Not all the African delegates, who were in New Delhi to attend the third India-Africa Forum Summit that ended on October 29, had charitable things to say about the deliverables from the summit's events and meetings. One African politician told a top Indian leader - the two have known each other for years - how the summit seemed more of a "fancy dress" event where African leaders and their first ladies got the chance to wear different kinds of Indian attire. Another African diplomat said he had expected to attend "a big Indian wedding" - that was what he got at the summit and enjoyed it thoroughly. The delegates were, however, unsure about the results expected from the summit, not because of lack of intent from the Indian side, but what they said was the "peculiar habit" of Indians, unlike the Chinese, to falter when it came to following up plans and discussions.

Not-so-flattering opinion

Business Standard

While no heads have rolled in the Congress despite its disastrous performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not acquitted itself any better. The BJP's debacle in this year's Delhi Assembly polls has not stirred it into taking any action against party candidates who lost. Now, Satish Upadhyaya, the chief of BJP's Delhi unit, is pleading that his tenure be extended till next year as his daughter is getting married. With the crucial local body elections in Delhi slated to take place in the autumn of 2016, the BJP is not too confident of doing well if its present leadership continues.

BJP's leadership troubles

PSU reforms necessary to attract global talent

Widening the net

India needs to scale up engagement with Africa

Another promising start

The Opposition has long been accusing Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of taking the state back to the 'Jungle Raj' of the Lalu Prasad-Rabri Devi era, when the administrative framework of the state had broken down and criminals ruled the roost. Whether that perception is fair or not depends largely on which side of the fence one sits. Voters at a polling booth in Bakhtiyarpur on the outskirts of Patna got a taste of Jungle Raj, albeit of a different kind, on Wednesday. A monkey spread panic among voters, polling officers, security personnel and journalists, when it bit three of them. Incidentally, this was the same booth where Kumar cast his vote, during the third phase of the ongoing Assembly polls in the state.

Jungle Raj in Nitish's backyard

Government servants have been spared work on at least one holiday this year. In 2014, they had to turn up for the cleanliness drive that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led by example on the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, a gazetted holiday, as also to mark the Yoga Day on June 21, a Saturday. This year, October 31, the birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the first home minister of independent India, is on a Saturday. The National Democratic Alliance government observes it as National Unity Day. On that day, the PM will garland Patel's statue, located a kilometre from Parliament, participate in a 'run for unity' from Vijay Chowk to India Gate and administer a pledge. Fortunately for government servants, they have been asked to take the pledge today. A government source said the leadership was mindful of not asking government servants to turn up on their off day to take part in the run and take the pledge.

Thank god, it's a holiday

Staying with Sardar Patel, the Uttar Pradesh government is likely to declare a holiday on October 31 to mark his birth anniversary. A decision might be taken by the Samajwadi Party government soon in view of elections to the 403-member UP Assembly, due in 2017. After the decision, the number of official holidays in the state will stand at 39. The Akhilesh Yadav-led government had also declared holidays on the birth anniversaries of Maharishi Kashyap and Maharishi Nishad Raj (April 5), former prime minister Chandrashekhar (April 17), Hazrat Ajmeri Garib Nawaz Urs (April 26) and Maharana Pratap (May 9).

Holiday list

With reference to the timely and lively editorial "Dropping the ball" (October 29), telecom companies have been rightly questioning the rationale behind the imposition of a penalty of Rs 1 for each call dropped (maximum of three calls a day) by the telcom regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), effective from January 1. While this consumer-friendly move could invite a host of problems, it would be naive to presume that all is well with our telcos, too. They are not doing charity by voluntarily undertaking one of the most lucrative businesses of e-communication in India.While the editorial talks about the likely disputes and instances of litigation apart from the likely loss of revenue (two-thirds of the industry's average revenue) to the service vendors, which could add up to a substantial amount on an annual basis, it does not impress on them the responsibility to provide hassle-free services to consumers. Notwithstanding the technical pleas of telcos, we deserve a fl

Letters: Hassle-free service

This refers to the the book review, "Sam Pitroda's change challenges" (October 28). I had the privilege of attending the book launch at Ahmedabad last week. Who could be a better reviewer than a member of the Science Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, which launched the Technology Missions and projects such as C-DAC? The reviewer has offered information on what went behind the greatest story of connecting India by technologist and entrepreneur Sam Pitroda. In the early nineties, the frustration of getting a call through from a small town like Bayana in Rajasthan to Delhi or Mumbai was something only those who have gone through it would know. In 1991, when I was staying with my mother in Bayana, one evening I came home to find she had fallen and broken a limb. There was no way I could be informed in the village where I was working. The next big task was to inform my elder brother in Delhi who was with the Indian Air Force.Imagine the worry and efforts we had to go through. That is

