Lost in Translation

The Congress Sandesh also devotes five pages on the salient features of the scheme in a frequently asked questions format

Lost in Translation

A Freudian slip or a language error? An article by Food Minister K V Thomas in the latest issue of party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh has left many of his colleagues amused. Accusing opposition parties of stalling Parliament to block the Food Security Bill,he says those parties were playing to the galleries while we have been playing with the interests of the people of the country8230;. The Congress Sandesh also devotes five pages on the salient features of the scheme in a frequently asked questions format in which it is argued that given the huge dependence on imports for meeting the domestic demand for pulses and edible oils,it will not be possible to include pulses and oil in the scheme and make it a legal right. Incidentally,during his meeting with Congress chief ministers recently,party vice-president Rahul Gandhi had suggested inclusion of a nutritional component in the scheme.

Taking Credit

While Bihar BJP has become a staunch critic of the Nitish Kumar government following its break up with the JDU,the party is eager to claim credit for the good work of the alliance government,as long as it lasted. At a meeting of the newly constituted Information Communication Campaign Committee at the party headquarters in Delhi,the participants,comprising mostly pro-BJP netizens active on social media,were distributed partys election campaign material that sought to contrast NDAs sushasan with UPAs kushasan and listed the achievements of their own governments in various states. The pamphlet included five sushasan examples drawn from Bihar that included Nitish Kumars crackdown against law violators. The BJP pamphlet highlighted how Bihar ensured conviction of 80,000 accused through speedy trials. The other achievements that the BJP lauded included Mahadalit mission and free bicycles to school-going students among others.

losing steam

With the next general elections round the corner,members of the NAC seem to be losing interest in the deliberations of the high profile body chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It is evident from the thinning attendance at the meetings of the nac. Only 6 of the 11 members attended the National Advisory Council meeting on Friday despite the fact that Sonia was presiding over it. According to those associated with the NAC,the attendance at Fridays meeting was the lowest ever given the average attendance record of 9-10 members. Those who were not present at Fridays meeting included N C Saxena,Narendra Jadhav,A K Shiv Kumar and Anu Agha.

Left Out

A new list of senior IAS officers who have been selected for a training module at Harvard is more interesting due to the names that have not made the full cut. While 24 senior officers from across the nation have been selected,two names stand out in the reserve list. This includes Haryana whistle blower IAS officer Ashok Khemka and senior Joint Secretary serving in the Prime Ministers office B V R Subrahmanyam.

French Leave

Defence Minister of France Jean-Yves Le Drian went out of his way during his visit to Delhi to emphasise the long standing relationship between the two countries. The minister even used an anecdote about his birthplace to drive home the point.

At a talk at a defence think tank,the minister said he was born in rue des Indes India street,in a city called Lorient The East. The city was so named after the ship Soleil dOrient The Sun of the East,which would go to India in quest of porcelain and textiles, Jean-Yves Le Drian said,stretching it further to say that India is in my DNA.