The US stock market reels. Europe cringes at the prospect of serial defaults by Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy. A computer glitch triggers a near-crash on stock exchanges. Rules for financial firms in the US are being overhauled. North Korea and South Korea rattle sabers.

Things are not as bad as they seem

Business Standard

Last week marked an important milestone for banking and financial regulation in the US. The Obama administration has undertaken possibly the most drastic overhaul of the financial regulatory legislation since the Great Depression of 1930&rsquo;s. Two somewhat dissimilar versions of the Restoring American Stability Act were passed by the House and Senate this past week, and will soon become the new law after reconciliation. A new and comprehensive re-regulation of finance has been anticipated ever since the day Lehman fell and caused an avalanche of financial failures. The existing law as well as the quality of regulation was found wanting, and hence the need to revamp the regulatory framework. The large fiscal response to the crisis was unprecedented, bipartisan and immediate, and hence the reform Bill was expected to be swift and harsh.

Diluted Volcker rules

The Union government&rsquo;s plan to promote greater partnership of tribal communities and other local communities in joint forest management is a welcome move that could be a game-changer in Naxalite-affected areas. Alienation of tribal communities, especially from common forest property resources, has been an important factor pushing tribals into the arms of extremist Maoist groups. It is, therefore, no coincidence that Maoist activity is most pronounced in tribal areas. Though in many of the Naxalite-affected areas forest management is even today in the hands of joint forest management (JFM) committees, in reality there is a total disconnect between the tribals subsisting on forest produce and the forest department staff, who virtually control these committees. In fact, both view each other with suspicion due to a lack of trust.

People's resources

Markets remain extremely skittish and worried about the outlook for Europe, Greece and the West in general. Despite the best intentions of European policy-makers, markets are not willing to settle down and take at face value the various austerity programmes being rolled out across Europe. Markets have been spooked by the unilateral measures on the part of Germany to ban naked short-selling on sovereign bonds, CDS (credit default swap) and 10 major financial institutions&rsquo; equity shares.

Akash Prakash: Europe continues to wobble

I told you so, didn&rsquo;t I? About the rupee, I mean. On any number of television programmes in late March and early April, when the rupee was hovering around 45, and a wide range of banks &mdash; mostly foreign &mdash; were calling for 43 and even 42 by year-end, I pointed out that, with everybody positioned on one side, the bigger risk was that the rupee would weaken.

Jamal Mecklai: I hate to say it, but...

India, for the past few years, has been actively negotiating and concluding Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreements (CECAs) with a number of countries. It has already entered into CECAs with Singapore in 2005 and with Korea in 2009; and is negotiating with Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Mauritius and Japan. It also plans to start negotiations with Australia.

Prabhash Ranjan: Conflicting signals

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) would call for a fundamental redesign of the supply chain structures to make these simpler and more efficient.

Part V: GST will turn supply chain tax-neutral

If it had been anyone else, you could have said he was hamming it up. But when it comes to Bimal Gurung, chief of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), it seems perfectly natural: Before making his way to the podium to give a speech, he takes off his shoes, kisses mother earth and climbs up the stage to deliver a fire-and-brimstone speech in Gorkhali, the very sound of which brings tears to the eyes of hundreds of thousands of Gorkhas living in various parts of India.

Aditi Phadnis: A gush of Gurung

India needs to open its eyes to the substantial benefits that it stands to gain from intra-region energy trade. Instead of looking to Russia, East Asia, Latin America and Africa for its burgeoning energy needs, India would serve itself well to tap the vast energy resource opportunities that lie in its immediate vicinity.

Neha Chowdhry: Re-energising India

It&rsquo;s that time of the year when the summer heat drains you of energy so much that all you can do is pray for the rains.

Keya Sarkar: A helpline's cry for help

Parents probably slept peacefully all night in those dark ages, before the mobile phone invaded our lives. Now, thanks to its intrusion, there is no way you can snooze even a half-hour without the alarm going off to remind you to check whether the children are home from their nocturnal gigs. Because the kids dislike what they describe as being &ldquo;policed&rdquo;, I&rsquo;d devised an elaborate code for when we could or could not call. First, a harmless &ldquo;All well?&rdquo; SMS would ping their way around midnight, to be answered by a &ldquo;Having fun&rdquo; by my son, or a &ldquo;Just reached, don&rsquo;t call&rdquo; by my daughter.

Kishore Singh: There is justice after all

...blame it on very high taxes and restrictive government polices.

Why are wines costly in India?

When I&rsquo;m being rational I know that it&rsquo;s just exceptionally bad luck. But really, it&rsquo;s hard not to take it personally.

The worm turns

We had a fleeting spy season recently, and most of the initial television reports about Madhuri Gupta couldn&rsquo;t resist adding a bit of Bond music in the background. For that matter, all it takes is a man in a black turtleneck to set the tune playing in your head. Of all spies, Ian Fleming&rsquo;s James Bond is the one we know best, whether or not we are fans.

The spy who kitsched me

Areas must be found to give new thrust to the Indo-US relationship, though current American preoccupations have put India on the slow burner.

Premvir Das: Time for course correction

Things are changing in Bhutan. There is a young king at the helm and parliament has been in place since the first democratic election in 2008. Even as growing numbers of Indian tourists flock to savour the beauty of its unspoilt mountain landscapes, the kingdom is aiming for a higher profile in the subcontinent and the world.

Sunil Sethi: Is Bhutan ready to rock?

Manmohan Singh is now our third-longest serving prime minister. Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi were at the helm for 17 and 16 years respectively. By 2014 MMS will have completed 10 years in the top job. Who says horoscopes don&rsquo;t count.

K Natwar Singh: More minuses, fewer pluses

The short-lived strike by Air India employees makes one thing clear: the days of rampant trade unionism are over. The tone of discussions on TV talk shows, where the airline&rsquo;s union representatives were on the defensive, and the public focus on the plight of hapless passengers leave little room for doubt. The country&rsquo;s mood has changed when it comes to industrial action. The official statistics say it too, loud and clear.

T N Ninan: End of union raj

For some time, investors have had a pair strategy &ndash; Short on euro-rupee and long on dollar-rupee.

Betting on the euro

Q: Madam, Indo-China relations have seen highs and lows. It is very confusing as to what exactly is the status of our relationship at the moment. After Copenhagen, there was supposed to be this warmth, and then there were all kinds of bickering among the ministers. Please tell us a little more about what the President's visit is going to achieve.

'Policy on our relations with China is a two-way street'

Garm Hava describes the gradual fraying of the many threads that hold a family and a country together.

The winds of change

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