Media reports blamed former HRD minister Arjun Singh for using up the entire ministerial discretionary quota for seats in Central government schools before he demitted office. Singh wrote an indignant letter to his successor, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, protesting that the newspaper reports were false. In fact, he only sent out 920 recommendations, whereas the minister is entitled to make 1,200. An inquiry revealed that Singh had made 980 recommendations before he left office.

NAC to be back

The National Advisory Council is to be re-constituted shortly. There is no legal hurdle against Sonia Gandhi getting back her old position as chairperson of the council. Last week, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional amendment passed by the Parliament three years ago, exempting some 40-odd offices, including the chairperson of NAC, from disqualification under the constitutional provision barring MPs from holding offices of profit.

The NAC, which was the thinktank behind the NREGA scheme and The Right to Information Act, was wound up shortly after Sonia Gandhi resigned as chairperson in the wake of the office of profit controversy. The NAC will once again set the official agenda in the social sector, starting with the Right to Food Bill.

Malice in Blunderland

If Rajnath Singh dragged his feet over taking action against Arun Shourie, it was partly because he felt that Shourie’s outburst was directed more at his rivals, L K Advani and Arun Jaitley, than himself. While Jaswant Singh criticised the RSS, Shourie adopted the opposite position, calling upon the RSS to take over the BJP. Jaswant, who has built his career on second-guessing the RSS, did not want to ruffle any feathers by taking action against an RSS favourite. Wags in the party joke that Shourie’s trenchant attack on the party president, quoting Alice in Wonderland and Humpty Dumpty, was in any case lost in the Hindi translation.

... contd.