The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

What ails Panjab University?
by Gobind Thukral

Despair is writ large on the face of Panjab University. The alma mater to lakhs of Punjabis spread across the globe, the university— the fourth to come up in India way back in 1882 at Lahore— finds itself at the crossroads at the dawn of the 21st century. It is struggling hard to regain part of its lost glory, maintain academic excellence and restore the moral authority of the teacher. Its sprawling complex — the pride of the city — which bursts into flowers and enthusiastic students when the spring comes, has regrettably lost its spirit of enquiry. Young scholars, academics and the administrators realise that things are not going right and are gripped by a sense of waste.

"It is a pity when you find a good section of the teaching community is embroiled in groupism and when the senate and syndicate members, instead of providing leadership, are trying to score points and paint each other black. Those who still diligently teach or guide research do so on their own like the students who are happy to learn. The atmosphere is otherwise vitiated," says a young teacher from the history department. She would not like to be quoted for obvious reasons. Her reluctance is a telling comment on the prevailing atmosphere.

Talk to students, teachers and to the present Vice-Chancellor or those who have retired. They all give the impression that things are pretty bad, but all is not lost. The university may sing and dance about its glorious traditions, but those genuinely concerned feel that it should rejuvenate itself.

"I agree that much needs to be done. But it would be wrong to say that all is lost and that the university has no leading role to play. Those who wish to teach, guide research and lead the students and have a conscientious mind are still doing their best. They have the satisfaction of producing good scholars," says Professor Shelley Walia who teachers English literature. He would want the administration and society to spare some thought for those who need a better atmosphere to work and produce results. There is no dearth of good teachers and students, only the right kind of leadership and a conducive atmosphere is needed. Many teachers this correspondent met share this opinion.

What has gone wrong and how it all started are questions that assail all those who feel concerned with higher education. University teachers are well paid as are administrative and other departmental staff. Except in some cases, the university does not lack in facilities. It has a sanctioned faculty strength of 956 and there are 3700 supporting staff. It spends Rs 92 crore of public money every year.

But look at one single instance: the fossil fraud case. "The most notorious instance was the failure of the university senate to take a correct academic stand on the shameful case which involved a senior Professor. This blemish on the fair name of the university was due to the presence of a large number of unscrupulous politicians in the Senate “who do not nurse academic values which guide higher education and research", say two senior Professors, Satyapal Gautam and M. Rajivlochan, past president and secretary of the all-powerful Panjab University Teachers Association.

Involvement of teachers and the students in building a vibrant atmosphere has also suffered. In a way, the university could not live in isolation and the general mood in the country has apparently left an impact, some teaches agree.

But this cannot be viewed in isolation. The teaching departments have a sanctioned strength of 235 Professors, 380 Readers and 341 lecturers. There are 52 teaching departments and 108 affiliated colleges. Over one lakh students appear for degree examinations. Over 9,000 take post-graduate examinations. Right now 47 positions of Professors, 73 of Readers and 97 of lecturers are vacant. When the present Vice-Chancellor, Prof M.M. Puri, took over nearly three years ago, the number of vacancies was considerably high.

Paucity of faculty members clearly means that the students suffer. All these positions have been sanctioned by the University Grants Commission. The Panjab Govern-ment and the Chandigarh Administration fund the university, which has the sanction of Parliament.

So what is the bane of the university which is often overblown by newspapers?

"The crisis is twofold. One, the University Act is too old and ignores the model act prepared by the UGC and the recommendations of the Kothari Commission or the Radhakrishnan Commission. Here the university senate which deals with academic affairs and the syndicate which deals with executive functions are loaded with politicians and other group leaders. Other universities in Punjab at Amritsar and Patiala have different constitutions where the senate has more academicians and not the so-called representatives of graduates. The present set-up has to be changed if the university has to be guided and managed by academicians, as is the case in many universities," asserts Dr Jagtar Singh Grewal, a well-known historian and former Vice-Chancellor of GNDU, Amritsar.

And listen to what the PUTA has to say on this:

"The number of elected representatives of the university teachers on the senate is a dismal four in comparison with the 15 elected senators from the graduates constituency, four principals and four lecturers of affiliated arts colleges, two principals and two staff members of technical and professional colleges and six elected from various faculties, six ex-officio members and 34 nominated members. thus the elected presence of university teachers is so meagre that they are virtually ineffective in influencing the decision-making process in the Senate."

