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MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI: RESTORE DIGNITY OF QUESTION HOUR p26 MG DEVASAHAYAM: CIVIL-MILITARY TIES—WIDENING GULF p18

September 5, 2015 ` VOL. 9, ISSUE 6

FIRST STIRRINGS RS MATHUR

p42

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7TH PAY COMMISSION

ISSN 0976-2906

TH E UP DE P BN ER BAT U H EO p2 NIY OUS VE 4 AL E R

Eyeing the raise

From the Editor

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vol. 9, ISSUE 6 | SEPTEMBER 2015 Anil Tyagi | editor TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | consulting business editor Om Gupta | editor, diplomacy Vartika Nanda | consulting editor Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Naresh Minocha | contributing editor Anish Gandhi | consultant, foreign affairs Narendra Kaushik | associate editor Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) Kanika Srivastava | sub-editor & coordinator Mayank Awasthi | reporter Manasvi Sharma | trainee sub-editor Pawan Kumar | production coordinator Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics Nipun Jain | finance Gautam Das | legal consultant Bushchat Media | edit & design Madan Lal | Webmaster Abhisshek Tyagi | director advertising & marketing delhi: PALLAV MOITRA | director marketing +919810119937; e-mail: pallav@gfilesindia.in RAKESH ARORA— +919810648809 e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com chandigarh: RAMESH SHARMA— +918699519405 e-mail: rameshsharmaemail@gmail.com mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 CONTACT — +91 9845730298 e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in $1,/ 7<$*, 35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 QG IORRU GGD VLWH QHZ UDMLQGHU QDJDU QHZ GHOKL ă +All information in gfiles is obtained from sources that the management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews, are not necessarily shared by us. Copyright exclusively with Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in whole, or in part(s), in any manner, without prior permission, is totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any advertisement without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. Published and printed by Anil Tyagi on behalf of Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd. E-125, Site-B, Surajpur Ind. Area, Gautam Budh Nagar, Greater Noida-201306 U.P. (INDIA). All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in New Delhi only

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VERYBODY—from multi-tasking staff (MTS) to the Cabinet Secretary—is waiting for the 7th Pay Commission report to be tabled on December 31. The 7th Pay Commission recommendations are expected to be implemented from January 1, 2016. Apart from outlining the rationale for a pay hike for 55 lakh government servants, the Pay Commission’s mandate is to recommend “the framework for an emoluments structure linked with the need to attract the most suitable talent to government service, promote efficiency, accountability and responsibility in the work culture, and foster excellence in the public governance system to respond to the complex challenges of modern administration and the rapid political, social, economic and technological changes, with due regard to expectations of stakeholders, and to recommend appropriate training and capacity building through a competency based framework�. The paradox is that everybody is focused on how much hike the 7th Pay Commission will recommend. As for work culture, efficiency, training and capacity building, it’s just an academic discussion! The report by Narendra Kaushik on the 7th Pay Commission says, “2015 is not 2006. There will be some changes but don’t expect a huge increase�. gfiles did a cover story in 2007 on the 6th Pay Commission in which Chairman Justice BN Srikrishna said, “We believe performance should be incentivised. ... The underlying idea is that good performances must also carry pecuniary reward�. This idea has never been implemented and it has been re-coined in the terms and references of the 7th Pay Commission as capacity building. Capacity building can’t be achieved without performance and performance has to be imbued within the system. That is missing and the Prime Minister is clamouring for it. Another controversial issue is that of retirement after 33 years of service or 60 years of age, whichever comes earlier. It is to be seen what the 7th Pay Commission finally recommends. Else, on January 1, 2016, as many as 406 IAS officers will be out of a job. Is Modi looking for a more enthusiastic and younger bureaucracy? Or is the effort to ensure that likeminded bureaucrats man the services? The gfiles September issue also highlights the controversy on Question Hour in Parliament and the ongoing imbroglio over One Rank One Pension (OROP). There is an intense debate among parliamentarians about Question Hour. Veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi believes that “the future of Question Hour will remain bright... Given the manner in which Question Hour was shifted to the later part of the day in the Rajya Sabha, I am worried that it might be relegated to six o’clock. Then the only people remaining would be the MPs who put the questions and the ministers concerned, with the House remaining almost deserted. The best time for Question Hour is the beginning of the day, the position as obtains today in the Lok Sabha�. MG Devasahayam writes on the OROP issue and notes that “now, even if the OROP issue is financially resolved, the wide civil-military hiatus caused by senseless procrastination for long years would continue and could even get worse if the message reaches serving personnel. This would directly impact the country’s security and sovereignty and needs to be addressed urgently�. ANIL TYAGI

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

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CONTENTS

LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com

6 Bric-a-Brac

amar singh woos mulayam, congress adrift in up, vadra land deals, modi keeps to himself

of governance. Money makes the mare go. The country should promote Modi as dictator and change India to a presidential democracy instead of a parliamentary democracy. Your write-up is nothing but the bitter truth about the present status of the Indian government. Herman via blog

10 Cover Story

7th pay commission: recommendations may fall short of expectations

18 Governance

one rank one pension—disillusioned servicemen

24 storm in parliament 26 importance of question hour 32 schooling or skilling? 36 lohani takes charge 38 revisit growth catalysts 42 First Stirrings

rs mathur on era of civility

44 Book Review drab narrative

45 Leisure

travel to khajuraho

46 Perspective essence of life

57 By the Way

first posting, different roads, pm’s selection, secretaries’ choice

The quality debate A comprehensive article (‘Resurgence of Civil Services’, gfiles, August 2015) which is quite informative and it makes quite a few constructive suggestions. Just a thought, if the writer’s suggestion of having just three attempts for general candidates was in force, the young woman Ira Singhal, who topped the civil services exams this year would not have even joined the service because she made it in her 5th attempt. Surendra Kumar via blog A story that supports, inspires and encourages caste removal which is a base of Indian politics. It will help India to rise from caste issues and concentrate on more important things. The destructive recruitment process in civil services is well described because it has not only destroyed the significance of it but also helped others to take it for granted. Hope that this article brings about a change in the minds of others too. Ayaan Kohli via email

A mental condition This is with reference to the article ‘Is India a kleptarchy?’ (gfiles, August 2015). Kleptarchy is a mental condition which starts from Delhi being the centre

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gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

Thanks for the clear picture of our country which we unfortunately cannot deny or openheartedly welcome. The articles in your magazine are very unique and mind opening. They insist on self questioning and introspection. I enjoyed reading your magazine and hope for more such interesting articles in future. Lt Col AP Upneja via blog

Turmoil in education This article by MK Kaw (gfiles, August 2015) clearly talks about the educational obstructions which the Indian education system comprises of. The technical aspect that lacks in Indian education sector is clearly illustrated which is also the reason for our limited education approach. If the institutions are given autonomy in academic and financial matters, then they will have the power to improve their offerings and will be accountable to market dynamics. Varun Malhotra via email

Warm ties I never knew the cultural and traditional similarities between India and Guatemala were this close (Interview with the Ambassador of Guatemala to India, gfiles, August 2015). It was a new thing for me and yet very pleasing to read as the Ambassador praised India. I hope that India and Guatemala continue to share cordial bilateral and economic relations in the near future. Manoj Verma via mail

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

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Bric-a-brac ups & downs

Amar knocking SP’s door ram gopal opposes the move

A

MAR Singh, the maverick businessman, never realised how difficult it would be to re-enter the personal fiefdom m of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. He landed in Lucknow one evening to attend an iftar party organised by Mulayam. am. The selfproclaimed Muslim leader, Azam Khan, came to know of this and so avoided attending the party. Not only did he distancee himself from Mulayam’s party, Azam organised another iftar party at his residence to n which Mulayam wasn’t invited. Mulayam wants the return of funds organiser Amar but the paradox is that his partyy and family have many wheels within wheels. Ram Gopal al Yadav is the mentor of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. v. Azam looks after the interests of Ram Gopal in Lucknow w while he manages Delhi for Mulayam. Mulayam’s other er brother, Shivpal, has his own coterie which wants Amar’s r’s re-entry. The buck stops only at two questions: what will be Amar’s contribution to the Samajwadi Party? Or is hee just entering the party to grab a Rajya Sabha seat?

g

Brahmin, thakur or kurmi? congress on the search in uttar pradesh

T

HE Congress is desperately looking for a leader in Uttar Pradesh. What a paradox! A party which has seen the maximum number of Prime Ministers from the state is now searching for a President for the Uttar Pradesh Congress

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gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

Committee. Most of the party stalwarts are not interested in heading or don’t have the stamina to lead the outfit. The party’s situation can be gauged from the simple fact that the website of the UP Congress Committee does not have the photo of state president Nirmal Khatri but has the profile is of the past president, Rita Bahuguna. The biggest bottleneck foiling all progress is Pramod Tiwari, a nine-time MLA and member of the Rajya Sabha. He is known in Lucknow as “transfer posting Tiwari”. Sources disclosed that Rahul Gandhi has made up his mind to appoint Jitin Prasada as President, UPCC. Tiwari himself desires to be the state party president and if he is not in the reckoning then there should be a Muslim or a Thakur. Prasada is a Brahmin and son of a Congress stalwart, Jitendra Prasada. Tiwari is said to be Mulayam’s man in the Congress. When Tiwari saw that he did not have a chance for himself, he floated the name of a Kurmi leader, RPN Singh. Kurmis have never supported the Congress despite Beni Prasad Verma’s presence in the party. Insiders say that names are proposed, floated and lobbied for in the cocktail circle of UP leaders in Delhi, who have tremendous clout in the party. What should Rahul do?

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INSIDE EYE

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

No land re records, but probe is on haryana cm ke keen on seeing vadra case through

N

O one in the Haryana government knew that revenue inquiries require khasra numbers, kila ki numbers and names of villages along with the sizra (map) of villages e when terms and references were drafted for the one-man commission of inquiry to pr probe robe the land deal of Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra in Sec Sector 83 (Shikohpur), Gurgaon. Retired Delhi High Court judge SN Dhingra, chairman of the one-man commission, pointed this out to the government. The Chief Minister, Minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, had to travel to the US for work and had no time, so he called an emergency meeting in Haryana Bhawan, Delhi. A one-line resolution was passed unanimously un to include the revenue records in the terms and references of the t Dhingra Commission. It was sent immediately for gazette notification. fica With this resolution, the scope of inquiry has expanded to Sihi, Shikohpur, Kherki Daula and Sikanderpur Bada villages where Gurgaon’s Sectors 78 to 86 are now situated. The probe panel has also been asked to recommend “measures to take corrective re action to prevent loss of revenue to the public exchequer and also prevention of undue private enrichment at the cost of the public excheqpreven uer in such su cases in the future”. The role of officers in the grant of licences will also be looked into. It is surprising that the inquiry is being done only in those sectors whereas Vadra has purchased land across Haryana. What is the ide idea, Mr Dhingra and Mr Khattar?

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

7

Bric-a-brac ups & downs

PM’s missing coterie modi keeps to himself

D

ELHI is agog over the Prime Minister’s residence dence and office. The grapevine speaks of how the Prime Minister admonished dmonished the Home Minister and the Home Secretary. He is not happy ppy with the Finance Minister. He has refused to meet so and so. It is terrible rrible that one can’t al or confirmation confirm the buzz from the grapevine. There is no denial from the PM’s office. It seems Modi does not care re for rumour hosoever has mongers. Why is this happening? For 68 years, whosoever n Delhi and been the Prime Minister has lived for a long time in had a circle of friends and acquaintances. Modi has never lived in Delhi nor has he developed party circuit friends and is not a party enthusiast himself. There had been a circle le of 150 people who always had access to the Prime Minister’s inister’s residence. Whenever there was a change, some people would be left out but about 100 people always remained. ained. Modi has changed the dynamics. Out of this 150-strong ong coterie, none has access to the Prime Minister’s ’s residence anymore. In another change, Modi lives alone. Except for his personal assistants, there is no one to have informal chats with Modi who has a regimented routine from morning to evening. He is the first Prime Minister in a long time to spend nd a lot of time in South Block. Modi has earmarked Saturday aturday and Sunday for travelling within the country or abroad. ad. The RSS leadership also has limited access to the Prime Minister’s residence and they don’t divulge anything. g So, So if anyone tells you any story about the Prime Minister’s residence, know he is a liar.

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

9

COVER STORY

pay commission recommendations dat o s dations

7TH PAY COMMISSION OMMISSION

How full are the coffers? Over 40 years ago, a meeting of the central al government employees was organised at the Boatt Club in New Delhi. It was the time when the 3rd Pay Commission mmission report was to be announced and Indira a ARUNA Gandhi was the Prime e Minister. People were e enthusiastic and had gathered to hear an address by Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In his inimitable style, Vajpayee narrated an interesting story. It went thus: “On pay day, a man took his salary and headed home. As he neared his house, he met the panwallah and the chaiwallah. The man paid them their dues for the previous month. Next was his barber, who too took his dues. So did the washerman and finally the grocer, who was paid a substantial sum due to him. When the man reached his home, his wife asked him: ‘It is your pay day, what have you brought for me?’” Here, Vajpayee paused in his characteristic way and then spread out his arms wide and completed his story, “dher saara pyaar (a lot of love).” Today, years after Vajpayee’s anecdote, the nation is waiting for the report of the 7th Pay Commission and nothing seems to have changed. Narendra Kaushik wonders what the central government employees will get this time, “dher saara pyaar” or something more!

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B

ETWEEN 2003-04 and 200708, it was boom time for the Indian economy. Propelled by stupendous growth in manufacturing, transport, communication and construction, the GDP (gross domestic product) clocked on an average close to 9 per cent growth every year. Between 2005-06 and 200708, it grew by 9.5 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 9 per cent, respectively, for three years. Therefore, when the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC), headed by Justice BN Srikrishna, proposed a hike in salaries of over 45 lakh government servants through 20 grades clubbed under four pay bands on March 24, 2008, not only did the Manmohan Singh government accept the recommendations instantly, it also doubled the award. As a consequence, the pay and allowances of central government employees, according to the 14th Finance Commission estimates, more than doubled between 200708 (`74,647 crore) and 2011-12 (`1,66,792 crore). Great expectations No wonder the expectations from the 7th Central Pay Commission, chaired by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, have hit a high with government employees at the Centre hoping for a substantial increase in salaries and pensions. The government employees talk of recovery in the Indian economy (Economic Survey 2014-15 says the GDP is likely to grow between 8.1 and 8.5 per cent in 2015-16). Over a dozen websites run calculators which claim to work out estimated pay, allowances and pensions of a government employee on the basis of the 6th CPC recommen-

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dations and other fitment formulae. There is anticipation that the 20 states, barring Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, West Bengal and Meghalaya, which implemented the report of the 6th CPC, will also accept the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission. There is hope that when the central government and the states implement the increase from April next year, a large number of government employees will be in a position to afford cars. It is also hoped that the increase might lead to a boom in the real estate market in Tier 3 and Tier 4 towns where over 50 per cent of middle-class families sustain themselves on government jobs. Drain on resources Officials in the Commission, however, want the central government staff to temper expectations. They refer to a less-than-adequate-monsoon, high prices of essential food commodities, including onions, nonintroduction of big bang reforms

like Goods & Services Tax (GST) and stress on fiscal deficit. The officials told gfiles on condition of anonymity: “2015 is not 2006. There will be some changes but don’t expect a huge increase.” The Commission’s office, comprising around two dozen officers (including Chairman, two members, a Secretary, two Joint Secretaries, three Directors, an Under Secretary and an Adviser), operates from a private building in Qutab Institutional Area, South Delhi. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley apprehends implementation of the award may increase his salary and pension budget by around 16 per cent and dry up his resources for building capital assets. In a medium-term expenditure framework statement, laid before Parliament on August 12, the minister estimated that the salary and pension expenditure is expected to rise by 15.8 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, in 2016-17. This will be 5 per cent more than the budgeted growth of 3.1 per cent in 2015-16. UNI

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has estimated that the salary and pension expenditure is expected to rise by 15.8 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively, in 2016-17

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COVER STORY

pay commission recommendations

The expenditure increase may make it difficult for the Centre to achieve a fiscal deficit target of 3.9 per cent of the GDP for 2015-16. Moreover, there are fears that the salary hike might lead to inflation. Retirement before 60 IVIL servants fear that the Commission might tweak retirement terms and introduce a ‘33 years of service or 60 years of age, whichever is earlier’ clause. But the Commission officials are clear that this is not in the Commission’s terms of reference. The officials, however, do not rule out a decision on this by the government. The decision could divest over a lakh employees, who joined in 1982 and afterwards, of service up to five years. For instance, SR Mohanty, a 1982-batch IAS officer born on March 21, 1960, who is currently serving as Principal Secretary, Renewable Energy and Education Department in Madhya Pradesh, will have to demit office next year if the new retirement terms come into effect then. There are also four dozen Indian Police Service (IPS) officers of the 1982 batch who may have to hang up their boots. Bureaucrats look at the Centre’s move to tweak the retirement terms as an attempt to create new vacancies in the civil services. There is also speculation that the move would allow the government to get rid of officers who are influenced by Congress and Left ideologies. “It is a political move. It will work as a disincentive for old recruitments. The government will have a field day,” a Joint Secretary-level officer in Krishi Bhawan told gfiles.

C

Parity with IAS There is also a sub-plot which has unfolded with various civil services once again demanding parity with the

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SUPREMECOURTOFINDIA.NIC.IN

Civil servants fear that the Commission might tweak retirement terms and introduce a ‘33 years of service or 60 years of age, whichever is earlier’ clause. But the Commission officials are clear that it is not in the Commission’s terms of reference

multi-functional and integrating role in the administrative framework, with wide experience of working across various levels in diverse areas in Government. They hold important field level posts at the district level and at the cutting edge at the start of their careers with critical decision making and crisis management responsibilities. The leadership function, the strategic, coordinating and integrative role at this level requires the best talent available.” The Commission thus concluded that there was a need to maintain the existing position. In a 135-page memorandum submitted to the 7th CPC, the IPS (Central) Association has made a strong case for equal pay for all civil services and discontinuation of the British legacy which attached a premium to the IAS. Ironically, the memorandum cites the improvements brought about in the

IAS from the 7th CPC. Associations of IPS, Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Railway Technical Service (IRTS) and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers have sought pay parity with the IAS, who draw more salaries on account of two additional increments granted to them by the government at three levels. The 6th CPC had rejected the demand on the grounds that “the role of IAS is still very important in the overall scheme of governance. They have an important coordinating, Government employees at the Centre are hoping for a substantial increase in salaries and pensions

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British police system to buttress its case. It argues that since the IAS and the IPS are deemed to be All-India Services and created under Article 312 of the Constitution, it was imperative to treat them uniformly. The document quotes the Administrative Reforms Commission (1967) and National Police Commission (1967), headed by former Cabinet Secretary Dharma Vira, which recommended equality in payscales and parity in prospects of the IPS with the IAS. It cites the examples of Punjab terrorism, the Satyam scam and the Indian Mujahideen conspiracy case to drive home the point that the Indian Police Service is an essential public service and contributes to development.

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tion has also demanded more Joint Secretary posts for the police cadre. The Indian Forest Service (IFS), which holds only one Secretary-level post at the Centre, too wants parity with the IAS. In a representation submitted to the CPC in June last year, the IFS association hoped that the Commission will remove any kind of ‘inter-service’ and ‘intra-service’ disparity and ensure a commensurate payscale to preserve the dignity and motivation of the IFS. The association has also demanded posting of IFS officers as advisers in India’s foreign missions. It points out that the world was turning from ‘grey growth’ to ‘green growth’ and there was added emphasis on preservation of ecosystems. The IFS association quotes from the debate in the Constituent Assembly to stress how the Constitution framers provided through creation of All-India Services — ‘without

UNI

HE association has demanded change in nomenclature for the constable (civil police officer, Grade II) and head constable (civil

police officer, Grade I), overtime for extra hours, insurance for police personnel and implementation of one rank, one pension in the IPS on the lines of the defence forces. The document claims ‘uniformity of ranks across the civil services is in the interest of harmonious working relations in the State’. “Can anyone say the rule of law, public order and crime control is inferior to anything. Is it not a must for development?” asks P Venkat Rama Sastry, an Inspector General (IG) with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Secretary of the IPS (Central) Association. Sastry refuses to attribute the IPS association’s demand to a turf war. “The turf is all of the public. Public interest should decide who will man what,” he claims. He says the elevation of the IAS is incumbent on suppression of others. Besides pay parity, the IPS associa-

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COVER STORY

pay commission recommendations

7th Central Pay Commission 6TH CPC PAY STRUCTURE (2006-2015)

PROPOSED MINIMUM PAYSCALE OF 7TH CPC (From 1.1.2016)

Pay Band

Pay Bands

Grade Pay

Pay in the Pay Band

Pay Scale

PB-1

5,20020,200

1,800

5,200

7,000

PB-1

5,20020,200

1,900

5,830

PB-1

5,20020,200

2,000

PB-1

5,20020,200

PB-1

Pay Band

Grade Pay

Pay in the Pay Band

Pay Scale

26,000

15,00060,000

5,000

15,000

20,000

7,730

26,000

15,00060,000

5,500

17,000

22,500

6,460

8,460

33,000

15,00060,000

6,500

20,000

26,500

2,400

7,510

9,910

33,000

15,00060,000

7,500

23,000

30,500

5,20020,200

2,800

8,560

11,360

46,000

15,00060,000

8,500

26,000

34,500

PB-2

9,30034,800

4,200

9,300

13,500

56,000

30,000100,000

10,000

30,000

40,000

PB-2

9,30034,800

4,600

12,540

17,140

56,000

30,000100,000

13,500

35,000

48,500

PB-2

9,30034,800

4,800

13,350

18,150

74,000

30,000100,000

15,000

40,000

55,000

PB-3

15,60039,100

5,400

15,600

21,000

78,000

50,000150,000

16,500

50,000

66,500

PB-3

15,60039,100

6,600

18,750

25,530

102,000

50,000150,000

20,000

60,000

80,000

PB-3

15,60039,100

7,600

21,900

29,500

120,000

50,000150,000

23,000

70,000

93,000

PB-4

37,40067,000

8,700

37,400

46,100

120,000

100,000200,000

26,000

100,000

126,000

PB-4

37,40067,000

8,900

40,200

49,100

148,000

100,000200,000

27,500

110,000

137,500

PB-4

37,40067,000

10,000

43,000

53,000

162,000

100,000200,000

30,000

120,000

150,000

HAG

75,50080,000

193,000

Apex Scale

80,000 (Fixed)

213,000

Cabinet Secretary

90,000 (Fixed)

240,000

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Pay Scale

EXPECTED PAY STRUCTURE OF 7TH CPC (From 1.1.2016)

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

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COVER STORY

pay commission recommendations

depriving the States of their right to form their own civil services, there shall be All-India Services recruited on an all India basis with common qualifications, with uniform scale of pay and members of which alone could be appointed to those strategic posts throughout the Union’. Like the 6th CPC, the 7th CPC is also expected to reject the demand of the IRS, IPS, IAAS and IRTS for parity with the IAS. “Let them get into merit if they want parity,” a member of the Commission told gfiles when asked about the demand. IAS perks The reiteration seems to be in line with what the IAS Association has been arguing with the Commission. In two meetings with the Commission (one last year and another this year), the IAS Association has not only sought continuation of its premium position, but also demanded perks equivalent

Associations of the IPS, Indian Revenue Service, Indian Railway Technical Service and Indian Forest Service officers have sought pay parity with the IAS, who draw more salaries on account of two additional increments granted to them by the government at three levels to defence and police officers. “There is no support system for us. An officer of our rank in the army gets 13 officials in his personal staff. In the Air Force, he gets 6. In the Navy and the IPS, he gets 4. We get none and have to stand in the queue for milk apart from handling emergencies,” a Joint Secretary in the government fumed.

The extension mystery

W

ith the 18 months’ time given to the 7th Pay Commission to submit its report coming to an end in August, the government has given it an extension of another four months. The government says the extension was given because the Commission had asked for it. Many are not ready to believe that the 7th CPC, which was almost ready to submit its report, had suddenly requested an extension. They wonder what the necessity was for this extra time. Two months ago, on July 24, 2015, the 7th CPC had, on its official website, voluntarily said that work was on and it would be completed well within schedule. Even until the second week of August, there were no indications from the members of the Commission that they would require an extension. In these circumstances, the fact that the 7th CPC has suddenly requested for additional time has caught many by surprise. Even on August 7, 2015, NC Staff Side Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra said after meeting with the 7th CPC that a delay of one month may occur in submitting the report to the government. Moreover, consecutive news items in the media, including a PTI report, had said that the Chairman of the 7th CPC, Justice Ashok Mathur, had assured the report would be submitted by the end of September.

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Sanjay Bhoosreddy, Joint Secretary, Animal Husbandry Department, and secretary, IAS Association, rejects the other civil services’ demand for parity. “It is a shallow and pernicious argument. There is something called merit,” Bhoosreddy points out. DA+basic pay= raise INCE the terms of references of the 7th CPC ask it to review, rationalise and simplify the variety of existing allowances being paid to employees to ensure that the pay structure takes them into account, there is a strong possibility that the Commission may recommend merger of 50 per cent of DA (dearness allowance) with basic pay. In March last year, the central government raised DA to 100 per cent from 90 per cent. The merger could increase salaries by about 30 per cent. The Commission is supposed to suggest ‘desirable and feasible’ changes in pay, allowances and retirement benefits for central government employees (industrial and non-industrial), personnel belonging to All-India Services, personnel of the Union Territories and Indian Audit and Accounts Department, members of regulatory bodies (barring the Reserve Bank of India) set up under Acts of Parliament, officers and employees of the Supreme Court and personnel of defence forces, keeping in mind the economic condition of the country and need for fiscal prudence. It is expected to link the payment of bonus with performance and productivity. According to the last census carried out six years back, there are 34 lakh central government employees. There are also over 40,000 temporary employees hired on contract by different ministries, departments and public sector units at the Centre. g

S

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presents

Memory Clouds The Hon’ble Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on April 21, 2015, on Civil Services Day, gave a clarion call to record and upload the memoirs of senior and experienced civil servants. Hence... gfiles brings you a compilation of reminiscences by senior civil servants which were published in gfiles between 2007 and 2015. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from the wealth of experience of veteran civil servants. Pre-order the book in advance to avail of the one-time offer of `720. You can make the payment through cheque, DD or RTGS in favour of gfiles.

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 Arun Bongirwar

Arvind S Inamdar Madhav Godbole Ved Marwah Trinath Mishra Vineeta Rai Arun Kumar Rath Ajit Nimbalkar TR Kakkar Najeeb Jung MS Gill Shovana Narayan Lt Gen JFR Jacob Brijesh Kumar Surrinder Lal Kapur Yogendra Narain and many more...

For further information or queries: Mail us at editor@gfilesindia.com or log on to www.gfilesindia.com/memoryclouds gfiles inside the government www.indianbuzz.com

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India’s civil and military

Will the twain ever meet?

Even if the OROP issue is resolved, there is an urgent need to address the relationship between India’s civil and the military, which has reached a nadir

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HE year 1965 saw a war in which many military veterans RI WRGD\ IRXJKW ¿HUFHO\ DJDLQVW Pakistan to save India’s honour. Fifty years later, in 2015, most of them ZHUH FRPSHOOHG WR ¿JKW D ZDU DJDLQVW the Government of India to defend their own honour. All because of breach of trust! The struggle for the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, that seeks equity in the payment of pensions to ex-servicemen, has been going on for years. At the fag end of its term, UPA II made a sleight of hand and granted this demand by making a token Budget allocation. The BJP, as a political party during elections, and Narendra Modi, as prime ministerial candidate and then as the Prime Minister, made voluminous promises of implementing OROP. But, when the veterans felt that Prime Minister Modi and the government he heads were reneging on this FRPPLWPHQW FLWLQJ VRPH GLI¿FXOWLHV

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in its ‘arithmetical translation’, they rose up as one man and went on the warpath with rallies and protests all over the country. Volunteers among them sat on a chain dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. Sensing the discontent and distress, four former Service Chiefs— one from the Army and three from the Navy—came together and wrote to the President of India, stating that this development has the potential for LQĂ€LFWLQJ ORQJ WHUP GDPDJH WR ,QGLDÂśV ‘proud and apolitical military ethos’. They pointed out that successive Pay Commissions have been used WR ZKLWWOH GRZQ WKH ÂżQDQFLDO DQG protocol status of the military vis-Ă vis their civilian counterparts. The letter expressed the suspicion that there has been a sustained effort to bring the armed forces on a par with the police and paramilitary forces and make the Indian army subservient to the bureaucracy. They also warned: “In the daunting

security scenario that prevails, our powerful military is expected to be at the peak of combat-readiness, with high morale and motivation, ready to react swiftly to orders of the political leadership to meet every national crisis. However, such a response may not be readily forthcoming from a military which suffers low self-esteem because its respected veterans are seen to be ignored and humiliated by their own sarkar.� According to the chiefs, weak politics and lack of political will is the root cause of this malaise. Then something preposterous happened. On Independence Day Eve, Delhi Police, in its attempt to ‘evict’ the peacefully protesting veterans from Jantar Mantar on the pretext of ‘security’, manhandled them and reportedly even snatched a train of medals from the shirt of one of them. In this era of instant communication, electronic and digital photography, the images of the aging and struggling

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veterans being beaten and pushed around will haunt the conscience of most citizens. Even worse, the next day, in his near-90 minutes’ ‘oration to the nation’ from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the Prime Minister did not even mention this sordid episode, let alone express any regret. As for OROP, he only repeated the words that have been spoken ad nauseam.

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VERNIGHT, the OROP struggle transformed from a monetary issue to one of fauji izzat (military honour). Across the veterans’ email circuit, the thought process on the future role of the armed forces was moving towards a sort of ‘non-cooperation in aid to civil authorities’. â€œâ€Ś..The safety, honour and welfare RI \RXU FRXQWU\ FRPHV ÂżUVW DOZD\V DQG every time. Of course it does, but you don’t have to take on other people’s work just because they are inept and FRUUXSW 6DYLQJ SHRSOH IURP Ă€RRGV and other disasters is not your job. 7KHUH DUH RYHU SDLG RIÂżFLDOV LQ WKH FLYLO services and police who are supposed

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Even if OROP issue is financially resolved, the wide civil-military hiatus caused by senseless procrastination for long years would continue and could even get worse if the message reaches the serving personnel to do it. The funds earmarked for such relief work is meticulously divided amongst themselves, while you share your meager rations with the GLVDVWHU DIĂ€LFWHG â€œâ€Ś..If a child falls in a bore-well, don’t get all worked up about it. Your country doesn’t care about you one way or the other. If a few jihadis with weapons and bombs sneak in through the Line of Control, it shouldn’t agitate you. Keeping them on the other side is the job of the fattened BSF, commanded at the higher levels by corrupt cops of the IPS who have QHYHU ÂżUHG LQ DQJHU RU EHHQ ÂżUHG DW â€œâ€Ś..Don’t go around shooting your

own countrymen just because they are insurgents. That’s not your job. Let the CRPF and the motley lot of other central and State policemen do it. They are highly paid and very well equipped and if they cannot or will not do their job, so be it. Let the netas, babus and cops, who started WKH DOLHQDWLRQ LQ WKH ÂżUVW SODFH VRUW it out between themselves. You do not come into the picture here. Don’t make enemies of your own countrymen while the babus and cops play goody-goody. When war comes, these rats will scuttle away. You will need the help of your countrymen to ÂżJKW WKH HQHP\ â€œâ€Ś..Do only what you are supposed to do–train for war and win it when it comes. In the meantime, live it up. Everyone else is!â€? Sensing the trend, 10 more former Chiefs—seven from the Army, one from the Navy and two from the Air Force—joined the fray, making it almost a confrontation between the civil and military. As the Chiefs said in the letter, for the government and people of India things appear to be

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The OROP struggle transformed from a monetary issue to one of military honour following the action by the Delhi Police against the veterans at Jantar Mantar

going out of hand. It became worse when the younger generation entered the OROP struggle with the appeal to all children of ex-servicemen to come out and support the veterans. The dysfunctional relationship between India’s civil and the military has reached a nadir. Now, even if the OROP issue is resolved, the wide civil-military hiatus caused by senseless procrastination for long years would continue and could even get worse if the message reaches the serving personnel. This would directly impact on the country’s security and sovereignty and needs to be addressed urgently in its proper perspective. For doing so, we need to draw on the centuries-old wisdom of Kautilya reiterated in modern times by the General-turned-President of the US, Dwight Eisenhower: “When diplomats fail to maintain peace, the soldier is called upon to restore peace. When civil administration fails to maintain order, the soldier is called to restore order. As the nation’s final safeguard, the army cannot afford

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a failure in either circumstance. Failure of army can lead to national catastrophe, endangering the survival of the nation.” This sums up the role performed by our military and the criticality of an abiding civil-military relationship, lest the nation face any catastrophe. It should be realised that in war or FRQÀLFW PLOLWDU\ PHQ GR QRW RIIHU WKH µVXSUHPH VDFUL¿FH¶ MXVW IRU PRQH\ RU rank. There is something far more precious called ‘patriotism and honour’ and this is embedded in the Indian Military Academy’s Chetwood Hall credo, which none of the civil servants or politicians have gone through but most military leaders have. It reads thus: “First—the Safety, Honour and Welfare of your Country come First, Always and Every Time. Second—the Honour, Welfare and Comfort of the Men You Command come Next. Third—Your Own Ease, Comfort and Safety come Last, Always and Every Time.” The Civil-military relationship should be moored on such an anchor.

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ESPITE the passage of seven decades since Independence, the political leadership has failed to evolve a framework for a coherent civil-military relationship. But the military brass had attempted it. Way back in 1998, in his treatise, The Soldier and the State, former Naval Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat wrote: “The modern military profession exists as part of the government insofar as the term ‘government’ includes the executive departments of the nation-state... Modern democracies therefore pay great attention to the supremacy of the political class over the military in governance, normally referred to as ‘civilian control of the military’. This is clearly how it should be, since all ultimate power and decision making should be wielded by the elected representatives of the people.” 2Q WKH HYH RI KLV GHPLWWLQJ RI¿FH in 2012, General VK Singh fully endorsed this view with a compelling FDYHDW ³, DP D ¿UP EHOLHYHU LQ FLYLOLDQ supremacy over the military in a

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democracy. I subscribe to the views of the former Naval Chief, Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat. However, civilian supremacy must always be rooted in the fundamental principles of justice, merit and fairness. Violation of this in any form must be resisted if we are to protect the institutional integrity of our Armed Forces.� The combined views of the former Navy and Army Chiefs set forth certain non-negotiable imperatives for the civil-military relationship: democracy as a vibrant and functioning entity with the ‘elected representatives of the people’ running the government as per established democratic norms; military profession existing as part of such government; civilian supremacy to be exercised by the ‘elected representatives of the people’; such supremacy to be rooted on the principles of justice, merit and fairness; violation of this can be resisted to protect the institutional integrity of the armed forces. Whether governments in India are being run as per established democratic norms is a burning question! Even so, India’s professional military is meant to protect, safeguard and sustain our Democratic Republic wherein lives one-sixth of the human race. Therefore, it is imperative that a democratic civil-military relationship framework exists, is practised and sustained. But, unfortunately, this has not even been attempted and the civil-military relationship is not mandated in the governance system. It has been continuously and dangerously drifting. In the colonial and aristocratic past, when soldiers were illiterate, Alfred Lord Tennyson’s dictum—‘Theirs not to reason why, Theirs but to do and die’ (“The Charge of the Light Brigade�, 1854)—prevailed. But today’s military comprises well-educated and highly

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skilled men, who have a mind of their own to distinguish good from EDG DQG ULJKW IURP ZURQJ 2IÂżFHUV who command them come through a rigorous selection process based on PHULW 6R LW LV GLIÂżFXOW WR VWRPDFK WKH statement of a former Union Minister of State of Defence, in the ‘august’ presence of then Army Chief General Bikram Singh, that military forces have remained loyal and ‘obedient servant’ of governments! Had it been so, India could have turned into a dynastic dictatorship following the Emergency of the midSeventies. Why this did not happen is aptly described in an article in Time magazine of August 11, 1975, written by Claire Sterling after visiting India.

The letter by four former service chiefs to the President expressed the suspicion that there has been a sustained effort to bring the armed forces on a par with the police and paramilitary forces and make the Indian army subservient to the bureaucracy This is better reproduced verbatim: “Indira Gandhi is perhaps more powerful than ever before, but she is also more alone. There is no one left to share with her the blame of the regime’s failings, no one of any stature to partake with her the task of running her vast benighted nation‌.. “India’s standing Army of nearly a million men has been resolutely nonpolitical since Independence. But it is also sensitive to the smallest slight to its honour, dignity and military

independence, not to mention the nation’s sovereignty; and it is steeped in loyalty to constitutional principles. It was altogether her Army when she enjoyed unquestioned legitimacy of constitutional rule. It may not be, VKRXOG LWV UDQNLQJ RIÂżFHUV FRQFOXGH that she has become something else. More than ever now her fate hangs on the Army’s loyalty‌.. “Depending on how fast and how far she goes in changing from a traditional Prime Minister to the one-woman ruler of a police state, the Indian Army—the one group with the power to stop the process—could intervene. If it were to do so, it would almost certainly be not to replace her with a military dictator, but to restore the institutions (of democracy) it has been drilled into defending since birth.â€?

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know this for sure since as the then District Magistrate of Chandigarh and custodian of JP, the enemynumber-one of the State, I was abreast of what has been happening in Delhi. 7KLV KDG DOVR EHHQ FRQÂżUPHG E\ /W General SK Sinha, then Director, Military Intelligence. In a recent article, he gave credit for this to the then Army Chief, General TN Raina. Compared to these men, where does the present top brass of the Army stand? All said, as of now, the words of Rudyard Kipling written about a century ago can be altered and applied to today’s civil-military relationship: “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.â€? This can be so only at the nation’s peril. This will be so even if the OROP tangle is resolved. There is much more that needs to be done for the ‘twain’ to really meet. The sooner, the better. g

The writer is a former Army and IAS officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com

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GOVERNANCE parliament bn uniyal

Bicameral incongruities The washed out monsoon session raises questions about the functioning and powers of the Rajya Sabha “If a second chamber dissents from the first, it is mischievous; if it agrees, it is superfluous.” – Abbé de Sièye, political philosopher of the French revolution.

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ARLIAMENT is in a crisis which is not likely to blow over soon. The crisis is formed of several intertwined strands—ideological, personal and institutional. The ideological divide between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the rest of the political parties, particularly the Congress, has been there since the very inception of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1925 and that of the Jan Sangh in 1951.

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There is little chance that it will ever be bridged. Personal hatred between the leaders of the two sides has also been mutual from the very beginning but it seems a lot more visceral today than it ever did in the past. The institutional strand is the one that is going to be the most difficult to straighten out, for it is embedded in the very making of our Westminster-derived bicameral Parliament. The bicameral structure worked well as long as one party ruled supreme throughout the country— both in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha at the Centre and in the Vidhan Sabhas and the Vidhan Parishads in the states. But once this single-party

supremacy began tottering from 1967 onwards, the structure has been giving way steadily and unceasingly. Many states have abandoned the bicameral structure and have worked well with only the directly elected legislature. The reasons why a bicameral Parliament was considered desirable can be found in the elaborate debates of the Constituent Assembly and the Nehru Committee report on the subject. They were valid reasons when they were given, when the hopes of the nation-builders were soaring high and when their essential trust in the sincerity of purpose of men in public life was yet untried. Many of us may begin to have doubts about

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One can say the current crisis is due mainly to the bristling personality of Modi

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those reasons today when our public life has become so severely strident, so unpalatably coarse, self-interested and narrow-minded. Bicameral legislatures and bipartisan politics are failing in even the most advanced countries even as many new countries are adopting the practice. America has been steadily rolling down a precipice because of the fiercely bipartisan nature of its politics. Every American citizen today seems fed up with the way legislation gets so frequently gridlocked in their Senate and pity the Presidents who look so utterly helpless before the bipartisan divide. Watchers of the national scene are unanimous that America is in economic and social decline because of constant deadlocks killing vital legislation. What makes them even more desperate is that they see no hope of constitutional reform or a change in the stance of national political parties even in the far future. Italy is another nation that has been nearly paralysed by the equal powers of the two houses of its parliament. Current prime minister Matteo Renzi, who heads a rickety coalition, is trying to restrict the powers of the Senate to pull back the country from the edge of what seems to be sure doom. However, according to an observer, Renzi’s effort to revitalise

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Bicameral legislatures and bipartisan politics are failing in even the most advanced countries even as many new countries are adopting the practice the country’s democracy “is not looking terribly healthy”. Japan can be cited as yet another country of shaky coalitions that its majority leader is often forced to form because of the incongruent majorities of its two houses called Kokkai and Shugiin.

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ROBLEMS created by bicameralism have grown so noticeable that some American educational institutions have even created study courses in the subject. Game theorists are experimenting on mathematical models to test whether equilibrium or stable formations are feasible within a bicameral, bipartisan bargaining framework. The Indian bicameral crisis is prickly, but not obstructive. The Rajya Sabha can hold up legislation but cannot bring the government of the day to a halt because it cannot indefinitely stall Finance Bills as the upper chambers can do in some other countries. And yet, if the deadlock and disruption in the Rajya Sabha continue to hinder reform and enfeeble

the administration, people are bound to wonder whether we really need an upper house which only seems to be interested in sticking pins in the behind of the ruling side. Maybe it is time to draw out the relevant copies of the Constituent Assembly debates and test the merit and functioning of today’s Rajya Sabha against the sort of upper house the founding fathers had envisioned. One can say without being totally wrong that the current crisis is not entirely due to the bicameral structure of Parliament but due mainly to the bristling personality of Narendra Modi. It is, after all, absolutely true that Modi is seen in many quarters as absolutist, arrogant and unbending. It is a different matter that he also sees Sonia Gandhi and her courtiers as a bunch of peevish knaves acting out of pique over losing power to a chaiwalla. Sonia actually may think of him as even worse. In her eyes, Modi is a mere conjurer of the electronic age and a chicaner of the worst sort, who is now wanting the Congress to support the very measures he had stalled when he was in the opposition. These Congressmen say that what was witnessed in Parliament during the last monsoon session was not a bicameral crisis but a ‘personality crisis’. After all, Parliament did function reasonably calmly in similar circumstances when Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the BJP was the Prime Minister. But Vajpayee was able to contrive a working arrangement with the Congress in Parliament because he had known and dealt across parliamentary benches for many years. It makes a difference when you have friends and admirers even among your enemies, which Modi does not have. g

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GOVERNANCE parliament lecture

The question of the Question Hour by MURLI MANOHAR JOSHI

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HE most important postulate about parliamentary democracy is that Parliament is between the government and the people. The government is accountable to the people and this accountability is secured by the people through their representatives in Parliament. Accountability is an important adjunct of government, irrespective of the form of democracy. If the government is democratic then it has to be accountable, otherwise, in my view, it will not be democratic to the extent it eschews accountability. It is an old adage that ‘the government of the people, for the people and by the people—shall not perish from the earth’. In the Indian context, I have added two things to it—provided free and fair elections, free from muscle and money power, are conducted and a sense of accountability prevails continuously in the government. Otherwise the government will become autocratic and aristocratic like any other one. Responsibility and accountability have been ensured in our Constitution through various ways. Institutions have been put in place which track and monitor the functioning of government. Nowadays, it is the time of regulators which keep an eye on the functioning of the government. But, if we have to know what these regulators are doing, what type of impact they have, whatever is being said by the government, is real or just political rhetoric, to see whether

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the government is working properly, there is no way but asking questions. As a legislator, it is my prerogative to ask questions and to hold the government to account. The most important and necessary thing is to maintain the freedom of asking questions in Parliament. If that freedom is restricted, then the importance of questions gets diminished. You know that there is an old aphorism that even gold shudders when it is put to test. When gold is put to test, it is put in the fire. ‘Kanp Gayo Dekh Pariksha Kal’. Therefore, Question Hour is a severe test, an ordeal by fire, for the hon’ble minister. It has happened in this very Parliament. And it continues in this way, and this book makes us vigilant that the system stays put. But, in our country, if the legislator asking the question is smart, the bureaucracy is smarter. Sometimes even if the question is clear and concise, the answer is curved and tangled. At times, it seems answers conceal more and reveal less. The bureaucracy is an expert in this

This lecture was delivered on the occasion of the release of the book, Parliamentary Questions: Glorious Beginning to an Uncertain Future, by Devender Singh, Addl Secretary in the Lok Sabha Secretariat

art. To ask questions and to frame the questions is a big art in itself. Therefore, the device of questions is very important for all i.e. for the Members of Parliament and for the bureaucracy and for the minister also. Sometimes big things tumble out from a small, innocuous looking question. When I became a Member of Parliament for the first time, there was a split between the government and the insurance and bank employees and they were on a strike. I just put a short notice question. The feature of short notice question is that it is accepted only with the consent of the minister. Many times, if there is a very important issue and the minister is running away from it, it creates misgivings and it is assumed that there is something fishy. But the minister of finance was very experienced. He accepted the question. As soon as he replied in the House, I just asked a question and he replied, “yes”. The strike was called off immediately. I had no inkling that a small question may have such a huge impact. I just want to say that there is huge potential and power in a question. We just need to know the art, how the language of a question is framed and how it is asked. At times, supplementary questions become more important than the original ones. Questions are not new for us. As rightly observed by Dr Virendra Kumar, questions are not new to our country. Our civilisation begins with asking questions and expressing doubts. In our tradition, the first

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Dr Murli Manohar Joshi (centre) releasing the book Parliamentary Questions: Glorious Beginning to an Uncertain Future written by Devender Singh (extreme right)

question is, ‘who am I, who art thou, wherefrom have we come, where will we go—‘Koaham Kasthvam Kut aayatam, Kome Janani Kome tatam’. At that time there was neither Parliament nor any similar institution. But these questions have been haunting us since time immemorial. Modern science and philosophy have not been able to answer these questions. Wherefrom this world has come? Who created it and how? Not only this, the power who created, does He know what He created and how He created it? Therefore it is inconceivable that there would be no questions in Parliament as Mr. Bhartruhari Mahatab rightly pointed out. We must use Question Hour which is for the benefit of the people. Our concern is how to save Question Hour. The book raises this concern. Its title, Parliamentary Questions -

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Glorious Beginning to an Uncertain Future, itself raises the apprehension that the future of parliamentary questions seems to be in doubt. I believe that the future of Question Hour will remain bright. It is true that in the situation today Question Hour seems to be under a cloud. The manner in which Question Hour was shifted to the later part of the day in the Rajya Sabha, I am worried that it might be relegated to six o’clock, at the end of the day. Then the only people remaining would be the MPs who put the questions and the ministers concerned, with the House remaining almost deserted. The best time for Question Hour is the beginning of the day, the position as obtains today in the Lok Sabha. Personally, I feel that it should be scheduled at the beginning of the day because the events between today and

yesterday must be replied to in the first hour when the House meets.

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HE main reason for adjournment or constant disruption of Question Hour is that both the ruling party and the opposition are more interested in asserting their public posture rather than in the replies to questions or discussions on issues. It is not easy to make your mark through questions. If a question does not come up for oral reply and is instead marked for a written reply then it seems that your work has gone to waste. The MP would be interested in seeing that his question comes up for oral reply. The reply to oral questions is given in the House itself. Even then, sometimes the time gets over only in three or four questions. Then questions are asked about the importance of Question Hour itself. People

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say that if only three or four questions are taken up then what is the need for Question Hour; it is alright if it is scrapped, they say. Someone may feel that his question was eighth or ninth in line, the other person must have been at the head of the line, expecting his question to get an oral answer. So we have to take special care that questions listed for all the ministries in the list of questions for a day are taken up. Many times, it so happens that six questions from a single ministry are taken up and even a single question from other ministries is pushed to the back. Is it possible at the time of ballot to decide about taking up questions from particular ministries and MPs, and also ensure through a second ballot that questions of different ministries are taken up in the early lot? At least five, seven or eight ministries should be covered so that the people are able to get the information they have sought. This aspect needs to be given earnest consideration. Sometimes this issue is also raised, whether MPs put the questions on someone’s suggestion or they do so with their own intelligence and information. There is no objection on a question being asked on someone’s suggestion subject to the condition that there should be no vested interest behind it and it should have been asked only in the public interest. Long time ago (in 1951) it was alleged that Mr. Mudgal put up a question for pecuniary consideration and it was proved that the question had been put not in the public interest but there was some pecuniary interest. He was expelled and that was the first case of an MP being expelled. We have to take care of this aspect that the questions should be inspired entirely by public interest. Questions could be put as per personal knowledge, information

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It is necessary to ensure that the Question Hour runs uninterrupted...The people and the democracy itself demand that it should be continued, it should be strengthened and it should be conducted every day given by another person, on the basis of newspaper reports, any suggestion regarding public interest but it should not become a means for furthering the personal interest of anyone. It is necessary to ensure this, and this has been mentioned in the book.

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question is a potent weapon available to the public representatives to use at the right time, in the right manner and for public good. Now, I will tell you my own experience. When I was a minister, most of the people used to sit quietly and as soon as they got to know that the question would come for an oral answer, they would become active. The rest of the time they passed in sifting information. Often, correct information is not given in written replies. The information given would be irrelevant. A person may keep on

trying. Even for an oral question, the trend would be to provide information which would not entail taking of responsibility or which would contain no useful information. When I was MP, I found a way out of this problem. I selected questions of a similar nature out of the oral and written questions submitted during the previous eight or 10 years along with the replies given by the government thereto. When I started formulating questions based on the replies given to earlier questions, it disturbed the ministry concerned. I would advise all the honourable members to study the questions put up during the last four-five or two-three years and take up any one subject. You would be able to shake the bureaucracy out of complacence within two or three sessions. Hansraj Ahir (MP during the 15th Lok Sabha) is an example. ‘Coalgate’ came to light due to the questions only. This shows the power of questions. It is necessary to ensure that Question Hour runs uninterrupted and without interference so that the full power of Question Hour is harnessed. People also say that some ministers are interested in avoiding oral questions to save themselves from accountability. The extent to which this charge is right or wrong will be judged only with the passage of time. But this is a charge hurled frequently. I hear from my journalist friends that many ministers who dread the questions do not want Question Hour to run. Whether or not the Ministers want it, the people of the country and democracy itself demand that Question Hour should be continued, it should be strengthened, it should be conducted every day and the House should sit for longer duration. We should bear in mind that security of the MPs is protected if Question Hour is protected. g

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GOVERNANCE education mk kaw

Junk jargon, take action

The need is to weld the entire school education system into a single cohesive unit

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must confess that this piece has been triggered by a newspaper report. Smriti Zubin Irani, our intrepid Minister for Human Resource Development, is picking the brains of thousands of Indians right down to the panchayat level, in order to formulate a New National Education Policy for the country. Ergo, I thought, why not me too? Drafting a policy is a back-breaking task. So I am making do with some random thoughts and confining my suggestions to school education. 100% literacy On literacy I have nothing original to suggest, except that if we can enforce the compulsory element of the Right to Education Act, it might do the trick. In my native Srinagar, Maharaja Hari Singh started what were known as “jabri skools” and it was a common sight to witness the spectacle of young children of Hanjis being led by the ears by hefty education department goons. Their loud wails rent our hearts, but also provided a bit of comedy in our lives. If we start “jabri skools” all over and pay piece wages to unemployed youth @`100 for each child delivered single piece at the skool, we would

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have achieved the twin objectives of 100 per cent literacy and 100 per cent employment to rural youth. Single-teacher schools Many of our schools are singleteacher schools. If the teacher does not come, the school remains closed. If he comes, he has to teach all the children

from Classes I to V simultaneously. The solution I propose is rather simple. As we cannot afford five teachers for each primary school, give them at least one extra volunteer teacher. This chap would be given a pittance as honorarium and would be an unemployed youth from the same village. Also, let the primary schools

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report to the pradhan of the local gram panchayat. He would mark the attendance, make surprise checks and pay their salaries. I tried this strategy in Himachal Pradesh. To my pleasant surprise, while I found the wayward regular staff punctually absent as before, the ill-paid temporary staff was always on time. The moral of the story probably is that efficiency is not a function of salary. Singing the multiplication table I have a grave charge against our teachers. In our days we used to sing the multiplication tables as if they were film songs when melody was queen. Nabira, a muscular youth, who had successfully failed in four attempts, would lead the chant and the whole class would follow, while the hard-worked teacher had a wellearned snooze. The song went something like this: Do ikai do, do dooni char Do tiya chhay, do chaukke aathh Do panje dus, do chhay baran, and so on. None of us from that generation has forgotten the table. My grandsons cannot do the simplest sums without using a calculator. Today, even if we wish to introduce that tradition once again, we cannot. Firstly, where shall we get the brawny Nabira? He is a beneficiary of the no detention policy and has crossed the primary section long ago without damaging his cranial contents. The teacher suffers from insomnia and would need to take several sleeping tablets before he can induce sleep. National Curricular Framework The last National Curricular Framework was penned by the NCERT in 2005. It has got to be rewritten. Some of the changes suggested are

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the following:  The role of the British colonial power may have to be reassessed in the light of the speech delivered by Shashi Tharoor at the Oxford Debating Society.  Who should be called ‘Great’ in our history books may need a rethink. We might find that Alexander was not at all Great; he actually suffered a humiliating defeat by Porus the Great, which forced the Macedonian emperor to retrace his steps. We might decide that Akbar, the grandson of the Mongol invader Babar, did not deserve that honorific, while Maharana Pratap, who challenged the foreign invader, did.

Let the primary schools report to the pradhan of the local gram panchayat. He would mark the attendance, make surprise checks and pay their salaries  We may have to take into account the fresh evidence that seems to indicate that the Aryans did not invade India. In fact, that no people by the name of Aryans existed on the face of the earth.  There is satellite imagery to prove that the Saraswati river existed in fact and was not a myth. Also, that the Palk Strait was the famed bridge of floating stones built by Lord Rama to invade Sri Lanka.  The role played by various individuals and movements in our struggle for independence may need reassessment. It may turn out that the proponents of violence, like Bhagat Singh, Subhas Chandra Bose and the naval ratings, were a greater factor in our achievement of free-

dom than the so-called apostles of non-violence. Common school system At the school level, many experiments have been tried out but, to my mind, the greatest initiative was that of the Navodaya Vidyalaya. Rajiv Gandhi is reported to have said in the manner of an inspired leader, “Can we not have a Doon School in every district?” Today we have a Doon School in every district. It admits students from rural areas through an all-India examination, caters mostly to girls, members of SCs and STs and gives results comparable to the best public schools.

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ll we have to do is to convert every school to the Navodaya Vidyalaya pattern. Some carping critic is bound to object that the cost would be prohibitive. But it would be well within our means if the Ambanis and Adanis, Azim Premji, the Bill Gates Foundation, and the rest of the jingbang chip in with a few million dollars each. It would be the ultimate project of public-private participation. This would form the basis of the common school system in which all government schools would become neighbourhood schools, to which all children living in the specified neighbourhood shall have a right to be admitted. If you don’t do this, how will you implement the Right to Education Act? Take-off points There have to be several take-off points in the school system. Students should be encouraged to take off into the workforce at Class VIII, Class X and Class XII stage, depending on their mental level, intellectual proclivity, employment potential

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GOVERNANCE education mk kaw

and family background. Nearly 99 per cent of students should be in vocations by the time they reach Class XII. They should not be ostracised as dropouts or be looked down upon as unfortunates who are not going to receive a college or university education. Class XII should be the maximum general education status required for most of the jobs in the country. This formula should apply even to the top services like the all-India services, central services, and so on. Having caught the probationers young, they can be imparted a special course of one or two years as a part of their training programme.

Value Education India is a vast laboratory where

Sri Aurobindo, Bahaullah, Swami Dayanand, Jiddu Krishnamurti, the RSS, and so on.  Through the National Centres for Value Education set up by MHRD in NCERT, NEUPA, IIT Delhi, IIM Lucknow and so on.  Through training programmes for school principals, teachers, educational administrators run by organisations like Sathya Sai International Centre for Human Values, Ramakrishna Mission, Bahai World Faith, Navodaya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Delhi Public School and numerous others.

there have been numerous experiments with value education. Some of the projects are the following:  With examples of inspiring teachers, values can be easily imbibed if there is a conducive atmosphere.  Basing the instruction on academic concepts of educational philosophy, first in an experimental school and then in a chain of schools. Examples are the philosophies of Gandhi, Swami Vivekananda,

I suggest that the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) should own all these experiments and fund them where necessary. There should, however, be no attempt to lay down the syllabus of training programmes. Many experimental schools confess to a feeling of frustration and disillusionment, when they find parents happily keeping their wards in such schools till Class VIII, but transfer-

spade a spade and divert the bulk of the manpower to acquisition of skills. It would be best if acquisition of a skill becomes the fundamental right of every citizen of the country. Making it a fundamental right does not make it compulsory; it only means that if someone wishes to acquire a skill, the government will be obligated to provide the necessary facilities. That way, we shall not have unemployable graduates and unfulfilled demand for skilled manpower.

Whether you refer to it as a vocation or a trade or a technical skill or training, what you are trying to infuse is a knowledge of a skill that is required in the marketplace

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he idea is to divert 99 per cent of the population to skills. Now the interesting bit is that infusion of skills has been the primary objective of many schemes of the central and state governments. Examples are the vocational education stream, the Industrial Training Institutes, the Krishi Vigyan Kendras, the Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment, the Jana Shikshan Nilayam, the community colleges, the National Skill Development Corporation, and so on and so forth. It has now been realised that whether you refer to it as a vocation or a trade or a technical skill or training, what you are trying to infuse is a knowledge of a skill that is required in the marketplace. So let us call a

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ring them post-haste to the normal schools with CBSE or ICSE syllabus from Class IX onwards, so that they can compete in the admission tests to professional colleges. This calls for the establishment of a third organisation, called the Central Board for Experimental Education, which would be on a par with, for all purposes, the CBSE/ICSE. Organisational innovations In the present dispensation, school education is totally dominated by IAS officers, with educationists being allowed at best to hold the posts of

directors. The compulsions of the IAS being what they are, new subdivisions of the educational superstructure keep on getting formed. Thus, there are separate secretaries looking after primary education, elementary education, secondary education, senior secondary education, adult education, literacy, non-formal education, and whatever other nomenclature the biradari can conceive of, thus

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fracturing into countless segments what ought to have been a seamless web of a single overarching policymaking mechanism.

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t is, therefore, suggested that there should be an all-India service called the Indian Education Service, manning all the top positions of the educational hierarchy, both at the Centre and in the states. While this will help in welding together the entire school education system into a single cohesive whole, it will also allow education to develop as an expertise, where the policymakers have had a

lifetime of experience running the vast educational machinery extending right to the village level. Involving the panchayats When the Constitution was amended by the 73rd and 74th Amendments, the main objective was to create a third level of governance. It is widely known that teachers in government schools do not attend to their duties punctually. There is

largescale absenteeism. Some states have the distinction of having two hierarchies of school teachers—the officially appointed ones and contract employees to whom the actual job of teaching is sublet for a consideration. Even when they come to school, the teachers are least interested in teaching. Resultantly, independent agencies like the ASER Foundation and Pratham have castigated the entire government school system. Year after year they have found the literacy and numeracy skills of children in Class V to be hardly of the standard of class I or II. And by adopting the simple strategy of a ‘no detention policy’, the teaching community has been protected against any adverse administrative action. States like Kerala and Karnataka, which have involved the panchayats in a big way, have found that the solution works. In fact, some of the southern states are prime examples of success in literacy, mid-day meals, family planning, grassroots development, windmill energy and even communism. Tailpiece The practical experience of individual states has much to teach us. Girls’ education was a strict no-no for decades in states like Bihar. Nitish Kumar distributed cycles to girl students and created history. Narendra Modi has rightly placed building of lavatories for girls at the top of his Swachh Bharat Abhiyan agenda. The future will demonstrate the efficacy of this simple step. If the central government avoids polysyllabic jargon and takes care of the bicycles and latrines, educational policy will take care of itself! g MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government of India

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GOVERNANCE appointment air india

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Take off time for Lohani Divisional Railway Manager of Delhi, Director, National Rail Museum, Director, Ministry of Tourism, CMD, India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and MD, Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC). As Chairman and Managing Director, he is credited with having achieved the turnaround of ITDC in year 2002-3 and of MPSTDC in 2004-5. Lohani was one of the awardees in the gfiles Good Governance Awards in 2013. He has also been conferred with the Lifetime Achievement Award in Tourism and Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Award ‘Icon of Change’ in 2010. It was his efforts in extensive

branding, innovation, infrastructure development and marketing that made MP the most attractive tourist destination in the country and it received four National Tourism Awards in 2008, including the award for ‘best tourism performing state in the country’ and three National Tourism Awards in 2009. His name also figured in the Guinness Book of World Records in 1998 for reviving the vintage Fairy Queen Express. New Delhi Station was twice awarded the National Tourism Award for the most tourist friendly station and won CAG appreciation for infrastructure work during the CWG during his tenure as Divisional Railway Manager of Delhi. g

RAJEEV TYAGI

HE 1980-batch IRSME officer, Ashwani Lohani, has been appointed new Chairmancum-Managing Director of Air India Limited (AIR). He is known for his outstanding contribution to Indian tourism both at the national and state level that drew nationwide attention and appreciation and won him the tag of successful turnaround manager. He is now presented with the challenge of turning around the national carrier. Lohani is a gold medallist in metallurgical engineering. A fellow of the Institution of Engineers and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, he worked as the

Prabhat Kumar and TKA Nair watch as Ashwani Lohani receives the 2013 gfiles Award for Excellent Contribution from Chhattisgarh Governor Shekhar Dutt

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GOVERNANCE

economy bk chaturvedi

Imperatives for growth More freedom for States to spend as they deem fit and focus on development of human capabilities are among the steps needed to take India on the path to economic growth

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RAJEEV TYAGI

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ROWTH is indeed a major outcome of the planning process. We have to plan for a growth of 8 per cent to 9 per cent on a longterm and sustained basis to become a middle income country by 2025, or in the next decade. This is not a very ambitious goal for a country with per capita income levels of about $1,500. The average growth of the GDP in the period 1990-2010 averaged 7.5 per cent. These were the initial years of reforms. Unfortunately, in the last three years growth has decelerated and averaged about 5 per cent. In the first two quarters of the current year it has continued to be sluggish and

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averaged 5.5 per cent. While part of the reason for this decline is slow growth in international demand, domestic policies have also led to depressed growth sentiments. Planning should correct this situation and generate growth which is inclusive of all groups and regions. Inclusion has several dimensions. The inequalities in income and wealth distribution need correction. More than 350 million people living below the poverty line must benefit from the growth process. India has sharp income inequalities amongst different states. The NorthEastern states, the low-income states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Odisha, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Left affected areas and tribal areas need special focus. The different marginalised and low development social groups of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, women and minorities need a more inclusive growth process. Inequalities and deprivation would not go down by operation of market-led growth alone. An important component of inclusion is access to the social goods of education, healthcare, nutrition, infrastructure—both physical and social—and to modern technology. The planning process cannot hope to generate equitable growth by providing subsidies or forcing public investment in an otherwise financially loss-making project. Such an approach leads to inefficiencies. The approach to growth of these areas and social groups should be anchored on large investment in physical infrastructure in these areas and capacity building. We should open up these areas for profitable industrial project investment by developing roads, railways, airports, ports, and power projects. The capacity building of these groups should lead to increased investments in health, education, and nutrition

and skill development for them. Globally, the growth process has accelerated with improved infrastructure. In this approach, subsidies may be required by the railways to build otherwise non-profitable lines while airlines may require support to operate in some of such areas like the North-East. Access to healthcare may need new medical colleges. A skill development programme for the region may need subsidies. It is here that the government should intervene and provide support. The 11th Plan has shown how some of these policies have resulted in reducing gaps in growth rates of SDP of different states.

The planning process cannot hope to generate equitable growth by providing subsidies or forcing public investment in an otherwise financially loss-making project. Such an approach leads to inefficiencies The process of economic growth, unlike in the second half of the 20th century, has to address special challenges now. In the field of energy we need to accelerate and create larger capacities. Such capacities must consist of a larger share of clean energy to enable us to meet our commitment in climate change negotiations and minimise our carbon footprint. We should minimise use of power generated from fossil fuels, especially coal. This requires expansion of solar and wind energy. We need to spend more on research and development to expand bio-energy capacities. The cost of renewable energy is quite high, though coming down. This process

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requires larger investment. The cost of a unit of solar electricity is `7-9 and that of wind power `4-6 which is nearly double of electricity generated from coal-based plants. The increased capital requirement and infirm power from these sources has put extra pressure on developing economies. This financial burden can slow down growth. We need to take steps to minimise these costs with new technologies and efficient processes.

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HE efficient use of water, its overall availability for our requirement and supply to all areas is a very challenging task. Over the last century, we did not devote enough attention to it. A result of the poor management of this important resource is that large areas in the country are having water problems. The 12th Plan has observed that if the current pattern of demand continues, half of the demand will be unmet by 2030. Further, there are large areas with severe water shortage, which average values tend to hide. The groundwater extraction is fairly high in the country. According to current estimates, exploitation of groundwater in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan is more than 100 per cent while Tamil Nadu with 80 per cent and UP with 71 per cent are close behind. The over-exploitation is lowering the groundwater levels. Globally, our exploitation of groundwater is more than double that of the US and China. We have problems with qualities of groundwater or its availability in 60 per cent of the districts of the country. Despite the above problems, we have not woken up to the need for serious policy intervention in this area. Some changes required forthwith are: recycling of water by industry and other users, efficient use of water in agriculture, including

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change in cropping pattern and use of new technologies in paddy cultivation and water harvesting, specially in urban areas. The large leakage in the water distribution systems, both in urban and rural areas, will need to be plugged. Private investment may be required for this. These measures will need to be supported with water bodies’ regeneration and other supportive measures to generate river systems with water conservation measures. A very important component of this plan will be working mitigation measures to counter the effect of climate change. A major change is taking place in India in urban settlements. According to current estimates, by 2030 nearly 40 per cent of the population will be living in urban areas. This will increase to 60 per cent by 2050. In most plans, our thinking on development of urban infrastructure has been governed by the need to develop

rural areas. The overriding priority has been development of villages and the urban sector has been starved of funds. In view of the large population share and growth of urban centres, we need to step up investment in this sector. Sanitation, water and roads will need to be a major priority while developing these areas. We have an opportunity here. If we miss it, larger urban slums will dot the skyline. Since the urban growth is currently taking place, we can plan organised urban expansion. There has been recognition of these changes in the reports of the 12th and 13th Finance Commissions, in their recommendations. The Planning Commission recognised this in the 11th as well as the 12th Plan. It needs to be reflected both in the financial allocations and planning of state governments. A strong institutional mechanism needs to be set up to meet financial needs of the urban sector.

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or above over the next decade-and-ahalf will not be feasible unless efficiency of investment improves sharply. This requires improved governance across the country. It requires sharply reduced corruption which is feasible by adopting a comprehensive approach covering economic growth, community education, independent and fair investigation and systemic reforms of procedures and institutions. It requires decentralisation of powers to states and greater flexibility in centrally sponsored schemes. The states should have the freedom to spend in accordance with their needs rather than on those perceived by the Centre. Institutional changes need to be made across all sectors, but especially in delivery of justice and the organisation of the police force. The rule of law cannot be implemented unless wideranging changes are Growth process also requires a strong manufacturing sector. Unfortunately, the share of manufacturing in India’s GDP is very low. The 12th Plan, while emphasising this, mentions its low share in GDP of 15 per cent as against 36 per cent in Thailand, 31 per cent in South Korea, 30 per cent in China, 26 per cent in Malaysia and 21 per cent in Germany. If the large population currently under-employed in agriculture is to be moved to manufacturing to make agriculture more profitable, manufacturing has to grow at a faster rate. The 12th Plan projections of 12-14 per cent appear ambitious and unrealistic. But a long-term growth of 10-12 per cent per annum is feasible, considering the potential. It is, however, a difficult task, considering only China has, in the first decade of the current century, averaged growth of slightly above 10 per cent. Sustained GDP growth of 8 per cent

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The efficient use of water, its overall availability for our requirement and supply to all areas is a very challenging task. Over the last century, we did not devote enough attention to it brought about in these critical areas. This requires a strong political will. A comprehensive strategy on handling corruption should ensure improved efficiency in use of funds. The processes for delivery of public services need to be simplified. We must address both political corruption and petty corruption. We should quickly set up a Lokpal, bring the CBI under it, start a campaign across the country against corruption and bring administrative procedures in accordance with those prevailing in devel-

oped economies. We should fully understand the diversity of India and give to the states freedom to enable efficient use of funds. Good governance should be our watchword in the next two decades. India is no more a centralised plan economy. The plan for economic growth at this stage of development must focus on development of human capabilities, including skills, expansion of infrastructure and policies to promote private investment. We must focus on governance to improve efficiency of use of funds. A longterm growth strategy of sustained high growth must be built around the above policies.

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OW do we achieve this? The Planning Commission reforms are still work in progress. While the old institution has been abolished, the outline of a new body is under discussion. Clearly, the investment priorities must be decided by the Planning Commission or its successor body in consultation with states, to ensure focus on education, health, regional development, and other objectives mentioned in the Directives Principles of the Constitution. To make it a consultative institution or purely an advisory body would be disastrous. The participation of states in a reformed National Development Council in a more meaningful way will, however, be a very progressive step. Reform of institutions and improved governance should also be an important part of the new body. The reformed institution must aim to shift the economic activity in the new direction to meet our aspirations of inclusive and sustained high growth. g The writer is former Cabinet Secretary and former Member, Planning Commission. Article courtesy: IC Centre for Governance

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FIRST STIRRINGS rs mathur

A 1965-batch UP cadre IAS officer, RS Mathur is the only State Chief Secretary to have reported to two chief ministers by NARENDRA KAUSHIK

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N the early 1960s, the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) had a halo around it, thanks to the legacy of the British Raj that had put it in the elite category. And, for students of St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, a top educational institution, the civil services examination was considered a natural choice. Therefore, the decision of Ravindra Shankar Mathur, a Chemistry (Honours) graduate from the college, to attempt the civil services exam was not surprising. “IAS was considered top of the league,” recounts Mathur, 73 years of age today. His family had migrated to Delhi from Amritsar after OCM (Oriental Carpets Manufacturers), a fabric company which employed his father, downed its shutters in the late 1950s. He claims to have appeared for five papers, three more than what was prescribed for the Indian Police Service (IPS). Besides the IAS, the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the IPS, the IAS examination (as the civil services examination was called then) also selected officers for central services, including Indian Railways and the income tax service. Mathur cleared the exam in his second attempt. The 1965-batch IAS officer was allocated Uttar Pradesh, a cadre considered good in those days. IAS officers in the collectorates had the entire district administration at their beck and call. Mathur initially slept in a retiring room at a railway station, did not have a

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For whom the bells tolled www.gfilesindia.com

vehicle and travelled in trains, rickshaws and by bike during his first posting as Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) in Amroha. Yet, every time he would go out, a fourth-class official with bells fastened to a stick would clear the traffic for him. “I would travel in a rickshaw and the official would walk in front, tolling the bells and shouting ‘SDM aa rahen hain’, to make way for me,” he reminisces. At that time, IAS officers also had the luxury of hunting black partridge, which was not an endangered species then. Once in a while, Mathur got to travel in a ‘VIP’ jeep allocated to him by RK Kaul, the then District Magistrate in Moradabad. Though the jeep was reserved for ferrying VIPs during their visit to Moradabad district, the DM off and on allocated it to his IAS subordinates. It was in an extremely rundown condition. Mathur would hold its gear even as his driver manoeuvred through the traffic. “The gear would shift to neutral if it was not handheld,” Mathur recalls with a smile. During his 35-year career, Mathur served as SDM in Amroha, Karwi and Lakhimpur Kheri, Joint Director (Industries), District Magistrate (DM) in Meerut and Aligarh, and Chief Secretary in Uttar Pradesh, Secretary (Food), (Statistics and Programme Implementation), Director-General (Central Statistical Organisation) and Chairman and Managing Director at Hindustan Insecticides Limited at the Centre. ‘Civil’ servant Mathur says the biggest take-away from his career was the civility and respect with which the political class treated him in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi. They never interfered in his work and allowed him to do his job, he says, adding that he learnt not to grumble and act in accordance with

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what was provided to him. In particular, the former IAS recollects his stint as DM in Meerut when the Janata Party government ruled at the Centre after Emergency. Meerut was the home district of the then Union Home Minister, Chaudhary Charan Singh. “Certain activist student leaders were taking advantage of the Janata Party’s overemphasis on democracy and freedom. They would demand money from shopkeepers. Once I was driving through a market and found them extorting money from a chemist. We ordered a lathicharge and arrested around 50 students,” he recalls. Mathur later explained the situation to Singh. “He listened to me and commented ‘Kiya toh theek hai’, with a chuckle,” he remembers.

Mathur says the biggest take-away from his career was the civility and respect with which the political class treated him in UP and New Delhi. They never interfered in his work and allowed him to do his job Mathur says people in Meerut would flaunt their relations with Singh. One day a person approached him for a favour, saying that he was Singh’s nephew. He asked the person to wait outside and phoned the Home Minister. “Girftar hua ki nahin (Have you arrested him or not)?” Singh asked him after hearing about the person. The ‘nephew’ overheard the telephone conversation and decamped without meeting the DM. Mathur says the political class of the 1980s and 1990s accorded great respect to bureaucrats. He cites an incident which happened when he was the Registrar (Cooperative Societies) in Lucknow. “I was sitting

with minister Vasudeva Singh, when a person stormed into the room and handed him a piece of paper over my head, saying ‘Registrar se kara dena’ (get it done by the Registrar),” he recalls. Vasudeva Singh lost his cool and before asking the person to get out, shouted, “Even I call him Registrar sahib. How dare you speak like this?” Mathur worked as Secretary to chief ministers Narain Dutt Tiwari and Vir Bahadur Singh. He distinctly remembers that the two always made sure that the state Chief Secretary’s (CS) position was not compromised in any way. “They would never overrule the CS on file and simply wrote ‘please discuss’ if they did not agree with the latter,” he claims. Two CMs and a CS N 1998, when Mathur rose to be the Chief Secretary in the state, an unprecedented situation arose. The then State Governor, Romesh Bhandari, sacked Kalyan Singh and swore in Jagdambika Pal as the new Chief Minister. For around 72 hours before a floor test in the Assembly determined which of the CMs enjoyed the confidence of the legislature, both Singh and Pal claimed to be CM. Mathur would get calls from both of them. The matter was resolved with the floor test, but not before Mathur became the only state Chief Secretary in Indian history who reported to two CMs at the same time. Mathur retired in 2001 after serving as Secretary (Food and Statistics and Programme Implementation) and in other important positions in New Delhi. Father of two daughters— an assistant professor in Lady Shri Ram (LSR) college and a consultant on governance, respectively—he plans to write a book on the unsavoury twoCM incident. g

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BOOK REVIEW

by ABHILASH KHANDEKAR

bureaucracy non-fiction

Uninspiring account

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T the time when I was finishing my reading of the book under review, for the second time in a fortnight, a top civil servant of yesteryears passed away in Bhopal. He was MN Buch and the illustrious record that he has left behind as a career bureaucrat I was fortunate to hear about twice in the memorial meetings in Delhi’s IIC and in Bhopal. Frankly, you get disappointed after reading Gods of Corruption and wish you had perhaps not bought a copy for your bookshelf. There have been many books, of late, written by former bureaucrats on the bureaucracy. Some bureaucrats fight while still in service (like Ashok Khemka, Arun Bhatia or Amitabh Thakur) and some write books after demitting office to help expose big-time scams and sensitise society and the system. The general perception about babus in this country has rapidly changed over the past few decades. Across the country and across various sections of society, most people believe that officers in positions of power are wheelers and dealers, are thoroughly corrupt and are eating into the oncerobust steel frame, without any fear of any law. Thus, expectations from this kind of book were on the higher side. The title, Gods of Corruption, is so enticing that I thought it would bring out some untold, sensational stories and scandals about babus in UP. The introduction to the book says… “(it) talks about the experiences of an IAS officer in UP who was an independentminded bureaucrat and who always found it going tough. The book brings out succinctly what occupies the minds of bureaucrats and politicians, the games they play, the level to which

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Title: Gods of Corruption Author: Promilla Shankar IAS (retd), UP Cadre—1976 batch Publisher: Manas Publications, Delhi Price: `595 Pages 232

they can stoop in achieving their vested interests, and why decision making and implementation is so tardy”. But you don’t find the big games played by officers and politicians. The author, who retired in 2011, has just chronicled her own career in a very drab and dull manner, department-wise, posting-wise and has tried to show how much harassment she faced from almost each of her superiors. What really disappoints a reader is her style of narration. She keeps telling you where she was posted, why she was removed, how her superiors did not respond to her calls and so on. What is also surprising is that she never had any important posting anywhere in UP. She kept being transferred under one party or the other, which is strange by any standards and evokes sympathy for her at times. Of course, she has put forward her own point of view on each transfer and seeks to put on record how she was wronged every time she tried to

speak her mind or put something in black and white. At one place the author says “money counting machines too were rumoured to have been installed in some offices, including that of Yadav Singh, Chief Engineer of Noida, to name one, during one particular Chief Minister’s tenure”. There are many such instances in which she points to corruption but in a very generalised fashion. There are many other instances of corruption indicated by the author but without much substance or documentary support. Such a book could have been written, perhaps in a better way, by an observant journalist or political commentator covering Uttar Pradesh for a few decades. But when it comes from an IAS officer of 36 years of “distinguished service” surely more meat was expected, if not just spice. Here one finds neither spice nor meat! I failed to find the gods of corruption, though I know who he or she may have been in that vast state! After reading this book, an enlightened reader may not get much food for thought but may in fact wonder why Shankar was always right and in all the cases her seniors were wrong. For those interested in the functioning of the Indian bureaucracy, a four-year-old book The Service of the State—The IAS Reconsidered, makes for much better reading. The author is Bhaskar Ghosh, former Secretary of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, in the Government of India. g The writer is National Political Editor, Dainik Bhaskar Group, and divides his time between Delhi and Bhopal

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LEISURE

travel madhya pradesh

T

HE temples of Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh are India’s unique gift to the world, representing, as they do, a paean to life, to love, to joy, perfect in execution and sublime in expression. Life, in every form and mood, has been captured in stone, testifying not only to the craftsman’s artistry but also to the extraordinary breadth of vision of the Chandela Rajputs under whose rule the temples were constructed. The Khajuraho temples were built in the short span of a hundred years, from 950-1050 AD in a truly inspired burst of creativity. Of the 85 original temples, 22 have survived till today to constitute one of the world’s great artistic wonders. The fascinating Son-et-Lumiere spectacle evokes the life and times of the great Chandela Kings. Mounted in the complex of the Western Group of temples, the 50-minute show runs in Hindi and in English every evening and is narrated by Amitabh Bachchan in his mesmerizing voice. WESTERN GROUP Kandariya Mahadeo: The largest and the most typical of the Khajuraho temples, it soars 31 m high. Dedicated to Shiva, the sanctum sanctorum enshrines a lingam. The main shrine is exquisitely carved and features in delicate details, gods,

Khajuraho – paean to life goddesses and celestial maidens. Chaunsath Yogini: The only granite temple and the earliest surviving shrine of the group (900 AD), it is dedicated to Kali. Only 35 of the original 65 shrines remain. Chitragupta Temple: Facing eastwards to the rising sun, the temple is dedicated to the sun god, Surya. The image of the deity is particularly imposing: five feet high, and driving a horse-drawn chariot. Vishwanath Temple: A three headed image of Brahma is enshrined in this temple. The approach is equally impressive, with lions flanking the northern and elephants the southern steps that lead up to it. Lakshmana Temple: The lintel over the entrance of this beautiful Vaishnavite temple shows the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva

GETTING HERE By Air: Regular services link Khajuraho with Delhi and Varanasi. By Rail: Khajuraho has its own railway station linking it to Delhi, Jhansi (172 km), Harpalpur (94 km) & Mahoba (64 km), Satna (117 km) which is on the Mumbai- Allahabad line of the Central Railway. By Road: Khajuraho is connected by bus with Satna, Harpalpur, Jhansi and Mahoba. Best Season: July to March Accomodation: MP Tourism Hotel Jhankar, Ph: (07686) 274063 Hotel Payal, Ph: (07686) 274064 Tourist Village, Ph: (07686) 274062

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with Lakshmi, Vishnu’s consort. The finely carved sanctum has a threeheaded idol of Vishnu’s incarnations, Narasimha and Varaha. This boar incarnation also appears in a nine-feet high statue at the Varaha Temple. EASTERN GROUP Parsvanath Temple: The group’s largest Jain Temple and exquisite in detail. The sculptures on the northern outer wall are particularly noteworthy. Within, a throne faces the bull emblem of the first tirthankara, Adinath. The Parsvanath image was installed in 1860. Ghantai Temple: This Jain temple has a frieze which depicts the 16 dreams of Mahavira’s mother, and a Jain goddess on a winged Garuda. Adinath Temple: Dedicated to the Jain saint, Adinath, the temple is lavishly embellished with sculpted figures, including yakshis. The three Hindu temples of the group are the Brahma, containing a four-faced lingam, the Vamana, with apsaras in a variety of sensuous attitudes; and the Javari, with a richly carved gateway and sculptures. SOUTHERN GROUP Duladeo Temple: Dedicated to Shiva, the apsara and ornamented figures are its most striking features. Chaturbhuj Temple: This temple has a massive, intricately-carved image of Vishnu in the sanctum. g

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vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

45

PERSPECTIVE life sadhguru

O

NE day, when I proposed planting flowering trees at the yoga centre, a very practical ashram resident asked me, “What’s the use? Why not plant okra or bitter gourd instead?” He was right, of ourse. Flowers have no real utilitarian value for us. If you look at it biologically, flowers are just tools for the plant to reproduce. But I would like to live among flowers and be a little hungry, rather than live among bitter gourd with a full stomach! A flower can be many things for people. For a lover, it may be the face of the beloved. For a scientist, it may be just an attempt at reproduction. But for a mystic, a flower is the Divine blossoming in the highest possible way. What is the significance of a flower? Why are flowers so often used in worship? Simply because the flower represents the pinnacle, the most subtle and beautiful dimension in the life journey of a plant. This is why the traditional offering to the Divine is a flower, not a root, stem or branch. You will find human beings are variously inclined. If someone is always thinking of multiplying his assets, his interest would be in seeds. If somebody is always thinking of shelter and security, his interest will be in the trunk and branches of the tree. If somebody is thinking of pleasure, his interest will be only in fruit. There are people who plant a mango sapling today and immediately start waiting for the fruit. They don’t care what is happening with the plant. The unfurling of each leaf brings them no joy. For them, only the fruit matters. Compared to the trunk, seed and fruit, the flower is the most fragile and transient dimension of a plant. The entire effort of any spiritual process on the planet is always to become like a flower. A flower may have no real

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gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

Flowering is a spiritual process use for us, but it is a glorious expression of life. Its fragrance pervades the world. No one can miss it. Life in its many manifestations is essentially a variety of transactions. The transactions can be of many kinds—between nations, people, cultures and individuals. Transactions can be cellular, atomic and cosmic. Our every breath is a transaction with the universe, even if we’re not aware of it. Most people approach life transactions looking only for a takeaway. Just drop this one calculation: “What is the takeaway?” Don’t try to get anything even out of your spiritual practices. Just learn to waste some time! If you look for a takeaway, you will only get petty things. When you are not trying to be anything or get anywhere, you learn to simply be. It is because people do not have the necessary awareness to simply be, that an alternative was suggested in all spiritual traditions: to give. Giving as an act is a deception, because everything that we have, including this body, is a loan from this planet. But if giving is a way of being, if your heart is constantly open, you become a

doorway to the Divine. And then Grace has no choice but to enter. Although a utilitarian mind may not perceive this, the flower is in constant transaction with everything around. The transaction is subtle, but the end result is the seed and the fruit. If you can just sit and do absolutely nothing, you will see the highest level of transaction is happening right here, right now. This transaction of cosmic proportions is what we call the blossoming of human consciousness. When consciousness blossoms, you become an abode of Divine Grace. This is why the spiritual process is always described as a ‘flowering’, not a ‘fruiting’ of consciousness. Those who seek fruit are those who want to extract some personal benefit out of every process. There is deep pleasureseeking involved. But someone who understands life profoundly knows how to receive the beauty of flowers. He knows that the flower represents the most exuberant expression of life. Nothing more is needed. g Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

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PERSPECTIVE life sadhguru

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vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

47

SPOTLIGHT

Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi speaking at the farewell function of Justice Kailash Gambhir, Justice, Delhi High Court. Fellow Judges of the High Court are also present.

Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra, releasing a brochure at the presentation ceremony of the National Productivity & Innovation Awards, organised by the National Productivity Council (autonomous body under Ministry of Commerce & Industry), in New Delhi. Secretary, Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Anup K Pujari, and Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Amitabh Kant, are also seen.

Director-General, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Major General Aziz Ahmed, calling on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Bangladesh High Commissioner to India, Syed Muazzem Ali, the Director-General, Border Security Force, DK Pathak, and the Secretary (Border Management), MHA, Anoop Kumar Srivastava, are also seen.

Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation, Mahesh Sharma, releasing the book at the inauguration of the special exhibition, ‘Cosmology to Cartography: A cultural journey of Indian Maps’, organised by the National Museum in collaboration with Kalakriti Archives, Hyderabad, in New Delhi. Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Narendra Kumar Sinha, Ambassador of the United States of America, Richard Rahul Verma, and other dignitaries are also seen.

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gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

Newly appointed Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat calls on Vice-President Mohd Hamid Ansari in New Delhi.

Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, Lt. Governor of Delhi, Najeeb Jung, Union Home Secretary, LC Goyal and senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs paid tributes to Kamlesh Joshi, an IAS officer of 2010 batch, AGMUT cadre, who was killed in a helicopter crash in Tirap district of Arunachal Pradesh, at Nigambodh Ghat crematorium in Delhi.

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PHOTOS: PIB

Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Smriti Irani, holding a press conference at the 63rd meeting of the Central Advisory Board Of Education (CABE), in New Delhi. Secretary, Department of Higher Education and Member Secretary, CABE, VS Oberoi, Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Subash C Khuntia, and Director-General (M&C), Press Information Bureau, AP Frank Noronha, are also seen.

Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge), Prakash Javadekar, addressing a press conference on Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), in New Delhi. Secretary, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Ashok Lavasa, and Director-General (M&C), Press Information Bureau, AP Frank Noronha, are also seen.

Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Anita Kapur, at the inauguration of the Special Principal Return Receipt Camp (SRCC 2015) for Salaried Tax Payers (including pensioners), organised by the Chief Commissioners of Delhi, in New Delhi

Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Chaudhary Birender Singh, releasing ‘Samanvay’, a compilation of centrally sponsored and State schemes for convergence under Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, at a function in New Delhi. Minister of State for Rural Development, Sudarshan Bhagat, and Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, JK Mohapatra are also seen.

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas (Independent Charge), Dharmendra Pradhan, lighting the lamp at the first convocation organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Petroleum Technology in New Delhi. Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, KD Tripathi, is also seen.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, greets Sunil Arora after he took charge as Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, from Bimal Julka, in New Delhi

Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Anil Swarup, and Chairman, CIL, Sutirtha Bhattacharya, exchanging the MoU signed between the Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited, in New Delhi

Compiled by Kanika Srivastava

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

49

birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

IAS officers’ birthdays Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

Dinesh Kumar

Syed Omar Jaleel

V Giriraj

Rakesh Gupta

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: HARYANA

krdinesh@ias.nic.in

sojaleel@ias.nic.in

girirajv@ias.nic.in

guptar7@ias.nic.in

Amitabh Verma

Ravi Kumar Arora

Manmohan Singh

Anthony JC DeSa

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

vermaa@ias.nic.in

ravikumararora.ias@ias.nic.in

singhm13@ias.nic.in

desaaj@ias.nic.in

Madhukar Gupta

Rajeev Chandra Joshi

Sandeep Pondrik

Madhup Vyas

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

guptam5@ias.nic.in

joshirc2@ias.nic.in

pondriks@ias.nic.in

vyasm@ias.nic.in

Dayanand Kataria

Temjenwapang AO

PWC Davidar

Sanjay Garg

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: KERALA

katariad@ias.nic.in

aot@ias.nic.in

davidarp@ias.nic.in

gargs2@ias.nic.in

Vijay Prakash

EP Kharbhih

Benhur Mahesh Dutt Ekka

Raj Kumar Khatri

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

prakashv@ias.nic.in

epkharbhih.ias@assam.gov.in

ekkabm@ias.nic.in

khatrid@ias.nic.in

Sanjay Prasad

R Shangeetha

GV Venugopala Sarma

Anurag Agarwal

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: HARYANA

prasads5@ias.nic.in

r.shangeetha@ias.nic.in

sarmagvv@ias.nic.in

anuraga@ias.nic.in

Peeyush Kumar

Sanjay Dubey

Upendra Tripathy

Himanshu Kumar

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

kumarp1@ias.nic.in

dubeys4@ias.nic.in

tupendra@ias.nic.in

kumarh@ias.nic.in

Vikas Gupta

Sailesh

M Dana Kishore

Sunil Kumar Kujur

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

guptav1@ias.nic.in

sailesh@ias.nic.in

kishorem@ias.nic.in

kujursk@ias.nic.in

Sunil Barthwal

Ashwini Dattatraya Thakre

Harmander Singh

Puneet Kansal

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: SIKKIM

barthwal@ias.nic.in

adthakre.ias@ias.nic.in

shmander@ias.nic.in

kansalp@ias.nic.in

Prasanta Kumar Mahapatra

Mukhmeet Singh Bhatia

Keshav Chandra

Krishna Kumar Dwivedi

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

mpatrapk@ias.nic.in

bhatiams@ias.nic.in

ckeshav@ias.nic.in

dwivedik@ias.nic.in

Govind Mohan

Ajoy Kumar

Ashok Kumar Sarkar

S Aparna

CADRE: SIKKIM

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: GUJARAT

mohang@ias.nic.in

kmrajay3@ias.nic.in

sarkarak@ias.nic.in

aparnas@ias.nic.in

Vijay Dahiya

Rama Shankar Naik

Har Sahay Meena

Jyoti Arora

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: HARYANA

dahiyav@ias.nic.in

naikrs@ias.nic.in

hsmeena@ias.nic.in

aroraj@ias.nic.in

Shobhana K Pattanayak

Rajkamal

Vinod R Rao

Deepak Upreti

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

pnaiksk@ias.nic.in

rkamal1@ias.nic.in

raovr2k@ias.nic.in

upretid@ias.nic.in

16-09-1958

16-09-1959

17-09-1960

17-09-1962

18-09-1956

18-09-1959

19-09-1973

19-09-1975

20-09-1965

20-09-1958

21-09-1965

22-09-1972

23-09-1958

24-09-1962

24-09-1973

25-09-1970

26-09-1975

26-09-1957

27-09-1977

28-09-1968

28-09-1961

29-09-1979

30-09-1964

30-09-1960

01-10-1957

01-10-1964

02-10-1957

02-10-1959

03-10-1968

03-10-1958

04-10-1970

04-10-1962

05-10-1956

05-10-1966

06-10-1962

06-10-1969

07-10-1953

07-10-1971

08-10-1976

08-10-1972

09-10-1956

09-10-1974

10-10-1970

10-10-1961

11-10-1967

11-10-1965

12-10-1959

13-10-1971

14-10-1969

14-10-1963

15-10-1961

15-10-1958

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

50

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

www.gfilesindia.com

IPS officers’ birthdays Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

IPS officers’ birthdays Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

Kassey Suhita Anupam

S Parashiva Murthy

Maithili Sharan Gupta

Thummala Vikram

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: KERALA

ksanupam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sparashivam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

msgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

tvikram@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

S Venkataramana Murthy

DM Mitra

Alok Tripathi

Saurabh Singh

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: HARYANA

svenkataramana@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dmmitra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

aloktripati@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

saurabhsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

SS Yadav

Sanjeev Kumar Jain

AK Dhasmana

Sonali Mishra

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

ss_yadav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

skrjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akdhasmana@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sonalimishra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Sanjay Kumar Jain

Suresh Arora

Goduguhuri Srinivasa Rao

Vishal Bansal

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

skjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

suresharora@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

gsrao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vishalbansal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rashmi Ranjan Swain

Ajay Kumar Yadav

CK Gandhirajan

AR Anuradha

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

rrswain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akyadav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

gandhirajan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anuradha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rajiv Trivedi

VK Johri

Asim Kumar Arun

Dilbagh Singh

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

rajivtrivedi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vkjohri@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

asim@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dilbagsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Asit Kumar Panda

Rajwinder Singh Bhatti

PK Runwal

Ajay Prakash Anshuman

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

akpanda@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rajwinder@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pkrunwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

apanshuman@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Vinay Ranjan Ray

Manoj Agrawal

Paras Nath

Rajinder Kumar

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: HARYANA

vrray@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

manojagarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

parasnath@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rajinderkr@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Bibhuti Bhusan Dash

Jitendra Kumar Jain

Narinderpal Singh

Meera Ram Nivas

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: GUJARAT

bbdash@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jkjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

narinderpal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mrnivas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Subodh Kumar Jaiswal

Alok Kumar Roy

Apte Vinayak Prabhakar

Rajendra Kumar Mishra

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

skjaiswal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akroy@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vinayakapte@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rkmishra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Vikas Kumar Arora

Anil Kishore Yadav

Vijay Kumar

Sanjay Singh

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

vkarora@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anilkyadav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vijay@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sanjays@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Vijay Kumar Singh

Krishan Kumar Sharma

V Naveen Chand

Om Prakash Galhotra

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

vijayksingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kk_sharma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vnaveenchand@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

omprakash@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

K Rajendra Kumar

Arvind Kumar

Md Shakeel Akhtar

R Bheema Naik

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

rajendrakumark@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

arvindkumar_84@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

shakeelakhtar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rbheemanaik@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-09-1974

17-09-1958

18-09-1957

18-09-1971

18-09-1964

19-09-1961

20-09-1961

20-09-1959

21-09-1960

22-09-1962

22-09-1974

23-09-1967

24-09-1956

24-09-1960

25-09-1959

25-09-1966

26-09-1958

26-09-1970

27-09-1960

27-09-1965

28-09-1965

28-09-1968

29-09-1965

29-09-1969

30-09-1958

30-09-1959

01-10-1960

01-10-1960

02-10-1957

02-10-1972

03-10-1959

03-10-1970

04-10-1956

04-10-1967

05-10-1957

05-10-1969

06-10-1959

06-10-1960

07-10-1962

08-10-1971

08-10-1969

09-10-1966

09-10-1971

10-10-1963

10-10-1963

11-10-1972

11-10-1964

12-10-1956

12-10-1962

13-10-1966

15-10-1959

15-10-1958

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

51

birthdays Lok Sabha Members

Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

Lok Sabha Members

Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015

Krishnan N Ramachandran

Tapas Paul

Anbumani Ramadoss

Mahendra Nath Pandey

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

AITC (West Bengal)

PMK (Tamil Nadu)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

16-09-1955

Narendra Modi 17-09-1950

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

Arjun Charan Sethi 18-09-1941 BJD (Odisha )

ac.sethi@sansad.nic.in

Manoj Rajoria 19-09-1969

BJP (Rajasthan)

Sisir Kumar Adhikari 19-09-1941 AITC

Ram Shankar 21-09-1964

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

29-09-1958

tapas.paul@sansad.nic.in

Daddan Mishra 30-09-1967

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

daddan.mishra@sansad.nic.in

Mahesh Sharma 30-09-1959

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

mahesh.sharma@sansad.nic.in

BN Chandrappa 01-10-1955

INC (Karnataka)

bn.chandrappa@sansad.nic.in

Rajendra Aggarwal 02-10-1949

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

rs.katheria@sansad.nic.in

rajendra.agrawal@sansad.nic.in

Rajeev Shankarrao Satav

Arun Kumar

21-09-1974

INC (Maharashtra)

02-10-1959 RLSP (Bihar)

rs.satav@sansad.nic.in

dr.arunkumar@sansad.nic.in

MI Shanavas

Ajay Nishad

22-09-1951 INC (Kerala)

02-10-1966 BJP (Bihar)

shanavaskpcc@yahoo.co.in

ajay.nishad@sansad.nic.in

Ashok Kumar Dohrey

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat

23-09-1970

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

03-10-1967

BJP (Rajasthan)

ashokkumar.doharey@sansad.nic.in

g.shekhawat@sansad.nic.in

Sushmita Dev

Shripad Yesso Naik

25-09-1972 INC (Assam)

04-10-1952 BJP (Goa)

sushmita.dev@sansad.nic.in

sripadnaik@sansad.nic.in

Poonamben H Maadam

R Gopalakrishnan

25-09-1974 BJP (Gujarat)

poonam.maadam@sansad.nic.in

Devji Mansingram Patel 25-09-1976

BJP (Rajasthan)

devjimp@gmail.com

K Ashok Kumar 27-09-1953

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

Hemendra Chandra Singh 29-09-1967 BJD (Odisha)

hemendra.singh@sansad.nic.in

09-10-1968

05-10-1968

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

Mausam Noor

Thokchom Meinya

15-10-1979

12-10-1945

INC (West Bengal)

INC (Manipur)

mausam_bnoor@yahoo.co.in

meinya@sansad.nic.in

Rajya Sabha Members Sept 16, 2015 — Oct 15, 2015 T Subbarami Reddy

Naresh Agrawal

INC (Andhra Pradesh)

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

17-09-1943

BJP (Punjab)

vkhanna@sansad.nic.in

Kunwar P Singh Chandel 08-10-1973

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

kunwarps.chandel@sansad.nic.in

Sakuntala Laguri 09-10-1980 BJD (Odisha)

sakuntala.laguri@sansad.nic.in

01-10-1951

naresh.agrawal@sansad.nic.in

Md Nadimul Haque 20-09-1969

Sarojini Hembram 01-10-1959

AITC (West Bengal)

nadimul.haque@sansad.nic.in

Ranjib Biswal

BJD (Odisha)

sarojini.hembram@sansad.nic.in

Jharna Das Baidya

21-09-1970

01-10-1962

INC (Odisha)

CPI-M (Tripura)

Balwinder Singh Bhunder 21-09-1944

Tapan Kumar Sen 02-10-1951

SAD (Punjab)

CPI-M (West Bengal)

balbirs@sansad.nic.in

tapan.sen@sansad.nic.in

V Maitreyan

Bhushan Lal Jangde

21-09-1955

04-10-1943

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

maitreyan@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

RK Sinha

Viplove Thakur

BJP (Bihar)

INC (Himachal Pradesh)

rkishore.sinha@sansad.nic.in

viplove.thakur@sansad.nic.in

Manmohan Singh

K Parasaran

INC (Assam)

NOM. (Nominated)

manmohan@sansad.nic.in

k.parasaran@sansad.nic.in

CP Narayanan

Rekha

CPI-M (Kerala)

NOM. (Nominated)

EM Sudarsana Natchiappan

Satish Sharma

INC (Tamil Nadu)

INC (Uttar Pradesh)

22-09-1951

04-10-1943

26-09-1932

09-10-1927

28-09-1938

10-10-1954

Vinod Khanna 06-10-1946

15-10-1957

29-09-1947

11-10-1947

emsn@sansad.nic.in

satish.kr@sansad.nic.in

TK Rangarajan

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

CPI-M (Tamil Nadu)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

15-10-1957

30-09-1941

mnaqvi@sansad.nic.in

tk.ranga@sansad.nic.in

D Bandyopadhyay 01-10-1931

AITC (West Bengal)

bandyopadhyay.d@sansad.nic.in

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

52

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

www.gfilesindia.com

Tracking

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

AJIT SETH

LC GOYAL

AMARENDRA SINHA

The 1974-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, former Cabinet Secretary has been appointed Chairman of the PESB.

The 1979-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed CMD of Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO).

OP RAWAT

SANJAY KUMAR SRIVASTAVA

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Uttarakhand cadre has been appointed Secretary, National Commission of Minorities.

The 1977-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Election Commissioner of India.

