Page 225 - Editorial Comment

Bailing out govt: ONGC-HPCL deal has logic, but can't address fiscal woes

ONGC and HPCL are two companies that are run on vastly different management styles

To be able to solve the job riddle, govt needs to improve payroll data

Govt should make EPFO data available to researchers to find the truth about employment numbers

Make liberal India a reality

PM's Davos speech contrasts with unfortunate domestic trends

Message from Davos: PM Modi's signals should be transformed into action

Modi outlined three main challenges that the world was facing: Terrorism, climate change, and protectionism

World Bank needs to restore the credibility of 'ease of doing biz' rankings

Two researchers from the Centre for Global Development (CGDev) have shown how changes in the methodology may have negatively portrayed Chile when it was ruled by the socialist president, Michelle Bach

The threat of cryptos: Unregulated, new asset class can disrupt economy

Cryptocurrencies have gained so much traction in the past year that many governments have been forced to review these instruments.

Rethink contract farming: Making it happen doesn't require a new law

The real danger is that the involvement of the law enforcement bureaucracy at every stage, as envisaged in the Centre's model Bill, might actually prove counterproductive

Towards simplification: Ease of paying GST is a long-pending reform

The GST, which has been in the works for years, should ideally have been better designed when it was launched, and that would have enabled a smoother transition

Delhi slums to Jamaica: How a 16-yr-old made it to Usain Bolt's academy

Story of sixteen-year-old Nisar Ahmed, son of a rickshaw-puller, who has made it to Usain Bolt's training academy

Engineering gender equity: A quota for women in IITs is unlikely to work

The bigger doubt is whether this "quota system" will further the cause of female engineers in any meaningful way

Welcome excision: After Haj, govt must cut subsidies to other events

Scrapping the Haj subsidy alone will do nothing to enhance India's global reputation for multiculturalism

Don't run to the RBI: Banks should manage treasury portfolios by themselves

The yield curve has steepened sharply; and banks fear the spike in bond yields has caused profits to decline equally sharply

Education pangs: Despite RTE, Indian teens have dismal foundational skills

While only 5.3% are not enrolled in formal education at the age of 14 years, this number jumps sharply as the years roll by; by age 17 this percentage quadruples to 20.7% and further increases to 30

Wrong call? Reduction in call termination rate will lead to revenue losses

The industry has already seen its revenues being pinched when Trai inexplicably reduced domestic termination charges

Budget 2018: Relieving agrarian stress requires focusing on industry

The coming year, 2018, is chock-full of important state Assembly elections and the 2019 general elections are not far off. It is not surprising that the farm sector is being given importance

Restrictive auction: Bid terms for Taj Mansingh need to be modified

Only a bidder with a five-star hotel brand as well as at least 500 rooms across three properties is eligible to participate and two bidders cannot have a cross-holding beyond 5% between them

The inflation mismatch

Retail and wholesale inflation divergence creates policy dilemma

Safeguarding solar power

Steep duties on China-made cells may be unwise

Restore order

The ball is in the chief justice's court

An integrated energy policy

With oil bonanza over, time for a relook at energy options