06-16-2005, 10:06 AM
<b>A non-government </b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> 14 June 2005: Does the left hand know what the right is doing? This must be asked in respect of petroleum minister Mani Shankar Aiyerâs grandiose plans to pipe to India Iranian gas via Pakistan, which is now threatened with US sanctions for going ahead with the $4 billion project.
The bare essentials of the controversial deal are this. Because of Iranâs clandestine weaponsâ programme, the US is ready to go to war with it anytime after certain crucial debates in the Congress (Intelligence, âUS prepared for Iran war with split Nato,â 8 June 2005). The US is willing to go so far as to split Nato for it, and bring in a Britain-led Nato as its ally in the war, a task made easier by the imminent destruction of the European Union.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<i>Ministers like Mani Shankar Aiyar are making the PM redundant.</i><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In a different context, a published intelligence yesterday (âPM angry at being ignored by ministersâ) tells of the uncontrollable state of the UPA government, in which Manmohan Singh is fighting a losing battle to take charge of policy-making. On 27 September 2004 and 31 March this year, the cabinet secretary, B.K.Chaturvedi, sent instructions on behalf of the PM to all ministers to forward copies of draft cabinet notes to the prime ministerâs office.
Officials said the PM came to know of several policy changes and decisions awaiting cabinet clearance from the newspapers, which made cabinet clearance a token formality, and his own approval a fait accompli. Chaturvedi also instructed that the PMOâs comments be awaited for fifteen days before any action was taken on the draft cabinet note. The cabinet secretary wrote too for all final cabinet notes to be previously submitted to the PMO.
Both the earlier instructions were ignored, leading to a third letter from the cabinet secretariat, signed by the secretary, coordination, P.C.Rawal, dated 12 May, which we reproduced yesterday. One sentence in the letter tells it all. âThe prime minister has observed,â it says, âthat instructions regarding forwarding a copy of the draft note to PMO at the time of inter-ministerial consultations are at times not being followed by ministries and departments.â
No explanations are required. The letter says it all. What Mani Aiyar is now embarked upon is also policy change, with or without the PMâs entire consent, with its potential to tectonically impact on our foreign relations. Even if Mani Aiyar knows the impact of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline deal on relations with the US, does he care? Not likely, from the looks of it. <b>What the UPA has become, a non-government, takes your breath away</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The bare essentials of the controversial deal are this. Because of Iranâs clandestine weaponsâ programme, the US is ready to go to war with it anytime after certain crucial debates in the Congress (Intelligence, âUS prepared for Iran war with split Nato,â 8 June 2005). The US is willing to go so far as to split Nato for it, and bring in a Britain-led Nato as its ally in the war, a task made easier by the imminent destruction of the European Union.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
<i>Ministers like Mani Shankar Aiyar are making the PM redundant.</i><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->In a different context, a published intelligence yesterday (âPM angry at being ignored by ministersâ) tells of the uncontrollable state of the UPA government, in which Manmohan Singh is fighting a losing battle to take charge of policy-making. On 27 September 2004 and 31 March this year, the cabinet secretary, B.K.Chaturvedi, sent instructions on behalf of the PM to all ministers to forward copies of draft cabinet notes to the prime ministerâs office.
Officials said the PM came to know of several policy changes and decisions awaiting cabinet clearance from the newspapers, which made cabinet clearance a token formality, and his own approval a fait accompli. Chaturvedi also instructed that the PMOâs comments be awaited for fifteen days before any action was taken on the draft cabinet note. The cabinet secretary wrote too for all final cabinet notes to be previously submitted to the PMO.
Both the earlier instructions were ignored, leading to a third letter from the cabinet secretariat, signed by the secretary, coordination, P.C.Rawal, dated 12 May, which we reproduced yesterday. One sentence in the letter tells it all. âThe prime minister has observed,â it says, âthat instructions regarding forwarding a copy of the draft note to PMO at the time of inter-ministerial consultations are at times not being followed by ministries and departments.â
No explanations are required. The letter says it all. What Mani Aiyar is now embarked upon is also policy change, with or without the PMâs entire consent, with its potential to tectonically impact on our foreign relations. Even if Mani Aiyar knows the impact of the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline deal on relations with the US, does he care? Not likely, from the looks of it. <b>What the UPA has become, a non-government, takes your breath away</b>.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->