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GOVERNANCE SHUBHABRATA BHATTACHARYA ON LATERAL APPOINTMENTS p28 STATE SCAN NOIDA AUTHORITIES ARE POLITICIANS’ FIEFDOMS p22

February 5, 2015 ` VOL. 8, ISSUE 11

FIRST STIRRINGS KS SUBRAMANIAN

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NITI AAYOG

ISSN 0976-2906

OF TH IN E M DI A R K p4 A G ING 0 AN DH I

Will it transform India?

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From the Editor

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vol. 8, ISSUE 11 | FEBRUARY 2015 Anil Tyagi | editor TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | consulting business editor Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Naresh Minocha | contributing editor Narendra Kaushik | associate editor Harishchandra Bhat | associate editor (bengaluru) Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) Kanika Srivastava | sub-editor & coordinator Mayank Awasthi | reporter Pawan Kumar | production coordinator Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics Nipun Jain | finance Gautam Das | legal consultant Bushchat Publishing | edit & design Madan Lal | Webmaster Abhisshek Tyagi | Director advertising & marketing RAKESH ARORA— +919810648809 e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 CONTACT — +91 9845730298 e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in $1,/ 7<$*, 35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 QG IORRU GGD VLWH QHZ UDMLQGHU QDJDU QHZ GHOKL ă 7(/ )$; +All information in gfiles is obtained from sources that the management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews, are not necessarily shared by us. Copyright exclusively with Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in whole, or in part(s), in any manner, without prior permission, is totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any advertisement without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. Published and printed by Anil Tyagi on behalf of Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd. E-125, Site-B, Surajpur Ind. Area, Gautam Budh Nagar, Greater Noida-201306 U.P. (INDIA). All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in New Delhi only

met a senior Secretary in the Government of India last year. Belonging to a middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh—his father was a schoolteacher in a small town and mother was a housewife—he was in a mood for introspection. He felt that while his schoolteacher father could built an independent house while educating him and his siblings—one of his brothers is an IAS officer, the other an IPS officer and his sisters are professional doctors—he finds it difficult to do so. “When I analyse, I feel I can’t have an independent house, being a Secretary in the Government, and can’t educate my sons the way I want,� he said, adding, “I can’t believe that in the past 30 years, decent education, healthcare and housing are out of reach for a middle-class man. Where is India heading, I don’t know?� The answer to this needs to be debated. Every politician or official in India knows that 50 kilometres from any metro town, the situation is pathetic. Roads are marked with potholes, there are schools but no teachers and there are dispensaries but no doctors. Educated village youth have shifted to towns, leaving women and old people behind in dilapidated houses and filth-strewn villages. The land under cultivation is dependent on migrated labour, which commands its price. This is the real picture of India’s villages. The small towns are spreading unplanned and the State governments seem to have no control. Private colonisers are ruling the roost. While it is true that hospitals, colleges and schools have mushroomed in these towns, the truth is that they are run by untrained doctors and teachers. Their raison d’etre is to earn from the uneducated village youth residing in the towns. Bigger towns, on the other hand, have their own peculiar problems. Influx of people has resulted in crumbling infrastructure. Mafias are ruling the roost in the big cities, be it in education and health services, or real estate and parking. Bad roads and burgeoning traffic are making it difficult to travel from one point to another at any given time in the day. The situation in various sectors of the economy is not rosy either. Agricultural production is not showing any signs of improvement, while industrial production is stagnant. The youth of the country is clamouring for employment. Everybody is worried as to how India will move ahead and do it fast. In such a scenario, it is worth remembering that governance does not mean ruling over our countrymen, but ameliorating the problems afflicting them and providing them quality life. gfiles’cover story on the National Institution for Transforming India (Niti) Aayog is an endeavour to understand the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. How will Niti Aayog function and deliver is the question. Former Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar writes, “Niti Aayog has to identify the constraints on socio-economic development of the country in different sectors, for example, poverty, disparity, environment, energy, water, education, agriculture and so on. It should refrain from micro-managing the programmes and projects. Its organisational relevance would be assessed on the advice it provides to the Central and State governments.� MG Devasahayam says, “Niti is Modi’s ‘Team India’, which he promised during his fiery electoral campaign and is now in place. While the mandate eschews the word planning from its nomenclature, the objectives of Niti are unequivocal about ushering in village-level planning and aggregation of plans at progressively higher levels...Though there is no clarity on the fate of Five-Year Plans, it would be a fallacy to assume that Niti would completely jettison planning from its mandate.� Transforming India is a challenging task before Modi. Modi and India have no option but to transform and make the country vibrant, contented and prosperous. ANIL TYAGI

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

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CONTENTS

LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com

6 Bric-a-Brac

naidu’s new capital, amit shah and bcci, gadkari and rawat’s politicking

be careful when the US invests in India; it should be beneficial for both democracies. Dr Leo Rebello via blog

9 Cover Story

modi’s mission for transforming india

22 State Scan

It is a thoughtful and well-written editorial. And courageous too! Such a study of US bilateral initiatives, industrial policy and, moreover, its international impact on other countries! Ajay Singh via blog

noida: gold mine for politicians 32 delay in implementation puts madhya pradesh in a spot: assocham report

27 Governance

systemic change is needed 28 lateral appointments open doors for lobbying 30 think of the tobacco farmer

Inspector Raj

38 First Stirrings

ks subramanian looks back

40 Book Extract

indira gandhi: the early years

45 Book Review

a bureaucrat’s memoirs

46 My Corner rape trap?

48 Stock Doctor time to book profits

49 Perspective

enslaved by memories

57 By the Way

gymkhana woes, hobbies, posting blues and probing eyes

Success story It is obvious that despite the poor image of the administration, there are still good, honest and devoted, hardworking officers. Rather than being despondent over corruption, and mis-governance, can we not make these officers thought leaders, so they can spread their spirit and enthusiasm to the others? Perhaps gfiles should provide a space, or platform, for these officers to blog their experiences, and attract more freshers as followers. Vipen Mahajan via blog I congratulate gfiles for the successful awards ceremony that recognises deserving officers for their outstanding work. It is lovely to see Ved Marwah receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award; he really deserves it as he spent all his life serving the nation. I feel proud and honoured as I got the chance to work with him when he was Governor of Jharkhand. Ashim Kumar Chatterjee via blog

True analysis Ref. your editorial (gfiles, January 2015), it was really a true analysis of Obama’s visit to India. We all know that friendship with the US, time and again, has proved to be fraught with danger. So, we need to

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It is true that inspector raj is hollowing the Indian administration and economy. The comparison between the administration of Uttar Pradesh and of Haryana has removed the misconception of similarity. I believe that the new government should follow such cases with delicacy to reach the root level of corruption. Vivek Shukla via email

Government agenda The Modi government has been in power for nine months but yet there is no sign of any really solid blueprint for development or growth. There has been a lot of talk but actual movement on the ground has been tardy, to say the least. Many of the effective actions taken by the government in the last nine months were already in the pipeline and have just been executed now. There needs to be greater clarity on the nation’s route map for growth, and developmental and environmental issues as well. The upcoming Union Budget would say a lot about the Modi government’s intentions and it would do well to pay greater attention to the details rather than just make sweeping statements. The nation needs action and not melodrama; nor does it need another social media campaign. Let it not become a case of maximum government and minimum governance. SM Singh via blog

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

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Bric-a-brac high & dry

The great Naidu dream a capital like singapore

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ARA Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is a one-man army in the State. He is also the President of the Telugu Desam Party. In his party and government, there is no No. 2 leader. He is the ultimate boss. Chandrababu Naidu has a profound knowledge of business Na and entrepreneu entrepreneurship. Most of the MLAs from the Telugu Part are entrepreneurs or belong to prominent Desam Party business houses of the State. He likes all the bu best things in life. He is modern and open in his approach. He likes and reportedly h business interests in Singapore. His has supporters state that he has a dream to build su a new state capital like Singapore. Sources n disclo disclose that he is surrounded by town planners and big city developers most of the time, discussin his dream. It is in the public domain that discussing Chandrababu Chandraba Naidu is one of the richest politicians in the country country. This can be gauged from one important fact, whether he is in or out of power, whenever or wherever he travels t within India, he travels by a private aircraft along with his trusted ministers or friends. High living and big dreams is the new mantra of Naidu.

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Ahead of BCCI election amit shah’s absence costs him presidentship

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RICKET is no longer a gentleman’s game. It has always been about the money but that has been exposed only recently. The Supreme Court of India has delivered a historic judgment; it has restrained N Srinivasan from contesting he BCCI due to a conflict of interests. The BCCI the election of the is such a fat milch ch cow that Srinivasan does not want to loosen his grip on it, even en if he has to shelve his IPL franchise, Chennai early, BCCI politics is becoming murkier by the Super Kings. Clearly, day. Sources have ve disclosed th that hat the government is h on the activities of the BCCI. The keeping a watch new BCCI president ent has to be elected in six weeks. If Srinivasan is not able to control BCCI himself, his g to have its pawn group is planning as President. As the Congress regime has gone, e, things are not as simple for Srinivasan now. The cricket et fort is held by

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Arun Jaitley, Vice President of BCCI, and Amit Shah, President of the Gujarat Cricket Association. Jaitley, being the Finance Minister, is loaded with work and is not the obvious choice for BCCI president. Shah is competent to hold the post and he would have contested and won but fate does not support him all the time. Being the President of the BJP, he has a very hectic schedule and seldom attends the BCCI board meetings. To become BCCI president there is a rule that the contestant should have attended a predecided number of meetings. Shah is short of attendance and is out of the race. It will be interesting to see who luck favours as the chief of this cash-rich sports body.

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INSIDE EYE

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

My way or the highway rp singh on his way out?

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ITIN Gadkari is gearing up to control the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Nine months have p passed but there has not been much movement. Vijay Chhibb Chhibber, Secretary of the Ministry, is completely in tune with Ga Gadkari. Sources say that the biggest bottleneck in the smooth running of the ministry is RP Singh, a 1976-batch IAS off officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, who is unable to keep pace p with the government’s ambitious target of buildin building 30 km of highways every day. Singh has worked as a backr backroom boy in Manmohan Singh’s government and is conside considered a tough taskmaster. Gadkari wants to speed up the pro projects of 2013-14; NHAI has been able to complete just 1,436 1,4 km of highways as against the target of 7,500 km. Be Besides, some 28 projects worth `43,918 crore failed to attract bids since 2012. The speed of building NHAI a p projects is implemented and monitored by the Chief G General Managers (CGMs). Most of the CGMs are ffrom NHAI but Gadkari has succeeded in breaking th the monopoly as he managed to appoint the CGMs directly from the ministry in January. The way things d a are taking shape in the ministry, Gadkari will manage to pack off Singh soon.

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

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Bric-a-brac high & dry

Rawat’s floating! ramdev is his new friend

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TTARAKHAND Chief Minister Harish Rawat has to save his position by all means. Rawat has been systematically demolishing opposition within the party. His targets are Kishore Upadhyay, President of the Pradesh Congress, and Vijay Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of the State. Upadhyay got the first jolt when his name was cleared for the Rajya Sabha seat but in the end a relatively insignificant former President of the Mahila Congress, Manorama, snatched the coveted seat from him. The last blow by Rawat was in the Cabinet reshuffle, when he inducted some Independents in his government, including Dinesh Dhaney, who had defeated Upadhyay in the Assembly elections. To safeguard his position, Rawat is out to woo all the independent MLAs, whether they are arch rivals of the party leadership or not. A neglected Bahuguna is so upset that he has threatened to launch a massive campaign against Rawat. Bahuguna has warned Rawat that only the Chief Minister has changed in the State and not the ruling party. Rawat, in the meantime, sensing the political urgency, has started developing relations with Baba Ramdev. Even BJP leaders are cautious about Rawat’s moves. He seems to have mastered the art of floating when one is on the chair!

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COVER STORY

NITI AAYOG

Modi’s mission for transforming India

The six-decade-old Planning Comission has been disbanded and the new Niti Aayog has been launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the target of giving more autonomy to the States to plan and utilise the resources in a true sense of the federal spirit of the nation. Prabhat Kumar, MG Devasahayam, MK Kaw and Shubhabrata Bhattacharya analyse the Niti Aayog.

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COVER STORY

niti aayog prabhat kumar

Define the nuts and bolts The functions of the Niti Aayog and how it will proceed to transform India need to be spelt out clearly and without much delay

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N his first flush of governance reforms, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the Planning Commission and its replacement with the National Institution for Transforming India. Almost everyone, except the Nehruvian ideologues, welcomed the decision as it was generally agreed that the Planning Commission had outlived its purpose and utility and that something had to be done about it. I wish the Niti Aayog succeeds in fulfilling the promise with which it has been created. And I hope that in its first meeting on February 6, 2015, it spells out its mission as well as the mechanism to do it. There are similarities between the Aayog and its predecessor. The new body, like the Planning Commission, has been created by a government resolution. It does not have any constitutional or statutory stature. The Prime Minister continues to head Niti Aayog too. With a Deputy Chairman and some full-time members (though less in number), its structure remains somewhat similar to that of the Planning Commission. The main differences are in the functions. While the Planning Commission enjoyed the powers to allocate funds to Central ministries and State governments, Niti Aayog is proposed to be a thinktank or an advisory body. The easier part has been accomplished with the creation of

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the Aayog. The more difficult part is yet to be done — elaborating as to what the new institution is to perform and how it should proceed to transform India. It has to identify the constraints on socio-economic development of the country in different sectors, for example, poverty, disparity, environment, energy, water, education, agriculture and so on. It should refrain from micro-managing the programmes and projects. Its organisational relevance would be assessed on the advice it provides to the Central and State governments. Besides, in the absence of a constitutional or statutory status, it would be required to work in tandem with other constitutional institutions like the Finance Commission and Inter States Council. The Niti Aayog can prove its credibility only if such details are tackled quickly. The doubts raised by many commentators, including Bibek

Debroy before he was appointed a full-time member of the Aayog, have to be cleared by the government within months, if not weeks. In his blog in The Economic Times in the first week of January, Debroy asked several questions about the lack of clarity in the mandate and scope of the Aayog. He asked why the Aayog was ‘set up executively rather than through a specific piece of legislation’ since a ‘cabinet resolution does not inspire a great deal of confidence’.

ARUNA

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Also, he said that multiplicity of objectives makes the proposed structure of Niti Aayog unnecessarily cumbersome and complicated. Further, since the image of Arvind Panagariya, a close associate of reputed economist Jagdish Bhagwati, is of a staunch votary of the marketcentred economic system, a doubt is raised in some quarters whether the time is ripe for thrusting free market principles on the country, or whether attention still needs to be given to issues of alleviation of poverty, gender discrimination, social justice and so on.

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good start would be by providing clarity on the fate of five-year and annual plans and just how the government would devolve funds to the States. Any further delay in answering these questions could cause avoidable frustration in the States. Needless to say, it will largely depend on the key functionaries. If they are exclusively academics and economists of the World Bank/IMF genre, it is doubtful that the attributes of India’s transformation would reach those areas and people who need transformation. In my view, it is imperative that persons with in-depth knowledge of and association with every region of the country and those who are sensitive to the aspirations of the people man the Aayog. If the new dispensation results in a relatively better form of planning for greater growth and inclusiveness, the doubts would be automatically resolved. Otherwise, the danger is that Niti Aayog may turn out to be a Planning Commission with another name. g The writer was the Cabinet Secretary and the first Governor of Jharkhand. He can be reached at pkumar1511@hotmail.com

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Arvind Panagariya: Man for the mission

PIB

B

ORN on September 30, 1952, Panagariya is an Indian-American economist. According to his bio-data, posted on the website of Columbia University, he is a professor of economics, the Jagdish Bhagwati Professor of Indian Political Economy at Columbia University and a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. In the past, he has been the Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank and a professor of economics and co-director, Center for International Economics, University of Maryland, at College Park. He has also worked for the World Bank, IMF, WTO, and UNCTAD in various capacities. He holds a PhD degree in economics from Princeton University. He has written and edited 10 books. His latest book, India: The Emerging Giant, was published in March 2008 by Oxford University Press, New York, and has been described as the ‘definitive book on the Indian economy’ by Fareed Zakaria and ‘a tour de horizon and a tour de force’ by Jagdish Bhagwati. His previous books include The Economics of Preferential Trade Agreements (with Jagdish Bhagwati) and Lectures on International Trade (with J Bhagwati and TN Srinivasan). Dr Arvind Panagariya, the Vice Chairman of the newly constituted Niti Aayog, despite his long years abroad as a professor in Princeton University and in other distinguished positions, has his roots firmly in the soil of India. He belongs to a family of scholars in Jaipur. His father, BL Panagariya, was an officer of the Rajasthan government whose opinion was sought by authorities and scholars even after his retirement. BL Panagariya was deemed an expert on Centre-State relations and on economic developments. Prominent Chief Ministers of Rajasthan, like Mohal Lal Sukhadia, Harideo Joshi and Bhairon SIngh Shekhawat, trusted his opinion. Hopefully, Arvind Panagariya will prove to be a true heir and upholder of the tradition of his distinguished father and uphold the spirit of federal cooperativeness. — gfiles bureau

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vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

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COVER STORY

niti aayog mg devasahayam

From Planning to Transformation:

An uphill task! The task is cut out for the new avatar of the now disbanded Planning Commission

A

T The Economic Times’ Global Business Summit in mid-January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid out his Transformation Agenda in no uncertain terms. After presenting a poser—“India is a $2-trillion economy today. Can we not dream of an India with a $20-trillion economy?�—he unveiled his ‘doctrine of development’ in lucid terms: “The government must nurture an ecosystem where the economy is primed for growth; and growth promotes all-round development. Where development is employment-generating; and employment is enabled by skills. Where skills are synced with production; and production is benchmarked to quality. Where quality meets global standards; and meeting global standards drives prosperity. Most importantly, this prosperity is for the welfare of all.� With such seamless segueing, India will be transformed from a poor/low-income to a highincome/rich nation and poverty will stand eliminated. To facilitate such transformation, just two weeks earlier the Planning Commission was disbanded and reinvented as Niti (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog with a multi-tiered structure, including a governing council that comprises the chief ministers of all States and lieutenant-governors of Union Territories. Niti will serve as a government think-tank with the mandate to provide strategic and

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technical advice on issues of national and international importance to the Centre and States. With the Prime Minister as chairperson, this body will have a vice-chairperson and a CEO, some full-time members and two parttime members. Four Union ministers ZRXOG VHUYH DV H[ RIÂżFLR PHPEHUV While the Planning Commission was primarily responsible for deciding on Plan spending of the Centre and allocation to State governments, Niti will provide a national agenda framework for the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers after evolving “a shared vision of national development priorities, sectors and strategies with the active involvement of Statesâ€?. The neo-liberal school believes that the Planning Commission was relevant only in a command economy VWUXFWXUH DQG LWV ÂľRQH VL]H ÂżWV DOOÂś DSproach is no longer valid in a market

Primarily, Niti is meant to serve as a source of new ideas and achieve convergence between the Centre and States for evolving a long-term vision for India. It is also expected to coordinate among the various departments of the Centre and governments in the States

economy. Columbia University proIHVVRU $UYLQG 3DQDJDUL\D 1LWLÂśV ÂżUVW vice-chairman, has stated that the government might even scrap the Five-Year Plan altogether as a market economy should not be driven by plans but by policies. It is indeed ironic because Montek Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission for over a decade, is a die-hard neo-liberal and was the most ardent votary of the market economy as the panacea for all of India’s ills! For this ‘eminent economist’, price rise and LQĂ€DWLRQ ZHUH WKH EHVW LQGLFDWRUV RI economic prosperity and for the ailing power sector his only prescription was continuous tariff hike without DQ\ FRQFHUQ IRU HIÂżFLHQF\ Panagariya seems to have chosen labour reforms and strengthening of the SME (small and medium enterprise) segment—the backbone of manufacturing—as thrust areas for the promised transformation. Probably he believes in the ‘small-is-beautiful’ concept. But, will it vibe with the ‘Make-in-India’ juggernaut that has everything big: mega-infrastructure, mega-industries, mega-corridors, mega-cities and mega-everything, DOO GULYHQ E\ PHJD )', Ă€RZV IURP PHJD 01&V" 7KLV FRQĂ€LFW QHHGV WR be resolved upfront. Be that as it may, the demise of the Planning Commission is selfLQĂ€LFWHG 7KH &RPPLVVLRQ ZDV VHW XS by a Resolution of the Government of India in March 1950 in pursuance

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi at The Economic Times Global Business Summit in New Delhi on January 16, 2015. Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley is also seen

like shelter, potable water, electricity, healthcare and primary education. The commission has been accused of packing its establishment with people who were paid to mine data for the mighty MNCs and semi-commercial institutions to help them plan their India business! During the past decade, the commission has spent more time clearing projects like airports, highways and privatisation of natural resources, and less on poverty elimination and basic healthcare. With a core team of 20, that included ministers and seven full-time members, the commission was assisted by over 60 advisers who had hardly ever served in small towns or villages. Most members were associated with the corporate sector or academic institutions.

