Bad news

Complaining that the National Democratic Alliance government's sanitation drive did not elicit much excitement from the media, Piyush Goyal, minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy, compared it with a murder controversy involving former HR consultant and media executive Indrani Mukerjea (without, of course, taking names) that has riveted the media over the last week or so. Apologising for his use of "unparliamentary language", Goyal claimed no newspaper or prime-time TV show after August 15 had talked about the number of toilets the government had constructed because "it is not exciting enough". "I don't know what pleasure people are getting out of it (the news involving Mukerjea) but I am worried about the impact it will have on the next generation," rued Goyal.