Central Cabinet ministers are in overdrive, writing pages and pages about their respective ministry’s achievements in the past two years. This, however, is making things difficult for their junior officers who have to shrink the content for media consumption. For instance, a 7-page article by a senior Cabinet minister had to be cut down by his media advisor to one page at the editor’s request.
No bust, only boom
Minister of Communication and Information technology Ravi Shankar Prasad recently rebuked media persons for asking questions about crude oil prices and whether the Government plans to cut excise duty on fuel. The issue arose when Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das was commenting on GDP data during a Cabinet briefing. Prasad said that instead of asking questions on fuel, reporters should focus on “the booming economy”.
Lots, if it’s 13. Or ask members in the new LDF Cabinet in Kerala. Most of them may be atheists but at least some are superstitious. Else, how can we explain the fact that the scheme of number-tagging their official cars did not include the number 13? Yes, after Kerala State car no 12 on the official list, the next was Kerala State car no 14. A case of triskaidekaphobia (fear of number 13) in the higher echelons of a leftist government?
Well, it took Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, a fearless cruncher of numbers, and Agriculture Minister VS Sunilkumar to prove otherwise. Isaac went the extra mile to insist that he be given the keys to number 13 and refused to take delivery of number 10 originally allotted to him. This was after Sunilkumar said he was willing to take 13 if it was allotted to him. In the previous Congress-led UDF government, no one would touch 13. In LDF’s previous stint (2001-2006), MA Baby had accepted 13. Since the original scheme this time round did not have a number 13, it predictably invited jeers from critics, most of all a resurgent BJP. But Isaac and Sunikumar seemed to have combined to call their collective bluff.
Caste conscious?
The BJP supporting the CPI(M)? In the Kerala Assembly’s election for Speaker, the first and only BJP MLA in the House, the 86-year-old O Rajagopal voted for the CPI(M) candidate, P Sreeramakrishnan, who comfortably defeated the Congress candidate Sajeendran. Rajagopal told reporters he liked the new Speaker’s name, but he sure annoyed the BJP-RSS cadres. Trollers on the social media touted another reason: Sreeramakrishnan is from an upper caste while Sajeendran is a dalit.
Hoping for a blockbuster
While startups and new age entrepreneurs have taken the lead in the e-commerce business, old economy conglomerates such as the Tata group are just beginning to roll out their online plans. Usually, corporates prefer to do the launch event and press conference during the earlier part of the week. But the Tatas chose to announce their entry into online retail on a Friday. An executive explained that just as movies are launched on Fridays, he was hoping that the new Tata venture would be nothing short of a blockbuster.
Back on its feet
Home Minister Rajnath Singh had some interesting observations to make on the country’s economy during an Indo-American Chamber of Commerce meet in Hyderabad. Commenting that the Modi government had managed to turn around the economy, he said it was in sharp contrast to its sirsasana position — on its head — back in 2013. When he had visited the US then as BJP president, everyone had written off the Indian economy due to policy paralysis. “I had then told them wait for the BJP Government to come to power things will get better. And in 2014 BJP won with a massive mandate and within two years Modi has turned the economy around.”