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Journalism of Courage
Maken under fire
Union Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Ajay Maken is a harried man nowadays. While he faced a lot of flak for announcing just Rs 25,000 for athlete Sonu Sinha who has lost one of her legs after being thrown out of a train,the ministers close aides argue that the amount was the maximum he could announce as ex-gratia and after getting further reports he announced medical compensation of Rs 2 lakh. Besides,the minister wrote to Home Minister P Chidambaram asking him to consider her employment in the Central Industrial Security Force CISF as she was reportedly on her way to a CISF recruitment drive. Maken also wrote to Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee recommending a job and compensation for her. Given that she had never played at national level,the minister actually went out of the way to help her, contended a close aide of Maken.
The Uma comeback
The more you try changing things,the more they remain the same. Ask Uma Bharti. Her return to the BJP ahead of the last Lok Sabha polls was stalled because Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan threatened to resign if she was brought back. On her part,Uma also refused to accept the compromise formula suggested by L K Advani that she shift her political base to Uttar Pradesh and not even look back towards Madhya Pradesh. The Uma issue is back on the BJP agenda and party chief Nitin Gadkari is expected to meet with Chouhan soon to persuade him not to come in the way of her homecoming. And Uma too is likely to be told to focus on UP.
Radiagate
The discharge of duties due to potential conflict of interest situations is no longer restricted to Cabinet ministers,bureaucrats and regulators. In the recent high-profile hearing of Ratan Tata and Niira Radia by the Public Accounts Committee chaired by Murli Manohar Joshi,Deputy Chairman of the Bihar Planning Commission and Rajya Sabha member N K Singh recused himself from the days hearings. Singh had featured in the Radia tapes giving his views on the Cabinet formation exercise after the UPA returned to power.
The flight to PMO
A promotion of sorts may be in the offing for Civil Aviation Secretary Nasim Zaidi. He is likely to move to the Prime Ministers Office,replacing current secretary M N Prasad,a 1972 Bihar cadre IAS,whose extension comes to an end in a couple of months. Zaidi,an Edward Mason fellow,apart from being an able administrator it was during his stint at the helm of the aviation regulator,DGCA,that India was able to retain its top safety rating has caught the UPAs attention for other reasons as well. Given the upcoming elections in UP,Zaidi fits the bill as a Muslim face in the PMO from the UP cadre.
Conflict of interest
While his detractors cited conflict of interest as the reason for divesting Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar of the portfolio of the Food Ministry,the conflict is still very much there albeit between different departments within the Ministry of Consumer Affairs,Food and Public Distribution. This came to the fore over the Agriculture Ministrys proposal to grant an additional bonus of Rs 50 per quintal of wheat procurement. While the Department of Consumer Affairs supported the move,the Department of Food and Public Distribution opposed the proposal arguing it was already short of storage space and would not be able to accommodate more stock. Incidentally,both departments come under one minister K V Thomas. These internal conflicts will need to be put to rest as the ministry readies to roll out the food guarantee law.
Not the Custom
WHO shall be the next chairman of the Central Board of Excise and Custom CBEC is the subject of much speculation within the organisation these days. S Dutt Majumdar,who is a member of the board,is set to retire in October this year and is handling the additional charge of chairman at present. To be posted as CBEC chairman,however,one must have at least one year of his service term left which is not the case with Majumdar. Also in the running is another candidate who fulfills this condition Y G Parande,a 1975-batch Indian Revenue Service officer,who even made a case before Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra on the issue recently. However,considering the time it takes for the government machinery to take a final decision on such issues,it is being feared that Parande may not even be left with a year in service.
The MCI mess
The Medical Council of India MCIs Board of Governors,formed last year amidst the corruption row that hit the Council,is in the news again. Of late,rumours have been doing the rounds that the BoG President,Dr S K Sarin,has resigned days before the BoGs tenure comes to an end on May 14. While Sarins resignation has not yet been confirmed,it is now known that Dr Devi Shetty,who is a member of the Board,has conveyed to his colleagues that he would also not like to continue after his tenure ends next month due to professional reasons.
