http://www.telegraphindia.comThe Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) | Opinionen-usThu, 19 Nov 2009 17:54:21 GMTThu, 19 Nov 2009 17:54:21 GMTThe Telegraph Webdeskttfeedback@abpmail.comttfeedback@abpmail.comOpinionCopyright (C) 2009, The Telegraph. All rights reserved.http://www.telegraphindia.com/images/logo_small.gifhttp://www.telegraphindia.comhttp://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11750719.jspSome news is considered more worth publicizing than some other news. This is part of an essential discipline, for otherwise we will remain perennially buried under an avalanche of data, information and gossip. The wheat, never mind the change of metaphor, has to be separated from the chaff. The media perform this task. Occasionally the government of the land helps the media to do the choosing - the authorities have their own views on what is printable and what is not.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11760226.jspIt has been 15 years since the last time pollution standards were set. But India has at last changed the rules determining air quality. The maximum permissible level for each pollutant on the earlier list of pollutants has been lowered, while six others that had not even been considered so far have been added. This can only be excellent news. If followed, the rules could immeasurably improve the air quality in cities. The chief and overwhelming benefit of such a change should be the dramatic lessening of respiratory diseases, which have been growing at an alarming rate in recent years. As important as the general lowering of permissible limits is the fact that the new rules fix the same standards for residential and industrial areas, with no relaxation for the latter as had been allowed earlier. These standards are equal to the European ones, the Union minister for environment has said. Evidently they are higher than air pollution standards in the United States of America.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11760230.jspMaking excuses is an art. There comes a point when one begins to believe passionately in the fictions one has created to one's advantage. So, the various reasons given by employees at the Writers' Buildings for regularly coming to work late or leaving work early sound like deeply held convictions. It becomes difficult to see them as what they are ' lame, wretched excuses for being unwilling to work. Arriving late or leaving early on the very day of freshly enforced punctuality regulations, most employees spoke to journalists with an admirable clarity of motive and purpose. For some, the reasons are existential: claustrophobia in the Metro, having to buy fish, traffic jams. For others, political: a sense of justice in defying employers who are sitting on arrears, promotions and benefits, or who themselves come late in spite of their office cars. And some happen to be naturally nonchalant, full of the bravado of defiance. They are free spirits resisting the mechanization of their lives, like the hero of Modern Times. This spirit of freedom remains unvanquished in history. Once a decade or so, there is a punctuality drive, but it always comes to nothing: time loses, traditions wins. This is the great tradition of radicalism and intransigence, of the human spirit holding out against the brute and levelling power of professionalism. It has given to the culture and politics of eastern India a unique and cherished character. Some call it Bengaliness.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11760029.jspThree rather unfortunate declamations that made news and stood out like sore fingers over the last few days were those by an air marshal, who made the most reactionary and insensitive statement about women; by Barack Obama, who suggested that China should intervene in Indo-Pak problems; and the international declaration that Delhi roads are a death-trap. Each of these revelations illustrates intellectual immaturity, and the absence of wherewithal to address realities.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11763624.jspThe editor of this book does not mince words. The book, in fact, is not only an acknowledgement of the growing http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11763604.jspThere has always been a close relationship between literature and the visual arts — a relationship not well http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11763603.jspThis is the third and concluding volume of The Millennium Trilogy. Readers who have not read the second volume, The Girl Who Played with Fire, will find themselves somewhat in the middle of a story. The two principal characters, and many of the other important ones, remain the same throughout the trilogy. These two are Lisbeth Salander and Mikel Blomkvist, both in different ways quite unforgettable.http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091120/jsp/opinion/story_11763602.jspRobert Skidelsky is a renowned Keynesian scholar, having received a number