New challenges for augmenting solar power capacity

Solar target

Business Standard

Banking's new frontier

Among the numerous insurmountable problems facing the Supreme Court, a recurring one is bad English and typographical errors in petitions. On Tuesday, a bench remarked that it had become a regular feature. The registry is not able to understand what the lawyer wants to convey and therefore does not list the case, and the clients suffer for no fault of theirs. The bench headed by Justice Ranjan Gogoi pointed out that it had to hear some 75 petitions every working day and found it difficult to understand the petitions. The president of the Bar association, Dushyant Dave, has issued a call to the Bar to avoid such complaints and do justice to the judges.

Not quite English

Bharatiya Janata Patry's (BJP) Lok Sabha MP from Patna Sahib, Shatrughan Sinha, who had been trying to get close to Bihar Chief Minsiter Nitish Kumar for reasons best known to him, has given his party brass more reasons to worry about. Reacting to "unconfirmed" news channel reports that the BJP would take "action" against him for his transgressions after the coming Bihar Assembly elections, the feisty Sinha tweeted, "... one shouldn't forget Newton's third law, 'Every action has an equal and opposite reaction'."

A lesson in physics

On Wednesday, Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari landed at the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters to counter alleged attempts by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to undermine the Rs 1.25 lakh crore package that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced for the poll-bound state earlier this month. Gadkari addressed a press conference and issued a long press release on how the Bihar CM had indulged in misinformation when he alleged that most of the projects were old and had been repackaged. Gadkari said he was there at the rally in Arrah when the PM announced the package. He said everyone in the crowd and those on the dais barring one person, stood up to applaud the PM's announcement. Gadkari later enquired who the gentleman, who sat quietly on the dais, was and was told he was a minister in Kumar's government. Gadkari was inclined to conclude that Kumar and his associates suffered from "heartburn"; so they couldn't appreciate the PM's largesse.

Health and wealth

With reference to the report, "Onion crisis: Centre may hold talks with states on Thursday" (August 26), one wonders why the government took so long to try and control the skyrocketing prices of onions in the country.The Centre's move to set up a price stabilisation fund with a corpus of Rs 500 crore to enable states to sell onions at prices below market rates has come too late. As some consolation there are reports of a marginal decline in onion prices at the wholesale market in Maharashtra's Lasalgaon, but there is no such respite in its retail prices.The slight fall in prices is being attributed to the state government's crackdown on hoarders and the Centre's move to hike the export price of onions. Do we have surplus onions for export now? And what about the nexus between suppliers, hoarders and brokers, who are taking the fullest advantage of the situation citing short supply? This kind of situation can happen only in India where the fate of the people usually remains 'mortgaged'

Letters: Onion tears

The downward interest rate adjustment by China on August 25 is not only a late move but also following a wrong sequence of adjustment of economic tools.The devaluation of the yuan should have happened at least four years ago when economists such as Paul Krugman were sounding early alerts on the cooling of the Chinese economy.The US dollar looks overvalued and American think tanks have said the Fed Reserve rate hike might be postponed to 2016. Economists are assessing the impact of a strong dollar on growth. Further, the US presidential election will take place next year. Job creation is getting attention. Republican Party hopeful and tycoon Donald Trump does not like Chinese imports and outsourcing to India.Oil prices have touched record lows and oil exporting countries are facing a major crisis. The Iran nuclear deal has provided impetus to plumeting oil prices.The fall in the prices of core industry commodities iron, steel, aluminium and cement does not bode well for economic recover

Letters: Tough times

In 2008, the global economy was in deep trouble due to profligate lending practices at high interest rates by US banks. Subprime lending was the main factor for the global meltdown then.This time, many factors have contributed to the turbulence in the global economy. Greece is grappling with its debt burden and the Chinese stock market is plunging, with a conspicuous sell-off in the Hang Seng index. The People's Bank of China devalued the yuan in the hope of reviving exports. Global markets succumbed as Chinese stocks crumbled.As a prominent trading partner of China India has to bear with the the former's tenuous economic position. August 25 was another Black Monday for stock markets in India. The market has now somewhat rallied back.Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan had warned about the present economic situation. However, he has reiterated that markets will bounce back as the indicators are quiet positive.  He said the central bank could make use of $350 billion to rein i

Letters: Rajan's assurance

Beijing's fall: In retrospect, rumours that Mr Xi was a market reformer appear to have been exaggerated; he has focused on asserting China's leadership on the world stage

Why China's leadership has lost considerable credibility

A Lamborghini Gallardo caught fire in Delhi on Monday. The lone occupant escaped unhurt after seeing smoke billowing from the rear, where the poweful engine is placed. Cause of the fire has not been ascertained. Here is a look at the supercar that ceased production two years ago

Car on fire

Falling prices an opportunity for quick reforms in oil and gas

Fuel for reform

Lately, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah has taken to visiting temples and places of religious importance. On August 19, Shah was in Nashik (Maharashtra) to participate in a traditional 'dhwajarohan' or flag-hoisting ceremony at a Kumbh Mela in the holy town of Trimbak. He also attended the idol installation ceremony at the Gorakhnath temple complex in the vicinity. On August 25, Shah visited the Thillai Nataraja temple at Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu and then the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry. The BJP is confident of winning the coming Assembly elections in Bihar but believes the threat from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his ally Lalu Prasad should not be taken lightly. Shah, it seems, is leaving no stone unturned, including invoking divine assistance, to steer his party towards an electoral victory.

