Musical thaw
Amidst ongoing tension between India and Pakistan, a programme on All India Radio (AIR) last week came as a pleasant surprise for the radio buffs. Tracing the rich history of qawwali, a shared heritage of devotional music of sufis in the Indian sub-continent, 106.4 FM channel of AIR paid glowing tributes to legendary Pakistani qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and played some of his popular renditions. The famous singer, who died in 1997, had sung in some Hindi films too besides holding concerts in India.
Plight of elders
During the discussion on the issue of demonetisation, Rajya Sabha members made several points to reflect the miseries of the common man due to high value currency ban. However, the MPs could not resist sharing their own plight after the Government’s move. Congress MP Rajiv Shukla quipped that even the lawmakers are feeling the heat of the note ban as most of the MPs were forced to stand in queues at the bank to withdraw money. Samajwadi member Neeraj Shekhar pointed out that the ATM machines in Parliament were dispensing only Rs 2000 even though Government had announced Rs 2500, while his party MP Javed Ali Khan said the ATM machines in Parliament House were mostly dry. “If this is the condition of Parliament that what would be happening in the countryIJ” Shekhar said.
Diplomats’ woes
Diplomats travelling to India were taken by surprise by the currency ban. A Tajik diplomat visiting New Delhi for preparatory meetings for Tajikistan President’s upcoming visit, found himself in soup when his plan to shop for his wife was derailed by the ban on high value currency that he possessed in abundance. His country’s embassy came to his rescue by supplying him fresh currencies. He did manage to shop, but certainly not as much as he wanted.
MPs Q in banks
In the Rajya Sabha, MPs lamented on their plight due to demonetisation, but at the State Bank of India’s branch inside the Parliament House, a few MPs turned up for carrying out transactions. Majority of them sent their staff to transact their business. Only very few MPs like film star Hema Malini landed in the bank.
Blame game
Were the Congress members ‘prompted’ to queer the pitch of the debate on demonetisation in the Rajya SabhaIJ “Congress Rajya Sabha member Pramod Tiwari was speaking soberly until he got a chit and began to spew fire and brimstone at the Government. “It showed that midway through the debate, the Opposition decide to sabotage it because they were being expose,” said a Cabinet Minister. The Opposition leaders, however, claimed the ruling party sabotaged the debate by whipping a controversy on Ghulam Nabi Azad’s comment comparing martyrs in Uri terror attack to the death due to harassment of demonetisation. It has to be seen who blinks first.
Respecting Gandhi
It is high time politicians give up invoking the name of Mahatma Gandhi at the drop of a hat, said Justice Dipak Misra of the Supreme Court last week. The judge was hearing a case against Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for his intemperate remark at a press conference, terming a gangrape incident to be a “political conspiracy”. At the Press conference, Khan said that Opposition parties can go any distance to malign personalities in public life and that would have irked the Father of the Nation if he was alive this day. Justice Misra told Khan’s lawyer, “We must respect our national personalities and not bring them to every conversation and debate at the drop of a hat.”
Futile wait for Javadekar
It was an endless evening for many young talents who kept waiting for the HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, the chief guest for the closing ceremony for Kala Utsav-2016 at the Siri Fort Auditorium. The organisers kept waiting in anticipation even as the students displayed their talent in the presence of Guest of Honour HRD Minister of State Mahendra Nath Pandey. With no word from the HRD Minister office, the programme finally got over at around 11.30 pm on Friday night, seven hours behind schedule.
Pleasant surprise
Scientists of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) were pleasantly surprised last week when Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan’s wife Nutan visited their Technofest 2016 pavilion at the ongoing India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan. Nutan took a round of almost all the stalls at the Technofest 2016 and asked questions about many of the innovations and researches being undertaken by various laboratories of the country’s premier science and research organization which is celebrating Platinum Jubilee.