Why govt’s defence of CVC does not hold much water

The Government has come out with a bizarre defence of beleaguered CVC (Chief Vigilance Commissioner) PJ Thomas. In a shocking disclosure, the Govt told the Supreme Court that it was not aware of charges against Thomas in the Palmolien Oil import scam.

As far as I know, before the appointment of any candidate to the exalted office, the EMPANELMENT COMMITTEE (EC) forwards the name of potential candidates to the Top committee, which includes the PM, Finance Minister and the Leader of Opposition.
The EC, in-turn, before recommending the names, consider three points, which are:

1. Who is the senior most candidate?

2. His record from Ministry of Personnel (MoP). (Experience; taint, if any).

3. A check of his antecedents by the Intelligence Bureau. (Crime record; cases, if any)

Only after being satisfied that all the above three parameters are met, the EC recommends the candidate for further perusal to the Top Committee.

Now the questions to be raised are:

1. Did PJ Thomas’s record with MoP fail to mention the fact that he was involved in the Palmolein oil import scam?

2. How did the IB fail to report that PJ has a taint on his career?

3. Sushma Swaraj is on record saying that she “brought this fact to thenotice of Prime Minister and Home Minister in the meeting.”

Why then, did the Govt. override Opposition Leader’s objection?These are many of the few questions the Govt need to answer to the nation. Its affidavit in the apex court that Thomas is an "outstanding officer of impeccable integrity” does not hold much water in the eyes of the public; let alone the SC, which definitely has more wisdom and prudence. The UPA Govt. must understand the fact that India cannot afford to have a ‘sacrosanct’ head of top surveillance watchdog (CVC) vouching for his integrity in the apex court.

NOTE: TOP COMMITTEE

(a) the Prime Minister - Chairperson;

(b) the Minister of Home Affairs - Member;

(c) the Leader of the Opposition in the House of the People - Member.

O Son! One day you will be the CM..!

Pls. don't read much into it..!

Someone, Someday at Rajiv Chowk Metro station.

Les Misérables

First, let me confess, I am writing these lines from the comfort of my room. I don’t have an Air Condition, but the room-heater has made the atmosphere salubrious. Room thermometer reads 15.C, comfortable enough for home sapiens to dwell, eat and merry. Each day, I spend 10 hours in my office. The management has designed the ambience in a way that to extract best out of me. On last day of every month my account is credited with the salary, the amount of which is petty for some but jackpot for majority in this country.

Every day while returning from the office I find 10-year-old Sattu selling something near the IIT fly-over. Baloons, flowers, books…. Each day I wish to help him, but haven’t done anything from him yet. Like my fellow countrymen, also my favourite pass time is to indulge in blaming the government for every problem, India has. Isn’t India a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Dint’ we have a Child Development ministry with an army of bureaucrats ‘preying’ on our taxes? If this is what we see in the capital, one can better imagine the situation in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘other India’! I am happy, Sattu is not begging, he is an ‘entrepreneur’, not Naxalite. And that’s the only relief for statisticians on the Raisina Hill.

Coming back to me. Will I make any difference in their lives…! Will try..for sure.

Explaining Arnab to my kid brother

“We will be back tomorrow with more direct questions,” the man signed off in his characteristic combative tone.
“Bhai, how come we always see this man on this channel?” my 11-year-old cousin Soofiyan asked, “Are they short of people on their staff?”
I responded by reminding him to recite the new rhyme that he had just learnt. But I could not suppress a smile. He persisted, “No, first you answer my question.”
So I told him.
I told him that the gentleman “the nation is watching” was Arnab Goswami, head and the lead anchor of Times Now, and that he was quite wrong in concluding that the news channel was short-staffed.
“Hmm…and why is he angry with everybody?” my 11-year-old cousin continued with his questions. “He is not angry,” I explained in a condescending tone, “You see, there is so much corruption, violence and crime in our society. Like all of us, he is also frustrated with all this, and this frustration just comes through when he interviews people.”
“Interviews people?” my cousin asked, clearly unimpressed by my air of superiority, “You mean, he is not the one being interviewed? You actually mean all the other faces listening to him are there to be interviewed? But I see only him talking and the others listening.”
I retreated with a feeble protest. “No, no, it is not always like that. He often gives them a chance to speak.”
“Them meaning those faces in the boxes?” he enquired.
“Yes,” I said, relieved at an easy question for a change.
You see, Soofiyan is too young to understand the charisma of the man he was referring to.
How do I make him appreciate the fact that the gentleman setting the agenda for the nation every single day does listen to all the people he invites to discussions? It is just that he seeks the one voice that agrees with him. Until he finds that voice on his prime time show, he is forced to reject all the others. It is a fair deal.
But before I can heave a sigh of relief, comes another question, “But why does that girl sit with him through the programme? Is that a backup plan, like having two pilots in an aeroplane?”
“Yes, sort of, she's his co-anchor,” I said with a straight face, hoping to evade the next question.
“You mean she isn’t one of the guests? If she is a co-anchor, why doesn’t she get to ask any questions? She just looks at the screen strangely and nods her head vigorously every time he says something.”
Before I could gather my wits, I was saved by the next question. “And, why does he keep saying ‘Tonight I will be direct, tonight I will be direct’? Tomorrow night will he be indirect?”
“No, he just wants to show how bold and blunt he is,” I said simply because I had to say something.
"OK, one last thing. How does he know that everybody watches him every night?” Soofiyan asked.
“Who told you so?" I countered a tad irritated by now.
“He did. He does so all the time. He always says the nation demands to know....the whole nation is watching tonight...How does he know?"
Tonight it was my time to be direct. "I have no freaking idea how he knows that," I hollored, "Now go back to your freaking poem."
The whole neighbourhood heard it. I still don't know about the whole nation, though!

DANISH for Governance Now (http://www.governancenow.com/views/columns/explaining-arnab-my-kid-brother)