In government offices in Uttar Pradesh, a towel on the senior official’s chair is a usual sight. “You won’t find it on any other chair but the one intended for the most important person,” the Hindustan Times wrote in 2017.
On October 7, 2024, J.P. Singh, principal secretary of the parliamentary affairs department of Uttar Pradesh, issued an order on how officials should receive visiting legislators. It noted that “the officials sit on bigger and ‘towelled’ chairs than the one offered to the lawmakers.” If an official has a towel on his chair, ThePrint explained, “the same has to be ensured for the visiting lawmaker.”