T PHOTOS: PIB

of its declared objectives to promote a rapid rise in the standard of living RI WKH SHRSOH E\ HIÂżFLHQW H[SORLWDWLRQ of the resources of the country, increasing production and offering opportunities to all for employment in the service of the community. It was charged with the responsibility of making an assessment of all resources of the country, augmenting GHÂżFLHQW UHVRXUFHV IRUPXODWLQJ plans for the most effective and balanced utilisation of resources and determining priorities. The Planning

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Commission was always headed by the Prime Minister. This mandate was observed more in breach than in compliance. Over a period of time the commission became the dumping ground for either unwanted civil servants or sinecures for the old-boy network and establishment stooges. Even after 12 FiveYear Plans, over one-fourth of India lives below the poverty line at `32 per GLHP DV DEVXUGO\ GHÂżQHG E\ 0RQWHN Ahluwalia), with a vast section of the population bereft of access to basics

HE commission was set up within seven weeks of the adoption of the Constitution and the resolution referred to the Fundamental Rights and the Directive PrinciSOHV RI 6WDWH 3ROLF\ ,W ZDV VSHFLÂżFDOO\ mentioned in the government resolution that the commission’s success would depend on the extent to which it enlisted the association and cooperation of stakeholders at all levels and involved them in the formulation of plans. Despite this, the commission developed a unilateral approach and States came to be treated as supplicants, and not stakeholders. The commission wrote its own epitaph, particularly in the last 10 years, by making the poor poorer and the rich richer and creating wide disparities between various regions of the country. This was because it had become an extension of the World Bank and the MNCs and had openly promoted crony capitalism through predatory policies in the name of ‘reforms’. No tears, therefore, need to be

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COVER STORY

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shed over its unceremonious demise. What is this new avatar called Niti and what is it supposed to deliver? Is Niti really needed? The grounds for this question are two. Putting the Prime Minister’s ‘Development Doctrine’ into practice by improving the business climate and overcoming the governance or infrastructure GH¿FLW LV QRW DERXW QHZ SROLFLHV DQG ideas, but about implementing those already on the table. To some extent, this has taken off. Second is about new ideas, of which also there is no dearth. ‘Make-in-India’, Swachh Bharat, Digital India, FDI in railways, defence production and insurance, cash transfers in lieu of subsidies and

VHOI FHUWL¿FDWLRQ DUH DOO H[DPSOHV 7KLV list can be expanded by getting inputs from the ministers, bureaucrats and domain specialists. Will Niti end up as another overload?

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HE resolution establishing Niti lays down 13 objectives. These range from fostering cooperative federalism to developing mechanisms for preparing credible plans at the village level; ensuring that national security concerns are taken on board in development policies; creating a knowledge, innovation and entrepreneurial support system; serving as a platform for coordinating interdepartmental issues; and serving as a

“repository of research on good governance and best practices in sustainable and equitable development”. Niti will evolve its own priorities from this long list, as its rules of business are prepared. Primarily, Niti is meant to serve as a source of new ideas and achieve convergence between the Centre and States for evolving a long-term vision for India. It is also expected to coordinate among the various departments of the Centre and governments in the States. It is expected ‘to pay special attention to the section of our society that may be at the risk of QRW EHQH¿WLQJ DGHTXDWHO\ IURP HFRnomic progress’. This is to take care

Bibek seeks answers

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Excerpts from Bibek Debroy’s blog sharing his article that appeared in The Economic Times. The article was published before his appointment as a member of the Niti Aayog was announced

have several questions about Niti Aayog and here are some of them. Since such a lot of time was spent on working out its mandate and terms of reference, I presume these questions have been asked and answered somewhere. But since those answers are not in the public domain, one should ask those questions, in the hope of eliciting answers. First, the Planning Commission’s role wasn’t restricted to the much-abused “planning” exercise. There is no doubt that this role is completely dysfunctional in this day and age. Until government systems are completely revamped, there is a Plan versus non-Plan distinction in expenditure, not quite the same as the revenue versus capital distinction. In general, Plan and capital expenditure are desirable. Every Finance Ministry and Finance Minister seeks to slash Plan and capital expenditure, in an attempt to reduce deficits. And prior to every Union Budget, across governments, Planning Commission was the body that lobbied with Finance Ministry to protect Plan expenditure. Who will do that now? Since Niti Aayog doesn’t have that

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role assigned to it, no one will do that lobbying. Ipso facto, Finance Ministry will be free to slash Plan expenditure and annual budgetary support to the Plan. Second, you might legitimately argue the Finance Commission is the only Constitutional body for devolution to States. The Finance Commission’s mandate was diluted in the 1970s to cover only non-Plan expenditure, not Plan expenditure. The 14th Finance Commission has just submitted its report and there won’t be any Finance Commission for a few years. Beyond the inter-regnum, there is no indication that the Finance Commission’s mandate will be widened to cover Plan expenditure. If you argue that the Plan versus non-Plan expenditure is dysfunctional and will be abolished, has there been any indication from the government that this will be done? Third, through Planning Commission there were formulae-based (Gadgil-Mukherjee) transfers and discretionary ones, such as the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS-s). Who will determine Special Category

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of the marginalised laggards. Another objective—‘providing advice and encouraging partnerships between key stakeholders and national and international like-minded think-tanks’— could encourage conformity, not creativity, and block dissenting opinions and innovative ideas. As per the cabinet resolution, success of Niti will be seen in coming up with a national vision, based not on borrowed models but on an honest analysis of the hugely diverse ground realities in India and as a response to the aspirations of the rising middle FODVV 7KLV LV VLJQL¿FDQW Niti is work in progress and the work has just commenced. As an

institution, Niti will have to emerge as a credible and lean knowledge body that should be well equipped to think out-of-box and not iterate ‘development’ clichés such as ‘reforms’, ‘FDI’, GDP and so on. It should deliver sound policy initiatives and strategies for the medium term and beyond to enlarge the economic pie and have it shared equally. In order to do that, it must have the ability to envision future scenario and suggest corrective steps when required. For doing all this effectively, it will have to build sustainable partnerships with the private sector, trade unions, media, think-tanks and civil society organisations. Niti also

Status now, or changes in the formula? Niti Aayog has no such role. For “Plan” discussions, Chief Ministers had to queue up before Planning Commission and there were complaints about this. Will they now have to queue up before Finance Ministry or the relevant Ministries? Fourth, there were genuine complaints about the rigidity and multiplicity of CSS-s. But the idea was that CSS-s would be rationalised and the Delhi-based templates weakened. The idea also was that the CSS money would be directly transferred to States. But if you notice what has happened in this restructuring of CSSs, and this pre-dates the present government, all that has happened is that they are no longer being shown as CSS-s. Instead, they are being shown as allocations to Central Ministries/Departments. Fifth, the limited efficacy of CSS-s was because of

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needs to build capacity to deliver directional and strategic recommendations to the governments on the developmental process.

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ITI is Modi’s ‘Team India’, which he promised during his ¿HU\ HOHFWRUDO FDPSDLJQ DQG is now in place. While the mandate eschews the word planning from its nomenclature, the objectives of Niti are unequivocally about ushering in village-level planning and aggregation of plans at progressively higher levels. This means linking up six lakhplus villages with State governments and, in turn, the Central government. This is indeed a mammoth task and

high administrative costs of delivery, routed through Ministries/Departments based in Delhi. Especially because the 14th Finance Commission seems to have indicated a higher share for States, unless this routing through Ministries/Departments in Delhi is curbed and the number of Central Ministries/Departments slashed, I am not convinced that the desired objective of eliminating CSS-s will be achieved. Sixth, unfortunately, a problem with the historical Planning Commission has not been adequately flagged. It wasn’t a Constitutional body, nor was it set up through legislation. Therefore, it wasn’t accountable, at least not to Parliament. How is it obvious that Niti Aayog is best set up executively, rather than through a specific piece of legislation? Seventh, there is a multiplicity of objectives. There is a secretariat function for NDC. There is the Inter-State Council. There is something akin to a National Advisory Council (NAC), in the so-called think-tank role. By bundling all of these together, the proposed structure of Niti Aayog seems to have become unnecessarily cumbersome and complicated. While one should be charitable and should wait until it becomes functional, the Cabinet Resolution doesn’t inspire a great deal of confidence. Since there was such a great deal of discussion and debate before Niti Aayog was set up, I had hoped the answers to these seven questions would have been provided. If they have, I have clearly missed the answers. g

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COVER STORY

niti aayog mg devasahayam

one that is likely to throw up fresh and competing demands. Though there is no clarity on the fate of Five-Year Plans, it would be a fallacy to assume that Niti would completely jettison planning from its mandate despite Panagariya’s claim of scrapping these legacies since Niti will be ‘driven by policies, not plans’. This brings us to the core of Niti’s mandate and the caveat of evolving a ‘national vision based not on borrowed models, but on India’s ground realities’. This precisely was what our Founding Fathers meant when they unravelled their ‘idea of India’ at the dawn of independence. They had envisaged people-based governance with a bottom-up decision-making process that would give every citizen a ‘place in the sun’. Built on this premise was the ‘economic idea’ of equity envisaging independent India as sui generis, a society unlike any other, in a class of its own that would not follow the borrowed western pattern of mega industrialisation, urbanisation and individuation. India’s would be a people’s economy that would chart out a distinct course in economic

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growth, which would be need-based, human-scale, balanced development while conserving nature and livelihoods. In a self-respecting nation, every citizen should get the strength, resource, opportunity and level playLQJ ¿HOG WR VWDQG RQ KLV KHU IHHW and earn a living with honour instead of endlessly depending on trickledowns and charity. God-given resources—land, water, forests and minerals—belong to the people and these must be managed as such. Only then there will be development with dignity.

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he ‘development model’ pursued by the UPA government was the opposite of this sui generis concept. It was an FDI-driven ‘growth’ agenda, laden with predatory and market-obsessed economic policies, that has polarised people into onethird ‘privileged’ class and two-third ‘laggards’! In the event, the economy has been sinking. Due to exploitative land policies, agriculture is languishing and food insecurity is looming. Bereft of any ethos, urbanisation has descended into chaotic landlust.

The FDI-GDP mania has choked the labour-intensive manufacturing sector, thereby crippling the development of skills and employment generation. As of now, the Founding Fathers' equitable ‘idea of India’ lies in virtual ruins and needs to be rebuilt. This is the challenge that Niti needs to meet. This can’t be done by listening to Global Summits from Davos or Delhi, but by getting into the urban bylanes and rural hinterland where India’s 'laggards' live. Former US President George Bush’s ‘Agenda for India’ still rings in my mind: “We will deal with 300 million Indians”. That was what the UPA government was doing. It is time the Modi government dealt with the other 900 million and Niti should provide the ideas, policy inputs and implementation strategy to make that happen. Only then will there be true transformation and poverty elimination. This is the task cut out for the new avatar. Can Niti deliver? The jury is out! g The writer is a former Army and IAS officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com

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17

COVER STORY planning mk kaw

Niti Aayog or Atithi Aayog? Simple solutions lie buried in the reports of a myriad Commissions and Committees. All we need is implementation

ARUNA

W

HEN I first heard the policy pronouncement of the new government that the Planning Commission was going to be abolished, I felt like celebrating. Since the early 1960s when I joined the service, I have harboured a deep-rooted prejudice against this leviathan. The reason was simple. Even a blind man with his eyes bandaged could plainly perceive the incandescent truth that the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police were the two draught animals who pulled the bullock-cart of peace and progress in the field. Yet the Planning Commission was totally blind to this reality. So much so, that the revenue and police were the only departments which did not have a Plan scheme to their name. Resultantly, the patwari who had been around since Sher Shah Suri and Raja Todar Mal did not have a patwarkhana to run his office-cum -residence from. The most decrepit ramshackle huts were the police stations, which seemed to have existed since the Kali Yuga began. And the

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brand new buildings and gleaming vehicles belonged to the pampered sons-in-law of the Yojana Aayog, the Block Development Offices and the Irrigation Department. As I progressed up the hierarchy, the sightlessness of the Planning Commission became even more evident. Whether required or not, there was always money available for Plan schemes. Literally, not a naya paisa was allotted to the non-Plan budget under which existing assets had to be manned, maintained and sustained. Very soon I joined a select band of officers who clamoured for the distinction between Plan and non-Plan expenditure to be abolished. Whenever I could, I diverted funds to the patwarkhanas and police stations. When the government was annoyed with me for pleading the cause of Tata-Singapore Airlines, what better parking lot for me than a Principal Advisership in the Planning Commission? I looked around and found some of my best friends also cooling their heels as Principal

Advisers. We were led by no less a personality than the redoubtable Naresh Chander Saxena, who was ranked as the topper of the 1964 batch. I spent one year of my vanvaas in dreaming up a scenario of an India minus the denizens of Yojana Bhavan. The Deputy Chairman was Jaswant Singh, who was a most interesting conversationalist. He had a soft, husky voice which was orchestrated by Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony while blue smoke rose in peaceful vertical streams towards the nearly invisible ceiling of a softly lit room. Although he was a retired army major, he did not possess the warlike demeanour of some mustachio’d generals, who engaged in slanging matches with their Pakistani counterparts on Arnab Goswami’s Newshour show. I suspect that Jaswant Singh was too gentlemanly to shout at the likes of Rabri Devi in the annual discussions with the States. His soft exterior encouraged me to present a blueprint for the abolition of the Planning Commission. Jaswant Singh did not bat an eyelid. That was 1999. So when I heard the announcement by the new government that it was going to write finis to the Planning Commission, for a second I thought that someone had reactivated my 1999 paper. I waited anxiously for the contours of the new body to emerge,

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trying to imagine how the new babus would bring about cooperative federalism in this country. I wondered whether they would recall the criticism that all the previous regimes had buried fathoms deep – about the only constitutional body that could have ushered in cooperative federalism in this country, namely, the Inter State Council, while they tinkered around with an illegal enterprise called the Planning Commission, which had emerged from a mere resolution of the Government of India. The suspense is over. People are bound to say that it is old wine in new bottles. There is no dearth of cagey critics in this country who will recall that the Janata government had replaced Indiraji’s Garibi Hatao programme alias Integrated Rural Development Programme alias India’s War on Poverty with the Hindutva-sounding Antyodaya programme. They will comment that the more things seem to change in Delhi, the more they remain the same! They will refuse to see the absolutely novel features of the new incarnation. There used to be some Cabinet Ministers in the Commission. Now they are called ex-officio members. Full-time members have been reduced to two. Much of the work will be done by part-time members and short-term consultants, who will come and go. The Member Secretary has been rechristened Chief Executive Officer or CEO, thus giving the thinktank a corporate flavour. There used to be a National Development Council consisting of all the Chief Ministers. Now there will be regional meetings of the CMs of the BIMARU region, the CMs of the Northeastern region, the CMs of the Himalayan region, the CMs of the Southern region and the CMs of the Western region. They will focus on the problems of each

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region separately. That is “cooperative federalism” at last. Alas! My Kashmiri genes rebel. I have essentially a very simple mind. I liked Modi’s simple solution to an age-old problem when he decreed that you can attest a document yourself; you need not hunt for a gazetted officer. Absolutely fine! I would have liked it even better if he had abolished the concept of the official gazette altogether. As also the concept of a gazetted officer!

