|
| Shankar Acharya: India's health |
|
| Last week saw the publication by BS Books of the India Health Report 2010 (henceforth referred to as IHR10), edited (and mostly written) by Ajay Mahal, Bibek Debroy and Laveesh Bhandari. ...Read |
|
| Arvind Singhal: Textiles - The next hot sector |
|
| For a sector on which the industrial foundation of the Tata Group was laid in 1869 (through acquisition and re-establishment as Alexandra Cotton Mill and then commissioning of its first greenfield industrial venture — the Empress Mill in 1874) and one to which the origins of many other leading business groups of India can be traced (Birla, Shriram, Mafatlal, Singhania, Piramal, Wadia, Lalbhai and Ambani among others), it is ironical and unfortunate that India’s textiles (including apparel) sector could not participate so much in the country’s growth story of the last 20 years or so. In fact, the sector has slowly but steadily lost a lot of sheen in these last two decades. Its share in India’s GDP and its contribution to the country’s export basket have been steadily declining. ...Read |
|
| Barun Roy: Go public, go underground |
|
| A friend, visiting from Dhaka, recently told me something about that city’s notorious road traffic that was truly revealing. “When we moved to our new apartment in Dhanmondi from our rented place in Wari in 2003, I would hardly see five or six cars passing our road at any given time,” he said. “Today, the traffic is always so dense that sometimes I’ve to wait up to five minutes even to get my car out of the garage. ...Read |
|
| Indicus Analytics: India's mortal combat |
|
| According to the Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations, India has the target of reducing the infant mortality rate (IMR) to 28 per 1,000 live births by 2015. Where do we stand today? The latest estimates for 2008 put the IMR at 53 and with five years left, it is clear that we have a long way to go to achieve the target. ...Read |
|
| Sanjeev Sanyal: Villages that live in our cities |
|
| As our cities have expanded over the years, they have absorbed the surrounding agricultural lands. In some cases, the old villages too have been swept away. However, in most cases, the old villages survive despite being engulfed by the expanding urban sprawl. Scattered across modern Indian cities, there remain enclaves where the contours of the old villages can be clearly discerned decades after the surrounding farmlands were converted into offices, roads, houses and shops. ...Read |
|
| A K Bhattacharya: What ails Railways under Mamata |
|
| Now that Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee has decided to embark on her maiden foreign tour after becoming a minister in the United Progressive Alliance government, her advisors may like to do some homework on what she can tell her English hosts on how the Indian Railways has performed under her charge in the last 16 months. ...Read |
|
| M J Antony: Stalling loan recovery |
|
| Banks’ non-performing assets are reported to be rising and are anywhere within range of Rs 31,400 crore. ...Read |
|
| Should women enjoy tax rebates? |
|
| India is one of the few countries where taxes have been used as an affirmative action policy for women — in India, women are explicitly advantaged by some aspects of the tax system and reforms. The question, however, that remains unanswered is whether a differential tax treatment has been effective and if this really benefits women. ...Read |
|
| M Govinda Rao: Bill on DTC - Baby Steps in Tax Reform |
|
| The Bill on the direct taxes code (DTC) placed in Parliament is very much on expected lines. The wide-ranging proposals to broaden the base in the first discussion paper have been diluted in the revised paper which is broadly reflected in the Bill. The only major difference is in the treatment of capital gains. The second discussion paper proposed to include short-term capital gains from all assets, including equity shares, in the total income and tax them at applicable rates. ...Read |
|
| Ajai Shukla: The shadow of Xinjiang |
|
| The recent brouhaha over Beijing’s refusal to issue a regular stamped visa for an official visit to China by Lt Gen B S Jaswal, India’s top military commander in J&K, bore the familiar stamp of our public overreaction to Chinese provocation. But there was something remarkable this time. ...Read |
|
| Surinder Sud: Farming without fear |
|
| Consider these startling facts. Nearly 45,000 agricultural workers lose their lives every year working in the fields and 755,000 others suffer various kinds of injuries, many of which can be wholly or partially debilitating. The economic losses from such accidents are estimated at a whopping Rs 54,000 crore a year. ...Read |
