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MG DEVASAHAYAM CHENNAI: MAN-MADE DISASTER p12 ASHOK LAVASA INDIA’S VOICE AT COP21 p8

January 5, 2016 ` VOL. 9, ISSUE 10

FIRST STIRRINGS MADHUKAR GUPTA

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WORLD WAR gfilesindia.com

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Is the globe poised to explode?

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MEMORY CLOUDS The Honâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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. Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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.

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...

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From the Editor

vol. 9, ISSUE 10 | JANUARY 2016 Anil Tyagi | editor TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | consulting business editor Vartika Nanda | consulting editor Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Naresh Minocha | contributing editor Anish Gandhi | consultant, foreign affairs Narendra Kaushik | associate editor Sanjeev Acharya | 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 e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com chandigarh: RAMESH SHARMAâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; +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 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; +91 9845730298 e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in $1,/ 7<$*, 35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 QG IORRU GGD VLWH QHZ UDMLQGHU QDJDU QHZ GHOKL Ä&#x192; +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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RE we heading for World War III? I have pondered this disturbing question for a long time after observing the ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham) activities and the exodus of the Syrian population in traumatic conditions. Look at the attacks in Paris on the night of November 13 last year by gunmen and suicide bombers, the incident in which Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire at a holiday party at the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino in the US on December 2 and the latest terrorist attack in Pathankot. These may be called stray but the implications are seriousâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;possibly rewriting global history in favour of a greater conflict. World leaders, even after knowing the suffering the world is passing through, are acting as if the need to resolve the catastrophe is somebody elseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business. So, even after knowing that there are remote possibilities of World War III, as everybody is aware of the repercussions, why is gfiles carrying a cover story on WW III? gfilesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cover story is an endeavour to comprehend what is happening in the world these days. Our two senior writers, Alam Srinivas and Neeraj Mahajan, have analysed the future scenario. Mahajan, while explaining the devastation of war, writes, â&#x20AC;&#x153;185 out of a total of 196 countries in the world today are engaged in some form of armed conflict, civil war, insurgency or other forms of violent unrest. Armed conflicts around the world have claimed the lives of more than 180,000 people in 2014.â&#x20AC;? Russia and the US appear to be in confrontation mode without a direct face-off. In the G20 meeting in Istanbul, President Vladimir Putin of Russia dropped a bombshell. He circulated a list of 40 countries who, in one way or another, were supporting, funding or arming the ISIS. Is the aim to topple the only existing superpower? The answer is not so simple. Global politics has its own dynamics and dimensions. It has elements of ideology, religion, currency or natural resources; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like a cocktail. Srinivas says, â&#x20AC;&#x153;In effect, imagine an America that uses its political, diplomatic, military and corporate clout to wage an overt and covert war not just in Iraq or Syria but across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Substitute America with Russia, China, or even the ISIS, and one can visualise the character and contour of World War III.â&#x20AC;? After observing the devastations of World War I and II, nobody can even visualise a WW III. If it happens, nothing will remain in the world. The era of conventional warfare is gone; one push of the button somewhere will destroy all habitation across the globe. War has its own economic mechanism and the tycoons who are involved in this devastating industry, mint money beyond dreams. Global diplomacy is emerging as a tacit way to achieve currency dominance and capture more and more natural resources while camouflaging it with terror and religion. No doubt, religion is the opiate of the masses. Nobody can now initiate a war but the world is sitting on a spark and it can burst into flame anywhere, anytime. Developing economies will be the biggest losersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;not only of natural resources but of human resources too. Everybody in the world has to say a big â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;noâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; to war and has to expose those who are determined to take the planet towards ruin. ANIL TYAGI

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

CONTENTS

LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com

5 Bric-a-Brac

congress looks for leaders, new breed of party heroes, rss to review bjp agenda, shinzo’s friends

the trajectory of Indian politics as of now. I am remembering a song of the 1960s era, “Jaga hai insaan zamana badal raha, utha hai toofan zamana badal raha”. I congratulate the author for this beautiful portrayal of the political scenario post the Bihar elections. Ranjit Banerjee via blog

8 Governance

india@cop21 12 chennai: the deluge 44 delhi pollution: political smog

16 Cover Story

sparks that may turn to flames: is the world poised for world war III?

Civil services: perks and performance

28 In Conversation

shiv kunal verma discusses the 1962 war, and the mistakes of that era

36 Book Review

on sharad pawar’s terms 38 role of the civil service

39 First Stirrings

down memory lane with madhukar gupta

42 Economy

reforming income tax

47 Leisure

travel to madhav national park

50 Perspective bowing before life

57 By the Way

search for foreign secretary, states dread pay commission, bsnl sidelined, delhi officers’ woes

Good work recognised This is with reference to the article, “Thinking out of the box” (gfiles, December 2015). I really appreciate the gfiles initiative as it helps the officers to be acknowledged, praised and encourages them to continue their good work in their field of public service. Such an award function gives tremendous encouragement to the real ‘heroes’ of India who are 24x7 ready to serve their nation and sacrifice their lives for their motherland. Deepak Mukund via mail

gfiles Governance Awards is an awaited event of the year. The selection of the awardees, chief guest, jury, guest of honour and the ambassadors make this event remarkable and unique in its own way. The honouring of Dr Anil Kakodkar, who was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution as a nuclear scientist, is a well-taken decision by the jury. One can easily judge that this award function is undoubtedly genuine and a favourite among civil servants. Satish Kumar via email

Bihar elections I fully agree with the author’s assessment in the article, “After the Bihar storm” (gfiles, December 2015) on

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

An interesting article (“Civil services: par, perk and performance”, gfiles, December 2015) has been written on the Seventh Pay Commission by the writer. The details provided in the write-up are mindblowing. The Seventh Pay Commission has already made headlines in India and all the news related to it is very fascinating to read. It helps the public to understand the working and payscales of the Indian Government. I loved this edition of gfiles the most. Hope to read more in future. Satish Sao via email It is ironical that while you are giving awards to civil servants for excellent governance, MG Devasahayam condemns them outright on the very next page. Taken to the logical conclusion, the entire civil service from top to bottom should be abolished because it is beyond redemption and does not deserve even a pay hike. Dr G Sundaram via email

The Modi silence This is with reference to the article, “The strategy of silence” (gfiles, December 2015). What a unique topic related to PM Narendra Modi. The writer has smartly written about the drawbacks and benefits of the Prime Minister’s silence strategy. It is worth a read. If his silence is one of the reasons for the BJP’s loss in the Bihar election, he must develop a new strategy. Shivam Sharma via email

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Bric-a-brac friends & foes

Congress in leadership deficit scindia for mpcc?

HE Congress party has to immediately decide on two important issues. First, the party has to select ct the Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha as Captain Amarinder Singh who was holding the post has been hey appointed President of the Punjab Congress. Second, they have to choose a new President of the Madhya Pradesh h Congress Committee. The problem is that there are few w senior leaders available in the Lok Sabha. The top contender ender for the post is Kamal Nath, the seniormost member of the Congress Legislature Party. Observing the political situation, uation, he may not agree to take the post. Another strong contender der is Jyotiraditya Scindia. In the given circumstances, he is an impressive leader but if insiders are to be believed, the Congress leadership is planning to appoint him the President of the Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee. Kamal Nath and Scindia are both articulatee rty and influential leaders but their hands are full with party activity. There are two other important leaders, Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and Kanti Lal Bhuria. Both are seasoned politicians and fulfil the loyalty prerequisite of the Congress.

Speaking to the nation party spokespersons are the new heroes

HE demands of television have created a furore in every political party. Every TV channel needs a party o . If the ow spokesperson on its evening show. representative of a political party is not ot seen on screen, it appears hell will break loose and the nation will be disappointed. Not surprisingly, every party has a department with these ‘guest coordinators’ for TV channels. It’s a full-time department that tracks the news, reads newspapers, keeps track of tweets and so on. The job of the media department and these so-called spokespersons starts from the morning. ng. This new breed of politicians dresses up in the morning and is ready to speak to the nation from morning till evening. They ey are the new heroes of their political

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parties. However, being in the opposition, the Congress is faced with a peculiar predicament. The party has 44 members of Parliament and 64 spokespersons. The guest coordinators are in great demand and are not averse to throw their weight around. They have their own whims and fancies and they send those spokespersons who take care of their personal needs. Nobody wants to go to the less-known TV channels and popular TV channels have their own choice of leaders. When the controversy about Robert Vadra, Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law, was highlighted by the media, the instructions were to defend Vadra but some spokespersons refused, stating that Vadra was not a Congress party member and officially the Congress was under no obligation to defend him. Those who dared to defy the diktat have been shown the door. Sources even disclose that some newly recruited spokespersons brief senior team members on how to behave, speak and deal with the media.

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

INSIDE EYE

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

Catch-22 situation rss to discuss bjp agenda

HESE days, it is learnt, the RSS is a concerned organisation. First, they fought to get the power and, after achieving it, the top leadership is worried. The BJP, its political wing, is not delivering the agenda as per the desired speed. January is going to be a decisive month for the BJP. The future of two top leaders—Amit aders—Amit Shah and and n Arun Jaitley—will have to be decided. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, Bhaiya ji Joshi,, Dattatreya Hosabale and Krishna a Gopal, have to plan the BJP’s roadmap. Earlier, other RSS stalwarts like Suresh Soni and Indresh used to advise and their inputs were considered valuable but now they have been reportedly sidelined. There are many pending agendas which have to be implemented and ministers

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are helpless to implement in doing so. Sources say that the top leadership of the RSS is discussing the role of the BJP leadership in managing the nation. Earlier there was a discussion that Arun Jaitley be shifted to External Affairs but with the onslaught by Arvind Kejriwal, this appears to be a remote possibility. Basically, it’s a Catch-22 situation for the BJP and the RSS. In Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime, there was Lal Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and Jaswant Singh who were working as a team. In Modi’s regime, there is only Modi; the word ‘team’ team has disappeared. The BJP’s ‘Margd gdarshak Mandal’ comprising compr ‘Margdarshak Advani and Joshi is at log loggerheads with the RSS. Advani is not even on talking terms with the RSS leadership, though Joshi still h has some working relationship wi with the RSS. Modi has his own agend agenda in mind and is working like a bullet b train. But some voices of di dissent are growing louder in th the party while others are waiting for the RSS hammer tto strike.

