The article talks about the need to revive the laws regarding the essential qualifications of independent directors and audit committee on the wake of recent Satyam scandal and many other scams in the past in developed countries as well (Enron + Arthur Anderson).
The laws like Clause 49 of Listing agreement of the stock exchanges and the Companies Bill 2008 are quite outdated since it doesn’t speak about any qualifications for independent directors in terms of education or experience levels required. Also in the times where financial reporting has become more complex and sophisticated the same laws are outdated in terms of qualifications of audit committee as well. Industry should come out of putting celebrities in the independent directors’ list and instead put on people with varied expertise and experience to complement the board. Government and SEBI have to review the qualifications requirement of independent directors and audit committee members and specify their roles and responsibilities clearly. There should also be cap on the number of boards a person can be a member of at a time in order to make him/her some useful contribution to the board.
A stricter exit clause for the independent directors would make them more responsible as at the end of the day the onus of acting independent lies on the individual.
Don't ignore biofuels
The article addresses the issue of more aggressive policy measures for biofuels mainly ethanol blended petrol and biodiesel from jatropha plant.
Use of cane as a feedstock to distill ethanol and blend it with petrol makes it a very sustainable fuel substitute on a long term. Large scale plantation of jatropha plants in the waste lands would help make biodiesel which could be used on large scale as an automotive fuel. With oil prices to go up on long term, it’s preposterous to hold back on the national biofuels policy. Ethanol production chain also has greater employment potential then oil refinery. Besides that these biofuels are clearly green with less emission of harmful gases, toxics and sundry particulate matter. Government has already missed the 10% ethanol blending target (currently 5%). Policy needs to be defined to use ethanol as a stand alone fuel. Domestic production of cane has suffered backlash due to number of factors but overseas production possibilities needs to be explored.
For biodiesel, although cut on all central taxes is welcome, but better processes for producing biodiesel from jatropha needs to be formulated and large scale production of the same in the wastelands also needs to be considered seriously.
The author here talks about the all time famous movie Devdas that has engrossed the audiences since seven decades.
No other superhero in the history has been ever loved by the masses for such a long time. After the novel, written by Sarat Chandra Chatterjee, was published in 1917, the first Devdas was made by Late K L Saigal in 1935 and was loved by the generation at that time who was looking for a say on lifestyles and social pressures as much as politics and economy. 20 years down the line Dilip Kumar revived the same persona only to be repeated on the screen by Shahrukh Khan in 2002. The extravagant film by Sanjay Leela Bhansali was so lavishly shot and screened that it really didn’t seem that tragic to the youth. Anurag Kashyap’s latest flick Dev D, also on the same lines, portrays the very picture of young India that doesn’t see alcohol has its newly found nirvana.
Perhaps that is why this drunken loser still manages to finds a loyal audience and has showed the most staying power on screen then any other celluloid script.
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