| Spooking the spooks |
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It is only a walk across the road from Sanchar Bhawan, which houses the telecom ministry, to Sardar Patel Bhawan for just-retired telecom secretary Rentala Chandrasekhar, who has been appointed as chief of the super-secretive National Technical Research Organisation. But, in government circles, the appointment has had a seismic effect—an IAS officer has encroached upon the world of... |
| Running from RTI |
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Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar must have been amused by the rare show of unanimity among political parties refusing to comply with the Right to Information Act. She has been trying in vain for many months to bring unity among the major players in the Lok Sabha to ensure that Parliament runs smoothly. But the unanimity of the political class against the intrusion into their style of functioning was... |
| Jeth propellant |
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The expulsion of Ram Jethmalani from the BJP was expected. The surprise was the time it took to eject the nonagenarian after he attacked the organisational and parliamentary leadership of the main opposition party. It was a typical dramatic action by Jethmalani that ensured his removal. He had stormed into a party meeting to which he was not invited and ridiculed the supineness of the... |
| Poll positioning |
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With the Karnataka Assembly elections over, the Congress and the BJP have begun preparations for the next round of direct fight in four Hindi-speaking states. While the Congress rules Rajasthan and Delhi, the BJP has been in power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for almost a decade. These states have been going to polls together since 1993, thanks to the dismissal of the BJP governments... |
| Cagey about the CBI |
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The brouhaha over the Supreme Court description of the CBI as a “caged parrot” has led to the formation of a group of ministers to consider granting autonomy to the agency. The GoM, led by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, who had dealt with the CBI in the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1980s, would give suggestions. Since it is not an empowered GoM, the suggestions will not get... |
| All strike, no work |
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As one more Parliament session went down the drain, the blame game began immediately. The BJP has developed a reflexive action of killing the question hour and all other proceedings in support of its demand. The strategy, which is credited to NDA working chairman L.K. Advani and the two opposition leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, has helped the government escape parliamentary scrutiny.... |
| Guv and take |
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The reappointment of N.N. Vohra as Governor of Jammu and Kashmir for a further five years made eyebrows go up in political circles.Everyone in the government expected Vohra, a favourite of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, to get an extension. But the reappointment was done even as Vohra's current term ends only on June 25.It is unprecedented for the UPA government to act two months in advance.... |
| Chalo Chennai |
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Chennai Express is Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film. And for opposition leaders, Chennai is the new destination. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s recent meeting with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has revved up speculation about a third front after the Lok Sabha elections, though both of them were more outspoken against discrimination by the Congress-controlled... |
| Non-plying captain |
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Despite Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar’s prodding, the Congress is reluctant to hold regular meetings with its allies. A promise was made to Mamata Banerjee (when she was still in the UPA) and Pawar last year, but the regular consultation mechanism has not yet been put into place. Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel, who is considered the coordinator of the UPA, believes... |
| Inter‘net’ gain |
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Narendra Modi had a new mantra for the BJP's top leadership. He asked them to embrace social media to reach out to voters. At the central election committee, to which he was belatedly nominated, Modi extolled the power of the new medium of communication saying there were more mobile users than the votes polled by the Congress in the last Lok Sabha elections. He believes in telelinkages,... |
| Arm aadmi |
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Both Maharashtra Governor K. Sankaranarayanan and Chief Minister Prithviraj Chauhan have the reputation of being fair-minded administrators. They like to make decisions without fuss, though Chauhan's in-house critics often grumble that he is indecisive and worried about his reputation. The duo now will have to deal with the shrill demands that actor Sanjay Dutt be not sent back to jail for... |
| Family federations |
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Mani Shankar Aiyar, M.S. Gill and Ajay Maken were three successive sports ministers who tried hard to rein in the powerful sports federations in the country. One was a diplomat, the second a bureaucrat and the third a grassroots politician. They worked on a new sports code, which insisted on new norms of functioning by the entrenched interests which controlled sports bodies for decades. Even as... |
| Neighbourhood watch |
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Policy purists are appalled that regional politics is affecting the country’s foreign policy. They are objecting to the strong intervention by Tamil Nadu parties on issues of national security and diplomacy. The withdrawal of the DMK from the UPA is seen as the manifestation of regional obsessions against national interest.When Mamata Banerjee backed out of the prime ministerial delegation... |
| Destination movie locations |
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Chiranjeevi may have stopped acting in films, but they are still in his thoughts. It seems the minister of state for tourism is looking at the touristic possibilities of the silver screen. He is planning a tourism circuit of places where big hits of Indian cinema were picturised. Among the names under consideration for this unique chain of tourist spots is Silver Trail, which he hopes would do as... |
