Dowry Worry
If a man acquires a luxurious car after his marriage, it is usually linked to dowry. When this doubt arises in the mind of a judge, consequences can be serious. A man who evaded custom duty on acquisition of a new car worth Rs 1.60 crore was asked by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Dipak Misra how he got the car in the first place. It was at his marriage, responded his lawyer. Justice Misra reacted, “You should then be prosecuted under the Dowry Prohibition Act as well.” But the lawyer saved the day for his client. He added, it came as a gift from his father’s side and had nothing to do with the girl’s family.
Rahul’s team
Congress president Rahul Gandhi has decided that all State unit chiefs of the party will continue in their posts. Rahul has taken the decision amid speculation that Pradesh Congress units would see new presidents and teams after the organisational elections. Realising the need to keep up the morale of party officials, the Gandhi scion has also decided the regional Congress committees and Territorial Congress Committees too will continue in their posts after the organisational elections. “He does not want to disturb the set up until the end of 2019 general elections,” said an AICC secretary.
Old age
Members had a good laugh in the Rajya Sabha last week when Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said Neeraj Shekhar(SP) was trying to change the definition of old. It so happened that when Naidu asked Shekhar to have patience while posing questions and remarked “you are young” and have many years to go, the member said he was already 50 years old. “I love his characteristic witty manner,” said Naidu. He, however, asked what about members who are 70 years old. “You’re trying to change the definition for being old,” Naidu quipped. The entire house enjoyed the banter.
Incentive for marriage
last week in the lok Sabha, Congress member Ranjita Ranjan asked the Government to provide a fixed sum of money to poor section of people going for marriage without taking dowry. While the Government said, there was no such plan and incentives are only for inter-caste marriages, the Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said smilingly that “if such a scheme is implemented, it will be a dowry from the Government.”
Rodents menace
Rodents have emerged as major enemies of public parks, beautifully manicured lawns, and lush shrubs in South Delhi. They are attracted to these places by bird feeds tossed by ever growing number of bird lovers. To deal with this menace, the authorities have decided to install bird feeders, which will not allow the rodents access to the feeds. The first such bird feeder was installed at New Friends Colony park. The structure has a double bowl and a slippery surface so that the rodents can’t climb on it.
Shoddy probe
Alleged political interference and shoddy CBI investigation have led to a massive rise in the number of acquittals, mostly involving corruption. In 2017 alone, as many as 755 accused were acquitted out of 38 cases registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, while the courts dismissed 184 cases. Data from 2014 to November 2017 reinforces this trend. According to legal experts, in corruption cases, courts can only rely on the evidence produced by investigating agency. Without sufficient evidence, the court has no option but to dismiss such cases.
Sushma’s feast
It was a feast of sorts for the foreign journalists in India during the annual lunch hosted by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. The foreign media got a taste of variety of Indian food ranging from gol guppas and papri chaat to Punjabi and South Indian cuisines. Knowing the sensitivity of the foreign scribes to “hot” Indian stuffs, spices were moderately used. Swaraj visited each of the tables and met each and every invited media persons, including Chinese journalists One foreign journalist quipped that brief interaction with Swaraj was like icing on the cake. Though it is a different matter that cake was not part of the sweet dishes!
For Urdu bibliophiles
Connoisseurs of Urdu language will have a special reason to head towards the stall of West Bengal Urdu Academy at the New Delhi World Book Fair 2018 which opened on Saturday with much fanfare at the Pragati Maidan. Apart from a volume of Bengali short stories translated into Urdu and over 100 new titles, ‘Mata-e Ghazal’, a transliteration of classical Urdu Ghazals into the Roman, Devanagari and Bengali script are already drawing book lovers to the stall which was inaugurated by famous Urdu poet Gulzar Dehlvi on Sunday.