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The aviation ministry's seat-sharing deal with Abu Dhabi reflects a puzzling and selective generosity

Air pockets in bilateral agreements

Business Standard

The practice of charging for ancillary services on domestic flights is likely to grow as competition soars

All's fare in airline pricing

With mobile subscriber numbers plateauing, telcos are banking on altering usage patterns to bring in the revenues

Telcos turn upwardly mobile

Faced with falling market share, full service airlines are slashing ticket costs to compete with low-cost carriers

Surajeet Das Gupta: Dogfights over cheap fares

It was a New Year gift for Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Monday, the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) on Telecom under Finance Minister P Chidambaram decided to slash the base price for the re-auction of 800 MHz CDMA spectrum by up to half when it found no takers at Rs 18,200 crore for 5 MHz in the November auctions.

Surajeet Das Gupta: Call drop on CDMA spectrum

India must press on with its response to international questioning and criticism by Canada and allies

India Canada

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today

Big Tech

The legal battle between Humans of Bombay and People of India has exposed questions of originality, ethics, and commercialisation in the world of digital storytelling

Government readies 'improved' IPR policy before PM Modi's US visit

Visva Bharati Vice Chancellor Bidyut Chakraborty has sent another letter to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to consider the central university's request for the return of a road lined by heritage buildings on the campus to the institution.
The three-km road, connecting Post Office More with Sriniketan, was taken over by the Public Works Department of the state government from the university in 2020 "to facilitate better connectivity".
The varsity has been demanding the return of the road to protect the heritage structures lined along it.
This was the VC's second letter to the CM, after one on September 25, since Santiniketan was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on September 17.
The fresh letter sent to the CM on Saturday, a copy of which is available with PTI, read: "The UNESCO tag given to Santiniketan by the International Committee for Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) is likely to be withdrawn... if steps are not taken to protect the heritage properti

Mamata Banerjee

A major fire broke out in a ground-plus-one storey industrial estate in Dahisar area of Mumbai, a fire official said on Sunday.
No one was injured in the incident which took place at 11.10 pm on Saturday in the building located in Vardhaman Industrial Cooperative Society of the northern suburb, he said.
It was a "level-2" blaze and was doused by 6.10 am on Sunday, the official said.
Seven fire engines, six jumbo tankers, one water tanker, ambulance and other assistance was rushed to the spot after the blaze erupted, he said.
The fire was confined to three-four 'galas' (units) on the ground and first floors of the structure, the official said, adding three hose lines were in operation.
Eight to nine LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders are removed from the galas, he said.
"No injury has been reported and the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained," the official said.

Fire, Fire accident

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PM Modi

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is his own master, and the Ghosi byelection is a demonstration

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath

A radical redefinition of life could help us find aliens beyond Earth and among us

The satellite telescope -- the largest ever launched -- was sent into orbit roughly a million miles from Earth late last year, and has been undergoing months of tests, calibrations and alignments.