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Mumbai: The Millennium Alliance under Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in its the 9thSankalp Global Summit, called for applications to its’ Global Grant for Indian social enterprises.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Twelve days after Ockhi cyclone sowed death and destruction in Kerala’s coastal districts, the anger over the Government’s handling of the situation refuses to die down.

‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallya – business tycoon and flamboyant fugitive from Indian justice system – has told a British court that Indian prisons are worse than the notorious Russian jails and that he will die behind bars if he is extradited to India.

This election season in Gujarat is riveting. Make or break. Shake not stir. Aurangzeb and Aiyer. Church and Temple. Neech & preach. Maa Aur Baap. Agent and double-agent. The crux of it: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, if he loses will no longer brag about ‘Gujarat Model’. And Rahul Gandhi if he wins will start his presidential innings with a victory. So the Congress is going all out to win and the BJP is going all out to win. But both cannot win. One party has to lose.

The Pakistanis are less corrupt than the Indians. This is the finding of the recent Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Fraud Survey - 2017. While India is found to be the most corrupt country in Asia-Pacific region, with 69 per cent bribery rate in public services including education, health, ID, documents, police, and utility services, Pakistan has 40 per cent bribery rate.

The Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance Bill 2017, or FRDI Bill, which is expected to be moved during the short forthcoming winter session of Parliament, has rightly created a serious concern among all sections of depositors with banks and financial institutions as it seeks to dilute the security of deposits in case of institutional failure. Although the government, under growing public pressure, tried to defend the provisions of FRDI Bill, last week, saying the proposed legislation is aimed at protecting the interest of depositors, few are really willing to buy such an assurance. There are several issues. One of them is the ‘bail-in’ provision in the new bill, which seeks to allow a government entity to use depositors' money to save a financial institution on the verge of bankruptcy. An online petition against the Bill by a Mumbai-based lady, Shilpa Shree, has got some 40,000 sign-ups within 24 hours, supporting her appeal to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to not let this Bill pass with the provision. The finance minister responded quickly in a twit saying: “The objective of the government is to fully protect the interest of the financial institutions and the depositors. The government stands committed to this objective.”

Union Government in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has decided to set up an umbrella organization called Bureau of Outreach and Communication (BOC), subsuming the existing individual status of three Media Units of DAVP the Directorate of Advertising & Visual Publicity, DFP the Directorate of Field Publicity and S&DD the Songs & Drama Division, thus converting them into three separate Divisions under the overarching BOC. The intended objective is to provide integrated coordinated approach of the three Divisions under BOC’s unified command.

Opinion polls on TV placed the BJP at the top of the heap, poised to win Gujarat yet another time. The opinion polls went ballistic on the Hardikfactor but declared it will not change the verdict: The BJP will win. The ‘Other Media’ – mostly news websites – does not speak of Hardik Patel. It went to the ‘people’ to find out which way the wind blows. The verdict: The BJP is out on a limb. The Congress will win.

Every time a Malayali gets sober and sits down to down a peg or two, some or the other bunch of politicians in power remind him that there is a slip between the cup and the lip. This time, the slip is age: A 23-year-old can raise a toast but a 21-year-old cannot stand in line for his quarter and pint!

If bureaucrats had their way, they would have long stopped the earth from revolving around the sun. At least they would have issued an order banning it. Because they live on the earth, and by revolving around the sun, the earth is making their heads spin. And if at all anything must revolve, it can be the other way around: the sun can revolve while the earth stays stationary, which will still produce day and night as only the parts of earth facing the sun will have light falling on them while the other parts will remain dark. Then they will assign a certain fancy name and number to the rule and prosecute both sun and the earth for violation.