The government has announced a road map to implement Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer across the country by April 1, 2014. A closer look at the current enrolment status, however, indicates the target might not be realistic. Also, people in only a few states could benefit.

On shaky ground?

Business Standard

The industry ignored measures that would have improved iron ore quality, but then, the mining ban has done considerable harm too
Sushim Banerjee 
Director General, INSDAG*
&ldquo;Iron ore shortage will hit the industry hard, but the steel industry did not pay attention to beneficiation or pelletisation, which could enable it to use fines or convert low-grade ore to high-grade ones&rdquo;
India is shortly going to add around 26 million tonnes of steel through brownfield expansion, and this

Is the government killing the steel industry?

Nearly 200 countries are meeting in Doha for annual talks to stall global warming. Here&rsquo;s a snapshot of what happened in Doha on Day 2, and what the domestic industry thinks about the global talks.

Doha day-2

The import of two items contributes disproportionately to India&rsquo;s record trade gap and current account deficit. One of these, namely energy imports, is unavoidable. The strong demand for the other item &ndash; gold &ndash; is driven by several factors and may perhaps be reduced. India imports up to a quarter of annual global production, and gold imports equal 75 per cent of the current account deficit.

Chains of gold

Gold importers in India, the world's biggest buyer of the metal, continued to be on the sidelines, as prices steadied near their highest levels in about two months(Click on graphic)

Gold prices near 2-month high

Like elsewhere in India, the marriage season in Mumbai is considered the opportune occasion to display wealth. But even by that yardstick, a wedding in the family of a well-known city realtor touched new heights. The builder booked the entire Oberoi hotel in south Mumbai for the wedding and presented Audis, Mercedes and BMWs to wedding guests in a lucky draw. The first prize was Rs 1.5 crore in cash! The builder is well known in Mumbai&rsquo;s richie-rich circles for spending Rs 300 crore in cash to build a temple in Rajasthan.

Wedded to wealth

At a banking conference last week, spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was teaching bankers how to meditate. As a starting point, he asked the audience to close their eyes. Many bankers did not do so, despite being asked several times. It was the programme host who provided the explanation at the end of the session: they are bankers, he said, that&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re a little scared to close their eyes.

Eyes wide shut

At an event in Mumbai, Finance Minister P Chidambaram took time out from his customary caustic remarks for the press, whom he accused of financial illiteracy, to joke with the audience. &ldquo;I know what you expect me to say &mdash; a number of revolutionary things. But first, I&rsquo;m not a revolutionary and, second, functional or not, Parliament is technically in session,&rdquo; he said, setting off a wave of laughter in the audience.

Non-revolutionary

Apropos your editorial &ldquo;UID&rsquo;s unintended effect&rdquo; (November 27) the implementation of Aadhaar may lead to financial profligacy, but it will have its own advantages in terms of cost effectiveness by cutting down the multi-layered subsidy delivery system through the state and district administrations. Direct transfers will also help plug the diversion of subsidies. This is evident, for example, in a project to reform the public distribution system (PDS) using Aadhaar in the Kotkasim district of Rajasthan. Before the project, PDS shops in the district used to sell their entire allotted stock of 84,000 litres of kerosene a month. Now that Aadhaar has been implemented, they sell 22,000 litres a month. This is ample proof that subsidised kerosene was being diverted for other purposes. It is, however, a fact that, with or without Aadhaar, there is no stopping our politicians&rsquo; extravagant use of state finances for doling out sops to keep their vote bank intact.

Letters: Aadhaar's benefits

The untimely death of Indian national Savita Halappanavar in Galway in the Republic of Ireland, who was denied a necessary abortion, should warn the world about the dangerous fundamentalists who govern a backward and problematic country. Medical staff failed to act to save a woman in the prime of her life. This is disgraceful and shows up the Republic of Ireland for what it is: an ultra-Catholic theocracy devoid of freedom and bonded to iron-fisted fundamentalism.

Letters: Fundamental backwardness

What to make of the compromise allegedly worked out between Egypt&rsquo;s President Mohammed Morsi and the judiciary to curb the sweeping powers he gave himself last Thursday? Those powers, among other things, put his rulings outside the purview of judicial review until a new Parliament is elected. The agreement, as purveyed to the press by a presidential spokesperson, suggests that only &ldquo;sovereign decisions&rdquo; would be kept outside judicial oversight.

