|
|
Missed opportunities
A please-all BJP list |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Tiptoeing on the Arab street
She and Me
Politics over package
Tiger banks on golf to banish mistresses
Movies make and break couples
|
Missed opportunities
In
his fourth budget, presented on Tuesday, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has missed another chance to raise resources, cut administrative extravagance and arrest Punjab’s fiscal deterioration. Driven by politics of populism, the Akali-BJP government frequently relies on debt to meet fiscal commitments. Punjab’s debt has risen to a staggering Rs 64,924 crore now and will touch Rs 71,000 crore next year. A budget is often a child of political convenience. The Akali Dal looks after the interests of the rural voters and the BJP of the urban population. Each resists taxes on its supporters. Though Punjab is heavily taxed — petrol here is the costliest in the region — the tax load violates the principle of “each paying according to his capacity and need”. The Finance Minister could have shifted part of the burden to those who have profited the most in recent years — the owners of luxury hotels and marriage palaces, transporters and property dealers. The Finance Minister has hiked the electricity duty by 3 per cent to get Rs 270 crore for the depleted treasury. But why he has lowered the entertainment duty from 125 per cent to 25 per cent to favour multiplexes and theatres defies logic. The reduction of stamp duty in case of transfer of property to women may be a good gesture but not very desirable from the captain of a shuddering ship. There are five things Mr Manpreet Badal should have done to improve Punjab’s finances and accelerate growth. One, he should have confined the power subsidy to farmers owning not more than five acres. Still better, by making every consumer pay, the subsidy bill for power of Rs 3,120 crore could have been diverted to power generation. Paying a little extra may not annoy the people and the industry as much as the frequent power disruptions. Since the Punjab State Electricity Board is fiscally as much on the precipice as the state government and there is no money to buy enough power to meet the growing demand, prolonged power cuts in summer are inevitable. Lack of power has slowed Punjab’s industrial and agricultural growth apart from making people sweat it out every summer. To be fair, though they are encouraging private-public partnerships to boost power production, regular coal supplies will have to be ensured for the three upcoming thermal plants. Two, the government should improve tax recovery. Though the introduction of the VAT has increased the state’s tax revenue, evasion is still widespread and Mr Manpreet Badal is aware of it as he is on record having said that one multinational food joint pays more taxes to the government than the entire industry of Ludhiana. Three, the government has seldom made a serious effort to sell its stakes in public sector units like Punjab Alkalies and PunCom to raise revenue. The Centre is vigorously pursuing disinvestment in PSUs to get additional cash and is also advising the states to follow suit. Yet after the disastrous Punjab Tractors stake sale during a sluggish market, the Punjab government has been hesitant to return to disinvestment. There are many loss-making boards and corporations which are not being wound up but have been kept alive to appoint Akali leaders as their chairpersons. In desperation to meet its financial demands, the government acts as a greedy property dealer, acquiring land from farmers at less-than-market rates and selling plots at exorbitant rates to urbanites. Large chunks of government land are being disposed of to raise money. Four, despite the deterioration in its finances, the government has not initiated any austerity drive. Punjab politicians, regardless of their political colour, are notorious for extravagance. The Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister annually spend close to Rs 10 crore on helicopter fuel even though one can go from one corner of the state to another in four-five hours by car. A whole battalion of parliamentary secretaries has been deployed to please ruling politicians who could not be adjusted as ministers since the law limits their number. The bloated and top-heavy bureaucracy and police are a drag on the exchequer as also VIP security. Finally, the Punjab government has not made any effort to make good use of Central funds available through various schemes. Since schemes require part contribution by the state, funds lapse for want of the state share. Despite having a rural vote bank the Akali leadership has failed to spend adequately on rural development. Funds for villages’ uplift have remained under-utilised. Though the Badals are trying hard to manage a difficult financial situation and demanding a higher share of the Central taxes, they will have to learn to use public money in a responsible way, avoid wasteful expenditure and work for the state’s, and not just their own, growth.
