The governments decision to slash the monthly foodgrain quota under the public distribution system (PDS), and to raise prices for households above the poverty line (or APLs) is a politically bold

Limited subsidy impact

Business Standard

Though Indias leading businessmen have made a direct pitch to Finance Minister P Chidambaram to do away with the fringe benefit tax (FBT) and replace it, if need be, with a nominal increase in the

Foul Business Tax

Economists have been crying wolf about global macro-economic balances for a while now. Concern has been expressed about the combination of: the large US fiscal deficit; the large US current account

Build on high ground

President George Bush will be here in about 45 days. One of the things he will be expected to deliver is the nuclear deal that he signed with the Prime Minister last July, but it is unlikely that the

Hum, Tum, aur Woh log

As Indian companies step up acquisitions overseas, making a success of running international businesses becomes important. The challenge for many is at the time of entry as well as when attempting

Managing overseas

The two-day meeting of donor countries to raise funds for combating the bird flu menace ended in Beijing yesterday with financial commitments amounting to $1.8 billion, thus exceeding the target of $1

Tackling the menace

Indian software companies have turned in almost uniformly good results in the third quarter of the current financial year. As several companies have posted handsome sequential (compared to the

Software rides high

In raising the reverse repo rate (the rate which it pays to banks to park their excess funds with it) by 25 basis points in a second successive announcement, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has

Excessive caution

But it's an extreme weapon, to be used judiciously

Enter compulsory licensing

Rahul Gandhi must alter system his mother and PM worked out

Reforming diarchy

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of India released its third-quarter review of monetary policy, and relieved the markets and many in industry by cutting the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.75 per cent. In addition, the cash reserve ratio, or CRR, applicable to scheduled banks was cut by a similar margin to 4 per cent of their net demand and time liabilities &ndash; a step which will infuse an additional Rs 18,000 crore into the system.

Now, the supply side

The summit commemorating the 20th anniversary of India&rsquo;s &ldquo;partnership&rdquo; with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, was held in New Delhi on December 20 and 21. Unusually for an occasion where so many heads of government arrived, it was kept low-key; this is all the more remarkable because its centrepiece was agreements for free trade in services and for investment. This comes &ndash; as the leaders of the Philippines and Vietnam pointed out in their speeches &ndash; when many countries in Southeast Asia are growing increasingly concerned about the sheer scale of Chinese influence in their region, and it thus has implications that go well beyond the domain of economics. As the culmination of a sustained focus on India&rsquo;s &ldquo;Look East&rdquo; policy steered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it is a triumph for both foreign policy management and for reformist, open economics.

The grand Eastern U-turn

Over the past nine Independence Days, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has spoken often of the list of welfarist measures that his United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has promised to deliver. Some of them have become a reality, and are now being expanded. This year, for instance, he spoke of the National Rural Health Mission, while there are also several other measures that have taken very long to get off the ground &mdash; such as the attempt to improve the skills of India&rsquo;s young people. But the economic growth that underpins such giveaways has always been presented as an achievement, rather than as a promise. That this is a mistaken approach has been made clear by the fact that, with high growth vanishing, the UPA is finding it difficult to break out of the template of welfarism that it set for itself.

Create the consensus

The notification of new rules for the Right to Information (RTI) Act announced two weeks ago has raised the bar for information seekers. The new rules mean that many RTI applications could cost more. Also, in cases where the applicant appeals to the Central Information Commission (CIC) due to a reluctance on the part of the relevant public authority to provide information, the rules imply that the applicant must be present or available on video-conference. This provision is wrong-headed: it could inconvenience applicants, or even put them in physical danger.

Too high a bar

If Indian women have anything to cheer about this past week after the news of a public molestation of a girl by a group of men outside a Guwahati nightclub, it is the joint statement by about two dozen women&rsquo;s groups demanding the resignation of Mamta Sharma as chair of the National Commission for Women (NCW).

Everyone's fault but ours 

The government&rsquo;s proposal to set up a minimum support price (MSP) commission to fix assured prices for minor forest produce has pros as well as cons, which need to be weighed carefully before a final call is taken. The proposal envisages the forest MSP panel as having its own elaborate establishment, allowing it to set minimum prices for non-timber forest produce while taking into account various criteria, including the minimum wages paid under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The commission will also identify cooperatives and other agencies in each state that will procure the items. Certainly, the idea&rsquo;s objective &ndash; to improve the earnings of forest produce gatherers, mostly members of the Scheduled Tribes &ndash; is laudable.

Forest of problems

The environmental performance of the Indian iron and steel industry is poor, according to the latest indices released by the Green Rating Project of the Centre for Science and Environment. On a scale of 10 (the theoretical best), the global best practitioners score eight, while the Indian leaders score only two. The steel industry, if it chooses to ignore this index, will be an outlier.

Steel isn't green

The Competition Commission of India&rsquo;s order on Thursday that the 10 largest cement companies and industry body Cement Manufacturers&rsquo; Association should pay a cumulative fine of Rs 6,307 crore, as a penalty for forming a cartel to control prices, is a welcome step forward for market regulation in India. It is the first order of such magnitude since the passage of the Competition Act, 2002, which was supposed to ensure free and fair competition, and has been viewed as an act of assertion by the Competition Commission of India (CCI). Each of the 11 entities will have to pay a penalty equal to 50 per cent of its declared profit in 2009-10 and 2010-11, within 90 days of the order&rsquo;s passage. The order has several points of note. First, it specifies that written evidence of cartelisation is not necessary.

Concrete movement 

The controversy surrounding Reliance Industries&rsquo; offshore KG-D6 gas block has thrown up multiple legal and policy issues. It is important that they be resolved quickly and with a view to ensuring fairness, efficiency and impartiality, because the solution could set the blueprint for the evolution of the Indian exploration and production industry.

Honour the contract

All those who value an autonomous education system should help the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM) resist the human resource development ministrys brazen attempt to exploit the leakage of a CAT

Hands off

The unthinkable may be happening to Indias traditional spice industry: losing markets to rivals from other countries. 



Losing ground

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 371 - Editorial Comment