Semi Columns

Semi Column

Advani's pro-found aggression

This time last year, Yasin Merchant feared for Pankaj Advani’s well-being on the pro snooker circuit. The youngster was on his maiden voyage to the bitterly cold and brutally competitive environs of t......read more

Semi Column

The true value of compensation

Eight families of Ehadsameta village in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh will now receive an amount that many villages in the area together do not earn in an entire year. Relatives of every victim who......read more

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Golden chance for Amit Shah and Varun

Political crucial Uttar Pradesh, with 80 Lok Sabha seats, seems to be weighing heavy on the BJP leadership’s mind in the run-up to the next national elections. That best explains the series of moves t......read more

Semi Column

Wrestling faces tough final bout

‘Gifting’ mirrors isn’t the most popular way to kick-start your term as the president of an international sports federation. But desperate times call for desperate measures and the message sent out by......read more

Semi Column

The Vodafone puzzle

The gyrations around the tax demand on Vodafone is bringing home to the tax department the perils of playing around with rules. The retrospective amendments to the Income Tax Act Section 9 (1) which h......read more

Semi Column

In Kerala, there's no Opposition

As the Congress-led United Democratic Front government completed its two years in office last week, what Kerala missed in the period was the intervention of the CPM as a functioning opposition. The pa......read more

Semi Column

Will Sebi enforce higher public float?

In another five weeks the deadline set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for listed companies to achieve at least a 25 per cent public float will become a rule. The options from here are t......read more

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Clean-up should be top-down

For a long time now, there is this one expression that BCCI president N Srinivasan conscientiously wears while in public. To say he remains expressionless is to overlook that cold stare of authority. ......read more

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Time India stated red lines to China

The script for India’s political engagement with China's new leadership was to start at Durban, where the Prime Minister met President Xi Jinping, and conclude at Delhi with Premier Li Keqiang’s visi......read more

'Away from reality' TV

It turns out that the only place one can turn to to get away from the IPL's latest scandal is the IPL itself. The 270-minutes-plus package of the official broadcast of the evening game between Kings ......read more

Semi Column

Airlines unbound, fliers in a bind?

In India, the concept of domestic airlines unbundling services — including preferential seating and check-in baggage — and charging separately for these, is still in its early days. But this has reall......read more

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In Maya Kodnani U-turn, Narendra Modi white flag to right wing

The Gujarat government's U-turn on filing of a criminal appeal seeking death sentence for former BJP MLA Dr Maya Kodnani, Bajrang Dal leader Babu Patel alias Babu Bajrangi and eight others in the 200......read more

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IOA needs to change attitude

During his passionate speech at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) headquarters on Wednesday, Abhinav Bindra unleashed a veiled attack on the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The Beijing Olymp......read more

Semi Column

Should Ajmal be denied parathas?

Late in life, Saeed Ajmal, 35, is finding it hard to adjust to a certain kind of change. This isn't about the adventurous Pakistan spinner longing for that extra fielder on the fence that ICC's new ......read more