Delhi confidential: Hard Taskmaster

Menon, who was deputy chief of mission at the embassy, used to ask Gokhale — who was one of the young diplomats — to read two Chinese newspapers and discuss the main stories of the day.

Former Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale recently revealed how former NSA Shiv Shankar Menon (above) was a “hard taskmaster”, when he was posted at the Indian embassy in Beijing. Menon, who was deputy chief of mission at the embassy, used to ask Gokhale — who was one of the young diplomats — to read two Chinese newspapers and discuss the main stories of the day. This was during the late 1980s, especially during the Tiananmen Square incident. Gokhale revealed this nugget during the launch of his book, “Tiananmen Square: The Making of a Protest”, where Menon was also present.

Back To Constituency

AGRICULTURE MINISTER Narendra Singh Tomar, who was in-charge of Assam in the recently concluded state assembly election, is now a days busy in his Parliamentary constituency – Morena. Soon after returning from Assam, Tomar went to his constituency where he is looking after the preparations to control the Covid-19 pandemic. It is learnt that on Monday he inspected several sites for establishment of oxygen generation plants.

Going Digital

TRIBAL AFFAIRS Minister Arjun Munda on Monday roped in Microsoft India for the “digital transformation” of Eklavya schools. The Ekalavya Model Residential Schools are one of the flagship projects of the ministry for education of school-going tribal children, especially in remote areas. The minister said the collaboration seeks to not only educate teachers, but also help develop tribal children in digital skills and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

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