Opinions and Editorials

The government's one-size-fits-all panacea to ensuring quality in educational institutions has been "control".

The numbers tell us the United States is out of recession. According to the US commerce department, America's GDP grew at an annualised rate of 3.5 per cent in this year's third quarter, following four straight quarters in which it shrank. But it may be too soon to beat the drums and bang the gongs of celebration. There are some questions to be asked first.

It goes well beyond the occasional confessional outburst. Written in the pages of his memoir Andre Agassi has done the nasty by revealing a shocking secret that he guarded for so long. That Agassi, the golden boy of tennis, an eight-time Grand Slam champion, lied about substance abuse in order to escape a ban has come as a shock to most.

What distinguishes the latest chapter in India's volatile land narrative is that it stars the Army. As The Indian Express has been reporting, senior officers appear to be involved in a fraudulent scheme to transfer land in Sukna to a sham educational society. The concerned land is located in the Himalayan foothills in Darjeeling, West Bengal.

Exactly 40 years ago, the first message on what we call the Internet today was transmitted. That transmission, brief as it was, wasn't completed before the system—linking together machines at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute crashed. Only the 'lo' part of the 'log in' went through. Poetic prescience you could argue, given that synecdoche is so triumphant in our times.

Way back in 1999, when the prototype of an indigenous anti-collision device (ACD) was first tested in Goa, Mamata Banerjee was the railways minister.

If there is one place where the licence-permit raj in India continues to flourish, it is in the financial sector, with RBI playing the role of apex arbiter.

RBI had issued draft guidelines for introducing credit default swaps (CDSs) in 2007. Then, the global financial crisis hit, and CDSs were accused of being a primary cause.

Legal reforms in India have long been held up at the desks of status quoist law ministers. Fortunately, M Veerappa Moily seems determined enough to break that mould, at least if the vision document that his ministry prepared and presented to the Chief Justice of India is an indicator. The minister seems to have got his focus areas absolutely right.

The hurdles faced by China's Longian Road and Bridge Ltd company in securing employment visas for its Chinese workers has led to a suspension of work on two important road projects in Himachal Pradesh.

It is hard to believe that much of the debate before RBI's credit policy statement on October 27 centres on whether rates should be hiked or not.

One of the very few unpleasant side-effects of a global economic recovery steadily gaining momentum is the impact that it will have on oil prices.

It has pulled off a double hat-trick, and the Congress combine, therefore, has much reason to celebrate.

It's been said that Microsoft started on the ground while Google was born in the sky. One has also heard Microsoft's founder called PC genius, Internet fool. When Bill Gates released Windows 1.

The Gurgaon-Manesar belt on the outskirts of Delhi, in Haryana, is the biggest hub of automobile manufacturing—particularly auto components—in India.

Long before the knights come trotting in their shining amour, all maidens in waiting bide their time building careers, getting along in life and dreaming about their perfect wedding day. A girl who denies this fantasy is either in denial or not being true to herself. It's all part and parcel of the pink fuzzy Cinderella candyfloss we are fed while growing up.

The latest joust rousing Wall Street features a South Asia-born vs South Asia-born. Arrested in a case of insider trading, billionaire manager of the Galleon hedge fund Raj Rajaratnam holds both US and Sri Lankan citizenships.

At a time when the US is mulling increasing the boots on the ground by sending additional troops to Afghanistan - and Gordon Brown is urging a restive Britain to stay the course - despite plummeting support back home, a Nato air strike in Afghanistan's Kunduz province has killed scores of civilians.

The neighbourhood watch is bringing in strange news. The Army reports that in July, the Chinese carpet-bombed Indian soil with tinned food. A mistake, apparently - no one really knows where the border is supposed to be. And meanwhile, on our other border, the Pakistanis are in the throes of a change of guard that's as quaintly archaic as the one at Buckingham Palace.

Despite his huge popularity and iron grip over Andhra Pradesh, Y.S.R. Reddy was probably not known that well beyond the confines of his own state. But the man, who defied skeptics and the dares of anti-incumbency to deliver 33 Lok Sabha seats in this election, may have ironically preferred it that way. It's this that made YSR an unusual politician for his times.