A Developed Friendship

UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s newly formed Development Council to boost industrialisation in the state is to be headed by, you guessed it, buddy Amar Singh. Other power friends like Subroto Roy, Anil Ambani, Adi Godrej, Amitabh Bachchan, M.S. Banga, Kumar Mangalam Birla and A.V. Kamat are members. Chairman Amar Singh will also enjoy the privileges of a cabinet minister. The bureaucracy will be represented by the investment commissioner, principal secretaries of industry, finance, trade tax, environment and power, for now. If chief secretary A.P. Singh is to be believed, UP is the first state to involve industrialists in such a move. The council will directly send recommendations to the cabinet for speedy disposal.