Below The Line

Conservation contradiction

Ironical as it may sound, the fuel conservation drive of the ministry for petroleum and natural gas saw a peculiar contradiction at a public sector undertaking’s Fuel Efficient Driving Contest. Contestants had to drive 25 km while conserving fuel and optimising the car’s mileage. And guess what the reward was? Free fuel vouchers! Doesn’t this go against the very premise of fuel conservation on every sensible parameter?

Reverse flick

BJP members thronging to praise Narendra Modi’s speech on the motion of thanks to the President in the Lok Sabha, looked pleasantly surprised when Biju Janata Dal MP Tathagata Satapathy joined them. Expecting to hear Satapathy also sing the PM’s praises, the MPs were left red-faced when the BJD member told Modi that he had been misinformed. “What? What?” the PM was heard exclaiming, to which Satapathy responded saying the PM’s statement that coal was being sold in retail in mining areas was wrong. Even power stations do not have adequate coal, he said, and walked away.

Strategy play

A hack who bumped into Disinvestment Secretary Neeraj Gupta on the sidelines of an event wanted an update on the strategic sales efforts of the Centre. When will the strategic sale happen, the journalist asked. Pat came the reply: At a strategic time! You have to hand it to Gupta.

Crime and punishment

Hanging out late in the ministries to cover the outcome of crucial meetings is common for journalists, and chatting and exchanging information is a good way to pass time and keep one’s humour intact. Recently, however, when a minister came out of one such meeting and, instead of sharing information with the patiently waiting scribes, rebuked them for being noisy, the journalists were appalled at being treated like unruly school kids. News reports were filed that evening as scheduled, but this minister’s point of view went visibly missing.

Testing patience

The Lok Sabha, which saw noisy scenes between the Opposition and ruling party members during a discussion on the motion of thanks on the President’s address, had some lighter moments. For instance, when BJP member Anurag Thakur, who was recently removed as BCCI chief by the Supreme Court, kept interjecting during an Opposition MP’s longish speech, Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee was heard telling him that his patience was running short because of watching too many T20 matches. Howzzat?

Bold and fearless

Honesty’s is Nitish Kumar’s policy. At a panel discussion during the launch of Fearless in Opposition written by P Chidambaram, Nitish babu stated that neither he nor his party, the JD(U), believes there is anything to fear while being in the opposition. He even said that while his government initially supported the demonetisation drive initially thinking it would help unearth black money, he now believes the Government had failed in the attempt. He said he has always been an activist first and a politician next, so fear is something he doesn’t know.

The colour of your tie

WTO Director-General Roberto Azevêdo urged India to be more involved in negotiations and effective engagement with other WTO members if it really wants a multilateral agreement on trade facilitation in services. He advised India to push through a negotiating text on the subject for more effective involvement. Clarifying that the “devil is in the details” he said, “We can all agree that I am wearing a blue tie. But once I put it down on paper, somebody will always say Roberto’s tie is blue and everybody else’s tie is also blue.” He was trying to make the point that only when a proposal is put down on paper will others sit up and take notice.

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