The year gone by saw the high and mighty of the corporate world face the music in the Delhi High Court which held that the telecom majors are amenable to CAG audit and Mukesh Ambani's RIL struggling hard to get rid of an FIR lodged on gas pricing by the 49-day-old AAP regime.
The first 100 days of any government should be a period when it is allowed to get its act together, with no media pressure for faster, higher, says Indira Jayaraman.
Two decisions handed down by the Supreme Court have spread gloom in Kerala as they have shaken two basic faiths of a majority of the people in the state, says T P Sreenivasan.
'Two days notice for the Janata Curfew.' 'Two-and-a-half days notice for lighting candles, but a mere four-hour notice for the lockdown without taking state governments into confidence.'
'Some in the Congress believe the party should, somewhat brazenly, claim the cause of fighting corruption as its own. But the Congress's idea of fighting corruption is nothing but tinkering with laws, it lacks the stomach to take on the corrupt,' feels T V R Shenoy.
'(Upper caste) leaders talk against the Constitution, reservations and the nation and still get away.'
Database to contain taxable financial transactions and history of any tax-paying individual.
The court said a 'scam was created when there was none'.
'The three tycoons I deal with in the first chapter -- Ambani, Mallya and Adani -- in their own way represent the change that has come over India.' 'Of the three of them, Mallya is the most fun. He was terrific.' 'And I don't say that because I tell the story in the book of his golden toilet.'
'Sonia Gandhi can't rejuvenate the party, her heir is fodder for stand-up comedians, and nobody in the Congress has the guts to question the Nehru-Gandhis.'
By castigating the reforms themselves because of the remediable and reversible defaults here and there in carrying them out, Yashwant Sinha is throwing out the baby along with the bath water, says B S Raghavan.
Even as several trains have more than 200 waitlisted passengers every day, running some trains with so many vacant seats is a criminal waste of scarce resource.
On the pricing issue, Eric Trappier said that the present aircraft are cheaper by 9 per cent.
Ramesh says that since the attitude of the Narendra Modi government is deliberately provocative and confrontational, it should not expect cooperation from the Congress.
NDA's energy plan powered UP win, but it's not a winner yet. Centre has claimed to have saved money by targeted coverage but critics say the system is not yet foolproof.
The imapsse continues over issues like bank scams and special status demand for Andhra Pradesh.
One of the urgent tasks ahead for the new government should be to improve public trust in the executive.
For successive governments the Election Commission remains a 'holy cow', where unhealthy precedents are allowed to be nurtured since Independence, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Will anybody want a servant that who is on vacation when needed at home? And nobody knows where he is," he continued.
Despite their promised and announced reduction in power prices, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government may want keep the issue on the burner for sometime longer, since none of the concerned players are ready to give an inch, and seem raring for a fight, says Upasna Pandey
It is time to take the sainthood away from Dr Manmohan Singh, says Sudhir Bisht.
The Supreme Court imposed a green tax on trucks destined for other states but wanting to take a shorter route through Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the vote of thanks to the President's speech on the opening day of the Budget session.
Kerala is one state where the Congress may do well in the general election and it where Rahul Gandhi has demonstrated why he is serious about rebuilding his party, says T V R Shenoy.
'It is a concocted letter and we suspect the IB (Intelligence Bureau) to be behind this game.' 'All the investigation agencies should have quietly gone about finding more about this alleged plot to kill the prime minister.' 'Why are you leaking such a letter that reveals the plot to the press as well as to BJP spokespersons?'
'Good politics is not just staying in power. You cannot sacrifice everything at the altar of trying to ensure the coalition remains in power.'
Shaken by Justice RM Lodha committee's recommended reforms of its governance structure, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has decided to call a Special General Meeting (SGM) within the next two weeks to discuss the implications of the report.
Non-Congressism is the answer to India's current difficulties, says Dr Shambhu Shrivastava, who gives a historical perspective of non-Congress experiments in 1967, 1977, 1989 and 1998.
From France to Canada, from Japan to South Korea, all of Modi's barbs came in front of an NRI audience. Over the last one year, with 19 foreign visits, Modi has tried to use diplomacy as a PR event and foreign policy as a means to shore up his image back at home, says Shehzad Poonawalla.
Every demand of the armed forces remains essentially anchored to 1964 and its fulfilment or otherwise largely a function of money availability
The fragmentation of politics and the pressures of coalition management have contributed to a near-secular rise in budgetary social expenditures and spending on subsidies since 1991, leaving little fiscal space for government-led capital investment.
Any delay in passing the coal bill may cause a crisis in the coal sector which would also affect the power sector.
Former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit may not be contesting the assembly polls, but she is very much in the thick of preparations for the Congress. Dikshit tells Kavita Chowdhury that she is not interested in any post in Delhi politics but does not rule out a role at the national level in the future.
In the matter pertaining to acquisition of AgustaWestland helicopters, the undisputed central issue that stands out is corruption, especially bribery, the statement said.
'Overlying his idealism was a hatred of war and of all things military. He gave no deep thought to politico-military matters and this prevented him from making sound security decisions.'
'Public sector banks are like an extended arm of the government.' 'They rush to rescue certain sectors or they rush to invest in certain sectors to prop up the economy which the private banks don't.'
The horrific disaster that has struck Uttrakhand has been assessed as a mix of natural and man-made. In fact, the various media analyses indicate we were asking for it and there were enough warnings and indications that this would happen, says Lt Gen (retd) Prakash Katoch.
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The power of a nation is directly related to the revenues it realises from its citizens. But India loses a gargantuan Rs 5.8 lakh crore, as the IT department drags its feet over recovering uncollected taxes in time or holding up files in appeal cases, says Mohan Guruswamy.
The Supreme Court-appointed Lodha Committee on Monday recommended sweeping reforms for the controversy-ridden Board of Control for Cricket in India, suggesting a bar on ministers from occupying positions, putting a cap on the age and tenure of the office-bearers and legalising betting.
'The Chennai floods in particular clearly show there is a nexus between corruption, disaster, destruction and death.' 'Urban development in India is the source of all corruption.'
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