Being the political hotspot that Delhi is,the meaning of every act of a politician is analysed inside out. Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh gave many food for thought on the day of the official launch of the newly inducted Boeing Dreamliner into the Air India fleet. The huge advertisements in the newspapers carried photographs of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Ajit Singh himself,but crucially omitted that of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,an act of sacrilege for any minister in this government. And during the launch function,the presence of two former Civil Aviation Ministers from the BJP camp,Shahnawaz Hussain and Rajiv Pratap Rudy,kept the people guessing further. Safe Environment HAVING burnt its fingers in the setting up of one expert panel,the Environment Ministry has exercised utmost caution in deciding the formation of another. The recently reconstituted Forest Advisory Committee,which decides whether or not to recommend forest clearances to industrial or infrastructure projects,came under attack for having members with known links to industry bodies. So while reconstituting the Expert Appraisal Committee for the industrial sector the one that evaluates whether an industrial project is in consonance with environment laws the ministry played it safe. The new 14-member committee is headed by M M Raman,former Secretary in Ministry of Chemicals,and has mostly retired bureaucrats with a background in environmental governance and pollution control. Back in the Frame SHASHI Tharoor seems to be back in favour with the powers that be in the Congress party. The former Minister of State for External Affairs has been nominated by party president Sonia Gandhi to represent her at a function in Germany next year. Sonia has been invited by the Social Democratic Party of Germany to attend its convention in May next year. The UPA chairperson has nominated Tharoor and Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari to attend the function on her behalf. Change of Guard? AN idea can change the shape of a ceremony. During his talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar in Islamabad,External Affairs Minister S M Krishna proposed that the border guards of the two countries at the Wagah-Attari border should not frown at each other,and should rather go home with a smile. The reference was to the daily evening flag-lowering ceremony at the border post when one guard of each country comes face to face and stares,almost threateningly,into each others eyes. The ceremony is a top draw for tourists on either side of the border. Rabbani was said to be receptive to Krishnas idea,though nothing was finalised. Flight Turbulence A SHORT statement from the Air Force on Wednesday morning,saying that it strongly stood by the decision of its pilots not to fly Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in bad weather during his visit to Assam on Tuesday,gave the impression that the pilots had been pressured to fly but had refused. Already,reports were doing the rounds that Rahul could not avail of the helicopter ride because he had got late in his meetings. But no such thing had happened and the flight could not take place only because of bad weather. The Air Force statement has,however,upset the Defence Ministry,more so because it was issued without the mandatory clearance from the ministry.
