Wait and watch

IT is silly season at the Medical Council of India. No sooner had the Health Ministry constituted a new but temporary MCI board,newly appointed chairman Dr R K Srivastav decided to go on a month-long vacation. The new board was expected to put a lot of things in order in its six-month tenure,including holding elections to put in place a regular MCI board. But the ministry is now worried that even the immediate task of organising the admissions to the medical colleges might be delayed. The admissions tests were recently conducted after a protracted legal battle over the common entrance examinations NEET. And the ministry was hoping that the MCI would move in with some urgency on this.

DIFFERENT TREATMENT

THE rescue operations by Indian Air Force helicopters after the recent Maoist attack on the Congress leadership in Chhattisgarh has left many in the security forces quite amused. A common complaint of the police forces engaged in anti-Maoist operations has been that the IAF refuses to fly its helicopters for relief and rescue operations the moment it gets even slightly dark. In this case,however,the helicopters continued to evacuate dead and injured well after dusk,in near zero visibility conditions. Police officials concede there must have been tremendous pressure on the IAF from the political establishment in New Delhi to carry on its efforts,but say that their own personnel,who put their life in danger everyday,also deserve some sympathy from the IAF. Incidentally,the IAF is inducting its first night-vision equipped helicopters for anti-Maoist operations from next month.

COPY,PASTE

THE latest issue of the Congress mouthpiece Sandesh has proved that the supply of news and information does not need to be unidirectional. A two-page article carries the speech of Food Minister K V Thomas in Lok Sabha while introducing the food security Bill. The four-paragraph preface says the government is considering the Ordinance route to implement the food security programme. It seemed like the clearest statement of intent from the government so far. But,as it turns out,it was not. The entire four-paragraph preface happens to be a verbatim lift of a news item on the website of a television channel when the food Bill was introduced in Parliament. The bit about possible Ordinance was at best speculative information at that time but has now been reproduced word-by-word by the party magazine to look like it was the stated government position.