With the BJP now in charge at the Centre and in Delhi, some major city development projects might finally get moving. These include fixing Delhi’s messy waste management system and rolling out the much-talked-about land pooling policy. Earlier, when the AAP ran Delhi, many of these projects hit roadblocks—primarily because of constant clashes with the Centre. Issues like the slow progress on cleaning up the city’s landfills or delays in expanding the Metro were often blamed on the AAP by the BJP.But now that the BJP is running both the national and Delhi governments — a setup they like to call the “double-engine” model — there’s a growing sense that the time for blame games is over. People expect results, especially from the Centre, which handles many projects through the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. Recently, Union Minister Manohar Lal sat down with well-known Delhiites, including business leaders, to hear what’s bothering residents. Sources say the top concerns were better managing the overflowing landfill sites, making the land pooling policy a reality, and clearing up land acquisition issues—especially in northwest Delhi. Jharkhand DGP fate hangs in balanceThe letter war between the Centre and the Jharkhand government over the appointment of incumbent DGP Anurag Gupta has caught the eyeballs of the country’s police establishment. There’s also the angle of a pending Supreme Court ruling in a case filed by BJP state unit chief Babulal Marandi in the matter. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs communicated to the Jharkhand Chief Secretary that DGP Gupta could not continue in office beyond April 30, 2025 – his date of superannuation. The Jharkhand government reportedly responded by saying Gupta was appointed to the post for two years under the ‘appointments rules’ formulated by the state. It also said that Jharkhand is not alone in doing so, as several other states have done the same. The Supreme Court will now decide Gupta’s fate next week when it hears Babulal Marandi’s case challenging the appointment. The MHA communique read: “Government of Jharkhand is directed to retire Shri Anurag Gupta, IPS, on 30.04.2025 from the post of the DGP (HoPF) Jharkhand, as continuing him in service beyond the age of superannuation violates Rule 16(1) of the All-India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefit) Rules, 1958, which mandates retirement at the age of 60 for IPS officers.” It also contended that Gupta’s appointment process does not align with existing national rules or the Supreme Court judgment in a case filed by Prakash Singh over Police reforms. Ad hoc staff make Future dept ‘inept’By giving additional charge of the unique and innovative Department of Future to officers ad hoc, the Haryana government has made its’ future imperfect’. Recently, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini announced the establishment of the “Department of Future”, which many believe is the first of its kind in India. The department focuses on strategic foresight and long-term planning for the state’s development along the lines of experiments done in Singapore, Finland, and the UAE. Earlier this week, the state government appointed the first set of officers to the department. A 2001-batch IAS officer, Amneet P Kumar, was made commissioner and secretary and 2011-batch IAS officer, Aditya Dahiya, became the Director. Jaishankar on a diplomatic sprint Following the recent terror attack in Kashmir, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is busy with full-scale phone diplomacy, working the lines nonstop to rally international support. In a matter of days, he spoke with as many as 35 counterparts — the outreach included nine out of the ten non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. Pakistan was the lone exception. Understandably, it is not a country he can engage with under the current circumstances. Among the five permanent members of the Security Council, Jaishankar connected with all except China, underlining the seriousness of India’s efforts to build a strong global consensus. The momentum picked up on April 24, when Jaishankar spoke with France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Three days later, he connected with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy. France and the UK are key permanent members of the UNSC and central to India’s diplomatic strategy. April 29 stood out as an intense day of outreach. Over the past week, the foreign minister has also reached out to his counterparts from Kuwait, Egypt, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, further reinforcing India’s diplomatic push across regions.
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