March 30, 2021 - Short Post

Politics

Crack In MVA Sees BJP Revive Operation Lotus In Maharashtra

By not denying his meeting with NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the de facto chief of BJP, has yet again dropped hints that it has not given up on “Operation Lotus’’ in Maharashtra. At the same time, he has created suspicion among Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners about Pawar’s next move. Shah knows that by holding parleys with Pawar, it will make Opposition parties think twice of forming a front under Pawar’s leadership to take on Modi. Political analysts say the idea is to sow the seeds of suspicion that Pawar cannot be trusted. Shah’s timing seems to be perfect. Currently, there is a mistrust between the three MVA partners — Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress — after the Ambani bomb scare conspiracy came to light. This incident has opened the Pandora’s Box with Maratha strongman trying to defend Home Minister Anil Deshmukh over the Rs 100 crore hafta charges levelled against Deshmukh by the former Police Commissioner, Parambir Singh. On another front, the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis who has rocked the MVA government with his explosive expose is now getting ready to fire more salvos ahead of the BMC elections slated for 2022. BJP has launched MissionMumbai 2022 with a resolve to elect its own party mayor and thereby end Shiv Sena’s dream run. Here it is toying with the idea of entering into an alliance with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena so as to steal Sena’s Marathi Manoos plank and wrest BMC. But, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray seems to be leaving no stones unturned to ensure that BMC, the country’s richest municipal body stays in Sena’s fold.

Post By Political Editor

Business

Investors, Don’t Buy The Rumour

The stock market is booming with the Sensex currently hovering around 50,000-mark. At this level the market capitalisation works out to around $2.7 trillion. It may be recalled that at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 the Sensex had crashed to 25,638 points. So did the market cap to $1.3 trillion, its lowest since March 2016. Now, there are visible signs that the economy is picking up if one looks at the performance of the sectors like auto, infrastructure, healthcare, IT and FMCG. A number of brokerage houses seem to be bullish; some are predicting that Sensex will touch the 100,000-mark by 2025. Such a bullish outlook is unleashing a buying frenzy among investors. The herd mentality is evident. Nearly 6.3 million demat accounts were added during April-September 2020 to take the total demat accounts to 2.13 crore. Work from home saw people investing in both primary and secondary markets. Thirty companies have already raised around Rs 31,000 crore via IPO in FY-21. But, post-listing, are they all doing well? Not really, says The Hindu Business Line report. “India’s IPO market boom, which began exactly a year ago in March 2020, with the SBI Cards offer, is showing signs of fatigue. Every second stock that posted gains on debut in the last one year has slipped.” So, the opportunity to make a quick kill post listing is clearly waning. Now, some of the fly-by-night operators are recommending below par or penny stocks. With the second wave of pandemic hitting the country, it would be advisable for investors to ignore the conventional market adage “Buy the rumour, sell the news.”

Post By Business Editor

Politics

Who Are The Most Powerful Indians In 2021?

The Indian Express annual list IE 100: The List Of Most Powerful Indians in 2021 is out. There are no surprises in terms of Top 10. Prime Minister Narendra Modi holds on to his #1 position, so does Home Minister Amit Shah at #2 followed by RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat at #3. Bhagwat was ranked #4 in 2019, and this slot has been occupied by the BJP President JP Nadda this year. Reliance CMD Mukesh Ambani holds on to his #5 rank while Adani Group Chairman Gautam has pole-vaulted from 28th position to #10. As always, every year there are new entrants. This year there are five names from the healthcare sector as this sector had to do fire-fighting to manage Covid-19. There are 59 politicians, 17 businessmen, 9 bureaucrats who find a place in the survey. Surprisingly, there are no film stars, spiritual guru or sports personalities save for Virat Kohli. So this brings to fore what was the methodology or criteria used to select these powerful Indians? The prefatory note is silent on that front.