Hand of God

When Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz gave a veiled threat to India that his country was a nuclear-armed one, he probably hadn't bargained for a new addition to India's military might: the 'Lalu bomb'. On Monday, Aziz said, "(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's India acts as if they are a regional superpower; we are a nuclear-armed country and we know how to defend ourselves." A day earlier, the Pakistan government cancelled a planned meeting of the national security advisors of the two countries citing New Delhi's refusal to allow an expanded agenda and a meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders. Reacting to the development, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad said that if he was made India's Prime Minister, he would counter Pakistan's nuclear bomb with India's 'Lalu bomb'!

Military might

After the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India received over a million comments on its consultation paper on the regulation of over-the-top service players, as many as 73,326 people posted their views on the Department of Telecommunications report relating to Net Neutrality on the government's platform for citizen engagement, mygov.in. A quick look at the comments showed that most people wanted a free internet. One of the comments said, "We don't need to be controlled anyway... jeene do humey jaise hain hum (let us live the way we are)", while another explained why the internet was indispensable: "Today, we can think (of) life without onion and potato but not without the net."

No internet, no life

With reference to the article "Talking about income inequality" (August 25), it is surprising the writer has concluded that the income inequality in India is similar to that in Germany and France. The dismal level of income tax compliance in India is an open secret. According to the report released by the finance ministry, the estimated number of taxpayers for the financial year 2011-12 was only 32.4 million - less than three per cent of the population. Of these 32.4 million people, 89 per cent pay taxes in the under Rs 5 lakh slab and only 1.3 per cent are listed as earning more than Rs 20 lakh.Until the year 2000, the All India Income Tax Statistics used to provide category-wise statistics. This practice has been discontinued. According to those figures, there were 930 non-salaried people above the Rs 25-lakh annual income level. Yet, one would expect that industrialists, actors, cricketers, surgeons, lawyers, chartered accountants, architects, tax consultants etc would come under th

Letters: Something amiss

The agitations by the Patidar (Patel) community in Gujarat seem to be on the lines of those by the Marathas in Maharashtra and the Jats and Meenas in Rajasthan.These dominant communities are demanding other backward class (OBC) status in their respective states. From the tone of the statements made by those spearheading the agitation, it appears that the Congress is calling the shots from behind the curtain. Patel community leaders have issued a veiled threat to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party that if their demands are not met, the party would lose power in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state.Nevertheless, the people of Gujarat should remember what happened to the Nav Nirman movement launched in the state in the early 1970s.Vineet Phadtare  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: Storm brewing

Apropos the column, "Why corporate culture matters" (August 25), is the work culture that hostile at Amazon? Big companies such as Amazon which provide fantastic career opportunities to people across the world must be a much better place than the one described in The New York Times (NYT) article. I can't directly comment on the NYT piece or what happens at Amazon. However, I appreciate the gesture of Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos, encouraging employees to read and share their feelings directly with him. He has chosen to rebut the NYT article in a different style.Back home in India, many employees face the worst. Some employers, especially those in the private sector, exploit them by making them work on Sundays and holidays. They have access to little financial benefits, health care or bonuses. Unfortunately, few jobs are available in today's 'growing economy'. Therefore employees have little choice but to accept the conditions without a murmur.Gopal Sutar  BengaluruLetters can be m

Letters: Not much choice

More money, better governance needed in public health care

A healthier India

India's top billionaires lost a sizeable portion of their wealth in Monday's stock market slide

Monday Mayhem: Promoters lose sizeable portion

Market mayhem

What Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said at the inauguration of Bandhan Bank in West Bengal would definitely be music to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's ears. Referring to the new bank's billboards in blue and white - which, incidentally, are Banerjee's favourite colours - that have sprung up across Kolkata, he said, there was "a pleasant change" in the city. When he had visited the city during his younger years, he said, it was painted red, alluding to the colour that symbolised the earlier communist regime. "When it was painted red, new institutions were not being born; existing ones were shifting out," he added, lending credence to the theory that leaders of the two parties, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Trinamool Congress, were looking to bury the hatchet.

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