|
|
A please-all BJP list
The
BJP is indeed at the crossroads with a crucial unresolved dilemma on whether, under the new Nitin Gadkari dispensation, it would swerve to a harden line or become more accommodative on its Hindutva plank. In that context, the reconstitution of the party’s organizational forums which was expected to reveal his mind has flattered to deceive. The running thread in the new appointments is to balance protégés of the old guard of L.K. Advani and Rajnath Singh and of the RSS with some new faces whose ideological moorings are not as strong and as well-defined. The RSS, for instance, has been partially compensated with its nominees Ramlal and Thawarchand Gehlot finding place in the national executive. The Sangh perhaps also had a hand in the exclusion of Shahnawaz Khan who has been relegated to the position of one of the six spokespersons. But two RSS favourites —Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie — both of them ideologues, have been left out of the national executive. The kingpin of yesteryears, L.K. Advani, has managed to have his way with his proteges Sushma Swaraj, Venkaiah Naidu, Ananth Kumar, Arun Jaitley and Vasundhara Raje accommodated in the all-powerful parliamentary board. Former party president Rajnath Singh has also been kept in good humour with Vijay Goel, Thawarchand Gehlot and Arjun Munda finding a place in the team. Significantly, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has managed only a token presence of his supporters. Women have reason to be happy with the one-third representation they have got, but Sushma Swaraj is the lone woman in the crucial parliamentary board. Their representation is essentially among secretaries whose role at the policy-making level will be marginal. All in all, the BJP list falls below expectations of change. While it is heartening that youth and women have been given greater representation, it is a please-all list with accent on caution in keeping all pressure groups in good humour. How much this will contribute to pulling the BJP out of the morass in which it finds itself is anybody’s guess. The party’s ideological dilemma, meanwhile, shows no signs of resolution.
|
|
|
(Logic) is neither a science nor an art, but a dodge. — Benjamin Jowet
|
Tiptoeing on the Arab street As a matter of form and practice, ministers and officials are required to be seen and not heard, except when specifically authorised to speak publicly while accompanying the Prime Minister on official visits abroad. It is a pity that Mr Shashi Tharoor chose to pontificate on substantive issues even before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had met Saudi Monarch King Abdullah in Riyadh, stirring up an avoidable controversy during a visit of immense geostrategic importance to India. Saudi Arabia is, after all, the largest oil producer in the world, located in a turbulent region, where around two-thirds of the world’s oil supplies come from. Around 1.8 million Indians live in Saudi Arabia and contribute to the $55 billion that Indian expatriates remit annually to their country. Moreover, Saudi Arabia has agreed to join India in a strategic partnership which would cover not only enhanced oil supplies for India, but also promote closer ties in areas ranging from defence and space technology to investment in India’s petrochemical sector, apart from the exchange of information on terrorism and money laundering. The India-Saudi Arabia summit took place amidst new tensions in the Gulf region, arising from the deep suspicions that have characterised the Persian-Arab rivalries over the centuries. The American invasion of Iraq and the replacement of a Sunni-minority government by a majority Shia-led coalition under Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have added a new element of bitter Shia-Sunni antagonisms to the existing Persian-Arab differences. The Shia-dominated regime in Iraq complains bitterly of Saudi attempts to destabilise it by backing the elements linked to the Sunni-dominated Baath Party, founded by Saddam Hussein. It has also complained of the attitude of its other Arab Sunni neighbours — Egypt and Jordan. Iran alleges mistreatment of its Haj pilgrims and support for its opposition groups by Saudi Arabia. In Northern Yemen, Saudi Arabian and Yemeni forces are battling an insurgency by Yemen’s Houthi Shias, evidently backed by Iran. Under pressure from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the “Arabsat” has discontinued facilities for Iran’s Arabic language news and television networks, beamed to the Arab world. Fearful of Iran, the six-nation Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is closely allied to the United States, determined to contain Iran’s regime. Entering into this cauldron of civilisational and sectarian rivalries are tensions arising from Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Despite Iranian denials, its nuclear programme is, at the very least, designed to give the country a nuclear weapons capability and keep its nuclear options open. Given the Iranian regime’s hostility towards Israel, exacerbated by intemperate statements by President Ahmedinejad that Israel should be “wiped out” of the map, Tel Aviv has threatened to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. For the past five months, the US, backed by the UK, France and Germany, has endeavoured to get the Security Council to impose “crippling sanctions” on Iran through measures like banning the sale of refined petroleum products to Iran. They have also proposed sanctions that would cover Iran’s Central Bank and a number of firms and individuals linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, apart from shipping, insurance and banking industries. Faced with opposition from Russia and China, the Americans would inevitably be forced