While Afghanistan is furious at cross-border attacks against its army by people allegedly from Pakistan, Bangladesh is upset with Pakistani support to radical elements in that country

Letters: Pak dug its own pit

Business Standard

The government must look at radical policies and regulations to control wastage as well as ensure judicious use of water

Letters: Radical policies needed

If people can pay for bottled drinking water, then it is time to charge them for state-supplied water, too, say, at the rate of Rs 1 per 100 litres

Letters: Harnessing water

An investigation by one alert official found that the email was a hoax and the Group informed the police

Fraudulent email

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was scheduled to speak back to back at two different venues in Mumbai on a particular day, making it tough for reporters to shadow him

An all-inclusive ethos

Subrata Roy and Vijay Mallya were partners in the Formula One team Sahara Force India, before the latter sold out

The 'better' partner

Mr Trump did himself few favours in the first presidential debate

Advantage, Ms Clinton

Govt must augment storage and reduce wastage in agriculture

Water: Missing the real point

Answering shareholder queries on making technology easier for senior citizens, Reliance Communications Chairman Anil Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday that his role model, his mother, Kokilaben Ambani was active on all the major social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Pinterest. Citing her case, he said there was no age for learning, which was a lifelong process. Anil Ambani also said she kept asking him about what the next big thing would be. Her latest query to her younger son: "What is VR and how do you use it?" "If I don't answer her queries, she will send me a list of links which talk about virtual reality," quipped Anil Ambani.

The tech-savvy matriarch

Some unidentified people pelted stones at the offices of Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana in Navi Mumbai and threw ink on its Thane office on Tuesday to protest a cartoon it had published in its Sunday edition. The cartoon had a kissing couple, who purportedly mocked the Maratha's "silent rally" in response to the Kopardi rape and murder. Shiv Sena activists, in the past, have been involved in a number of such attacks on the offices of newspapers and TV channels, which had allegedly criticised the party. This time, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray swung into action to avoid further damage and told party workers to treat it as a cartoon and not make an issue out of it. So far the party has not declared its stand on the Maratha reservation issue or on amendments to the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. Instead, Thackeray has been demanding a debate on these issues in the state legislature and in Parliament.

A dose of its own medicine

RPG Enterprises Chairman Harsh Goenka is active on Twitter and has more than 236,000 followers. One of them, a woman living in the US, seems to have discovered now that Goenka is a leading businessman in India. Claiming that she followed him because of his "witty tweets", she posted this on the microblogging site: "Just googled him n realised he's a big shot. I wonder where he gets the time to tweet." Goenka replied that he was "unemployed" and "looking for a job".

The 'unemployed' businessman

With reference to the Chinese Whispers item, "Think before you ask" (September 27), the advisory from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Right to Information (RTI) appears justifiably rational and perhaps, is applicable to the  many, who keep asking questions or seeking information without doing their "homework".According to the report, PMO desires that (a) information already available in the public domain need not be sought under RTI, (b) information should be sought from the ministries/departments concerned and (c) PMO should not be expected to collate information from different authorities/agencies and furnish it to the seeker.Prima facie, the guidance does not appear to be aimed at avoiding responsibility or one coming out of stress. It is another matter that the refinements proposed may reduce the comfort level of some RTI "activists", who misguide their "clientele", giving an impression that RTI is a shortcut for solving every problem in which the government or any other body

Letters: Ask the right questions

With reference to the piece, "India Inc needs choice in auditing" (September 26) by Vishesh C Chandiok and Yogesh Sharma, mandatory firm rotation (MFR) in auditing presents a great opportunity to medium-sized audit firms in India to scale up their operations and join the big league in the audit profession.If such MFR is coupled with loosening of existing guidelines for audit firms relating to advertising, solicitation and affiliation to foreign networks, it is likely to provide further boost to small and medium-sized audit firms in India.There is bound to be a significant amount of churning in the auditors of listed and other large companies once MFR comes into effect after April 2017. Whether this increased volatility will enhance auditor independence and increase the size of the audit profession or lead to its shrinkage due to disincentives - in the form of class action suits, higher regulatory oversight and increased compliance costs for companies - is something only time will tell.

