BEING INDIAN

ust last month, at an event in New Delhi, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri was fairly confident about selling 100 per cent stake in Air India. While distributing the “letters of appreciation” issued by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Air India staff for evacuation of Indians from China’s Wuhan city, the minister said there would be no problem in Air India’s disinvestment this time. In January, the government had floated a sale document for the national carrier, its second such attempt in less than two years, as the last effort had failed to receive any response. Little did the minister know that a country-specific disease (at that time) would grow so big to not just potentially derail Air India’s disinvestment but also put the domestic and international aviation sector on a ventilator.