RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan could be off to Shanghai

As Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the BRICS countries) look to expedite the setting up of a new development bank to be based in Shanghai, speculations are rife that Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan could be the choice for its first president, as the chief is proposed to be from India.

With Rajan not being on the same page as the government on the interest rate cut, he is likely to be moved out.

If he goes to BRICS, Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chief Ashok Chawla and Sebi Chairman U.K. Sinha will be in the race for next RBI governor.

Trai chief hunt

The government is learnt to have launched the hunt for the new chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The selection committee is headed by scientist R.A. Mashelkar, who incidentally is on the board of governors of Reliance Industries Ltd.

HRD Minister Smriti Irani and son are both battling sickness

Smriti's son ill

The Son of Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has been in AIIMS for the past few days, undergoing treatment for dengue.

Her son, 13, is in the pediatrics department and responding well to treatment.

Doctors said that with the onset of winters, dengue cases have receded but not completely stopped.

RS stalled

Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha remained disrupted for several minutes because of heated arguments between the ruling and the treasury benches over point of order and disorder.

As the members got down to business, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal raised a point of order, a query to correct procedure.

But leader of the House Arun Jaitley objected, asking: “Can Naresh Agarwal everyday raise a point of disorder?"

The comment led to disruptions and amidst the chaos, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury stood up, saying: “I have a point of disorder”.

Chairperson Hamid Ansari was heard saying: “How many point of orders do I have to allow?”

Bikram Singh says there are no soft terror targets

Terror targets

Former army chief general Bikram Singh came out against the Peshawar attack, saying that the takeaway for “our security agencies should be an expeditious appraisal of all soft targets and transform them into hard targets”.