10 SEPTEMBER 2015: Australia may sell uranium to India

Ø  The Australian government says it is “examining” a report by a parliamentary committee that has recommended more safeguards in India’s nuclear programme before the government can approve uranium sales. The report was released by the Joint Standing committee on Treaties (JSCOT) that has been studying the Indo-Australian nuclear deal that was signed by Prime Ministers Tony Abbott and Narendra Modi in September 2014. The parliamentary report that has “in principle” approved the nuclear deal, recommended that India be encouraged to sign the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to separate its civilian and military nuclear facilities further, and appoint an “independent national regulator” to oversee the movement of the uranium, also called Australia-Obligated Nuclear Material (AONM). The recommendations of the treaty committee are not binding on the Abbott government, but could be used by the opposition Green Party to put further obstacles in the way of uranium sales to India.

Ø  V. Thiruppugazh, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch, has been appointed Adviser (in the rank of Joint Secretary), to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). When Mr. Modi was Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr. Thiruppugazh served as his secretary during 2005-06. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by the Prime Minister, took the decision, given Mr. Thiruppugazh’s long stint in the Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority (GSDMA), where he had worked closely with P.K. Mishra, now Additional Principal Secretary to Mr. Modi. In the 16 months of the Modi government, Gujarat has emerged as the preferred cadre for officials to fill top jobs in the various departments and ministries of the Central government. More than a dozen senior bureaucrats of the State have joined Mr. Modi’s team thus far. They include Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia, Commerce Secretary Rita Teotia, Power Secretary P.K. Pujari and Corporate Affairs Secretary Tapan Ray, besides those in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) such as Dr. Mishra, Joint Secretary Arvind Sharma and Private Secretary to the Prime Minister Rajiv Topno. Also from Gujarat are several mid-level officials. They include Additional Secretary in the Expenditure Department G.C. Murmu, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce Guruprasad Mohapatra, who was Ahmedabad Municipal Commissioner, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs Raj Kumar, who was Principal Secretary, Agriculture, in Gujarat, and Joint Secretary in the Coal Ministry R.P. Gupta, who served as Principal Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, Gujarat.