Ramdev turns psephologist Yoga guru Ramdev believes Bihar will witness a "kante ki takkar (close fight)" in the coming Assembly elections, and that at the moment, neither Prime Minister Narendra Modi nor Chief Minister Nitish Kumar seemed to have an edge. With the confidence of a veteran psephologist, the yoga guru, who also harbours political ambitions, has predicted that "he who manages to get the votes of the Dalits, other backward classes and the poor can win the polls". The Bihar Assembly elections will be held in five phases in October and November this year.

Ramdev turns psephologist

Business Standard

Delhi dengue death shows need for public hospitals

Lessons from a tragedy

Current account comfort

If there is one law on which India's corporate leaders are united in their opposition, it is the Black Money Act. Though most have been cautiously critical, Bajaj Group Chairman Rahul Bajaj has been, true to form, openly scathing about the law, and he did not pull any punches at the The Economist seminar last week either. Asked about the Act, he said though he had no sympathy for those who generated black money, he had doubts about the success of the one-time compliance window. The three-month compliance period was too short and should be extended to December-end, he suggested. His comments clearly struck a chord with other corporate chiefs present, because they all nodded in agreement.

Bajaj, in black and white

IndianPetro.com was in the news earlier this year, with its founder Santanu Saikia among those arrested in a corporate espionage case. The police alleged that documents from the oil ministry were stolen with the help of temporary staff in the ministry and sold to corporate houses for a price, via Saikia's subscription-only website. As the dust settles, Saikia is back in the content business with a new portal called IndianPetroPlus.com. Interestingly, the site comes with a prominent disclaimer: "All content in this website is sourced legitimately."

Back with a 'plus'

With reference to the report, "Rail ministry to appoint consultant for HR audit" (September 13), annual railway budgets stress only cost-cutting measures and lack business drive. The contractual appointment of professionals will induce better ideas and progressive thinking for functioning along more competitive lines. Planning and operations are two complimentary arms of any organisation and the Indian Railways is no exception. Motivation of the workforce by way of providing new avenues for career development is necessary for organisational growth.Funds should be set aside for human resource (HR) development and its usage periodically monitored. This is the purpose of an HR audit. Audit should not be limited to verification of accounts; it should play a broader advisory role in operations. This will provide room for suggestions on improvement of working conditions and removal of systemic errors to ensure efficient functioning.Efficiency should extend to both freight and passenger segme

Letters: Broaden HR audit ambit

With reference to the Weekend feature, "The imprint of Hindutva" (September 12), Gorakhpur-based Gita Press's books are reasonably-priced and are a treasure trove of Hindu mythology. Its annual pocket diaries have information on the almanac. Gita Press has opened a branch on Princess Street in Mumbai.This reminds me of Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha that teaches courses in Hindi language in Chennai. As a school student, I had witnessed the violent anti-Hindi agitation in Chennai (then Madras) in the late 1960s. A mob belonging to a political party came to our school and forced the students to join them in throwing stones at schools that taught Hindi. The Sabha survived this agitation. It is thriving now and has made a name for itself in Chennai and fortunately, the importance of HIndi language has been realised.Gone are those days when there were no Hindi advertisements on Madras Doordarshan. Now the government's social messages are telecast in Hindi on Chennai Doordarshan.We need

Letters: The importance of Hindi

With reference to the report, "Over 100 feared dead in Madhya Pradesh explosion" (September 13), the blast at an illegal explosives dump in Petlawad town of Jhabua district was a disaster waiting to happen. It is incongruous that a deadly stockpile of gelatin rods, urea and other chemicals was stored illegally inside a building at a busy place.Although the owner had the licence to use the explosives for digging wells and mining, he did not have one for storing them. The authorities should have penalised him heavily for negligence.It is unfortunate that many of the victims were daily wage labourers and vendors, who had just started their day on the pavement in front of the building. While one's heart goes out to the dead and the injured, it is amazing how our leaders attach such low value to human lives, which is evident from the pittance announced as ex-gratia by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.N J Ravi Chander  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Busi

Letters: Pittance as compensation

StatsGuru: Examining the key numbers for India's mobile phone operators

Click on graphic

Is the mobile phone operator space on the brink of reorganisation? On the face of it, it is not doing as badly as private players claim. Gross adjusted revenue has trended comfortably upwards, as shown in Table 1. Meanwhile, debt has ceased to grow, and has even begun to reduce, as Table 2 shows. This shows up in Table 3, where debt as a percentage of assets has dipped below 50 per cent for the first time since 2009-10.However, as Table 4 shows, net sales are not showing robust growth. And profit growth, in Table 5, shows a distinct downward trend. Perhaps the composition of revenue, in Table 6, holds a clue. The number of chargeable talk-time minutes per subscriber is not growing, as Table 7 shows. And thus average revenue per user is stagnating, in Table 8. The crowded marketplace, shown in Table 9, does not help, either.

