It's raining competition

As the Narendra Modi government settles down to its day-to-day working, some ministers are finding it hard to shrug off the habit of opposition, even in jest. During a recent chat with journalists, Minister for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh declined to equate the poor monsoon of 2014 with 2009, the year the country suffered a major drought and when the previous regime was in power. He said the overall monsoon deficit in 2009 was almost 22 per cent, while this year the deficit is expected to be much lower at 13 per cent. The nine-percentage-point improvement was probably due to a change in government, he said in a lighter vein.