Post-lunch stupor
The fireside chat that businessline Editor Raghuvir Srinivasan had with Amul Managing Director Jayen Mehta, at the recent bl agri summit, was marked by quick wit and riposte by Mehta.
To the point that Srinivasan made about it being the first session post-lunch, Mehta was quick to say that there are three things difficult in life: kissing a girl who’s leaning away; climbing a wall slanting against you and addressing a soporific audience immediately after lunch!
Needless to say, the hall erupted in laughter, all wide awake.
Malayalee Mehta
Amul Managing Director Jayen Mehta surprised the audience when he replied to bl Editor Raghuvir Srinivasan’s question about knowing Malayalam.
So, how does a Gujarati know the rather difficult language? Mehta said that he’s fluent in Malayalam and can even read and write. So, when he was growing up in in the port city of Veraval, where his father worked with Indian Rayon, there were many Malayalee families, who didn’t know a word of Gujarati.
The Malayalee kids were learning Gujarati but losing touch with their native language so special language classes were organised for them. Since Mehta found his friends all attending, he too attended the class and picked up Malayalam too.
Women farmers’ agency
One of the problems that organisations that work with women farmers who slog it out on the farm is their reluctance to adopt new technology.
Rupali Mehra, Chief Marketing Officer of Sweden-based Spowdi, said when the organisation has conducted workshops for farmers, it has found women reluctant to try new technologies due to lack of agency, whereas men are more willing to take risks. Sugandha Ghosh, Lead Gender Specialist at IRRI, said no one imagines a woman as a farmer despite the dominant role they play in farming.
Upside surprises
First it was the Q2 GDP data for current fiscal that ‘surprised on the upside’ with a print of 7.6 per cent. Now the first advanced estimate of GDP growth for 2023-24, released on Friday, too has ‘surprised on the upside’ at 7.3 per cent.
Now the chatter in the corridors of power is brace up for two more ‘surprises on the upside’ next month. First Budget 2024-25 (although vote on account) will ‘surprise on the upside’ with a much higher than anticipated GDP growth forecast for 2024-25.
If all goes well, the First Revised estimates of national income for 2022-23 to be released on February 28 will also ‘surprise on the upside’. Don’t be surprised if the ruling dispensation too ‘surprises on the upside’ in terms of the number of winning seats in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, quipped an economy watcher. Our Bureaus