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No relook at RTI Act, asserts Khursheed
Amend waste management guidelines, MoEF told
PM takes off today for Pretoria summit
Focus on neighbourhood |
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His specialisations are culture and agriculture
ISB’s Hyderabad, Mohali campuses to have unified programme structure
Keep your poll promises or we’ll attack Trinamool men, Maoists warn Mamata
S China Sea Row
EC ropes in IT Dept to check poll funding
Army giving cops, paramilitary men tips to deal with IEDs
bhanwari devi case
CWG SCAM
IAF buying radars to check bird hits
Army giving cops, paramilitary men tips to deal with improvised explosives
Constitutional status to Lokpal
‘Anna’s maun vrat to escape uneasy queries’
Anna to work with Cong if it creates strong Lokpal
Jantar Mantar
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No relook at RTI Act, asserts Khursheed
"We are proud of RTI. We are pleased that we gave RTI to this country. Even if it causes inconvenience to this country to an extent, we will bear that inconvenience. But we must ensure that in totality, the efficiency and functioning of government is strengthened," he said. On whether the RTI would be revisited,
Khursheed said, "There is no proposal to relook at the Act." He went on to add, "Today, we are only absorbing the experience of the RTI and now whether after a period, looking at the experience, looking at the demands, looking at the consensus that can emerge, we can bring about any changes or not is something that is futuristic. It is something which I cannot
say today." The Law Minister, however, ruled out making fundamental changes in the legislation. "If you say that we'll make any fundamental changes in the RTI, the answer is no. We are proud of RTI," he told PTI in an interview recently. Queried whether some more exemptions like the one granted to the CBI could be brought into the Act, the lawyer-turned- politician noted, "No legislation is perfect." "You will have to see any legislation, you will have to, from time to time, (see) how it is working. If it needs to be tightened, you tighten it; if you need to broaden, you broaden it; if you need to deepen, you deepen it; if you need
to make exceptions, you make exceptions as the CBI exception has now been made," the Law minister said. Replies to some RTI queries have generated major controversies recently like the one linked to a Finance Ministry note to the PMO which suggested that the 2G scam could have been averted if then Finance Minister P Chidambaram had insisted
on auction. Khursheed noted that the government and the judiciary have faced "some difficulties" in dealing with RTI queries. "We certainly know, we (government) are not the only ones. Government is not the only one. Government meaning political government - not the only ones which felt some difficulties. Bureaucrats have felt difficulties, independent agencies have felt difficulties, the courts have felt difficulties," he said.
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Amend waste management guidelines, MoEF told
New Delhi, October 16 The plants would find themselves in the middle of thickly populated settlements after a few years due to rapid growth of cities and towns. In an order passed by Justice AS Naidu and expert member Dr GK Pandey, the National Green Tribunal has suggested that the Ministry should prescribe the minimum distance to be maintained between the waste management plants and other areas such as habitation clusters, forest areas, water bodies, mountains, national parks, wetlands and places of cultural, historical or religious importance. The Ministry should also specify the “exact area of buffer zone” that had to be maintained around such plants in order to protect the people and the environment from the harmful effects of solid waste dumps, the tribunal said. The existing rules were vague as they merely stated that landfill sites “shall be away from” such areas and a “buffer zone of no-development shall be maintained,” without specifying the distance or the size of the zone, it pointed out. In the absence of specifications, the National Green Tribunal said the rules were left open to “surmises and conjectures.” As a result, it was not in a position to direct the civic bodies to “maintain a standard” that would protect the people and the ecosystem. Prescribing a minimum distance would go a long way in avoiding “environmental ramifications, including the problem of obnoxious, foul smell/odour associated with such hazards,” the tribunal pointed out.
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PM takes off today for Pretoria summit
In a statement released today prior to his departure, the Prime Minister said that the summit was expected to focus, among other things, on coordination among IBSA countries in the United Nations Security Council, sustainable development, global economic situation, the forthcoming meetings of the Conference of Parties under the UNFCCC and the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol being hosted by South Africa later this year, the Rio+20 Conference being hosted by Brazil in 2012 and other matters related to deepening of cooperation under IBSA. The Prime Minister said he was looking forward to an exchange of views with IBSA partners on the current global economic and financial situation especially in the context of the forthcoming G20 Summit in France. A IBSA joint declaration is expected to be issued at the summit. “The IBSA Dialogue Forum has matured considerably over the years. Above all, the idea of three large developing democracies - Brazil, India and South Africa - working together in a highly complex global environment has taken root,” the PM said. He emphasised that it was a happy coincidence that during 2011, India, Brazil and South Africa were members of the United Nations Security Council. “We have shown significant cohesiveness and coordination in our approach to issues under discussion in the Security Council,” he said. During his stay in Pretoria, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also hold bilateral meetings with President Jacob Zuma of South Africa and President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil to exchange views on global, regional and bilateral issues.
