Red Tape

CANCELLATION OF TRIPS

2007-10-19T06:26:00.000-07:00

Two visits of the Indian MPs' delegations to the United States and Mexico have been dropped without assigning any reason.

Having missed his trip to Rashtrapathi Bhawan, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil may shift to Maharashtra to take over as Chief Minister from Vilasrao Deshmukh. Of the proverbial nine lives, Deshmukh seems to have exhausted all.

Well, this shift falls in place because Chidambaram (or Veerappa Moily) may shift to Patil's chamber in North Block. For Chidambaram, it is only a hop, step and jump. Jairam Ramesh seems intent to spoil Chidambaram's dream run in the Finance Ministry, through Rahul Baba's intervention. Chidambaram met Rahul Baba at 12, Tughlak Lane, the other day to present his side of the case.

Meanwhile, the young Turks of the Congress like Scindia and Pilot are getting ready for Ministerial assignments.

Mrs Sonia Gandhi is leaving for China on 26th Oct. And so she will have to sit with the crestfallen PM after his return from Africa and finalise the list. The wounds inflicted on the suave economist by the ill-fated nuclear deal would have, it is hoped, healed after his sojourn abroad.

If nothing of the above takes place, a Cabinet reshuffle may be necessary at least for those like Prithviraj Chavan who has been appointed General Secretary in charge of two crucial states of Jammu & Kashmir and Karnataka as also Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim. And for Suresh Pachouri who is being sent to Madhya Pradesh as PCC President. It is not certain if those assigned party responsibilities will be happy to let go of the power and perks of office !!

Information and Broadcasting Minister, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, also has no particular reason to be happy. He was to lead a delegation of 15 MPs (with spouses) to the United States, but he has been told to put it off. Equally disappointed are the MPs and their spouses who were to accompany him.
But Dasmunshi has mollified them by assuring them of a trip around Christmas time !!

Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, was to have gone to Mexico with a delegation, but happily so sobs were heard after the cancellation of this trip !!

Prime Minister's office (PMO)

2007-09-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

The Prime Minister's office(PMO) has always been a power centre right from Pandit Nehru's days. M O Mathai was literally the lord of all that he surveyed till he was tripped. R K Dhawan wielded the stick with ease. V. George was the Garuda of Rajiv Gandhi. A N Varma was the power behind the throne. Brajesh Mishra was the CEO.

But now, the current PMO is not seen with such awe. Does its lacklustre image speak of its ineffectiveness or reflect its "rulebook" stance on issues, refusing to turn into a trading house.

Be that as it may, UPA alliance partners without exception do not look up to the PMO for a solution but turn to 10, Janpath for a reconciliation. Perhaps, it is the honey-and-bee story. To lend credence to this theory, the numbers of letters from Chief Ministers to the Prime Minister have reduced drastically of late.

Many Chief Ministers do not feel inclined to write to the Prime Minister in view of the curt conventional replies. Or they are told that the issue was being dealt with at the level of the empowered group of ministers (eGOMs) and hence the policy is subject to its decision.

In terms of integrity, none can point an accusing finger at the present PMO. But the flip side is that many would prefer a single power centre instead of several. For instance, there are at least four or five power centres in the present UPA Government !! So why approach the PMO and instead deal with the power centre(s) !!

STC under Scanner

2007-09-16T10:04:00.001-07:00

The needle of suspicion for the wheat scam is moving helter-skelter. But it always comes to rest when it points out to the State Trading Corporation chief, who is also a confidante of his Minister Kamalnath. So is it just not Sharad Pawar alone ? It is also said that the STC boss has got away so far becauseof the "Mallu" caucus which is keen on bailing him out !! His son's lavish wedding was attended by everyone who is somebody in Delhi. One steel baron flew in from London just for this purpose. Incidentally, the Food Secretary T Nandkumar and the Commerce Secretary G K Pillai are Mallus, although they have an impeccable record.