I

had sent a simple proposal to Narinderbhai. Reduce the number of gazetted holidays from 16 to three. Make it a six-day week. Do not let employees take their mobile phones to their tables. Don’t let them go for interminable cups of tea in the canteen. Serve the tea free, hot and steaming, at their work tables. These simple steps will raise the productivity of the babus by a factor of eight. Try it, Narinderbhai. Administration is basically very simple. Take the question of a biometric identity card. There was a tussle between the MHA and the Planning Commission, between the Aadhaar and the National Population Register. Transfer the Aadhaar to the MHA. Let them merge the databases. This simple gambit will save thousands of crores of rupees. Try it, Mr Prime Minister. The solutions are well known. What is missing is the action. Who does not know that if the third level of governance is established, benefits will start reaching the common man in the village and the town? Yet, only a handful of States have brought this revolution about on the ground. Everyone knows that if you can guarantee the provision of about 50 basic services to the masses through legislation that mandates time limits to such provision on pain of penalties

to be imposed on the babus who prevent such guaranteed supply, things will improve dramatically. Everyone knows that if you construct small check dams, you can prevent soil erosion and raise the water levels and transform the productivity of agricultural operations. Who does not know that a simple rule stating that a Chief Minister can appoint whosoever he wishes as the Chief Secretary but cannot remove him without an okay from a Civil Services Board, can galvanise the administration? Millions of such simple totkaas lie buried in reports of Commissions and Committees. All we need is implementation. If the Niti Aayog selects only five such totkaas every month and reviews the implementation in two committees, one of Chief Secretaries for the States and one of Secretaries to the Government of India for the Central Government, that will be enough. There will be a revolution in the country. Modi is a doer. I hope he reads gfiles and implements the ideas retired babus delineate without fear or favour every month. For us Delhiwallahs, he has solved all the problems by the right choice of two stalwarts. The two major difficulties we face are traffic and sanitation. By choosing Crane Bedi as the Chief Minister-designate, he has solved the problem of traffic. By appointing Sindushree Khullar, the former NDMC chief, as the CEO of the Niti Aayog, he has ensured a Swachh Delhi. What more can we ask for? Endpiece: Now whether he calls it Niti Aayog or Atithi Aayog, where he can call his NRI friends for shortterm consultancies over an extended holiday, it does not really matter. g MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government of India

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COVER STORY

niti aayog shubhabrata bhattacharya

Bose: pioneer of planning in India In keeping with Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s thinking, rename Yojna Bhavan as Subhas Sadan

C

ONTRARY to popular belief, the now deceased Planning Commission was not a legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru. The blueprint for this institution was outlined by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in his presidential address at the Haripura session of the Indian National Congress in February 1938. Netaji envisaged that the first task of the government of free India would be to set up a ’National Planning Commission’. In pursuance of his thought, which had received the endorsement of the AICC, Netaji set up a National Planning Committee in December 1938 and appointed Jawaharlal Nehru as its chairman. Differences of perceptions and opinions between Netaji and Nehru has been widely discussed. But these differences did not deter Netaji from recognising the potential of Nehru, who was emerging as a favourite follower of Mahatma Gandhi and was appointed the head of the body which was Netaji’s dream. As freedom dawned, in pursuance of the Haripura resolution of the AICC, an Advisory Planning Board was set up by the Nehru-led interim government in 1946. In 1952, the Planning Commission came into being. Neither in 1946 nor in 1952 did anyone recall the role of Netaji. Thus, when Niti Aayog was formed, it was perhaps not surprising that Subhas Chandra Bose was overlooked. It may, therefore, be appropriate to sanctify the creation of Niti Aayog by

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renaming Yojna Bhavan as Subhas Sadan. It will be a fitting tribute to the memory of a leading freedom fighter, who, due to the myopic realpolitik of an era which has recently gone by, was ignored since 1947. Yojna Bhavan stands on Sansad Marg, almost adjacent to Patel Chowk. A commemoration of Netaji Subhas in the proximity of the memorial to Sardar Patel will give a hallowed status to this part of the capital of India.

Niti Aayog is not contrary to the thought process of Netaji, who had advocated a strong Central government backed by meaningful regional autonomy It will also be a monument to the spirit of Haripura, the venue of the 51st Session of the Indian National Congress, which is situated on the banks of the Tapti in Surat district of Gujarat. Haripura was chosen as the venue by Vallabhbhai Patel as it is in the proximity of Bardoli, where the Sardar had led a historic farmers’ satyagraha a decade earlier. The concept of planning in India therefore engulfs the memory of three giants— Netaji, Sardar Patel and Nehru. Niti Aayog is not contrary to the thought process of Netaji, who had advocated a strong Central government backed by meaningful regional

autonomy. Cooperative federalism was the underlying principle of Bose’s Haripura address. He reiterated it while addressing Tokyo Uni-versity students in November 1944. In 1997,which coincided with the birth centenary of Bose and the 50th anniversary of India’s independence, this writer, then serving the Planning Commission as a senior consultant, suggested to the then Deputy Chairman, Prof Madhu Dandavate, that the contribution of Bose be commemorated. On January 23, 1997, the Planning Commission published a book, Subhas Chandra Bose: Pioneer of Indian Planning. This compilation is a rare tribute paid to Netaji in free India. Being a progressive who opposed obscurantism, Netaji may not have lamented the demise of the Planning Commission today—he perhaps would have hailed the dismantling of the old for the creation of the new. Why Subhas Sadan and not Bhavan? Kolkata’s Chittaranjan Avenue has a building, Mahajati Sadan, envisaged by Netaji—he made Tagore lay its foundation stone in 1939. His decision to go into exile halted the construction. It was completed by Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy, post-Independence. As Sadan was preferred by Netaji to Bhavan, a memorial to him in the New Delhi area may well take a name he preferred. It will also be a commemoration to his historic ‘Chalo Dilli’ clarion call to the Azad Hind Fauj. g

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21

STATE SCAN co corruption orruption rrup rr upti t on o noida noid no ida a

All for a

price Politicians of all hues have incorporated the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities into their fiefdoms by NARENDRA KAUSHIK

R

IGHT from recruitment of employees to their promotions, transfers and revocation of suspensions to allocation of tenders for works in different residential and industrial sectors of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities, politicians, particularly those belonging to the party ruling in Lucknow, have a definite say. Political parties seem to follow the principle ‘corrupt and let corrupt’, reportedly filling their coffers from the commission collected from tender allocations and allowing government officials, right from junior engineers to senior managers to their

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higher-ups, to collect bribes. Political parties allegedly collect six per cent in advance from every tender approved by the Authorities. The money—always in cash—is often collected at a certain point through a particular official, who reroutes it to the political masters. Authority

A fallout of the politicianbabu nexus is that the contractors use substandard material in construction of flats, villas and shopping complexes, robbing the buyers of what is their rightful entitlement

officials, on the other hand, reportedly take 15 per cent from the contractors for every tender approved. There are also reports that these figures took a jump during the time of former Chief Project Engineer for Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway, Yadav Singh, now under investigation. Reportedly, the 21 per cent commission (15+6) in 2007 jumped to 30 per cent during Singh’s reign in the Authorities. A consequence of the shady nexus is that even peons and drivers commute to office in luxury cars. In the case of drivers, the situation is both hilarious and ironical. They arrive in office in their SUVs and luxury cars, pull them over in the parking next to the gate, and then drive the old Ambassadors of their officers. Each time a political party gets into power, its first priority is to fill up the Authorities with either relatives of its bosses, or put their men in sections like property where the flow of bribes is

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A house constructed by the Greater Noida Authority (above). Both Akhilesh Yadav (below left) and Mayawati (below right) keep an eye on Noida.

more. The other fallout of the nexus is that the contractors use sub-standard material in construction of flats, villas and shopping complexes, robbing the buyers of their rightful entitlement. The contractors use more sand than needed and cheat in specifications prescribed for thickness of roof, iron rods, stone and marble. The result is that the flats, houses and shopping complexes built by them start looking worn-out and dilapidated within a few years of construction.

T

HIS has been the practice in the three Authorities for several decades. There are umpteen examples of how political patronage has helped greedy officers collect commissions from farmers, builders, contractors and people in general. The contractors and builders, in turn, cheat the common man who buys flats, houses and shops built under the tutelage of the Authorities.

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Once in a while, a Neera Yadav (former CEO of Noida Authority and former Chief Secretary in Uttar Pradesh) or a IAS’s Rajiv Kumar gets convicted for being part of a land allotment scam or allotting plots on the sly to politicians and industrialists. Once in a while, a Yadav Singh is found in possession of cash running into crores of rupees and investment in around a dozen-and-a-half builder projects.

And, once in a while, Nitin Rathi, an assistant in the sports department, is suspended for making millions by selling fake plots to people. But it does not take long for the dust to settle and the bribery routine to resume. It happened in the case of Singh, considered close to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government, who faced heat from the State investigating agencies in March 2012 after the

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STATE SCAN corruption noida

PHOTOS: NARENDRA KAUSHIK

Greater Noida Authority office

Samajwadi Party swept into power. He was placed under suspension. An FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Gangster and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act was filed against him and a red corner notice was issued. Even a five-star hotel in Noida, where he was believed to have a stake, was sealed. But 20 months later, everything was forgotten. His suspension was revoked and he was given charge of all three Authorities.

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HE Noida Authority is by far the largest among the three Authorities. It has slashed the limit of e-tendering from `2 crore to `10 lakh in the wake of Singh’s case to bring about transparency in the system. The authority has also appointed Akhilesh Singh, Additional Chief Executive Officer and its media interface, as vigilance officer. Another official, Ravinder Singh Tongar, then General Manager (Property) in the Greater Noida Authority, who was considered close to Mayawati’s brother, Anand Kumar, was raided by the Income

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Relatives rule the roost in Authorities y Yadav Singh’s son, Sunny, is a manager in the Greater Noida Authority. y Ravindra Singh Tongar’s brother, Avnesh, and nephew, Manendra Panwar, are Authorities’ employees. y Samajwadi Party leader and former minister in Akhilesh Yadav’s government, Narendra Bhati’s brother, Kailash Bhati, is a Senior Manager in the Noida Authority. y Samajwadi Party leader and District Panchayat Chairman Gautam Buddh Nagar, Ravindra Bhati’s brother, Yogendra Bhati, is also employed in one of the Authorities. y Local BJP leader Bijendra Bhati’s son, Ajab Singh Bhati, works for the Greater Noida Authority. y Mayawati’s nephew, Vinod, is a peon in the Greater Noida Authority

Tax Department and placed under suspension two years back after the regime changed in Lucknow. Later, he was reinstated and allowed to quietly demit the Authority office. A Noida Authority spokesman attributed Singh’s reinstatement in November 2013 to a District Court order. “The court accepted CB-CID report and reinstated him,” he claimed. The question is why, on what grounds and on whose orders the CB-CID gave a clean chit to Singh. The spokesman said the Authority was waiting for a detailed income tax report to initiate further action against Singh. Singh is believed to have told the income tax sleuths that the cash recovered from the SUV belonged to a builder. The SUV was also registered in the name of the same builder. Another interesting feature of the nexus is that every political party worth its name reportedly gets to share the pie in recruitments. So, you have kin of Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party leaders serving in the three Authorities together. Mayawati’s brother, Anand Kumar, rose to become an alleged billionaire from a lowly position in the Noida Authority. Officials in the Greater Noida Authority, who worked with Kumar, recollect how he joined as a carpenter in 1997 and lived in government quarters but rose to become a coloniser and hospitality baron within years. He resigned from the Noida Authority after Mayawati returned to power in 2007. The BJP’s Lok Sabha MP, Kirit Somaiya, dug out details of the various companies floated by Kumar and made a complaint to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The ministry asked the Registrar of Companies, Kanpur, where Kumar’s companies were

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registered, to submit a detailed report. One newspaper report had put the number of his companies at 49. The ministry found prima facie violations, but nothing is heard of the case now. A majority of the contractors who build, develop, lay sewer lines and water pipelines, raise boundaries, instal gates and do horticultural work, are either relatives of leaders or workers of the ruling political party. Ramanand Nagar (name changed), a BSP office-bearer and builder, who has built flats in Gautama Buddh University and houses in some sectors of Greater Noida, enjoyed better times when his party was in power. His company is now out of favour with the SP dispensation; so much so that an officer in the Greater Noida Authority wrote on his file that he should not be paid for the construction of flats in the university till the flats were occupied.

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AGAR and other contractors, who were aligned with the BSP, had to pay an alleged extra 6 per cent to the Samajwadi Party (SP) after the Akhilesh Yadav government was formed in the State. The payment ensured that they faced no inquiries. uiries. There were many contractors who re are switched loyalty to the SP. There some new contractors who are either related to the SP leadership or work under its patronage. hority In normal circumstances, Authority officers should be dictating terms to the contractors. But since thee contractors owe allegiance to thee SP regime, the former are in no posiosition to do so. More often than not, rk the contractors leave their work unfinished and still get their ir payments. There are officers highly placed in the three Authorities who play the eyes and ears of the ruling families.

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Yamuna Expressway Authority office

Each time a political party gets into power, its first priority is to fill up the Authorities with either relatives of its bosses, or put its men in sections like property where the flow of bribes is more

Yadav Singh

Rama Raman, current Chairman and CEO of all the three Authorities, was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts. A 1987-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre officer, he was given additional charge of the Noida Authority in January 2013 after Sanjeev Saran was sacked by the Akhilesh Yadav Government. The Noida Authority spokesman said that he had never received a complaint about corruption in his oneand-a-half years’ tenure. Surprisingly, he said this immediately after a villager recounted to him a case where a commission of `25 lakh was allegedly extorted by an Authority officer from a farmer whose land had been acquired by the Authority. Former Samajwadi Party minister Narendra Bhati denied the allegation that his party took cuts from the contracts approved by the Authorities. Bhati alleged that this was a practice in the Mayawati government’s time and that his party’s government had put a stop to it by introducing online application

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STATE SCAN corruption noida

of every tender above `10 lakh. Bhati, who is considered close to Mulayam Singh Yadav, said some touts might be collecting money in the name of his party. “Kitne hi dalal hain jo government ke naam pe paise khate hain. Authorities ke aaspas dalal hi dalal hain (There are so many touts who take bribes in the name of the government. Authorities are surrounded by touts),” Bhati, who unsuccessfully contested the last parliamentary election from the Gautam Buddh Nagar seat, observed. He alleged that during the Mayawati government’s time, a cut of 5 to 7 per cent was fixed for the BSP in every tender. When asked why the Akhilesh Yadav government was not getting it probed, he retorted by asking how many inquiries the government could order.

Bhati alleged that Singh’s diary, having 549 names, would disclose the misdeeds of the Mayawati regime. He was on the defensive when asked about the reinstatement of Singh in November 2013: “Kitna bhi bada chor ho. Evidence zaroori hai (Howsoever corrupt a person is, you need evidence

Reported bribe rates (some of them may have gone up in recent months) `500

The rate for a peon to move a file in saheb’s room

2%

Commission of junior engineer in a contract

1.5%

Commission of AE in the contract

1%

Commission of Senior Manager

6%

Commission of the ruling party, paid in advance

.04%

Commission of the Central agency doing quality control of Authority’s works in Greater Noida

.04%

Commission which goes to technical division

`35,000-50,000

Bribe for getting allotment cancellation revoked

y Apart from these, finance sections of the authorities too get commissions from every contract. y A builder, who bagged a contract worth `12 crore for constructing less than 75 houses in one of the sectors in Greater Noida, had to pay over `5 crore in bribes and taxes alone. No wonder, he has built sub-standard houses. y There are fixed bribe rates for location of plots which are allotted to farmers in exchange of acquisition of their agricultural land (6 per cent of the land acquired by the authority from the farmer). A plot facing the park or a green belt invariably requires payment of more bribes. There are property dealers and touts who claim to be efficient in getting preferred location. Obviously, all for a price!

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to prosecute him). CB-CID did not find evidence against him.” Bhati claimed his brother, Kailash Bhati, a Senior Manager in the Noida Authority, was an MBA and recruited on merit. He said Kailash was not handling a lucrative post. He also remarked that, unlike government officials, politicians were unable to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

B

SP leader Satish Chandra Mishra was unavailable for comment. BSP MP in the Rajya Sabha Ambeth Rajan said he had no knowledge of the subject and, therefore, was not in a position to react to the allegations. The BJP, whose Uttar Pradesh leaders have met Authorities’ Chairman Raman twice in recent weeks regarding Singh’s case, plan to intensify their stir against the bribe culture in the Authorities. UP BJP Chief Laxmikant Bajpai told gfiles that he would take the agitation to every district of the State. He alleged the ruling political parties filled up the Authorities with their men. When told that a BJP leader, who was a Revenue Minister in the Mayawati government, had three of his relatives working in the Noida and Greater Noida Authorities, Bajpai disowned the leader. “He is a defector, a Rajput (one who always aligns with raj (government),” he said. g

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GOVERNANCE

administration prajapati trivedi

T

HE now famous slogan, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’, is given a big chunk of the credit for the election-winning campaign of Bill Clinton in 1992. Slogans work in elections because they effectively capture the current aspirations of the electorate. Similarly, Modi’s campaign of 2014 successfully captured a great yearning among the Indian electorate for a change in the prevailing system. He cited a large number of problems confronting the electorate—corruption, inflation, lack of electricity and roads, poor quality of education and health facilities, and so on. He promised to deliver on these fronts not by throwing more money but by changing the system, including the political system. Therefore, people voted for Modi and not necessarily for the BJP. In identifying the dysfunctional system as the root of most of our problems, Modi was right on the mark. All management experts agree that 80 per cent of the performance of any organisation depends on the quality of its systems and only 20 per cent on its people. This should not be surprising for most of us in India. We often wonder how a mediocre colleague from school or college who went abroad has become so amazingly rich (and famous). The answer is simple: He went and worked in a system that allows ordinary people to do extraordinary things and rewards them for doing so. He did not have uncles and aunts to promote and help him. On the other hand, we take some of the best minds in the world in the government through the UPSC and yet cannot deliver what is expected from government organisations. Take Air India, for example. Having come to his wits’ end, the then Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao, appointed Russi Mody, an iconic management giant from the house of Tatas, the combined

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It is the system, stupid! A change in systems contributes much more to the performance of an organisation than mere change in persons working in it Chairman of Air India and Indian Airlines in 1993. After tumultuous infighting with the entrenched civil aviation bureaucracy, Mody resigned before his term expired in 1997. The moral of the story is that one man, no matter how brilliant, cannot deliver if the system is not changed. To be fair to Mody, he was given the mandate to turn around the airlines without changing the system. As mentioned earlier, only 20 per cent of performance can be explained by the contribution of its staff, the balance is a result of ‘quality of systems.’ Of this 20 per cent, the quality of leadership accounts for 80 per cent. This too is not surprising. Ashoka and Alexander were great leaders with effective systems. The rank and file in their armies rose to the occasion and conquered the world for them. We do not even know the names of their soldiers, only the kings. It is always possible to get work done by using intimidation and fear tactics. However, these are not sustainable in the long run. We have a classic example of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, who used exten-

sive monitoring as a way to improve his government’s performance in undivided Andhra Pradesh. It worked in the short run, while he was at the peak of power, but performance went back to old levels as soon as he left. Unlike Naidu, to improve the dismal performance of public enterprises, the Government of India introduced the system of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 1991 as part of the New Industrial Policy and reforms. An MoU is a performance contract between the Secretary of a department, on behalf of the owners, and the chief executive of the public enterprise. Each public enterprise is held accountable for rigorous, verifiable and measurable targets. The MoU system has survived changes in governments and the performance figures indicate a dramatic turnaround. Today, the Initial Public Offerings of public enterprises do far better than those of the private sector. As a Planning Commission study found, over a comparable 10-year period, the average annual compounded profit of central PSUs, under the MoU system, was around 14 per cent. For the same period, state PSUs, without the MoU system, made an average compounded loss of around 17 per cent. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude the MoU system made a difference of 31 per cent to performance. The general point is that a change in systems contributes much more to the performance of an organisation than mere change in persons working in it. Human beings respond to incentives and systemic changes are required to change these incentives. Having changed the people, the government must now focus on re-engineering government systems. g The writer is former Secretary to the Government of India, Performance Management Division, Cabinet Secretariat

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

27

GOVERNANCE

bureaucracy appointments

Be wary of lobbyists Shubhabrata Bhattacharya analyses the possible move for lateral inductions in public appointments and cautions against the perils of unsavoury lobbying

