Opinions and Editorials

Can we please decide on the direction we want the mutual fund industry to take? An industry that, till a mere year ago, was considered the entry vehicle into the stock markets is, in the year 2010, just not in a position to serve investors at all.

BT brinjal The CPI(M) is of the view that the most important concern which relates to control of GM (genetically modified) technologies such as Bt brinjal, just barred from cultivation by Jairam Ramesh, is being deliberately underplayed.

Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh's decision to advance the government's verdict on the commercial release of Bt brinjal to Tuesday evening was as abrupt as it was baffling.

When the war against the LTTE concluded there was little indication of what would follow, over the next few months, in Sri Lankan politics.

Helmand Offensive The original idea behind the American military surge was to notch up a few victories on the ground, regain control of critical districts in the south and east of Afghanistan, and negotiate with the Taliban from a position of strength.

Advance estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation show GDP growth of 7.2 per cent in 2009-10. This is good news.

The recent announcement about training a cadre of medical practitioners for rural healthcare is a landmark decision, not because it is a novel idea, but because it is being promoted by the Medical Council of India (MCI).

The government has cut a bit of sorry figure having had to bail out the Rs 8,286-crore NTPC follow-on issue.

Dayanidhi Maran took over the textile ministry when the sector was facing a crisis. But with 'Maran's new mantra' (FE, Feb 3) luring global textile companies with 'sell from India' policy he is making a turnaround and wants to make India the pivot of Asian, African and East European sales.

Last weekend's meeting of the finance ministers and central bankers of the G-7 group of countries in the exotic Arctic Canadian venue of Iqaluit flattered to deceive jittery investors who are on the edge due to sovereign default alarms in southern eurozone states.

On Monday, environment minister Jairam Ramesh had said that he would bear in mind the interests of consumers and producers, the protection of bio-diversity and limiting the use of pesticides before he took a decision on whether to allow the commercial cultivation of Bt brinjal in India.

No planning, please At a recent meeting of the railways with industry, a senior official from Planning Commission apparently offered the expertise of the Commission on public-private partnership to the ministry.

The judgement day for the pest-resistant genetically modified Bt brinjal technology finally arrived on Tuesday.

This study* addresses three interrelated issues linked to the NREGS—the targeting aspect, the efficiency aspect and the impact aspect.

The print media, it would seem, has a great future in India.

NREG, which has just completed four years in existence, was universally hailed as making a difference to the remnants of the ossified social structure of India's villages.

While the Indian IT-BPO industry has achieved the milestone of $50 billion in exports by 2009, the next milestone, to touch $175 billion by 2020, will be more challenging.

Sarah Wolff, Forbes.com
What is the point of a biennial art show, other than giving people the chance to use the word "biennial," which makes them sound vaguely sophisticated? For curators, it is a practical way to expose the public to new talent.

David Malpass and Eric Singer, Forbes.com
Early last week the administration unveiled its new $3.8 trillion budget. This budget, and the spending it assumes, is so reckless it is difficult to fathom. It projects a deficit of $1.6 trillion for fiscal 2010, with an explosion of publicly traded government debt to $18.5 trillion by 2020.