Mani Shankar Aiyer, once a high flying Congress minister in Delhi, is now an aging octogenarian with little to say that makes sense. Asked about the forthcoming coronation of Rahul Gandhi as Congress Party President in succession to his mother Sonia Gandhi, Aiyer taking umbrage at the word ‘coronation,’ replied that the Mughal Emperor Jehangir was succeeded by his son Shah Jehan, who, in turn, was succeeded by his son Aurangzeb ( Aurangzeb imprisoned his father Shah Jehan and went on to execute his elder Dara Shikoh), there were no elections, so Aiyer couldn’t understand the present fuss about Rahul Gandhi’s accession as Congress President.
Presented with an opportunity to good to miss, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on the campaign trail in Gujarat, remarked, ‘I congratulate the Congress on their Aurangzeb Raj. We don’t want Aurangzeb rule here.’ The offending Aiyer issued a hurried correction: the electoral process was an enduring feature of a modern democracy, he said. Aiyer was suspended from primary membership of the Congress party for making a reference to the Prime Minister deemed to be insulting and hence unacceptable; he was ordered to apologise, which he duly did with the explanation that in Hindi the offensive word sounded worse than in the original English. The impact on Gujarat’s voters can only be gauged after the election results are officially declared.
Cyclone Okhi
Meanwhile Cyclone Ockhi was likely to make landfall in Gujarat, hence many election rallies were cancelled. But it has caused havoc along the west coast from Kerala, Goa and southern Maharashtra, (Hindu, Times of India December 5, 8).
Supreme Court reprimand
Twenty-first century society cannot hide sufferers of leprosy hidden away in the manner of of their second century forbears, declared the Supreme Court of India. A bench consisting Chief Justice Dipak Misra and two other judges heard a Public Interest Litigation [PIL] filed by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. found that statutory laws dating back to the 1950s continue to denote ‘leprosy as ‘infectious and has something to do with genetics.’ The petition stated: ‘This unequal treatment irrationally treats persons affected by leprosy as a separate class….stigmatize and isolate persons affected by leprosy, even though with the latest medical advancements, leprosy is rendered non-infectious after the very first dose of Multi-Drug therapy’. (Hindu December 5).
Tata-Daewoo Mumbai tie-up
Tata Projects and South Korea’s Daewoo company joined forces to clinch a $850 million joint venture to design and build a part of India’s longest sea-bridge – the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link. This will involve construction of a 7.8km bridge section across the Mumbai Bay, including the Shivaji Nagar Interchange at Navi Mumbai. Tata Projects is one of India’s fastest growing construction companies anf together with Daewoo will bring the latest engineering techniques to this path-breaking project (Business Line December 5).
Red, colour of women’s empowerment
Once a base of the Maoist Naxal insurgency, Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district is now turning capitalist with a thriving market for women’s lingerie. Increasing numbers of women are breaking old taboos and buying lingerie, some even online. Firms say that lingerie sales are being driven by demand from small towns, sales executives had never heard of, and had to look at maps for their location. They speak of greater understanding of this new market and its needs (Business Line December 5).
Infosys look to Parekh revival
IT major Infosys whose recent boardroom convulsions and declining profit margins have made media headlines, have turned to Salil Parekh as CEO to put the company on the high road to recovery and former glory. Parekh has long experience in the business in the US and in India; he has the intellectual wherewithal, graduating as an electrical engineer from IIT- Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad. He was appointed after a rigorous selection process, explained Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairperson and Managing Director of Biocon Ltd and an Independent Director of Infosys Ltd. With Nandan Nilekani at the helm [he is one of the founders of Infosys], Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw said Infosys was in safe hands (Mint December 5).
Akash missile test-fired successfully
India test-fired its state-of-the art surface-to-air Akash missile from the Odisha test-range off the Bay of Bengal, hitting the UAV in mid-air as planned (Hindu December 6).