to water down their proposals and postpone the February deadline they had set for imposing sanctions to May. Within the Security Council, countries like Brazil and Turkey have also made it clear that they do not favour the American fervour for “crippling sanctions” against Iran. It is not just Israel and the US that are concerned at Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Arab GCC neighbours do not relish the prospect of a nuclear Iran. Moreover, unlike Iran, Saudi Arabia has taken a constructive approach towards a peace settlement in the West Asia, which would guarantee Israel’s right to exist in security, side by side with a viable Palestinian state. Given this background, Dr. Manmohan Singh and King Abdullah had no difficulty in agreeing on the need for a “two-state solution” to the West Asian impasse — an issue on which India and Iran have little common ground. While Arab states may make pro forma noises about India’s relations with Israel, the reality is that most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, have either overt or covert links with the Jewish state. But the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme will not go away and New Delhi will have to keep a close watch on the possibilities of Saudi Arabia and others seeking a nuclear umbrella from their Sunni ally, Pakistan. Saudi Defence Minister Prince Sultan has visited Pakistan’s nuclear facilities in Kahuta and Dr A.Q. Khan has been effusively welcomed in the past in Riyadh. There has to be a measure of realism in India’s relations with major powers in the Gulf region. Despite the best intentions of King Abdullah, concerns do remain about the funding of Wahabi radical Islamic organisations across South Asia by Saudi “charities”, and the kingdom has not exactly shown understanding for Indian sensitivities by stewarding the Organisation of Islamic Conference moves on Jammu and Kashmir. Moreover, while India and Saudi Arabia expressed support for the values enshrined in the Constitution of Afghanistan, it has to be remembered that the kingdom had backed the Taliban and changed its position only because Mullah Omar remained closely allied to Osama bin Laden. One should not presume that Saudi Arabia will remain averse to a return of the Taliban if Mullah Omar is marginalised and the Taliban links with Osama bin Laden terminated. Given the anxiety of NATO countries in Afghanistan to strike a deal with the Taliban, it is imperative for New Delhi to retain close ties with Tehran, which shares its aversion for the return of Taliban extremism to Kabul. Moreover, Iraq is aiming to increase its oil production from 2 million barrels per day (bpd) to 12 million bpd in the coming few years, with Karbala and Najaf re-emerging as major centres of influence in Shia Islam. We have been less than proactive in building relations with the post-Saddam dispensation in Iraq. New Delhi no longer has the luxury of remaining aloof from these developments in its western neighbourhood, as it will be compelled to take positions on these issues when it becomes a non-permanent member of the Security Council later this year. India can position itself to play a pro-active role in the oil-rich Gulf region by more imaginative diplomacy in the future. Much more can and should be done for increasing our investment and participation in the exploration, production and utilisation of the oil and gas resources in our western
neighbourhood.
|
||
She and Me It was a hot day and her aunt’s house. She was with her parents. And I too was not alone. We had met briefly under the watchful eyes of elders. Even seen a movie together. Finally, about a year later, we were tied in wedlock. Since then, almost 45 years have imperceptibly passed. We have climbed the ladder of life. Gradually graduated as grandparents. Now, the grand children are entering the teens. And happily, as I look back, I say a silent prayer. Thank the Lord for His blessings. Love is an ideal. Marriage is a reality. “Chain of wedlock is heavy. It needs two to carry it”. And no two beings are alike. They differ. We also do. In a variety of ways. I like blue. She prefers pink. I like roughage in food. She looks for food in roughage. I never remember anniversaries or birthdays. She never forgets any. Sometimes, I like to splurge. She believes that economy is a source of revenue. I have been “naughty”. She — totally disciplined. Initially, we found faults in each other. Slowly, we learnt to live with each other. She has used her university degrees usefully. Put education to a perfectly practical purpose. The knowledge of chemistry still helps her to cook. Geography to know the four walls of the house and her surroundings. Economics to avoid extravagance. The family has been her whole world. She has willingly borne the burden of daily chores. She has been our audience. A faithful friend. A caring nurse. A sweetheart. The loving looks, perfect purity and tenderness have been her assets. Happiness of the family has been her sole pleasure. She has silently suffered the wear and tear. Not surprisingly, today she has twinges in her hinges. There is a continuous conflict between the willpower and waistline. Still, love is her livery. Smile is the sole “wrinkle” on her face. She has really made life worth living. For all of us. Her immediate as well as extended family. We still have words. But usually, I do not get to use mine. “Haar maani” has been the secret of our harmony. And I always have the last word — I apologise. On her part, she has spent 45 years to change my habits. So, she cannot say that I am not the one she had once met. Or that she had married a man and not a mouse. But please imagine — If the cat and mouse lie together, can the mouse sleep? Thanks to this totally domesticated cat, I do! Like a log of wood. But only when she is with
me.
