Apropos the report "As Maggi goes off menu, Nestle gears up for damage control" (May 28), it is disturbing to go through the findings that are being revealed after the news that broke out on the Uttar Pradesh Food & Drug Administration banning Maggi for high lead and monosodium glutamate content. Since then, other states have also stepped up their efforts to test Maggi samples. They might also be on the verge of imposing a possible ban on an item that can be regarded as the next most popular food item consumed all over India after rice, roti and dal. While new findings continue to surface, we find only a routine response from the government - that they would look into it. We cannot really understand that reputed companies of the stature of Nestle would be applying a double standard for India as compared to their normal standard in Europe and America for such food items.Since this concerns the general health of a larger mass in the country, we look forward to some quick government m

Letters: Double standard in India?

Business Standard

Apropos the report "Maggi issue wake-up call for food companies: CSE" (May 27), for ages, Nestle's Maggi has been the first choice for all age groups in India. But recently, it has come up against problems and critics from the Uttar Pradesh food safety regulators, who claim that the Maggi samples collected in the state contain traces of lead and monosodium glutamate (MSG) beyond the permissible limit. This is not the first time Nestle has landed in trouble because of Maggi. Even earlier, the nutritional content of Maggi had been constantly under the scanner throughout the world.In India alone, Maggi has a whopping market share. A consumer - by law - has the complete right to know the "correct" ingredients of a product he buys. But it seems like Nestle has remained silent all these years. Health experts claim MSG to be equivalent to slow poison and associate it with several fatal diseases. But the moot question is that if such conditions prevail in a regularised market where MNCs such a

Letters: Maggi - A moot question

This refers to the report "Madhuri gets notice for endorsing Maggi" (May 30). It is a common practice of multinational companies in India to bring in people from the cine world to endorse their products. A huge amount of money is paid for such endorsements. With illiteracy dominating the Indian population, the products get sold in large volumes due to misleading advertisements. The question is why should brand ambassadors (read Madhuri Dixit) become controversial by endorsing products that are controversial? Dixit was shortlisted by the company due to the attraction she holds for housewives in India.Legally, Nestle India may overcome the issue but the ethical component of the issue remains unchallenged. The rule "caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware) has wreaked havoc on buyers. If the company does not get appropriate brand ambassadors, the damage gets reduced to that extent.K V Rao  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadu

Letters: Let the buyer beware

Here are some interesting facts about the newest king of Mysore. Yaduveer Wodeyar is worth Rs 10,000 crore. After his coronation, he is now set to get married to Princess Trishika, the daughter of Prince Harshvardhan Singh of Dungarpur in Rajasthan. The wedding is scheduled for December.After Srikantadatta Wodeyar died in December 2013 childless, his wife Pramoda Devi adopted Yaduveer, who has a degree in economics and English from Boston. He is especially fond of playing tennis and reading crime fiction and love stories, but also books on economics and philosophy. He is learning to play the veena and loves biryani.

Mysore has a new king

Say this for Home Minister Rajnath Singh - he has a great talent for shrugging off uncomfortable questions without rancour.On the completion of one year in government, Singh held a press conference where he resorted to cricketing similes to describe the year gone by. "The score so far is - without losing any wickets, a high-performing year".Taking the cricket metaphor forward, a reporter asked: "No wickets lost - but would you like to comment on the hit-wickets by your colleagues like Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who has advised those who eat beef to go to Pakistan? Is Mr Rijiju packing his bags?"Singh could not stop himself from smiling. Softly, he said: "Those who live in India will continue to live in India".

The smile says it all

Free trade in Indian antiquities will help preserve heritage

In an antique trade

For fear of being "anti-poor", PM unwilling to discuss NDA govt's economic reforms

Why can't Modi make a case for reform?

Defence Minister Parrikar hamstrung by anachronistic framework

India lacks a defence strategy

A full majority government at the Centre completing its first year, a hapless Opposition and the scorching heat of Delhi should have typically ensured a tepid political atmosphere in the national capital. But that isn't the case, what with the Narendra Modi government going into overdrive to highlight its achievements, while the Congress tries to resurrect itself. The ensuing political events have resulted in a space crunch - or so one is inclined to believe. On Thursday, Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi attended a meeting of his party's youth wing, the National Students Union of India, at New Delhi's Constitution Club of India. In the adjacent hall, the Delhi state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party was celebrating a year of the Modi government, with senior minister Nitin Gadkari as the guest speaker.

Shoulder to shoulder

Gujarat-based Vyas Chetan had a pressing query for the National Stock Exchange (NSE). He took to Twitter to get it addressed. But there was one problem: he typed in English but was probably thinking in Hindi. Google Translate could not offer a translation and nobody cared about it for a few days. Then, a market analyst discovered it and retweeted it; the NSE handle took note and asked Vyasbhai to explain what he was trying to say. The Twitterati chipped in with a translation - it was a complaint against the State Bank of India (SBI) for delay in publishing its results. A day later, the NSE handle got back, saying SBI was well within its 60-day time limit.

