Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has been travelling extensively across the country, addressing party workers and using the opportunity to also reach out to other parties. Much was made of Modi's recent Chennai visit since Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalitha is known to be a 'friend' of the Gujarat chief minister. However, in a surprising move, Jayalalitha did not meet him much to the delight of the Congress camp. Congress spokesperson Renuka Chowdhury gleefully said, "Jayalalitha is a big 'khiladi' (player). While Modi's chapter has just begun and he is yet to understand what national politics is, Jayalalitha is a very big player for a long time. Wait and watch what she does to him."

Congress glee

Business Standard

Gold continues to have a grip on the Indian consciousness. In Sasaram, Bihar, a yagya is on to pray that the gold, reportedly buried somewhere in Unnao in village Daundiya Kheda is found and India becomes wealthy. In a mosque in Uttar Pradesh, at the time of 'dua', everyone prayed that the gold would be  found. In Prayag, near Allahabad, 200 families claim to be related to King Ramrao Baksh who had the gold buried, and say they have a claim on it. They are in the process of submitting their genealogy in an affidavit to the Allahabad high court. Their total number runs into 4,000 people. And now the same 'seer' Shobhan Sarkar, who claimed he dreamt of the buried gold, says there is a bigger gold treasure of around 2,500 tonnes buried in Adampur village in Fatehpur district!

Golden opportunity

The National Spot Exchange (NSEL) fell short on several counts. It fell short of cash. It fell short of goods. It fell short of governance standards. It fell short of margins. It even fell short in its settlement guarantee fund. To sum it up, it fell short of being an exchange - leaving hapless investors short-changed. But, in the early days of the crisis, Anjani Sinha, former MD &CEO, ensured it never fell short of statements. Sinha assured "all is well" in messages to worried investors and at public fora. He filed an affidavit taking responsibility for the debacle and absolving promoters and directors. Some 95 days after the government  issued a missive that triggered the end, Sinha was arrested  and filed a fresh affidavit sparking hopes of a respite for investors and, possibly, limiting Jignesh Shah's room for manoeuvre. Business Standard presents the story so far.June 5, 2007: Ministry of Consumer Affairs issues notification granting conditional exemption to one-day forward co

The exchange that short-changed

According to a Transparency International report, the top three on the list of 100 companies from 16 emerging markets that are the most transparent in public pledges on fighting corruption and organisational transparency are Tata Group companies, while ranked fourth is another Indian firm, Bharti Airtel. The ratings, on three counts - following anti-corruption programmes, organisational transparency and transparency in a company's home country - have placed 10 Indian companies in the top 15.A snapshot:

Corporate Transparency: Indian firms ahead of BRICS peers

Restrictions on domestic carriers flying abroad need to be removed

Blurred 5/20 vision

US budget compromise is far from permanent

Papering over the cracks

A retired civil servant's plan to write his memoirs has taken a hit under the most unusual circumstances. Former coal secretary P C Parakh was among those named in the first information report or FIR  filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) last Tuesday as part of its investigation into irregularities in coal block allocation. Several documents and letters that Parakh had collected after a lot of hard work to write his autobiography have now been reportedly whisked away by the CBI officials who had swooped down on his Hyderabad residence to conduct investigations. With those documents gone, Parakh, who had retired at the end of 2005, may find the task of completing the book project difficult.  But the publishers have not lost all hope. After this ordeal, Parakh's book may well have a bigger market!

Post script from CBI

For a change Page 3 celebrities at a party on Wednesday night in a leading five star hotel in Mumbai were not discussing the latest fashion trends, imported car models or the availability of luxury apartments. The conversation this time was more serious and low-voiced and it was all about expressing solidarity with Aditya Birla Group chief Kumar Mangalam Birla. The industrialist has been named in a first information report filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) over irregularities in coal block allocations. There was, of course, an element of self-interest involved in all the natter. Their worry: if someone as wealthy and powerful as Birla can't escape CBI action, what would happen to others. An informal "resolution" was adopted to follow a tit-for-tat policy and desist from donating to political parties when they come seeking money for election expenses.

Page 3's CBI worries

Congress scion and party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's day-long visit to Madhya Pradesh to kick off the campaign for the upcoming Assembly polls was unique in more ways than one. For the deeply faction-ridden state Congress unit, it was a rare show of unity with party leaders Digvijay Singh, Kamal Nath and Jyotiraditya Scindia present on the dais along with Gandhi at his rally in Shahdol. It is no secret that the enmity between these top leaders was exacerbated after Scindia was named the party's campaign committee chairman for the state last month. However, with Rahul Gandhi now handling affairs in the Congress, the party is attempting to present a united front in its bid to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party's Shivraj Singh Chouhan. But, say Congress insiders, these "shows of unity" are suspect considering that earlier this week, several Congress leaders backed by a senior state Congress leader attempted to stonewall both Kamal Nath and Scindia from playing any role in ticke

United we wobble

Modi Run, an Android game developed by fans of Gujarat Chief Minister and prime ministerial hopeful Narendra Modi, has the objective of helping Modi reach the voting ballot box in all the states. The game's summary says, "Help Modi win the election by reaching the ballot box." But there's a catch. Only 18 states are included in the game and not 28. The states that have been left out are mainly in the north east, except Assam.

