A leading e-commerce firm, which recently launched an advertising campaign with a top Bollywood actor, recounted the tough time it had while dealing with its new brand ambassador. The actor, known for his punctiliousness, interviewed the marketing head of the e-commerce firm for a good two and a half hours to "understand" the brand even before considering the deal it was offering. Then, just after the ad film was ready for release, the actor objected to the very visible crow's feet at the corner of his eyes and sent it back to the firm with a request to "clean up" his face. The film had to be sent to a post-production shop in Amsterdam for a last-minute touch-up job before it got the green signal from the 50-year-old actor.

Tough act

Business Standard

After the Supreme Court struck down the controversial section 66A of the Information Technology Act, questions were raised about why it was introduced in the first place. While the National Democratic Alliance government squarely blamed the United Progressive Alliance regime for introducing the provision during its tenure, theories are flying thick and fast about the possible triggers for its introduction. While some believe that the section was mooted after morphed - and rather embarrassing - pictures of some prominent leaders of the past regime surfaced on the internet, there are conjectures that it was actually some morphed pictures of Bollywood celebrities that led the government of the day to introduce the section. Whether it was the previous government or the current one, Bollywood celebrities or political leaders, it seems everyone is out to find a scapegoat to lay the blame at its door.

Who lit the fire?

Ajai Shukla's column, "Don't divide the army, Mr Parrikar" (Broadsword, March 31), presents an alarming view of the state of affairs in the country's armed forces.Years of complacency and inaction by the previous United Progressive Alliance regime would understandably have created a huge backlog of tribulations that needs to be sorted out. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar seems to have willingly added to that list an avoidable altercation. The looks of it suggest passing the buck to the Supreme Court, adding to the disquieting trend of judges stepping in to fill the void created by lawmakers. Also befuddling is the fact that Parrikar, who announced sometime ago that a plan was in the works to install a Chief of Defence Staff, has taken such a stance.The army, especially its leadership, could possibly deliberate on more pressing issues, including how to modernise when 80 per cent of its budget is spent in paying salaries. How to fight insurgency in the urban hinterland while also being

Letters: On a sound war footing

This refers to Nilanjana S Roy's column "A thousand tongues" (Speaking Volumes, March 31). India is a polyglot nation, which is a great blessing. If people make an effort, they can learn other Indian languages as well, including those from the south. Language can be a passionate issue at a personal level but can be contentious in the public domain. C Rajagopalachari, the great patriot and statesman, rightly observed that "India is not like other smaller countries where there is a single language and a single faith. We have multiplicity of languages and faiths."We need to take a leaf out of China's policy towards its linguistic minorities, which have a similar diversity like India. It has recently directed its officials to learn the local languages and be more receptive to their ideas and languages. One ardently hopes that our current leaders remember India's pluralistic heritage. English is very much an Indian language, with its own Indianised glossary. It will be short-sighted on our

Letters: Language and values

This refers to the Chinese Whispers item "Same difference" (March 30). Not unexpectedly, rival political parties are criticising the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the expulsion of its senior leaders, Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan, from its the Political Affairs Committee and the National Executive, for their alleged anti-party activities. But do these very parties have democracy and transparency in their functioning?In India, with the possible exception of the Left parties, we only have one-leader parties. Their leaders are wont to press all the right buttons. Could any leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress dare not to toe the line of Narendra Modi or Sonia Gandhi, respectively? The same scenario prevails in regional parties. This should, however, not give AAP a pretext not to put its house in order if it is ideologically and structurally weak.Hema  Langeri (Hoshiarpur)Letters can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah

Letters: Transparency in politics?

Financial year 2014-15 was spectacular for equity markets and debt instruments, as both gave positive real returns. The returns on debt have improved due to a dip in the consumer price index. Experts believe equities and debt will continue to do well. However, gold might continue to suffer due to a strong dollar.

Equities, debt shine

Policy should address India's low e-commerce readiness

Out of the loop

A recurring dilemma

The 2014-15 financial year was good for stock markets and debt instruments, both of which gave positive real returns. The returns from debt improved after a drop in the consumer price index. Equities and debt, experts believe, will continue to do well but gold might continue to suffer due to a strong dollar. Business Standard takes a look at different asset classes and the returns they gave in 2014-15.

FY15 returns: Markets, debt top the charts

Congress politicians, among the slow starters on social media platforms, are beginning to find their feet online. Tamil Nadu Congress chief E V K S Elangovan's Twitter handle went into overdrive on Tuesday, putting out details of an alleged land lease agreement between the Tamil Nadu government and a cola company. Elangovan put up several instances of alleged misuse of land meant for small businesses in Tamil Nadu and even uploaded documents supporting his claim. With Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam supremo M Karunanidhi tweeting about the long-standing Cauvery river water dispute, and other leaders such as Karti Chidambaram, M K Stalin and Khushboo already active on the platform, Tamil Nadu politics seems to have finally discovered the power of social media.

Tamil politics flutters on Twitter

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s claims of being the world's largest party, with a membership strength of 88 million, have been scoffed at not just by the Opposition but the twitterati as well. Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmad trashed the claim, saying that a majority of those enrolled through the BJP's "missed call" drive denied they wanted to be members of the party. "The BJP is the biggest missed-call party in the world," he said. "In the BJP, you can give missed calls from two mobile phones and become a member twice." Activist Tushar Gandhi took to Twitter and said, "The Missed Call Party is worth a miss and with a lot amiss."