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Bric-a-brac friends & foes

Keeper of promises shinzo makes time for friends

APANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did the aarti in Varanasi along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit in December. One was surprised to see Shinzo wearing a beautiful yellow jacket, shedding hiss traditional suit and tie. Shinzo was gifted the jacket by none other than his friend, Vibhav Kant Upadhyay, who heads thee India Center Foundation. Sources disclosed that Shinzo had been asked to wear the jacket during the aarti and not while travelling with Modi; Shinzo respected the advisory. When a dignitary like Shinzo visits India officially, there is no scope for a common citizen to interact with him. Shinzo has established a good rapport with the India Center Foundation. Shinzo and Upadhyay know each other for the last 20 years. And so Shinzo took time off from official engagements and met Upadhyay’s influential friends—Dr Vivek ivek Lall, Global CEO, General Atomics; Rajesh V Shah, Co-Chairman n and Managing Director, Mukand Ltd; Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, Founder and Managing Director, VPS Healthcare; Vivek Nair, Vice Chairman and MD, Hotel Leela; and Saleem lqbal Shervani, former Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Government of India. At the meeting, Shinzo said, “The role of the India Center in the India-Japan relationship is significant. The foundation has been working for a very long time in ideating and authoring initiatives including but not limited to the Varanasi-Kyoto partnership, DMIC and the high-speed train. In 2005, I visited India just ahead of the visit by the then Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi. At that time, Vibhav and I visited many key policy leaders, including the then Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and conveyed these ideas and initiatives.” Shinzo is now the Prime Minister of Japan but he has not forgotten his friendship with those who stood by him and, irrespective of diplomatic nuances, he kept his word to Upadhyay.

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

GOVERNANCE cop21 ashok lavasa

Climate justice served India returned from COP21 having played a positive and proactive role in evolving a consensus on contentious issues and at the same time not compromising on the issues that mattered in preserving our development space and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

PHOTOS: PIB

EW things have generated as much interest worldwide as the climate change negotiations in Paris in December 2015. Seldom in the history of the modern world have over 150 heads of state and government got together as they did on November 30, the day the fortnightlong high-voltage, high-decibel negotiations commenced. Le Bourget, an erstwhile airfield, was converted into a convention complex to host the 40,000 delegates that had registered to witness what could be a historic compact or catastrophe. The shadow of Copenhagen loomed large and so did the manoeuvres of the developed countries and the aspirations of the developing world. The challenge before the developing countries, or the non-Annex countries, was to maintain the sanctity of the principles enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The Annex countries, or the developed countries, on the other hand, wanted to do away with the ‘bifurcation’ represented by the division of the world into Annex and non-Annex countries. Their sole effort was to dilute the differentiation denoted by ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ and erase the concept of historic responsibility. Their argument was that the world had changed in the last two decades and that many non-Annex countries could no longer be characterised as

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the President of France, Francois Hollande, at the launch of the International Solar Alliance during the COP21 summit in Paris on November 30, 2015.

‘developing’. The argument propagated by India was that despite economic growth witnessed in the past 20 years, there continues to be wide disparity in the world and the developing countries have a long way to go in providing a decent standard of living to their citizens. It was this ‘right to development’ that couldn’t be compromised even while developing countries were committed to following a low emission pathway. It was in this pursuit of growth that they required technol-

ogy and technology transfer, capacity building and financial support both for their mitigation as well as adaptation efforts in order to deal with the challenge of climate change. The Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted on December 12, 2015. It is a legally binding agreement that covers all countries, developed and developing, with the aim to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and

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efforts to eradicate poverty. The salient features of the Paris Agreement are as under: (a) It acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries. It recognises the developing countries’ right to development and their efforts to harmonise development with environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable. (b) It recognises the importance of sustainable lifestyles and sustainable patterns of consumption with developed countries taking the lead, and notes the importance of ‘climate justice’ in its preamble. (c) It seeks to enhance the ‘implementation of the Convention’ whilst reflecting the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances. (d) The objective further ensures that it is not mitigation-centric and includes other important elements such as adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology, capacity building and transparency of action and support. (e) Parties’ contributions under

the Paris Agreement are defined as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs), and a topdown approach of undertaking mitigation ambition has been avoided. The NDCs are country-driven and comprehensive. (f) It maintains differentiation in mitigation actions of developed and developing countries. (g) It recognises that the timeframe for peaking will be longer for developing countries. (h) It recognises that enhanced support from developed countries to

The Paris Agreement acknowledges the development imperatives of developing countries. It recognises the developing countries’ right to development and their efforts to harmonise development with environment, while protecting the interests of the most vulnerable

developing countries will allow for higher ambition in their action. (i) It mandates developed countries to provide financial resources to developing countries. Other parties may also contribute, but on a purely voluntary basis. (j) The accompanying decision to the Paris Agreement also lays down that US$100 billion mobilisation of funds per year by developed countries will be scaled up after 2020 and before 2025, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries. (k) It also establishes a new technology framework. This framework notes the importance of fully realising technology development and transfer in order to improve resilience to climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The framework also strives to support collaborative approaches to research and development, and facilitating access to technology, in particular for early stages of the technology cycle, to developing countries. (l) A global goal has been established to increase the adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change. Adaptation has also been accorded equal importance as ‘mitigation’ as demanded by developing countries. (m) In addition to adaptation, the Paris Agreement includes the concept of ‘Loss & Damage’ and recognises the importance of averting, minimising and addressing loss and damage associated with the adverse effects of climate change and extreme weather events, and identifies various areas of cooperation and support.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing the Innovation Summit at COP21 in Paris on November 30, 2015. US President Barack Obama, French President Francois Hollande and Bill Gates are also seen.

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

GOVERNANCE cop21 ashok lavasa

(n) A global stocktake, covering all elements, will take place every five years to assess the progress in addressing climate change. (o) Implementation of REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism has been anchored in the Paris Agreement. (p) A new market mechanism to provide opportunities for voluntary cooperation in the implementation of the NDCs has been agreed. (q) An enhanced system for transparency has been agreed to. This will cover not only mitigation and adaptation actions, but also the support provided by developed countries. (r) A separate Capacity Building Initiative for transparency to help developing countries has been agreed to in order to build institutional and technical capacity. (s) A new institutional arrangement, viz. Paris Committee on Capacity Building, will be established for enhancing capacity building activities in developing countries under the agreement. Developed countries are to provide financial support for capacity building to developing countries. (t) Pre-2020 actions are also part of the decisions. The developed country parties are urged to scale up their level of financial support with a complete roadmap to achieve the goal of jointly providing US$100 billion by 2020 for mitigation and adaptation by significantly increasing adaptation finance from current levels and to further provide appropriate technology and capacity building support. The Conference of Parties also witnessed the launch of the historic International Solar Alliance (ISA), conceived as a coalition of solar resource-rich countries to address their energy needs and will provide a

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the India Pavilion at the Conference of Parties with other dignitaries (above); view of the pavilion from outside (below)

platform to collaborate on addressing the identified gaps through a common, agreed approach. This alliance was jointly launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President François Hollande on November 30 with representatives of more than 70 countries, including 33 Heads of State and Heads of Government, attending the launch ceremony. Prime Minister Modi also participated in the launch of Mission Innovation, the publicprivate initiative for collaborative research and development in cleaner frontier technologies. The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change set up a pavilion which was the cynosure of the COP. It hosted 25 events and attracted over 6,500 visitors, who appreciated the story of India’s multi-

farious initiatives and the manner in which the story was told. ‘Parampara’, a book on traditional Indian climatefriendly lifestyles, was launched by the Prime Minister at the pavilion. All in all, India returned from COP21 having played a positive and proactive role in evolving a consensus on contentious issues and at the same time not compromising on the issues that mattered in preserving our development space and the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities. As PM Modi said: “The outcome of the Paris Agreement has no winners or losers. Climate justice has won and we are all working towards a greener future.” g The writer is Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

GOVERNANCE

disaster management mg devasahayam

PHOTOS: PIB

A metropolis in deluge The recent floods in Chennai were the cumulative outcome of governance failure and the lack of emergency planning response action

OR once, Prakash Javadekar has spoken as a true Union environment minister. Though couched in diplomatic language, he has made one point clear–the recent deluge that devastated India’s fourth largest metropolis with a population of 10 million plus was neither caused by nature nor was it a ‘climate change event’ as being touted by the Government of Tamil Nadu and its cohorts. Javadekar said in the Rajya Sabha that the Chennai floods were due to heavy rain and the excess water released from the reservoir at Chembarambakkam which inundated the floodplains of the River Adyar. He went on to say: “In this

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

case, three days’ advance warnings were issued for placing emergency planning response action by the local authorities.” According to him the “non-climatic reasons” for flooding in cities and industries located in highrisk locations include lack of proper urban planning, demographic pressures, improper sewage disposal and drainage systems, and encroachment of land. What he implied is that the deluge was the cumulative outcome of failure in all the above and the lack of emergency planning response action. In sum, it is a case of failure of governance, both civil and environmental. Yet, the Government of Tamil Nadu has chosen to call this deluge

as “a rarest of rare natural calamity.” The Merriam Webster dictionary defines calamity as a disastrous event marked by great loss and lasting distress and suffering. ‘Disaster’ is something that happens suddenly and causes much suffering or loss to many people. While the second part of the definition is true for the recent deluge in the Chennai metropolis, the first part is not applicable. While it caused much suffering and loss to many people resulting in great loss and lasting distress and suffering, it neither happened suddenly nor was it caused by nature. Chennai did have some excessive monsoon in November and December 2015–rainfall of 1,608 mm–but this was less than the 2005 downpour of 1,984.5 mm. Yet the inundation was much more severe, widespread and devastating. There are three

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reasons for this. One, the delayed, excessive and unannounced water release from the Chembarambakkam reservoir and two, the near-absence of any disaster management or emergency planning response action. These are due to the style of administration in Tamil Nadu wherein there is extreme concentration of power, authority and decision making at one centre, which has drained out suo moto actions and initiatives from RI¿FLDOV DFURVV WKH ERDUG Three, this time around Chennai had to bear the brunt of excessive rains in the neighbouring districts of Kancheepuram (1,815 mm) and Thiruvallur (1,466.4 mm). This is due to the marauding urban sprawl–the unplanned, uncontrolled spreading of urban development into rural areas– of these two districts which are on the periphery of Chennai city, caused out by greedy land grabbers and real HVWDWH PD¿D IDFLOLWDWHG E\ FROOXVLYH and corrupt government machinery. This had choked and blocked nature’s ‘right-of-way’ and storage for the rain water–lakes, ponds, rivers, rivulets, marsh, wetlands. )LUVW WKLQJV ¿UVW 7KHUH ZDV D complete mess-up regarding the release of surplus waters from the Chembarambakkam reservoir, the city’s main water storage tank, into the Adyar river which runs to the Bay of Bengal almost through the centre of the city. On the evening of December 1, 2015, the Adyar was already in spate due to incessant rain in the catchment areas. As against the warning issued around 5 pm that 7,500 cusecs of water would be released from the lake, around midnight four times that (29,000 cusecs) gushed out. All KHOO EURNH ORRVH DQG ÀRRG OHYHOV URVH to 12 feet in some areas as the river unleashed its fury. Why did this happen? There was

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VSHFL¿F DGYDQFH ZDUQLQJ IURP WKH Meteorological Department about very heavy rainfall in the week beginning November 29. Even the quantum of rain was forecast. The Chembarambakkam reservoir was ¿OOLQJ XS IDVW DQG WKH 3XEOLF :RUNV Department engineers were agitated. They dare not open the sluice gates without the green signal from the Chief Minister. So they wrote to the PWD Secretary who in turn sought

No attention was given to the emotional and psychological side of the victims, most of whom were traumatised by the devastation and humiliated by the ‘alms-giving’ attitude of the officials. To make things worse, political workers and politicians of all shapes and sizes descended on the scene, indulging in blatant ‘rent-seeking’ from the tragedy

instructions from the Chief Secretary. In Tamil Nadu under the present dispensation, even the Chief Secretary cannot approach the Chief Minister directly. By the time the maze of bureaucratic red tape was cut, it was past midnight of December 1 and the water level had crossed the threshold. The released surplus waters rushed into the swollen Adyar without any warning for the people living downstream and most of Chennai city was deluged, resulting in huge destruction and killing 280 people that night. Even now water-turnedsewage is stagnating at several places in the city, spreading disease.

