Justice V S Sirpurkar, chief of the Competition Appellate Tribunal, started his inaugural speech at a recent conference on competition law addressing the people on the dais as "learned" lawyers. Having second thoughts, he added that he should not have said "learned" because "all lawyers are considered 'learned' unless proved otherwise".

Learned curve

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Justice Sirpurkar, it seems, is multilingual too. Having served in Kolkata, he was able to quote Tagore in Bengali and recite Urdu verse with the same ease. Lighting a lamp to inaugurate the conference, Justice Sirpurkar quoted the poet on the significance of the lamp, and how it had "the potential to light others". He added that lawyers should be the lamps that spread awareness about competition law across the country. Then in pure northern tradition, he broke into a sher: "Dhool Chehre pe thi, aur Aaina saaf karta raha," referring to misplaced priorities that arise out of a lack of understanding.

Light and dust

Apropos Priya Nair's article "Job change should not deprive you of PF" (March 18), an employee is allowed to withdraw his/her provident fund (PF) from the previous organisation only if he/she doesn't join any other organisation in India for a period of more than 60 days. So, the term "cooling period" is baseless. If an employee resigns to go abroad for higher studies, or starts his/her business, he/she is allowed to withdraw PF immediately. If an employee wants to withdraw his/her PF and continues to work for another PF-governed organisation, the gap between the two employments should be over 60 days to make him/her eligible for a withdrawal. This time gap shows unemployment and hence, it is prudent that PF access is given to the employee. After all, that is the purpose of it.Adrish Singh  Navi 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

Letters: The purpose of PF

Apropos Barun Roy's column "Getting old, staying young" (Asia File, March 7), the demographic challenge as faced by Singapore holds true for Japan and Germany, too. And this situation is set to get worse in the next decade. It's a double-edged sword. In countries that have a higher population growth rate, this is being averted to an extent. But then, such countries face the challenge of population explosion and, thus, the availability of limited resources to feed a huge number of people. In others, owing to better education and living standards, the population growth rate is slow and thus, population ageing becomes an issue. To resolve this issue, these countries should encourage people to migrate for studies and work. This would help job rationalisation and plug the demand for highly skilled people in different regions. This intercultural mix would also help people learn more, and at the same time, it would keep such demographic imbalances in check.Vinay Singhal  GurgaonLetters can be

Letters: Population imbalance

Apropos T N Ninan's column "The trust factor" (Weekend Ruminations, March 16), the author has touched the root of the problem the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and, consequently, the country are facing. It is not only in the case of Reliance but in other instances, too. Trust is never one-way traffic. Besides suspicion, the Opposition's fear is also affecting the UPA. Despite several allegations of corruption, the prime minister has not taken any strict action. In the present circumstance, Mukesh Ambani and the government could talk things out. Only if the government takes a bold, clear and principled stand, will there be no fear.Jacob Sahayam  ThiruvananthapuramLetters 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: Overcoming fear

This refers to the editorial "The wrong answer" (March 19). The "special status" should be accorded on merit, and not on political considerations. Bihar is the most enviable state in the country with the presence of every possible mineral, fertile land and good irrigation facilities. Had Nitish Kumar's predecessors been efficient, the state would be ranked among the top Indian states today. However, Kumar has proved that the trend can be reversed with good governance. In this light, most states claiming "special status" have all the resources required to grow and progress. What they lack is a visionary leadership that can ensure inclusive growth.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 and telephone number

Letters: Bihar's 'special status'

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

Case study

StatsGuru-18-March-2013

A price index for agri commodities: A Business Standard and Indicus Analytics initiative

Indicus price monitor

How much foreign currency can be carried for trips abroad?It depends on the purpose of the visit. For leisure trips, one is allowed to carry up to $10,000 (Rs 550,000) per financial year. Those travelling for a business purpose can carry $25,000 (Rs 13,75,000) on each visit, irrespective of the number of times or days one travels for. Patients and students are allowed to carry $100,000 (Rs 55,00,000).Are there any further restrictions?These norms might not hold true for all nations. Currency limit is lower for leisure and business trips to Nepal and Bhutan. Travellers are allowed to carry more in cash while visiting Iraq and Libya ($5,000 or Rs 275,000). Those going to Iran and Russia can take the entire amount in cash.

