Below the Line: Yoga call

Never before has a Secretary going on a fortnight’s leave made news like this. Finance Secretary, Hasmukh Adhia is in the news, not for GST or NPAs, but for going on leave, to which he is rightfully entitled.

The reason is simple. With Finance Minister Arun Jaitley curtailing his work load for health reasons, Adhia’s leave has become the buzz of the town. Adhia is going on a long “yoga holiday” with his guru Swami Visharadanand Saraswathy in Mysuru.

All eyes are now on Expenditure Secretary AN Jha who will steer the FinMin ship for the next fortnight!

When Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui tweeted on Thursday that exemption of import duties on 28 drugs in China will help reduce trade imbalance between the two countries, journalists were confused. Going by the celebratory tone of the tweet, some scribes thought that the concession was meant only for Indian drugs. However, scanning news from the Chinese media soon made it clear that the exemption was for imports from all countries and was also aimed at improving availability of affordable and effective cancer medicines for the Chinese.

Obviously, bridging the growing trade deficit with India was not the sole reason behind the decision. While the Chinese Ambassador’s attempt to score a diplomatic point at any given opportunity can’t be faulted, Indians, be it politicians or the media, need to draw conclusions after thorough research.

Unlike our prominent politicians, some celebrities are not enthused by selfies being taken with them. A fan of renowned musician KJ Yesudas learned this bitter reality recently in the Capital. The legendary vocalist was in New Delhi for the 65th National Film Awards function to receive an award for the best male playback singer. As he was walking out from Hotel Ashok, where most award-winning artists were staying, a fan clicked a selfie with him, of course without the latter’s permission.

An enraged Yesudas pushed the fan’s hand away, resulting in the phone falling down. And if this was not enough, Yesudas, who had walked a few steps, came back and took the phone from the fan, and deleted the picture, forgetting that it is fans who make them heroes!

Did you know that the RBI’s February 13 circular for revised stressed assets framework has been dubbed as “Mahashivaratri circular” among resolution professionals and senior management in corporate India. The reason is not far to see. One, the RBI circular was issued on the eve of ‘Mahashivaratri’ (February 14) and secondly (and more importantly) gave both bankers and promoters sleepless nights.

Hopefully, the “Mahashivaratri” effect will put an end to their excesses and positively impact balance sheets of Indian banks.

The online journalist fraternity has got together to set up the Online Freedom Foundation after the government decided to constitute a committee to finalise a regulatory framework for online media and news portals including digital broadcasting and entertainment and infotainment news and media aggregators. The Foundation has set up a website which allows ordinary citizens to send a message to the Minister of Information & Broadcasting to express their views on the issue.

This is gives a feeling of deja vu. In 2015, activists had set up savetheinternet.in, which allowed ordinary citizens to send views to TRAI on a consultation paper, in a bid to preserve Net Neutrality in India.

In a letter signed by more than 100 journalists which has been sent to the I&B Ministry, the Foundation has expressed its concerns that bringing legacy media structures — such as licensing and content regulation — will have a drastic impact on the online medium.

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