Economy
Taming of the monetary hawks
THE former RBI Deputy Governor, Dr S. S. Tarapore, confesses in his new book, Monetary Management and Institutional Reforms, of being labelled a ``primordial monetary hawk''. Dr Tarapore ranks high on the list of outstanding monetary economists who can s peak and write on the subject with authority and with insight into policy formulation. Hence, his five essays -- on monetary and fiscal policy, banking reforms and the non-banking segments, and developments in the external sector -- should evoke much int erest among analysts of the contemporary economic scene.

Financing the Tenth Plan: A conundrum
THE Planning Commission has taken another plunge in opting for an eight per cent GDP growth in the Tenth Plan period (2002-07), in the midst of a looming fiscal crisis that would be even more difficult to grapple with than the 1991 crisis. Fiscal adjustm ent of the early 1990s could not be sustained at the same pace in the latter half of the decade that ended with a combined deficit of the Centre and States at 10 per cent of GDP.

Editorial
A boost for tea
THERE ARE CLEAR pointers that the Centre and even some of the State governments are in a mood to concede the genuine demands of the tea industry which is facing competitive pressures with the removal of quantitative restrictions on imports as obliged und er the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. At the 118th AGM of Indian Tea Association in Kolkata on Wednesday, while the Union Commerce Secretary, Mr Prabir Sengupta, offered the industry support from the Centre's Market Development Assistance (MDA) Scheme to tap new outmarkets and strengthen the presence of Indian tea in countries where it is already doing reasonably well, the Tea Board Chairman, Mr Naba Kumar Das, agreed to consider the industry's demand for soft loans to instal new orthodox machines that w ill help raise the output of this grade which enjoys a fairly strong demand in several countries.

Miscellaneous
Charitable choice
THAT is the name given to a programme by which the US President, Mr George Bush, sets much store and for which he is going all out to get financial allocation from the US Congress.

Mutual Funds
US-64: Big Daddy throws in the towel
WE MUST doff a hat at the Big Daddy of the mutual fund industry, the Unit Trust of India (UTI). On the day the bourses gave up badla (exchange), the grand old fund unleashed its version of badla (revenge) on the hapless investor. It chose to do what no m utual fund can ever dream of doing -- traffic-jam a flagship scheme.

Politics
Will summit mean better trade?
IT IS understandable that New Delhi could not have continued with a rigid attitude towards Islamabad for long. It is also understandable that India could not have kept the door permanently shut when Gen Pervez Musharraf came knocking. But what cannot be understood is why the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had to go overboard in welcoming Pakistan's Chief Executive when he was donning a sherwani over the khaki. Mr Vajpayee should not have gone out of his way to greet Gen Musharraf as ``Mr Presi dent'' several hours before he appointed himself to that position. Even Gen Musharraf had to point out to him that he was not President. Should New Delhi have gone to the extent of requesting the President, Mr K. R. Narayanan, to send greetings to Gen Mu sharraf on the assumption of the presidentship? The presence of India's acting High Commissioner at Gen Musharraf's oath-taking ceremony would have been enough.

Page One | Index | Home