By IANS,
New Delhi : Skeletons are tumbling thick and fast out of the musty cupboards of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD). Apparently several millions of rupees were paid by individual private operators to secure deemed university status for their educational institutions, most of which had highly questionable academic credentials.
Over hundred such institutions around the country secured this status. The critical tag seemed to imply their recognition by the government as bona fide higher institutions of learning, which these institutions then blatantly advertised. This in turn encouraged thousands of students to part with substantial sums of money to gain admission, leading to vast profits for their promoters.
The current HRD dispensation has now revoked this deemed university status tag, and with it any official recognition it might have implied. Needless to say, some who managed to transform dodgy teaching shops into lucrative businesses by these means are far from amused.
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Slowly but surely, Krishna finds his feet
He seemed to be a reluctant foreign minister in the first few months after assuming charge, but S.M. Krishna is slowly getting into the groove, senior officials in the Ministry of External Affairs affirm.
Since the time when he had to perform on cue and avoid reporters’ questions, he seems a little more self-assured and should come into his own by yearend if not earlier, say those who interact with him closely.
Krishna, say aides, never pretended that he understood the finer nuances of international diplomacy and is a keen learner, absorbing more, speaking less and asking endless questions in a business where every word or phrase is loaded with meaning and where inappropriate usage, either in speech or text, can lead to a diplomatic faux pas and political embarrassment.
The US-educated Krishna doesn’t shy away so much from reporters now and is bringing to his job the immense weight of his experience as a state chief minister, governor and a man otherwise known to be worldly-wise.
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No more Posco for Handique
Who does one believe? South Korean steel major Posco, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik or Mines Minister B.K. Handique on what is being touted as the biggest foreign project yet planned in the country.
First, Handique sprang a surprise a few days ago when he claimed that Posco officials had themselves told him they were looking at shifting their proposed $10.5 billion steel project out of Orissa because of difficulties in acquiring land. Patnaik then denied any such move and politely added that it was an unintentional error committed by the union minister.
But a strong statement from Posco is what seems to have caused a major embarrassment to the mines minister. “It is a baseless report,” the South Korean giant said in a statement, mincing no words while saying that the project was staying in the state.
Now mention the name Posco to Handique and his hands vigorously gesture a no, saying: “Sorry, no more questions.”
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Telugu, the ‘official’ language at RBI!
Former chief economic advisor in finance ministry Shankar Acharya made an interesting observation at a recent function when he said the official language at the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could well be Telugu. His reason: The people on the dais were well-versed in the language.
He was referring to D. Subbarao, Y.V. Reddy, M. Narasimham and C. Rangarajan – the first being the incumbent governor of the central bank and the others being his predecessors.
When told that among them Rangarajan was not from Andhra Pradesh, and strictly not Telugu-speaking, Acharya was quick to pose a query in reply: “Was he not the governor of Andhra Pradesh for five years?”
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Naveen’s love for ‘pakhal’
There was a time when Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik spoke no Oriya, was an urban sophisticate and was known for his trendy lifestyle in New York. But nowadays he is quick to recommend even the simple rice dish pakhal.
In the capital recently for the internal security conclave, Patnaik could not help talking about his love for pakhal, rice cooked and soaked in water, which is very popular in Orissa. He urged fellow scribes from the state not to forget their ‘Oriya culture” while staying in the capital and promised to serve them up the traditional Oriya dish next time around.
After a rather heated discussion on the rising Maoist problem in his state, many realised why Patnaik was referring to pakhal. It is normally eaten on hot summer days – and helps avoid heat strokes!
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Angry Mamata avoiding cabinet meetings?
It seems deliberations on the proposed land acquisition bill by the cabinet last month have left Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee so angry that she has not attended a single cabinet meeting since then.
Officials say she had more pressing matters to attend to in her home state of West Bengal. Some railway officials pass off her absence by saying there were no proposals concerning her ministry. But her party colleagues maintain she did not take too kindly to the comments made by some ministers, who have failed to understand how steadfast she is in ensuring that farmers are not forcibly displaced from their land.
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Abdullah’s newfound energy
Has National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah finally come to terms with his new and renewable energy portfolio, which he jokingly refers to as the ‘gobar gas’ ministry?
Since he took over, insiders say, Abdullah has kept a low profile, eschewed public functions and really did not have his heart in the running of the ministry. Last week he however took time off from shuttling between Srinagar and Delhi and visited Rajasthan for a related function.
Abdullah was there as chief guest on the occasion of the Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas (Energy Day) and he promised he would spell out an action plan for power to all villages. Has there been a change of heart? Abdullah now firmly believes that non-conventional energy will be the new force that will save the world from global warming.
Incidentally, Rajasthan is dear to him because his daughter Sarah’s in-laws come from the state. She is married to Abdullah’s fellow union minister Sachin Pilot.
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From zero in BJP to hero in Pakistan
Jaswant Singh may have been expelled from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for writing a book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, but he has become an instant hero in Pakistan.
Singh was applauded by the Pakistani media for the book and even got help from his friends in Pakistan to author the book “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence” in which he praised Jinnah. Prominent among his friends who helped him out were Pakistani High Commissioner Shahid Malik and head of Dawn newspaper Hamid Haroon.
Reliable sources maintain that both Malik and Haroon provided substantial material to help Singh author the book.
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Tailpiece: Most Congress MPs got an SMS soon after BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s sudden exit from the party. One smart MP quipped: “Jinnah waha, marna yaha”.