Delhiites woke up on Thursday to find advertisements in some newspapers that carried the text of the Preamble to the Constitution. Published by the Arvind Kejriwal-led Delhi government to commemorate the adoption of the Constitution, the advertisements were conspicuous because of the omission of the words "socialist" and "secular" from the Preamble. Tendering an apology for the error, the Delhi government ordered a probe to find out if any "mischief" was involved. "The words 'socialist' and 'secular' are erroneously missing from the text published in the English advertisement," the government said in a statement. "The chief minister has taken a stern view of the matter and directed the Directorate of Information & Publicity to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within four days."

Misadventure

Business Standard

When Sunil Bharti Mittal met the media on Thursday to announce Bharti Foundation's new initiative offering legal and financial assistance to underprivileged undertrials, most scribes hoped he would also field a question or two on the current situation in the telecom industry or give his take on whether the "intolerance" debate would affect business sentiment. The battle-hardened Bharti Enterprises chairman did not yield. At one point, a disappointed scribe complained that Mittal was holding a press conference after three years and eight months. A smiling Mittal beat a tactical retreat, saying he would ask his corporate communication team to hold similar media interactions more often. Let's hope that department helps him keep his word.

Mittal's media hiatus

With reference to A K Bhattacharya's article, "No escape from policy action" (November 25), I support 100 per cent his five reasons why a financial burden of Rs 1 lakh crore will not create fiscal havoc. I want to add one more reason.Of the Rs 1 lakh crore, the government would get back Rs 20,000 crore as income tax. The average collection rate for the marginal increase in income would be 20 per cent, with no exemption accruing as it would already have been availed of. We have to consider that this marginal increase would bring a large number of people to the higher scale of 30 per cent. So the average collection rate would be more than the present one, all government officers taken together. The net burden thus would only be Rs 80,000 crore.Now, regarding the "freeze on fresh recruitment at the lower levels of bureaucracy" that the writer has written about but not elaborated, let me say that there is a lot of scope for saving money from this freeze and also from abolishing superfluous

Letters: Reducing fiscal burden

With reference to the Swachh Bharat campaign, the government is more inclined to set up infrastructure than change the mindset of citizens that causes them to litter. But merely focusing on a cleanliness and sanitation campaign rather than changing the mindset that necessitates such a campaign will not yield positive results in the long term.I would like to share my personal experience of advocating a cleanliness/hygiene campaign at a construction site where at least 600 labourers were employed. The emphasis was on a change in attitude. For example, to make the workers realise the importance of cleanliness and good habits, they were asked to think about what would happen if they fell ill and couldn't send money to their families because it would be required for their treatment instead. And who would look after them if they fell ill? After a month of observation, I got good response from most of the workers. The fear factor worked.Imparting information and education and spreading awaren

Letters: Change attitude

With reference to the report, "Aamir Khan speaks, brands get the jitters" (November 26), celebrities have robust levels of intelligence. How come this is not enabling them to do the right thing? Why do they mix personal issues with their public position? Does it not destroy their image and reduce their potential to earn more from brand endorsements? How come this knowledge eludes them and they get trapped? Aamir Khan is a classic example. Brand ambassadors, who have joined him in his downward journey, might face the same situation as him. Can we then say that the assumption that they are quite knowledgeable is untrue and requires to be revisited?K V Rao   BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Revisiting an assumption

Click on graphic

Global Pharmaceutical M&amp;A deals

Pfizer secured formal board approval on Sunday for its acquisition of Botox maker Allergan Plc for more than $150 billion

Global Pharmaceutical M&A deals

Nifty firm directors earn 170 times their staff

The pay ratio disclosures under the new Companies Act help them with more information to take voting decisions

The wide gap between boardroom and shop floor

The two-day discussion at the beginning of the winter session of Parliament to commemorate the adoption of the draft Constitution, a senior Congress leader said, would benefit many sections of legislators. First, the new, young MPs would get to learn and understand vital aspects of the Constitution; second, senior leaders across parties would get to brush up their knowledge. Most important, he said, taking a swipe at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, it would be a "ghar wapsi" for those who profess to abide by constitutional principles in governance, but deviate from these on every occasion - by curbing free speech, being intolerant and so on.

Lesson for all

Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad's son Tej Pratap Yadav tripped over Hindi words twice while taking oath as a Bihar Cabinet minister last week. First, he said "upekshit" (neglected) instead of "apekshit" (expectation) and was stopped by Governor Ram Nath Kovind, who asked him to restart. The second time, he said "jab" (when), instead of "tab" (then). While social media users had fun commenting on his gaffe, political parties kept quiet. But Prasad tweeted: "PM has not taken the oath of keeping the unity and integrity of the country... There is no meaning to akshann in Hindi." Prasad also posted a YouTube video of Narendra Modi taking oath as prime minister on May 26, 2014, during which he mispronounced "akshunn" (to uphold) as "akshann". Prasad said Modi must therefore take a fresh oath of office.

