No brainers

The publicity given by the finance ministry to some young consultants as the brains behind the Economic Survey has created no little resentment among some officers of the Indian Economic Service. These consultants were listed on the finance ministry's website under the heading "People behind the Economic Survey", which some media reports picked up. The old guard, however, sourly alleges that these consultants (most of them appointed last year) mainly contributed to the second chapter of the Survey titled "Seizing the Demographic Dividend" and were not even allowed to enter the quarantined area during the Budget-making exercise.