Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s early arrival at a recent CII event left many stranded outside. Now the security protocol is such that gates close for visitors when the President, PM or Vice President arrive at a venue. Among those left outside was one of the speakers in the event. A few senior bureaucrats were spotted at the gates too.

Gender bender

President Ram Nath Kovind will meet some of the initial beneficiaries of the Centre’s free LPG connection distribution drive later this week. These connections were disbursed to women members of rural households. And that’s where the catch lies. The initial instructions to ground level operatives are that transport from the village to Delhi will be sponsored only for the women. This will be difficult to digest for their husbands who may disallow their wives from travelling alone.

Joke that didn’t work

Last week, several cabinet ministers called hurried press conferences without specifying what exactly they wanted to discuss. It turned out that most of them wanted to highlight the positives of the Budget and enlist the bounties, some real, some imagined, that the FM had bestowed on their respective ministries. While trying his best to list out the favourable budget proposals, one minister jokingly said that the best budget gift was the increase in salaries of MPs. The joke, however, did not go down very well with journalists, still disappointed with the added tax burden for the salaried class!

Track your flyash

One is losing the count of Apps being launched by the government, particularly the ministries of power and new and renewable energy. The latest is a web-based monitoring system and a fly ash mobile app named Ash Track . It will manage 200 million tonnes of fly ash by tracking coal based power plants situated within 100-300 km from a given location, informing fly ash users within this radius about their availability. The App gives plant-wise, utility-wise and State-wise ash utilisation status in the country.

Cyber crime initiative

The government has decided to establish a cyber crime reporting portal for cyber crimes against women and dedicated a cyber crime laboratory to stop crimes against women and children. Home Minister Rajnath Singh said this when addressing the gathering after inaugurating the 24th All-India Forensic Science Conference in Ahmedabad recently. Traditional policing is not adequate to control crime in cyberspace, he added.

“Forensic science can be extremely useful in cyberspace. Our cyber forensic experts played an important role in preventing radicalisation of our youth. I laud the efforts of our cyber experts in counter-radicalisation. There have been incidents when morphed pictures are used to create confusion and tension,” he said.

Traders’ Valentine’s Day

The traders’ association in Delhi has come up with a unique way to protest against the ongoing sealing drive in the city. Come February 14, the Confederation of All India Traders will raise a theme “My Valentine-My Shop” to tell Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority and National Delhi Municipal Council that nothing is dearer to them than their shops. They will put roses at doors of all these corporations, their mouths covered with cloth band.

PR affairs

With Adfactors PR bagging the entire Tata account including TCS, there has been a mutually agreed separation with Infosys which is now looking for a new agency. Adfactors handled perhaps the biggest crisis Infosys faced in its lifetime quite ably. Now that peace has returned to Infosys, the new agency will have a smooth run. It, however, is to be seen whether the IT major itself will have a good run in its largest market, the US, because of the frequent policy changes there.

 

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