BrahMos missile speed to be increased
According to BrahMos Aeropace Space Ltd Managing Director and CEO Sudhir Mishra plans are afoot to increase the missile’s speed from the present 2.8 mach to 3.5 mach in two years and to 6 mach in four years. Work in progress is scramjet technology, enabling even higher speeds. BrahMos is a joint venture between India’s Defence Research & Development Organization and Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenia (Business Line December 6).
India’s new Russia trade route ready for takeoff
India is to start exporting container cargo to Russia via the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Azerbaijan and thence to the Russian Federation from January as it moves to operationalize the International Corridor INSTC. This will reduce the timeline from the present 35 days to 17 days to reach the market (Business Line December 6).
Let terror group decimated
The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has been decimated claimed local south Kashmirpolice chief Munir Khan, following an armed encounter with the security forces resulting in the deaths of three of LeT operatives. Let jihadis in July ambushed a party of Hindu pilgrims on their way to the revered Amarnath site, resulting in numerous deaths and injuries (Hindu, Telegraph December 6).
ISI planned Punjab killings
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) stated that, following its investigation into the recent assassinations in Punjab of religious figures including those of the RSS, and a Ludhiana-based Christian pastor named Masih, after which the murderers scattered leaflets purported to belong Shiv Sena, claiming responsibility for these acts. The evidence culled pointed to Pakistan’s Inter Services directorate as the directing hand, with Khalistan Liberation Front, led by Harminder Singh Mintoo. The plan was to foment communal tension and discord in the State.
Conspiracy revealed
Details of the conspiracy came to light during the interrogation of two hit-men – Hardeep Singh and Ramadeep Singh – by NIA counter intelligence officers. The two men travelled to India via the UAE. The operational needs were funded by Rs 4 million transferred through hawala accounts, Banks and the Western Union for legitimate currency transfers in order to conceal the trail and confuse the investigators (Times of India December 7).
BJP sweep UP civic polls
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the ruling government at the centre – swept the Uttar Pradesh civic polls including Amethi, Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi’s parliamentary constituency. It was a resounding victory and scarcely bodes well for proponents of regime change in Delhi, UP being the most populous of Indian States. The BJP, despite the travails of demonetization and GST has emerged triumphant, winning 14 out of the mayoral seats and doing equally well in the 18 municipal polls. The previous regime by the Samajwadi Dal, leader Akhilesh Yadav, was routed. It was a vote of confidence in Chief Minister Adityanath and his government (Times of India December 4).
Delhi IIT student offered Microsoft jackpot
IT giant Microsoft emerged once again as the leading recruiter for US jobs on the first day of placements across IIT campuses. The placements at IIT Delhi began on a high note with a computer science graduate offered a Rs 140 million inclusive of bonuses and stock options. Other US companies recruiting IIT talent were Apple, Morgan Stanley, Procter and Gamble, Deutsche Bank et al (Times of India December 2).
A glory has passed
Shashi Kapoor, last of the trinity of Raj and Shammi, who died in Mumbai last week, aged 79, to quote cinema director Shyam Benegal, was ‘god’s good man. He was such a beautiful human being beyond anything else,’ having worked with him in Kalyug and Junoon. Born in Calcutta on March 18, 1938, his father the legendary Prithviraj Kapoor, Shashi’s tryst with cinema started in 1961 with ash Chopra’s Dharamputra. In a glittering career, he subsequently starred in the James Ivory and Ismail Merchant films, The Householder, Shakespearewallah and Heat and Dust. Later, as a producer, came the magical film 28 Chowringhee Lane, directed by Aparna Sen, with Shashi’s wife, Jennifer, in an unforgettable performance as an aging Anglo-Indian schoolteacher in Calcutta. There was scarcely a dry eye in the audience.
Shahi married Jennifer, whom he met when her father, Geoffrey Kendal, brought his Shakespearean troupe to India. She died of cancer in 1984, and the life seemed to have gone out of her distraught husband. Stunningly handsome, this charming cavalier saw out his declining years with a debilitating illness. We shall not see his like again. Good-night, sweet prince.
