Delhi Confidential: Report Card

Accusing the government of weaponising Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Department against the Opposition, Congress MP Digvijaya Singh, during a debate in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman whether the said agencies report to the Finance ministry or the Home ministry. Intervening in a lighter vein, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said former chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (referring to Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody), however, reports to him. To this, Singh said that he (Mody) is reporting ‘correctly’.

Fixing The Leak

After a leak in the roof of the new Parliament building on July 31, agencies responsible for the maintenance of the complex are busy finding a permanent fix to the problem. A senior functionary of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is learnt to have gone up to the roof to assess the issue first-hand. The Central Public Works Department is learnt to be looking at weather-proofing the glass dome of the lobby that developed a leak. The CPWD had blamed the high temperatures, coupled with the intense rainfall, for the sealant coming off.

Right To Culture

Citing the case of Indian baby Ariha Shah, who is in foster care in Germany for more than two years, Congress MP Shaktisinh Gohil on Wednesday cited the United Nations Convention on a ‘child’s right to her own culture’. He said the child comes from a family with strictly vegetarian food habits while in foster care, she would have been offered non-vegetarian food. He urged the Government to take up the matter with German authorities and restore the child’s right to culture.