Baalu's Turn Now

2007-09-16T10:03:00.002-07:00

Is DMK's Transport Minister T R Baalu going the Dayanidhi Maran way ? Stories are being narrated to the Crown Princess of DMK, Kanimozhi, about how Baalu has been having his way by threatening a pull-out of UPA at the drop of a hat !! She appears to be shell-shocked. But if she reports it to her "Appa" , would Baalu's wings be clipped or chopped off ? And the one who would be most relieved would be the Prime Minister himself. Dr Manmohan tried to scuttle Baalu's demand for G S Maini, an IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, as Chairman of the National Highway Authority, because of negative CRs. His own Principal Secretary, TKA Nair, also from the Punjab cadre, opposed it. But Baalu made it clear that DMK (meaning he) would not brook a "no" . And he got what he wanted.

Budget or ballot ?

2007-09-16T10:03:00.001-07:00

The polls are round the corner, if pointers from the Finance Ministry are any indication. This is not because the Budget preparation are to begin soon, but mainly due to the oft-repeated, casual remark of Mr Chidambaram -- who is not known for his slip of tongue -- whether he would be in the chair at the turn of the year !! Being a control freak, the Finance Minister does everything his way, be it setting the ball in motion for the Budget or anything less or more important. The bureaucrats, whoever they are, are in total awe of him; those who aren't have to pretend to be so; or else they are out .... .In any case, Mr Chidambaram has nothing to cheer about, because of the huge drop in the revenue collections. This is despite all the aggressive campaigning on TV and print media.. And the three crucial secretaries in the Finance Ministry -- of Expenditure, Revenue and Economic Affairs -- are pulling in different directions. Perhaps, this is what the astute Finance Minister wants.

A lot of Loot in the Booklet

2007-09-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

After the gas price has been signed (and sealed ?) , dirt seems to be hitting the ceiling. A colourful booklet has been brought out entitled " A Loot of the KG Basin" which narrates how the nation's precious resource is being squandered away by a section (or is it sibling ?) of corporate leaders, bureaucrats, mediamen and politicians. Embarrasingly, some have been named in the booklet. Many are therefore red in the face. No prices for guessing who brought out the booklet !! But this is certainly not the end of it.

Lame duck or dead duck !!

2007-08-29T07:17:00.001-07:00

Bureaucrats, as is their wont, spend hours speculating their future and that of the Government's during any political crisis. After a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries last week, a senior IAS officer came out with his own interpretation of the usage "lame-duck" while walking down the Cabinet Secretariat's corridors. He suggested that a lame-duck could as well turn out to be a dead-duck !! Is a lame-duck Government in the offing ?

IAS versus IFS

2007-08-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

Vice-President Hamid Ansari who is also ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha has sought the services of an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer having UN experience as the new Secretary General in place of incumbent Yogendra Narain who is demitting office on the last working day of August. A 1965 batch IAS officer, Yogendra Narain had retired as Defence Secretary in 2002 and soon after became Secretary-General of the Rajya Sabha.

The IAS officers have raised their ante !! Ansari, who is himself a retired IFS officer having served in the UN as India's representative, perhaps has the noble intention of raising Rajya Sabha proceedings to international standards. But the IAS lobby says an IFS man will not be able to understand the nuances of "floor" politics during question and zero hours and debates in the House. As per convention,the Rajya Sabha Chairman is supposed to send a panel of names but the final decision will be made by the Cabinet Committee on Appointments (CCA).

Bureaucrats under siege

2007-08-29T07:15:00.000-07:00

Officialdom is under threat. The latest trend is for MPs to snow the PMO with letters demanding probes into disproportionate assets of bureaucrats, serving or retired. The "babus" past and present are a bit unnerved. Some of the allegations provide juicy details. Some of them have been
close to a leading industrial house.

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner and the CBI chief are among the recipients of these letters. The targets are senior officers who are, or were, serving in economic ministries as well as Railways, Excise & Customs and Income- tax. One common allegation is that the children of all the officials under scrutiny are abroad, studying or making hay !!

Is this in-fighting within the services, settling of old scores or witch hunting ?

BSES to say Tata ?

2007-08-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Privatisations was always held out as an elixir.
But with huge bail-outs in steel, power and telecom, it is sad that privatisation is still touted as a mantra.