|
||
Politics over package
Liberalisation
has spurred India towards becoming a developed nation. However, the Indian economy is marred by grave regional disparities. Because of this the fruits of development are not reaching all people equitably. If these disparities are not remedied immediately, then they may result in undesirable social and economic consequences. There are two arguments for public policy for regional equality. The equity argument which states that all citizens are entitled to equal treatment and equal opportunity regardless of where they live and the efficiency argument according to which below average productivity in certain regions represents an under-utilisation of resources. Serious regional imbalances resulted during planned development despite balanced regional development being endorsed as one of the principal objectives of economic planning as it was completely ignored by our planners and licensing authorities. The latest economic survey reveals that Himachal Pradesh has been able to attract only 0.52 per cent of the total investment in the industrial sector in the country since 1952. Around 99 per cent of the investment is in small-scale units. However, Himachal Pradesh has achieved a high level of human development even with low level of economic development. The backward economic structure is indicated by the low share of industries in the SGDP of Himachal Pradesh that has increased from 1.1% in 1950-51 to 9.4% in 1990-91 and further to 10.7% in 2007-08. This reflects a low level of industrialisation in Himachal Pradesh. Since the planning era, efforts have been made to influence firms' location decisions by devising incentive policies. The main objective of these incentives, concessions and subsidies has been to encourage investment in the backward states to make or to enable the units to become more competitive and to establish them at the initial infant stages. For a hill state like Himachal Pradesh, where the cost of production is high due to a difficult terrain and inadequate industrial infrastructure, these subsidies are justified to offset the locational disadvantages and to make the prices and the products competitive with the goods produced by units set up in the neighbouring states. The coordination with which both the Congress and the BJP are working to ensure the extension of the Special Industrial Package to 2013, is indeed welcome. However, it is unfortunate that the Punjab Government has recently moved the Supreme Court challenging the federal government's fiscal sops for industrial development in the neighbouring states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. It contended that the discriminatory fiscal incentives had led to an exodus of industries from Punjab. On same logic Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are also opposing these fiscal incentives. However, the grant of industrial package to Himachal Pradesh is justified as there is no appreciable flight of industries from any of the neighbouring states. The fact is that several leading industrial houses from all over India have set up new units in Himachal Pradesh to derive benefits from the tax holiday. Moreover, the Centre has already extended the package for Jammu & Kashmir and the north-eastern states. It must be realised that under the Green Revolution the scarce resources were channelled by the Government of India in selected areas, predominantly Punjab and Haryana. Even today the benefits of massive public funds spent on agricultural and food subsidies are mostly cornered by the farmers in Punjab and Haryana. Moreover, Punjab and Haryana have always received the highest per capita plan outlays. Has any state objected to this anomaly? The special package has made a positive impact on the industrial growth of the state and withdrawal of these benefits may adversely impact the process of economic development. According to the Economic Survey, Himachal Pradesh 2008-09, there are 401 medium and large industries and about 35,427 small scale industries with a total investment of about Rs 7737.73 crore working in the state. These industries provide employment to about 2.24 lakh persons. But if we analyse the data received from the government by various NGOs through the RTI Act, it would be revealed that only a small percentage of these jobs have gone to bona fide Himachalis which is a gross contravention of the HP Industrial Policy. Over a period of time, it has been realised that fiscal incentives have invariably led to the creation of inefficient and uncompetitive industry, which may not be able to sustain itself in the long run. The positive impact of the special package is concentrated in a few border areas. Most of the industrial units set up in the state are merely screw-driver industries which are indulging in assembly and packaging of products actually manufactured in other states. Their only motive is to avail the fiscal incentives. If the industrial package is not extended, these industrial units would be the first to fly out of the state. Most of these units, basically located