Lucknownama

Red tape tangle

While attention is focused on the deadlock between the state government and state Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi over her RTI applications on National Rural Health Mission,Youth Congressmen have filed about 10 RTI applications with the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority,the district administration of Gautam Budh Nagar and the district police. Congress MPs Deepender Singh Hooda and Vijay Inder Singla accompanied the partymen when they went to submit the applications a few days back. The YC men have sought information about villagers missing from Bhatta Parsaul after the police action,villagers killed in the clash,post-mortem reports of those who died,land acquired by YEIDA under the ‘urgency clause’,the nature of urgency in each case and sundry other points. Obviously,the idea is to get the information and use it in the Congress campaign against the Mayawati government. But will the YC men succeed when Rita Joshi is still caught in red tape?

Form frenzy

The UP Congress decision to finalise panels of probable candidates for each constituency in just three days has caught the party observers unprepared. The 10 observers were appointed by AICC more than a year ago and they were supposed to submit their reports by March-end,but none of them kept the deadline. In the meantime,the AICC sent them a new format. In this,the observers were supposed to give information about each candidate’s loyalty to the party,whether he has won gram sabha elections and when,his family background,his family members who are active in other political parties,information about his criminal background,if any,obtained from the police,his contacts with the media and the bureaucracy,his rapport with the local population,activities taken up by him in the constituency,his popularity and the perception about him in the community as assessed by holding chaupals. But the observers took it easy. Now many of them don’t know how to put together this information by May 31.

Sour grapes

The Samajwadi Party is still angry about Rahul Gandhi’s sneak entry into Bhatta-Parsaul,which took everybody by surprise and ensured him tremendous publicity. Members of the SP’s Lohia Vahini had pedalled from Noida all they way to Lucknow to submit a memorandum to state party president Akhilesh Yadav on the police atrocities on farmers,but the media just ignored it. Even the local media along the route took no notice of the cycle yatra. The SP believes that the media is biased towards Rahul Gandhi.

Alphabet soup

After the Uttar Pradesh Combined Pre-Medical Test got over,the subject of discussion wasn’t the usual one about how easy or difficult was the paper. Rather,it was the centre at DAV PG College,Aishbagh,where as much as 80 to 85 per cent of the candidates were Muslims. “How is this possible?’’ was the question bewildered parents and candidates asked each other. And they were from places that are far apart. “I met Muslim candidates from Jaipur,Mumbai,districts on the Nepal border like Bahraich,and Aligarh,¿ said Tanveer Habib,whose daughter was a candidate at the centre. Many suspected mischief. However,Dr H D Bharti from Bundelkhand University,who was in charge of the test in Lucknow,had an explanation: the names of candidates were sorted out in alphabetical order of their father’s name. Since Mohammad is the most popular name among Muslim males,the Muslim candidates got bunched together and were allotted roll numbers in a sequence. It was as simple as that.

Badminton aceM

By hiring Tom John as the coach for two years,the UP Badminton Academy and Association have rendered the best service to the game. Tom is now running a special summer camp for 75 players. Besides,players like Ajay Jayaram and Aditya Elango have come here to polish their skills under him. Very soon,national champion Aditi Mutatkar will make Lucknow her base. The total number of players being trained at the academy at present is 200.