Delicacies conceived by celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor may soon be on the platter of students studying in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas.
Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani today said her ministry has decided to rope in Kapoor to prepare menu of food to be served at all Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas and to train the cooks of these residential schools.
According to Irani, the decision has been taken with an aim to provide best facilities to the students of Navodaya schools, which are run by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
"Bright students from humble family background take admission in these boarding schools. To provide facilities parallel to private boarding schools, we have decided to rope in celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor to prepare the menu of the food served in these schools," she said at the foundation stone laying ceremony of a JNV at Hathijan village near here.
"Apart from preparing the menu of these schools, Kapoor will also provide training to all the cooks of these boarding schools. Our aim is to make students feel that they are studying in a school which is no less than a private boarding school," the Minister said.
Navodaya Vidyalayas, affiliated to the CBSE, offer free education to meritorious students, mainly from rural areas, from Class-VI to XII.
"This school here will also have smart classrooms, which will reflect Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Digital India' vision. It is my promise that this school will be made operational by 2019. Two such schools will also come up in Valsad and Dahod districts in near future," she added.
She said the common line of advice was that "ignore the
trolls no matter how high they serve in their political systems. Ignore public attempts to humiliate you through sexual innuendos - kyunki nuksaan tumhara hoga unka kuch nahi bigadega".
"Ask any working woman, about what they do when your colleagues do not finish their assignment on time brushing off attempts at ensuring accountability and if push comes to shove is cocky enough to gang up with other boys in the club to paint you as either too wound up, too dumb or not competent enough. The successful women always tell you that they continue to crack the whip. For there will come a time when the colleague says - Fine! I'll get the work done.
"So while many working women battle this challenge in confined working spaces, I spat it out on twitter for my office travels with me," she said.
Referring to her twitter fight with Chaudhary over the latter addressing her as "dear", she said, "As the politician mumbled apologies and explained his position regarding the twitter spat to my state leader on the mobile while our contingent drove back from Bhagalpur last night, I watched his supporters trend a hashtag in my name, irrespective of their neta's public apology."
"As those who scream murder and whip themselves up into a feminist frenzy at the drop of a hat tried to endear themselves to me on Twitter, I reflected on the near 'Jerry Maguire'-like moment that was upon me," she said.
In the post, Irani also listed the initiatives her ministry has undertaken since her taking over as the HRD Minister.
