Economy
FDI - opportunities and challenges for India
MERGERS and acquisitions are a major source of FDI inflows. This could mean that the net addition to total physical production capabilities annually is less than that implied by the value of annual FDI flows as most of the additions may well be created b
y simply changing ownership. Also, the 10 largest home countries accounted for nearly 80 per cent of global FDI outflows with divergent trends between the developed and the developing.
EU-Canada WTO patents row
In the capacity of a third party, India has adopted the classic developing-country stand in the course of the EU-Canada patent-protection dispute relating to pharmaceutical products, its focus being on maintenance of the ``systemic balan
ce'' in the TRIPS Agreement between the rights and obligations of the producers of technical knowledge, on the one hand, and the users of that knowledge, on the other, writes Ranabir Ray Choudhury.
Editorial
On right track
THE RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION finally appears to be gearing up to face the challenges of the unprecedented resource crunch, the huge maintenance backlog, the mounting operational costs and the growing competition from the road sector. This is evident from t
he series of proposals it is examining to cut costs, and better manage and commercialise its operations. The prominent among these proposals are the privatisation of the units manufacturing locomotives and coaches and the decision to buy power directly f
rom the National Thermal Power Corporation.
Miscellaneous
Students' woes
ON THE occasion of the 57th death anniversary (March 28) of one of India's greatest freedom fighters, S. Sathyamurti, who kept the British imperial overlords enthralled and squirming with his powerful oratorical sallies against them both in Tamil and Eng
lish, the Madras University Students' Advisory Bureau and the Satyamurti Centre for Democratic Studies, had arranged a colloquium on students' perspectives on national development. It was attended by representatives of the student community and faculty m
embers from a number of colleges.
Moving to Australia
AUSTRALIA is now beginning to look like a ship on a distant horizon. It is slowly steaming towards us and picking up speed. With Mr. Rupert Murdoch and Mr. Kerry Packer here, can the Australian Prime Minister, Mr. John Howard, be far behind? I met a coup
le of political reporters in Canberra who foretold his visit to New Delhi in July this year.
Politics
Businessman Bill
THE US President, Mr. Bill Clinton, devoted 90 per cent of the time spent in India to economics and 10 per cent to Kashmir, Kargil and cross-border terrorism. It was clear from the build-up before that his was primarily a mission to get better terms for
American investors and have freer access to the Indian market. By whatever yardstick the results are measured, Mr. Clinton's was substantially successful. In the days to come, more concessions will be made for American capital and, in the process, the qu
icker ousting of small Indian ventures.