The graduates constituency is witness to serious malpractice of having the names of dead persons in the voters list for decades. In fact, the university has no means of updating the voters list. there have been charges of impersonation, intimidation and monetary inducement. However, the dominance of this large section is such that various proposals for reforms have never found favour with the senate.

Since it is a central university, the Vice-President of the country is the Chancellor. But his powers nearly end with the appointment of the Vice-Chancellor. Mr Krishan Kant, the present Chancellor, has been careful in his actions and interferes the least.

A large number of persons have been on the university senate for decades. They have developed vested interests in perpetuating their hold on the university management.

Suggestions for restructuring and amending the University Act to impose some reasonable restrictions on the number of senate terms an individual can enjoy, have been repeatedly rejected.

"One step that needs to be initiated is to raise the number of elected representatives of university teachers from four to 18. This would provide adequate representation of one Professor, one Reader and one lecturer from each of the six major faculties on the campus," says PUTA.

The procedure for election from the teaching departments of the university also needs to be changed so that teachers working in the departments in their respective faculties choose their representatives directly in place of the present cumbersome system of preferential transferable vote.

Prof Puri, who retires in July next unless he gets another extension, is in the eye of a storm. He supports most of the demands for more autonomy. His detractors, senators like Mr Charanjit chawla, Prof. R.D. Anand, Mr Randip Surjewala, the All India Youth Congress president and former MLA from Haryana, and many others allege that he has indulged in favouritism and has incurred wasteful expenditure.

Charges mainly relate to these actions. He appointed 15 persons, mostly retired, and also incurred a huge expenditure on telephone and other things. Financial discipline has been given the go bye, the detractors allege. "I was his biggest supporter when he took over since I regarded him as a good academician. But he proved me wrong. Nepotism and financial bungling have gone unchecked," said Mr Chawla, who is a leader of college teachers here. Mr Rajinder Deepa, another senator, echoed similar feelings. The Union Government is said to have initiated an enquiry.

What has the Vice-Chancellor, an expert in geopolitics, has to say? This correspondent met him for over two hours to know his version. Here is what he said.

"A number of buildings on the campus are quite old, having been constructed almost 40 years ago. Their repair and maintenance and upkeep require an increasing expenditure to prevent further deterioration. this expenditure, vital for the maintenance and improvement of the estate, cannot be considered 'wasteful'.

“Since July, 1997, the university has spent Rs 7.08 crore on the repair of buildings. The entire work was carried out under the supervision of the Technical Advisor/XEN, who are experts in the field," he said.

Prof Puri added: "In a total non-teaching work force of 3,700, only six persons have been engaged on fixed honoraria and for specific work. They are H.C. Sethi, technical advisor, Shiv Dutt Sharma, advisor (arch), Sita Ram, chief security officer, Dr B.S. Dhillon, acting director, PU regional centre, Muktsar; B.S. Ojha, executive director, IAS coaching centre, and Chander Mohan, manager, guest house. The annual expenditure on these six positions is Rs 5.82 lakh only. Were these positions to be filed on a permanent basis or sought from the open market through professional consultants, the expenditure would easily be at least more than four times of what it is at present. Proven and badly needed expertise, could not be had at a lower cost than this.

The university is committed to undertake extensive construction work during the year costing nearly Rs 6 crore through donations from NRIs. The buildings envisaged are: (i) a separate examination wing (Rs 1.75 crore), (ii) alumni house (Rs 2.5 crore), (iii) completion of biotechnology-computer science and life sciences buildings (about Rs 2 crore), (iv) arts block 7 (Rs 80 lakh), among others. According to PWD norms, if the construction work exceeds Rs 3 crore, an officer of the rank of superintending engineer is required to be in place for advice and supervision, which the university does not, and cannot, have.

“In the past also, a retired police officer was hired for security work on the campus, which has expanded and become highly volatile. A security set-up on a contract basis from an outside agency would cost several lakhs of rupees, whereas the present incumbent, against the sanctioned post of chief security officer, who is a retired SSP, is being paid only Rs 78,000 a year.

