'In a bid to privatise state-owned airports and allegedly to benefit a well-known corporate house, the Central government has planned to privatise six more airports, NH has learnt. All six airports that have been listed for the second round of the privatisation – Bhubaneswar, Varanasi, Indore, Trichy, Amritsar and Raipur – will, in all probability, be awarded to the Adani group. The government has brushed aside the suggestions given by the ministry of finance to allegedly benefit Adani, said sources...'
[In light of the appointment of G. C. Murmu as J & K's first lieutenant governor, it is worth reading this blogpost about Murmu by former IAS officer Sanjeev Sabhlok, written in September 2013.]
"Yoga teacher Ramdev's company will soon market herbal supplements and food products developed by India's defence research organisation DRDO. The DRDO or Defence Research and Development Organisation yesterday finalized agreements with the yoga teacher's "Patanjali Yogpeeth", for the transfer of technology involving products made from Seabuckthorn at its high altitude research lab in Leh...
"Are the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at loggerheads? If certain reports in the media are to be believed, Modi has been trying to contain the RSS' influence and rein in the hate-mongers in the larger Sangh Parivar. The truth isn't so simple. The RSS and BJP are complementary to each other. The few disagreements that the media has been citing, are completely superficial.
'It was only a few months ago in January that there was a huge uproar over the appointment of Pahlaj Nihalani as the chief of the Central Board of Film Certification of India (CBFC). Apart from Nihalani, several other people who were inducted into the board are known to be active BJP workers or supporters. Now, an appointment to another film-related institution has left people fuming. Students of the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) have been on strike since 12 June over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as the new chairman.
"While protests continue over the appointment of Gajendra Chauhan as president of the FTII Society, four of the eight members nominated under ‘Persons of Eminence’ category to the society have saffron connections as well. Anagha Ghaisas, who has a strong RSS background and whose husband was a long-serving Sangh pracharak, has made documentary films supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and about Ayodhya.
'Editor-in-Chief of India TV, Rajat Sharma is conferred India’s third highest civilian award – Padma Bhushan this year. Rajat Sharma is considered one of India’s most honest journalist and has been strongly vocal against menace of Yellow Journalism and Paid News. Teekhi Mirchi compiled a list of Top-15 stories that his news channel aired, and that impressed the jurists, eventually earning him this prestigious award... 1. Aliens Drink Cow Milk... 2. Love-Triangle in Jungle... 3. Aliens Conspiring to Abduct Himesh Reshammiya...'
An RTI filed by Mumbai resident Mansoor Darvesh about the delegates who accompanied PM Narendra Modi on his foreign visits and the amount of money spent on those tours has opened a Pandora’s box. The Prime Minister’s Office claims it doesn’t have records of the delegates and the financial details are “too wide and vague”. Opposition leaders claim the government is refusing to share information fearing public outcry
'The 2014 general elections were estimated to be India’s most expensive—and the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke the bank on the way to its biggest ever election victory. In all, the BJP spent Rs714.28 crore ($115 million) on the 2014 general election campaign, according to the contribution report it filed with the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Jan 12.
Arvind Panagariya, a trade economist who teaches at Columbia University, has been appointed by Narendra Modi as the Vice-Chairman of National Institution for Transformation of India (NITI) Aayog. The NITI Aayog is the replacement of the Planning Commission, and Arvind Panagariya is replacing Montek Singh Ahluwalia. Montek Singh Ahluwalia had a better deal than Panagariya does by at least one count- he headed a body that did not have an embarrassing name. Panagariya, on the other hand will be in-charge of an awkwardly titled aayog (commission) and an “Institution” (sansthan).