IIP data argue for easier monetary policy

Steady, but slow

Nirmala Sitharaman

Interview with Commerce & industry minister

Hopes that gave us mandate to rule for 5 yrs should give us 5 yrs to implement plans: Nirmala Sitharaman

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

Case study

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Is it better to invest in a balanced fund or in equity and debt funds separately?Balanced funds are suitable for investors looking for benefits of the asset allocation model in a single structure, using a pre-determined ratio between equity and debt, which is generally 70/65-30/35. These funds seek to offer the benefit of both worlds, as equity has the potential to deliver reasonable long-term returns, while debt provides relative stability to the portfolio.Within balanced funds, there are certain products which allocate dynamically between equity and debt, using a valuation yardstick such as price-to-book value. Such funds are suitable for investors with a moderate risk profile, as the portfolio is constructed keeping in mind such a profileInvestors can also follow an asset allocation model by using equity and debt mutual funds, but the risk appetite of the investor needs to be matched basis the category of the fund.  For instance, within equity funds there are aggressive categories l

Mutual Fund: Nimesh Shah

Gold jewellery

The recently approved government scheme provides both liquidity and returns

Unlock the value of your gold

Gold bonds welcome

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has earned itself a mocking new sobriquet courtesy the two-day meat ban its government has imposed in Mumbai for a Jain festival: Bharatiya Jant Party, jant being the Marathi word for worm. The author of this nickname is Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, who has vehemently opposed the ban. By way of explanation he said the BJP behaves like a worm whose movements and presence are quite unpredictable. The party that was earlier termed the Bharatiya Jumla Party (party of empty promises) after the extravagant campaign that led to its stunning performance in the Lok Sabha elections may find itself the butt of many more jokes in the days to come.

BJP: Worm's eye view

Maharashtra's loss is China's gain. The state is reeling under a drought but the only water supplies the state government appears to be concerned about have to do with the Kumbh Mela at Nashik. In a bid to appease the sadhus and sants, the Bharatiya Janata Party government has decided to import holy water from Kailas Manas Sarovar, one of the holiest Hindu sites located in China. No less than Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis' wife will be part of a high-level delegation that will soon fly to China to bring back this holy water, which will then be mingled with the Godavari river in which sadhus and assorted visitors can take their ritual holy dip.

Kumbh vs drought

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's openly expressed disenchantment with industry for voicing its dissatisfaction with the pace of reform was duly echoed at an Assocham event on renewable energy on Friday. The chief guest was Piyush Goyal, minister for power, coal and new & renewable energy, who arrived one and a half hours late. After apologising for the delay, Goyal made sure Assocham apologised for its past criticisms of the government too. Pointing to a senior Assocham member, Goyal said advertisements by the industry chamber "defending the coal scam" were not in good taste. "Don't let the government suspect your intentions. I would request you all to work for the nation's interest and not for your vested interest," he added. His forthright speech was greeted with stunned silence but one senior Assocham member got the message. In his thank-you address he said the chamber would heed the minister's advice and "make sure that none of our motives are perceived to be for personal gains".

Critical message

With reference to the report, "Why RBI's rate cuts have failed to move banks" (September 8), why are banks, especially the public sector ones, not obliging the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) by cutting interest rates?One assumption of the RBI's rate cuts is that retail credit is extremely sensitive to interest rate cuts. But this assumption seems to be incorrect. Retail borrowers base their decisions on the ease of borrowing rather than the interest cost. A difference of 0.5 to one per cent does not affect their decision on borrowing as long as they have easy access to retail credit.Further, the proposed change in the calculation of base rate to marginal cost of funds will not improve transmission of policy rates. Marginal cost has no effect on current and savings deposits (Casa). Banks with higher exposure to Casa deposits ignore the marginal cost on other deposits while those with less exposure to Casa are no doubt vulnerable to marginal cost, but still ignore these because for them aug

Letters: Reluctant banks

While addressing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers in Bhopal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded to Congress President Sonia Gandhi's "hawabaazi'' barb by equating the Congress with "hawalabaaz''. It is quite amusing to hear him talk about financial schemes, direct transfer of LPG subsidy to account holders and having reduced the number of bogus LPG connections, which he claims will save Rs 90,000 crore every year, when all these measures were actually implemented by the United Progressive Alliance government that preceded the present BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government.It becomes a joke when he takes credit for the implementation of Aadhaar card scheme, the Mangalyaan mission and even the Delhi-Faridabad metro line.Modi has said that Parliament was unable to function in recent times due to disruption by the Congress. What did the BJP do when it was in opposition?If he is convinced that the Congress is a "hawalabaaz", why not bring it to book? Perhaps he is forgettin

Letters: Look within

It was amusing to read reports of the Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) requesting schoolchildren as well as the public to wish Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his birthday on September 17 with handmade cards. Even more amusing was that the BJP has assured it would display some of these cards in an exhibition and award prizes to those with the best-designed cards.Shouldn't the need to wish someone on his/her special day arise spontaneously, without any ruse, compulsion or inducement? The BJP probably wants to win some brownie points from its leader through this move, but this will only damage his reputation.State BJP President Tamilisai Soundararajan should give up this move lest she becomes the laughing stock not only among her political opponents but  also her own party cadres.Tharcius S Fernando  ChennaiLetters 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@b

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