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Focus on neighbourhood
New Delhi, October 16 Bhattarai’s four-day official visit to India is being seen with a great deal of anticipation both in New Delhi and Kathmandu. This would be his first bilateral visit abroad after taking charge as the Prime Minister. He had met Prime Minister Singh last month on the sidelines of the UN General assembly in New York. “Bhattarai’s visit will provide an opportunity for both sides to discuss issues of mutual interest and ways to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries,” the External Affairs Ministry said today. Nepal has always been an extremely important country for India. Bhattarai’s visit is taking place at a time when Nepal is engaged in completing the important tasks of peace and constitution-drafting processes. What may turn out to be more significant would be the PM’s visit to the Maldives for the 17th SAARC Summit on November 10-11. Heads of state or governments of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and the Maldives will participate in the summit. It will also be attended by representatives of Australia, China, European Union, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar and the United States in their capacity as observers to SAARC meets. The visit will provide an opportunity to The Indian PM to hold bilateral talks with other SAARC leaders in an informal setting. He is expected to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani too. This will be after more than seven months that the two PMs will meet and review the progress in the dialogue process that was resumed in February after a hiatus of more than two years in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks. Gilani was a guest of the Indian PM at Mohali in March for the World Cup cricket tournament semi-final between India and Pakistan. Sources said New Delhi and Islamabad were silently working on finalisation of the meeting between the two PMs through diplomatic channels. Once the meeting is fixed, the next step would be to chalk out the agenda. Prior to the meetings between the two PMs, the foreign ministers and the foreign secretaries of the two countries would also meet in the Maldives. The Singh-Gilani meeting will take place amid some positive developments in bilateral ties. Pakistan has firmly indicated to New Delhi in recent days that it would be granting the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India soon. This could happen in the later part of November at the talks between the commerce secretaries of the two countries. India had accorded the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996. India and Pakistan have also finalised a new bilateral visa agreement that liberalises the strict visa regime, setting easier terms of travel for businessmen across their border. Singh is also likely to remind Pakistan of the little it has done in bringing to justice the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks. He will also ask Islamabad to ensure that Pakistan’s territory is not allowed to be misused for anti-India activities.
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His specialisations are culture and agriculture
A member of the trust set up to preserve the institution set up by classical danseuse late Shanta Rao, a key figure behind the Bangalore School of Music dedicated to western classical music, president of the Alliance Francaise in Bangalore, etc, etc, Chiranjeev Singh and high culture of Bangalore is inextricably linked. But the retired Karnataka cadre IAS officer does not confine himself to the highbrow affairs alone. He can effortlessly move back and forth on subjects as diverse as tiger and Tagore. This reporter first saw him at the Bangalore International Centre during a talk on tiger conservation by conservationist Ullas Karanth. The discussion that followed was enlivened by his participation. Soon after, there was a screening of some films on Tagore in the Alliance Francaise here. One was a documentary by Satyajit Ray on Tagore. It was Chiranjeev Singh again who gave a small lecture on the films after the screening was over. Respect of public for members of the bureaucracy is an all time low at this point. But this has failed to affect the reputation of Chiranjeev Singh. “He is a jewel of Karnataka, Punjab and India”, historian Ramchandra Guha told this reporter about Chiranjeev Singh. “He is one of the most admired public servants of Karnataka who has displayed complete integrity in carrying out all his assignments. He has a profound and deep knowledge of history of Karnataka and its culture, art and literature,” Guha said. “I have never come across a bureaucrat of such stature. Chiranjeev Singh is also a scholar and could have been better than many of us professors had he joined a university. He can also write and speak Kannada admirably well. We love him”, UR Ananthamurthy, Jnanpith Award winning Kannada writer and thinker, told this reporter. As secretary of the Department of Kannada and Culture, Chiranjeev Singh apparently did phenomenal work. As many as 101 Kannada books were published by the department when he was its secretary. Members of Bangalore’s sizeable Bengali community also are extremely fond of the retired 1969 cadre IAS officer. Having read Tagore in original (he learnt Bengali) Chiranjeev Singh can easily put to shame a well read Bengali when it comes to reading of Tagore’s work. The initiative taken by the Alliance Francaise under Chiranjeevi Singh’s stewardship for celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Tagore in a grand manner played a key role in encouraging other organisations in Bangalore also to follow suit. Besides, Kannada, English and Bengali, Chiranjeevi Singh also knows German (he was studying in Heidelberg University in Germany when he took a break from his studies to take the UPSC exam). Not one to sever links with his beloved mother tongue, he continues to maintain a close touch with Punjabi literature. He told this reporter that he had been doing some creative writings - both prose and poetry - in Punjabi which he would like to publish sometime. Mohan Singh, Nandlal Nurpuri and Shivkumar Batalvi are among his favourite Panjabi writers. The traditional Sikh poetry narrated in the Gurbani remains his all time favourite, he said. He is also considered an expert in rural development and agriculture. His association as a trustee with NGOs such as Sampark, Outreach, Kadamvari and Kaveri Rural Development Trust has helped these outfits make a mark in the field of rural development. “My specialisations are culture and agriculture”, Chiranjeevi Singh said as his face broke into a mischievous smile.
