Inside scoop!
Senior journalist Smita Deshmukh has set media tongues wagging with her post on X. She wrote, “An editor of a city tabloid, known for temper, who left a leading media house to join the rival, has been wooed back to join their TV channel. The editor has created a record with the attrition rate of journos leaving in both places. Deep-rooted Modi hate is known. A work brief has been worked out. Monumental disaster.” It has been learnt that the said editor's contract is not being renewed. Now, it remains to be seen how the “monumental disaster” plays out.
Newspaper's "Raddi" Approach
Vendors are upset with a newspaper which suddenly stopped giving them complimentary copies. Because of the Diwali season, the number of pages went up and the paper stopped free copies. Now that the number of pages has gone down again, this paper is again offering free copies to vendors, which ultimately ends up as 'raddi'. The vendors are understandably angry because of the use-and throw policy of this particular newspaper's management. Surely, nobody likes to be used.
Taxing talks
In a recent post on X, Ashneer Grover, fantasy gaming app 'Crickpe' founder, has understandably become the talk in corporate circles. At a time when most people prefer to keep their views close to their chests, Grover openly slammed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) department over arbitrarily sending demand notices to all and sundry. And what is particularly upsetting businessmen is the scale of the demand. Recently, 12 gaming companies received notices to the tune of Rs55,000 crore! Dream 11, the gaming unicorn, has been asked to cough up a whopping Rs25,000 crore! The former founder of 'BharatPe' accused GST officials of “harassing” the business community. These notices, coupled with selective Income Tax surveys and filing of cases by the Enforcement Directorate, have not gone down well with India Inc and it may have its repercussions during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In the crosshairs
The award of a large parcel of land to a real estate company by the erstwhile Maharashtra government in the eastern suburbs of Mumbai is likely to be probed by the present dispensation. The land, which is spread over a few acres, has been given to a builder who is financially in a weak position. Cheques issued by him are bouncing and his overall rating in the market has fallen drastically. Given this background, it is highly unlikely that he would complete the project.
TAILPIECE
Breathless singer Shankar Mahadevan is tipped to be given a seat in the Rajya Sabha. He was the chief guest at the RSS's traditional Dussehra rally in Nagpur recently.
Compiled by S Balakrishnan