Modi and the Seven Sisters

This refers to A K Bhattacharya's column "Mr Modi's five mantras" (New Delhi Diary, October 16). Narendra Modi's five new ideas sound positive and immeasurably more mature than what one had earlier experienced from either him or the Gandhi-Singh combine. Quite a few of them are incontrovertible, such as motherhood, but not fleshed out enough in the column to merit any comment.Some of them such as listening to the people and a more participatory democracy, sorely need fast, majority-reflecting and cost-effective tools, and these have so far eluded humanity. Referendum, recall, initiative or plebiscite - all cost enormous sums of money and time. One in particular - transparency and no secret files - however, seemingly contradicts reality. Gujarat's Lokayukta Bill is clearly an effort to install a pliable Lokayukta with a selection panel loaded with government representatives.The second instance is the refusal to publicly disclose the Nano incentive arrangements worked out with Tata Motor

Letters: Modi's mantras

This refers to the editorial "Tears from onion" (October 15). Rising onion prices have become an annual recurring phenomenon. We should find a permanent solution to this problem by building the right infrastructure for their storage, and introducing market reforms to eliminate hoarding and allow free movement.  Steps also need to be taken to increase the production of onions, and to eliminate middle-men so that both the farmer and consumer benefits. The Reserve Bank of India should respond to India Inc's appeal that food inflation will come down when the kharif crop arrives and a rate cut should be considered.Jacob Sahayam  ThiruvananthapuramLetters 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: Onion solution

This refers to the report, "Now, book online for your railway food" (October 15). The sword of poor quality food also hangs over a passenger's head if he/she exercises the option of ordering food online. The railway's catering is considered poor but there is no guarantee that the other option will provide quality food. The passenger is eating the food ordered online for the first time, and he has no choice over the restaurant from where the online portal orders the food. The portal acts like a mobile waiter. It is always better to carry home-made food. There is the option of vendors who are permitted by the railways to sell food in the compartments and also on the platform. These online portals are just a novelty, and there is a lot of marketing hype. Reporters writing about this do not ask questions about the quality of the food that is ordered from restaurants, and how much time would it take for the food to be delivered in the compartment once the order has been placed. Another opti

Letters: Home-made food

CBI should be careful with its coal inquiries

Editorial: CBI should be careful with its coal inquiries

Five years after it withdrew a proposal to allow real estate mutual funds, capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India recently issued draft regulations for setting up real estate investment trusts (Reits) in the country. We take a look at the new norms and how they could encourage formation of reits in the country

Sebi paves the way for Reits in India

Anand Sharma said authorities should not "play to the gallery and create an environment of sensation and shock"

Politicians join aghast bizmen

Contrary to earlier claims, farm growth may be robust

The silver lining

A story about chillies is red hot in investor circles these days. A few thousand investors of the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) were promised repayment on the grounds that these were small investors. But those who missed out point out that in most NSEL contracts the minimum lot size was Rs 3.5 lakh. Only chilly contracts were available for Rs 1.5 lakh or so. And apparently only a particular broker from a particular state was heavily exposed to these chilly contracts. A majority of investors of this broker belonged to the home state of a central minister. Loath to have this crisis become a poll issue, the minister wanted it to be settled, hence the special package.

Chilly escape

With the rising costs of funerals in India, the need for an insurance cover could be the next big product for the market. At a recent conference held by the National Insurance Academy, a senior life insurance professional remarked that since funeral costs have begun to overshoot wedding costs, it is becoming essential to provide funeral insurance. He remarked that some countries have even gone to the extreme of providing insurance not for death but only for funeral charges.

Insure your funeral

Spam can be really annoying but there are a few that are hard to ignore. One such purportedly sent from the Reserve Bank of India under the subject line "official payment notification" says, "Attention beneficiary! £500,000 GREAT BRITISH POUNDS will be released to you in your name". The attached document says the recipient was listed as a beneficiary in the recent schedule for payment of outstanding debts incurred by the "BRITISH GOVERNMENT pending since 2007 to 2013". It also talks about a meeting - that took place "recently on the 20th of November 2013" - where "RBI governor Dr Raghuram Rajan, and Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations met with the Senate Tax Committee on Finance, regarding unclaimed funds". Here's the catch: the recipient is "required to pay 22,200 INR ONLY in cash deposit" as transfer fees. A lottery of £500,000 for Rs 22,200 only, not a bad deal, eh?

Cash down

Dear Students,LAST WEEK WE ASKED: Will AICTE's efforts to create the vocational education qualification framework give the much-needed fillip to skill education?BEST RESPONSEEmployability of youth in India has been a major issue for long. There had been many efforts in this direction, but results achieved from those actions are far from satisfactory. Creating the vocational education qualification framework is a step in the right direction, provided it will be followed up with proper implementation and monitoring. Such programmes are required as they bridge the gap between what industry requires and what is provided by educational institutes. Thus, ground level implementation of these skill development programmes will give the much-needed fillip to skill education.Nilaya Mitash Shanker, IIT RoorkeeOTHER RESPONSES'Educated, but unemployable' is the term being used by recruiters today. India is one of the youngest nations in the world, and it would be a disgrace if our youth is termed un

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