I

N order to take the reform process—the Naya Daur (new era) initiated by Narendra Modi—to its next level, it may be imperative that people from a wide range of backgrounds take up public appointments. In order to reflect the rich diversity of our society, it may be necessary to source public appointees from among those who have experience and a better understanding of the mosaic that is India. While sourcing human resource from various fields—private sector, academia, civil society, et cetera—due caution ought to be observed to ensure that unsavoury lobbying does not receive a fillip. The interests of the Indian State must be safeguarded. The lateral induction of private sector professionals into senior positions in the government, which is speculated as being the anvil, is not a new thought or concept in

28

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

India. While it is institutionalised in governments abroad, in India the thought process traces its roots to the Estimates Committee of Parliament in the first Lok Sabha (1952-57). In addition to the Indian Administrative Service and the host of other Central services, it was envisaged that an “Indian Commercial and Industrial Service” be set up for manning the economic ministries and public sector industries, which had been assigned “commanding heights” in the Nehruvian scheme of things. While this did not fructify, the Industrial Policy Resolution of 1956 produced an offshoot—professionally qualified men both from within and outside the realm of government were inducted and recruited into the Industrial Management Pool (IMP) in 1959. Many young professionals who opted for the IMP rose to head public sector organisations as CEOs. IMP

was merged into the IAS in 1973 when Mantosh Sondhi was made Secretary Heavy Industry (Sondhi, post-retirement, served as Chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry— CII. The CII headquarters is named after him: Mantosh Sondhi Centre.) The Estimates Committee of the third Lok Sabha, in its 52nd report (paragraph 57), lamented that the proposal for the setting up of the Indian Commercial and Industrial Service was “neither conceived nor implemented properly”. It reviewed the IMP and found that the talent which had come in through the UPSC recruitment process was finding it difficult to circumvent the ICS-IAS juggernaut. The performance of the IMP was reviewed by a committee set up under two eminent officers in 1978—Bazle Karim and Dr S Neelamegham. It may be worthwhile to revisit the report of this panel

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before lateral appointments are thought of. The pitfalls identified in the success of the IMP may provide a roadmap for a successful experiment this time around. Apart from the IMP experiment, in the early 1970s the Indira Gandhi government tried inducting diverse talent from outside the government. S Mohan Kumaramangalam, a successful barrister with a Communist background, was inducted as Chairman of the Indian Airlines Corporation. Modernisation of IAC and induction of Boeing 737 aircraft took place in his tenure. Difficult trade union issues also got resolved. Later, Mohan Kumaramangalam emerged as the de facto No. 2 of the government as Steel and Heavy Industry Minister. The Union Cabinet those days had other professionals too—HR Gokhale, TA Pai and Prof Nurul Hasan. Kumaramangalam experimented by inducting a trade union leader, Bagaram Tulpule, as General Manager (CEO) of the troubled Durgapur Steel Plant of Hindustan Steel (now part of SAIL). And he inducted as Secretary, Steel, MA Wadood Khan, who too had a Communist background but had risen as a professional to be Managing Director of the Tata Oil Mills (TOMCO). Sondhi, meanwhile, had become Secretary, Heavy Industry. The bid to successfully implement the dream of inducting outside professionals into government service received a jolt with the sudden death of Kumaramangalam in an air crash. An attempt was also made to change the hue of the bureaucracy in the Janata government days. In 1978, M Menezes, a distinguished railway engineer, was made Secretary, Defence Production. In recent years, the Manmohan Singh government tried to modernise the civil ser-

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vices by setting up a department for Performance Management in 2009. The PMD was established under the Cabinet Secretariat and tasked with assessing the effectiveness of government departments in their mandated functions. A World Bank economist, Dr Prajapati Trivedi, was made the first Secretary, Performance Management. The PMD has produced a Results-Framework Document (RFD) for each department of the Central Government. After Narendra Modi came to power, the RFD has been aligned with the BJP Manifesto of 2014 as also with the goals enunciated in the President’s Address to Parliament.

The performance of the Industrial Management Pool or IMP was reviewed by a committee set up under two eminent officers in 1978—Bazle Karim and Dr S Neelamegham. It may be worthwhile to revisit the report of this panel before lateral appointments are thought of Lateral induction may be an extension of the RFD concept, with personnel suited for specific tasks rather than generalists being appointed to positions above Joint Secretary so that policy implementation is taken to the next level. In many countries, governments have the ‘revolving door’ concept: Governments hire professionals from private industry for their experience, their influence within corporations that the government is attempting to regulate or do business with. Political support (donations and endorsements) from private firms can

be seen as a resultant by-product of this system. Corporate entities, in turn, hire people out of government to gain personal access to government officials, seek favourable legislation/regulation and contracts in exchange for high-paying employment offers, and get inside information on what is going on in government.

T

HERE is need for caution— lobbying, which is emerging as an industry by itself as the economy grows, is benefitted by the revolving door concept. The main asset for a lobbyist is contacts and influence in government circles. This corporate climate is attractive for exgovernment officials. It can also mean substantial monetary rewards for the lobbying firms and government projects and contracts in the hundreds of millions for those they represent. While there is nothing wrong with lobbying per se, the Niira Radia episode has left a bitter trail.The fact that captains of industry ranging from Mukesh Ambani to Ratan Tata had promoted Radia underscores the need for caution against unsavoury lobbying.The fact that many senior retired bureaucrats, including some of those who had been entrusted regulatory roles post-retirement, had taken employment in Radia’s juggernaut highlights the perils of unregulated lobbying. In Washington, lobbyists are listed and a Directory of Lobbyists is maintained in the public realm. For Naya Daur, not only technology and hardware but good practices of the United States of America may be necessary. g

The author is a former editor of national publications who has served in the erstwhile Planning Commission as well as in the corporate sector.

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

29

GOVERNANCE health tobacco ban

Tobacco: A Catch-22 situation It’s easy to say that there should be a ban on tobacco. But, till the farmers get an equally profitable option, it is a difficult step to take by NARENDRA KAUSHIK ł $QQXDO ORVV RI RYHU ` FURUH RYHU ` FURUH H[FLVH GXW\ DQG DURXQG ` FURUH ZRUWK RI IRUHLJQ H[FKDQJH ZKLFK DFFUXH WR WKH QDWLRQDO H[FKHTXHU RQ DFFRXQW RI H[FLVH GXW\ DQG H[SRUW RI UDZ WREDFFR DQG WREDFFR SURGXFWV ł /RVV RI JDLQIXO HPSOR\PHQW WR RYHU PLOOLRQ IDUPHUV JURZLQJ IOXH FXUHG 9LUJLQLD )&9 WREDFFR LQ $QGKUD 3UDGHVK DQG .DUQDWDND DQG IDUPHUV JURZLQJ beedi WREDFFR LQ *XMDUDW ł &ORVXUH RI DURXQG WKUHH GR]HQ JRYHUQPHQW RIILFHV EHORQJLQJ WR WKH ,QGLDQ 7REDFFR %RDUG DQG &HQWUDO 7REDFFR 5HVHDUFK ,QVWLWXWH &75, HPSOR\LQJ DURXQG D WKRXVDQG HPSOR\HHV

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30

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

WREDFFR DQG WREDFFR SURGXFWV 7KH FRXQWU\ JURZV IOXH FXUHG 9LUJLQLD )&9 WREDFFR FRXQWU\ WREDFFR EXUOH\ beedi UHVWLFD DQG FKHZLQJ WREDFFR $FFRUGLQJ WR 0DQRM 5HGG\ 0DQDJHU ([SRUWV LQ WKH ,QGLD 7REDFFR %RDUG KHDGTXDUWHUV DW *XQWXU $QGKUD 3UDGHVK WKH FRXQWU\ H[SRUWV UDZ WREDFFR DQG WREDFFR SURGXFWV ZRUWK ` FURUH WR FRXQWULHV HYHU\ \HDU $QGKUD 3UDGHVK DQG .DUQDWDND DORQH SURGXFH PLOOLRQ NJ RI )&9 HYHU\ \HDU 5HGG\ WROG gfiles WKDW RYHU SHU FHQW RI WKLV WREDFFR LV H[SRUWHG &RXQWU\ WREDFFR EXUOH\ DQG FKHZLQJ WREDFFR DUH DOVR H[SRUWHG %XW WKH beedi WREDFFR JURZQ LQ *XMDUDW LV PDLQO\ IRU ORFDO FRQVXPSWLRQ %HVLGHV $QGKUD .DUQDWDND DQG *XMDUDW WKH WREDFFR LV JURZQ LQ YDULRXV RWKHU 6WDWHV LQFOXGLQJ 7DPLO 1DGX DQG +DU\DQD 5HGG\ VDLG LW PLJKW EH KDUG WR ILQG DQ DOWHUQDWLYH FURS WR WREDFFR D FDVK FURS ZKLFK LV JURZQ LQ OLJKW DQG KHDY\ EODFN FRWWRQ VRLOV +H FODLPHG QR WZR FURSV ZRXOG EH HTXDOO\ UHPXQHUDWLYH

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

31

STATE SCAN

economy madhya pradesh

Lofty promise, tardy action The impact of delay in investment implementation is going to cost the State dear, according to an ASSOCHAM report

M

ADHYA Pradesh is centrally located and it is very important from the perspective of the Indian economy. The State’s contribution to India’s GDP at constant price is 4.1 per cent in 2013-14, and which was 3.80 per cent in 2004-05. In terms of the size of the economy, currently the State is ranked 10th amongst the major 20 States in India. During 2013-14, the State recorded a remarkable economic performance— the highest amongst the major 20 States in India—and its growth rate is also more than double the national growth rate at constant prices. A noticeable point is that the State’s economic performance has surpassed the leading performing State, i.e. Bihar. Madhya Pradesh registered 11.08 per cent economic growth during

2013-14 while India registered 4.9 per cent growth during the same period. If we compare with the previous year, the State is the second largest State in terms of economic growth addition among the major 20 States and the growth has increased from 9.9 per cent in 2012-13 to 11.08 per cent in 2013-14. The trend analysis indicates that before 2010-11, the State’s economic growth rate was fluctuating but since then it has recorded a stable growth rate. Sectoral analysis indicates that the State’s economy is largely dependent on agriculture and allied activities, which contribute 29 per cent of GSDP at constant prices. If we compare with the sector’s contribution to India’s GDP, it is more than double.

Trend of economic growth rate at constant prices (Y-o-Y) 12.5

13.0 12.0

11.1

8.0

9.5

9.6

9.3 8.6

7.0 6.0

5.3

4.7

5.0

8.9 6.3

6.7

6.7

4.0

Source: MOSPI, Govt. of India

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

2011-12

2010-11

2009-10

2008-09

2007-08

2006-07

2005-06

4.5

Madhya Pradesh

32

9.9

India

2012-13

9.0

9.7

9.6

9.2

10.0

4.9 2013-14

11.0

Industry and services play a very important role in economic growth and development. But both the sectors are contributing less than India’s contribution. The State’s industry contribution to GSDP is 22.3 per cent in 2013-14 whereas India’s industry contribution is 24.3 per cent to GDP during the same period. The State’s service sector contribution to GSDP is 45.4 per cent whereas India’s services sector contribution is 59.9 per cent to GDP. The sectoral performance indicates that the robust economic growth of Madhya Pradesh during 2013-14 is largely on account of the spectacular performance of the agriculture and allied sector. In 2013-14, the State’s agriculture and allied sector registered a robust growth rate of 23.3 per cent as against 18.6 per cent in 201213. The State’s agriculture and allied sector growth performance is almost five times that of India’s. However, in 2013-14, the State’s industrial sector performance was 2.8 per cent as against 0.8 per cent of India during the same period. The performance of the services sector also recorded a downfall but in 201314, it has shown an upward trend. Since the State’s economic performance is largely dependent on the performance of the agriculture and allied sector, a drop will result in the State’s economic performance getting exaggerated. Importantly, agriculture and allied activities in the State are dependent on traditional methods of cultivation, which, in turn, are

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Agriculture & allied sector performance (Y-o-Y) 23.3

25.0 18.6

18.2

20.0

15.0 8.8

10.0

8.9

7.0 8.6

2.3

5.0

0.8 2009-10

4.6 1.4

Madhya Pradesh

2011-12

0.1 2008-09

2007-08

-5.0

2006-07

2005-06

0.0

0.2

-1.5

2013-14

4.2

2012-13

5.8

5.1

2010-11

5.0

India

Source: MOSPI, Govt. of India

Industry sector performance (Y-o-Y) 25.0

13.0

21.5

10.0

5.0

2.8

9.1

9.0

9.0 5.5 4.9

4.9

9.5 8.6

7.5

8.0

8.1

7.0

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh

India

2013-14

2012-13

2011-12

2010-11

2009-10

2008-09

2007-08

2006-07

2005-06

2013-14

2012-13

2011-12

2010-11

2009-10

2008-09

2006-07

6.0 2005-06

0.0

8.6

7.4

5.5

2007-08

10.0

10.3

11.0

15.0

India

Source: MOSPI, Govt. of India

dependent on the climatic condition and the monsoon. Therefore, it is necessary that the State needs to reduce the dependency of agriculture and allied activities on traditional methods of cultivation and natural resources. This can only be possible when the State can attract adequate investment in the sector.

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Investment NVESTMENT plays a paramount role in economic growth and development but the analysis reveals that industrial and services activities have slowed down in the State. In 2013-14, the State attracted `5.6 lakh crore outstanding investments but analysis suggests that the State’s

I

The long project gestation periods have been costing the investors as well as dampening investor sentiment towards the State

11.7

12.0

18.3

20.0

Services sector performance (Y-o-Y)

outstanding investment has recorded sharp deceleration and even recorded negative growth rate in 2013-14. If we compare with India’s outstanding investment growth rate, the State’s outstanding investment growth rate was lower. Madhya Pradesh has recorded a negative growth rate of 8.4 per cent in 2013-14 whereas India’s outstanding investment has managed to maintain the growth rate at almost 1 per cent during the same time. The negative outstanding investment growth rate is indicative of worsening investment activity in the State and it reflects a situation where new investment has recorded a drastic fall.

The sector-wise analysis suggests that electricity, manufacturing and services are the top three priority sectors for investors looking at Madhya Pradesh. These three sectors together account for almost 87 per cent of total outstanding investment. Interestingly, the current level of investment flows has recorded a significant shift when seen against the 2004-05 investment pattern. In 2004-05, electricity, manufacturing and irrigation were the top three priority sectors, constituting almost 90 per cent of total investment. Noticeably, agriculture and allied activities are the lifeline of the State economy; unfortunately, the sector’s investment share has recorded a robust fall from the level of 200405. In 2004-05, the irrigation sector was the third most important priority

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

33

STATE SCAN

economy madhya pradesh

Growth trend of outstanding investment (Y-o-Y) 70 60 58.2

60.1

40

52.5

30

34.3

32.5

20 10

13.6

0

13.9

11.0

-10

-8.4

Madhya Pradesh

2012-13

2011-12

2010-11

2009-10

2008-09

2007-08

2006-07

2005-06

-20

2013-14

50

India

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

sector but currently irrigation is at fourth position and the investment share has declined significantly. The sectors that have recorded significant increase in the share of total investment are electricity, services, mining, and construction and real estate. The electricity sector—also called the fuel of the economy—is very critical for economic growth and development. The State has realised the importance of power and the investment share recorded significant increase, from 37.9 per cent in 200405 to 56.1 per cent in 2013-14. Similarly, service sector investment share increased from 8.7 per cent in 2004-05 to 12.2 per cent in 201314; mining sector share increased from 1.2 per cent to 3.4 per cent; and construction and real estate share rose from 0.03 per cent to 3.1 per cent during the same period. At the same time, sectors that have recorded a decline in investment share are manufacturing and irrigation. Both sectors are important and play a major role in economic devel-

34

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

opment but unfortunately in Madhya Pradesh, both sectors have witnessed decline in investment.

I

N fact, the manufacturing sector contribution to the State economy is shrinking over the years and has fallen from 11.1 per cent in 2004-05 to 10.1 per cent in 2013-14. Therefore, it is important that more investment should be encouraged for the revival of the manufacturing sector in the

State but recent manufacturing sector investment activities indicate that the share has declined from 33.8 per cent to 19.1 per cent during the same year. Madhya Pradesh is an agrarian economy (the agriculture sector contributes almost 29 per cent of GSDP). Therefore, the State needs to invest more on the irrigation sector and also needs to encourage private investors in this sector. However, the investment trend suggests that the irrigation sector has recorded a drastic fall in its share in total outstanding investment. Irrigation investment share has declined from 18.3 per cent in 2004-05 to 6 per cent in 2013-14. If we look at the regions of Madhya Pradesh in which most of the investments have taken place in 2013-14, the Damoh–Sidhi region attracted 45.8 per cent of total investment followed by Indore–Bhopal–Betul region with a share of 13.5 per cent and Chhindwara–Jabalpur region with a share of 12 per cent. The top three regions together account for almost 70 per cent of total investment, while the balance 30 per cent is spread among the other regions of Madhya Pradesh. The other regions that have attracted investment are Jhabua–

Sector-wise investment share in outstanding investment 2004-05

2013-14

Share in 2004-05

` Million

Share in 2013-14

Per cent

Electricity

235,203

3,146,505

37.9

56.1

Manufacturing

209,575

1,072,187

33.8

19.1

53,974

683,234

8.7

12.2

113,531

337,197

18.3

6.0

7,596

193,079

1.2

3.4

212

174,583

0.0

3.1

620,091

5,606,784

100.0

100.0

Services (other than ¿QDQFLDO

Irrigation Mining Construction & real estate All industries

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

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Region-wise investment in Madhya Pradesh 2004-05

2013-14

Share in 2004-05

` Million Damoh-Sidhi

Share in 2013-14

Percentage

185,242

2,567,662

29.9

45.8

Indore-Bhopal-Betul

20,953

689,585

3.4

12.3

Chhindwara-Jabalpur

65,906

672, 194

10.6

12.0

Jhabua-Nimar

87,201

499,433

14.1

8.9

Morena-Raisen

159,582

255,669

25.7

4.6

Ratlam-Rajgarh

10,981

163,670

1.8

2.9

Multi region

90,225

758,572

14.6

13.5

T

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

Growth trend of new investment (Y-o-Y) Under implementation rate (Y-o-Y)

Madhya Pradesh

46.6 45.9 42.9

Madhya Pradesh

India

2013-14

2012-13

2011-12

2010-11

36.9

2008-09

2013-14

2011-12

2012-13

2007-08

2006-07

2005-06

2010-11

30

2009-10

-100

2008-09

-50

2.68 50 -10.37 -39.61 -52.76 40 -82.88

0

60.1 57.9 57.1 58.2 55.1

60 57.1

67.16

2007-08

68.51

2006-07

50

54.53

2005-06

100

70

2009-10

150 130.33

India

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

Under implementation in Madhya Pradesh sector-wise 2013-14 (` Million)

Share in 2013-14

2,097,839

62.2

Services (other than ¿QDQFLDO

437,571

13.0

Manufacturing

397,525

11.8

Irrigation

266,094

7.9

Mining

11 1,403

3.3

Electricity

Construction & real estate All industries

59,844

1.8

3,370,276

100

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

Nimar (8.9 per cent), Morena–Raisen (4.6 per cent), Ratlam–Rajgarh (2.9 per cent) and Multi region of Madhya Pradesh (13.5 per cent). One can notice from the graph, new investment has declined sharply in the State year after year. In 2013-

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mentation over the years. In 2013-14, 399 projects worth `3.37 lakh crore were under implementation. The benefits of investments can be transferred into the economy only once the investments get implemented.

