"Amidst controversy over his Hindutva ideology, BJP leader Tathagata Roy took charge as the 16th governor of Left-ruled Tripura on Wednesday... Roy was a member of Bharatiya Jatana Party (BJP) national executive and president of party's West Bengal unit from 2002 to 2006 and contested the Lok Sabha elections in the last year's parliamentary polls in Bengal..."
'The Ford Foundation is among the world’s best-known charitable organizations, dispensing billions of dollars globally for projects aimed at reducing poverty, fighting injustice, improving education and advancing democracy. So it was alarming when India’s Ministry of Home Affairs last month placed the foundation, which has made $500 million in grants to organizations in India since 1952, on a national security watch list. That means it cannot give money to Indian groups without permission from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
"The Centre cut short by seven months veteran Malayalam writer A Sethumadhavan's term as National Book Trust chairman and appointed a former editor of RSS' mouthpiece in his place. A senior official of NBT said Baldev Sharma, the former editor of Panchajanya, has been appointed as the new chairman. Sethumadhavan, popularly known as Sethu, was to retire in September but his tenure was cut short after the writer was called by the Union HRD ministry last month and asked to step down, sources said. "My tenure was supposed to end on September 12. I would say it is a hint...
'The Delhi High Court on Friday issued a notice to the central government asking the grounds on which a passport issued to senior Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan was not being renewed. Bhushan had moved the Delhi High Court after the Ministry of External Affairs denied a renewal of his passport for an alleged traffic rule violation.
'The BJP's Assam unit, which had recently got unprecedented good results in the local body polls in the state, got a rude jolt when news came that national executive member Prodyut Bora has resigned from the party. Here is what Bora wrote on his Facebook page.
'Former Foreign Secretary, Sujatha Singh, whose tenure was abruptly curtailed said her early retirement was rejected as she had made a reference to PM Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister's Office wanted her to remove the reference from the letter. Singh said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had informed her on January 28 afternoon that the PM wanted to appoint S Jaishankar as the Foreign Secretary. She said she had sent a letter on that evening seeking early retirement "as instructed by the Prime Minister".
'Doordarshan has transferred one of its assistant directors from Ahmedabad to Andamans after the national broadcaster's Gujarati channel aired a news item on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's estranged wife Jashodaben. VM Vanol, 58, who has just over a year to retire, was transferred in January second week while the less-than-two minute item was aired by DD Girnar on January 1. The item talked about Jashodaben filing an RTI petition with Gujarat Police seeking details of her entitlements as PM's wife, and was widely reported by the national media.
'If Narendra Modi is the most powerful Prime Minister that India has had since Rajiv Gandhi or Indira Gandhi, S Jaishankar, the man he has just brought in as Foreign Secretary, will be the most powerful diplomat the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has seen in decades.
'Leela Samson, the outgoing chief of Central Board of Film Certification who resigned to protest the clearance to controversial film Messenger of God, has accused the NDA government of "coercion" and interfering with her decisions on several films, including Aamir Khan-starrer PK. Amid reports that Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's film.
MSG: The Messenger of God had got the nod from an appellate tribunal and would finally be released on January 23, Samson said she had resigned on Thursday.
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).
