Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Even after the courts settle whether or not Sachin Tendulkar has to pay Customs duty on his Ferrari, he may have to wait a while before he gets to drive his new car. The rules stipulate that foreign car models which are not generally imported have to be first tested out individually for road worthiness in Indian conditions at the Automotive Research Institute at Pune.
The process of homologation, as it is called in our sarkari terminology, costs the car owner Rs 15 lakh and takes over two months. What is worse, the rigorous testing methods take their toll on the finely tuned cars. One irate car owner accused the institute of cannibalising his new sports model.
The Special Protection Group obtained exemption for the three BMWs recently imported for the Prime Minister’s use. Other influential owners of custom-built cars ranging from Jaguars and BMWs to Mercedes and Ferraris who would like to avoid the procedure have not been so fortunate.
The long list of those who have petitioned to be exempted from the homologation tests include: Shahrukh Khan, Jai Mehta, Lalit Suri, Suhel Seth and Amitabh Bachchan. Bachchan has written a well-reasoned letter pointing out the absurdity of the tests.
In fact, the rule introduced at the behest of the indigenous automobile industry, is not really about testing the hugely expensive cars for road worthiness but to act as a deterrent against importing cars individually.
Is it farewell?
Murasoli Maran’s family decided to bring home the DMK minister back to India after the Methodist hospital in Houston made clear to the Indian embassy that it could not keep him as a patient any longer.
Maran is one of the last links between the DMK and the government. Vajpayee plans to visit Chennai on September 12 to meet Maran who is critically ill. Meanwhile, the DMK has invited Sonia Gandhi to visit Villuparam for Annadurai anniversary on September 16.
Gandhi has yet to agree, but it would be sweet revenge for her to be accorded a big reception by the DMK considering that her former ally Jayalalithaa insulted her by not showing up at the same venue after keeping her waiting for four hours during the 1996 election campaign. By month end, the DMK will have to take a decision, one way or the other, about its ties with the NDA.
Food for thought
After the Pepsi-Coke pesticide controversy there is a renewed demand for setting standards for a common food law. The problem is that the ministries of health, consumer affairs and food processing would all like to be regulatory authority for the proposed law.
The health ministry’s case is that the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act comes under its purview. The consumer affairs ministry’s point is that the Bureau of Indian Standards and the consumer courts are its responsibility. The food processing ministry’s justification is that it is responsible for granting licences for food production.
Four months back after the quality of bottled water was questioned, a GoM (Group of ministers) — which included, DPM L K Advani, Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, Consumer Affairs Minister Sharad Yadav and Food Processing Minister, N T Shanmugam — was set up to discuss the guidelines for food standards. No decision was reached and no subsequent meeting called.
But the winner in the turf battle will in all probability be Sushma Swaraj. Her ministry may have the least to do with the issue, but Swaraj carries the most clout with the party leadership. And the Health Minister is determined that her ministry will be the nodal ministry for the new law.
Curious apathy
Considering the sound and fury every time there is a discussion on WTO in Parliament the commerce ministry expected that it would be thoroughly grilled by MPs of the consultative committee attached to the ministry at a meeting to discuss India’s approach at the forthcoming WTO meet in Cancun. Senior officials came for the meeting armed with charts and slides prepared to make detailed power point presentations.
But the only MP who showed up on time was the BJP’s Master Mathen from Tamil Nadu. Since it made little sense to give detailed discourses for an audience of one, Commerce Minister Arun Jaitley felt it would be simpler to make a brief summary. Congress MP Kapil Sibal arrived later but did not raise any queries. Clearly away from the gaze of the media, parliamentarians do not feel so strongly about WTO.
A Family affair
The first marriage of L K Advani’s son Jayant to lawyer Gauri Sabharwal in 1991 was a grand show at the Talkatora gardens with the who’s who of Delhi attending. But Jayant’s engagement last week to Geetika Sachdev, a student, was strictly a family affair. Politicians and bureaucrats were not invited.
The few who were present — Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant, Minister of State for Home Haren Pathak, Law Minister Arun Jaitley’s wife Dolly, Delhi Lt Governor Vijay Kapoor, Cabinet Secretary Kamal Pandey and Advani’s OSD Deepak Chopra — were invited in their personal capacity because of close ties with the family. And though many high-power journalists claim to be close to the home minister it was only the low profile bureau chief of the Ananda Bazar Patrika, Jayanto Ghosal, who was present.
