Hindsight may be 20/20 but it often tends to distort the past. That appears to be the case with those who are now busy demonising former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav after his conviction in the fodder scam. There have been aggres
Of all the opprobria heaped on Rahul Gandhi for intervening in the ordinance to protect honourable criminal convict-legislators by an honourable prime minister’s honourable cabinet, the one by Devil’s Advocate Karan Thapar sticks in th
In order to ensure that fresh recruits understand the overall functioning and aims of the organisation, the Delhi development authority (DDA) has organised a three-week training programme for its newly recruited lower division clerks [LDCs].
The civil aviation ministry is hopeful of privatising six airports – at Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Guwahati, ahead of Lok Sabha polls in 2014. The ministry has already initiated pre-bid consultations with prospective bi
While political parties get set to hit the campaign trail with all their might to woo the electorate in the run-up to the assembly elections in five states, they might do the polity a favour by looking at their own ranks. Several members of parlia
Are scams babu made? If a ‘competent authority’ is hell-bent on making money, generally, there is very little babus, even honest ones, can do to stop them. But many ‘scams’ are just the outcomes of poor decision-making and
The securities and exchange bureau of India (Sebi) is considering bringing in the ‘independent’ research analysts covering the Indian stock markets under its ambit in an attempt to minimise the risk of individuals/companies manipulatin
The Indian government`s denial of political asylum to Edward Snowden brought into focus the lack of an objective procedure for treatment of asylum seekers. And what is even worse is that no detailed reasoning was offered for this decision.
Looks like the finance ministry’s move to encourage banks to give out cheap consumer loans, in return for greater capital, has done the trick. According to a report in The Economic Times, soon after the government announced its &lsq
Giving an indication of the cold war that had broken out between the Congress-led UPA at the Centre and the BJD government in Odisha in the post-cyclone Phailin period, there was little interaction between the union home secretary and the state mi
As bankers prepare for the review meeting with finance minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday, the finance ministry has suggested a two-way approach to check the mounting pile of bad loans. It has asked public sector banks (PSBs) to provide adequate su
Struggling with post-Phailin rehabilitation in the state, Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik seems to be on a sticky wicket over the coal block allocated to Aditya Birla group company Hindalco in Jharsuguda district of the state. The sit
With a view to ensuring protection of shareholders’ rights, the government has directed Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), which has investments in over 100 companies, to appoint nominees on boards of all those companies in which it has signi
Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is set to have a new chairman. The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has cleared the name of Arun K Gupta, director of offshore services at SCI, as reported by Business Standard. Arun Gupta’s name
After civil aviation minister Ajit Singh, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has also backed the idea of privatising Air India. He said AI is a good case for privatisation, as no developed county runs its flag carri
Here is the statement PMO has issued on the coal block allocation [in bold], and our comments: 1. There has been extensive media coverage recently of the matter relating to the allocation of Talabira-II and III coal blocks
Prime minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday broke his silence and defended his role in the coal block allocations. “The prime minister is satisfied that the final decision taken in this regard was entirely appropriate and is based on
In one-day cricket parlance, it was going all according to the script for the Congress: a big-ticket announcement to get on with the initial overs ahead of a much-discussed election, a bit of procrastination to amble by during the slow middle over
You know your age has passed the halfway house and it is all downhill from now on when: * People tell you to take it easy, slow down, you are not getting any younger, lean back a bit – and you hate them for saying it. Everyone
