It is difficult to avoid the impression that the death sentence handed out to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is victors justice, the term that External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee used

Victor`s justice

Business Standard

Any hopes that the government and the brazen shopkeepers had of getting away with blatant violation of the Capitals laws governing the use of land for residential and commercial purposes, have been

Seal of approval

Environment activists have torched experimental transgenic rice fields to lend a fresh stimulus to the debate on genetically modified (GM) plants. While debate on the benefits of GM foods is necessary

No way to protest

These days the United Nations doesnt have much to cheer about. So it must come as something of a relief that its efforts in Nepal have met with what must be termed success. The discussions between

Concerns still remain

The conclusions of the UNDPs latest Human Development Report are unassailable and so governments would do well to implement the suggestions made on investing more in water and sanitation facilities.

Muddied waters

One of the reasons for Indias dramatic economic upswing of the past four years has been the structural improvement in public sector savings. From being a negative saver (i.e. borrowing to spend) of

State of progress

Media stories over the last few days have referred to a report prepared by an expert group of the Planning Commission on the restructuring of Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS). Essentially, these are

The Rs 63,000 crore question

If dealing with the taxman was difficult so far, then after the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) settlement with the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this month, life promises to get even more

Laying down tax rules

It is an old problem that when an issue concerning the direct interests of millions of people becomes a political football, to be kicked around by all and sundry, one of the early casualties is

Data and reservations

The debate on whether economic reforms and accelerated economic growth have led to faster reduction in poverty levels and employment growth continues to generate disagreement. Settling these big

Growth and development

Reports that Reliance Industries has doubled its gas production estimate from the Krishna-Godavari basin to 80 million metric standard cubic metres a day (mmscmd) by mid-2008almost equal to the 84

Surplus in gas?

The arguments put forward by Tata Teleservices for charging future allocations of 2G spectrum have some flawsthe suggestion that the price charged for entry should be half of that for 3G spectrum is

Pricing spectrum

Readers Digest, more than 80 years old, was sold last week for $1.6 billion. In contrast, the one-and-a-half year-old YouTube was recently acquired by Google for the same amount ($1.6 billion). You

Web valuations again

Most people are familiar with the One India policy in telecom which aims at having a uniform tariff level for all calls, irrespective of the distance. The Appellate Tribunal for Electricity has

One India policy

The Securities and Exchange Board of Indias order on disgorgement is a landmark decision, because this is the first time in India that the regulator has sought financial compensation for the

Landmark order, but...

Any visit by a Chinese president is important in and of itself, even if it seems to produce little forward movement on key issues. President Hu Jintaos four-day Indian sojourn has not produced any

Slow dance with China

CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat has refuted reports that Chinese President Hu Jintao told him and other Left leaders that they need to adopt a pragmatic approach towards globalisation, and

The Left turns?

The findings emerging from the latest National Health and Family Survey (NHFS) have good news on the population front, and mixed-to-bad news on the health front. The first element is that Indias

Smaller, but unhealthy families

The governments approach to the issue of sugar exports passes understanding. A ban on exports has been put in place till April 2007 and, despite calls for a review, none has been forthcoming.

Lift the ban

It is difficult to see how much longer the government can continue with the fiction that it does not allow foreign direct investment in the retail sector, and for that matter even real estate, when

Disappearing fig leaf

Indian cricket has hit another crisis. Losing two consecutive one-dayers to South Africaboth by comprehensive marginshas once again raised debates about the recent performances of the team,

Beyond the players

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

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