There&rsquo;s an ongoing controversy on where to draw the poverty line. N C Saxena, former secretary to the government and now in the National Advisory Council, had chaired an official panel to devise criteria to identify the poor for the ongoing below-poverty-line (BPL) census.

Q&A: N C Saxena, National Advisory Council

Business Standard

K S Gopal, former member of Central Employment Guarantee Council and now with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, tells Sreelatha Menon why Jairam Ramesh&rsquo;s NREGA 2.0 may not be effective.

Q&A: K S Gopal, Central Employment Guarantee Council 

Chhattisgarh Development Commissioner Vivek Dhand talks to Sreelatha Menon about the problems faced in Naxal-hit districts and the mitigation initiatives taken.

Q&A: Vivek Dhand, Chhattisgarh Development Commissioner

M Veerappa Moily, Union corporate affairs minister, talks about some issues on his agenda to Santosh Tiwari.

Q&A: M Veerappa Moily, Minister of Corporate Affairs

The $12-billion Posco steel project in Orissa, billed as the biggest foreign direct investment in the country, has been stalled for the past six years due to stiff opposition from the locals rallied under the banner of Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS). Abhaya Sahoo, president of the anti-Posco brigade, talks to Dillip Satapathy on the reasons for this peoples&rsquo; agitation and its future.

Q&A: Abhaya Sahoo, President, PPSS

Central PF Commissioner Samirendra Chatterjee tells Santosh Tiwari how the Employees&rsquo; Provident Fund Organisation is becoming subscriber-friendly.

Q&A: Samirendra Chatterjee, Central PF Commissioner

Fitch Ratings India Managing Director and CEO Atul Joshi says fiscal deficit will grow to 5.6 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) this financial year if disinvestment proceeds are not included and if they are, it would grow to 5.1 per cent from 4.7 per cent during 2010-11. He, however, expects the economy to grow at 7.7 per cent against 8.5 per cent last year.

Q&A: Atul Joshi, MD & CEO, Fitch Ratings India

India's atomic power generator, Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC), does not foresee problems in implementation of capacity addition plans, despite the global Nuclear Suppliers Group's new guidelines on uranium enrichment and reprocessing. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, its chairman and managing director, S K Jain, speaks on this and allied issues.

Q&A: S K Jain, CMD, Nuclear Power Corporation

As a 10-member ministerial panel met on Thursday for a final nod to the controversial new mining legislation, amid reports that the mines ministry has reversed its stance on profit sharing, the private sector is worried. Profit sharing will drive away investors, R K Sharma, secretary-general of the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (Fimi) told Sudheer Pal Singh.

Q&A: R K Sharma, Secretary-general, Fimi

Uncertainty looms large over the fate of the Rs 5,000-crore Worli-Haji Ali sea link project, as the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) and Reliance Sea Link One Pvt Ltd (RSOPL) differ on various issues. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, state minister for public works and MSRDC chairman Jaidatt Kshirsagar speaks about the fate of the project.

Q&A: Jaidatt Kshirsagar, Minister for Public Works, Maharashtra

Successive years of record foodgrain production have left government warehouses saddled with tonnes of grain, far in excess of the requirement. According to official estimates in early June, the government had about 65 million tonnes (mt) of grains in its warehouses, but its total storage capacity, which included covered area plinth (CAP), was estimated to be 63 mt. The Food Corporation of India (FCI), the government&rsquo;s nodal agency for procurement storage and distribution of grains, is responsible to ensure that not only the grains are stored properly, but are distributed to states. In an interview with Sanjeeb Mukherjee, chairman and managing director Shiraj Hussain said by the end of financial year 2012, the country should have the required storage capacity.

Q&A: Shiraj Hussain, CMD, FCI

Parakala Prabhakar, spokesperson of the Visalandhra Mahasabha, tells Aditi Phadnis that those in favour of a separate state need not be the well-wishers of Telangana.

Q&A: Parakala Prabhakar

Successive years of record food grain production have left government warehouses saddled with tonnes of grain far in excess of the requirement. According to official estimates in early June, the government had about 65 million tonnes (mt) of grains in its warehouses, but its total storage capacity was estimated at 63 mt.

Q&A: Siraj Hussain, Food Corporation of India

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), the country&rsquo;s accounting standards body, is the latest to join the growing list of official agencies trying to track and, if possible, check unaccounted or &lsquo;black&rsquo; money. ICAI&rsquo;s attempts to make financial reporting in cooperatives and not-for-profit firms uniform and transparent are significant in this backdrop. G Ramaswamy, president of ICAI, talks on this with Joe C Mathew.

Q&A: G Ramaswamy, President, ICAI

The decision to compel mining companies to share royalty with project-affected families would mean as extra annual outgo of up to Rs 15,000 crore annually, Siddharth Rungta, outgoing president of the Federation of Indian Mining Industries told Sudheer Pal Singh.

Q&A:, Siddharth Rungta, President, Federation of Indian Mining Industries

Project Management Institute is the leading global association of professionals in this area, representing half a million practitioners across the world. Raj Kalady, its managing director, talks to Sanjay Jog on the challenges and opportunities in India&rsquo;s infrastructure sector.

Q&A: Raj Kalady, MD, Project Management Institute

Earlier this week, the Empowered Group of Ministers approved the draft of the Food Security Bill, which will entitle 75 per cent of rural households and 50 per cent of urban households to subsidised foodgrain. Considered the most important legislation after the United Progressive Alliance&rsquo;s job guarantee scheme, it has generated controversy for committing the government to an expensive entitlement scheme and for relying on the existing inefficient Public Distribution System.

Q&A: Gavin Wall, Food and Agriculture Organisation 

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Sarkaryavah Suresh Joshi, popularly called Bhaiya Ji Joshi, tells Gyan Varma that India should suspend judgement on &lsquo;Hindu terror&rsquo; till the courts decide on the matter.

Q&A: Sarkaryavah Suresh Joshi, RSS

Bihar deputy chief minister and finance minister Sushil Modi was today elected the new chairman of the empowered committee of state finance ministers. He succeeded former West Bengal finance minister Asim Dasgupta, who headed the panel for over a decade. In an interview with Vrishti Beniwal and Gyan Verma, Modi said to roll out the goods and services tax (GST), it was important to keep a balance between harmonisation and fiscal autonomy of states, so that everybody got some flexibility.

Q&A: Sushil Modi, Deputy CM & FM, Bihar

Corporate affairs minister M Veerappa Moily says he intends to strengthen the checks against corporate fraud in a time-bound manner.

Q&A: M Veerappa Moily, Minister for Corporate Affairs

Indian Railways, the 150-year-old lifeline of India&rsquo;s transport sector, has been facing growing criticism lately owing to its deteriorating finances. With surplus funds projected to fall at an all-time low of Rs 1,300 crore in the current financial year and the operating ratio, a key efficiency indicator, at an all-time high of 92 per cent, the railways requires a massive makeover in asset utilisation and to open itself to the private sector, said R Sivadasan, former financial commissioner, Indian Railways.

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