Take for instance the transfer of power facilities from the State-run Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) to reputed corporate entities !! Alas, the situation instead of improving has only worsened. Power theft reduction and hefty power bills have kept private players and resident welfare associations (RWAs) at loggerheads.

And now, the private entity, Anil Ambani-owned BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) wants a bail-out. It is facing a financial crisis as compared to Tata owned NDPL. BYPL is facing a shortfall of Rs 900 crores for current fiscal, despite the fastest increase in bulk supply tariffs. And now wants government support to tide over the cash crunch.

However, Sheila Dixit fearing public backlash has taken a stern view of the situation and reprimanded the officials of BYPL. The Delhi government is even contemplating transferring the distribution rights from BYPL to Tata Power, whose performance by its own submission is 'slightly better'.

Where is privatisation leading us ?

No more Pen-pushing, it is Pen drive !!

2007-08-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar, (KMC) has finally put an end to the bureaucratic trend of pushing secret papers to the Prime Minister's office (PMO) in triple sealed covers. Replacing the seals are 'Pen drives,' that are used to send top secret files to the PMO. Since even the pen drive is password protected, it's not completely secured. He, therefore makes it a point to personally hand it over to the Prime Minister. Hats off to KMC !!

We stand united…?

2007-08-08T12:14:00.002-07:00

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) is in doubt !! Whether to continue holding hands with NDA or say
sayonara. BJD leaders are already in constant touch with Third Front leaders. And Telugu Desam
Chief, N Chandrababu Naidu, is trying to work on the suave Navin Patnaik, CM and BJD Chief.
Although Jayalalithaa is the leader of the Third Front, it is Naidu, and to some extent Amar
Singh who are endeavouring to forge a third alternative.

Shortages Galore

2007-08-08T12:14:00.001-07:00

After onions and other essentials, it is now the turn of fertilizer. As always, the whipping
boy is Finance. What is required from Finance is Rs 50,000 crores as subsidy. And the
Chemical and Fertilizer Minister, Ram Vilas Paswan lost no time in assailing the "apathetic
attitude of the Finance Ministry. He predicted with the accuracy of an astrologer that
India is heading for a crisis and fertilizers would soon be sold in black market in the next
sowing season due to heavy shortage. Agriculture Minister, Sharad Pawar, was an
interested and keen spectator. His only fear is that nothing should go wrong on the
agriculture front.

Absenteeism at the Top !!

2007-08-08T12:11:00.000-07:00

Cabinet Meetings are no longer sacrosanct !! Or is it that the person presiding over the
Cabinet is not taken seriously ? Or, worse still, is he indifferent to such absenteeism ?
Recently, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed his disappointment, in his usual mild
manner, at the thin attendance in the meetings of the Cabinet & of the Group of Ministers
(GoM). This phenomenon of absenteeism became increasingly noticeable after the
Presidential election.
At least four senior ministers belonging to the Congress did not attend the last four Cabinet
meetings, while a number of meetings of GoM have been postponed because its members
claimed to have "more" pressing work. Strangely, among the 'absconders' are those who were
aspirants in the Presidential election. Perhaps, understandably, they are in mourning !!

Keeping the power dry !!

2007-07-24T02:49:00.001-07:00

Amar Singh, Kamal Nath and Lalu Yadav have funded Uma Bharti's political outfit on the tacit understanding that she will embarrass the top leadership of BJP.

Uma Bharti is slated to unleash a campaign against BJP and its leaders from November. Who knows just before the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in early 2008, Uma Bharti may have a direct tie up with Sonia Gandhi !!!!

Amar Singh is also backing a single-man party from Tamil Nadu who is (or was once) a well-known Ambani baiter !! To what avail ?

Never say die

2007-07-24T02:48:00.001-07:00

Who wouldn't want to hitch their crackling bandwagon to the rising star ? Inversely, why wouldn't one try to flee a sinking ship ? In this case, the rising star is Sonia Madam and the sinking ship is the NDA. The former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) patron, Farooq Abdullah, is now trying to not only flee from the NDA but also ditch the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) that tried to make him the Vice-Presidential candidate. His aim is to replace PDP as the partner in th J & K ruling coalition. Not only that, he would like to get back to electoral politics(but when did he quit ?) and perhaps become CM again. Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad is all for it so that he can return to Delhi where his heart is. With this in view, Dr Abdullah was himself in the chair at NC's Tuesday's meeting in Jammu -- normally it is his son Omar who presides -- when the party
adopted a resolution to vote for Pratibha Patil. Posturing par excellence !!

