Sam Pitroda — Congress’s overseas unit chief who is back in saddle after a seven-week break — today stood by his statement about diversity among Indians, but admitted that he could have put it better. “It is not about words but about the meaning… but maybe I could have done a better job,” he told NDTV in an exclusive interview.  And about the row that followed that comment, he shrugged it off.

“I have to run my life. They can say I live in Chicago and why I am talking about India. I would expect civilised conversation, dialogues.. but that is lost… People are not interested in substance of a conversation, but the form of the conversation,” he said.

Mr Pitroda had stepped down from the post in May after his two consecutive statements sparked huge controversies. He was reinstated yesterday.

The cell, as per the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), will provide expert inputs and enable end-to-end monitoring of the DPR for the national highway projects. It will also help bring uniformity in the review mechanism of the DPR and will ensure that quality reports are prepared and reviewed before the implementation of the projects

This is the twelfth case of suspected death by suicide by a coaching student in Kota since January. The number of student suicides in the city stood at 26 in 2023