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.

Data is king

Business Standard

This refers to the report "Coal auction: Power firms staring at losses, demand crisis" (April 12). The fundamental problem with the energy sector is the buying power of the ultimate customer. This shows up finally in the mountain of losses and debts carried by the distributing companies. But for them, being government owned and enjoying sovereign status, already make them non-performing assets, and their auditors would have no option but to question their ability to qualify as 'going concern'. The problem might get worse as new nuclear and solar power plants begin to add high-cost power to the basket.This requires a new approach to utilise the gaps now existing in low thermal efficiency, low plant load factor and high transmission and distribution (T&D) losses. Scrapping ageing and polluting plants and putting new ones in the same location but with high efficiency, tight design and less polluting features will also solve the problem of acquiring land. India can easily add another 3

Letters: The coal question

This refers to Kenneth Rogoff's article "Will China's infra bank work?" (April 11). The author has correctly mentioned the hypocrisy of the US over the governance problem that the Chinese-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) might have.When China was booming, the US always perceived it as a good thing because it felt that a stronger Beijing would take some burden of maintaining global stability away from the US. But now, as China is trying to carve out its own niche, the US seems shaken and quite reluctant to accept this change.Clearly, institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have been a victim of the political clout of Japan and the US. They have not been able to deliver their promises to the developing countries.But what is the guarantee that AIIB will not follow in their footsteps? How can we be sure that by setting AIIB, the Chinese actually want to help its developing Asian counterparts and not project itself as a

Letters: AIIB's allegiance

This refers to the editorial "Real reform of real estate" (April 13). No doubt, the recent move to have a regulator for real estate deals is a plus and can bring in some semblance of order and uniformity in fixing rules and regulations for real estate dealers and developers. It should also ensure that the generation of black money through corrupt accounting practices comes to an end and transactions are made transparent.The unsuspecting customers are always taken for a ride while buying plots, flats or houses and they are always asked to shell a lot of money in the name of registration charges, stamp duty, deposits towards maintenance with a clause that interest would be paid and adjusted towards maintenance, lease charges for car parking and so on. There is no uniformity in the collection of various charges and the treatment meted out subsequently is not made transparent. Very rarely do customers get back any money and the account details. Even multinational companies who are deep int

Letters: Some real estate reforms

As the Centre moves to create a regulator for the real estate market, how is the sector doing?

StatsGuru: Taking stock of the real estate sector

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

Case study

Kuldip Kumar, partner and leader personal tax, PwC India, answers your questionsI'm planning an interest-free personal loan from my office for an emergency. Since the money will be credited into my salary account, will I have to pay any tax on it? Or is it better to take a personal loan, since there is no tax on it?There is no tax on money borrowed from an employer. However, when the employer gives an interest-free loan to an employee, then the notional interest is considered taxable benefit in the hands of an employee. The notional interest is calculated by applying the interest rate the State Bank of India charges for similar loans. The value of taxable benefit is determined by applying the above rate on the maximum monthly dues loan balance as on the last day of the relevant month(s). However, if the loan granted by the employer is below Rs 20,000 or the loan is granted for medical treatment of specified diseases, no taxable benefit is considered for notional interest. Regarding you

Taxation: Kuldip Kumar

Regulator a plus, but need to also fix discretionary laws

Real reform of real estate

Rest of industrial output index suggests modest recovery

Garments grow again

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was quick to distance itself from the comments of Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh about the media. The former army chief recently called some in the media "presstitutes". This was the second time in a fortnight that Singh pointed an accusatory finger at the media for either his troubles or for their failure to suitably publicise his hard work. While a BJP spokesperson said Singh's views on the media were personal, some Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Vishva Hindu Parishad sympathisers came out in support of the man on the internet. They applauded Singh for "calling a spade a spade", and said only a straight-talking 'fauji' (soldier) could put the media in its place.

Why the Sangh loves V K Singh

While Prime Minister Narendra Modi might be leaving no stone unturned to ensure ministers and government officials turn up for work on time, being late has its advantages, as officials working at Kolkata's New Secretariat building found out recently. When a fire broke out in a section of the seventh floor, hundreds of officials who work in the building escaped unhurt because they simply hadn't turned up. While the official time to start work in a state government office is 10 a m, according to some estimates, less than 10 per cent of the 3,500-odd employees who work in the 13-storey building were present when the fire broke out in the office of Subrata Mukherjee, who is the minister for panchayat and rural development and public health engineering in the state.

