Wrong Number

The single-man Scheduled Tribes department of the AICC,chaired by Ajit Jogi,does have an office at the party headquarters,but it remains locked.

Wrong Number

While Rahul Gandhi has been espousing the cause of Dalits,tribals and farmers especially in the context of the governments land acquisition policy the departments dealing with these sections in the Congress have become defunct. The single-man Scheduled Tribes department of the AICC,chaired by Ajit Jogi,does have an office at the party headquarters,but it remains locked. The ruling party has dispensed with the Scheduled Castes Department,while Kisan amp; Khet Mazdoor Congress,headed by Shamsher Singh Surjewala,remains only on paper due to his absence.

Helping Hand

This would even puzzle people specialising in semantics. The Congress nominees in the last Assembly elections winners and losers alike while addressing public meetings in the Hisar constituencies tend to refer to the help rendered by former MP Jai Prakash to them when they were in the fray. Do help him more strongly, they appeal to the voters. And,people generally respond with loud laughter and louder applause,implying that they have understood the appeal well. The help,according to Congress insiders,has to be understood as sabotage. And,Jai Prakash,for sure,is receiving help in abundance.

No Sops

THE countrys premier anti-terror probe agency,the National Investigation Agency,is yet to draw up its own standard operating procedure SOP for investigating blast related cases. The NIA came into existence in January 2009 and it is presently handling more than two dozen terrorism related cases. An SOP will essentially be an instruction manual on how to preserve blast sites,examination of witnesses,lifting of evidence and their preservation and scanning and combing of blast sites. Officials say they are in the process of drawing up an SOP and it will soon be sent to the MHA for approval.

A New Twist

A FRESH tiff between the Army and Defence Ministry is on the cards after the ministry released file notings and records related to the date of birth issue of the Army Chief to an RTI applicant. Army circles are perturbed that the ministry released notings related to the personal records of a serving officer without consulting the officer. Last heard,the matter was being legally examined to determine whether such a disclosure of personnel records,without obtaining consent,to a third party is in accordance with the RTI Act. Interestingly,the RTI applicant was the same individual who filed the first query in March that started off the entire controversy. He is Ravikesh Sinha,a little known lawyer based in Dwarka.

Sugar Coating

AGRICULTURE Minister Sharad Pawar and Food Minister K V Thomas may both function out of the same Krishi Bhavan building,but they remain poles apart in their outlook towards sugar exports. With new sugarcane crushing season starting,Pawar is getting restless as he wants a green signal from the Food Ministry for sugar exports. He argues there is an increase in sugarcane output this season. But,Thomas is treading cautiously as he feels price of sugar will shoot up because of the ongoing festival season. Pawar is learnt to have held discussions with Thomas recently and requested him to consider his proposal for sugar exports favourably. Last heard,Thomas is planning to come out with a proposal to partially meet Pawars request after Diwali.