Ministers on Media

Something that has been catching my attention recently is the airtime that some ministers get on news channels. No, I am not talking about Mr. Dhayanidhi Maran's daily appearance in Sun TV. Some ministers keep doing/ saying something or the other that the channels cannot afford to miss. Take Mr. Anbumani Ramadoss for example. He has bee in the news regularly be it for creating controversies with AIIMS or asking celebrities not to endorse for colas or banning smoking on the big screen. Though I can't agree with most of his moves I have to accept that he is being active. At least I can change my idea that ministers would spend all their time either sleeping or executing some scam.
Scam reminds me of another minister who is a favourite of the media. Mr. Lalu Yadav's name used to be in the news for the fodder scam, but is now there as a brand of fodder. NDTV says

"Farmers insist that cattle chewing on Lalu fodder give milk that's much sweeter than before"

Seems Lalu and fodder are inseparable words. What has been separable is the minister's bad reputation at work. Lalu now ranks high in the surveys conducted on ministers. Financial express says

"Lalu Yadav’s performance in Railways has been rated high. Improving finances while protecting consumers through productivity increases in wagon loading and turnaround time reveals the scope for replication"

Well talking about ministers’ appearances on TV, it has been some time since Mr. Arjun Singh made an appearance. Wonder what he is up to!

Indian Railways – Catering To Techno Clients

IRCTC seems to have adopted internet pretty well (Check: Business Line). I have booked some of my tickets through the railways site and it is definitely very comfortable given that the ticket booking office was a good one hour from my place in Indore. Though the service is good, there is still scope for improvement. Few things that I can think of are
a) Provide a facility to book the to-and-fro tickets together. This would save half of the couriering cost (in case of 'i-tickets') as both tickets can be sent together. This saving when passed on to the passengers becomes very tempting.
b) Reduce the charge for e-ticketing. Why should a person pay Rs.25 extra when (s)he is actually saving the time of the reservation person? I can accept the charge for 'i-ticket' as the ticket has to be couriered in that case. But in 'e-ticket' the user simply takes a print-out of the ticket and uses it.

Still I am not taking the credit away from IRCTC. Their internet based services is a job well done. Checkout the following
http://irctc.co.in

http://indianrail.gov.in/
http://www.trainenquiry.com/
http://indianrail.gov.in/other_rly_sites.html

Deal At The Uppermost Level

TOI says that the Daily Times newspaper

advised that Islamabad could "cut a deal" with New Delhi if it thinks it can influence the choice of the new secretary general

I seriously wonder what would be the purpose of colluding in fielding a person for the Nations Secretary General's post. Does this mean that the UN secretary general can do 'favours' for the countries fielding him?

Interesting, Inspiring, Indian

Down-to-earth and Patrician are words that stand out in both the articles.

Hope you would enjoy reading them as much as I did.

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/501060619/tata.html

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2006/
mayjun/features/premji.html

The Minister's Request

Union Health Minister Anbumani has listed some of the problems caused by carbonated beverages and has asked celebrities not to endorse the products. Just wondering... If the minister really knows that the drinks are injurious to health, then he can ban them. Otherwise he should just allow the drinks to be sold and advertised the way they are doing currently. Why should a minister take an intermediate route - allowing the drinks to be sold but raising his voice over celebrities endorsing them? The minister's concern is more on the endorsement rather than the drinks themselves. One more minister into a publicity stunt?