VAJPAYEE CABINET EXPANDS;
MAHAJAN GETS INFOTECH

The big news of the week was the expansion by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Amongst the most noteworthy is the appointment of Pramod Mahajan as the minister for information technology. The former information and broadcasting minister had been lobbying hard and was a front runner for the ministerial berth and his appointment could have implications for the television business too. Reason: the IT ministry is also likely to have a say in what TV regulation should be as it will be laying out the legal road map for convergence. With television merging with the computer and vice-versa and cyberspace emerging as a media option even for television, television executives will have to keep a close watch on Mahajan's moves.

A clutch of other ministers was also shuffled around while new ministers were inducted. Those getting a berth include: Shukhdev Singh Dhindsa (ministry of works and estates),. C. P. Thakur (Ministry of Water Resources) and Mr. Rajnath Singh (the Ministry of Surface Transport ) and. Arun Shourie (minister of state for Planning, Statistics and Programme Implementation).

Meanwhile, the tragedy of the Orissa cyclone continued to be played out with the casualty rate rising to an estimated 25,000, though government has been pitching a lower figure of less than 10,000. Both the central and state governments have been pointing fingers at each other while the deaths have been mounting with rescue measures being inadequate.

The government also took other initiatives during the previous week: I&B minister Arun Jaitley fuelled a debate asking for public opinion on whether the print media should be kept closed to foreign companies. Vajpayee also announced that a group on telecom is to be set up under finance minister Yashwant to resolve issues in the telecom and Internet sectors. The Cabinet also approved proposals to introduce two plant patent bills and the Electricity Regulatory Act in Parliament for enactment.

In other developments, the process of redoing the Prasar Bharati continued with two members, Romila Thapar and Rajendra Yadav, a vociferous critic of government interference in its working, being eased out of the board. The two were retired under section six (3) of the Prasar Bharati Act, 1990, which provides for retiring one-third of the part-time members every two years. The other board members B. G. Verghese will continue with the board until their terms expire. The government also put in place a committee which will carry out a comprehensive review of the Prasar Bharati. It will be chaired by Infosys CEO N R Narayana Murthy, CEO, Infosys, with Discovery India head Kiran Karnik and marketing veteran Shunu Sen as members. Other members of the committee include: R C Mishra, joint secretary, ministry of information and broadcasting, and chief executive officer of Prasar Bharati Rajeeva Ratna Shah.