Nothing to chance
The Defence Ministry worked overtime to ensure a glitch-free maiden Independence Day speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Defence Secretary RK Mathur inspected all arrangements at Red Fort two days prior to the main event and repeatedly asked the technicians to test the public address system. He also watched dummy run of the speech on the giant television screens put up for the first time at the venue for better viewing. In another first, more than 150 diplomats were provided headphones to listen to simultaneous translation of Modi’s speech. Not leaving anything to chance, these headphones were drenched in water repeatedly to test their ruggedness in case of rains on the main day.
Silent Rahul
last Monday onwards buzz started that Rahul Gandhi would speak in the lok Sabha on a debate on communal violence. The Congress party’s Twitter handles also talked about its leader’s maiden speech in this session. This speculation got ground when on Tuesday SPG’s team inspected the VIP gallery of the lok Sabha. According to senior leaders, Priyanka Gandhi was expected to land in the gallery to witness her brother’s speech. But all fizzled out when on Thursday Congress leader Mallikarjuna Kharge initiated the speech. Congress leaders are tightlipped why Rahul avoided the opportunity of speaking in the lok Sabha.
Tough task
After the recent hullabaloo in the Rajya Sabha on the mimicry of MP’s by Radio Jockeys, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar faced a tough task. In a bid to pacify the enraged MP, who raised the issue the Minister said he will look into the matter. But soon, a section of the press went in an overdrive accusing Javadekar of trying to gag the press. The Minister was quick to tweet: “I never said we object to mimicry on MPs. Anybody can Mimic us. People can make fun; we never mind..”
Mosquito menace
With almost half of the CRPF personnel deployed in malaria-prone areas, the paramilitary leadership has advised the field formations especially in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to use DEPA cream spray and tissue manufactured by DRDO. The cream spray is useful for eight hours after application and the Naxals are unable to identify its fragrance. Other mosquito repellants are easily identified by the Naxals and could pose danger to the personnel deployed in such areas. DIG operations of the CRPF in the Naxal-hit States have also been advised to provide assistance to the local malaria officers for field visits to its campuses.
Poor lawyer
A lawyer argued before a judge in the Supreme Court that the accused in a case could not have advanced a loan of Rsthree lakhs as he was a lawyer. “How could you say a lawyer could not lend money,” Justice Ranjana P Desai questioned the lawyer. To make things worse, the lawyer replied, “This lawyer was an agriculturist.” This agitated the bench more. “Do you think lawyers cannot be agriculturistsIJ Many of our judges are agriculturists. Even our previous CJI P Sathasivam is an agriculturist.” The lady lawyer was rendered speechless.
Singing Babus
It was a unique musical event on Saturday where babus of India, Vishwas Mehta, Joint secretary in Health Ministry, Naveen Prakash, Chief Vigilance Officer, Steel Authority of India limited, Puneet Kumar, Secretary General, Apparel Export Promotion Council under Textile Ministry, came together to croon Bollywood evergreen songs of legends like Rafi, Mukesh and Hemant. Others like OP Singh, ADG in CISF, and Shamlal Goyal, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Fertilzers, also left the audience at the jam-packed auditorium mesmerized. The event was organized by the Association of British Scholars of the British Council at the India Islamic Cultural Centre in the Capital.