Huge hoardings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah have been erected across Bihar. These hoardings dominate the skyline in Patna, as well as small towns, and have monopolised spaces in and around railway stations. But hoardings with pictures of BJP's Bihar leaders such as Sushil Kumar Modi, or even those of its allies such as Ram Vilas Paswan, Upendra Kushwaha and Jitan Ram Manjhi are few and far between. It is as if one of the two Gujarati gentlemen would shift to 1, Anne Marg - the official residence of the Bihar chief minister - if the BJP-led alliance were to win the Assembly polls in the state.

A curious proposition

Business Standard

A judge in a high court was at his poetic best on Monday. In the space of an hour, he had quoted Kabir to two lawyers representing two arms of the government and Mahatma Gandhi to a policeman, who did not behave in an appropriate manner in the court. He went on to quote Roman historian Tacitus while giving a fresh date to a litigant before threatening to dismiss his case. "He that fights and runs away, may turn and fight another day," he said. Lawyers, happy to win an adjournment, joined the judge to complete the quote: "... But he that is in battle slain, will never rise to fight again."

Quote unquote

The extended family of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi this evening. But all isn't well within the Bose family, say those in the know. Around 50 members of the family have been invited, but selecting them was a tough task for the organisers because of mutual distrust and bad-mouthing among the family members. The organisers are now hoping that the differences among the cousins won't surface during their meeting with the PM. One side of the family has decided to demand that the PM not only announce that the government would accept the Mukherjee Commission report, which probed the disappearance of Netaji, but also write to Russia to share with India files in its archives that relate to the leader.

Family tree

I fully endorse the view expressed in the editorial, "Blaming trucks" (October 13), that a multi-pronged effort is needed to fix the problem of pollution in the national capital. While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a tax on all diesel-run trucks and light commercial vehicles to restrict their entry into Delhi - and this has got the Supreme Court's nod - the question is will this curb air pollution in Delhi? Who will bear the additional burden of this 'anti-pollution' tax? Transporters? No way. It's only people like you and me, who will have to swallow another bitter pill.Will any state government or, for that matter, the Centre, dream of limiting the number of vehicles on city roads? India is not like Singapore or the United Arab Emirates. Why not look for a suitable alternative to the highly polluting diesel?This apart, the construction of bypasses, which would shorten the time of journey across adjoining states, needs to be expedited. Truckers driving vehicles that ca

Letters: Act wisely and timely

The report, "Clueless Sahitya Akademi as authors return awards" (October 13), names 21 writers who have returned the awards bestowed on them by the Akademi to denounce the recent atrocities committed against Dalits, minorities and rationalists, and to fault the institution for not expressing its protest loudly. Seven of these awards were instituted at least 15 years ago - one was first conferred 40 years ago. Five people holding positions in the Akademi have also resigned for similar reasons.A literary award recognises a writer's work. It helps the writer and the reader.  If writers accept awards and return them later, surely they do not mean these were wrongly given to them earlier. Returning an award does not strengthen a writer's condemnation of any crime occurring at any time. If it makes sense for writers to return awards to protest crimes taking place after they have been honoured, it would make sense for them to have declined the awards when they were announced, for crimes that

Letters: Purposeless protest

More than a levy, highway bypass will help Delhi's air

Blaming trucks

Macro environment may be helping growth revive

Firming up

The members of the Janata Parivar alliance for the Bihar Assembly elections were embarrassed by a former partner on the first day of polls. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said the wave was in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), adding the party was going to form the next government in the state. He went as far as to appreciate the work the BJP was doing in the state and accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of having deceived the members of the disparate Janata Parivar after making a lot of noise about bringing them together under one banner.

Mulayam's googly

On Sunday, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal summoned not just Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators but their families as well to his Civil Lines residence and made an emotional appeal to them. "Please do think about your family before committing any misdeed. It will be a social embarrassment for one's entire family if he/she is caught over corruption charges," he said. The appeal comes at a time when a number of AAP ministers have been caught on the wrong side of the law. It hasn't helped that expelled party leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan are using the opportunity to highlight how they had, from the beginning, spoken out against such members.

An emotional appeal

Much to the consternation of his audience, West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi said on Sunday that he had "a long-time lover". At the launch of Sanchaita, a compilation of six of his books, Tripathi raised a few eyebrows when he said: "I have a confession to make. Since my student life, I have a lover - it is poetry. No matter how much I have ignored her, she has never deserted me." Dedicating the compilation to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he said: "Poetry comes to you naturally... That's why even while being engrossed in a charmless profession like law, I could find time for my beloved." Tripathi, who practised for a long time at the Allahabad High Court, was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly several times and has also served as its Speaker.

