Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban foreign minister when the Indian Airlines plane, IC-814, was hijacked from Kathmandu to Kandahar in December 1999, tells JYOTI MALHOTRA that India should not look at Afghanistan through the Pakistani lens.

&#39;India should recognise the Taliban&#39;

Business Standard

The Union government&rsquo;s response to the many comments and criticisms of the 2009-10 Budget was explored by Karan Thapar for Devil&rsquo;s Advocate, the CNN-IBN channel programme, with Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

'Broad range of reforms will get done in due course of time'

Former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf believes India needs to be brought in to solve the biggest threat faced by today&rsquo;s Pakistan &mdash; extremism and terrorism by the Taliban, al-Qaeda, and extremists in their society. Speaking to Karan Thapar in a special CNN-IBN interview, to be telecast on Saturday and Sunday, Musharraf also says that during his tenure as the president, India and Pakistan were close to solve the key disputes of Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek.

'Kashmir solution can reduce extremism in Pak society'

On the eve of her official visit to India, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has endorsed the outcome of the Indo-Pak summit in Egypt and also praised Pakistan&rsquo;s &lsquo;commitment&rsquo; to fighting terror. Clinton denied there was any US pressure to get India and Pakistan back on the dialogue table. She also claimed that the Obama administration remained committed to the Indo-US nuclear deal. Following is the transcript of her interview with CNN-IBN editor in chief Rajdeep Sardesai, to be aired at 1 pm and 9 pm on Saturday on CNN-IBN.

'We see India as an economic power, a strategic partner'

While many economists and analysts are saying the worst of the economic crisis is behind us, Guillermo Calvo, professor of economics at Columbia University, takes a much more conservative position. In an interview with Devika Banerji, he says the world economy might crawl for another decade.

'The US economy may be flat for 10 years, may drag others'

Pervez Musharraf, ex-military president of Pakistan, looks back on some high points such as Kargil and his own ouster in a talk with Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN&rsquo;s Devil&rsquo;s Advocate programme, to be telecast on Sunday.

'India and Pakistan have done enough harm to each other'

A priority area of the new president of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWAI), G N Venkataraman, is to make the institute more visible. In an interview with Sapna Dogra Singh, he said ICWAI would also lobby with the government to accept the recommendations of the expert group on widening the scope of cost audit by including more companies and sectors.

&#39;We want to be equated with chartered accountants&#39;

A year after India ushered in reforms in 1991, C Rangarajan, then a member of the Planning Commission, was picked by then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh to steer Reserve Bank of India for five crucial years till 1997. Then, Rangarajan, who had taught in University of Pennsylvania and management institutes in India, headed the Twelfth Finance Commission, which paved the way for fiscal consolidation, and also the Prime Minister&rsquo;s Economic Advisory Council (and was, for five years, Governor

'It would be imprudent to take the fiscal deficit higher than 6% of GDP'

Jeffrey Owens is the director of tax planning and administration at the OECD&rsquo;s Centre for Tax Policy, which is responsible for framing tax principles and ensuring that tax havens fall in line on disclosure norms and share information. He spoke to Sidhartha on recent developments and the strategy India should adopt on double taxation avoidance treaties.

&#39;The days of tax havens are over&#39;

The West Bengal petroleum, chemical and petrochemical investment region (PCPIR) has been mired in controversy ever since the project was relocated from Nandigram following protests against land acquisition that turned violent after police fired on villagers in 2007. Nayachar, the new location for the chemical hub, is a virtually uninhabited island downriver from Nandigram.

'I agree with Mamata Banerjee on Nayachar'

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, re-appointed by the newly elected government as Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, is interviewed on the economy by Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN&rsquo;s &lsquo;Devil&rsquo;s Advocate&rsquo; programme.

'The President's address lays out a very clear agenda and the government is very serious about implementing it'

KAPIL SIBAL has taken over as the Union minister of human resource development at a time when the education sector is going through dramatic changes. On the one hand, the government has substantially increased allocation, while on the other, the sector is facing the heat of allegations of entrenched corruption.

'The education sector needs to be freed of government and institutional constraints'

How does the new foreign minister, S M Krishna, view the two key relationships he has to manage &ndash; with Pakistan and the US? Karan Thapar explores this on CNN-IBN&rsquo;s &lsquo;Devil&rsquo;s Advocate&rsquo; programme.

&#39;Pakistan doesn&#39;t mean what it says on terrorism&#39;

Gajendra Haldea, principal advisor (infrastructure) in the Planning Commission, believes in public private partnerships for growth. He gave the country the model for its first major PPP road project, from Jaipur to Kishangarh. With the poor performance of the roads sector being blamed on the PPP model, he tells Mihir Mishra and Vandana Gombar that the real problem is the attitude and working of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and not the PPP route.

'NHAI did not pay heed to counsel, needs to be restructured'

Salman Khurshid, who holds the portfolios of minority affairs and corporate affairs, tells Sreelatha Menon that he wants greater public participation in development programmes.

'Diversity index is high-priority for the govt'

While there is talk of the economy&rsquo;s downturn bottoming out, the central government&rsquo;s Chief Statistician, Pronab Sen, says we still have a long way to go. In an interview with Devika Banerji, he says the monitoring of rural spending should be on top of the new government&rsquo;s priorities.

'It's too early to say whether the economy has bottomed out'

Two days after submitting recommendations of his report on &ldquo;Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education&rdquo; to Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, Professor Yash Pal (chairman of the 24-member committee) spoke to Kalpana Pathak from Kolkata.

'Salary differentials in educational institutions will be counter-productive'

Bharatiya Janata Party President Rajnath Singh discusses with ADITI PHADNIS the party&rsquo;s defeat in the Lok Sabha elections and the road ahead.

&#39;BJP cannot justify violence&#39;

A greater number of education-providers, the education minister insists, is the solution to the sector's problems, and that's precisely what he's aiming to fix.

In Conversation: Kapil Sibal, HRD Minister

India&rsquo;s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC), whose modalities are yet to be worked out, will play a key role in India&rsquo;s negotiating strategy at the upcoming Copenhagen Conference.

&#39;India would like to see an equitable outcome at Copenhagen&#39;

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to TV news channel CNN-IBN about post-poll alliance with the Left and who should be the Congress prime minister-in-waiting.

Rahul has all the qualities of a good PM

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'India should recognise the Taliban'