Everyone has his own favourite story about Atal Bihari Vajpayee. But the sweetest is one related to his friend Ram Mohan Singh, who was a student with him at the D A V College, Kanpur. Vajpayee used to make delicious 'thandai' (a cold drink drunk all over Uttar Pradesh during the hottest months of May and June, occasionally containing hemp leaves or bhaang) and grind all the ingredients himself on a grinding stone. Once the friends went for a walk and found a little cloth bundle, which had Rs 27 in it. The two friends looked far and wide to return the money but could not find a claimant. Finally, they went to the market, bought the ingredients for 'thandai' and Vajpayee spent an hour on the 'sil batta' (grinding stone) to make delicious thandai for the entire hostel. The students were awake till 1 am, drinking it and listening to Vajpayee recite his poetry.

Vajpayee's thandai

Business Standard

From Emergency to liberalisation, from the biggest industrial disaster to domestic industry's rise to the global stage, from producing the first modern car domestically to acquiring the stylish Jaguar brand, from furore over caste-based reservation to nuclear prowess and man in space, from hosting two important international sporting events to changing the face of sports through innovative models - we have seen it all.As Business Standard completes 40 years of its thought leadership, we bring you the most striking pictures that defined India over the past four decades

40 Years Ago... And now: Four eventful decades for India

Unpredictable weather may impact 30 per cent of the harvest

Climate change costs

Speeding up court decisions must be a priority

Debt conversion into equity

With Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's 'leave' getting extended from a fortnight initially to more than a month now, not just Congress party members, people outside the party, too, seem to be getting worried about the Gandhi family scion. Posters have come up in Amethi, Gandhi's Lok Sabha constituency, declaring him "missing" and promising a reward to anyone who can offer information about his location. An embarrassed Congress has dismissed the posters as "the handiwork of our opponents, the BJP". But the posters have allegedly been put up by local people, who claim development work had stopped because of the MP's long absence.

Missing in inaction

Alarmed by the leak of confidential documents from ministry offices and departments located in Shastri Bhawan, the security staff posted at the building has been instructed to keep an eye on non-verified vehicles that enter or leave the building premises after 7 p m. The step has been taken to prevent incidents like the one that happened sometime back when some corporate lobbyists, in connivance with lower-level staff at Shastri Bhawan, were caught moving confidential documents outside the building in the darkness of the evening.

Watching you

As the Indian cricket team started its semi-final campaign against Australia Down Under, India's speedster Mohammed Shami's house in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh, plunged into darkness. His father told reporters that power outages were common in the city. "Electricity ki pareshani hai yahan par, aath/nau ghante light aati hai, wo bhi tukro me aati hai (power cuts are a big issue here. Electricity comes for eight, nine hours, that too in short bursts)," he said. Just the day before, 11 maulvis conducted a Quran-reading session at the Indian pacer's home in Sahaspur-Alinagar village in Amroha to pray for the team's success.

Power problem

This refers to Subir Roy's column "Cleaning up Indian Railways" (Value for Money, March 25). Roy is right in drawing similarities between the railways and an Augean stable. Hercules could only clean up the filthy stable in one day by diverting a river. The railways (and hundreds of other Augean stables in our country) also needs a Herculean effort to clean up the mess. One Tata or Bajaj cannot do this, however meticulous they might be.Roy also mentions how some railwaymen privately admitted that cost-cutting and maintaining time schedules were the root causes of train mishaps. This is a disturbing fact. For all ventures, safety should remain the top target.I am sure the railways does not need a high achiever to be on the top to implement maintenance schedules and ensure that all the safety measures are taken. It requires vigorous auditing by an expert group of auditors and clear accountability of regional managers for compliance with safety norms.I also agree with Roy's point of addres

Letters: Railways - A clean-up act

This refers to the editorial "Free speech victory" (March 25). While upholding the fundamental right guaranteed in the Constitution, the apex court striking down Section 66(A) of the Information Technology Act reminds us of the rule of law in this country. As divergent views are at the core of democratic principles, the ruling augurs well for free speech. Though Parliament is supreme, the executive should exercise its powers in a judicious manner and arrive at an informed decision before enacting laws that stand the legal scrutiny. Had it not been for the Supreme Court, as it came down heavily on the government while it booked bloggers and writers for posting online what were clearly divergent viewpoints, India would have become a banana republic.R Prabhu Raj  ChennaiLetters 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 telepho

Letters: Free speech rules

This refers to Kavil Ramachandran's review of Shyamal Majumdar's book Business Battles, "Business families and their feuds" (Book Review, March 26). Ramachandran points to its lack of conclusion drawn from "synthesising analysis" of various cases. The causes of family feuds are varied, ranging from pure business motive (difference between Rahul and Rajiv Bajaj over business strategy), to generational gap thinking. A common cause that is difficult to prove is the role of rivals in fomenting trouble in the enemy camp through "common" friends and planting Trojan horses.Ramachandran alludes to affluence and poor family governance as the main factors, but they are too general and well-known in most of the joint-family-disputes over the years. More specifically, the decline of belief in the joint-family culture has also had an impact in most situations.What is of interest is not only how such big internecine fights changed the Indian industry but also what the consequences have been for the

Letters: Business families

Markets may have run ahead of fundamentals

Waiting for revival

V K Singh's comment reveals govt's incoherent Pakistan strategy

Disgust and duty

On roads and railways, government approach confusing

Core problems

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani was recently dropped from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s 111-member national executive. There have been media reports time and again that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) wasn't entirely comfortable with Irani's appointment as a Cabinet minister. Senior BJP leaders aren't telling if the RSS factor played a part in Irani getting dropped from the national executive. But her friends and well-wishers are peeved. They argue that much of the bad press that Irani earned was because of her efforts to accommodate RSS interests in the education sector; so, it was surprising that it didn't extend support when she needed it.

