With reference to "Much to meditate on" (August 6), if one refers to the all-time bestseller "Games People Play", Arvind Kejriwal truly comes across as a persistent game player among politicians in India. Eric Berne's book describes the psychological drama that human beings resort to for creating a commonplace social disturbance to gain a "payoff". In Delhi's context the origin of the game between the lieutenant-governor and chief minister is the ambiguity of Delhi's constitutional status. It appears, for all practical purposes, Delhi is a Union Territory with an elected CM who has to work amicably with an appointed LG if he has to show results. Kejriwal is consistently playing the rebellious stifled "child" while the LG plays the bureaucratic "parent" asserting his procedural authority.One wishes our young emerging politicians emulate Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who always made effective use of humour and repartee to make his point without offending anybody. Even his adversaries in party po

Letters: Delhi mind games

Business Standard

With reference to "Centre may take money bill route for next GST laws" (August 5), one tends to agree that the government and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are confident of a smooth legislative journey for the goods and services tax (GST) in the next few months, both in state Assemblies and Parliament. But it would be naïve on their part to "hard sell" the just achieved half victory in the Rajya Sabha by counting the chickens before eggs are hatched.One wonders why Finance Minister Arun Jaitley did not mince words about what lies at the core of his heart after his predecessor P Chidambaram batted for imposing a cap of 18 per cent on GST in Rajya Sabha by stressing strong "possibilities" of higher inflation stepping in soon after its implementation? Even the "reported" remarks of Thomas Issac, Kerala's finance minister, can't be taken by Jaitley as an alibi for making out a case for putting the proposed standard GST rate at around 20 per cent at this early stage. He must not forget

Letters: Ambitious FM

The passage of the GST Bill in the Rajya Sabha could be cause for jubilation for some, but it has different ramifications for different sections of society. The consumer and individual taxpayer is hit the hardest as GST doesn't lower indirect taxes in a big way. While it intends to spur manufacturing, the services sector will pay through its nose under GST. What is the assurance that the Centre won't roll out GST as a money bill, bypassing the Upper House?Hansraj Bhat  MumbaiLetters 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: GST 'carrot'

Sporting prowess and economic prosperity go together

Don't blame it on Rio

Ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat has called for a meeting with frontal organisations of the Sangh to sort out problems they have with the government. Kisan Sangh is angry, for instance, that the minimum support price has not been raised in any meaningful way. The hike in compensation to farmers following natural disasters was also not discussed with it.Similarly, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is unhappy with 100 per cent foreign direct investment in defence, and Vishva Hindu Parishad has too long a list of grievances. Starting August 29, Bhagwat will meet the outfits to ensure participation in the polls.

RSS poll crucible to douse anger of Sangh outfits

The discussion in the meeting of state finance ministers on the empowered committee for the goods and services tax (GST) saw heated debate on the use of the words "may" and "shall". West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra said as much when he said the fine print of GST should be written with no ambiguity. Elaborating on how ambiguous use of words could lead to misinterpretation, he said, "Today the key point is safeguarding states' interest. The language of the constitutional amendment has to be 100 per cent clear. For example, in government files, we often see the use of the word 'may'. In some legal terminology it may mean 'shall'. If it means shall, why not call it 'shall'. I hope, at the end of the day, the language of the constitutional amendment comes out as 'shall'." What people don't know is, things reached such a pass that a dictionary had to be procured to analyse accurately the difference between "may" and "shall".

Semantic debate on the fine print of GST

It is not that easy to see the GST as the sufficient condition to jack up the GDP growth rate by 1.5% -2% per year

Letters: Pitfalls in disguise

The passage of the Constitution amendment Bill in the upper House, where it is outnumbered by the Opposition, is indeed a huge moment for the Narendra Modi government

Letters: How did it happen?

The need for such a commitment was felt more imperative in the background of Jaitley earlier presenting the Aadhar Bill as a money Bill

Letters: Unfair, Sir

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said it was as if some magician was at work, making some members appear and disappear

Splitting hairs over voting

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien pointed out that the government had reached out only to the Congress

One GST, many names

Top on the list of state guests this year is Sachin Tendulkar

Celebrating with celebrities

The government needs to plug the institutional gaps

Raghuram Rajan's last hurrah

After GST Bill passage, many more challenges ahead

Towards a common market

A snapshot of PE activity &amp; deals

Sector-wise allocationsThe software & services attracted the most investments, 28.4 per cent of the total investments in terms of deal value with an aggregate of $2,147 million. The diversified financials sector was the second, attracting $918.4 mn (12.2 per cent) across 29 deals in 2016. Real estate, capital goods and retailing were the other top sectoral groups in 2016.

A snapshot of PE activity & deals

Banks Board Bureau's proposal deserves careful consideration

A novel idea on NPAs

Natural justice

The phenomenal rise of swadeshi fast-moving consumer goods company (FMCG) company Patanjali is a matter of pride for all as it is giving it's rivals a good run for their money!

Letters: Eco-friendly FMCG

Actor Rahul Bose had taken to Twitter a while back to vent his ire after a forgettable Air India flight from New York

Twitter flight

Some workers suspended from Japanese automaker Honda's two-wheeler plant in Rajasthan have found a novel way to draw attention to their lot and press for reinstatement

Different journey

The reason for keeping them open till 1 am, the new deadline, is to help techies beat stress and improve the business climate

Business Standard

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