14, the State’s new investment growth rate has declined by almost 83 per cent. New investment has declined on a national basis, but the State’s rate of decline is worse than India’s. Moreover, the State has recorded a worsening of its investment imple-

HE silver lining is that the rate of projects currently under implementation in the State is higher than the all-India figure. In 2013-14, projects under implementation were 57.4 per cent in India while the figure in Madhya Pradesh was 60.1 per cent. Noticeably, the State achieved a significant improvement of the under implementation rate in 2007-08, and thereafter it has been on an upswing. In 2004-05, the projects under implementation rate in Madhya Pradesh made up 57.1 per cent of outstanding investment and reached 36.9 per cent in 2007-08. In comparison with the major 20 states, in terms of projects under implementation rate, currently the State is ranked sixth. If we look at the sector-wise breakup of projects under implementation, the analysis suggests that most of the projects are in the electricity sector, constituting almost 62 per cent of under implementation projects in the State followed by services with 13.1 per cent and manufacturing sector with 11.8 per cent. The irrigation sector has 7.9 per cent share in under implementation projects, mining 3.3 per cent share, and construction and real estate 1.8 per cent share. The long project gestation periods have been costing the investors as well as dampening investor sentiment towards the State. From the analysis, we have observed that recent investment slowdown is largely a result of slowdown in new investment activities and delay in

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

35

STATE SCAN

economy madhya pradesh

Sector-wise cost escalation Cost escalation

Share in cost escalation

Cost escalation as per cent of actual cost

Electricity

512025.4

53.0

22.2

Irrigation

214935.6

22.2

74.8

Aluminium & aluminium products

123000

12.7

61.5

6.7

16.8

Infrastructure services

65231.3

Cement

25452.4

2.6

17.2

Cotton & blended yarn

11200

1.2

30.4

100.0

26.9

966751.8

Total

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

Stages of investment in Madhya Pradesh Outstanding investment ` Million 2004-05

Under implementation

Growth (%)

620091.2

` Million

Growth (%)

3541 37.7

New investment ` Million

Growth (%)

140904.0

2005-06

980980.9

58.2

420623.2

18.8

324537.0

130.3

2006-07

1570951.9

60.1

732762.9

74.2

501503.0

54.5

2007-08

2395882.1

52.5

883479.2

20.6

845073.0

68.5

2008-09

3174631.6

32.5

1456170.5

64.8

757480.0

-10.4

2009-10

3606191.5

13.6

1987844.1

36.5

457413.0

-39.6

2010-11

4844248.7

34.3

2805668.4

41.1

764609.0

67.2

2011-12

5517286.4

13.9

3150464.0

12.3

361179.0

-52.8

2012-13

6124198.2

11.0

3565836.3

13.2

370875.0

2013-14

5606784.2

-8.4

3370276.0

-5.5

63501.0

2.7 -82.9

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

Madhya Pradesh and India’s under implementation rate (per cent) Madhya Pradesh

India

2004-05

57.1

51.8

2005-06

42.9

45.2

2006-07

46.6

43.7

2007-08

36.9

45.5

2008-09

45.9

46.9

2009-10

55.1

50.0

2010-11

57.9

53.7

2011-12

57.1

54.8

2012-1 3

58.2

56.6

2013-14

60.1

57.4

Source: CMIE

36

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

implementation. A slowdown in new investment implies less addition to outstanding investment but an increase of under implementation projects implies increase in the cost of investment which only adds to outstanding investment. The delay in implementation could have many reasons. Several departments of the State government play a rather crucial role in project implementation. Activities like land acquisition, shifting of utilities, and so on, are performed by the State departments. Moreover, economic and geographical features of the State may also may affect project time and costs.

The State needs to invest more on the irrigation sector and also needs to encourage private investors. However, the investment trend suggests that the irrigation sector has recorded a drastic fall in its share in total outstanding investment— from 18.3 per cent in 200405 to 6 per cent in 2013-14.

T

HE important factors affecting the implementation of projects are manifold: regulatory approvals from several agencies leading to delay, delay in environment clearance, delay in land acquisition and site handover, lack of skilled labour force, imperfect techniques and contractual incompleteness, lack of finances, and so on. The delay in project implementation has been an important concern for policymakers because its cost is very high to the economy. Delayed

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Under implementation investment in Madhya Pradesh (` million) Manufac- Mining turing

Electricity

Services (other than ÂżQDQFLDO

Construction and real estate

Irrigation

2004-05

92,044

6,633

131,1 32

15,398

44

108,887

2005-06

131,874

7,078

154,082

26,215

44

101,330 103,429

2006-07

128,663

27,369

284,236

34,682

154,384

2007-08

161,003

29,963

346,820

80,199

165,990

99,505

2008-09

368,485

62,232

617,130

112,826

186,590

108,908

2009-10

496,417

70,634

838,322

146,389

274,047

162,036

2010-11

514,697

85,007

1,553,773

191,568

267,427

193,196

2011-12

590,062

108,661

1,643,285

336,777

255,955

215,725

2012-13

637,359

102,796

2,097,341

417,242

65,932

245,167

2013-14

397,525

111,403

2,097,839

437,571

59,844

266,094

Source: CMIE

Ownership-wise cost escalation Ownership

State Government Private Sector Central Government

Actual cost (` Million)

Cost escalation (` Million)

Cost Escalation as per cent of actual cost

538,765.20

250,067.30

46.41

2,274,525.20

584,278.20

25.69

764,497.80

131,094.60

17.15

Source: CMIE and ASSOCHAM Economic Research Bureau

investments have the evident effect of lowering the growth rate. In general, if cost overruns are pervasive and increase the cost of investment in real terms, they raise the capital– output ratio, an effect that can spread to other sectors also. We see price increases of investment and intermediate goods at a higher rate than price increases of other goods. The most important question is what could be the possible impact of delayed implementation on the investors and on the economy. The impact on the economy is difficult to identify and related data is also not available. For the impact on investors, we observe that while many projects are running over the time-frame, many of them have not yet declared the cost escalation but some of them have declared a further time overrun.

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The study has observed that there are 399 projects under implementation. Out of these, 224 projects have reported either time overrun or cost escalation. Surprisingly, for only 41 projects is the time overrun between one month and 20 months whereas for 77 projects, the time overrun is 20-50 months. The rest report more than 50 months of delay. Only 134 out of 224 delayed projects have reported cost escalation. The others have not reported so far. In terms of cost escalation, the ASSOCHAM analysis has observed that due to long delays in implementation, the cost of projects have increased by `96.7 thousand crore while the actual cost of the time overrun or cost-escalated projects is `3.6 lakh crore. The cost escalation as per cent of actual cost on the invested

investment is almost 26.9 per cent. The sectoral pattern of cost escalation indicates that the electricity sector has recorded the highest cost escalation followed by irrigation and aluminium and aluminium products. The share of the electricity sector in total cost escalation is 53 per cent, irrigation 22.2 per cent and aluminium and aluminium products 12.7 per cent. These three sectors have a combined share in total cost escalation of almost 88 per cent. The other important sectors which have a significant share in cost escalation are infrastructure services (6.7 per cent), cement (2.6 per cent), and cotton and blended yarn (1.8 per cent).

I

F we look at cost escalation as a percentage of actual cost, the sectors which have recorded the highest escalation are irrigation (74.8 per cent of actual cost) followed by aluminium and aluminium products (61.5 per cent), cotton and blended yarn (30.4 per cent), electricity (22.2 per cent), cement (17.2 per cent) and infrastructure (16.8 per cent of actual cost). Despite the fact that the State is largely dependent on agriculture and allied activities, investment in the sector had not been implemented successfully, resulting in the second largest cost escalation and a significant fall in investment activities. The delay in implementation of irrigation projects could be one of the most important reasons for the substantial decline in irrigation investment. If we look at cost escalation of projects by ownership, the analysis suggests that projects owned by the State have a higher percentage of actual cost of projects (at 46.4 per cent) than those owned by the Central government (17.5 per cent) and private sector (25.7 per cent). g

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

37

FIRST STIRRINGS ks subramanian

IPS Rebel A Communist orientation ion and an Oxford stint combined to make thiss IPS officer socially sensitive and pro-poorr

K

S Subramanian is perhaps the first victim of Hindutva forces as represented by thee Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). It was on November 6, 1966 when n he, then a young Indian Police Service rvice (IPS) officer, was attacked by VHP agitators outside the All India Radio (AIR) building in New Delhi. The Parishad was taking out a proandcession towards Parliament demanding a ban on cow slaughter and d the desh 1963-batch Delhi-Himachal Pradesh Subcadre IPS officer, then SDPO (SubDivisional Police Officer), Lajpat Nagar, was deployed on Sansad Marg. “I was not well trained in handling violence-prone mobs, was unarmed and standing close to the AIR with two other unarmed constables. The VHP mob came marching from Parliament police station. They had lathis and stones. Somebody pointed at me and next, they all started throwing stones at me. One of the stones hit me frontally and I became unconscious. I was unconscious for five hours and taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital. The doctors had to remove three of my upper teeth and stitch a portion under my right nostril. I had to buy a den-

38

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

PHOTOS: NARENDRA KAUSHIK

ture for `80,” he recollects, showing a scar under his nose and taking out the three-tooth denture he still wears from his mouth. He got a meritorious service medal for the incident 18 years later, in 1984. The VHP was only two years old then; Subramanian was in his late 20s. He served as SP of Kinnaur, a border district in Himachal Pradesh, for around six months before being recommended for the Intelligence Bureau (IB). In the IB, he was posted in the Bolshevik group and kept a watch on Communist activities in Kerala and would write a weekly

report. MK Narayanan, the former National Security Adviser (NSA), was his senior in the IB. Then DIB MML Hooja was considered next to God and Subramanian reminisces how he and his young colleagues would enquire about Hooja from each other, “Kadadul vandu tara? (Is the God in?)” He spent five years on Communist watch. Then, one day, he angered the ‘God’ and Narayanan. The DIB would take the review meeting of all IB officers weekly. They would all sit at a round table with the director occupying the tallest

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chair. Every IB officer would brief him about the activities in his domain. Later, Hooja would give his concluding remarks. During his concluding remarks, Subramanian dared to correct Hooja. “This was something on Kerala. I explained the situation. It caused a sensation. I perhaps committed a crime. My contract was not renewed and I was ordered to go to the North-East (Northeastern States were part of the Delhi-HP cadre),” he recalls. Later, Narayanan blocked his return to the Home Ministry by saying he had spent 10 years of his life in ‘creative Marxism’. It was amusing to him as he believed that he was good at ‘anti-Marxism’ of the CIA kind. The former NSA, he believes, also tried unsuccessfully to stop publication of his dissertation on the Communist movement. Over 40 years later, Subramanian (now 70-plus), a batchmate of former Delhi Police Commissioners Nikhil Kumar and MB Kaushal, still nurses a dislike for the IB, which, he says, lacks ‘internal democracy’ and indulges in ‘mental torture’ of officers. He calls IB an organisation ‘where you cannot speak your mind’. He does not like the police either and is currently trying to persuade the powers-that-be to initiate reforms in police and intelligence. Even during his stint in the IB, he would write for Economic & Political Weekly under the pseudonym ‘MS’. The then editor of EPW Krishna Raj appreciated what Narayanan and the IB could not. Raj wrote to him and asked him to contribute more often. Ironically, his grounding in the Communist watch has also ensured that he has no love lost for fringe Hindutva forces either. In fact, he considers his involvement in an independent commission on the 2002 riots of Gujarat a professional high point of his life. The commission, constituted

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by Citizens for Peace & Justice in the same year after the pogrom, also had Justice H Suresh, Justice PB Sawant and Justice Krishna Iyer on board. It produced a three-volume report, which called the riots a crime against humanity and called for accountability at all levels of governance. Subramanian perceives a case filed at Morris Nagar Police Station against him around the same time as vendetta by the then Home Minister, LK Advani. The FIR alleged that he had shouted at a police officer. It was later quashed in court.

Over 40 years later, Subramanian (now 70-plus), still nurses a dislike for the IB, which, he says, lacks ‘internal democracy’ and indulges in ‘mental torture’ of officers His transfer to Tripura brought the academic out of the closet. Subramanian got selected for a study at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Shimla. When the then Tripura Chief Secretary refused to sanction his study leave for two years, he put in a single-line resignation letter which brought the former around. During his stay at the Shimla institute, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, the late

Ramu (Ramchandra) Gandhi, brother of Gopal Krishna Gandhi, would call Subramanian CBI (M)—Central Bureau of Investigation (Marxist) —due to his inquisitive nature and communist-related background. After the Shimla sojourn, he returned to Tripura and did 10 postings in twoand-a-half years before joining as DIG-CID in Manipur.

F

ROM 1979 to 1985, he served as director of the Research and Policy Division in the Home Ministry. In between, he went to Oxford University to do research on violence against Scheduled Castes in India. The stint at Oxford and the work on civil rights in the Home Ministry built up his confidence and made him socially sensitive and pro-poor. He also served as Director General of the State Institute of Public Administration & Rural Development, Tripura, Professor in the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi, and Professor in Jamia Millia Islamia. In between, he was also Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum & Library, Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi, and Visiting Fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford, UK and Institute of Development Studies, Sussex, UK. He did his doctorate on the Communist movement in Tripura and retired in 1997. Subramanian has written five books so far and is ready with his sixth. The journey from an IPS officer to an academic has been eventful. Not a mean achievement for a man who at the tender age of 10 years lost seven out of nine family members (five siblings and his mother passed away due to cholera and an elder sister eloped with a lower caste man—he met her 20 years later). g As told to Narendra Kaushik

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

39

BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers indira gandhi

Janardan Thakur started his career in journalism with the nationalist Patna daily, The Searchlight, in December 1959. In his long and distinguished career spanning the reign of each Prime Minister since Independence, Thakur reported from the thick of some of the most momentous contemporary events at home and afar—JP’s ‘total revolution’, the Emergency, the bristling emergence of Sanjay Gandhi, the fall and rise of Indira Gandhi and then the rise and fall of Rajiv, the Kremlin of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Khomeini’s revolution in Iran, Ronald Reagan’s re-election in an America swinging Right, VP Singh’s ascent as a messiah with tainted magic and the rasping run to power of the BJP. Thakur’s journalism, from the very start, broke traditional moulds of reportage and writing, going beyond the story that meets the eye and into processes and personalities that made them happen. His stories on the Bihar famine of the mid-1960s and the manmade floods that ravaged the State were a sensation. He was perhaps alone in predicting defeat for Indira Gandhi in 1977 and again singular in exposing the corroded innards of the Janata Government that followed. A Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center, Hawaii, in 1971, Thakur moved to New Delhi as a Special Correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika group of publications in 1976. He went freelance in 1980 and turned syndicated columnist. In 1989-91, he was Editor of the fortnightly Onlooker, and The Free Press Journal. Thakur authored All The Prime Minister’s Men, probably the most successful of the crop of books that followed the Emergency. His All the Janata Men, the story of the men who destroyed the first non-Congress government in New Delhi, was equally successful. He passed away on July 12, 1999.

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gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

Indira vs old warhorses

P

RIME Minister Indira Gandhi had started with hesitant steps. She had a ‘kitchen cabinet’, composed largely of the earlier members of the ‘Back-benchers’ Club’, who advised a low-key approach. For a time she retained LK Jha as her Principal Secretary. She had respect for his ability, but a major point against him was that he had been ‘too close to Shastri’. Even so, she was not for any drastic changes around her. For a time, Indira just followed the path chalked out by her advisers and went along with the new economic policies initiated in the days of Lal Bahadur Shastri. She had travelled to the US some months after becoming the Prime Minister. On a bright windy morning in March 1966, she had landed in Washington, DC to a red-carpet welcome by President Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird, who had an armful of roses for Mrs Gandhi. Everywhere she went she was smothered in roses. In her speeches, Indira Gandhi had carefully avoided any criticism of the Vietnam war, which was raging at that time. Serious talks on economic aid she had left to Asoka Mehta, whom she had appointed her Planning Minister. By May, it became clear that American aid would be forthcoming only after India acted on her promise to devalue the rupee. The government went ahead with the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund on the exact parity value of the rupee, which was changed relative to the dollar from Rs 4.75 to Rs 7.50. Devaluation brought about the first polarisation in the Congress, and led to her initial break with Kamaraj, who had been opposed to the new-look economic policy which the devaluation epitomised. There were stiff protests from senior members of the Cabinet as well. They doubted whether devaluation could bring any substantial benefit to India. Kamaraj was especially incensed. How could his protege have taken such a major step without taking him into confidence? He insisted that the Congress Working Committee or the Parliamentary Board would have to discuss it before any official decision could be taken. Just a day before the devaluation was supposed to take place, LK Jha cabled the Indian Ambassador in Washington, BK Nehru, advising him to withhold any announcement, because there could be a change in policy.

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Indira Gandhi taking oath as Prime Minister of India in 1966

Even so, the devaluation was announced on June 6, 1966, by the then Finance Minister, Sachin Chaudhuri, and within ten days the United States announced resumption of economic aid to India. The message was clear: Indira Gandhi had devalued the rupee under American pressure to get more aid. The growing antipathies in the party and the negative impact of the rupee devaluation led to the fiasco of 1967, a year that proved to be another watershed in the country’s political history. On the eve of the elections that year, the country’s top industrialists mounted a fierce attack on economic policies and planning. The country’s difficulties, charged JRD Tata, were because of the “wrong priorities and inaccessible targets which have led to target missing”. Ghanshyam Das Birla was even more virulent in his attack. He blamed the dismal economic situation on the “kind of stupid plan that is prepared in this country by amateurs without knowing what is planning. They are still talking in terms of socialism about which they themselves do not know what they are talking about.” Birla predicted that the “Congress will come back to power, at least in the Centre, but with a highly reduced majority.” He was almost prophetic. The Congress was stunned by the election results. The party’s majority in the Lok Sabha was reduced to 25, the lowest

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until then, and, what was worse, the Congress failed to win legislative majorities in eight important states: Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Kerala and Madras. Candidates of Opposition parties had wrested from the Congress 264 seats in the legislative assemblies. Many interpreted the elections as the demise of the Congress monolith. The ‘end of an era’, it was called.

