A For Adityanath Or Akhilesh?
In the Uttar Pradesh election race, one wonders whether A stands for state Chief Minister. This debate has started at a time when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) is keen to popularize the English alphabet chart to be Indianized. It no longer wants children to learn English alphabets by reciting the A for Apple and B for Ball.The VHP wants children to learn alphabet from a new chart it has prepared which contains photos of prominent Indian religious and other personalities. So, the VHP chart has A for Ambedkar, B for Bhagat Singh, C for Chanakya, D for Dayananda…K for Kalam APJ. For some alphabets, where the VHP could not find right figures, it has gone for some modificationsto serve its purpose. For example, X is for LaXman (Bhagwan Ram’s younger brother), W for Walmiki (Valmiki) and Z for Zulelal (Jhulelal, the top saint of the Sindhi Samaj). For Y, the VHP could not locate a “suitable” figure. So, it settled Y for Yoga.
A senior Samajwadi Party leader told The Sunday Guardian “We are surprised why the VHP did not go for Y for Yogi (Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath)?” “Perhaps, it didn’t want Yogi Adityanath to be put in the near end of the alphabet chart. Anyway, it’s surely A for Akhilesh and not for Adityanath in UP polls race…and, of course, it’s C for Cycle (SP’s election symbol)…see the tsunami defection of BJP ministers and MLAs to the SP.”
Official ‘Surya Namaskar’
The Ayush Ministry on Friday on the occasion of auspicious Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Bihu as part of the “Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav” series of events, organised a Surya Namaskar programme. The Ministry sources claimed that about 75 lakh people across the country took part in the event.
On Thursday, the University Grants Commission (UGC) had written to Vice-Chancellors of all the universities and principals of colleges and directors of higher education institutes, requesting them to take part in the initiative. In December, the UGC had issued a circular to higher education institutes, requesting them to have their students perform Surya Namaskar. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had criticized it on the plea that Islam forbade such a form of “sun worship”.
Captain gets hockey stick and ball as poll symbol
Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, who has floated a new party, Punjab Lok Congress, after exiting from the Congress, and joined hands with the BJP, has been allotted “hockey and a ball” as his party symbol. “Chak De Phatte” is the Captain’s war cry.
Some of the interesting common symbols allotted by the ECI to eight registered, unrecognised political parties in the poll-bound states of Goa, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Manipur are: a syringe, a pen nib with seven rays, a hat and a javelin being thrown, a TV set, telephone, ship, road-roller and a fountain. There is even a cauliflower.
I&B Twitter handle hacked
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Wednesday morning faced embarrassment on social media. The ministry’s official Twitter handle, with over 1.4 million followers, was hacked, and its name changed to that of American billionaire Elon Musk. For over an hour, the control of the handle, remained with the hackers, who kept putting out comments such as “Hurry up!”, “Great job!” and “Love you guys!! My gift here!!”. Around 10 am, the ministry officials managed “to get back its control”, and deleted all the spam tweets. “The account @Mib_india has been restored. This is for the information of all the followers,” the ministry then tweeted.
India Needs More Tree Cover
Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Thursday released the India State of Forest Report 2021. It claimed a continuing increase in forest and tree cover across India; by 2,261 square kilometres since the last assessment in 2019. The top three states in this regard are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq km), Telangana (632 sq km) and Odisha (537 sq km).
But experts say that a decline in forest cover in the Northeast, and a degradation of natural forests are still areas of concern. As the Minister is not satisfied with a two-year assessment, he has decided to set up an internal study group in the ministry. It will formulate plans on how community participation in forest conservation can be enhanced.