2 min readMay 13, 2026 05:09 AM IST
IN STEP with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal for austerity measures to reduce fuel consumption, Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil has decided not to use pilot vehicles in his convoy. Patil is learnt to have asked his office to convey to the states he is scheduled to visit not to arrange a pilot vehicle. On Tuesday, Patil travelled by road to Roorkee in Uttarakhand to participate in a meeting. He did not use a pilot during his three-hour journey, said a close aide of the minister.
Protocol for Visitors
Visitors arriving at the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) headquarters — Vanijya Bhawan — for official work seem to have irked some senior officers. It is learnt that the DGFT has issued a circular directing visitors to meet only officers of the rank of Additional Director General and above. The move reportedly follows observations by senior officers that a large number of private individuals are interacting with DGFT employees during office hours, disrupting regular functioning and discipline in the meeting hall. The officials also felt that such interactions could sometimes lead to unnecessary allegations of “favouring certain organisations”.
Vijay & Vetrivel online chatter
Soon after the news broke that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Vijay had appointed astrologer Radhan Pandit Vetrivel his Officer on Special Duty, Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram dropped a two-word post on social media: “Caligula – Incitatus”. Political circles were quick to link the classical reference — Roman emperor Caligula infamous in popular lore for supposedly planning to make his favourite horse, Incitatus, a consul — to Vijay and Vetrivel. The astrologer had predicted a “landslide victory” for Vijay in the Assembly polls. The timing of Karti’s post set off chatter over whether an ally was taking a sly dig at the ruling dispensation in Tamil Nadu. The Congress is in alliance with the TVK in the state.
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