Prabhu ke haath mein rail!
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi assurances in Varanasi that Railways will not be privatised and he will do everything to change the face of the Railways, the Rail Bhawan bureaucracy wonder how the Government will mobilise resources to achieve this task. An official quipped why to worry when God himself is overseeing the functioning of the Railways. “ Prabhu ke haathon mein hi hai rail”. The pun obviously referred to Suresh Prabhu — the new Railways Minister now at the helms of affair.
MoD takes a vacation
With Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar enjoying a holiday in Goa, most of the top officials have also decided to exhaust their accumulated privilege leave and have gone out of Delhi to celebrate New Year’s Eve. The corridors of the Ministry’s headquarters in South Block do not see the usual hustle and bustle with offices empty and journos trying to fish out information from junior officials.
Rlys boost to MP Tourism
Madhya Pradesh Government has sought the help of Railways to enhance the potential of its tourism sector. The Railway Ministry has cleared the deputation of one of its ablest and efficient officer Ashwani lohani as Managing Director-cum-Commissioner of the MP Tourism Development Corporation. lohani is credited to have beautified all the railway stations of Delhi during his tenure as DRM and also revived the Steam Engine Rewari loco Shed in which even Bollywood has shown keen interest. Now serving the Centre’s most ambitious renewable energy programme like solar and wind energy department of the Railways, lohani also developed machines to clear the mucks from rail tracks. lokhani also frequently contribute articles to leading newspapers and magazines.
The last laugh!
Journalists were taken by surprise when during a briefing for media on December 26 MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said, “Perhaps this is the last time that I will meet you.” After few seconds of pause, he added, “this year.” In these two-three seconds of pause, the entire media brigade looked zapped their jaws dropped confusion and disbelieve. But Akbaruddin, who is good at playing with words and has a great sense of humour, could quickly read that the journos were guessing about his transfer. Thw two words — this year — followed a bout of laughter and a sigh of relief as the officer is highly popular with mediapersons and shares a great rapport with them. So much so that he remembers the name of each reporter on the beat. Before signing off the year, he rightly shared the “last laugh” of the year with his media friends.
Policy change
After not issuing “No Obligation to Return to India (NORI) Certificate” to doctors seeking to visit USA, from 2012 to November 2014, the Health Ministry has suddenly relaxed the rules. It has now decided to issue NORI Certificates to the doctor applicants above 65 years. The NORI Certificate is one of the requirements for seeking waiver from the two years of mandatory home residency while applying for H1B visa, i.e., work visa. Ban on NORI certificate had come as a way to check brain drain, as armed with the certificate many doctors found way to settle in the US and did not return to India to cater the medical needs here.
Tight-lipped CBI boss
With the new CBI director Anil Sinha making it clear that the agency will interact with the media in a “structured” manner and facts of the investigation will not be not be “leaked” at any cost, the agency’s media lounge at its headquarters wears a deserted look with only a few journos in attendance. The beat reporters are also denied access at the North Block office of Sinha. No wonder, they are seeking additional beats from their offices to remain in business.
Chocolate politics
Actress of yesteryears and Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan always has a wad of chocolates with her which she shares with colleagues across the party lines. The other day in the backdrop of heated row over conversion the Upper House, she gave one chocolate to senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu who in turn passed it to Congress senior Anand Sharma.