The Hindu Business Line : ‘Paranoid’ WEF

The Davos-based World Economic Forum (WEF) should probably change its name to We Enforce-by-Force (WEF). This is what journalists covering what was once a premier global industry event feel. Gone are the days when the WEF was so hungry for coverage that journalists could walk in and get registered to cover the event. Now it is the opposite. The WEF has become as press-unfriendly as some of the world’s most secretive organisations. The security drill and the quotas wo uld make even the White House blush. And to add insult, the WEF employs bouncers.

Wah! Taj

India’s tourism industry definitely needs an extra push to attract foreign tourists, especially after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and the global financial crisis. But the Tourism Minister, Ms Selja, can take it easy. Her senior colleague, Mr Salman Khurshid, Corporate and Minority Affairs Minister, is doing the job for her. At a forum on Competition Law in the national capital, he was seen urging the foreign delegates present there to visit Agra and its world f amous monument, the Taj Mahal. Recalling the former US President, Mr Bill Clinton’s words, Mr Khurshid said, “There are two kinds of people in the world — those who have seen the Taj Mahal and love it and those who have not seen the Taj and love it.” The Minister went on to say that he wants the foreign delegates to be among those who have seen Taj Mahal and fallen in love with it.

You can’t win

The Income-Tax Department has again proved the adage that you can take a horse to the water but cannot force it to drink it. The Government may have taken several measures to reduce levels of corruption in the Department, including sending the refund cheques with the assessee’s account number written, but what is one to do if, for the second successive year, the IT refund comes by post, but with wrong account numbers written, thereby making the cheque useless? Is the re a hidden cost involved to being an honest tax-payer and seeking a refund. Your diaryist is reminded of what used to happen in government departments some years ago to those seeking payments for goods sold or services rendered. They would receive by registered post an empty envelope. They would then have to rush down to the department concerned to collect the cheque for the usual consideration. The alternative was a wait of six months until the expiry date of the cheque, which was never attached to the covering note, was reached. Since this involved loss of interest, most contractors preferred to settle, as it were, out of office.

Tailpiece

Delhi is agog with speculation that the famous letter written by Jairam Ramesh arguing that India be flexible at Copenhagen was a command performance aimed at testing the waters.

OUR DELHI BUREAU