Karti Chidambaram pens letter to father on birthday; takes dig at BJP govt

International News

On the 74th birthday of former finance minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti wrote a letter to him, mostly taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In his letter, Karti criticised the government and its ministers, citing various recent events.
At the beginning of the letter, Karti wished his father and said that "no 56!!! can stop you", a clear jibe at PM Modi. He said the family would have been glad to celebrate the birthday at home, and added "turning 74 is nothing compared to turning 100 days old". (The BJP government just completed 100 days in office).
P Chidambaram now has access to newspapers and limited television in the prison. Karti, through his letter, got him up to speed with the recent events that his father missed due to unavailability of mass media. He informed that Chandrayaan-2 failed to soft-land on the moon. He wrote that PM Modi took the opportunity to console K Sivan, the chief of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) which according to him was more of theatrics. Karti mentioned Piyush Goyal's 'Einstein and gravity' gaffe too.
He wrote that the government had been celebrating its 100 days in office which was nothing more than celebration of failures.
He informed P Chidambaram about the failing economy, car sale slump, Sensex hitting new lows, and more such events.

 He talked about the plight of the people of Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and said that he was better off than them despite being in jail. He said that the BJP government had been trying to celebrate a bad patch of their tenure and they could not have found a better time to silence him...Read More

INX Media case: Indrani Mukerjea may appear before Delhi court in March

Current Affairs:

A Delhi court said it might call Indrani Mukerjea, wife of former media baron Peter Mukerjea and the prime accused in the murder case of her daughter Sheena Bora, to appear before it in person in the first week of March for hearing on her plea to be a witness in the INX Media corruption case, in which former Union minister P Chidambaram is an accused.

The observation of the court came after Indrani, who appeared before the court through video-conferencing from the Byculla jail in Mumbai, where she is lodged in the Sheena Bora murder case, told Special CBI Judge Sunil Rana that she did not need a legal aid counsel as she had engaged a lawyer to represent her in the INX Media case.

The court has posted the matter for further hearing on February 28.
Earlier, Indrani had moved the court seeking to be an approver in the case.
She had told the court that she needed to be pardoned and as an accused, she had not engaged a lawyer to represent her before it in the case.

Taking note of the former INX Media director's application, the court had directed the Delhi Legal Services Authority (DLSA) to appoint a legal aid counsel for her.

Besides Indrani and Chidambaram, the name of the former finance minister's son, Karti, has also cropped up in the case involving Rs 305 crore, which relates to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2007 for receipt of funds by INX Media.


 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had registered an FIR in the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance granted to the media group for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007, during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister.

Interesting facts about the Budget every Indian should know

• MORARJI DESAI HOLDS THE RECORD OF PRESENTING THE MOST BUDGETS, AT 10

• INDIRA GANDHI IS THE ONLY WOMAN TO HAVE PRESENTED INDIA'S UNION BUDGET

• R K SHANMUKHAM CHETTY PRESENTED INDIA'S FIRST BUDGET ON NOVEMBER 26, 1947

• A CUSTOMARY HALWA CEREMONY IS PERFORMED 10-12 DAYS AHEAD OF THE BUDGET EVERY YEAR

• MORARJI DESAI IS THE ONLY FINANCE MINISTER TO PRESENT A BUDGET ON HIS BIRTHDAY ON FEB 29, 1964 AND 1968

• IN 1997-98, WHEN I K GUJRAL'S GOVT WAS ON ITS WAY OUT, THE BUDGET WAS PASSED WITHOUT DEBATE

• P CHIDAMBARAM'S 1997-98 BUDGET WAS TERMED AS DREAM BUDGET FOR LOWERING TAX RATES

• YASHWANT SINHA CHANGED THE TIMING OF BUDGET PRESENTATION TO 11AM FROM 5PM IN 1999

• BUDGET WAS PRESENTED ON THE LAST WORKING DAY OF FEB UNTIL 2016, BUT JAITLEY CHANGED IT TO FEB 1 IN 2017

• IN 2017, THE RAILWAY BUDGET WAS PRESENTED WITH THE UNION BUDGET BREAKING A 92-YEAR-OLD PRACTICE