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Journalism of Courage
Of course, we didn’t expect bureaucrats to shower us with information just because we acquired the right to ask for it. But bureaucrats perhaps didn’t expect the Central Information Commission (CIC) would insist on doing its job. CIC, having noted that most ministries and departments were still treating public information as if they owned it, has asked for a meeting. And a junior officer with little knowledge and less power won’t do as the bureaucracy’s representative. Send a ‘‘well-conversant person’’ not below the rank of a Joint Secretary, CIC has said and he should explain why RTI requests are being slow tracked. Just in case the message is still not clear, there is the promise that House might come down: RTI laggards will be named in the CIC report to Parliament. Last heard, processing of RTI requests has acquired a sudden burst of speed.
Minor drawback
It’s that familiar problem of jumbo cabinets: you get an invite to become a minister; you take oath and risk suffocating under the weight of your supporters’ floral tributes; you, if you are lucky, find an office, but you can’t simply find work. A R Antulay, asked to look after minority affairs, is finding out that how he spends his working day is no one’s affair. Arjun Singh tells him HRD simply can’t part with minority education. Meira Kumar has firmly argued that the National Minorities Development & Finance Corporation and the Maulana Azad Education Foundation are really havens for the socially backward, not just minorities. Haj pilgrims are the responsibility of the Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia; Riyadh doesn’t liaise with ministers in Delhi. So that’s ruled out too. Still, Antulay should think he’s better placed than S Dhinsa, who was minister for works in the Vajpayee cabinet. If you are minister, minority affairs, people at least understand what your job is.
Room for debate
How was anyone to know way back in the past that there’d be a day when India would be governed by so many that a standard sarkari committee room wouldn’t be big enough for cabinet meetings? The South Block room where the Cabinet meets is really too small for 34 ministers, some of whom undoubtedly need space to use their elbows. True, and unlike what people may think, cabinet meetings are rarely fully attended. But stranger things have happened in politics than a 100 per cent cabinet attendance. So the PM moved cabinet meetings to his residence, where space isn’t a problem. Trooping into the PM’s house struck some ministers as somewhat unwelcome symbolism. The PM was firm, though. Better bruised egos than bruised elbows.
Simple remedy
Blame us, make use of us, be like Vajpayee even, just don’t vote against Iran at IAEA meetings. That apparently was the Left’s advice to the PM when placing its arguments on Iran. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat reportedly told Manmohan Singh that the smartest way to avoid taking tough decisions was to put the blame on political division. Say important allies are against an Iran vote and artfully avoid framing a policy, was the Left’s suggestion. Karat apparently also gently hinted at what he thought was the PM’s problem in this context. ‘‘You are a simple man, Dr Singh,’’ the CPI(M) leader reportedly said. Simplicity, needless to add, is a virtue.
Mind bloc
So, that’s how it started. Last Friday, Murli Manohar Joshi shared a stage with the CPI’s A B Bardhan, generating news photos one thought one would never see. Before that, fate had conspired to arrange for another occasion of BJP-Left proximity. Coming into the Upper House to hear the President’s speech, the CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury could find no other place other than a seat next to the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj. Yechury didn’t appear exactly thrilled at the prospect of sitting next to Swaraj, although the latter sportingly asked him to. So Yechury bit the bullet. The two MPs talked. Yechury’s party MP Mohammad Salim, in the row ahead, turned around and joined them. Everyone appeared unharmed after the experience.
Side show
Kapil Sibal, who hadn’t been overjoyed when he was given science and technology and a minister of state status, is finding out that a cabinet rank, even if without preferred portfolios, can be rewarding. Sibal is minister-in-waiting for French President Jacques Chirac. He is likely to discharge the same role when George Bush comes calling. South Block wisdom has it that Sibal is a better choice than Vajpayee’s usual pick for such jobs, Digvijay Singh, who was a minister-in-hurry to tell everyone what he was doing .
Presence guaranteed
Imagine this: George Bush comes for his official banquet, only to find that his host, the Indian President, couldn’t make it back in time from a day trip. South Block was nearly radioactive with worry when it learnt that Abdul Kalam was slated to go for a day’s visit to Lucknow and Varanasi on March 2. The welcome ceremony for Bush is slated for that morning, and the grand dinner, for the evening. What if Kalam wasn’t back, officials worried. What message would the head of state’s absence, however innocent, convey to the Americans when the nuclear deal was likely to be the signature accord of the Bush visit? Kalam’s trip has now been postponed to March 3.
Spouse spice
Paul Steinmetz who? Luxembourg’s envoy to India, that’s who. Ever since Laxmi Mittal’s ambition and Europe’s apprehension collided, Steinmetz—so far known only in the Capital’s social circuit as host of chic parties at his farmhouse residence—has had to replace the clink of glass with the clang of steel. He briefs any journalist willing to listen on why Mittal’s bid for Arcelor must be opposed. What would you do, he has asked his Indian interlocutors, if an American company wanted to buy SAIL? A thought: if the US bidder’s CEO had an Indian spouse, the most fervent economic nationalists might have had to think about their line of argument. Just as Mittal defenders are having to with Steinmetz—he is married to Radhika Jha, daughter of columnist at large Prem Shankar Jha. Daughter Jha, an author, and Steinmetz met, married and had a baby all in the past one year.
