Officers in the Home Ministry are these days using extra-large fonts on the cover page of files that are to be put before Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. Recently, an officer asked his secretary to type out the subject to be put on the file in large fonts and the secretary returned with a 72-size font print out. The officers have apparently noted that the importance that Shinde accords to a file happens to be directly proportional to the size of the alphabets used to describe the subject of the issue the file deals with.
Ministers’ OVERDRIVE
THE change of guard at the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry is already beginning to show. The new minister, Kamal Nath, is the one who has come up with the idea of holding lunches and dinners with allies separately rather than the big UPA dinner jumboree. While that may still happen, insiders say Nath was clear that a special approach should be made to both the SP and the BSP, who are extending support from the outside but indispensable for UPA’s halfway arithmetic, before the Prime Minister leaves for Japan and the East Asia Summit. The way it has been worked out, November 20 to 22 has been left for reaching across the aisle to the Opposition. Meanwhile, senior officials have been conveyed to be prepared for legislative business
this session.
DANCE DIPLOMACY
THE South Korean embassy in its National Day reception last week wowed the Delhi elite and the diplomatic corps with the Gangnam-style music and a dance troupe performing to it. Held in the sprawling lawns at the ambassador’s residence, the embassy also set up stalls with mannequins in traditional dresses — which was used by many guests to click pictures and all. The embassy, which will be celebrating the 40th year of diplomatic relations with India next year, is getting requests from Indians to get its pop icon Psy — whose videos have had 600 milllion views on the YouTube in the last four months — to come and perform. It is time to wait for the performance.
TIME FOR FACELIFT
SEVERAL offices in the Civil Aviation Ministry are currently undergoing renovation. A new office is being created on the third floor of Rajiv Gandhi Bhawan for the new Minister of State, K C Venugopal. Its previous occupant, Joint Secretary Anil Srivastava, has found a room on the second floor which, too, is resurrected for him, with classy high wooden doors. Not to be left behind, Prabhat Kumar, the high-profile former OSD of Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and now a Joint Secretary, is also getting a facelift of his office. He has merged two rooms to create his new office, which probably is now the most spacious and plush office in the ministry.
SETTLING SCORES
THE open rebellion by BJP national executive members Mahesh Jethmalani and Jagdish Shettigar, who have been demanding the resignation of party president Nitin Gadkari because of the allegations levelled against him, is being explained by many in party in Delhi as a case of “personal hurt”. Both these leaders were contenders for a ticket for the Rajya Sabha, but were overlooked. Gadkari preferred his old friend Ajay Sancheti over Jethmalani while Shettigar lost out to one R Ramakrishna, an old party worker who is a trusted hand in the party’s election cell in Delhi.