Banking and Finance
SBI Gold Deposit Scheme -- Not a glimmer of success
THE much-hyped Gold Deposit Scheme of the State Bank of India has failed to take off. Inaugurated by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, on December 14, 2000 in Hyderabad, the scheme was originally born on November 19 at New Delhi
with an aim to bring out unused gold stocks in private possession. These stocks were supposed to be utilised for developmental programmes.
Economy
Vision 2020 -- Plan panel: Making it a think-tank
The Planning Commission can be an effective facilitator and a think-tank only when it is well informed about what is happening inside the government and what is happening in the world at large. That is why it must have full freedom and authority to gathe
r information as desired.
Globalisation and localised clusters
ALL COUNTRIES, irrespective of the category to which they belong, are responding to the paradox that contemporary global markets are being shaped by forces that have opposite effects simultaneously. Technological advances, for example, can bo
th create global scale and destroy the benefits of large scale. How best to respond to the paradox at the national level depends crucially on the size of the national market and the quality of the institutional base.
Editorial
An unkind cut
THE CENTRAL BOARD of Trustees of the Employee Provident Fund Organisation had really no option but to cut the interest rate under the scheme. It could not have been entirely insensitive to the Finance Ministry signals on interest rate, given the veto pow
er the latter enjoys. It could also not have altogether ignored the harsh reality of financial performance of the fund.
Miscellaneous
Duckling to swan
Mr George Bush, as the US Republican presidential candidate, was the butt end of ridicule by the print and electronic media to such an extent as to sow doubts in people's minds about his suitability and effectiveness. Indeed, he was dub
bed a country bumpkin, lacking in gravitas and presidential timbre.
PSU
Governance at a discount
THE Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, Mr Ajit Jogi, has set a record of sorts by inciting workers protesting against the disinvestment of 51 per cent shares in Bharat Aluminium Co Ltd (Balco). In fairness, it must be said that we are familiar with governments
that joined the bandhs called by political parties in their States.
Politics
`World can lose patience with Sri Lanka' -- Mr Paikiasothy Saravamuthu, Exec Director, Centre for Policy Intiatives, Colombo
With a military solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka ``out of the question,'' a dialogue between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan Government was imperative. But this should come before the patience of the international community wears out, says Mr Pai
kiasothy Saravamuthu, Executive Director of the Colombo-based Centre for Policy Alternatives, in an interview to Business Line.
Indonesia's cup of woes
HOW the fortunes of nations change. Indonesia, a country which was not too long ago labelled as a `newly industrialising economy' and an `Asian tiger', is in dire straits. The saying, `it never rains, but pours, whether in affluence or a
dversity,' seems to hold true in Indonesia's case.
How private is `privacy'?
THE tehelka.com affair has thrown up one important question -- is it morally and legally acceptable secretly to film and tape a conversation which at least one of the parties knows to be strictly private and confidential? In fact, a d
emand has already been made that tehelka.com should be hauled up before the courts for `violating' one's privacy, which is an interesting thought no doubt although it is open to the question whether the `right to one's privacy' is a fundamental r
ight, or whether it is protected by the law on other grounds.
