Centre asks ministries for details of clubs, institutes
NEW DELHI: The Union government has sought from ministries details of the functioning of Gandhian institutes, clubs, and conference centres, according to an official note.
The ministries that have received a request for information from the Prime Minister’s Office include the Home Ministry, I and B Ministry, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the Department of Official Languages. The list of those who received the mail also includes the home secretary and the Information and Broadcasting secretary. The prominent clubs related to these ministries nclude the various media related clubs like the Foreign Press Club and the Indian Women’s Press Club.
“It is requested the information sought as attached be shared. Details related to the ministry/ institutions/ autonomous bodies of the ministry may be shared by 16 November, 5pm,” said an e-mail from Amarapali Kata, deputy secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office that was sent Monday evening. HT has seen a copy of the e-mail, which has separate attachments on the details sought in each category of institution.
The purpose of seeking this information isn’t known. It is also not clear is such a communication has been sought by the government before. HT has reached out to the PMO for comment but didn’t receive any.
The PMO has sought information on three categories of institutions: Delhi clubs, conference halls in Delhi, and Gandhian institutes (institutes on Gandhian Studies and related subjects/Institutes where a Gandhian chair has been established”, according to the attachment). For clubs, the PMO has sought details on “whether the land is given on subsidised rates’’ and if so, the terms and conditions for the same. For conference centres, it has sought details of all events held this year and the facilities provided in the conference centre.
And for Gandhian institutes, it has asked for details of courses that the institute offers.
HT contacted Home secretary Ajay Bhalla and I &d B secretary Apurva Chandra, both marked on the mail. While Bhalla didn’t respond, Chandra said that he wasn’t aware of this communication.. A person who works with the government told HT that it is likely that this request for information is part of the government’s stocktaking ahead of the G20 summit that will be hosted by India next year.
”We are likely to see 500 events from now till next year,’’ said the person, who didn’t want to be named. “A bulk of them are in Delhi and so we will need a lot of spaces. There is work on since the past month and so this could be part of that.” However, a key officer involved in organising the G 20 scheduled in September next year, told HT that there were comparatively few events in the Capital, and so this communication was related to hosting the G20. “Most of the Delhi events will be at Pragati Maidan so I don’t think this is about that,’’ he said, on condition of anonymity.
FOR CLUBS, THE PMO HAS SOUGHT DETAILS ON ‘WHETHER THE LAND IS GIVEN ON SUBSIDISED RATES’
NEW YORK: Andy Warhol’s iconic 1960s painting White Disaster sold for $85 million at auction on Wednesday evening at Sotheby’s in New York.
The 1963 piece of art was sold after two minutes and a brief duel between two bidders, for a total of $74 million, or $85.4 million with all related costs and fees.
The last time a piece of art from Warhol’s Death and Disaster series was sold in 2013, it set a record for the artist at $105 million.
In May, Warhol’s 1964 portrait of Marilyn Monroe, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, was auctioned for $195 million, becoming the most expensive 20thcentury work ever sold at auction.
White Disaster [White Car Crash 19 Times], as it is formally known, is a work of silkscreen ink and graphite, which depicts the same black-and-white image of a macabre car accident 19 times on a canvas 12 feet (3.6 metres) tall.
“At the end of 1962, Warhol paints Marilyn Monroe, beginning his fascination with celebrity imagery, but it was really her demise at the end of ’62 and the spectacle around her death that captured Warhol’s fascination,” said David Galperin, head of contemporary art Americas at Sotheby’s.
The piece of art sold on Wednesday came from a private collection and Sotheby’s gave no information on the buyer.