PM on Diwali gifts

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is receiving heaps of gifts he does not want. Fed up with the Diwali goodies landing up at his office, the PM has made an appeal that instead of gifts, donations to the PM’s National Relief Fund will be much more welcome. “Donations to the PM’s National Relief Fund will benefit thousands of needy people,” an official release said. The gift shower is a yearly occurrence and a predictable part of Delhi’s calendar but the PM is simply not interested in the costly sweets, shawls, woodworks, paintings, crystals and art pieces being sent to him. Besides being an irritant, and possibly achieving the opposite of what their senders hope for, the gifts are a logistical problem for the PM’s security.