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ISB’s Hyderabad, Mohali campuses to have unified programme structure
Hyderabad, October 16 This will mean the candidates selected for its flagship Post Graduate Programme in Management (PGP) can switch terms between the two campuses during the one-year course, VK Menon, senior director at ISB, told The Tribune. The Mohali campus, with an intake of 220 students, will commence its first academic session in April 2012. The combined class size of the two locations of the premier B-school will touch 770. “The uniqueness of our unified programme is that the students will have flexibility of dividing their terms between the two campuses. The one-year PGP course comprises eight terms,” Menon, who heads the admissions and placements division, said. The Mohali campus will have four specialised offerings covering public policy, healthcare, manufacturing and infrastructure management. The ISB will maintain consistency, a common set of standards and processes, a common pool of faculty and a unified governance structure with the school’s Executive Board as the statutory body. With an initial investment of Rs 220 crore, the first phase of Mohali campus, spread over 70 acres, would be completed by March next year. In addition to the four streams available now at Hyderabad - Marketing, Finance, Strategy and Leadership and Entrepreneurship - the Mohali campus will have two additional courses in healthcare and manufacturing management. Another unique feature of the Mohali campus would be the establishment of four centres of excellence - Max India Institute of Healthcare Management, Bharti Institute of Public Policy, BML Munjal Hero Honda Institute of Manufacturing Excellence and Innovation, and Punj Lloyd Institute of Physical Infrastructure Management. The sponsors of these institutes had invested Rs 50 crore each while the rest has been contributed by the ISB. Meanwhile, the ISB management has decided to double the total amount of student scholarships to Rs 8 crore. These scholarships would be for the full-time PGP course, the tuition fee for which is about Rs 18.9 lakh.
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Keep your poll promises or we’ll attack Trinamool men, Maoists warn Mamata
Midnapore, October 16 “If the promises are not kept Trinamool Congress leaders will face threat to life,” said one of the posters pasted on a wall at Bhadutala bazar at Salboni. Another poster demanded comprehensive development of Junglemahal area. The three posters were handwritten in red in Bengali and signed as CPI (Maoist), the police said. West Midnapore district magistrate Surendra Gupta said he had asked the superintendent of police to investigate the matter. The police said it was suspected to be the handiwork of miscreants. After Banerjee’s public meeting yesterday at Jhargram, where she nixed the Maoist offer of cessation of arms for a month in Junglemahal, a procession was taken out by Nari Ijjat Bachao Committee, the women’s wing of Maoist front organisation Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA). The procession which had covered the forest area villages had made the same demands and also sought withdrawal of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act under which PCPA Chatradhar Mahato had been arrested. “I am giving you (Maoists) a seven-day ultimatum to lay down guns. We will not tolerate any more violence. Killings and negotiations cannot go hand in hand,” Banerjee told a rally here.