ACED with severe criticism, the Chief Secretary admitted that the Controlling Officer of the Chembarambakkam reservoir is the competent authority under the Rules for Flood Regulation to regulate flood discharge.The Chief Secretary states that as heavy rain was forecast, senior Supervisory Officers of PWD were also present at the site, personally monitoring the situation. True indeed, but the engineers will not dare to use their authority because in the Tamil Nadu government, every activity should

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

GOVERNANCE

disaster management mg devasahayam

be carried out only under the orders of the “Honourable Chief Minister”. Ministers ‘worshipfully’ invoke her name multiple times in every sentence they speak. Even under disaster conditions, this holds true. Officers coordinating relief work publicly stated that they are doing so not as their duty but only under CM’s orders. Even the directly elected Mayor of the city distributes food packets only on the orders of the CM. ‘War-footing’ is the word used when major disasters are to be managed. This term describes “the condition or status of a military force or other organisation when operating under a state of war or as if a state of war existed”. This was not so in Chennai. Firstly, the organisations responsible were not in a state of readiness to act. During the initial hours critically affecting the safety of the citizens, there was no systematic operation or emergency mobilisation for rescuing the marooned victims. There were only patchy and disjointed efforts put in mostly by volunteers and some RI¿FLDOV (YHQ WKH OLPLWHG UHOLHI HIIRUWV were only targetted at the physical side of the victims like moving them to ‘relief centres’, providing food packets, old clothing, etc. No attention was given to the emotional and psychological side of the victims, most of whom were traumatised by the devastation and humiliated by the µDOPV JLYLQJ¶ DWWLWXGH RI WKH RI¿FLDOV 8QWUDLQHG JRYHUQPHQW RI¿FLDOV IRXQG LW GLI¿FXOW WR VHHN RXW WKH victims and offer spontaneous relief/ assistance. To make things worse, political workers and politicians of all shapes and sizes descended on the scene, indulging in blatant ‘rentseeking’ from the tragedy. These worthies and busybodies, having no knowledge of relief management, elbowed out the government agencies

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and voluntary groups to display that they were the only people to stand by the masses! No wonder that none of the international and national NGOs trained and equipped to deal with such ‘disasters’ made their appearance though many of them had rushed in within days of the tsunami that struck the Tamil Nadu coast on December 26, 2004. The NGOhounding indulged in by the Central Government of late also contributed to this indifference!

GNORING these realities, government sources talked of mega-operations by central and armed forces including warships, army boats and helicopters. Such interventions have only limited impact unless the political leadership and civil administration remains nimble-footed, capable of taking quick decisions and acting upon them. Rescue, relief and rehabilitation involve nuts-and-bolts jobs, local knowledge and an awareness of the local topography/demography. In the Chennai context, the Mayor, Corporation Commissioner, District Collector and Police Commissioner are the ideal sources of information, requirements and solutions. But all were waiting for “orders from above”.

The Tamil Nadu government has not set up functional Disaster Management Agencies as mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005. In the event, the Madras High Court had to step in suo moto and seek explanation from the state government for the lack of response and coordination

This led to lack of coordination between the local authorities and the National Disaster Management Force as well as the Army rescue team. This was so because the Tamil Nadu government has not set up functional state district/city Disaster Management Agencies as mandated by the Disaster Management Act, 2005. In the event, the Madras High Court had to step in suo moto and seek an explanation from the state government. Now to the urban sprawl. This is due to the predatory ‘development’ model and two catastrophic decisions of the UPA I government in 2004: one, to liberalise extremely the Special Economic Zone Rules, and the other, allowing 100 per cent FDI in the real estate business. With the pumping in of a massive quantum of black money, the property market boomed and land prices within city limits hit the sky. Unscrupulous elements and real estate sharks moved to the outskirts of the city and grabbed agricultural and low-lying land of all shapes and sizes which constituted the natural rainwater storage and drains that are ‘ecologically sensitive areas’. The Chennai Master Plan-cumDevelopment Regulations notified in 2008 prohibited construction in these places. Following up the Master Plan, at the request of the Corporation of Chennai, an expert group, including

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The Union Minister for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Parliamentary Affairs, M Venkaiah Naidu, meeting the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, to discuss the flood situation and its management in Tamil Nadu.

this writer, submitted the “Revised Chennai City Development Plan— 2009,” (CDP), suggesting rehabilitation of the city’s waterways to ward off threat of floods to the city. The purpose of the plan was to guide development of the Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA) through the year 2026 and to make Chennai a prime metropolis “which will become more liveable, economically vibrant, environmentally sustainable and with better assets for the future generations”. CDP mapped and identified the ‘ecologically sensitive’ areas of CMA and suggested a macro-level growth strategy with “strongest steps to maintain critical environmental assets in the CMA by further discouraging sprawling town and village growth and continuing a high level of development support to priority peri-urban areas.” It recommended nil construction in waterways, water bodies, rivers and marshes, low-riselow density construction in adjacent lands and medium to high-rise-highdensity construction at other places. As a solution to ‘demographic pressures’ CDP suggested sustainable ‘neighbourhood development’ and satellite townships with well-designed transport corridors to the city. In the battle between the planners and the real estate mafia, the latter won hands down. What is worse, both

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the central and state governments chipped in with large infrastructure and other constructions in these very eco-sensitive areas. The Elevated Expressway from Madras Port to Maduravoil is being constructed over the Cooum river, a natural drain; the Mass Rapid Transport System, a concrete monster, runs above the Buckingham Canal, the longest manmade drain; a wide highway with IT skyscrapers split the vast marshland of Pallikaranai. As to private development, Phoenix Mall, the largest in the metropolis, sits right on the Velachery lake bed. The world class, multi-specialty MIOT Hospital is perched on the banks of River Adyar. Global Hospital of the same class is deep in the low-lying paddy fields. Large engineering colleges and private universities have come up on marshes, water bodies or floodplains, mostly on encroached or puramboke land. The posh high-rise MRC Nagar, described as the Manhattan of Chennai, has blossomed on the prohibited Coastal Regulation Zone near the high tide line and the estuary of the Adyar. All these constitute a recipe for disaster. We need to have a look at the growth pattern of CMA to understand where the metropolis is heading. Population density has gone up from 769 persons

per sq km in 1971 to 2,109 in 2011. During the same period, built-up area has gone up from 1.46 per cent to 18.6 per cent. Since 1991, area under vegetation has gone down by 22 per cent and open spaces, marshy land and floodplains reduced by 18.14 per cent. At this rate, by 2016, built-up area will increase to 36.6 per cent of the total city mass while open spaces and eco-sensitive areas will shrink to just 33 per cent!

HE Chennai deluge is a combination of greed, corruption and disaster leading to destruction and death. No estimation has been made so far, since the central fact-finding team that made a brief appearance after the first bout of rains has not reappeared even three weeks after the real deluge. Undaunted, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has made a pitch for about `26,000 crore and wants the central government to bankroll the entire amount because: “The costs are very large and it is very difficult for the State to meet the cost, particularly after the huge loss of Central tax devolution and transfers suffered by it consequent on the 14th Finance Commission’s recommendations.” Despite tall talk of ‘development’ and ‘governance’, we are back to square one. Governance failure and ‘destructive development’ were responsible for the deluge and the taxpayers, the victims, will have to foot the bill. What a travesty! g

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

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

COVER STORY world war III

World War III It is clear that World War III will be inspired and characterised by three factors—an aggressive attack on national currencies, capture of nations’ natural resources, and either direct or indirect terror-like military strategies—and camouflaging them with religion are evident now. Alam Srinivas and Neeraj Mahajan analyse.

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Is the third global war round the corner? by ALAM SRINIVAS

OR the past seven decades, since the end of World War II, global leaders, defence policymakers and military experts have speculated about how, when and where World War III will happen. The when and where is immaterial today; given the hundreds of hot and dangerous spots across the globe, it can happen anytime, anywhere. The how, though, is still relevant. During the Cold War, it was felt that the new global war would be instigated by one of the two superpowers, America or the Soviet Union. The Cuban missile crisis was a prime example of this mindset. After the Soviet break-up, the focus shifted to rogue elements, who could access nuclear weapons from the disintegrated Communist regimes to spark a world war. Later came the theory of the clash of civilisations— Christianity versus Islam—which initially popular, was later discredited, and then revived in recent years. During the Second Gulf War, the thinking was about weapons of mass destruction, be it biological, chemical or nuclear. There was also talk about a global cyber or technological war that could lead to a global economic meltdown. In the second decade of the 21st century, it is clear that World War III will be inspired and characterised by three factors—an aggressive attack on national currencies, capture of nations’ natural resources, and either

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direct or indirect terror-like military strategies. The trio can conspire to bring nations to their knees, and force them to bow to the diktats of nations, or elements, that are able to realise such objectives. In fact, a look at events over the past two decades is enough to prove that such conspiracies are already being enacted. There is now a clash between currencies to gain global primacy—dollar, euro, yuan, and possibly the rupee—over the next two decades. The US, Europe, China, India and others have joined an aggressive and neverending race to acquire global natural resources in Africa, central Asia, Latin America, and even some of the developed nations. At the same time, while the smaller countries and informal global groups have resorted to direct terror tactics, developed ones like the US, France, Russia and China are using their military strengths to terrorise the world.

What was till a few years ago seen as disparate global trends have converged into an umbrella strategy that can lead to World War III. Imagine a nation, or a global group, that can crystallise a vision to combine currency warfare with the battle for natural resources, and underline it with terror tactics to achieve the first two objectives. Imagine the combination between Al-Qaeda or IS (Islamic State), George Soros, the legendary currency speculator, China with its single-minded focus to capture global natural resources, and Russia with its military strength. In effect, imagine an America that uses its political, diplomatic, military and corporate clout to wage an overt and covert war not just in Iraq or Syria, but across the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Substitute America with Russia, China, or even the IS, and one can visualise the character and contour of World War III. It will

VIOLENCE

COSTS

13.4% OF WORLD GDP

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

COVER STORY world war III

not be about religions or territories. It will be about a nation’s or group’s ability to effect a grandiose combination of different kinds of naked powers. Currency wars Over the past three decades, entire nations, even continents, have capitulated to attacks on their currencies. Speculators and traders, whether cajoled by vested national and global interests, or for sheer greed of profits, have forced governments to accept their scheme of things. They have shoved and pushed regimes across the globe to adhere to their visions and blueprints. Currency warfare has become one of the best ways to push the world to the brink of a global war. Even the most powerful currencies, be it the dollar, pound or euro, are not safe anymore. The turbulent 1990s witnessed waves of attacks on various global currencies. In the early years of the decade, hedge funds, either led or violently aided by the legendary Soros, launched a virulent war on the British pound. Apparently, Soros made a billion-dollar profit as the pound fell and lost its relevance.

