Third eye: HRD minister Smriti Irani’s social media connect

Irani’s social media connect

If PM Narendra Modi has leveraged social media to his advantage, HRD minister Smriti Irani is not too far behind. Recently, Irani took the twitterati by surprise when she fixed a meeting with a Twitter user, who had been tagging her in most of his tweets, to find out his views on education. Word has it that Irani will soon hold a Google Hangout this month to glean inputs for the new education policy.

Long innings at South Block

After nearly 10 years at the hot seat, long-standing spokesperson and director general (media and communication) Sitanshu Kar’s stint at the defence ministry is coming to an end. The Indian Information Service officer has served with four ministers and is considered to be the longest serving bureaucrat in the ministry. His successor is likely to be Akshay Rout, currently DG (News) with DD, who has had an earlier stint with EC as well.

Spotlight on pro-poor push

Instead of focussing on schemes that may have an urban bias, the NDA government’s anniversary publicity will emphasise on its pro-poor initiatives. It’s Jan Dhan Yojana, Beti Bachao Beti Padao, Swachch Bharat and Mission Indradhanush (health ministry’s vaccination programme) that are going to be the main thrust of the campaign, especially across nonurban centres.

Movement of babus en bloc

MHA seems to be on an experimentation mode while handling Left-wing extremism. After years of an IPS officer heading the division, last year the charge was given to IAS officer Dilip Kumar who has now been replaced by IRS Mukesh Mittal. Kumar has been transferred to freedom fighters division. KK Pathak, earlier heading freedom fighters division, has been posted as joint secretary in disaster management department.