Saturday, 29 January 2005, 2000 hrs

TOP STORIES
Coastline security plan
gets cabinet approval 
The government on Friday approved a Rs 742 crore scheme for maritime security. The plan will enhance patrolling and surveillance in the coastal areas

BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Budget may cut corporate tax
The government is actively considering a series of fiscal reforms in this year’s Budget (2005-06), including a possible reduction in corporate income tax rates to 30 per cent from the existing level of 35 per cent    

Asia Times
Accelerated corruption,
a trickle of irrigation 
In its eagerness to provide more Central funding for large irrigation projects, the government is overlooking an important fact - that the proposed mechanism for this funding has been severely indicted for corruption by the CAG. HIMANSHU UPADHYAYA offers a few examples.

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Pioneer
Politics of families
'Family' control takes precedence over merit, ability and political acumen. It is strange that while the Indian political scenario heads towards coalition politics and diffused power bases, the individual units within coalitions opt for a supreme leader surrounded by his relatives-wife, son, daughter, son-in-law, brother, uncle or aunt, rues ARUN NEHRU

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Asia Times
Multinationals 'dance with Myanmar devil' Nearly 450 multinational companies, including Rolls-Royce and GlaxoSmithKline, are being charged by a leading trade union movement of having business links in military-ruled Myanmar, where business entails a "dance with the devil".

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The Hindu
Open to all interests, subject to none
News must be political and commercial. A newspaper must be open to all interests but subject to none. It must give due respect to advertising. When you realise that there was a spelling mistake in the title, and lots of Calcutta gossip on the pages of India's first paper, then all the components of a modern newspaper may be found in the path-breaker. What is a newspaper without a typo, asks M J AKBAR on Indian Newspaper Day

TOP PICKS

OPINION


Badlands of Bihar (Hindu)
Towards a global warning system (Hindu)
Qualified gains against terror (Pioneer)
VAT gets going (Tribune)
Rebel talks: setback in Andhra (Tribune)
Fake encounters