Khan in Kolkata

The Prime Minister being the Prime Minister has taken utmost care not to respond, he quipped.

Khan in Kolkata

Legendary Pakistani cricketer turned politician Imran Khans upcoming India visit had been threatened by a visa faux-pas. Imran Khan is scheduled to appear at the Kolkata Book Fair and participate in a reading session on January 30. However,only belatedly it was realised that the visa given to Khan was only meant for New Delhi. India and Pakistan give city-specific visas to each others citizens. Following some last-minute phone calls,the issue is learnt to have been resolved and Khans Kolkata visit facilitated.

Prime Time

Mani Shankar Aiyar was at it again on Thursday. Speaking as chairman of an informal group constituted by the Prime Minister,it did not stop him from taking a dig at the Prime Minister. His group on universal nuclear disarmament had submitted its report and one of the recommendations is the appointment of a Special Envoy of the Prime Minister on this issue to pursue the cause of disarmament at diplomatic levels. At a function to discuss his report on Friday,Aiyar was asked what the Prime Ministers response was to the proposal of a Special Envoy. The Prime Minister being the Prime Minister has taken utmost care not to respond, he quipped.

Identity Crisis

The government has always downplayed the perceived differences between Home Minister P Chidambaram and head of the UIDAI project Nandan Nilekani on whether the National Population Register under the Home Ministry or Aadhaar under UIDAI,should collect biometric data of citizens. But as a compromise solution was arrived at on Friday,it was clear that the entire issue was nothing but a feud between the two. The matter was resolved even when three important members of the Cabinet Committee were not present. Obviously,they were irrelevant to the problem. Salman Khurshid,Kapil Sibal and Jairam Ramesh had to skip the meeting as they were in different cities of Uttar Pradesh to release the partys Vision 2020 document for the state. Their absence clearly was not felt.

Old Joke

The prolonged controversy over the date of birth of Army Chief General V K Singh is getting reflected even in the usually restrained speeches of judges. Supreme Court judge Justice Cyriac Joseph used the age row to make his farewell speech light-hearted and witty. Speaking a day ahead of his retirement,Justice Joseph said that thankfully there was no uncertainty about his date of birth and he was sure that he would retire on Saturday. Though he did not refer to the Army Chief,the context was not lost on anyone.

No Takers

The North-Eastern Council Secretariat in Shillong is awaiting a Financial Adviser at the joint secretary level,but it seems there are very few takers for the job. Since the job was advertised,very few names have been received from central officers to facilitate the selection process. The government has now written to chief secretaries of all the state governments to recommend the names of willing officers who are eligible to hold joint secretary level deputation jobs at the Centre.