F

OR Indira Gandhi, it had been a rough campaign. A brickbat had hit her on the nose during her campaign in Orissa. She had arrived in Patna next day with a bandaged nose. She had insisted on keeping to her schedule despite her broken nose. “Ever since plastic surgery was heard of, I have been wanting to get something done to my nose,” she wrote to her American friend, Dorothy Normal, an author and photographer, with whom she corresponded for long years: “I even started putting by money for it and I thought the only way it could be done without the usual hoo-ha was first to have some slight accident which would enable me to have it put right — as you know, things never happen the way one wants them to. You must have heard that at my meeting in Bhubaneshwar there was some pebble throwing. There were just a few students who had grouped themselves in a circle,

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vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

41

BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers indira gandhi

standing, jumping, and shouting slogans...I gave my full speech, about forty to forty-five minutes, but while I was speaking I knew they must be throwing stones or something because the Press people who were below the dais looked alarmed and moved behind the dais...I got a large piece of brick right on my face. There was a spurt of blood — I thought at first that my nose was broken. Someone gave me a handkerchief...In Raj Bhawan I found that I looked like a boxer — I was a terrible sight in the mirror. My nose, the left side, looked completely crooked. I tried to put it right myself and heard a little ‘tik’ sound. The left lip had swollen to the size of a big egg...”

T

HE broken nose apart, she had suffered an electoral defeat which shook her up. Her credibility as an effective national leader was severely damaged. Some party veterans thought this was the best time to seize the opportunity to cut her to size. When Mrs Gandhi set out to form a new government after the general elections, her adversaries thought this was the time to set the cat among the pigeons: get Morarji Desai to mess up her kitchen. They started talking about a ‘working relationship’ between the two rivals. Morarji who had fancied himself as the ‘natural heir’ to Jawaharlal Nehru, would accept nothing less than No. 2 position, with the Home portfolio. She eventually agreed to give him Finance, with the additional title of Deputy Prime Minister. Desai promptly assumed the dominant role in the formulation of economic policies. DG Gadgil replaced Asoka Mehta as the deputy chairman of the reconstituted Planning Commission. Suddenly, the menace of defections started. The Devi Lals, Bansi Lals and Charan Singhs and so many others of their ilk took the centrestage in various states. It was the beginning of the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal politics in the northern and eastern states. With it started chronic political instability, disregard for parliamentary norms and the gross abuse of Constitutional powers by governors, at the behest of an increasingly demoralised and manipulative Central government. Even the fears of national disintegration revived. One of the best accounts of how the post-1967 coalition politics functioned is by the American political scientist, Paul R Brass: “After the formation of each government, it became known that a prominent individual belonging to a faction in the Congress or in a non-Congress party was disaffected with the government because he was not satisfied with his place in the government or was not given a position in it. The disaffected leader then began to gather supporters, while criticising the government in general terms

42

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

for corruption or for failure to implement portions of the programme rapidly enough. Finally a prominent public event occurred or an issue was found which provided the leader with an immediate cause for defection with his loyal supporters. The defecting leader was then given the opportunity to form a government, which was either a non-Congress coalition or a minority government with Congress support. In either event, the defecting leader became the new Chief Minister, most of those who defected with him received ministerial office and a new crisis began. In the interim between the two governments the opposing forces in the legislature continually bargained for the support of independents and potential party defectors. The game came to an end when the governors became convinced that no stable coalitions were possible and that the Assembly should be dissolved and new elections should be called.” In hindsight, Paul Brass was depicting only a rather civilised version of what coalition politics was to become in later years. The politics of defection gained momentum. Between March 1967 and March 1970, as many as 1,827 legislators (the total number of seats in all the assemblies then being 3,487) had defected, some of them several times. In the same period, 23 governments came and went in the seven states of West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Kerala. Legislators jumping onto the speaker’s rostrum or grappling with one another on the floor of various assemblies became the order of the day. Indira Gandhi was by now caught up in a bitter battle for dominance in the affairs of the Congress Party and the government. Ranged against her were the old party bosses, while she on her side had a younger group of socialist radicals determined to wrest control of the party. This was a time of deep introspection for Indira Gandhi. She adopted a new political style and made new adjustments to get in tune with the mood of the people. She packed off LK Jha to the Reserve Bank as Governor and took on PN Haksar, who was to change the whole tone and tenor of the Prime Minister’s Office. Alumnus of the London School of Economics, Haksar had been attached to the Communist Party for some time and had practised law at Allahabad under Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, during which time he had caught the eye of Prime Minister Nehru, who promptly picked him for the Indian Foreign Service. In 1967 began the ‘Haksar years’ which saw the rise of Indira Gandhi and her virtual deification as Goddess Durga. One of the first things she did under Haksar’s advice was to disband her ‘kitchen cabinet’ and acquire a

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Indira Gandhi with YB Chavan in 1966

new team with a totally different outlook and expertise. It was Haksar who set her on the battle track, which led to the famous Congress split at Bangalore. In June 1967, she took a pronounced pro-Arab position on the Egypt-Israeli war. This was the beginning of an active non-alignment, a tilt away from the first year’s bias towards America. Hemmed in by Morarji Desai, Indira tried to maintain a balance in the cabinet by cultivating the support of trusted personal advisers like Dinesh Singh, whom she had made Foreign Minister. When she condoned attacks on the Syndicate members, party President Nijalingappa threatened disciplinary action against the radicals. When one of Indira’s supporters, ‘Young Turk’ Chandra Shekhar questioned the personal integrity of Morarji Desai on the floor of the Lok Sabha, the Parliamentary party authorised her to censure him, but she did not. Animosities between her group and the Syndicate grew. Patil and others began alleging that Mrs Gandhi’s Principal Secretary, known to be a leftist in his views, was acting as a conduit between the Soviet Union and the Prime Minister. There were charges that Indira Gandhi was out to “sell India to the Russians,” and in an interview Desai almost said as much. By mid-1968, the Syndicate bosses, and now the term included K Kamaraj, were convinced that the only way was to get rid of the lady. Initially, Congress President Nijalingappa was reluctant, but he too was soon drawn

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into the Syndicate net. They planned their first attack for the Faridabad session of the AICC in April 1969. Attempts to paper over the cracks failed; indeed, they only widened. For the first time, Mrs Gandhi took a clear position in favour of the radicals who had come together under the banner of Congress Forum for Socialist Action. There was no meeting ground on the economic and political issues, but the final break was put off for ‘a better opportunity’.

T

HAT opportunity came within a week of the Faridabad session. President Zakir Hussain died on May 3, 1969, and thus arose a chance for a proper trial of strength. To begin with, neither side was enthusiastic about the Vice-President VV Giri becoming the President. A final decision was left for a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Board which was to coincide with the special session of the AICC at Bangalore in July 1969. Initially, Mrs Gandhi did not object to the candidacy of Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, who was then the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. But soon after he was officially nominated by the party, Mrs Gandhi came to know from some of her trusted lieutenants that Reddy’s candidature was part of a bigger conspiracy against her. “Once he becomes the President, Reddy will sack you and instal Morarji Desai as the Prime Minister,” they told her. Matters came to a head at the Bangalore session of the

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vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

43

BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers indira gandhi

Indira Gandhi portrayed herself as the messiah of the downtrodden

AICC. Ideology, or rather the rhetoric of ideology, was Indira’s most effective weapon against her opponents. Her major weapon against her rivals was to put them in the category of reactionaries and conservatives, while she herself emerged as the one who favoured change, supported the interests of the poor and the oppressed. It was before and after Bangalore that she honed her skills. The old fuddy-duddies of the Congress had realised that Indira was not the dumb doll they had thought she was when they put her in the Prime Minister’s chair. Not at all the ‘pliable consensus’ Prime Minister they had wanted. She had become imperious, and belligerent. She had gone to the Bangalore session of the All India Congress Committee armed with “just some stray thoughts rather hurriedly dictated”. The Working Committee almost ‘ignored’ the “stray thoughts” by just accepting them unanimously. Morarji Desai had introduced the “Resolution on Economic Policy and Programme” in the session and affirmed that he supported the Prime Minister’s ‘Note’ without any reservation. The Syndicate was more worried about what would happen at the Congress Parliamentary Board meeting. The old bosses expected to win a majority on the candidature of Reddy for the Presidential election. Just before the meeting was to begin, Indira Gandhi said that she was going to support Jagjivan Ram instead of Reddy. At the meeting, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, whom she later made the President, introduced Ram’s name, but Indira was defeated in a vote: four in favour of Reddy and

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two against. Morarji, YB Chavan, SK Patil and Kamaraj had voted for Sanjeeva Reddy, while Ahmed and Indira Gandhi had gone for Ram. Chairman of the meeting, Nijalingappa, and Jagjivan Ram had abstained from the vote.

H

AVING suffered a blow, Indira devised a full-blast counter-attack. In a lightning move she divested Morarji Desai of the Finance portfolio, knowing that after this he would himself resign as Deputy Prime Minister. And then in another sudden move, she announced that 14 of the largest commercial banks in the country had been nationalised by a Presidential order. She had sent a brief letter of dismissal to Morarji Desai, saying: “As a disciplined soldier of the party you lent support to the resolution which was adopted, even though I know that in regard to some of the basic issues that arise, you entertain strong reservations and have your own views about the direction as well as the pace of change. You have expressed your views clearly in the Working Committee and on other occasions. I have given deep thought to this matter and feel that in all fairness, I should not burden you with this responsibility in your capacity as Finance Minister, but should take it directly upon myself.” The bottomline was: Indira Gandhi was henceforth to be the sole embodiment of the new economic policies, the sole messiah of the poor and the downtrodden. g Excerpted from Prime Ministers: Nehru to Vajpayee by Janardan Thakur, Eeshwar Prakashan, New Delhi

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BOOK REVIEW

by KS SUBRAMANIAN

civil service non-fiction

T

HE author was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the Tamil Nadu cadre from 1968 to 2005. The book deals largely with his experiences as a bureaucrat at the district, State and Central levels. He had further assignments in public sector undertakings (PSUs) during 2005-2012. The use of the term ‘reluctant’ in the title is puzzling. Can an officer be considered to be ‘reluctant’ when he has not only completed, largely successfully, his entire career in government without getting into a major controversy and has gone on to serve in PSUs for five years after retirement? Or, is he to be described as ‘reluctant’ because he resisted political interference in a rural development project during his term as Collector and DM? Or do his experiences of humiliation during a few of his Central assignments or postings justify the description? Most conscientious officials have had and still have similar or, indeed, much worse experiences. Several Secretaries to the Government of India have been subjected to harassment and humiliation while in office (see, for example, the autobiographies/experiences of TCA Srinivasavaradan and CG Somiah, former Home Secretaries, and of MK Kaw, former Civil Aviation Secretary, among others). The author’s reluctance to compromise his basic principles of ‘neutrality, compliance and delivery’ in his work, was commendable but all good officials do function or have functioned with such principles. Rastogi recounts his bad experience as a ‘non-glamorous’ Director of Investigations in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) and then in the Minorities Commission during 198388. During his final innings (20002005) he had the experience of working in the Inter-State Council. The

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‘Me too’ syndrome

Title: A Reluctant Bureaucrat Author: Ashoka Rastogi Publisher: AuthorsUpFront, 2014 Pages: 229 Price: `395

Council’s work, though important, remained otiose because of lack of legal powers. This was also the case with the earlier CVC job. The author retired as Secretary (Border management) in the Union Home Ministry. The author waxes eloquent about federal governance but seems to have not seen former Union Home Secretary Srinivasavaradan’s important autobiographical work on federal governance (1992), which identifies major challenges for the Government of India: i) ‘fire-fighting’ operations such as dealing with drought, scarcity, famines and elections; ii) long-term ‘nation-building’ challenges in dealing with violence in the Northeast, J&K and the central tribal belt. While appreciating the operational skills of the Indian bureaucracy, the author stresses the need for additional inputs of knowledge, skill, vision and expertise at the top. Ad-hocism and amateurishness have

damaged policy-making in the government. He also stresses the need to set up multi-disciplinary study-cumaction teams of bureaucrats, scholars and social activists to come up with recommendations on complex policy issues. However, the more recent NN Vohra Committee report (1993) brought out the emerging linkages between politicians, bureaucrats and criminals. Already in 1983, a foreign expert on the Indian police had noted that police officers in India were preoccupied with politics, penetrated by politics and were participating in it individually and collectively! The author singles out the ancient Hindu text, Arthasastra but fails to mention the Constitution of India, which foregrounds the concept of rule of law. The Constitution’s Preamble, Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Rights form elements of ‘good governance’, which are seriously neglected. The author also fails to mention the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission (2005-2007) and its fourth volume on ‘Ethics in Governance’. Governance in India is a vast and interlocking system in which administrative, legislative and judicial arrangements bind the Central and State governments together and inhibit efforts to bring about reforms (West Bengal Administrative Reforms Committee, 1983). While I compliment the author for attempting a rapid account of his professional experience over several decades, the value of the book would have been enhanced if an analytical and thematic framework linking the multiplicity and complexity of tasks he has performed over the years had also been provided. g The writer was a member of the IPS and is the author of several books on public order and governance

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

45

MY CORNER

crime amitabh thakur

Victim of rape? The concept of burden of proof shifts to the accused, both legally and socially. This is the real threat and danger involved in the crime and herein lies the need for having a relook at the criminal provisions related with it

L

IFE is known to have huge and startling surprises in store for all of us. One such bolt from the blue knocked on our door on January 17 when a journalist from a lesser known newspaper in Lucknow called my wife, saying that a Ghaziabad woman had accused me of raping her and he wanted my wife’s reaction, and mine, to this news. This definitely was news to us as well—completely bizarre and unthought-of. The story narrated as regards this alleged rape was akin to a political pot-boiler. This woman had approached the UP State Women Commission alleging that some politician got her acquainted with us in Ghaziabad and my wife, Nutan, called her to Lucknow, falsely luring her with the promise of a job. As per the allegation, when she came to our Lucknow residence, Nutan brought this woman before me and got us acquainted with each other. I allegedly told this woman that I would make her life beautiful, all that she needed to do was to follow my directions. The woman, oblivious of my ill-intent, agreed. As per the woman’s version, I took her to my room late in the night and molested and raped her. When the lady came out of the room after this episode, her husband was allegedly infuriated, accusing me of cheating. The accusations say that thereafter we, my wife and I, threatened them with jail if they made a complaint in this regard. The truth, on the contrary, is that this is a completely concocted allega-

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gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

tion, as would be obvious even from a plain reading of the facts as narrated in the complaint. The reasons are many and pretty obvious: 1. It is almost next to impossible for a woman to agree to her husband raping another woman in her own house, when she is present there. 2. It is all the more improbable for a woman to become an active accomplice in this act and to facilitate its doing. 3. It is almost unthinkable that all this can be done by a person, knowing fully well that the husband of the woman being raped is standing just outside the door.

While the crime of rape is a cognisable and non-bailable offence, registering a false charge of rape is noncognisable, where the police can investigate the matter only after court permission 4. It is equally improbable that this man and the woman would not make any noise about this incidence and would move as silently from the place as they presumably did, merely due to the threat of being sent to jail. 5. The complaint has no dates and timings in it—neither of the alleged meeting in Ghaziabad nor of the said incidence in Lucknow. 6. The complaint does not even have the name of the political leader who allegedly arranged her

meeting with us. Later, it also emerged that the husband of this woman is not all that helpless but is a member of the ruling political party, with a decent following and influence in his locality. It also emerged during the preliminary enquiry made by journalists from Ghaziabad that her own daughter did not know of this incidence even three days after it allegedly took place. There are many more factors that make this complaint completely false. But the purpose of writing this article is not to defend myself through it. I very well know this is neither the correct method nor does it have any moral, legal or social validity. Despite all the points made above, there might still be many who would believe in the truth of this episode and it is because of the presence of such a fair section of the population that I am writing this article. To bring forth my point, I present the PTI news release on this incidence. Its title says a lot -“Woman Alleges Rape by IGP, Police Official’s Wife Refutes Charge”. The article says: “A woman here has approached the State Women Commission alleging that she was raped by Inspector General of Police (civil defence) Amitabh Thakur, a charge refuted by his wife who sought an inquiry into the allegation. When IGP Thakur was contacted with regard to the allegation, his wife Nutan alleged that they were being harassed ever since she had filed a PIL in Allahabad High

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Court regarding egarding the case of Yadavv Singh, the suspended chief engineerr of Noida Authority and investigation ation of cases of engaging child labour bour in Hindon river area by her husband.� band.� ... etc. A reading ding of these words dss d makes itt quite apparent that the first and preliminary thought that comes mes to mind is that an allegation of rape has been made and the IGP and his wife are refuting it. Thus, the first part of the sentence has already clearly done the damage that it sought to do. This is only the social aspect of the problem. Add to it the legal aspects and then one realises the true danger. After the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2013, passed in the aftermath of Delhi rape case, in Section 376(1), under which the allegations of this woman would fall, the minimum punishment is seven years while the maximum can go up to life imprisonment. Even the procedural laws are extremely in favour of the woman. Under Section 154(1) of the CrPC, the FIR needs to be written only by a woman police officer. Section 161 CrPC says that the statement of the victim is also to be recorded only by a woman police officer. Section 164(5A)(a) CrPC mandates a judicial magistrate to record the statement of the woman while Section 173(2)(i)(h) CrPC makes it necessary to include the medical report of the woman in the case diary. Section 309(1)

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CrPC asks for day-to-day hearing of these cases while Section 357(B) CrPC talks of additional compensation in all such cases, in cases of conviction. Even the Indian Evidence Act has special provisions for appreciation of evidence in rape cases, such as Section 53A which prohibits discussing the past conduct and reputation of the woman as an alibi. Section 228A IPC makes any mention of the name of the rape victim a direct offence.

T

HUS, it is very apparent that once such a charge gets placed on some individual, he has no option than to run for cover, both socially and legally. Whether the charge is true or false, whether it makes sense or not, are issues that are secondary in nature. The concept of burden of proof shifts to the accused, both legally and socially. This is the real threat and danger involved in the crime and herein lies the need for having a relook at the criminal provisions related with it. For instance, the law prescribes that the victim’s name shall not be revealed but there is no such bar on naming of the accused, whether the allegation is true or false. This is true even for women accused. Thus

AR

UN

A

everyone now knows that a woman, Nutan Thakur, wife of an IPS officer, has been accused of rape, albeit totally falsely. On the contrary, the false victim is well protected by law. Further, while the crime of rape is a cognisable and non-bailable offence, registering a false charge of rape is non-cognisable, where the police can investigate the matter only after court permission. This is again another issue that needs to be relooked. Finally, this matter also brings forth the immense possibilities of the misuse of these criminal provisions and this is a discussion that cannot be delayed, considering the dangerous facets of the entire matter. This is just some of the learning. I derived from the above-mentioned episode of rape, which I apparently committed, without ever knowing about it. g Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer from UP, is also working for transparency in governance. The views expressed are personal.

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vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

47

STOCK DOCTOR dr gs sood

T

Decline in near future?

