“Durga Shakti” again.

published on August 12, 2013

MUMBAI: Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav and his Samajwadi Party may not find this bit of news thrilling, but it reflects India’s mood at the moment.

 A girl born at a state-run hospital in Nanded in Maharashtra on Sunday was named Durga Shakti”after suspended IAS officer Durga Sakthi Nagpal by the district collector Dhiraj Kumar when the baby’s mother, Maya Ashok Kadam, asked him to name her.

“In the current scenario, I felt Durga Shakti was the most appropriate name,” Kumar, himself born and brought up in Lucknow, told TOI.

 Kumar, civic chief G Shrikant and civil surgeon S C Rathod were at the hospital to check facilities as most pregnant woman in the town had been moved there in the wake of a shutdown by private hospitals.

 When Kumar made inquiries with Kadam and asked her what name she’d give her child, she suggested he name the girl himself.

 Minutes after the informal naming ceremony, Kumar set aside an amount of Rs 10,000 for the girl. The civic chief and other officials too pitched in and a sum of Rs 61,000 was deposited in a bank; Durga will get it when she turns 18.