Economy
Winter of economic despair
THE year 2001 is coming to a close in the midst of a winter of despair. The political climate is full of fog. We do not know at this moment whether India and Pakistan will again be engulfed in a conflagration that is probably not the best choice for each
country, taken separately. Both countries are being relentlessly driven by forces that they seem barely able to control towards military confrontation which may even involve the exercise of nuclear options by both the countries.
Year of setback for economy
THE ECONOMY took a downturn in 2001, after sustaining a six per cent growth over almost a decade, with recessionary trends persisting in industry, aggravated by the cyclical swings in agriculture, and a sharp reversal of export trends in the wake of the
global slowdown.
Editorial
WTO ruling no thunderbolt
THERE IS LITTLE doubt that the World Trade Organisation panel ruling on the auto dispute between the US and the EU, on the one hand, and India on the other -- which has gone against New Delhi -- will be a big morale booster for those auto manufacturers t
hat have been trying their best to dilute the investment restrictions imposed by New Delhi.
Information Technology
Virtual worker
INFORMATION technology is in the throes of rapid changes. The availability of, and access to, a variety of computer platorms and applications, including laptops, pocket PCs, handhelds and wireless protocols are providing unthought of connectivities cutti
ng across barriers of time and space. The imminent spread of convergence is about to give a revolutionary twist to the new ICE age, making data, audio and video facilities interchangeable and operable on a single device.
Politics
Whither peace in Sri Lanka?
THIS Christmas will be a memorable one for Sri Lanka, or so hope its people. A nation ravaged by 18 long years of one of the bloodiest conflicts in the history of the civilised world is hoping against hope that the new government it has voted into power
in the recent elections will have a panacea for its ills -- both social and economic.
Steel
Steel: Ending on flat note
THE domestic steel industry closes 2001 on a highly uncertain note. On the financial year basis, the results of the third quarter ending December 2001 will be available in the course of January.
Technology
Bacteria in waste management
MICRO-ORGANISMS constitute an antique group of living organisms which appeared on earth's surface almost 3,000 million years ago. Since they first began to be studied in 1590, bacteriologists have described only about 5,000 species of bacteria. They are
found in soil, water, air, in plants, animals, food products, in the human body, and even on its surface.
