Dhoot, 'people's representative'

Videocon promoter R N Dhoot (pictured with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee) is always alert to the fact that he is not just another businessman but also a Rajya Sabha member and, in that sense, a representative of the people. At a recent press meet that he addressed as the president-elect of industry lobby group Assocham in New Delhi, he found himself being forced to disagree with his fellow speaker’s view that drug price control was not needed in India since prices are already among the world’s lowest. Interrupting Kewal Handa, chairman of Assocham’s Drugs and Pharmaceutical Council and managing director of Pfizer India, Dhoot said he could not favour decontrol because he does not want to be seen advocating an increase in medicine prices. Dhoot is in the Rajya Sabha as a Shiv Sena nominee from Maharashtra.