It is presumed that the industrial development in Bihar is hampered by lack of investments. Is it because of 'unproductive' government policies or an unpredictable law and order situation? And how to increase the flow of investment in the state? In order to find out answers to all such questions and debate these issues, Business Standard Hindi recently organised a roundtable in Patna. The seminar was attended by various small...

There is a ray of hope for the revival of the much-delayed mega steel plant project of South Korean giant Posco following the final forest clearance accorded to it by the Union government. Posco India general manager (external relations) Simanta Mohanty told The Telegraph: “The Union environment and forest ministry has recently accorded the stage-II approval for the forest land required for our Orissa project. We are ready to start construction...

The novelist and critic, C.S. Lewis, said he had no time for those who thought that since they had read a book once, they had no need to read it again. The great works of literature were to read again and again. The urge to go back to a book was prompted sometimes by aesthetics, the desire to savour once more its artful or elegant prose; and, at other times,...

Some news is considered more worth publicizing than some other news. This is part of an essential discipline, for otherwise we will remain perennially buried under an avalanche of data, information and gossip. The wheat, never mind the change of metaphor, has to be separated from the chaff. The media perform this task. Occasionally the government of the land helps the media to do the choosing: the authorities have their...

The Delivery Monitoring Unit set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Prime Minister’s Office to monitor the government’s flagship programmes, initiatives and projects has sent babus in a tizzy trying to comply with the tough timelines set by T.K.A. Nair, the Prime Minister’s principal secretary who heads this unit. Naturally, most of the action is in ministries handling "flagship" programmes. Among the ministries which have already posted updates...