Columns

The public may take a grim view of corrupt administrative officers. But in the case of businesses, higher fees or commissions are seen as part of the market mechanism.

It took 50 years after Independence for the Government to set up the country's first National Security Council (NSC) in 1998. When, around that time, ...

APMCs are chiefly responsible for bouts of inflation in fruits and vegetables. But States have resisted APMC reforms, as they fear a loss of mandi revenue, say RAJIV KUMAR and BASKAR REDDY.

The logic that the LLP is, on most aspects, akin to a ‘Company' and can be levied MAT is flawed. A distinct tax treatment of LLPs is needed.

The Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission should seek to ensure that foreign, private and public sector banks come under a single legislative framework. The RBI Act should be divested of its colonial baggage.

Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, the ruler of Libya for 41 years — the longest in both Africa and the Arab world — could not be said to be the world's best ...

There is no reason to be surprised at the Budget's deficit figures. Higher domestic absorption and inclusion, which the Budget aims for, is a pre-condition for a second wave of reforms.

It will require a sustained, long-term effort to develop a sustainable nutri-cereal sector that meets consumption demands as well as benefits the cultivators and investors.

There used to be sporadic exercises undertaken by economists seeking to determine the real impact of the demographic structure of a country, ...

The Hinduja Group has drawn up big plans to enter the aerospace business. The group is in talks with a couple of American and European aerospace ...

The events following Mr Raja's arrest, the raids on Kalaignar TV and Tamil Maiyam, had put a question mark on the bonhomie between the DMK and the Congress. Add to this, the incumbency burden the ruling party faces in Tamil Nadu. Watch out for the Assembly elections.

With the recession behind it and a recovery (however halting) at hand, the world's attention would soon return to problems associated with modern growth. One is the fall-out of growth for green house gas (GHG) emissions that lead to global warming, which for various reasons is a problem that is not easily resolved.

First it was Dr Ram Mohan Rao, the Dean, no less, of the Indian School of Business (ISB) at Hyderabad which boasts world-class curriculum, especially ...

The Budget is not without surprises, such as doubling wages of anganwadi workers and administering kerosene subsidies through cash transfers. However, concerns of tribals need to be addressed.

The echoes of the recently unveiled Budget 2011 are still reverberating in media columns, TV discussions and Web sites, both nationwide and round the ...

The heroic expenditure assumptions in the Budget may result in significantly higher borrowing requirement than outlined. This, in turn, will keep capital costs high and dampen much-needed investment.

While the Jasmine Revolution may usher in the replacement of dictatorship by democracy in other countries, ironically, the Lotus Revolution may see the reverse in India.

It is a puzzle how the elementary principle escaped the Prime Minister and the Home Minister that the CVC should himself be of impeccable integrity.

The Finance Minister's solution of replacing subsidies with cash transfer is a remedy that is worse than the disease. It transfers the problem from the government's budget to that of the poor and the farmers.

Hamlet: Do you see yonder cloud that's almost in the shape of a camel? Polonius: By th' Mass, and 'tis like a camel, indeed. Hamlet: Methinks it is ...

A fraction of the giveaways to corporates could save Indian agriculture from stress. No seer is needed to say that the Budget, branded as favouring the aam aadmi, could not have been more inequitable.

Under the circumstances, the Finance Minister deserves to be commended for the fine balancing act.

The Finance Minister was content to palm off nebulous and oft-repeated generalities as a strategy, leaving the people no wiser than before.

Interest subvention for small farm loans and wage indexation under MGNREGS will benefit the common man.