The right oath

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national secretary Sidharth Nath Singh has been offered a role in a Bengali film. Singh, a grandson of former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, has been asked to portray Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, the founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the earlier avatar of BJP, in Danga (The Riot), currently under production. Given Singh's resemblance to the late leader, his name was recommended for the role by Kolkata-based organisation Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Smarak Samity. The film-makers watched television and online video footage of Singh at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad before requesting him to accept the role. Singh has been the BJP's joint in-charge of West Bengal for the last few years and has picked up a smattering of Bengali. The film offer is awaiting approval from the BJP leadership.

From politics to screen

While I agree with the editorial, "Containing compensation" (November 23) that the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission seem moderate at the macro level, the fact is that previous such panels and governments were happy to dole out the largesse and use it as a tool to please a large section of employees.As the editorial rightly points out, the 7th Pay Commission appears to have ignored factors such as role and responsibility, performance, accountability and value creation in determining pay hikes.While these factors are considered critical in several public and private organisations, this does not seem to have happened in government jobs. In fact, the same story is repeated from one commission to the next.The 7th Pay Commission should have talked about or recommended a comprehensive performance management process that defines, assesses and rewards performance and contribution to larger goals. These include organisational, team and individual goals. A detailed performance evaluation

Letters: Merely a gimmick

With reference to the article, "Designing Swachh Bharat differently" (November 24), the additional cess of 0.5 per cent on all services to finance the government's cleanliness and sanitation campaign needs to be utilised fully. The success of such campaigns depends on how effectively and sincerely the objectives are implemented. This requires the wholehearted participation of all sections of the society. The government must accord greater significance to inclusive participation, for which awareness programmes for people from all walks of life is needed, not expensive publicity drives by celebrities.Local self-governments should consider roping in non-governmental organisations, self-help groups, various cultural and social organisations and student associations among others to carry out these awareness drives among the people.V S K Pillai   KottayamLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011)

Letters: Focus on awareness

In the article, "Designing Swachh Bharat differently" (November 24), Govindraj Ethiraj has said the government's cleanliness and sanitation campaign should get an image makeover if it is to succeed like Aadhaar, which was made possible by the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India.The Swachh Bharat campaign must be assigned to an independent body that would design and oversee its implementation. The money collected through a 0.5 per cent cess on all services to fund the implementation of the campaign may not be useful. I hope the central government pays heed to the concerns raised by Ethiraj.Suranarayan Patra   RourkelaLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.inAll letters must have a postal address and telephone number

Letters: Heed suggestions

Need to improve maternal mortality figures

India trails neighbours

EPFO must not be hasty in abandoning equity

Holding for longer

Swachh Bharat's challenge goes beyond building toilets

Avoiding the cesspit

Behind the stumbles of the gold deposit scheme

Waiting for the shine

At an event to announce the launch of Patanjali Ayurved's atta noodles, someone from the audience urged company co-founder Ramdev to intervene in the cooking gas sector in the country, considering that the fuel is perpetually in short supply. After listening to the speaker patiently, the maverick yoga-guru-turned-FMCG-marketer said: "Bahut hi achha sujhao hai (good suggestion). Par abhi hum kuch aur kaamo mein vyast hai (but I am busy with other things at this point)." Could we expect swadeshi cooking gas to take over Indian kitchens in the near future just as Ramdev's consumer products have taken over shop shelves in recent weeks?

Will Ramdev drill for oil and gas?

In the run-up to the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had promised to transform Kolkata into London and Darjeeling into Switzerland. In a bid to fulfil that promise perhaps, her government constructed a replica of the Big Ben in New Town, a neighbourhood of Kolkata, earlier this year. Now Paris seems to be the second model city for Kolkata, with plans afoot for a scale model of the Eiffel Tower. A national newspaper quoted state Urban Development and Municipal Affairs Minister Firhad Hakim confirming the plan. The replica of the Parisian landmark would be built to commemorate the victims of the November 13 terror attack in that city. One wonders if the erstwhile World Trade Centre twin towers of New York are on the list as well.

Transforming Kolkata

Those who complain that Supreme Court judges get too many holidays will find more ammunition in the 2016 calendar released recently by the court. The judges will sit in court for only 190 days, and get 175 days of rest. Rest? The judges counter that they listen to lawyers for nearly five hours every working day and then study the notes, do research and write judgements at their residence. Then they have to prepare for about 70 petitions coming up the next day. From their secluded position, they cannot even hint at their plight. During the hearing of the judges' appointments case a few days ago, presiding Justice J S Khehar had observed "it is a tough and high-pressure job, which leads to a burnout situation".

Rest case

Govindraj Ethiraj's article, "Designing Swachh Bharat differently" (November 24) was an interesting read. I am in agreement with the writer's basic aversion to designing the programme from out of policy pigeonholes like other government initiatives. But the article revolves around the general obsession with cleaning rather than the cause of garbage. The most important aspect of garbage is its generation, but this is being ignored by all and sundry in the excitement over the Swachh Bharat campaign.India is basically a poor country, but like most developed nations, the majority of the garbage here is generated by the rich and powerful. The United States is the largest per capita garbage generator. Rich societies produce more waste because they can do without the leftovers. That the rich may be educated generally makes a poor case for arguing that they would not produce much garbage. On the other hand, living in poverty means every bit of resource has to be reused, recycled or utilised in

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