— PTI
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Advani turns nostalgic, says he misses Vajpayee’s guidance Chhindwara (MP), October 16 “A lot of people asked me what is the difference between the first five yatras and this Jan Chetna Yatra. Those who ask have may be the subject or the objective of this yatra (in their mind). But I believe for me, the difference is of a basic nature which pains me,” Advani said while addressing a rally. "The basic difference is that my entire political career was spent working with Vajpayee. He was my senior colleague, my guide, my leader and my Prime Minister when we formed the government. This is the first yatra where I don't have his guidance," he said. Advani said before commencing on his yatra he went to Vajpayee and got his blessing, but added that, "the kind of guidance I got from him during all my past yatras is missing this time." The BJP leader in his speech warned the Congress that it should not underestimate the anger of the people. He said that in 1977 when there was public anger, the Congress drew a blank in the states of UP, Bihar, Delhi and Haryana. Advani further mocked the Congress saying that it "had a reason to complain in Madhya Pradesh where the party did manage to win one seat or else the record of Congress (defeat) would have become even better. That one seat was Chhindwara," Advani told the crowd. Due to the prevailing corruption, "the anger in the country at present is similar to the anger that was seen in 1977", he said. — PTI
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S China Sea Row New Delhi, October 16 “China must take practical actions including those to make these projects fall through. China should denounce this agreement as illegal. Once India and Vietnam initiate their exploration, China can send non-military forces to disturb their work, and cause dispute or friction to halt the two countries’ exploration,” the state-run Global Times said in a commentary. India and Vietnam signed the accord during Vietnam President Truong Tan Sang’s visit to New Delhi on Wednesday, ignoring Beijing’s objection. China claims full sovereignty over the entire South China Sea. It has asked all countries, including India, to refrain from undertaking any activity in the area. However, India’s contention is that it is undertaking oil exploration in the blocks offered to it by Vietnam.
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EC ropes in IT Dept to check poll funding
New Delhi, October 16 Even as the dates and schedule for the next year's Assembly poll in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Manipur have not been announced, the directives to create a database of doubtful transactions and dubious movement of cash were recently issued by the EC to the Chief Electoral Officers of these states. "The EC guidelines on election expenditure monitoring for the forthcoming elections have been operationalised," a senior official privy to the development said. The EC, for the first time, has asked the elite Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), functioning under the Finance Ministry, to sift through their records for any instance of information about the assets and liabilities of candidates participating in the elections. The FIU receives regular suspicious transaction reports (STRs) and cash transaction reports (CTRs) from banks, insurance companies and intermediaries as per regulations stipulated under anti-money laundering laws. "The FIU may extend necessary cooperation to the Income Tax Department in specific cases in sending information on suspicious transaction reports and about withdrawal of cash exceeding specified limits from any bank account maintained within the respective states going to the polls. "Besides, IT (investigation) and FIU will download from the EC’s website the copies of affidavits declaring assets and liabilities by the candidates. “The FIU will also verify the information available with them pertaining to the candidates and send the report to the Director General of IT (investigation) of the state through the Central Board of Direct Taxes," the EC said. The IT investigation wing will also verify information available with the department and in cases where any suppression of information about assets or liability or pending dues is noticed, the report should be sent to the Commission, the EC said. The EC had created an exclusive election expenditure monitoring (EEM) cell within its establishment last year headed by a senior Indian Revenue Service officer. The EEM further deployed a huge strength of IT and Customs sleuths of investigation wings across the country for keeping a track on poll funding. The EC, in its latest guidelines, has asked the IT Department to establish Air Intelligence Units (AIUs) at all the airports in these poll-bound states and equip them with CCTV cameras which will record all operations related to cash seizure during elections. "If any cash exceeding Rs 10 lakh is found in the airport, the IT department shall take steps to seize the amount under IT laws and the entire operation from detection till seizure/release at airports, airstrips will be captured on CCTV cameras," the EC said.
— PTI
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Army giving cops, paramilitary men tips to deal with IEDs
New Delhi, October 16 The training is being conducted at army training facilities located under the Lucknow-based Central Command and over 60,000 police personnel have been trained since 2006 for counter-naxal operations, Army sources said here. The courses are conducted on need basis to train the CPMF troops and state police personnel operating in the Naxal-hit areas, they said. IEDs are frequently used by the Naxals operating in areas of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and other Maoist-affected areas. The training imparted by the Army includes lessons on identification of explosive devices buried in ground and defusing them safely. Army has a established Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling IEDs which has proved its efficacy in all theatres of operation. Paramilitary forces and the state police have developed their own mechanism to identify and defuse the IEDs, but the Army training has further enhanced these capabilities, sources said.
