Hands-on junior minister

Officials in the revenue department have discovered that they now have to engage with two ministers. One of them is familiar - Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The other unexpectedly hands-on politician is Minister of State for Revenue J D Seelam, who took charge in June after his predecessor S S Palanimanickam resigned because his party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, pulled out of the ruling alliance. Unlike most junior ministers who do little beyond handling the odd transfer and posting, revenue officials say Seelam takes a close interest in tax issues. Perhaps the fact that he is a former civil servant (1984 batch of the Indian Administrative Service from Karnataka) explains his efforts to make the junior minister's post more relevant.