Business Standard answers a few frequently asked questions on the changes made by the government on CSR provisions in the Companies Bill, 2009, passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday

All about corporate social responsibility

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US recovery pulls sector out of the doldrums

Green shoots for IT

What is needed is autonomy for cities, not just new states

The Telangana fallout

This refers to the report "Retd Justice R A Mehta declines to take charge as Gujarat Lokayukta" (August 8). The post of the Lokayukta in Gujarat has been lying vacant since November 24, 2003. After an initial delay of three years by the state government to make a move to fill the position, the next five years were consumed in a mire of controversy between the state governor and the chief minister, about the procedure and the personalities chosen for appointment. And the government prolonged the delay by another two years via the litigation route.

What is notable is the vehemence with which the chief minister is pursuing the matter to have a person of his choice in such a sensitive job. He approached the Supreme Court three times through appeal, review and curative petitions and failed. Assertiveness in matters of national interest such as tackling terrorism and corrupt elements is welcome, but not against established institutions. Further, recalling that he refused to help his party i

Letters: Lokayukta lessons

This refers to the report "Coal India unions set to strike work; may serve notice today" (August 6). The strike call is unfair since the issue - the government's proposal to offload a five per cent stake in the company - does not concern the employees. Coal India is already facing an output growth slide that might affect its financial health. Labour laws in India call for reforms - they are not oriented towards end-users, but only employees. Why should end-users suffer? Whenever bank unions go on a strike, the public suffers. Non-employees should not be allowed to head unions and employees should be given a chance. Even among employees, everybody should get an opportunity to head the union, and it should not become a monopoly of select employees. Companies should also follow a rotation policy.Deendayal M Lulla  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.i

Letters: An unfair call

The report "Raghuram Rajan to reach Mint Road two weeks before taking charge" (August 8) mistakenly says this is the first time a Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor will be hand-holding his successor for such a long period. As mentioned on page 499 of RBI History - Volume I, B Rama Rao started understudying C D Deshmukh in April 1949, though he assumed charge as the governor at the close of business on June 30, 1949. During these two months, Rama Rao also did the rounds of departments and participated along with Deshmukh in the Bank's social activities. I received a prize (for winning a bridge tournament) from Lady Rama Rao, the wife of the governor-designate, with Deshmukh looking on.R C Mody  New DelhiLetters 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: Second understudy

The worsening law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh has prompted a senior Rashtriya Lok Dal Leader to remark that the state is being ruled by four-and-half chief ministers. The four are Shivpal Yadav, Azam Khan, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ramgopal Yadav. The incumbent Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav constitutes the half.

UPs 4.5 chief ministers

In the Lok Sabha, new ententes are having an effect. Earlier this week, the MP from Assam's Bodo-dominated areas Khunggur Bwiswmuthiary started shouting that India must get Bodoland just as the government was about to introduce a Bill. Possibly recognising the government's predicament, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav, whose party has just divorced the BJP in Bihar and is single and ready to mingle, called Bwiswmuthiary and said: "Arre, just explain to me what the idea behind Bodoland is." Immediately, Bwiswmuthiary put down his placard and walked to sit down next to Yadav to do just that. The government took advantage of the lull to get some work done. Of course, it was a short respite because soon after, the United Andhra people started shouting...

In with a shout

Tempers in the Rajya Sabha are running high. This applies not just to the government and the opposition but also within the government. Earlier this week, while two Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MPs, collectively worth around Rs 10,000 crore, were heard shouting in the well of the House that Andhra Pradesh must not be divided, a Congress MP, Goverdhan Reddy, while observing them, was seen nodding vigorously and saying: "Telugu speakers, leave Hyderabad". At this, new minister J D Seelam got so agitated that he said something to Reddy whose response caused Seelam to lunge at him. But Renuka Chowdhry, who has good reflexes, caught hold of Seelam and prevented him from actually assaulting Reddy. Similarly, when Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar said the House had other things to do besides considering everything that the Samajwadi Party wanted, MP Naresh Aggarwal said something that was expunged and advised Aiyar to hold his peace. This enraged Aiyar so much that he advanced on Agarwal. It is jus

Congress vs Congress

Dear Students,LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Do you think creation of Telangana will have any impact on Andhra Pradesh as an education hub?BEST RESPONSEThe creation of Telangana state would not have any adverse effect on the education scenario of the Andhra region. The Telangana region, which is the hub of educational institutes, also has important private and government institutes that would function well even after the creation of the new state. The divided state of Andhra Pradesh might allow the opening of more colleges to compensate for the loss of college seats in the Telangana region, which has the most number of colleges.Swar Grover, GNDU, AmritsarOTHER RESPONSESThe bifurcation of the state is unlikely to have any impact on the education sector as a whole. But from the perspective of an individual state, being disintegrated, it might sway its reputation of being an educational hub; since comparison is done among states which collectively unite to become the key driver for change. It is so

Students' corner

Sector-wise allocations in 2013The telecommunication services sector attracted the most investments, accounting for 18.58% of total investments in terms of deal value, with an aggregate of $1.26 billion (one deal). The real estate sector was the second, attracting $1.22 billion (17.96%) across 34 deals this year. Utilities, Health Care Equipment & Services and Banks were the other top Industry Groups.

