The alarm bells have been ringing for the last few days as the inflation rate, measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), touched the 7 per cent mark for the week ended March 22. The stock market

Difficult choices

Business Standard

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has removed the regulatory impediments that prevented securities firms and their clients from directly connecting their computers to the stock

Now, algorithmic trading

The first years of the new century have seen a dramatic increase in the number of internet users (1.3 billion  or 20 per cent of the world population), usage and bandwidth demand as new patterns of

The age of the Grid

The reshuffle in the Union council of ministers on Sunday has seen the induction of seven new ministers of state. Only one of them  M S Gill as minister of state for sports and youth affairs  has

A little tinkering

Financial sector liberalisation and monetary management have been the unlikely subjects of fierce debate in the past few months. As the currencies of the world have swung in different directions and

Let`s get moving

Once all the political parties had lined up behind it, and once it became clear that reserving 27 per cent of the seats in Central educational institutions for the Other Backward castes (OBCs) did not

Editorial: The OBC ruling

The decision of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to revise its somewhat draconian media guidelines for the impending Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament highlights the

Editorial: Limits to commercialisation

It has been a long time since a routine quarterly monetary and credit policy announcement has been the subject of so much speculation, even drama. While the weekly numbers for the Wholesale Price

Editorial: The plot thickens

Over the years, the ministry of commerce and industry has developed a somewhat schizophrenic identity. On the one hand, it has taken on the role of representing India in global and regional trade

Editorial: Obsolete approach

For years now, organisations such as the Centre for Science and Environment have been arguing that industry does not pay for the water it uses, ruthlessly exploiting groundwater resources for free, or

Editorial: Don`t water it down

Indias gross domestic product (GDP) is growing at around 8 per cent even during a global slowdown. Yet, the performance of its information and communications technology (ICT) sector is on the slide 

Editorial: Poor ICT show

It is time for second thoughts with regard to the Supreme Court judgment on 27 per cent reservation for the Other Backward Castes. All those, including this newspaper, that concluded in the first

Editorial: Second thoughts

No one, not even the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) led by the redoubtable Prachanda  his name means big or large, or even giant size  thought that the electoral victory in Nepal would be so

Editorial: Maoists in power

On the eve of the annual Fund-Bank meetings, Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank Group, voiced alarm and a dire warning about the global food situation. His emphasis on this issue reinforces

Editorial: Food worries

There was a general expectation that the inflation rate for the week ending April 5 would be a little lower than the previous weeks shocker of 7.41 per cent. The wholesale price index (WPI) numbers

Editorial: Some relief

For the India Meteorological Department (IMD), it has been an annual ritual for the past 20 years to issue its long-range monsoon forecast around this time of the year, though the credibility of these

Editorial: The hope of rain

Indias vaunted software majors need to live up to the aphorism that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The last year (2007-08) has been particularly tough for the export-driven industry,

Editorial: Battle-hardened

The chickens are coming home to roost. The governments inflation-management strategy of postponing price increases on oil products and fertiliser, and absorbing the shock through long-term bonds to

Editorial: A deadly cocktail

P>A few days ago it was reported that there were only four engineers in the country who could certify aircraft for airworthiness, about a sixth of the number required.

Editorial: What government?

P>For more than a year now, it has been argued (by no less than the Prime Minister himself) that the telecom ministry would be well advised to auction the fresh spectrum available for giving telecom firms since this would fetch the government a good price and prevent charges of favouritism.

Editorial: Stranded spectrum

P>It is not often that grocery stores in the developed countries have to resort to rationing rice, bread, milk, eggs and the like.

Editorial: Global food scare

Incisive columns and editorial comment by top opinion leaders

Page 358 - Editorial Comment