Bihar CM Nitish Kumar,an electronic engineer by training,wants the state government to be at the forefront in the application of technology in matters concerning governance. Kumars innovations include allotting all beneficiaries of the NREG scheme smart cards. The data for PHCs has been put on a common website,so that you can immediately check the names of doctors on duty anywhere in the state. Deputy Planning Commission Chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia was so impressed with the scheme that he felt it should be replicated in other states. When Nandan Nilekani,head of the Unique Identification Authority,visited Bihar recently,Nitish assured him that the state plans to utilise the Unique ID database for many of its social sector projects.
Comparative coincidence
Gender bender
The foreign secretarys spouse chairs the Object dArt committee which decides on the purchase of art works for Indian embassies abroad. The spouse also gets to head the External Affairs Spouses Association. Some assume that these are feminine duties,but this is not necessarily so. In fact,at present there is a male who is in charge. Suddhakar Rao,an outstanding IAS officer and a former chief secretary of Karnataka,happens to be the husband of the new foreign secretary,Nirupama Rao. The gender barrier was originally broken by the husband of the first woman foreign secretary Chokila Aiyer. As a result,the nomenclature of the External Affairs Wives Association had to be suitably amended.
Prodigal children
With the RSS taking a more proactive role,it remains to be seen whether the Advani faction can stave off mounting pressure for the re-admission of the partys prodigals,Uma Bharati and Kalyan Singh. Another prodigal,whose application has been pending for some time is Subramaniam Swamy,whom the VHP wants admitted. Unlike the other two,Swamys association is not with the BJP,but goes back to the Jana Sangh days.
Delayed in translation
Home Minister P Chidambarams reason for delaying submitting the Liberhan Commission report in Parliament for nearly six months was apparently because of the problem of getting it translated into Hindi. This may sound like a weak excuse,but there were genuine fears of a security leak in the exercise of getting the commissions 17,000 pages translated. During the budget exercise,the Hindi translators are,in fact,locked up in a quarantine room in North Block for almost a week,while they complete their secret work.
Minority Target
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh physically assaulted BJP MP S S Ahluwalia in the Rajya Sabha during a discussion on the Liberhan Commission saying he was upset by the shouting of the slogan,Jai Shri Ram. But Ahluwalia,who happens to be the partys only representative from the minorities in the Upper House,was not one of those raising the Hindutva cry. Singh picked on him because he needed a well known face to garner publicity and reclaim the secular space for the SP. Actually,Singh and Ahluwalia are old friendsthey studied in Calcutta university at the same time and were both members of the Congresss Chhatra Parishad.
