The IAS officer close to both Modi & Yogi
Earlier this week, IAS officer Vishal Singh, who is now the district magistrate of Bhadohi, presented Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with his portrait woven onto a carpet made by the Bunkar community of the district. The incident led to some whispers within the IAS circles over the issue of the propriety of an officer presenting the chief minister his portrait.
However, Singh holds the distinction of being a trusted officer of both Yogi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In 2016, when he was still an officer of the provincial civil services (PCS) in UP, the civil servant was brought to the Centre and posted as the project director of the Modi government’s pet project, Government E-Marketplace (GEM). Since then, it has been an upward trajectory for Singh, who originally hails from Jaunpur.
The very next year, he was posted to the Prime Minister’s constituency in the all-important position of secretary, Varanasi Development Authority. Next, came another coveted posting as the CEO of the Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple in 2018.
In 2020, as Ayodhya geared up for the grand Ram Mandir inauguration, Singh was given the twin charges as the vice-chairman of the Ayodhya Development Authority, as well as the municipal commissioner. Meanwhile, in 2021, he was promoted from the PCS to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
One million prize puts TN officials in a pickle
On 5 January, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin declared a whopping prize of around $1 million for anyone who could crack the Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC) scripts. In this regard, during a casual chit-chat among the cabinet ministers, one senior minister jokingly told the CM that this might just be the finance department’s easiest archaeological expenditure until now. “You could’ve promised 2 million, because let’s face it, the chances of someone actually decoding those puzzles are slimmer,” he quipped.
After the announcement, state officials and ministers found themselves in a pickle. Their WhatsApp inboxes were suddenly inundated with self-proclaimed script decoders.
Grapevine has it that a mathematician slid into their DMs, demanding the million-dollar prize for supposedly cracking the IVC scripts. In a laugh-out-loud moment, the official said, “Rejecting these claims is like telling a toddler their crayon scribbles aren’t art. They hit back with, ‘Do you even know what these symbols mean?’ Of course, we don’t, so they would say, ‘Well then, this is what they mean, deal with it!’”
Babbar’s presence, Lallu’s absence & UP Congress backdoor politics
Actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar’s recent visit to Uttar Pradesh Congress headquarters took everyone by surprise as the former state chief visited the party office after almost three years. UP Congress functionaries claim that he attended the UP Congress meeting after nearly five years.
Last, he attended a Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) event was in 2022 during voting for the Congress president elections. Before that in 2019, Babbar attended the last official meet when he was a state chief.
After he resigned from the post, not only did he ignore the PCC, but he also stayed out of the electoral contest from Uttar Pradesh. In the 2024 general elections, he contested unsuccessfully from Gurugram. An organisation review meeting held in UPCC a few days ago was mostly attended by former UPCC chiefs, including Babbar, Nirmal Khatri, Salman Khurshid, and Brijlal Khabri, but Ajay Lallu who is supposed to be close to Priyanka’s camp skipped the meeting.
Vivekananda: youth icon at Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue
The Modi government is going all out to mark the birth anniversary of monk-philosopher Swami Vivekananda, one of the Hindu cultural icons, Sunday. In the run-up to 12 January, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports launched a three-day Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue at New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam Friday where a life-size cut out of Vivekananda along with a small framed photo kept on a table adorned the dais alongside PM Narendra Modi’s picture.
Some 3,000 youth have been selected from across the country to participate and engage with Union ministers, MPs, policymakers, and industry leaders. The grand finale of the event Sunday will see PM Modi spend the entire day with the participants. He will have lunch with them and also address the gathering.
The PM, time and again, has talked about his admiration for Vivekananda. In fact, the government’s 2047 vision document theme Viksit Bharat (Developed India) is inspired by Vivekananda’s vision of Bharat Mata. Last May, the PM ended his 2024 Lok Sabha campaign by meditating at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial at Kanyakumari for two days.
Events to mark Vivekenanda’s birth anniversary are being held in other BJP-ruled states too. In Maharashtra, the BJP is organising a grand convention to mark the day in the temple town of Shirdi. The event will be addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP national president and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda.
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