While the Sensexs quick pull-back from a sharp drop of over 200 points on Wednesday may be an affirmation of the strength of this market, its important to remember that market breadth remains

A brief shock

Business Standard

There can be little doubt that the stunning cash surplus with states (Rs 31,000 crore, according to a report in this newspaper) is due to a combination of fortuitous circumstances.


Solid state growth

The task force on drug prices has done itself an injustice. Its report contains loads of common sense and indicates the extent to which newer notions have been absorbed by official thinking.


Irrational formulation

Only the most naively optimistic fan of Indian cricket can believe that a little manoeuvring will solve the current crisis. Some hard decisions are needed, especially if the Board wishes for more than

Run out at both ends

Replacing any health care system that covers 4.4 million beneficiaries is not only difficult, it is bound to be full of glitches till the new system falls into place.


Good medicine

The Prime Minister has delivered a broadside against the pink papers. Speaking in Chandigarh on Saturday, he has asked how many mistakes must the Press make before it gets penalisedarguing that

Owning up

Last Saturday, the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency met to decide what needed to be done about Irans civilian nuclear programme.


There is still time

Small cap stocks were the worst- hit during the selling in the markets last weekthe BSE Small Cap index lost 11.19 per cent, while some penny stocks fared even worse.


The penny drops

In the draft Integrated Energy Policy, Planning Commission Member Kirit Parikh has put his finger on the crux of the countrys energy problem, and his recommendations are therefore eminently sensible

In an ideal world

From about 1875 until World War I, a lot of pressure was brought on the viceroy and his council by well-intentioned Christian priests from Britain with Victorian values to introduce reformatory

Wrong way

The first quarter corporate results were widely expected to show a slowdown in growth. The reasons are familiar: the effect of a high base, higher raw material costs, lower other income, the limited

Robust growth

Flying an aircraft out of turbulence requires skill and, probably, years of experience in the cockpit. The opposite, of course, is not as difficult, and all it takes is a few politicians/bureaucrats,

Flying into turbulence

When, almost a week after the downpour, the countrys commercial capital is unable to get back on its feet, when mounds of garbage pile up unattended in the citys streets, when power remains cut off

Private riches, public squalor

Whatever hope consumers across the country had of being able to get lower-priced power at some point may suffer another setback if the ministry of power has its way and changes crucial sections of the

Power politics

Hot on the heels of the scheme to provide guaranteed employment to the rural poor, which UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi wants extended to everyone, the government now wants to come up with a separate

Leaky pensions

The Sensex has risen around 16 per cent in the last couple of months, and the ebullience is not restricted to the frontline stocks alone. Both the BSE Midcap Index and the BSE Small Cap Index have

Discovery of India

The coming weeks will determine who the UPAs greater problem is, the Left parties or the UPA Chairpersons National Advisory Council (NAC). For while the Lefts only demand seems to be restricted to

Left`s not the problem

One of the reasons for the added buoyancy in consumer spending and even corporate profits, it is now clear from the statement made by petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyar, is the fact that, in

Huge and monstrous

That the business community should feel a lot more confident should come as no surprise, given how the economy continues to grow, how industrial production continues to hum and, despite the run of

Eroding political confidence

After months of uncertainty, Reliance Industries shareholders have a map of the future. Not only have the details of the unlocking of RILs holdings in Reliance Energy, Reliance Infocomm and Reliance

Up and running

Indias Left parties have traditionally been able to demonstrate a degree of inner-party democracy that denies the Stalinist record of their cousins elsewhere, while also avoiding the building up of

Contradictions galore

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 305 - Editorial Comment