Below the line: Quite amusing

A banker involved in the DHFL resolution process was quite amused and wondered as to why the media should give so much credence and display (even on front pages) to the letters of jailed promoter of DHFL, Kapil Wadhawan.

Wadhawan has been on a letter-writing spree and had even made his settlement proposal to the DHFL administrator for getting back the company. The banker pointed out that it is well known in banking and legal circles that Wadhawan is not eligible under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and cannot even dream of coming back to the company as in any case the RBI will not approve him as “fit and proper”. The possibility of his coming back to helm DHFL is long over and the NCLT is not going to entertain him, the banker noted, and added that his earlier letters have been discussed and replied to legally. Moreover, his settlement proposal does not show where he will get the funds from to take over the company.

Bottomline: It’s a closed chapter for Wadhawan on regaining control of DHFL, no matter how many more letters he writes to the RBI Governor or the appointed administrator. The only ray of hope is that the IBC should get annulled, which is unlikely to happen if the current thinking in government is anything to go by.

On a desperate goodwill hunt, the Union ministers who are holding talks with the protesting farmers found a new way to break the ice with them — by breaking bread with them.

The farmer leaders who held several rounds of discussions with the ministerial committee since they commenced the protest more than a month ago have so far refused to accept tea, snacks or lunch offered by the government during the talks. Instead, they used to get their lunch from the protest site.

On December 30, when the fourth round of talks was held at Vigyan Bhavan, the Ministers — Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash — decided to skip the lunch officially organised, and joined the farmers to share the lunch that had been brought for them.

Can there be a better way for the Ministers to ‘show’ that how sympathetic they are to the farmers’ cause!

After all, the farmers are the annadatas !

TRIFED, under the Ministry of Tribal Affairs, proposes to collaborate with the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and India Post, for promoting the rich and traditional tribal products of the North Eastern States. By GI tagging the products, transparency regarding the origin of the product can be ensured.

As a part of its promotion of GI-tagged products and tribal products, TRIFED will be collaborating with India Post on other initiatives as well. India Post will also purchase products and items made by tribal artisans for all its future gifting requirements.

Leaders of the alliance partners in Tamil Nadu — the AIADMK and the BJP — have been engaged in a war of words over who will be the Chief Minister if the alliance wins the 2021 Assembly elections. The AIADMK had announced that incumbent Edapaddi K Palaniswami will be the Chief Minister candidate but some leaders in the BJP said it would be decided at a later stage. At a recent press meet, journalists sought Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar’s comment on the issue, but he declined to give a reply.

When persisted, the Minister said, it is the same question and it is the same answer. “But we did not get any answer,” said a reporter.

“No, that is the answer,” the Minister shot back. When the journalists persisted for a reply, the Minister said, “journalists have the freedom of saying he ‘refused’; or he was ‘silent’; or he ‘diverted’ or he was ‘reluctant’. I have given all the possible explanations that you can take.”

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