Below the line: It’s Baba’s turn now

Baba Ramdev seems to be on a dream run with nothing beyond his reach. The yoga guru, who is leaving no stone unturned to make his FMCG company Patanjali Ayurved a behemoth, is now gearing up to make his debut at Madame Tussauds. On June 25, he is scheduled to have a sitting at the Madame Tussauds Studio in London, for his statute impressions and measurements. With Madame Tussauds opening its first Indian museum last year, it’s likely that Ramdev’s wax statue would soon be seen in the heart of the Capital.

Press Information Bureau, the government’s nodal agency tasked with disseminating information about government policies, faced technical glitches with its official YouTube channel this week.

PIB’s biggest attraction is PM Modi, and as luck would have it the government agency could not live stream Modi’s early morning event to mark the International Yoga Day on its YouTube channel on Thursday.

The goof-up happened after YouTube updated its partner agreement which led to the channel displaying an error message making it inaccessible. Though PIB’s YouTube channel became accessible at 8 am on Thursday morning, it was after PM’s early morning event was over.

Recent news reports stating that India intended to impose retaliatory import duties on a number of items from the US, including apples, managed to cause excitement amongst apple growers in the country who have been reeling under competition from imports. Scenting an opportunity, a delegation of apple orchard owners met Commerce Ministry officials to find out details about the proposed duties, and whether they should grow more apples by investing more.

When explained that these duties, if imposed, could be temporary and be removed if the US withdrew the higher duties on Indian steel and aluminium, the delegation was a bit disappointed. However, the possibility of enjoying lower competition even for a short period of time was enough to keep hopes afloat.

The series of cases initiated by several investigative agencies against top-notch bankers came up for discussion at a recent meeting that acting finance minister Piyush Goyal had with bank chiefs. The bankers were in for some disappointment as the minister did not offer any assurance on protecting them for their lending decisions. Everybody who does a honest job is protected, Goyal is understood to have conveyed. Not that reassuring one may think.

Political parties have been in a bind since courts have ordered them and their office-bearers to vacate government bungalows. The BJP was the first among major parties to comply when it got itself a swanky new office outside Lutyens’ zone. Then the pressure started building on other parties in the States. Lucknow, the capital of BJP-ruled Uttar Pradesh, has been abuzz with news of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s coterie damaging the government bungalow they had occupied. The allegations were denied by Yadav. But a more peculiar situation emerged when Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati was asked to vacate her bungalow. The BSP said the massive property in the heart of the city was converted into a memorial for the party founder and dalit leader, Kanshi Ram, and hence it cannot be vacated based on the existing court orders.

Infy’s no longer hot

The 37th Infosys AGM lacked spice and seemed to follow the spirit of what its Chairman Nandan Nilekani calls a “boring company”. With the departure of Vishal Sikka and R Seshasayee, shareholders seemed to be slightly more comfortable with the new management. Or as some cynics would say, the honeymoon period is still on.

Our Delhi and Bengalu ru Bureaus

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