‘Rest is for the dead’

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S.Y. Qureshi

For former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi retirement does not mean “rest” like his fellow bureaucrats, as most of them prepare grounds for their post-retirement rehabilitation to continue with their in-service pomp, residential accommodation and cars fitted with red-beacons.

However, Dr Quraishi appears to be slightly different, as he made no attempt to get himself rehabilitated like a few of his predecessors, who either joined politics or took up some government responsibilities. In one of his recent Twitter posts Dr Quraishi claimed: “Rest is for the dead!” and proved himself to be a true professional bureaucrat unlike former home secretary G.K. Pillai, who is learnt to be enjoying his life with his grandchildren and has been spotted in one marketplace or the other in the capital.
But in the same Twitter post Dr Quraishi clarified that he is not going to take up any government or political job. He said, “I am working on three books. One on elections. One on Old Delhi. One on Urdu poetry for non-Urdu people”.

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Cabinet reshuffle in the offing
Following Congress’ decision to nominate finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for the President’s post, the buzz these days in corridors of power is about the impending cabinet reshuffle that the move may trigger. Even though for the time being Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has decided to keep the finance portfolio with him, government insiders insist that a cabinet reshuffle is imminent. The speculation has helped ministers pull up their socks in a bid to impress both the PM and Congress President. A number of top bureaucratic reshuffle is also in the offing due to which the babus are also going that extra mile to impress the political leadership.

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MoS want Mamata to relent
While West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee still continues to blow hot and cold over the nomination of finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for Presidential election, a sizeable chunk of the party leaders want her to stop opposing the UPA nominee.
Sources revealed that about half a dozen ministers of states in the UPA from the Trinamul Congress have congratulated Mr Mukherjee already.
Now that the former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has declined to contest the Presidential election, these TMC ministers do not see any merit in opposing Mr Mukherjee.
“The problem is that no one wants to confront Ms Banerjee on the merits of opposing Mr Mukherjee. Hopefully, she will realise that she is wasting her time in standing up to Mr Mukherjee when the Presidential election has become one-sided for all practical purposes,” said a TMC leader.

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Reddy’s art of balancing
Petroleum minister Jaipal Reddy, who has also been the former spokesman of the Congress party, is an expert in doing the balancing act between political compulsion and taking tough decisions. As witnessed after the recent price hike in petrol, the petroleum minister went out of the way to justify the political opposition to the move even by his own party saying the political leadership has to protect the interest of the common man.
But the minister tried his best to explain to the media the position of the oil companies as well, saying the hike was justified else the oil companies would have collapsed completely under the increasing debt burden. Needless to say that Mr Reddy had adequate justification for both the party’s stand and hike of petrol prices. A fine balancing act indeed Mr Minister.

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Verification woes for CWG
The Commonwealth Games-2010 have been long over, and a lot of muck raised on the manner in which it was conducted. In short, much water has flown down the Ganges. But a few district administrations are sending the verification reports on antecedents of those employed for various tasks during the Games only now. The Organising Committee of the CWG-2010, which is now practically a defunct body, is now receiving replies from different district administration on the verification requests sent four months before the Games began in 2010. These requests for verification by the police were sent to ensure that those being employed did not have criminal or anti-social antecedents. “Well, this is how things happen in India,” quipped an officer on the development.