About excessive expenditure and less income, Prof Puri said, "Budget estimate put the share of the Union Territory at over Rs 62.18 crore for 1998-99. But the actual money paid was Rs 33.20 crore."

As regards income, the Vice-Chancellor maintained that in 1994-95, the university generated Rs 7.81 crore and in 1998-99 Rs 18.60 crore. "It is no mean achievement, particularly when the level of fees and other charges are low," he argued.

Regarding control over finances, he claimed that every paisa spent by the university is pre-audited by the UT staff.

Prof Puri also claimed that philanthropists and institutions have come forward to help the university. "In fact, if there is some effort and if our friends here do not bog us down in meaningless criticism, the university can gain much." Currently the Puri Foundation has also committed more than Rs 1 crore to complete the present computer science-biotechnology building by adding a floor.

Mr N. R. Puri of the Puri Foundations has committed himself to meet the total cost of the Panjab University Alumni House (Rs 2.5 crore).

He has also promised to put up a building on the campus for research in emerging areas of science and technology, especially life sciences and support this research at a level with the very best in the world.

Professor Ranjit K. Chandra of St John's (Canada) has committed Rs 1.75 crore for a building to house the examination wing of the university. Of this amount, Rs 54 lakh has already been remitted to the university for starting the construction work.

From Lahore to Chandigarh

Panjab University was the fourth university after the universities of presidency towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras.

After partition in 1947, the new East Punjab University Act was passed by the then Punjab Provincial Assembly in 1948. The university started functioning as a successor university to the one in the Pakistani part of Punjab as a result of partition. The teaching departments of the university had to function in various cities of Punjab such as Hoshiarpur, Amritsar, Jalandhar and a camp college in Delhi with the office of the registrar and the vice-chancellor located at Solan. Then it found a new campus for itself. This transit period established a pattern of relationship between the teaching/academic side and the administration which has not been changed much till date.

The university shifted to its new campus at Chandigarh in 1958. Since then it has established itself as a premier institution of research and higher education in the country. The university is counted as one of the top 15 universities out of more than 220 in the country. It has 52 teaching departments on the campus in Chandigarh and 108 affiliated colleges in various districts of Punjab and in Chandigarh, out of which 82 are non-government colleges and 26 government colleges. More than one lakh students appear in the various degree examinations every year and around 10,000 students go in for the post-graduate degree examinations.

The departments of geology, physics, mathematics and chemistry are recognised as centers of advanced studies. The department of anthropology, geography, philosophy, political science, sociology and zoology have been selected as departments for promoting intensive studies in identified thrust areas under the UCG’s Special Assistance Programme. The department of education, university business school and statistics have been provided special research support by the UGC for their impressive research work.

The colleges affiliated to the university employ around 2,800 teachers, though the number of sanctioned positions fall far short of the number of teachers actually needed for sound teaching. Thus, the colleges are forced to engage part-time teachers on lower salaries.

The Indian Council for Social Science Research has located its North Western Regional Center on the PU Campus, the National Board for Higher Education in Mathematics has set up a special library in the department of mathematics. The department of science and technology of the Government of India has chosen PU for setting up a super computing facility which has been granted to only six universities all over the country. The university has also a central scientific instrumentation laboratory for meeting the needs of its science departments.

The faculty of the university has been getting research projects from various funding agencies from India and abroad to the tune of about Rs 8 crore every year.

"Due to the paucity of adequate grants from the governments of Punjab and Chandigarh UT which are expected to cover the deficit of the university in the ratio of 40:60, the university is facing a severe financial crisis. As a result, the university library, research laboratories and general maintenance of the campus suffer," Prof Puri complains.

"The university is governed by the senate, syndicate and the finance board. The syndicate is elected by members of the senate from amongst themselves for a term of one year. The term of the senators is for four years, a year more than the normal term of a the vice-chancellor. The senate consists of 34 members nominated by the Chancellor, the Vice-President of India, six ex-officio government representatives, two representatives of MLAs from Punjab, eight representatives of principals from affiliated colleges, six (three each) from lecturers and principals of technical colleges, 15 from the graduates constituency and only four representatives of teachers from the university teaching departments. This imbalance in the representation of the most vital section of the university has put academic issues on the back burner", PUTA leaders allege.

