Passengers’ tough choice on board Air India amid pandemic
Those travelling by Air India flights from New Delhi to Patna this election season had a challenging time on board, having to make a choice — to live or to eat.
Passengers had to wear masks and face shields. No surprise there. That’s the Covid protocol and the Air India crew were quite strict about it.
What happened next came as a surprise — pleasant or unpleasant depended on whether the passengers loved food more or their lives and safety. An announcement was made: “Refreshments are going to be served. Please keep your masks and shields on.”
But the national carrier didn’t, or couldn’t, tell them how to eat with masks and shields on! And so, as the food packets arrived, masks and shields came off quickly as most flyers found it difficult to resist the aroma.
Thankfully, once they were done eating, Covid protection gear was back on.
Also read: Many guests, few masks & CM Kejriwal — an engagement ceremony amid ‘3rd Covid wave’ in Delhi
Congress stung by Obama’s Rahul Gandhi reference but laps up praise for Manmohan, Sonia
The Congress party may have officially dismissed former US president Barack Obama’s comments on Rahul Gandhi, calling it “an individual’s view in a book”, but it seems to have lapped up and welcomed some other comments made in the same book, praising former PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
In his upcoming memoir titled A Promised Land, Obama has described in detail a dinner he had with Singh, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
Obama described Rahul as having “a nervous, unformed quality about him, as if he were a student who’d done the coursework and was eager to impress the teacher but deep down lacked either the aptitude or the passion to master the subject”. While the party maintained a terse ‘no comment’ position on the same, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor subsequently shared excerpts from the book in which Obama has written high praise for Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
“Huge praise for Dr ManMohan Singh who is warmly described as ‘wise, thoughtful, &scrupulously honest’, ‘a man of uncommon wisdom& decency’ with whom he enjoyed ‘a warm & productive relationship’ though MMS was ‘cautious in foreign policy’. His regard & respect shine through,” Tharoor tweeted.
2. Huge praise for Dr ManMohan Singh who is warmly described as “wise, thoughtful, &scrupulously honest”, “a man of uncommon wisdom& decency” with whom he enjoyed “a warm & productive relationship” though MMS was “cautious in foreign policy”. His regard & respect shine through.
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) November 15, 2020
“Difficult to imagine that the Sanghis who have been rejoicing on social media about one sentence in the memoir will draw much comfort from these reflections,” Tharoor said in another tweet, also pointing out that the book’s first volume doesn’t mention PM Narendra Modi by name, even once.
Meanwhile, the Congress’ leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury warned the former US president to “think twice before evaluating our leader”.
Think twice before evaluating our leader otherwise you would have been landed up in the universe of ignorance, do not get confused by the artificial dazzling light and shed off the 'frog in the well' mentality.
(2/2)
— Adhir Chowdhury (@adhirrcinc) November 14, 2020
A Promised Land is set to release on 17 November. It is the first of a planned two volumes that Obama has written about his tenure as president of the United States from 2009 to 2017.
Also read: New Indian envoy goes by road to ‘Shonar Bangla’ — tweets every step of diplomatic drive
Yogi’s UP govt launches fact-checking Twitter handle to deal with fake news
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has launched a fact-checking Twitter handle to deal with fake news.
The handle is said to be the brainchild of Navneet Sehgal, the newly appointed additional chief secretary of the information department. CM Yogi is said to have been concerned about two things — his image in the national media, and fake news. That’s when Sehgal came up with the idea for a fact-checker.
The handle, @InfoUPfactcheck, was launched just before Diwali. A team of half a dozen employees from the CM’s social media team have been engaged to handle this account.
An email account has also been created for people to be able to report anything on the UP government, its schemes, policies etc. that they suspect is falsely reported.
Also read: Are you an IIC member? Don’t eat paan, walk on the lawn, tip staff, wear shorts or slippers
What about Narendra Modi? I found him chewing gum and least interested in watching the Parade when he was the chief guest. Or the remarks expunged or redacted for Indian viewers. Thiruvengadam