Caution on reviving PPP model is warranted

First, create capacity

Business Standard

Zafar Sareshwala, the man committed to education for Muslims - and a staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi - says the issue of Ayodhya is as outdated as Greek and Latin. Sareshwala, a Gujrati Muslim who defended Modi on the Godhra riots issue, says 65 per cent of the voters in Uttar Pradesh were born after 1990 (the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya took place in 1992). Whether they are Hindu or Muslim, the Ayodhya issue is ancient history for them, he says. And if Europe can be without borders after two bloody wars, why can't India and Pakistan not do away with borders, he asks. He believes Modi's recent "impromptu" Pakistan visit was a masterstroke.

Standing by Modi

The Congress should permit criticism of its leaders

The party of Nehru

Dilip Shanghvi

Vijay Shekhar Sharma

Sachin Bansal

Suresh Narayanan

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Business Standard looks at corporate leaders who are likely to make the headlines in the New Year

Corporate leaders of today, tomorrow

Evaluating the NDA's infrastructure ministries

The builders

Government must strive to create more consensus

Hopes for 2016

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers and leaders in Chandigarh are finding joy in the tug of war between leaders of the rival Congress camp. Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal, who had to quit his ministry during the rule of the United Progressive Alliance after a raid by the Central Bureau of Investigation on his nephew, is supposedly being upstaged in Chandigarh by party leader Manish Tewari. While the BJP's Chandigarh MP Kirron Kher defeated Bansal in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Tewari decided not to re-contest from his Ludhiana seat in that poll. Now Tewari has shifted from Ludhiana and made Chandigarh his area of political work, much to Bansal's chagrin and the BJP's delight.

Finding joy in others' woes

On Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley invited Christian leaders, journalists and Christians from different walks of life to a get-together at his house in New Delhi. This was Jaitley's way of reaching out to the Christian community. Jaitley, who had studied in St Xavier's School in Delhi, praised the three young singers who sang Christmas carols. Some lower-rung Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, more accustomed to the prayers and songs sung at the shakhas of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), were asking if the songs being sung at the get-together were indeed religious songs or Western pop songs.

Carols or pop songs?

Expecting that a fairly large number of women would turn up to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi lay the foundation stone of the Delhi-Dasna-Meerut Expressway and the upgrade of the Dasna-Hapur section of National Highway 24 on Thursday, organisers reserved about 1,000 seats for them. However when less than 100 women turned up, the organisers had to request the police to remove the barricades around the reserved space so that other people could sit there.

Damp squib

The editorial, "Govt health insurance will only make pvt hospitals richer" (December 29), is too simplistic and rather misplaced. Kindly let me respond to it succinctly.The direct benefits transfer platform, or JAM - Jan-Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobiles - is the right way forward as it would minimise leakage and target the people actually in need and at the time they need it. All 29 states must take the lead in ensuring that processes are carried out smoothly so that citizens find it easy to avail of such schemes. This is an area where systems across several countries in Asia find it difficult to cope with. Yet Thailand's universal health coverage programme is a good starting point to understand how a scheme should be implemented. The country started its 30-baht scheme - as it was originally called - in 2005-06 and now, it is widely acknowledged as a success.The editorial says that in India even well-implemented schemes such as Andhra Pradesh's long-running medical insurance programme,

Letters: Not apt conclusions

With reference to Kanika Datta's column, "All Our Singapores" (December 31), why consider replicating only Singapore in India? Why not London and Shanghai also? A former Tamil Nadu minister had coined the slogan, "Singara Chennai", a few years ago. The devastating floods in Chennai have torn apart that claim. Even when rainfall is normal, roads get flooded in Chennai as the drainage system is not adequate. Buildings have invaded whatever open space was there in the city. Load-shedding is a daily affair due to the shortage of power. Auto-rickshaw drivers fleece passengers and never ply on the meter.The situation is not much better in other cities. We talk of Smart Cities, but cities don't become more livable by building more skyscrapers and flyovers.  Shanghai, London and Singapore all have fire brigades equipped with helicopters. I do not think any city in India has that facility.Our politicians only change the names of cities. So we will have to be satisfied only by going on virtual t

Letters: Ignoring the basics

Some in top flight, some lose speed

Business Standard lists the corporate leaders who would remember 2015 as a game-changing year, and those who would want to forgetSETTING THE PACEFrom an economist to a banker: Rajiv B LallThe year 2015 was a turning point in the life of IDFC Managing Director & Vice-Chairman Rajiv B Lall, who donned the hat of a banker. IDFC was one of the two players to get commercial bank licences this year. Leading the infrastructure financier's transformation into a bank at a time of intense pain and tepid growth for the financial sector remains a challenge for this economist-turned-banker.Tasked with scripting growth in the decade ahead, Lall has questioned age-old assumptions and received wisdom as a banker. Perhaps that is what makes Lall, who holds a doctorate from Columbia University, describe himself as the chief cultural officer managing IDFC Bank, which has attracted top talent from various banks.Aware of the long time that might be required for an upturn in the economy to be visible, L

