Sometimes, elections are not about who will win but who will lose. The Bihar assembly election of 2005 has been one such. The whole country was captivated by the thought of Lalu Prasad being voted out

No clear winner

Business Standard

The first quarter (April-June) numbers on GDP growth are flattering and show that the momentum that has been visible for the last several months continues unabated. In fact, there are signs of further

As good as it gets

The hubbub over Indias vote on the Iran nuclear issue should have been expected, given that India has moved from its usual posture. That does not mean that India has done the wrong thing.


Undiplomatic fuss

Last Thursdays strike by the Left parties and the trade unions controlled by them has left most people confused. The official Left version, articulated by the CPI(M), is that it was to protest

Confusing strike

There are reasons for Indians to prefer spaghetti, but the present spaghetti bowl in Indias trade policy seems to have no obvious rationale. This plethora of free trade agreements (FTAs) and

Ad hoc trade policy

Agriculture has become a drag on the economy. While most sectors are looking up, agricultural growth has steadily decelerated, averaging less than the population growth rate for nearly a decade now.


Farming by committee

Even though Professor CK Prahalad pioneered the notion of companies targeting the lowest rungs of the market way back in the mid 1990s, it was after his book <I>The Fortune at the Bottom of the

Prahalad redux

A leopard might change its spots, but not the Congress party. Ever since it has come back to power at the head of the United Progressive Alliance, the government in its single-minded pursuit of

Deja vu

The World Banks report on Indias water economy is not the first treatise to caution the country about its turbulent water future. Several global as well as domestic organisations have studied the

Water crisis ahead

An inter-ministerial committee has been set up to review and unify all export incentive schemes. Other than harmonisation, the committees focus is on revenue losses and misuse, it being estimated

Export incentives

When Nobel prizes were started, they were also meant to ease financial constraints for recipients. It wasnt quite anticipated that recipients would have to attain venerable ages, when financial

Game theory's recognition

Of all natural disasters, earthquakes are the most difficult to manage because they can be neither predicted nor prevented. As such, they do not give any opportunity for shifting people to safer areas

Coping with earthquakes

The first crop of second quarter results of software companies, which includes two of the top three players, TCS and Infosys, is as robust as could have been expected. 


Software on a high

The banking community is divided on the stance likely to be taken by the Reserve Bank of India governor, YV Reddy, when he unveils the mid-term review of the central banks annual policy on October 25

Time for a hike

Canute was the English monarch who used the sea as a demonstration of the limitations of regal power. The story goes that he got tired of incessant praise and glorification of his power and authority

Remember King Canute

Transparency International (TI) has not one regular corruption index, but three. There is a Corruption Perception Index (CPI), a Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) and a Bribe Payers Index (BPI). What

Marginal improvement

Tata Consultancy Services, the largest Indian software company, has announced two major international wins over as many days, thus clearly consolidating its leadership position. 


TCS leads

At a time when state after state has been canvassing with Infosys to be able to host one of its development centres, senior Karnataka politician H D Deve Gowda has through his public utterances

The incredible Mr Gowda

Public sector oil companies, which have to grapple with the huge losses imposed on them by the government policy not to free petroleum prices, now have another manmade problem to deal with. They are

Stop sniping at ONGC

The future of Indias largest urban redevelopment project has been plunged into uncertainty after the Bombay High Courts decision to put on hold the National Textile Corporations sale of surplus

Mill land mess

Onion prices have gone through the roof again. This keeps happening periodically despite the fact that high onion prices have in the past had serious political fallout. 


Onions again

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 355 - Editorial Comment