Delhi confidential: Party Plan

The ruling party, which will be rolling out a three-week birthday celebrations for the Prime Minister, will hold a series of programmes, starting with a blood donation camp in the morning, which will be inaugurated by BJP president J P Nadda.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi

THE BJP has some special events lined up at the party headquarters on Friday to mark the 71st birthday of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The ruling party, which will be rolling out a three-week birthday celebrations for the Prime Minister, will hold a series of programmes, starting with a blood donation camp in the morning, which will be inaugurated by BJP president J P Nadda. The office will also hold a special photo exhibition on the life and works of Prime Minister Modi. With the government giving priority to the vaccination programme, each party worker has been asked to help at least 10-15 people get vaccinated – specially those who are hesitant. That will be the birthday gift party workers have been asked to give to the Prime Minister.

Expert Panel

POLITICIANS, AN industrialist, a cricketer and academics among others have been made part of an expert committee, which will look into possible changes in the National Cadet Corps (NCC) to make it more relevant for the modern times. The 15-member committee, constituted by the Defence Ministry, is headed by BJP vice-president Baijayant Panda and includes former Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni and industrialist Anand Mahindra. Other members include BJP MPs Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe; Principal Economic Adviser Sanjeev Sanyal; Jamia Millia Islamia’s Vice-Chancellor Najma Akhtar; and Mukul Kanitkar of Bhartiya Shikshan Mandal, which has links with the RSS. The panel will “suggest measures to empower NCC cadets to contribute more effectively towards nation building” and recommend best practices of similar international youth organisations for inclusion in the NCC curriculum.

Playing Safe

NO SPITTING anywhere, cover mouth and nose while sneezing/coughing, wash hands even when they’re not “visibly dirty” and download Arogya Setu app. These are some of the dos and don’ts officials participating in All India Civil Services Athletics Meet have been asked to follow. The shadow of Covid-19 looms so large on the event, to be held in Delhi from September 28 to September 30, that players and officials have been asked to keep six-feet distance from each other and not share each others’ sports equipment. Sports equipment which must be shared should be used after all precautions. And, of course, all need to produce negative RT-PCR reports in order to participate.