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Journalism of Courage
All the brouhaha over the Indian Ambassador in the US being patted down at Mississippi airport and Indian Permanent Representative at the UN Hardeep Puris sharp protest against authorities trying to check his turban has resulted in the US proposing two new innovations. Senior officials from the US Homeland Security department recently told their Indian counterparts that they were in discussions with the Sikh community to introduce a small gadget to scan turbans. Respecting religious sensitivities,US authorities are willing to let passengers run the gadget around the turbans on their own while security personnel monitor the beeps. As for the sari,which is what led to Meera Shankar being singled out,US officials have said the sari falls under the category of bulky dresses that often require closer scrutiny. To deal with this,the Homeland Security department is willing to offer private screening for individuals if they are singled out because they are wearing such dresses. However,the screening will be done only at the passengers specific request. While US authorities seemed confident that the Indian community will accept these as reasonable suggestions,the doubt is whether its enough to placate the two senior and high-profile Indian diplomats. Not taking chances,the US side has said they are also going to nominate officials of the Transport Security Administration at each airport to provide security protocol services to ambassadors who ask for it. They hoped that this would please the two,somewhat upset,diplomats.
SC not so woman-friendly
A race to the top
If it was the race for the top job at CBI that kept all guessing last month,this month around it is the position of Special Director,CBI,that has got a race started. With former Special Director CBI A P Singh having moved to the top job at CBI,it is DG,Goa,B S Bassi,a 1977 batch IPS officer,who is the top contender for the Special Directors position. DG,Tihar,Neeraj Kumar is also said to be in the fray. Kumar,a 1975 batch IPS officer,was earlier Special Commissioner (administration) in the Delhi Police,but his earlier stint with the CBI weighs in his favour. Kumar,however,retires in 2013 while Bassi whose retirement is due in 2016 is also seen as a future Delhi Police Commissioner. Meanwhile,Ajay Chaddha,a 1976 batch IPS officer who is presently with the Delhi Police,is tipped to become the next DG,Tihar.
An early At Home
The customary Presidents At Home an afternoon high tea at the Rashtrapati Bhawan lawns on Republic Day has been advanced by half-an-hour from its usual 4 pm time. This is said to be the first time such a decision has been made and,therefore,serious deliberations took place among high-ranking officials on the issue. The reason for the change is a request from the Indonesian President,who is the chief guest at this years R-Day function. He has to fly out the same evening but many felt the time customary schedule need not be changed for this. Ultimately,President Pratibha Patil is believed to have taken the view that courtesy must be extended to the chief guest.
Conflict of interest: No lessons learnt
It seems some MPs never learn their lessons despite facing criticism for taking up issues that fall in conflict of interest areas. At a recent consultative committee meeting of the ministry of civil aviation,an industrialist MP belonging to the Congress reportedly made a passionate plea for granting several facilities at the Delhi airport for general aviation the segment dealing with private jets,chartered flights etc. Arguing that air traffic had increased manifold in the last few years,the MP said that general aviation segment should be provided better facilities,including separate check-in facilities,separate lounges and airbus facilities. The MP,also a regular traveller by private aircraft,even proposed,albeit unsuccessfully,that the Safdarjung airport be converted into an exclusive airport for private jets.
Naming the day
Indian bureaucracy,busy as it may be,does seem to relish spending more time than required on certain decisions such as whether January 25 be celebrated as National Voters Day or National Tourism Day. The Election Commission had already made the decision but a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries had to be convened to take the call. The Secretaries eventually decided in favour of the Election Commissions idea. Its a different matter that the Election Commission had issued passes for the celebration much before the Committee of Secretaries resolved this issue on January 12.
