Switching Tracks

Former principal secretary and now adviser to the Prime Minister,T K A Nair,is no longer in the thick of things these days,which means he has time to attend events he would otherwise have skipped. On Saturday morning he quietly sneaked into a crowded hall and sat at the back to listen to a lecture on Where will the food come from in a hotter and more crowded world? The event was organised by the Agriculture Ministry under a series of Acharya Jagdish Chandra Bose Memorial Lectures,initiated this year. Agriculture Secretary P K Basu,who was all set to get on the dais,spotted Nair and rushed to invite him to the dais. A reticent Nair chose to sit in the front row but not on the dais. Basu,who had gone on the stage was again nervous when he spotted Planning Commission Member Saumitra Chaudhary,sitting amid the audience in the back row. He again sent someone to arrange for a better seat,but to no avail. Good beginning for the lecture series,Krishi Bhavan officials,thought.

Value Added

A well-kept secret among senior advocates in the Supreme Court is the fee they charge. The topic,however,became a subject of discussion in a recent hearing on a petition filed by Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to expunge certain uncharitable remarks made about him by the Bombay High Court. It so happened that the judges on the Bench hearing the case made a passing remark on how valuable they found the assistance of senior advocate Ram Jethmalani,who represents the four agriculturists behind the PIL against Deshmukh,and the ministers lawyer and senior counsel,K K Venugopal,in the case. Jethmalani came up with a quick repartee,saying he cannot be compared to Venugopal when it comes to charging value for services rendered. This prompted Justice C K Prasad relate to how in South Africa,to limit the number of their appearances,senior advocates have to give an undertaking that they would appear only in a few cases and that too at the final disposal stage. To this,Venugopal had the last word: Thank God we are not in a country like that.

In Defence of Hike

The Defence Ministry was pleasantly surprised by the 17.6 per cent hike in the Defence Budget. It now turns out that the early indication it had from North Block was in the vicinity of 12-13 per cent,a fact that even the three services did not know. In fact,even now while the services feel the budgetary allocation is less,the ministry is actually breathing easy. Last heard,it was planning to now ask the three services to prioritise their acquisitions and expenditure before seeking funds.

Missing Mirwaiz

Hurriyat leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq was a notable absentee from this National Day reception of the Pakistan High Commission,where Syed Ali Shah Geelani of the other Hurriyat faction was present. It now transpires that Farooq was not there because he was being hosted by Majid Tramboo of Kashmir Centre,Brussels,and Nazir Ahmed Shawl,who runs the London branch. In fact,he joined the pro-Kashmir protests organised by the duo in London on Commonwealth Day and then travelled with them to Geneva to join protests while the UN Human Rights Council was in session. The three of them have now reached Jeddah,where Farooq expected to meet OIC delegates. Both Tramboo and Shawl had come under the cloud after US authorities alleged ISI funding to their centres following FBI investigations into the American branch headed by Ghulam Nabi Fai.