The media-friendly Air Force chief, Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, recently invited the capital’s journos to dinner. And, to their pleasant surprise, he let them feel free to ask any question with one request: that the conversations were to be treated as off-the-record.
To a query on whether the Indian Air Force had been ready to launch air strikes against terrorist training centres in Pakistan following the Mumbai terror attack and what transpired between the Central government and the three Service Chiefs, he replied candidly that the matter was discussed threadbare. We were ready, he said. But the three chiefs sought clarifications from the government about the scope, coverage and duration of war. We did not consider a limited intervention feasible, he said. Once into the war, it was to be taken to its logical conclusion. Having read the mind of the three chiefs, the government decided on a no-war policy.
Dadoo the Untouchable!
Jitendra Kumar Dadoo, a 1983-batch IAS officer of the Union territory cadre, is currently Secretary, Environment in the Delhi government and also Chairperson of the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC). He has reportedly usurped all the Constitutional powers of the DPCC’s Member Secretary and is said to be more interested in bringing large malls and construction projects under the scanner for violation of pollution norms than going after the real culprits – a large number of industries.
In a written order, he has apparently authorized a single member of his staff, understandably a favourite, to check pollution norms violation in all of Delhi. None dares to say anything. Since Member Secretaries cannot exercise their powers in the DPCC, they do not stay more than a couple of months. Dadoo, on the other hand, is unshakeable. While his reported proximity to a relative of Chief Minister Sheila Dixit was considered his strength in evading transfers, insiders reveal a different story. No department wants to take him in. This is why he was left out yet again in the recent reshuffle of the Delhi government bureaucracy.
Disadvantages of being Delhi CM
The Home Ministry is the backbone of any Chief Minister for obvious reasons. But Delhi CM Sheila Dixit is bereft of this vital prop which vests with the Central government. Being the national capital, Delhi is looked after by the Central government in every aspect: public transport, sanitation, pollution control and other infrastructural development including maintenance of law and order. It is widely believed that Dixit has been getting false credit for the major development project conceived, funded and run by the Central government in the capital.
Now in her third consecutive term, she reportedly misses lording it over the police department and wishes it were with her. The Police Commissioner is reportedly least worried about the CM as it is the Chief Secretary who writes his conduct report!
NC versus IC in Kathmandu
What made Nepal’s Maoist Premier, Pushpa Kamal Dahal or Prachanda blame “foreign intervention” for its domestic problems? For decades, India has been generous in helping Nepal with aid. The value of one Indian rupee is over one-and-a-half Nepali rupees. This means that, for every Indian rupee, Nepal receives more than one-and-a-half rupees in its own currency. However, when Shiv Shanker Mukherjee was Indian High Commissioner in Kathmandu, the word was that the equivalent of Nepali rupees was being paid by India. However, after Rakesh Sood, an IFS officer of the 1976 batch, replaced Mukherjee last year, everyone is in the dark as to what is being paid by India. It was only after Prachanda talked about foreign intervention that the Maoists and the Nepali Congress both took up the issue with the public and the government. Will South Block wake up and clear the air?
