Hard at work

For a government that was pushing for covering states under its version of the Lokpal bill, the Centre has washed its hands of Lokayuktas pretty quickly.

Centre hands over lokayukta to state
For a government that was pushing for covering states under its version of the Lokpal bill, the Centre has washed its hands of Lokayuktas pretty quickly. So when an MP asked in Parliament what it was doing to resolve the problems faced by Lokayuktas, it promptly responded that since the Lokayuktas are constituted by the state governments, it was for them to resolve the problems faced by the Lokayuktas.

HT Image

Move over, first names: Netas find identity in initials
Using initials like "RG" or "PC" certainly shows the proximity one enjoys with the leaders but sometimes it can also lead to confusions. Recently, rural development minister Jairam Ramesh asked one of his officials to connect him to RG. Within minutes he had to issue further instructions: "I want to talk to registrar general not Rahul Gandhi." Soon, C Chandra Mauli came on line for a discussion on the pressing problem of manual scavenging.

Rail tickets under minister's quota under scrutiny
During Trinamool's era in Rail Bhavan, getting tickets confirmed through the minister's quota was never a problem. But now, officials working with railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal are careful to avoid any misuse of this coveted quota. The officials are not entertaining each and every request and instead, are scrutinising them properly. This has had a cascading effect on the offices of the two ministers of state, who are cautious with such requests.