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

Business Standard

The decision to force private television channels to share their content with government-owned Doordarshan is both bad economics and bad in principle. First, it will knock the bottom out of the

Not cricket

Bad governance can happen in many ways and India can proudly boast of practically any type one can imagine. The Supreme Court, by asking for the eviction of 465 persons of special status who have

Privileged occupation

In the past week, both Chennai and Bangalore were affected by severe and incessant rain, but the way the two cities coped with the emergency provided a study in contrast. Chennai was up in less than a

Civic bodies that work

An inter-ministerial group, with inputs from industry, commerce and trade, was set up to recommend simplifications in export procedures. Other than faster use of electronic data interchanges (EDI) and

A limited dent

Few tears are being shed for Jagmohan Dalmiya, who has just been ousted as Indias cricket supremo. It was time he went, and typically his manner of going lacked grace. Whether the election of Sharad

What chance for cricket?

The long-delayed privatisation of the Great Eastern Hotel and the takeover of Dunlop, creating hopes for its revival, have strong symbolic significance for West Bengal. Symbolic because the

Green leaves in Bengal

One of the most valued qualities in people is grace. Its absence arouses discomfort, embarrassment, irritation, frustration and more. Given his long career in diplomacy, one would have expected Natwar

Good riddance

The announcement by Finance Minister P Chidambaram that a financial package for revamping the co-operative banks is ready and will be announced after the cabinets clearance will provide little

Rescuing co-ops

Two pieces of impending legislation show a lack of strategy on the part of the finance ministry when it comes to the architecture of financial regulation. The first concerns regulation of commodity

30 pieces of silver

During this week the worlds leading chip manufacturer, Intel, and the leading software company, Microsoft, have between themselves announced plans to invest over $2.3 billion (Rs 10,600 crore) in

IT gets better

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for October indicates a lower growth rate than for October 2004, particularly in the manufacturing sector, but there is hardly any cause for concern. This

Investment kicker

That Indian management gurus continue to influence global corporate strategy has been demonstrated again in the latest bi-annual ranking of the worlds business gurus by the European Foundation for

Indian Druckers

Hindustan Levers announcement last week of its new CEO, Douglas Baillie, interrupts a 45-year tradition of Indian managers heading Indias premier FMCG company, and is the latest addition to a long

Globalisation of talent

The Chinese government has just announced that its official statistical system has been under-estimating the size of the economy, the services sector in particular. In the process of upgrading its

China looms larger

Less than a week before the Clause 49 amendment to the listing agreement comes into effect, mandating the induction of specified percentages of independent directors on to company boards, managements

Clause 49

This is another case of the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. In order to promote commodity trading, the government has cleared amendments to the Forward Contracts Regulation Act (FCRA)

Back to the future

When your best brains walk out of the door this evening, are you sure they will come back tomorrow? If chief executives in some of the best Indian companies increasingly seek an answer to this

The war for people

The external affairs minister, Kunwar Natwar Singh, can be forgiven for feeling like the Wodehousian character, Roderick Spode, who while out for a walk in the garden stepped on the sharp end of a hoe

`FDI in politics`

An analysis of second-quarter results of Indian companies carried out by the <I><B>Business Standard Research Bureau </B></I>provides several indications that the rate of economic growth may be losing

A little less steam

In cricketing terms, Ben Bernankes innings as chairman of the board of governors of the US Federal Reserve System is a little like following a Don Bradman or a Brian Lara after they have scored a

New batsman in

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