On the move

UTTARAKHANDS new Governor Aziz Qureshi,who had attributed his job to Congress president Sonia Gandhis blessing,seems to be making overt efforts to remain in the news. First,he announced that he would only travel in AC first class by train,instead of a special saloon he is entitled to,in conformity with the austerity measures announced by the central government. Now,he has taken up the cause of Sarabjit Singh,though only in his personal capacity. On Friday,he appealed to the President and the government of Pakistan to reconsider its decision regarding the release of Sarabjit Singh. He expressed concern and disgust at the way wrong news was given and then corrected by the Pakistan government about Sarabjits release.

WOOING DIDI

DESPITE the open rebellion by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on the choice of presidential nominee,the Congress does not seem to have given up on her. UPA managers are still hopeful of getting her support for Pranab Mukherjee. It is learnt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is being requested to call her up and appeal for her support to the UPAs nominee. This may be followed up by Mukherjee meeting her in Kolkata during his presidential campaign. Congress managers hope that this would give her enough face-saving opportunity to reverse her adamant position and finally support Mukherjee.

JUMPING THE GUN

IN May this year,Parliament passed the IIT Act Amendment Bill that formally conferred the IIT status to six new IITs and enabled them to award degrees. Feeling empowered,IIT Patna scheduled its convocation for June 15 to award degrees to the first batch of students graduating from there. But,as it realised later,there are many a slip between the cup and the lip. The amended legislation was still to get the assent of the President,which meant the law had not come into effect. IIT Patna,which had sent out invites for the convocation,waited till June 13 for the presidential assent before finally calling off the event. The presidential assent has now come but IIT Patna has decided not to hold the event at all this year. It will instead hold convocations for two batches next year.

GLARING OMISSION

THE Anna Hazare-led India Against Corruption movement has started registrations for the planned fast from July 25 to demand an independent probe against tainted ministers. The poster on the platforms Twitter page has the photograph of only Arvind Kejriwal alongside Bhagat Singh,Subhash Chandra Bose,Chandrashekhar Azad and Ashfaqullah Khan.

The tagline reads Youth have always been at the forefront of revolution. Septuagenarian Anna Hazare does not find a place.