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Moody's threat hangs like Damocles sword
The Moody's Investors Service has done it again. It has warned the country of a possible downgrade from the lowest investment grade rating of Baa3. Both the Reserve Bank of India and the government have reacted to the news and pointed out the country's economic strength in terms of fundamentals.
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Labour force growth slated to peak
Sitaram Kesri was glib when he talked of providing Rs 500 per month to every unemployed person in the country. Manmohan Singh opposed the proposal on the ground that the fiscal could not take the burden. Another Congress stalwart, Pranab Mukherjee, said that if the election promise was not redeemed, there would be widespread disappointment with the Congress.
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Without autonomy
Despite all the flurry of activity earlier about Navratnas and mini ratnas, there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of the better performing undertakings in the public sector. Managements of these companies do not know whether they will be allowed to acquire a corporate character and function independently of the administrative ministries.
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Tax board's PR bit
The promise by the chairman of CBDT, Ravi Kant, in an interview to this newspaper, of a tax payer-friendly collection machinery seems like a big joke. After all, no tax collector will be seen to be friendly by the person who has to pay. No wonder, a long time ago, Jeane Baptiste Colbert, the prime minister to King Louis XIV, wrote, "the art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers, with the smallest possible amount of hissing".
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In Kashmir, only the people matter
Kashmir means many things to many people. Located in the heart of Asia, with historical links to both South and Central Asia, Kashmir stands surrounded by Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and India. The total area of J&K state is 222,000 sq.km. Of this, the Pakistani area accounts for 78,114 sq.km. Chinese area is 37,555 sq. kms plus another 3,180 sq. km.
Only God can save Cuba
"Ruins would find me unmoved". Good for Horace, but John Paul II cannot afford to remain unmoved by the ruins of faith. And the ruins of Cuba are more than an essay in the loss of faith. They are the remains of a romance, the inevitable residues of a dead revolution. It is to this wreckage that the Pope comes with the gospel of liberation.
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 The Index
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