Busy Ministers!
Political activities and forthcoming Assembly polls have kept some Union Ministers extremely busy. One example is that of HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, who has been shuttling between Delhi and different States including his home State of Maharashtra with different ‘missions’. Javadekar is also election in-charge of Karnataka. The Minister said he would be travelling this week to the poll-bound Karnataka to oversee poll preparations. Quizzed as ‘who is running the HRD Ministry’, he offered a benign smile.
Who is Irfan BhaiIJ
A recent CBI FIR mentions that a person called Irfan Bhai gave Rs 1-crore bribe to a senior Income Tax officer. Irfan Bhai does not figure as accused in the case in which the only the Income Tax officer has been booked for accepting money from a Gujarat-based company. Strangely, the FIR is silent about identity of Irfan Bhai. Registered by CBI’s Delhi Unit, the FIR is based on a “Dairy 2011” which reportedly contains the name of several individuals who accepted gratifications from the Gujarat-based company. The CBI is tight-lipped about their identity.
Without lunch
It is common practice in the Supreme Court for judges to either skip their lunch time or cut short their allotted one-hour break to pass urgent orders in important cases. last week, a Bench hearing a petition for restoring ban on cracker sale, gave option to the arguing lawyers to either assemble after lunch or continue till arguments get over. When a consensus was arrived to break for lunch, Justice AK Sikri, who headed the Bench, announced, the Bench will reassemble in five minutes. looking at the preplexed lawyers, the judges replied, “We need only five minutes as we have not brought our lunch.”
Cops asked to keep off ‘gurus’
After Radhey Maa controversy, top brass of Delhi police has advised their subordinates to refrain from hobnobbing with spiritual gurus and not click pictures or selfee with them. They also advised Station House Officers to inform senior officials about any visit of spiritual gurus or ‘baba’ in their areas.
EC's icon-a blind girl
Muskan Thakur, a blind girl of Himachal Pradesh, has been chosen as brand ambassador by the Election Commission for the coming Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh. The EC has appointed her the ‘youth icon’ to motivate youngsters to cast their vote in the forthcoming Assembly elections. Muskan belongs from Chirgaon area of Shimla district and is pursuing her Masters degree in music from Himachal Pradesh University.
Inspiration from enemy!
According to grapevine in Congress circles, Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh has taken inspiration from BJP leader Prahlad Patel to carry out six-month long “Narmada Parikarma Yatra”. A senior Congress leader, who is considered close to Digvijay Singh, said the Congress leader was impressed with Prahlad Patel who had undertaken a similar Narmada Yatra barefoot in the past. Incidentally, Singh is known critics of BJP and its leaders!
Minister’s counselling
Minister of State for Consumer Affairs CR Chaudhary, donned the hat of a motivational guru at an event of the Indian Psychiatric Society recently where he spoke at length about the rising cases of mental health disorders like stress and depression and ways to tackle them. The bureaucrat-turned-politician also told the audience, comprising mainly of mental health professionals, that in place of drugs sometimes simply counselling can go a long way in relieving mental anguish of the patient suffering from the disorder.