Late is good

A Bollywood cliche, "Mere paas maa hain" (I have a mother), which defines the power of the mother, has come to the rescue of corporate honchos facing trial for wrongdoing. Last week, while pleading with the judge to be kind with his sentencing, Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju, who was found guilty in a multi-crore accounting fraud, said he had to take care of his aged mother. Last year, Sahara chief Subrata Roy had cited his mother's illness as a reason for not appearing before the apex court.

Thanks, mom!

This refers to T N Ninan's column "Remembering the garib" (Weekend Ruminations, April 11). There has always been an unmistakable streak of bravado associated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), imbibed from its right wing roots. As proponents of Hindutva, they wielded it to build up an enviable political podium today with a stand-alone majority, from just two seats in the 1984 general elections.Caught in a pincer movement over the land Bill by a united opposition, it has gone ahead and re-promulgated it at the risk of alienating the farmer. Jousting with the judiciary over appointments, it has pressed ahead and taken a sideswipe at them over "perceptional judgements" and chosen to disregard the disillusionment of the discerning voter.The BJP's natural bent may not allow it to dwell too long over the "inclusiveness" practiced by the Congress. But how does one explain its reluctance to riposte with its own distracting fringe elements - is it reluctance or helplessness? And now, perple

Letters: BJP's bravado

Apropos Shyamal Majumdar's column "The 'golden skirts' debate" (Human Factor, April 10), it is unfortunate that India Inc believes in appointing female relatives on the Board - be it daughters, wives or mothers. For men, even peons, drivers or any other person in the organisation have been appointed on the board of directors, and that too without their knowledge.There should be uniform guidelines, covering criteria such as age, educational qualifications and experience among others, for both men and women. There is no need for separate guidelines. There should be gender equality in the appointment of directors. When there is a clamour for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and there are women MPs who are not relatives of politicians, then why cannot there be women directors on boards of companies, who are not from the family of the management.Deendayal M Lulla  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar

Letters: Across the board

Apropos the editorial "An inevitable end" (April 10), the Satyam saga will stretch into infinity and perhaps the conspirators will meet their natural end before the case is decided. The prime reason being that those who are supposed to get after fraudsters have their fingers in the pie. Witness the fact that Sebi, the so-called "independent regulator", was not allowed anywhere near the fraudsters for interrogation. But does the fault lie only with company officials? How come no banker saw the huge discrepancy between the company's balance sheet figures on bank deposits and the actual deposit with the banks themselves? And hidden in the episode is the speed and alacrity with which the government moved to get the company back on its feet. If a company is an independent entity and equity embodies risk, then why should there be external salvage operations?T R Ramaswami  MumbaiLetters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew

Letters: The truth behind Satyam

A look at two tablets that made waves yet disappoint

Stars stumble at times

The comments by Anjuli Bhargava in her column "Learning from Swachh Japan" (Out of the blue, April 9) made interesting reading and reminded me of a trip to Japan about 30 years ago. On the hills of Mount Fuji, in between lush green surroundings, my host stopped the car for a break. After enjoying Coke from a can, I threw the same in the jungle. The host was furious. I failed to see any reason behind his anger. After much argument, he could see my ignorance and explained "mother earth does not take this - we cannot throw". This kind of mindset has to be developed in India for becoming swachh like Japan.Anil Kulshrestha  NoidaLetters 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: Lessons from Japan

VIRTUAL REALITYSocial media giant Facebook chose Goafest to give demos of Oculus, its virtual reality showpiece. The Palo Alto-based major had acquired Oculus for $2 billion a year ago. And those who experienced it here at the Grand Hyatt hotel realised precisely why Facebook paid top dollars for it. Oculus quite simply blows you away. Imagine a pair of goggles doing that to you. All you do is wear them and look at the screen in front of you. The moment you do that, you are no longer outside the frame, but inside it.RUNNING WITH BRANDSAlan Moseley, president and chief creative officer of 180 Amsterdam, a creative hotshop, who was speaking at Goafest, has a simple work ethic: You don't walk, but run with brands. Moseley demonstrated this with an example: His team actually ran with members of the research and consumer unit of a shoe manufacturer simply to understand the characteristics of its running shoe, the brand they were tasked with relaunching. This exercise actually helped 180 com

Goafest: Sidelights

Maharashtra's puzzling decisions on beef, films

Dinner and a movie

What gear does a top drummer use to create those metronomic booms? We try to find out

Beating up to a crescendo

Work in progress  for Raqs

“War Within”— an older work by Rashid Rana

Security Barrier Type E, Jinnah International Airport, Karachi

The 56th la Biennale di Venezia will feature some Indian works that are a commentary on the politics of the time

Business Standard

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