|
| Nilanjana S Roy: The debutantes' ball - The Shakti Bhatt prize |
|
| It’s not about competing or not competing with the greats,” says Mridula Koshy, winner of the 2009 Shakti Bhatt Prize, about India’s only book prize for debut writers. “When you’re a new writer, it’s not that you’re necessarily an amateur — the need is for the newness of what you have to say to be recognised. It’s about recognising how literature evolves. So, for writers on the shortlist of this sort of prize, what it does is to allow writers to engage with readers, and — just as important — with other writers.” This year’s Shakti Bhatt Prize shortlist spotlights six writers across a wide range of genres — three first novels, two of them from Pakistan, the biography of one of the subcontinent’s most fiercely political families, a graphic novel set in the Delhi of the Emergency, and a mesmerising food-and-travel odyssey. ...Read |
|
| Sanjaya Baru: Diplomat's business |
|
| It is probably a first of its kind. A press release issued by an Indian embassy abroad in support of an Indian company and a very Indian brand. Last week, the Indian embassy in Nepal was constrained to issue a press release alleging that sections of the media in the neighbouring country were seeking to malign an Indian company and suggesting that such a malicious campaign against an Indian brand could hurt bilateral relations. ...Read |
|
| Evan A Feigenbaum: Challenge of a changing Asia |
|
| It’s been a rough six months in East Asia, as tensions ratchet up in Korea, navies drill, and governments, from China to Vietnam, trade barbs, claims and counterclaims to the South China Sea. ...Read |
|
| A V Rajwade: Reality checks on growth |
|
| Continuing the last week’s argument (“The reality beyond the numbers”, September 1), can the environmental agenda as implemented by our young and energetic minister take precedence over every other objective of the democratic government of a still poor country? Consider the number of major industrial/infrastructural projects/developments blocked on environmental grounds, some for years — Posco Steel (Orissa), Jindal Power (Chhattisgarh), East Coast Energy, Nagarjuna Construction, Polavaram Dam and JSW Aluminium (Andhra), Navi Mumbai Airport, different projects in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts (Maharashtra), genetically modified seeds, various highways under NHAI, the Ganga Expressway (UP) and so on. Depending on your definition, some (or all of them) would have some adverse impact on the environment and displace some residents. ...Read |
|
| Statsguru-06-September-10 |
|
| THE SENSITIVE INDEX (Sensex) and Nifty are at their 30-month highs and look expensive at the price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 22 time for 12 months earnings till June 30, 2010. At current prices, the indices are trading around 17 times FY11 forward earnings. Automobile, banking, technology and fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies drove the benchmark indices to this level at a time when oil and gas, telecom and realty were struggling to return to the black. ...Read |
|
| 'Our aim is to connect rural India and have all Panchayats connected with broadb |
|
| One of the few young members of the UPA government, Sachin Pilot -- Minister of State for the Department of Information Technology (DIT) -- has taken charge of this portfolio at a time when there are great expectations from the information, communications and technology (ICT) industry. In a chat with Leslie D’monte and Kirtika Suneja, the young minister broadly outlines his vision for the industry even as he's learning the ropes. ...Read |
|
| Web Excl: Restoration of tax breaks on natural gas output |
|
| Section 80-IB (9) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 (‘Act’) provides for a tax holiday to an undertaking engaged in commercial production of mineral oil or refining of mineral oil. Tax holiday is available for a period of 7 consecutive tax years, starting from the year in which the undertaking begins commercial production or refining of mineral oil. ...Read |
|
| Web Excl: Analysis of Report Card on implementation of Kelkar Committee |
|
| The Report of the Task Force on the Implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 (‘the Second Committee Report’) was presented in July 2004 and is popularly known as the Kelkar Committee Report. It aimed at reducing fiscal deficits within the country. ...Read |
|
| Radhika Anand & Subir Gokarn: Rupee impact is large, |
|
|