“The structure of the senate is such that issues concerning the normal working of the university teaching departments do not get the attention they deserve. Another unfortunate fact is that many members of the senate and the syndicate have been there for more than two decades, sometimes even three decades. They have developed a vested interests. It would be good for the health of the university if restriction is imposed on the number of terms of the members of the senate.

Every third year these "experienced" managers of the university get an opportunity to influence the selection of a new vice-chancellor. Since a vice-chancellor has a three-year-term (which can be extended indefinitely as past experience shows) the new aspirants in the race for the position, and the dominant sections of the senate start obstructing his functioning to promote their interests and their favourites for the post.

Perhaps the university would do well to follow the pattern of central universities like Delhi, JNU, Hyderabad, etc. These universities select a vice-chancellor for a single, fixed five-year term so that their normal functioning does not come to a halt each time the vice chancellor is about to complete his tenure.

The term of three years is too short. As is also the system of indefinite extension. The term of a vice-chancellor should be long enough to enable him to complete the plans and tasks which he initiates as the chief executive of the university.

A report card

To know what kind of a report card Prof Puri has, one has to ask his detractors, among whom are several members of the senate and the syndicate and some teachers like Dr Ram Parkash. They say it is dismal. But Prof Puri has a different version.

Talking to The Tribune, he said that after a gap of 14 years, direct election to the Panjab University Students Council was held in September, 1997, and have since been held regularly. The campaign for and the conduct of these elections have been marked by clean, violence and tension-free polling, with the campus remaining totally free of graffiti or other kinds of dirty posters. The Students Council has behaved with full responsibility and creativity and has exercised due restraint.

Other claims: exchange of law students between Stockholm university's law faculty and Panjab University was introduced last year and this arrangement has now been put on an institutional footing.

To catch up with the advance in information technology, several steps were initiated in August, 1997, to put in place campus-wide networking. Today networking of the entire campus is nearly complete. With the installation of VSNL and NIC links, the campus is hooked to the internet.

A Rs 1-crore super computer—one of the six in the country—has been housed on the campus by the Technology Information Forecasting & Assessment Council, Government of India, as a gift. Connected to the other five such high-speed super computers in the country, access has become available to the faculty and students of the university. Prof A.P.A. Abdul Kalam launched this countrywide network on February 19 last year.

The proposal to set up mirror-site on the internet with the main server at Oxford University at a cost of nearly Rs 50 lakh has been agreed to. Panjab University will be the third location after Bangalore and Delhi to have this facility in the country. The facility on the web-site is likely to be operational before the end of the year. Total funding for this has been committed by the Puri Foundation of Nottingham, UK. Once in place, the facility will save huge amounts on the purchase of scientific journals which will become accessible free of cost on the site. Besides, the access to internet will also become cost free to the users in this university.

The university already has a web-site www.puchd.ac. and is hosted by the department of computer science & applications, accessible throughout the world.

A modern, state-of-art telephone exchange, the construction of which started about a year ago, is now in operation, providing easy access to and from the university.

The university's physics department has been identified as one of the four places in the country to be a partner in International Collaboration for Search for New Particles in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva-CMS experiment for which the Government of India has sanctioned a grant of Rs 2.48 crore.

The chemistry department has been recommended as one of the two places in the country (besides the Central University, Hyderabad) to house a national facility for chemical synthesis. A formal sanction for its funding by the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, to the tune of nearly Rs two crore is likely to be received in the next six weeks or so.

Among the new courses introduced in the university are: M.Tech (instrumentation), M.Sc (energy management), M. Tech (environment management), M. Tech (food technology) M.Sc. (anatomy), B.E. (agro-processing technology), B.Sc. Honours School (mathematics and computers), and M.Tech (microelectronics) — the last named is available nowhere else in the country. A proposal for an e-commerce course is likely to be finalised in July this year.

The fourth international conference on the theme border regions in transition was held at the university from February 21 to 26 last, which was attended by over 30 experts from abroad and as many from the country. The three early conferences had been held at Berlin (1994), Joensuu, Finland (1997), San Diego, California (1999).

