Is Piyush Goyal a caretaker FinMin or a full-fledged finance minister?

“Is Piyush Goyal a caretaker finance minister or a full-fledged finance minister?” Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Saugata Roy posed this question on Tuesday while participating in a debate on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill in the House, in the presence of Goyal. Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai pointed out that Goyal had already said in his speech that Arun Jaitley was the finance minister. Roy persisted. He said that the IBC Amendment Bill had the name of Goyal as the Minister of Rail, Coal and Finance. Goyal was given additional charge of the finance ministry when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley underwent a kidney transplant operation. Jaitley is currently recovering.

About potato and potato chips

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Trinamool Congress (TMC) waged a battle of wits to ensure their respective leaders hogged television airtime on Tuesday. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was to speak at an event organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India at 2pm, but she decided to speak at 4pm. BJP chief Amit Shah’s speech in the Rajya Sabha on the issue of the draft National Register of Citizens was disrupted by Opposition protests and he also decided to hold a press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi at 4pm. As the word reached the TMC, Banerjee’s speech was advanced to 3.30pm. In her speech, she countered the praise for Home Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj by one of the panelists. “I am not saying all are bad. Sushma Swaraj and Rajnath Singh are good people. Potato and potato chips can't be equal,” she said.

A team that eats together

A group of at least half-a-dozen Additional Director General and Inspector General-rank officers of the Delhi Police have tweaked their schedules in such a way that they can have lunch together on most work days. These lunch sessions are held either in the office of one of the officers or in a common meeting hall. Each lunch is followed by a round of tea after a while and the interval between the two breaks is used for chat sessions. Sources are mum on whether work is discussed during these meetings or it is in the nature of random tête-à-tête but many point out that work can anyway be discussed during the crime review or law and order meetings (both weekly features). Needless to say, this takes longer than individual lunch breaks and is certainly not appreciated by subordinates for whom even meals can become a “luxury” on certain days.