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While the smaller countries and informal global groups have resorted to direct terror tactics, developed ones like the US, France, Russia and China are using their military strengths to terrorise the world It forced Britain and Italy to opt out of the newly formed European Monetary System, a precursor to the grand European Union. The hedge funds wrecked the foundations of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, which was a critical pillar of the Union.

HE late 1990s saw the onset of the Asian currency crisis, which was engineered by currency speculators, possibly backed by interested nations. As currencies across East Asia, including Malaysia, spiralled into an unstoppable free fall, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Mohammed, questioned the motives of the speculators. According to a paper by Rawi Abdelal and Laura Alfaro, Mahathir called

Soros—the former thought the latter was behind the currency crisis—a ‘moron’. Soros said Mahathir was a “menace to his own country”. It turned out to be a classic ‘Market versus Mahathir’ interaction, where the market-backers felt it was important to discipline errant governments, and the rulers felt that the idea that the market will discipline government is sheer nonsense. It was a case of who will decide what is good for a nation—external forces or nationalistic ones. It was a narrative where a country had to decide whether it would accept the diktats of western interests, or adhere to its notions of right and wrong. In the end, apart from Malaysia, other East Asian nations accepted the market. After the East Asian crisis came the Russian rouble collapse. In the late 1990s, Russia’s leader, Boris Yeltsin, was unable to appoint a Prime Minister that he wanted as the currency downfall led to deeper economic crisis in Russia. In the end, Yeltsin had to accept nationalistic demands, and appoint a Prime Minister who was a compromise candidate. Yet again, a former superpower almost lost its economic freedom, and had

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to fight to regain its clout. It took almost two decades for a smaller Russia to become a recognised global force in 2015. The 21st century witnessed an epic currency battle, the kind that can easily lead to World War III. It was a tussle between the dollar, which had dominated global currencies for several decades, especially after World War II, and the fledgling euro, a European currency that was born in 1999. In the initial period, the euro lost out to the dollar. From 1 euro=$1.2, the euro slumped to 83 cents within months. But suddenly things changed. A slowdown in the US economy, slump in its share prices, and 9/11 forced investors to shift from dollar to euro. However, the crucial support for the euro came when the largest oil producers decided that they wanted their income from crude sales to be designated in euros rather than dollars. First, in November 2000, Iraq told the United Nations that its earnings from the Food-for-Oil programme should be in euros. Iran, another America-hater, converted half its foreign exchange reserves from dollar to euro. North Korea, which was among America’s top-most enemies, too said that it would soon shift to the euro. These shifts could have proved cataclysmic for the dollar. In the early part of this century, the dollar was so powerful that half of the global exports, two-thirds of all the official global foreign exchange reserves held by various nations, and four-fifths of global foreign exchange transactions were denominated in dollars. As nations bought dollar assets to save their incomes, the inflows helped America. If the nations, especially those who earned huge amounts from sale of oil, decided to

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shift to the euro, they would sell their dollar assets, which would force the dollar down. It would mark the end of the dollar hegemony. Several experts felt that this was one of the reasons for America’s second attack on Iraq. It wasn’t really about weapons of mass destruction, but it was an attempt to preserve the dominance of the dollar too. As Outlook wrote in 2003, “Once (George) Bush gains control over Iraq’s oilfields, he can pressure OPEC to fall in line. He can then send signals to unfriendly nations—including oil producers like Russia and importers like China—to stick with the dollar. The US can also play the stick-andcarrot game with Saudi Arabia, whose switch is critical in the currency war.” The objective: prevent oil producers and global importers to shift from the dollar to euro.

Battle for natural resources FTER World War II, most of the nations in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia turned their backs on Western hegemonies like the US and European countries. Over the next few decades, natural resources assets, especially in oil and gas, and minerals, were nationalised, or appropriated from the western companies. A wave of nationalised capitalism set the tone for ownership of natural resources. This forced American and European firms to seek new agreements with nations, or seek new opportunities in

uncharted territories. Then came the China wave. By the end of the first decade of this century, it was clear that China was into aggressive acquisition of global natural resources. According to a 2010 study by Theodore H Moran, “Backed by the Chinese government, Chinese companies have been acquiring equity stakes in natural resources, extending loans to mining and petroleum investors, and writing long-term procurement contracts for oil and minerals. These activities have aroused concern that China might be ‘locking up’ natural resource supplies, gaining ‘preferential access’ to available output, extending ‘control’ over the world’s extractive industries.” One of the prime examples of such control was in Africa. According to venturesafrica.com, “Across Africa, the growing presence of Chinese investments in economy and infrastructure is evident. In the last ten years, various state-owned firms… have become major investors in Africa with China being the single largest bilateral source of annual foreign investment in Africa.” However, what was unique about China was its alternative and innovative attempts to forge close links with African nations. For example, “in sports, China’s investments in Africa, popularly termed ‘Stadium Diplomacy’, has been focused on infrastructural developments which has and will, inevitably in the future, result in marked improvements in certain sports.” China built several football stadiums across Africa in a soccer-crazed continent. In most cases, China bore the entire cost of construction through concessional bilateral loans. In other cases, strategic partnerships were forged that enabled the building up of world-class football facilities. The recent rise of African nations in World

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COVER STORY world war III

World War I Also known as the War to End All Wars, and the Great War. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history Duration: 4 years, 3 months and 2 weeks (July 28, 1914 to November 11, 1918) How did it end: The fighting stopped after a general armistice was agreed upon and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles by both sides. Cause: Differences in foreign policies. Immediate cause was the assassination of Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Archduke Franz Ferdinand. After the assassination, Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia stepped in to defend Serbia. Germany declared war on Russia to protect Austria. This led France to declare war on Germany. Germany invaded Belgium. This caused Britain to declare war on Germanyâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;all in just a few days. Fought between: WWI was fought between the Allied Powers (France, Russia, United States and Britain) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria). In total, 30 countries were involved in the conflict. Italy, once part of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, fought on the side of the Allies. Conflict zone: Europe, Africa, Middle East, Pacific islands, China and coastal South & North America. Majority of the fighting took place in Europe along two fronts: the western front and the eastern front. The western front was a long line of trenches that ran from the coast of Belgium to Switzerland. A lot of the fighting on this front took place in France and Belgium. The eastern front was between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Bulgaria on one side and Russia and Romania on the other. Strategy: Soldiers fought largely in trenches during the war. Thousands suffered from stress, known as shell-shock. The British and French trenches were squalid, whereas the German trenches were luxurious in comparison, with bunks and decent cooking facilities. Major Battles: A lot of the war was fought along the western front. The armies hardly moved. They just bombed and shot at each other from the trenches. Some of the major battles included the First Battle of Marne, and the Battles of Somme, Tannenberg, Gallipoli, and Verdun.Â Casualties: More than 70 million military personnel participated in one of the largest wars in history. Over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died and another 21 million were wounded as a result of the war. Over a million soldiers were killed in the infamous Battle of the Somme aloneâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;about 30,000 in just one day.

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Around 11 per cent of the population of France was killed or wounded during the war. About 116,000 Americans were killed, even though the US was only in the war for about 7 months. Odd facts: t *U XBT UIF GJSTU NBKPS XBS XIFSF BJSQMBOFT BOE UBOLT were used. t %PHT BOE 1JHFPOT XFSF VTFE UP DBSSZ NFTTBHFT JO DBQsules attached to their body. Dogs played a role in carrying telegraph wires while about 500,000 pigeons carrying messages were dropped by parachute behind enemy lines. t "O VOPGGJDJBM USVDF XBT EFDMBSFE PO $ISJTUNBT &WF JO 1914. Both sides sang Christmas carols and played matches on that day in no-manâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s land and exchanged food and souvenirs. The ceasefire was known as the Christmas Truce and sentries on both sides had orders to shoot any soldier carrying weapons. Long-term Impact: t $BOOPOT BOE BSUJMMFSZ XFSF GPVOE UP CF FYUSFNFMZ loudâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;explosives used to destroy a bridge in France could be heard 130 miles away in London. Hence, many new weapons like the famous Big Bertha, a 48-tonne gun capable of firing shells over 9 miles away, were invented. It took several hours for over 200 men to assemble the gun. t 5BOLTÂ&#x2030;5IF GJSTU UBOLT JOWFOUFE CZ UIF #SJUJTI XFSF called â&#x20AC;&#x153;landships." Some of them, called male tanks, had cannons while female tanks had machine guns. t /JOFUZ QFS DFOU PG UIF NJMMJPO TPMEJFST GSPN "VTUSJB Hungary were either injured or killed. t " UFSSPSJTU HSPVQ DBMMFE UIF #MBDL )BOE XBT SFTQPOTJCMF for assassinating Archduke Ferdinand. t .BSJF $VSJF IFMQFE UP FRVJQ WBOT XJUI Y SBZ NBDIJOFT that enabled French doctors to see bullets in wounded men. These vans were called â&#x20AC;&#x153;petites Curiesâ&#x20AC;?, meaning â&#x20AC;&#x153;little Curies.â&#x20AC;? Result: t "MMJFT XPO t 5IFÍ&#x192; (FSNBO Í&#x192; 3VTTJBO Í&#x192; 0UUPNBO BOEÍ&#x192; "VTUSP HungarianÂ empires ended. t 5SBOTGFS PGÍ&#x192;(FSNBO BOE GPSNFS 0UUPNBO &NQJSFÍ&#x192; DPMPniesÂ to other powers. t /FX DPVOUSJFT FNFSHFE JO &VSPQF BOE UIF .JEEMF &BTU

