There was panic in the government during the Parliament session last month when it was found that RAX, the hotline telephone which connects top-level babus and ministers, was dead. Senior secretaries to the Government of India had problems contacting each other at a time when the government was under attack in Parliament for inflation and food shortages. RAX is the only surefire way for key persons in government to get through to each other immediately. Despite the uproar in the corridors of power, MTNL was not able to restore the RAX line for three days. The telephone line had snapped during digging work for the Delhi Metro near Krishi Bhavan. The MTNL could not locate the fault and eventually laid an auxiliary RAX line.

Sing(h)ing her own tune

Kanti Singh, the new MoS in the tourism and culture ministry, has yet to be allotted an office. Her personal staff has still not been appointed. A furious Singh, who is a member of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s RJD, has decided to take matters in her own hand and not wait for official clearances. Earlier this month she visited Dubai and asked a director in the culture ministry, who is from her home state of Bihar, to accompany her. Singh calls the director her private secretary, although the appointment is yet to be cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC). The MoS has informed the culture secretary that if she doesn’t get a room of her own soon she is moving into his office. Although the ministry of urban development allotted Singh space in the shipping and transport ministry, the minister, T.R. Baalu, refuses to spare the room and has given his objection in writing.

... contd.