Apropos Ajit Balakrishnan&rsquo;s article &ldquo;Real ways to make sense of India&rdquo; (January 24), just like Vivek Dahejia and Rupa Subramanya, authors of Indianomix: Making Sense of Modern India, many other Mumbaikars are deeply shocked at not only the needless loss of the young lives of Keenan and Reuben, but also the failure of the bystanders to intervene then. But the real culprit is the collective failure to put in place a more effective policing, crime investigation and prosecution system as well as a faster and more efficient judiciary. The powers-that-be have deliberately crippled the country&rsquo;s law-enforcement system to keep themselves, and their own henchmen, safe from the legal consequences of criminal acts, perhaps without even realising the consequences for the ordinary people. We must set this right &mdash; as soon as possible.

Letters: A collective failure

Business Standard

The rupee, among the worst performing currencies (vs dollar) among emerging markets having a current account deficit in 2012-13 has fared better in the current financial year. According to RBI, the rupee&rsquo;s performance was boosted by various reform measures, including liberalised FDI limits for certain sectors, announcement of a fiscal consolidation path and enhanced global investor confidence in the economy.

Rupee: On a stronger footing

Chairman of Bajaj Auto, Rahul Bajaj, Videocon honcho Rajkumar Dhoot and Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel are affiliated to three different political parties. But irrespective of that, the three are close friends. And what is the best way to catch up on old days than in Davos? Almost all the top business leaders from across the world made a beeline to a lunch hosted by Dhoot in Davos, and the star attraction was the trio.

The star trio

During his inaugural speech at the Partnership Summit in Agra, Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma talked about the &ldquo;technological explosion&rdquo; that has empowered youth in India and around the globe. It hadn&rsquo;t happened, he said, &ldquo;during my generation&rdquo;.

Generation gap

Kumar Mangalam Birla recently hosted a tea party at Raj Bhavan, a picturesque British-era building off the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. The occasion was the release of a postage stamp in memory of Birla&rsquo;s late father Aditya Vikram. As the picture shows, it was his two daughters and his son who got the maximum attention from him. But the main attraction for the photographers was his cousin, Yash Birla, who sat in the front row along with the family.

The family stamp

This refers to Aditi Phadnis&rsquo; article &ldquo;A prince&rsquo;s tale&rdquo; (BS Weekend, January 26). It goes to the credit of Rahul Gandhi that he aims at an MBA-like professional and candid approach to politics, breaking from the culture of rampant hypocrisy and false promises. But political success also requires winning friends and influencing people. He needs to change himself before changing his party&rsquo;s self-serving image.

Letters: From tears to toil?

This refers to the editorial &ldquo;A promise made&rdquo; (January 25). The widely held expectation that interest rates will be cut in the January 29 review of the monetary policy calls for a debate on whether or not the actions of the Reserve Bank of India triggers &ldquo;insider trading&rdquo;, since their statements have indeed &ldquo;moved&rdquo; not just one stock, but the stock markets on the whole.

Letters: Moving markets

This refers to Shubhashis Gangopadhyay&rsquo;s article &ldquo;Who prefers cash transfers?&rdquo; (January 26). Often, serious academic studies become redundant, since policy makers have scant respect for field-level situations and research findings.

Letters: Cash transfer loopholes

A price index for agri commodities: A Business Standard and Indicus Analytics initiative(Click on graphics)

Indicus price monitor

The Reserve Bank of India is due to announce its third-quarter review of monetary policy on January 29, and it faces a severe dilemma. As Table 1 shows, the Indian growth story has stalled, with gross domestic product growth below 5.5 per cent for the past three quarters. This is, in particular, a product of stalled industrial production. As Table 2 shows, the index of industrial production has shown anaemic growth lately.

StatsGuru-01-January-13

This refers to your editorial &ldquo;A new road map worth following&rdquo; (January 25). The Verma panel, contrary to other commissions, has done a commendable job beating the deadline and responding to the public mood. Law students who volunteered their services to the panel have a proved point that they mean business, and not merely agitating. The panel was not carried away by the demand for death penalty and chemical castration but has suggested measures objectively.

