The Border Security Force’s air wing is facing some turbulence these days. On top of it, it has also been forced to ground an Embraer pilot, notwithstanding its perennial shortage of pilots. The pilot, D K Berry, apparently expressed reluctance to fly Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil to Amritsar on September 28 last year. Patil was visiting Amritsar to attend the Shaheed Bhagat Singh birth centenary function. The pilot is learnt to have been unwilling to fly the Embraer that was to carry Patil, saying he was indisposed. He was persuaded to change his mind, but a similar drama played out in Amritsar when the time came for Patil to return to New Delhi. It took loads of cajoling from senior officials for Berry to agree to fly the aircraft back. That was the last straw for BSF officials. The pilot is currently under suspension and an internal inquiry is in progress. The buzz is that Berry was suspended for repeated acts of grave indiscipline. Berry — who has contested the charge saying there were no delays in the flights on September 28 — is now facing an inquiry being conducted by a BSF Deputy Inspector General (DIG). There are allegations that he violated discipline in the past as well. It is being conjectured that one of the reasons for such behaviour from him is his demand that he be promoted to DIG from a Commandant. The battle for New YorkThe contest to become India’s Permanent Representative in the United Nations has taken an interesting turn with M S Puri being appointed as the No 2 in the New York mission. The little known Puri is related to one of the main contenders for the post, the influential Hardeep Puri, who is currently India’s Ambassador to Brazil. The word out is that two cousins cannot possibly occupy the top two posts in India’s UN mission. While there may be no logic to this, the strange “coincidence” seems to have helped the other contender, Meera Shankar, India’s Ambassador to Germany, nose ahead in the betting game underway in South Block. With Ronen Sen agreeing to stay on for another year in Washington, the entire MEA is glued to this close battle for New York between two very influential diplomats. Without official baggage Former President A P J Abdul Kalam is keeping a busy schedule even after retirement. He attended the swearing-in of the new Korean President on Sunday. But more importantly, he will soon be undertaking a visit that he would have clearly avoided during his tenure as President during the UPA Government. He is believed to be travelling to Israel to deliver a lecture and, possibly, even take questions, on the growing India-Israel defence relationship. And who better than the former DRDO head to talk about this. Water harvestingIt’s Budget season and some Government departments are beginning to take seriously the need for austerity measures reiterated by the Finance Ministry time and again. The Labour Ministry, expected to get a significantly higher budgetary allocation this year, circulated an interesting memo last week on bringing down expenses on mineral water consumed at meetings. Officials have been told that the 250-ml bottles of Catch mineral water may only be used for meetings with visiting delegates and dignitaries. For routine meetings, a 500-ml of Aquafina is prescribed—and it is to be shared by two officials. The silver lining: separate glasses will be provided. Hidden supportEarly in 2007, after the Congress withdrew support to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government in Uttar Pradesh, the SP returned the compliment by declaring it would withdraw support to the UPA in Delhi. It now turns out that the letter withdrawing support was never been given to the President of India — leaving the SP even today technically an outside supporter of the UPA, based on a letter it gave in 2004. But the two parties — who had a running tu-tu mein-mein throughout 2007 — are on a more even keel now. The SP even dropped renegade Congressman K Natwar Singh like a hot potato after indulging him for a while, killing all hopes that Natwar had of the SP giving him a nomination for the Rajya Sabha. Party pooperKarnataka Governor Rameshwar Thakur is under attack from state Congress leaders, so much so that they approached the central leadership about a change. They complained that Thakur was becoming very unpopular among people because of his transfer-and-posting policy favouring the “wrong type” of officials. When the Congress leadership got down to ascertaining the fact, they found that the Governor was indeed unpopular, but not among the people, only in Congress circles. The reason: he had ignored the recommendations of state leaders like Dharam Singh and Mallikarjun Kharge with regard to transfers and postings. Naam kay waaste In a country where names of states and cities have political implications, a lot more than usual is read into nomenclatures. GMR, which is upgrading the Delhi airport, realised this when the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport visited the IGI airport in Delhi for ‘stock taking’. While the panel was fairly satisfied with the pace of the work there, some MPs took offence at seeing innumerable boards across the airport bearing the name “GMR/DIAL”. The committee members felt that the name of Indira Gandhi was being undermined by the private operator GMR calling it the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). The Civil Aviation Ministry had to step in and give the MPs a written clarification last week that the name of Delhi’s airport remained Indira Gandhi International Airport. Cheers for nationalismIs there a consensus growing on serving beer and wine on domestic flights? More MPs have been making a pitch for allowing Indian carriers to permit some alcoholic drinks. At a meeting of a Civil Aviation Parliamentary Committee some time ago, Tarlochan Singh suggested that wine be served like bottled water. Dr M S Gill backed the proposal, saying that serving small bottles of alcohol would do no harm and it should be ‘considered favourably’ by the ministry. Rajiv Shukla went on to add that a delegation of grape growers from Maharashtra had met him and requested him to ensure that Indian wines are served on flights.Track II diplomacyBeing the toast of the electronic media can have its downside. This realisation suddenly appears to have dawned upon the aides of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, who, after being flooded with requests for “exclusive” interviews after the Rail Budget, struggled for days to devise a please-all plan. Stumped by the sheer number of channels wanting one-on-ones with Lalu, his mandarins felt that taking the minister to each and every television channel studio could tax the minister well past midnight. So now, the ministry will allow prominent channels to erect small sets at the National Rail Museum and all Lalu is required to do is to hop from one set to another. Pronto protocol Notwithstanding the fact that the Central Government has not given the go-ahead for Mayawati’s demand for SPG protection, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister does not seem discouraged. In fact, Lucknow sent a letter to Delhi last week seeking permission for two vehicles from her fleet to drive her on to the tarmac of airports whenever she needs to fly. The fact is the Centre had earlier agreed to just one airport vehicle driving her on the tarmac, that too only at Lucknow airport. The demands are specific: two of her own vehicles and at all domestic airports in the country, a privilege accorded only to VVIPs. Seems Mayawati is well primed for a future national role. All at seaWhile the recently concluded Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) was seen as a good beginning for India to play a role in marine matters, some discerning participants have left with a lingering confusion over the strategic and philosophical underpinnings behind the meet. In his inaugural address, the Prime Minister said that the conclave was part of India’s quest for an “inclusive world order” and cooperation to “ensure freedom of the seas for all nations”. However, Defence Minister A K Antony differed in nuance as he talked about the need to manage affairs with “resources available within the Indian Ocean littoral” and the exclusion of “extra regional” powers. His point of view was supported by Vice-President Hamid Ansari, who said that alliances with extra-regional powers “give the impression of being hegemonic”. However, the man behind the initiative, Navy Chief Sureesh Mehta, took the PM’s line and emphasised that the IONS was not based on the principle of “exclusion’” but was founded on “our unshakeable belief in inclusiveness”. TailpieceFormer Maharashtra minister Kripa Shankar Singh has suggested to the Congress central leadership a simple solution on how to tackle Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. “Remove their security, and be it Raj Thackeray or Bal Thackeray, they will never come out of their house,” Singh told an AICC General Secretary last week, citing his experience as Minister of State for Home in Maharashtra. To buttress his theory, he recalled that every time any Thackeray sought to create trouble, former Maharashtra Home Minister Chhagan Bhujbal would change the men in their security. “The Thackerays would be so suspicious and scared that they would immediately shut up,” said Singh.
