For a cause Trinamool MP Derek OBrien has taken up the cause of posthumous organ donation and has got fellow Rajya Sabha MPs to pledge their organs after death. Speaking at the Rajya Sabha on the topic during the Zero Hour,OBrien got a rare show of support from MPs across parties,including the chair,P Kurien,all of whom officially associated them with the speech,meaning they endorsed it on record. It is learnt that OBrien got inspired about organ donation after watching the film Ship of Theseus recently. Now he will get an NGO to approach each MP and to get them signed up formally. Sources said the target by the end of this Lok Sabhas term is to have at least 100 MPs pledge their organs. BIT TOO EARLY Thogh the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition,Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill is yet to become a legislation,the UPA government has been going all out to publicise its fair and just provisions. Radio and television advertisements pointing towards the compensation and rehabilitation provisions in the Bill,that was passed by the LS last week and will be taken up by the RS on Wednesday,have now become a regular occurrence. There are advertisements about how a farmer whose land is acquired is paid four times the market value of his land as compensation. The advertisements,however,end with a disclaimer about the Bill still being under consideration in Parliament. NEW JUSTIFICATION Trust him to come up with bizzare reasons to justify his turnabouts from his stated public positions on crucial political decisions. Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has now come out with a new reason to satisfy the socialists for promoting his son Akhilesh Yadav in partys politics. In a documentary on his life titled Saarthi released in the capitals Indian Islamic Cultural Centre on Tuesday,Mulayam is seen justifying Akhileshs projection,saying the move was part of his strategy to connect socialism with the youth at a time when it had come to be associated with the older generation to which he belongs. WAKING UP The 13th Century structure Lal Mahal in Delhis Nizamuddin has elicited sudden interest from 10 Janpath. UPA president Sonia Gandhi,who has quite an interest in art and culture,has written to the Ministry of Culture pressing for its protection. The structure,under private ownership,has been in news for the past few years over its on and off demolition. While the ASI has attempted to intervene at times,the structure is not under its ownership or protection. Well aware of this,the Culture ministry has,in reaction to Sonias letter,sought a report from ASI on the erstwhile palace. SPECIAL MEETING JMM chief Shibu Soren on Tuesday called on the PM apparently to seek special status for Jharkhand. The visit,however,set tongues wagging over whether this may have been a cover to discuss the more worrying developments in the ongoing court case over coal block allocation. Considering that the Jharkhand leader had presided over the the coal ministry in UPA I in 2006,there is every likelihood that coal may have figured as much in the meeting as the special status.