| Viva voce |
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Unlike the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party places high premium on oratorial skills. The party, which has been in the opposition for the past nine years, always projected charismatic speakers who could sway audiences. L.K.Advani recently stressed the BJP's admiration for gripping speakers when he praised Sushma Swaraj as the most eloquent speaker among the party's current crop of... |
| Federation cusp |
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The twin blasts in Hyderabad have made the home ministry revive the efforts for a National Counter-Terrorism Centre with the powers to operate across the country. The NCTC, an idea conceived by P. Chidambaram when he was home minister, was stillborn as it was rejected last year by states ruled by non-Congress parties. They called it an affront to federalism and were not satisfied with the Union... |
| Wrestlers on the mat |
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The news that wrestling may not feature in the 2020 Olympics has galvanised the wrestling fraternity in Delhi into action. After all, the biggest stars of the mat come from within a radius of 200km of the national capital.New Delhi's Chhatrasal stadium is the headquarters, where hundreds of eager youth are trained by gurujis. They were all fired by the success stories of London Olympic... |
| Gordian knot |
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Does the summer of 2013 promise to release the Lokpal from the legislative and administrative limbo of 45 years? The government says it is determined to get the law into the statute book, by getting a changed version passed, first in the Rajya Sabha and then in the Lok Sabha. But the opposition is not ready to go with the governmental version in the upper house, where the UPA does not have a... |
| Wrestler's arithmetic |
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Mulayam Singh Yadav seems to be enjoying the attention he is getting. The Samajwadi Party president's exhortations to his party colleagues to get ready for early elections can be seen as an indicator that the ex-wrestler is impatient with the Congress. Even the Bharatiya Janata Party is taking him seriously enough to advance its own timetables. It believes that Mulayam wants to exploit the... |
| Europeans are coming |
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The UPA government managed to get over the opposition of allies like the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party to FDI in retail, saying that the state governments would have the final say in allowing foreign retail outlets in their cities. This provision was necessary because a majority of the states, including the Congress-ruled Kerala, had opposed the entry of foreign players into the... |
| Money for the run |
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A few years ago, the IT-BT tycoons of Bangalore staged a protest against the poor condition of city roads, eliciting strong responses, positive and negative. Their voices moved the Central and state governments. There were also sniggers about how much wealth these behemoths were giving back to the country’s IT hub. Since then, Sudha Murti, Nandan Nilekani and Azim Premji have backed major... |
| A road to nowhere |
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When the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) went to court against the ministry of environment and forests for stalling clearance for road projects, it was seen as yet another instance of policy paralysis which has gripped UPA II. Fingers were pointed at both the Prime Minister's Office and the cabinet secretariat for allowing this dispute to fester. Manmohan Singh was seen as being... |
| Taxing times |
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Moderate” is a word that has been a common thread in the budgets presented by Manmohan Singh and his successors as finance ministers since 1991. Each one of them—Singh, P. Chidambaram (in his three terms as FM), Yashwant Sinha, Jaswant Singh and Pranab Mukherjee—have claimed credit for moderating the tax regime for better compliance from taxpayers and less proclivity by high... |
| A name to honour |
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Shashi Tharoor's suggestion that the new anti-rape law be named after the victim of the brutal rape in Delhi has drawn mixed reactions. The minister feels that naming the law after the braveheart would be a fitting tribute. By convention, names of rape victims are not disclosed even by courts, unless the victim voluntarily waives the cloak of anonymity. In the United States, the names of... |
| Politically correct |
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The security forces made Raisina Hill a fortress after it was besieged by protesters. North Block also has become a protected area, but for another reason. Entry of visitors to the finance ministry is strictly restricted, as the annual budget exercise—the last of the United Progressive Alliance-II—has begun. Though cynics say Finance Minister P. Chidambaram would present a sweetheart... |
| Bye-bye, bias |
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On behalf of the Congress, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde has taken the credit of appointing a Muslim officer as the Intelligence Bureau chief. The decision to bring in Syed Asif Ibrahim, 59, is a welcome departure from the unwritten rule that prevented grooming of Muslim officers for top jobs in the security and intelligence circles. But, Shinde should avoid politicising the job of the... |
| Lights out |
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The red beacon light atop cars of politicians and bureaucrats has often come in for adverse mention by the judiciary. Now the Supreme Court has expressed its displeasure over the misuse of this symbol of priority and exclusivity.There is anger that even a ‘village sarpanch’ uses the red beacon on his car in Punjab. Red lights are owner’s pride and neighbour’s envy, to... |
| Lasting impression |
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The adoption of the direct cash transfer scheme by the Union government is a triumph for Nandan Nilekani, the corporate hero who found himself trapped in the corridors of power. Not only is the scheme scripted by him, but it is also going to be rolled out on the basis of Aadhaar, or the unique identification number. Nilekani has been heading the Unique Identification Authority from the beginning.... |
