For once, a Union minister, no less, sent the capital?s hard-nosed journalists on a wild goose chase. After a packed telecommunications conference on Tuesday, communications & IT minister A Raja told the gathered newspersons on the sidelines that the next day he would be meeting National Security Advisor MK Narayanan to discuss various issues related to the early vacation of spectrum by the defence services for use by telecom operators facing a crunch of this precious resource in a fast-growing market. Narayanan is heading the sub-committee that has been entrusted with the task of looking into various aspects of the spectrum vacation by the defence services and its transfer. Journalists promptly geared up to track developments of the ?crucial? meeting, only to find that Narayanan was not even in the country but was on a trip overseas with the Prime Minister. So, who was Raja really meeting?
Flour power
Critics of imported ?red? wheat had to literally eat their words recently. At a function organised by food minister Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, a gathering of critics complained about the bad quality of the imported ?red? wheat. The minister, in his characteristic manner, gave them a patient hearing and assured that only the best wheat available would be imported. The gathering was then motioned towards a well-deserved meal. The minister was complimented upon the rotis on the menu. It was then that the gathering was told that the rotis had been prepared with flour from the same ?red? wheat that everyone complained about earlier!