Government should deal with the media, not blame it

Modi govt needs a media strategy

Business Standard

Don't expect information technology to sparkle this fiscal year

TCS comes down to earth

Shanti Bhushan and Prashant Bhushan have seen many courtrooms and a number of judges during their law practice. But last Sunday, the father-son duo was at a different 'Court'. The Bhushan family was spotted watching the Marathi movie Court that has received rave reviews. True to their professed ideology, the Bhushans did not seek any special treatment from the executives managing the theatre and were comfortable in one of the front rows. The house-full show also had other celebrities in attendance.

Bhushans at 'Court'

Back in 2013, even before he became prime minister, Narendra Modi had said at the Vibrant Gujarat's National Summit on Inclusive Urban Development, "At least one day a month, people should use cycles to work and other places rather than use cars." It seems someone remembered what Modi said. Arjun Ram Meghwal, a Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Rajasthan's Bikaner constituency, took everyone by surprise yesterday when he reached Parliament on his bicycle. "I wish to reduce the amount of carbon emission and hence opted for a bicycle ride," he said.

Healthy habit

Barely had the brouhaha around the formation of the Janata Parivar died down when there was speculation about Nitish Kumar's no-show at a Patna rally addressed by Lalu Prasad Yadav on Sunday. The event was organised by Bihar Kumhar-Prajapati Samanvaya Samiti, which takes up issues related to the people of the Kumhar caste. The Kumhars constitute about 30 per cent of Bihar's population. Always the showman, Lalu played down the absence of a key ally. "My presence means Nitish, too, has attended the programme. Don't get misled by such things," he told the crowd.

Looking for Nitish

This refers to the report "Govt puts UPA's low-cost airport projects on hold" (April 20). A wide network of airports is a necessary requirement for our continent-sized country with centralised governance, judiciary, tertiary health services, educational institutions and so on requiring faster movement of people, as many of them can afford air travel now.Three suggestions need consideration. First, we must have more no-frills airports, so that at least small aircrafts can service these centres. Second, if the central government can't afford to finance all airports, the governments in rich states should fully fund airports. Third, why not ask airlines to undertake surveys and put up a suggestive list of places where airports could be viable? Restricting new airports to million-population cities is an idea that needs to be discarded if the development of all regions is to be considered.Y P Issar  KarnalLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4

Letters: Flying cheap

Ajai Shukla's column "'Make in India' on the guillotine," (Broadsword, April 14) raises several compelling questions, especially about the arbitrary scrapping of defence procurement tenders.However, to brand the Rafale deal a triumph for France, simply because of the prime minister's doggedness for a successful summit outcome might not be accurate.India's future Air Force with 45 squadrons will possibly have 20 squadrons of heavy fighters - a mix of 272 SU-30s and 144 fifth generation fighter aircraft - that will progressively replace the MIG-29s, strengthening our air dominance and strategic bombing abilities.Another 25 squadrons will be equipped with light/medium fighters. Nine squadrons of upgraded Mirage-2000/Jaguar fighters will eventually be replaced by the advanced medium combat aircraft (AMCA). The light combat aircraft (LCA)-Tejas could eventually equip 10 squadrons. Consequently, there is a gap of six squadrons; not accounting for the MIG-21s and MIG-27s, which will be retire

Letters: India's future Air Force

Apropos T N Ninan's column "Don't subsidise, build" (Weekend Ruminations, April 18), public health is meant for the poor and the government in its wisdom plans slashes the Budget. The uninsured - that includes the uninsurable such as senior citizens - are certainly in a crisis. Health care is moving into the private domain, which is not only subsidised but beyond the affordability of the average citizen with its high-tech and high-cost medical care.The patient is now a consumer and it is the middle-class, which has to bear the high costs. Healing is not about ill health or diseases any longer but an epidemic of diagnoses. Our government should have developed health care on the model of many European, British and Canadian governments. The current model is unsustainable since the majority of Indians cannot afford private medical care. The author's suggestion to open more public hospitals merits implementation.H N Ramakrishna  BengaluruLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Edito

Letters: Affordable health care

Much has been made of the fact that, as shown in Table 1, India has overtaken China in terms of growth in gross domestic product, or GDP

StatsGuru: Taking stock of key numbers for India and China

Mobile commerce start-up Grofers is raising $35 million from existing investors to help fund further expansion. Lead investors include Tiger Global Management and Sequoia Capital, which both committed to the $10 million funding round Grofers completed last month. It will use the new funds to expand the selection of products that consumers can purchase on its mobile appsPepperTap raises $10 millionPepperTap, a hyperlocal grocery delivery service, has received Series-A funding of $10 million from SAIF Partners and Sequoia Capital. The funding will be used for building a team and for expanding reach to 10 more cities in the country by the end of the yearUrbanClap raises Rs 10 croreUrbanClap Technologies India, which runs a mobile services marketplace that allows consumers to connect with service providers such as  yoga teachers, interior designers, plumbers and wedding photographers, has raised Rs 10 crore in seed funding from private equity firm SAIF Partners, venture capital firm Accel