Letters: Kudos to the Verma panel

Every Monday, Business Standard analyses one family&rsquo;s finances and suggests a suitable way forward (Click on graphic)

Case study

This refers to the editorial &ldquo;Lame-duck speech&rdquo; (January 24). The inaugural speech is not the State of the Union speech. It is an occasion for the person elected to lay out the contours of his agenda in a broad manner &mdash; even if it is less candid. Obama did that &mdash; rightly. Even so, he has been quite clear on what his approach is going to be in his second term. A progressive agenda is on the cards. An expansion of the government is expected.

Letters: Obama's oratory

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is a happy man these days because of the Congress&rsquo; Jaipur &ldquo;Chintan Shivir&rdquo;. Involving 1,200 delegates apart from Cabinet ministers and chief ministers, the event was a logistics nightmare, the main responsibility for which fell to the state government. Despite Gehlot personally taking interest, there were certain unavoidable glitches like arranging accommodation for 250 journalists. But the astute chief minister more than made up for the inconvenience to the media contingent by regularly visiting them. The almost flawless arrangements came in for praise from none other than Congress President Sonia Gandhi. To add to his joy, the most awaited announcement in recent Congress history - the anointment of the Congress scion Rahul Gandhi &ndash; took place at the Congress Working Committee meeting at Jaipur that was then welcomed by the All India Congress Committee. For a committed Congressman, all this counts for high achievement.

Jaipur, city of Gehlot's joy

Your daily ride to work is not going to be that easy. An analysis of the progress of top metro projects across India suggests that apart from the Delhi and Jaipur Metro and Chennai Monorail, the remaining projects are still in the planning stages.

Hurdles on metro path

President Pranab Mukherjee self-confessedly has more time on his hands than in the past when he was the Congress party&rsquo;s senior leader and main troubleshooter. Since moving to Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mukherjee has been catching up on quite a few movies; in fact, he &ldquo;enjoyed&rdquo; watching the Steven Spielberg-directed biopic Lincoln on Abraham Lincoln, the US president during the American Civil War. Interestingly, it was Spielberg&rsquo;s office that had sent a print of the film exclusively to be screened for the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Film fun at Rashtrapati Bhavan

&lsquo;Tis the season of lunch in the sunshine. Politicians with houses in Lutyens&rsquo; Delhi are making good use of sprawling lawns to hold feasts. The trend started with the annual Christmas lunch hosted by Salman and Louise Khurshid which featured, among other things, prawns from Mangalore and kababs from Moradabad. As the days became sunnier, this was followed by lunch hosted by P Chidambaram (pongal, dosas and other Tamil Nadu - as opposed to south Indian - dishes), Jaipal Reddy (a huge spread of Andhra food including pesarattu, dosas, fried bhindi that only the Telugus know how to make, gongura, mutton and chicken curry and a huge variety of pickles, rice with tamarind, curd and sambar and several desserts including khubani ka meetha) and Deepender Hooda (Makar Sankranti food, including dal-chawal and jalebi &ndash; entirely vegetarian).

Political foodies

A vast majority of shows are viewed within the first 7 days and a handful get a sizeable audience in days 8-29, finds a Nielson study (Click on graphic)

Appointment viewing or catch up?

I have a householder&rsquo;s policy. I want to put my house on rent.

Readers' Corner: Bhargav Dasgupta

The government, according to recent newspaper reports, finds itself unable to clear the mounting subsidy dues of the fertiliser industry &mdash; the budgetary allocation for this purpose has already exhausted. This is as much a reflection on the shocking flaws in the Budget-making exercise for this financial year as on India&rsquo;s misguided fertiliser subsidy policy.

Budgeting for failure

India&rsquo;s 64th Republic Day celebrations threw up some interesting points to consider for those who are responsible for the country&rsquo;s security. As always, the parade in New Delhi down Rajpath stressed the Indian state&rsquo;s military might.

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 781 - Business Standard