Economy
Power, the lack of it
BARRING the spectre of an imminent hike in petro-goods prices, sensing which the bears have already gripped the country's bourses as is evident from the sharp downslide, September has been a fairly good month for a boost to India's image an
d morale at home and abroad.
Exploding myths of national accounting
Data-keepers, of the nation and the RBI, do not have reliable data of even the industry/corporate sector, leave alone the unorganised activities. There is then the question of treatment and use of the data. All this makes national accounts preparation an
esoteric business.
NSS consumption expenditure estimates -- The choice of reference period
It is reliably learnt that in its 55th Round Survey on household consumption expenditure, conducted during 1999-2000, the National Sample Survey Organisation has canvassed information from every household by both weekly and monthly reference periods. In
this edition of Macroscan, C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh discuss the background to this approach and consider the implications for estimates of consumption expenditure and poverty.
Editorial
No big deal
NOW THAT THE Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee's visit to the US has concluded, it is time for stocktaking, and it must be said that, despite the predictable official protestations to the contrary, nothing much has been achieved. While the Clinton
Administration's undisguised objective was to utilise the visit to garner as much support as it could from the affluent American-Indian community in the run-up to the Presidential election, the Vajpayee Government's unstated target was to create a public
ity wave hoping for a strong fallout on a fragile political scene back home. It is against this background that hyper-emotive statements made by both the sides during the visit will have to be seen: While a senior US Administration official (who is expec
ted to keep his feet more firmly planted in the ground than the effervescent Mr Clinton) is reported to have said that: ``On every issue that matters to Americans in their foreign policy in the 21st Century, India will be an important if not a critical p
layer'', Mr Vajpayee was hopeful of seeing India-US relations ``grow, imbued with new content, greater understanding and enhanced cooperation.''
Fertilisers
Fertiliser subsidy conundrum
IN THE background paper on the Long-Term Fertiliser Policy, the Government noted that farm subsidies in India are much less than those in some of the developed countries. At the same time, it has strongly recommended the need for a ceiling on subsidy to
keep the overall fiscal deficit within manageable limits.
Miscellaneous
Charisma
OUT OF sheer curiosity, I delved into dictionaries and compendiums to trace the origin and growth of the word, charisma. It is derived from the Greek root, kharis, meaning divine gift or grace. Messiahs and prophets were described charismatic. It is an a
nagram evolved by changing the order of the letters in the word, charm. The letters ``i'' and ``s'' were added by medieval monks credited with coining the word. For a long time, the word was restricted to theology and carried a cryptic overtone. Webster'
s third dictionary included it, with the additional meaning, personal magnetism.
Rule of international law makes leap forward
IN AN unprecedented treaty-signing ceremony throughout the three-day UN Millennium Summit, some 40 instruments of international law were signed, ratified, or acceded to by the leaders of at least 85 countries, in an action that significantly a
dvanced the rule of international law.
