Inside Track by Coomi Kapoor – PM Modi goes out of his way to show his respect for Yogi Adityanath

scribes check?

The Press Information Bureau has not yet begun the process of renewing the accreditation of journalists for the next year. Accredited reporters are usually required to apply for permit renewals for the next year by early November. Apparently, the process of revising the press accreditation rules, making them more modern and getting rid of “undeserving journalists” – which began under former Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar – is still underway. Press agencies fear that the right to determine who is entitled to a PIB card and access to government offices is an attempt to control the media by isolating those hostile to the regime. The example set in drastically limiting the number of journalists allowed into Parliament during sessions does not inspire confidence. Journalists are now given entry to Parliament’s press fair on the basis of the lottery system, although the Covid threat has been eased and most of Parliament’s restrictive measures have been abolished. As scrutiny of the list of accredited journalists continues, 2021 PIB permits may remain valid until March of next year.

wrong conversion

Sonia Gandhi appointed Digvijaya Singh to head a strategic committee to look into how best to highlight inflation, a key campaign item for Congress. Since permission to hold a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan has been denied, the venue has been moved to Jaipur, where Ashok Gilot is prime minister. (A tactical mistake because people usually blame the state administration for high prices.) However, the confidence of the brains of Congress did not compromise that Rahul Gandhi would completely divert from the main issue and begin a serious interpretation of the difference between Hinduism and Hindutva. His remarks were too philosophical to the average listener, and he played for the BJP because the ruling party, fearing weak prices, is keen to exploit the Hindutva card of the UP. Also in the 2019 general election, Gandhi drew attention away from the issue of prices, instead focusing on the slogan ‘Chowkidar chor hai’, which did not satisfy the voters. The de facto president of Congress often acts spontaneously without consulting advisors. By the way, the march of Jaipur was organized by Gilot, who was surprised when his arch-rival Sachin Pilot got the most applause when Gandhi mentioned his name.

Judicial indiscretion

In his autobiography, former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi counters those who question the lack of transparency in judicial appointments by making clear that if negative information is disclosed against an overridden judge, it will lead to an “avoidable embarrassment”. However, Gogoi himself is not shy about revealing the secret notes on the basis of which some judges have been denied appointments to the Supreme Court. He is also trying to settle scores with his former colleagues who have accused him of wrongdoing, by claiming that Judges J. Chilameswar and Madan Lokur “replaced the transfer of their favorite judges from one Supreme Court to another in college meetings”. He molded an 11-year-old FIR report implicitly in relation to a former colleague of the Supreme Court to propose “double standards”!

pat father

A video of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath walking behind Modi’s motorcade in Saharanpur was gleefully posted by Akhilesh Yadav to mock the way the party chief treats the party chief. Adityanath may not be Modi’s first choice as CM, but in this crucial assembly election, the Prime Minister is, in fact, doing his best to show his respect for Adityanath, regularly praising and photographing him. At Varanasi railway station, he put his arm around the chief minister in favor of the paparazzi.

The many secrets of artificial intelligence

Captain Shakti Lumba, who has been closely associated with Indian Airlines for decades, has many secrets to share in his book The Old Bold Pilot, explaining why the national carrier has declined. Lumba recalls the strength of the pilots’ guild. For example, in 1992, the then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao agreed to the union’s request to dismiss the respective minister, Madhavrao Scindia, the airline’s chairman and general manager. The author explains how the Ministry of Civil Aviation circumvented the airline law, which did not allow any scheduled airline besides the two national carriers, by turning a blind eye to the so-called air taxi operators who put up billboards at the airport and in their offices displaying special flight times and price. Another interesting insider tale is of a minister whose wife was an Indian Airlines employee, who used the PMO to task his wife with running the aviation division of Alliance Air.