HE Sensex is fast galloping towards the 30,000 mark, riding on the global environment that is turning less negative and India shining in a world starved of growth. Flush with liquidity unleashed first by the US Fed followed by the Chinese and Japanese and now the European Central Bank (ECB), India is amongst the rarest bright spots experiencing steady rise in growth rate, relative currency stability with steadily increasing forex reserve, declining inflation and interest rates, moderating fiscal deficit, strong reforms push leading to a decisive shift in the policies aimed at giving a boost to public investment-driven macro stabilisation and a potential sovereign rating upgrade. All this has tremendously increased its attractiveness for investors across the world. The market is in a happy mood with a further push given by the earlier-than-expected rate cut of 25 basis points announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and more cuts expected in the near future, the IMF prediction that India’s growth rate will soon surpass that of China, Indian victories in global economic conferences and Barack Obama’s visit to India. But the future hinges on certain key questions that include whether the Union Budget will give clear signals on the policy front that meet the expectations of the market; whether corporate earnings begin to improve, since the Q3 results declared so far have not been very encouraging; whether the US will begin to increase interest rates anytime soon since the markets earlier reacted with heightened volatility on such news; whether

global oil prices will remain low since low commodity prices have been a big positive for India; and whether the RBI will continue with its rate cut cycle since the early indications of rising food prices have started coming in again. The current Sensex PE of around 20 (based on trailing 12-months Sensex EPS) indicates that valuations have become more expensive, especially in view of the fact that some leading brokerage houses have lowered the expected Sensex EPS for the current year, given the results for the quarter ended December 2014 not meeting expectations due to various factors—

both domestic and global. Since a greater part of the Sensex has rallied on hope, any further upside has to be supported by earnings upgrade. Though the long-term story remains intact due to the Indian economy being largely insulated from global shocks, a neartime correction is not ruled out since considerable upside has already been priced in and the world is likely to witness fierce currency wars. Investors may, therefore, book profits in stocks that have run up a lot ahead of their fundamentals and may keep some cash aside to take advantage of any market decline that may occur in the near future. g

Stock Shop R B BY

AKESH

HARDWAJ

Jayant Agro-Organics (CMP `124)

J

AYANT Agro is the largest processor of castor oil and castor oil derivatives in India, accounting for around 40 per cent of India’s exports. The company is uniquely placed as India is the largest producer of castor crop in the world, producing 75 per cent of the world’s production, and castor oil derivatives are high value-added products. The company produces the world’s largest range of castor oil derivative and exports 90 per cent of its sales. Jayant is a government-recognised Star trading house and also owns a US patent for efficient production of sebacic acid (the most widely used castor oil derivative). Castor oil and its derivatives are well established green chemicals and are used for the preparation of thousands of chemical intermediates to replace crude

oil in the chemical industry. Demand is greater than supply and speciality chemical manufacturers such as Arkema with €7 billion sales have tied up with Jayant Agro (JV: Arkema:24.9%, Jayant 75.1% – IhseduAgroChem). The company has also formed a JV in the name of Vithal Polyol India Pvt Ltd with Mitsui Chemicals & Itoh Oil to manufacture plant-based polyol for the Asian automotive sector. The company has an uninterrupted record of paying dividends for the last several years with bonus constituting 40 per cent of its equity. The promoters have been steadily increasing their stake, which now accounts for more than 65 per cent. Despite sales and profits increasing by 3.5 and 6 times in the last seven years, the same has not been reflected in the share price. The low PE of just 6 compared to the industry average leaves immense scope for a rerating of the stock that has a limited downside.

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions by readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to editor@gfilesindia.com with Bhardwaj’s name in the subject line.

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www.gfilesindia.com

PERSPECTIVE memory sadhguru

H

UMAN memory is the very basis of civilisation. It is the fundamental ingredient responsible for all science, technology and culture on the planet. But this source of empowerment can also become a source of enslavement. Memory is like a doorway. Doors can open, but they can also close. If doors open, you experience them as wonderful. If they keep slamming in your face, they can be horrible. Mere intelligence cannot produce civilisation. The transmission of memory from generation to generation enables us to build a foundation and forge ahead. Otherwise, we would be doomed to keep reinventing the wheel. Culture is essentially memory, and plays a crucial role in our lives, because it ensures survival, continuity, security. Even what we refer to as karma is simply memory stored on various levels in the human system. Although it can be a wonderful thing, memory also makes life repetitive rather than receptive. When you carry a certain volume of memory within you, your life becomes habitual and automatic. The possibility of spontaneity, wonder, the impulse to explore the new and the unknown, is obliterated. Together, memory and intelligence can be a fantastic combination. But memory alone is mere repetitiveness. The negative aspects are brainwashing, conditioning, indoctrination. Memory can often become a form of internal hypnosis; this can be useful, but when you do not know how to keep it aside, you run the risk of losing the greatest human gift of all: receptivity. If you were capable of discarding all civilisational influences—your identifications with nation, culture, religion and ideology—whenever you wanted, you could become a tremendous possibility. If your culture were

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Discard the baggage programmed into an external memory stick, you could simply pull it out when necessary, and choose to meditate! That would be great technology. But the problem is ancestral memory has been implanted in the brain. Since you have been internally hardwired, it takes so much longer to undo that programming. There is a beautiful story in yogic lore. The wedding between Adiyogi, or Shiva, and Parvati was a grand affair. Since Parvati was a princess, everyone was invited to the wedding—kings and queens, gods and goddesses, each in their finery, one more beautiful than the other. And then came the groom, Adiyogi, naked, inebriated, ash-smeared. With him was his whole entourage of cronies— demons, goblins and distorted beings. Parvati’s mother was horrified at the sight and fainted! However, on Parvati’s persuasion, Adiyogi transformed himself into Sundaramurti, the most beautiful man in the world, and her mother was appeased. Later, when the priests enquired after the groom’s lineage, Adiyogi remained silent. As a yogi, he had no pedigree, no caste, no creed, no parentage. It needed sage Narada to come in to save the situation and explain to everyone present that Adiyogi was

self-created—swayambhu—a being without antecedents. The story is a reminder that when we talk of Adiyogi, we are not talking of a genteel, civilised man but of a primal figure, in a state of absolute oneness with life. He is pure consciousness, completely without pretention, never repetitive, always spontaneous, forever inventive, ceaselessly creative. He is simply life itself. That is the fundamental requirement of the spiritual process. If you sit here as a mere bundle of thoughts, beliefs and opinions—that is, with a memory stick you’ve picked up from outside—you are simply enslaved to the psychological process. But if you sit here as a piece of life, you become one with the existential process. If you are willing, you can access the whole universe. Life has left everything open for you. Existence has not blocked anything for anyone. It has been said, ‘Knock, and it shall open.’ You don’t even have to knock because there is no real door. If you know how to keep aside a life of memory and repetition, you can walk right through. The way to realisation is wide open. g Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

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vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

49

birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

IAS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

Archana Varma

Nandini Paliwal

Nikunja Kishore Sundaray

Alok Ranjan

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

varmaa@ias.nic.in

nandini@ias.nic.in

sundaray@ias.nic.in

aranjan78@ias.nic.in

Raj Kumar Mathur

Vandana Krishna

Pankaj Kumar Bansal

Pankaj Yadav

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: HARYANA

rkmathur95@ias.nic.in

kvandna@ias.nic.in

bansalpk@ias.nic.in

ypankaj@ias.nic.in

Gaurav Uppal

M Rajaram

Sanjeev Chopra

Amitabh Kaushal

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: JHARKHAND

g.uppal@ias.nic.in

rajaram3@ias.nic.in

chopras2@ias.nic.in

kaushala@ias.nic.in

Mohd APM Hanish

Prerna Puri

Ramesh Chand Meena

Ashutosh Agnihotri

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

hanishma@ias.nic.in

prerna.ias@ias.nic.in

meenarc97@ias.nic.in

ashuagni@ias.nic.in

Pushpendra Rajput

Akshat Gupta

Rahul Tiwari

Ajeya Babu Kallam

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

rajputp@ias.nic.in

akshat.ias@ias.nic.in

trahul@ias.nic.in

ajeya@ias.nic.in

Zuhair Bin Saghir

PBO Warjri

Sukhdeo Singh

Kshatrapati Shivaji

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

zuhair.ias@ias.nic.in

warjripb@ias.nic.in

singhs16@ias.nic.in

shivajik@ias.nic.in

AL Jarhad

Aarti Ahuja

G Kameswara Rao

Sandeep Verma

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

jarhadal@ias.nic.in

ahujaa@ias.nic.in

raogk2@ias.nic.in

vsandip@ias.nic.in

Barun Kumar Ray

Roshan Sunkaria

Anant Kumar Singh

Santhosh Babu

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

raybk@ias.nic.in

sunkaria@ias.nic.in

sanantkr@ias.nic.in

babus@ias.nic.in

Maneesh Chauhan

Parikipandla Narahari

Ashish Kundra

Ishita Roy

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UNION TERRITORIES

CADRE: KERALA

cmaneesh@ias.nic.in

narahari@ias.nic.in

kundraa@ias.nic.in

royi@ias.nic.in

Bandana Preyashi

T Cholongse Sangtam

Kannegi Packianathan

NS Channappa Gowda

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: NAGALAND

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: KARNATAKA

bpreyashi@ias.nic.in

tc.sangtam@ias.nic.in

packiana@ias.nic.in

channappagowda.ias@ias.nic.in

V Rashmi Mahesh

Rohit Kumar

Arbind Prasad

A Ashok

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

maheshvr@ias.nic.in

kumarr12@ias.nic.in

prasadd1@ias.nic.in

ashoka@ias.nic.in

R Sudhan

Ranjit Kumar Sinha

Kangale Reena Babasaheb

BB Sharma

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

rsudhan.ias@ias.nic.in

rk.sinha@ias.nic.in

krbabasaheb@ias.nic.in

sharmbb@ias.nic.in

S Avhad Neelkanth

Avantika Singh Aulakh

Sanjay Goel

Anil Shrivastava

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

neelkant@ias.nic.in

avantikag@ias.nic.in

sgoel03@ias.nic.in

shrianil@ias.nic.in

16-02-1970

16-02-1956

17-02-1975

17-02-1969

18-02-1976

18-02-1980

19-02-1962

19-02-1967

20-02-1975

21-02-1974

21-02-1974

22-02-1978

23-02-1972

24-02-1976

25-02-1962

26-02-1956

26-02-1981

27-02-1977

28-02-1956

28-02-1964

28-02-1960

01-03-1975

01-03-1955

01-03-1969

01-03-1976

02-03-1981

02-03-1963

03-03-1970

03-03-1961

04-03-1969

04-03-1976

05-03-1964

05-03-1955

06-03-1959

06-03-1973

07-03-1955

08-03-1956

08-03-1978

09-03-1974

09-03-1956

10-03-1977

10-03-1973

11-03-1974

11-03-1957

12-03-1961

12-03-1970

12-03-1968

13-03-1965

13-03-1956

14-03-1960

14-03-1957

15-03-1959

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

50

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

www.gfilesindia.com

IPS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

IPS officers’ birthdays Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

Ravindra Kumar Gupta

Amit Chandra

Duli Lukaratnam

Sanjay Saxena

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

rkgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amitchandra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dlukaratnam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ssaxena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Sandeep Rai Rathore

Sanjay Kumar Jain

T Krishna Prasad

Kundan Krishna

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: BIHAR

sandeeprai@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jainsk@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

tkprasad@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kundankrishna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Lingala Vijaya Prasad

KD Sambhaji

Sharad Satya Chauhan

Akhil Kumar Roy

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

lvprasad@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kdsambhaji@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sschauhan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akhilhroy@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Maneesh Chaudhry

L Lenkhottan Doungel

Atul Karwal

BB Misra

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

sp.pkl@hry.nic.in

lldoungel@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bbmisra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Pramod Kumar Thakur

Vimla Mehra

Amaresh Pujari

Sanjay Mathur

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

pk_thakur@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vimlamehra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amaresh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sknag@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Shailesh Singh

Binay Kumar Mishra

Vijay Bhatia

Ashok Kumar Jain

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

shaileshsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

binaykr@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vbhatia@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ak_jain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Alok Puri

Manmohan Kumar Bashal

Abhilasha Bisht

Mohd Wazir Ahmed

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

alokpuri@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mkbashal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

abhilasha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mwahmed@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

MN Krishnamurthy

Omendra Bhardwaj

Anupam Saxena

Kulwant Kumar

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

krishnamurthy@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bhardwaj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anupam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kulwantkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Ashok Kumar

SK Misra

L Ram Bishnoi

Mahesh Kumar Aggarwal

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

sp-ban@gujarat.gov.in

skmisra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

lrambishnoi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mkaggarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Danesh Rana

Santosh Mehra

Sampat Meena

Akbar Ali Khan

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

daneshrana@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

santoshmehra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

smeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akbaralikhan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Amrit Raj

Lalrokhuma Pachau

Naval Bajaj

SM Sahai

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

amritraj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

lalrokhuma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nbajaj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

smsahai@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Ravinder Paul Singh

Devendra Kumar Pathak

KV Sharat Chandra

Rajan Gupta

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: PUNJAB

ravinderpaul@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dkpathak@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kvschandra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ranjan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Sanjiv Kumar Singh

MR Aruna

Mukhtar Mohsin

S Javeed Ahmad

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

sajivksingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mraruna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mohsinips@yahoo.com

sjahmad@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-02-1956

16-02-1968

16-02-1972

17-02-1981

18-02-1958

18-02-1965

18-02-1958

19-02-1955

20-02-1976

21-02-1971

21-02-1973

22-02-1957

22-02-1960

23-02-1968

23-02-1974

24-02-1968

25-02-1958

26-02-1956

26-02-1963

26-02-1966

27-02-1955

28-02-1959

28-02-1963

01-03-1955

01-03-1956

01-03-1962

01-03-1960

02-03-1960

03-03-1968

04-03-1964

04-03-1965

04-03-1971

05-03-1967

05-03-1971

06-03-1963

06-03-1971

07-03-1969

07-03-1967

07-03-1977

08-03-1965

08-03-1969

09-03-1956

10-03-1955

11-03-1968

12-03-1955

12-03-1955

13-03-1963

13-03-1972

14-03-1956

14-03-1963

15-03-1955

15-03-1960

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

www.indianbuzz.com

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

51

birthdays Lok Sabha Members

Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

Shrirang Chandu Barne 16-02-1964

SS (Maharashtra)

sc.barne@sansad.nic.in

Pratima Mondal 16-02-1966

AITC (West Bengal)

pratima.mondal@sansad.nic.in

Vinod Kumar Sonkar 18-02-1970

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

vinod.sonkar@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Assam)

ramenguwahati@yahoo.co.in

Kirti Vardhan Singh 01-03-1966

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

kirtivardhan.singh@sansad.nic.in

Boora Narsaiah Goud 02-03-1959

TRS (Telangana)

bnarsaiah.goud@sansad.nic.in

Nagendra Singh 03-03-1943

Krishna Raj

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

22-02-1967

nagendra.s@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

Birendra Kumar Choudhary

krishna.raj19@sansad.nic.in

Udayanraje Pratapsingh Bhonsle 24-02-1966

NCP (Maharashtra)

udayanrajebhonsle@yahoo.com

Konda Vishweshwar Reddy 26-02-1960

TRS (Telangana)

kvishweshwar.reddy@sansad.nic.in

Virendra Kumar 27-02-1954

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

vkumar@sansad.nic.in

BS Yeddyurappa 27-02-1943

BJP (Karnataka)

bs.yeddyurappa@sansad.nic.in

Yashwant Singh 01-03-1962

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

yashwant.singh19@sansad.nic.in

Parbhubhai Nagarbhai Vasava 01-03-1970 BJP (Gujarat)

vasavap.nagarbhai@sansad.nic.in

Pon Radhakrishnan 01-03-1952

BJP (Tamil Nadu)

ponrk@sansad.nic.in

CR Chaudhary 01-03-1948

BJP (Rajasthan)

cr.choudhary@sansad.nic.in

Ramen Deka

04-03-1953 BJP (Bihar)

bkumar.chaudhary@sansad.nic.in

Renuka Sinha 05-03-1949

AITC (West Bengal)

renuka.sinha@sansad.nic.in

Abhishek Singh 05-03-1981

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

abhishek.singh19@sansad.nic.in

Dharambir Bhaleram 05-03-1955 BJP (Haryana)

dharambir.mp@sansad.nic.in

Kapil Moreshwar Patil 05-03-1961

BJP (Maharashtra)

km.patil@sansad.nic.in

Vinod Chavda 06-03-1979 BJP (Gujarat)

chavdav.lakhamashi@sansad.nic.in

KH Muniyappa 07-03-1948

INC (Karnataka)

khmuni@sansad.nic.in

Shashi Tharoor 09-03-1956 INC (Kerala)

shashi.tharoor@nic.in

Sadhu Singh 09-03-1941 AAP (Punjab)

singh.sadhu@sansad.nic.in

01-03-1954

Lok Sabha Members

Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

Captain Amarinder Singh

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

11-03-1942

ferozevarun.gandhi@sansad.nic.in

INC (Punjab)

Kavitha Kalvakuntla

amarinder.singh@sansad.nic.in

13-03-1978

Rajesh Kumar Diwaker

TRS (Telangana)

12-03-1971

kalvakuntla.kavitha@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

Vasanthi M

rk.diwaker@sansad.nic.in

14-03-1962

MB Rajesh

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

12-03-1971

vasanthi.m@sansad.nic.in

CPI-M (Kerala)

Rajveer Singh

mbrajesh05@yahoo.com

Feroze Varun Gandhi 13-03-1980

Rajya Sabha Members

15-03-1959

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

vasavap.nagarbhai@sansad.nic.in,

Feb 16, 2015 — Mar 15, 2015

Praful Patel

Ranbir Singh Parjapati

NCP (Maharashtra)

INLD (Haryana)

praful@sansad.nic.in

ranbir.prajapati@sansad.nic.in

Khekiho Zhimomi

Pankaj Bora

NPF (Nagaland)

INC (Assam)

17-02-1957

04-03-1964

19-02-1946

06-03-1946

k.zhimomi@sansad.nic.in

Ghulam Nabi Azad

Jugul Kishore

07-03-1949

24-02-1959

INC (Jammu & Kashmir)

BSP (Uttar Pradesh)

azadg@sansad.nic.in

Abhishek Manu Singhvi

Joy Abraham

INC (Rajasthan)

KC-M (Kerala)

a.singhvi@sansad.nic.in

joyabraham.mp@sansad.nic.in

Bimla Kashyap Sood

Lal Sinh Vadodia

BJP (Himachal Pradesh)

BJP (Gujarat)

24-02-1959

26-02-1942

07-03-1951

07-03-1956

vadodia.ls@sansad.nic.in

Digvijaya Singh

Ranvijay Singh Judev

28-02-1947

07-03-1969

INC (Madhya Pradesh)

media@digvijayasingh.in

Haji Abdul Salam

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

rs.judev@sansad.nic.in

Karan Singh

01-03-1948 INC (Manipur)

09-03-1931

Bhalchandra Mungekar

karansi@sansad.nic.in

INC (NCT)

02-03-1946

Derek O’ Brien

INC (Nominated)

mungekar.b@sansad.nic.in

13-03-1961

AITC (West Bengal)

derek.ob@sansad.nic.in

Tarun Vijay 02-03-1956

Rangasayee Ramakrishna

BJP (Uttarakhand)

tarun.vijay@sansad.nic.in

15-03-1934

BJP (Karnataka)

ramakrish.r@sansad.nic.in

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

52

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

www.gfilesindia.com

Tracking HS BRAHMA

For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

The 1975-batch IAS officer is appointed the new Chief Election Commissioner.