A snapshot of PE activity & deals

Govt must continue to engage with Pakistan

Do not escalate

India Inc looks elsewhere

News of the killing of five Indian soldiers on patrol by Pakistani troops in the Poonch area of Jammu and Kashmir early Tuesday morning, a few weeks ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with Nawaz Sharif next month, has the Indian establishment scrambling for answers. No better indication of this came from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). On Tuesday, as TV channels started playing up the news at around 11.30 a m, the MEA's routine weekly briefing for journalists scheduled for that afternoon was postponed to Wednesday afternoon. But come Wednesday morning, as Parliament adjourned over the incident and the political heat on the United Progressive Alliance ratcheted up, the briefing was postponed again - this time indefinitely, if the cryptic MEA text message was anything to go by..

MEA's LoCk down

But if the MEA's response (or lack of it) was telling, the Pakistani reaction was puzzling. On Wednesday morning bemused beat journalists were recipients of a press release from Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani. It contained no mention of the Poonch incident. Instead, and quite bizarrely, the press release had Jilani welcoming the appointment of his Indian counterpart, Sujatha Singh - an event that took place fully six days ago. Just one line in the release hinted at a reaction, if it can be called that, to the Poonch incident. It read: "Pakistan remains committed to a sustained and meaningful engagement with India that would produce mutually beneficial results."

Pakistan's 'welcome'

The Sahara group and its directors and promoters have hired some of India's top lawyers to fight their case against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). But the legal team doesn't always speak in one voice. Thus, when Ram Jethmalani was about to begin his arguments for the Sahara group in a contempt petition filed by Sebi, Judge K S Radhakrishnan wanted to know which of the two companies he was representing - Sahara India Real Estate Corporation or Sahara Housing Investment Corporation. Jethmalani, who was representing the former, however, assured the judge that it didn't matter who he spoke for because his arguments "will be wide". This got C A Sundaram, the lawyer representing Subrata Roy, nervous. In an earlier hearing Sundaram had had to intervene when the nonagenarian made a statement that Sundaram thought would hamper his client's interest. He quickly stood up and said, "His [Jethmalani's] statements will not be binding on me." Later, the judge jokingly reminded Jet

Telling disclaimer

Jethmalani started his arguments by saying "Out of sheer respect for my friend, I am paying him a compliment for being a great scholar of companies law, tax law and the Constitution," he said referring to Sebi lawyer Arvind Datar. Even as everyone including Datar was looking at him with amusement, came the punchline, "All this work and labour has kept him too busy to understand the law of contempt." As everyone laughed, Justice J S Khehar put things in perspective, "This is what you call a left handed compliment."

Meaning of contempt

This refers to the report "Rajan to be the next RBI governor" (August 7). The appointment of Raghuram Govind Rajan as the next Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor is a silver lining amid the gathering clouds bedevilling the Indian economy. In the current situation, the central bank needs a chief like him who is well-versed in both banking and finance, apart from monetary policy. We hope that he will uphold the great traditions of his predecessors of independent and scientific thinking in the formulation of policies. One only wishes that he is given a full 5-year term.A consequence of the appointment is the question of filling up of the post of a deputy governor (DG) held by an RBI staffer due to retire at the end of February 2014. Since the early 1980s, there has been an unwritten convention that of the four deputy governors, one each should be an economist, a commercial banker, a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and from the ranks of the Bank. When the governor is fr

Letters: A silver lining

This refers to the report "Rajan to be the next RBI governor" (August 7). In his youthful looks, Raghuram Rajan, the RBI governor-designate, is comparable to C D Deshmukh, who was appointed the RBI governor in 1943 (under whom I had worked). Rajan will be the first engineer (holding a BTech degree) ever to be the governor. Besides, he will be the only one so far to move to the RBI governorship straight from the post of chief economic adviser (CEA). Other CEAs, I G Patel, Manmohan Singh and Bimal Jalan had to go through other offices before making it to the RBI.R C Mody  New DelhiLetters 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: Journey to Mint Road

This refers to the report "Rajan to be next RBI governor" (August 7). Raghuram G Rajan has rightly said, there is no "magic wand" for our economic woes. Unlike most of the western trained/World Bank-associated economists, Rajan doesn't blindly endorse the West's economic policies. In 2005, he predicted the financial meltdown of 2008-09. His views on the RBI's role, inflation, foreign direct investment and growth are pragmatic, practical and differ from the United Progressive Alliance's views. The government has a major role in getting the economy back on track, but expects the RBI to do the same. While the finance minister may not find a "yes man" in Rajan, the new RBI governor will find many obstructions and road blocks to implement his "pragmatic" views.N Ramamurthy  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@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address an

Letters: Pragmatist in RBI

LAST WEEK WE ASKED:  Do you think creation of Telangana will have any impact on Andhra Pradesh as an education hub?

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