1. Mitra Slam-Dunks The Media
The Modi regime is not alone in being cool towards the media. West Bengal industry and commerce minister Amit Mitra may not have been able to usher in much business in the state, but he sure knows how to usher out the media from the premises of the Bengal Secretariat. It took one phone call from the former FICCI chief to have the cops strutting about, threatening to arrest scribes if they happened to venture out of their designated corner in the building. The trigger: a couple of journalists made their way up to the 14th floor of Nabanna, where the finance minister sits.
2. Sizzling End To The Satyam Saga
The suspended court sentence of six months for Satyam founder B. Ramalinga Raju and his brother B. Rama Raju by the Special Economic Offences Wing Court made everyone gasp. But the brothers aren’t getting away lightly. The verdict in the main CBI case in the corporate fraud case is due on December 23. Legal eagles say that a sentence of seven years is likely in this case. But there is a catch here too. Once the Rajus file an appeal challenging the verdict by the Special Court, they could be out on bail. “Just like Jayalalitha,” says a senior lawyer. If so, the case is likely to drag on for another decade.
3. Kerala’s New Fishy PPP
Perhaps to deflect attention from his disastrous plan for the liquor industry, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has decided to take on international brands like KFC and Pizza Hut with fish burgers, sandwiches, salads. The Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corp will process the fish and supply it to the private franchise partners. The first of the restaurants will open this month in Kochi’s Centre Square Mall. There are plans for 10 more in six months. A little bird has let on that actor and television anchor Shwetha Menon’s husband P. Sreevalsan is liaising between the government and the franchisees. Sreevalsan and associates will screen applicants before they are awarded franchises.
Math
425,000 Number of telecom towers in India. As mobile service complaints are on the rise, the country needs 200,000 more towers.
4 Number of Hindus among the country’s six largest meat suppliers. Of late, meat supply has come to acquire communal overtones.
Car recall costs
Figures in Rs crore show Maruti’s expense on warranty and product recalls
57.57% India has the third highest out-of-pocket health care spending in the world after Bangladesh (63.35%) and Pakistan (61.85%). Reason: low insurance coverage
Mojo
Push-Button Digital India Fanfare
Karnataka became the first Indian state this week to launch a MobileOne service which is touted to be the world’s largest multimode mobile governance platform. Of course, the service can only become successful if government departments start delivering.
Mind
This week we learnt about…The Death of TV
aol CEO Tim Armstrong first belled the warning bells: digital video advertising has started to suck out dollars from TV advertising. According to Nielsen, last quarter TV viewing was down 4 per cent while video streaming was up 60 per cent. Armstrong added some anecdotal evidence: he had a bunch of kids over at his place. He saw them all sitting around in the living room watching video on their phones instead of looking up at the TV. And then Nilesen came up with another report saying the average American adult watched 4 hours and 32 minutes of live television every day during the third quarter, down 12 minutes from the previous year.
