As the number of bad loans are increasing, banks need to seek some measures for respite. By rating B-school students, banks can accordingly fix terms and conditions for them as well as track down the particular student&rsquo;s performance. Thereby they can analyse students&rsquo; future ability to repay loans.

Students' corner

Business Standard

It is called &ldquo;shoulder-surfing&rdquo;, and it is getting increasingly common. Applicants at job interviews are being asked, at some point in the proceedings, to either hand over their passwords to social networking sites like Facebook so that the interviewers can have a quick look, or log in there and then so the interview panel can, quite literally, look over their shoulders.

Your password, please

The tropical shrub jatropha curcas, touted a decade ago as a commercially feasible source of biofuel to alleviate the global energy crisis, seems to have let its proponents down quite comprehensively. Millions of hectares of land in the arid areas of India and in many other Asian and African countries were turned into jatropha plantations in the expectation that the oil derived from its seeds would provide an alternative to diesel. However, this dream seems to have turned sour; evidence is growing that although the seeds are rich in bio-oil, the plant is neither as hardy and drought-tolerant as earlier presumed nor productive enough to be commercially viable without adequate water, fertiliser and careful management. India, apparently taken in by the global euphoria over the plant, had developed plans to turn about 13 million hectares of wasteland into jatropha plantations. Several financial incentives, including the free supply of jatropha seedlings, were offered.

Don't rush into biofuel 

There&rsquo;s a settled notion that the government cannot work overtime to achieve targets, but this week the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) hopes to counter that. Assailed, like the rest of government, by accusations of policy paralysis, it has decided to work six days this week to achieve its target to award over 7,000 km of road projects. So this Saturday, NHAI&rsquo;s head office in New Delhi&rsquo;s Dwarka locality will be full house, which is also the last day of the current fiscal, to meet the target. Whether NHAI meets is target is an open question but it is worth wondering if such belated speed is worth the inevitable controversies that will follow.

Last mile effort 

In the theatre that is Indian politics, Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy finds himself in the middle of a family drama that would put Tamil Nadu&rsquo;s DMK in the shade. For the past nine months, Chandy has been caught between K B Ganeshkumar, movie actor, forest minister and lone MLA from the Kerala Congress (B), an ally in the state&rsquo;s ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) coalition government, and his father R Balakrishna Pillai, leader of that party. The cold war between father and son has frozen into an impasse. Pillai has categorically stated that he does not want a minister like Ganeshkumar, who, he says, ignores all party directions. But he cannot change him because the party does not have another MLA. Meanwhile, Chandy cannot jettison this troublesome ally because the UDF has a thin majority of two in the Assembly. Also, Pillai is one of the founder-leaders of the UDF and is influential in the state&rsquo;s powerful Nair community.

Kerala's family plot

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee may have developed an aversion to the English-speaking media but should the head of a central corporation based in Kolkata follow suit? This appears to have been the case at a joint press conference addressed by the top management of Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) and Urban Development officials last week in the capital. Urban Development Secretary Sudhir Krishna left for another meeting before the media had finished asking questions. As soon as KMRC Managing Director Subrata Gupta, who had flown down from Kolkata for the event, had the floor to himself, he switched exclusively to Bengali. This bizarrely open parochialism continued for a good 20 minutes, leaving the many reporters who did not follow the language wondering what information they&rsquo;d missed.

Language barrier

This refers to the edit &ldquo;No ceasefire in sight&rdquo; (March 29). I am amused at our political class&rsquo; reaction to the army chief&rsquo;s leaked letter on &ldquo;top defence secrets&rdquo;. It appears that MPs are worried about people getting to know the truth about the state of our armed forces more than anything else. Perhaps it is because they fear that now that the knowledge of the gaps in our military preparedness is in the public domain, the common man will begin asking questions as to where the thousands of crores collected from taxpayers goes. Also, why should politicians ask for the removal of the army chief simply for stating facts? These turn of events remind me of joke in which a man supposedly ran through the Kremlin shouting &ldquo;Stalin is a fool, Stalin is a fool&rdquo;.

Letters: General's knowledge

The defence minister has promptly assured that the government is committed to ensuring the safety and security of the nation. In any war, weapons, strategy and confidence play a major role. So despite the assurance, some doubts may linger in the minds of the people. Hence this assurance must be followed by concrete action. Also, the government must investigate how the army chief&rsquo;s top-secret letter was leaked. Whether in the case of the 2G or coal scam, leaks have become a routine. This does not set a good precedent and a solution should be found to check this trend.

Letters: Check the leaks

First, it was the Adarsh housing scam, then the army chief&rsquo;s age row and now this bribe and leaked letter fiascos &mdash; things are going from bad to worse. All this may lend a bad name to the Indian army and people may lose their faith in the forces that had hitherto commanded much respect. What&rsquo;s difficult to understand is the defence minister and army chief&rsquo;s inaction on such a serious issue as a bribe offer to clear the sale of substandard trucks. As far as the letter on our lack of military preparedness is concerned, if there&rsquo;s any truth to the general&rsquo;s assertions, then immediate steps should be taken to plug the loopholes. National security is of paramount importance and we can&rsquo;t be lax about it.

