This refers to Deepak Lal&rsquo;s article &ldquo;Rights, stakes and Newspeak&rdquo; (February 18). There are other, less pernicious but nonetheless equally irritating instances of linguistic skulduggery carried too far. Certain phrases that catch on in journalism are used to death so that they lose all meaning and novelty. One of my (un)favourites is &ldquo;tantalisingly out of reach&rdquo;. Recently, an article in The Economist said: &ldquo;China remains tantalisingly out of Facebook&rsquo;s reach.&rdquo; Well no. It remains determinedly so, blockheadedly so, but not tantalisingly so. Another is &ldquo;so and so has opened a can of worms&rdquo;, used with straining regularity with reference to one A Raja. An American friend mentions his absolute disgust with the comma-well-comma, which he claims is terribly overused in American feature writing. One rather funny example: &ldquo;We call them the liberal arts because they are, well, liberal.

Letters: Journalism of cliches

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This refers to the edit &ldquo;A false choice&rdquo; (February 21). The attack on the Israeli diplomat&rsquo;s car in New Delhi has dragged a reluctant India into the hitherto three-cornered conflict involving Iran, Israel and the US. Now, India must delineate its stand: first, against the use of its territory to play out covert extra-judicial assassinations and retaliations, and second, on reiterating the independence of its foreign policy.

Letters: A new non-alignment policy 

Parthasarathi Shome should be commended for his article &ldquo;A time for tax reform&rdquo; (February 20). The falling tax-to-GDP ratio is certainly a matter of worry, particularly if one considers the fact that about 30 per cent of income escapes tax. Though tax reforms will certainly help, the focus on large tax units (LTUs) may not be fruitful.

Letters: Efficiency, not reform

Vice-President Xi Jinping of the People&rsquo;s Republic of China visited the United States last week, in a trip that bore all the characteristics of a state visit. The pomp underlined the fact that Mr Xi is widely expected to take over as China&rsquo;s leader soon.

A princeling's progress

The Supreme Court judgment cancelling 122 2G licences plunged the telecom industry into crisis. It is now incumbent on the government to utilise that crisis as an opportunity for reform. It must act sensibly, transparently and with due speed to restore institutional credibility to a sector suffering from a severe deficit on that front. While the release of the new telecom policy was a step forward, recent reports that the government has consulted its lawyers on the legality of licences issued prior to 2008 are worrying. This is not the time to play politics or shirk responsibility. After all, a post-judgment road map exists: delink spectrum from licences. Charge a relatively nominal amount for licences, (while imposing technical qualification norms). Auction off spectrum, allowing the market to price this resource.

Calling the future

Automobile makers posted a strong third-quarter performance, thanks to Tata Motors&rsquo; strong volume growth overseas.

Automobiles: Hero, Tata Motors drive sector performance

The steel sector was hit badly due to slowdown in infra projects, high interest rates and falling capex.

Steel: Raw material costs hurt margins

I have a Rs 50-lakh life cover from a public sector insurer. I would like to increase it to Rs 1 crore. How do I do it? I am 46 years old.

Life Insurance: Deepak Sood

Firdose Vandrevala, chairman of property developer Hirco Developments and who previously headed Motorola India, VSNL Broadband and Tata Power, had this unique comparison between real estate and sectors like telecom and power. Asked to differentiate, Vandrevala lived up to his reputation for forthrightness. &quot;In telecom, it is like a race where one is running along with other and completes the lap as fast as possible,&quot; he said. &quot;In real estate, a developer is like a hunter holding a dull torch and old rifle and venturing into a jungle.&quot; And on regulators: &quot;In other sectors, regulators are like referees who blow the whistle if someone makes mistakes; but in real estate, regulators seem to be like referees who blow the whistle at your every move and declare you out.

Realty bytes

Understandably, the public distribution system (PDS) for food is not a top-of-the-mind issue for India's affluent. Still, it is expected that a Mumbai-based industrialist whose family has close links with politics would be familiar with the term that is at the centre of a public debate on food subsidy, financing which will undoubtedly influence the tax breaks the upcoming Budget can offer the corporate sector. Yet, throughout an interview on the Budget, the industrialist referred to the PDS as DPS to general puzzlement &mdash; until an embarrassed personal assistant intervened to correct him.

