What we need is some informed debate on what is India's best interest at this particular stage instead of going for a wholesale import of an American system that could prove ineffectual.

He is truly fascinated with advances in science related to computing. And he has a good eye for seeing how those advances can be integrated together in powerful ways in a combination of software and hardware, says Steve Hamm.

The IPL league games threw up many surprises. Very few expected Rajasthan Royals to be the best team (and now a finalist); nobody expected the Deccan Chargers to do so badly. We'll discuss each team's performance, and identify the five best and three most disappointing players. While doing so we shall italicize what appear to be key pointers.

'Food grain availability for India's poorest is now approaching levels that haven't been seen since the British left. This has everything, sadly, to do with the rapacity of India's elites,' says Raj Patel, author, Stuffed and Starved.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that they are an opaque and hugely inadequate response to the current problem of sustained increases (over the last five years) in global oil prices.

A little over four years ago, when Ashish Kapur quit his job as an engineer with GE, packed his bags and came back home from America

Wishful thinking often masquerades as assessment. Iran should not be different. Driven by short term gains, India is rolling out red carpet welcome to Ahmadinejad.

Tashan is a lavishly-told fairy tale of three con-men, which emphasises on swagger not purpose and settles for style over substance. But if you aren't looking for the latter, Tashan is all-revelry.

However, for those investors, who are simply looking at earning a return inline with the markets, index funds are great.

Data for more than 100 countries over 47 years shows little sign that currency appreciation causes a dent in inflation levels.

Farmers of Punjab are not celebrating the farm loan waiver yet, viewing the loan waiver as a 'temporary crisis management measure' by political parties ahead of an impending election. Going by National Sample Survey Organisation's (NSSO) figures, every farmer household in India was having an average outstanding loan of Rs 1,258. In Punjab, it was the highest at Rs 41,576 (December 03 figures). The recovery rate of institutional loan in Punjab was 85%, highest in the country.

TIOL has come to know that in a path-breaking judicial decision, the Commissioner of Income Tax (Appeals) handling international taxation cases in Delhi has held that the Gracemac Corporation, a 100% subsidiary of Microsoft which had in 1999 granted proprietary and ownership right in license and in intellectual property of Microsoft software and hardware products, is liable to pay income tax on its gross royalty income earned out of licensing of software to Indian customers.

Rajeev Srinivasan on how the Congress lost Tibet.

The innovations of the $2,500 car carry important lessons for Western executives

The move was initiated by National Knowledge Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda as an incentive to encourage innovation, collaboration, licensing and commercialisation in Indian institutes. The matter is before the Cabinet and will shortly be moved to Parliament for approval, according to a source close to the development. The law will be on the lines of the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act of America.

Under the slogan "Fakes cost more", the European Union is to throw its weight behind a global campaign against counterfeiting. A rare Ferrari and kung-fu-kicking monks will help launch the drive in Brussels on Monday. Jose Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, is to open a counterfeiting summit attended by businesses, charities and campaign groups

When green house gas emissions began to shoot through the roof an innovative solution was found by introducing the concept of carbon credits. If you pollute you have to buy carbon credits which add to the company's operational expenses or cut emissions and create carbon credits that can be sold.

With Chitiram Pesuthadi, Mysskin announced his arrival as a name to reckon with.

This is the year for the rat to invent his/her own style.

We may not have resolved all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle, but we have defined the boundary -- the edges are known, says Ajit Dayal.

Forget everything you think you know about India. This is Kochi, the southern coast's sybaritic retreat. Tad Friend explores lush backwaters, dabbles in local cooking, and expands his mind through the ayurvedic treatment sirodhara.

The best in museum dining. Here, even the food is a work of art.

"Higher the number of creative minds, the faster India will transform into a developed nation," the former President told participants of "Imagine and Innovate", a contest for teens organised by the CII in Chennai.

He's very gracious when all is well, like when he is winning. But he's prone to jump in fright when someone stands up to him.

Renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr Pramod Karan Sethi, whose invention of artificial limb 'Jaipur foot' was a durable hero of medicine in helping lakhs of amputees around the world lead a normal life again, died of cardiac arrest in Jaipur on Sunday.

Rediff Business presents the TCS Smart Manager Case Contest # 31 for managers, along with The Smart Manager, the management magazine! We give you a profile and the history of a company. All you have to do is study it and post your solution by clicking here, in 500 words or less.

Even as a lack of clarity in regulations is preventing Indian medical device manufacturers from making their presence felt in the $2 billion domestic medical equipment market, foreign players, mostly from the United States, are increasingly finding the country a preferred destination.

India's Ratan Tata aims to transform his once-stodgy conglomerate into a global powerhouse. But can it thrive after he steps down?

What in a few years will be India's largest shopping mall today is a kilometre-long, three-storey deep hole in the earth marked with a billboard the size of a tennis court.

Forget shuffleboard and croquet. With Americans living longer, a growing number of people are embarking on entrepreneurial second careers -- well into their 80s. So what are the real secrets to longevity, in business and in life?

Of late, a new class of hoardings has sprung up. One that brings together the best of political opportunism and the many benefits of information technology.

In a first of its kind initiative and available only in Kolkata, mobile services provider Vodafone Essar, has launched the 'Sambhav' prepaid card, targeted at customers with hearing and speech disability.Available at Rs 151, the prepaid Sambhav card will enable the hearing impaired to communicate effectively using a cellphone. The card enables customers with hearing and speech disability to use mobile phones primarily for sending SMSes.

In conversation with Anil Mehta, the cinematographer turn director.

Harold Sirkin of Boston Consulting says rapidly developing economies, once content to copy and improve, are institutionalizing new thinking.

Mutual funds and ulips are two very different investment instruments. Before investing, please understand the product your are putting you money in very well, says Rahul Goel.

Companies are running projects for children, but the scattered nature of these makes them drops in an ocean of need. These efforts are earning the companies brownie points, but they do not help reduce the problems for India's children, whether it is in education or health-care. For no one is willing to put two and two together and scale up efforts.

The IIT-Bombay graduate has earned a name for himself in the world of aerospace engineering thanks to his out-of-the-box ideas.

The focus at TiE, Hyderabad is to nurture and guide the next generation of business leaders. Our objective is to showcase the TiE-ISB Connect as the most preferred hub of all innovative entrepreneurial activity.

Some of the strongest labor market demand is for workers in skilled trades.

What you need is a methodology for breakthrough management thinking. While innovation can never be entirely scripted, it is possible to increase the odds of a "eureka" moment by assembling the right ingredients. In the case of management innovation, these ingredients include: