Prabhat kumar the ties between bureaucracy & political system p10
MG DEVASAHAYAM mistake to make Chandigarh a Metropolis p14
August 2018 `200 vol. 12, issue 5
NEW PLAYERS, NEW WARS
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Featuring Prabhat Kumar BG Deshmukh MC Gupta Kripa Narayan Srivastava V Selvaraj Sushil Chandra Tripathi Romesh Bhandari Devi Dayal Reva Nayyar VP Sawhney SK Mishra Dr G Sundaram KC Sivaramakrishnan Nitish Sengupta Vishnu Bhagwan Gen Noble Thamburaj Baleshwar Rai
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From the Editor
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018 Anil Tyagi | editor GS Sood | business editor Sheshadri Chari | roving editor Alam Srinivas | contributing editor Anish Gandhi | consultant, foreign affairs Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Ramesh Sharma | bureau chief (north india) Durvesh Singh | bureau chief (Lucknow) Mayank Awasthi | sub editor Pawan Kumar | production coordinator Nipun Jain | finance Gautam Das | legal consultant Bushchat Media | edit & design Madan Lal | webmaster Abhisshek Tyagi | director advertising & marketing Anil Sood | vice president, marketing +919811639632 PS Sural | vice president, marketing +919873243950 e-mail: asps@gfilesindia.com delhi: e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 Chandigarh: SCO 5- First Floor, Zirakpur-Shimla Highway, Zirakpur, District Mohali Punjab Contact — 0172-509368 e-mail: rameshsharmaemail@gmail.com Anil Tyagi, Printer & Publisher 118, 2nd floor, dda site 1, new rajinder nagar, new delhi – 110 060 +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 Polykam Offset, C-138, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi 110028. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in New Delhi only
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eventy one years after Independence, India hasn’t solved any critical social issues. Violent and aggressive caste divisions persist, and openly lift their ugly heads during the various elections. Disruptive gender biases continue, as women empowerment is restricted to a few sections and female infants are still being killed. Inclusive India is only a mere slogan today, just like Garibi Hatao was in the 1970s. Although poverty levels have reduced, there are still hundreds of millions, who are poor, starved, homeless, and destitute. On top of all this, we have decisively divided India into socio-economic classes. Several years ago, Kishore Biyani of the Future Group, as also the father of modern retail in India, divided India into three distinct socio-economic classes. India 1 was elitist, and wealthy with sizeable disposable incomes. India 2 served India 1, as maids and drivers, was largely laden with high hopes and grand ambitions. India 3 was poor, barely able to make their ends meet, but a bit optimistic about the future of their children. India 1 made the right noises, but didn’t wish India 2 to graduate upwards, as the former needed the latter. India 1 and 2 publicly talked about the poor, but did little to help them. What Biyani described in terms of consumption attitudes has turned into a menacing reality. The social and economic divisions between these three classes have become sharper, deeper, and wider. In terms of incomes, the gap is yawning. A recent survey found that the richest 1 per cent Indians own 73 per cent of the total wealth, up from 58 per cent in 2017. The bottom 50 per cent of Indians, mainly the poor and lower classes, saw their incomes inch up by a mere 1 per cent. This is a complete travesty in the world’s largest democracy. Swathes of Indians are still hugely dependent on government doles. Direct Benefit Transfer has reduced corruption, but made benefits more inaccessible to illiterate and semi-literate villagers, who are officially dubbed as ‘financially inclusive’ because they have bank accounts, but have no clue what it means and how to operate their accounts. The government’s inability to create necessary jobs implies that the poor will continue to remain poor, may even become poorer, even as the rich become richer. A country on permanent dole is a country on permanent boil. The fact remains that despite greater connectivity in all forms, there is a yawning disconnect between the political and bureaucratic rulers and masses. The latter rarely get to meet and interact with the former, except during election times. Even then, you get to hear the Prime Minister on Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, radio, TV, and other online apps. Never in person! This is the unfortunate part of the idea of new India. The problem becomes more acute when the majority of population realises that it cannot access the three crucial ingredients to ensure future prosperity, economic ambitions, and social status. These are the three H’s of modern life – housing, health, and higher education. Despite government interventions, despite massive housing schemes, mass-linked health insurance, and hefty quotas in higher education, the three elude most Indians. In fact, partial and selective access has led to further disparities – between castes and communities, and within castes and communities. The distinctions between the haves and have-nots are more distinct and acute. In 2022, India will become the world’s most populated nation, overtaking China. Hundreds of millions of people will find themselves without jobs, without adequate education, and with little health benefits. The State, or the political rulers, who are more inclined to woo voters to win elections, rather than create a workable vision to improve their lives forever, will find that clashes between religions, communities, castes, and classes will become open and rampant. It’s time for decisive action now. Seventy five years after Independence, we may witness yet another brutal partition that can cleave and rent asunder India’s social fabric. Anil Tyagi
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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CONTENTS
Globescan: US-China-Russia-India New Wars of 21st Century
Cover Story
EVMs? Trust Deficit! In 2019, when 800 million Indians vote to elect a new government, they, along with the political fraternity, will rest their faith on the controversial, malfunctioning, and hack-able voting machines. Hence, it’s time for the political parties to decide whether they knowingly wish to join the bandwagon, and trust the EVMs, or take the harsh stance to boycott the national elections. Our democratic future lies in the hands of a questionable and doubtful technology. The Election Commission can change it. A courageous piece by Vivek Mukherji
pg 20
Economic and territorial wars between US and China, diplomatic love-hate between Russia and the US, and historical kinship between China and Russia will define the new global order. The geopolitics of the new century is in a huge churn; nothing will ever be the same again. India needs to play its cards well, and use her aces at the right time. Seema Guha reports pg 36
Globescan: Sino-Indian ties: Chinese envoy’s googly
Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui’s suggestion for a trilateral summit between India, China and Pakistan has surprised diplomatic circles for India has always been against any third party intervention where relations with Pakistan are concerned pg 44
Governance: UN against illicit tobacco trade
India faces a unique challenge as the UN-backed treaty against illicit tobacco trade takes effect in September pg 46
Bric-a-brac
Book Extract: How Babri Masjid fell, brick by brick
War and peace, Power, Pawar and Patels, Gesture of Rijiju, Nitish for PM pg 8
Eyes Wide Shut: Ethics of governance
An effective and honest civil service cannot coexist with a self seeking political system and a responsible democratic system has to be based on the principles of ethics of governance. These are more so important in light of the recent controversy involving Delhi Chief Secretary and the ruling party MLAs
By the Way pg 10
Governance: Chandigarh ‘Metropolis’ as Punjab Capital?
Making Chandigarh a Metropolis will be a mistake. Better option would be to develop it into a ‘knowledge-cum-sportscity’ taking advantage of the available infrastructure and talent. This would also be in line with Le Corbusier’s line of thinking pg 14
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A civil servant, who saw the demolition of Babri Masjid from the closest power-proximity, recounts the role of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, and others. An extract from ‘Born to Serve’, penned by Dr Yogendra Narain, former Chief Secretary, UP, central Defence Secretary, and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha. pg 48
Super Chief Minister, To probe or not to probe, Practicality wins in Haryana, Experience counts pg 61
Plus... Birthdays of MPs, Civil Servants Tracking: Transfers & Postings
pg 50
pg 54
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com
take enormous risks when they manipulate competitions considering that they are subject to disciplinary measures, which could range from penalties, to relegation and even lifeban. The reality is that investigation capacities of sports organisations are still limited, as are the sanctions they are able to take against fixers. Collaboration with law enforcement agencies is urgently needed. Suresh P via blog
Fixing the fixers I read your cover story ‘Hurrah for gamblers’ with great interest (gfiles, July 2018). The critical issue is one of match-fixing, which violates the rules, regulations and codes of conduct of sports federations. It can also ruin athletes’ careers. The wide scale exploitation of match-fixing by organised criminals who take advantage of technology giving easy access to betting markets has transformed the phenomenon into a major tool for corruption. Sports organisations have taken steps and have developed governance structures and procedures in order to fight match-fixing end. Indeed, athletes
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Governance by fear This is with reference to the article by MG Devasahayam (‘Governance by fear: signs of a failing state’, gfiles, July 2018). He writes that the record of the BJP government is preserving democracy is equally bad, if not worse, than the Emergency. I would like to recall here a quote by Thomas Jefferson which is: “When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty.” A democracy thrives when there is free flow of ideas and an open discussion among people with differing political opinions. The current atmosphere of fear, and attacks on freedom of speech and expression, raise serious issues. Minorities are used as scapegoats for all the government’s failures and to
unite the masses against a common enemy. Usually these minorities are of a different race or religion than the majority. The decrease in tolerance in India’s society is a warning of darker days ahead and should be heeded by all. Meena Narang via email Gender discrimination Much more needs to be done by the government to prevent sex-selective abortion. Cash transfers cannot wipe out the rigid mindsets of communities that practise such a crime. The misuse of new reproductive technologies for sex determination, sex-selective abortion and sex selection reveals a range of critical forms of gender discrimination which can be dubbed as neo-patriarchal in nature. Abortion was legalised in India almost half a century ago, yet unsafe abortions — performed in unhygienic conditions by untrained providers — are the third largest cause of maternal death. Nearly two-thirds of the more than 15 million abortions conducted annually in India are outside of health facilities, giving rise to safety concerns. It will be several decades before the sex ratio at birth in countries like India is within normal limits. Anita Tiwari via blog
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Bric-a-brac for & against
War and peace jindal takes stock
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n politics, there are wheels within wheels. Such enmeshing has huge impact on the corporate sector. Take the case of the sixyear-old criminal fracas between industrialist and former Congress MP, Naveen Jindal, and media baron Shubhash Chandra of the Zee Group fame. Last month, the former withdrew his FIR with the Delhi Police that alleged that the editorial heads of Chandra’s two news channels tried to extort `100 crore in exchange for not airing news about Jindal group’s alleged involvement in the coal block allocation scam. Apparently, the truce was brokered by renowned Congress middlemen-MP, who is extremely close to 10, Janpath. So, a Congressman helped a former Congressman to smoke the peace pipe with a businessman, whose proximity to the BJP is well known. The day Jindal wrote to the Delhi
Police to withdraw the FIR filed against Chandra, the government’s Enforcement Directorate filed a complaint for money laundering against Jindal in the same coal allocation case. Around the same time, the latter bagged a lucrative business contract from the government. The various wheels, it may seem, were truly revolving at great speeds. But this may just be the beginning of the political-business tangle in this case. After being under pressure for a long time, the businessman Jindal is trying to find his feet and stabilise his empire. He, therefore, needs to choose his battles carefully. He cannot fire on several fronts, and also leave the flanks open for counterattacks. As Sun Tzu said, “if equally matched (with the enemy), we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.” g
Power, Pawar and Patels ncp revises strategy
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tung by Congress’ taunt that Sharad Pawar’s NCP never takes the front seat, the Maharashtra politician appointed Vandana Chavan as the joint opposition candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha’s Deputy Chairman. Prickled by his boss’ decision, Praful Patel opposed it vehemently. In Parliament, he told friends and whoever else was willing to listen, that this was a bad move for various reasons. One, the opposition candidate, even if a joint one, was likely to lose. Two, NCP was a puny party, and the largest of the opposition parties should have taken the initiative to appoint a consensus candidate. Three, Pawar’s decision may actually break the bonhomie among the various opposition parties. But it wasn’t such a simple-and-shut scenario. Over the years, the NCP has played a blow-hot,
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blow-cold game with both the Congress and BJP. Its senior leaders, including Pawar and Patel, have adopted varying political strategies. This was openly evident during the Rajya Sabha election of Ahmed Patel, Sonia Gandhi’s Political Advisor, from Gujarat. The NCP played a chaotic and confused game – it initially said it would support Ahmed, and later did a U-Turn and maintained that it would go with the BJP. Finally, Ahmed scraped through, but only because the Election Commission disqualified two Congress MLAs’ votes for showing their ballots to others. After the election, the Congress disqualified several MLAs as they defied the party’s whip to vote for Ahmed Patel. The curious case of NCP, Congress and BJP, as well as Pawar and two Patels is like to take more mysterious turns in the near future. g
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Bric-a-brac for & against
Gesture of Rijiju makes amends with sugata
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arliament is a forum for discussion and debates of national importance. Sometime the debates are heated and sometimes humorous but the ministers generally never lose their tempers. Even if a minister loses it, he or she generally meets the MPs after the debate and expresses regrets. MP Sugata Bose is the grandson of veteran freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose. He is highly educated and has been a professor of history at Harvard University. As the Assam National Citizens Register (NCR) case became the burning topic in Parliament, Sugata Bose fired many questions at the ruling party. The questions was so scorching that the Minister of State for Home, Kiren Rijiju – who was representing the government in the House – lost his temper. Rijiju’s reply to Bose was such that the latter was taken aback for a while. But instead of extenuating the matter, he decided on quietly taking his seat. Rijiju’s reply was that people who are questioning the NRC are antinationalists. However, Rijiju soon realised what he had said. As soon as the session ended, he went straight to Sugata and apologised that he didn’t intend to question his patriotism, rather he was carrying his party’s line on the matter. Boss smiled. He knew that when minister is a good pawn of the party, such things happen. g
Nitish for PM all about numbers
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peculation on the results of the 2019 general elections has already begun. There is a discomfort in the ruling BJP leadership. We’ll tell you why. It is learnt that the patriarchal RSS has undertaken an internal survey of all parliamentary constituencies. And, the top leadership was shocked to receive the data from the psephologist, who has predicted that BJP may not have more than 160-180 parliamentary seats in 2019 at present. There is another theory that hinges on whether the BJP loses the upcoming assembly elections in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram. The detractors of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are waiting for that day to attack. If BJP loses the next round of assembly elections, then the onslaught will be against Party President Amit Shah. Insiders reveal that it is yet to be seen when Narendra
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Modi and Amit Shah will hold the assembly elections. Observers disclosed that there may be slight postponement of the four state elections and preponement of parliamentary elections. The interesting part of the story is what will happen if the BJP gets only 160-180 seats in 2019. First, Amit Shah will have to go as party president and a new BJP head will have to be selected by the RSS. In all probability, in the above given scenario Narendra Modi would have to pave the way for a new incumbent if allies are not ready to move ahead with him as the PM. Who will be the new incumbent? It will depend on the allies and the RSS. Among the allies, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in all likelihood will jump in the fray and claim the post. He has good relations with most of the leaders. Indications of such a move are already visible with the election of JDU’s Harivansh Narain Singh as Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. g
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Eyes Wide Shut civil services prabhat kumar
Ethics of governance An effective and honest civil service cannot coexist with a self seeking political system and a responsible democratic system has to be based on the principles of ethics of governance. These are more so important in light of the recent controversy involving Delhi Chief Secretary and the ruling party MLAs
A
new chapter was recently added to the old debate on the relationship between the political executive and the senior bureaucracy when the Chief Secretary of National Territory of Delhi accused a couple of legislators of the ruling party of assaulting him in the presence of the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister. Notwithstanding the special status of Delhi as a Union Territory State with confusion about the supremacy of the elected government, it was a moment of reckoning for civil servants. And having spent a large part of my life in government, it set me thinking on the subject of coexistence of politicians and civil servants in a democratic set up. It has been my recurrent discontent that the civil servants do not pay much attention to reflecting on the essence of public service adequately, and that they have failed to create sufficient energy in their transactions with the citizen. They do not see the need to force changes in the
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existing mode of administration. They underestimate their designated role in the system and are content to live in their comfort zones. They do not realise that their action reinforces the status quo. It is a truism that the craft of state building requires both a political executive to envision the wishes of the people and a permanent civil service to help translate them into reality. It is also true that the subject of politician-bureaucrat relationship has not attracted much attention from the political thinkers in our country. I for one consider this relationship as critical in a growing democracy like India. Since the politician does not show much interest in resolving the problem, the civil servant will have to try to steer the relationship in the best interest of the State while keeping the institutional integrity intact. Over the years, a number of incidents relating to the unsettled relations between the political bosses and bureaucrats have been making news. Top civil servants
being shown the door unceremoniously and public scolding of district officials by the ministers are common occurrences in some states. There have been several cases of constructive cooperation between the two in acts of organised corruption. But an allegation of physical assault on the chief of the civil service in a State was something unusual. I refrain from expressing my views on the incident because the facts are unclear and vehemently disputed. This comprises one of the three cardinal mistakes the senior civil servants of India have been making for decades. The other two are acting alone and not having a cogent vision of the Indian civil service. But they are a subject for another day. Political executive in a parliamentary democracy are, by design, the instruments of the elected government to realise the aspirations of the electorate. They hold their positions because they have won the verdict of the people on public policy. They are expected to be willing
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and able to work to see that the wishes of the people are implemented at the agency level in accordance with law and regulation. They perform a critical function: working to translate the wishes of the people into policy initiatives. Career civil servants perform a very different role. They implement policy, besides helping to make it. They provide continuity and specialised expertise based on institutional knowledge and experience. Traditionally, most of them spend their entire working careers in government, although in our country nowadays it seems to be changing.
M
y first hypothesis is that these roles are separate, and it’s important to do all we can to keep them separate. And this must be realised by both the actors. The model of Weberian bureaucracy, which has largely been adopted by us, insists on a permanent civil service with standards of efficiency, integrity, objectiv-
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Political executive in a parliamentary democracy performs a critical function: working to translate the wishes of the people into policy initiatives. Career civil servants perform a very different role. They implement policy, besides helping to make it
ity, political indifference and domain knowledge. It has also the capability to transfer its expertise and loyalty from one elected government to another. The last feature of Weberian bureaucracy poses problems. While it does not matter much in an established democracy where mainstream political parties have settled agendas, the Indian scene with its cacophony of ideologies requires a chameleon like civil service. I have been personally a witness and an accomplice in the game of shifting loyalties. In the seventies I was instrumental, in a small way, of justifying the imposition of Emergency by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and later under Janata government, of taking action in cases of Emergency excesses. This type of situation is experienced by hundreds of civil servants today. And the new phenomenon of coalition governments has made matters even more complicated. I have seen the last days of a healthy synergy between political masters and civil servants in the initial years of Indian
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Eyes Wide Shut civil services prabhat kumar
democracy. It was a period of uniformity within the executive, when both the limbs worked with a shared purpose of building the nation. Several instances come to my mind when career bureaucrats advised the ministers against their chosen course of action and their advice was heeded to. There are instances of the two sitting together and deciding on schemes and programmes for the people in the field. An elegant example of constructive cooperation between the two was the great green revolution of the sixties. There was hardly any complaint of political favouritism or official corruption. District officers were not shifted at the behest of local politicians before or after elections. Political transfer of secretariat officers was unheard of. Almost invariably an honest and upright district magistrate was supported by the state government. The civil servant respected the political leader, whether in or out of power, for his leadership qualities and his influence on the masses cultivated and nurtured during the freedom struggle. The politician was aware of the needs of the people at the micro level, could identify with them and feel their pulse. He was pragmatic and purposeful. The politician respected the civil servant for his impartiality, adherence to lawful authority, uprightness, integrity and knowledge of the subject. He could rely on the bureaucrat working under him for right advice and faithful implementation. When the two started working together, it was expected that the respective roles would be defined and further refined. Intensifying democratic processes should have been accompanied by role definition, which unfortunately did not happen. Merely saying that ‘the politicians take decisions and the babus advise and implement’ was not enough. It left room for arbitrariness and sloth. The vaguely defined rule of democratic supremacy of the political executive in
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Arvind Kejriwal
decision-making unfortunately descended and permeated into the lower echelons of government, where the role of the civil servants was crucial to the implementation of the decisions taken upstairs.
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hus the synergy between the political executive and the permanent civil service that existed in the fifties and the sixties has been largely eroded over the years. It has had a very deleterious effect on the quality of governance in the states and also in the central government. It has given way to mutual distrust and at times, even to open conflict. Earlier, difference of views between the political master and senior civil servants were normal and frequent. When Sardar Patel was asked whether he would remove
his secretary if he expressed conflicting views, Sardar replied, ‘No, but if he always agreed with me I will definitely remove him’. The internal synergy came under strain for several reasons. Ministers did not like secretaries voicing their disagreement either in discussions or in the files. There were instances where ministers prevailed on Cabinet Committee on Appointments to change secretaries of their ministries. Senior officers stopped taking proactive actions in policy making and deciding important cases. They are doubtful whether their actions would be supported by ministers in enquiries instituted in future. It did not happen suddenly. It was like the boiling frog syndrome. It was the gradual introduction of temptation in governance. It was an extraneous impulse
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Anshu Prakash
mainly from emerging trade and industry. The take off time of Indian economy heralded an era of greed. Soon we were in a no-holds barred, all stops pulled game of profits. Consequently the top of the government started falling and then the bottom gave way too. Trust turned into distrust, mutual respect into uneasy coexistence with perilous consequences for the working of a democratic government. The politicians and the bureaucrats together brought down the monolithic structure like a castle of cards. My second hypothesis is: An effective and honest civil service cannot coexist with a self seeking political system or a flawed business environment. As the former Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said in the National Summit on Restoration of
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The take off time of Indian economy heralded an era of greed. Soon we were in a no-holds barred, all stops pulled game of profits. Consequently the top of the government started falling and then the bottom gave way too. Trust turned into distrust, mutual respect into uneasy coexistence with perilous consequences for the working of a democratic government
National Values, “We cannot get good governance from bad politics.” And it is equally true for bureaucracy. The reason is simple. Where there exists a synergy between the two arms of the executive, policy making is a smooth process and there is rarely resentment among the civil servants regarding discriminatory treatment. You do not hear of preferential postings on the basis of favouritism. There is no demand for a civil service board to decide on postings and transfers. The relationship is based on trust as it should be in a responsible democratic system. And that brings me to my third hypothesis: That a responsible democratic system has to be based on the principles of ethics of governance.
I
was introduced to the term ‘ethics of public governance’ when I was in the government and learned about an international colloquium on the subject in Brazil towards the end of the century. Since then it has been studied by a number of thinkers in the World Bank and UNDP. The literature on the subject is growing. The Centre for Governance, with which I am associated, has been running programmes for the last more than a decade on ‘ethics of governance’ for senior civil servants with promising results. I think there is a need to expose the members of the political executive to similar programmes. One of the State governments had shown interest of training the members of State Assembly in ethics of governance. It is our belief that such orientation programmes would help in recreating a semblance of the internal consistency in the government. Endpoint: We must remember that there is nothing trickier to embark on or more uncertain than rearranging the equation between the elected and the selected. g The writer is former Cabinet Secretary
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state scan
urban planning mg devasahayam
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Chandigarh ‘Metropolis’ as
Punjab Capital? Making Chandigarh a Metropolis will be a mistake. Better option would be to develop it into a ‘knowledge-cum-sports-city’ taking advantage of the available infrastructure and talent. This would also be in line with Le Corbusier’s line of thinking
B
y definition a Metropolis is a large city or conurbation which is a significant economic, political, and cultural centre for a country or region, and an important industrial/ commercial hub. A big city belonging to a larger urban agglomeration, but which is not the core of that agglomeration, is not generally considered a metropolis but a part of it.
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Edict of Chandigarh as set by Le Corbusier at the foundation of the City in 1950 reads thus: “The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach.” The edict was meant to
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state scan
urban planning mg devasahayam
Soon after 1966 construction spree took over with two civilian—Mohali and Panchkula— and one military— Chandimandir— townships coming up right on the periphery. From ‘City Beautiful’ Chandigarh became ‘Tri-City’ enlighten the present and future citizens of Chandigarh about the basic concepts of planning of the city, so that they become its guardians and save it from individualistic whims. The last thing Le Corbusier wanted was for Chandigarh to become a Metropolis and, worse, a part-Metropolis. This is what he said: “People say that life must come in the city from other source or activity especially industry. An industrial city is not the same as an administrative city. One must not mix the two…. We must take care that any temptations do not kill the goal, which was foreseen at the moment of the foundation of the city.” It was to prevent such temptations and retain the natural character and ambience of the city that The Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act, 1952, was enacted to declare a 10 mile (16 km) periphery
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around Chandigarh as controlled area wherein “no person shall erect or re-erect any building or make or extend any excavation, or lay out any access to a road save in accordance with the plans and restrictions and with the previous permission of the Deputy Commissioner in writing.”
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ill the time Chandigarh remained a part of pre-reorganised Punjab (1966) and some years thereafter this was strictly adhered to. But soon after construction spree took over with two civilian—Mohali and Panchkula—and one military—Chandimandir—townships coming up right on the periphery. From ‘City Beautiful’ Chandigarh became ‘Tri-City’. There were serious protests, some led by late MN Sharma, Corbusier’s pupil and Union Territory’s first chief architect. He
launched a campaign against gross violation of Periphery Control Act which posed a threat to the original character of Chandigarh. According to him, there is very little land left for future growth and it should be prudent that all major projects be evaluated and put through rigorous scrutiny of high-level technical experts. Sharma pointed out that periphery of 10 miles around the city was created for agrarian functions of poultry farming, dairy farming and agriculture. He insisted that the sanctity of the periphery cannot be violated, otherwise confusion and anarchy are sure to follow. All these fell on deaf ears. What is worse, the ‘Tri-City’ is fast morphing into a ‘Hydra-City’ that may turn into an embodiment of chaos and anarchy. This is the message that came across in the Punjab government’s recent decision to
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Chandigarh Administration ...now it has become over-bloated and top heavy. Number of IAS Officers has grown from 5 to 13 out of which 8 are from UT Cadre, 3 from Punjab and two from Haryana. From just one there are now 7 IPS Officers create another township on 5,350 acres in Mohali, called Aerotropolis, in the vicinity of the international airport by acquiring agricultural land in fourteen villages through a pooling policy. Besides Mohali, these will be eight independent townships being developed by Punjab around ‘City Beautiful’ after Knowledge City, Aerocity, IT City, EcoCity, EduCity, MediCity and New Chandigarh. To make this happen farmers are being offered seductive packages to abandon farming in favour of cement and concrete. For this purpose, proportion of commercial area has been enhanced and the demand of farmers for cash compensation has been met. There are also additional attractions such as allotting plots in the same sector/zone from where the land is acquired and higher share of commercial area for landowners if they so desired.
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Now it is reported that two new townships are ready to live in at ‘New Chandigarh’, next to the PGI towards Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. Spread over 806 acres in the foothills of the Shivaliks, Eco City-I and Eco City-II have been developed by the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority. This will extinguish whatever ‘agrarian functions’ left on the periphery of ‘Old Chandigarh’!
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ndia’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had envisaged Chandigarh as “a new town, symbolic of the freedom of India, unfettered by the traditions of the past.” The city is to be a model for India’s urban planning and development in total consonance with nature and with least disruption to agriculture. It was never conceived and designed to be “a big city belonging to a larger urban agglom-
eration or a Metropolis” Chandigarh is fast losing its core and eminence as the “City Beautiful” and is just becoming part of a chaotic urban agglomeration. Nehru, Corbusier and Sharma must be turning in their graves! It in this context that one should look at Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, writing to the Union Home Minister seeking restoration of Chandigarh to Punjab. According to him, the long-drawn dispute is still pending and even the fine balance in sharing officers/officials and other resources of Union Territory (UT), Chandigarh between Haryana and Punjab is being disturbed in the recent past. And he accuses the Union Ministry of Home Affairs of inducting more officers of UT cadre into the administration of Chandigarh “without realising the
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implications of such avoidable decisions.” Chandigarh UT came into existence on November 1, 1966, under Section 4 of The Punjab Reorganisation Act. As per the original arrangement, a Chief Commissioner of the UT, appointed by the Government of India, was the head of the Chandigarh administration, performing the functions of the Chief Administrator. By appropriate notifications, all the concerned acts and rules of Punjab were made applicable to Chandigarh UT in the same form and substance. The Chief Architect and Chief Engineer continued in the same capacities, with additional responsibility as Secretaries to these respective Departments. The Estate Officer was additionally designated as Deputy Commissioner of the UT. New posts of Home Secretary and Finance Secretary were created to assist the Chief Commissioner.
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handigarh, the only wellplanned green-field city in the country, was developed in a systematic and organised manner. The legal framework for the city was set in place in 1952 by enacting the Capital of Punjab (Development and Regulation) Act. This was followed in the same year by framing the Punjab Capital (Development and Regulation) Building Rules, the Chandigarh (Sale of Sites) Rules and the promulgation of the Chandigarh Trees Preservation Order. Also, the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Control Act was enacted to control and regulate construction at the periphery of the city up to a distance of 16 km in all directions. Under the provisions of these acts and rules, an institution known as the Capital Project Organisation (CPO) was set up, with full administrative and technical components, and clear-cut functions in the areas of architecture and urban planning, engineering, estate management, and finance. The Chief Administrator was
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Jawaharlal Nehru
the head of the CPO, with a chief architect, chief engineer, and estate officer looking after their respective functions. The CPO was a non-elected organisation but performed the functions of both project development and local administration and had a fair amount of autonomy. The Chief Administrator was vested with powers to frame by-laws and issue instructions regarding building, land use, sale of developed plots, preservation of trees, regulation of outdoor advertisements, peripheral control, and other related matters. Implementation of these was the responsibility of the Estate Officer, who was also the administrator of the capital project. As per the practice prevailing at our time Chief Commissioner (IAS) came from outside both cadres. Out of the other four IAS Officers two (Finance Secretary and Deputy Secretary) came from Punjab and two (Home Secretary and Deputy
Le Corbusier, the founder-architect of the City
Commissioner) came from Haryana. Various departments were distributed among these officers. The lone IPS Officer (Senior Superintendent of Police) came from UT Cadre. There was also a mixture of Punjab and Haryana Civil Service Officers. The two technical chiefs (Chief Engineer and Chief Architect) came from Punjab and Haryana. Indeed, there was a fine balance. Chandigarh Administration then was lean and thin. Now it has become overbloated and top heavy. Number of IAS Officers has grown from 5 to 13 out of which 8 are from UT Cadre, 3 from Punjab and two from Haryana. From just one there are now 7 IPS Officers. One does not know the number of departments, agencies, boards and corporations that have mushroomed over time to ‘administer’ a city of just around 1.2 million people. Most of the top officials are imported from outside Punjab and
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Shah Commission appointed for the purpose of reorganising Punjab awarded Chandigarh to Haryana, but due to dispute it was made into a UT, serving as the common capital of the two states with the intention of giving it to Punjab at a later stage MN Sharma
Haryana. Hence the loss of balance and this is what needs to be addressed. Instead the Chief Minister is asking for Chandigarh to be handed over to Punjab. This is both archaic and unrealistic and there are sound reasons to say so. In the last over five decades, two generations have grown up seeing Chandigarh as a distinct territorial entity. As a matter of fact, Shah Commission appointed for the purpose of reorganising Punjab awarded Chandigarh to Haryana, but due to dispute it was made into a UT, serving as the common capital of the two states with the intention of giving it to Punjab at a later stage. Initially, this arrangement was for a period of 10 years, but Government of India has been extending it continuously. Now it is more than half a century, with the golden jubilee already celebrated. In 1984, the Governor of Punjab was designated as the ‘Administrator’ of the Union Territory and the post of the Chief
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Commissioner was reduced to that of ‘Adviser to the Administrator’. This was a temporary arrangement to facilitate the coordination of anti-militant/disturbed area operations in Punjab in the wake of Operation Bluestar at the Golden Temple, Amritsar. Though these ‘operations’ have ceased decades ago, typical of India’s governance lethargy this ‘temporary arrangement’ has almost become permanent with Punjab developing a huge vested interest in Chandigarh.
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ome months ago, central government decided to delink the Punjab Governor from administering Chandigarh and appoint an independent administrator, with the rank and status of Lieutenant Governor. But as quickly as it was taken, the decision was rescinded under intense pressure from the former Punjab Chief Minister who was apprehensive about the loss of Punjab’s claim
over the city, particularly when the State assembly was facing elections. The Punjab Governor continues to be the Administrator. Now the present Chief Minister wants Chandigarh back to Punjab as one of its many cities or perhaps as a Metropolis. This certainly is not the solution. As it is with the kind of ‘urban sprawl’ happening all around the city, particularly on the Punjab side, Chandigarh is choking and is running out of breath. Loading it more would take away the very charm and legacy of the city. Better option would be for the Centre along with Punjab and Haryana State governments to develop it into a ‘knowledgecum-sports-city’ taking advantage of the available infrastructure and talent. This could also partly realise the dream of Le Corbusier, the founder-architect of the ‘City-Beautiful’! g Writer is a former Army and IAS Officer
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EVMs?
Trust Deficit!
In 2019, when 800 million Indians vote to elect a new government, they, along with the political fraternity, will rest their faith on the controversial, malfunctioning, and allegedly hack-able voting machines. In 2009, the opposition (BJP) charged that the ruling regime (Congress-led UPA II) tampered and hacked EVMs. Today, again the opposition (Congress) have levelled the same allegations against BJP. The fact that there are uncertainties about the voting machines is deplorable in a healthy and matured democracy. Hence, it’s time for the political parties to decide whether they knowingly wish to join the bandwagon, and trust the EVMs, or take the firm stand. Is the future of the democracy is going to be decided by a questionable and doubtful technology even if all the political party decide to participate in 2019 elections? The Election Commission needs to step in, and clear the murky air. An insightful report by Vivek Mukherji
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During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act. – George Orwell.
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o, what is the truth about the dark shadow of doubt that continues to linger over Indian Electronic Voting Machine (EVM)—that they can be hacked or rigged to fix elections. The controversy acquires a fresh lease of life after every election in a country where the electoral machinery is in a state of perpetual motion. If the legislature, the executive and the judiciary are considered as the limbs of a well-functioning democracy, then the sanctity and fairness of the electoral process through which India elects its legislators to give itself a government “of the people, by the people, for the people” is its lifeblood. In case, this lifeblood gets contaminated by toxic pathogens such as rigging, booth capturing, ballot stuffing or hacking of EVMs leading to manipulations of votes cast, then the health of democracy is at grave peril. Therefore, it’s pertinent to ask two questions. 1. Is it possible to hack Indian Electronic Voting Machines? 2. Have they been hacked to alter the outcome of an election? The short answer to the first question is: yes, technologically speaking, it’s possible to hack or manipulate EVMs. That’s what a number of computer scientists confirmed to gfiles, both on record and off the record. The answer to the second question, however, is a lot more complex. We don’t know whether elections have been compromised because the Election Commission of India (ECI) has continuously stonewalled all attempts by independent computer security experts to test the machines for vulnerabilities that could be exploited to manipulate votes. It has steadfastly denied critical information that would enable people to dispel or confirm the doubts that continue to persist
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about the integrity of the machines. It’s for these two reasons that all political parties across the spectrum, from the left to the right, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is currently in power in 21 states across the country, have fanned the controversies and conspiracy theories about EVM fixing, especially after losing an election battle. In this cross-current of accusations and counter claims, the core issue of whether the EVMs are really vulnerable to manipulation tends to drift away from focus. For the moment, the people of India have to rely on ECI’s claims that all is well and EVMs are tamper-proof despite offering no demonstrable evidence or an independent audit report to back up its assertions. Several of the claims made by the ECI in its latest Electronic Voting Machines in India: A status paper, have been questioned by computer scientists and security experts that gfiles spoke to. David D. Dill is a Professor of Computer Science at the Stanford University. He is acknowledged globally as an expert on computer security and electronic voting. He has worked for over 15 years in the US towards making election results trustworthy. He remains sceptical about ECI’s claims. “I have heard presentations from the ECI at a conference in the U.S. a few years ago and found them unconvincing,” wrote Dill in an email response to a set of question sent to him by gfiles. He goes on to offer an even stronger counter. “Claims that a machine cannot be hacked are almost always false, and often demonstrated to be false in the most embarrassing possible way,” says Dill. “People who make extraordinary claims, e.g., that a machine cannot be hacked, should be prepared to provide extraordinary evidence. Refusal to embrace independent security analysis of the machines to me is an obvious indication that the people making the claims are not as confident that those claims will hold up under scrutiny”. He
The people of India have to rely on ECI’s claims that all is well and EVMs are tamper-proof despite offering no demonstrable evidence or an independent audit report to back up its assertions. Several of the claims made by the ECI in its latest Electronic Voting Machines in India: A status paper, have been questioned by computer scientists and security experts that gfiles spoke to
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goes to add: “It is common sense to be sceptical about people who make claims that they are not willing to back up, especially when the claim is implausible according to technical experts. This is especially true since older versions of the machines were examined (against the will of the authorities) and hacks were demonstrated.” It’s worth noting that till date, the ECI has failed to provide any “extraordinary evidence” to back up its “extraordinary claim” that its EVMs can’t be hacked.
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ven as India’s election body stridently refuses to entertain any request from computer security experts to test its machines, hackers at the 2017 DEFCON provided tons of demonstrable evidence that no voting machine is tamper-proof. DEFCON, established in 1993, is the world’s biggest jamboree of hackers and computer security experts that’s organised every year in Las Vegas. Last year, it drew 25,000 participants from around the world. For the first time in 2017, DEFCON set up a Voting Village with the sole purpose of allowing hackers to test the machines for security flaws and vulnerabilities that could be exploited to manipulate votes. The Voting Village put up 25 different types of voting machines, including networked and non-networked stand-alone Direct Recording Electronics (DRE) devices—similar, but not the same, to what is used in India—for security analysis by some of the sharpest minds in the world. These machines were legally sourced either from their respective manufacturers or from the open market. On July 27, 2017, when the gates of the Voting Village were opened, complete mayhem ensued as hackers started tearing apart the hardware and the software of the voting machines. It took less than 90 minutes for the hackers to reveal some of the security flaws in the machines. Victor Gevers, a white hat hacker and founder of
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Questions sent to GVL Narasimha Rao BJP MP (Rajya Sabha) & National Spokesperson • Do you still stand by the contents of Democracy At Risk, now that the BJP is in power not only at the Centre but also in 21 states? • In 2009, when the NDA was in opposition, it accused the Congress of rigging the EVMs. Now that the BJP is in power, the opposition accuses your party of rigging EVMs. What is your and your party’s reaction about this role reversal? • In your book you made a very serious charge that certain politicians were approached by ‘election fixers’ who offered to fix the EVMs for a price of Rs 5 crore and that these fixers were people with ‘authorised’ access to EVMs. Do you believe that such fixers are still in business or have ceased to exist with the change of party in power? • In 2010, Hari Prasad and his team demonstrated that EVMs can be hacked without access to the source code or machine code. You have also quoted Prasad in your book. Do you think in light of the demonstration given by Prasad, there is still a case of EVM hacking? • In 2009, Subramanian Swamy, who is now a BJP MP, filed a PIL in the Delhi HC. But after the Karnataka elections, when he was asked about Congress’s accusations of EVM hacking, he simply laughed of the accusation. What has changed? • What is your and your party’s stand on the Election Commission of India’s consistent refusal to allow security audit of EVMs conducted by independent computer security analysts?
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Questions sent to Alex J Halderman Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Michigan • As you are aware of that the Indian Supreme Court has directed the ECI to implement 100 % VVPAT. So, is it technologically possible that the VVPAT slips show the correct output, while the actual vote recorded in the memory of the machine can still be manipulated? • Is it possible to manipulate the machine code before it’s hard coded into the one time programmable microchip even without access to the source code? • Given that the ECI has no control over the source code, which is written by the employees of state-owned companies like the ECIL and BEL, what are the chances that unscrupulous insiders working on the code leave a backdoor open that can be exploited later? • Is it possible to check if the machine code matches the source code after the EMV machines have been assembled? If yes, how?
GDI Foundation, who has 5,392 responsible vulnerability disclosures to his credit, reported from the scene on his Twitter timeline (@0xDUDE): “You should visit the voting machine hacking village @defcon. It’s actually a horror show if you start looking at these machines up close.” After three days of the horror show, the faith of senior officials of the Department
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of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice in the infallibility of the machines was firmly shaken and shattered. The extent of damage and manipulation that could be carried out was summed up in a 18-page report titled, DEFCON 25 Voting Machine Hacking Village co-authored by Matt Blaze (University of Pennsylvania), Jake Braun
(University of Chicago), Harri Hursti (Nordic Innovation Labs), Joseph Lorenzo Hall (Centre for Democracy & Technology) Margret MacAlphine (Nordic Innovation Labs) and Jeff Moss (founder of DEFCON). Though, the report focused exclusively on machines used in the US, it provides enough evidence that’s equally valid to counter the claims that the ECI has routinely trotted out in defence of its machines. “The results were sobering. By the end of the conference, every piece of equipment in the Voting Village was effectively breached in some manner. Participants with little prior knowledge and only limited tools and resources were quite capable of undermining the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of these systems,” says the report. “Moreover, a closer physical examination of the machines found, as expected, multiple cases of foreign-manufactured internal parts (including hardware developed in China), highlighting the serious possibility of supply chain vulnerabilities.” The report further states that such supply chain vulnerabilities can be exploited by anyone with malintent. “This discovery means that a hacker’s point-of-entry into an entire make or model of voting machine could happen well before that voting machine rolls off the production line. With an ability to infiltrate voting infrastructure at any point in the supply chain process, then the ability to synchronise and inflict largescale damage becomes a real possibility.”
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hile Indian EVMs, assembled by the Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL) under the Department of Atomic Energy and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) under the Ministry of Defence, don’t use Chinese components, they do, however, use the most important component, the microchip (also called microcontroller), manu-
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factured by Renesas Electronics, Japan, and Microchip Technology Inc., USA. Various other critical components that go into the manufacturing of EVMs are also supplied by third-party vendors, exposing them to the same supply chain vulnerabilities that the DEFCON report highlights.
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nterestingly, the Indian media, barring a few tech websites, completely missed or buried the important story of EVM hacking at DEFCON which has implications over here. Even more puzzling is the reactions of celebrity editors and star journalists and anchors, often bordering on ridicule, every time allegations of EVM rigging surfaced, without offering a shred of evidence to the contrary. A few tweets by two of India’s most well-known journalists are enough to underline the cavalier attitude that pervades the Indian mediascape towards an issue of such vital importance. “On your knees guys who’ve demonised EVMs and EC. A collective apology is needed. Whatever the result, this is no fixed election. Wonderful truth: no poll ever is in India (sic),” tweeted, Shekhar Gupta (@shekhargupta), editor-in-chief of The Print on the morning of December 18, 2017—the day the results to the Gujarat assembly elections were declared. Earlier on December 9, he tweeted, “EVMs are the loser’s fake excuse. Everybody screaming about them wasn’t complaining when they won. And they won’t when they win again. (sic)” Similarly, on March 3, the day of results to the Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland assembly elections were declared, Barkha Dutt (@BDUTT) wrote on her twitter timeline: “Always said EVM whining is the sign of a sore loser. Just like those channels who say ratings are rigged... except in the rare weeks they do well.” On May 28, the day of the Kairana parliamentary byelections, when news came in that Rashtriya Lok Dal chief, Ajit Singh, and
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Rti Response by Election Commission
Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party sought a meeting with the Chief Election Commissioner over reports of large-scale EVM malfunctioning throughout the constituency, she attempted a mild walk back, “Have always scoffed at rigged EVM theories but today’s complaints on malfunctioning machines seem far too many
to be ignored.” In their eagerness to pin the accusations of EVM rigging on to the sore-loser complex, both Gupta and Dutt, like many other journalists, inadvertently point the finger to the elephant in the room that started it all and reaped substantial political capital from it.
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The Indian media, barring a few tech websites, completely missed or buried the important story of EVM hacking at DEFCON, which has implications over here. Even more puzzling is the reactions of celebrity editors and star journalists and anchors, often bordering on ridicule, every time allegations of EVM rigging surfaced, without offering a shred of evidence to the contrary
Rti Response by Bharat Electronics Ltd
Background: Rewind to 2009, a book, a hack and silence
Before delving deeper, it would be worthwhile to cast our attention towards the genesis of this pesky shadow that refuses to fade away despite the best claims made by the ECI. The seed of this controversy was sown into the fertile soil of India’s
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electoral politics on May 17, 2009. It’s a significant date as the election results to the 15th Lok Sabha were declared on that day. It was a day on which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) retained power by winning 262 seats in the lower house of the parliament with the Congress
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version of the Last Chance Saloon called the Margdarshak Mandal (guidance committee), which hasn’t met even once since its formation, but that’s a different story best left for another day.
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nter GVL Narasimha Rao, a graduate from the Institute of Rural Management in Anand, Gujarat. He joined the BJP in early 2009. At that time, he was the party’s in-house psephologist. At present, he is a Rajya Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh and is one of the national spokespersons of the party and a regular face on television debates. Even as the BJP was grappling with the electoral loss, Rao, under the banner of an NGO called Citizens for Verifiability, Transparency & Accountability in Elections (VeTA), decided to take a closer look if EVMs had any role to play in helping the UPA to retain power. In other words, Rao suspected that UPA won the 2009 general elections with the help of rigged EVMs. Rao, with the backing of the BJP’s top brass, Chandrababu Naidu and the Rti Response by Bharat Electronics Ltd
emerging as the single largest party with 206 seats, improving upon its tally of 145 seats in the 2004 general elections. It meant, India’s eternal PM-in-waiting, LK Advani’s hopes of becoming the Prime Minister were permanently dashed. By the time the tide turned in 2014, with the BJP sweeping to power, the Modi-Shah duo consigned the party patriarch to its
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likes of India’s PIL-in-chief, Subramanian Swamy, VV Rao and a team of technical experts headed by one Hari K Prasad, managing director of NetIndia Pvt Ltd, a firm specialising in cyber security and surveillance, according to its website, embarked upon an investigation through the summer and winter of 2009. Rao put together an extremely well-structured campaign that operated at multiple levels. Swamy and VV Rao fronted the legal battle by filing petitions in various courts, Prasad and his team developed a “lookalike” EVM with which he went around the country giving demonstrations how the voting machines could be hacked, while Rao himself marshalled support from various international and Indian experts, attended international conferences and made presentations to add intellectual heft to the case that he was making against the ECI. He complied his efforts in a 246-page book (including seven annexures) titled Democracy At Risk: Can we trust our Electronic Voting Machines with the blurb on the cover that reads, “Shocking exposé of the Election Commission’s failure to assure integrity of India’s electronic voting system.” The book’s foreword was written by LK Advani endorsing the claims made by Rao. It also carried two messages: one by Chandrababu Naidu and the other by Prof. David D Dill, who has been quoted earlier in this story. When gfiles asked Dill if he still stands by with what he had written in 2010, given that the BJP’s current stand on EVM rigging has changed, he said: “I wrote the preface to Mr Rao’s book because I agreed with his arguments and because I wanted the voters of India to be able to trust their election results. I was a little cautious about that, because I did not want to appear to be endorsing Mr Rao’s politics.” The book was launched in Delhi on February 12, 2010, by the then president of the BJP, Nitin Gadkari, in the presence of senior leaders of the party. “On the one
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Malfunctioning EVMs and VVPAT machines
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n February 16, elections to the local body were held in Buldhana, Maharashtra. During the polling at the polling station No. 56 in Sultanpur of Lonar town when the voters pressed the button against candidate No.1 Asha Arun Zore with coconut symbol, the LED against candidate No.4 of BJP with lotus symbol would light up. Polling was cancelled only after repeated requests by other candidates and re-polling was ordered on February 21. The information about EVM recording wrong vote was revealed by RTI activist, Anil Galgia based on a reply to his query he received from the District Collector on June 16. The second, and more widely reported, incident took place during the crucial Kairana Lok Sabha byelections in which the joint opposition candidate Tabassum Hasan of RLD was locked in a straight fight agents Mriganka Singh of BJP. Soon after the start of the voting on May 28, Hasan’s polling against started reporting EVM malfunction from various parts of the constituency. By late afternoon Hasan claimed that in over 200 polling booths either EVMs or VVPAT machines malfunctioned. Even if the number claimed by Hasan is discounted, a ground report in Daily O confirms that there was large scale EVM or VVPAT machine failures across the constituency. The ECI initially denied reports of large scale equipment failure, but by the evening the Commission ordered re-polling in 73 booths—44 in Gangoh, 23 in Nakur, five in Shamli and one in Thana Bhavan. It’s worth noting, that the places where the re-polling was ordered have substantial Muslim population who were firmly aligned behind the joint opposition candidate.
hand, we say voting percentage should be increased and voting should be made mandatory and on the other hand, people cannot vote (due to tampering of EVMs). This is not a problem of voting alone but a problem related to Indian democracy,” said Gadkari at the launch event.
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n his book, Rao makes several startling claims, but none more than the claim that during election season “fixers”, with “authorised access” to the EVMs approach politicians with offers to rig machines in favour of a candidate
or a party for money. The figure quoted in the book is Rs. 5 crore per candidate is mentioned in the chapter titled: Election Fixers Demand Hefty Sums. “The ex-MP’s son stood for the Maharashtra assembly elections recently. The ex-MP told me that they were approached by some “authorised” engineers (apparently representing one of the EVM manufacturers or their agents) who offered to manipulate election results in 50 per cent of the polling stations of his assembly constituency for the princely sum of Rs. 5 Crore. The engineers said that the candidate could choose
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whichever polling stations he wanted manipulated,” writes Rao, quoting one retired IAS officer, Omesh Saigal, who is described as a whistleblower. He then goes on to suggest how Hari Prasad was approached by a political party to rig EVMs. “Today, some representatives of a prominent regional party came to meet us in Hyderabad. They said that they were aware that some techies from Hyderabad or Bangalore are “fixing” elections in favour of parties and candidates. Can you do this for us?” writes Rao, quoting Prasad.
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ao also describes in detail how in September 2009, ECI officials developed cold feet after inviting VeTA representatives including VV Rao, Swamy and Prasad to Nirvachan Sadan to demonstrate that actual EVMs could be hacked in their presence. “At a tamperbility demonstration organised in Nirvachan Sadan, the headquarters of the Election Commission, referred to in chapter 8, the Commission representatives prematurely aborted an ethical hacking effort. This incident took place on September 3, 2009 when the Commission invited the petitioners of the public interest litigation in the Supreme Court to demonstrate vulnerability of EVMs. I was present at this meeting and witnessed these developments personally,” writes Rao. On the technical side, to validate the claims of EVM hacking, leaned heavily on the work done by Prasad and his team. They publicly demonstrated two hacks on an actual Generation 2 machine obtained from an anonymous source that was stolen from a storage facility in Mumbai under the charge of the District Election Officer. The team that hacked the EVM included, Prasad, Alex J Halderman and Dutch hacker Rop Gonggrijp. They documented the hacking process in detail in an academic paper titled: Security Analysis of
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Rti Response by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd
India’s Electronic Voting Machines that was presented at the 17th ACM Conference on Computer and Communication Security in Chicago, Illinois on October 4, 2010. Harlderman is Professor of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Michigan and is a renowned figure in the world of computer security and submitted a sworn affidavit in 2016 to the Senate Intelligence Committee investigating the Russian cyber attack on the servers of the Democratic National Committee in the run-up to the US elections. Gonggrijp was the founder of Dutch hacking magazine called Hack-Tic, where he described his role as hoofdverdacht (prime suspect). He was also instrumental in the release of 39-minute documentary film called Collateral Murder in collaboration with Wikileaks that showed an attack by an US Apache helicopter on a group of unarmed people in New Baghdad in which two Reuters journalists were killed.
Laying out the scope of their work, Prasad’s team noted: “In this paper, we analyse the security of India’s EVMs and related procedural safeguards. We show that while the machines’ simplicity makes them less susceptible to some of the threats faced by DREs studied in prior work, it also subjects them to a different set of highly dangerous attacks. We demonstrate two attacks that involve physically tampering with the EVMs’ hardware. First, we show how dishonest election insiders or other criminals could alter election results by replacing parts of the machines with malicious look-alike components. Such attacks are made far simpler and cheaper by the EVMs’ minimalist design, and they could be accomplished without the involvement of any field-level poll officials. Second, we show how attackers could use portable hardware devices to extract and alter the vote records stored in the machines’
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memory, allowing them to change election outcomes and violate ballot secrecy.” According to computer security experts the two possible lines of attacks described in the paper can be deployed to manipulate votes even in the current Generation 3 M3 machines that have been used since 2013.
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The experts also pointed out that the malicious display attack that the paper outlines in detail can still be used in the Generation 3 M3 machines. It involves replacing the original 7-segment LED display on the Controller Unit (CU) with a look-alike display that has a tiny microprocessor, a very small chip antenna and
In his book, GVL Narasimha Rao makes several startling claims, but none more than the claim that during election season “fixers”, with “authorised access” to the EVMs approach politicians with offers to rig machines in favour of a candidate or a party for money. The figure quoted in the book is Rs. 5 crore per candidate in the chapter titled: Election Fixers Demand Hefty Sums
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a Bluetooth module during routine serving and maintenance before the EVMs are deployed in the field. Prasad and his team demonstrated how easy it’s to conceal these components in the dishonest display. The low-cost components needed to assemble a dishonest display are freely available in the open market.
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xplaining how the dishonest display method can be used to steal votes, the authors write: “We also developed a more robust signalling method based on the Bluetooth RFCOMM (Radio Frequency Communication) protocol, which provides a reliable stream of communication similar to TCP. Our prototype implementation consists of an application running on an Android phone. It sends a short message to the dishonest display via RFCOMM indicating the favoured candidate and the proportion of votes to grant that candidate. The application verifies success by waiting for an acknowledgment from the dishonest display. Our application does not use any special Android features, so it could be ported to any smartphone platform that supports RFCOMM, such as the iPhone or Windows Mobile.” The vote stealing algorithm ensures that votes are not stolen from a candidate below a certain threshold that’s determined by the software without altering the overall total number of votes stored in the CU. “For each non-favoured candidate, it calculates the maximum votes that can be stolen given the overall vote total, the totals outputted so far, and the need to reserve a certain number of votes for the remaining candidates to prevent them from falling below the minimum vote threshold,” the authors wrote in the paper. Experts consulted by gfiles say that this is a very effective line of attack because it can be deployed at the counting stage instead on the polling day.
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Prasad and his team demonstrated another method through which votes can be stolen using a clip-on memory manipulator that can be attached to the Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory (EEPROM) that stores the polling data. Though, this device is equally effective in stealing votes from one candidate to another, it’s easier to detect due it size. Therefore, experts believe that this method is unlikely to be used to steal votes. In April 2010, Prasad demonstrated both the hacking methods on Telugu television channel TV9. After keeping quiet for months, the ECI finally filed an FIR through its Mumbai District Election Officer that led to the arrest of Prasad on August 24, 2010, for unauthorised possession of an EVM. But five days later, on August 29, he was granted bail a Metropolitan court. “No offence was disclosed with Hari Prasad’s arrest and even if it was assumed that EVM was stolen it appears that there was no dishonest intention on his part....he was trying to show how EVM machines can be tampered with,” observed Metropolitan Magistrate, VB Srikhande. Two days later, Prasad was on his way to Chicago to present the paper. Curiously, since his release, and more so after the 2014 elections that brought the BJP to power, all the main protagonists involved with the campaign have either have kept a very low profile or maintained stony silence on the issue. There was no response to the questionnaires sent by gfiles to Rao, Prasad and Halderman, asking them if they still backed their claims made in the book or their findings published in the paper apart from other related questions (see box). The emails to Rao and Halderman were followed up by phone calls and messages on Whatsapp and Telegram but did not elicit any response from any one of them. Only, Dill responded to the email.
Fast forward: Of VVPATs and Codes
In the more recent past, two incidents— vote switching in one polling station in the Buldhana local body elections and large-scale failure of EVMs and VVPAT machines in the Kairana byelections— probably played a role in hardening of the opposition’s demand for going back to ballot paper for the 2019 general elections. (see box for details). On May 29, the ECI issued one of the most bizarre press releases regarding the Kairana incident, which didn’t help to cover itself in any glory. “During the bye-elections to 2-Kairana and 11-Bhandara-Gondiya parliamentary constituencies on 28th May 2018 malfunctioning of a few VVPAT machines was reported during mock poll and actual poll....The preliminary fact finding reports submitted to the Commission, have indicated that there were two major technical reasons for
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malfunction as follows: 1. Failure of contrast sensor (error 2.2) 2. Failure of length sensor (error 2.4). The above errors are mainly caused by excessive exposure to illumination in polling stations. (sic)” The ECI’s press release is troubling on many counts. What it termed as a “few VVPAT machines” actually turned out to 384 VVPAT machines out of the approximately 1,483 deployed across the constituency according to a Daily O spot report. Also, the release was conspicuously silent about EVM failures. Experts have questioned the “excessive exposure to illumination” theory because polling booths are usually set up inside government buildings and schools, which are known to be poorly lit. Anyway, we have no idea how much illumination can be termed as excessive illumination according to ECI’s standards. In October 2013, Supreme Court passed an order after hearing two peti-
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tions – Civil Appeal No. 9093 of 2013 and WP (C) No. 406 of 2012 the latter filed by VV Rao—that made 100 per cent implementation of VVPAT mandatory. “The confidence of the voters in the EVMs can be achieved only with the introduction of the “paper trail”. EVMs with VVPAT system ensure the accuracy of the voting system,” observed the apex court. Bound by the court order, the 2019 general elections have to be conducted with 100 percent VVPAT coverage. But a news report carried in the July 25 edition of the Indian Express, based on information accessed under RTI, shows that the ECIL and BEL are lagging way behind on the delivery schedule of VVPATs. As on June 17, the two public sector undertaking delivered just 3.48 lakh units against a total order 16.15 lakh units that would be required for countrywide deployment ahead of the September deadline. Since the publication of the report, the Commission has extend-
Even as India’s election body stridently refuses to entertain any request from computer security experts to test its machines, hackers at the 2017 DEFCON provided tons of demonstrable evidence that no voting machine is tamper-proof. DEFCON, established in 1993, is the world’s biggest jamboree of hackers and computer security experts that’s organised every year in Las Vegas
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ECI Inventory Machines Ordered (Quantities September 19, 2017)
A top computer security expert who has worked on a number sensitive government projects and does not wish to be named said, “After seeing the ECI response to the latest RTI and observing its pattern of obscurantism to attempts of scrutinising the EVMs independently, it’s clear that somewhere deep down they don’t have confidence in their machines
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Ballot Units
Control Units
VVPATs
BEL
10,46,480
6,98,037
10,63,500
ECIL
3,48,826
2,32,679
5,51,500
Total
13,95,306
9,30,716
16,15,000
Machines Delivered (Quantities as on June 19, 2018) BEL
4,80,000
3,50,000
2,45,500
ECIL
1,00,000
50,000
1,02,500
Total
5,80,000
4,00,000
3,48,000
Source: Indian Express, July 25, 2018
ed the deadline to November 2018 (See table: ECI Inventory). However, the way the Commission uses VVPAT to audit EVM votes itself is bothersome. At present it audits the paper trail in just one polling station in each of the assembly constituency. Statistically speaking, this is against all established and accepted norms of random sampling. As pointed out in a petition filed by former IAS officer turned activist, MG Devasahayam, through an NGO called Forum for Electoral Integrity (published in the May issue of gfiles), this mandatory count of VVPAT slips in just one polling station per assembly constituency turned out to be a mere 0.4 per cent in Gujarat and 0.9 per cent in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections. This fails to pass even the most basic test of random sampling that can be statistically validated and defeats the very purpose of implementing VVPAT. In the petition submitted to CEC, OP Rawat on April 10, 2018, it demanded “that VVPAT slips must be counted for a sample size of at least 25 per cent of polling stations in an assembly constituency with the sample drawn randomly from the different strata and verified with the electronic count.”
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hat’s not all. The cornerstone of ECI’s defence of its machines is its faith in the source code and the machines code that is compiled from it. In the status paper, the Commission claims that the source code has been developed by a small group of engineers working for the two PSUs. It says that ECIL and BEL exercise complete control over it and the Commission itself doesn’t have access to the original source code. This was confirmed by the ECI in response to a set of 11 questions submitted by Mumbai-based businessman turned RTI activist, Sunil Ahya. His request included: checksum of the executable binary file (machine code) that is burnt into each programmable device, a copy of the firmware source code and copy of the procedure whereby the checksum of the executable binary file which has been burnt into each programmable device (integrated circuit) used in both the units can be audited (verified) at random at any given point in time on any of the field deployed units. The ECI’s response to these questions was, “This information is not available in the Commission (sic).” The ECI’s defence rests on the grossly misplaced assumption that the source
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Algorithms
It’s a set of specific instructions based on logic tree that helps a programme to perform specific tasks in the most efficient way. For example, when a software is optimised for better performance, it means that it is using more efficient algorithms to complete a specific task.
Checksum
It a value used to check integrity of a file or data after it has been transferred from one source to another. It is used to compare and validate two data sets to ensure they are the same on two different devices. Therefore, checksum can be defined as a unique digital signature of a data set. It can be generated by running certain specific algorithms.
Machine Code (Binary code)
For a computer to execute any programme, the source code needs to be converted into single bits of information. This is done by using Boolean logic that breaks down every letter, image or number into a base combination of 0s and 1s. This combination of 0s and 1s enable a computer to execute the set of instructions written in the source code. Programmers use a compiler to convert source code into machine code.
Microprocessor (microcontroller)
It’s an integrated circuit (IC) that is the Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a device and it processes inputs that it receives from an input device, which is converted to binary code. After processing the input, it produces an output that is written by the software.
Source Code
All computer programmes have to written in a programming language such as C, C++, Java etc. It consists of a series of instructions that’s written in a highly structured manner using words and numbers in a text file. These instructions can range from a few lines for simple programmes or millions of lines for complex ones.
code cannot be decompiled from the machine code that has been burnt into the One Time Programmable Read Only Memory (OTP ROM). In fact this is a completely misleading claim. To prove that this claim is misleading we need to refer to a judgement that was delivered by the United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit in the case of Syntek Semiconductor Co., Limited (Taiwan) versus Microchip Technology Inc., (USA) in April 2002. In the law suit, Syntek challenged the copyright held by Microchip for the
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machine code that was written in the widely-used microprocessor PIC 16C5X that was manufactured by the US company because the Taiwanese company was also manufacturing a similar chip. Microchip Inc., is the same company that supplies the microcontroller that is used in Indian EVMs. The US court upheld the challenge of Syntek. And the reason why the court ruled in favour of the Taiwanese manufacturers is buried in the eighth paragraph of its order. “Microchip did not have in its posses-
sion the original PIC 16C5x source code when it registered its program with the Copyright Office; so Microchip deposited source code that it had decompiled from the object code embedded in the PIC 16C5x computer chip. Microchip informed the Copyright Office of the nature of its deposit, stating that “[t]he source code listing provided is a listing which was regenerated from the object code of the work because Applicant could not, after a reasonable search, find a listing of the source code of the work,” says the order (emphasis added).
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herefore, there is no truth in ECI’s claim that the source code cannot be illegally obtained from the machine code by an insider either working for any of the two Indian public sector undertakings or working for the chipmakers in Japan and the US. For this reason, Ahya’s request for the checksum to the binary code that is hard coded into the microcontrollers assumes significance. Simply put, checksum is a sort of unique digital signature for a single piece data or code or a programme. It is generated by running an algorithm called cryptographic hash function. By comparing the checksum of a code that’s burnt into a microprocessor with the checksum of the original binary code (machine code) one can determine the integrity of the software running on the device. In response to Ahya’s request for checksum, the Public Information Officers of BEL and ECIL took recourse to Section 8 (1) (d) of the RTI Act, which allows exemption from divulging information on account of commercial implications. In other words, the two PSUs felt that by divulging the checksum of their machine code could lead to commercial loss. Ahya challenged this during a hearing of his appeal conducted by the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) on June 27, by saying that both BEL and
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The vote stealing algorithm ensures that votes are not stolen from a candidate below a certain critical limit that’s determined by the software. ‘For each nonfavoured candidate, it calculates the maximum votes that can be stolen given the overall vote total, the totals outputted so far, and the need to reserve a certain number of votes for the remaining candidates to prevent them from falling below the minimum vote threshold’
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ECIL can patent their codes and release the checksums. The CIC upheld Ahya’s challenge and posted the matter for further hearing in September but not before observing that, “the commission is of the view that the defense taken by the respondents that the information is exempted under Section 8 (1)(d) has not been justified by them keeping in view that they are the only manufacturers of EVMs.” It further noted that, “the CPIOs of BEL and ECIL are directed to submit their written submission elaborating that how their competitive position will be affected if the information is disclosed. The reply should have the concurrence of CMD of the concerned public authority.”
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top computer security expert who has worked on a number sensitive government projects and does not wish to be named said, “After seeing the ECI response to the latest RTI and observing its pattern of obscurantism to attempts of scrutinising the EVMs independently, it’s clear that somewhere deep down they don’t have confidence in their machines. If they are so confident about their unhackbility then they should send a machine to DEFCON for testing.” Last year, the ECI issued a much-hyped EVM challenge inviting representatives of political parties to demonstrate the hacks. But the conditions that they attached caused much
amusement in the computer security community. “They were laughable. For example, one of the terms was attempting to hack using a combination of five buttons out of the 16 on the ballot unit. The total time given was four hours. Now a simple calculation would show that using a combination of five buttons works out to 10,48,576 combinations! It would take a few months to work out those combinations. It’s clear that they have no idea how computer security or hacking works,” says the expert. From the month long research that gfiles undertook for this story, few things are clear: • That the EVMs are hackable. • As long as the ECI doesn’t embrace independent computer security experts drawn from outside the PSUs, doubts will continue to persist about the integrity of the machines. • VVPAT can erase some doubts about EVM rigging, but for that at least 25 per cent of electronic votes should be tallied against the paper trail for each assembly constituency. • Going back to paper ballot is not an option because of our past experiences of ballot box stuffing and booth capturing. g Unlike, other Indian media houses, gfiles will be staying on this story in the months ahead and will report as and when there are any further developments.
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GOVERNANCE
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US-China-Russia-India
New Wars of
21st Century Economic and territorial wars between US and China, diplomatic love-hate between Russia and the US, and historical kinship between China and Russia will define the new global order. The geopolitics of the new century is in a huge churn; nothing will ever be the same again. India needs to play its cards well, and use her aces at the right time. Seema Guha reports
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T
he global order is in a flux. Leading world powers like the US, China and Russia are hedging their bets and working out strategic options in an environment beset by uncertainty. India too is carefully weighting alternatives, as it plays footsie with the US, tries to maintain its age-old friendship with Russia, and struggles to manage complex ties with China, the Asian dragon. US President Donald Trump has turned the American policy on its head. The old certainties of a multilateral trade regime and liberal values of democracy and human rights are no longer sacrosanct. He walked out of the Paris Climate Accord, Trans-Pacific Partnership, UN Human Rights Council, and the Iran nuclear agreement. He is quibbling with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) for the latter to pay its dues and not rely on the US to foot the future defence bills for European security. Trump, a billionaire tycoon and a Reality TV star, is not an establishment man, and is bent on doing
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everything differently from his predecessor, Barack Obama, who is disliked by the former’s supporters. As a deal maker in business, Trump believes in bilateral, and not multilateral, negotiations. During his election campaign, Trump raged against China for illegal trade practices, which hurt American businesses. He charged China with “raping” US interests, manipulating its currency to make exports more competitive. He promised to fix China. The Sino-US balance of trade is in China’s favour, with the 2017 figures showing trade gap as high as $375 billion, according to figures published by the US Commerce Ministry. Taking this into account, Trump began a trade war with China. Both the US and China imposed tit-for-tat tariffs on $34 billion worth of goods in July. Washington is expected to increase tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese goods, which the latter is likely to reciprocate with. Washington is talking of more pressure by additional levy of 25 per cent on Chinese imports worth
$200 billion. China has warned of hiking tariffs on 5,207 items imported from the US, amounting to $60 billion. These wars can bring down the world economy. The rise of Trump has to do with large sections feeling left out by the liberalised economy, which took American jobs out to nations like India and China, where labour is cheaper. The disillusionment was present before 2016. The world order, assiduously built by the victors of World War II, was crumbling. The Financial Crisis of 2008 sapped out the gains of the liberalised trade regime. Unfortunately, it made companies super-rich, but left large sections out of the wealth loop. The “Occupy Wall Street” movement, and Brexit vote, also a result of the fear of influx of refugees from Syria and other conflict zones, popularised protectionist sentiments. The election of the anti establishment Trump, over the liberal favourite, Hillary Clinton, was the culmination of this process. “The world has entered a totally new era where the old order is teetering on the
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brink of disintegration while a fairer one is yet to firmly materialise. The change from Pax Americana to Pax Globalcana, a phrase I coined, will be prolonged and full of risks, requiring careful and coolheaded management by all major powers and an improved international framework, including a better global governance system. Today both are in the process of being worked out and no assurances of their success can be given,’’ He Yafei, former vice-minister in-charge of the overseas Chinese in the foreign ministry wrote in a special edition of Foreign Policy which focused on US-China ties. The key lies in the relationships between China and the US, Russia and the US, and among the other major and middle-level powers. These are evolving rapidly, and buffeted by headwinds of changes. So far there is no indication which system will replace the old. As Washington draws up its protectionist barriers and gets into sanction mode against Teheran and Moscow, Moscow and Beijing are forg-
ing a closer alliance. The process began earlier but is now firming up into a formidable force. The driving force behind the China and Russian ties is countering US’ geopolitical influence. For Russia, the theatre is in Europe and the Middle East; for China, it’s the South China Sea and Eastern Pacific.
I
t was the expansion of NATO to the former Eastern bloc, the deployment of the US defence shield, the Velvet Revolution, which triggered the crisis in Ukraine. Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 was a reaction to the antiRussian forces in Ukraine wanting to go with the US and West with hopes to join NATO. This, felt Russian Czar Vladimir Putin, was a direct threat to Russia, which did not want Western forces on what he considered was Moscow’s backyard. Crimea’s Sevastapool is home to Russia’s Baltic Fleet. Following Crimea’s takeover, Moscow faced the wrath of the so-called free
world. Sanctions were slapped on Russia. Moscow’s market for oil and gas dwindled. China with its ever-growing thirst for oil and gas saved the Russia’s economy by buying both oil and gas at “friendship” rates. China invested in Russia’s energy sectors, though the former was frustrated at the slow rate of progress of the pipeline deals. Moscow’s lower barriers made it easier for the Chinese investors. China also invested in Russian railways and telecom sectors. Financial cooperation between the two nations’ banks increased. Relations between the two former Communist powers have never been as good as they are now. During a visit to Moscow this April, the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the links between the two countries at “the best level in history”. The evolving global dynamics are at the heart of China-Russia relations, as Beijing trades war with Washington, and Moscow is being challenged in the Middle East, and Europe.
US President Donald Trump has turned the American policy on its head. The old certainties of a multilateral trade regime and liberal values of democracy and human rights are no longer sacrosanct
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In the past, the Communist connections saw their ups and downs. Former Soviet Union and China were at one time brothers-in-arms. But China broke out, when the US President Richard Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger decided to exploit the Russia-China tensions to cut the Soviet Union down to size during the Cold War era. China agreed, and the US helped with technology and business support. The Chinese economy took off, and never looked back. “China’s shift from the Soviet Union to the US is one of the most important geopolitical realities of the 1970s,” commented. Since then, things went through a full circle and today China and Russia have again found common grounds of cooperation. China’s President Xi Jinping and Putin established close connect. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is their way to challenge NATO and the Western order. China-Russia trade, which initially comprised the energy sector expanded. In 2017, Russia-China trade was $87 billion.
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The aim is to reach $100 billion by the end of 2018. Between January and March this year, trade increased by 31 percent. Putin pointed out that “the supply of products with a high processing degree – machines, equipment, vehicles, increased. More than 70 priority projects worth over $20 billion are being implemented through the intergovernmental commission for investment cooperation.” “The China-Russia trade space has previously been made up of energy deals,” said Chris Devonshire-Ellis, Founder and Chairman, Dezan Shira & Associates. However, he noted, “We are seeing an expansion of this into other commercial markets such as finance, IT, automotive, and machinery. China has also just signed a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union. This creates further business opportunities for companies in these sectors in both markets and is a welcome and overdue development. It is time for Russian companies to be looking at China and vice-versa.” Dezan Shira and
Associates assists foreign investors in Asia, and has offices in both Russia and China.
T
he China-Russia relation is regarded by Western analysts as a marriage of convenience. In fact, at China’s 19th Party Congress, which crowned Jinping as the Communist king, heading every institution in China for an indefinite period, a resurgent China harped back on the country’s glorious past. It said that it was ready to spread the Chinese way of doing things across the globe. However, the people-to-people contacts between China and Russia remain dismal. China with its economic clout combined with constructive engagement with the US is on top of its game. Russia remains the junior partner in the relations. Moscow’s economy has been crippled by sanctions. Putin likes to call the shots, but is constrained by the circumstances. But now China needs Russia. Beijing, therefore, is keen to give weight to its ties
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with Russia. China is concerned about America’s global hegemony, and describes its relations with Russia as “comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination”. Things, as usual, are not this simple. Apart from the fears Beijing has about the US’ aggressive interference in the former strategic interests in Asia, it is also scared of the US outreach to India, in its desire to counter China with India. The Asia Pacific region was renamed as Indo-Pacific, and this caysed more heartburns in China.
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eanwhile, the RussiaUS ties are almost the same as in the Cold War era. The American establishment hates Putin, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers having no qualms about calling him a thug. The liberal press in the US hates Putin’s guts. Since the evidence of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections, Putin is in the dog house so far as the American press is concerned. But Trump is not with the establishment on this, as is his stance on other contentious issues. He has a fascination for the Russian strong man, and believes that engaging with Putin is a better idea than not doing so. The American press is in no mood to see anything beyond the Russian meddling in the US elections, the human rights abuse, and the annexation of Crimea. Indignant American journalists agonise over Trump giving short shrift to the US intelligence agencies and preferring instead to believe Putin. Putin is no angel but working with Russia will be better for world peace than if the two nuclear powers worked at cross purposes. Despite opposition from all sides, Trump met Putin in Helsinki, but the details of the meeting have not been reported. Trump came in for fierce attacks after the joint news conference with Putin. But then, Trump is not a straightforward participant. Despite his fondness for Putin, he slapped sanctions on Russia,
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and pushed the latter closer to China. For a while, after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 and end of the Cold War, the relations between a weak Russian Federation and the US seemed to take off. Boris Yeltsin, the earlier Russian Premier, was a favourite of the Western democracies. When Putin replaced Yeltsin in 2000, and promised to bring back Russia to its former global status, ties between Washington and Moscow remained on track. During George W Bush’s visit to Russia in May 2002, joint statements on a “new strategic” relationship were made
China’s President Xi Jinping and Putin established close connect. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is their way to challenge NATO and the Western order. ChinaRussia trade, which initially comprised the energy sector expanded. In 2017, Russia-China trade was $87 billion. The aim is to reach $100 billion by the end of 2018
and it was claimed that the two would enter into “a new age of friendly relations”. That is history. Despite Trump’s wish to improve ties with Putin, the former will be tied down by domestic public opinion, US Congress, and the foreign policy establishment. “President Trump would like nothing more than to bring back the trophy of fixing US-Russia relations. Some cooperation, if in each country’s interest, can happen. Renewal of the New START nuclear arms control agreement, for example, could happen because each state has an interest in its extension. Still, a true reset across all issues is unlikely since American and Russian interests simply don’t align, and nothing is pushing either leader to the negotiating table. Undoubtedly Putin wants better relations too, but better relations would require just as many, if not more concessions from the Russian side than he could stomach,” explained Samuel Rebo of the Eurasia Group. Yet, the US and Russia have worked together. In Syria, Russian intervention helped to clear large swathes of territory from the control of the terror group, ISIS, and various Sunni fundamentalist forces. Despite the US and Western antipathy
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for the Syrian President, Bashar al Asad, and substantial differences in policy and approach, Washington and Moscow were able to coordinate approaches and share information, when necessary. Can Trump reset the ties with Russia in the near future? Where does India fit in this ebb and flow of international diplomacy? India, if it plays its cards well, is in a position to expand its global footprints and play a significant role in global affairs. Since the days of the George Bush administration, Washington has been looking to Democratic India to counter Communist China. The India-US civil nuclear agreement of 2005 was a result of the strategic thinking of the neo-cons, who were an integral part of the Bush administration. Bringing India out of its nuclear isolation was the first step. Washington wanted New Delhi to play a pivotal role in the Asian Pacific region, and expand its maritime presence in the Pacific, where China was being increasingly assertive. Despite considerable pressure, the previous UPA coalition government was unable to move entirely into the US orbit. It also did not wish to aggravate the already-testy ties with China. The former defence minister
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AK Antony kept twiddling his thumb on closer defence cooperation with the US. When Hillary Clinton visited India as Obama’s Secretary of State, she said that the US was willing to help India’s emergence as a major power. But New Delhi had to share the responsibility, and not shy away from playing a more active role in the Asia-Pacific theatre. The American’s have wanted India to have joint patrols with the US navy in the Pacific. But even the Narendra Modi government, which is more inclined to play ball with the US, declined. In 2016, during the Delhi
As Washington draws up its protectionist barriers and gets into sanction mode against Teheran and Moscow, Moscow and Beijing are forging a closer alliance...The driving force behind the China and Russian ties is countering US’ geopolitical influence. For Russia, the theatre is in Europe and the Middle East; for China, it’s the South China Sea and Eastern Pacific
Dialogue, the US Pacific Command chief Admiral Harry B Harris said that India and US would soon begin joint patrols. The MEA denied it. Still, under Modi, India is less hesitant about defence cooperation with the US. During Modi’s visit to the US in June 2017, India was designated as a “major defence partner”. Although the two nations signed the crucial Defence Framework Agreement in 2005, India was in no hurry to sign the three foundation agreements necessary for the two defence forces to work together. In 2015, the Modi government renegotiated the Logistics Support Agreement, and signed in with a few changes. It was renamed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA). This was the first of the foundation agreements.
T
he agreement will allow both the militaries to use each others’ facilities for supplies and repairs. India made it known that this does not mean that the American military personnel will be stationed in the country. India is likely to sign the second foundation agreement called the Communications Compatability Security Agreement (COMCASA) by the end of this year. This will ensure a legal framework which enables the transfer of critical, secure, and encrypted communication between weapons platforms of the two countries. Defence experts say that COMCASA is necessary for the Sea Guardian drones that India is keen on acquiring from the US, as these operate on a secure data and communication system link. This will leave only the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement to be signed. Not everyone is happy about the foundation agreements as a few critics fear that this will make India dependent on the US. It will also gradually ensure that the Russian systems will be replaced by the American
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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GLOBESCAN diplomacy dialogue
ones, as they are not designed for inter operability with American weapons and communication networks. Washington is moving quickly to bring India into its fold, and gain strategic and commercial advantage. Last week, American Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the US will soon lift the export controls for high technology product sales to India. New Delhi wanted this for years. Once the measures kick in, India will have access to defence equipment, which the US gives to its NATO allies like Japan, South Korea, and Australia. It will open the doors for deeper defence cooperation. By placing India on the Strategic Trade Authorisation-1 list of countries, Wilbur Ross hopes that it will also benefit the US manufacturers.
T
he move was welcomed by India’s ambassador to Washington, Navtej Sarna, “It is a sign of trust not only in the relationship but also on India’s capabilities as an economic and a security partner, because it also presupposes that India has the multilateral export control regime in place, which would allow the transfer of more sensitive defence technologies and dual use technologies to India and without the risk of any proliferation,” he said. India will be the only South Asian nation to be in this position to acquire such technologies. The idea of a quadrilateral group of democratic countries – the US, Japan, Australia, and India – in the Asia-Pacific with a loose defence arrangement was an idea pushed by Japan’s Shinzo Abe in 2007. The first meeting towards this end was held in Manila. China vehemently protested, and saw it as an attempt to checkmate it. The move fizzled off when Abe lost power. The Labour government voted to power in Australia wanted cooperation with China. Since then, the Chinese assertiveness in the South China and Eastern Pacific
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increased. China churned up the sands from the oceans to build on several islands and reefs to strengthen its defence. The Quad was revived in 2017, with the four countries engaging on building what Abe had earlier termed as the “arc of democracy” in the Pacific. The second meeting took place in April 2018. Now, the chances of the Quad to work together have doubled. “The Quad is a symbolically and substantively important addition to an existing network of strategic and defense cooperation among four particularly capable democracies of the Indo-Pacific. What makes the Quad unique is that its members are powerful enough militarily and economically to resist various forms of Chinese coercion while offering the
Washington is moving quickly to bring India into its fold, and gain strategic and commercial advantage. Last week, American Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced that the US will soon lift the export controls for high technology product sales to India. New Delhi wanted this for years
“muscle” necessary to defend the foundations of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific from potential challengers,” said Jeff M Smith of Heritage Foundation. As Smith noted in 2007, India had virtually no US military hardware. Today, it hosts US surveillance and transport aircraft, attack helicopters, and is ready to induct drones into its defense system. Japan has amended its Constitution to allow for greater defense and security cooperation with the US. India and Australia are holding defense talks and exercises, and planning to work together closely. The time has come for the Quad to take firm roots. Other nations in East Asia are happy. Perhaps this is the key to Quad’s success. Whatever may be the inhibitions about the US in certain sections of the Indian establishment, the fact remains that China has taken note of the growing warmth in India-US ties, and realises that India is being shored up as a balancing
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force. It is good to have the world’s only super power (maybe a declining power) as a friend. During last year’s stand-off on the India-China border over the building of a road in Bhutan, there was cynicism that Washington did not stand more firmly with New Delhi. Trump and his whimsical nature is a problem for Modi. The bottom line is his unpredictability. This is why, though New Delhi is moving into the Washington sphere of influence, it does not wish to lose its strategic autonomy. In the last seven decades, India tried to maintain its neutrality between the US and Soviet Union (now Russia). It did not always succeed, drawing closer finally to the former Soviet camp. Today despite Trump’s outreach to Delhi, India wants to make sure it has plenty of options. Repairing ties with China is one of them. The informal Wuhan summit between Modi and Jinping, did that. India and China both need a secure envi-
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ronment. So for the moment it suits both not to escalate tensions on the border. New Delhi and Moscow are old friends. Despite the US pressure on India to stall the purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile system, Modi stood firm. During the Modi-Putin informal summit in Sochi, which followed Wuhan, the Indian leader promised that India will not back off from the deal. Finally, Washington waived the sanctions on India for this particular deal. New Delhi is again a member of the SCO. Together with Russia and China, it is also a part of the five-member emerging economic group, BRICS, which includes Brazil and South Africa. There is also a trilateral grouping of Russia, India and China. Modi is with Jinping and Putin
Trump and his whimsical nature is a problem for Modi. The bottom line is his unpredictability. This is why, though New Delhi is moving into the Washington sphere of influence, it does not wish to lose its strategic autonomy. In the last seven decades, India tried to maintain its neutrality between the US and Soviet Union (now Russia)
in calling for the removal of protectionist barriers, on expanding and strengthening multilateral trade, climate change, and the importance of a UN driven world order. The trio wants to challenge the Western dominance of the financial institutions and supports the BRICS Development Bank which is the first step to challenge the World Bank and IMF.
Y
et when it comes to Jinping’s pet project, the Belt and Road initiative (BRI) and revival of the ancient maritime silk route, India is adamantly against it. The latter, like many in the US, fears that this is China’s ploy at expanding its economic and military might. Russia, dependent on the Chinese funds to revamp its ageing infrastructure, is an enthusiastic partner in BRI. So, New Delhi has kept its foot in both the camps, and will continue to straddle both the worlds till a clearer picture emerges. As China’s He Yafei said, a new type of major power relations has to evolve. Without that the international order may well collapse. First and foremost should be collective efforts to strive for building the “new type of major power relations” based on the principle of “no confrontation, no conflict, mutual respect and winwin through cooperation,” he explained. If this doesn’t happen, whatever may be the relative power equations and strengths of the various countries, the world will find it difficult to avoid the “Thucydides Trap”. Misunderstandings about each other’s actions and intentions can lead the modern nations to fall into a deadly trap first identified by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. He explained, “It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war (between the two) inevitable.” In the past five centuries, there were 16 cases in which a rising power threatened to displace a ruling one. Twelve of these ended in wars. g
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GLOBESCAN diplomacy dialogue
Sino-Indian ties
Chinese envoy’s googly Chinese Ambassador to India, Luo Zhaohui’s suggestion for a trilateral summit between India, China and Pakistan has surprised diplomatic circles for India has always been against any third party intervention where relations with Pakistan are concerned by K Subramanian
O
n June 18 the Chinese Ambassador to India Luo Zhaohui took diplomatic watchers by surprise with an elaborate but a contentious statement suggesting a trilateral summit under Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) to settle boundary issues between India and Pakistan. The occasion and the context in which the envoy made the comment left little doubt that it was not an off the cuff remark. He was speaking at a seminar organised by the Chinese Embassy on the subject, ‘Beyond Wuhan: How Far and Fast Can China-India Relations Go’. India was quick to dismiss the statement as “personal opinion” of the envoy while reiterating that all issues between India and Pakistan are to be settled bilaterally and that there was no scope whatsoever for a third party intervention. Response of New Delhi to the suggestion of the Chinese envoy was restrained and matter of fact. In the past India had strongly rejected similar ideas as tantamount to interference in the internal affairs of the country. Even China sought
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to distance itself from the speech of its envoy but there were few takers for the avowal. What is one to make out of the public expression of the Chinese envoy? The question assumes significance in the light of the recent bonhomie witnessed between the two countries at the highest level. First was the extraordinary gesture on the part of Chinese President Xi Jinping in the last week of April to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a two-day informal summit at Wuhan in Hubei Province. The Summit without any scripted agenda had raised high hopes of a new beginning in the relations of the two countries. It was followed by yet another informal meeting between the Chinese Premier and the Indian Prime Minister on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Qingdao, in the second week of June. At the meeting, the Chinese President accepted the invitation extended by Modi to visit India for an informal meeting, similar to the one in Wuhai, in 2019. In his remarks, the Chinese envoy made out as if the idea for a trilateral summit had emanated from the Indian side.
Albeit he kept it vague as to whether these quarters included the Indian establishment. “Some Indian friends suggested that India, China, and Pakistan may have some kind of trilateral summit on the sidelines of the SCO. So, if China, Russia, and Mongolia can have a trilateral summit, then why not India, China, and Pakistan,” the Chinese Ambassador to India was quoted as saying. The envoy batted for a joint effort to maintain peace along the border: “We cannot stand another Dokalam incident.” He also praised Modi’s remarks at the Shangri-La Dialogue. At the conference, Modi had said that Asia and the world will have a better future when India and China work together with trust and confidence while being sensitive to each other’s interests. “Modi made a speech in Shangri-La which sent a positive message to China. In Qingdao, the two leaders agreed to hold a second round of informal summit next year. This is the most significant outcome of the Qingdao meeting,” Zhaohui said and went on to add, “Strategic communications, meetings and heart-to-heart dialogues are important. What’s equally
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important is to implement the consensus, transmit (the) leaders’ personal friendship down to the people, and take more concrete actions. The Qingdao meeting has shown the right direction.” Zhaohui said that India and China are neighbours that “cannot be moved away”. “We are most populous and largest developing countries. We shared a historic glory of friendly interactions. We also have pending boundary issues. Our relations, so multifaceted and complicated, call for special care and attention,” he said. The Chinese Ambassador argued that India and China have to follow five Cs to improve relations—communication, cooperation, contacts, coordination, and control. In a tweet he said, “China-India relations have gone beyond bilateral scope. We have broad converging interests and face common challenges in Asia and beyond. We need to enhance coordination and cooperation in SCO, BRICS and G20, and join hands to tackle global challenges,” he said. The remarks came almost a year after the troops of India and China were locked in a 73-day standoff in Doklam. In June 2017, the Indian side stopped the construction of a road by the Chinese Army in the disputed area. The faceoff ended in the last week of August. At the meeting ahead of the SCO summit, the Indian Prime Minister and the Chinese President held detailed discussions on several subjects of mutual interest. They included measures needed to avoid future Doklams, China blocking India’s move to get Pakistan-based JeM chief Masood Azhar banned by the United Nations, and its opposition to India’s bid for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) membership. Does the unambiguous statement of the Chinese envoy on trilateral Summit under the aegis of SCO indicate attempt by Beijing to push New Delhi endorse
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Since 1988, which marked the first visit of the than Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi since 1962 at that level, there have attempts to redefine the relations between the two nations, giants not just in terms of population but also the size of the economy. After post-9/11 world, another attempt at reset was made by Prime Minister Vajpayee’s visit in June 2003. A declaration was issued on “principles for relations and comprehensive cooperation”, where it was asserted that “differences should not be allowed to affect the overall development of bilateral relations”.
Does the unambiguous statement of the Chinese envoy on trilateral Summit under the aegis of SCO indicate attempt by Beijing to push New Delhi endorse its prestigious China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) initiative its prestigious China’s One Belt and One Road (OBOR) initiative. In the eight-nation SCO meet, India refused to back China’s Belt and Road initiative for which Beijing had signed agreements with over 80 countries and international organisations.
M
odi sought to give a new push to ties with Beijing through a lavish welcome to Xi in Gujarat during his September 2014 visit. However, it did not amount to much as it was overshadowed by a Chinese incursion in Chumar, Ladakh. India has also concerns over the trade deficit. The growing footprint of China in India’s neighbourhood, particularly Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives and Bangladesh is a cause of deep unease for New Delhi. China on its part is sensitive to what it perceives as New Delhi’s encouragement to the Tibetan Government-in-Exile in Dharamsala. In a bid to assuage concerns of China on this front, in March, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a “classified circular advisory advising all ministries/departments of Union government as well as State governments not to accept any invitation or to participate in the proposed commemorative events” organised by the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala in April. Given the history of differences and distrust between the two countries on a number of subjects particularly post1962, it is naïve to assume any dramatic change in the equations. g
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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GOVERNANCE smuggling anil rajput
UN against illicit
tobacco trade India faces a unique challenge as the UN-backed treaty against illicit tobacco trade takes effect in September
I
llicit cigarette smuggling has over the years created a multitude of problems for India. It negatively impacts financial health resulting from tax arbitrage; it has also led to a sharp rise in anti-social activities as elements actively indulging in illicit cigarette trade are using the proceeds to fund their terror operations. In addition, it has resulted in the loss and export of jobs which are directly proportional to the spread of the illicit cigarette market and finally, it has a serious impact on domestic tobacco farmers causing tremendous distress and anguish. Cigarette smuggling and counterfeiting has been a serious point of concern for both the government and industry as the penetration of illicit cigarettes has seen a constant rise over the years. There has been a decline in sale of legal cigarettes between 2011-2017. It is a matter of fact that the legal sale of cigarettes in India by volume fell from 110 billion stick units in 2011-12 to 81 billion stick units in 2016-17 and recent studies indicate that this is expected to fall further by 2020. The illicit cigarette sticks sold in the country as per Euromonitor is approximately 24.8 billion. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), based on seizures, has estimated the market of illicit cigarettes to have
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grown by `5,775 crore, making the illicit trade market for cigarettes in India worth `25,000 crore. Illegal cigarettes that comprise of international smuggled and locally manufactured tax-evaded cigarettes account for one-fourth of the cigarette industry in India. The tax burden on legal cigarettes has increased by a massive 202 per cent since 2011-12 as a result of successive increase in taxation. Today, India is the fourth largest market in the world in terms of illicit cigarette sales. We need to be clear about the ground realities in India insofar as cigarettes in particular and tobacco in general are con-
cerned. India is one of the few countries in the world that has a strong domestic tobacco industry. This industry provides livelihood to 46 million or 4.57 crore people. Many vested interests are pushing a policy which is flooding the Indian market with foreign cigarette brands that exhibit total disregard for the safety and well-being of our citizens. This is one reason why there is abundant availability of cheap illicit cigarettes from neighbouring countries, resulting in increased demand for smuggled/illicit cigarettes. India faces a unique situation wherein illicit cigarettes are not getting smuggled out of the country but there is a deluge of
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The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, based on seizures, has estimated the market of illicit cigarettes to have grown by `5,775 crore, making the illicit market for cigarettes in India worth `25,000 crore
illicit cigarettes coming into the country. For the record, most Indian cigarette brands already have a unique number thereby enabling them to be both tracked and traced. In my view, the following can help us achieve better results: Setting up fast track courts to dispose of matters relating to illicit cigarette trade. Stringent penalties that should act as a deterrent and smugglers should be fearful of the consequences. There is also an urgent need to reduce the tax arbitrage on cigarettes: the massive price difference between illicit cigarettes and legal ones not only makes illicit trade extremely lucrative but it also damages the morale of the legal manufacturer. In addition, the state loses on revenue and employment which ends up being exported to other countries. It is important to understand that since Indian cigarettes have no market overseas and India is a victim of a deluge of smuggled cigarettes in the country, illicit proto-
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O
n June 27, 2018, the conditions for the entry into force of the first legally binding instrument adopted under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) were met, paving the way to eliminate illicit trade of tobacco products. The Protocol was developed in response to the growing international illicit trade in tobacco products, which poses major health, economic and security concerns around the world. It is estimated that one in every 10 cigarettes and tobacco products consumed globally is illicit. This achievement is a milestone in the history of tobacco control, as the Protocol contains a full range of measures to combat illicit trade distributed in three categories: preventing illicit trade, promoting law enforcement and providing the legal basis for international cooperation. Moreover, it aims to secure the supply chain of tobacco products, through licensing, due diligence and record keeping, and requires the establishment of a global tracking and tracing regime that will allow Governments to effectively follow up tobacco products from the point of production to the first point of sale. In order for it to be effective, the Protocol provides for intensive international cooperation including on information sharing, technical and law enforcement, cooperation, mutual legal and administrative assistance, and extradition. The fulfilment of the legal requirements for its entry into force in 90 days, will allow the Parties to hold the First session of the Meeting of the Parties to the Protocol (MOP1) in Geneva, Switzerland, from October 8-10, 2018 following the Eighth Conference of the Parties (COP8) of the WHO FCTC. Source: WHO
col/track and trace on this product must first be implemented in all those countries from where the Indian markets are flooded resulting in monumental losses to the farmers, consumers, legal manufacturers and the exchequer. It is only after this that India should think about implementing this protocol on the domestic industry. In addition from the experience of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) protocol implementation, one can see that there is no uniform implementation of the protocol. This creates an uneven regulatory
environment which unscrupulous players exploit to push products from the less regulated countries to those which are excessively regulated. Finally, it is important to understand that there is no single sure shot way to tackle illicit trade in cigarettes; it is the culmination of a wide ranging set of strategies that will defeat this multi-faceted evil. A holistic approach, therefore, is the need of the hour to address the menace of illicit trade in cigarettes. g Anil Rajput, Sr Vice President, ITC Ltd – views expressed are personal
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vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
47
Book EXTRACT yogendra narain
How Babri Masjid fell,
brick by brick A civil servant, who saw the demolition of Babri Masjid from the closest power-proximity, recounts the role of Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh, and others. An extract from ‘Born to Serve’, penned by Dr Yogendra Narain, former Chief Secretary, UP, central Defence Secretary, and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha.
T
he atmosphere in Lucknow was surcharged with the developments relating to the Babri Masjid. Both the Central Government and the State Government had given an assurance to the Supreme Court that they would protect the Babri Masjid. On the other hand the Kar Sevaks were coming to Ayodhya from all over the country. There was no way of stopping them from going to Ayodhya. Police did search them to ensure that no arms were being carried. Every day the gathering of Kar Sevaks was increasing. The Supreme Court was keeping a watch on the situation and taking an assurance from the State Government that all precautions to protect the Babri Masjid had been taken. One day Kalyan Singh went to Delhi to see the Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. I accompanied him to the Prime Minister’s residence. While I sat outside, both of them proceeded inside. After an hour Kalyan Singh came out and sat in the car with me. He turned to me and said, “Yogendra, do you know what the Prime Minister told me.” I looked at him. “The
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Title: Born to Serve Author: Dr. Yogendra Narain, IAS (Retd.) Publisher: Manas Publications Price: `795.00 Pages: 263
Prime Minister told me that the ASI had, in the course of its digging under the Babri Masjid as per directions of the Supreme Court, actually found remnants of a temple at the location.” This confirmed the fact that the Babri Masjid had been built after razing a temple on that place. I was surprised but Kalyan Singh felt quite relieved. This is what his party had been saying always. As the Kar Sevaks gathered in Ayodhya, the Central Government rushed Central para-military forces to the temple town. The strength of the central forces increased day by day as did the strength of the Kar Sevaks. It was an explosive situation under the watch of the Supreme Court, the Central Government, the State Government, as well as the Muslim and Hindu communities. Then came 6th December 1992. The Chief Minister, together with Lalji Tandon and Sri Om Prakash Singh were closeted together in front of a TV in the Chief Minister’s house. I sat outside the Chief Minister’s room. Lunch was served to all of them. They were glued to the TV
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even while they lunched. Some Kar Sevaks had got on top of the Babri Masjid. The Central forces were trying to pull them down. LK Advani and many other dignitaries were sitting on an erected platform nearby and were giving speeches. Suddenly, we saw the Kar Sevaks started breaking the dome. The police could not rush in, because the Kar Sevaks had surrounded the structure in a thick formation. SM Tripathi, DGP, Uttar Pradesh, came rushing to meet the Chief Minister. I informed the ministers inside. They asked him to wait till they had finished their lunch. When I conveyed this to Tripathi, he said he wanted to talk to the Chief Minister himself urgently. The Chief Minister agreed to meet him. Tripathi was straightforward. He wanted permission to open firing to prevent the Kar Sevaks from breaking the structure. Kalyan Singh asked him whether a large number of people could get killed if firing was ordered on the mob. Tripathi said, “yes. A large number will die in the firing.” Kalyan Singh then denied him the permission to fire and asked the DGP to control the mob by any other means (like a lthi-charge or tear gas shelling). The DGP went back to his office. After that one could only watch on the TV, how the structure fell, brick by brick. There was no way the police and the Central forces could reach the disputed structure in view of the large number of Kar Sevaks who had surrounded it. The Central Government wanted to send the Central forces with the help of helicopters, but by that time nothing could be done. The structure had been completely dismantled. Kalyan Singh asked for his writing pad. He wrote his letter of resignation with his own hand and proceeded to the Governor’s house to deliver it personally to the Governor. By evening, news of his resignation was picked up by the TV. President’s
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With Nirmala Maa of Sahaj Yoga and her husband CP Srivastava who was Joint Secretary to Lal Bahadur Shastri
Welcoming Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at Amausi Airport (July 1999) in Lucknow. The author was then Chief Secretary, UP.
The author’s book Clouds and Other Poems being released by Amitabh Bachchan. Priyanka Chopra and Suraj Bhan, Governor of UP at Raj Bhawan, Lucknow
rule was announced thereafter. Governor Satyanarayan Reddy took over the reins of the State Government. Soon after, Sri Rajesh Pilot, State Minister for Home, Government of India, came on an official visit. He sought me out and asked where I was posted. I informed him that I was Principal Secretary,
Information. He said that they would post me as Home Secretary. I requested him not to do it as I had been Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and my actions against those who perpetuated this demolition would be always viewed with suspicion. He agreed and I lay low in a non-descript position voluntarily. g
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gfiles inside the government
vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
49
birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
IAS officers’ birthdays Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
B Sreedhar
Shivangi Swarnkar
TS Jawahar
Shobhit Jain
Cadre: Andhra Pradesh
Cadre: rajasthan
Cadre: tamil nadu
Cadre: Madhya Pradesh
sreedhar.ias@ias.nic.in
shivangiswarnkar.ias11@ias.nic.in
jawahart@ias.nic.in
jains4@ias.nic.in
Ankit Kumar Agrawal
Vivek
Bhupesh Chaudhary
Heera Lal Samariya
Cadre: Uttar Pradesh
Cadre: Uttar Pradesh
Cadre: Union territory
Cadre: Telangana
ankitk.agarwal@ias.nic.in
vivek.ias09@ias.nic.in
bhupesh.chaudhary@ias.nic.in
samariya@ias.nic.in
More Ashish Madhaorao
Sonal Mishra
Debjani Chakrabarti
Anurag Chaudhary
Cadre: Union territory
Cadre: Gujarat
Cadre: odisha
Cadre: Madhya Pradesh
m.ashish@ias.nic.in
mishras7@ias.nic.in
chakrab3@ias.nic.in
anuragchaudhary.ias2010@ias.nic.in
Manoj Kr Pingua
Rajesh Khullar
Rita Shandilya
Anil Kumar Samal
Cadre: chattishgarh
Cadre: Haryana
Cadre: Chhattisgarh
Cadre: Odisha
pinguamk@ias.nic.in
khullarr@ias.nic.in
reeta.shandilya@ias.nic.in
anilkumarsamal.ias@ias.nic.in
Dheera Khandelwal
Jishnu Barua
NV Prasad
J Radhakrishnan
Cadre: Haryana
Cadre: Assam-Meghalaya
Cadre: karnataka
CADRE: Tamil Nadu
kdheera@ias.nic.in
baruaj@ias.nic.in
nvprasad@ias.nic.in
radhakj@ias.nic.in
Mary N Karketta
Manoj Kumar
Richa Verma
Mohammad Shahid
Cadre: maharashtra
Cadre: Jharkhand
Cadre: himachal Pradesh
CADRE: GUJARAT
karketta@ias.nic.in
manojkumar.jh@ias.nic.in
richa.verma@ias.nic.in
shahidm@ias.nic.in
Mantada Raja Dayanidhi
Monimala Ph Barthakur
Santanu Kumar Agrahari
Kapil Mohan
Cadre: maharashtra
Cadre: Assam-Meghalaya
Cadre: Jharkhand
CADRE: KARNATAKA
raja.dayanidhi@ias.nic.in
monimala.barthakur@ias.nic.in
santanuk.agrahari@ias.nic.in
mkapil@ias.nic.in
Neeraj Kumar Singh
Roshan Kushwaha
Karthikeyan S
K Thavaseelan
Cadre: madhya Pradesh
Cadre: bihar
Cadre: Kerala
CADRE: NAGALAND
neerajk.singh@ias.nic.in
roshan.kushwaha@ias.nic.in
karthikeyans.ias11@ias.nic.in
k.thavaseelan@ias.nic.in
Manish Kumar Verma
Ranu Sahu
Vijay Kumar Dhurve
Ragul K
Cadre: uttar Pradesh
Cadre: cHhattisgarh
Cadre: cHhattisgarh
CADRE: SIKKIM
manishkumarverma.ias11@ias.nic.in
ranusahu.ias2010@ias.nic.in
vijaykumar.dhurve@ias.nic.in
ragul.k@ias.nic.in
Amit Kumar Pandey
Kavita Gupta
G Kumar Naik
Nitin Singh Bhadauria
Cadre: bihar
Cadre: maharashtra
Cadre: karnataka
CADRE: Odisha
amitk.pandey@ias.nic.in
guptak1@ias.nic.in
naikgk@ias.nic.in
nitinbhadauria.ias11@ias.nic.in
Priyanka Shukla
Amit Saini
P Siddhartha Komal
Rahul Singh
Cadre: chattishgarh
Cadre: maharAshtra
Cadre: cHhattisgarh
CADRE: Union Territory
priyanka.ias09@ias.nic.in
amit.saini@ias.nic.in
pskomal@ias.nic.in
rahul.singh19@ias.nic.in
Daulat B Desai
R Anandakumar
Ramandeep Chowdhary
Ramkumar S
Cadre: Maharashtra
Cadre: tamil nadu
Cadre: karnataka
CADRE: Assam-Meghalaya
db.desai@ias.nic.in
ananda03@ias.nic.in
ramandeep@ias.nic.in
ramkumar.s@ias.nic.in
Pratima Satish Kr
Bhanu Prakash Yeturu
Aruna Rajoria
Cadre: Bihar
Cadre: rajasthan
Cadre: Assam-Meghalaya
kumarps2@ias.nic.in
bpyeturu@ias.nic.in
arunarajoria@ias.nic.in
20-08-1964
20-08-1986
21-08-1980
21-08-1969
22-08-1961
22-08-1962
23-08-1989
23-08-1989
24-08-1984
25-08-1985
25-08-1980
26-08-1964
27-08-1976
28-08-1985
29-08-1976
30-08-1972
31-08-1963
01-09-1962
01-09-1966
02-09-1959
03-09-1987
04-09-1984
05-09-1960
06-09-1977
06-09-1975
07-09-1976
07-06-1965
08-09-1982
08-09-1973
09-09-1964
09-09-1978
10-09-1986
10-09-1982
11-09-1982
11-09-1961
12-09-1963
12-09-1978
13-09-1980
14-09-1973
14-09-1960
15-09-1983
15-09-1961
16-09-1966
16-09-1971
17-09-1963
17-09-1985
18-09-1986
18-09-1982
19-09-1982
19-09-1987
13-09-1979
For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com
50
gfiles inside the government vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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KWWSV WZLWWHU FRP J¿OHVPDJD]LQH KWWSV ZZZ IDFHERRN FRP J¿OHVPDJD]LQH
vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
51
birthdays IPS officers’ birthdays Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
IPS officers’ birthdays Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
Sanjay Singh
Hargobinder Singh
Jitender
Manish Kumar Agarwal
CADRE: AGMUT
CADRE: AGMUT
CADRE: TELANGANA
CADRE: AGMUT
ssingh_90@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
hsdhaliwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
jitender@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
mkagarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Saurabh Tripathi
KP Venkateshwar Rao
MN Dinesh
G Satishkumar Ishwardas
CADRE: TRIPURA
CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH
CADRE: RAJASTHAN
CADRE: ODISHA
stripathi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
kpvrao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
mndinesh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
satishkr@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
P Sitharama Anjaneyulu
Debasis Panigrahi
Mohit Agarwal
Prashant S Burde
CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH
CADRE: ODISHA
CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH
CADRE: MAHARASHTRA
sitharama@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
debasis@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
magarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
psburde@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Vineet Kumar Goyal
Marityunjoy Kumar Singh
Anirban Ray
Rajvardhan
CADRE: WEST BENGAL
CADRE: WEST BENGAL
CADRE: WEST BENGAL
CADRE: MAHARASHTRA
vkgoyal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
mkumarsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
anirbanray@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
rajvardhan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
TK Vinod Kumar
D Shriniwas Rao
Soumendu Mukherjee
Kassey Suhita Anupam
CADRE: KERALA
CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH
CADRE: KARNATAKA
CADRE: BIHAR
tkvinodkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
dsrao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
smukherjee@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
ksanupam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Anand Jain
Sanjiv Kumar Singhal
Rajesh Gupta
Himanshu Shukla
CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR
CADRE: BIHAR
CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH
CADRE: GUJARAT
anandjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
sk_singhal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
rajeshgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
hshukla@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Rishi Kumar Shukla
Tajendra Singh Luthra
Akshay Sachdeva
Rahul Malik
CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH
CADRE: AGMUT
CADRE: SIKKIM
CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR
rishikumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
tsluthra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
akshay@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
rahulmalik@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Deepak Kumar
Pramod Ban
Pradeep V Philip
Shashi Prabha Dwivedi
CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA
CADRE: PUNJAB
CADRE: TAMIL NADU
CADRE: PUNJAB
deepakkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
pramodban@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
pradeepphilip@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
shashiprabha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
H Venkatesh
Mamta Singh
Sumit Sharan
Sanjay Kumar Jain
CADRE: KERALA
CADRE: HARYANA
CADRE: TAMIL NADU
CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH
hvenkatesh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
mamta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
sumitsharan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
skjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Sandeep Mittal
Prabhat Ranjan Deo
Anil Paliwal
Santosh Kumar Mishra
CADRE: TAMIL NADU
CADRE: HARYANA
CADRE: RAJASTHAN
CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH
sandeepmittal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
prdeo@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
anil@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
skmishra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Malothu Ramulu Naik
Vinay Kumar
Naunihal Singh
Rajiv Trivedi
CADRE: BIHAR
CADRE: BIHAR
CADRE: PUNJAB
CADRE: TELANGANA
mrnaik@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
vinay_kumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
naunihals@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
rajivtrivedi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Sunil Agarwal
Anup Kumar Singh
Sushil Mansing Khopde
CADRE: KARNATAKA
CADRE: GUJARAT
CADRE: BIHAR
sagarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
singh_ak@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
smkhopde@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
Abhishek Trivedi
Sanjay A Lathkar
Jalli Ajoy Kumar
CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH
CADRE: JHARKHAND
CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA
abhishek@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
salathkar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
jkajoy@mail.svpnpa.gov.in
20-08-1963
20-08-1974
21-08-1966
21-08-1970
22-08-1965
22-08-1972
23-08-1960
23-08-1969
23-08-1971
24-08-1968
25-08-1972
26-08-1961
27-08-1971
27-08-1972
28-08-1968
29-08-1965
30-08-1961
31-08-1963
01-09-1961
02-09-1964
02-09-1968
02-09-1970
03-09-1960
03-09-1965
04-09-1960
05-09-1968
06-09-1965
06-09-1971
06-09-1973
06-09-1971
06-09-1973
07-09-1964
08-09-1967
09-09-1961
09-09-1971
10-09-1971
10-09-1973
14-09-1971
14-09-1968
15-09-1966
15-09-1971
16-09-1974
16-09-1978
17-09-1985
18-09-1966
18-09-1971
18-09-1981
19-09-1961
12-09-1969
13-09-1968
For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com
52
gfiles inside the government vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
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Lok Sabha Members Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
Lok Sabha Members Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018
Jaswantsinh S Bhabhor
Ratna De(Nag)
Dushyant Singh
BJP (Gujarat)
AITC (West Bengal)
BJP (Rajasthan)
jsmpdhd@gmail.com
ratna.de@sansad.nic.in
Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah
Mohanbhai Kalyanji Kundariya
22-08-1966
06-09-1948
23-08-1950
06-09-1951
BJP (Uttarakhand)
BJP (Gujarat)
malarajyalaxmi.shah@sansad.nic.in
mk.kundariya@sansad.nic.in
Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Anju Bala
26-08-1956
06-09-1979
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
gandhim@sansad.nic.in
anju.bala@sansad.nic.in
Lalubhai Babubhai Patel 31-08-1955
Sugata Bose 07-09-1956
BJP (Daman and Diu)
AITC (West Bengal)
damanmp@hotmail.com
sugata.bose@sansad.nic.in
11-09-1973
Shanta Kumar 12-09-1934
BJP (Himachal Pradesh)
shanta.kumar@sansad.nic.in
Bharat Singh 15-09-1948
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
bharatsingh.ballia@sansad.nic.in
Charanjeet Singh Rori 15-09-1969
INLD (Haryana)
charanjeet.rori@sansad.nic.in
Chhotelal
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
khrwarchhotelal2014@gmail.com
Krishnan N Ramachandran 16-09-1955
AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)
knt.ramachandran@sansad.nic.in
Narendra Modi 17-09-1950
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
Arjun Charan Sethi 18-09-1941 BJD (Odisha)
ac.sethi@sansad.nic.in
Sisir Kumar Adhikari 19-09-1941
AITC (West Bengal)
Thupstan Chhewang
Bhairon Prasad Mishra
BJP (Jammu and Kashmir)
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
thupstan.chhewang@sansad.nic.in
bhairon.prasad@sansad.nic.in
Radha Mohan Singh
Nand Kumar Singh Chauhan
Ahmed Patel
BJP (Madhya Pradesh)
21-08-1949
Sampatiya Uikey
BJP (Bihar)
minister-agri@nic.in
nandkumar.chauhan@sansad.nic.in)
INC (Gujarat)
BJP (Madhya Pradesh)
patelm@sansad.nic.in
sampatiya.uikey@sansad.nic.in
01-09-1947
07-09-1958
01-09-1949
08-09-1952
15-09-1972
sisir.adhikari@nic.in
Rajya Sabha Members Aug 20, 2018 — Sept 19, 2018 04-09-1967
S Selvakumarachinnayan
Giriraj Singh
Kanwar Deep Singh
BJP (Bihar)
21-08-1961
Ram Narain Dudi
AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)
ss.chinnayan@sansad.nic.in
giriraj.singh@sansad.nic.in
AITC (West Bengal)
BJP (Rajasthan)
kanwar.deep@sansad.nic.in
dudi.ramnarayan@sansad.nic.in
01-09-1958
08-09-1952
Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar Bhartruhari Mahtab
10-09-1948
03-09-1943
08-09-1957
Ravi Prakash Verma
BJD (Odisha)
26-08-1960
Rajkumar Dhoot
SS (Maharashtra)
gc.kirtikar@sansad.nic.in
bhartruhari.mahatab@gmail.com
SP (Uttar Pradesh)
SS (Maharashtra)
rpverma@sansad.nic.in
rndhoot@sansad.nic.in
11-09-1955
Kunwar Haribansh Singh
Ch. Malla Reddy
Abir Ranjan Biswas
TDP (Telangana)
29-08-1971
Thota Seetharama Lakshmi
Apna Dal (Uttar Pradesh)
kuwarharivansh.singh@sansad.nic.in
chmalla.reddy@sansad.nic.in
AITC (West Bengal)
TDP (Andhra Pradesh)
Gaurav Gogoi
AT (Nana) Patil
Sanjay Dattatraya Kakade
INC (Assam)
BJP (Maharashtra)
gaurav.gogoi@sansad.nic.in
atnana.patil@sansad.nic.in
04-09-1950
04-09-1982
09-09-1953
09-09-1961
Virender Kashyap
Ravneet Singh
BJP (Himachal Pradesh)
INC (Punjab)
virenderkashyapbjp@yahoo.co.in
ravneet.bittu@sansad.nic.in
05-09-1950
10-09-1975
Harish Chandra Meena
Bhola Singh
05-09-1954
10-09-1977
BJP (Rajasthan)
BJP (Uttar Pradesh)
meena.harishchandra@sansad.nic.in
bholasingh@sansad.nic.in
KRP Prabakaran 05-09-1980
Subhash Ramrao Bhamre 11-09-1953
AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)
BJP (Maharashtra)
krp.prabakaran@sansad.nic.in
sr.bhamre@sansad.nic.in
12-09-1951
seetha.ramalakshmi@sansad.nic.in
29-08-1967
IND (Maharashtra)
Ram Jethmalani 14-09-1923 RJD (Bihar)
TKS Elangovan 30-08-1954
DMK (Tamil Nadu)
tks.elangovan@sansad.nic.in
Ravi Shankar Prasad 30-08-1954
jetmlni@sansad.nic.in
Subramanian Swamy 15-09-1939
BJP (Nominated)
P Chidambaram
BJP (Bihar)
16-09-1945
ravis@sansad.nic.in
INC (Maharashtra)
CP Thakur 03-09-1931
chidambaram@sansad.nic.in
T Subbarami Reddy
BJP (Bihar)
17-09-1943
cp.thakur@sansad.nic.in
INC (Andhra Pradesh)
reddy.ts@sansad.nic.in
For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com
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gfiles inside the government
vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
53
Tracking
President Ram Nath Kovind with Assistant Secretaries (IAS Officers of 2016 Batch) at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
Amarjit Singh The retired 1982-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Chairman of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in Gujarat.
TM Vijay Bhaskar The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary of Karnataka.
Ajoy Kumar
Moving On: IAS officers retiring in August 2018 Assam-Meghalaya
Madhya Pradesh
Anoop Kumar Shrivastava (1981) TY Das (1982) Jagdish Prasad Meena (1983) Sadhana Hojai (2004)
Aruna Sharma (1982) Kanchan Jain (1984) Bollineni Rajgopal Naidu (1986)
Andhra Pradesh
Sarvesh Kaushal (1982)
AR Sukumar (1984)
The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Secretary, National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
Bihar
Arun Goyal
Brajesh Chandra Mishra (2002)
The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Secretary, Coordination, Cabinet Secretariat.
Sham Lal Goyal The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Resident Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra Sadan, New Delhi.
Deepak Upreti The former 1986-batch IAS officer has been appointed Chairman of the Rajasthan Public Service Commission.
54
gfiles inside the government vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
Arun Jha (1981) Shashi Shekhar Sharma (1985)
Chhattisgarh Maharashtra Bijay Kumar (1986) KV Kurundkar (2002)
Punjab Rajasthan Mahaveer Prasad Sharma (2002)
Telangana M Jagan Mohan (1999)
Uttar Pradesh Chandra Pal Singh (2002)
union territory Bolung Siram (1999)
Subhash Chandra
Upma Srivastava
The 1986-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Defence.
The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Sikkim cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
VP Joy
Alka Tiwari
The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Director General, Hydrocarbons.
The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Secretary, Central Vigilance Commission (CVC).
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WANTED:
SPECIAL REPORTS KILLING FIELDS OF KAIMUR p24
RIGHT TO INFORMATION THE SWELLING TIDE p16
POLITICS SONRISEIN CONGRESS p34
WEST BENGAL: DISTANT THUNDER p22 VOL.
3, ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2009 | RS 50
GOVERNANCE FERTILISER : wRONG mEdICINE p26
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FIRST STIRRINGS VISHNU BHAGWAN p28
a K verma reds here to stay p22
years
R.N.I. NO: DELENG/2007/19719
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special Forest oFFicer’s VictiMisation in HarYana p24
gfilesindia.com
Israel
DISENFRANCHISING THE NAVEEN THE POOR
gfilesindia.com
FACTOR
VOL.
3, ISSUE 1 | APRIL 2009 | RS 20
R.N.I. NO: DELENG/2007/1971
18 ire 2 m p2 ! p u rs ag S: E: ap ea qu NG NC or b big nt RI NA ! f ’s : me TIR 8 ER i ho her CE ure S p2 V t N T s c GO o ja bro EFE pro IRS ain n ig D e F sb ◗ th k ◗b
special cHoppers, tHe big business p19
oil industry needs surgery
BABUS
IN THE FRAY
4 p2
June 2012 Rs 100 vol. 6, issue 3 mandarin matters K n BaKshi p40
gfilesindia.com
A LEADER
years October 2012 Rs 100 vOl. 6, issue 7
INTERVIEw AIR CHIEF NAK BROwNE p22
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special report loot in Mp p16
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years
February 2013 Rs 200 vol. 6, issue 11
INCOME TAX THE UNFAIR BURDEN p20
aK setH, cabinet secretarY on goVernance reForMs
Fi r
R.N.i. No: DeleNG/2007/19719
‘speed up’
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BJP POLITICS :O RAJNAT VERTO
INDIa
BIG BOSS cabinet secretary km chandrasekhar
‘Strong economic recovery by the end of the year’
Gatewayto the Government ofIndIa gfiles is the country’s first magazine written, designed and produced for India’s civil services—the vast and formidable network of bureaucracies and public sector organisations. A niche market product since April 2007, it reaches 76,000 individuals with a universe of more than 3,50,000 readers. Its exclusive readership consists of the men and women who lead the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), the Indian Police Service (IPS), the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Class I Union Services, as well as a host of Allied Services.
gfiles provides not only exclusive news unavailable anywhere else in the media or the Internet, but also focuses exclusively on the future, anticipating events and developments. gfiles contains detailed, extensive and accurate reports about transfers and postings. It features interviews, case studies, snippets, retirement profiles, financial planning advice, political changes, as well as birthdays and alumni tracking. gfileindia.com, a web portal of gfiles, clicks more than 26 lakh hits every month. Subscription: hrd@gfilesindia.com Advertisement: adv@gfilesindia.com for details
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gfiles inside the government
vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
55
Tracking
For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com
Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu with Indian Forest Service (IFS) Probationers (2017-19), in New Delhi.
Juthika Patankar The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
Sanjay Bandopadhayay The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping.
Rajesh Aggarwal The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Director General, Training, Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship.
K Rajaraman The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
Sunil Barthwal The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Commissioner, Central Provident Fund.
Atul Kumar Tiwari The 1990-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles.
VL Kantarao The 1992-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) in Madhya Pradesh.
56
gfiles inside the government vol. 12, issue 5 | August 2018
Reshuffle of IAS officers in Gujarat T Natarajan has been appointed MD, Gujarat State Petroleum Corp Ltd; Arvind Aggarwal was made ACS, Finance Department; MS Dagur as MD, Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers Limited, Bharuch; Sujit Gulati has been appointed MD, Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Limited, Vadodara; AM Tiwari as ACS, Home; Sangeeta Singh as ACS, GAD Personnel; Rajiv Kumar Gupta as ACS, Forests & Environment; Raj Gopal as Principal Secretary, Energy & Petrochemicals; Vipul Mitra as ACS, Labour & Employment; AK Rakesh as Principal Secretary, Panchayats, Rural Housing & Rural Development; Sunaina Tomar as Principal Secretary, Ports & Transport; Sandeep Kumar as Commissioner & Secretary, Cottage & Rural Industries; Vinod R Rao as Secretary, Agriculture, Farmers Welfare & Cooperation; Manoj Aggarwal as Principal Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment; NP Thakar as Development Commissioner; Kamal Kumar Dayani as Principal Secretary, Food, Civil Supplies; Lochan Sehra as Secretary, Housing & Nirmal, Gujarat; Mukesh Kumar as Secretary, Education Primary & Secondary Education; Ajay Bhadoo as Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara; Md Shahid as Vice Chairman and CEO, Gujarat Maritime Board, Gandhinagar; Vijay Nehra has been appointed Municipal commissioner, Ahmedabad.
Asgar Hassan Samoon The 1993-batch IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre has been appointed Principal Secretary, Animal and Sheep Husbandry Department, Jammu and Kashmir.
Chandra Bhushan Kumar The 1995-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Deputy Election commissioner in Election Commission of India.
Shasidhar K Srinivas The 1997-batch IAS officer of the Kerala
cadre has been appointed Chairman, Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA), Kochi.
Sarita Chauhan The 1999-batch IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre has been appointed Commissioner/Secretary, Higher Education Department, Jammu & Kashmir.
Praveen Kumar The 2001-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), Haryana Minerals Ltd, New Delhi.
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Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu with Indian Forest Service (IFS) Probationers (2017-19), in New Delhi.
Rohit Yadav The 2002-batch IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Union Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu in the Ministry of Civil Aviation.
Rajender Kumar The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Director in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Salma Hamid The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Jammu and Kashmir cadre has been appointed Chairperson, Jammu and Kashmir Special Tribunal.
Prashanth N The 2007-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Smita Sarangi The 2008-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).
Chanchal Yadav The 2008-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Special Secretary to Lt Governor Delhi.
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Reshuffle of IPS officers in Gujarat Maninder Singh Pawar has been appointed Surendranagar; Deepak Meghani has been appointed Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) for Zone 1, Vadodara city; Dahod Prem Vir Singh as ADC to Gujarat Governor; Sharad Singhal has been appointed SP of Jamnagar district; AG Chauhan as DCP, Surat city; MK Nayak as Superintendent of Sabarmati central prison; KN Damor as SP, Western Railway, Vadodara; Divya Mishra as SP, Kheda district; Saurabh Tolumbia as DCP, Zone-6, Ahmedabad city; Parikshita Rathod as SP, Kutch-East; Neeraj Badgujar as DCP, zone-4; Shobha Bhutada as SP, Mehsana; Jaipal Singh Rathore as DCP, Zone 1; RV Chudasama as SP, Bharuch; Antrip Sood as SP, Anti Terrorist Squad(ATS), Ahmedabad; Tirth Raj has been appointed DG, Human Rights, Gandhinagar; Mohan Jha has been appointed DG & IG, Prison; TS Bisht as DG, Administration, Gandhinagar; Sanjay Shrivastava has been appointed ADG, Law and Order; KK Ojha as ADG, Prevention of Atrocities on SC/ST and Weaker Section; P B Gondia as Director, Civil Defence, Home Guards; VM Pargi as ADG, Technical Services; Ajay Kumar Tomar as ADG, CID Crime; Shamsher Singh as ADG, Armed Unit, Gandhinagar; Manoj Aggarwal as Police Commissioner, Rajkot City; K L N Rao as ADG, Inquiries, Gandhinagar with additional charge of P&M; Hasmukh Patel as MD, Gujarat Police Housing Corporation; Neerja Gotru Rao as ADG, Monitoring Cell; Manoj Shashidhar as IG, Police Panchmahal Range with additional charge of IGP, GUVNL, Vadodara; S Pandia Rajkumar as IG, Surat range; Anupam Singh Gehlot as Police Commissioner, Vadodara City; Khurseed Ahmed as ED, GSRTC, Ahmedabad; Piyush Patel as IG, Armed Unit, Gandhinagar; Amit Kumar Vishwakarma as Joint Police Commissioner, Sector-1, Ahmedabad City; Brajesh Kumar Jha as Secretary, Home Department; S M Khatri as Joint Police Commissioner, Administration, Traffic and Crime, Rajkot City; S G Trivedi as IG, Junagarh range; D S Bhatt as Additional Director ACB, Ahmedabad; D B Vaghela as IG, Border Range; D N Patel as Additional Commissioner of Police, Sector-2, Surat City; J R Mothaliya as Additional Commissioner of Police, Traffic, Ahmedabad City; Sandeep Singh as Deputy Inspector General, Rajkot range
Saket Kumar
DD Padsalgikar
The 2009-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Manoj Sinha, Minister of State for Railways.
The 1982-batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Director General of Police (DGP) in Maharashtra.
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Subodh Kumar Jaiswal The 1985-batch IPS officer has been appointed Police Commissioner, Mumbai.
R Awasthi The 1985-batch IPS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Director General of Police in Meghalaya.
Ram Pravesh Thakur The 1986-batch IPS officer has been appointed Director General of Police (DGP) in Andhra Pradesh.
VH Rao Deshmukh The 1986-batch IPS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed ADG in the BPR&D.
D Gautam Sawang The 1986-batch IPS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Director General(V&E) & Ex-Officio Principal Secretary to Government, General Administration (V&E) Department in Andhra Pradesh.
PS Sandhu The 1989-batch IPS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed IG (Administration) in the BSF.
RK Mishra The 1990-batch IPS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre has been appointed IG Frontier West Bengal in BSF.
Paresh Saxena The 1994-batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Inspector General in Bureau of Police Research & Development.
Jauwad Hasan The 1980-batch IFS officer has been appointed Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) (Head of Forests) in MP.
TCA Raghavan
Reshuffle of IAS officers in Punjab Veerendra Kumar Meena as Secretary, Higher Education; Dipinder Singh as Secretary Revenue & Rehabilitation; Vikas Garg as Registrar, Co-operative Societies; Rahul Tiwari as Commissioner cum Director, Employment Generation & Training; Harjeet Singh as Commissioner, Faridkot Division; Kavita Singh as Director, Tourism and Cultural Affairs; Gagandip Singh Vrar as Special Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development; Valwinder Singh Dhaliwal as Deputy Commissioner, Ferozepur; Arun Sekhri as Special Secretary, Coordination; Diprava Lakra as Commissioner, Jalandhar Municipal Corporation; Daljit Singh Mangat as Spl Secretary Planning and Director, Land Records Settlement and Consolidation and Land Acquisition; Gurlovleen Singh Sidhu as Director, Welfare of SCs and BCs; Praneet as Deputy Commissioner, Bhatinda; Malwinder Singh Jaggi as MD, SUGARFED; Manpreet Singh as Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka; Jaskiran Singh as Director, Rural Development & Panchayats; Gurneet Tej as Director, Town & Country Planning; Kanwalpreet Brar as Commissioner, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation; Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal as State Transport Commissioner; Devinderpal Singh Kharbanda as Director, Industries & Commerce; Amit Kumar as Managing Director, Punjab Health System Corporation; Neelima as Special Secretary, Personnel; Shivdular Singh Dhillon as Deputy Commissioner, Fatehgarh Sahib; Vinay Bublani as Deputy Commissioner, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar; Sanjay Popli as Special Secretary, Cooperation; Vipul Ujjawal as Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur; Ramvir as Deputy Commissioner, Pathankot; Isha as Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur; Sumeet Jarangal as Deputy Commissioner, Roopnagar; Vimal Kumar Setia as Labour Commissioner, Punjab; Devinder Singh as Additional Registrar (Admin) Cooperative Societies; Apneet Riyait as Deputy Commissioner, Mansa; MK Aravind Kumar as Deputy Commissioner, Sri Muktsar Sahib; Showkat Ahmad Parray as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Patiala; Richa as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Sri Muktsar Sahib; Ruhee Dugg as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Barnala; Preeti Yadav as Additional Chief Administrator, Patiala Development Authority, Patiala; Amrit Singh as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General),Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar; Jitendra Jorwal as Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Jalandhar; Jaspreet Singh as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Fatehgarh Sahib; Himanshu Aggarwal as Additional Deputy Commissioner (General), Amritsar; Abhijit Kaplish as SDM, Mansa; Aditya Uppal as SDM, Mukerian; Palavi as SDM, Majitha; Kahan Singh Pannu has been appointed Secretary, Agriculture & Soil conservation; Dipinder Singh has been appointed Secretary, Elections; Harjeet Singh as Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections; Mohinder Pal Arora has been appointed Special Secretary, Higher Education & Languages; Manasvi Kumar as Director, Social Security & Development of Women and Children; Arun Sekhri as Special Secretary, Coordination; Basant Garg as Special Secretary, Revenue & Rehabilitation; Diprava Lakra has been appointed Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar.
Managing Director, Himachal Pradesh State Forest Development Corporation Limited in Himachal Pradesh.
in the Department of Biotechnology under Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi.
Alind Rastogi
Narinder Chauhan
The 1986-batch IFS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH.
The 1986-batch IFS officer of the Tripura cadre has been appointed Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Head of Forests in Tripura.
The 1985-batch IFS officer has been appointed Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic.
BD Suyal
Bhanumathi G
The 1986-batch IFS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed
The 2009-batch IFS officer of the Tripura cadre has been appointed Deputy Secretary
The 1981-batch IRS (C&CE) officer has been appointed Chairman, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
The 1982-batch IFS officer has been appointed Director General, ex officio Member-Secretary of the Council, ICWA.
PK Pathak
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S Ramesh
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PRABHAT KUMAR DEFINING THE TIES BETWEEN BUREAUCRACY & POLITICAL SYSTEM p10
MG DEVASAHAYAM IT’S A MISTAKE TO MAKE CHANDIGARH A METROPOLIS p14
August 2018 `200 VOL. 12, ISSUE 5
RISING CHINA, GLOBAL IMPACT
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BIGGEST HOAX? ISSN 0976-2906
D B B OB OB RD R OR OOK YO N KO R Y GE TO EX E TN O N S TR TX O EG AR ES DN p4 DRA ERV ACT TC EVR AR 4p 8 N EB N 8 AR Y YB RA AI A N NI
EVMs DEMOCRACY’S
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BIGGEST HOAX? DEMOCRACY’S ISSN 0976-2906
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EVMs
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GLOBAL IMPACT RISING CHINA,
VOL. 12, ISSUE 5 August 2018 `200
BUREAUCRACY & POLITICAL SYSTEM p10 PRABHAT KUMAR DEFINING THE TIES BETWEEN
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CHANDIGARH A METROPOLIS p14 MG DEVASAHAYAM IT’S A MISTAKE TO MAKE
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Ritu Sharma The 2005-batch IRS (IT) officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Director, National Gallery of Modern Art under the Union Ministry of Culture.
T Rajeshwari The 1985-batch ISS officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.
Santosh Kumar Singh The 1996-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Additional Development Commissioner, Ministry of Textiles.
Sitanshu ranjan Kar The 1983-batch IIS officer has been appointed Principal DG, PIB.
Kalu Ram Meena The 2002-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.
CS Mohapatra The 1986-batch IES officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.
Renuka Mishra
Reshuffle of IAS officers in Rajasthan Rajhans Upadhayay has been appointed Chairman, Rajasthan State Roadways Corporation; Rajiv Swarup has been appointed ACS, Industry, NRI; Pawan Kumar Goyal as ACS, Urban Development & Local Self-Government; Navin Mahajan has been appointed Secretary, Small Scale Industries; Bhawani Singh Detha as Divisional Commissioner, Ajmer; Vikas Sitaramji Bhale as Divisional Commissioner, Udaipur; Ravi Jain as Director, Agriculture; Sube Singh Yadav as Special Secretary, Home Disaster Management; Urmila Rajoria as MD, Rajasthan Finance Corporation; Vinita Bohra as Commissioner, Religious Places; Jitendra Kumar Upadhyaya as Director, Mining & Geology; Anandi as Commissioner, School Education; Chauthi Ram Meena as Joint Secretary, Water Resources; Sanwarmal Verma as MD, Rajasthan State Roadways Corporation; Shyam Lal Gurjar as Collector, Rajsamand; Deepak Nandi as Director, Rajasthan State Marketing Federation; Archana Singh as Secretary, Jaipur Development Authority; Mohan Lal Yadav as Commissioner, Jaipur Municipal Corporation; Chetanram Deora as Director, Public Services; Kumari Renu Jaipal as IG, Registration and Stamps; Ujjawal Rathod as Secretary, Urban Development Trust, Udaipur; Shankar Lal Kumawat as Commissioner, Rajasthan Housing Board, Jaipur; Anupama Jorwal as Joint Secretary, Finance; Om Prakash Kasera as Collector, Jaisalmer; Vikram Jindal as Additional Commissioner, CAD, Kota; Namrata Vrashani as CEO, Dungarpur Zila Panchayat; Kushal Yadav as SDM, Bali Pali; Saurabh Swami as SDM, Sriganganagar; Puja Kumari Parth has been appointed SDM, Banswada. Reshuffle of IAS officers in Uttar Pradesh Rama Raman has been appointed ACS, Sericulture, Handicraft and Textiles; Rajesh Kumar Singh-I as Principal Secretary, Sericulture, Handicraft; Monika S Garg has been appointed Special Work Officer NOIDA; Sandeep Kumar as Chief Development Officer, Sitapur; Om Prakash Rai as Vice Chairman Ayodhya-Faizabad Development Authority; Nagendra Pratap as Vice Chairman, Mathura-Vrindavan Development Authority; Sukh Lal Bharati as Vice Chairman, Saharanpur Development Authority; C Indumati as Special Secretary, Tourism Development; Sangeeta Singh as CEO, National Health Insurance Scheme.
The 2003-batch IES officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Higher Education.
appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Steel.
Dakshita Das
Anuradha Prasad
The 2005-batch IRPS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Department of Land Resources.
The 1986-batch IRAS officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services under the Ministry of Finance.
The 1986-batch IDAS officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment.
Justice Thottathil B Nair Radhakrishnan
Sibani Swain
The 2002-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Director in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), Delhi.
The 1986-batch IES officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment.
Raghuraman Ramachandran The 2002-batch IRTS officer has been appointed Assistant Director General in the Unique Identification Authority of India, Bengaluru.
Rasika Chaube The 1986-batch IDAS officer has been
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Rajesh Raypa
PS Lingeswara Swami The 2006-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Coal.
Rajnish Kumar The 1998-batch IRSME officer has been appointed Director in the Department of School Education and Literacy.
Renu Yadav
Thottathil B Nair Radhakrishnan has been appointed as the Chief Justice of Hyderabad High Court.
Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathi Ajay Kumar Tripathi has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court.
Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel Adarsh Kumar Goel has been as Chairperson of National Green Tribunal (NGT).
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...by the way To probe or not to probe
M
Super Chief Minister!
W
ho is the most influential functionary after Naveen Patnaik in the Odisha government? It’s an open secret that Patnaik’s private secretary, V Karthikeyan Pandiyan, a 2000-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre, is the ‘Super Chief Minister’ of Odisha. Though he himself is from Tamil Nadu, his wife is an Odiya. It is said that he is more powerful than even the Chief Secretary of the state. He runs the state from his office on the third floor of the secretariat and even top officials find it difficult to get an audience. At one time, he was District Magistrate of Ganjam, in Hijli, Patnaik’s constituency and the most backward area of the state. A tenacious Karthikeyan turned it around into the best district of the state and since then, he has the eyes and ears of the CM. Due to his failing health, Patnaik leaves office by 6 pm and enjoys hearing music at home. But Karthikeyan keeps the state in order from his third floor office. Such is his halo that when Karthikeyan clashed with Patnaik’s favourite, Jay Panda, Member of Parliament, the CM favoured him over Panda. g
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inistry of Defence Production secretariat is agog with the buzz regarding the recommendation of an enquiry by the Chief Vigilance Commission about a lady IAS officer from the Tamil Nadu cadre who has worked in the ministry. The enquiry is about the purchase of armaments and other supplies from Russia. The Ministry of Defence Production investigated that the equipments and armaments supplied by Russia were of sub-standard. It was also reported that the million-dollar order was placed irrespective of the objections raised on the file. The CVC is in a fix as the lady officer is now serving in a constitutional post. Ministry sources disclosed that if the enquiry is set up and the investigation is conducted seriously, many more skeletons will emerge from the closet. Observing the serious nature of bilateral relations between Russia and India, the investigation is not moving at the right speed. g
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...by the way Experience counts
W
hat do cabinet secretaries do when they retire? Being at the helm of the affairs of India, they are usually busy in academic and social fields. They write, give lectures and interact with the government in track two interactions. Recently, Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha has taken a new initiative to consult his former colleagues and take their experienced advice to improve governance. It is a new beginning. Sinha has begun to host a lunch once in two months with his senior colleagues at the Central Services Officers Institute at Chanakyapuri. Former Cabinet Secretaries Prabhat Kumar, Surendra Singh, AK Seth joined Sinha to seriously discuss policies and suggest what should be improved. The Cab Sec has taken many important decisions which has really helped governance and we are sure this is one of them. After all, experience counts! g
Practicality wins in Haryana
M
ost of the Haryana Regional Transport Authorities (RTAs) are dens of corruption and this fact is widely known in the state. And, the RTAs lobby is so powerful that they can take on the Chief Minister himself. But, recently, it has come to notice how a wise and mature officer can avoid trouble for his Chief Minister. Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar wanted to take action against RTA officers who were caught red-handed violating the rules and allegedly taking bribe. It is learnt that the Haryana Civil Services lobby virtually threatened the Chief Minister that if any action was taken against the RTA officers, the HCS officers will go against the move. They pleaded that if small mistakes and aberrations in the working style of the RTAs were not ignored, it will be difficult to work in the field. Not only this, the powerful HCS lobby threatened that they will expose the complete transport business which is run by BJP supporters. The threats infuriated the Chief Minister and he wanted to teach a lesson to the RTA officers. Good sense prevailed. The CM’s Principal Secretary Rajesh Khullar a 1998-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, advised Khattar to desist from taking any stern action as they need sympathetic government machinery in the election year. Realising the importance and practicality of this advice, Khattar just admonished the officers and averted any confrontation. g
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