India should engage with Mr Sharif, but not without caution

The new neighbour

Business Standard

Nitin Gadkari may no longer be the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president but he is still busy. First, he is clearing the tax and legal issues facing the Purti Group of Industries that cost him a second presidential term. Second, he's trying to build bridges, but this time between the estranged brothers Uddhav and Raj Thackeray in a bid to form a "Maha Alliance" to defeat the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in the coming elections. But BJP insiders question Gadkari's efforts. They say Gadkari always likes to take credit for the construction of 55 flyovers in Greater Mumbai and the Mumbai-Pune expressway during the Shiv Sena-BJP rule in 1995-99. But where bridges and flyovers need good quality concrete and skilled manpower, building bridges between two people needs personal skills that Gadkari may lack.

Bridge over troubled brothers

This refers to the Q&A with SBI General Insurance's MD & CEO Bhaskar J Sarma and Deputy CEO Steve Hollow "Our products sold through SBI are simple & scope of mis-selling is limited" (May 10). When I recently opened a savings account with SBI, I was coaxed into buying a personal accident (PA) cover for a nominal amount of Rs 100. I told the official that I was already covered, but she said it was "mandatory" for a person opening a savings account to buy this product offered by SBI General Insurance. Later, the branch manager clarified that "SBI tells its new customers that the PA cover is 'mandatory' so that they buy the cover (otherwise, they would not buy it) and consequently, insure themselves, thereby creating insurance awareness". Also, she candidly mentioned that the bank needed to achieve its targets. Insurance premium from over 100,000 new customers for SBI General Insurance is a lot of money, and this explains the huge volumes reported. It's high time the regulators

Letters: Systemic moral hazard

Apropos the article "The real moral failure in the food security Bill debate" (May 7), the issue is not the government's inability to help the poor, but its failure to find the right way of doing so. Why go ahead and provide subsidised food grain through a leaky public distribution system to an extraordinarily large number of people that includes many non-poor? In T N Ninan's column "The big one" (Weekend Ruminations, March 23),  the author had rightly explained how many among those intended to be given subsidised food included "people who are poor enough to live in slums but not so poor that they need grain at a 90 per cent subsidy". Also, let's be mindful of the costs involved and the Food Corporation of India's limited storage capacity. Why provide welfare through a failed and anachronistic delivery mechanism, and not focus on cash transfers? Only cash transfers will help empower the poor and potentially give them greater freedom of choice.Manish Kumar  PatnaLetters can be mailed, f

Letters: Misplaced welfare

Apropos the report "Change in definition on control in FDI policy to be prospective: Sharma" (May 14), Anand Sharma keeps assuring foreign investors globally but does not keep the promises he makes. I refer to the Australian mining equipment not being subjected to local testing since they are already tested by the highest standards in Australia. A representation in this regard was made, and a letter in person was handed over to his secretary Dadoo at a meeting held in New Delhi in the presence of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard. Dadoo promptly replied to our letter, asking us to contact the mines ministry. It's not clear why the issue was not taken up by the commerce ministry, since Sharma has been talking about a single-window mechanism. The mines ministry then asked us to approach the coal ministry, who, in turn, forwarded us to the labour ministry. However, we got a chance to meet Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth who has assured us that he would take up the matter. A repres

Letters: Undelivered promises

Core sector cheerThe National Council of Applied Economic Research projected the Indian economy would grow 6.2 per cent in 2012-13, owing to "reasonable" growth in agriculture (3.2 per cent).

Green Shoots Tracker

How Indian IT sector must counter US immigration Bill

Lobbying the Hill, softly

This refers to the editorial "Two pink slips" (May 13). In the case of Pawan Kumar Bansal, the implications of the allegation are very serious. Why would anyone pay several crores to secure a job for an infinite term, unless the person is sure that the investment will give handsome returns? It implies that the railways is a corrupt organisation. On the other hand, Ashwani Kumar's statement that he had only made some grammatical corrections was ludicrous, to say the least. Consider this: Ranjit Sinha is an MPhil from Indian Institute of Public Administration. He needs no lessons in English from Kumar on how to write the report. What the minister was doing is to make the report innocuous, and take out the sting from the coal scandal report, as well as mislead the apex court. This is an issue of impropriety and its obverse. Participation in public life demands following of a strict "code" of proper behaviour. The word "code" is used advisedly, since all forms of proper behaviour cannot be

