The row between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam is essentially about the safety of the 116-year-old structure and how much water it can safely hold. Both these are technical issues &mdash; but they are, unfortunately, being politicised. The fact that there is no proper technical assessment of the dam&rsquo;s strength, combined with a perceived risk of its giving way due to either an increased water load or natural disasters like earthquakes, has allowed for the issue&rsquo;s politicisation. The plea by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to both states to refrain from whipping up sentiment until an experts&rsquo; panel examines the issue, therefore, makes immense sense.

Two states and a dam

Business Standard

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee explained the government&rsquo;s helplessness over inflation in the Rajya Sabha with great eloquence on Thursday. Much of what he said may have solid economic fundamentals, but the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government cannot claim helplessness forever &mdash; not when the signs of the cracks it is creating in India&rsquo;s rural prosperity are becoming so obvious. If any one thing that has protected the Indian growth story since the global downturn began in 2008, it has been its strong domestic demand. India&rsquo;s companies have been relatively insulated from cutbacks in household budgets in the struggling West, because they are focused on Indian consumers. While urban spending may not have been strong enough to keep growth going, rural demand has been robust. For fast-moving consumer goods companies, for example, that has been a crucial support.

Broken heartland 

What was mandated in a law framed more than eight years ago is now being enforced through an executive order. The Electricity Act was approved by Parliament in 2003, bringing in its wake a host of reforms in the power sector, including the setting up of independent regulators to set tariffs for consumers through a transparent and non-discretionary mechanism. While several of the mandated reform measures were introduced in most states in phases over the last few years, a key provision has still remained unimplemented. This pertains to what is commonly referred to as the open access facility for consumers &mdash; a system that should have allowed consumers the choice to get their power from the distribution company offering the best deal. Open access, therefore, is a critical element in the new distribution regime.

Switching your power 

India has just taken pole position for ambivalence. After five years of white papers and debate, foreign retailers who were invited to participate wholeheartedly in multi-brand retail have been shown the door with dizzying speed &mdash; all in a fortnight.

No threat to the corner shop

It&rsquo;s coming to that time of the year when feature editors will demand their annual round-ups of blockbuster films, most viewed television programmes, best food innovations, most expensive luxury buys, and, of course, a review of the records that were broken in the world of art. Art writers will likely spew purple prose about those who commanded top prices, were exhibited, talked about, awarded.

A lacklustre year

It&rsquo;s a funny thing this business of internet freedom. Because the net is so profoundly empowering and anonymous it feeds into an individual&rsquo;s right to freedom of expression.

One man's freedom

Have you ever wondered why you cannot buy wines online in India? Meaning, why can&rsquo;t a site like, say, Flipkart.

Selling wine online is better

Stagger any equity investments over a period to average down costs.

A definite case for staying invested

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has put up a &lsquo;Draft Adjudication Manual&rsquo; on its website, for comment from trade and industry, as well as departmental officers. The Manual consolidates all the relevant notifications and instructions/circulars. Some references to relevant case laws are also included and it presents in an organised manner all the relevant information in 56 topics and three lists that give cross-references.

Reforming systems and mindsets

The EC believed that the 40-year-old tax regime was no longer suitable for the service-driven, technology-based economy.

Reforms in EU VAT: Lessons for Indian GST

Section 245R of Income-tax Act dealing with the procedure on receipt of application by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) provides that the Authority shall not allow the application to be proceeded with where the question raised in the application is 'already pending' before any income-tax authority. The object of this provision is obviously to avoid duplication in judicial proceedings. As held by the AAR in Monte Harris v. CIT [218 ITR 413 (AAR)] 'having already availed himself of the remedies available under the Act, the Legislature understandably requires that an applicant should not be encouraged to have recourse to another remedy by way of an application before the Authority.

Restriction on application for advance ruling

One of the important rights that shareholders enjoy is the right to receive financial information periodically. It is widely perceived that managers have a temptation to &lsquo;cook&rsquo; account books and provide favourable financial information to the investing public. Therefore, there is a need to have an independent third party, with adequate competency, to review those financial statements to assess whether they provide a &lsquo;true and fair view&rsquo;.

