Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi has been in the news recently for all the right reasons, campaigning to increase pregnancy leave for a period of eight months and mulling over the introduction of a prenuptial agreement. But, interestingly, during a media interaction while talking about the government’s Beti Bachao scheme she pointed out that her ministry had started a poti-dadi scheme (granddaughter and grandmother) as the dadi (paternal grandmother) usually has a deciding role in the family. Those who heard it were puzzled, for it’s usually the men who play the deciding role in North Indian families, until they realised where Maneka was coming from. For, her own son’s dadi, who played a very decisive role in their family, was none other than Indira Gandhi.
Sheldon vs Jackie Collins
At the NewsX-The Sunday Guardian Roundtable on “Trial by Media”, former I&B Minister Manish Tewari referred to the sensational coverage of the Indrani Mukerjea case as the “Sidney Sheldon-isation” of the media. To which, a fellow panelist, Amar Singh immediately retorted that it wasn’t Sidney Sheldon as much as it was a “Jackie Collins-isation”, for the media was more focused on sensationalising the passions and drama rather than just the twists and turns of the case. Well, whatever works but at least all agreed that the Indrani Mukerjea trial was a page turner.