Opinion A thing of beauty

There is a large mural of scantily clad women posing next to a lake in the North Block office of Minister of State for Home R P N Singh

July 21, 2013 04:00 AM IST First published on: Jul 21, 2013 at 04:00 AM IST

A thing of beauty

There is a large mural of scantily clad women posing next to a lake in the North Block office of Minister of State for Home R P N Singh. The painting was made by students of the JJ School of Art back in 1935,when the secretariat was built during the Raj. The title of the scene is taken from a John Keats poem. Over time,the canvas got covered with grime and was damaged by seepage. So for years,the actual scene was not visible. Two years ago,the canvas was restored and repainted and now hangs prominently in the ministers office. Some TV photographers feel that the bathing nymphs are not a suitable backdrop for taking shots of the minister and ensure that the mural does not figure in visuals of Singh sitting at his desk.

Protective cover

When P Chidambaram was home minister,he cut down drastically the list of those provided special protection by central forces. But his successor,Sushil Kumar Shinde,has changed the policy and is extremely liberal in clearing requests for special protection. Shinde has included in the security list a number of new names,including Manish Tewari,Mukesh Ambani,Buta Singh,Sachin Pilot and Beni Prasad Verma. Chidambaram had also recommended that only the NSG be used for VIP protection as the CRPF and CISF are engaged in fighting the Maoist threat. Shinde has reversed this order too.

Power couples

IFS officer Sanjay Singh,who retired as Secretary,East,is the latest in a string of high-profile bureaucrats whose spouses are also in top positions. Singhs wife Sujatha Singh is the new Foreign Secretary. Hardeep Puri,who was formerly Indian ambassador to the United Nations,is staying on in the US because his wife Lakshmi Puri has become acting head of UN Women. Sindhushree Khullar,wife of Rahul Khullar,Chairperson of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and former commerce secretary,is now a Member Secretary in the Planning Commission. The post was held earlier by Sudha Pillai,wife of former home secretary G K Pillai.

Managing politics

Rahul Gandhi has tried to apply the management skills he learnt as a business consultant at the Monitor Group to run the Congress. But the experiment has not been very successful. For instance,Rahul sent out a six-page form to party members seeking updates on their achievements. Queries included names and numbers of their district and block committees,the number of meetings held by the committees,programmes carried out and targets identified for the next three months. Most in the party are not used to filling out such forms and were left confused. Paradoxically,those familiar with such a concept and who seemed to do a good job answering the queries are not very good at grassroots politics.

Return of prodigals?

Apart from overtures to B S Yeddyurappa,Narendra Modi also wants Babulal Marandi of the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) back in the BJP. The Gujarat Chief Minister spoke to Marandi over the phone when he was in Delhi recently to attend a BJP parliamentary party meeting. Marandi,who has a clean image,had left the BJP a bitter man after it had installed Arjun Munda as chief minister. After leaving the BJP,Marandi aligned with the Congress. But with the Congress now backing a JMM government in the state,Modi feels that Marandi might be persuaded to return home. Marandi has 11 MLAs and two MPs in the Lok Sabha. However,while Marandis return would be a feather in Modis cap,his re-induction would be stoutly opposed by Munda.

Robotic legs

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi does not wear his new robotic legs,which he bought this March for Rs 1 crore,when he visits Delhi,preferring to use a wheelchair. Jogi explains that he does not want to transport the expensive equipment,which includes a very powerful battery,and 27 computers,from Raipur for fear that the computer settings might get altered. The team which finetuned his equipment is in New Zealand,and he doesnt want that risk. Jogi is the first man in Asia to use the robotic legs,which enable him to walk a limited distance. He has been confined to a wheelchair since his spinal cord was damaged in an accident in 2004. The technology of robotic legs is still at an experimental stage and New Zealand is the only country which permitted Jogi to take the high-tech equipment out of the country.