Letters: Thank you, Sam

The Karnataka state cabinet expansion, on the cards for a long time, will finally take place with the induction of four new faces into the council of ministers. Outgoing Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President G Parameshwara gets his reward but not as a deputy chief minister, a post he has been clamouring for. While Congress leaders have done well to ensure berths for the Scheduled Castes, backward classes, Vokkaligas and Lingayats during the expansion, the party's intention to appoint 10 parliamentary secretaries has drawn flak. The appointments, besides being a drain on the state exchequer, will have a few takers and shows the state government is least concerned when it comes to implementing austerity measures.N J Ravi Chander   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: Expansion drive

A project that brought hope and despair to Ratnagiri

Dabhol

It helped government policy evolve over time

Dabhol-nama: Five things that made the plant unique

Long road to genuinely improving business

Ease of doing business: from 130 to 50

Trai must consider durable remedies for call drops

Dropping the ball

Arun Shourie wasn't a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member anymore, claimed a party leader, who coordinated the recent membership drive for the party. The BJP recruited 110 million new members during the membership drive. It had asked all existing members to register again with the party by giving a missed call on a call centre number. Shourie, the BJP leader claimed, didn't give that all-important missed call and therefore ceased to be a member of the party. Nobody is saying his words were in reaction to Shourie's recent comment that the National Democratic Alliance government was little more than Congress plus a cow, but other party leaders, including Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, have refused to react to the view of the minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Cabinet. For that matter, BJP leaders have largely shied away from reacting to its Bihar MP Shatrughan Sinha's recent 'anti-party' comments and actions, except this quip by a party leader: "We have eight million me

Team spirit

While inaugurating the second edition of the two-day Progressive Punjab Investors Summit in Mohali on October 28, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal announced some concessions for the food processing units that would be set up in the state. When it was the turn of state Chief Minister and Sukhbir Badal's father Parkash Singh Badal to speak, he said: "I don't know whether he announced the concessions for the food processing industry under threat from his wife or on his own accord." Sukhbir Badal's wife, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is the Union food processing minister.

Family pressure

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu is famous for his 'Venkaiah-isms'. After the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) victory in the civic polls in Ladakh and Port Blair recently, Naidu said the party had now won "the mainland, the island and the highland". He added that the BJP won mainland India in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections; now it had won the civic polls in the "highland" of Ladakh and the "island" of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Winner takes all

With reference to the report, "India jumps 12 spots on World Bank's ease of doing biz list" (October 28), although India's improvement under a few parameters brings some comfort, the 'jump' is no reason for jubilation as the country has not advanced much from its rank of 142 in the World Bank's assessment of 189 countries in 2013.The National Institution for Transforming India Aayog should strengthen in-house expertise to guide government departments and agencies in ensuring better coordination among those tasked with providing assistance, infrastructure and linkage support for those setting up businesses in India.A single-window approach may not be practical for bringing together services and facilities necessary for setting up units in different sectors. But it should be possible to put into place an information system that reduces the role of middlemen, who extract a price for fast-track clearances.Under parameters such as number of procedures or number of documents, it should be po

Letters: Much more to be done

With reference to the report, "Processed meat can cause cancer and red meat probably can: WHO" (October 28), some animals are natural carnivores, some herbivores and others omnivores. Humans prefer to be omnivores.The decision to be a vegetarian or to eat meat is often a contentious and emotional one. It is more relevant to discuss whether we were evolved to be herbivores or carnivores - if nature intended us to be carnivores we would have evolved differently. We may eat meat but we are not natural carnivores. No matter how much fat natural carnivores eat they do not develop atherosclerosis, but humans do.In the new dietary guidelines issued by the US government, vegetables and fruits are on the top of the list and are proven to prevent several illnesses. They are followed by whole grains.Michael Pollan, the author of books such as In Defense of Food and The Omnivore's Dilemma says: "Eat food, but not too much. Mostly plants" and "If it came from a plant, eat it; if it was made in a pl

Letters: Meat of the matter

With reference to the editorial, "Anchoring issues" (October 28), the role of anchor investors in gauging institutional demand for the issue is self-evident. However, the role they play in valuation is subtle. To understand this, let's appreciate the fact that anchor investment is driven by potential upside, relative to potential downside. In a market where most of the issues are 'anchored', potential upside eclipses downside, that is, there is money on the table in the valuation of an initial public offering. As the lack of anchoring in such a market would imply negative signalling from the investor's perspective, there would be incentives for issuers to under-price the issue so as to attract anchor investments.However, there is a free-rider problem associated with this. An issuer has every incentive to overprice the issue as the effect would be felt only by the followers. Hence, knowledge of lead managers, information disclosure etc, are important. If anchor investment remains a frin

Business Standard

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Page 382 - Business Standard

Not-so-flattering opinion

BJP's leadership troubles

Widening the net

Another promising start

Jungle Raj in Nitish's backyard

Thank god, it's a holiday

Holiday list

Letters: Hassle-free service

Letters: Thank you, Sam

Letters: Expansion drive

Dabhol-nama: Five things that made the plant unique

Ease of doing business: from 130 to 50

Dropping the ball

Team spirit

Family pressure

Winner takes all

Letters: Much more to be done

Letters: Meat of the matter

Letters: A free-rider problem

Behind the excitement