External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who has been in the thick of managing diplomatic channels following the India-China tension along the border, took the time on Wednesday to applaud an archaeological find in a conservation project in Vietnam. A 9th-century monolithic sandstone Shiv Linga was found in the ongoing project at Cham Temple Complex, My Son. The Archaeological Survey of India found it, and it was part of the Indian government’s development partnership project in that country. Jaishankar had visited the temple complex in 2011.
Online Push
From making short video clips of top leaders — including party chief Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and others – to lining up live interactions, preparing interviews of migrant workers and others affected by the lockdown, the Congress’s social media department is going all out to make the party’s first online campaign, ‘Speak Up India’, a success. This will be the Congress’s first organised campaign since the imposition of lockdown. The party has mapped workers up to booth level and directed them to post content on Facebook and Twitter on Thursday demanding free travel for migrants, direct cash transfer of Rs 10,000 to India’s poorest families and relief and financial assistance to MSMEs. The party believes 80 per cent of its workers have Facebook accounts.
Fast Files
The Supreme Court’s hearing of cases via video-conferencing has not been without amusing moments. On Tuesday, Justice D Y Chandrachud was seen conducting proceedings using an iPad, while other judges on the bench were handling paper files. During the hearing, Justice Chandrachud, who also heads the Supreme Court’s e-committee, quipped, “Brothers… your files are moving faster than files on my device. Manual transfer looks quicker than electronic form.”