Mani Shankar Aiyar misses no chance to attack the United Progressive Alliance’s economic policies and flaunt his Socialist credentials. Finding loopholes in the Companies Bill, he asked the Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot to read the Joint Parliamentary Committee reports on security scams of 1991 and 2001 to know how murky the corporate world can be. Pilot was in school, and later college, at the time of the scams, Aiyar said in the Rajya Sabha. Aiyar quoted Karl Marx in his speech and advised Pilot not to keep a copy of Das Capital on his table as he may be removed as Minister at once. P. Rajeeve, CPI(M) MP who spoke after Aiyar, said he lost his berth in the Manmohan Singh Cabinet for his affinity to Marxism as there was no more space for such thoughts in Congress.

Total silence

The Ministry of External Affairs seems to be missing in action. On Monday, just before news came in of five Indian soldiers being killed by the Pakistani army, media persons covering the MEA got an SMS saying the weekly media briefing would be at 3.30 p.m. At about 12.30 came an SMS reminder for the briefing. But soon came another SMS saying that the briefing had been pushed to Tuesday 3.30 p.m., with the usual ‘inconvenience regretted’ added to the message. The following day the media got another SMS saying the briefing had been pushed back again, after which there has been nothing but silence.

What a ‘State’ of affairs!

Not just people, even wildlife can suddenly find itself on the wrong side of the fence. The Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve, spread over close to 6,000 sq. km, and now considered the biggest with a base of over 70 tigers, will be divided when the new Telangana State is carved out.

IIM-A’s super class of '87

Raghuram Rajan and Harish Bhat were both gold medallists of the IIM-A batch of 1987. While Bhat became MD & CEO of Tata Global Beverages last year, Rajan, of course, has been anointed the next RBI Governor. Other high achievers of the same batch are Nachiket Mor, who is also a Director on the Board of RBI, and Ajay Srinivasan, CEO, Financial Services, of the Aditya Birla Group. One super-achiever of their batch, who, unfortunately, covered himself with ignominy, is Phaneesh Murthy.

Just one tool won’t do

A few days before being appointed the next RBI Governor, Raghuram Rajan, Chief Economic Advisor to the Union Finance Ministry, delivered the fourth Kuruvila Jacob Oration in Chennai. He recalled an incident from the late academician’s life, which could serve as a lesson for the central bank. Jacob, headmaster of the Madras Christian College High School, caught some students sneaking out of campus. The boys admitted that they were going to a movie. Jacob told them to get into his car and drove them to the cinema. However, the next day, he promptly called them to his room and punished them. Rajan pointed out that as headmaster, Jacob had rewarded the students for their honesty, but punished them for bunking school.

This is what an economist should do — use multiple tools to accomplish multiple objectives, to reward and to punish. Drawing a parallel with the current economic situation and the RBI’s actions, he remarked that the bank uses only one tool — interest rate — to meet multiple objectives.

It now remains to be seen what tools he will use as Governor to achieve multiple objectives.

Patents and Mount Everest

In the technically complex world of patents and litigation involving them, Justice Prabha Sridevan’s incisive observations were not lost on intellectual property lawyers reading her orders. Companies are often seen waffling on a particular section in the Patents Act that requires them to inform authorities on the status and negative developments involving their patents, including rejections in foreign countries. Referring to this section and why patent-filers should comply, the outgoing chairperson of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, Justice Sridevan said: “When George Mallory was asked ‘Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?’ he is supposed to have replied, ‘Because it is there’. To the question ‘Why should we comply with S.8?’ the answer is ‘Because it is there’.”

No generation gap

At an IDRBT (Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology) function in Hyderabad last week, its director, B. Sambamurthy, referred to the institution’s age (it had turned 17) and said in a lighter vein that this was the age when the generation gap between parents and their children surfaced. But lest we inferred that some trouble was brewing between the IDRBT and its parent, the RBI, or drew any other wrong conclusions, Sambamurthy quickly added that there was no tension in the relationship and acknowledged the full support of the RBI’s top brass in the institute’s activities.

Demand side management!

Talking of the improved power situation in some States, a small industries association representative quipped that the power situation has become comfortable not only because electricity generation has increased but also because fewer industries are asking for power. With so many small units shutting shop over the last few years due to shortages, self-sufficiency has been achieved as much due to lower demand as increased supply.

Aspiring Nano

Spotted on Chennai’s roads: a Nano with a Jaguar streaking across its rear. Tata’s brand at the bottom of the pyramid aspiring to be its top-end one?

Most Wanted

Ministers in West Bengal are definitely not at their eloquent best when they speak in English — as some industrialists in Kolkata found out to their discomfort. At a recent event, a senior minister referred to industrialists as “Bengal’s most wanted,” oblivious to what it actually meant. This prompted an industry captain to wryly remark: “If industrialists are Bengal’s most wanted, then it explains why there is no industry here.”

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