Meghalaya cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Coal in the Government of India.

SUBRAHMANYAM JAISHANKAR

RAJIV KUMAR

The 1977-batch IFS officer, India’s Ambassador to the US, has been appointed Foreign Secretary of India.

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Expenditure in the Government of India.

ARVIND PANAGARIYA The Indian-American economist has been appointed Vice-Chairman of the newly formed NITI Aayog.

SINDHUSHREE KHULLAR The 1975-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed the first CEO of the newly formed NITI Aayog.

VK SARASWAT & BIBEK DEBROY Scientist VK SARASWAT and economist BIBEK DEBROY have been appointed members of the NITI Aayog.

DK BHALLA The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre has been appointed Secretary, Lok Sabha.

JIJI THOMSON The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary of Kerala.

AJAY KUMARBHALLA The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Assam-

RAJIV GAUBA The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed the new Chief Secretary of Jharkhand.

ANAND KULKARNI The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra.

PRADIP K TRIPATHI & BB VYAS The 1987-batch IAS officers have been appointed Principal Secretary to Governor and Principal Secretary, Finance Department, respectively, in Jammu and Kashmir.

ANIL KUMAR SINGHAL The 1977-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Resident Commissioner, AP Bhavan, in Delhi.

M SATHIYAVATHY The 1982-batch IAS officer has taken over as the first woman Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

AB PANDEY The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Deputy Director General, UIDAI, Mumbai, in the rank of Additional Secretary.

ASHOK MR DALAWAI The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Deputy Director General, UIDAI, Bengaluru, in the rank of Additional Secretary.

RAJIV SADANANDAN The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India.

SAMEER SHARMA The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development.

CK KHETAN The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary & Chief Executive Officer, National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation & Multiple Disabilities, under the Department of Disability Affairs.

ARUN KUMAR MEHTA The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in February 2015 ASSAM

Anup Kumar Thakur (1979) Balvanta K Dev Varma (1979) Suresh Chandra Panda (1981) B Dhar (1996) Upendra Nath Bora (2000)

ANDHRA PRADESH

D Lakshmi P Bhaskar (1980)

BIHAR

Nilam Gupta (2000) Syed Parvez Alam (2000)

GUJARAT

Bhagyesh Vasudev Jha (1991)

HIMACHAL PRADESH Sudripto Roy (1978)

HYDERABAD

PUNJAB

KERALA

RAJASTHAN

MAHARASHTRA

SIKKIM

DPS Nagal (1992) KG Raju (2004) Philip D Gabrial (1998) PB Kalbhor (1998) KS Shingare (1999)

MANIPUR-TRIPURA Naved Masood (1977) RH Gonmei (2003)

NAGALAND

CJ Ponraj (1981) T Cholongse Sangtam (1997)

VK Sharma (1994) Ashish Bahuguna (1978) Passang Tempo Euthenpa (2001)

TAMIL NADU

Swaran Singh (1986)

UTTAR PRADESH

Badal Chatterji (1998) Shankar Singh (1999)

WEST BENGAL

Susit Kumar Biswas (1997)

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Tracking RAJESH AGGARWAL The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Financial Services, in the Government of India.

ANURAG JAIN The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has joined the PMO as Joint Secretary.

AMRIT LAL MEENA The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Bihar.

MALAY SRIVASTAVA The 1990-batch IAS officer has been appointed Principal Secretary, Transport, in Madhya Pradesh.

G ANANTA RAMU

For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED SECRETARIES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA BHANU PRATAP SHARMA (1981-batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Health and Family Welfare; LOV VERMA (1978-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities, under the Ministry of Social Justice; GAURI KUMAR (1979-batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Co-ordination & Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat; SHANKAR AGARWAL (1980-batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment; MADHUSUDHAN PRASAD (1981-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development; ANITA AGNIHOTRI (1980-batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment; NANDITA CHATTERJEE (1980-batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre) has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

ASHUTOSH JINDAL

SANJAY KUMAR SAXENA

The 1995-batch IAS officer of the ManipurTripura cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Special Commissioner, Transport, in the Delhi government.

The 1990-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Commissioner, Transport, in Andhra Pradesh.

GOPINATH NARAYAN

BHUPINDER SINGH BHALLA

BIPIN BIHARI MALLICK

The 1990-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce.

The 1996-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.

VAIBHAV GAUR

GYANESH BHARTI

The 2002-batch IDES officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

RAJESH KUMAR TIWARI The 1991-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary (Director Level) in the UPSC.

AS KIRAN KUMAR The officer has been appointed Secretary, Department of Space and Chairman, Space Commission.

MIHIR KUMAR SINGH The 1993-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

ABHA SHUKLA The 1993-batch IAS officer has been appointed Resident Commissioner of Maharashtra in Delhi.

S SHASHIDHAR KUKATLAPALLI The 1997-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Director in the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under the Ministry of Agriculture, Delhi.

54

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

The 1996-batch IA&AS officer has been appointed Director, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

The 1998-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Power. THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARIES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MUDIT KUMAR SINGH (1984-batch IFS officer, Chhattisgarh cadre); BK LYNGWA (1985-batch IFS officer, AssamMeghalaya cadre); SURESH CHANDRA (1985-batch IFS officer, Rajasthan cadre); VM ARORA (1985-batch IFS officer, Uttar Pradesh cadre); PC MODY (1982-batch IRS-IT officer; MEETA NAMBIAR (1982-batch IRS-IT officer); DINESH CHAND GUPTA (1982-batch ITS officer); DEEPAK CHATURVEDI (1982-batch ITS officer); RADHA M CHATURVEDI (1982-batch ITS officer); VIRENDER SINGH (1984-batch IFS officer, Rajasthan cadre); RAM SHABD YADAVA (1982-batch ITS officer).

SATISH MATHUR The 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Commissioner, Labour, in the Delhi government.

The 2002-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary, UPSC.

MADHUKAR NAIK DHEERAVATH

KUNDAN KUMAR The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

PARVATHI SUBRAMANIAN The 2005-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been appointed Secretary, Telangana State Public Service Commission, Hyderabad.

THULASIMADDINENI The 2005-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Deputy Director in LBSNAA.

ARUN KUMAR GUPTA The 1977-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Director General of Police in Uttar Pradesh.

www.gfilesindia.com

RUPESH KUMAR THAKUR

K DURGA PRASAD

ABHISHEK TRIVEDI

The 2006-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Deputy Commissioner, South DM, in the Delhi government.

The 1981-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Special Director General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The 1996-batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General, National Security Guard.

DURGA SHAKTI NAGPAL

YP SINGHAL

JANARDHAN SINGH

The 2010-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been posted as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Radha Mohan Singh, Agriculture Minister.

The 1983-batch IPS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Director General of Haryana Police.

The 1997-batch IPS officer of the Nagaland cadre has been appointed Deputy Director at DIG level in the Intelligence Bureau (IB).

VISHWAPATI TRIVEDI

ID SHUKLA

VIJAY KUMAR

The 1995-batch IPS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

The 1997-batch IPS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

PRAFFULLA KUMARRAUSHAN

DIPANSHU VIJAYKABRA

The 1996-batch IPS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The 1997-batch IPS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General in the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

SUDHANSHU KUMAR

SANJAY SINGH

The 1996-batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre has been deputed as Private Secretary to Giriraj Singh, Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises at Director level.

The 1997-batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Deputy Inspector General in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

The 1977-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, outgoing Secretary, Shipping has been appointed Adviser, Shipping.

DIVYA PRAKASH SINHA The 1979-batch IPS officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre, Special Secretary, Intelligence Bureau, has been appointed Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat.

RAJIV MEHTA The 1981-batch IPS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre, Director General of Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), will be the new DGP, Meghalaya.

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN UTTARAKHAND SHAILESH BAIGOLI has been appointed Secretary, GAD; VIJAY KUMAR DHONDHIYAL has been posted as Secretary in-charge, Cooperative and Legal Department; VIKAS DAMYANTI is being shifted as Secretary in-charge, Irrigation Department, with additional charge of Centre-related portfolios; D SENTHIL PANDIYAN has been shifted as Additional Secretary, Department of Administration. THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED IN MAHARASHTRA 1982-batch K P BAKSHI has been appointed new ACS (Home) in Maharashtra; UJJWAL UKE is the new social justice secretary; SUDHIR SHRIVASTAVA is women and child welfare Secretary;1986-batch JAYASHRI MUKHERJEE is appointed Secretary, Minority Affairs; VIJAY KUMAR is the new forest secretary. THE FOLLOWING IPS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN PROMOTED TO DIFFERENT GRADES IN RAJASTHAN JANGA SHRINIVAS, RAJEEV KUMAR SHARMA and RAVI PRAKASH have been promoted to the grade of Additional Director General of Police; VISHAL BANSAL, HAWA SINGH GHUMARIYA, GURUCHARAN RAY, GIRAJ LAL MEENA and GIRDHARI LAL SHARMA have been promoted to the grade of Inspector Director General of Police; PRAFUL KUMAR, HG RAGHVENDRA SUHASA, HARI PRASAD SHARMA, MAHESH KUMAR GOYAL, SURENDRA KUMAR, MAHENDRA SINGH CHOWDHARY, BHADUR SINGH RATHORE and SN KHINCHI have been promoted to the grade of Deputy Inspector Director General of Police; BHUVAN BHUSHAN YADAV, ANAND SHARMA and GAURAV YADAV have been promoted to the grade of Superintendent of Police; VIJAY KUMAR SINGH and S SENGATHIR have been promoted to the grade of Inspector General of Police.

DEEPAK RATAN The 1997-batch IPS officer has been promoted as Inspector General, Lucknow.

JAI PRAKASH SINGH The 2002-batch IPS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, New Delhi.

ASHWANI LOHANI The 1980-batch IRSME officer has joined as Managing Director, MPSTDC, and Commissioner, Tourism, Government of Madhya Pradesh.

SK KAUSHIK The 1986-batch IFS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chief Vigilance Officer in the National Textiles Corporation Limited (NTCL) on deputation basis at Joint Secretary level.

VV SATYA SRINIVAS The IRSME officer has been appointed Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCIL), Visakhapatnam.

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Tracking AINDRI ANURAG The 1988-batch IPoS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary, in the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.

SAJEESH KUMAR The 2002-batch IRTS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Urban Development.

RAJGOPAL SHARMA The 1994-batch IRS-IT officer has been appointed Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping.

V ANANDRAJAN The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Joint Secretary (TPL-II) in the Department of Revenue, CBDT, New Delhi.

PABITRA SARKAR The 1991-batch ITS officer has been appointed Director in the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Delhi.

MUKESH KUMAR The 1995-batch ITS officer has been appointed Director, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), Delhi.

MS RAVI The 2003-batch IES officer has been appointed Joint Director in the Department of Telecommunications.

SARAH MUJEEB The 2010-batch IES officer has been appointed Assistant Director, Economic Division, in the Department of Economic Affairs.

RAJESH TRIPATHI The IRSME officer is the new Chairman and Managing Director of the Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) Limited, Visakhapatnam.

RAJESH KUMAR TIWARI The 1991-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary (Director Level), in the UPSC.

VAIBHAV GAUR The 2002-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary, in the UPSC.

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gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT DIFFERENT PLACES IN TELANGANA T VIJAY KUMAR has been appointed Joint Secretary, Education Department; GD ARUNA is Secretary, GAD; ANITA RAJENDRA is Director, Marketing; C SUDHARSHAN REDDY is Joint Secretary, Panchayati Raj and Rural Development; MD ABDUL AZEEM is Director, Youth Services; K MANICKA RAJ is Director, Relief & Rehabilitation and Land Acquisition in Irrigation & Command Area Development; MV REDDY is Director, Scheduled Castes; BHARATHI LAKPATHI NAIK is Deputy Secretary, Medical & Health; P VENKATA RAMI REDDY is Joint Collector, Mahabubnagar; B VIJENDRA is Director, Women & Child Welfare; MG GOPAL has been appointed PS, Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department; RANJEEV R ACHARYA is PS, Education; NAVIN MITTAL is Special Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation; M VEERABRAHMAIAH is posted as Special Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad; NEETU KUMARI PRASAD is Collector and District Magistrate, Karimnagar; G KISHAN is Additional Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad; M RAGHUNANDAN is Collector and District Magistrate, Ranga; GD PRIYADARSHINI is Collector and District Magistrate, Adilabad; P SATYANARAYANA REDDY is Collector and District Magistrate, Nalgonda; TK SREEDEVI is Collector and District Magistrate, Mahabubnagar; V KARUNA is Collector and District Magistrate, Warangal; K NIRAMALA is Collector and District Magistrate, Hyderabad; GAURAV UPPAL is Additional Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad; RAJAT KUMAR SAINI is Joint Collector-I & Additional District Magistrate, Ranga; PAUSUMI BASU is Additional Commissioner, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Hyderabad; K SURENDRA MOHAN is Joint Collector & Additional District Magistrate, Hyderabad; SARFARAZ AHMAD is Municipal Commissioner, Warangal; BHARTI HOLLIKERI is Chief Rationing Officer, Hyderabad; HARI CHANDANA DASARI is Joint Collector-II & Additional District Magistrate, Ranga; PATIL PRASHANT JEEVAN is Joint Collector & Additional District Magistrate, Warangal; D KRISHNA BHASKAR is Sub-Collector, Jagitiyal; ALAGU VARSINI VS is Sub-Collector, Vikarabad; RAJEEV is Sub-Collector, Asfabad, Adilabad and Kharte; and KALICHARAN SUDAMRAO has been posted as Sub-Collector, Paloncha, Khammam.

MAMTA MEENA The 2012-batch IES officer has been appointed Research Officer, Planning Commission, REO, Jaipur.

Corporation (NMDC) Ltd, has been selected for the post of Director (Personnel) in NMDC Ltd at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting.

NADAR PAUL VASANTHAKUMAR

ANAND KUMAR SINGH

The Judge of the Madras High Court has been appointed Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

The 1993-batch ITS officer, Director, Higher Education, has been appointed as Director in Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).

REVA KHETRAPAL

YASH PAL

The former Judge of the Delhi High Court has been appointed Chairperson of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FACT).

The HCS officer has been appointed Private Secretary to Chaudhary Birendra Singh, Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water & Sanitation.

ANUPAM SHRIVASTAVA The Director (CM), BSNL, has been apointed Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).

SANDEEP TULA The ED, National Mineral Development

ANURAG AGARWAL The 1994-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Home Secretary, Chandigarh Administration, on inter-cadre deputation from Haryana to AGMUT cadre for a period of three years.

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way Chhibber’s poll promise

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Lavasa’s passion

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secretary in any ministry in the Government of India maintains a very hectic schedule. Their day starts at nine in the morning but there is no guarantee of when it will end. If a secretary manages to keep his passion alive in such a schedule, it is truly commendable. Ashok Lavasa, a 1980-batch IAS officer from Haryana who is currently posted as Secretary, Environment and Forest Ministry, is passionate about photography and always spares time to pursue it along with his wife, Novel. The couple has an eye for photography and both understand the subject and the camera well. Lavasa has recently put his passion to good use. He has designed a personalised calendar titled “Footprints of our future”, using Indian wildlife as a theme. The calendar has 26 pictures depicting the couple’s sensibilities. Although the calendar does not mention the time when the pictures were taken, it still gives an idea that the two travel a lot whenever they get time, to see wildlife. Lavasa has the calendars in stock; if you call him you may be among the few who can sample this treasure. g

www.indianbuzz.com

he members of Delhi’s elite Gymkhana Club are waiting for the implementation of an election promise made by the current president, Vijay Chhibber. A 1978-batch IAS officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre, Chhibber made this promise during the elections. Chhibber is currently working as Secretary, Road Transport and Highways. The boundary of the Club is located opposite the residence of the Prime Minister and runs parallel to its front gate. The Land and Development (L&DO) authorities in the Ministry of Urban Development had acquired 3.5 acres of land on the premise of a possible security threat as the club is a public place. The management of Gymkhana went to the High Court to get the land back but the Delhi High Court rejected the case stating that the Gymkhana does not have the right to take a stand on national security issues. During the Club elections, Chhibber did not know what to do, so he promised the members that he would bring back the land once he was elected to office. Clearly, like many Indian politicians, Chhibber is not worried about his election promise now that he has already won the election. g

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

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...by the way Spying on the boss

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Sanghi’s doldrums

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hetan Bhushan Sanghi, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre and Chief Secretary of Puducherry, has been transferred as Joint Secretary, Women and Child Welfare. Sources disclose that Sanghi is stressed with the transfer in the Central Government as this post is routine in nature. He wants to get the transfer cancelled by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). As per the rules, if he does not join he will be debarred from further postings. Chief Minister of Puducherry N Rangaswamy has also written to DoPT, seeking to retain Sanghi for some more time but the DoPT is not amused. The logic given to DoPT is that when KK Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS officer was posted as Additional Secretary in Women and Child Welfare, his posting was cancelled and he was posted instead as Chief Secretary, Goa. But DoPT is in no mood to oblige Sanghi. If Sanghi does not join the designated office and is debarred from future postings, he will face serious problems in his career. There is another twist to this story: other officers are waiting for Sanghi to join as JS. One prominent lady officer in the Delhi government is eager to take his position as Chief Secretary, Puducherry, as soon as Sanghi demits office. Sources disclose that a lady officer, with considerable influence, sitting on Raisina Hill, is eager to help the female candidate. We will just have to wait for the DoPT order and see if it bails Sanghi out or not. g

orking within the government system is becoming a very delicate matter. On the surface, everything looks calm and composed but you will never know who will stab you in the back and one always has to be cautious. If one visits North Block, where the Home Ministry is located, everything seems routine but behind the curtains and closed doors, no one is spared from probing eyes. The corridors of North Block are agog with the latest buzz that one of the seniormost officials of an investigative agency, recently reposted, spied on the friends of his immediate boss. It is also quite astonishing that while no one dared to track his immediate boss, he kept a very close eye on the movements and discussions of his boss’s friends on the phone. Now, the immediate boss is also concerned with the only relief being that the officer concerned has been divested of office. The immediate boss’ only worry is that nothing should come out in the public domain before his retirement. Sources say that Home Ministry officials have become cautious after the reported incident and are trying to find a way to evade the investigative agencies’ network, which works under their domain. g

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

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gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 11 | February 2015

www.gfilesindia.com

Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2013-15 Licence No. U(C)-03/2013-15, Licence to post without prepayment Posted on 7th & 8th of every month at SPM SRT Nagar, Post Office, New Delhi 110055 R.N.I. No: DELENG/2007/19719. Rs`200, vol. 8, issue 11 | Date of Publication: 5/2/2015 | Pages 56+4

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