Making sense of free trade agreements

Free trade agreements (FTAs) have proliferated around the world and their number today exceeds 350. Former ambassador VS Seshadri says it is important to recognise that every new FTA, whether India is party to it or not, can potentially affect its trade prospects to a small or large extent. Some impact could be in the form of market access. They could also be in the form of regulatory changes and facilitatory frameworks developing elsewhere. This book is a comprehensive work on the evolution of FTAs across the world and how India should navigate these.

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The author points out that India’s past FTAs have been limited even as the government has taken revived interest and recently signed FTAs with the UAE and Australia. It is essential that India remains alert to various developments related to FTAs.

Divided into seven chapters, the book focuses on the development of FTAs and looks at the way ahead for the nation. It also flags the key aspects that may need to be kept in view taking forward the ongoing or future negotiations. Seshadri outlines a fivefold plan on monitoring and implementation of FTAs once they are concluded. TNS

Long before he became the enlightened leader Gautam Buddha, he was a boy oblivious of the world. As a young prince, Siddhartha navigates politics and relationships and slowly begins to question his oppressively perfect life. Meanwhile, his family struggles to maintain their deception from banishing the old and sick to hiding their own advancing age in the hope that they can mould him into a dutiful king. In Advait Kottary’s intricately woven narrative, raw human emotion and conflict are tempered with the boundless compassion of the Buddha. ‘Siddhartha’ is both a riveting story and a profound meditation on our shared quest for truth. In the Foreword, singer Rekha Bhardwaj says the simplicity of Kottary’s language will appeal to an impatient generation.

Do offices have secrets waiting to be discovered? Can these secrets help us become more effective managers? Yes, says author Harish Bhat. These secrets are beyond financial numbers and confidential strategy documents hidden away in locked drawers. Instead, these are pretty simple ones, like good filter coffee, generosity and 30 minutes of me-time. Through real and fictional stories, the book offers a selection of fascinating and useful secrets that can help you be far more successful at your workplace. It covers a range of subjects: the best methods of fighting exhaustion, organising your work desk, the power of listening, why kindness is so important, workplace lessons from Hercule Poirot, et al. The author, brand custodian at Tata Sons, has been with the Tata Group for 35 years.