Post By Short Post Team

Entertainment

National Film Awards: When Manoj Kumar Felt Slighted

Bollywood camp seems to be divided over some of the winners of the 67th National Film Awards for 2019. Kangana Ranaut, who bagged the National Award for Best Actor for Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi, and Panga, is being compared to Priyanka Chopra’s performance in The Sky Is Pink. Similarly, some veteran critics are comparing Sushant Singh Rajput starrer Chhichhore that won the coveted award with their own choices: Section 375, Art 15, Batla House and Uri: The Surgical Strike. The Jury could have selected from one of these four films, the seasoned critics hold, suspecting that the awards are being given to score political brownie points. All awards, be it national or independent ones, attract such endless criticism. This brings to mind the story told to the undersigned by the Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Manoj Kumar aka Mr Bharat. His movie Upkar (1967) was a runaway hit. Mr Bharat got a call from a babu in New Delhi to attend the National Films Awards function at Vigyan Bhavan as his film Upkar was the winner. When the announcement was made, he found much to his dismay that a south Indian film had bagged the award and his film got the Award for the Second-Best Feature Film. Seeing a visibly irritated Manoj Kumar, the babu, in question, quickly whispered into his ears: “Sir, please understand the politics of balancing!” After reluctantly collecting the medal, Manoj Kumar quietly walked out, went to the refugee camp in Delhi where he had grown up (after Partition 1947), and threw the medal into a nullah.

Post By Ashok Kumar

Riyaz Bagban, Secretary, Maharashtra Cricket Association

Sports

ODI: No Spectators Yet MCA Earns Rs 10 Crore

The Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) international stadium, beneath the Ghoradeshwar Hill at Gahunje village in the outskirts of Pune, hosted three high-scoring ODI matches between India and the 2019 ICC World Cup winner England on March 23, 26, and 28. Some of the biggest hitters like Ben Stokes, Jonathan Bairstow, Jason Roy, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Hardik Pandya, featured in these matches. But the Covid-19 restrictions imposed by the State Government, prevented the spectators from thronging one of the modern venues in India. The MCA officials were disappointed that the local faithful could not be present for the high-profile matches, culminating into the 50th match. The MCA has hosted 38 IPL matches, much of it featuring the Sahara-owned Pune Warriors, Sanjeev Goenka-owned Rising Pune Supergiant, CSK and Kings XI Punjab. The MCA has also hosted seven ODIs, three Twenty20 internationals and two Test matches. After the new stadium was constructed by the Shapoorji Pallonji Group, the MCA hosted the first Twenty20 match between India and England in December 2012. The MCA Secretary, Riyaz Bagban said: “With paying spectators the revenue from gate receipts would have been Rs 15 crore for three matches, but the MCA has earned around Rs 10 crore by way of in-stadia advertising.”

Post By G Viswanath

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

It is the Third Anniversary of Short Post and as a news media startup launched during the Covid-19 pandemic it certainly feels better than good to find ourselves where we are today. Here, I must cite the unstinted support of our seasoned contributors, all senior editors in the country, who brought a great degree of maturity and sagacity to the Short Post newsroom. But for them, our tagline “Authentic Gossip”, an Oxymoron, would not have matured viably. Our user numbers may be small but our stories have created the desired impact among people who matter — decision makers and influencers. We offer a big punch in a small pack and Short Post with its 225-word stories has been punching above its weight category. Having posted close to 3,000 stories in the last 36 months, Short Post, I feel, is an idea whose time has come.
And this is vindicated by our two marquee advertisers – IDFC FIRST Bank and ICICI Lombard. Both believed in our story and have supported us from Day one. A big thank you to both.
If you look at the media landscape – print, TV and digital — it is a mixed bag. There are job losses as some outfits have closed down while a lucky few were bailed out by large corporate houses. Yes, there is a lot of action in the digital space. However, the entry of corporate houses has raised the question of independence of news media outfits. Sadly, there are just a handful of independent media outfits in the country that are highly respected for their neutrality. At Short Post, our credo is not to take sides, prejudge issues or be biased but, informing readers of behind-the-scenes happenings. In essence, Short Post strives to be a neutral editorial platform — neither anti-establishment nor pro-establishment.
As I said last year, disruptions in the media world are moving at a fast and furious pace. Technology is playing a very big role in how content is generated and consumed. But, we are neither alarmed nor perturbed as it is all a part of the evolution process. What gives us comfort is that AI is unable to create original gossipy content. And that is the news arena where we have achieved a distinction.

TRENDS & VIEWS

Editor’s Note: Big Punch In Small Pack

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