-The Indian Express Conspiracy theories are a handy standby when one wants to avoid the effort of critical thinking. So Tavleen Singh would rather rely on “the foreign hand” — that old bogey out of Indira Gandhi’s box of tricks — than examine facts that reveal uncomfortable truths. Lamenting the closure of the Vedanta aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh, Orissa (‘Why India could remain forever’, IE, September 30), Singh asserts that, if...

-The Telegraph New Delhi/Ranchi, Sept. 20: Land reforms and revenue minister Mathura Prasad Mahto today accused Bihar government of not handing over 82,000 land maps of 32,615 villages in Jharkhand even though the new state was carved out in 2000. At the state revenue ministers’ conference titled Modernisation of Land Records, Mahto, in the presence of Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh, said Jharkhand had taken up the issue with Bihar...

-The Times of India For the first time in the history of Indian automobiles, cumulative sales of utility vehicles (UVs) have overtaken those of sedans - all three-box cars, from the entry-level to the super-luxury segment - in the first five months of the fiscal year 2012-13. New launches such as the Mahindra XUV500, Maruti's Ertiga and Renault's Duster pulled in buyers still looking to benefit from the huge price differential...

-Outlook Partha S. Bhattacharya, who was the chairman and managing director of Coal India Ltd (CIL) between 2006 and 2011, is credited with turning around the PSU. He spoke to Arindam Mukherjee on the heat and Dust generated by the CAG report on allocation of coal blocks to private players. Excerpts: * Should the government allow the private sector into coal mining? There is plenty of coal for everyone. We are, at the...

-The Independent Drought is good for business, says Glencore chief The United Nations, aid agencies and the British Government have lined up to attack the world's largest commodities trading company, Glencore, after it described the current global food crisis and soaring world prices as a "good" business opportunity. With the US experiencing a rerun of the drought "Dust Bowl" days of the 1930s and Russia suffering a similar food crisis that could see...