Jairams googly

Jairam Ramesh always comes up with a googly when it comes to environmental issues

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Jairams googly

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Jairams googly

Jairam Ramesh always comes up with a googly when it comes to environmental issues. With many of his ministerial colleagues disagreeing with the Go/No-Go classification for coal mines in forest areas,the Environment Minister made an unexpected offer at the Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting on Thursday that caught his detractors totally off-guard. Jairam said he was willing to let the Cabinet take a final decision on every mining proposal that gets rejected because it fell in a No-Go area. Unable to immediately decide whether to support or oppose such a proposal,the other ministers found themselves tongue-tied. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,though,is said to have been impressed by Jairams move.

Lost in translation

The hearing in the Supreme Court on a petition seeking inquiry into former Chief Justice of India K G Balakrishnans alleged disproportionate assets seems to be lost in translation. A bunch of documents in Malayalam has put the three-judge Bench led by CJI S H Kapadia,which is hearing the petition,in a fix. The petitioner,Manoharlal Sharma,who is also an advocate,has admitted his ignorance of the language despite having filed them himself. Justice K S Panicker Radhakrishnan,who is the only native of Kerala on the Bench,said that even he is finding it difficult to read the documents despite being otherwise versatile in the language. A visibly annoyed Chief Justice said the matter is too serious for such haphazardness and stopped the hearings for four weeks till Sharma hopefully gets the translations done.

Doctors in solidarity

It is not just celebrities that have been hit by the Anna Hazare fever,the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has also joined the bandwagon now. Supporting the cause,members of the medical fraternity even met Hazare. The association has in fact decided to go further if the demands are not met. It is learnt that they have written to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Prime Minister that they would wear black badges and observe a one-day hunger strike joined by all their centres across the country in protest. IMA says if the government did not budge before April 12,they may even close all the clinics in protest.

Long term gains

Once a contender for top jobs at Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University,Prof Seyed E Hasnain,until recently the V-C of Hyderabad Central University,has shunned an attempt by the HRD Ministry to grant him a second extension of term. He has instead joined IIT-Delhi. The grapevine has it that he could finally be accommodated in the proposed National Commission for Higher Education & Research (NCHER) or University Grants Commission (UGC) at a senior position.

The side show

While the government struggles to negotiate a settlement with Anna Hazare and his emissaries,there are quite a few people parked on Jantar Mantar Road who would be happy if the talks failed and the agitation went on forever. Like the owners of the string of dhabas specialising in South Indian food,whose business has recorded a phenomenal increase over the last three days. Mobbed by customers demanding idlis and dosas,an acquaintance among them could barely acknowledge after being greeted by a friend: No time,lot of customers!