Hope at last
On the occasion of the International Workers’ Day on May 1, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar took time off to greet the rag pickers. “My salute to them who help in aggregating and segregating waste-- will ensure their social security and skilling”, he tweeted. Does that mean there is finally some hope for them after more than six decades of independenceIJ Well, why not, after all Swachchhata Abhiyan is making waves in the country today.
Candy crush
While Parliament debated the killing of woodcutters in Andhra Pradesh in fake encounter on Thursday afternoon, a senior Cabinet Minister kept herself busy by playing candy crush for almost one-and-half hours on her smart phone. The game kept her so enthralled that she did not even look up once, let alone participate in the discussion.
History of sorts
The DoPT Establishment office has made a history of sorts by filling up all the Joint Secretary (JS) level vacancies that existed up to May 2015 in Central Government Ministries and affiliated departments. As on date, no JS post remains vacant. This could be achieved because officers from all civil services were given due weightage in JS level postings and not IAS only.
Water crisis
The talk of toilet construction is fine but what about availability of water. Where is itIJ What stumped members in House and viewers gallery is Tathagata Satpathy’s portrayal of a complete disconnect between the so-called development and drying up of natural resources in India as also world over. “ In Sao Paulo- the modern city of Brazil- the high elites living in plush flats-- are not using their beautifully done toilets … they come out and defecate out on streets…”, said Sathpathy pointing to acute water scarcity in the most populous and ‘developed city’ of Brazil. And to rub his point further, the BJD MP said “And this is your BRICS.. .B for Brazil.”
Senior Trouble
last week, Supreme Court designated five senior lawyers. A letter written by former ASG Indira Jaising raised searching questions on why some eminent lawyers who applied failed to get selected while lawyers with limited years of general practice got through. Grapevine has it that some lawyer are planning to file a petition to make this ‘closed door’ practice of choosing senior advocates transparent. After collegium, will this practice also come for scrappingIJ
Well done jawans!
The Indian army, IAF and National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) are doing great service by carrying rescue and relief operations in the earthquake devastated Nepal.. With everything flattened by the tremblor, and no cooks to run kitchens in most of the hotels, the Indian rescue teams have to eat noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner-- and carry on with the task at hand.
For media limelight
last week, a Tamil Nadu delegation led by actor and DMDK chief Vijayakanth met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss various issues concerning the State. Except the ruling AIADMK all parties were represented in the jumbo delegation. Cine actress Khushboo who recently joined the Congress party was also supposed to be in the delegation. But at the last minute she was mysteriously left out. Rumour mills are abuzz in Tamil Nadu that team leader Vijayakant deliberately kept her out. Perhaps Vijayakanth didn’t want any other film personality to be part of the delegation so as to keep media attention on him alone.
Work ethics
The CRPF Headquarters at the CGO Complex here will introduce biometric attendance for the men and officers up to the rank of second-in-command (2 IC) from Tuesday. The idea is to make those working at the paramilitary directorate more punctual in coming to office and work till the stipulated hours in the evening. While the personnel below the 2 IC rank are unhappy that senior officials have been exempted from the biometric attendance system, the higher ups in the force said since they normally work till late in the evening, the system may be undesirable for them.