love for Akhilesh is Amar!
Irrespective of the fact that he was named as 'outsider', playing villain in the internal feud of the Yadav clan in Uttar Pradesh, Amar Singh has continued to sing songs of his love for 'Bade Bhai' Mulayam and son-like Akhilesh Yadav. Akhilesh has not made any secret of his dislike for Singh as he sees the mercurial leader as the one fuelling factional fights in his 'Parivar'. But the unputdownable Singh has not stopped saying "If Akhilesh repeatedly hits me, I will not ask him why. I will rather ask him whether he is hurt." One more chapter in 'Amar Chitra Katha'.
Publicity blitz
Most of the big ticket programmes as the Swachchh Bharat, Smart City, Incredible India, Skill India, etc., have opted for high profile publicity agencies as the McCann Erickson Ogilvy & Mather Wieden+Kennedy to name a few. With this the Government's own publicity agency — DAVP and PIB (under Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) seem to be left high and dry. A pained babu even remarked, what ultimately stands out is the work on the ground and not the glamour of hype and publicity.
Media management
After the Uri terror attack, by Sunday afternoon all the sources in North and South Block went in ‘mute’ mode. Grapevine has learned that the Government instructed even official "transmitters of news" to go mute and permitted only Director General of Military Operation (DGMO) to speak to the media. This was done to ensure that no false alarm was created about the Government possible retaliation against Pakistan given the sensitive nature of the situation.
Fungus in food
Many passengers on the AI 452 flight from Vizag in Andhra Pradesh to Delhi on Friday were in for a shock as they found fungus in the bread served to them in the meal. The Government owned airlines also had international passengers who were returning to Delhi after attending BRICS conference in the Southern city. The air hostesses did apologize for the incident but ignored the demand to provide feedbook book and blamed the caterer for failing to ensure quality.
lED all the way
The Defence Ministry is going all out to install lED bulbs and tube light in its South Block headquarters. The process started with the public relations department last week. The changeover comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal to opt for lED to save electricity. The officials said the entire Defence Ministry will have the new system within the next few weeks. Incidentally, lED bulbs were used for the first time this year to illuminate South and North Blocks besides Parliament House to mark Independence Day.