For the love of poetry

I fully endorse the views expressed by Shyamal Majumdar in his column, "When meetings become your only work" (October 9). The culture of meetings, if I am not wrong, is largely imbibed from the West. In today's intensely competitive milieu, every market player is trying to outdo the other with the best of products and services so as to increase his/her company's market share. Innovation has become the buzzword. There is, therefore, nothing wrong in holding meetings. It is one forum that provides participants an opportunity to put forth their views and negotiate a settlement and develop a broader understanding of the situation at hand.The worrying aspect is that the frequency of meetings has risen sharply and more often than not they turn out to be sterile, leading to wastage of time and labour and, at times, even yielding a negative effect. The crux of the problem is the absence of a well-defined system of accountability and responsibility in companies. Not all the people attending a m

Letters: Focus on decision making

With reference to the report, "Insurers held liable for misleading advertisements" (October 12), I wonder why regulatory agencies such as Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority and Advertisement Standards Council of India could not take action against Life Insurance Corporation of India for violating norms and taking customers for a ride.Many a time, sellers (agents) do not provide customers the full details of an insurance product. For most unit-linked policies where customers are asked to make lump sum payments, the administration fee charged at 15 to 30 per cent of the initial premium is deducted from the first premium and only the balance is invested by the company in units. Often, agents do not reveal this fact to customers, fearing they would not invest the amount. When customers receive their annual statement, they get a shock seeing that the net asset value is less than the amount invested by them. Such short selling of policies by agents should be checked by the compan

Letters: Ads that mislead

MSMEs in south India top growth figures

CRISIL has analysed the performance of about 8,400 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), rated on the basis of their 2013-14 (April 1-March 31) financials. The study revealed that the average annual turnover of these MSMEs grew from Rs 15.18 crore in 2011-12 to Rs 18.14 crore in 2012-13 (a growth of 19 per cent) and to Rs 20.53 crore in 2013-14 (a growth of 13 per cent). It also showed that MSMEs in the southern states of India, namely, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, have performed better than those in other regions - recording a growth in average annual turnover of 21 per cent in 2013-14, as against 13 per cent overall growth of MSMEs. Remarkably, MSMEs in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Tamil Nadu (TN) posted 21 per cent and 18 per cent growth respectively, being key contributors to the growth in this region.The key sectors contributing to the growth story in the south are pharma & healthcare (45 per cent growth in average annual turnover of MSMEs),

Click on graphic

Germany, as Table 1 shows, has recovered from a dip in its economic growth and is now growing at just below two per cent - very respectable for a developed economy. Do the Indo-German bilateral relations, given a boost from Chancellor Angela Merkel's recent visit to India, reflect that country's economic powerhouse status? As Tables 2 and 3 show, exports and imports have both increased solidly since 10 years ago - albeit with a drop of late, at least in dollar terms.However, as shown by Tables 4 and 5, as a percentage of India's total exports and imports, trade with Germany has in fact fallen over the past decade - indicating that there is considerable room for improvement. Table 6 shows Germany's top non-European trading partners, showing how far India has to go.One issue may be that - as Tables 7 and 8 show - India's major exports to Germany have not changed vastly in composition over the past 10 years. Nor, for that matter, have India's imports from Germany - though German vehicles

StatsGuru: Tracking India's bilateral trade with Germany, Europe's powerhouse

Crime record

The data show that either the number of incidences of violations under such acts is zero or it is negligible

Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward

Case study

Business Standard brings you a snapshot of average current rates and unit sizes in localities that offer property in a price range of Rs 30-50 lakh. If you are looking at buying real estate and your budget falls within this range, an idea about prevailing rates would come in handy

Realty check

When I renewed my family floater health policy, the premium increased, though there was no claim, and the sum assured remained the same. Why didn't I get a higher sum assured, since there was no claim? The premium generally increases on two counts. Either one of the members has entered into a new age band-which commands a higher premium-or the company has enhanced rates across the product. It is not necessary that all policies offer a cumulative bonus (increase in sum insured) in the event of no claim. You can ask the company to provide a higher sum insured. Whether they grant it would depend on their underwriting guidelines and they may charge additional premium for it.I am buying a second-hand two-wheeler for my daughter. Would you advise buying a comprehensive policy or a third-party policy? Though the comprehensive policy is not compulsory, we still recommend it.The policy provides additional benefits for perils like accidental damages and theft, which are equally likely for a seco

General Insurance: Rakesh Jain

Problems of an unreformed sugar sector have not vanished

A misleading recovery

IMF outlook is a warning to complacent policymakers

Domestic imperatives

With beef - whether to eat it or not - at the centre of most debates these days, exporters have listed bovine cuts - boneless and frozen - as among the top 36 items that can ensure a jump for India's outbound shipments. Exports of meat items, including buffalo meat, rose almost 10 per cent to $4.90 billion in 2014-15 from $4.49 billion in 2013-14, according to figures released by the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority. It should be noted that beef exports from India do not include cow meat and comprise only buffalo meat. The list of 36 items was presented by the Federation of Indian Export Organisations at a meeting with Commerce Secretary Rita Teotia. The meeting was held in the context of the continued decline in merchandise exports for the ninth month in a row in August.

Business Standard

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