Choosing the safe way ahead

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made his aversion for anything American a fashion statement. His daily denunciation of Israel and scraps with the US government over the nuclear issue are well documented. He recently gave interviews to journalists from India and the US to project his side of the story. While Mike Wallace of CBS was picked to hear Ahmadinejad8217;s views on the Great Satan, Indian journalists were selected by the Iranian Embassy in Delhi only after carefully examining their style of reportage. Even the fact that one of them holds an American passport did not deter the silver-tongued President of Iran.

Direct to own home

A serious complaint against a senior cabinet minister has gone right up to the Prime Minister. Apparently, the minister has been hounding an international media baron for a partnership in the DTH pie, which the latter had just signed with a major corporate house in the country last week. The media mogul, known for his marauding business tactics, was quite taken aback when he received a call from the minister demanding a stake in the fledgling company as he has interests in the cable business too. He firmly told the minister that this was not the way he did business, getting informal calls like this, and that he had to first consult his Indian partner. Now the Indian partner is getting the jitters about the minister8217;s vengeful tactics: Will he undermine their interests in the sector that he controls?

Watered down

One of the highlights of President APJ Abdul Kalam8217;s visit to Bangalore over the weekend was to have been the inauguration of a PURA Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas programme in Chitradurga district. Having conceived of the idea, the President8217;s interest was obvious. All was well until the Karnataka government realised the Centre was not providing special funds for its programme. So, at the eleventh hour, all kinds of hurdles were thrown in, even as the local MP fought furiously to save the visit to his constituency. It didn8217;t work. With no promise of allocation or Central support, the state government backed out, forcing the launch to be called off. But what reason could one give to the waiting public? Blame the weather. Not good for chopper operations, so visit postponed, declared officials.

Bharat 2006 norms

Babus in New Delhi have a new headache: the onus of ensuring their official vehicle do not violate pollution emission norms is on them now. The Cabinet Secretariat last month directed all departments to get the vehicles periodically checked to ensure that emissions are within the prescribed limits. Otherwise, any penalty for violations would have to be borne by the official/driver and 8220;it shall not be passed on to the government account8221;. The earlier practice of the department paying the penalty had resulted in stiff objections from the audit team.

Personnel problem

While good HR is considered a key factor in the private sector, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has turned a deaf ear to the woes of its officers. CBDT Member Personnel Baljeet Matiyani has issued a circular firmly telling her field people not to call on her or her staff on service-related matters read transfer/postings unless it is cleared by the aggrieved officer8217;s superior. The memo caused a fracas outside her door, but she refused to relent. Earlier, the CBDT had stopped Income Tax officers from submitting representations while their transfer list was in the pipeline. Now, close to 250 officers are wasting more time before the Central Administrative Tribunal rather than at their jobs.

Death do us part

Why does Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde occupy a smaller room in Shram Shakti Bhavan than the one traditionally occupied by his predecessors? The bigger room has remained locked for the past five months even as Shinde occupies the dingy one opposite it. Apparently, the reason is Vaastu. In the past eight years, two ministers8212;PR Kumaramangalam and more recently, PM Sayeed, who had both occupied the room8212;passed away while in office. Officials in the Power Ministry tell us that a Vaastu expert has advised Shinde not to use the same room. Hence the lock and the smaller room opposite the 8220;jinxed8221; room, for the Power Minister.

Speaker8217;s reluctance

For all the camaraderie between the CPIM and the Samajwadi Party in the run-up to targeting the UPA government on the nuclear deal, cracks are beginning to appear in the relationship. Some of it was evident on the day the Rajya Sabha debated the nuclear agreement. A senior Left leader complained that SP leader Amar Singh was reluctant to volunteer as a speaker when parties were invited to give notice for raising the nuclear issue. Not surprisingly, the glib SP leader was given the cold shoulder by Left leaders once the Rajya Sabha was adjourned following the Prime Minister8217;s speech. The comrades are especially peeved since they stood by Singh on the telephone tapping issue, and they expected him to cooperate. The moot question is: Will this impact on their relationship in Uttar Pradesh?

No green in saffron

Notwithstanding all the frantic minority wooing activity, the BJP did not have even a dozen credible Muslim faces during its days in power. No wonder then that the party had to turn to people like Zafar Saifullah, Siraj Mehdi and Rampur8217;s Begum Naghat Abidi when it launched the Maulana Azad Foundation. When someone pointed out to Maneka Gandhi the other day that Mehdi was a Congress leader and many others on the foundation were known for their pro-Congress leanings, Maneka shot back, 8220;Yes, I know. But tell me, where could the BJP-wallas find so many Mussalmans anyway?8221;

One family, one post?

Of all the places in the country, Kashmir8217;s Women8217;s Commission and Human Rights Commission are headless. The former has been in this sorry state for nearly a year now, all because the nomination of Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad8217;s singer wife Shamima Dev was stayed by a fiat from Delhi. It seems UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi had objected to her appointment even though the announcement had been made. The rebuff was too much for Azad8212;that too within a year of Sonia dashing his hopes of Shamima getting the Rajya Sabha seat he vacated on becoming the CM. These are certainly testing times for the Azads, who have always enjoyed the blessings of the Gandhis.

Tailpiece

After winning the battle on the India-US nuclear agreement against the combined forces of the 8220;atheistic Left8221; and the 8220;theistic Right8221; in the Rajya Sabha, the generally agnostic Manmohan Singh seems to have been particularly grateful to God. At a 8220;thanksgiving8221; lunch he hosted on Saturday for senior officials at his office, the prime minister thanked all present for their assistance with a 8220;God bless you8221; instead of a 8220;thank you8221;. Apparently everyone present was overwhelmed by this invocation of the divine. As one aide quipped, 8220;Dealing with devils seems to have reminded him of God.8221;