High-profile thieves
The lust for owning or upgrading gadgets like smartphones and laptops, drives even the high flying airline passengers to commit theft at the airports across. CISF DG Arvind Ranjan said most of the passengers do not prefer to register cases after their stolen items are retrieved. He said the initial reaction of the well-educated and lucratively employed passengers who are caught in acts of theft is denial, but when the CCTV footage is played, they admit their ‘mistake’ and are willing to return the stolen items.
Amma worship
While AIADMK members always make it a point to thank their leader ‘Puratchi Thalaivi Amma’ (J Jayalalitha) in their speeches, their leader in the Rajya Sabha A Navaneethakrishnan went a step ahead and kept a black and white picture of Jayalalithaa on his table in the Upper House. He was every now and then seen greeting the photo too. However, he would pick up the photo and put in his shirt pocket whenever he would leave his seat. While his gestures amused people watching him, it certainly did not go well with the Rajya Sabha secretariat. On Friday he was asked to remove the photo. Navaneethakrishnan looked so incomplete without Amma before him.
Poetic Justice
It is no secret that the soft-spoken Justice TS Thakur of the Supreme Court is a poet at heart. His mastery over Urdu poetry came to the fore last week when he used a couplet from Mirza Ghalib to aptly describe Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s plight. The judge told his counsel senior advocate Kapil Sibal, “Ranj se khugar hua insaan to mit jaata hai ranj, mushkilein itni padi mujh par ki aasaan ho gayi”.
Kurien’s dig
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien had a dig at Jairam Ramesh and Prakash Javadekar last week in the House, when the Environment Minister fielded questions on rising pollution levels in New Delhi and Ramesh sought some clarifications, Kurien quipped that being a former Environment Minister Ramesh should better know what steps he took to improve the situation. The chair then remarked that the present dispensation is also doing the same thing which the earlier regime did.
Out of Janata Parivar
While Janata Dal(United) leader Sharad Yadav landed in trouble for the sexist remark in the Rajya Sabha, NCP member DP Tripathi was saved the blushes by Samajawadi Party leader leader Ram Gopal Yadav. After Sharad Yadav talked about the complexion and physical attributes of south Indian woman, Tripathi chose to further elucidate the point through a Sanskrit couplet by Kalidas. When Tripathi tried to explain in English, he was cautioned mid-way by Ram Gopal Yadav, “Ab iskey aagey translate mat kijiye, nahi to pareshani mein phans jayega”. Tripathi agreed and immediately took his seat while the best Parliamentarian awardee landed in soup, though his comments was expunged by Rajya Sabha secretariat on Sunday.
Clueless officials
The information officials of the Union Health Ministry were left embarrassed last week when they were clueless about the launch of the Rotavirus vaccine ‘Rotavac’ by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). Only a day after the launch, the informational officials of the Ministry came to know about the event which was also attended by their boss, Union Health Minister JP Nadda. The indigenous vaccine has been developed by Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech International.
Juvenile, please
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi has poked fun at the Standing Committee of Parliament for objecting to the use of the word “juvenile” in the proposed Juvenile Justice Bill, 2000 (for care and protection of children) and asked the Ministry to replace it with “child.” She termed their objection ‘mindless’, saying that it had taken the Government several years to get the police and other law and order functionaries to get accustomed to the term “juvenile” in the Juvenile Justice Act, and any change will only complicate the matter.
Garrulous Minister
land Bill discussion in the lok Sabha saw some hilarious moments with a garrulous Rural Development Minister Birender Singh, presenting the Bill, repeatedly locking horns with Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia. An anxious Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu, wanting the Bill to be passed at the earliest, was seen pursuing his Minister to ‘focus on the Bill’ rather than engaging Congress MP in a verbal duel. Singh, who spoke in English, was at one time also advised by Home Minister Rajnath Singh. “Hindi mein boliye, Hindi darshask hain…” Rajnath whispered to the Minister.’
Parting tradition
Traditionally, every retiring judge in Supreme Court shares the seat alongside Chief Justice of India on his final day in office. last week, a retiring judge got the opportunity to share this space for a full week. Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya got this rare honour a week after some disturbing reports surfaced that the bail matter of activist Teesta Setalvad was removed from his roster without his knowledge. Grapevine has it that the peeved judge requested CJI not to be allotted any fresh case being his last week at work. The CJI readily honoured the wish.