Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Rescue Act
Private airlines seem to have found a saviour in new Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh. Many of these airlines,bleeding under financial losses,have wanted to start operations on unused international routes,but been unable to do so because Air India,which is supposed to have the first right to refusal on these routes,never allowed them to. Ajit Singh is learnt to have recently discovered that Air India,in fact,does not have the first right to refusal. The guidelines for operation on these routes,approved by the Cabinet,only say due consideration would be given to the operation plan of state carrier while allocating routes to the airlines. Furious,he decided to trace the origin of this first right to refusal assertion and zeroed in on a Joint Secretary who had made this rule in May last year. The minister has now sought a written explanation from the officer for this change.
High table
Subramanian Swamy,who has been making headlines for the past few months,was in San Francisco this week where he attended a dinner hosted by the Democrats. US President Barack Obama also happened to be present at the dinner. While it is not clear why Swamy was part of the gathering or whether he was able to meet the US President at the dinner,he couldnt help gloating about being there on social networking sites.
Spicing up
Parliamentarians have a range of personal interests and hobbies that seldom comes out in the open. For instance,few know that BJP MP Prakash Javadekar loves cooking or that senior MP Karan Singh is a Hindi film buff. In a series of programmes on Rajya Sabha TV,which began operations last year,MPs will be showcasing such interests that are completely in contrast to their political images. Javadekar participated in one such programme on Friday where he showed viewers how to make Maharashtrian dishes. He also showcased his own recipe for bhelpuri. Similarly,Karan Singh earlier participated in a programme where he demonstrated his knowledge of films as a critic. The programme is now reaching out to other MPs with such different interests.
Tobacco fight
The Health Ministry has gone global in its tobacco control initiative. Under the National Tobacco Control Programme,it is all set to launch a new public campaign against smoking termed Tobacco is eating Your Baby Alive. It is an adaptation of the original advertisement developed by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and describes the deadly effects of tobacco on children. Supported by World Lung Foundation,the campaign will be in 16 languages with special focus on the North-East.
Koodankulam: Panel to meet protesters
CHENNAI: In a fresh attempt to break the impasse over commissioning of the nuclear power plant at Koodankulam,the state government-appointed expert panel will meet protesters and other stakeholders on Saturday. This was decided by panel members after a meeting on Friday.
The four members of the new committee,which included former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission M R Srinivasan,met Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and senior government officials at the state secretariat after the preliminary meeting among themselves earlier in the day.
Interacting with the media,the panel members said their report will be submitted at the earliest after holding discussions with the protesters,authorities at the nuclear plant and district officials including the Collector and SP.
