PICTURE SPEAK
Arjun	Mukherjee

DELHI Looks like it is family time for UPA ministers. First Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee took along his daughter Sharmila on his first trip to Siachen. It was a historic first for Sharmila as no civilian woman has ever set foot on Siachen, or so Defence Ministry sources say. Why she would want to go to such an inhospitable place remains a mystery but the Mukherjee family is nothing but adventurous. On the defence minister's next trip to the loc, he was accompanied by his son Abhijit.

Now we hear that HRD Minister Arjun Singh has followed suit. He has taken wife Saroj and daughter Veena with him to attend a UNESCO conference in Geneva. It is however not known whether Arjun's family made innocent inquiries about where to get foreign exchange like Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did during his first official trip to Thailand, accompanied by wife Gursharan Kaur.

-By Lakshmi Iyer

JAIPUR Behind every man ... make that woman. Chandra Raj Singhvi, Rajasthan BJP vice-president, is trying to ensure some protection for state Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje from attacks by critics. His latest venture is the Vasundhara Mitra Parishad which aims to build a band of Raje loyalists. Singhvi can only gain from his "friendly" deed-Raje's growing political strength will strengthen his own position.

-By Rohit Parihar

DELHI Despite all doubts the US Government feels that its relationship with India is doing well. In a new publication by the US Embassy, the keywords describing the relationship are "people, partnership and progress". The ties span strategic issues, anti-terrorism and defence to health and environment. Going by the publication, there are few areas where the US and India are not engaged in some integral way.

APPOINTED: B.V. Wanchoo, the new director of the Special Protection Group.

PROMOTED: Air Vice-Marshal Padma Bandhopadhyay, to the rank of air marshal, making her the first woman in the IAF to hold that rank. She will assume the rank on October 1.

GRANTED: Conditional bail to JMM chief Shibu Soren, in the Chirudih massacre and Pirtand murder cases.

APPOINTED: Krishna Kumar, as the new director of the NCERT.

RECOGNISED: Three sites in Mumbai, Dr DN Road, Elphinstone College and St Thomas Cathedral, as exemplary instances of cultural preservation, by UNESCO.

REJECTED: The plea to withdraw the anti-terror case against MDMK chief Vaiko and eight of his party workers, by a trial court in Tamil Nadu.