Memoranda of understanding (MoUs) have been signed with a number of agencies and bodies in the past couple of years. For those on educational exchanges at the faculty and student levels have been signed with the University of Manitoba (Canada) and International University of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek; one with the University of Nottingham in England is at an advanced stage of negotiation.

October, 1997 marked the golden jubilee year of the university. The five jubilee chairs in specified fields were instituted for academics of eminence to be positioned as scholars-in-residence. Professor Yash Pal (former Chairman of the University Grants Commission and Secretary Department of Science & Technology, Government of India) was in residence as Nehru Visiting Professor in Science & Technology during 1998-99;

Mr Bishan Sahni as Sarojni Naidu Visiting Professor of literature; Professor Randhir Singh as B.R. Ambedkar Professor; Dr Ramchandras Gandhi as Aurobindo Professor in Philosophy. Those committed to adorn the chairs this year are Dr Ashok Vij (chemistry), Ashis Nandy (philosophy), Professor Satish Chandra (history), and Qurratulain Hyder (literature).

The centre for the study of geopolitics, established by the Prof Puri himself, with full funding by the UGC and which is the only centre on the subject in the country, together with the UGC-funded Centre for Women Studies, have been upgraded by the UGC.

The university established a regional centre for post-graduate and law studies at Muktsar, with full funding by the Punjab Government in August, 1998.

Among the most widely acclaimed achievements he counted is the introduction, of the pension scheme to cover all employees of the university, which is supported by a guarantee money of Rs 20 crore to its corpus.

“Quote — Unquote”

‘‘Congress is not an inn where anybody can enter at will’’.
— Former Himachal Pradesh CM and Congress legislature party leader Virbhadra Singh

* * * *

‘‘Now the question is whether the delay in judiciary could be used against the corrupt, therefore, I suggest that the property of the accused be confiscated and credited into the Consolidated Fund of India till the case against the person concerned is settled’’.

— Chief Vigilance Commis-sioner N. Vittal.

* * * *

‘‘It is good that the BJP is appreciating my policies. Both the BJP and the UF have exposed themselves. When in Opposition they say one thing and while in power they find no other programme than ours to function’’.

— Senior Congress leader Dr Manmohan Singh.

* * * *

‘‘It was a conscious decision in 1947 to accede Kashmir to India and that cannot be reversed”.

— Jammu & Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah.

* * * *

‘‘We are not in the toppling game nor will we support dissident Akali leader Ravi Inder Singh.

— Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh.

* * * *

‘‘We are making all out efforts to lead Himachal to self-reliance with its limited resources in hand, especially by channelising the state’s hitherto untapped hydel potential’’.

— Himachal Pradesh CM Prem Kumar Dhumal.

* * * *

‘Workers have the right to go on strike. But trade unionism does not mean vandalism’’.

— West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu.

* * * *

‘‘When Pakistan and Israel can, what is wrong in India selling arms to Sri Lanka?

— CPI (M) Politburo member R. Umanath.

* * * *

‘‘We are for protecting the interests of working journalists’’.

—Union Labour Minister Dr Satyanarayana Jatiya.

* * * *

‘‘Despite all the hype about a globalised economy spreading butter over the bread of the developing countries, nothing has happened’’.

— Defence Minister George Fernandes.

* * * *

‘‘I always dream of visiting Sri Lanka.... what is important in the present context is to bring peace’’.

— Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama.

* * * *

‘‘Make no mistake, this election is not about me or my Republican opponent’’.

— President Bill Clinton.

* * * *

‘‘Who is KPS Gill? We don’t know anything. Who has invited him? He must be on a private visit’’.

— Sri Lankan military spokesman Brig Palathay Fernando.

* * * *

‘‘We were also in the Opposition. But we never made any attempt to demoralise the jawans and belittle their achievements’’.

— Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee.

* * * *

‘‘If Abhey fails to win this seat with a margin less than the double of mine, he would resign’’.

— Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala.

* * * *

‘‘Pakistan does not want political set up to function here (Jammu & Kashmir)

— Jammu & Kashmir Police Chief Gurbachan Jagat.