The Pharaoh complex

A K Bhattacharya highlights how all political parties in India are accountable for the economy&rsquo;s downslide. A responsible government and a responsive opposition are the sine qua non of a vibrant democracy. As the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru laid the foundation of such a culture. In spite of a high majority in Parliament, he treated the Opposition with dignity and paid attention to its demands. The Opposition too behaved constructively. This lofty tradition declined during the subsequent Congress regime and now the situation resembles a dialogue between the dumb and the deaf. Sonia Gandhi considers it below her dignity to talk to BJP leaders, and Manmohan Singh is not known for his negotiation skills. The second factor is the obstinacy of the Congress party in monopolising the credit for electorally attractive measures. Right to Information and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are being trouted as Sonia Gandhi&rsquo;s brainchild.

Letters: Democracy - roots and rout 

The term smog was coined about 100 years ago in England and was the result of heavy deposits of sulphur dioxide in the air from burning coal for electricity production combining with moisture in atmosphere. A hundred years down the line, smog is dotting every city and village, big or small. Ironically, although technology is helping industry to somehow control pollution, we are adding multiple such polluting industries on the roads every day. Sunita Narain has rightly pointed out in her article &ldquo;Fighting Delhi&rsquo;s smog&rdquo; (November 26) that 1,400 vehicles are added per day. If the NCR region is included, the figure would be even higher, since Gurgaon adds 330 vehicles a day.

Letters: Smog alert

This refers to &ldquo;Enlightened politics&rdquo; (New Delhi Diary, November 28). It seems na&iuml;ve to expect the opposition parties, especially in these times of a badly fractured polity, to behave with a &ldquo;sense of responsibility&rdquo; in the national interest. The opposition parties seem to be using all possible ways and means, some legitimate and others not quite so, to put the government on the mat. However, it is not at all clear why the government is reluctant to use some of the instruments at its disposal.

Letters: Sense and responsibility

H R Khan, deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), has this habit of smiling at the audience a lot. This would not matter in the ordinary course but, according to C V R Rajendran, executive director, Bank of Maharashtra, a banker&rsquo;s smile can be misleading. Bankers do not smile, it is their code of conduct, he joked, so when RBI top officials smiled after the monetary policy review, it is taken to indicate a repo rate cut.

Smile index

Not that Modi allowed this understated intra-party rivalry to hinder him. Decreeing that the state&rsquo;s investor meet, Vibrant Gujarat, lacked the aam aadmi touch, he has dispatched a team of officials to study how Chhattisgarh had managed to draw the crowds to its trade exhibition organised around the state&rsquo;s foundation day. The team is likely to visit Chhattisgarh sometime next week to meet local officials who managed the show at Naya Raipur.

Consultancy services

The issue of local Bharatiya Janata Party leaders emerging on the national scene has recently been a contentious one within the party. And no one has stronger views on this issue than Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who has been at the centre of it. Earlier in the month, Modi visited Chhattisgarh and addressed a gathering at the state&rsquo;s foundation day function. By way of an appeal for re-electing the BJP government in the state, which goes to the polls next year, Modi urged people not to allow Chief Minister Raman Singh to leave the state. Chhattisgarh leaders, however, read the statement as restricting Singh from emerging as a leader in national politics. So earlier this week, Singh returned the compliment. When he addressed a public meeting in Gujarat, which goes to the polls next month, Singh urged people to re-elect the BJP in the state and ensure that Modi heads the government again.

Stay orders

The nearly decade-old programme to promote ethanol-blended petrol has failed to make much headway despite continued attempts by the government to get it going. The latest such attempt was last week, when the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) made the very poor decision to force oil marketing companies to mix five per cent ethanol with petrol throughout the country from next month. Past experience should have warned the CCEA off.

Nothing in the tank

Amid tough competition in the market and taking into account the sluggish economy, hiring of talented and employable persons becomes equally important.

Student&#8217s corner

A debate is raging on in the insurance industry that public and private life insurers should be treated on a par in terms of increase in the investment cap in equity, but the numbers tell a different story. The cap at present is at 10 per cent for private insurers, but it has been revised to 30 per cent for Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC). While LIC had already breached the 10 per cent limit in most companies, data show private insurers are yet to reach the 10 per cent limit.

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 810 - Business Standard

On shaky ground?

Is the government killing the steel industry?

Doha day-2

Chains of gold

Gold prices near 2-month high

Wedded to wealth

Eyes wide shut

Non-revolutionary

Letters: Aadhaar's benefits

Letters: Fundamental backwardness

The Pharaoh complex

Letters: Democracy - roots and rout

Letters: Smog alert

Letters: Sense and responsibility

Smile index

Consultancy services

Stay orders

Nothing in the tank

Student’s corner

Top 5 pvt life insurers' holdings in firms