While even a casual drive around most urban areas in the country reveals the extent of the decay, the results of the National Sample Survey Organisations (NSSOs) latest household survey data are

Urban decay

Business Standard

You can take a horse to the water but can you make it drink? President Jacques Chirac of France has just discovered that you cant. The French people have rejected the European Unions new

A `No` solves nothing

The GDP figures released last week for the October-December quarter of 2004 (6.2 per cent growth) suggest that the Central Statistical Organisation may have to lower its estimate for growth in the

Manufacturing shines

The quarterly corporate results season is on us again and the next few weeks will see a flood of results being announced. 


Scale change needed

The decision of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) to move towards a uniform fee structure sends the wrong signals. 


An IIM cartel?

It is a matter of some relief that the draft tariff policy for the power sector appears to have put an end to an unseemly dispute that surfaced a year ago between the power ministry and the Central

No access

Since the Congress-led, Left-supported government at the Centre has clearly expressed its lack of interest in slashing the food subsidy, all one can hope is that the money is well spent. And, for a

FCI reforms itself

This year is the 25th anniversary of the formation of the BJP, valdh (or son of) the Jana Sangh. It is useful in this context to remind readers of something that happened exactly 100 years ago. 


75 going on 25

Exports are doing well, and should continue to do so. Doubling Indias trade in the next five years (now the official goal) should not be a difficult task, given the improved competitiveness of many

Change this ritual

The 18th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was held last week. It was reasonable to expect a certain amount of soul-searching to take place in respect of crucial issues such as the

The gates of Ijtihaad

Now that corporate houses have discovered global opportunities in the Indian farm sector and have begun to invest in new agri-businesses, the need for reform of the agriculture sector has become all

The urgency grows

The crisis provoked by Indias disappearing tigers has been unravelling for several weeks. It is now clear that the whole paraphernalia of reserve areas, forest staff and a special Project Tiger team

Not just tigers

The International Monetary Funds sober forecast for global growth in the current year, down to 4.3 per cent from last years 5.1 per cent, should not come as a surprise to most as the signs of a

Sobering outlook

Infosys disappointing guidance may have been the push that set off the avalanche of selling in the market on Friday, but there has probably been a fundamental change in global market conditions. 


End of the bull market?

In an interview in 1981, Verghese Kurien said that he was 59 and that the time for him to retire was approaching. 


Time to go

Last week, Delhis Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit lowered VAT rates on 190 items and completely exempted somewhile this will bring down prices in Delhi, as was the objective, it will also ensure that

Leaky VAT

The findings of media research firm TAM, that educational institutions were the single largest advertisers in the print media in 2004 (up from the sixth position in 2003), should come as no surprise,

Educating India

Indian cricket appears to have touched a new low in the just-concluded series against Pakistan. On a superficial view it is easy to blame it all on the players. 


Pitching it wrong

The credibility of the long-range monsoon forecasts issued by the India Meteorological Department may have suffered on account of frequent errors, but the forecast of a normal monsoon this year may

A good year ahead

Half a century ago, when the world was a very different place, 29 of them had met here to consider much the same thing: social and economic well-being for their large and impoverished populations, and

Bandung, 50 years on

Next Thursday, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Y V Reddy unveils his monetary policy for financial year 2006, against a backdrop of great change in markets across the world. 


Manas Chakravarty: Monetary policy in a bear market

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 310 - Editorial Comment