Indias farm sector may never be the same again. While close to two million farmers are already exposed to the wonders of an online market thanks to ITCs e-choupal project, others in places like

Gold is no longer secure

Business Standard

For anyone who has spent hours on a regular dial-up connection, trying to download files from the Internet, a broadband connection with speeds ranging from 256 kbps to 2 Mbps is the equivalent of

Get connected

Despite the volatility of recent weeks, and the price drops of recent days, the current financial year has been the year of the stock market. 


Late bloomers

For the past year or so, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been dealing with the flood of forex inflows with determined resistance  not against the inflows themselves, but against the impact they

Sterilisation blues

While cricket fans will be happy that Ten Sports has been forced to share its exclusive signals of the Indo-Pak cricket matches with Doordarshan, Indias image as a country that respects international

Not quite cricket

It is tempting to consider the recent constitutional amendment to protect private property as a great leap forward for the Peoples Republic of China. 


No great leap

The recent performance of the stock market has exploded two myths. One of them is the argument that primary issues bring in new investors and help to expand the market. 


Market weakness

The US intends to give Pakistan a Major Non-Nato Ally (MNNA) status. Others with this status are Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, South Korea, Thailand and the

America's ally

Since large parts of Chinas textile exports will continue to remain under quota for the next three years, it is obvious that competition to Indian suppliers will be somewhat muted even after the

Loosely spun

The backlash against outsourcing in the US has come a long way. The industry and its leaders first tried to ignore it, ostrich like. This is a creation of the Indian media, they said: You play up

Strategy to fight the US backlash

The Congress clearly sees unemployment as the BJPs Achilles heel on the economic front. And communalism as the point on which to strike politically. 


Something for everyone

With per capita water availability falling to a third in the last 50 years, and expected to fall by another third in the next 50 (by which period, India will officially be in the absolute scarcity

Before the taps run dry

The sudden rise of the rupee against the dollar, after several weeks of inactivity, has led to speculation about the reasons for the Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) decision to let the currency

A rising rupee

After being bowled for a duck, W G Grace is reported to have said that the people had come to see him bat, not to see the bowler bowl. Cricket boards over the world appear to have adopted this as

Un-level playing field

The salaried Indian employee is indeed reaping rich rewards from the growth of the economy, as a report in this newspaper yesterday showed. 


Jobs and pay

The edict to demutualised commodity exchanges to widen their equity base within a year is bound to evoke an adverse reaction from the affected circles, with some reason, though the move may not be

Wrong priority

Singling out the human resource development minister, Murli Manohar Joshi, as someone intolerant of dissent, even after hes begun singling out IIM directors (like the IIM Indore one he sacked) for

Contract, what contract?

Going by the dramatic cuts in telecom rates over the past few years, and now in port tariffs for coastal shipping (these are to be cut by up to 40 per cent) as well as for airports (landing charges

By land, by sea

Would you like to field on the boundary line with your back turned to the crowd, at Karachi, the home of terrorist activity in Pakistan, wondering if you might stop a brick, or worse  an AK 47

Unnecessary and unwise

It is hard to defend the Reliance request, made to the petroleum minister, that the public sector oil companies should continue to buy Reliances refinery products for two reasons. 


No case

The agriculture production figures for 2003-04, indicating a record foodgrain harvest, may add to the feel-good factor but do not really point to much progress on the farm front. 


Deceptive bounty

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 328 - Editorial Comment