Shekhawat persona non grata

2007-07-24T02:46:00.000-07:00

Not even for a day more can she stand his face !! Sonia Gandhi does not want Bhairon Singh Shekhawat to preside over the Rajya Sabha as its Chairman for a single day after the Presidential election. Which is precisely why the Government is reluctant to announce the dates of the monsoon session of Parliament.......... As so in all likelihood, the Parliament session will start only after Shekhawat completes his term on August 18 ; or earlier if he chooses to resign after losing the Presidential poll.

It appears Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had directed Parliamentary Affairs, Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi to finalise the dates for the commencement of the Monsoon session after new President (Pratibha Patil as per their projections) takes oath on July 25 to start the monsoon session with the Presidential address to the joint sitting of the two Houses.

Knowing which side of his bread is buttered, Dasmunsi chose to act on instructions from 10 Janpath, not to convene the Parliament session until August 18 when Shekhawat's term
expires as the Vice-President of India and ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

Immune to snubs, the genial and amiable Dr Manmohan Singh suggested as a via media that the session can begin at least from August 1, but quickly withdrew when he knew that he was encroaching on Madam's sacred preserve.

The Monsoon session of Parliament normally starts in the third or fourth week of July. Dasmunsi has a host of reasons for putting it off. But the crunch lies elsewhere !! He is waiting for the results of the Presidential election on Saturday and watch Shekhawat's next move over the next three, four days. His calculation is that Shekhawat will be so humiliated by the
crushing defeat that he may resign instead of pulling on till the end of his term.

Sonia Gandhi's main aim is that Shekhawat should be prevented from disposing off the petition filed by the party for disqualifying former foreign minister K Natwar Singh as
she suspects Shekhawat will give the ruling in his favour.

But, alas, Shekhawat does not require the House to be in session to take the decision !! Even so, the Congress can delay the hearing on the petition by seeking time to respond and let tthe matter go to the hands of the next Chairman.

Some gameplaying this is !!

Scams All

2007-07-21T08:01:00.001-07:00

In the wake of the charges & counter charges regarding the GSM equipment tender, the bigger question that is being ignored is the corporatisation of BSNL years ago which has now been reduced to a mockery !!

Are PSUs Chiefs becoming the handmaiden of politicians, more than ever before ? Are bureaucrats being reduced to playing the role of backroom boys, more than ever before ? Otherwise, how do we account for the Scams Raj ? Be it SEZ scam, Quattrocchi scam, wheat import scam and the mobile scam. And very soon the SAIL modernisation scam and so on.............

The battle royale is just about to begin !!

2007-07-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

In a bid to queer the pitch of his bete noire, Bihar's CM, Nitish Kumar has sought to wean away Lalu's Man Friday, Sudhir Kumar who is from the Bihar cadre, 1882 batch.

Sudhir Kumar is said to be Lalu's henchman as well as prima donna in the so called turnaround of the Indian Railways. He is credited for authoring much of Lalu's strategies, be it political or otherwise.

The State has the undisputed right to recall the officers of the cadre who are away on deputation and the Centre perforce has to comply. Hence Nitish Kumar is on firm ground in petitioning the Centre to revert him to the State cadre.

Though designated as one of the two Officers-on-duty (OSD), Sudhir Kumar is the man behind the show and even the top officers of the Railway Board bend to his whims. To take him away would be like chopping off Lalu's right arm.

There is an umseemly side to the issue -- Sudhir Kumar, alongwith Prem Gupta, Minister of State in charge of Company Affairs, is privy to a lot of "initiatives" , (please read "deals") of Lalu and if Sudhir Kumar goes back to his cadre, Nitish Kumar will leave no stone unturned to get Lalu's cat(s) out of the bag !!

