Parliament is in session. Rajya Sabha meets from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Lok Sabha meets from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Members wear masks and observe social distancing. As per Article 85 of the Constitution six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first…
Prashant Bhushan Guilty
On 14/8/2020 Supreme Court declared Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for his two tweets; first about CJI Sharad Arvind Bobde and second about last 4 CJIs. The Bench consisted of Justices Arun Mishra, Bhushan Ramkrishna Gavai and Krishna Murari. First tweet was on 29/6/2020. “CJI rides a 50 Lakh motorcycle belonging to a…
Map Wars
On 4/8/2020 Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan released a new map that showed Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Sir Creek and Junagadh as Pakistani territories. India did not deal suitably with Nepal when it changed its map to include Indian territory. Now Pakistan has done the same. The map mentions Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh under…
Ministry of Education
The old order changes giving place to a new one. The more things change the more they remain the same. What is new today becomes old tomorrow. What is old today becomes new tomorrow. Ministry of Education is back. Ministry of Human Resource Development is gone. Web site name has to change. At present it…
PM at 45
“Where did you want to reach in such a hurry? Whether you wanted to become chief minister at 43 and prime minister at 45 by joining BJP?” That was Margaret Alva’s question to Sachin Pilot. Why not? Rajiv Gandhi became PM at 40. Any MP can become PM. Age for becoming MP is 25. One…
Digital Strike
India has banned 59 apps with Chinese connection. Ravi Shankar Prasad called it Digital Strike. He said it was for the safety of the country and to safeguard people’s digital data. It seems surgical strike against China is not possible and digital strike was the next best thing. USA is against Chinese apps. After the…
Battle of Galwan
Battle of Galwan has come as a rude awakening for people of India. On 16/6/2020 afternoon came reports that one Colonel and two jawans had died in skirmishes with Chinese on the night of 15-16. At night came the news that 20 are dead. Line of Actual Control stand-off has been going on for sometime….
Tamil Names
Tamil Nadu government has ordered name changes of 1,018 places. Most of them are adding a, i, k, th to existing names or substituing u with oo. Change of names continues in India ever since Independence. Change of names was mainly of British Era names. Now names prior to British Era like that of Allahabad…
Lockdown Extensions
It is Lockdown 4 of central government. State governments have their own lockdowns. People are caught in the middle. Narendra Modi announced lockdown for 21 days. First extension was for 19 days, second for 14 days, third for 14 days which is Lockdown 4 and ends on 31/5/2020. Maharashtra had its lockdown before that of…
RBI and Gold
RBI should have all its gold in India. The Indian Express of 11/5/2020 has reported that total holdings of the yellow metal at 653.01 tonnes, RBI gold reserves up 40.4 tonnes in 2019-20, more than half of total holdings held overseas. Of these 360.71 tonnes was in Bank of England and Bank for International Settlements….