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World War II WW II was the bloodiest conflict in human history. The world was in a state of â&#x20AC;&#x153;total war.â&#x20AC;? Duration: 6 years 1 day (Sept 1, 1939 to Sept 2, 1945). Germany started an unprovoked attack on Poland. In retaliation, France and Britain declared war on Germany. Japan was already at war with the Republic of China. Many of the world's countries got involved. How did it end: WW II ended with the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers. On 8 May 1945, the Allies accepted Germany's surrender, about a week after Adolf Hitler committed suicide. Causes of World War Two: One of the long-term causes of the war was the anger felt in Weimar Germany over the Treaty of Versailles and inability of the League of Nations to deal with major international issues. Hitler wanted to push the boundaries and see what he could get away with. His first major transgression was his defiance of the Versailles Treaty. In 1936 Hitlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Nazi Germany re-occupied Rhineland, forbidden by Versailles. Hitler was determined to expand east. Czechoslovakia and Poland were his next targets. Hitler referred to the Munich Agreement as a â&#x20AC;&#x153;scrap of paperâ&#x20AC;?. Fought between: The Axis [(Germany, Italy, Japan, Slovakia, Nov. 1940), Hungary (Nov. 1940), Romania (Nov. 1940), Bulgaria (March 1941)] and the Allies [Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Greece, India, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, USSR, Yugoslavia] Major Battles: WW II was fought on different frontiers such as Russia, the Pacific Ocean, Western Europe and China. Some of these battles were Battle of Khalkhin Gol, Battle of Britain (air battle for England), Invasion of Poland, Operation Barbarossa (Case Barbarossa), Battle of Moscow, Battle of

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Stalingrad, Invasion of Normandy, Battle of Okinawa, Battle of Berlin and Battle of the Bulge. Casualties: Over 60-80 million people, about 3% of the 1940 world population (2.3 billion), were killed. Odd Facts: t "CPVU NJMMJPO QFPQMF GPVHIU JO UIF BSNFE GPSDFT PG the Allied and Axis nations. t 'JOMBOE OFWFS PGGJDJBMMZ KPJOFE FJUIFS UIF "MMJFT PS UIF "YJT and was at war with the Soviet Union at the outbreak of World War II. In 1940, Finland joined forces with Nazi Germany to repel the Soviets; however, in 1944, Finland joined the Soviets to oust the Germans. t 4XJU[FSMBOE 4QBJO 1PSUVHBM BOE 4XFEFO XFSF OFVUSBM in the war. t 5IF 4PWJFU 6OJPO MPTU UIF NPTU TPMEJFSTÂ&#x2030;NPSF UIBO seven million. t "QQSPYJNBUFMZ TJY NJMMJPO +FXT EJFE JO /B[J DPODFOUSBUJPO camps. t )JSPP 0OPEB B +BQBOFTF TPMEJFS TUJMM GJHIUJOH UIF XBS was found by a search party on Lubang island in the Philippines in March 1974. After being convinced that the war was over he was flown to Manila and formally surrendered to President Ferdinand Marcos. Onoda died on January 16, 2014, at the age of 91. Long-term Impact: t #FHJOOJOH PG OVDMFBS BOE DPOWFOUJPOBM BSNT SBDF 5IF atomic bomb invented during World War II is still a problematic leftover from World War II. t .BOZ DPVOUSJFT JO &VSPQF BOE "TJB XFSF EJWJEFE t $PME 8BS CFUXFFO UIF UXP SFNBJOJOH TVQFSQPXFST t $JWJM XBST JO EP[FOT PG QMBDFT BSPVOE UIF XPSME Result: t 4PWJFU 6OJPO BOUBHPOJTFE UIF 6OJUFE 4UBUFT BOE (SFBU Britain by annexing the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) and by making extreme reparations demands upon Germany, Hungary, and Poland. They also supported rebels in Greece, Turkey, and Iran, aided the Communist uprising in China. These actions led to a prolonged period of tension called the 'cold war' between the Western powers. t 4PWJFU 6OJPO BOE 4PWJFU EPNJOBUFE &VSPQF XBT separated from the rest of the world by an â&#x20AC;&#x153;iron curtain.â&#x20AC;? t 6OJUFE /BUJPOT XBT FTUBCMJTIFE BOE JUT DIBSUFS XBT signed by 51 countries in 1945.

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COVER STORY world war III

Cup football tournaments can be attributed to the building of such assets that allowed citizens to watch world-class teams in action. An article in The Economist noted, “Chinese firms are going global for the usual reasons: to acquire raw materials, get technical know-how and gain access to foreign markets. But they are under the guidance of a state that many countries consider as a strategic competitor, not an ally. As our briefing explains, it often appoints executives, direct deals and finances them through state banks. Once bought, natural resource firms can become captive suppliers of the Middle Kingdom.” Now several other nations have joined the new global game. The ones which own the natural resources, like Australia and Latin America, wish to leverage their strengths to get the best out of competing nations like India and China. The ones which seek natural resources, like India and China, hope to do deals that will favour them. In some cases, India and China have joined hands in strategic partnerships to acquire natural resource assets. Links with terror Now add to the wars on currencies and battle for natural resources, statesponsored terror, indirect form of

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militancy, and the rise of global groups that can control the economies of a nation or region. State-sponsored terror is not akin to what Pakistan does in India, but what America has done in Afghanistan, Iraq, and now Syria. It is equivalent to the rise of Russia’s regional ambitions that have rejuvenated in the past year or so with its humungous rise in military expenditure. It is akin to China’s support of dictatorial regimes across continents, just the manner in which America and Britain did in the past few decades.

NDIRECT form of terrorism was perfected by Saudi Arabia over the past few decades as it reportedly exported jihad through donations, support to conservative educational institutions in the Islamic world, and covert aid to nations and groups that were keen to support militancy. This has happened for several decades but Saudi Arabia, and then Iran as the Shia competitor, took it to another level. Over the years, Pakistan tried to act as a Sunni counterbalance to Saudi Arabia, but the size of its nation and economy prevented it from usurping Saudi’s global objectives. The rise of Al-Qaeda, and now the IS, are sure-shot examples of what independent groups can achieve, and

aid in fuelling a global war. Americanled efforts to neutralise and decimate Al-Qaeda were a form of a global war. The same is true with the globalised, though uncoordinated, attempts to eliminate the IS. But imagine if the IS, or the new form of Al-Qaeda, get support from several nations, as was, and is, the case with them. Until now, Europe and the US have prevented such focused strategy. But who’s to know what can happen in the near future. Combine all the above three elements and one can imagine the face of World War III. It will be unlike what one has imagined so far. It will be completely different from the various theories that have emerged so far. It will be a combustible combination of economics, diplomacy, politics, militarian and terrorism. It will take a form that will be complex and difficult to unravel. So finally it seems the flaring may happen along religious lines. Neither currency nor natural resource can possibly become the trigger. The first light may come from terror, which is divided and conflicted around religion. So it is back to the clash of civilisations, or to be unfair to Samuel Huntington, the clash of civilisations versus cultures, or merely the clash. g

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World War III: myth or reality? Where is peace? Armed conflicts around the world have claimed the lives of more than 180,000 people in 2014 while deaths due to terrorist activities have increased 61 per cent in the past five years. As many as 18,000 lives have been lost in just five countries—Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. by NEERAJ MAHAJAN

EACE is the greatest illusion today. The whole world is a battlefield. There is no place in the whole physical or virtual world put together that you can call totally peaceful. As many as 185 out of a total of 196 countries in the world today are currently engaged in some form of armed conflict, civil war, insurgency or other forms of violent unrest. There are only less than a dozen countries in the world today that are not involved in any violence or conflict within or outside their borders. Just the US alone is involved in 134 wars. These include the recent military actions in Afghanistan, Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia and Yemen besides the global war on terror which has culminated in military actions against the

Islamic State, Al-Qaeda and its affiliates and other major counterterrorism operations. On May 1, 2011, US Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden in a night raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Similar CIA, US Special Forces and counterterrorism operations have been reported in Iraq, Afghanistan, Algeria, Iran, Malaysia, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. A more exhaustive list could involve countries like Indonesia, Thailand, Colombia, Peru, as well as several other countries in Eastern and Central Asia. This is notwithstanding the fact that the US Congress hasn’t officially declared war since 1942. Some experts believe that America tops the list of countries that have fought the most wars in its 200-yearold history. The British have invaded almost 90 per cent of the countries

2014 42

2012 51

active conflicts

2010 55

2008 63

active conflicts

180,000

110,000

49,000

56,000

fatalities

©IISS

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around the globe. Just 22 out of the 200-odd countries in the world—like Mongolia, Guatemala, Tajikistan, Marshall Islands and Luxembourg— have never been invaded by the British according to a book titled All the Countries We've Ever Invaded: And the Few We Never Got Round To. The only other nation which comes close is France—which also holds the record for facing the brunt of most British invasions. Prominent among the countries experiencing armed conflicts or warlike situations today include the US, Russia, Afghanistan, Algeria, Africa, Colombia, Congo, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Yemen, Israel, Libya, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nigeria and Iraq. In terms of casualties, the largest conflicts are in Afghanistan, Congo, Israel, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Sudan, Syria and Ukraine. The Middle East and North Africa are hotbeds of violence, terrorist activity and revolutionary upsurge. Countries like Syria and Libya are without any doubt the most violent regions in the world. Almost half the population of Syria has been displaced by the civil war.

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COVER STORY world war III

HESE armed conflicts have forced more than 1 per cent of the global population, or about 73 million people, to leave their homes. According to the Global Peace Index, a report published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, the actual number of refugees and internally displaced persons today is more than even World War II. One in every 130 people on Earth is currently a refugee or displaced—mostly as a fallout of the conflicts in the Middle East. In Syria, alone, 13 million out of 22 million people are displaced. The cost of waging war, homicide, internal security, violence and crimes has reached $14.3 trillion in the past year. Out of this, the cost of supporting refugees and displaced persons is $128 billion—it has risen 267 per cent since 2008. The number of people killed in conflict has risen from 49,000 in 2010 to 180,000 in 2014. Out of this, the number of deaths from terrorism is estimated to be around 20,000 a year. With groups like Islamic State and Boko Haram expanding their networks, the number of deaths caused by terrorism more than doubled from 8,450 to almost 18,000 in the last eight years. These numbers are

Countries that never fought a war Strange though it might seem, there is probably not a single country that has never been involved in war in any shape or form in its history. Even a country like Switzerland, known for its neutrality, has engaged in wars in the early 20th century. Even relatively younger nations, formed after the break-up of the Soviet Union, have been involved in wars in history. Greenland is the only country which has never fought a war (though Denmark has had a military presence in the country). Then there are countries like Australia, which has not engaged in war on its own soil. The only war Iceland ever fought was a civil war on its own soil. Countries adopting an officially neutral policy today include Austria, Costa Rica, Ireland, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

10 countries that do not have an army 1.

Andorra

Costa Rica

Grenada

Kiribati

Liechtenstein

Marshall Islands

Federated States of Micronesia

Nauru

Saint Lucia

10. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

The most peaceful... Europe is among the most peaceful places on Earth for the eighth year in a row, according to the Global Peace Index. 15 of the top 20 most peaceful countries are in Europe. North America is the second most peaceful region. The countries highest on the list include: t *DFMBOE t %FONBSL t "VTUSJB t 4XJU[FSMBOE t +BQBO t 2BUBS t .BVSJUJVT t 6SVHVBZ t $IJMF t #PUTXBOB t $PTUB 3JDB t 7JFUOBN t 1BOBNB t #SB[JM t 1PSUVHBM Interestingly, the most peaceful countries in the world are often wealthy, western democracies. The United States ranks 94th on the list. Canada is at 7th place, France is 45th while Turkey staggers behind at no 135. Iceland tops the index as the most peaceful country in the world, Syria is the least.

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expected to increase, according to an Australian research centre. The conclusion that emerges is that the world today is becoming a more violent and dangerous place to live in. It sometimes feels like the whole world is at war. Things are getting from bad to worse. Looking at things in perspective, roughly 13.4 per cent of global gross domestic product— equivalent to the combined economies of Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and the UK—is being spent to finance military operations and armed conflicts, according to a report by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). This brings us to the larger question: Would all this ultimately lead to WW III. If the current situation is not managed, World War III might just be around the corner or already starting. As King Abdullah of Jordan said recently at a news conference, “we are facing a Third World War against humanity…. we must act fast to tackle the response to interconnected threats.” Even Pope Francis was quoted as saying “perhaps one can speak of a third war, one fought piecemeal, with crimes, massacres, destruction”,

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while visiting a military cemetery in Italy. The whole concept of World War III cannot be dismissed as a figment of wild imagination. The Syrian conflict itself has the potential to spark a global war given the clash of interests at the international level: With Russia and Iran supporting the Bashar alAssad regime while the US leading a coalition of over 60 countries supporting the Kurds and Syrian rebels fights against Assad’s forces. On the other side of the spectrum, France and Russia have stepped up their own efforts to forge a coalition against the Islamic State. Making matters worse, Turkey is fighting against the Kurds while the Syrian rebels are supported by Jordan, Turkey and the Gulf states. The picture that emerges from this is grim. All it would take is a slight spark in Iran, Iraq, or Syria to trigger a fiery conflagration in the entire Middle East. This could lead to World War III. The term ‘world war’ means a military conflict spanning more than two continents, in which at least 20 major countries participate in an attack against a common enemy, and which

World’s least peaceful countries t 4ZSJB t *SBR t "GHIBOJTUBO t -JCZB t 4PVUI 4VEBO t 4PNBMJB t 6LSBJOF̓ The Middle East and North Africa now rank as the world's most violent regions, overtaking South Asia which received that ranking for 2013.

has the attention of the man-in-thestreet due to the significant loss of life When it happened, World War I (1914–1918) was regarded as the "war to end all wars.” World War II (1939– 1945) proved that to be false. Today according to World Bank estimates, some 1.5 billion people, roughly onefifth of humanity, are affected by some form of violence or insecurity. The US military is involved in operations across all the five continents. It is the world’s largest landlord, with a significant presence in Bahrain, Djibouti, Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Kyrgyzstan, in addition to bases in Germany, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and the UK. Some of these, like

Fatalities in 2014 80,000 70,000 60,000 50,000 40,000 30,000 20,000 10,000 0

Syria

Iraq

Mexico

Central America

South Sudan ©IISS

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the Al Udeid Air Force Base in Qatar, the forward headquarters of the United States Central Command, can accommodate up to 10,000 troops and 120 aircraft. US forces are active in 20 countries across the Middle East and present in Afghanistan, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan, Yemen and some 54 African nations. Some of them are also supporting US Drug Enforcement Agency operations in Colombia and Mexico.

HE Institute for Economics and Peace is worried that conflicts have grown increasingly lethal over the last five years. While the total number of incidents has stayed relatively steady but their death toll has skyrocketed. In a speech last year President Putin was quoted as saying that World War 3 is ‘inevitable’. He accused NATO of ‘surrounding’ Russia and even signed a document stating that NATO has committed “violations of international law,” which is a very serious and inflammatory charge. In the speech delivered at the Valdai conference in Sochi, Putin made it clear that “Russia will no longer play games with the United States and engage in back-room negotiations…” “Russia does not wish for the chaos to spread, does not want war, and has no intention of starting one. However, today Russia sees the outbreak of global war as almost inevitable, is prepared for it, and is continuing to prepare for it. Russia does not want war, nor does she fear it…” he added. “I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations…. This is a reality, not just words,” Putin warned. g

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COVER STORY world war III

Possible scenarios

Flashpoints on the globe by NEERAJ MAHAJAN

LBERT Einstein was once asked what he thought the future wars—more so World War III—would look like. This is what he had to say, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Ironically US Army Chief of Staff Gen Omar Bradley also had a similar comment to make in a discussion with some bigshots about future wars and how they would be fought. “General, the newspapers tell us that World War III will be fought with atomic bombs, supersonic planes and a lot of new weapons. These are great strides, but how about World War IV? Is it possible to get any newer and fancier weapons than these?” one of the men asked. “I can give you the exact answer to that question… If we have World War III, and then World War IV will be fought with bows and arrows,” General Bradley replied. Every war brings destruction and needs a spark. For a conflict to escalate into a global war, the interest of more than a few great powers must clash. World War I started after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand; the Seven Years War was sparked by fighting between the French and British along the Mississippi river.

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“Once started, religious strife has a tendency to go on and on, to become permanent feuds. Today we see such intractable inter-religious wars in Northern Ireland, between Jews and Muslims and Christians in Palestine, Hindus and Muslims in South Asia and in many other places. Attempts to bring about peace have failed again and again. Always the extremist elements invoking past injustices, imagined or real, will succeed in torpedoing the peace efforts and bringing about another bout of hostility.” Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia, addressing the World Evangelical Fellowship in 2001. The combatants rarely start a global war on purpose but do not always realise that small sparks could lead to bigger conflagrations. The words ‘World War 3’ trended on social media worldwide as tension rose over Turkey shooting down a Russian jet over its airspace recently. Let’s look at the possible sparks which could explode the world and cause World War III. What might spark such a war, and how would it escalate into a global conflict? Here are five potential scenarios: none likely, but all possible. Syria The ever-changing battlelines in Syria are becoming even more complex. Russian air strikes could any day lead to a tug of war between Russia and the US. Will it lead to a deeper conflict, is the big question. An accidental confrontation between NATO and Russian aircraft could lead to bad tactical decisions. This could get ugly, as France, Russia, and the United

States have very different views about how the future of Syria should look. Serious fighting between external powers in Syria could quickly draw in Turkey, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and potentially spread to other parts of the globe. India-Pakistan India and Pakistan could go to war for any number of reasons. Incidents of unprovoked firing across the IndoPakistan border have been going on for years. India and Pakistan have fought three wars with each other, still the possibility of yet another conventional war is not ruled out. If it is only a regional war, then its effects might be less severe but if some global powers step in, it could lead to a fullscale nuclear conflict in case Pakistan suffered a serious defeat in conventional war. Infiltrations and subversive activities by Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups are a routine irritant that India has been tolerating for

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long. Interventions in Afghanistan by either country could be another bone of contention. The 1971 IndoPakistani War nearly had both the US and China involved in the conflict on behalf of Pakistan. But over the past few years, the US has grown closer to India even as it continues to sell weapons to Pakistan. It is unclear, at this point, how the US would respond if China intervened on Pakistan’s side in a war with India. Russian miscalculations in Ukraine The ongoing crisis in Ukraine started on February 22, 2014, when the government of then pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich collapsed. Nearly two years have passed since then. The United States, Europe and Russia have thrown the Ukrainian situation into turmoil and caused bloodshed to spread further in the former Soviet state. Putin-backed rebels, supported by Russian forces, could drive further west in Ukraine to create a land cor-

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ridor to join up with Crimea. That triggers deeper economic sanctions from the US and the European Union and forces them to accelerate military support to the government.

HE situation is rife with opportunities for miscalculation, and a mistake on either side could produce a militarised confrontation. Much depends on how NATO countries decide to respond to Russian moves in Ukraine. China vs Japan in East China Sea Both China and Japan claim to own the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea and have deployed military forces in its vicinity. Both are not prepared to back off. The islands are close to key shipping lanes and rich fishing grounds, and there may be oil reserves in the area. The United States is bound by treaty to defend Japan. If a conflict between China and Japan erupts, the United States may also get involved.

China might feel compelled to preempt US intervention by an attack on American military installations across the region. The US has already had a number of uncomfortable confrontations with Chinese naval and air units in the South China Sea. In the event of a US-China war both Japan and India might feel the need to intervene. Russia might or might not stay out. This could throw the entire Asia-Pacific into chaos. Communist China and Russia vs United States If the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily newspaper is to be believed, a “US-China war is inevitable” over rights of passage and artificial islands built in disputed territory. Almost 74 per cent of Chinese think that their military would win a war against the US, according to a 2014 poll by the Perth US-Asia Centre. Many Chinese officers are believed to be suffering from “peace disease”—a term for those who never served in combat. g

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IN CONVERSATION shiv kunal verma 1962 war

Let down by the leadership In military circles, Shiv Kunal Verma first shot into prominence in 1992 when he produced the highly acclaimed film on 60 years of the Indian Air Force, Salt of the Earth. This benchmark film was followed by a series of films on the Indian Navy and the Army, culminating with his filming Kargil War and Aakash Yodha, which again covered the aerial dimension of the conflict with Pakistan in 1999. The Standard Bearers (National Defence Academy) and The Making of a Warrior (Indian Military Academy) were among the various films he made on military training institutions in the country. Verma is also the author of The Long Road to Siachen: The Question Why and the highly acclaimed Northeast Trilogy that documents the region in meticulous detail. Among his other works are the books on the Assam Rifles while he has also co-authored Courage & Conviction, the autobiography of the former Chief of Army Staff, General VK Singh. MG Devasahayam, a former Army and IAS officer, talks to the filmmaker and author: MGD: Generations brought up on stories of swarming Chinese hordes and Indian troops fighting in PT shoes to the last man, last round, are going to be in for a shock. More than half a century after the event, how difficult was it to put the narrative together? SKV: Quite honestly, I think the information has always been there, it is just that no one really wanted to talk about it. Those who did write about the conflict were more concerned about exonerating themselves. It’s a great pity that not only was the truth glossed over, it was also deliberately suppressed. This was an army that was simply not allowed to fight by our own people—it wasn’t so much the Chinese who ran over us in NEFA, it was our own leadership. MGD: The Henderson Brooks-Bhagat Report is still under wraps, at least partially. Do you think access to those papers would have thrown up any additional facts? SKV: I don’t think so, simply because though the report

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PHOTOS: DIPTI BHALLA VERMA

was asked for by General JN Chaudhury after he replaced General Thapar as the COAS, its terms of reference were changed within a couple of days and they were asked to confine themselves entirely to IV Corps’ Operations. Later, then Defence Minister YB Chavan used it as a major sleight of hand in Parliament to deflect the blame from Prime Minister Nehru and his immediate advisers to the army leadership. MGD: Neville Maxwell says Nehru was to blame for the ’62 conflict. Even our own history textbooks in schools acknowledge Nehru’s Forward Policy resulted in the clash between the two Asian giants. SKV: Buying into what Maxwell says as the gospel truth is to do a great injustice to ourselves. As Krishna Menon pointed out in 1968, India simply failed to realise that Communist China was expansionist by nature. Nehru’s failure lay in his inability to avert the clash. Before 1949, China was nowhere in the equation. The annexation of Sinkiang in 1949 first and then Tibet in 1950 changed

