Monday, 17 January 2005, 2000 hrs

TOP STORIES
Jaya hardens stand on seer,
denounces BJP position
She says she will not withdraw cases against the Kanchi acharya, and has accused the BJP of trying to rehabilitate itself by politicising the case 


BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Finance Ministry favours
oil sector consolidation 
Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the oil sector would be further opened to competition and duties would be restructured to make oil companies more efficient and bring down fuel costs

Indian Express
Dipping demat changes signal
forward movement 
In the din over Governor Y. Venugopal Reddy’s worries about the quality and quantity of foreign institutional investment, an important announcement by the Securities and Exchange Board of India almost went unnoticed, says SUCHETA DALAL


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Times of India
How thought police states are created
The future of censorship is very bright in India - in media, culture and intellectual life, rues ASHIS NANDY

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Asia Times
Tribals looking down a barrel
in Balochistan
Pakistani authorities blame the renewed trouble in gas-rich Balochistan province on tribal insurgents. The leader of the Bugti tribe, Nawab Akbar Bugti, dismisses these allegations of insurgency, but he tells Syed Saleem Shahzad that he fears the worst because of the Pakistani army's buildup in the strategic and resource-rich region. By SYED SALEEM SHAHZAD

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TOP PICKS

OPINION


Censorship: Cut it out (Times of India)
Sugar price rise (Tribune)
Dual citizenship issues (Tribune)
Cheaper telecom tariff (The Hindu)
Kanchi case: Let court decide (Tribune)
Fake encounters