Tipping point

RBI and banks must restore public trust after sting

Remember Caesar's wife

In his Budget speech on February 28, Finance Minister P Chidambaram used the word "she", instead of the more commonly used "he", to refer to potential investors of an equity scheme. When a journalist asked whether the scheme was meant only for women, an irate Chidambaram said, "Whenever we use 'he', no one asks questions. From now on, I intend to use 'she' more often than 'he'." True to his word, the finance minister actually used "she" rather than "he" in his meetings with industry and media.

'She' wins

The canny Lalu Prasad highlighted a link between Budgets, finance ministers and higher ambitions but only when they were linked to the Congress. During a debate on the Union Budget 2013-14, the former railway minister observed that he had personally known five finance ministers, right from Manmohan Singh to P Chidambaram, and all of them had been rewarded differently for doing good for the nation. Singh became prime minister, Pranab Mukherjee became President of India, and there are rumours that current Finance Minister Chidambaram was in the race for the prime ministership in 2014. But the same cannot be said for two other finance ministers whom he (Lalu) has known over the years. Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh was expelled from the party for a short while and Yashwant Sinha is out in the cold these days, though they, too, did good for the nation.

FMs' reward

Does government work require less intellect than other jobs? This, at least, was what Commerce Secretary S R Rao jokingly suggested at an event on India-Pakistan trade last week. Rao was praising an ex-Indian Administrative Service colleague who has now joined a major think tank. Rao said his friend was more intellectual than he was and he had proved it by leaving a government job. "I am sure he is more intellectual than I am, which is probably why I am still in a government job while he left it a long time ago and moved on," he said.

Government & intellect

Govt and courts must respect international conventions

Fighting a betrayal

Yes, Centre's unfair to Bihar - but 'special status' is no solution

The wrong answer

China has become the world's fifth-largest arms exporter, unseating the UK at the high table, according to the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri). Here's a look at the other top exporters. (Click on graphic)

Dragon dealer

In 1969, when the Gadgil formula for sharing Plan assistance among states was devised, three states were labelled special-category, to bring those on a par with the development levels of other states. Gradually, this number grew to 11 - the seven Northeastern states, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, J&K and Himachal Pradesh  These states are given a higher share in the Union government's resource allocation, due to harsh terrain, backwardness and other social problems. All these happen to be border states. Now, Bihar also wants get this status Special-category states get significant excise duty concessions that attracts industries to relocate/locate manufacturing units within their territory. This has been a sore point with neighbouring general-category states. Also, 30 per cent of the Centre's gross budgetary support for Plan expenditure goes to special- category states For special-category states, 90% of Plan assistance is given as grants, and 10% as loans. The 12th Finance Commission recomm

What a special category state means

Following the weekend plan to tax depositors in Cypriot banks as part of the nation's bailout, stocks and commodity markets around the world fell sharply on Monday (Click on graphic)

Cyprus bailout plan rattles markets

This refers to the editorial "Remember Caesar's wife" (March 18) and the question raised about the effectiveness of the governance mechanism of banks in the context of the Cobrapost revelations. One of the ways in which this mechanism can be strengthened is by giving an open access to customers who would want to bring the system's lacunae to the attention of the top management. Unfortunately, my experience with two of the three banks affected by the revelations has been unsatisfactory. Here are their email responses (reproduced verbatim) to my attempts to escalate the system deficiencies:"We have noted your valuable feedback and competent authority will take a decision on the same at appropriate time. Since the nature of feedback is generic, we request you to consider it closed from your side. Please let us know if you have any specific requirement. We will be glad to assist you."And, "We have noted your suggestion, and will ensure that it reaches the concerned team. It will be evaluat

Letters: Banking loopholes

This refers to Shyamal Majumdar's column "Guilty even without proof" (Human Factor, March 15). In the Indian context, irrespective of what human resource experts say, various surveys conducted from time to time and anecdotal evidence suggest that sexual harassment of women at workplace is common, and very few cases are actually complained against. If a provision is made in the proposed Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, 2012 for punishing the unjustified complaint, it may be used by the management to threaten the employee with dire consequences, and may persuade the management to find fault with the complainant, given the fact that the committee to investigate the grievance consists of the company's own employees. On the other hand, the writer rightly observes that there should be a remedy for malicious or false complaints. In order to maintain a delicate balance between the two, a possible alternative is that the proposed Bill provide

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