— Compiled by Kuldip Kalia

Profile
by Harihar Swarup
Third generation Indian settled in Fiji

WHEN the grandfather of the detained Prime Minister, Mahendra Pal Chaudhry, had travelled to the forlorn Fiji islands from a village of Rohtak district, he probably did not know what was in store for him. He must have paced up and down the dock of the ship conjuring up the image of the tiny island in the south Pacific and preparing to face an uncertain future and a daunting challenge ahead. It was the year 1912 and the journey by boat to distant Fiji must have been long and arduous but the Prime Minister’s grandfather, Ram Nath, must have been a young man of grit and determination. He was not alone on the Fiji-bound boat looking for an avocation, a career in the distant land. There were many like him. Indians have migrated to Fiji in the 18th and 19th century, many returned to their home land but several families settled down there generation after generation.

A burly and handsome Haryanvi as Ram Nath was, he soon caught the attention of a local beauty, Ram Kalia, a girl of Indian origin and they entered into wedlock. His children — two sons and one daughter — were brought up there and were more Fijians except following certain Indian customs which they learnt from their parents. Fiftyeight-year-old Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry is the third generation of Indians settled in Fiji and the first democratically elected ethnic head of the Government.

Compared to the upright Chaudhry, coup leader George Speight is known to be a rogue, a person of deception, who had failed as a businessman. Precisely, it was at this part of the year last year that there were great celebrations in Fiji. Free and fair elections were held and the Labour Party, the key partner in Fiji’s coalition government, had endorsed its leader, Mahendra Chaudhry, for the Prime Minister’s post. He also held the portfolio of Finance and in the following months of his rule led the island into a new era of political and social change.

It was almost twelve years back that Sitiveni Rabuka had deposed at gun-point the multiracial coalition. The collapse of the Rabuka Government’s majority at the hustings in May last year was attributed to the “politics of revenge” even though he had apologised for the bloodless coup in the campaign. Mahendra Chaudhry’s Labour Party successfully made “the better deal for the poor” as the main plank of the poll campaign. Fiji’s new Parliament reserved 46 seats for ethnic communal seats-23 indigenous Fijian, 19 Indo-Fijian and four others. The balance of 25 seats were for open voting across the communities.

Mahendra Chaudhry’s fate as well as that of democracy in Fiji hangs in the balance as a move is afoot to revive the island nation’s racist constitution under which posts of the President and the Prime Minister would be reserved for the ethnic Fijian community and members of the island’s economically dominant Indian community will be kept out. Fiji’s Traditional Council of Chiefs drew flak internationally when they urged the President, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, to replace the democratically elected Prime Minister and pardon the gunmen who have held him hostage for a week now.

Though Mahendra Chaudhry is a Fijian, born and brought up in the island, he has not forgotten his Indian roots; he can speak fluent Hindi. He has visited his ancestral village in Rohtak district many times and he would have liked to visit his native place as the Prime Minister. One wonders if his desire will now be fulfilled.

Like many islanders in the Pacific, the Fijians too are lethargic, lack enterprise and have little aptitude for commerce and trade. Fiji’s prosperity can be attributed to the imagination, foresight, hard work and enterprise of ethnic Indians. Yet Indians live on sufferance mainly because of the original sin of colonial Britain’s constitutional deception. The blueprint the colonial rulers left when Fiji achieved independence in 1970 cunningly denied the majority Indians their legitimate rights. Another phase of oppression against them may begin with the ouster of Mahendra Chaudhry.

Among other development projects, the thriving sugarcane plantation is the gift of Bhojpuri Biharis to the island nation. In Suva, there is an impressive complex known as “Girmit Centre”; its foundation was laid by Indira Gandhi when she visited Fiji in 1981. “Girmit” was the Indian labour’s distressing word for indentured agreement. “Girmitya” has come to be known as his inheritors .

India must play its role in paving the way for the return of democracy in Fiji and return of Mahendra Chaudhry’s rule. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh has rushed to London to prevail on the Commonwealth’s Secretary-General to invoke his authority to bring normalcy in the island and end the blatant injustice to the detained Prime Minister.

Delhi durbar

Politicians beat the heat in London

LONDON seems to have its own charm and since the days of Imperial rule it has attracted many an Indian politician, besides the large number of Indian expatriates.

