Delhi confidential: Realty check

Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi is learnt to be upset over the delay in getting her ministry’s proposal for setting up rape crisis centres to be tabled before the Cabinet for approval. She had personally called up the Cabinet Secretary and asked for the proposal to be expedited but it has still not made it to the Cabinet, apparently because of differences over where the centres could be housed.

AWAITING ACTION

Amongst the many unfinished tasks that the UPA government left for the new dispensation was action on a report to improve the socio-economic status of tribal population. The Manmohan Singh government, towards the end of its tenure, had constituted a committee headed by Virginius Xaxa to suggest measures towards this end. The committee completed its work and submitted a report in late May, well after the new government had taken over. There has been no word on that report after that, with the Narendra Modi government said to be unsure about what to do with it.

NEW ON TWITTER
The social media bug has finally bitten the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch (SJM) as well, otherwise known to be somewhat conservative in its outlook. SJM national convenor Ashwani Mahajan recently became active on microblogging site Twitter. His recent tweets, not surprisingly, were on GM crops. The SJM has been at the forefront of opposition to genetically modified crops, and Mahajan now wants to use Twitter to create awareness about the dangers associated with these. Last Thursday, he posted a link to an article on ‘GMO safety issues based on science’. A few days earlier, he had tweeted against MNC-sponsored foreign tours by MPs and now claims credit for the cancellation of a US trip which was funded by Monsanto.