If policy-makers are worried about employment, it is not without good reason. Even though employment growth is rising, labour intensity is falling, suggesting that the growth is not as permanent as you'd like. The usual policy response to this would be to give a boost to traditional labour-intensive industry but, as a paper by Deb Kusum Das, Deepika Wadhwa and Gunajit Kalita (all at ICRIER) brings out, labour intensity levels have gone down quite dramatically in even traditionally labour-intensive industries.

Sunil Jain: Labour&#39;s litany

Business Standard

Given that the proposed date of implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is April 1, 2010; a declaration regarding the design and architecture of GST is perhaps one of the most eagerly awaited announcements expected from the Finance Minister in the forthcoming Budget.

Web Excl: Budget Expectations - Goods and Service Tax

It&rsquo;s wonderful that Jerry Rao is planning to build houses that cost Rs 700,000 or less. The former Citibanker&rsquo;s model is simple enough: land is bought with the equity capital while construction is financed through bank loans at market-related rates currently anywhere between 11 and 13 per cent. The key to the success of the project is the time taken to complete it.

Shobhana Subramanian: Jerry Rao&#39;s nano-housing dreams

That we need to change is beyond doubt. What matters is the manner in which we plan to afford the change.

Sunita Narain: The question of our age

There are very few product categories left where home-bred Indian companies still hold sway. Agreed, the two-wheeler market is dominated by Indian players, but the growing influence of Honda and Suzuki cannot be ignored. Multinational corporations lord over most other segments. One exception is that of hair oil. The entire market is controlled by Indian companies like Marico, Dabur India, Bajaj Consumer Care and Emami. But is it worthwhile? Ask any of them and you will be told that hair oil profits are second to no other fast-moving consumer good.

Bhupesh Bhandari: The scent of oil

The annual Economic Survey is traditionally tabled in Parliament a couple of days before the Budget is presented. This year, the attention being paid to budgetary prospects is particularly high; consequently, the Survey has come under the spotlight far more than in a more &lsquo;normal&rsquo; year. That said, the utility of the Survey as an assessment of the state of the economy has dwindled over the years, as the frequency with which economic data is released has increased (monthly fiscal deficit numbers, quarterly GDP assessments, regular tax revenue updates, et al), and as the number of institutions putting out similar reports has multiplied. In such a context, there is very little that the Survey can disclose regarding macroeconomic conditions that is not already known.

Reaching for the stars

Petroleum product prices usually get hiked shortly before the Budget is presented, and the government has been true to form in announcing the hard decisions ahead of the big day, so that the finance minister can be considerate when it comes to taxation. The price hike this time is larger than usual, but leaves out what are considered the more politically sensitive segments, kerosene and cooking gas; these of course happen to be responsible for the bulk of the petroleum sector&rsquo;s subsidies.

Oil slick

An NRI family was coming home to visit siblings in India. My friend couldn&rsquo;t resist noticing that instead of mixing with their local relatives, the NRI family stuck to each other. It made him remark, &ldquo;Through the visit, my brother&rsquo;s family stuck to each other like Fevicol.&rdquo; A brand and its advertising had suddenly become a part of everyday language usage. My friend was far removed from advertising and marketing.

Madhukar Sabnavis: Get into culture

It's time we busted a few myths and revamped our strategy towards the farm sector.

Sanjeev Sanyal: Radically rethinking agriculture

Nobody knows why babies prefer one hand over the other. It may be genetic, or due to uneven development of brain hemispheres. It may also have to do with womb positions. Nine out of ten people are right-handed. Society is built around their preferences. Lefties cope with disadvantages. Using scissors, writing or playing hockey is awkward.

Devangshu Datta: Imagine a ban on lefties

Jackson epitomised the black man's trauma in even Obama's America.

Sunanda K Datta-Ray: More than skin-deep

Perhaps it is the post-holiday weight-gain guilt, but every second person I meet these days seems obsessed with fitness. &ldquo;Don&rsquo;t you have a personal trainer yet?&rdquo; asked a friend I meet on one of those rare occasions when I manage to drag myself, puffing and panting, to the park for a walk. The next thing I knew, she&rsquo;d sent me hers, this tall hunk with rippling muscles and barely out of college.

Geetanjali Krishna: Will it be a hit or a &#39;miss&#39;?

Why is it that married men being abandoned by their wives for any length of time are given the full monty nudge-nudge, wink-wink treatment? The word &ldquo;bachelor&rdquo; is bandied about with more innuendoes than it could possibly contain. No real bachelor gets the rolling-eye, raised eyebrow treatment that a married man is served up by friends, or neighbours, when he finds his wife has upped and left for a holiday of considerable length.

Kishore Singh: What married men crave!

Growing up, my favourite author was Roald Dahl. For a whole season his George&rsquo;s Marvellous Medicine accompanied me into the toilet every day.

A boy's life

Despite the prevalence of &ldquo;Jain&rdquo; Chinese and Thai (particularly in Mumbai), Udupi restaurants, Gujarati thalis and vaishnav bhojanalays, it is a truth universally acknowledged that vegetarians do get a raw deal when eating out.

Fake vegetarian

Just to let all you corporate types know: I don&rsquo;t understand the economy. Before you go feeling all superior and contemptuous, let me state that I bet I&rsquo;m not the only one. Recognising that a business paper is probably not the most sympathetic forum in which to complain about this, but pressing on regardless, here&rsquo;s my confusion. (I&rsquo;m going to go very tentatively here, making only sweeping generalisations and uninformed pronouncements.

It's the stupid, economy

Poor Farrah Fawcett. At the peak of her stardom in the late 1970s as the most conventionally sexy of the Charlie&rsquo;s Angels, her pin-ups helped a generation of young boys discover hormones they had never imagined existed. But in death, she found herself relegated to the sidelines by (as one Netizen impertinently put it) &ldquo;a freakishly disfigured, putty-nosed paedophile&rdquo;.

The Farrah and MJ show

If you want to understand what has been happening to the railways, forget Mamata Banerjee&rsquo;s railway budget, and look at some long-term trends. The length of the routes on which the railways carry goods and people has remained virtually unchanged since 1980; indeed, the carrying capacity of all railway wagons has come down since then by about 10 per cent; the number of locomotives has come down by 25 per cent; and the number of railway employees has dropped 10 per cent.

T N Ninan: Not a fast track

The Report of the Task Force on the Implementation of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 (&lsquo;the Second Committee Report&rsquo;) was presented in July 2004 and is popularly known as the Kelkar Committee Report. It aimed at reducing fiscal deficits within the country.

Web Excl: Analysis of Report Card on implementation of Kelkar Committee

If the Budget is status quo, the market will not fall much and the rewards for going long would be high.

High on expectations

TR BAALU (SRIPERUMBUDUR): Madam, as far as Tamil Nadu is concerned, every year on June 12, Mettur Dam is opened for irrigation. But till date, this particular dam has not been opened because it is almost dry. Water has to come from the adjacent state of Karnataka. But there is a dry spell even in Karnataka.

'Fuel prices have  been raised at an inopportune time'

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Page 874 - Opinion Specials

Sunil Jain: Labour's litany