New Delhi

May 26, 2004

Ministry of Disinvestment is likely to be merged with Union Ministry of Finance

Department of Disinvestment is likely to be merged with the
Union Ministry of Finance, according to highly placed official
sources.

The Cabinet Secretariat is waiting for a clear signal from
the acceptance of the Common Minimum Programme by the United Progressive Alliance.

The deparment once merged the secretary Dhirendra Singh would report to P Chidambaram finance minister earlier in the NDA regime, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board was merged with the Finance, similarly Disinvestment is also likely to be tagged on the Chidambaram

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Five cabinet committees formed

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh constitutes Cabinet Subcommittees

Prime Minister Dr Man Mohan Singh has constituted high power Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, cabinet committee on prices,cabinet committee on Security,cabinet committee on on World Trade Organisation, cabinet committee on Agriculture.

This is a regular affair once a new dispensation assumed office. The details of the committees with the members are likely to be announced on Friday.As these needs the approval of the president of india.

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PM Manmohan and Ex-PM Atal have same address

Both Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee have the same Race Course Road address at least for another three weeks before bungalow No 6A on the Krishna Menon Marg is made ready for Vajpayee to move in. Yes, both are available in the same
Prime Minister's House, though the entry gates are different for their visitors.

While Dr Manmohan Singh continues to stay in his bungalow on the Safdarjang Road, he has already started holding his court from 7 Race Course Road that has all the facilities to function as the second Prime Minister's Office (PMO) besides one in the South Block of the Central Secretariat.

Happiest are the security personnel of the Special Protection Group (SPG) at both PM and ex-PM operating from the same address as it makes their task easy in providing them the security as the entire complex has cameras fixed to keep a watch on each and every movement.

Vajpayee is holding on to the residential area of PM's House that was once known as 3 Race Course Road but which has now become part of the sprawling residential complex for the prime minister.

The first thing that Dr Manmohan Singh did on arriving at 7 Race Course on Monday was to pay a courtesy call to Vajpayee at his residence to politely announce that his PMO has started functioning from the premises even before Vajpayee exits.

Vajpayee greeted him, pointing out that he may be permitted to continue his PMO from the complex until the new house is ready for him to shift. Both joked that they not only have the same address but are also having the same private secretaries to fix their appointments. Ajay Bisaria, an
Indian Foreign Service officer, and R P Singh, an IAS officer, were in attendance at 7 Race Course as private secretaries to PM when Dr Manmohan Singh arrived to hold meetings with the officials.

Though Vajpayee's officials like Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra and media advisor Ashok Tandon have already resigned, they and other officials of the previous PMO could be seen still arriving at Race Course every morning to speak to Vajpayee. They still have the cards to pass through
the security as usual.

While TKA Nair, a retired Punjab IAS cadre officer, is managing the PM's secretariat at 7 Race Course as an officer-on-special duty awaiting the formal designation as the Principal Secretary to PM, Pulok Chatterjee has moved from 10 Janpath to the PM's House to be the pointman in the PMO, the role Joint Secretary Ashok Saikia played in the previous government. Minister of State Prithviraj Chavan also has an office in the PM's House.

It was at 7 Race Course Road office where Dr Manmohan Singh met DMK Minister Dayanidhi Maran and the Centre's outgoing Kashmir interlocutor N N Vohra, a retired IAS officer who had held posts like Defence Secretary and Home Secretary and penned a report on the criminals' nexus with
politicians.

The complex that is known is PM's House combines what were once four bungalows. Late Rajiv Gandhi used to occupy bungalow No 5 during his premiership and bungalow No 3 was with Arjun Singh. Once the Arjun Singh shifted, the bungalow No 3 was also merged into the PM's House.

Now the premises at No 3 are used for the PM's residence, at No 5 for receiving groups, at No 7 for running a second PMO and the bungalow No 9 is occupied by the SPG that provides round-the-clock security to the PM.

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Who will hold Nuclear Button?

India's nuclear management structure is set for a major
overhaul. The new Congress-led government is busy finding suitable persons to head key departments associated with the nuclear management of the country.

Most important post to be filled is that of the National Security Advisor (NSA) who holds the nuclear button on behalf of the Prime Minister.

The new government is also bound to name the heads for the Strategic Policy Group (SPG), the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS). Heads of all these bodies have either completed their term or have retired from the services.

The resignation of Brajesh Mishra as the security advisor on Tuesday paved the way for the new government to quickly identify and appoint his successor. Former foreign secretary J. N Dixit is a front-runner for the post.

The convener of the NSAB, C.V. Ranganathan, a retired officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), has completed his two-year term. Satish Chandra heading the NSCS also retired recently but was told to continue till the government finds his replacement. Chandra, a serving officer of the IFS, was previously the Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan.

Since this is the first transfer (of nuclear assets) since India became a nuclear weapon state, experts here stress on the appointment of a National Security Adviser (NSA) in advance of the government being sworn in. But since the government formation and allocating ministerial births to allies appeared a herculean task, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi could not spare time to appoint country's new nuclear managers.

Set-up in 1998, India's three-tier nuclear management structure consists of a National Security Council (NSC), a Strategic Policy Group (SPG) and a National Security Advisory Board (NSAB). The Indian NSC, like its US counterpart, is essentially a high-powered political body chaired by the
Prime Minister and consisting of important members of his Cabinet directly concerned with the national security issues.

The SPG, which is chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, consists of serving senior officials responsible for policy-making and follow-up action in matters concerning national security plus the chiefs of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force and the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the external intelligence agency. Its main task is
to make policy recommendations to the NSC.

The NSAB consists of senior retired officials, civilian as well as
military, who had dealt with national security during their career as well as distinguished academics and non-governmental scholars. Another body, the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS) acts as the interface between the NSC, the SPG and the NSAB and coordinates the functioning of intelligence agencies

The NSCS also monitors the newly created set ups like the Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), the TECHINT, agency for the collection of technical intelligence and the special counter-terrorism centre in the IB.

The NSCS also monitors the implementation of the various recommendations made by three special Task Forces set up by the Government to examine and report on internal security management, border management and defence
management, which have been accepted by the Government.

The NSAB till now was assigned to prepare an annual strategic review. But, according to B. Raman, former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, the NSAB has been asked to discontinue the practice and focus instead on submission of reports on topical areas of importance from the
point of view of national security. The NSAB has also reportedly undertaken a detailed study on subject of governance and how mis-governance was linked to the insurgency and incidents of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Congress party's policy document on national security indicates the new government will retain the nuclear management structure as evolved by the previous government. The powerful group and important ally the Left parties in their election manifestos have stressed the
importance of a national security apparatus that will work within the framework of a parliamentary democratic system.