Bareilly’s jhumka found
Remember the Hindi song of the 1960s—“Jhumka gira re, Bareilly ke baazar mein”? It looks like over 50 years after actress Sadhana lost her jhumka in Bareilly in the 1966 classic Mera Saya, this Uttar Pradesh city has finally got back its earring in the form of a 272-kilo jhumka made of brass and colourful stones, perched atop a 14-feet-high pole. “The case now stands closed,” Rajesh Pandey, Deputy Inspector General of Bareilly Range told The Sunday Guardian. He took to Facebook to announce the city’s new attraction. It was crafted in Moradabad in three months. Decorated with the city’s famous zari embroidery, the jhumka has been installed on the Lucknow-Delhi highway, at the entry of Bareilly. The Paraskheda Chauraha, where it is now located, has been renamed as Jhumka Tiraha.
Pandey said that at a recent meeting related to the smart city project, he raised a proposal to install a huge replica of a jhumka. It was accepted by the local politicians, including BJP MP Santosh Gangwar.
Cong CMs want to send Priyanka to RS
It seems Congress Chief Ministers are vying with each other to make Priyanka Gandhi Vadra a Rajya Sabha member. Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha seats from different states are getting vacated this year and will witness election for 51 seats in April, for five in June, for one in July and 11 in November. The Congress is hopeful of winning 19 seats. Sources claim that if Priyanka Vadra agrees to enter the Rajya Sabha, she would prefer a Congress-ruled state. In Congress-ruled Rajasthan, the poll will take place on three seats in April. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot is keen to send Priyanka to the Rajya Sabha from his state as it will strengthen his position with the high-command further.
Congress-ruled Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath is also trying to send Priyanka to the Rajya Sabha. His aim is to keep his “rival” Jyotiraditya Scindia out of Parliament. Chhattisgarh’s Congress CM Bhupesh Baghel has also reportedly met Priyanka, urging her to enter the House of Elders from his tribal dominated state.
RS rules will change
The General Purposes Committee (GPC) of the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday briefed leaders of 23 parties on the changes proposed to the existing “Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States” at a meeting chaired by Rajya Sabha Chairman, M. Venkaiah Naidu. These Rules came into force in July 1964. The GPC has so far submitted 13 reports, based on which the present Rules were amended from time to time and the present review undertaken is the most comprehensive one since 1964. The next meeting will be after the second half of the budget session.
When Sunny Deol talks
Gurdaspur BJP MP-cum-actor Sunny Deol is once again in a controversy. During his three-day visit to his constituency, Deol said that Punjab government employees “were impressing upon the people that they had elected a wrong candidate”. He ridiculed the employees and said: “Sab nu pata ke jad kisse da kutappa karna howe tan maitho bura koin banda nahi hai (Everybody knows that when it comes to beating up someone, nobody does it better than me).” It was an oblique reference to the employees and his political opponents.
Congress leaders, including ministers and legislators, and powerful trade unions hit back. Cabinet minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa told The Sunday Guardian that “this man speaks wrong ‘dialogues’ at the right place and the right words at the wrong place. Why on earth will our employees go to the extent of saying people have voted for an unsuitable candidate? Somebody should tell him that his dialogues sound better only in films.”
Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa said: “Our MP is touting the elevation of the narrow gauge track in Pathankot as his achievement. Actually, it was conceptualized by my brother Partap Singh Bajwa when he was Gurdaspur MP from 2009 to 2014.”
Man gets masters degree at 93
Hats off to the strong willpower of the 93-year-old C.I. Sivasubramanian, who has done his Masters in Public Administration from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). At the convocation some days ago, Human Resources Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank called him a “93-year-old youngster”. A retired director of the Ministry of Commerce, Sivasubramanian returned to the classroom at the age of 87. Sivasubramanian told this newspaper that family responsibilities had kept him from pursuing his studies. “After finishing my school in the 1940s, I wanted to go to college but that meant either shifting to Trichy or Chennai. Then my parents fell ill and I had to take care of them. I got a job and started working.”
After rising through the ranks, he retired at 58. His wife was rendered bedridden when he was 87. “One day, her physiotherapist told me that he was going to IGNOU to apply for a course. I asked him to find out whether I could also apply. I was thrilled when told that age was no bar at IGNOU. I enrolled for the Bachelors in Public Administration. After graduation, I enrolled for my Masters. At the time of passing out last year, my wife was in her last stages. I handed her the degree and told her, ‘finally, your husband is a post-graduate’. She died two days later.”