Soni and the <i>hafta </i>business

Recently, in her address at FICCI-Frames 2010 in Mumbai, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni got quite agitated over the ‘hafta’ system (weekly commission system by anti-social elements) in the film piracy business. She said young people sold pirated DVDs and VCDs on Delhi streets and the criminals drew hefty hafta from them. But soon, Soni, a seasoned politician, realised this might become the next day’s headlines. She once again took the microphone and said: “My words should not be interpreted by reporters as my personal knowledge of such things. What I want to say is, it is not that I don’t believe such things happen, but I do not want to add credence to them.”