The Chinese stock market's recent precipitous fall, as seen in Table 1 - followed by a few days of an equally sharp rise, caused by profit-booking and the removal from trading of many stocks - has captured world attention

StatsGuru: Tracking the Chinese stock market's sudden rise and fall

Business Standard

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Sangh Parivar have been sworn political enemies. Benefits of this rivalry, it seems, have accrued to the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal. This week's edition of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh mouthpiece, Organiser, has a write-up by Kolkata-based journalist Asim Kumar Mitra. The piece is on how the Left parties, despite losing base in the state, are carrying out a "misinformation" campaign that in the 2016 Assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would see its vote share erode by seven percentage points from the 17 per cent it garnered in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Mitra claims the "BJP has emerged as the only party to counter the wrongdoing of the ruling TMC" and that "of late, Mamata (Banerjee) herself has reduced her virulent attack against the (Narendra) Modi government". In the civic polls in May,  the Left and the BJP not only struggled to challenge the TMC's dominance, but also competed for the No 2 spot.

No challenge

The government might need to start from its own departments if its ambitious Accessible India campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan) has to have an impact. Take Shastri Bhawan, which houses quite a few offices of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, under which the Department of Disability Affairs (Nishaktata Karya Vibhag) operates. None of its toilets is disabled-friendly, causing great inconvenience to officers and staff who need to avail of such amenities. Of course, their colleagues help them out, but that is far from an ideal solution.

Need a solution

It is quite heartening to hear about people responding to the campaign to give up gas subsidy. It would, however, be more appealing had the adherence started from the people who are making this appeal, that is, the elected representatives of the people -members of Parliament panchayat and local bodies and those holding public posts like heads of corporations. Let them shed the subsidy they are enjoying in other areas like the Parliament canteen, free rides for self and family, foreign jaunts under flimsy causes, subsidised housing and heavy security from the people who have made them this worthy.Apart from relinquishing monetary benefits, people are being made to often give up their rights, for example when they are offloaded from flights to make room for VVIPs, when their flights are delayed or they are held up in traffic to give way for VVIPs, when honest officers are hauled up and cronies rewarded.For ordinary people, to have to face these situations is more humiliating than making

Letters: Start from the enforcers

Surinder Sud's column "One standard doesn't fit all" (July 14) is an excellently researched and well-written article that makes the reader realise one of the teething problems plaguing Indian agriculture. Despite having agricultural labs across the country and the government mobilising 'kisan call centres' for farmers to get soil testing done and use adequate amount of fertilisers, the reality is anything but that. Farmers continue to be guided by empirical practices and back-of-the-hand calculations, leading to enormous wastage in the form of damage to soil and also, in terms of money.We need to mobilise ground forces to make farmers realise the benefits of following scientific data. The research needs to be conveyed to them in a simple manner. This will lead to better soil nutrient levels, production of healthier food and more savings for the country. And as mentioned by Sud, differential pricing could go a long way in solving these problems.Gaurav Gupta  PuneLetters can be mailed, f

Letters: Right assessment

With reference to the report, "Financials account for nearly a third of Nifty" (July 14), market capitalisation (MC) of the financial industry (read banking sector) competing with that of the manufacturing/services sector is not good news.Highly leveraged participants in the industry are responsible for the higher interest income of participants in the banking sector. A balanced leveraged participant would optimise the shareholders' wealth.The market has discounted the MC of highly leveraged companies. Yet it takes more time to discount the MC of banks having higher level of assets, because portion of these turns bad after some time.Public sector banks (PSB) in India have been witnessing this phenomenon already. Four years ago PSBs boasted high level of MC and became the darlings of investors. Today the same segment sees falling market prices and suffers from low MC. The only silver lining is that the MC of leading private sector banks like HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank contributed

Letters: Not good news

Advantages and disadvantages to SCO membership

Realism in Central Asia

Greece blinks, and prevents 'Grexit' for now

A last-minute deal

A storm broke out on social media as Europe began negotiating with Greece with a new bailout package. #ThisIsACoup became the No 2 trending hashtag on Twitter worldwide as euro zone leaders deliberated through Sunday night to convince Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to accept the deal or face bankruptcy and expulsion from the EU's common currency area. Among the pictures tweeted with  angry comments on the German-inspired proposals to reform Greece's public administration was one that showed Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, with a swastika and the blue European flag with its circle of gold stars rearranged in the form of the Nazi symbol.

Greece and social media

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is working overtime to appear unfrazzled by the poor showing of the Janata coalition in the just-concluded state Legislative Council polls. At a press conference on the sidelines of the weekly Janata Ke Durbar Mein Mukhyamantri at his official residence, Kumar launched a broadside against the Bharatiya Janata Party (which won 12 seats in the polls), warning its brass against over-the-top celebrations. "What can be expected of a party that puts its senior-most leader LK Advani in an old-age home?" he told his audience, adding that voters themselves were not serious about exercising their franchise.