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all that. Sardar Patel read the situation perfectly and his letter to Nehru written 38 days before he died, spelt out the changed situation at the time. MGD: You talk of the Himmat Singh Committee that was constituted in 1951 and the General Kulwant Singh Report in 1953. They all seemed to warn Nehru. SKV: In retrospect, who didn’t warn Nehru? General Cariappa did and Sardar Patel did. Even the Kulwant Singh Report said in 1953 that there was a major likelihood of an armed clash between China and India in the next nine years—it was as specific as that. Just as the Chinese, after having annexed Tibet, were pushing forward to secure what they thought was the border, the Himmat Singh Committee did much the same though the main focus of the recommendations was on the restructuring and deployment of the Assam Rifles. This was to lay the

ground for the Forward Policy. If these boys hadn’t pushed forward into what was then wild, hostile country, just as the Chinese did in Aksai Chin, that was devoid of Indian presence, they would have emerged one fine day at the foothills. On the larger map, the Himalaya would have been the Thagla Ridge, the Brahmaputra, the Nam Ka Chu, the Khasi and Garo Hills, and the Tsangdhar Ridge. MGD: Indeed. Nehru was too confident of himself on China. He even snubbed Jayaprakash Narayan, whom he considered his successor, for suggesting otherwise. By the way, Exercise Lal Qila was Thorat’s brainchild… it also spelt out the situation on the ground two years before the Chinese attacked. SKV: The Thorat Plan was what one would have expected of any Indian army officer who was of sound mind. It was based on pure military logic, which took into account

EXCERPT

1962: The War That Wasn’t

OR the first time in twelve years, Nehru was unsure of himself as he rose from the prime minister’s seat in the Lok Sabha on 28 August 1959 to face the rest of the House. Clamouring Opposition members who were demanding a statement on the Longju incident fell silent as attention turned to the prime minister. Speaking in his usual clipped style, every word that Nehru uttered stunned the assembled MPs. The prime minister admitted to the people of India that serious disputes existed between China and India regarding the India-Tibet border and that several thousand square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh was under Chinese control. He then disclosed the fact that the Chinese had built a highway across the Aksai Chin, adding that the government had thought it fit not to make the disputes public, as that would have made their settlement even more difficult. He then went on to talk of the border clash between the Chinese and the Assam Rifles first at Khenzemane and then at Longju. However, it was the last part of Nehru’s statement that

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was to have far-reaching consequences: ‘We have in fact placed this border area of NEFA directly under the military authorities ...The Assam Rifles will of course remain there and such other forces as will be necessary will be sent, but they will function now under the army authorities and their headquarters.’ Nehru’s unconsidered remark had major national and international implications.By committing Army HQ, which had no troops of its own in NEFA into the existing defence structure of manning border posts, the prime minister was committing it to a policing role. Any plans for the defence of the region that could be based on a forward line held by the police (Assam Rifles) and an inner line held by the army evaporated. In his office in South Block, General Thimayya was oblivious of the drama that was being played out in the Lok Sabha less than a kilometre away. Around noon, there was a knock on the door and the Director Military Intelligence, Brigadier Prem Bhagat, walked into the army chief ’s office. Without any pre-

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IN CONVERSATION shiv kunal verma 1962 war

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 onetime offer of `720. You can make the payment through cheque, DD or RTGS in favour of gfiles.

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or log on to www.gďŹ lesindia.com/memoryclouds.html www.indianbuzz.com

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IN CONVERSATION shiv kunal verma 1962 war

the fighting capabilities of the Assam Rifles as well. But once Nehru had played the resignation card and literally destroyed Thimayya, there were no checks and balances left to stop General Kaul who simply steamrolled everyone and everything around him. The two men who could have brought some sanity into the situation were Generals Bogey Sen and Pran Thapar. But once Nehru through Menon had begun tampering with the Army’s command structure, the men on the ground subsequently were, as Thimayya put it, cannon fodder for the Chinese.

Unfortunately, our own IB files are not easily available. It would be interesting to see what role BN Mullik, the Intelligence Chief, played in building up Thimayya and the military take-over bogey with Nehru. It’s also quite likely that most of this was never put in writing, just as Krishna Menon ordered that no written records of all policy meetings in Army HQ were to be maintained.

MGD: You’ve almost ignored VK Krishna Menon in the book. Yet, his is the first name that comes to mind when we scan the pages of history. SKV: Krishna Menon was only doing what Nehru wanted him to do… he was the cat’s paw who was brought in by Nehru only when Thimayya became the Chief of Army Staff. By then Kaul was already the man to watch within the Army. Once the balloon went up and the Chinese got aggressive, Krishna Menon frankly had little to contribute.

MGD: Finally, where was the IAF in all this? In your book you virtually accuse the IB of having lied to the Government in their appreciation of the PLAAF. SKV: The report given to Nehru was a joke, but then what exactly was the Air Chief doing? He just went along with it without a murmur… I first heard of it from former Defence Secretary HC Sarin in 1992 when we met him in connection with our IAF film. Then Air Marshal HC Dewan more or less confirmed it. I still remember the shocked faces when we played the tapes from the interview in Air HQ. Sarin told us about the letter written by Nehru

amble, Bhagat told Thimayya that the joint secretary in the Ministry of Defence, HC Sarin, had just briefed him on the prime minister’s statement in Parliament. ‘Nehru has finally told Parliament the truth about the northern border. He spoke at length about the National Highway G219 and the loss of the Aksai Chin. He then spoke of both the Khenzemane and Longju incident.’ ‘It had to happen... I’m surprised it took so long for the press to realize everything isn’t quite bhaibhai with the Chinese,’ said Thimayya, shaking his head. ‘There’s something else...’ Bhagat hesitated, not quite sure if Thimayya was already in on the decision. ‘The prime minister has announced that as of today the entire border in NEFA with China is henceforth the army’s responsibility.’ The usually calm and unflappable Thimayya now stared at Bhagat, not quite sure if he had heard him correctly. He moved back to his desk and sat down slowly. ‘What else did Sarin say?’ he asked incredulously. ‘Nothing more, really. From his demeanour I gathered the

Ministry of Defence had no idea this was coming. If Mr Krishna Menon was consulted by the prime minister, he certainly did not inform anybody else in the ministry.’ In 1957, when it was becoming obvious to Nehru that his Panchsheel policy with China was going nowhere, he had turned to Krishna Menon… As the defence minister of India, his appointment coincided with the elevation of General Thimayya to the top job in the Indian Army. Temperamentally Krishna Menon was a loner, and having had no ministerial or administrative experience, he found it necessary to dominate the military bureaucracy by trying to make a dent in the solidarity of its senior ranks. In this he succeeded to the extent that Bijji Kaul fell for his blandishments and for a time an unwonted relationship was established between the minister and the general officer. Menon would have probably never ventured into playing these devious mind games if the signal had not come from Nehru himself. It was Nehru who had built a strong rapport with Kaul; he had allowed this friendship to often overshadow

Having destroyed its combat readiness by tampering with the military hierarchy, the Indian Army was deployed in both NEFA and Ladakh as a glorified police force. More than half-a-century later, shorn of the myths and half-truths, this is a superbly told story that needs to be understood by future generations—General (Dr) VK Singh, Minister of State for External Affairs & Former Army Chief

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The author at Kibithu in the Walong Sector of NEFA (now Arunachal Pradesh)

the official relationship, sometimes summoning him for purposes outside the call of army duty, even when Kaul was only a lieutenant colonel. In 1953, Nehru entrusted Kaul with the delicate task of overseeing the arrest of Sheikh Abdullah and acting as a political troubleshooter in Kashmir. Unlike most of the other generals who were army and corps commanders at the time, Kaul had virtually no combat experience. After being commissioned into an infantry battalion, Kaul had voluntarily shifted to the Army Supply Corps while he was still a junior officer. Kaul used the term ‘national priority’ to explain the reason for this shift—a somewhat dubious explanation as no junior officer was likely to be accorded that sort of importance. As a result, Bijji Kaul had not even commanded an infantry company, let alone a battalion, either in war or peace. Though commissioned into the army well before the outbreak of World War II, Bijji Kaul was assigned sundry jobs, none of which had anything to do with combat. After Independence, his rise had been spectacular and completely at odds with the existing ethos of the armed forces where each appointment in an officer’s career is a vital cog in

his own training that enables him to take on responsibility at the next level. In 1947, Kaul was plucked from obscurity to serve as India’s military attaché in Washington DC while also being a member of the quasi-political Armed Forces Nationalisation Committee. In 1948, he was again selected to be the military adviser to the Indian delegation to the Security Council on the Kashmir issue, which was where he first met Krishna Menon. Nehru then entrusted Kaul with the command of the Jammu and Kashmir Militia, but he had to be withdrawn from this post owing to his differences with Sheikh Abdullah, the then prime minister of Kashmir. By the early 1950s, it was fairly obvious to the rank and file that Kaul was Nehru’s trusted man. After Independence, Kaul repeatedly served under Thorat. Almost each and every time, despite Kaul’s political connections, Thorat would diligently put down on paper that in his opinion, Kaul had reached the limits of his professional competence. In an army where one bad report usually seals a man’s fate, Nehru’s repeated interventions kept Kaul’s flag flying.

