Quota raj

At a recent award ceremony in the Capital, Minister for Water Resources and Minority Affairs Salman Khurshid said the lateral entry of people from the private sector helps the government in unexpected ways. Until Rajiv Gandhi brought Sam Pitroda to revolutionise the telecom sector, the most prized things an MP could offer were 25 telephone connections and 100 consumer gas connections from the MP’s quota — and many politicians won or lost elections because of this since they could only oblige a few.