RElIEF FOR JOURNOS
last week, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar gave a big relief to journos when he said they will be allowed to bring in their mobile phones inside the South Block while covering major events. As of now, scribes are not permitted to carry their phones inside South Block, Sena Bhawan and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) headquarters due to security considerations. Mediapersons had repeatedly urged the authorities over the years to do away with this practice as it hampered their professional commitments.
PAWAN PUTRA
Airline regulator DGCA is the master of the sky-only that it has to be told this fact. last week, the Supreme Court laboured hard with the DGCA counsel to extract an undertaking from the regulator body to make it compulsory for private airline operators to operate flights to Shimla. Senior advocate Harish Salve, who was appearing for Jet Airways, was surprised to learn that DGCA was acting “powerless” when it had all the might to get operators to toe its line. Chief Justice of India TS Thakur told DGCA, “You are like pawan putra Hanuman. Once you are made to realise your power, you become powerful.”
INSPIRATIONAl TRUMP
US Republican front-runner Donald Trump may have expressed his displeasure at India’s outsourcing industry by impersonating a call centre representative in India, but he seems to be among the inspirational leaders for the Union Health Ministry. The controversial leader’s quote: “Money was never a big motivation for me, except as a way to keep score. The real excitement is playing the game,” translated in Hindi was uploaded recently on the screen of the lCD installed on the wall near Minister JP Nadda’s office on the third floor of the Ministry.
EXPlORING CUBA
After Salman Khan starrer Ek Tha Tiger, Cuba is looking for more and more Indian films to be shot in the exotic locations of the island country. Ek Tha Tiger, possibly the first Indian film shot in Cuba, had several scenes shot in Havana and surrounding areas, particularly the song laapata capturing major attractions of the Capital. Cuban Ambassador to India Oscar I Martínez Cordovés said the country would like to see more “connect” with Indians, who are welcome to visit the country as tourists, investors or to shoot films. Interestingly, Cordovés was quick to add that his country would not have enough hotel to accommodate visitors even if one per cent of Indians decide to travel to Cuba. But Cubans have big heart and Indians can be easily accommodated, he added. However, the country remains favourite destination for film actors. last year actor Juhi Chawla posted a picture during her Havana trip displaying a picture of a park named India!!!
DIllY-DAllY ON SAFFRON TERROR
Most of the MHA, IB and NIA officials are caught in a peculiar situation due to the twists and turns in the probe related to Malegaon and Samjhauta Express blasts. It is an irony that majority of such officials who floated the theory of “Saffron Terror” are now forced to eat their own words. When scribes ask them about their earlier version, the officials mostly keep mum. Now that the Defence Ministry has allowed accused lt Col Purohit to access sensitive papers to prove his innocence, many in the Ministry are obviously feeling the heat.
SIBAl FOR SWAMY
In the wake of the BJP bringing in Subramanian Swamy in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress is considering to bring in an equally vocal leader to keep up the counterattack against Swamy and Government. Former Union Minister Kapil Sibal may get a RS berth from Bihar with the support of RJD chief lalu Prasad with whom Sibal has a good personal rapport. The Congress is also thinking to bring another former Union Minister P Chidambaram from Karnataka.