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Journalism of Courage
Sweeping Dividends
Union minister Dr Jitendra Singh, who is in charge of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, was in for a surprise this week when he took stock of the cleanliness drive across different ministries that was started on October 2, Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary. The month-end review threw up figures that gave Singh further motivation to push the drive for the remaining period until early next month. The review revealed that cleanliness has freed up about 6 lakh square feet of space in Central government offices by weeding out nearly 10 lakh files. Besides, disposal of the scrap has earned about Rs 20 crore to the exchequer. The drive may also have brought some cheers to MPs, as it found nearly 650 references of Parliamentarians that have been unanswered across different ministries. They all have been responded to as part of the current drive.
Right Step
Even as BJP leaders admit that the party’s prospects in Punjab are not so bright, it does not want to leave any stone unturned to ensure it gets its cadres active to reap maximum electoral benefit. On a day a BJP team — it included Union ministers Hardip Puri, Gajendra Shekhawat and Meenakshi Lekhi, party general secretary Tarun Chugh, and MP Vinod Chavda, the party’s Punjab in-charge — visited the state to discuss campaigning strategies with state leaders, they started with recitation of Sukhmani Sahib and kirtan. Sukhmani Sahib is a holy text from the Guru Granth Sahib, and it is believed that its recitation helps any work.
Exit The Exit Plan
In September, Sharmistha Mukherjee, daughter of former President Pranab Mukherjee, had announced on Twitter that she was quitting active politics. She had said that she would continue to remain a primary member of the Congress. Her public announcement notwithstanding, Mukherjee was among the 71 special invitees to Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee’s executive committee announced by the AICC on Thursday.
Such A Long Journey
More than a year after applications from interested candidates were invited, the process to pick the next vice-chancellor of JNU appears to have reached the last leg. The Ministry of Education has lined up interactions of the shortlisted candidates on November 5-6. The three-member search-and-selection committee, which will hold the interactions, comprise National Board of Accreditation chairperson Prof K K Aggarwal and Prof Ashok Gajanan Modak, who was appointed a national research professor by the Centre in 2015. The incumbent V-C, M Jagadesh Kumar, is in contention to become the next director of IIT-Delhi.
