Raja8217;s Rejoinder

Some of the Opposition members in the JPC on the 2G spectrum scam got a surprise visitor

Some of the Opposition members in the JPC on the 2G spectrum scam got a surprise visitor on Tuesday. Former Telecom Minister A Raja,the main accused in the case,called on a few members who are planning to chart out a united strategy against the draft report of the JPC that was put in public domain a few days back. The draft report puts the blame for the scam squarely on A Raja while absolving everyone else in the government. Raja is learnt to have given these members a copy of his over 100-page document,that seeks to defend his actions and proves that he had kept both the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister informed about each of his actions.

Post Search

THE CRPF top brass is trying to find a way to accommodate senior IPS officer Aruna Bahuguna at its force headquarters in New Delhi. Bahuguna,a 1979-batch IPS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre,has recently been appointed as a Special DG in CRPF. All the three posts of Special DG in the CRPF are located outside Delhi,in Kolkata,Jammu and Guwahati. Both Kolkata and Guwahati are currently vacant. The CRPF,however,is said to be keen to find a role for her in Delhi since her husband,S Jayaraman,is also in Delhi,serving as Special Secretary Internal Security in the Home Ministry. There have been occasions earlier when a Special DG has been posted in the headquarters.

Patently Obvious

QUOTED in full in the Supreme Courts Novartis judgment earlier this month is a 2004 letter from the then director of the HIV/AIDS department of World Health Organisation to Indias then Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. The author of the letter urges the Indian government to take all necessary steps to keep up the global supply of cheap anti-retroviral and other essential drugs. In other words,the letter seems to encourage the Indian generic drug industry. The author of that letter,Dr Jim Yong Kim,has since risen to become the group president of the World Bank. Incidentally,many institutions within the World Bank do not take kindly to what is described in international trade parlance as patent subversions by the Indian pharmaceutical industry.

Homing In

AS the tenure of Home Secretary R K Singh comes nearer to completion,the buzz around the names of possible candidates to succeed him is hotting up. One of the contenders,P K Misra,a 1976-batch UP cadre IAS officer serving as DoPT Secretary,happens to be retiring on the day R K Singhs tenure comes to an end. The talk is that R K Singh might be given a post-retirement job a fortnight ahead of the completion of his term,to enable Misra to take over the job that comes with a two-year fixed tenure. Simultaneously,Misras name is also being discussed for a job in the NHRC. Meanwhile,Steel Secretary D R S Chaudhary continues to be talked about as the one most likely to get the job. Chaudhary happens to be the brother-in-law of Arun Bhatnagar,a retired IAS officer who used to be Secretary of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council in UPA-I and is known to have some influence in the set-up.

Cheat Sheet

BJPs not-so-discreet attempts at wooing Mamata Banerjee to the NDA camp might not have yielded much results till now,but what one of the Trinamool Congress MPs said in Parliament on Tuesday must have given it some hope. After Lok Sabha was adjourned,Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress walked up to JDU president Sharad Yadav and asked him not to fall for the overtures by the Congress party. He was heard saying that the Congress had cheated the Trinamool Congress and would cheat JDU as well. He also reminded Yadav that he had always been staunchly anti-Congress and must not succumb to the partys charms now. All this seemed to have been said in jest,but other anti-Congress leaders,Anant Geete of Shiv Sena,B Mahtab of the BJD,and Shahnawaz Hussain and Yogi Adityanath of the BJP,who were all within an earshot,were listening intently.