The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, May 11, 2005

Ploughing ahead at the WTO
THE RECENT PARIS meeting of some 30 Trade Ministers of major economies has raised new hope for the stalled Doha trade talks on agricultural issues; but it is not celebration time yet. Rather than a full blown agreement on tariffs themselves, they ... More

ECONOMY

Afghanistan — Project Rebuilding
There is peace but quite uneasy, and maintained largely by the international community working in Afghanistan, the International Security Allied Forces and the US military forces. The task of re-building the country has begun, but the progress is slo w. Everyone, especially the World Bank and friendly neighbours like India, is doing a bit, but much depends on the peace holding, says Rasheeda Bhagat. More

Economic rationale of Statehood for Pondicherry
THE Union Territory of Pondicherry (UTP) was liberated from French rule in 1954 (de facto merger) and was annexed with the Indian Union in 1962 (de jure merger). The UTP has four regions — Pondicherry (headquarters), Karaikal, ... More

POLICY

Alternative medicine
THE Prime Minister, Dr Mamohan Singh, has apparently lent his weight to a proposed reform meant to tone up administrative efficiency and accountability in government by replacing the present system of annual confidential reports (ACR) with ... More

TAXATION

Avoidance of double taxation can't do away with taxation altogether
OUR supreme audit institution, the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (C&AG) has faulted the Finance Ministry for being blind to loopholes in DTAAs that led to havoc in the bourses. Before we zero in on the foreign institutional investors . More

Cash transaction tax — the world view
THE Finance Minister has imposed a tax of 0.1 per cent on withdrawal of cash from banks in excess of Rs 10,000 per day. This excludes savings bank and small current account transactions. Such taxes are not new. Zee Howell of the IMF writes that ... More

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Priority for the small entrepreneur
One needs to look at the Input-Output matrix of the economy to know and prioritise the sectors that are important. What could be done is to limit the concept of the priority sector only to the small entrepreneur, be it in agriculture o r small industry or trade. The big players will have no difficulty in getting credit, whether they are in the priority sector or not. More

LETTERS

US arms sale

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