With electoral gusts of wind in everyone?s sails, West Bengal?s FM Asim Dasgupta has also dished out goodies for the poor ahead of Panchayat polls. In the state budget, Dasgupta reeled off a slew of welfare schemes, including one to feed the ?poorest of the poor?, including beggars, every day. Though the criteria for identifying the poorest of the poor haven?t been outlined yet, officials say the scheme will benefit up to 4 lakh people. All for Rs 100 crore.
Flight time
In the Tamil film industry, the heroes are always superheroic, if occasionally emotional. Being extra-heroic, however, can end in tears. The US has slapped a lifetime entry ban on nearly 200 south Indian film bigwigs. Allegedly, in the guise of taking shooting expeditions to American locales, they were helping migrants enter the US and then scram. The US stumbled upon the racket after an absconding ?actor? was nabbed. She?d paid Rs 5 lakh for the honour of being carted along as a junior artiste to the US.
Youth ahoy!
AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa plans to enroll ?50 lakh youth? in her party. How? By setting up 1,65,040 camps with 27 members each in all 68,854 Tamil villages, 4,282 municipal wards, 8,813 town panchayat wards and 571 city corporation wards. Eavesdropper did the math, multiplying camps with members, but got 44,56,080 recruits. In the land of giant cutouts, maybe 44 lakh and 50 lakh are the same.
Autobabble
At the launch of a swanky SUV, invitees were treated to autobabble, complete with big words that would be music to the ears of every under-the-hood motorist. Next, it was time for queries on the exalted vehicle. ?Are these radial tyres?? asked one. At first, silence. And then laughter all around. There was no gawky word of engineered effect after that.