Letters: A strict political 'code'

Apropos the report "Unitech project after 18 months; work starts before launch" (May 2), I want to give an example of how a Unitech project, Unihomes 2, in Noida has been so delayed that buyers have lost hope of getting their "dream homes" on time. The project was started four years ago, but the apartments have still not been delivered. In fact, those who invested in the project's new towers G and H last year are still waiting for construction to begin. On its Facebook page, buyers are seen posting angry comments to get their hard-earned money back.Mohit Madaan, NoidaLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201  Â·  E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Waiting for delivery

Apropos the report "Sharif set for third term as Pakistan PM" (May 13) , the people of Pakistan deserve to be congratulated for coming out in huge numbers to vote for democracy - despite threats from extremist elements - paving the way for a smooth transition from one elected government to another. The Indian government should take this opportunity to render full support to the new government so that democracy thrives in Pakistan and the spectre of military coup is not able to rise its head, again. We have observed that our relation with Bangladesh has improved substantially since the Awami League government came to power about four years ago, mainly on a vote against the fundamentalist forces in the country. Though religious fundamentalism raises its ugly head in Bangladesh now and then, it is by and large contained through the efforts of the elected government. Similarly, one hopes that in the coming years, the force of religious fundamentalism is weakened in Pakistan, too. It is tru

Letters: Pak's democratic victory

Asked what he thought of China, though, Khurshid was enthusiastic. "I would love to stay in China. It's a beautiful life there," he said. Then he quickly qualified the statement: "But not as foreign minister!"

China syndromes

External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid provided a curious answer to questions on why he did not ask his Chinese counterparts to explain the reason its army chose to intrude beyond the Line of Actual Control. "The Chinese are great face readers. They could probably read my face," he said. He added that he did not find it feasible to question the new premier on the issue because he is visiting India soon. Maybe he was talking about face-saving, which is certainly a Chinese obsession, rather than face reading.

Face-off

The resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal, who is perceived to be close to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (both come from Punjab), may have brought out in the open the friction between the Congress and the government. But that was not the only thing that the railway minister's resignation managed to divide. The deep divide in the Railways Employees Union was also in evidence. According to a senior official, while the Left-leaning AIl India Railwaymen's Federation refused to sign a letter in support of Bansal, saying it could not support such a corrupt minister, the Congress-supported Indian National Trade Union Congress and its affiliate workers' union were very much in favour of Bansal continuing in office. The matter was settled in favour of the former, when Bansal finally resigned on Friday.

Divided loyalties

C P Joshi must be greeting his return to the railway ministry within months with mixed feelings. As road transport and highways minister, he was headed for a break from the capital's hot, dusty summer to the cool foreign climes of Austria and Finland to sign technology exchange agreements.On his way to the airport, however, he was asked to turn back and assume additional charge of the railway ministry owing to incumbent Bansal's resignation. Ironically, when he was asked to take additional charge of the railways in September 2012, after the Trinamool Congress pulled out of the governing alliance, Joshi was on his way to the US and was asked to turn back then, too.

Joshi's multiple backtracks

Every Monday, Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a suitable way forward

Case study

Making sense of top executives' salaries in India

StatsGuru-13-May-13

India's groundnut production in 2012-13 is estimated to be around 22 per cent less than last year, at 54.34 million tonnes, it is the second lowest in a decade

Indicus price monitor

When can one claim tax deduction for interest repaid during property construction?A borrower can start claiming deduction starting from the year in which the construction gets completed or possession is received (whichever is earlier). Deduction can be claimed in equal instalments over five years or till the entire deduction is claimed (whichever is earlier). However, the principal portion repaid cannot be claimed.What if the interest is not claimed immediately?From the above example, if one does not claim in the first year, one can do so over the next four years. The borrower will not get extra time for claiming unclaimed deduction. For instance, if construction is completed in 2012-13 and the borrower did not claim in that year and the next (that is, 2013-14), then he/she has time between 2014-15 and 2016-17 to claim the deduction.

Tipping point

Lessons from ministers' delayed resignations

Two pink slips

Huge variations across sectors raise concerns about robustness

Clothes make the IIP

A majority of the Indian youth with smart phones believe it aids in informed shopping experience

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