| Burning issue |
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The Kerala government has held up the torch, literally. Supporting burning of effigies of public figures during protests, it told the High Court that it was a fundamental right, though an uncivilised practice. There has been a spate of incendiary acts throughout the country, especially when diesel prices were hiked. Effigies of the Prime Minister and ministers were burnt by the opposition party... |
| Scindia surge |
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As Jyotiraditya Scindia took independent charge of the power ministry in the latest cabinet reshuffle, there was nostalgia in Congress circles about his father, Madhavrao Scindia, whose life was cut short by a plane crash in 2001. He was deputy leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha at that time. He had shown his dynamism as a result-oriented minister in the governments of Rajiv Gandhi... |
| Dream merchants |
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Crystal gazing at the 2014 Lok Sabha elections has been intense ever since Mamata Banerjee withdrew from the United Progressive Alliance. Thanks to the leadership tussles in the BJP, and the party's inability to expand beyond its comfort zones, the guessing game on the shape of the next government has become complex. Even though the Congress has become aggressive in the last few weeks both on... |
| Downgraded ally |
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Eyebrows went up as V. Narayanasamy, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, met DMK president M. Karunanidhi in Chennai recently. Of course, Narayanasamy, who is close to both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has to transit through Chennai to and from his constituency, Puducherry. Yet, the importance gained by the minister shows that the party... |
| The nephew factor |
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Maharashtra politics is in a churn. The second largest state in terms of political representation in the Lok Sabha is in the throes of personality clashes and reconciliations, and there are pointers that there could be attempts at political realignment. The Congress is in its third consecutive term, sharing power with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party, and Kishor Joshi, a Congress... |
| The metro muddle |
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The CAG, in its report on the Antrix-Devas deal of the Indian Space Research Organisation, had warned that top officials’ holding multiple posts can lead to conflict of interests. It had found that G. Madhavan Nair’s many hats— secretary, department of space; chairman, ISRO; chairman, Space Commission; chairman and managing director, Antrix Corporation (a subsidiary of... |
| Can of worms |
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Considering all the criticism he has got this year, Manmohan Singh may not like to read a book which further trashes his record as finance minister and Prime Minister. But retired IAS officer Javid Chowdhury's book The Insider's View (Penguin Viking, price 0499; pages 328) vindicates the attacks on the third-longest-serving Prime Minister of India. Chowdhury is well remembered for... |
| One of a kind |
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Wielding power came naturally to Brajesh Mishra, whose father, D.P. Mishra, was known for his decisiveness and ruthlessness as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh. The younger Mishra rejected suggestions of inheriting the political legacy, and, instead, embraced diplomacy. But as a young foreign service officer, he had seen the humiliation of India in Beijing and other world capitals, and he had an... |
| Off the mark |
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Weather forecasters are normally the butt of jokes. The Indian meteorological department was ridiculed for its wayward forecasts on the onset and movement of this year’s southwest monsoon, which has now “retreated” from India. But the weathermen have strong competition in the economic advisers of the Prime Minister and finance minister who are way off the mark on inflation,... |
| Chinese checkers |
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General V.K. Singh has left the Army, but his shadow looms whenever his successor General Bikram Singh takes a decision. Whispers are doing the rounds that Bikram Singh is disbanding the Special Operations unit formed by his predecessor, which was involved in trying to eavesdrop on conversations in the defence ministry. Now Bikram Singh is said to be less enthusiastic about plans for an exclusive... |
| Operation cooperative |
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Verghese Kurien's death has stirred the national consciousness to discuss the ups and downs of the cooperative movement in the country. There are suggestions that the best tribute to the 'Father of India's White Revolution' would be fixing the sector, which is the third alternative of national development, along with public and private sectors.The reach of cooperatives is... |
| Clash of interests |
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Apart from inflation, what else does the Reserve Bank of India fear? The central bank, under D. Subbarao, is not too scared of the Central government. But it is worried about the autonomous noises made by India's largest public sector bank. Successive chairmen of State Bank of India have drawn the ire of the banking regulator. Latest is the fulmination of Deputy Governor K.C. Chakrabarty... |
| Coal and the brawl |
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Even as the BJP went for the kill on coalgate by demanding Manmohan Singh’s scalp, the party brushed aside criticism that it was overdoing the tactic of stalling Parliament. In fact, the troika of the BJP strategists in Parliament—L.K. Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley—was convinced that the party was on the right track in targeting the Prime Minister over the CAG report... |
| Board in control |
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Like politics, sports, too, has its share of superstitions. Many in the sporting fraternity, which zealously guards its autonomy, land and right to perpetuate family rule, spread these superstitions. The racing fraternity, for one, thinks that whoever tries to shift race courses located in the centre of major cities will lose their jobs. B.S. Yeddyurappa refused to extend the lease of Bangalore... |
