Clean Ganga
Whether Ganga gets cleaner or not, but the ‘glam quotient’ of the Clean Ganga drive is going up with every passing day. After top Bollywood stars including Amitabh Bachhan, Priyanka Chopra and others were roped in to connect Ganga with common public, a film is now being planned on the river by a high profile New York-based film maker as a part of larger UN campaign. The film will not be in the genre of a typical documentary, as has been made on the river. Sources in Namami Gange revealed that film maker Gabo Arora will try to convey the message of river cleaning “differently” and “unconventionally” --- through the eyes of a boy unwilling to immerse his father’s ashes in the murky waters.
Sharing the burden
For reading 12,000 pages of the Vyapam case files, when the CBI counsel sought a month’s adjournment from the Supreme Court last week, Justice Ranjan Gogoi commented: “If for reading 12,000 pages you need one month adjournment, how many adjournments should we ask as we deal with 12,000 pages on an average every Monday and Friday.” Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar who appeared for the CBI insisted that Vyapam had taken a huge toll on the under-staffed agency. The Judge later clarified he was not casting any aspersion on the efficiency of the CBI.
Big goal
Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari’s sudden announcement of a road building target of 100 km a day took his officials by surprise. They said the Minister had still to achieve his goal of reaching the target of 30 km a day, and with a slew of issues like land acquisition and shifting of utilities, this new target was an impossible task. But then Gadkari is never shy of setting big goals!
Bal hath
The RSS does not approve of celebrating the achievements of individual member of the Sangh Parivar but the admirers of VHP leader Ashok Singhal ‘managed’ to persuade RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to release a book on Singhal’s life on his 89th birthday in an elaborate function. Terming the determination of workers to host such a grand programme as ‘bal hath’ (childlike insistence), Bhagwat quipped “Ashokji was told that authorities were ready for the occasion and I was told that Ashokji has given a go ahead for the programme.” Cantonment takes lead
The Delhi Cantonment has decided to go ‘Green’ by replacing 15,000 conventional streetlights with energy-efficient lED streetlights in the next six months. It is claimed that this unique initiative at Delhi Cantonment would result in reduction of 8,000 tons of Co2 emission per annum apart from bringing electricity costs down. After Armed Forces took the lead in cutting energy consumption, it is expended that the lED street-lighting system would not be extended to over 5 lakh streetlights covering Delhi roads.
Fading yoga fervour
The yoga fervour generated around the International Yoga Day, which was celebrated with much hype on June 21 at the initiation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seemed to be fading, at least for the NDMC officials. The civic body, which deputed yoga teachers working in its school to hold free classes for citizens in its six parks such as lodhi Garden and Nehru Park, has abruptly stopped the classes. This has disappointed many yoga lovers who had joined the session with much enthusiasm.
Netaji files
Doordarshan technical team has been alerted to be in ‘ever ready’ mode for a ‘live’ at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence by the second and third week of October. The occasion might be the PM’s meeting with relatives of Netaji Subhahs Chandra Bose’s and subsequent announcement on the demand for the declassification of Netaji files. It is expected that only the National Broadcaster will be allowed to cover the much expected meeting and other channels will share its feed like the Naga accord announcement.
No takers
The CRPF organised a cleanliness drive at its directorate here on October 2, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary following a Government directive that officials and staff will be on job on the day that is otherwise a Gazetted holiday. While the lower-level staff turned up, hardly any seniors took pain to participate in the event. Same was the case with other paramilitary forces that are located at the CGO Complex here.