Friday, 20 August 2021 | Gajendra Singh Negi | Dehradun
Vanishing Act
With opening of the schools after the recent respite in the intensity of the pandemic of Covid-19 in the state, the much hyped Fees Regulation Act has returned back to haunt the ruling dispensation in general and the Education minister in particular. Shortly after assuming charge of the education portfolio in the year 2017, the brawny minister had pompously declared that he would put a rein on the never ending greed of the private school administrators and vowed to bring in an Act to control their activities. The minister’s bravado was received with a guarded appreciation by the parents bogged down by the demands of the school owners and hoped that the Act would bring some restraint on the open loot in the name of education. However the strong lobby of the powerful school owners was successful in blocking the grand plan of the minister. In the last four and half years the proposed bill on regulating the fees has been put in cold storage and the minister has maintained a mysterious silence on what he once promised with much pomp and show.
Homebirds at home
Though working from home culture gained acceptance during the pandemic of Covid-19 but the practice was popular among the honourable ministers in the Himalayan state much before the arrival of the deadly virus which perpetuated the pandemic. This special affinity gradually converted the grand offices of the ministers located in the premises of the Vidhan Sabha into mere showpieces. Taking cognisance of these deserted official offices, former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat had ordered the ministers to sit in their Vidhan Sabha offices at least three days in a week. The order had its effect initially as albeit reluctantly the ministers started spending some time in their offices but after the marching order given by the BJP high command to TSR I things came back to square one and the Vidhan Sabha offices have again started wearing a deserted look with the ministers visiting them rarely now. The apathy of the ministers towards their official work place is explicable since apart from giving them comfort the working from home gives the ministers much needed manoeuvrability and many other added advantages which are lacking in an official workplace.
Big Brother
An outspoken and flamboyant minister of Uttarakhand is busy participating in mega Rakhshabandhan programmes in the provisional state capital these days. These programmes follow a fixed pattern with someone from the organisers singing paeans about the minister and informing the women audience about the extent he can go to protect his Rakhi sisters. This is followed up with a unique Rakhi ceremony bordering on weirdness where the ladies vie with one another to tie the slicken thread which symbolised sacred bond of love between brothers and sisters on the outstretched arms of the Shaktiman fame minister. To capture the event the camerapersons are placed at vantage points and the dramatic pictures and video clips are sent to media offices and promptly uploaded on social media sites.
