Going Slow

The keenness which the National Commission on Minorities showed to have a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is nowhere reflected in the preparations it is making for the meeting

The keenness which the National Commission on Minorities showed to have a meeting with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is nowhere reflected in the preparations it is making for the meeting. The NCM had last month sought a meeting with Modi to discuss issues regarding minority welfare and internally displaced persons in Gujarat. Modi had conveyed that he was willing for a meeting in the last week of January but asked NCM to send a proper agenda. The NCM,it is learnt,has not yet sent the agenda and will require some more time to prepare it. As a result,the meeting is unlikely to happen in the last week of January as planned.

Sams Stars

Rahul Gandhi had invited huge criticism by referring to Sam Pitrodas caste in one of his recent election speeches in Uttar Pradesh. However,the Congress seems clearly unfazed in its attempts to woo the non-Yadav backward communities in the state. Pitroda a close friend of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and now advising the UPA government on a number of issues figures in the list of the partys star campaigners for Uttar Pradesh submitted to the Election Commission.

General Expansion

With the National Investigation Agency NIA set to open field offices in different parts of the country,the Cabinet is likely to clear the agencys demand for grant of two more positions at the level of IGs. The NIA presently has two IGs Kerala cadre Loknath Behera and Madhya Pradesh cadre Sanjeev Singh both posted in New Delhi. However,due to burgeoning pressure on the agency,owing to the growing number of cases being assigned to it and problems of coordination with state police,the NIA had asked MHA to sanction the posts of two more IGs.

Conflict Resolution

Following allegations of a conflict of interest,noted agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and NIIT head Rajendra Pawar had to recuse themselves from a three-member search-cum-selection committee headed by K Kasturirangan that was instituted to appoint a new vice-chancellor for the Indira Gandhi National Open University IGNOU. Both have been associated with IGNOU in various capacities and therefore were thought to have a stake in the appointment. Embarrassed,the IGNOU Board of Management which constitutes the search-cum-selection committee has now nominated UPSC chairperson D P Agarwal and Barkatullah University vice-chancellor Nisha Dubey.

Quiz time

Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra had a tough day at court while appearing for the Army in a petition filed by the CBI. The Army has claimed immunity from criminal prosecution of eight personnel in the Pathribal encounter case. Malhotra was badgered with questions and he kept responding that there seemed to be a lot of confusion in the court and he probably was unable to make his point clear. After another of his remarks,Justice Swatanter Kumar quipped that the only confusion seemed to be as to why an ASG was appearing for the case where individual officers,and not the Army,were accused of crime.