The media avalanche around top-level changes in the Reserve Bank doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. Watch out for the blinding photo-op on September 4, when Raghuram Rajan yields way to Urjit Patel. It wasn’t always like this, of course. Till liberalisation, very few outside the RBI would have known who the governor was, even though he signed rupee notes. But now, media management is a crucial part of the game. Recently, a US-based economist met with Rajan after his decision to leave the governorship. Rajan pointed at two piles of newspaper clippings on his desk—the larger pile was overflowing with positive reports, the smaller one with critical pieces. That’s what they call image management.
On the face of it, a return to nature and indigenisation in agriculture is the leitmotif of the BJP government. Consider the push towards organic farming by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh, or environment minister Anil Madhav Dave recently narrating his successful experiment with growing a healthy crop of moong dal on his farm near Narmada. But there’s a contradiction—both Union ministers have also been declaring their commitment to promoting technology to improve agricultural yield. Asked about his stance on the controversial, genetically modified (GM) crops, Dave shied from giving a straight answer, dismissing it as an insignificant issue. Now, really?
