Tablet tremors

If problems surrounding the Aakash tablet were not enough to cope with,HRD Minister Kapil Sibals office is now having a tough time tackling enthusiastic inquiries from prospective buyers

If problems surrounding the Aakash tablet were not enough to cope with,HRD Minister Kapil Sibals office is now having a tough time tackling enthusiastic inquiries from prospective buyers. Its learnt that Sibals office is getting calls from all and sundry inquiring about the tablet. Recently,a Supreme Court lawyer dialled the office of the Minister to find a way to purchase the tablet for his grandson. The ministry is having to politely turn down all such requests pointing out that not only is the tablet not yet available in the market but also the ministers office was certainly not handling its distribution.

Quiet Justice

After the media reported discussions held in an open court concerning the names of retired judges eligible to succeed former SC judge,Justice M B Shah,as head of the panel set up to monitor the probe into 22 fake encounters,the court chose to be extremely careful in its deliberations on Monday. The Bench led by Justice Aftab Alam,during a hearing on Friday,had received a number of suggestions from litigants,all of which found their way into the broadsheets the next day. So on Monday,when Justice Alams court named a recently retired SC judge as possible candidate for the job,the judge turned to the reporters present and requested the gentlemen from the Press to not publish his former colleagues name and cause him any embarrassment.

Tragic Anniversary

The Mirage 2000 crash last week involving a senior Air Marshal came at a highly inopportune time. It happened a day before all three squadrons that operate the French fighter were to gather at Gwalior for the 25th anniversary of the induction of the aircraft. While people from all across the country,including veterans,arrived for celebrations over the weekend,all the fighters were grounded pending checks to rule out technical defects. The Air Force is shaken as the engine of the downed fighter suddenly cut off mid flight,a rare but alarming defect.

Future Imperfect

Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank had shown little interest in his new job of BJP vice-president after he was sent packing as the Uttarakhand chief minister. The situation seems to be changing. Appearing at the BJP headquarters on Monday,he had a close look at the under-construction skeletal structure,giving rise to the speculation that he was trying to get an idea of where he would be seated. Meanwhile,it is still difficult to guess what is he preparing himself for: a Congress regime in Dehradun or a renewed mandate for B C Khanduri. Either way,there would be nothing much for Nishank to keep himself busy with in the state capital.

New is Old

Sam Pitroda presented his much-awaited report on modernisation of the Indian Railways to Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi by video conferencing on Skype all the way from Chicago. After getting a copy of the report,which lays down a roadmap for taking the Railways to the 21st Century,a seemingly impressed Trivedi pointed to Pitrodas video image on the giant screen and joked,See,this is what modern technology can do. Modernisation means making optimum use of latest technology. Some veteran officials of the Ministry were later heard saying that the Railways had gone through several such modernisation plans earlier.