Opinion
Appeal
The legacy of IPA, founded by Nikhil Chakravartty, the doyen of journalism in India, to keep the flag of independent media flying high, is facing the threat of extinction due to the effect of the Covid pandemic. Only an emergency funding can avert such an eventuality. We appeal to all those who believe in the freedom of expression to contribute to this noble cause.Siachen – An Unending Conflict
Opportunityto find a lasting solution by Lt-Gen Harwant Singh (retd) Pakistan’s military appears to have finally realized the futility of continued confrontation with India at the Siachen Glacier. There are perhaps a number of factors which have brought about this change of heart. Cooling of relations with the United...
Inquiry Initiated Into Sukhoi Mishap
The Lohegaon Air Force Station has launched an internal inquiry into Thursday’s incident where a Sukhoi-30 aircraft skidded off the runway affecting flight operations. “We will inquire into the cause behind the incident and determine how such mishaps can be prevented in the future. It was however nothing major...
Bankers Seek Easier Share Sale Norms
MUMBAI: Investment bankers plan to approach the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), for relaxation of rules relating to the the institutional placement programme (IPP) and offer for sale (OFS) to achieve next year’s public shareholding deadline. Bankers will ask Sebi to relax certain norms like the 100...
Telecom Companies Blast Trai Move To Set 2G Base Price Unrealistically High
NEW DELHI: Four years and three months after former telecom minister A Raja gave away pan-India GSM mobile spectrum at R1,658 crore, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday fixed the auction reserve prices for the same spectrum ten times higher. Trai has set a steep reserve...
India May Get Own Version Of Sovereign Wealth Fund
NEW DELHI: The government plans to use disinvestment proceeds to set up its own version of a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) that will team up with state-run companies for acquiring overseas raw material and energy assets. A senior government official said about one-third of the proceeds from sale of...
Sibal: Govt Bent On Pushing Key Reform Bills
NEW DELHI: The ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is to overlook the reservations of some of its allies on economic reforms-related legislation and press ahead in Parliament if it gets an assurance that sections of the opposition will vote with it. So hinted Kapil Sibal, human resource development minister,...
Draft “Muslim Family Law” Is Ready
From L.S. Herdenia BHOPAL: A nation-wide exercise has been launched to empower Muslim women and to protect them from matrimonial excesses, which they have to suffer in the name of Islam and the Quran. These excesses are committed by making a narrow and pro-male interpretation of the Quran. With...
Building Grassroots People’s Movements
By Praful Bidwai The message from the just-concluded congresses of India’s mainstream Left parties, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and Communist Party of India (CPI), is that they are down, not out—despite their stunning election defeats since 2009. They are honest enough to admit they are in decline...
Indian shares end down; Macquarie fund report hurts
Indian shares provisionally ended down 1.82 percent on Monday, after a Reuters report said Macquarie’s Asia hedge fund has exited its short positions in Indian single stock futures in response to proposed tax rules that could lower returns. The benchmark 30-share BSE index provisionally closed 316.31 points lower at...
World Trade Slows Down With Global Growth Slackening
By S. Sethuraman Finance Ministers from over 180 nations re-committed themselves “to act collectively to restore confidence, rekindle growth and create jobs”, at the bi-annual Fund-Bank meetings in Washington (April 20-21) against the backdrop of fragile global recovery, financial stresses in euro-zone posing risks of cross-border spill-overs, high oil...
Finally, Some Reliance Clarity On K-G Reservoir Output Riddle
MUMBAI: If the substantially differing estimates of gas reserves from the joint venture partners in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin off the east coast have been puzzling oil industry watchers, there is now some official confirmation. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), operator of the country’s premier deep water gas acreage, has...
Old Trade Corridor Plan Gets A New Life
NEW DELHI: With the India-Iran gas pipeline and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline scuppered by security concerns, the commerce ministry has fished out a decade-old proposal to link South Asia with Europe by sea, rail and roads. Designed as a trade route spanning Central Asia, the Caucasus and Russia, the unique...
ONGC To Regain Top Profit Slot From RIL
NEW DELHI: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is set to regain its tag of the country’s most profitable company, which it had lost to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) during financial year 2010-11. RIL on Friday declared a net profit of Rs 20,040 crore for the 2011-12, a marginal...
ONGC To Get Six Months More To Drill Raniganj-North Block
NEW DELHI: The oil ministry will grant ONGC another six months to drill the required number of wells and draw plans for producing coal bed methane (CBM) from the Raniganj-north block in West Bengal, which was given to the state-run firm nine years ago. This will be the third...
RIL's Return On Capital On The Decline
MUMBAI: Reliance Industries’ (RIL) fourth quarter results have thrown up numbers that would worry investors. The country’s largest private sector company’s return on capital employed (RoCE) – showing how much a company earns after deploying its capital – has been falling in the past four quarters. It declined from...
Shale Gas Is Profitable Despite Low Gas Prices: RIL
MUMBAI: Reliance Industries’ $3.5 billion investment in shale gas businesses in the US has begun to bear fruit. The company in its quarterly presentation to analysts said shale gas was profitable despite low gas prices. The shale gas revenue in fourth quarter stood at $250 million, while profit after...
Cairn's Rajasthan Block Holds Record Oil Reserve
Cairn India’s Rajasthan block was now estimated to hold a record 7.3 billion barrels of oil reserves that could produce 15 million tonnes of oil, the highest by any field in India, the company said. The crown-jewel Rajasthan block is now estimated to hold discovered and yet to be...
Azure Power Starts Rooftop Solar Power Generation
MUMBAI/AHMEDABAD: Rolling out the first 2.5 Mw project under Gandhinagar Photovoltaic Rooftop Programme, Azure Power has forayed into rooftop solar power generation. A first of its kind in India, the project entails energy from aggregated rooftop portfolio being sold to one off-taker. According to Inderpreet Wadhwa, CEO, Azure Power,...
