Word weariness
An overdose of Sanskrit can make even the Chief Justice of India (CJI) flip out. last week, CJI Hl Dattu was seen a losing his cool when lawyers and petitioners bombarded him with Sanskrit shlokas during the hearing of a PIl on declaring Bhagwad Gita as the national text. Eventually, the CJI disposed of the petition and quipped, “karmanye vadhi karaste ma phalesu kada chana” (Do your duty without with expecting any result).
Maneka’s woes
The Ministry of Women and Child development is reeling under acute manpower shortage. It is learnt that several top spots in the Ministry have been vacant for months and Maneka Gandhi is forced to run the machinery with just a handful of secretaries. The trouble started after joint secretary Vivek Joshi sought appointment to another Ministry. later, another joint secretary was shunted by the Minister to Sikkim after a complaint of sexual harassment. Thereafter, KK Sharma, an IAS officer from the AGMUT cadre, who was to join the Ministry, was made the Chief Secretary of Goa, and later the Chief Secretary of Delhi. Meanwhile, another senior officer T Vijay Kumar — working as the Director General, Council for Advancement of People’s Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and was appointed in the Ministry as the Additional Secretary — was repatriated to Andhra Pradesh just two days ago. More recently, DV Prasad — who has been working as the Additional Secretary in the WCD Ministry — has received orders to be repatriated to his parent cadre, Karnataka.
Fiery clash
The lok Sabha last week saw a fiery encounter between SS Ahluwalia (BJP) and Kalyan Mukherjee (TMC) on the issue of an alleged rape in West Bengal with neither of them ready to scale down their decibel attack. A visibly upset Speaker Sumitra Mahajan first sarcastically commented “very good…very good,” and then added, “ kya lathi la ke doon” (should I give you sticks).
Impoverished CPI
CPI’s invitation to the media to attend its four-day-long party congress in Puducherry from March 25 has made it clear that no travel ticket and accommodation will be provided. While very few journalists would have taken the trouble to go all the way to Puducherry to cover the CPI meet, since the party has gradually lost its political relevance, but the wordings of the invite has depleted the number all the more. It is also a clear reflection on the party financial health. Admitting this fact, a veteran CPI leader recalled how in the good old days of Soviet Union, the party extended free travel ticket and accommodation to journos.
learning to deliver
Inspiring its employees to deliver seems to be the latest mantra of the Central Government. After roping in noted author Chetan Bhagat to enthuse the officers through workshops, it has now brought well-known cinematographer Santosh Sivan to train the photographers under the PIB division. Knowing the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s penchant for photographs, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is leaving no stone unturned to turn its camerapersons into shutterbugs.
War memorial
The Indian Army has put an impressive exhibition at Manekshaw Centre in New Delhi depicting battlefront during World War I, where more than 72,000 Indian soldiers were killed in action. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi were moved to see the various tableaux, including trenches in which our soldiers fought. Seeing the response, the exhibition will now commemorate 100 years of the first war Indians fought, at 13 fronts from Europe to Africa. , The Army has extended the exhibition till next weekend. Several MPs, top bureaucrats and school children are now visiting it to see and appreciate the valour of our soldiers.
Omnipresent Shukla
In the world of politics, there is saying about Congressman Rajeev Shukla i.e. “He is a nut bolt which can fit anywhere.” Be it cricket arena, Page 3, or social events, Shuklaji is found everywhere and gets along well with everyone. In cricket, Shuklaji is dear to every lobby and in politics he has more friends than enemies. The fact that his brother-in-law Ravishankar Prasad is in the BJP makes him equally acceptable in that party too. Recently, Shuklaji was found at a lunch hosted by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for BJP spokespersons!
Cows key to cancer cureIJ
According to BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat Shankarbhai N Vegad, cow milk can be an antidote for cancer. During a discussion on cows in the Upper House, he went on to say that besides providing manure for organic farming, cow urine and dung can also be beneficial in fighting cancer. “If you want to protect yourself from cancer you have to protect cows. Because cow urine and dung can be a 100 per cent cure for cancer,” Vegad said.
Data space crunch
It seems that the hands of National Informatics Centre’s (NIC) are full. Citing data space crunch, recently, it turned down the Union Health Ministry’s proposal seeking data centre space for its Kilkari and Mobile Academy applications — proposed to be rolled out later this year for to spread awareness regarding immunisation of mothers and children. Now, the Ministry has awarded the contract to RailTel Corporation of India ltd — a Mini Ratna Government enterprise — on the condition that it will not pay more than what the PSU has been charging from other customers.