Minister in NZ has Kerala roots
An Ernakulam native, Priyanca Radhakrishnan (41) created history by becoming the first-ever Kiwi-Indian minister in New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ministry.
A second time MP, Priyanca got three key portfolios—community and voluntary sector, diversity, inclusion and ethnic communities, youth; she has also been made an associate minister for social development and employment. Priyanca’s political career spans 14 years with the Labour party. Daughter of Paravoor Madavanaparambu Raman Radhakrishnan and Usha, Priyanca has her roots in Paravoor and most of her relatives are based in Chennai, her birthplace. Her great grandfather was a left-wing leader in Kerala and played a key role in the state’s formation. Priyanca grew up in Singapore and moved to New Zealand to pursue her Master’s degree in development studies.
Saffron Tiger Roars in Bengal
Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s roar seems to be unsettling West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. As Shah landed in the state on Wednesday, a tribal woman, Geeta Mahali, who had hosted Shah three years ago at her home in Naxalbari village, received an appointment letter from the Home Department on Thursday for special home guard post.
This time, Shah had a vegetarian lunch at the house of tribal BJP worker Bibhishan Hansda in Chaturdihi village in Bankura district. Bengali delicacies were served on a plate with a banana leaf on it. Shah had rice, roti, dal, potol bhaja (pointed gourd fry), shukto (mixed vegetables including bitter gourd), alu-posto (potato cooked in poppy seed paste), and papad. Shah declined to take traditional sweets such as rosogolla, sandesh and mishti doi—a must in Bengali households—because of health reasons. With him, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy and state party chief Dilip Ghosh also had lunch.
Shah carefully chose Bankura to start his tour to take stock of the party’s organisation in the district. Bankura is one of the several districts where the BJP had made deep inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, winning both the parliamentary seats in the district.
UAE Defence Firm Eyeing India
Caracal, a UAE-based rifle manufacturer, has won Indian Army’s order to supply 93,000 carbines. It is one of the companies of Edge, an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate. The CEO of Caracal, Hamad Salem Al Ameri, told The Sunday Guardian that besides these close quarter carbines, they also make an entire range of weapons like pistols. Al Ameri is excited about “Make in India” plan and is keen to set up a manufacturing base for its entire range of small arms, which, he says, can be exported to other countries.
Pak Defeated in IPU
India is happy that its efforts succeeded in stopping the Pakistani candidate from winning the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) presidential election. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has warmly congratulated Portugal MP Duarte Pacheco on being elected the new IPU President for a three-year term. Pacheco defeated Muhammed Sanjrani (Pakistan), Akmal Saidov (Uzbekistan) and Salma Ataullahjan (Canada). Sanjrani reportedly lacked experience and the Canadian candidate did not have the full backing of her government. Laurence Fehlmann Rielle (Switzerland) and Beatriz Argimon (Uruguay) were unanimously elected to the IPU Executive Committee.
Efficiency of RS standing panels rising
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu is satisfied with the rising efficiency of the eight Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committees of the Rajya Sabha. As per an analysis by the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, each meeting of the committees lasted two hours 10 minutes on an average in 2019-2020. “This is the first time that the average time of these meetings has crossed the two-hour mark. It is an improvement of 55% over 2018-2019, and an increase of 25% compared to the average of two previous years,” a senior RS Secretariat official said.
Trial Run for Toy Train Engine
On Monday, the 114-year-old heritage KC 520 steam locomotive engine with two coaches went for a 44-km trial run on the Shimla-Kalka UNESCO World Heritage track from Shimla to Kaithlighat. The engine had been standing for the past 10 months.
Station Superintendent Prince Sethi says that the steam engine was built by the North British Locomotive Company for Rs 30,000 and commissioned in 1906 and it used to drive trains till 1970 before it was replaced by diesel engines. It was repaired and rehabilitated in 2001. Since then, the engine has been used for joyrides and comes on the track on a few occasions on tourist demand.