Regional Journal: Untold stories from the states

PM Modi & Trump inaugural

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar represented India at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, DC, on Monday night. However, it seems the Indian Embassy had asked the Trump transition team if an invite for PM Modi was possible — Trump had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping back in November. When no response was received, Indian officials decided that the EAM would attend the event. A face-saver on all sides now means that a Quad meeting will also be held in Washington DC, where the foreign ministers of the US, Australia and Japan will be present.

Adviser for Haryana CM

After ‘Team Khattar’ staged a comeback at key positions in the Haryana CM’s Office (CMO), reports are that another aide of the former CM will be appointed as Political Adviser to CM Nayab Singh Saini. Names of four former ministers — Kanwar Pal Gujjar, Manish Grover, Aseem Goyal and Subhash Sudha — are doing the rounds. All lost in the recent Assembly polls and it seems the party high command wants to rehabilitate them. Problem is, three of the four are ‘senior’ to Saini in the party. All eyes are now on whether hierarchy will trump influence?

Himachal data blues

The Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) has stopped sharing the data on obstructed roads and disrupted power distribution transformers and water supply schemes following snowfall and rainfall. This report was very useful as it gave information about which particular road to avoid. Now, State Emergency Operation Centre personnel admit the report is still being regularly compiled and shared with “higher-ups” — just that they seem to have become averse to making the report public.

Calendar sans Preamble

After a gap of five years, the Lok Sabha secretariat has published the new calendar for 2025, with the central theme being 75 years of the adoption of the Constitution. The calendar had gone digital due to Covid-induced lockdowns. The aesthetically designed calendar has striking pictures of artwork from the original Constitution depicting Mohenjodaro seals, scenes from Ramayana and Mahabharata, etc. However, the Preamble of the Constitution is conspicuous by its absence, provoking the question if words from the page, like “secular” and “socialist” could be changed sooner than later.

Contributed by Jyoti Malhotra, Pradeep Sharma, Subhash Rajta and Animesh Singh