Let ‘baingans be bygones’ (Capital Buzz)

more images

more images

NEW DELHI - Is there a connection between the environment minister’s morning walks and the moratorium on Bt Brinjal? Some say Jairam Ramesh’s decision may well have been different if he had taken the path less trodden - quite literally.

Those in the environment ministry say Ramesh took his strolls in the pathways around Lodhi Gardens and not in the experimental farms of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI).

While the IARI farms at Pusa are all about new forms of biotechnology, Lodhi Gardens focuses on organic farming, complete with a special section on medicinal herbs.

Also, at Pusa, the minister’s fellow morning walkers would have been the IARI scientists who are all for genetically modified brinjal or baingan, while at the Lodhi Gardens he usually meets retired bureaucrats who have apparently been advising him to use the precautionary principle when it comes to allowing GM foods.

Exasperated IARI scientists are now describing the ex-bureaucrats as “baingan bygones”!

-*-

Games people play

Who says there are no jobs? Go to the Commonwealth Games Organising Committee (CWGOC) headquarters and ask any young man or woman about their emoluments and the answer will floor you. Most of them will enjoy the pay and perks till January-end 2011!

After doling out close to a thousand jobs to its favourites, the CWGOC now wants people who can deliver and is desperately looking for dynamic officers on deputation from various sectors.

Much of the staff was recruited over the last three years and just when the staff strength was about to be doubled, the government brought in a few young, efficient IAS officers to save the situation. These officers are at their wits’ end, struggling to jolt clueless staff out of slumber to justify the Rs.1 billion expenditure on the Games’ manpower.

-*-

Malaysian ship’s Kareena connection

Kareena Kapoor has been saving the day for crew members of Malaysian naval ship KD Perak that took part in the seventh edition of the naval exercise Milan in Port Blair. The commanding officer of the platform happens to be a huge fan of the Bollywood damsel.

“If I see enough Kareena Kapoor movies, I am very good to my crew; otherwise, I can be very harsh. Kareena helps to keep me calm,” admitted Commander Ismail Bin Othman with a chuckle in his voice.

Singing a hit song from Shah Rukh Khan-starrer “Mohabbatein”, Othman also challenged visiting Indian scribes to see his Hindi movie collection which he said was going to be bigger than an average Indian’s collection.

-*-

Indian speedbreakers ahead?

Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath has been a busy man ever since he set the target of 20 km of new inter-state roads every day and started reaching out to potential foreign investors.

He was with a delegation from Turkey, explaining the vast business opportunities that awaited infrastructure, realty, engineering and consultancy firms that wished to participate in India’s ambitious plan for highway development.

But having seen the bureaucracy’s lukewarm response in the past, one Turkish entrepreneur could not hold back his remarks: “Is 20 km a day actually the target for new roads, or is it the speed at which Indian agencies generally work?”

-*-

Putting Africa on PMO radar

When will the prime ministerial gaze rest on Africa? Indian strategists keep talking about the growing ‘China factor’ that is overshadowing India-Africa ties and are keen to get Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make a visit to the continent.

The highest level visit for a long time has been Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari’s visit to three southern African countries last month. China has stolen a march over India in both government and public diplomacy in the 53-nation continent; so the foreign office thinks it is high time the prime minister brought Africa on his diplomatic radar.

With Manmohan Singh finally making a long-awaited visit to the Gulf when he goes to Saudi Arabia later this month, Africa handlers in the ministry see hope that the prime minister will target the neighbouring continent as well.

-*-

Antony to Ravi’s rescue

Defence Minister A.K. Antony was a friend indeed when he sent a special Indian Air Force flight to bring back Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, who was injured in a road accident in Liberia last week where he was on an official trip.

Ravi and Antony go back a long way. Not only do both hail from Kerala’s coastal district of Alappuzhal but they are neighbours as well. They had together built the Kerala Students Union (KSU), the student wing of the Congress in Kerala, though Ravi is senior to Antony.

Even after his return, Antony has been making constant inquiries about Ravi, currently convalescing in a Chennai hospital.

-*-

Illegal and right royal?

A journal on socialist thought started by former defence minister George Fernandes - “The Other Side” - has a curious observation on how illegal immigrants are treated in different countries. The best, of course, is on India and saved for the end.

In North Korea they get 12 years of hard labour, unless Bill Clinton saves you. In Afghanistan, they are shot. In Iran, they are detained for life. In Saudi Arabia, they are jailed. In China, they are never seen again. In Venezuela, they are deemed a spy.

But what about India? Well, you get a ration card, a passport, s driver’s licence, voter identification, job reservation, a Haj subsidy, free education, housing subsidy…

-*-

Sibal’s catchphrases catch on

‘Cusp of transformation’, ‘wealth creation’ and ‘knowledge society’ are just some phrases in Kapil Sibal’s now famous vocabulary after he took charge of the ministry of human resource development.

He has been on an overdrive trying to put education reforms on the national agenda. In the process, he has imbibed certain stock phrases that he tirelessly mouths.

The minister is using them so often that even the enthusiastic press corps that tails him closely wherever he goes has got to memorise these catchphrases and has even at times preempted him when he begins to speak.

-*-

Of V-Day and N.D. Tiwari

Celebrating ‘loose’ festivals like Valentine’s Day can make you an N.D. Tiwari, is what the Sri Rama Sene, the right-wing Hindu group founded by Pramod Muthalik, is telling people.

Tiwari, the former Andhra Pradesh governor, was forced to quit after allegations of his involvement in a sex romp in December. The Sene, which has spoken out against the celebration of Valentine’s Day earlier, has been sending out press releases in Delhi that it wants stop the country’s youth from becoming another Tiwari. As a rider, the Sene claims it is not against love but against indecency.

-*-

Wedding beckons Vajpayee?

Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has not made a public appearance for over two years due to age-related health problems. But there is a distinct possibility that he could break that jinx Feb 16 during the marriage of his grandniece in Delhi.

Family sources say the octogenarinan Bharatiya Janata Party leader is looking forward to the event and might attend the function. One of the reasons for keeping Delhi as a venue for the wedding is believed to be the possibility that Vajpayee may attend it. The bride’s father is Vajpayee’s nephew and Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Anoop Mishra.