What146;s in a name? A lot

First it was the Home Ministry that laid down the rule on 8220;no appointment, no access8221; for the media. Then it was the Finance Ministry that slammed the door on the media using the pretext of security around Budget time to push the same proposal. The PMO and Defence Ministry have already placed stringent access rules and now the pressure is on the Ministry of External Affairs to exercise the same caution. In all likelihood, the rule will apply soon. For some time, bureaucrats have been complaining that journalists land there without appointment and interrupt their work. They have also complained about 8220;unethical evesdropping8221;. Excessive security or not, the sign reads: 8220;Restricted Access8221;.

Some reservations

At the UPA-Left coordination meeting on Friday, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, no favourite of the quota champions, came under fire from the CPI8217;s A B Bardhan and Steel Minister Ramvilas Paswan. Bhardwaj8217;s suggestion of excluding the creamy layer from reservations in return for asking the court to vacate the stay on OBC quotas, was stiffly resisted by the duo, who argued there was no law that excluded the creamy layer. Finally, the CPIM8217;s Sitaram Yechury suggested a middle-path 8212; the creamy layer should be accommodated if the quota was not filled up. But the proposal was finally dropped after the DMK joined in the protest.

No provocations

As PDP leader Mufti Mohammed Sayeed raised the stakes on troop withdrawal from Jammu and Kashmir, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did some plain speaking with him. Between Singh and Sonia Gandhi, it was conveyed that though the Congress appreciated the unique compulsions of J-K politics, competition was not acceptable. The government was advised by the Congress brass that if troop relocation were to be seen as a PDP victory alone, it would provoke the Hurriyat to posture more stridently. Mufti was requested to cool off first and any decision on Kashmir would be projected as a consensual outcome. To his credit, Mufti has accepted the request.

Place in the sun

It is an isolated RLD chief Ajit Singh who is distributing tickets for the Uttar Pradesh poll in a frenzy, at least for the sake of numbers. So far, the tally of candidates has touched 280. For Ajit Singh, who has been riding along with other parties all these years, this is something new. 8220;During Chaudhary Charan Singh Sahib8217;s time, the Lok Dal led your constituency,8221; he told a rally at Modinagar the other day. 8220;But, we are contesting from here after a gap of 15 years because we had been leaving it for our allies,8221; he continued. At this rate, Ajit Singh will have to repeat the same words at most public meetings. Playing catch-up may not be that easy in the end.

Flier8217;s news

IAF8217;s Nagpur-based Maintenance Command is all set to hit the news 8212; after the AOC-in-C Air Marshal J S Apte was found using a service chopper for a private visit to Shirdi with his wife, it8217;s time for the AOLM of the Command, AVM JBS Boparai, to fight for the rank of Air Marshal, following in the footsteps of previous AVMs like Harish Masand who went to court to attain to that rank. Likewise A V M Raghavan approached the court for the Air Marshal8217;s rank against the vacancy of the SMSO Senior Maintainence Staff Officer, which is mandated to be filled up either by an Aeronautical Engineer or a Logistics officer. Raghavan became an Air Marshal but could not become the SMSO.

Pakistan8217;s duty now

The PM was certainly in a magnanimous mood towards smaller neighbours at the SAARC summit in Delhi. Over the past year, Dr Singh had noted their complaints about India8217;s high tariffs, but our bureaucrats had failed to come up with anything innovative to set it right. This time, the PM did not waste a moment. To the surprise and resentment of conservative diplomats, he pushed ahead with the proposal to unilaterally offer duty-free access to the least developed countries LDCs 8212; which includes all SAARC members except Pakistan 8212; under SAFTA by 2008. With this, India also put Pakistan in a spot. That country has been delaying action on its SAFTA commitments. As a top PMO official remarked: 8220;Now the onus is on Pakistan to prove its commitment to LDCs in the region.8221;

Convenient hug

Who would have expected Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistan PM Shaukat Aziz to get into a clinch after all the accusations, leaks and tough talking between the two countries regarding patronage of the Taliban and its leaders? So, it was with surprise that officials watched Aziz go out of his way to embrace Karzai at the SAARC summit at a time when other leaders just shook hands. Later, a diplomat remarked wryly, 8220;Why not, look who is watching?8221; If Afghanistan was a new member of the regional forum, there were several new observers: US, EU, Japan, China and Korea.

Tailpiece

There was a lot of playful chatter among the Pak and Indian delegates about a blushing romance between a politician here and his lady love across the border. So smitten is he that even after a devastating defeat at the polls, it has not brought him tumbling to the ground. Instead, the besotted lover has grabbed extra time to spend time with his love interest, from Rajasthan palaces to summer homes in England.