Talebearer

Wait and watch

With the inflation rising, mandarins at North Block now seem to have adopted a wait and watch policy. They are hoping that RBI’s monetary measures will have an impact over the medium term. It’s also felt that a slowdown in the global economy will help rein in commodity prices. Says a senior bureaucrat: “A good monsoon, coupled with RBI’s monetary policy intervention, should help bring inflation down to single digits by September-October.” For the moment, though, the government seems to have run out of options.

—RJ

TRAI’S new mission?

TRAI, it seems, is taking its additional responsibility as the broadcasting industry regulator pretty seriously. It’s apparently considering the possibility of proper registration of cable operators, besides establishing quality of service norms. But even if TRAI does push ahead with the proposal, it’ll have its task cut out given the abysmal service standards of the industry, which has more than 50,000 cable operators across the country.

—Kushan Mitra