Two days back, a veteran journalist based in Patna, previously with the Times of India, Ahmedabad, phoned me up to inform me that he had a sad news: Swarnakanta Varma, a retired Gujarat cadre IAS bureaucrat, who was acting chief secretary on the dastardly Godhra train burning day, February 27, 2002, which triggered one of the worst ever communal riots in Gujarat, has passed away due to Covid. “I have been informed about this from a friend in Jaipur, where she breathed her last”, Law Kumar Mishra said.

The other day I was talking with Alexander K Luke, a Gujarat cadre IAS bureaucrat of the 1975 batch, who resigned from the service in 2006 following two negative confidential reports (CR) despite having dramatically turned around one of the top state public sector undertakings (PSUs), Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC), which was a sick unit till he took it over in 2003.

Well-known human rights activist Shabnam Hashmi has forwarded a WhatsApp message, wondering, “they” can browbeat Twitter, Facebook, intimidate independent journalists, but can they really control the media world over? Reproducing the editorial of the French daily “Le Monde”, she says, “The Australian newspaper showed their thumb to the High Commission's “stupid” attempt at threatening them and asking for retraction and publication of rejoinder, which was turned down politely.” This is what "Le Monde" editorial "Covid-19: Narendra Modi's India shaken" says: *** Every day, 350,000 new infections and more than 2,000 deaths are recorded in the country. A situation due to the unpredictability of the virus but also to the lack of anticipation, arrogance and demagogy of the Indian Prime Minister. Presented as the "pharmacy of the world", the country exported and offered millions of doses of vaccine, ensuring that it produced enough for its populati

Peony Hirwani reports in "The Independent" that India’s rich and famous are fleeing the country on private jets as airfares soar amid Covid crisis, adding, VIPs have reportedly spent more than £100,000 chartering nine-hour private jet flights to London, amid a rush for regular tickets out of crisis-hit country.

Veteran economist Amit Bhaduri, who gave up his status as professor emeritus of the Jawaharlal University (JNU) in protest against “throttling” of dissent in JNU in January 2020, has in an email alert released a letter, purportedly written by “former and present employees of Times Now” which talks “beleaguered and disillusioned employees” of the top English news channel, run by the Times of India group.

Well-known policy analyst Mohan Guruswamy has posted on his Facebook timeline a very interesting writeup by Shuddhabrata Sengupta, pointing towards how the Government of India “advanced” the Kumbh Mela by a year because of strange “astrological calculations”, setting aside dangers caused by the pandemic.

An email alert received by me from a 2020 batch alum of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Indore has forwarded a mail received by this person regarding "concerns of the current students towards the top business institute's Indore branch's authorities' alleged "disregard" towards the management of the Covid-19-related situation on-campus.

AK Vijay Kumar Many say, marriages are made in heaven. However, as a confirmed non-believer, I don’t seem to think that way. But if one were to believe that marriages are indeed made in heaven, would the guests who are invited in some of the high-profile weddings also decide the destiny of the newly weds? I don’t know. Yet, the fact is, the competition to invite guests at such weddings is something I noticed after I came to Ahmedabad in 1993 to join as assistant editor of the Times of India.

Neeraj Nanda In continuation of my previous blog , my friend in Melbourne, Neeraj Nanda, on reading it, tried to see if a Gujarat government site of the General Administration Department (GAD), which I opened sitting in Ahmedabad, is opening in Australia, too. Ironically, this site introduces itself as “Towards Smart Governance: Department’s main objectives lay strong foundations for citizens and fulfill their expectations and gain trust by finding measures through effective and responsive administration”.