Letters: ...and scene of inaction

This refers to T S Vishwanath&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Trade on the list&rdquo; (Trade matters, March 29). Both India and Pakistan have many unresolved issues, including the terror menace. At the same time, they cannot be silent spectators to these issues. In this context, any sincere effort to start a composite dialogue process between the two countries is the best way out. In the process, open and transparent lines of communication between India and Pakistan will not only break the ice between the two nations, but also open the doors to restoring confidence and trust in bilateral ties.

Letters: Towards stronger ties

Gold proved to be the best asset class for FY 12, with staggering 36% returns (Click for Graphic)
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All that glitters

Tension between India&rsquo;s civilian and military leadership has steadily increased over the past few months and now appears to be at the highest it has been in decades. In his latest fusillade, the chief of army staff, General V K Singh, has said that he was offered a Rs 14 crore bribe by a retired army officer in order to clear the purchase of a set of armoured vehicles. He reported the incident to Defence Minister A K Antony; Mr Antony, speaking in Parliament, said that he was indeed told of the incident &ldquo;more than a year ago&rdquo;, but that the General did not wish to proceed further by himself, nor did he submit a written complaint for the ministry to act on. This drills a hole in the implication that General Singh had conveyed in his many communications to the media on the subject &mdash; that the civilian leadership was unconcerned about rampant corruption in defence procurement.

No ceasefire in sight 

I am 45, and plan to retire by 55. I already have two pension plans.

Life Insurance: Deepak Sood

The euro zone debt crisis, particularly in Italy, just unbalanced the Indian Budget by another Rs 5.6 crore. India, which had budgeted to borrow this modest amount from Italy in the current financial year (2011-12), seems to have spared the heavily indebted European nation the trouble. The Budget documents do not provide a figure under the heads Revised estimates 2011-12 and Budget (2012-13).

Budget's 'Euro-relief'

The job of being chief economic advisor can be a thankless one, as Kaushik Basu discovered recently from an experience at home. When his wife asked their cook if she knew who Kaushik Basu was, the domestic help replied in affirmative with an added comment. &ldquo;He is the one who raises prices,&rdquo; she said, explaining that this is what the neighbours&rsquo; domestic help told her about him.

The price of being CEA

The finance ministry has become the victim of internet fraud again. The name and logo of the ministry is being used through fictitious mails to inform individuals that they have received an amount that will be delivered after sending the authentication form along with a specified sum. The letterhead in the mail uses the logo of the Customs &amp; Central Excise and International Monetary Fund. The name and address given on the form, however, is that of the Department of Disinvestment.

Zero sum

Your edit &ldquo;Realist and populist&rdquo; (March 25) brings the true facets of Mamata Banerjee&rsquo;s personality into sharp focus. Over the years, the Trinamool president and West Bengal chief minister has demonstrated a unique capacity of doublespeak. Banerjee has been emphatically declaring that she is not anti-industry but has not taken a single step towards facilitating industrial growth in the state. Moreover, her party&rsquo;s manifesto strongly rejects the special economic zone, or SEZ, route to industrialisation. Thanks to this stance, which is not backed by any reasoning, IT major Infosys is facing troubles setting up its campus in Kolkata. One can understand that acquiring large tracts of agricultural land for an SEZ goes against Banerjee&rsquo;s &ldquo;maa mati manush&rdquo; policy but a service-oriented industry like IT does not require large areas of land. On the other hand, IT and ITes industry will help create the much-need jobs in the state.

Letters: Mamata's split personality

The offer of Rs 14 crore as a bribe to General V K Singh only reinforces the well-known secret that defence deals all over the world have inbuilt corruption mechanisms. But then the armed forces have very little to do with procurements except to raise the general staff qualitative requirement (GSQR) in a particular way.

Letters: Arms and the man

This refers to the debate &ldquo;Should ad durations on TV shows be halved?&rdquo; (March 28). Pradeep Mehta rightly states that that self-regulation does not yield results in India. In the case of broadcasters, this is all the more true since TV channels purely run for commercial purposes. Apart from being an interruption to programmes or movies on TV, it is tedious to watch ads being repeated non-stop to lure viewers into buying products for which they may have little need. But since advertising is a necessary evil, perhaps we should allot a fixed time for it &mdash; either before or after programmes and movies.

Letters: A fixed time for ads

The 2012 edition of The Wealth Report 2012 highlights the increasing influence of global wealth flows on prime properties and investment markets.

Changing global scenario

The deadline for the enforcement of new electronic waste (e-waste) management norms is just a month or so away. And yet, most of the sector&rsquo;s stakeholders seem quite unprepared. The E-waste (Management and Handling) Rules, 2011, notified almost a year ago as coming into effect from May 1 this year, require producers of electronic and white goods to take back their products at the end of their working life and arrange for their safe disposal or recycling. Going a step further, these mandatory rules, issued under the Environment Protection Act, also fix the responsibilities of other players in this field, including dealers, consumers and recyclers, in ensuring appropriate destruction of these items, which usually contain several hazardous substances. Manufacturers will now be obliged to send periodic progress reports to state pollution control boards.

Business Standard

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