"The Bihar governor should avoid controversy"

Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh spoke to Editor Prabhu Chawla on the EGS and Bihar.

Q. Where will you get funds for the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from? You do not have a census of poor people. How will you identify them?

A. The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been working for 30 years. But only about 2 per cent of the people turned up for jobs. We have formed an estimate from these figures. We need Rs 17,000 crore to initiate the programme and we have this amount for the current year.

Q. What will you do next year?
A. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is in our GoM. He assured me that money would not be a problem for this scheme.

Q. Don't you think finances for this scheme are not managed properly? There are too many scams.
A. No, that is not true. We have a four-point formula: people's participation, strict vigilance, transparency and accountability. We will form local vigilance committees which will select local beneficiaries.

Q. Do you think Governor Buta Singh is using his powers properly in Bihar? Is his rule better than that of the Rabri Devi government?
A. President's rule can be a good option in comparison to an elected government. But it is not right to compare these two governments.

Q. Do you think Buta Singh's activities are proper?
A. The governor should stay away from controversy.

Q. Lalu Prasad Yadav said he nominated Buta Singh for the governor's post and he is satisfied with his work.
A. We all know that it is a constitutional post. So we should avoid such debates.

Q. It's said Lalu still rules Bihar despite President's rule.
A. Only the opposition party says so.

Q. If the governor is ruling well, why do you want polls?
A. Only an elected government can be a popular government in a democracy. President's rule is not the answer.

Q. Who is the chief ministerial candidate of your party?
A. Rabri Devi was our chief minister and she will be our chief ministerial candidate in future as well.

Q. Don't you want to become the chief minister of Bihar?
A. I am already a cabinet minister. People have sent me to Parliament. I don't want to become the chief minister.

PICTURE SPEAK

The Sigaram function

CHENNAI The India Today Sigaram (meaning "summit" in Tamil) 15 awards function held last week honoured 15 new generation political leaders of Tamil Nadu to commemorate the completion of 15 years of the India Today Tamil edition. DMK Deputy General Secretary M.K. Stalin, TNCC chief G.K. Vasan, Union it and Telecommunications Minister Dayanidhi Maran, and Union Health Minister A. Ramadoss were among those who got the awards.

The event was also a forum for political debate. India Today Editor Prabhu Chawla raised the question: why has a second Kamaraj, who could influence the national political scene, not emerged in Tamil Nadu? While Maran responded, "DMK chief M. Karunanidhi has the influence to get things done even from Chennai", E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Union minister of state for commerce and industry, said, "There can be only one Kamaraj." The event's highlight was the gathering of leaders from diverse parties, a rare sight in politics.

-By S. Senthil Kumar

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Sheikh

DELHI The poster girl of the media, Zahira Sheikh is a "self-condemned liar", according to a Supreme Court-appointed committee. The panel of judges said the flip-flops of the star witness of the Best Bakery case failed to help legal proceedings. The committee also quashed her complaint against activist Teesta Setalvad, whom Sheikh had accused of forcing her to lie about the Best Bakery incident.

Sheikh's inconsistencies had increased through the lower court hearings in Gujarat and Mumbai. Last April, she created a furore when she denied filing an affidavit before the Nanavati-Shah commission of inquiry in May 2002. Her image was further damaged when a TV network aired footage of her apparently being bribed by a BJP MLA from Vadodara. The apex court panel has seen the footage too. In July, Sheikh emerged with another story of a local Congress leader making threatening calls to her family. Sheikh's changing statements baffled everyone till the Supreme Court intervened, asking her to explain her about-faces.

-By Satarupa Bhattacharjya

PICTURE SPEAK

Sonia in Kerala

Who Needs Facts?

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Sonia Gandhi, leader of the NDA? So believes a feeder organisation of the Congress in Kerala. A full page ad inserted by the Cooperative Bank Employees Congress in major newspapers, welcoming Sonia to the state recently blared: "Respected Soniaji, the greatest personality the world has ever seen, is to visit us today. Perhaps as the leader of the NDA at the Centre her visit provides an extraordinary opportunity for the Left forces also to stake a claim on this proud moment." The ad also praised Congress MP Vayalar Ravi: "He is a familiar leader in Delhi. He is quite accessible too. He may fume at you first but would be like a cow the next moment." Sycophancy does have its limits but not, it seems, in Kerala where it will flourish till the cows come home.

-By M.G. Radhakrishnan

Small Wonder

PICTURE SPEAK

TOSHIBA LIBRETTO U100 Rs 1.5-1.6 LAKH

Toshiba's Libretto U100 is approximately half the size of the average laptop. Ultra-portable, fast and versatile, it weighs just 1 kg and has a 7.2 inch widescreen lcd display. The processor is a very fast Pentium M Ultra Low Voltage 753 device running at 1.2 GHz. The six-cell lithium ion battery pack delivers up to five hours of use between charges. The Libretto U100 can also easily double up as a portable DVD player. Not just a regular laptop, the U100 is a showcase for how far miniaturisation has come..

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