SOPs for journalists

Many politicians overreact to difficult questions from journalists but Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh clearly knows how to handle them. At a recent conference, journalists persistently questioned the special privileges that Members of Parliament demand on Air India flights and were not pleased by the minister’s assurance that he had asked Air India Chairman Rohit Nandan to treat all its passengers as MPs. So Singh put the ball in their court. He said he would ask Mr Nandan to have a Special Operating Procedure for journalists when they fly Air India — and the questions on the issue died after that.