BUSINESS
Little to offset high defence import costs
Going by the rate at which obligations are being met, by 2024 when Rs 55,000 crore of obligation should be discharged, the actual achievement will likely be only 10 per cent
BUSINESS
Why the promise to continue with MSP must remain verbal
The big change that the northwest farmer in particular will face is far greater openness to market forces as the monopoly of the APMCs will go. The farmer will have to seek out buyers offering better deals and counterparties who can offer contract farming options
BUSINESS
The Green Revolution has run its course. Agriculture markets need to evolve
The agriculture reforms through the farm bills amount to a revolutionary change and nobody likes change which ends a cushy system for the major players
BUSINESS
The right way to take microfinance forward
The good news is that collection has begun to pick up again from August and will do so substantially once the moratorium is over
BUSINESS
Will doorstep banking make state-owned lenders more attractive for privatisation?
If this new service goes off well, then the quality of service public sector banks can offer will take a quantum jump
BUSINESS
Agriculture had a good first quarter, but uncertainties continue to plague the sector
To enable farmers to combat uncertainties, it is essential for India to have a robust system of agricultural insurance
TRENDS
Indian software biggies ride a third wave
Goldman Sachs foresees a third wave which will create a rising tide that will lift all boats, particularly the more robust ones like TCS, Infosys and HCL Technologies
CORONAVIRUS
Covid-19: When experts learn, do they shift the goalposts?
Where the experts strike out along a new route is to downgrade the priority given to widespread testing till now, which it says does not prevent deaths which should be the primary goal
BUSINESS
Supreme Court gets blunt towards an evasive government
What the court is really nudging the government to do is not to put the burden on banks but itself pick up the tab of interest waived for the moratorium period
BUSINESS
Loyalists turned critics put Congress in a flap
The central reality in the Congress party is that there are a set of loyalists who have vociferously insisted on the party being continued to be led by a Gandhi. They owe their positions to their expression of loyalty
BUSINESS
Social security is very much work in progress
The pandemic has underscored the pressing need for passing the Social Security Bill immediately
BUSINESS
Sugarcane should be banished, not pampered
Sugarcane is a water-guzzler, depleting India's water table, apart from being bad for health. Direct and indirect subsidies for sugar production are a waste of scarce public resources
POLITICS
How free should free speech be?
The future of free speech and the need to be responsible while exercising the right to express it have entered uncertain territory
BUSINESS
Indian politics, warts and all, lives in Rajasthan
Help for Gehlot has come from a most unexpected quarter, former chief minister and state BJP leader Vasundhara Raje
BUSINESS
Lotus will not bloom so soon in Washington
The assumption seems to be that US citizens will vote on the basis of race and colour in November
BUSINESS
There should be hope for Asha
Asha workers, who form the backbone of India's public health system in rural areas, have struck work demanding better pay and the legal status of ‘workers’ and not ‘volunteers’ so that they come under the minimum wages law
BUSINESS
National education policy makes the right noises
The big question is: what is the level of resources that a government or a society is willing to contribute towards education
BUSINESS
Unearthing black gold has been notoriously difficult
As the prospects of securing a proper return on financial or real estate investment -- two main stores of value -- have become highly uncertain, people seem to have gone back to gold. Prices in India are at a record high and analysts expect them to go up further
BUSINESS
A shift to more capital-intensive agriculture
While the shift to a more professional farming is desirable, jobs need to be found for marginal farmers and others displaced by it
BUSINESS
Pyrrhic victory for bank employees
The obvious flaw with this kind of a one-size-fits-all agreement is that it does not distinguish between individual employees on the basis of their productivity
BUSINESS
Amul beats the coronavirus pandemic
The solution to the periodic fall in milk prices is for the Anand type of cooperatives to spread their wings across the country.
BUSINESS
Political strife imposes a cost on Rajasthan
Playing politics at a time when all forces should join the fight against the virus is very unfortunate
MARKETS
Disinvestment: Stop whistling in the dark
The plan to privatise some of the banks like Punjab & Sind Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and Bank of Maharashtra is downright outlandish
BUSINESS
Surat faces an existential crisis
With a second wave of migrants fleeing the city, it is high time Gujarat sets its administrative house in order and do what needs to be done to fight the pandemic