Some Twitterati help

At a press meet organised to showcase the achievements of the ministries under his stewardship, Coal, Power and New and Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal spoke at length about the ground covered over the past year. When it was his turn to answer questions on the power situation in Delhi, he said that while he had spoken to the Aam Aadmi Party-led government on the issue, such questions should be addressed to the Delhi government, not him. "Why don't you ask the same question to the party governing Delhi. But I will warn you that you might hear some expletives from their side... they usually talk like that," he added.

Power politics

This refers to the report "As Maggi goes off menu, Nestle gears up for damage control" (May 28). Economic governance in the form of a more proactive and decisive regulation in the food & beverages segment is the need of the hour. Big global brands are better organised to safeguard their pecuniary business interests. They also have more options such as reinforced promotional campaigns and legal support. Looking at the manner in which some of these 'value' products and brands are getting pulled up for non-compliance with safety standards, I feel that there could be a more transparent and unambiguous set of procedures at the national level. Multinationals are known to use this shortcoming in developing nations to market same or similar products with varying compositions, and sometimes to market products that have been banned elsewhere.The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is one of many regulators with a pan-India jurisdiction. Many of the procedures for dealing with regula

Letters: A lesson in food safety

In a wide-ranging interview to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday expressed confidence that reforms measures like the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and land acquisition Bill will be passed in "a matter of time". Here is the full text of the interview:

Full text of PM Narendra Modi's interview

Responsible investment is an approach that acknowledges the relevance of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, along with traditional financial metrics. A PwC survey, involving 60 limited partners (LPs) across 14 countries - which collectively allocate around $500 billion to private equity funds and general partners (GPs) - found that responsible investment is gaining momentum

"Responsible investment is here to stay"

Updated monsoon forecasts suggest headroom for rate cut

Closer to normal

Three sensible prescriptions for the success of 'Make in India'

Becoming competitive

As the summer sun blazed relentlessly, political barbs continued to flow thick and fast. In an editorial in party mouthpiece, Saamana, the Shiv Sena urged Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to come clean on what led to the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance break-up ahead of the Assembly polls. Picking on the CM for his comment earlier that going solo in the Assembly polls brought out the BJP's true strength, the editorial said the Sena didn't want to take potshots at Fadnavis because it, too, had fought hard to ensure the defeat of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party. It rued that people at some places got carried away with the "external make-up". "We do not wear a mask or make-up on our faces," the editorial said.

Donning the war paint

As part of the showcase drive initiated by the Narendra Modi-led government to highlight its achievements in the first year in office, Power, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Minister Piyush Goyal launched a website, ujwalbharat.com, on Wednesday to represent the three ministries under his stewardship. The website, launched at a function held at the New Media Centre, listed the achievements of the three key ministries with elaborate graphics and a mass of data. But till Wednesday evening, one could not open the website. Most who tried opening the website were greeted with an error message.

Losing site

Seems like the "suit" and "boot" are going to be the objective correlative of Rahul Gandhi's attack on the Narendra Modi-led government, which completed one year in office earlier this week. On day two of his visit to Kerala, the Congress vice-president told local fishermen, "We are not scared of Narendra Modi and his five or six friends in suits." Just a day earlier he had wished the "suit-boot ki sarkaar" a happy birthday. He told his audience in Kerala that the only people who were seen in a celebratory mood at the birthday party were those in "suits and boots".

Suit yourself

This refers to Jaimini Bhagwati's article "Dynastic politics and development" (May 15). The writer has dissected the political personalities and the events of independent India brilliantly. It is true that if Indira Gandhi had undertaken the economic reforms immediately after the Bangladesh War, India would have been economically as strong as China today, if not better. What would have gone in her favour was her dictatorial style and the fact that she was at the pinnacle of her political career. It is also true that the political landscape would have been drastically different but for the untimely and unfortunate death of Lal Bahadur Shastri. The reason being that Shastri was considered by the masses as someone from among them, as against Jawaharlal Nehru who - despite his many qualities - was from the elitist class.As for Rajiv Gandhi, he started with well-intentioned ideas to take the country into the 21st century. But - a political novice that he was - he was misguided by his adviso

Letters: Our political landscape

There is considerable discussion among the press and the public about the performance of the central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In my opinion, one outstanding achievement is the fact that he has restored prestige to his post. In the previous regime, the image of the prime minister's post was shattered to the extent of the incumbent being at the receiving end of jokes associated with a particular linguistic community in the country. International journals and dailies made uncomplimentary references to him. He had no authority over his ministers since they were all appointed by the leaders of the parties constituting the coalition government.On the eve of the previous prime minister leaving for Brazil to sign an important agreement, one minister raised questions, asking how India and Brazil could engage in economic cooperation since they were competitors in international trade. In the normal course, the prime minister should have dismissed him for hi

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