Grofers to raise $35 million

Business Standard analyses one family's finances and suggests a way forward

Case study

Business Standard brings you a snapshot of average current rates and unit sizes in localities that offer property in a price range of Rs 3.5-4 crore. If you are looking at buying real estate and your budget falls within this range, an idea about prevailing rates would come in handy

Realty check

Suppose I physically give a cheque to invest in a scheme. Will I get the units with the same day's NAV (net asset value)? What is the cut-off time within which to invest? Is the process any different if the transaction is done online? If you give a valid application up to the cut-off time with an amount less than Rs 2 lakh, along with a local cheque or a demand draft payable at par at the place where the application is received, the closing NAV of the day on which application is received shall be applicable. If the amount is more than Rs 2 lakh, the closing NAV of the day on which the funds are available for utilisation shall apply.The cut-off time for transaction of all schemes, except liquid schemes is 3 pm. In respect of valid applications after the cut-off time, the closing NAV of the next business day shall apply.For liquid schemes, the cut-off time is 2 pm and the funds should be available before the cut-off time, to qualify for the closing NAV of the business day immediately pre

Mutual Fund: Nimesh Shah

FM's assurances on responsive tax administration welcome

Walk the talk

Global imbalances

Financial market participants took to social media to take a jibe at Bloomberg after its terminals experienced an outage last week. A chief economist with a leading global bank tweeted, "Bloomberg being down has finally made me understand how teenagers feel when Facebook crashes." "Did the IMF mention Bloomberg as 'major risk to financial stability' in their report?" went another tweet by a trader.

Let a million jokes Bloom

At least someone thinks he has a rewarding job! At a recent event, Haryana Agriculture Minister Om Prakash Dhankar said writing was his first love. "I contributed thought- provoking articles in leading national dailies but was paid nothing," he said. So how did he become a politician? "I also realised that most of the time, journalists had to chase politicians. So, I switched to politics." Pointing at reporters present at the event, the minister remarked, "Let me see how many of you change your profession."

A candid confession

Last weekend, hoardings appeared near the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters at 11, Ashoka Road, New Delhi, imploring Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure 'ghar wapsi' of former BJP general secretary and Modi's bete noir Sanjay Joshi. Modi and Joshi were BJP leaders managing the affairs of Gujarat in the late 1990s, before falling out. Joshi has been in political limbo since 2005. One of the hoardings asked Modi to initiate 'mann ki baat' with Joshi. It said the PM should include Joshi in his 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' (development for all, together with all) programme.

Everybody's invited

This refers to "Effective economic ties" (April 17). Former Service colleague Jamini Bhagwati makes sound points in endorsing the need for an effective economic diplomacy for mobilisation of external inputs to accelerate growth. A few thoughts:First, besides Australia and Brazil, Canada and France are among the 25-odd countries with combined ministries handling foreign affairs and external trade. Some join these departments at the level of the supervising minister but Scandinavian countries have the tightest integration, with a single unified entity that covers these activities, along with investment promotion and foreign aid. Could it be done in India? A start can be made with a single minister supervising both, and, before that, steps that lead to better joint actions.Second, technology tracking and science and technology (S&T) collaboration are imperative for India. Why do we have a few S&T counsellors at our embassies? The Department of Science seeks double their number to

Letters: Economic diplomacy

This refers to the news of the impending auction of the plot now occupied by the Taj Mansingh at Delhi. The iconic hotel has been occupying this land under lease for decades and now has been told it has no rights. On the other hand, hawkers, religious structures and shops keep squatting on public land and pavements, and demand a compensation, more like ransom, when they are asked to move away. Taj has built a marvellous building, employing hundreds of people. No consideration is given to that, too. This is not the way to treat a law-abiding corporate. The NDMC should ask Taj to pay the market price rent of the land. And, only if Taj refuses, the NDMC can think about throwing them out.P Datta  KolkataLetters 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: Iconic mistake

This refers to the report "Why banks now have more officers and fewer clerks" (April 17). Banking services are essential and the unions in nationalised banks go on strike even on issues that do not pertain to the employees. When banks stop working because of these unreasonable strikes, the economy suffers and crores of rupees, apart from precious man-hours, are lost every day. Technology has made unions irrelevant. To make them relevant, bank unions opposed computerisation in the '90s. But there was an interesting twist in the story. When one of the leading nationalised bank's union installed a personal computer (PC) at its office in Fountain, Mumbai, a question was put to the union - Why was it using a PC for work? The union replied  it helped them manage thousands of its members. Now, the boot was on the other foot. Can one imagine banks without computers in the modern era? Some of the office-bearers of a Chennai-based nationalised bank union are facing allegations of a recruitment s

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