Fresh confusion

That politicians are adept at ducking questions is well known but while some have mastered the art of prevaricating convincingly, others are still to learn. Union minister for food processing industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal is one of them. At a press conference to showcase her ministry's 100 days in office, Badal was at pains to explain her recent meeting with PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi. The version published in some papers was that Kaur discussed with Nooyi the prospect of replacing hot-cooked food with a packaged meal in the school midday meal scheme. Badal flatly denied this. She said the discussion was just a normal conversation between two "urban mothers" on how "packaged food is good for children", and that there has been no further development on the issue since then. Badal must be one of the few urban mothers who really believes this.