Delhi confidential: Sweet Reward

Twitter Debut
Former Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami, who was removed from the post in February for allegedly interfering with the CBI’s arrest of former Union Minister Matang Sinh in the Saradha case, joined Twitter on Thursday. Goswami was welcomed to the micro-blogging site by former CEO of National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Captain Raghu Raman, whose contract was not renewed after the NDA government came to power last year.

Missing Auction
The fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose to talk about the success of the coal and FM Radio auctions, but did not mention the telecom spectrum auction during his Independence Day speech, has apparently left the telecom ministry officials wondering whether it was a deliberate omission. Some senior officials even engaged in banter over the issue, with many congratulating Information & Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka for managing to get the FM e-auctions — comparatively much smaller than the other auctions in terms of revenue generation — mentioned in the PM’s speech.

PAC Meet
With the opposition parties complaining about the presiding officer’s bias towards the ruling party, a two-day meeting of the heads of public accounts committees of all states will be held in the national capital to discuss ways to strengthen the public spending watchdogs. Inspired by the meetings of the Commonwealth Association of Public Accounts Committee held in Malta, PAC chairman K V Thomas has taken the initiative to discuss issues, including the government’s approach to implementing the suggestions given by PACs. Speaker Sumitra Mahajan will address the meeting to be held on September 8 and 9.