Culture vulture gaffe

The 'India at 60' event organised in New York by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) between September 23 and 26 to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was meant to showcase to New Yorkers and others the “kaleidoscope of a vibrant democracy with compellingly young demographics” — but it failed to go beyond the cut-outs in Time Square. What is worse is that initially the programme was meant to be a limited fare under public-private partnership where the ministry of tourism was supposed to give a portion of the money and the rest was meant to be raised by the CII. Sources have informed Hardnews that the earlier budget was just about Rs 2 crore, but the chambers of commerce felt that it was too less for a programme like this. Later, it was raised to Rs 14 crore, with ministry of culture and tourism giving the entire amount. When someone quizzed CII officials, they said that the funds had to come from the government. It is also learnt that the CII sought free tickets from Air India (400 were asked, but they got a lot less than that) even when travel costs were included in the budget. Air India, needless to say, was not informed that there were other sponsors who were footing the air travel. Also, the CII retained a former joint secretary of the tourism ministry and introduced him as if he was still holding his charge. This entire enterprise was meant to showcase Minister of  Tourism and Culture   Ambika Soni as a cultural icon of India, but she had to drop out of the visit after she found herself mired in a controversial affidavit on the SethuSamudram issue.