Speaker solves Alagiri problem
Union minister for chemicals and fertilisers M.K. Alagiri, it appears, is finally out of his awkward situation in Parliament owing to his inability to speak well either in English or Hindi.
This lack of felicity with either of the two languages had seen the DMK leader keeping away from both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha during Question Hour. He would, instead, allow his deputy Srikant Jena to field the questions. This, however, led to much criticism and jibes by the Opposition benches led by the BJP.
However, an arrangement wherein Mr Alagiri will be allowed to reply to the main question by reading it out in English while the supplementaries will be fielded by Mr Jena has been worked out, according to agency reports.
This has reportedly been made possible by Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, who had earlier written to him asking Mr Alagiri to discuss the matter with her.
This arrangement, hopefully, should put an end to Mr Alagiri’s discomfort. A son of DMK supremo M. Karunanidhi, Mr Alagiri had even expressed a desire in the past to be allowed to speak in Tamil inside Parliament.
But with that permission not coming, he had chosen to stay away from both the Houses during Question Hour. This, however, did not go unnoticed by the Opposition who would take request swipes at the UPA benches for Mr Alagiri’s absence.
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26/11 nanny to get Israeli citizenship
Mumbai : Nanny Sandra Samuel, who saved Baby Moshe from the clutches of terrorists during the November 26 terror attack in 2008, will be granted Israeli citizenship.
The official website of the Chabad House quoted interior minister Eli Yishai as saying that it has been decided to confer citizenship upon Samuel, an Indian national, in recognition of her heroism. He said the move was as “a humanitarian step”. Samuel, 45, a widow and a mother of two sons, was working for Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his wife Rivka since their arrival here in 2003 and took care of Moshe since his birth.
On November 26, two terrorists entered the narrow lane where the Jewish centre, Nariman House, is situated in Colaba in south Mumbai, and the building turned in into a war zone for the next three days.
—PTI
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