Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Young Indifference
While many Union ministers and MPs could not make it to President Pranab Mukherjees At Home reception on Wednesday as they had gone to Latur for Vilasrao Deshmukhs funeral in his village in Maharashtra,the so-called Rahul brigade was conspicuous by its absence at both the places. Rahul Gandhi and the other young MPs of his party with the exception of Naveen Jindal did not come for the Presidents reception,though many of them,including Rahul,were present at the Congress headquarters for the flag-hoisting ceremony in the morning. And this was certainly not the first time that the young brigade of the Congress showed its indifference to ceremonial occasions. Rahul himself has skipped many such party functions including its foundation day.
Notable Absence
The Independence Day celebrations every year see the presence of a number of serving and retired armed forces officers who are invited by the Defence Ministry. The tradition in the Army is to invite all previous Army Chiefs for the function and in the past many of the retired Chiefs who live in the vicinity of the Capital attended it. This time,however,only two former Chiefs attended the function Gen V N Sharma and Gen Deepak Kapoor. Conspicuous by his absence was Gen V K Singh who has taken on the government having extended his support and making an appearance at the protest rallies of Team Anna and Baba Ramdev.
Canadian Tribute
THE diplomatic community in the Capital is abuzz with the recent do at the Canadian High Commission held on the eve of Independence Day. People attended the event,christened the India-Canada friendship day,on August 14,dressed in traditional Indian clothes and many sported tri-coloured dresses as well. Canadian envoy Stewart Beck was dressed in a red kurta and white scarf,representing the Canadian flag colours,while some of his Canadian diplomat colleagues sported Indian tri-colour dresses. The envoy even broke into bhangra at one point. The High Commission also held kite-flying sessions,keeping in view the Indian tradition,and there were tri-coloured as well as red-and-white kites. While the Canadians promised to repeat this next year,many from other diplomatic missions have got an inspiration to engage with the Indians in a similar fashion.
Incredible India
CONSTRUCTION of a new Parliament building,a study of quake-resistant capacity of the existing historic building,an attempt to get the same perquisites and facilities for ex-Speakers of the Lok Sabha as are available to former Vice-Presidents8230;The sheer range,sweep and novelty of proposals made everybody suspect that some great genius is at work behind the scenes. Now,it turns out that it indeed is so. A controversial officer who has served both incumbent Speaker Meira Kumar and one of her predecessors,Manohar Joshi,in the past,and who is now embroiled in a CBI case,is generating all these fantastic ideas.
Friendly Skies
WITH an overcast sky almost throughout the day,officials in Rashtrapati Bhawan had made adequate preparations for the Independence get-together that happens in the afternoon on the lawns of the Presidents Estate under open sky. A large number of umbrellas had been arranged for the President and other guests in case it started raining. At one point,when rain seemed imminent,some umbrellas were even distributed to the guests. But it turned out to be false alarm and the function went on without any disturbance. Meanwhile,Congress party veteran R K Dhawan used the occasion to formally introduce his wife Achla Mohan to other guests. Dhawan and Mohan have been living together for many years but got married only recently. After his marriage,Dhawan had talked about how he used to feel awkward earlier in introducing Mohan as a friend at social functions. He was amongst the first guests to greet President Pranab Mukherjee at the function.
