There are no IT reliefs to be got, just the chance to save a little boy's life.

Sunanda K Datta-Ray: Have a heart

Business Standard

Most of the global growth over the next two years will come from the Rapidly Developing Economies and if this gets disrupted due to protectionism, the OECD will be the worst hit.

Arindam Bhattacharya: Is globality dead?

In my line of work, I hear stories all the time. Recently, when I was in Sadri, a Rajasthani village, I heard a tale I&rsquo;ve recounted many times about a Raika healer&rsquo;s incredible diagnostic skills. It is, however, so extraordinary that I don&rsquo;t know whether to believe it or not.

Geetanjali Krishna: Desert diagnostics

Because my son said he was unable to study in Pune &mdash; the city was &ldquo;too hot&rdquo;, he said, his friends had gone home, and he was bored anyway &mdash; he asked permission to come to Delhi, which was all right, except he seems to spend his days biking with his uncle, and his evenings catching up with his friends. To make sure that he does not lose critical study time, I&rsquo;ve been photocopying his notes, putting his course books in order, highlighting case histories and marking sections that I think are important for his exams.

Kishore Singh: Because I&#39;m perfect

So now we know that, while every fourth member of the Lok Sabha has a criminal record, virtually every member is a crorepati. Quite a few would even qualify for membership of the Business Standard Billionaire Club (those with assets of over Rs 1 billion, or Rs 100 crore). We also know that these standard-bearers of socialism (every political party has to swear to this creed if it wants to be registered with the Election Commission) have increased their wealth manifold in the last five years.

T N Ninan: Tell us more

For China, the G20 Summit was a first step towards a more pluralistic global financial system.

Frank & Andreas Sieren: Setting up pressure points

It is a truth universally acknowledged that those who seek power are unfit to wield it. The preceding sentence is a &ldquo;mashup&rdquo;, stringing together quotes from Jane Austen and Plato. The coalition that comes to power after this election is likely to be a similarly incongruous mashup.

Devangshu Datta: A cargo cult democracy

Indian (and Indian-Chinese) cuisines have always been the moneyspinners in the restaurant biz. And it is easy to find representatives of these genres in all our neighbourhoods, doing brisk business regardless of the recession or our own dalliances with newer, global flavours &mdash; European or Brazilian or Mayan. So it is an irony that when it comes to more formal or stylised Indian dining there are such few options to choose from.

Modern accent

Poor Yavuz Berke, now Adam Leon. He&rsquo;s that 31-year-old Turkish-origin Canadian student pilot who wanted to end his life but couldn&rsquo;t summon the courage to do it himself. Deciding to outsource the job, he stole a plane from his flight school and flew into American airspace without authorisation, figuring that he&rsquo;d be put out of his misery by their jumpy, post-9/11 air force.

Goodbye, crool world

Given the fact that iron deficiency is widespread, coupled with the belief that breast-fed babies don&rsquo;t get enough iron in their blood, many countries are looking at promoting iron supplements.

Sreelatha Menon: Brain for thought

Though the market has gained 30 per cent in one month, don&rsquo;t get carried away and bet your shirt on further short-term gains.

Riding the tiger

When Wen Jiabao, the Chinese prime minister, visited Cambridge University some months ago, a German student threw a shoe at him, protesting against Chinese &ldquo;dictatorship&rdquo; &mdash; which survives. Nor did the ex-principal who threw a shoe at Naveen Jindal on Friday achieve anything. But Jarnail Singh in Delhi has managed to unseat two Congress candidates for the Lok Sabha polls.

Hit and miss

&ldquo;Two things strike the student of Indian income-tax law with trepidation and amazement &mdash; the precipitate and chronic tinkering with the law by bureaucrats who are the unacknowledged legislators of India, and the anaesthetised patience of the Indian public. The poor of India endure inhuman conditions which would lead to a bloody revolution in any other country.

K Shivakumar: Charities in the dock

Diploma films are a glimpse into the raw creativity of well-known directors.

First cut

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has initiated the following measures to enhance our human asset capabilities:
Long-term police recruitment plan: We have appointed a panel to draw up a Police Recruitment Plan, 2009-2020, in order to assess the growing needs, at the officer level, of all the police forces &mdash; state police forces, Central Police Organisations (CPOs) and Central Para-Military Forces (CPMFs) &mdash; after taking into account the expansion plans

A comprehensive review of VIP/VVIP security needed

The surest way for the enforcement authority to be ineffective is to be high-handed.

Nothing is achieved by Revenue by action to impound Passport

For us, the buck started moving with title searches in the sub-registrar&rsquo;s office &ndash; and anybody who&rsquo;s been there, feels he&rsquo;s seen it all, till you discover the world outside your toadpool. The inspection of municipal and ROC records is a move up the rung.

Due Diligence: Participation of lawyers critical

Earlier articles in this column had highlighted the problem with regard to double taxation of a particular transaction under the indirect tax laws that are prevalent in India today. The central problem is with regard to the taxation of a transaction as both a supply of goods as well as a provision of service, with the tax consequence of both the State VAT and the service tax being applicable thereto.

Double taxation in indirect tax law ? an ongoing problem

It is quite common that foreign companies planning to do business in India set up a liaison office for undertaking promotional work as a prelude to actual commercial activities. A liaison office needs prior approval from Reserve Bank Of India. Since the liaison office is not permitted to do any commercial activities, it is generally taken that the existence of a liaison office will not make any difference in taxability of the foreign company in India.

Does liaison office of a foreign company attract tax in India?

The economists at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) expect the world trade to contract by 9% this year. Their annual assessment predicts the contraction to be severe in developed countries. The developing countries might see a fall in exports by only 2-3 per cent, says their report.

Exports from developing countries may fall only 2-3 per cent

As some 700 million voters head later this week for the first of four voting days, spread out over the next four weeks, the opinion polls conducted by different media houses make a clearly discernible pattern. Virtually every poll puts the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ahead of the Bhartiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the difference in seats won being quite small in all cases. The polls also put the Congress itself slightly ahead of the BJP.

The cocktail, as before?

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