DPS versus PDS

How significant a role do the industry chambers' pre-Budget recommendations play in guiding the government's decisions in the Budget these days? Not much, if a key finance ministry official is to be believed. The reason, he says, is that they are narrowly self-serving and lack the overview that policy-makers have to take. So perhaps industry may have to roll back the expectation that Budget 2012-13 will revive its fortunes.

No difference

The year 2011 was supposed to be one when economies like India and China returned to the high growth rates clocked before 2008. Instead, the Eurozone slipped into a sovereign debt crisis and the domestic economy had to grapple with moderate growth, high inflation, a slowdown in reforms and heightened concerns around governance.

How to manage risks and deliver growth

Apropos the edit &ldquo;Federal fears&rdquo; (February 20), the problem with the Congress seems to be that it is still living in the era when it was in power at the Centre as well as in most states and when every decision of the Centre was unequivocally accepted by states. The party needs to accept the reality of federalism. The issue of setting up the National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) is not the first case in which the Centre has been confronted by states for taking decisions unilaterally, without any consultation. The appropriate thing to do is to consult and address the concerns of states before moving forward on issues like NCTC. Terrorism is not an issue on which we can afford to play petty politics, and this goes for the Centre as well as the states.

Letters: Centre of all action?

The modest restaurant attached to Assam Bhavan in Delhi&rsquo;s leafy diplomatic area is a personal favourite but an unusual choice for a Lunch with BS guest. But then, my guest on this cold and sunny day cannot be considered the usual sort of think tank head, writes Kanika Datta.

Lunch with BS: Pratap Bhanu Mehta

This refers to T N Ninan&rsquo;s column &ldquo;Saving Mumbai&rdquo; (February 18). The local self-government bodies, right from municipal corporations down to zila parishads and panchayat samitis have no policy-making powers of any great significance that can have an underlying political philosophy. They are essentially meant to provide good amenities to residents. Given this fact, it is worth considering if the elections to these bodies can be made apolitical; that is, let the representatives be elected as independents. The elected representative, thus, freed from the clutches of his party bosses, can be solely answerable to the problems and development of his area.

Letters: Free local self-governments

&quot;It would be useful if the Budget provides a comprehensive and clear exemption around income tax and other indirect taxes to foreign bank branches exploring the proposed route of conversion to wholly-owned subsidiaries, which will be in alignment with the regulatory proposal of encouraging such a conversion.

Expert speak: Gautam Mehra

&ldquo;Banks should be allowed to raise tax-free infra bonds to channelise more resources to the growth of the sector. Not only investors will benefit but banks will also be able to raise funds at a lower cost and lend at a competitive rate to infra projects. So it is a win-win situation for all.

Industry speak: MD Mallya

&ldquo;Funding by banks to NBFCs may continue to be carried on the basis of a priority sector, as this will provide them resources on a substantially lower rate of interest for being deployed in the MSME sector. The definition of MSMEs, based on original investment in plant and machinery needs to be revised. Benefits available to banks and financial institutions under the I-T Act should be extended to NBFCs too.

Chamber speak: DS Rawat

CEOs from India are less confident of their companies&rsquo; growth than last year, but significantly more confident than their global peers about their growth prospects over the next three years, reveals PwC&rsquo;s 15th Annual Global CEO Survey.

The cost of exuberance: Complacency on talent and innovation

The long winter this year is not just making news across Europe and North India. It has left a chill even in Mumbai, known for its hot weather and optimism, where businesses have developed cold feet over the country&rsquo;s macro-economic environment.

The winter of despondency

The low voter turnout in the Maharashtra civic polls, especially in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, underscored the fact that local residents are simply indifferent to the way in which their cities are managed. If people want their cities to become better living spaces then it&rsquo;s clear that they will have to participate in the election process on a much larger scale and ensure the implementation of reforms that will improve administration considerably. Electing mayors directly and giving them administrative powers may be one solution, but it&rsquo;s doubtful if the exercise would be fruitful given the poor people&rsquo;s participation.

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