in Parwanoo, Baddi and Nalagarh, are running in leased and rented complexes because they seem to have no intention of permanently working in the state. When a school or college is required to have the ownership of land and building for seeking affiliation, then why a similar condition cannot be imposed on these industrial units for availing the benefits of fiscal incentives? Simultaneously, there is a need to enforce some minimum value addition criteria for availing fiscal incentives to ensure sustainable industrialisation of the state. In addition, with changes and modifications being introduced in the taxation policy and reforms initiatives like the introduction of VAT and GST, incentives to industry need to be looked at afresh. Thus it is imperative that we move towards a policy of gradual phasing out of subsidies. Such initiatives coupled with an increased stress on the provision of quality infrastructure will help create conducive environment for industrial growth and attract both foreign and domestic investments. Infrastructure improvement can play a key role in efforts to encourage investment in Himachal Pradesh. Reduction in trade and transport cost, by affecting the balance between dispersion and agglomeration forces can decisively affect the spatial location of economic activities. Transport infrastructure should increasingly be used as a regional policy instrument. Himachal Pradesh should learn from the experiences of Japan and Switzerland, which have overcome physical geographical constraints and handicaps of mountainous terrain to become developed nations. The state government, industrialists and the general public must realise and understand that the special Industrial Package and other incentives and subsidies cannot be continued forever. Therefore, all efforts must be made to reduce the dependence on such fiscal sops. The Special Industrial Package, if extended, should not be considered an achievement but taken as an opportunity for concerted action and political and administrative determination for taking some hard
decisions. The writer is the Principal, Trivenee School of Excellence, Paonta Sahib, HP
|
|
Tiger banks on golf to banish mistresses Of
all the staggering Tiger Woods victories, none would compare to the fifth Green Jacket he plans to don on 11 April. The time he won his first major a record 15 shots? Pah. How about the time he won a major on one leg? Nothing but a walk n well, hobble, in the park. Yet if only the hurdles facing Woods were that straight-forward. He will not only have to shake off the rust and make history, but also withstand the scrutiny of the world. Not even the controlled environs of Augusta will protect him from that intense pressure. To say this will be the most watched golf event in the sport's history is less a prediction and more a statement of fact. The president of CBS, the US network which has just landed the televisual equivalent of the lottery, declared it would be "the biggest media event other than the Obama inauguration in the past 10 or 15 years". Maybe Sean McManus went over the top, but his hyperbole was perhaps forgivable. After all, it is hard to imagine any other sporting superstar being able to stop the globe by reading out a mea culpa statement like Woods did last month. Since that crash into a fire hydrant last November, the revelations of his extra-marital affairs have transported Woods from the Jock mags to the scandal sheets, from the locker rooms to the kitchens, from the sports stations to the comic halls. From being the most revered sportsman on the planet, he became the most ridiculed of men. How will he handle that new vulnerability when he returns to the arena in which he is supposed to be impervious? That is the question which should command the attention as much as the shape of his game itself. If only. After all the waiting and speculating, so shall start the recriminating: Woods was clearly insincere in that "tear-provoking" performance last month; Woods has dared to turn the Masters into "The Tiger Woods Show"; it should be all about Augusta, instead it will be about the character who in Roman circles might well have been renamed "Disgusta"; far from "viewing this tournament with great respect" (as Woods put it in yesterday's announcement) he is showing the Masters no respect whatsoever; Woods is doing so because he cannot handle the flak he would receive off the normal fan and because of questions he would take from the more inquisitive sections of the media. That was the reaction in golfing circles last night, and even his blindest apologist might find it hard to argue. Woods also stated that "the majors have been the special focus in my career". If so, why is he electing not to play an event beforehand? Nobody can genuinely believe that skipping next week's Arnold Palmer Invitational assists Woods in his preparations to win a 15th major. Indeed, his first few days in Georgia might be very uncomfortable. And then the golf will start. Heckling is not acceptable at the Masters and any "patrons" heard making disparaging remarks will be removed forthwith, never to re-enter. The focus will be solely on his golf. And that is how he wants it. Woods knows that if he wins, the road to redemption will shrink to the size of Magnolia Lane. His sporting prowess will banish the mistresses to the margins, the sponsors will return in droves and the game of golf will hail the superstar whose startling re-emergence will doubtless replenish their emptying coffers. First and foremost, Woods will be the game's best-ever player
