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Journalism of Courage
Missing in action
Ever wonder what Justice retd Markandey Katju may be thinking about the anointment of Narendra Modi as the BJPs chief campaigner? Or,the role of media in covering the disaster in Uttarakhand? The outspoken chairman of the Press Council of India,who had a spat with senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley for his criticism of Modi last February,has decided to take a break. In his last post on his blog on June 23,he explained that he had firmly decided not to write any more articles or say anything publicly or appear on TV firstly,because he had already expressed his views on several issues,and,secondly,because some people had started accusing him of seeking popularity or cheap publicity. He stated that since he was misunderstood by many people,some of whom even started abusing me and launching personal attacks,he thought that the time had come for me to become silent. In the meantime,the PCI chairman was said to have gone visiting his daughter in the US.
Port of Call
Barely three weeks after the split between the BJP and JDU in Bihar,the state is becoming an important port of call for Union ministers. First,it was Sushil Kumar Shinde who visited the state and praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as a good human being who is devoted to the cause of Bihar. Then it was Kapil Sibal who along with his bada bhai Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone of an IT institute campus on the outskirts of Patna early this week. Their smiles bore no memory of any bitter feud over the location of a Central University in the state last year. Known to travel to wherever the action is,Jairam Ramesh is now embarking on a two-day trip to Patna from Saturday to meet Nitish to discuss the progress of rural scheme.
Injured Party
Tribal Affairs Minister V Kishore Chandra Deo has been working from home,of late. He had recently sustained multiple fractures in his left arm after a fall. Although he is not going to his Shastri Bhavan office,the minister has been getting office files at home and disposing of them.
Personal Checks
While his counterparts in other Central police forces delivered the money collected for relief operations in Uttarakhand to the Union Home Minister,BSF DG Subhash Joshi chose to hand over a cheque of Rs 10 crore to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna in Dehradun. CISF DG Rajiv and CRPF DG Pranay Sahay had presented cheques worth Rs 7 crore and Rs 18 crore,respectively,to the Home Minister. Joshis gesture is attributed to his emotional links with the state as he hails from there and also belongs to the Uttarakhand cadre.
Premature Move
Rajan Katoch is likely to move as Defence Secretary Production without completing his tenure as the chief of Enforcement Directorate ED,which is handling serious cases like 2G scam and coal block allocation. Another Madhya Pradesh cadre officer of 1982 batch,Ajay Nath,is tipped to take over as ED chief. Nath,brother of former ED Director Sudhir Nath,was formerly director of the Serious Fraud Investigating Office.
