in oilseeds from last year's weather-affected output. While two more rounds of
rains over the next 4-6 weeks are necessary for proper development and maturation of crops, mainly groundnut and soyabean, on current reckoning and subject to normal weather, kharif season oilseeds production may expand to 135-140 lakh tonnes from last s
eason's 118 lakh tonnes.
Miscellaneous
Marriage movement
IT is only to be expected that in a country like the US where 43 per cent of the marriages end in divorce, 50 per cent of the couple cohabit before marriage, if they marry at all, and, according to the 2001 Census Bureau's report, less than 25 per cent o
f the households can boast traditional families (father, mother and children living as a single unit), there should be a concerted drive to rehabilitate marriage as an institution sanctified by law and custom and as an imperative pre-requisite for a harm
onious, well-knit society. The objective is to realise the full meaning and significance of what has been called ``married bliss'' but which, more often than not, turns into married curse.
Politics
What really went wrong?
CERTAIN events come to have more impact than they should normally have because of their timing. The happenings one has in mind are: One, the non-inclusion of the Commerce Minister in the delegation which the Pakistani President, Gen Pervez Musharraf, bro
ught with him at the summit, and two, the freezing of UTI transactions. The reason why the two have become important now than before is because of the effect they are going to have on India's economy for some time to come.
Before and after Agra
IN AN article in the Sunday edition (July 1) of a New Delhi-based daily, one had described the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee's invitation to Gen Pervez Musharraf to visit India for summit talks at Agra as a calculated gamble, and added that if
it succeeded, Mr Vajpayee would be hailed as a statesman par excellence, but if it failed, his judgment would be questioned.
Stocks
Regional stock exchanges -- Bulldozed by the Big Two
SHOULD regional stock exchanges opt out of equities trading and take up other financial market activities? Or, should the RSEs be revived through consolidation, mergers and takeovers?
