Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is itching to implement the new internal security architecture that he's worked out.

Blow hot, blow cold!

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is itching to implement the new internal security architecture that he's worked out. But he has plenty to worry about on a shared resolve to fight the Naxal menace as there is a nascent challenge to his plans developing in Jharkhand. All signs emanating from the state seem to suggest that newly elected chief minister Shibu Soren has already gone soft on Maoists. What is causing anxiety in Dilli is that Jharkhand is in the heart of Naxal activity and any "softening" is likely to hamper the Home Ministry's overall efforts to fight ultras.

Under duress, Soren has denied any change in his government's stance, but observers say that the state government will apparently not pursue vigorously armed operations against Naxals. Clearly, Chidambaram will need to sort out his internal strategy. And then of course there's the bigger matter of turf issues versus the PMO. So watch this space.

Riding high, and low
Though Mumbai obviously has a better bus system, Dilli is now making efforts to catch up. Dilliwalas are getting used to low-floor buses, which have been brought in ostensibly for the Commonwealth Games but have already caught the imagination of commuters. But more than buses, Dilli's transport authorities are also trying to make bus travel more convenient. DTC conductors will now be deployed at each bus stop to issue paper tickets and guide commuters. The idea is to reemploy conductors meaningfully since the new system of automatic fare collection system being introduced in the city's buses will make them redundant.

Meanwhile Dilli's transport minister Arvinder Singh Lovely plans a dramatic new tax on owners of more than one car to encourage Dilliwalas to use public transport. But that is for the future. For now we will be happy to see a new "reformed" DTC.