Mind under matter

Is the Ministry of External Affairs running out of ideas or is it a plain case of not doing one’s homework? Both seem plausible with its briefings to the Prime Minister on upcoming visits focusing more on protocol aspects than substance. Ahead of the India-EU summit last week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh set aside an hour for the MEA briefing on what needed to be said and discussed. To his surprise, more than half-an-hour was spent on the protocol nitty-gritty and the itinerary of the visiting delegation. At the end of it, the PM, in his typical soft-spoken manner, asked to know what was new on the agenda and what he had to say to the delegation. There was apparently no response until someone offered the logic that sometimes just the symbolic value of meeting at the highest level was important. It may have saved the day for the MEA, but several unanswered questions continue to linger.