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The past 15 years have seen new people bursting on to the international scene, some old icons passing away, and champions of a brand new economy emerging. Business Standard looks at some of the most prominent ones

Newsmakers across the globe

Trai should keep consumer interests in mind

The Free Basics debate

At the inauguration of the Electric Vehicle Expo in New Delhi last week, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways and shipping, told Delhi-based manufacturers of electric vehicles and components to focus on quality. He said his own experience had demonstrated that Delhi-based manufacturers compromised on quality to remain competitive in terms of pricing. "Many years ago I used to deal with furniture - especially chairs and beds -made in Delhi as they were cheap compared to those made in other places," he said. "Then one day a buyer came to me and complained that his bed had fallen apart merely three days after it had been bought."

No compromise on quality

A researcher from the Economic Research Unit of the Ministry of Steel, travelling to Kyrgyzstan to attend a conference, was somewhat taken aback by the query of an Indian immigration official. When she told the official that she worked with the steel ministry, he said incredulously: "Do we have a steel ministry? I thought all our steel comes from China." India is actually the world's third-largest producer of steel.

Where is the steel?

The Bharatiya Janata Party's attempts to promote ancient Indian traditions and the Sanskrit language seem to be rubbing off on foreign investment firms. Analysts at Morgan Stanley Investment Management titled their latest report on the year gone by, "Simhavalokana 2015". Simhavalokana is a Sanskrit term to denote the retrospective gaze of a lion. It is believed that as the lion traverses some distance in the jungle, he looks back to examine the path he chose and how he covered that distance, a footnote in the report explained. However, what the lion saw was not inspiring. The report said that 2015 was unequivocally a bad year for almost all asset classes. To borrow a phrase from American financial manager and writer Bill Gross, investors had been crying in their beers in 2015, it said.

A desi element

With reference to M J Antony's column, "Challenging year ahead for the Supreme Court" (December 30), two judgements delivered by the apex court this year raised eyebrows. One was its decision to re-criminalise homosexuality, the other was to set aside the two-year imprisonment of the accused in the Uphaar Cinema fire case on the ground that they were old - instead, the court decided to imposed a fine of Rs 30 crore on each of them.The Uphaar tragedy occurred in 1997 when the accused, Sushil Ansal and Gopal Ansal, were not old. The verdict on the case gave the impression that the rich have the option to wriggle out of criminal liability.This apart, the Supreme Court's hearing of the case concerning the appointment of judges seemed odd as one of the principles of natural justice is that a man cannot be a judge in his own case.Furthermore, even as the number of pending cases keeps increasing, the Supreme Court does not seem to be making much effort to fill up the large number of vacancies

Letters: High hopes

Apropos the editorial, "Last port of call" (December 30), with Assembly election due in West Bengal next year, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is walking on thin ice, given that she does not have much to show in terms of development and growth since she ousted the Left Front government in the state four years ago.She came in with much fanfare, but on most fronts she has disappointed the people of the state. Goons from the ruling Trinamool Congress caused chaos several times and the CM's comments on the Park Street rape case did not help her reputation either.Against this backdrop and the Singur land controversy still not too old, it would be surprising if Banerjee follows the advice of India's Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian. Subramanian's suggestion of an "exit" for Kolkata Port so that the land controlled by it can be put to more productive use is a pragmatic one, given that traffic at the port has dropped to eight per cent and does not deserve the financial resources spent

Letters: Don't expect a miracle

With reference to Mansi Taneja's report, "Postmen to carry GPS devices from next week" (December 26), communication and connectivity are essential for commerce. This holds both for the movement of goods and services and the inflow and outflow of revenue. The post office traditionally took on most of this burden, but with the changing times, it has to alter its approach to become a market competitor.Like any other commercial institution, the post office has to diversify its functions by straying into the fields of banking and insurance. To maintain proximity with the customer, a post office has to bring its services to her doorstep. These services apply to urban and rural areas. In this context, GPS devices are an attractive proposition as they can help a customer track the postman. The device removes the barrier between post office and customer and takes a step towards financial inclusion.C Gopinath Nair   BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business Standa

Letters: A change in approach

Life insurers lose agents

According to data published by the Life Insurance Council, the 24 life insurance companies put together saw 30,828 agents exiting the industry

Business Standard

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