The audience, organisers, and fightersknow that sham wrestling is not to betaken seriously. But the World Economic Forum takes itself seriously. The comforting thing about the sham wrestling ‘championships' on television is that everybody knows they are a farce. Steroid-stuffed Cro-Magnons stomp the living daylights out of painkiller-primed Neanderthals. Good, unclean fun. The results are safely predictable. You should expect the 600-pound gorilla to overwhelm the 900-pound one in a staggering...

Recent events in south Asia have led to an unexpected reversal in the narrative of microfinance, long presented as a development success. Despite charges of poor treatment of clients, exaggeration of the impact on the poorest as well as the risks of credit bubbles, the sector can play a non-negligible role in reaching financial services to low-income households. In regulating the sector, there is need for caution in setting interest...

-The Times of India   The court orders directing Times Now to deposit Rs 100 crore as a precondition for appeal in a defamation case involving Justice P B Sawant appears to have become a rallying point for the media, both electronic and print. On Friday, three top media organizations joined two journalist bodies, Editors' Guild of India and Foundation of Media Professionals, to stress that such orders pose a threat to the...

-IANS Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni on Thursday defended Press Council of India chairman Justice Markandey Katju for initiating a debate on whether to have a regulatory body and asked self-regulatory bodies in the broadcast sector to expand their membership so that they become more effective. Soni also urged advertisers not to create ads which offended the sensibilities of viewers. Increasing the membership of self-regulatory bodies would ensure the proactive and...

In this Idea Exchange moderated by Senior Editor Archna Shukla, I&B minister Ambika Soni speaks about self-regulation by the media, empowering the Press Council of India and the Congress party’s stand on corruption Archna Shukla: There is a growing perception that the government is unhappy with media criticism. The editor of a leading English daily publicly claimed that government advertisements have been stopped to his publication. Is the government being vindictive? I have...