Upping the ante
Have babus become pawns in the deadly cat-and-mouse game between the government and the Maoists? The abduction and subsequent release of R. Vineel Krishna, district collector of Malkangiri in Orissa, and a junior engineer, P.M. Majhi, has raised the troubling question, especially after chief minister Naveen Patnaik reportedly
conceded all 14 demands of the abductors. These include a halt to anti-Maoist operations by security forces and release of political prisoners, among others.
According to sources, back-channel efforts to secure Mr Krishna’s release finally succeeded after tense negotiations between Orissa chief secretary B.K. Patnaik, home secretary U.N. Behera and Maoist-appointed mediators. With the government having capitulated to the insurgents, the bigger niggling question being asked by babus is who’ll be next to be targeted by the Maoists whose intentions are clear, unlike those of the Centre and governments of affected states.
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Loyalty games
Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has denied that the transfer of Krishan Kumar, director general of school education, was an case of “victimisation”, as claimed by his political detractors, but few babus are willing to buy the denial considering that the babu in question has seen nine transfers within a year! But Punjab’s babus have seen stranger things in the Badal regime, whether in matters of recruitment of state-level officials or in babu movements, which seem to depend more on political considerations than any other.
Sources point to the recent case of a tehsil welfare officer, Manjit Singh, the son of a former Akali agriculture minister Gurdev Singh Badal, who has been allegedly chargesheeted thrice but been reinstated each time. His “crimes” include absence from duty for more than two years and a rape charge. Naturally, the Badal government is keeping silent on the issue. How this case eventually plays out is anybody’s guess.
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Look and leak
Though the controversial Antrix-Devas deal on S-band spectrum has now been scuttled, the questions it raised continue to linger. The buzz is that papers about the deal were leaked by a senior babu from Bengaluru. Apparently, the unnamed source is now in Delhi on an “advisory” assignment.
The name of the babu cropped up as Indian Space Research Organisation officials are investigating how “certain other portions” of the deal, which was signed six years ago, suddenly came to be public knowledge. Obviously, the government is worried about “leaks” which do not stem from “controlled” sources, and which can cause embarrassment, as the Devas deal did. In the days ahead, babus may even face action under the law if a “leak” is traced back to them. The moral of the story: look before you leak!
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