Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The newly wed royal couple of Bhutan King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk and his wife Jetsun Pema have chosen Rajasthan for their royal honeymoon. The grapevine has it that some 30 rooms have been booked in a five-star Delhi hotel,which is being turned into a hub of sorts for the royal retinue. The couple are then slated to start their royal tour across Rajasthan covering Jaipur,possibly Jodhpur and even Udaipur where a stay in the famous Lake Palace is very much on the cards. The honeymoon itinerary,insiders feel,will also provide an opportunity for the newly wed monarch to introduce his queen to Indias erstwhile royalty.
Laying down the Law
While Law Minister Salman Khurshid has been taken to task by the Supreme Court for his locking up businessmen would dry up investment statement,he has received support from unexpected quarters the Standing Committee that is deliberating on the Lokpal Bill. When former Chief Justices of India J S Verma and M N Venkatachaliah appeared before the committee last week,one of the members sought to know whether the Law Minister of a democratically-elected government was not even free to speak his mind. The less said the better, one of them is learnt to have said,without specifying whether he was referring to the court or the Law Minister. The question,incidentally,had come from a non-Congress member of the Standing Committee.
Posthumous Praise
Congressmen are amused by senior party leader Makhan Lal Fotedars revelation to the author of an unauthorised biography of Sonia Gandhi. As mentioned in the book,he told author Rani Singh that the late Indira Gandhi had always wanted a Kashmiri girl for a daughter-in-law,but Sonia is just like a Kashmiri girl; faithful to her husband,faithful to the family. I am satisfied. With the late Prime Minister not around to corroborate or deny her purported remarks to Fotedar,who incidentally,has been sidelined in the party,his revelation has only evoked sniggers in the grand old party.
Driving Force
The Supreme Court Bar Association president and senior advocate P H Parekh is known to regale his audience at farewell functions of Supreme Court judges with little known details about the retiring judges personal life. He is,however,careful not to divulge the source of his information. One such detail about Justice Raveendran,whom he admitted was the toughest to get information on,was that the judge,though a superb driver of his Lambretta scooter during his lawyer days,was less than average behind the wheel of a car. So much so that,Parekh said,people in the judges native city of Bangalore used to steer clear of his way on the roads.
Military Creativity
The visual shows a Sikh soldier in full battle gear,shouting a war cry. Superimposed on this is head of a roaring lion! This is no Bollywood poster but one of the pictures in the Creative photo gallery of the Indian Armys new refurbished website,which is attracting some attention these days. The new website is said to have been prepared after a considerable amount of internal deliberations. So much so,that top Army officers were given a special briefing on the website at the recent commanders conference.