Audit oversight key to audit independence

The government has finally been forced to confront the reality that the Indian growth story is in trouble. The Mid-Year Analysis from the Ministry of Finance has acknowledged some sobering facts. First, that growth in the first half of the financial year has been stuck at 7.3 per cent, with the second quarter showing only 6.9 per cent growth. Second, on inflation, that &ldquo;the overall picture during the current fiscal so far has been one of persistently high headline inflation&rdquo;.

A forced optimism

The markets may have been right to extend cautious approval to the new fiscal agreement signed by European Union members (minus the United Kingdom) over the weekend, but it is worth wondering whether the celebrations are premature. Certainly, this eighth attempt at a solution goes further than the earlier ones in tightening fiscal discipline, putting more stringent oversight mechanisms in place and strengthening punitive measures for non-compliance. At the very least, these will ensure that debacles of the Greek kind &mdash; which involved sustained profligacy and outright budget fudging &mdash; do not recur. But the closer coordination and greater transparency of the treaty, though long overdue, may still fall well short of the kind of durable fiscal union that is required to contain the contagion of future indebtedness, with all its recessionary implications for the global economy.

One down, still standing

When India became independent, its institutional inheritance included the British Indian army, at the time one of the best-organised armies in the world, and which had proved its mettle in numerous campaigns in the preceding decades. Yet, within 15 years, that same army was humiliated and Nehru&rsquo;s reputation was shattered.

Devesh Kapur: A government without statecraft

The Durban climate change conference &mdash; the 17th conference of parties &mdash; has ended, after grueling and acrimonious negotiations on how the world would cut carbon dioxide emissions that are linked to growth, but are also now jeopardising its future because of catastrophic weather changes.

Sunita Narain: The end of climate apartheid?

The Durban summit on climate change has managed to come out with a deftly-crafted package that not only accommodates, albeit in part, the viewpoints of most key negotiators, but also ensures that the fight against global warming will continue. But it falls short of delivering a concrete successor to the existing Kyoto protocol on climate change, even though a time schedule and management framework have been worked out for negotiating a new deal to replace it. There may not be any obvious winners or losers at the end of this meeting &mdash; but developing countries, including India, certainly had to give more than they got. The final package tilts the balance in favour of historical polluters, which have, in effect, succeeded in compelling developing countries to agree to targeted emission cuts from 2020 onwards.

The Chindia illusion

The ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) later this week is likely to acknowledge that, after ten long years of trying, negotiations under the Doha Development Mandate are unlikely to reach closure in their present form. Such meetings of trade and commerce ministers take place every two years, and represent important opportunities to provide political guidance to the WTO.

Suman Bery: India still needs a WTO

Below-trend gross domestic product growth (GDP) in the second quarter of 2011-12 and a poor start to the third quarter &mdash; October IIP was a reminder of the pain during the financial crisis &mdash; confirm India's economic slowdown. Even anecdotal evidence indicates the downtrend in economic activity witnessed lately is unlikely to reverse soon. Indeed, even GDP growth below 6.5 per cent in a few of the upcoming quarters would not surprise many.

Apex bank to keep status quo

The Lok Pal Bill has once again taken centre stage in Indian politics, after the leaders of India Against Corruption (IAC) organised a token, one-day fast at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. This comes at a time when crucial, pending Bills have piled up, policy paralysis has frozen the economy, and a large chunk of the Winter Session of Parliament has already been wasted. A strong, independent Lok Pal is in India&rsquo;s interest.

The agitation that won't die

The year 2011 will probably go down in history as the year of the perfect storm for India. Whatever could go wrong, did go wrong. This was a year that India had an opportunity to stand out globally by not so much as doing too many right things but merely by avoiding wrong moves. Alas, we blew the opportunity, thanks to politicians from all walks and to some boo-boos by policy makers.

Rajeev Malik: Politicians' curse versus the RBI

Business Standard brings you expert opinions on various issues

Page 711 - Opinion Specials