Henry who?

Justice V S Sirpurkar found a light-hearted and graceful way to accept the compliments showered on him by the CJI and the Bar during his farewell function.

Henry who?

Justice V S Sirpurkar found a light-hearted and graceful way to accept the compliments showered on him by the CJI and the Bar during his farewell function. Looking at his wife sitting in the front row,Justice Sirpurkar said her predicament is similar to what happened to Henry dSouzas wife. It was Henrys funeral. Guests came to her,one after the other,to pay glowing tributes to her late husband. Everyone said Henry dSouza was like this and that,and the poor lady was so perplexed that she asked the priest standing nearby whether they had buried the same Henry dSouza.

MAKING AMENDS

WHILE Beijing may not have found compatible dates for Vice-President Hamid Ansari to travel to China,it seems to be keen to compensate by sending Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping before the year ends. Xi,who is slated to take over from President Hu Jintao represents the next generation of Chinese leadership which New Delhi is eager to engage. If all goes according to the plan,his visit could turn out to be the showcase event of the later part of the year. But,as of now,the dates are still to be firmed up. Meanwhile,the two countries are looking to hold their first high-level economic dialogue that will be of high significance in the current scenario.

HOUSE THAT!

ON hindsight,the Congress may feel it erred in arresting Anna Hazare. However,party MP from East Delhi Sandeep Dikshit thanks God for it. He couldnt hide his feelings when a group of reporters suggested to him that a house-arrest of Anna would have been a better option. In that case,my constituents in Mayur Vihar,which is a part of East Delhi seat would have confined me to my home, Dikshit said. But that raises another vital point. Dikshits gain is whose loss?

COST CUTTING

THOUGH Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has re-constituted the panel of experts looking after the Medical Council of India MCI,he is keeping a watch on them at least over one issue. Azad was learnt to be putting pressure on them to reduce the entitled TA/DA charges. While each of the previous panel members was entitled to Rs 10,000 a day for a full-day sitting and Rs 5,000 per day for half-day sitting,Azad was learnt to have asked them to pare it down to one-third,or at least half of what was the entitlement last year.

WITNESSING HISTORY

A GROUP of MPs from Pakistan was among those who witnessed history being made in the Rajya Sabha which passed an impeachment motion against Justice Soumitra Sen last week. This group of about 20 MPs happened to be in town for an informal two-day India-Pakistan Parliamentarians Dialogue,involving MPs from the two countries. Some of them expressed their desire to see the Indian Parliament at work. To their good fortune,they became witness to a rare event.