Veni, vidi, VC

The Narendra Modi-government has sent out clear signals of cost-cutting ahead of the Union Budget. In a recent communication to top officials, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth said the government was looking to promote the use of information technology in its day-to-day functioning. He asked officials at the Centre to interact with state chief secretaries and other senior functionaries via video conference "to the extent possible". His note said, "The use of the video conferencing (VC) facility is very useful for conducting meetings as it saves the precious time of government functionaries and reduces expenditure." Besides cutting travel costs, VC uses the internet, which means it is much cheaper and more convenient than a telephone call. It is also cheaper than video phone calls.