Opinions and Editorials

Brazil and Peru had in 2007 proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that biofuels and organic foods be classified as "environmental goods," thereby qualifying the two countries for deep tariff cuts.

Peter KaesarVice President Sales, Rado
Ceramics and watches don't usually gel. Yet Swiss watch company Rado has carved out a niche for itself in making high-tech ceramic watches, and indeed other scratch-proof materials. And to present the brand's new collection, Ceramica XZ Colors in India was the global vice president, sales, Peter Kaesar.

It is gratifying that some renowned, though long retired, scientists have joined forces to have their voice heard on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Be suspicious about extra regulation. That thumb rule would certainly seem to apply to the government's bright idea of creating a National Biotechnology Regulatory Authority (NBRA). There's already a regulator, the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC). GEAC, which meets every month, and is a single-window clearance system for genetically modified products.

By now India should have been in the middle of restructuring social security. But look where we are stuck. The pension Bill that allows some measure of employee choice on post-employment financial security is rotting. And Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is in a rut.

The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), launched in April 2005, has augmented government resources for the health sector.

In his article ('Target practice', June 27), Dhiraj Nayyar has well said that an economic crisis is often the best time to implement major policy changes.

The time has come to return to fundamentals. There is understandable perplexity as to why the price of crude oil has jumped from around $80/barrel in February this year to close to $140/barrel today. Demand has certainly not shot up and there have been no significant interruptions in supply.

Can past nuclear explosions advance art history?A former curator from the State Russian Museum in St Petersburg believes they can.

Observing how people are responding now to higher fuel prices gives us some idea about how people will respond to a price on carbon under an emissions trading scheme.

Financial immaturity in India is perhaps best exemplified in its government bond and corporate bond markets.

The world may be facing its first steel shortage in decades and it must be frustrating for the Indian steel industry—the government has adopted a policy to force down prices of steel artificially.

Goldman Sachs makes three unusual points ('The I in BRIC', June 23) while suggesting 10 things that India needs to do to become an economic superpower by 2050. But all the 10 points are being implemented in one way or the other by the central and state governments with varying degree of success.

The European Union is back at the intensive care unit. This is how many feel after Ireland rejected its latest treaty by referendum by a resounding 53.4% "No".

When Michael Spence, chairman of the Commission on Growth and Development got his Nobel Prize in 2001 for work on the informational structure of markets, he was asked by a journalist whether it was true that he could be awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for simply noticing that there are markets in which certain participants do not know certain things that others in the market do know.

Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, has been calling for the creation of a "League of Democracies." This new international group would possess a formidable military capacity, based partly on NATO and partly on a "new quadrilateral security partnership" in the Pacific between Australia, India, Japan and the US.

Michael SerenaManaging DirectorTBM consulting group In the last 10 weeks, Michael Serena, managing director, business development, TBM, has visited India several times.

Congressmen nervous about elections should concede that if they do badly, reforms can't be blamed. They haven't done any reform. Indeed, in every government since Rajiv Gandhi's, which had started what can be called proto-reforms, the zeal to change has had a short shelf life. Usually, adverse assembly election results killed the urge for change.

The financial sector globally is passing through a challenging phase. In India, RBI is in the forefront of tackling inflation through prudent & well moderated monetary policies.