Legislative Assemblies in most States in the country will organise a Kavyanjali for former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on September 15. On that day, which marks the completion of one month of the demise of the poet-politician, there will be a recitation of poems penned by the departed leader in many State Assemblies.

Witty Jaitley

You must give it to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for his subtle messages, which often comes in the form of wit.

At a recent Competition Commission of India (CCI) event, where he inaugurated the new office building of the competition regulator, Jaitley sent those assembled into peals of laughter.

In his opening remarks at the event, Jaitley said that it was a pleasant occasion to see that “CCI has acquired extremely modern, elegant, far more presentable premises which can compete with its counterparts in other parts of the world, at least in its looks”.

However, this did make some of the dignitaries at the event wonder if the Minister was sending a subtle message. Was he hinting to those manning the competition watchdog to raise the bar and make a mark at the global stage?

Jaitley also came up with another gem in his address.

He reminded the CCI as to how it was “buried even before being born”, owing to the judicial intervention that stayed its functioning from 2004 to 2009! The competition law, which was enacted in 2002, itself had faced legal rough weather in the initial years.

Legendary by what yardstick?

Industry bodies have usually been highly appreciative of government representatives while inviting them for their events. That they go overboard sometimes is an understatement. During the recently held Minerals, Metals, Metallurgy and Materials international exhibition and conference 2018, many government officials and public sector undertaking chiefs were invited. To encourage a good footfall, the invite boasted of having ‘Industry Legends’ at one of the sessions. The current Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) was described as one such legend. Now a legend should ideally be someone who has worked or been associated with the sector for a considerable period of time. But the present SAIL Chairman is an IAS officer whose first association with the steel sector began in January last year when he was posted as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Steel. In June this year, he was appointed as the SAIL CMD. Legend is it?

Pop brain supplements

The new fad is now to pop pills known as ‘brain supplements’. A US-company called NeuroClub, which calls itself a brain health company, launched ‘Ayurvedic’ pills to tackle ageing of the brain, improve memory, and even tackle Parkinson’s and Alzheimers. The founder of the company, who was in India recently, told the press that when ‘Seraxil’, one of the company’s products, was given to a bunch of engineers in an IT company, they became so relaxed that the IT company discontinued the trials, fearing loss of productivity of their employees. However, the company’s claims are hard to believe, given that such clinical trials are not mandatory according to law. The founder of the company also refused to share voluntary trial results, saying they were yet to be published. How do we trust such claims then?

Water displacement

It is well known that water displaces people. But it’s rather rare to see people who talk about water too getting displaced. A gathering of water experts assembled at the India International Centre last week for a brainstorming on the future of India’s water policy , however, had one such experience. As the day-long seminar, organised jointly by Shiv Nadar University and Shiv Nadar Foundation, reaching its end, in came an announcement that the meeting had to move to a conference hall in another building in the compound. This made one of the experts blurt out almost instantaneously: “We have heard that water displaces people, but it’s the first time that people talking about water are also getting displaced.” Our Bureaus

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