As the Janata Parivar parties appeared all set to merge under the leadership of Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies wasted no time in pooh-poohing the development. While BJP President Amit Shah summed up the impact as "zero plus zero is zero", party leader and former Cabinet minister Shahnawaz Hussain said, "The differences are clear before the formal merger. Even the sign name and symbol haven't been decided yet." Food and Civil Supplies Minister Ram Vilas Paswan retorted, "Even if a hundred lame persons come together they cannot become a wrestler", and ruled out any adverse impact on the prospective alliance between his Lok Janshakti Party and the BJP in the coming Assembly elections in Bihar.

Simple math

Business Standard

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) "rebel" faction spearheaded by Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, who held a "Swaraj Samwad" on the outskirts of the capital, made no attempts to mask their differences with the AAP leadership. In fact, while sending out a formal invitation to the media, the group stated in unambiguous terms that "media is welcome to be inside the venue at all points of time; media people are allowed to be an eyewitness to the Swaraj Samwad meeting" and that "attendees will be allowed to take their pens, mobile phones and cameras inside the meeting venue". That was an obvious dig at an earlier AAP National Council meet where the press was not allowed and party members were barred from carrying their pens. It was the same gathering that decided that Yadav and Bhushan would be expelled from AAP's National Executive.

Everyone's invited

Apropos Shailesh Dobhal's column "Spring-cleaning at India Inc" (Across the Board, April 14), some principles come to mind that should decide the need for shedding a part of business. The loss of competitive advantage or the inability to match the growth of the competitor in the same business is one - the emergence of two or three big companies have dwarfed some others to sell off their units.The opportunity cost of investing the returns from the sale of an existing entity in a more productive field is also a key point that needs to be factored in. So, when a running business is disposed of to repay debt or divert the sum to less useful purposes, it goes against the principle - the sale of public sector undertakings to cover fiscal deficit, for example.Besides, when a business reaches maturity, leaving little scope for innovation, a strategic decision might be necessary to enter another groundbreaking industry.Then, too much of diversification could result in diminishing results from p

Letters: Shedding businesses

Nitin Sardare, personal secretary to Union Culture and Tourism Minister Shripad Yesso Naik, has been asked to quit. It seems Sardare published and put up posters outside an apartment block in New Delhi's North Avenue greeting Sanjay Joshi, an old rival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his birthday on April 6. The poster also carried the photographs of Union ministers Naik, Sarbananda Sonowal and Sanjeev Kumar Balyan. According to people in the know, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) brass has asked the three ministers to explain why their photographs were on the poster. Joshi and Modi share a rivalry that dates back to the late 1990s when both were active in the Gujarat BJP.

Picture imperfect

This refers to A K Bhattacharya's column "Empowering the states" (New Delhi Diary, April 15). The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government's schemes and initiatives seem to have more of a spin than substance. It is very clear that what the Centre will give to the states through an "unprecedented" increase is all set to be taken back by reducing and stopping the funding of their programmes and other half fiscal rules. So, the trumpeted decision to "empower states with more resources" is nothing but an illusion. It is not even a bitter pill, which could be swallowed for a long-term solution to a chronic problem.It is true that no scheme is without flaws and deficiencies. But they should be manageable. Above all, for ensuring the fair allocation of funds to states, the NDA government must adopt a holistic approach and an even-handed attitude. The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog can play a big role in this matter, provided the powers that be give it a free han

Letters: Funding for states

Apropos the report "Flipkart pulls out of Airtel Zero, bats for net neutrality" (April 15), it is encouraging that the uproar against a consultation paper issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India - seemingly tilted in favour of internet service providers and telecom companies - has forced leading e-commerce player Flipkart to backtrack from entering into a deal with the open marketing platform, Airtel Zero. It is also encouraging that the Congress and Left parties have urged the Centre to ensure net neutrality, asking that the service providers and the government should treat all data on the internet equally and not discriminate on the basis of user, content, platform, application and so on.With Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan of expanding internet services to the village level, the government cannot afford to opt for a plan that is against the interest of the users.M C Joshi  LucknowLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4

Letters: Internet for all

Subsidised farm credit also goes to companies

Leaks in lending

But investment revival needs credible policy action

Intent creates hope

The 21st party congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or the CPI(M), which was kicked off in Visakhapatnam yesterday, will elect a new central committee of the party, which will, in turn, elect the politburo and a new general secretary. Incumbent Prakash Karat has served three terms of three years each. That the CPI(M) is divided into Bengal and Kerala camps that support Sitaram Yechury and Karat respectively, is no secret. Most expect Yechury, a couple of years junior to Karat at the Jawaharlal Nehru University and who happens to be the most recognisable face of the party, to succeed Karat. Some in the party, however, have started talking about how the Karat camp, which includes influential Kerala politician Pinarayi Vijayan, might spring a surprise by drumming up support for its candidate, 77-year-old S Ramachandran Pillai. They say Pillai would serve his three-year term and bow out in 2018 in favour of politburo member and Karat's wife, Brinda Karat.

Permutations and combinations

Staying with the CPI(M), Prakash Karat and some of his party colleagues reached Visakhapatnam for the party congress flying private airline IndiGo, ditching national carrier Air India. One might remember when the Vajpayee government mooted offloading shares in Air India a CPI(M) statement had strongly criticised it, asking "the working class and the people of India to resist this dangerous and anti-national move".

