Swami and friends

The Hindu Mahasabha has a word of advise for Baba Ramdev,who is set to begin an indefinite fast over corruption next month.

The Hindu Mahasabha has a word of advise for Baba Ramdev,who is set to begin an indefinite fast over corruption next month. Please keep saffron-robed social activist Swami Agnivesh out of his agitation. The allegation Agnivesh has hurt the sentiments of Hindus and he has supported Kashmiri separatists and hence should not be allowed to associate with Ramdevs campaign. Agnivesh is a key member of the Anna Hazare team. Only last week,Agnivesh visited Hurriyat Conference leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani in Srinagar and during his trip to Jammu and Kashmir,he is also said to have made some objectionable remarks about the ice lingam of Amarnath.

Selective transparency

It is only in the world of diplomacy where transparency can be applied selectively. A clutch of senior IFS officials,some of them contenders for the top job,found this out on Friday when they discovered that their declarations of wealth and assets were not put up on the MEAs web portal on May 25 despite them having submitted the details weeks before the deadline. Why were some declarations deliberately not posted? IT officers responsible to put this out on the portal are the first pit stop in this inquiry,say sources. The Indian foreign service is clearly not foreign to some internal sabotage.

French swish

With the American aerospace giants out of the combat aircraft race,the other competitors it seems could not hide their glee. French Defence Minister Gerard Longuet on Friday had no qualms in taking a subtle dig at the Americans. When asked if he is concerned that the US,which has lost out on the 10 billion contest that still has a French fighter in the running,is using all its pull to register a protest,Longuet said the loss had come as a devastating blow to Washington but they should not feel too sorry as they were anyways the largest supplier of weapons worldwide. He took a swipe at the other remaining aircraft in the contest EADSs Eurofighter as well saying it is always better to go with one partner France than four referring to UK,Germany,Italy and Spain that are behind the competing aircraft.

Cultural bonding

Culture Secretary Jawahar Sircars visit to Kolkata over the weekend on the invitation of West Bengals newly elected government to discuss matters related to the 150th anniversary celebrations of Rabindranath Tagore has triggered a buzz in the bureaucratic circles. It is being said that Mamata Banerjee,who is putting together her team of bureaucrats,might offer the post of Chief Secretary to Sircar who is a West Bengal cadre IAS officer.

Expanding bandwidth

The government has cleared the appointment of two new members on the Prasar Bharati Board. Former CEO of Tata Sky,Vikram Kaushik,and IIM Ahmedabad director Samir Barua have been appointed to fill the two existing vacancies on the Board. The government feels the appointment of these two will give a boost to plans to expand the DTH platform of the embattled public broadcaster.