1. Tata Steel suicide case shifted to CBI
With the Maharashtra government transferring the suicide case of former Tata Steel corporate affairs and communications head Charudutta Deshpande to the CBI, the probe is expected to be opened afresh after a lull of over a year. Deshpande had committed suicide in June 2013. The recent reporting (in Mid-Day) of a handwritten note from Deshpande—about the problems he was having with Tata Steel colleagues—has strengthened allegations that the 57-year-old corp-com executive was being harassed at work.
2. Star bags Screen
Iconic film tabloid Screen is about to change hands after six decades with The Indian Express Group. According to a report in Mint, Screen, which has had illustrious editors like B.K. Karanjia and Bhavna Somaaya, is being sold to Star India, which will also get the rights to the popular Screen Awards. The sale will effectively pass on an Indian institution to a foreign entity. Incidentally, Star has been an old partner of Screen for the awards. Owner Rupert Murdoch has been asking for increasing FDI limit in media for the past few years.
3. Sex & Silicon Valley
Seems like the drugs- and sex-fuelled corporate lifestyle isn’t just the preserve of a chosen few in the US. Two recent high-profile cases—concerning senior executives from Google and Yahoo—highlight what many are saying is a growing trend in Silicon Valley. Last week, high-end prostitute Alix Catherine Tichelman was indicted for leaving 51-year-old Forrest Timothy Hayes, who worked at Google’s Innovation Lab, dead on his yacht (dubbed ‘Escape’) after helping him shoot up a fatal dose of heroin. Then a top Yahoo executive, Maria Ziang, was accused of sexual harassment by a female ex-employee, Nan Shi. Shi claims she was fired after she resisted pressure from Ziang to have “oral and digital sex”. Yahoo is contesting the charges.
Math
122.43 million passengers took to the skies in India in 2013-14, an increase of 5.2% for domestic flights over the previous year.
Raising the bar
India’s agri productivity, compared to the country with the highest yield, kg/ha
Paddy
- India: 3,514
- China: 6,661
Wheat
- India: 3,000
- UK: 7,360
Chickpeas
- India: 912
- Ethiopia: 1,663
Sugarcane
- India: 69,227
- Peru: 1,25,587
Source: Economic Survey
Auto growth markets
Region-wise forecast for auto sales growth rates, 2013-20
$13mn Cost of the most expensive album ever, Guns n’ Roses’ Chinese Democracy (2008), which took 14 years to produce. The album tanked.
Mojo
Is this the (uncomfortable) future of air travel?
Aircraft maker Airbus submitted a patent application in Europe for a new kind of passenger seat: it looks like a bicycle seat with a backrest; the tray table and headrest are missing.
Mind
This week we learnt…about India’s tenuous link with the WC
As the World Cup came to a climax, India “celebrated” its links with two of its top stars. According to Sunday Guardian, chit fund money from Sudipto Sen, boss of the defunct Saradha group, saved the day when Lionel Messi refused to take the field for a friendly between Argentina and Venezuela in Calcutta in 2011. Sen apparently dipped into his coffers to give the Rs 20 crore match fee Messi demanded. And what of the media reports of Brazil’s Neymar visiting Kerala to get Ayurveda treatment for his broken vertebrae? The media furore even forced the Kerala CM to issue a denial that he’d been contacted.