Flying right

At a function organised by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-affiliated Vijnana Bharati, Union ministers Harsh Vardhan and Jitendra Singh were invited to honour scientists who had won Padma awards and assumed new positions in the government. Though the ministers failed to turn up on time, the function started and a visibly annoyed A Jayakumar, Vijnana Bharati secretary-general, came down heavily on the "political culture" in the country. "We have already wasted about 30 minutes. In schools, we are taught the importance of punctuality and character. If these qualities are lost, all is lost," he told a startled audience. This was not the first time Jayakumar was venting his ire against a Bharatiya Janata Party minister. He had reportedly snubbed Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani when she requested him to reschedule a programme she was to address. Last year, another minister, General (retd) V K Singh, who was invited to an RSS function, had to beat a hasty retreat when his

Who's the boss?

Apropos Ajai Shukla's column "'Make in India' on a guillotine" (Broadsword, April 14), the deal with Dassault in France for the Rafale fighters has disappointed many and made some suspicious. As the author has properly analysed, just by going ahead with the deal and belying the 'Make in India' campaign the government is going against its own ideology. Why was the action taken so urgently? Couldn't the Indian Air Force wait longer for its aircraft inductions? Are there any secret intelligence reports about India's neighbours and enemies strategising? Why were other companies, such as Eurofighter, not invited to bid for the new buying contract, which would have reduced the buying price?These questions along with the alleged presence of Anil Ambani and other businessmen indicate to the probability of some serious action happening behind the veil, bringing back old fears. Probably, these are the first signs of the nuts and bolts loosening out of the 'Make in India' lion icon.Karan Kumbhare

Letters: A price for safe skies

The report "First-time women directors deepen talent pool" (April 13) makes interesting reading. The data is very encouraging while we continue to debate on concerns of the state of woman representation and development in a conservative society like ours. We see a silent revolution taking place where gender diversity is achieved at the highest level of decision-making in the corporate world. The more interesting part of this development is that this is not being driven by legislature, but by competence.However, one must also take notice of the fact that this case is primarily of woman empowerment from urban India. One should not forget that 70 per cent of the Indian population live in villages. Woman empowerment and diversity in the Indian society would only be achieved when the silent movement reaches these 70 per cent. The task might appear to be a tall one but it is definitely not a distant dream.M L Kabir  KolkataLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business Stan

Letters: Empowering women

This refers to the report "Panagariya expects economy to grow 8-10% for 15 years" (April 14). Given the poor and current regressive policies in the agricultural sector, there is no way Indian agriculture can go beyond 3 per cent per annum. Given the previous instances of similar growth in agriculture, the last deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, had confessed in 2011 that there is no way India could grow with more than 7 per cent growth rate. Subsequently, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government did undertake positive steps for the agricultural sector. Three of the most important policy reforms of the UPA in agriculture in its last year were accepting the research for field trials of genetically modified crops to boost crop production, promoting Pink Revolution to boost the livestock sector, and clearing policies for foreign direct investment in retail trade, which would have strengthened vertical linkages of agriculture.The National Democratic

Letters: Stunted growth?

Business Standard looks at key indicators of India's economy and the movers of its GDP

INDIAN ECONOMY AT A GLANCE

Laws must reduce complications and also protect forests

That elusive balance

Questions swirl around purchase of Rafales

In search of a strategy

CRISIL analysed the performance of 1,550 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing and trading sector, which were rated on the basis of their 2013-14 (financial year April 1 to March 31) financials, and found that MSMEs that focused on marketing strategies registered a higher growth than those with limited strategies in place. As a part of its ratings process for MSMEs, CRISIL analyses marketing strategies by looking at aspects such as MSMEs' dependence on word-of-mouth publicity, the presence and strength of their marketing team or networks, and their use  of advertising or publicity, including online advertising and participation in trade events.The average sales of MSMEs that had an adequate marketing strategy increased to Rs 33.54 crore in 2013-14, from Rs 23.23 crore in 2011-12 - a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 20.16 per cent. In comparison, the average sales of MSMEs with a limited marketing strategy increased to Rs 14.45 crore in 2013-14, from Rs

MSMEs with strong marketing focus grow faster

Why is Dharmendra Pradhan, minister of state for petroleum and natural gas, reluctant to share details of the new energy policy that the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog has started work on, and which plans to offer an integrated road map for the sector? While Arvind Panagariya, vice-chairman of the NITI Aayog, seemed ready to share details about the policy with the media during an event in Delhi, the minister was in no mood to relent. When reporters asked him about the date he had set for the policy framework to be ready, Pradhan said, "Itna accha karya ho raha hai. Ab time toh lagega. Bata denge sahi samay par. (Some good work is being done here, it is bound to take time. We will tell you at the right time.) He then launched into a commentary on his most recent trip, which was to Mozambique to strengthen ties with that country.

No timeline

The government's grip on information emanating from ministries just got tighter. After banning the entry for journalists to key ministries, it is said to have put in place a strict regime of surprise checks, with a weekly roster of officers responsible for such checks. As things stand, even if the official manning the reception area at a minister's office issues an entry pass to a journalist, there is no guarantee that she would get to meet the minister concerned. Affected journalists are obviously at their wits' end, with one of them wondering on Twitter, "If (the) reception issues (a) pass, how is entry unauthorised?"

Knowledge economy

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leadership is intrigued at the Congress' efforts to punch holes in its claims about the results of its recent membership drive. The people managing the initiative say that those who were doubting the membership drive - the Congress or "anybody" else - were not seeing the wood for the trees. Even if the BJP finds that 50 per cent of the new "members" were fake, imagine the quantum of data it would have gathered on people, which can be sifted to identify truly "committed" workers. The BJP is looking to recruit 1.5 million committed members across India, and is hoping to identify this set from its target of enrolling 120 million members.

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