Letters: Regulation needed

In the piece, "Legalising the right to photocopy" (September 26), Anuradha Salhotra's reasoning for finding a rationale in the Delhi High Court judgment is not convincing. Her argument that "evolution is based on copying" is ludicrous. That it is a blatant infringement of copyright for monetary gain by a shopkeeper should be ignored?Dev Robinson's build-up of his argument is rational. He concludes that the judgment could result in destruction of the academic press.I hope publishers seek an appeal and that a higher court interprets the statute in a balanced way, punishing the wrongdoers and encouraging healthy intellectual activity.Dr N Subrahmanyam   HyderabadLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Look for balance

The over-worked Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has issued an advisory with the dos and don'ts on RTI (right to information) queries. It has said that applicants should check the information already posted on the PMO site, "so as to obviate filing of RTI applications for the purposes". It has also emphasised that queries regarding specific ministries and departments should be posted to the respective offices. The PMO has also made it clear that questions regarding multiple authorities and agencies could well be rejected. The overall message seems to be that the PMO should not be loaded with questions, unless absolutely necessary.

Think before you ask

Cow protection seems to be the dominant narrative at the mammoth krishi mela being organised in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) by the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare. The official reason for holding the mela in Mathura was to commemorate the birth centenary of Sangh ideologue Pt Deendayal Upadhyaya, which falls this year, in his birthplace. Insiders, however, say much planning has gone into choosing the venue. UP goes to polls in 2017 and the western part of the state holds a lot of crucial seats. It is also here that the Bharatiya Janata Party sees the cow protection issue getting maximum traction among voters. A farmers' mela in an area which has suffered in recent months due to low sugar cane prices and damage to standing wheat crop could also help the party resurrect its image among local farmers.

More than meets the eye

Mohammad Shahabuddin, who was recently released from prison, looks like Mahatma Gandhi - but only in the dark, claimed Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader from Bihar Giriraj Singh. His tweet comparing the don-turned-politician with the Father of the Nation was a tongue-in-cheek response to state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's advice to those who love their drink: Sip juice in a dark room and you will feel like you are having the poison of your choice. Others have responded to Kumar's advice by saying Bihar looked like Venice in the dark after the recent floods. "While Nitishji turns a blind eye, all is well in Bihar. There is no crime, there are no floods, and the hospitals in the state are the best in the world," said a Congress leader.

A blind eye?

With reference to "RBI may pause this time, but rate cut likely in Dec" (September 26), the "outcome" of a poll conducted by Business Standard that involved key bankers, economists, rating agency executives and bond market players amply indicates that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may maintain status quo when the newly constituted Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meets at its bi-monthly monetary policy review on October 4. It gains more significance as there is no marked unanimity amongst them over what could possibly be the final call of the new incumbent at the central bank on this matter.However, it's strongly felt that the views of Upasana Bhardwaj, senior economist with Kotak Mahindra Bank, are most convincing in the economic scenario. At the same time, I beg to differ with Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economist with State Bank of India though he is confident of a 25-50 basis point rate cut in the ensuing meet. Perhaps, he may be sounding "over-optimistic" as no one else is toeing h

Letters: Policy review countdown

Some of the recommendations of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council with regard to administrative control over entities with annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore has brought about a degree of clarity on jurisdiction. But the talk of a "cross empowerment" model based on risk evaluation for entities with turnover of above Rs 1.5 crore to ensure such categories of suppliers of goods and services deal either with the Centre or state, as rightly pointed out, may prove tricky. This would lead to uncertainties both among tax authorities at the Centre and states as well as the assessees in this category. This is certainly not the best way to usher in such radical tax reforms across the country.Such bizarre thought, therefore, deserves to be discarded. By its very nature, dual control under the GST regime is unavoidable. Yet, both the Centre and the states can jointly evolve a workable mechanism to mitigate any possible hardship to the assessees emanating from dual control. Incidentally, A

Letters: GST for organised sector?

Only directly elected and empowered officers can run smart cities

Needed: Smarter mayors

By altering the dynamic of the India-Pakistan antagonism to a question of comparative economic attainments, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has adroitly succeeded in tamping down the febrile war rhetoric from Parivar hawks and elements in the security commentariat after last week's fidayeen attack on a forward base in Uri in Jammu & Kashmir, along the Line of Control. Increasingly boxed into an undesirable course of action following his initial restrained response that the attack would not go unpunished, Mr Modi chose the time and place to deliver his message well. His call for a "war on poverty and unemployment", delivered with customary flourish, followed the exchange of oratorical hostilities between Pakistan's prime minister and the Indian diplomatic contingent to a largely uninterested audience at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and built on the striking description of Pakistan as the "Ivy League of terrorism".By choosing to frame his riposte at a public meeting ahead of the Bhara

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