An old viral post by Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s extremely tight work schedule, from his official visits abroad to how many hours he sleeps and meetings he attends in how much time, has now been explained with more details by the Foreign Minister in an interview to NDTV.

So how does an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer manage holidays – or find time to play golf – when working with such a boss?

“First of all, I don’t play golf,” Mr Jaishannkar told NDTV, and smiled.

“In a way it’s just an image, that diplomats do these things… You have to find different ways of taking a break. We are not machines,” Mr Jaishankar said.

“You have to stay physically fit. In a year I go abroad some 30-40 times. Forget other things, the least you need is fitness. You get down from a plane, and the next day you are again going somewhere far,” he said.

“Every morning, I spend an hour either playing squash, badminton, if not by stretching. I do something at least that keeps me fit. I listen to music, reading. For me, I have always been interested in the world. That’s why I joined the foreign service. Travel also in a way is calming, and you observe many things,” Mr Jaishankar said.

“But going for a holiday for a week or two, that’s not possible in Modi sarkar. We knew it from the start. It is not only the situation for ministers. Even when I was a secretary it was not possible to take leave for many days. So you have to find different ways of handling things. Sometimes, people tell me ‘I saw you on TV, you looked tired’. What can I say? If you’re jet-lagged, you look like that,” he said.

India’s foreign policy has fully transformed in the past 10 years under PM Modi, and there are many markers in the journey so far that highlight this face, Mr Jaishankar told NDTV.

He has just published a book, ‘Why Bharat Matters’, which he said acknowledged the word “Bharat” as a “mindset”, an “approach”.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was taken into custody by the Enforcement Directorate this evening, minutes after quitting the post. Transport minister Champai Soren, one of the veteran leaders of the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, will step into his shoes. Later in the evening, Mr Soren was formally arrested after being taken to the ED office.

Hemant Soren was taken into custody in connection with an alleged land scam, minutes after meeting the governor and handing in his resignation.

Sources said he had discussed the matter with the officials, declaring that he would sign the arrest memo only after stepping down. The ED Officials then took him to meet the Governor. A Chief Minister can be arrested under the anti-money laundering rules if he evades summons thrice.

Mr Soren, after evading the Enforcement Directorate over the weekend, had agreed to be questioned by the Central agency this afternoon. His statement was recorded during theb questioning.

Mr Soren, who had evaded seven summons for questioning in an alleged money laundering case linked to the Rs 600 crore land scam, was anticipating arrest for a while.  Yesterday, he held a meeting with MLAs of the ruling alliance where the question of his successor was discussed.

Initially, it was expected to be his wife, Kalpana Soren. But given the proximity of the state elections — due in November — the party had to drop the idea.

By-elections cannot be held in the last year of any state assembly’s term and so, Kalpana Soren could not have been elected an MLA even if she was named the Chief Minister.

The land scam involves a “huge racket” to change of ownership of government land and selling it to builders, the agency has alleged. So far, 14 people have been  arrested in the case, including 2011-batch IAS officer Chhavi Ranjan who served as the director of the state Social Welfare Department and deputy commissioner of Ranchi.

Mr Soren has claimed that he is the target of a huge conspiracy.
“The BJP conspiracy against him has succeeded for a while. But our government has majority and will continue,” said state minster Mithilesh Thakur.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s highly-anticipated series Heeramandi is all set to release soon. While not much is known about the star-studded project, the makers have teased the first look.