India Calling

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh found himself in bit of an awkward situation at the G-20 summit in Mexico recently when his counterparts from Britain and Australia

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh found himself in bit of an awkward situation at the G-20 summit in Mexico recently when his counterparts from Britain and Australia David Cameron and Julia Gillard,respectively expressed their desire to visit India. The Prime Ministers of both these countries have been in India in the recent past and,according to diplomatic protocol,it is now the turn of Manmohan Singh to make a reciprocal visit before New Delhi hosts them again. Especially in case of Australia,the visit of an Indian Prime Minister is pending for a long time. The last Prime Minister to travel to Australia was Rajiv Gandhi in 1986. But due to various reasons,Manmohan Singh has been unable to find time to travel to these countries because of which a significant time has elapsed in having a bilateral contact at the level of heads of states. Considering the growing importance in bilateral ties,those two countries have now proposed that they are willing to overlook diplomatic conventions and willing to travel to India again even if Manmohan Singhs visit is unable to happen. In fact,Gillards visit has been all but finalised while Camerons visit is also being worked out.

High Level Altercations

During US President Barack Obamas visit to India in 2010,the Indian authorities had a confrontation with the US secret service personnel over some details of the arrangements. So much so that the then White House press secretary Robert Gibbs had threatened to pull the President out of the official meeting if he did not have his way. Something similar got repeated in Los Cabos in Mexico during the G-20 meeting last week,though this time it was not the Indians but the Chinese who got into an altercation with US security officials. As Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao were having their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of G-20,their respective security staff got engaged in a tiff. It was starting to become serious before the Mexicans the hosts intervened and managed to bring tempers under control.

Film Fare

This could probably be the best advertisement for a film. The Malayalam movie Spirit is being recommended by none other than Union minister Vayalar Ravi. In a letter to Iamp;B Minister Ambika Soni,Ravi has suggested that this movie,featuring superstar Mohanlal,be shown on every Doordarshan channel. The film is a story of an alcohol addict and the menace of alcohol. The whole film is so impressive and exhibits the agony,tragedy and miserable life of alcohol addicts8230;The film carries a big message against the drinking habits and the menace of alcohol. I am confident that the impact of the film will be tremendous, Ravi has written in his letter. It remains to be seen whether Ambika Soni is impressed.

Gandhi Online

Besides the several policy making roles that he is involved in,Sam Pitroda is also working on developing a website on Mahatma Gandhi. In an interview with Yuvadesh,the online magazine of the Indian Youth Congress,Pitroda has revealed that he was working with the Gandhi Ashram to develop a Mahatma Gandhi portal,because Gandhiji needs to be more relevant to the rest of the world. The portal is planned to be not just in English and Hindi but also in Japanese,Korean,Chinese and Portuguese languages.

Vjay and Kumar Saga

There are too many Vijaykumars in the Rural Development Ministry these days. Secretary,Rural Development,is a Vijaykumar S Vijaykumar and so is one of the joint secretaries T Vijaykumar. The personal secretary to the Secretary also has a similar name he is called A Vijay Kumar. With the ministry taking active interest in the Naxal-affected regions,it often needs to deal with another Vijay Kumar that is director general of CRPF K Vijay Kumar. Incidentally,names having Vijay and Kumar in them are extremely common amongst bureaucrats. There are close to 40 serving officers in IAS and IPS alone with Vijay and Kumar in their names.