Missed-call party

The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar highway has traditionally been a favourite stretch to put up hoardings and banners announcing new schemes and utsavs sponsored by the Gujarat government. When Narendra Modi was chief minister of Gujarat, his picture appeared prominently in all such announcements. For the first few months after Anandiben Patel took over as chief minister, her photograph also started appearing alongside Modi's on such posters. During a visit to the state earlier this month, one came across a series of such posters on that same stretch, but this time, only Patel's picture took pride of place in all the announcements.

Who's the boss

This refers to Aditi Phadnis' column "Singh's silence on land acquisition" (Plain Politics, March 28). Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh's continued silence on the land acquisition Bill - even risking the anger of his Prime Minister, Narendra Modi - only shows that he certainly sees something fishy in it. But his political boss has made it a prestigious issue to bring in the legislation, either through Parliament or an ordinance. Singh has even painted himself into a corner on this Bill as other Union ministers, such as Arun Jaitley and Nitin Gadkari, have expressed their support for all to see.So far, it seems that farmers have not been swayed by the increased compensation and the lofty promises of job opportunities close to home to surrender their land. For farmers, what (land) is in their hand is better than what (jobs, compensation and so on) is being dangled before them.Only time will tell whether Modi has his way on this Bill. But one thing is very clear that sooner or later

Letters: The land Bill saga

The ongoing saga in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is as absorbing because it is different from that of any other political entity. In all these decades as a nation, the closest would be Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress. But Banerjee struggled for well over a decade with the Left cadre on the streets of Kolkata. It was not a movement at all, as the ideology of the Trinamool Congress and the Left were both red. Their fight was for the occupancy of a political space that the Left had been slowly giving up.It is ironic that AAP had a chief minister even as it is yet to become a party; it is still a movement and a work in progress. Unlike other parties, its anti-corruption platform has no glue of caste or class to keep the supporting planks together, which makes it unique but also gives it an unstable standing. AAP has many bridges to cross.The Bharatiya Janata Party assiduously built its prime minister, whereas the Delhi chief minister built his party. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal has d

Letters: Many bridges to cross

This refers to the report "UP tops list of states with fake cooking gas connections" (March 31). On the one hand, the central government is making appeals to the public to surrender their subsidies, on the other it is looking to introduce measures to restrict subsidies to only those who can't afford to buy LPG without subsidies.The government needs to ensure that all existing customers strictly comply with the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms. There should also be an effective checking and counter-checking system to verify the KYC details.Despite the large number of accounts opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana, the direct benefits transfer is yet to be fully streamlined. This is instead paving way for the misuse of subsidies by ineligible people. There needs to be more emphasis on weeding out multiple connections to save enormous amounts of subsidy. The vigilance mechanism also needs to be strengthened to prevent dealers and fake consumers from manipulating the subsidies.V S K Pillai  Kotta

Letters: Safeguarding subsidies

It has to lead in gaining regulatory trust

New Sun Pharma priority

Losing the plot

Will Rahul Gandhi be back in Delhi in May? That is the subject of animated discussions in Congress party circles and the corridors of its rival and friendly parties these days. The possibility of an AICC or a Congress Working Committee meeting in May has led to speculation that Rahul Gandhi might be ready to end his sabbatical and could even succeed his mother and Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, to the top party post soon. Sonia Gandhi's recent comment in Amethi that Rahul Gandhi would be back among the people "very soon" has only added fuel to the raging speculation.

Will he, won't he: The sequel

First, there was a fight over the hot seat. Now, the fight has moved to the chief minister's bungalow in Bihar. Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has refused to vacate the bungalow at 1, Anne Marg, the official residence of the chief minister of Bihar, more than a month after he resigned from the post. Not that he doesn't want to vacate the spacious Anne Marg house. He actually wants to move into another one at 7, Circular Road, where the current chief minister and Manjhi's one-time mentor, Nitish Kumar, is staying. The Circular Road house was meant for a former chief minister, he pointed out.

From chair to bungalow

Many important government proposals are increasingly landing up with the Cabinet directly, without figuring on the agenda sent to relevant ministries ahead of a meeting of the council of ministers. The black money Bill, which was cleared by the Cabinet last week, was one such. Earlier also, items for discussion would be included at the last moment, without being featured in the agenda items, because of urgency, but the number of such proposals is believed to have gone up lately. Is it because of a fear of leaks given the unfolding corporate espionage saga or is it a by-product of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's maximum governance?

Cabinet matters

CRISIL has analysed the growth in fixed assets of 2,185 micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the manufacturing sector, rated on the basis of their financials for 2013-14 (financial year April 1 to March 31). The study shows that with an average growth in fixed assets of 24 per cent during 2013-14, these MSMEs are poised for growth in the next one to three years.In the manufacturing sector, MSMEs in auto ancillary and components led with the highest growth in fixed assets of 29 per cent, followed by textiles at 26 per cent, and those in engineering and capital goods at 23 per cent. The fixed assets of MSMEs in electrical and electronics components grew at 17 per cent and of those in steel and allied products at 11 per cent.This reflects the investment these MSMEs have made in capacity addition and modernisation, anticipating better prospects for growth in the next one to three years. CRISIL expects GDP growth of 7.9 per cent in 2015-16 and the above MSMEs will benefit from th

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