With 22 companies, including two Indian consortia, bidding for an integrated project to develop the two-billion tonnes Hajigak iron ore deposit in Bamiyan province of central Afghanistan, Wahidullah Shahrani, the country&rsquo;s minister of mines, spoke about the giant project to Ajai Shukla in Kabul.

Q&A: Wahidullah Shahrani, Minister for Mines, Afghanistan

Business Standard

Arvind Kejriwal, civil society activist and member of the drafting committee of the Jan Lok Pal Bill, in an interview with Akshat Kaushal, says he is opposed to a weak Lok Pal Bill.

Q&A: Arvind Kejriwal, Civil society activist

The key to addressing the issue of tax evasion and black money is better cooperation internally as well as globally, says Jeffrey Owens, Director, Centre for Tax Policy &amp; Administration, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in an interview with Vrishti Beniwal.

Q&A: Jeffrey Owens, Director, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD

India&rsquo;s growth story is supposed to scale a new high, with annual GDP growth of 9-9.5 per cent during the 12th Plan &mdash; provided skilled development and reforms in the education sector go hand in had.

Q&A: Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission

Housing minister in the previous West Bengal government, Gautam Deb, is credited with creating New Town in Rajarhat or Jyoti Basu Nagar, a planned township spread over 7,000 acres in West Bengal, a state now showing the way for land acquisition agitations. In an interview with Ishita Ayan Dutt, the star campaigner from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) discusses the reasons behind the party&rsquo;s rout and the policies of the new government led by Mamata Banerjee.

Q&A: Gautam Deb, CPI(M) Leader

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) increasing key interest rates for the tenth time since March 2010, the possibility of a slowdown in the Indian economy's short-term growth momentum is becoming increasingly real. However, Robert Subbaraman, Nomura&rsquo;s chief economist for Asia (ex-Japan), in an interview with Devjyot Ghoshal, said lower growth may not necessarily be something bad for India, especially considering the supply-side constraints.

Q&A: Robert Subbaraman, chief economist, Asia (ex-Japan), Nomura

Anna Hazare, who is spearheading an anti-corruption movement, tells Sreelatha Menon that no government can afford to ignore the popular will.

Q&A: Anna Hazare, Social activist

Kerala Finance Minister K M Mani has the rare distinction of having presented eight budgets in the state assembly. His ninth budget, scheduled on July 8, will spell out the newly elected government&rsquo;s financial priorities for the state.

Q&A: K M Mani, FM, Kerala

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has taken a slew of initiatives on disaster management by involving states and concerned agencies. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, NDMA vice chairman M Shashidhar Reddy takes reviews the present state of disaster management.

Q&A: M Shashidhar Reddy, NDMA

Civil society has been at the centre of several controversies in recent months, and under that rubric, the National Advisory Council (NAC) has been attracting growing censure for its role in governance. NAC member Deep Joshi, founder of rural livelihood NGO Pradan and 2009 Ramon Magsaysay award winner, explains why the criticism is misplaced.

Q&A: Deep Joshi, NAC member

A visibly cheerful Gopinath Munde, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, on his arrival in Mumbai, reiterated his decision to continue to be in the party. He lashed at his rivals for running a concerted campaign to defame him and said they stood exposed now.

Q&A: Gopinath Munde, BJP Deputy Leader, Lok Sabha

Jammu and Kashmir interlocutor and former Central Information Commissioner M M Ansari tells Gyan Verma what the state really wants.

Q&A: M M Ansari, Jammu and Kashmir interlocutor

Nirupam Sen, former commerce and industry minister of West Bengal, was instrumental in bringing the Nano project to the state. In his first interview since the recent assembly elections, he talks to Ishita Ayan Dutt about the experience with the project, which made Singur famous.

Q&A: Nirupam Sen, Former commerce and industry minister, WB

A forecast of below normal rains in 2011 by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has sent shivers down everyone&rsquo;s spine.

Q&A: Ajit Tyagi, IMD

Pramod Deo, chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission, tells Sanjay Jog about his concerns regarding progress on open access, rate revisions, competitive bidding and like issues.

Q&A: Pramod Deo, Chairman, CERC

Coming under attack for keeping quiet even as the country was grappling with many burning issues, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today had an interaction with leading editors. Singh said he had no hesitation in bringing himself under the Lok Pal, but his cabinet colleagues said bringing institution of the PM under the Lok Pal might not be advisable.

Q&A: Manmohan Singh

While the Indian government is bullish on the $90-billion Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), to be built with financial and technical assistance from the Japanese government, Japanese companies are still maintaining a wait-and-watch stand. On the sidelines of the Nikkei Global Eco-Business Forum in New Delhi, Masaki Ida, chief director general of the Japan External Trade Organization, told Nayanima Basu there were still several challenges facing the project.

Q&A: Masaki Ida, Chief Director General, Japan External Trade Organization

The civil aviation ministry has pulled up airline companies for an astronomical rise in fares. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, Civil Aviation Minister Praful patel said his ministry and the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had the power to take action against errant airlines. He expects airlines to immediately take corrective measures.

Q&A: Praful patel, Union Minister, Civil Aviation

Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta tells Saubhadra Chatterji why the Opposition parties are adamant on a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the telecom spectrum controversy.

Q&A: Gurudas Dasgupta, Leader, Communist Party of India

Most of the work on the Mid-Year Review was complete when Cornell University professor Kaushik Basu joined the finance ministry as Chief Economic Advisor in December last year. Effectively, this is Basu&rsquo;s first Mid-Year Review and he preferred calling it the Mid-Year Analysis. Basu is also trying to change the design and format of the Economic survey and will bring more analysis into it. In an interview with Vrishti Beniwal, he discussed the broad areas mentioned in the Mid-Year Analysis.

Q&A: Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor

In the last Lok Sabha elections, Andhra Pradesh contributed the largest number of seats to the Congress. But now we see a split in your party led by Jaganmohan Reddy.

Page 72 - InterviewsS