Coke Tales
The arrest and interrogation of a peddler in Delhi reveal that at glitzy parties in faraway farmhouses, money and power go on high with the kick of cocaine. It's the haute drug for the stylish people in black. A peep into the world of the cocaine-users.

Invisible Dialogue
Vajpayee has promised a solution by March next year. But who is he talking to? Nobody knows.

Gunning For Arun
Jaswant Singh's special adviser is again at the centre of a controversy. This one though is not of his own making.

New Metro Hotspots
Establishments combining a rash of activities have taken over from the one-dimensional discos in urban India.

THE NATION: GOVERNMENT

Is Arun Indispensable?

That special rapport has already had an impact on the priorities Jaswant has set for the external affairs and defence ministries. Conscious of the geopolitical changes in India's neighbourhood-particularly the economic and political assertion of China-the combine of Jaswant and Arun is placing special emphasis on building relationships with global players. That includes involving the military establishment in the strategic dialogue between India and countries such as the United States and Australia. Arun's old contacts are apparently helpful when dealing with the US. It isn't surprising that bureaucrats heading the Americas and nuclear policy divisions in the External Affairs Ministry look towards Arun for advice on issues ranging from theatre missile defence to American moves on the China-Taiwan situation.

Defence analyst K. Subrahmanyam, who headed the Kargil Review Committee, says Arun is "steeped" in defence matters and is an asset to a country that does not have enough security experts. He dismisses charges of "non-accountability" against Arun, saying the adviser is accountable to Parliament through his minister. "If Rakesh Mohan, adviser to the finance minister, can sit in meetings with top finance officials, including the finance secretary, then why can't Arun have meetings with the three service chiefs? The present chiefs may have been colonels or brigadiers when he was in charge of the ministry earlier," he says.

Arun has also given a fillip to a proposal that requires arms agents to register with the MoD. The path-breaking proposal envisages that even agents representing arms manufacturing companies that do not have an office in India officially deal with the MoD. Earlier, only those companies with branches in India dealt with the government. The move will not only break the nexus between arms dealers, pliant politicians, bureaucrats and service officers but also bring a degree of transparency to the procurement of defence equipment.

Although the MoD is giving a final shape to the arms procurement proposal, the appointment of Special Secretary Ajay Vikram Singh and Financial Adviser Gyan Prakash to the equipment acquisition wing has raised eyebrows. South Block gossip has it that Arun pushed the case of these two bureaucrats in the proposed procurement board as they had worked under him during his earlier stint as minister. While Ajay was serving in Uttaranchal prior to his posting, Prakash had hit the headlines when George Fernandes, as the defence minister, sent him to the Siachen glacier for delaying the snow-scooters proposal for the army.

Arun is reportedly dismayed at the spate of criticism coming his way and has indicated that he wouldn't like to hang on to his position any longer than it demands. He is impatient with the bureaucratic delay in appointing the CDS and has requested Jaswant to take up the issue again with the prime minister. He would dearly love to head back to the hills but Jaswant seems unwilling to do without his friend's advice. And the need to stay on till the major reforms that he has suggested are seen through is a compelling plea. So barring a two-week sojourn in Almora next week, Arun is likely to spend the coming winter holed up in his office in South Block.

MetroScape

Looking Glass

Delhi Restaurant:
Kootub Restaurant

Delhi Dance Festival: Abhinaya Sudha

Delhi Restro-bar:
Buzz, Get It Here

Bangalore Exhibitions: Cinnamon