Loco-motive

The Health Ministry announced a few days ago that it was in the process of redeveloping Delhi’s Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. That plan,however,is hostage to availability of land. Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has already written several letters — the latest was written last month — to his counterpart in the Ministry of Urban Development,Kamal Nath,asking for three plots of land on the R K Puram Road and Talkatora Road to be made available for expansion of the hospital. So far there has been no positive response from Kamal Nath. The Health Ministry has now decided to go ahead with redevelopment on the existing premises of the hospital.

Food Security

Amidst the election season,people belonging to “other categories” have registered a victory on a smaller battlefront — in Parliament House. The bosses in the Parliament House bureaucracy issued an order three weeks ago saying only MPs,ex-MPs and mediapersons could avail of catering facilities in its main building. People belonging to “other categories” — a reference to the lower bureaucracy and security personnel — were required to head for the library,annexe or reception if they wanted meals. A flurry of meetings,and the “others” had managed to get the order reversed. So no “change” in Parliament House at least.

Split Bill

Always the one with an alternative view,Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday made known his disagreement with the Mines and Mineral Regulation and Development Bill that seeks to give local people some share in the money made from mining. The provision in the Bill that will make mining companies share a percentage of their profits (in case of coal mining) or royalty (in case of other minerals) with the district administration has already been cleared by the Union Cabinet. However,Singh,speaking at an industry function,attacked this provision and said this money needed to be transferred directly to the families affected by the project. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh,who in his previous incarnation as the Environment Minister had made several inputs to the Bill,strongly defended the provision. All this in front of an audience consisting largely of an industry association that probably had problems with both ideas.

Looking Ahead

It’s not yet clear whether she will be allowed to attend the Budget session of Parliament but DMK MP Kanimozhi,who spent a few months in jail as an accused in the 2G spectrum scam,seems keen to return to an active role as a parliamentarian. She is learnt to have prepared a private member’s legislation seeking a repeal of a section in the Indian Penal Code that makes attempt to suicide punishable. A calling attention motion on the condition of Tamils in Sri Lanka is also said to be ready. Before all this,though,she has to get an exemption from the special CBI court,hearing the 2G case,to attend to her role in Parliament.