— PTI
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bhanwari devi case
Jaipur, October 16 In a communication forwarded to Governor Shivraj Patil, Gehlot has recommended the dismissal of Maderna, highly placed sources said this evening. The Governor has accepted the recommendation, they said, adding that Industry Minister Rajendra Pareek has been given the additional charge of water resources department. A notification in this regard was issued tonight, they added. Gehlot's action came after his attempt to secure the resignation of the Water Resources Minister failed. Bhanwari, 36, went missing on September 1. According to sources, Gehlot had asked Maderna to resign after the state government on September 14 decided to hand over the case to CBI but the minister refused. Maderna also met the Chief Minister last night and it was again suggested to him that he resign, sources told PTI today. Rajasthan High Court has also rapped the state government, raising questions on its intention to crack the case. A division bench raised questions on the government's intentions, while hearing a habeas corpus petition filed by her husband a few days back. The court had remarked that the state government is acting "hand in glove" to save the minister, observing this was an example of "escapism" on its part. The CBI had on October 11 taken over probe into disappearance of Bhanwari in which allegations about Maderna's involvement have been levelled. CBI registered a case in this regard after the state government requested the Centre last month to hand it over to the agency.
— PTI
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CWG SCAM
New Delhi, October 16 Sources in the anti-corruption watchdog said large-scale financial and administrative irregularities have been found in about seven cases carried out by certain government agencies here. “We have found irregularities in inviting tender for works and giving undue favours to selected vendors. Besides, there has been documentary evidence showing involvement of employees and owners of private firms who carried out these works,” a senior CVC official said. The matter was discussed in a review meeting of the commission with CBI officials last week. “The CBI has taken all relevant documents and commission’s findings on the matter,” he said. The CVC is investigating at least 71 projects worth several crores executed by various civic and construction agencies in the run up to the mega sporting event held here between October 3-14 last year. Sacked OC chief Suresh Kalmadi and secretary general Lalit Bhanot among others are lodged in the Tihar Jail for their alleged involvement in various irregularities. “We have received a number of complaints alleging involvement of former and present functionaries in recruiting various employees without proper background and qualification in the OC. The complaints are being examined and will be handed over to the CBI,” the CVC official said. The CBI has registered 15 FIRs for alleged bungling and criminal conspiracy and named OC, Central and Delhi government officials and private persons. Besides other investigating and enforcement agencies, including the CBI, the ED and the Income Tax department are also looking into various violations in implementing the Games-related works. — PTI
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IAF buying radars to check bird hits
New Delhi, October 16 The RFI for the acquisition will be issued by the service after it gets response from the manufacturers across the world. Bird hits are the reason behind at least nine per cent of the aircraft mishaps in the country as several cities and towns have come up close to IAF airfields such as Hindon, Jodhpur, Lohegaon and Agra. The IAF has been taking various steps to reduce the risk of bird hits. Under former Director General (Air Safety) Air Marshal VK Verma, the force had started various practices across major air bases to check birds getting close to airfields. According to the data released by a Parliamentary panel, the IAF has lost 999 aircraft between 1970 and August this year and human error and technical defects were the main causes behind these crashes. “In 39.5 per cent of the cases, technical defect is the cause and in 39 per cent of the cases, human error has been found to be responsible,” the report had said.
— PTI
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Army giving cops, paramilitary men tips to deal with improvised explosives
New Delhi, October 16 The training is being conducted at army training facilities located under the Lucknow-based Central Command and over 60,000 police personnel have been trained since 2006 for counter-naxal operations, Army sources said here. The courses are conducted on need basis to train the CPMF troops and state police personnel operating in the Naxal-hit areas, they said. IEDs are frequently used by the Naxals operating in areas of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and other Maoist-affected areas. The training imparted by the Army includes lessons on identification of explosive devices buried in ground and defusing them safely. Army has a established Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling IEDs which has proved its efficacy in all theatres of operation. Paramilitary forces and the state police have developed their own mechanism to identify and defuse the IEDs, but the Army training has further enhanced these capabilities, sources said. The officers who have been assigned the training task have been pulled out of various infantry and engineers units of the Army. The Army has been dealing with IEDs in counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir and in the North-East.
— PTI
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Constitutional status to Lokpal
New Delhi, October 16 The draft constitutional amendment Bill prepared jointly by two former Chief Justices of India - Justice JS Verma and Justice MN Venkatachalaiah - proposes provisions on the lines of the Election Commission. The draft Constitutional (116th) Amendment Bill was submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice and Personnel by the former CJIs last week. Law Minister Salman Khurshid had disclosed for the first time last week that the proposed Lokpal would have the status of a constitutional authority for which purpose the Constitution would be amended, a move which is in line with the suggestion made by Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi. The Nehru-Gandhi scion had called it a game-changer. "We are working on a very strong Lokpal Bill. A Lokpal Bill that will come with a constitutional amendment. That amendment will give the Lokpal the status of a constitutional authority," he had said. The Lokpal will be "more powerful than the Election Commission" and "will have far greater powers," the minister had said.
