War at Bar
Not all is well within the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA). Over a petty issue of placing samosas on the menu, the SCBA President Dushyant Dave gave a miss to the farewell function organised by the SCBA for Justice MY Eqbal, who retired on Friday. The absence of Dave was noted by CJI TS Thakur in his speech. Dave kept out of the function over his difference with SCBA Secretary Gaurav Bhatia about the menu. Grapevine has it that Dave wrote to CJI informing in advance that he will remain absent at the function. Meaning no offence to Justice Eqbal, Dave later in the day attended the dinner hosted by CJI in honour of the retiring judge.
On Fair Side
As the Supreme Court debates on allowing women to enter Sabarimala, lawyers are confused as to whether they should pledge their support for women or for the Constitution. When he had to make this hard choice, senior counsel Raju Ramachandran, who was appointed amicus curiae, told the Apex Court, “I am clearly on side of women.” Another senior lawyer KK Venugopal, who appeared for Devasom Board, remarked the amicus is already biased as he is on the side of women and not on the side of Constitution. Ramachandran realised the wrong choice of words and retracted his statement.
Advantage Congress
The arguments in the Supreme Court challenging the President’s Rule in Arunachal Pradesh seems to be clearly lopsided in favour of the Congress when it comes to citing and explaining Rules of Conduct of legislative Business. Undoubtedly, the legal prowess of lawyers appearing for the Governor, BJP MlAs and rebel Congress MlAs are unmatched, but the Congress is enjoying an advantage as all the lawyers appearing on their side—Fali Nariman, Kapil Sibal, Ram Jethmalani—besides being legal luminaries have also been Parliamentarians.
CRPF’s media policy
The paramilitary forces including the CRPF are revisiting their media policy with a view to make their respective public relations branch more effective in disseminating information and creating a favourable perception. lack of effective communication often leads to misleading reportage from a section of the media. The move comes after prodding by PM Narendra Modi during the DGPs conference last year on the need for a robust media policy by all the police organisations across the country.
Going wild
The wildlife lovers are aghast over the alleged “disrespect” shown to our national animals by certain States of the country. Recently, a major controversy erupted when the Goa Government included the National bird peacock in its list of animal branded as ‘nuisance’ or ‘vermin’. Though the list was rectified later, the wildlife activists wondered as to how the State Government could have ignored the “national feelings” associated with the bird and listed it as a “nuisance.” Referring to another recent incident during the Republic Day parade in the national Capital, the wildlife brigade pointed to the presence of “white tiger” put up by the Madhya Pradesh Government in its tableau. “This is weird”, they said. “When it is projecting the national animal as the pride of the State , they should have at least taken care to retain its true colour. We all know MP does not have white tigers”, they said.
Satvik vichar
Stretching ‘Swachchta’ (cleanliness) drive to the level of ideas, too, the BJP has not only spruced up and modernised its headquarters by adding new canteen, library and a swanky reception but also peddled ‘satvik vichar’ within the premises. The canteen has quotes like ‘bhook lagna prakriti hain, cheen ke khana vikriti hain, baat ke khaana Sanskriti hain’. Similarly the door at the reception gives message of ‘samajik samrasta and sadbhav’ (social harmony). This apart, another quote seeks to spread ‘Sakaratmak secularism’ (positive secularism).
Outdo the babus
After having a say in the appointments of personal staff to Cabinet Ministers, the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC), which is headed by the PM, the Government has now curtailed the tenure of several babus. It has cut short tenure of two Private Secretaries - M K Tripathi, a 2000 batch Indian Forest Service (IFoS) and Saurabh Gaur IAS- attached to M Venkaiah Naidu. They have been placed on compulsory wait. It has also prematurely repatriated law Minister D V Sadananda Gowda’s PS V Ponnuraj IAS 2000. Further, the ACC also approved the premature repatriation of S K Bahri, a 1981 IAAS, who was Additional Secretary in Commerce Ministry. A 1986-batch IAS Sanjiv Kumar, who was working as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, has also been sent to his home cadre Karnataka.
Well done!
It is rare for diplomats of one country to get a pat from that of another country. But Indian diplomats are exception. Russian ambassador to India Alexander M Kadakin believes Indian diplomats are some of the finest in the world. In Kadakin’s view, Indian diplomats are of highest professional caliber and excellent negotiators. “A special trademark of Indian diplomacy is their preparedness for talks. They are thoroughly versed in various situation and they have flexible briefs for talks. There are many things we can borrow from our Indian colleagues,” Kadakin said.
Honest admission!
The Government may have been asking the industry to come forward in a big way for promoting the objectives of Accessible India Campaign, but it has not been itself able to live by example. Even Vigyan Bhawan, a premier convention centre of the Govt, is not disabled-friendly. This was admitted by Vinod Aggarwal, Secretary, Dept of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities at an ASSOCHAM even when he pointed out, “We had to temporarily make it disabled friendly for conducting even on World Disability Day (December 3), the hall needs to be made disabled friendly at all times.”