More royal than the king

2007-07-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

The top cop of Andhra Pradesh, Mr M A Basith, went to town saying that the bullets used in the Mecca Masjid firing were indeed rubber bullets. The one who fed Basith this info: was none other than Balwinder Singh, the Hyderabad Police Commissioner. He was till recently Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission. Amiable and easily accessible, Balwinder has a good PR with all concerned. To start with, the Mecca Masjid firing caused a dent in his image. Added to that was the false infornatio purveyed. To worsen matters, he booked the Congress dissident leader's son P Janardhan Reddy's son and son-in-law under a section related to manslaughter and packed them off to jail !! Pleasing the boss is okay but why go overboard with it ?

Travel bugs bureaucrat !!

2007-07-16T10:09:00.002-07:00

Flying out to buy an aircraft for the Chief Minister is of top priority that can brook no delay. Realising this, the Special Chief Secretary(Finance) P Ramakanth Reddy took a six-member to Italy to negotiate the purchase of a helicopter for the revered Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. The travel bug bit him again. He was slated to have left for a three-nation tour of the Netherlands (Amsterdam), Greece (Athens) and Germany (Munich) ostensibly to study the international airports there. His trip had been cleared and a GO too was issued last week. But Reddy's travel stars suddenly turned awry. For some inexplicable reason, the trip was halted at the last moment. No regrets !! Reddy has made at least 30 foreign trips in the past three years.

From the Frying Pan to the Fire

2007-07-16T10:09:00.001-07:00

Going through a tortuous period, after his summary removal as the Director General of Foreign Trade, BS Meena, an IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre ( 1975 Batch), has found a parking place as Secretary to the Board of Revival of Public Sector Enterprises. Interestingly Meena succeeded another batch mate of his, Neelam Nath, who left in protest against the treatment meted out to her by the fossilised Chairman, P. K. Basu. Meena is the fourth Secretary to the Board in its three-year existence. For Meena, is it the case of jumping from the frying pan to the fire ?

Archaic, Colonial Dress Code

2007-07-16T09:36:00.000-07:00

Organising State funerals is an onerous, cumbersome task. Precision and propriety are to be finetuned. The Cabinet Secretary, Mr K M Chandrasekhar, had his first taste of it at the State funeral of his namesake, the former Prime Minister.

S. K. Sheriff, the new Home Secretary in the Delhi Administration, also had his role. He is not new to ceremonial and State functions, being a key aide to the then President, K R Narayanan. He took charge of the State funeral of Sahib Singh Verma, former chief Minister of Delhi.

Both Chandrasekhar and Sheriff, being sticklers for protocol,
wore "bandhgala" suits despite the humidity... !! The dress code can be stiff and sweaty.

Misfortunes never come singly

2007-07-15T08:54:00.000-07:00

Sharad Pawar seems a worried man these days -- in fact so worried that he has sworn not to contest elections any more. While he is desperately staving off loud whispers on his proximity to Hassan Ali, who is in the thick of the Hawala scam, the wheat import scandal is providing fodder to his opponents who are not few in number. But what he really fears is that the Congress matriarch may use it against him at an opportune time, when he does not toe her line. He is now trying to seek a diversion by immersing himself in BCCI affairs, which alas are not less murky. It is time he realised that misfortunes never come singly !!

Allegations, counter allegations !!

2007-07-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

All swords are now drawn. After lying low, it seems as if Dayanidhi Maran has braced himself to take on the ruling junta in Chennai. He has written to the Prime Minister asking for a probe into the controversial BSNL tender.

While the incumbent, Telecom Ministier A Raja, has alleged that the tender cleared by his predecessor would have resulted in a loss of Rs 10,000 crores, Maran has said that "a certain NRI businessman with vested interests is trying to stall the tender process so as to facilitate the undue growth of the private sector operators at the cost of BSNL..."

On one hand, what prompted Maran to take up the defiant stand is because he has been given an ultimatum to quit the Lok Sabha seat by 31st July. After which the DMK MPs are bound to demand a CBI probe into the matter. On the other, the DMK is irked by the fact that Maran had provoked the BSNL Union to go on strike and make things uncomfortable to Raja.

While the battle goes on, the unfolding of the drama may throw up a lot of dirt which may provide grist to Jayalalithaa's mill.