The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Secretary, Coordination and Public Grievances, Cabinet Secretariat.

ANJULY CHIB DUGGAL

SUNIL ARORA

RAGHAV CHANDRA

The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Secretary, Information and Broadcasting.

The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

RAJARSHI BHATTACHARYA The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been appointed Principal Adviser (Social sector), NITI Aayog.

RATAN WATAL The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Finance.

RAJIV MEHRISHI

HASMUKH ADHIA The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Revenue.

The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, has assumed charge as Home Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs.

RAJIV YADAV

AJIT M SHARAN

VIJAY SHANKAR MADAN

The 1979-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH.

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Land Resources.

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Sports.

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in September 2015 BIHAR

C Lalsawta (1981)

Ajay Nath (1982) Veena Ghaneker (1993)

GUJARAT

MANIPUR-TRIPURA

Rajiv Takru (1979) KN Bhatt (1994)

PC Lawmkunga (1979)

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Sushil Km Bhim S Negi (1985)

Rakesh Singh (1978) Ashok Kumar Gupta (1992)

HARYANA

RAJASTHAN

Mahtab Singh Seharawat (1994)

JHARKHAND

Sewak Sharma (1978) Shailendra Bhusan (2000)

KARNATAKA

Kaushik Mukherjee (1978) SN Jayaram (1994) BG Nandakumar (1999)

MAHARASHTRA

Vidyadhar K Kanade (1982)

MADHYA PRADESH

Swarnamala Rawla (1980)

PUNJAB

Gurdial Singh Sandhu (1980) Dharmendra Bhatnagar BL Nawal

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Financial Services.

TAPAN RAY The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Secretary, Corporate Affairs.

GIRISH SHANKAR The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Official Language.

JS DEEPAK The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology.

PRAVIR KUMAR The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Inter-cadre Council Secretariat.

VINOD ZUTSHI The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Secretary, Tourism.

ROHIT NANDAN

TELANGANA

The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.

TAMIL NADU

RAMNGANING MUIVAH

R Vijaykumar (1978) R Kannan (1981) VK Shanmugam

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the ManipurTripura cadre has been appointed Secretary, North Eastern Council, Shillong.

UTTAR PRADESH

ATANU PURKAYASTHA

CB Venkataramana (1982)

Anand Misra (1981)

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Secretary, Central Information Commission.

gfiles inside the government

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vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

53

PIB

President Pranab Mukherjee with the Indian Forest Service (2014-16 Batch) from the Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy, Dehradun, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi

VINOD KUMAR THAKRAL The 1982-batch IAS officer of the ManipurTripura cadre has been appointed Special Secretary, Department of Fertilizers, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.

Secretary and Development Commissioner, Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

N SIVASAILAM

Identification Authority of India.

SUDHIR TRIPATHI The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Director General, National Institute of Fashion Technology.

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications.

SUBHASH SHARMA

ARUN GOYAL

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Secretariat for Cabinet Committee on Investment.

ANANT KUMAR SINGH

KAVITA GUPTA

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Additional DGFT, Mumbai, under the Ministry of Commerce.

KUMAR SANJAY KRISHNA

ABP PANDEY

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare.

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Director General and Mission Director, Unique Identification Authority of India.

SANJIV KUMAR

SURENDRA NATH TRIPATHI

SHREERANJAN

ANIRUDDHA KUMAR

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Deputy Director General, Unique

The 1987-batch IRS-IT officer has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power.

KESHNI ANAND ARORA

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Additional

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gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

PRAVEEN SINHA The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary at JS level, Central Vigilance Commission.

NIKUNJA BIHAR DHAL The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines.

PRASHANT KUMAR The 1985-batch IFS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Rural Development.

The 1986-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate.

www.gfilesindia.com

Tracking

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

SANJIV KUMAR MITTAL

AK MEENA

The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology.

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Defence.

DHARAM PAL The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Fertilizers.

The 1986-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Principal Secretary, Animal Husbandry & Dairying and Fisheries Departments in Haryana.

DHARSHANA MOMAYA DABRAL

ARUN SINGHAL

The 1990-batch IP&TA&FS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary, School Education & Literacy.

The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chief Electoral Officer in Uttar Pradesh.

The 1983-batch IFS officer, High Commissioner of India to the Maldives, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to Denmark.

VANDANA GUPTA

AJAY JAIN

KRISHAN KUMAR

The 1990-batch IP&TA&FS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development.

The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Municipal Administration & Urban Development Department in Andhra Pradesh.

The 1984-batch IFS officer, at present Ambassador of India to Morocco, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Czech Republic.

R SUDALAIKANNAN

The 1992-batch IFS officer, DHC in the High Commission of India, Ottawa, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Cuba.

RAJAT BHARGAVA The 1990-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources.

PRASHANT GOYAL The 1993-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs.

SAMIR K SINHA The 1994-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, 7th CPC.

SANJAY PRASAD The 1995-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Defence Production.

MANOJ DWIVEDI The 1997-batch IAS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce.

RAGHUVIR SINGH MEENA The IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Principal Secretary, Water Resources.

DJ PANDIYAN The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, former Chief Secretary of Gujarat has been appointed Chairman of BECL.

VARINDER SINGH KUNDU

The 2001-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Tamil Nadu Khadi and Village Industries Board in Tamil Nadu.

DS LOKESH KUMAR

charge as Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

MOHAN KUMAR The 1981-batch IFS officer, Ambassador of India to France, has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to the Principality of Monaco, with residence in Paris.

RAJEEV SHAHARE

TSEWANG NAMGYAL

SANDEEP CHAKRAVORTY

The 2003-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been appointed Collector & District Magistrate, Khammam in Telangana.

The 1996-batch IFS officer, Ambassador of India to the Republic of Peru, has been concurrently accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Plurinational State of Bolivia, with residence in Lima (Peru).

ABHAY KUMAR SINGH

RAJEEV KUMAR

The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Radha Mohan Singh, Minister for Agriculture at Deputy Secretary level.

The 2001-batch IFS officer, at present DCM in the Embassy of India, Brasilia, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Senegal.

RAJESH MANJHU

AJAY KUMAR SHARMA

The 2004-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Collector, Patan, in Gujarat.

The Ambassador of India to Pyongyang, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Mali.

BK THACKER

SATENDER KUMAR

The IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Director, State Fire Prevention Services, Gandhinagar, in Gujarat.

The Consul General of India, Zanzibar, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Suriname.

ALOK KUMAR

The officer has been appointed Second Secretary, US (NGO).

The officer has been posted as Under Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat.

K VIJAY RAGHAVAN The Prof. has been assigned additional

MUKESH KUMAR

HARKRISHAN MOHAN The IFS officer has been posted as Consul, Dubai.

gfiles inside the government

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vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

55

Tracking

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

PRAKASH GUPTA

VIVEK KISHORE

VISHAL KAPOOR

The IFS officer has been appointed First Secretary, Jeddah.

RAHUL SHRIVASTAVA

The 1999-batch IPS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been deputed as Joint Director, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, New Delhi at DIG level.

The 1995-batch IRSME officer has been deputed as Director in the Ministry of Power in the Government of India.

The IFS officer has been appointed Second Secretary, Moscow.

ARUN SABHARWAL

The IRAS officer has been posted as Executive Director, Finance (Establishment), Railway Board.

NAVEEN SRIVASTAVA The IFS officer has been appointed Counsellor, PMI, New York.

KARNAIL SINGH

The 2001-batch IPS officer of the Telangana cadre has been assigned additional charge as Director (Enforcement), Prohibition & Excise, Hyderabad, in Telangana.

The 1984-batch IPS officer of the Union Territory cadre, Special Director, ED, has been appointed ADG, NIA (National Investigating Agency).

DVIJENDRA KUMAR SHARMA

SK MISHRA

BISWAJIT KUMAR SINGH

The 1985-batch IPS officer has been promoted to the rank of Director General of Police (DGP) in J & K.

The 1989-batch IFS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed Commissioner, JS level, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.

SUDHIR YADAV The 1985-batch IPS officer of the Union Territory cadre, DGP A&N Islands has joined Delhi Police as Special Commissioner.

BRAJ KISHORE RAVI The 1989-batch IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Adviser (Security) in the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

VIRENDRA SINGH The 1991-batch IPS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been posted as Joint CP security in Delhi Police.

ASHUTOSH KUMAR SINHA The 1993-batch IPS officer of the ManipurTripura cadre has been appointed Executive Director (North-East) at Joint Secretary level in the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Guwahati.

MUKESH SINGH The 1996-batch IPS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir officer will be the new Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

MANOJ PANT The 1986-batch IFS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Health Research.

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The 1988-batch IFS officer of the ManipurTripura cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

Y MADHUSUDHAN REDDY The 1990-batch IFS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Managing Director, AP Seeds Corporation, and MD, AP State Agro Industries Development Corp. Ltd.

PRAVEEN BONIGALA

TANVEER AHMED

JITENDRA TRIVEDI The 2000-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Pharmaceuticals in the Government of India.

MUDITA MISHRA The 2001-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Financial Services for a period of five years.

SP MAHI The IRSE officer has been appointed Executive Director, Establishment, Reservation, Railway Board.

SK SHRIVASTAVA The IRSE officer has been posted as Executive Director, Bridges & Structure-I, Railway Board.

The 1995-batch IFS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Director in the Department of Commerce in the Government of India.

BP AWASTHI

ANITA KARN

AK DUBEY

The 1997-batch IFS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been deputed Director in the Department of Commerce in the Government of India.

The IRSE officer has been posted as Executive Director, Civil Engineering, General, Railway Board.

TAPISH CHANDRA NAUTIYAL

The IRSE officer has been appointed Executive Director, Bridges Structure-II, Railway Board.

The 2003-batch IFS officer of the Union Territory cadre has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Department of Rural Development in the Government of India.

RANVEER BHARTI The IFS officer has been appointed Second Secretary, DPO, Chandigarh.

JYOTI TRIVEDI The 2000-batch IOFS officer has been appointed Director in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in the Government of India.

The IRSE officer has been appointed Executive Director, Track (P), Railway Board.

SC JAIN

AK SACHAN The IRSE officer has been appointed Executive Director, Land & Amenities-II, Railway Board.

SANJIV KUMAR The IRPS officer in North Central Railway has been deputed to the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) as Deputy Secretary in the Government of India for a period of four years.

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way Not his highway

W

For probationers, Delhi is first stop

T

he Narendra Modi government is implementing an innovative idea for the young civil services probationers of the 2013 batch. As many as 147 officers will be put on training in different departments of the central ministries for 90 days. It will be the first posting of their career as Assistant Secretary and only after completing the training will they move to their respective cadres. Their training period will be from August 31 to November 30, 2015. But what is the need for such a move? There is no official comment but insiders say that it was the suggestion of the Committee of the Secretaries to put probationers under training in the central government for the first three months for grooming in the central government environment. Sources disclosed that the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and others with non-BJP governments had opposed the move. The West Bengal Chief Minister’s office is displeased as it had already issued posting orders for 12 officers with directions to report. This could have been avoided if the states had been taken into confidence. The DoPT is learnt to have already booked 104 guest houses in the Commonwealth Games Village, HUDCO Palace, Kidwai Nagar, Kasturba Gandhi Marg, and so on for the young IAS officers. Wait and watch for the impact of this innovative move. g

www.indianbuzz.com

ith the appointment of the competent Raghav Chandra, a 1982-batch IAS officer of the MP cadre, as Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India, the dream of Vijay Chhibber, Secretary Ministry of Surface Transport, is shattered. He was reportedly eyeing the coveted post and wanted additional charge after his retirement in December 2015 but the government pre-empted the move. To buttress his cause, he did not want to leave anything to chance. It is reported that he used his clout as President of the Gymkhana Club by offering privileged membership to the higher-ups in anticipation of a plum post after his retirement. There is a waiting of 30 years, at present, to become a member of the colonial club of the country. Everybody was surprised when an IAS-turned-poet and former Chairman of NHAI, RP Singh, was offered the Gymkhana Club membership in the eminent category. Ordinary members of the club are angry about the arbitrary decisions being taken by Chhibber and his brother has been seen pacifying them. g

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vol. 9, issue 6 | September 2015

57

...by the way Secretaries rule the roost

T

Lohani is PM’s choice

W

ho would be the Chairman & Managing Director of Air India after Rohit Nandan? Everybody thought that someone from the IAS fraternity would get this coveted post but they were proved wrong. There is much resentment among the top-ranking IAS officers about the appointment of Ashwani Lohani to this post. They cannot express themselves aloud as the decision is approved by the PM himself. No one would have thought that an Indian Railways Engineering Service officer would make it to the top post. How did Lohani reach there? Sheer hard work and understanding of the industry? Sources have disclosed that Narendra Modi only wants officers who are result-oriented. South Block sources inform that the PM had asked Nripendra Mishra, Ajit Doval and Cabinet Secretary AK Seth to prepare a dossier of competent officers. When the dossier was submitted to him, nothing seemed to impress Modi. He personally selected Lohani as the new CMD of Air India. Lohani had turned around MP Tourism in a short time. Let us see if he can turn things around for Air India as well. g

he tradition so far has been that Cabinet Ministers have been instrumental in recommending and transferring officers within their ministry. But in the NDA regime, the scenario has changed. Sources in different ministries confided to gfiles that the Prime Minister’s Office has told Secretaries that they can do away with undesired officers in their ministries without the concurrent consent of the concerned minister. The Secretaries and Joint Secretaries actually run the ministries but Secretaries used to work with Joint Secretaries who join the ministry mostly through political recommendations. In the last 16 months, whenever Joint Secretaries have been transferred, they have mostly been transferred on the recommendation of the Secretaries. On several occasions, the minister of the concerned department has only gotten to know of the transfer when the AS or JS has met them to say their formal goodbyes. This newly acquired clout has made Secretaries very powerful and the AS and JS level officers are seen changing colours to keep their immediate boss happy. g

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

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GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2015

The Jury

shri prabhat kumar

shri anil razdan

former cabinet secretary

former secretary, power

shri vishnu bhagwan

shri m b kaushal

former chief secretary, haryana

former secretary, internal security

Saturday, November 28, 2015

For nominations and invite, please email with designation and contact details www.gfilesawards.com awards@gfilesindia.com

Madhya Pradesh

Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2013-15 Licence No. U(C)-03/2013-15, Licence to post without prepayment Posted on 7th & 8th of every month at SPM SRT Nagar, Post Office, New Delhi 110055 R.N.I. No: DELENG/2007/19719. `200, vol. 9, issue 6 | Date of Publication: 5/9/2015 | Pages 56+4

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