Unfriend notice

While the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been celebrating the New Year according to the Hindu calendar (the first day of the month of Chaitra) for many years, it had announced that this year, it would celebrate the day (which fell on March 21), in a big way. It had urged people to decorate their houses with indigenous lighting and hoist flags with an 'Om' sign atop their houses. Living up to the promise, Sangh-affiliated organisations pushed New Year greetings through social media and cell phones, while the Bharatiya Janata Party office, too, displayed banners with New Year wishes. It came as no surprise when one received a greeting card from Lok Sabha Speaker and Indore Member of Parliament, Sumitra Mahajan, earlier this week, wishing "Naya sal Bharat vijay ka ho" (May the New Year be that of a victorious India).

Let the festivities begin

Today, India plays Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground for a berth in the cricket World Cup final and India Inc bosses suspect holiday or not, it will turn out to be an unofficial no-work day. A mail exchange trawling on social media yesterday made the mood clear:Leave application:Dear Sir,Greetings! I don't want to lie. My country needs me tomorrow. It's time to display patriotism by the entire nation. I want to apply for leave, which I call 'patriotism' leave. It is India versus Australia in the World Cup semi-final. My nation needs me. Kindly grant me leave.Auto reply from boss:Dear Sender,I will be on sick leave tomorrow.Response will be delayed.

'Patriotism' leave

This refers to the report "Lee Kuan Yew, founding father and first premier of Singapore, dies at 91" (March 24). The Asian continent has lost one of its tallest leaders with the demise of Singapore's first prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew. Lee transformed Singapore from mangrove swamps, opium dens and small villages to an Asian economic giant - one of Asia's busiest ports and home to the world's seventh largest oil refinery. Lee had a soft corner for Tamil people from India and Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore. World leaders are paying glowing tributes to this late leader.Now, Singapore has to ponder over its future after Lee and has to tackle issues such as foreign influx, a slowing economy and unemployment. The young generation of Singapore wants more freedom and local Singaporeans are up in arms against foreigners, who are facing allegations of taking away jobs and driving up real estate prices. It will be interesting to see how Singapore tackles its economy afte

Letters: Life after Lee

This refers to Bharat Bhushan's column "AAP drifting away from its promise" (March 24). Arvind Kejriwal will not be seen as different from other leaders if he is afraid to expand the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s footprints in other states for the fear of being overshadowed by regional leaders.People were fed up with conventional parties and had looked up to Kejriwal because he promised them alternative politics, which would ensure the decentralisation of power, transparency and inner democracy in the party. If Kejriwal wriggles out of this promise for his political motives, he will not only let down his supporters but also damage his own credibility.Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav figure among the founding members of AAP. If they resign under pressure or are expelled from the party, AAP could find itself in more trouble. It is bound to disintegrate like the Janata Party. To obviate this, Kejriwal must listen to them and avoid becoming a one-man band.Tarsem Singh  HoshiarpurLetters can b

Letters: AAP's in-house politics

This refers to the editorial "Looking for a step forward" (March 24). First, it suggested that the current consent level of 80 per cent should be the focus of discussion in Parliament. If the government is clear about its agenda and is efficient in its communication by also addressing the compensation issue of the farmers, thereby taking them into confidence, then I think farmers are mature enough to give their consent, irrespective of the Opposition's ballyhoo.Second, it suggested that a time frame should be allocated for a social impact assessment (SIA), failing which the project is statutorily deemed to be approved. Politicians with vested interests might deliberately delay the process of an SIA, thereby benefitting the interested party without even acknowledging the cost to environment.Finally, 60 per cent of notified land is lying vacant under the United Progressive Alliance's Special Economic Zone scheme. Instead of creating a framework for utilising the unutilised land, why is t

Letters: Land acquisition trouble

The commercial & constitutional implications of Sec 66A judgmentA two-member bench of the Supreme Court delivered a judgment with major constitutional and commercial implications when it struck down the contentious Section 66A of the Information Technology (IT) Act. Key provisions in the equally controversial Section 79 were diluted, although another section, Section 69, which allows secret censorship of websites, was deemed valid. The judgment reaffirmed that laws governing cyberspace could not violate the fundamental right of freedom of speech. Judges J Chelameswar and Rohinton F Nariman said that Section 66A was unconstitutional and violated the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of knowledge. Section 66A is framed very broadly. It had a provision for sending citizens to jail for up to three years for sending annoying or "offensive" messages through electronic means. It has been used in multiple instances to jail people who have criticised or lampooned political leaders. Th

Free speech victory

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley (fifth from right) with (from left) Rohitash Gupta, Vivek Chaand Sehgal, Prashant Jain, Sudhir Agrawal, Romesh Sobti, N Chandrasekaran, C P Gurnani, R N Nayak, Sidharth Singh, and Vijay Shekhar Sharma, at the Business St

Corporate India's best and brightest converged on Business Standard's awards ceremony to honour those who grabbed the opportunity to unleash their entrepreneurial energies and became global leaders

Business Standard

Business Standard

Page 463 - Business Standard