The Hindu Business Line : Monday, May 19, 2003

Long overdue reforms
THERE has been an endless stream of reports on variations of the theme of corporate governance from all directions. Whether this is to be taken as a sign of reassurance or regression is uncertain, especially in the absence of any precise way ... More

WIDE CANVAS

Equality in the workplace
IN RECENT times, the fate of the Women's Representation Bill has shown very clearly indeed that, in India at least, in the field of politics, gender discrimination is not only rampant but is also encouraged and protected by powerful political ... More

ON THE MOVE

To carry more, cost effectively...
Railways must raise axle load
THE world's heaviest and longest freight train runs in Australia. With a payload of 82,000 tonnes and gross load of 99,734 tonnes, the train is formed of 682 wagons, hauled by eight 6000 hp diesel locomotives. The 7.2- km train transfers ... More

A RINGSIDE VIEW

Market makers appear to be gung-ho
The known "tech bulls" are somewhat on the defensive these days, but the new avatars are active in bank and auto ancillary sectors with fresh value propositions. Apart from these sectors, interest seemed to have spread to textiles and power sector co unters. More

MUTUAL CONFIDENCE

Be alert in choosing distributors
BANKS have lately acquired a unique status in the realm of mutual funds. One, they have become very large investors themselves. Two, some of them are major distributors of financial products, chiefly MFs and insurance. Every year banks in India ... More

GLOBAL MONITOR

Weak dollar pushes gold up further
CONTINUING its northward journey of last few weeks, gold established itself above $350 an ounce last week, helped mainly by downward pressure on the US dollar. After a disappointing price performance sparked profit-taking selling pressure ... More

ADR WATCH

Wipro hits 52-week low
AIDED by good sales figures from Cisco Systems Inc, the upbeat mood at the US bourses got further fillip on hopes that corporates will announce increased profits and the economy will revive. The confidence lifted the Standard & Poor's 500 Index ... More

VISION 2020

Empowering every vote
Giving people as many votes as contestants and allowing them to indicate the acceptability or otherwise of each, alienation of any group leads to a double penalty for the candidates: Not only are their votes lost, an equal number of favourable votes, obtained from one's own supporters, are negated. That way, opposition votes are no longer nullified. They become potent. P. V. Indiresan lists the benefits of such a reform of electoral process. More

SAY CHEEK

Of bean-byters and online moms
A Web site offers everybody a chance to be an `online mom'. For practical reasons, perhaps it is difficult to be an `online pop', but this `mom magic' is `very simple' and there are tax benefits under Sec 80G. `Just 4 small steps and you can make a b ig difference,' it begins. More

STOCKS TO WATCH

Thomas Cook: Waiting on the wings?
After some battering over the past few months, the share price of the company has seen some signs of stability in the recent days. With the board meeting for half-year results slated to be held on May 22, the stock could continue to ... More

ERRORS & OMISSIONS EXPECTED

Of Ranis, quality and paperweights
RESPONDING to "Quo vadis, Queen Mary's College", a senior citizen wonders if we have a patriot in Rani Mangamma, after whom the institution can be named, and as if by coincidence the abbreviation may still remain valid. There is more mail in the ... More

RANDOM WALK

Don't ignore the power of FLOSS
Kerala has long looked with envy at Karnataka's prowess in IT. It can certainly learn a thing or two from the creative and unprejudiced manner in which Karnataka advocates the use of IT. More

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS

Cotton futures may head north
NYCE cotton futures closed strongly higher on Friday on trade and speculative buying. However, trade selling continues to be strong on every up move. Prices sank to two- month lows on fears of cancellations by China because of a flu-like viral ... More

AMERICAN PERISCOPE

Reversing the effect of sanctions
Calling sanctions a valuable tool `between words and war', a recent report released by the University of Uppsala in Sweden argues that their targets need to be clear and limited so that civilians are spared the punishment. More

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