Intelligence gap

B N Yugandhar, a member of the Planning Commission, is reported to have submitted his resignation to the prime minister. Manmohan Singh has asked Yugandhar to reconsider. The respected retired IAS officer does not see eye-to-eye with the Deputy Chairperson of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia. At a recent forum Yugandhar had said that those in charge of policy planning had no experience or awareness of what was happening at the grassroots.

Stuck in S America

Whatever happened to Ottavio Quattrocchi who was detained by the Argentine immigration authorities when he was returning from a holiday on the Iguacu river on February 6? Quattrocchi8217;s son Massimo, who was then in Delhi, had been confident that his father would return to Italy very soon and the Indian media had estimated that the Argentinian courts would decide within a month whether or not the fugitive businessman should be extradited to India as demanded by the CBI. While Quattrocchi was granted bail, he has nevertheless been stuck in the country for the last four months. The next hearing of his case is on June 7. Quattrochhi8217;s sojourn in South America is turning out to be much longer than he might have bargained for. Even if he wins in the lower court, the CBI is bound to appeal to Argentina8217;s Supreme Court, else it will have to face the flak at home.

Sunset over Sumangali

Even Jayalalithaa as chief minister could not succeed in breaking the monopoly of the Sumangali cable network in Tamil Nadu. Towards the fag end of her tenure as chief minister, Jayalalithaa had a bill passed in the Assembly calling for the state government to take over the cable network, but Governor Surjit Singh Barnala refused to sign the bill. For nearly 15 years, Sumangali controlled which television channels could operate in the state. Its iron grip loosened only after the arrival of the DTH service.

The Karunanidhi family seems to have figured out an effective method for cutting Sumangali to size so that it does not block the soon to be launched Kalaignar TV channel. The Sumangali office, located in the massive DMK building on Anna Road , along with Sun TV, has been asked to vacate the premises. Even before the notice period is over, the landlord has cut off electricity and water supply. The sewer is also clogged.

Shut-door policy

Last week, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan travelled on the New York-Mumbai-Air India flight. He planned on catching the early morning flight the next day to Bhopal. His schedule went awry since the Air India plane was not permitted to land in Mumbai and was diverted to Delhi. The aircraft reached Delhi at 1:30 a.m. and the authorities insisted on keeping all passengers, including Chauhan and his entourage of 16 officials, on board even though they protested that they wanted to disembark. It made more sense for them to continue their onward journey from Delhi, as there was no certainty just when the plane would return to Mumbai. The pilot insisted that he had no instructions to allow anyone to get off. It took a heated argument and several midnight telephone calls before the cabin crew finally relented and opened the aircraft doors.