Opinion & Analysis

• Dress code
  Whenever the Lok Sabha Speakers staff begins preparing for Meira Kumars foreign tours, they remember Rural Development Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. Before a visit to Mauritius last year, the staff sent explicit and repeated instructions to delegation members to wear bandhgalas. A day before the delegations departure, Kumar anxiously asked Singh whether hes had his bandhgala made. The earthy Singh replied in the negative, saying ,I will only wear dhoti kurta. He did and was apparently a lot more comfortable in the balmy Mauritian climate than his colleagues.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:15pm
  


• Braveheart businessman
  Visibly agitated about corruption in the government, a senior business leader raved and ranted at a meeting, saying, What is the use of having the most honest prime minister India has ever had if he heads the most corrupt government? Noticing the embarrassed and stunned silence in the room, including from several government functionaries, the CEO immediately added, Well, I dont mind saying it in front of him. If somebody here wants to carry the message, let them. I am not afraid! But he abruptly ended his speech on that note with sweat on his brow. The meeting proceeded with its agenda.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:15pm
  


• Letters: Lost battle
  Now that US President Barack Obama has withdrawn American combat troops from Iraq, it is the right time to learn some lessons from this haunting and protracted global trauma.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:14pm
  


• Petroprom
  Petrobras: Petrobras is shaping up more like Gazprom than Exxon Mobil. By overpaying for 5 billion barrels of reserves, the Brazilian state-controlled oil group is transferring up to $17 billion of value to the government, whose stake will also rise. The company is looking more like an instrument of the state than a guardian of shareholder interests.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:12pm
  


• Statsguru-06-September-10
  THE SENSITIVE INDEX (Sensex) and Nifty are at their 30-month highs and look expensive at the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 22 time for 12 months earnings till June 30, 2010. At current prices, the indices are trading around 17 times FY11 forward earnings. Automobile, banking, technology and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies drove the benchmark indices to this level at a time when oil and gas, telecom and realty were struggling to return to the black.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:12pm
  


• Non-disastrous non-farm
  US jobs: Friday's US jobs figures provide subdued reassurance. The private sector employment gains of 67,000 in August, together with positive revisions totaling 123,000 for previous months, should dispel fears of an economic double-dip for now. With just one more jobs report before November's elections, the latest data also offer a glimmer of hope for Democrats. Continued and fairly steady private sector job growth, together with a surprising decline of 323,000 in long-term unemployment should be reassuring for the unemployed and those fearful of losing their jobs. That's despite that fact that the end of temporary census employment led to a headline loss of jobs in August. It is also likely to help Democrats in November's midterm elections, blunting the force of Republican attacks on their handling of the economy.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:10pm
  


• A V Rajwade: Reality checks on growth
  Continuing the last weeks argument (The reality beyond the numbers, September 1), can the environmental agenda as implemented by our young and energetic minister take precedence over every other objective of the democratic government of a still poor country? Consider the number of major industrial/infrastructural projects/developments blocked on environmental grounds, some for years Posco Steel (Orissa), Jindal Power (Chhattisgarh), East Coast Energy, Nagarjuna Construction, Polavaram Dam and JSW Aluminium (Andhra), Navi Mumbai Airport, different projects in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts (Maharashtra), genetically modified seeds, various highways under NHAI, the Ganga Expressway (UP) and so on. Depending on your definition, some (or all of them) would have some adverse impact on the environment and displace some residents.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:09pm
  


• Evan A Feigenbaum: Challenge of a changing Asia
  Its been a rough six months in East Asia, as tensions ratchet up in Korea, navies drill, and governments, from China to Vietnam, trade barbs, claims and counterclaims to the South China Sea.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:06pm
  


• Sanjaya Baru: Diplomat's business
  It is probably a first of its kind. A press release issued by an Indian embassy abroad in support of an Indian company and a very Indian brand. Last week, the Indian embassy in Nepal was constrained to issue a press release alleging that sections of the media in the neighbouring country were seeking to malign an Indian company and suggesting that such a malicious campaign against an Indian brand could hurt bilateral relations.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:04pm
  


• Administering food security
  The delay in the National Advisory Council (NAC) finalising its proposals for food security legislation seems to stem from the realisation that legislation is easy, execution is difficult. Once a right to food law is in place, the governments at the Centre and in the states will be expected to deliver, failing which there could be serious political backlash. Identifying the beneficiary is one problem, delivering food to the beneficiary is the second and bigger problem. It is now clear that the unique identity card developed by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) would form the basis for choosing the beneficiaries of the right to food law. The main objective of doing so, evidently, is to distinguish between genuine and bogus beneficiaries of both the public distribution system (PDS) and the food security law. The number of fake ration cards in existence today is shockingly large.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:02pm
  


• Revisiting decoupling
  In the aftermath of the trans-Atlantic financial crisis of 2008-09, two schools of thought had emerged in India on the likely impact of the Great Recession on the Indian economy. One school drew attention to Indias as yet limited exposure to global trade and capital flows and, therefore, suggested that India would be relatively insulated. A second school of thought rubbished such optimism and suggested that the Indian economy too would grind to a halt. Upholders of the first school of thought forecast a growth rate of upwards of 7 per cent for 2008-09, while proponents of the opposite view saw Indias growth rate declining to less than 5 per cent, perhaps even 4 per cent in that year. In the event, the Indian economy did slow down but not by as much as feared. More than the slowdown of growth and exports, India saw reduced capital inflows, higher cost of external borrowing, and such like.
  Posted on:5 Sep 2010 at 7:00pm
  


• Sky is the limit
  Heavy rains marred celebrations at the Congress office on Saturday when Sonia Gandhi had to take her certificate of re-election to the presidents post. But, it also gave an opportunity to professor-turned-General-Secretary Janardan Dwivedi to display his oratory skills. He told the audience, pointing to the sky: This shows the Congress has the tradition of coming out victorious from all resistance and unfavourable situations. Minutes before Gandhi took the stage, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived and wanted to see the certificate. While Oscar Fernandes was the key in-charge of the election, Dwivedi took out the certificate from a plastic cover and handed it over to the PM, who read the whole text before returning it back to him.
  Posted on:4 Sep 2010 at 7:11pm
  


• Back to the basics
  When Shashi Tharoor was the minister of state for external affairs, Jacob Joseph shot to fame as the officer on special duty in Tharoors office. He also courted controversy for provocative twitter messages against some Congress leaders who were vocal against Tharoor. But now, as Tharoor leads the life of an ordinary MP, Jacob has also left New Delhis corridors of power. Last heard, he was back to his business and leading a low-profile life in Singapore.
  Posted on:4 Sep 2010 at 7:08pm
  


• Idle minds' workshop
  Most ministers of state continue to spend idle days in office as their seniors are not ready to give them enough work. Even after the prime minister called a meeting of the ministers of state last year to resolve the issue, the problem refuses to die down. Recently, after the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Ray saw the prime minister coming towards him. As the PM extended his hand to congratulate Ray for good performance in answering the questions, the minister quipped: But, I also want to work better in my office. The PM smiled and said: I had taken up the issue. Unfortunately, not much has changed. I will take it up again.
  Posted on:4 Sep 2010 at 7:06pm
  


• Sreelatha Menon: Chinese food for thought
  The Uttar Pradesh government cannot be called insensitive when it comes to farmers. But it could take a lesson from China in the manner it values farmland.
  Posted on:4 Sep 2010 at 7:03pm