— PTI
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‘Anna’s maun vrat to escape uneasy queries’
Lucknow, October 16 At a press conference today, Digvijay said, "I respect Anna Hazare's decision to undertake the fast, but why does he target corruption in the Congress and ignore the same in the BJP?" "While I do not have a problem with RSS supporting his crusade against corruption, I do wonder why he continues denying the RSS angle. Is this not double standard?" questioned Singh. Referring to senior lawyer and Team Hazare member Prashant Bhushan's statement on Kashmir, the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said it was for legal experts to decide whether it was seditious or not. Strongly condemning junior Bhushan's statement which Singh described as "provocative", he also condemned the violent incident in his chamber.
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Anna to work with Cong if it creates strong Lokpal
Ralegan Siddhi, October 16 At the same time, he sent out a warning to the ruling party that if the Lokpal Bill was not passed in the winter session, he would work against the Congress in the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh and four other states - like in Hisar. In a TV interview before going on vow of silence, the 74-year-old Gandhian said after PM Manmohan Singh's latest letter to him, he was encouraged the government would bring a strong Lokpal, the channel said. — PTI Hazare begins ‘maun vrat’
Ralegan Siddhi, October 16
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Jantar Mantar
There is a stark contrast between the functioning of the two Parliamentary standing committees, which have been entrusted with the task of scrutinising the Lokpal Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill.
The committee looking at the anti-graft legislation is working at a brisk pace to complete its work so that it can submit its report in the upcoming winter session of Parliament.
On the other hand, the panel studying the land Bill is in no hurry, having begun work on the legislation only last week. This may well be attributed to the fact that Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi heads the first panel and BJP’s Lok Sabha MP Sumitra Mahajan chairs the other. It is well known that it is crucial for the UPA government to pass both these Bills in the winter session, for different reasons. The ruling coalition is under pressure from Team Anna on the Lokpal Bill while Nehru-Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi is keen on the early passage of the Land Acquisition Bill so that the Congress can flag it as an achievement in next year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. While the Congress can lean on Singhvi to meet the given deadline, it has no such influence on Mahajan. And there’s no reason why the BJP should help the Congress. After all, both parties have huge stakes in the Uttar Pradesh elections. TKA Nair’s new role in PMO
While Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s new Principal Secretary Pulok Chatterjee is firmly in the saddle, nobody’s quite sure about his predecessor TKA Nair’s role in the new-look PMO. Nair, who has been an indispensable part of the PMO for the past seven years, has been redesignated adviser to the Prime Minister and the PMO website places him on top of the list of officers. Although there is no official word about his duties, it is being assumed that Nair remains an important member of the PM’s core team. Instead of handling day-to-day affairs, he now provides strategic inputs on key issues, according to one insider. Whatever his new role may be, at least Nair’s physical proximity to the Prime Minister has narrowed. Having vacated his old office for Pulok Chatterjee, Nair has been accommodated in another room, which originally served as a visitor’s room. Nair’s new room is literally next to the PM’s office while the Principal Secretary’s office is further down the corridor. Young Gandhi at the helm!
Although Sonia Gandhi has gradually got back to her old routine post-surgery, the discussion on Rahul Gandhi’s future plans refuses to die down. In fact, the debate has picked up momentum after it became known that Rahul Gandhi would chair the annual lecture of the Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies this Wednesday, being delivered by Prof. Thomas Pogge of Yale University. An invitation letter sent to ministers also says that Priyanka Vadra would be present on the occasion. It is entirely possible that Rahul Gandhi is addressing the gathering in his capacity as a trustee of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. But Congress watchers, who are quick to grasp these subtle messages which are the party’s hallmark, maintain this is yet another indication that young Gandhi is ready to take on greater responsibilities.
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New Delhi, October 16
New Delhi, October 16
Bangalore, October 16
When Congress president Sonia Gandhi set up a four-member panel to look after organisational affairs before she went abroad for treatment for an undisclosed medical condition, the composition of this group had set off considerable speculation that her son and AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi would play a larger role in the party as he had found a place in this group.