Saviour Salve
To a great extent, eminent lawyer Harish Salve will be credited with the Supreme Court ban on high-end diesel cars in Delhi. Assisting the court as amicus curiae, Salve was the one who proposed ban on fresh diesel cars and SUVs, imposition of a heavy tax on polluting trucks, banning entry of 10-year-old goods carriers, and converting the taxi fleet in the city to CNG. Grapevine has it that he is advising the Delhi Government on the odd-even formula to ply private cars as well. The Delhi municipal bodies has also sought his help to mediate with the toll collector after the latter threatened to quit following drop in his collections as trucks stopped pouring in at Delhi border.
Foul fuel
More than the choice between petrol and diesel, vehicle owners in Delhi face a tough task choosing the right petrol pump to fill fuel in their cars. last week, on the sidelines of the discussion on Delhi pollution in the Supreme Court, CJI TS Thakur admitted that majority of petrol pumps in Delhi mix kerosene in petrol making the fuel ineffective. lawyers appearing in the case admitted this was a problem, yet none seemed to complain much. Justice Thakur drew his own conclusion. He said, “Our cars are so versatile that they run on anything.”
Call drops
Even though political temperature remained high last week due to the Congress’ protest in the Rajya Sabha over Arunachal crisis, the House witnessed some light moments too when the issue of ‘call drops’ came up. One such occasion was CPI(M) member Sitaram Yechury reminding BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu that when he was in the Opposition he had said that the call drop problem was causing marital discord as he was not able to reach his wife. Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad was quick to respond to the CPI(M) leader, “I hope you are able to reach your wife.” The entire House had a good laugh at this banter.
Questionable answer
Rajya Sabha member Anubhav Mohanty was in a rude shock when he got a paper clipping from the lok Sabha Secretariat on a query pertaining to Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), a very significant wing of the Home Ministry. In place of structured reply, the lS Secretariat gave him a newspaper clipping by a journalist covering the Home Ministry.
Searching for clues
The CBI team that raided the third floor of the Delhi Secretariat after registering a case against Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar could not find any incriminating material till 5.45 pm on the day it conducted searches at 14 locations. The agency team reached the Secretariat at 8.45 am when only one peon was at the floor. It started questioning people at 9.45 am when the staff started pouring in. The CBI team was in touch with an informer during the searches, but panicked after not finding enough material to nail Kumar. After getting instructions from the headquarters, it continued with the searches late in the night but still it could not lay its hands on anything ‘explosive’.
Behind Swamy
Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political advisor Ahmed Patel was very busy in arranging affairs in the Patiala House Courts in connection with the National Herald case when the entire Congress top brass turned in on Saturday. At last there was no seat available for Patel himself in the court. Only one seat was vacant and that too behind complainant Subramanian Swamy. Ghulam Nabi Azad’s banter created laughter in court, when he quipped to Patel that “if you don’t mind, you can sit behind Swamy”. Patel said he has no such issue and took the seat behind Swamy.
Bollywood pill
Bollywood heartthrob Priyanka Chopra will be in Delhi on Wednesday to encourage the country’s adolescents to pop in iron and folic acid tablets being provided by the Union Health Ministry under its Weekly Iron & Folic Acid Supplementation (WIFS) Programme. Priyanka, who is also the UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, has been roped in by the Ministry to launch its media campaign for WIFS. The target for WIFS is adolescent girls and boys in Government/Government-aided and municipal schools, between Classes VI to XII and out of school adolescent girls. Fifty-six per cent girls and 30 per cent boys in the age group of 15-19 years in India suffer from anaemia.
Welcome innovators!
lawns of majestic Rashtrapati Bhavan will be thrown open for a day in March next for engineering colleges, universities, medical colleges and Government departments besides industry and individuals to showcase their developments in medical technologies in poster and physical forms. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is organising the one-day exhibition during Festival of Innovations between March 12 and March 18. The theme of the exhibition will be ‘Innovations in Medical Science and Biotechnology.’
Adjournment for what!
Adjournment motion is raised on very important and urgent issues. But, of late, MPs are moving adjournment motion on every issue under the sun. One of the adjournment motions in the lok sabha by RJD’s Jai Prakash Yadav was titled ‘Development of tourism in Bihar’!
Glamour quotient
The glamrous quotient of wildlife conservation in the country seems to be picking up fast. Several animal-lover Bollywood actors are stepping in to promote their campaigns from time to time. While stars as Big B, Khans, Akshay Kumar and the rest came forward to save jumbos with sculptures and paintings, now a yet another star brigade has stepped in to save bulls from the festival of Jallikattu. According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), top film personalities such as John Abraham, Vidya Balan, Sonakshi Sinha, Jacqueline Fernandez, Bipasha Basu, Raveena Tandon and others have signed a petition to save bulls during Jallikattu.