The whispers are growing louder of Piyush Goyal, MoS for power, coal and new & renewable energy, moving to the finance ministry. His recent visit to Singapore to meet investors further stoked the rumours because his engagements had little to with his ministries. He met global investors at Deutsche Bank’s investment summit db AccessAsia, he discussed a pact on skill development at the Institute of Technical Education, and talked about ease of doing business with Singapore’s trade and industry bodies. Money matters?

Whose bread is it anyway?

Our daily bread went under the cloud this week after a report by the Centre for Science and Environment claimed it had found carcinogenic chemicals in bread and bakery product samples in the Delhi-NCR region. What prompted this study now, given that potassium bromate has been used by bakers for ages? A senior executive of the All India Bread Manufacturers’ Association pointed out that when the chemical was banned in Europe, it was seen as a push for companies that deal with enzymes and emulsifiers, which are used as alternatives. Conspiracy theory?

Clean cut

Pinarayi Vijayan may be a first-time chief minister but he seems to be way ahead in his thinking. After all, His trusted lieutenant and finance minister Thomas Isaac was on record saying the new Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala would likely inherit an exchequer flushed clean of cash. So, Vijayan decided to restrict the size of the Cabinet to 19. The Oommen Chandy government had 20. Vijayan then prevailed on the LDF State committee to insist that no minister would have personal staff adding up to more than 25. He also ordered that only urgent or unavoidable maintenance work would be allowed in the ministerial bungalows — no expensive makeovers. The final cut was taking down the webcams set up by his predecessor for live-streaming of activities in the CM’s chamber as a measure of transparency.

Flying on Lungi Dance

Multinationals appear to have understood the importance of the movie industry in Indian culture. Scoot, a low cost airline from Singapore Airlines, chose to announce its entry in Chennai with a splash to the tune of a popular hit song, ‘Lungi Dance’ which is a tribute to Superstar Rajinikanth in the movie, Chennai Express . Shaking a leg on stage was the airline’s chief commercial officer Leslie Thng along with Bharath Mahadevan, country head of Scoot and three dancers, all clad in bright yellow Scoot t-shirts, jeans, and wrapped in white dhotis. “This is Scootitude, celebrating local culture. We have arrived in Thalaivaa’s land,” Thng said.

Home’s where the hotel is

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandra Babu Naidu is literally homeless in Hyderabad. He has just moved into the Park Hyatt with his family from the farm house on the city’s outskirts. A few months after he won the election, Naidu vacated his Jubilee Hills residence, finding it too congested for the growing family. The family moved to the farm house while a new house was being built.But the family found they spent a lot of time travelling to their places of work and the Telugu Desam headquarters. So, according to a party source, “They moved to a flat in the hotel (which gives flats to high networth individuals at ₹2-3 lakh a month).” Practical and possible. Rockstar Rajan

Raghuram Rajan isn’t just being backed by top corporate honchos but also by the aam janta . A campaign to renew the RBI governor’s term is gaining ground; in the forefront is change.org , a platform for public campaigns funded by the likes of Bill Gates and Richard Branson. Emails are already doing the rounds asking people for suppport to retain Rajan. This must be the first time an RBI governor is being seen more as a rockstar than a signatory on currency notes.

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