Opinion

Nuclear power pipedream

27 Dec 2002 |

Asha Ram Sihag2

| The Hindu Business Line

Nuclear power is back in the news again, with ambitious plans being unveiled for India going full speed ahead on this energy option. India's nuclear energy plan is based on the three-stage nuclear power programme drawn up by Homi Bhabha in 1954.

In defence of Kelkar

19 Nov 2002 |

Asha Ram Sihag2

| The Hindu Business Line

The draft report on direct taxes of the task force headed by Dr Vijay Kelkar has drawn much undeserved and ill-informed criticism. This is unfortunate, as the report presents a coherent vision of a modern and transparent tax regime and administration, which is simple, equitable and treats tax-paying citizens with dignity.

Reading between China's miracle lines

17 Nov 2002 |

Dr R K Pachauri

| The Indian Express

The most remarkable feature of China's growth in the past two decades has been its ability to set course and stay on it against all odds and eventualities.

Chinese vision, Indian blinkers

16 Nov 2002 |

Dr R K Pachauri

| The Indian Express

Now that the Prime Minister has highlighted the reality of India competing with China, this nation must reflect on the nature of this competition. At no stage must we compete with our neighbour in a spirit of confrontation, but essentially on the basis of mutual respect and also with growing bilateral linkages between us.

Reconfirming regulator's legitimacy

07 Nov 2002 |

Dr Syamal Kumar Sarkar

| The Economic Times

Of all the court decisions on infrastructure regulation, perhaps the most significant one in setting at rest the jurisdictional controversy between regulators and the judiciary, is the Supreme Court judgement of 3 October 2002 which has laid down important principles for regulatory governance.

Economics is key to policy on fuel blends

03 Nov 2002 |

Asha Ram Sihag2

Mr R Guruprasad

| The Hindu Business Line

Indian refineries will have to move towards stringent product specifications to meet emission standards. And the Mashelkar Committee has drawn up a roadmap to achieve this. According to it, refineries will have two main technical options for Octane Number improvement, which has to be significantly increased.

Environment protection is big business

20 Oct 2002 |

Mr Sandeep Singh

| The Hindu Business Line

Environment protection is not only about green forests, tigers, blue skies and a handful of NGOs arguing for a noble cause. It is big business. With rapid population growth and the aggressive speed of industrialisation the world over, suppliers of pollution control equipment, cleaner technologies and related services are looking to cater to an enormous and growing market. It has been estimated that the global market in these goods and services is around $550 billion, and is likely to touch $640 billion by 2010, a figure comparable with the size of the pharmaceuticals and information technology industries.

Regulators: Who is better and why?

02 Oct 2002 |

Ms Ekta Bhardwaj

Ms Anjali Garg

| The Hindu Business Line

Is telecom performing better than power? A sharper question: Is the telecommunications regulator performing better than the electricity regulator? Or is the opposite true?

Climate change issues: need for effective communication

02 Oct 2002 |

| TERI Newswire 8(19)

The Eighth Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, CoP-8 for short, begins this week in New Delhi, bringing to the attention of the public once again the complex issues surrounding science, policy, and impacts of global climate change: what is the extent of likely change and how it was estimated; how should the responsibility be apportioned among countries; and what must be done to reduce the adverse impacts of the predicted change.

Hope for a better public transport system?

17 Sep 2002 |

| TERI Newswire 8(18)

Two recent news items came as rays of hope on the literally darkening horizons of the city of Delhi, darkening not because of the progressively shorter days but because of polluted air, which has been attributed mainly to suspended particles from the city's growing fleet of automobiles. The first item was that the Mashelkar committee, which was entrusted with the task of recommending a national policy on fuels for automobiles, submitted its final report to the government last week; the second item also related to a report, which has been prepared by the Department of Transport, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, which outlines measures to make public transport in the city reliable, efficient, and commuter-friendly.