Jairam Ramesh had the ears of most folks at the Burari AICC meet of the Congress

Green talk

At the recent Cancun climate summit, he not only managed to stun the delegates, butu00a0 people back home also, by discarding India's long-held stance on climate change. Unfortunately, given that the political establishment here has little inclination to focus on environmental issues, Ramesh may have to do some "nuanced" explaining of his Cancun actions and action against the local big boys.

While kicking up storms has brought much needed focus on the environment ministry, Ramesh has after all, managed to antagonise not just big businesses affected by his ministry's decisions, but also his own
ministerial colleagues. Many marvel at his ability to still keep his job! It remains to be seen how long Ramesh can walk the tightrope between environmental activism and the exigencies of politics, but we can always expect a surprise or two from this activist minister ufffd who may yet go places.

VIP trauma
Dilli has pretty much come to accept VIP security and its attendant woes as a necessary price for coexisting with higher mortals. Still the capital was aghast when traffic blocks imposed for the Prime Minister's convoy recently claimed the life of a man being rushed to a hospital.

Though Prim Minister Manmohan Singh has apologised and ordered an inquiry, it's not the first such incident involving a VIP. Many residents are now demanding creation of dedicated lanes to facilitate movement of VIPs so that the aam aadmi is not affected by their travel. But that decision, ironically, lies in the hands of those who move about in gilded cages.

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