It was around 1 pm on Friday when the Lok Sabha Speaker began a discussion on the demand for grants for the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Ironically, in the 543-member Lok Sabha, only about 50 members were present at the Treasury benches and 22 on the Opposition side. A sad commentary, indeed, on the importance that a ministry, which is responsible for the welfare of disadvantaged sections of society such as scheduled castes and tribes, holds for lawmakers!

The twain shall meet

For once, AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa and DMK chief M Karunanidhi had something in common. The stamp papers on which both filed nominations and affidavits for the Assembly elections came from the same vendor — A Roufbasha in Mylapore. Interestingly, both filed nominations on April 25, an auspicious day according to Hindu calendar. Thanks to this coincidence, Roufbasha trended for a day on social media.

Rare camaraderie

Political leaders of opposing parties rarely display camaraderie especially when polls are around the corner. But there was an exception in Singur in West Bengal last week. CPM had to fly in party secretary Sitaram Yechury to a meeting, but the party did not have a helipad of its own. The alternative was to build one, or use Trinamool’s. So Rabin Deb, the CPM-Congress’ candidate approached Rabindranath Bhattacharya of TMC seeking permission for using their helipad. Bhattacharya obliged. A rare show of goodwill in a State marked by poll and post poll acrimony.

The governor’s dilemma

With the RBI issuing licences to 23 entities to start a bank, governor Raghuram Rajan wondered aloud at a recent event if Chanda’s (Kochhar) bank (ICICI Bank) and Shikha’s (Sharma) bank (Axis Bank) could be called (classified as) new private sector banks. They are no longer new but very old banks. He felt the RBI would do well to now re-classify private sector banks a la Gen X, Y and Z, instead of the current classifications.

Boot on the other leg

YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, President of the YSR Congress, who is facing criminal and corruption charges, has brought out a book on Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu, listing his alleged corrupt deals. The book, Emperor of Corruption, has pegged the total value of corruption at ₹1.34 lakh crore. It may be recalled, Naidu had come out with a similar book, Raja of Corruption, on YS Rajasekhara Reddy, during his tenure as the CM.

Way to go

As India’s love affair with start-ups continues, there are still some heart-warming things about older firms. An Infosys top executive recently allowed his driver to be an entrepreneur with Ola as he needs him only for a few hours in a day. Coming from one of India’s original start-up, he seems to still cherish the entrepreneurial zeal in another individual.

Old sport

Few might know of the sporting prowess of RBI governor Rajan. At a convocation held recently at the Pune-based NIBM, one dignitary narrated a tale while introducing Rajan. The story was on how sophomores in his college in Chicago would pass the hat round to collect a kitty. The deal: if any student managed to beat Rajan at squash, he would have to dole out twice the amount collected. Needless to say, the occasion never did arise.

Relief for Saudi NRIs

NRIs from Kerala had feared economic reforms in Saudi Arabia would put an end to their stay in the kingdom. Going by the recent Saudisation initiatives by the government and the oil slump, it was natural to expect that Vision 2030, unveiled last week, would cull expatriate jobs. But the Vision proposes to diversify the economy, increase manufacturing and boost tourism. This means the Saudis will need a continuous supply of labour from Kerala.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW