Getting his way

The Congress-led UPA appears to be going all the way to keep RLD chief Ajit Singh in good humour ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh where the two parties have an alliance.

Getting his way

The Congress-led UPA appears to be going all the way to keep RLD chief Ajit Singh in good humour ahead of elections in Uttar Pradesh where the two parties have an alliance. Ajit Singh is learnt to have managed to get the government to allow him to have a Joint Secretary level officer,Prabhat Kumar (1985 batch UP cadre IAS),as his OSD. Ministers are allowed to keep only director level officers in their personal staff. But so keen was Ajit Singh on this officer that he was willing to forgo the post of one of the two Assistant PS he is entitled to. Prabhat Kumar,incidentally,has an interesting history. He is learnt to have been a favourite of former UP chief minister Kalyan Singh. But he served as the PS to the then Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh in the Vajpayee government. When Ajit Singh replaced Rajnath,Prabhat Kumar had continued to serve in the same position.

WAIT ENDS,FINALLY

NEARLY two months after the Chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities sought a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi,the latter has finally given a nod for the meeting. It is learnt that Modis office has written to NCM chairperson Wajahat Habibullah asking for the agenda for the meeting which can be held towards the end of this month. Habibullah wants to discuss issues related to situation of minorities in the state after the 2002 riots and implementation of various welfare schemes being run for them. Muslim groups have been complaining that one of the centrally-funded scholarship programme was not being implemented by the state government.

TAKING LESSONS

MUMBAI police is all set to get some lessons from the CBI in carrying out investigations. On Thursday,a team from CBI will give a series of lectures to Mumbai cops,focused mainly on overseas investigations. CBIs Interpol Wing has also prepared a guide on sending Letters Rogatory to foreign countries which will be shared with Mumbai police. State police organisations often bungle while sending Letters Rogatories because of which their requests are often not processed by authorities abroad.

YOUNG DIPLOMAT AWARD

A NEW award for the best young diplomat has been instituted in the name of former foreign secretary late S K Singh,who was always keen to institute such an award to motivate the young brigade who are increasingly working in hostile and challenging conditions. The first award will be given by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on January 6,in a ceremony attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari who heads the jury. Singh,it may be recalled,was handpicked by former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi for the foreign secretarys position. He was later appointed the Governor of Rajasthan by the UPA government. The jury comprises Singhs wife Manju Singh,Rahul Gandhi,NSA Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

CRACKING THE WHIP

NO change or same as above would not be an acceptable response in the immovable property returns to be filed by central secretariat officers. Ahead of the January 31 deadline for submitting these returns,the government is cracking the whip and has asked the officers to furnish clear and complete details of their property on time. They must submit full particulars of their immovable property inherited or owned or acquired,and specifically must avoid phrases like no change or same as above. Sometime back,the government had told the officers that if they dont submit their immovable property returns on time,their vigilance clearance would be denied and they would not be considered for promotion and empanelment for senior posts.