Much ado about little

On Budget day, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) called the press to its head office in Fort, Mumbai, for the first meet with newly appointed Deputy Governor Urjit Patel. This in itself was a surprise, since Patel has been assiduously kept away from the press since his appointment in January this year. But the bigger surprise was the unusually tight security. Journalists were made to stand outside the office in the hot sun before being ushered in for a security check that demanded photo IDs to validate their press cards. And all this for less than 10 minutes of standard comment from the deputy governor.