The leader must lead — and cajole
The controversy between the central and Chhattisgarh governments on the privatisation of the Bharat Aluminium Company has once again brought into sharp public focus the multiplicity of contradictions inherent in the day-to-day functioning of India's federal system.

The lady has her job well cut out
First a word of welcome to Mrs Chokila Iyer as the new foreign secretary (FS), who has begun her innings with fetching dignity and poise. And now a few words of advice to her from someone who as been pounding the cloistered corridors of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for more than 45 years.

SOS -- from women
Lady scribes in Chennai were in for a rude shock recently, when they were `debarred' from attending a press conference for `safety reasons'. Dishnet DSL had arranged a briefing on its $1.25bn undersea optic-fibre cable project. So where is the risk, you may ask? Well, it's like this.

Pre-marital dalliance
Speculation is rife that the UTI Bank-Global Trust Bank (GTB) merger may not go through. The Reserve Bank of India's go-ahead to a fresh valuation of the merger proposal obviously was based on prima facie evidence unearthed by Sebi of price manipulation of GTB's stock ahead of their merger.

Life begins at forty
It's fun to be forty. Who thinks of middle-age blues and mid-life crisis when there is so much to keep you busy and so much to look forward to? The Financial Express enters its fortieth year of publication, being India's first financial daily, young at heart and matured by experience.

Reversal of fortune
Every leader should be allowed one cliche, and this one asserts its right to state an old dictum: cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties. Instances to demonstrate this are legion, but none could possibly be more illustrative than India's victory in the Calcutta Test.