Can PM be simple!?
A children’s delegation had been to Luxembourg, a small country in Western Europe, recently and had returned after interacting with children, senior officials, and ministers there. One of those delegates, a 13-year-old boy was sharing his experience with reporters at a press conference organised by some NGOs.
At a point he became excited and started explaining the simplicity of the Prime Minister of Luxembourg. He said : “There, Prime Minister talks very informally to everybody. There were no security personnels following him. And Prime Minister does not depend on servants to get a cup of tea.’’
While in India traffic is often stopped to allow passage of Prime Minister, Chief  Ministers or other VVIPS and citizens have no direct access to talk to their leaders, no wonder our junior citizen was surprised and impressed with the Western country.

Rashmi R Hebbur NICE-media bonhomie
Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) and the bonhomie it enjoys with the media is legendary. Or that’s what Ashok Kheny, its chief claims. At the inauguration of ‘Freedom Park’ that Kheny chose to dedicate to his media friends, he found it apt to have three flags flying high at his expressway office at Sompura.
As he said, “The first is the red/yellow flag of Karnataka, the second the NICE flag with its Nandi insignia and the third flag, a tribute to my friends from the press.

The flag in white background with a symbol of a pen and words ‘Is Mightier than the’ ends with a symbol of a sword’ aptly signifies that in spite of all the controversy surrounding the project, its has been proved that in our democracy, it is freedom of speech and expression that eventually triumphs.

 “Without the support of the media, we would not have achieved the progress made today. It (media) is free from political clutches” Kheny felt.

Finally he sent the journo delegation into peels of laughter saying he would not mind naming the expressway as ‘H D Deve Gowda expressway” as a token of “gratitude” to the ever famous ‘Mannina Maga.’

S Praveen Dhaneshkar Minister’s ignorance
Can ministers be unaware of diversion of funds allotted to their departments? Yes, Minister for Animal Husbandry Revunayak Belamagi is one such minister.

Recently reporters asked his reaction on the allegations made by Congress leader D K Shivakumar that some funds earmarked for Animal Husbandry Department has been diverted to Karnataka Milk Federation.

He admitted that he is not aware of such diversion of fund.

“Decision regarding funds must have been taken in the last Cabinet meeting. I could not attend it because of a function in my family”, he said.

Asked whether the Cabinet took the decision to divert funds without consulting him, he said he would react to it after studying the issue in detail.

The minister called up Principal Secretary of the Department over mobile phone and enquired about the ‘diverted funds’. Interestingly the minister handed over phone to one of the reporters, asked him to take whatever details from the officer directly. After taking details over phone for nearly 15 minutes, the reporter had to brief the same to other press persons and also the minister!

Satish Shile Governor, a bad shopper
It was a two-day event held in Bangalore to discuss about status, plans and future of  “organised retail sector” in India and the organisers had invited Governor T N Chaturvedi for the valedictory.

Several heads and representatives of the country’s top retail companies were waiting for the Governor’s address after discussing their difficulties, solutions, plans for future, during marathon sessions on various of topics.
To their surprise, Mr Chaturvedi began his speech disclosing that he is a “bad and reluctant shopper.”
A delegate from north India, quick to react to Governor’s disclosure  told his colleague sitting next to him,“How to convince reluctant shoppers should be one of the topics for discussion during our next conference.”
Krishnaprasad