Rib-ticklers lift gloom at Tihar

Like their lives behind bars, prisoners’ joy is often caged. But sometimes — like it happened last week at Tihar Jail — the emotional fetters come off and happiness breaks free.

Inmates at the country’s most famous jail were treated to sessions of rib-tickling skits and mimicry by top contestants of the Great Indian Laughter Challenge last week.

The guffaws and cheers lit up the otherwise grim barracks as Kapil Sharma, the show’s winner, pulled off one gag after the other. Their jokes were punctuated by the one-liners of Navjot Singh Sidhu, the co-host of the show.

“Laughter comes from our day-to-day lives. Instead of artificial laughter, we have offered inmates some real moments of laughter so that they can come out of their pain for a while,” Sidhu said as he mingled with the prisoners.

The Laughter finalists knew the light moments would be fleeting but were delighted to have brought the relief. “They have nothing to laugh about. At least, we could do this much for them,” one of the contestants said.

Much of the mimicry was based on film stars and politicians.

Fertiliser cloud on harvest

Power crunch and water shortage are some of the common problems governments have to grapple with. But Tamil Nadu authorities have had to deal with a problem that has its roots in the state’s farms — a fertiliser scarcity.

The shortfall has arisen partly because some fertiliser-makers have halted production for reasons ranging from maintenance shutdowns to raw material scarcity.

Supplies have dried up from Southern Petrochemical Industries Corporation, based in Tuticorin, and Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Limited in Kochi.

The state has made arrangements to meet the shortfall by getting wagon-loads of fertilisers from Paradeep in Orissa but the supplies have not been enough.

The shortage comes at a time when rains have swelled the Cauvery and raised hopes of a good harvest in the areas where farmers depend on the river for irrigation.

Gear up for driving levy

Mumbai might do well to gear up for a driving fee, much like the congestion levy introduced in London in 2003.

The London impost, too, had a Mumbai link. Local IT company Mastek had developed the monitoring mechanism for it. Now, the same plan is being touted as an answer to the traffic woes of the country's financial capital.

The company is of the view that the model can work here, too. Once in place, escaping the charge will not be easy. Closed-circuit TVs and a licence plate recognition system will track the registration number. Fines will follow.

The only problem is the cost. The project in London required Rs 1,300 crore. Mumbai’s poor infrastructure and technological problems mean the bill will be much higher.

The idea behind the driving fee is to nudge people towards public transport at a time when spot loans and price wars among auto firms have made car purchase easy.

Land for health

Delhi’s legislators might have struck a blow for more affordable medicare and lower fees in private institutions.

The Assembly passed a resolution last week allowing allotment of government land to hospitals and schools at lower rates.

The Delhi Development Authority, which makes the allotments, has been auctioning the plots but the high prices in the bidding meant steep school fees and hospital charges that the poor could not afford.

The government, though, was worried the sops might be misused. It said many hospitals given cheap land did not provide the mandatory free treatment to the poor.

Delhi: This Friday, watch a play on the real story of a sweeper who stumbled upon black money in a gymnasium cavity. The sweeper was caught while fleeing with the booty. The play starts at 7pm. The venue: Poorva Sanskritik Kendra, Laxmi Nagar, on Vikas Marg.