Did you know that coal thieves know English, and are deterred by fences? The Coal Minister has told Parliament that “Fencing is being constructed at the various illegal mining sites along with displaying of signboards mentioning ‘Dangerous and Prohibited Place’.”
Saving Air India
The business of airlines, wrote Anthony Sampson in his book Empires of the Skies, was to put bottoms on seats. Having grasped this essential point, the Government has ordered that all those whose tickets are bought by it must fly only Air India, even though the tickets cost more, sometimes by as much as 33 per cent. Well done, boys, what’s the point of the Rs 4.5-lakh-crore borrowing programme if you can’t get your hands on some of it, eh?
Manish madam?
Manish Tiwari, who is one of the spokespersons for the ruling Congress party, decided to question his own Government. Tiwari’s question was whether the Government proposed to constitute a committee on the lines of the Intelligence Select Committee of the US Congress to monitor the functioning of our own Intelligence Bureau. Even as one wondered why the Congress spokesperson had to raise such a non-issue in the Lok Sabha, the Minister of State of Home Affairs Ajay Maken took his own revenge: “No, Madam”, he replied in a written answer.
Missing Singh
The ruling dispensation heaved a big sigh of relief when the Budget session of Parliament got over last week. It had had to face some very embarrassing moments. Foremost amongst these was the absence of the Prime Minister during the Finance Bill reply. Not that there were not enough cheerleaders for the Finance Minister. But the original reform architect’s absence was conspicuous and noted.
Puppet on a string
Last week, the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) changed its stance on negotiations with bank unions oftener than bowling changes in T-20 games. It moved from a 17.5 per cent to 15 per cent to 13 per cent and than back to 17.5 per cent increase.
Apparently, this repeated change had lot to do with top babus in the Finance Ministry, who were dictating the stance to the IBA but changing it frequently. This prompted a banking industry observer to remark that just as India has deregulated interest rates, maybe it is time to give the IBA more autonomy to decide on the industry-wide wage settlement.
Unmanned ship
For a party known for its floor management by dint of its sheer years of experience in Parliamentary proceedings, there was a contretemps of a sort when the Rubber (Amendment) Bill 2009 came up for discussion on August 6, when both the Cabinet Minister Anand Sharma and his junior, Jyotiraditya Scindia, were absent from the House. Both were on tour abroad.
When the BJP protested against the Government’s move to make do, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & MOS in the PMO, M. Prithviraj Chauhan floundered. So the Bill could not be taken up for consideration. The Commerce Ministry’s release to the media late in the night explained that the Bill was originally scheduled to be discussed on August 3-4 but got delayed. So it happened that both ministers were out of the country.
A senior UPA Minister told your diarist that both the ministers from the same Ministry should not be away during a session of Parliament.
Have no fear, Mamata is here
There was a flutter in the Railway dovecotes recently following a circular which revealed more than it was supposed to. The notification, issued by the finance division of the Railway Board, called for austerity measures and specified spending limits on contingency expenses, fuel, etc. This, say Railway Ministry officials, is often done.
But the circular also added that “the amount provided in budget estimates for 60 per cent arrears of Pay Commission, 2nd instalment of IRFC lease charges, PLB (productivity linked bonus), 2nd instalment of DA have also been withheld, to be released later, on their being sanctioned.”
With the festive month approaching, the idea of bonus, DA and Pay Commission arrears being “withheld” set off a growl of irritation among the Railway unions.
The media in West Bengal got a whiff of the circular and the General Managers had to intervene to control the damage. Payments withheld? That too under Mamata-didi? Unthinkable.
To prevent further damage, Eastern Railways issued a clarification saying that some media houses are ‘misrepresenting’ facts. It further ‘clarified’ that the arrears, PLB and DA will be released to the Railways when they are due.
Right idea, wrong execution
The Union Textile Minister, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, knows how to attract media attention. Even when Parliament was in session, he announced two policy decisions at a crowded press conference on August 6.
What irked the assembled journos was that since the Minister was announcing a 41-member Working Group on a new National Fibre Policy, his minions thought it fair to bring as many representatives as possible from this yet-to-be organised working group to the press conference.
This created a space problem as most of the officials came much in advance and sat in vantage places, leaving the scribes to stand and cover the event.
SOURCE : THE HINDU BUSINESS LINE
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