Son-rise in the Congress
Whatever Rahul Gandhi may say against the role of the family,friends and money in politics,he may do little to prevent son-rise in the Grand Old Party of India. The two names creating a buzz in the Congress nowadays are Vaibhav Gehlot,the son of Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot,and Jaywardhan Singh,the son of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh. Jaywardhan took his first step into politics joining the Youth Congress last year. Vaibhav,on the other hand,is on a fast track. While many were surprised at his recent elevation as a Rajasthan PCC member,Union Minister and PCC chief C P Joshi,once an Ashok Gehlot protégé who fell out later,also appears to be charmed by the 29-year-old son of the CM. Vaibhav has,of late,been attending meetings of the Rajasthan Cricket Association,headed by C P Joshi. There is already speculation about Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjees son Abhijit contesting elections during the forthcoming Assembly polls in West Bengal. For the time being though,none of these Congress stalwarts are willing to talk about their sons political ambitions.
A spectrum of jokes
When some of the top BJP leaders met at a lunch hosted by Bihar BJP chief C P Thakur during the weekend on the occasion of Makar Sankrati,the chit chat invariably moved on to the recent political developments. With media personnel in earshot,the BJP leaders were more than happy to share their takes on corruption and price rise. Senior BJP leader and PAC chief Murli Manohar Joshi shed his serious demeanour and mentioned an SMS joke on spectrum his favourite topic nowadays which is doing the rounds. The SMS,Joshi said,went on like this. Scots produce the best scotch,French the best wine and Germans the best beer. Indians,on the other hand,brew the best rum which is also very costly,and it is called spect-rum. It was BJP chief Nitin Gadkaris turn to share a text message he got. It was about a conversation between two girls. One of the girls points to a boy and observes that he seems to be very rich,because his breath smells of onion.
Fire alarm at Shastri Bhawan
Offices of the Tribal Affairs Ministry on Shastri Bhawans top floor look like a ghost town,as a recent fire incident there has covered the entire place with soot. A short-circuit on December 31 seemed to have sparked the damage,but what had got everyone worried was that the vigilance section of the I&B Ministry was also affected. Last heard,the files have remained undamaged especially since there have been ongoing investigations on the Prasar Bharati issue.
Less is more for Sonia
Congress President Sonia Gandhi recently held a meeting with party general secretaries to review how they were implementing her suggestions that she had spelt out in her concluding remarks at the partys plenary session. As she asked about state coordination committees,to be set up for better cohesion between the party and the government or the Legislature Party in different states,a suggestion came that there should be 15 members each in these committees. Sonia immediately turned down the idea,saying that she had meant coordination committees and not rehabilitation centres. It was finally agreed to limit the size
to 11.
Returning the favour
Vice-President Hamid Ansari had in his address on the National Education Day last year quoted extensively from Prathams annual education survey lending even more weight to the findings. It was now Prathams turn,which acknowledged the standing of the Vice-President and what his words had done for the NGO. Hamid Ansari was the chief guest invited this year to release the 2010 Pratham education survey.
Mission Building Bridges
Facing flak after his name cropped up in a series of land scandals involving the Army,former Chief of Army Staff,General Deepak Kapoor was spotted hobnobbing with the powers to be at a function to celebrate Army Day in the Capital. While he had a five-minute conversation with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Kapoors wife was spotted chatting for several minutes with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Tourism Minister Kumari Selja. Later,she also had an extended conversation with the Prime Ministers wife,Gursharan Kaur. It may be recalled that earlier,when his name cropped up in the Adarsh housing controversy,the former Army chief had called on Defence Minister A K Antony to explain his position on the matter.
Taking limited chances
At a time when Union ministers,particularly Congressmen,are not moving out of Delhi in anticipation of impending Cabinet re-shuffle,Rural Development Minister C P Joshi took time out to visit Vadodara on Saturday. Joshi,who heads the Rajasthan Cricket Association,was there to cheer his home team in Ranji Trophy final. Having fought hard against Lalit Modi to control the state cricket association,he considers it a feather in his cap that Rajasthan won its maiden Ranji trophy this year. But all that aside,he refused to stay overnight for the celebrations and came back to Delhi the same day the reshuffle hadnt exactly skipped his mind,say sources.