No reason to celebrate

A Biju Janata Dal (BJD) minister in Odisha found a novel way to keep the party flag flying - literally - when Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari visited the state last week to inaugurate a highway project at Pipili. While hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) flags fluttered at the venue, state agriculture minister Pradeep Maharathy wrapped a green BJD flag round his neck like a scarf as he sat on the dais with other dignitaries. Though protests from BJP members forced him to remove it, the purpose was served.

Flags of honour

Apropos the news item, "Opposition to strategise on Parliament session at Sonia's Iftar on July 13" (July 12), the monsoon session of Parliament is the first time that the opposition Congress will have a golden opportunity against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister last year. All eyes will be on Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, supposedly reformed after a month-long sabbatical. Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Digvijaya Singh have already launched scathing attacks on the BJP on the Lalit Modi row and the Vyapam scam. The Prime Minister is still silent on the question of corruption and seems unable to take stern steps against his party leaders.This is the time for the Congress to regain political ground. But if party president Sonia Gandhi relies on the regional parties to consolidate the attack on the BJP, she may be disappointed. She should know from experience that most regional party leaders are like chameleons. The BJP

Letters: A golden chance

Major General Bhalla, in his letter to the Editor (July 13), has passionately argued the One Rank One Pension (OROP) demand. One must respect the feelings of the armed forces. Public support for OROP would be more if its proponents cite the examples of other countries with large armies on how they handle the problem of armed forces personnel retiring at ages younger than in the civilian services.The OROP backers' case would have been stronger had there been evidence of their support for equity across the ranks while in service and not only equality across times for the same rank. Not all officers retire early: lieutenant generals retire at the age of 58, major generals 56, brigadiers 54, jawans, in their mid-30s. Permanently inflation-indexing pension for armed forces is fiscally irresponsible and an invitation to similar demands from others in the uniformed services. Training and jobs following retirement could be a more sustainable solution.P Datta  KolkataLetters can be mailed, faxe

Letters: Think long-term

This refers to the article, "Deserve before desiring" (July 10). Organised resource planning is essential for institutional growth. The desire to grow should be based on organisational capability and functional efficiency with the ultimate intention to satisfy the consumer. A business grows with small investments and marginal capital. Of course, mismanagement may occur in the early stages, but then "to err is human". Losses should be viewed not as failure, but as opportunities to improve performance. Management and labour should stand together.One should remember that investors are always watching. Ego clashes that hurt the growth of an organisation only lead to flight of capital. A prudent investor will usually not put all his eggs in one basket. Commercial entities have to retain his confidence to stay in the market. They must adhere to the minimum standards of efficiency, to not only retain existing investment but also invite new ones. Ultimately, the combined play of both maturity

Letters: Growth with sanity

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike or BBMP election is due on July28 . Counting will take place on July 31

Municipal elections shake up boom town

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 1.5-2 crore. 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

No point just penalising telcos for dropped callsThe Department of Telecommunications, or DoT, will do a special audit of telecom networks in order to check the quality of service. This, according to Union Telecom & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, is necessary because the problem of call drops has attained "critical proportions". This has happened even though telecom companies were given fresh spectrum in February. The minister has said that he has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, or Trai, to work out a system of penalties for errant companies and incentives for those which provide good quality service. An audit of the quality of service is not a bad idea: everybody knows poor call quality is a major problem, but nobody knows exactly how big this problem is. Trai is required to monitor the quality of service across networks, but it has been unable to quantify the problem so far.However, to only ask the telecom service operators to improve the quality of service and

More spectrum needed

No sign yet of a turnaround in investment cycle

Production sputters

I have 26 months left on my home loan repayment. I want to lower my interest rate for which I am ready to pay a fee. But my bank is saying since the left over tenure is less, they cannot reduce the tenure but can reduce the monthly EMI amount? Why is this?Most banks allow customers to align their rates with prevailing market rates, on payment of a fee. This can be done either through a lowering of tenure, or through a lowering of EMI. Usually, this facility is offered without limitations on tenure remaining, but it appears that your bank has a 'minimum remaining tenure' criterion. Anyway, if you are OK with the fee, you should still go ahead and take the lower EMI option, thus reducing your total payout over the 26-month period remaining for you.I applied for a credit card from a bank, where I do not have an account, as I liked the features of the card. But it got rejected? Why? Don't banks give credit cards to non-customers? Banks tend to prefer offering credit cards to customers who

Banking: Jairam Sridharan

IoT is the most adopted among innovation accelerators in India followed by security, robotics, 3D printing and cognitive systems

Business Standard

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