Stung by jawan's video, BSF issues guidelines for maintaining food quality

BSF Director met Rajiv Mehrishi and submitted a second interim report on allegations made by jawan

Left red-faced, BSF Jawans Video today came out with fresh guidelines for maintaining high quality of food for its personnel along the border as the Union Home Ministry directed it to file a complete report on allegations of substandard food made by a soldier posted along the LoC.

BSF Director General K K Sharma met Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and submitted a second interim report on the allegations made by Tej Bahadur Yadav on a video that was uploaded on social networking sites.

The BSF chief avoided queries from waiting media after his meeting but the paramilitary force came out with a statement in the evening announcing six measures for providing quality food for its jawans posted along the border.

Also Read : BSF jawan video: Home Ministry seeks full report by today

"Issues related to diet of jawans, issues of ration purchase procedures and pilferages thereof are the issues of prime concern for any organisation.

"BSF has taken a holistic view of the situation and follow -up process has been swung into action (sic)," the statement said and listed audit of prevalent system by team of senior commanding officers as one of the measures.

Among other steps taken by the BSF are chalking out shortcomings of the present process, suggesting procedural and systematic improvements, vigilance for double checks, enhancing formal and informal interactions with jawans and introduction of systemic innovations to ensure cashless transactions in all messes. Read Full Article

Be Updated On - Latest News | Technology News | Business Standard

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

PMO stamp in Cabinet rejig

Among many political, administrative and ideological messages in the changes in the council of ministers that Prime Minister Narendra Modi carried out, the most important was the unambiguous stamp of his office.

The sweep of influence of the Prime Minister’s Office in Tuesday’s rejig was rarely witnessed in the past three decades.

In expanding this influence of the central government, the PM was assisted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah.

The changes in the Cabinet worked at several levels.

They were definitely done with an eye on electoral compulsions — Dalits and Other Backward Classes found increased representation. New ministers were inducted from states that are either electorally crucial for the BJP (Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat) or are going to polls in the near future (Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh).

Also, alliance building was kept in mind. Allies like Republican Party of India (A)’s Ramdas Athawale and Apna Dal’s Anupriya Patel were made ministers.

There was an effort for more efficient political management, not only to reach out to Opposition parties but other stakeholders, like the media, as well as assuage different camps within the BJP.

A straight-talking M Venkaiah Naidu was made in charge of the information and broadcasting ministry, while Arun Jaitley, seen as a liberal voice in the Sangh Parivar and the party, was divested of that portfolio. Read more.

Modi's flights abroad bill: Rs 77 crore

The frequent and frequently discussed foreign trips of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have chalked up a bill of Rs 77 crore for chartered flights in the first six months of his tenure, according to data from his office.

Modi took charge as prime minister on May 26, 2014. According to data from the Prime Minister's Office, this is the amount spent on five international trips between June 15 and November 20 (see chart). He also went twice to Nepal, but flew in Indian Air Force aircraft.

The expenditure for these trips has not been revealed. Till December 2015, Modi has flown abroad 19 times, but the bills have been processed only for 2014 till now. Click here for more details.