A different ball game

Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar with his wife Anjali

While the food security ordinance and Telangana issue dominated the first day of parliaments monsoon session,the spotlight was also on two of Indias sporting icons. For Rajya Sabha MP Sachin Tendulkar,who arrived with his wife,Anjali,it was his first full day at parliament. He chatted with fellow MPs and even took a round of the parliament complex. He obliged members from Maharashtra by speaking to them in Marathi. Meanwhile,in the Lok Sabha,Arjuna awardee and former Olympian football star from West Bengal Prasun Banerjee took oath in Bengali. He received congratulatory calls from football stars of yesteryears including I M Vijayan,Xavier Payas,Bidesh Bose and others. Banerjee won the Howrah bypolls on a Trinamool ticket earlier this year.

Foreign postings

India8217;s ambassador to China S Jaishankar,who was edged out by Sujatha Singh in the race for the foreign secretarys post,has been selected as Indias next ambassador to the US. Having played a central role in firming up the Indo-US nuclear deal,Jaishankar was considered a natural choice at a time when the relationship is going through an extended low period. However,a decision is still to be taken on the timing of the changeover as the PM is slated to visit US and China. Meanwhile,the Beijing post will return to the powerful Mandarin-speaking China group in the MEA with Secretary East Ashok Kantha,1977-batch officer,cleared to replace Jaishankar. Also,insiders say,Special Secretary P S Raghavan is tipped to move as Indias next ambassador to Russia.

DISSENTING NOTE

Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Yashwant Sinha has drawn the ire of Congress members in the panel over adoption of a report on gas pricing. Congress member Sanjay Nirupam has taken the unusual step of giving a dissenting note. Nirupam has argued that the report was made without hearing the views of many stakeholders and only on the basis of the views expressed by some ministries. For instance,he has argued that the panel should have invited C Rangarajan as it was the committee headed by him which had devised the gas pricing formula. Besides,the argument is that the panel did not hear either ONGC or any other public sector majors leave aside the private players. Sources said he had a lengthy argument when the panel met last and with his views not being heeded to,he has given a dissenting note.

Sound of silence

Although the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council is yet to take up the issue of the governments move to amend the RTI Act to keep political parties out of its ambit,two of its members have signed a letter to the PM urging him not to amend the Act before holding pubic discussions. The two members,Deep Joshi and Mirai Chatterjee,are among 287 petitioners who have signed the letter. However,the NACs silence on the issue has surprised many. Some believe this could be because its most vocal member,Aruna Roy,is no longer with the council. Incidentally,Roy and her organisation have been at the forefront of the campaign to bring political parties under the RTI.

Linked in

NATGRID CEO P Raghu Raman sent out an invite to the media saying he was going to start a discussion on national security-related issues on Facebook. The SMS said: Join discussion today on critical security-related issues that threaten our country. Ur opinion counts. Log on to http://ow.ly/nATeh now. The link turned out to be a promotional Facebook page for Ramans new book Everymans War: Strategy,Security and Terrorism in India.

Info business

While the RTI Act is meant for information disclosure,the officers who had been trained to conceal the information are eyeing the posts of Information Commissioners. In addition to the list of applicants published by The Indian Express recently,there are some officers from Indias intelligence agencies. These include Sanjeev Kumar Tripathi,who retired as chief of Research and Analysis Wing,Yashovardhan Azad,who was earlier with Intelligence Bureau and presently Secretary Security have also applied. List also includes the name of O P S Malik,retired UP cadre IPS officer who had been chief of Narcotics Control Bureau till last year. Former IB chief Rajeev Mathur and former special director M L Sharma are already there in the CIC as information commissioners.