SUNDAY FOCUS

After the major Cabinet reshuffle on July 7, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has appointed 43 ministers — 15 of Cabinet rank. From PhD to MBBS to studying in the world’s best universities, Standford and Harvard, here are the educational qualification of the ministers in the Modi cabinet 2.0.

Dharmendra Pradhan — The education minister as well as the skill development and entrepreneurship minister is a postgraduate in Anthropology from Utkal University in Bhubaneswar.

Annapurna Devi — Appointed as the Minister of State (MoS), the MP from Koderma has done her masters of art (MA) from Ranchi University.

No, Washington Sundar is not switching careers from cricket to cooking. But, the Tamil Nadu player’s future looks bright if he ever decides to become a chef. The off-spinner loves food and knows food. Following the World Test Championship (WTC) final, the 21-year-old is busy unwinding by indulging in scrumptious feasts.

Sundar posted a video on Instagram, on Friday, where we saw a glimpse of how impressive he can be with almost anything. The all-rounder can be seen sitting in a restaurant and asking his friend, behind the camera, how the latter wanted his dish. Sundar can be seen grilling slices of meat like a pro and asks, “How do you want it? Spicy or Medium?” The young cricketer captioned the Instagram video as, “Chef Washington in the house! What would you guys like to eat?”

West Bengal Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday said people voted for ‘Didi’ (Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee) because they felt she is the one who can prevent Narendra Modi of being re-elected as Prime Minister in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Addressing a press conference in Kolkata after holding a meeting with all district presidents to discuss the Assembly election results, Chowdhury said, “It is clear that people voted for ‘Didi’ (Mamata Banerjee) because they felt that she can only fight ‘politically’ against Modi. People of Bengal strategically voted for ‘Didi’. Congress and CPI (M) also contested but people reposed their faith in her because she emerged as a face against Modi.”

When questioned regarding the rising rates of violence against women in the state of UP, Meena Kumari, a member of the state's Women's Commission blamed girls being given access to mobile phones for such situations and laid the blame on mothers for not keeping a close watch. These comments were made by Kumari in Aligarh during a review of complaints relating to women in the area. Explaining her views, she said that while authorities were trying to crack down on crimes against women, it was up to the society, particularly families, to keep an eye on their daughters.

According to Kumari, mothers should keep a close eye on who their daughters are moving around with and who they are chatting with. It was then that she reportedly made the odd suggestion of not giving phones to daughters as they talk to boys on these phones and elope with them later. As should be obvious, Kumari's remarks sparked massive controversy and outrage at her bizarre comments. UP's Women's Commission immediately distanced itself from Kumari's comments and termed them as 'inappropriate'.

Never has independent India faced a crisis of the magnitude that is currently confronting the nation (with the exception of the Partition). Yes, there have been wars, internal insurgencies and conflicts; there is chronic deprivation; and there have been political challenges. But never has India witnessed hundreds of thousands of people get afflicted by a deathly virus every day or the scale of today’s suffering — visible in hospital emergency wards, at homes, even in crematoriums.

 There can only be one national priority at the moment — beating back the second wave of the viral pandemic by providing every medical asset and resource necessary, breaking the chain of transmission, moving towards universal vaccination as early as possible, and ensuring relief to every suffering family. Everything else will come later — but it will come, for a defining and transformative moment such as this will inevitably have political consequences.