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Journalism of Courage
Justice for Urdu
The Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katjus love for Urdu is well known. He invariably talks about the richness of the language in every speech he delivers. Recently,he had also made a fervent appeal for the conferment of Bharat Ratna on famous poet Mirza Ghalib. Now,he is doing something for the language on his own. A compilation of some of his judgments in which he had quoted Urdu verses and some of his other writings is being released on Saturday. The book is called Justice with Urdu. The vocal former Supreme Court judge also happens to be a patron of the Kalidas-Ghalib Foundation.
Poll Vault
Now that the Trinamool Congress wants itself to be considered a serious contender in the Uttar Pradesh polls,having decided to put up candidates on as many as 200 seats,partys leaders are at receiving end of some leg-pulling. At the last weeks Cabinet meeting,Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi is learnt to have been asked by some of his ministerial colleagues who his partys chief ministerial candidate in UP was. A smiling Trivedi replied that he would let them know the answer soon.
Educational Process
The race for the UGC top job is hotting up and the 20 shortlisted candidates are all known academicians who are either already holding important positions or were doing so until recently. Prominent among them are Delhi University V-C Deepak Pental,former IGNOU V-C Rajasekhran Pillai,IIT Kanpur director S G Dhande,acting chairman of UGC Ved Prakash,and former V-C of Hyderabad University S E Hasnain. The HRD Ministry was initially in no great hurry to appoint a full-time chairman of UGC,considering the fact that a new super-regulator,National Council of Higher Education and Research,is on the verge of being created. The Bill for NCHER has been introduced in the Parliament but in light of the fate of recent education Bills many of them have been languishing for a long time and facing objection from Opposition members the ministry has finally decided that it would be best to get the position filled.
Electoral Disfunction
THE Assembly polls have triggered a slew of litigations in the Supreme Court,all inevitably seeking postponement of election dates. While some last till a few hearings,one on Friday lasted only a few seconds before a Bench led by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia dismissed it rather unceremoniously. The petition wanted the dates to be rescheduled,the reason being CBSE exams in UP and intense cold in Uttarakhand. Both arguments fell flat when the CJI said the SC is not a centre to change election dates and asked the lawyer under what law is it said that schedules can be changed once the poll notification is released.
Common cause
This should come as a compliment to BJP president Nitin Gadkari. Apparently he is the reason why the Congress and the NCP are wary of going it alone in the municipal elections in Nagpur. The two parties are yet to come up with a seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. But for Nagpur at least,both parties are keen that they must forge an alliance. The parties had gone alone last time and were defeated by the BJP-Shiv Sena combine. This time,there is this additional reason that Gadkari is grooming Nagpur to be his Lok Sabha constituency for the next general election. The threat of Gadkari,apart from the fact that the RSS is headquartered in Nagpur,is apparently forcing Congress and NCP not to take any chance this time.