again. — By arrangement with The Independent
|
|
Movies make and break couples Kate
Winslet and her husband, Sam Mendes, worked together on Revolutionary Road. The 2008 film, for which Winslet won a Golden Globe, offers a very dark account of a marriage in 1950s America coming apart at the seams. The seemingly devoted husband (Leonardo DiCaprio) and wife (Winslet) realise that they're not quite as compatible as they had thought. A deadening sense of disappointment and anticlimax clouds their lives together as they contemplate the life they once dreamed of having. In the film's aftermath, the Mendes/Winslet marriage itself reportedly began to fray. This, though, is far from the first instance of a couple working together and then drifting apart. Movies make and break couples. In the hothouse atmosphere of a film set, tensions are exposed and emotions unleashed that can't always be suppressed once the cameras stop rolling. When Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman split up after 10 years together in early 2001, it was claimed by their publicists that their respective work commitments had prevented them spending time together. However, it wasn't so long before their split that Cruise and Kidman had been working alongside one another over many months in intense circumstances for Stanley Kubrick's final film, Eyes Wide Shut, released in 2001. This adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's Dream Story was itself a claustrophobic psycho-drama about a marriage coming under intense strain. There was a ferocious intensity in the performances that Ingrid Bergman gave in films like Stromboli and Voyage to Italy for Roberto Rossellini. She had scandalised Hollywood by starting an affair with Rossellini while married to another man. She subsequently married Rossellini, but they divorced in 1957. Combining their private and professional lives was clearly more than their marriage could withstand. "Drama and film are incontrovertibly two professions that are immensely erotically charged," the Swedish director Ingmar Bergman said in an interview late in his life. He talked of the "incredibly pleasurable tensions" that the quest for perfection shared by him and his actors could cause. The tensions may have been pleasurable, but they were potentially destructive, too. As is well chronicled, Bergman had several affairs with his collaborators. Sometimes, movies have helped keep couples together. During her marriage to Jean-Luc Godard in the 1960s, actress Anna Karina used to feel far more stable when they were working on a movie. It was in the lulls between films that cracks began to appear. Godard would tell her he was off to buy a packet of cigarettes n and then would vanish for weeks on end. The filmmaker went abroad on mini-pilgrimages to meet famous writers and directors without telling Karina where he was going. "I'd sit and wait in front of the phone. At that time, there were no answering machines," the actress recalled. By contrast, when they were on set together, she at least knew exactly where he was. Gena Rowlands gave some searing performances in her husband John Cassavetes' films, invariably playing women on the edge. Whatever emotional turbulence characterised films like Opening Night and Gloria, it didn't seem to spill into domestic life. In the heyday of the studio era, Hollywood specialised in stories that brought together the man and the woman by the end of the final reel. And what happened on-screen was often reflected behind the cameras. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton began an affair during the making of Cleopatra that would eventually lead to their marrying, not once but twice. When they hurled insults at each other in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, they brought a venom to their roles that only a couple who know each other intimately could hope to match. Movie stars or filmmakers getting divorced is hardly a shock. It comes with the territory. Lana Turner, for example, ran through seven husbands. ("There is something ridiculous about a woman who takes seven husbands, as if she had rummaged through the drawers of masculinity and come up with seven dwarfs," John Updike wrote of
her.) — By arrangement with The Independent
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Believe it, the Masters of 2010 would eclipse all of the above n and do so totally. When the 34-year-old tees it up at Augusta in 22 days, he will not have played competitively in almost five months. No Masters champion has ever prevailed when making the tournament his curtain-raiser for the year.