So it is no surprise that every summer when the heat is soaring in the Indian sub-continent, a large number of Indian politicians prefer to head for Europe, especially London. It is not only a perfect hideaway but also the right place to kill the heat. Besides you even get to experience the best of the world. Above all there are a large number of Indian businessmen who like to play host to the politicians from back home.

So when the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, decided to take a short break in London after his hectic tour of Tehran recently, it was no surprise either. However, the only aspect that was peculiar was that this holiday came at a time when there was too much happening at home from the Ministry of External Affairs’ point of view.

There was the Sri Lankan crisis over which the Cabinet Committee on Security held a meeting almost daily and on one day even twice. Then there was the problem in Fiji where the India-born Prime Minister Mahendra Choudhary was being held captive by the coup leaders. And then came the United States Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Pickering. Besides, the President, Mr K.R. Narayanan, was all set to take a high profile team, including that of journalists, actually editors, to Beijing.

Is it not rather odd for the high profile Indian Foreign Minister to be missing from the national scene at this hour? May be not, for London attracts all Indian politicians.

Bhadana angles for a role

Former Haryana MP Avtar Singh Bhadana, who now represents the Meerut Lok Sabha Constituency in Uttar Pradesh, has set his sights on carving out a greater role for himself in the cauldron of UP politics.

Having been thrown into the troubled waters of UP, Bhadana pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat for the party by winning there through a well-honed strategy.

Bhadana, who was angling to lead Haryana PCC ahead of the last Assembly elections, has now turned his attention to his new found political home — UP.

With dissidents baying for the blood of the current PCC chief, Mr Salman Khursheed, the young MP from Meerut has thrown his hat in the ring.

Having the backing of some powerful Jat leaders of UP, Bhadana, a Gujjar, sees himself as a foil to the other leader, Mr Rajesh Pilot. His popularity is well known especially with the members of the minority community and also the farmers whose cause he espouses. With friends in right places, including 10, Janpath, Bhadana hopes to play a role on a bigger stage for a short while before organisational elections due later this year.

Perfect understanding!

Irrespective of what grows on the political grapevine of Delhi, there is perfect understanding between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani.

A case in point was the manner in which these leaders had planned their holidays away from Delhi, incidentally in the same state — Himachal Pradesh.

Mr Advani took a four-day break to spend time in the cooler climes of Shimla with his family and returned to work by Wednesday last. Meanwhile Mr Vajpayee is preparing to take a 10-day break from this Sunday. Mr Vajpayee will be away to Manali, where he has a cottage and will leave Himachal Pradesh and proceed to Leh for an official function on June 7 called “Sindhu Darshan” (view of River Indus).

Incidentally, when Mr Vajpayee was on a similar holiday at Manali some five years ago, the then Prime Minister Mr P.V. Narasimha Rao, sought him out to lead the Indian delegation to the UN Convention of Human Rights where they successfully diffused the controversy over Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Vajpayee was then the Leader of the Opposition.

Scarcity of resources?

Having been out of power for more than four years, the Congress party faces a resource crunch. The party fund raisers have a tough task in collecting monies for party work. Bills keep piling and a couple of months ago the staff at AICC headquarters had to literally sweat it out as the power supply was disconnected following non-payment. This week at least two telephone lines at the AICC were temporarily disconnected for similar reasons.

The woes of party finance managers does not stop at that. Recently it was found that a major portion of funds allocated to the All India Mahila Congress went for clearing of bills towards the cellular phone of its chief, Mrs Chandresh Kumari. Apparently, the need to stay in touch at all times is proving expensive.

Cricketer rush at CBI

While the CBI is known to handle sensitive and important cases the latest one — match-fixing — has seen even its employees taking more interest.

No they are not trying to unravel the latest scandal that has hit sporting arena, it is the rush of cricket stars to the CBI headquarters that has set the ball rolling.

Last week when former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar visited the Bureau headquarters at the CGO Complex, there was quite a crowd outside. It was not just the members of the media but many office personnel of CBI who were there to see the former cricket star. It has to be seen what things will be like when some of the better known names are summoned to the headquarters, maybe they would need riot police from neighbouring office complex which houses Central Police Organisations like the CRPF, the BSF, the CISF and the NSG among others.

(Contributed by K.V. Prasad, Girja Shankar Kaura and P.N. Andley)