Room at the top

Flags march out

Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma has ordered a spring-cleaning and beautification drive to restore Sir Herbert Baker’s South Block secretariat to its original splendour. Sharma was shocked to discover antique furniture and old chairs and tables dumped carelessly in corridors and courtyards. The CPWD had clumsily drilled holes in the delicately carved stone screens to accommodate thick cable wires, disregarding both aesthetics and heritage. (Ironically the CPWD charges 15 per cent extra for any work it executes in South Block on the grounds that it is a heritage building).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Defence has been happily throwing its garbage in the common courtyard without any concern for sanitation.

The majestic main stone staircase had flags of 190 countries hanging from the banister. A wooden railing was erected over the stone so that the flag poles could be stuck in. When Sharma joined the ministry he complained that the array of flags robbed the staircase of light and air and were in any case very dirty. On his orders, the 190 flags have been sent for drycleaning. It remains to be seen whether they are ever brought back.

Ads high, TRPs low

The new TV channel meant exclusively for coverage of the Lok Sabha proceedings was launched on May 11, thanks largely to the initiative of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chaterjee. The channel is telecast throughout India and even if the TRP is the lowest in the country there is no shortage of sponsors, what with the PSUs eager to chip in generously. The extraordinary part is that even during the long inter-session periods, the channel will continue running. It seems it will be telecasting old re-runs on the Budget debates and earlier parliamentary proceedings.

Jobs for the boys

The recently appointed establishment officer in the Ministry of Personnel was keen to get his wife, an English lecturer in Bhopal, posted to Delhi. Since he is in charge of the powerful portfolio of appointments and transfers, colleagues from his Madhya Pradesh cadre were only too ready to oblige him. A new post of cultural attache in the Madhya Pradesh Bhawan in Delhi has been created specially for his spouse.

Minister of State for Personnel Suresh Pachauri is also helpful in accommodating officers from his home state of MP. There are some 65 MP cadre officers in Delhi as against the state’s quota of around 40. Madhya Pradesh bureaucrats who want to stay on in the Capital are accommodated in various PSUs and commissions.

History repeats itself

Protests over the movie version of Da Vinci Code have once again highlighted the tussle between religious fanaticism and freedom of expression. It is an old issue in India. In fact, a recently released book Enduring Legacy, about eminent Parsis of the Twentieth Century, describes a debate on the same subject which took place in the Parsi press 150 years ago which is remarkably similar to the recent controversy over the publication of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in a Danish newspaper. In 1851, a Parsi monthly magazine called Chitragyan Darpan, which regularly carried biographical sketches of great men with the best of intentions, included the Prophet along with an imaginary sketch in one of its issues.

Overnight there were widespread riots in Bombay. Parsi houses and fire temples were burnt. The police and government put pressure on Parsi leaders to make the editor apologise. Dadabhai Naoroji, who had just brought out the new Parsi newspaper Ras Goftar, protested against the ‘‘weak-kneed Parsi leadership and government’’. His new paper’s first crusade was that freedom of expression not be curbed by religious tyranny.

Invited, shut out

The theme for this year’s Theatre Bon Finale festival from May 13 to 21 is India and invitations were issued from Germany to a number of Indian artistes for participation in the prestigious event. But the German visa office in Delhi—presumably bearing in mind the Indian bhangra dance troupe, sponsored by the Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR), a good part of which vanished in Germany last year—was distinctly unwelcoming. Many of the invitees were given the runaround and asked to file additional documents regarding annual income, place of work, employee’s certificates and so on. The embassy was particularly dismissive of a talented group of young Bharatanatyam dancers sponsored by the ICCR, even though they held official passports. Because of the delay, the dancers could not fly out in time and their programme at the festival had to be cancelled.

The MEA has protested to the German Foreign Office. So have the festival authorities, who had invited the dancers. They point out that German consulates in other parts of India were far more accommodating in issuing visas.