Offer of protection

After a recent review of state-owned banks, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told his audience that the government would empower banks to deal with their bad loans burden and protect them so that they were able to take commercially prudent decisions. Despite being questioned repeatedly he did not clarify what those steps to "empower" and "protect" banks would be. When a journalist asked a government official on the sidelines of the meet if the minister meant protecting banks from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Central Bureau of Investigation or the Central Vigilance Commission, the official quipped: "In today's environment, it is more about protection from a media trial."