| Angry bear |
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The ministry of external affairs has little to do with the telecommunications ministry. Yet it is facing the consequences of the Supreme Court judgment cancelling the 2G spectrum licences allotted by A. Raja, ruling that the method of sanctioning licences was illegal. One of the companies to lose its licence was Russian telecom major Sistema, which partnered with Shyam Telelinks to... |
| Gong tolls for GoM |
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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cut down the number of groups of ministers (GoMs) by half. Even the remaining ones have been told to speed up their work, so that they can be wound up. The new finance minister, P. Chidambaram, has already completed substantial amount of work of the major groups under him. The Prime Minister’s Office realised that too many issues were delegated to these... |
| Invisible men |
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Railway Minister Mukul Roy is following the path shown by his party chief Mamata Banerjee. He prefers to function from Kolkata, and is always at his leader’s side. He is also the general secretary of the Trinamool Congress, and attends cabinet meetings at his convenience.Roy is not the only minister who plays truant with Delhi. Fertiliser Minister M.K. Alagiri, the lone representative of... |
| Honesty, not the best policy! |
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Prakash Javadekar, the BJP spokesman, is known for his colourful kurtas and smart answers. On the removal of Karnataka chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda, Javadekar admitted that there was no charges of corruption or inefficiency. He said, “geopolitical reasons” were responsible for the removal of Gowda. He would not elaborate on the use of a term normally employed in strategic... |
| Parallel tracks |
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Land ownership rows are common even between government departments. But the dispute over the control of the space above a railway track in Bangalore seems to have serious consequences. The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation has locked horns with South Western Railway on the 15ft span of air above the Bangalore-Yeshwantpur rail track in the heart of the city. The railway insists that it should... |
| Bottling the middle class |
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P Chidambaram’s claim that he never chided the middle class over its reluctance to take the load of food price hike does not put a full stop to the subject. The home minister pointed out that he had used the word ‘we’ and not ‘they’. Income wise, the minister, who is a very successful lawyer, is definitely not middle class. But his ‘we’ included all those... |
| Sorrows and borrows |
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The special economic relief given to Bihar by the UPA government has angered West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. While her demand for a moratorium on West Bengal’s huge loans is on hold, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar got a bonanza of 020,000 crore. Mamata is exceptionally sore because she had a running battle with Nitish during the NDA government days; both were allies of the... |
| Musical chair |
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The departure of Pranab Mukherjee raises an interesting conundrum on seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha chamber. Pranab sat to the right of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the two-seater normally reserved for Prime Minister and his number two. Since Singh is a member of Rajya Sabha, Pranab was also designated as the leader of the house and rubbed shoulders with Singh, and the larger bench... |
| Hopeful satellites |
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Pranab Mukherjee’s selection as the UPA’s presidential candidate has made the stars of the Manmohan Singh government—Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Human Resources and Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma—eye the finance minister’s chair or another big portfolio in the... |
| Trench warfare |
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Congress circles are perplexed over the spate of critical statements made by Jairam Ramesh. The rural development minister has not spared even the Union government’s flagship programme: the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. He has questioned the wisdom of pumping in thousands of crores of rupees for just digging pits and refilling them. He is busy shooting off letters to the Prime... |
| Word-weary Anna |
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Lost in translation' is a euphemism used when a person does not comprehend a statement. For Anna Hazare and team, language seems to be an impediment in deciding whether Manmohan Singh is corrupt or not. Anna said Manmohan was an honest man, days after his team had dubbed the Prime Minister and 14 Union ministers corrupt. For a team that claims to be in constant touch with its inspirational... |
| Anti-Speaker rulings |
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Lok Sabha speakers have a special attraction for the big offices. Like vice-presidents, who preside over the Rajya Sabha, speakers, too, become ‘suitable’, in the eyes of the media, to become president or prime minister. Yet, in the 13 elections to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, only one Lok Sabha speaker was successful. That, too, in his second attempt. Neelam Sanjiva Reddy resigned his... |
| Fare enough |
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Normally there is fierce resistance if any freebie is sought to be withdrawn by the state, whether it is job reservations, tax concessions or subsidies for food and fuels. For once, however, the community organisations of Muslims are in favour of the Supreme Court order that the haj subsidy should be phased out. The Central government paid 0685 crore last year as airfare subsidy to 1.25 lakh... |
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Columns 
The horrific killings of Congress leaders by armed Maoist guerillas that took place at Jiram Ghati in Chhattisgarh on May 25 have drawn the world's attention. The latest victim was Vidya Charan Shukla, who succumbed ... 