During his whirlwind election tour in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, also the United Progressive Alliance&rsquo;s (UPA&rsquo;s) chief interlocutor, tells Saubhadra Chatterji the government has its own way of moving against corruption.

Q&A: Pranab Mukherjee

Business Standard

The Doha round of global trade talks is facing a slow death and if trade negotiators from all the 153 member countries fail to reach a deal by the end of this year, the consequences can be disastrous for the multilateral trading system, says Jean-Pierre Lehmann, professor of International Political Economy and Founding Director, The Evian Group @ IMD in an interview with Nayanima Basu during his recent visit here.

Q&A: Jean-Pierre Lehmann, The Evian Group @ IMD

Prakash Karat, the head (General Secretary) of the country&rsquo;s premier Left party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), tells Saubhadra Chatterji it won&rsquo;t be doomsday if they lose power in West Bengal.

Q&A: Prakash Karat, CPI(M)

Faculty at the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) have objected to quite a few of the Bhargava committee recommendations on restructuring these B-schools. Such as the one that the managing society at each IIM should function as an &lsquo;enlightened owner&rsquo;, wherein corporate entities can become members on payment of Rs 20 crore, individuals on payment of Rs 5 crore and alumni by paying Rs 3 crore. This, the faculty say, will lead to privatisation of the IIMs.

Q&A: R C Bhargava, Maruti Suzuki India

Lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan, a member of the joint committee to draft the Jan Lok Pal Bill, tells Akshat Kaushal that popular support forced the govt to bend.

Q&A: Prashant Bhushan, Lawyer and activist

The telecom sector has been witnessing tough times of late, with the Central Bureau of Investigation investigating the allotment of licences in 2008, other parliamentary panels looking into the spectrum controversy, which led to the arrest of former minister A Raja, and talk of cancellation of some licences after the CAG report. R Chandrashekhar, secretary, Department of Telecommuniations, in an interview with Mansi Taneja, talks about these and other issues.

Q&A: R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, DoT

The Bharatiya Janata Party&rsquo;s general secretary and chief spokesman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, tells Gyan Varma there is space for his party in West Bengal.

Q&A: Ravi Shankar Prasad, General Secretary, BJP

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal is credited with fast-tracking many issues that are caught in red-tape. In an interview with Sudheer Pal Singh and Jyoti Mukul, the minister says the environment ministry&rsquo;s controversial policy barring mining in forest areas has left him troubled.

Q&A: Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union coal minister

While India debates whether the country needs a civil society-driven ombudsman to bring in transparency in government affairs through its draft Lokpal Bill, it has been a reality in Australia for 35 years now, says Allan Asher, the country&rsquo;s Commonwealth (the term for their Union) Ombudsman.

Q&A: Allan Asher, Commonwealth Ombudsman, Australia

A general battling an insurgency among an often hostile populace while labouring hard and openly to win hearts and minds is not usual, but that is what Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, commander of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, has been at since taking charge four months earlier. Ajai Shukla spoke to him.

Q&A: Lt Gen Syed Ata Hasnain, GOC 15 Corps, Srinagar

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is the American equivalent of India&rsquo;s anti-competitive practices watchdog, Competition Commission of India (CCI). The agency, which has decades of experience in handling competition-related issues, like mergers, acquisitions and monopolistic practices, has been helping train and equip CCI in merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) scrutiny.

Q&A: William E Kovacic, Commissioner, FTC

The Indian growth has not only created opportunities for Indians but has also attracted people from across the globe. To get a share of the growth, Dutch minister of infrastructure and environment Melanie Schultz van Haegen, during an official visit to India, told Mihir Mishra that her country was looking at taking part in building Indian airports and shipping infrastructure and intelligent transport system.

Q&A: Melanie Schultz van Haegen, Netherlands

I don&rsquo;t know what that means and I don&rsquo;t care. I never went. I was always here. Some could see and feel it (my presence) some chose not to.

Q&A: Amar Singh

Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Nitte Santhosh Hegde threatened to resign from the Lok Pal Bill drafting committee.

Q&A: Santhosh Hegde, Karnataka Lokayukta Justice

While India, which legislated its Competition Law in 2002, is yet to operationalise its merger and acquisition (M&amp;A) provisions, Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) that came into existence through a law five years later, has cleared over 200 cases under M&amp;A category. In an interview, CCP member Joseph Wilson who handles mergers, acquisitions and international affairs speaks to Joe C Mathew on the Commission&rsquo;s performance during the past four years.

Q&A: Joseph Wilson, Member, CCP

The main worry a lot of people have is prices next year, oil prices in particular.

Q&A: Pranab Mukharjee

Prime Minister, I would like to begin by asking how this Budget addresses current economic conditions, specifically inflation and sustaining rapid growth.

Q&A: Manmohan Singh

Finance Secretary Sushma Nath told Indivjal Dhasmana and Vrishti Beniwal that fiscal deficit could have been reduced to 4.8 per cent of GDP, but that would have meant more pressure next financial year on the fiscal deficit front.

Q&A: Sushma Nath, Finance Secretary

In his first media interview after taking over as Chairman of the Central Board of Excise &amp; Customs, S Dutt Majumder said the government did not miss any opportunity by not increasing excise duty and service tax rates in the Budget. The government wants more investments to come, he tells Vrishti Beniwal.

Q&A: S Dutt Majumder, Chairman, Central Board of Excise & Customs

Arun Jaitley, the leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, tells Gyan Varma the present government is the most corrupt ever...

Q&A: Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee listed India&rsquo;s membership of the Global Forum of Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, an initiative of the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in his Budget speech as the one way to track black money. OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria was in India recently and met Mukherjee, among others. He tells Indivjal Dhasmana the forum will create peer pressure on non-cooperative jurisdictions.

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