Top NDMC officials angling for new posts
Switching jobs due to excessive work pressure and to explore new opportunities is no longer a characteristic of corporate employees only. Govt officials are making similar moves. The two top officials at the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) are making efforts to get new postings. According to sources, chairman Amit Yadav is looking forward to becoming a Union secretary. Meanwhile, its secretary, Ankita Chakravarthy, wants a posting where she can manage her work-life balance as she now has an additional responsibility at home in the form of her newborn. The G20 summit kept both the officials slogging for long hours and its success may turn things in their favour.
Food rivalry between canteens
Many officials debate whether the MCD canteen at Civic Centre serves better food or the one at the secretariat. Many feel that the quality of food at the secretariat is better. It should be noted that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal often eats food served at the secretariat canteen.
Official stumped by Nigerian’s Hindi knowledge
Those who are fond of Bollywood movies and have watched the classic ‘Rang De Basanti’ might remember a scene where Aamir Khan (character name DJ) introduced Alice Patten (Sue Mckinley) to his mother Kiron Kher, who is shown as the owner of a Punjabi eatery in the movie. In the movie, Khan, who had been joking around with Sue in his native language, was hardly aware of the fact that she too was well-versed in Hindi. He realizes this only when Sue greeted his mother with ‘Payi Laagu’ when she meets her for the first time. From reel to real, a Tihar Jail official had a similar experience when he recently saw a Nigerian inmate performing on the song ‘Tinka Tinka Tihar’. As it turns out, the surprised and rather embarrassed official, had not been aware of the fact that the woman inmate knew Hindi as he had always been talking to her in English.
Lalu’s date with court after Gandhi Jayanti
Opposition parties held a meeting in Patna on 23 June and formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A). Just ten days later, on July 3, a fresh chargesheet was filed at Rouse Avenue Court against RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi and their son Tejashwi Yadav. The case relates to alleged appointments made in the Railways in return for land parcels gifted or sold to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family when he was the Railway minister between 2004 and 2009. The family is now slated to appear before the court on October 4, after the Gandhi Jayanti.
Contributed by Zaid Nayeemi, Jaison Wilson, Ujwal Jalali, Ashish Srivastava