The Hindu Business Line : Monday, January 03, 2005

Another dose of freedom
REFORM IN THE aviation sector seems to roll out but slowly. Freeing the airline business from the monopoly of the state-owned carriers and allowing the private airlines full play has not come easily to Government, but the good news is that New ... More

ECONOMY

Analytical review of subsidies: Drawing up an alternative roadmap
IN ITS National Common Minimum Programme (NCMP), the UPA Government had pledged that all subsidies will be targeted sharply at the poor and the truly needy — the small and marginal farmers, farm labour and ... More

An exercise in make-believe
THE Independent South Asia Commission on Poverty Alleviation has done it again. In its second report, the body — set up under the auspices of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) — ... More

POLITICS

Blunkett's exit
THE closing months of 2004 saw the British Home Secretary (same as Home Minister), Mr David Blunkett, and his private office, embroiled in a heated and unsavoury controversy in Parliament and the media over the ... More

STOCKS

Raising returns through overlay strategies
EVALUATING the performance of balanced funds is not easy. It is unfair on portfolio managers to compare such funds with diversified equity funds or an equity benchmark, both of which are fully invested in stocks. It is ... More

SOCIETY & DEVELOPMENT

The `do-good to feel-good' factor
Good business practices also make good business sense. Globalisation has brought this truth closer home. More

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Not ready for greatness
The inability to shed outmoded thoughts is the reason behind the country having taken more than two decades to marginally raise its average economic growth rate from 5.5 per cent to 6.5 per cent despite the potential to sustain double-digit growth ra tes. It is a combination of nationalism deficit and confidence deficit... The country's interests receive little attention and, worse, are even compromised. The billions are so engrossed with their own million mutinies that the mutinies that are bei ng hatched from the outside escape their attention. More

Relief funds: Safeguards must against misuse
In the wake of calamities, any number of public-spirited institutions, voluntary organisations and citizens' groups spring into action to collect money and relief items. There is an obvious need for measures to guard against the misuse and abuse of t he generous and to plug systemic loopholes and enforce stringent supervision. It is also essential to be vigilant against the funds started under private auspices disappearing without a trace, says B. S. Raghavan. More