Below the line

New Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy Subramanian did his PhD under the guidance of Raghuram Rajan.

As soon as the news was out there was palpable excitement in the air. Will the new CEA also turn out to be a rockstar like Rajan?

Well as the youngest ever CEA there are several positives in favour of Subramanian — the most important being that brain and looks go together in his case, quipped a lady hack who felt that frequenting North Block may now be worth the effort!

The BJP camp is certainly ‘Shaken but not stirred’ at the outcome of the exit poll results from the politically crucial States of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, quipped a banker in the Capital.

True, the ruling dispensation at the Centre may get slightly disturbed at the latest Assembly poll results, but not deeply enough to change their behaviour or way of thinking for the general elections in 2019, said a political observer.

Remember 2003 when BJP did well in Assembly elections and still did not make it to the Centre in 2004 elections.

Exit polls have really riled the sympathisers of the ruling BJP as most of the projections are not in their favour.

But these supporters have to put up a brave face on television debates where they have rubbished unfavourable estimations. At one such televised debate, BJP supporter Vaibhav Aggarwal claimed that his party was going to win in Rajasthan ,to the surprise of many. But Aggarwal was insistent and even offered his fellow panelists a bottle of ‘single malt’ if his predictions went wrong. The Congress panelist was quick to highlight the hypocrisy of the wager claimed by someone from a party of teetotallers.

India’s massive consumer base has attracted the attention of MNCs for long. But that the opportunity comes with risks is something even the brightest of managerial minds have failed to fathom.

Taxi cab aggregators Ola and Uber have been realising this the hard way. Recently cab drivers associated with these platforms went on strike protesting against the revenue sharing policies of these apps.

That the managements of the cab aggregators ignored the demands, left the drivers disappointed. Some drivers say that the management told them to simply quit their platforms if they did not agree with the existing revenue share model.

But drivers in Delhi have found a way to hoodwink the managements of the cab aggregators. Once a passenger boards, the driver offers a discount to the projected fare if the passenger is willing to switch off off the app and continue with the ride.

So for the cab aggregator the ride stands cancelled resulting in loss of revenue.

But for the cab driver and the passenger, it is a ‘win-win’ situation.

At a recent gathering at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), TK Joshi, Advisor (Environmental Health) in the Ministry of Environment, made some interesting comments. A few years ago, E Sreedhran , Metro Man of India, and top officials from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) approached the Ministry with a curious complaint.

While Sreedhran and his team of Delhi Metro had shifted to a new office building in Connaught Place, the CBI Headquarters had shifted to the CGO Complex. Some staffers in these two buildings were complaining of headache, fatigue and not being able to work at their optimum levels.

Joshi concluded that they were suffering from what is called a ‘Tight Building Syndrome’, which he explains affects people staying in buildings where levels of indoor pollution are high.

Whether they managed to find a solution to this peculiar Syndrome or not, still remains unknown.

Our Delhi Bureau

COMMENT NOW