A story that needed to be told. Superbly written and brutally honest—by far the most definitive book on the subject. Removes the fig leaves and sets the record straight, something that today's context will profit by emulating—Dr YSP Thorat, Former Chairman, NABARD

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IN CONVERSATION shiv kunal verma 1962 war

MGD: Post-war I served in NEFA… I took a Long Range Patrol to retrace the path that the Chinese had taken. Even now it is hard to believe they could have so easily brushed the Indians aside. Could the Army have acquitted itself better? SKV: Almost certainly. Even on the Nam Ka Chu, it was a complete failure of command. When 2 Rajput was attacked on October 20, just 1,000 yards to its right 9 Punjab sat and watched, simply because there were no instructions from above. Without someone controlling and coordinating the battle, there was nothing they could do. What can one

say when even after the event General Kaul writes a book in which he confuses Se-la with Tse-la, two passes that are quite a few miles apart. Our troops had endured a lot of hardships and had dug in whereever they were told to go, but in the absence of any command and control, they frankly did not stand a chance. A lot of officers bemoan the fact that we failed to hold Se-la for a week… I think if we had held it for three days and the GOC had pushed forward from Dirang Dzong instead of breaking backwards towards Bomdila, the Chinese would have been in serious trouble. Their gamble paid off then… but they knew they were overstretched. That’s why they quietly withdrew from NEFA. The Western Sector was a different cup of tea: the total quantum of Indian troops that actually clashed with the Chinese was less than one infantry battalion. g

Subedar Dashrath Singh was dying, slipping in and out of consciousness as the blood seeped out of his torn and horribly mutilated body. All around him, men from No. 9 Platoon of 2 Rajput’s Charlie Company lay scattered—most of them had been torn apart by mortar and artillery fire. The firing had died down hours ago as the last few men, reduced to using stones to fight, were shot through the head at point-blank range. Just a few minutes earlier, Dashrath had fallen to the ground as a Chinese soldier emptied his entire AK-47 magazine into his stomach. ‘I felt no pain,’ he would recall years later, ‘just relief that the nightmare was over. The manner in which we were deployed, we had known for days that we stood no chance if and when the attack came.’ Just eleven days ago, on 9 October 1962, Lieutenant General BM ‘Bijji’ Kaul, camping at the Bridge 3 location on the Nam Ka Chu, had outlined an ambitious attack plan to occupy the Thagla Ridge across the Nam Ka Chu. Every officer and JCO present at the briefing knew the general’s plan was nonsensical. To Dashrath’s experienced ears, it sounded like the general was issuing orders for an advance the next morning across the river and up the Thagla slopes on the assumption that the Chinese did not exist. All the officers were sitting in stunned silence as Kaul droned on, using impressive jargon that included terms like ‘positional warfare manoeuvre’, something

neither Dashrath nor any of the others present had ever heard before. Major General Niranjan Prasad, GOC 4 Division, was staring at his shoes the entire time, while Brigadier John Dalvi, the commander of 7 Brigade, meekly tried to point out a few technical difficulties like limited ammunition, lack of snow clothing, artillery support and other factors. The corps commander, deeming them minor irritants, impatiently brushed them aside. Having spelt out his objectives, the corps commander asked the assembled officers and JCOs if they had any questions. While the officers were still recovering from the shock of Kaul’s master plan, Subedar Dashrath Singh from 2 Rajput, who had seen five years of close combat with the Japanese in Burma and had then fought in the Jammu and Kashmir Operations in 1948, spoke up: ‘Yeh larai to maine pehli bar dekhi hai, saab, jisme hum nalle mein aur dushman upar pahar par.’ ‘Yeh bhi pehli baar aapne dekha hoga ki koi general front line mein khara ho’ was Kaul’s glib response. ‘Aapne apni baat to keh di, saab, lekin hamare jawaab nahi diya,’ said Dashrath. At this point Kaul lost his temper and demanded that the JCO be arrested on the spot and dismissed from service. While Niranjan Prasad and Dalvi tried to pacify the corps commander, Dashrath was quietly asked to leave the conference.

to Kennedy, begging for US air support. He conveniently failed to mention he had drafted the letter along with Foreign Secretary MJ Desai.

From the beginning to the end, the book literally grabs the reader by the throat. Brutally honest, every detail of the conflict with China half a century ago is laid bare. Sooner or later Indians had to face the bitter reality of what actually happened in the high Himalaya. Perhaps now we can begin to bury the ghosts—Sam Rajappa, former editor, The Statesman

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

BOOK REVIEW

by BN UNIYAL

non-fiction autobiography

Making of a mass leader “I had my first brush with administration when I was barely three days old, cradled in the arms of my mother. Sharadabai Govindrao Pawar had a meeting to attend at the Pune Local Board, of which she was a member, on 15 December 1940. Although she had delivered a baby boy just three days earlier, she was not one to miss her call of duty.”

HESE three opening sentences of the book sum up the entire life of the man. Born to a woman of tremendous force and fortitude, he grew up in the hustle and bustle of a highly charged peasant political family in an out-of-the-way village. Early experiences of dealing with all sorts of people and exposure to ideological crosscurrents drive the grown-up man at a very early age into active politics, which becomes his absorbing destiny. The title of the book sounds rather brash, though not for a Maratha, for the Marathas take pride in the bluntness of their tongue which they call plain speaking. The title apart, this is an engaging and enjoyable account of a long and hectic life of politics spanning over 60 eventful years from 1958 till date. It is written at that stage in life when the performer casts away his many masks and makes his peace with himself and the world without any heartache or heartbreak. It is a frank and forthright account of the many vicissitudes of a long political life, of friendships ending in estrangements, alliances breaking into feuds and late night scheming leading to early morning patch-ups. That is what politics is about, and all that politics

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Title: On My Terms: From the Grassroots to the Corridors of Power Author: Sharad Pawar Publisher: Speaking Tiger Pages: 312 Price: `699

is about is there in fair abundance in this book. Anyone curious about the events of the decades with which the book deals will find many interesting nuggets of information and pithy observations throughout its pages. At places, one wishes that Pawar had gone a little deeper into the events or elaborated on the doings of men and women of his time. He treats certain key events— like those of the Emergency years— in a somewhat hazy way. Sometimes one gets the feeling as if he has overlooked the details out of discretion, if not caution. However, the central theme of the book is the making of a mass leader. This aspect is so well dealt with in the book that it can very well be made standard reading for all young men and women who wish to carve out a place for themselves in politics. Leadership is neither taught nor studied in India which is a pity, possibly

because it is commonly believed that leaders are born and not created. This is far from the truth. The fact is that even in the past, leaders were not born but created. Those who chose to work in public life carefully provisioned themselves intellectually and culturally for that. They found ways and means to get close to leaders of their times, associated themselves with such leaders, modelled their conduct and even manners and mannerisms on those they chose for their models. Pawar is clearly one such leader. I must, therefore, recommend his book to every aspiring leader irrespective of the party one may belong to or principles one may hold. He is one of the few living examples of a leader who has risen from the masses by sheer determination and dedication and made himself equally respected by his contemporaries of diverse ideological persuasions which was amply proved by the line-up at the release function of his book. Actually, it is not just aspiring leaders but even established ones like Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar who can all benefit by reading the book because it is strewn with commonsensical wisdom that has become so uncommon in the strident and somewhat malicious public life of our times. One aspect of his personality which those of us from outside Maharashtra may discover in him for the first time on reading this book is the interest he has taken in cultivating his tastes in music and literature. And, interestingly, he also shows another aspect of his private face—a sense of ribald humour. I must say these all make him more of a complete man than he would have been otherwise.

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PHOTOS: PIB

Pawar has been a successful administrator too. Many episodes from his long stint as chief minister of his home state and as minister at the Centre bear that out. Politics is not just being clever; nor is administration hard work alone. Both require astuteness which is different from merely being clever and both are more about being creatively innovative. Pawar describes several remarkable instances of both in his book. One such instance relates to the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts in 12 different city localities. While giving the figure of blasts, Pawar on the spur of the moment slipped in the name of a 13th locality—a Muslim one—in his Doordarshan broadcast. “The trick worked. The terrorists’ plan to spark off Hindu-Muslim riots through explosions did not fructify.” This reminded me of a similar extremely astute decision of Sardar Patel when Gandhiji was shot by Nathuram Godse. He too feared that the incident may cause serious Hindu-Muslim riots because most Hindus would speculate that Gandhiji’s killer must have been a Muslim. He, therefore, instructed All India Radio to let it be disclosed in the day’s news broadcast that the killer was a Hindu!

NOTHER really inspiring chapter everyone must read is the one about Pawar’s battle with his mouth cancer. It must have been extremely painful, awkward and depressing but he has battled it successfully by sheer willpower which he believed he has inherited from his mother who was incapacitated in the prime of life by an unruly bull she was trying to help. I have just sent a copy of the book to the wife of a journalist friend of mine hospitalised with lung cancer so she can read out this particular chapter to him.

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The book would have, possibly, remained incomplete if Pawar had wound it up without touching on some of the charges of wrongdoing that have been hurled at him for many years by one and all and about which he has all along maintained a deliberate and studied silence. These arise from his alleged closeness to Dawood Ibrahim and undue favours done to his business friends like Ajit Gulabchand in allotment of land for developing the hill resort of Lavasa. Pawar seems to have decided to clear the matter and his conscience at the last. He

has given elaborate explanation on both counts and a couple of other counts too. I am not competent to pass a judgement on these, anyway. Let the readers of the book judge for themselves. I can only say that the explanations are consistent with the character of the persona portrayed in the book. If the persona is taken to be true to life, there is no reason why the explanation too should not be. g BN Uniyal covered Parliament and national politics as a newspaper correspondent for three decades until the mid-1990s

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

BOOK REVIEW

by GAUTAM SEN

non-fiction memoir

Roles and responsibilities

T the Service of a Billion Plus is a recently published, very insightful and interesting book on Group ‘A’ Civil Services (CS), particularly for those contemplating entering these services. The book is a collection of 20 articles of retired officers from 19 services ranging from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) to the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS). Shankarganesh Karuppiah, a serving Deputy Commissioner of Income Tax with economics background, has done a commendable work by editing this compilation. The uniqueness of the book lies in the fact that it will be very informative for the Indian citizen at large, on the broad role-cum-performance of the CS and their functioning milieu, outlined lucidly with a reasonable array of facts and figures, apart from short narratives on experiences of superannuated officers of the IAS and other CS. The reviewer of the book, by virtue of his advisory work with the Union Public Service Commission post-retirement, has observed that many of the CS aspirants appear before the personality test boards of the Commission with fanciful ideas. Many of them only have the IAS, or the role of Collector, as mentioned by Dr G Sundaram (IAS,’62) (who has written in great detail on the IAS), as their beacon of attraction. Some of them are either disdainful or uninterested or plainly ignorant on the nonIAS CSs, and even the Indian Foreign Service, which once used to attract only the toppers. The book will help correct the uninformed impression of the aspirants, their parents and well-wishers, and the public at large. After perus-

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Title: At the Service of a Billion Plus Edited by: Shankarganesh Karuppiah Publisher: Yaavarum Kelir, Chennai Price: `399

ing the book, the readers would have a more realistic and holistic perception of the higher Indian bureaucracy and different CS officers who function within its fold on an entire range of developmental, non-developmental, operational and also regulatory activities within the framework of the Constitution, various statutes and rules concerned. The message which the pieces in the book tend to convey is that no service is uninteresting or lacking in opportunities for self-improvement and scope to contribute to India’s growth story. Though there are variations in creature comforts for the officers, each service has a range of facilities and these have been growing. Most of the officers mention in their own way—variety in presentation of experience is another unique feature of the book—that each Service has its own dynamics. There are some candid references by some officers on the vicissitudes they faced such as an adverse service grad-

ing (through the Annual Confidential Report) because of incompatibility with the superior’s unjustified views, corruption within the department or organisation they served in, staff agitations, etc. However, the system also has its redressal mechanism. The real issue is, as one of the contributors to the book ponders, whether those who have been selected, can intellectually and psychologically fit within the service they join. The worth of the book lies in the transparent manner in which the functioning of the services has been presented by the contributors from the different CS. Given my interactions with senior and junior colleagues of different CS, I consider the presentations truthful and also inspiring. Opportunities in different CSs cannot be equal or similar. But they are unique in their own way. The book should thus enable prospective CS officers to face the future with a more realistic disposition. The articles of Dr G Sundaram (IAS), Nalin Surie (IFS), Navdeep Suri (IFS), M Ravi (IPS), Dr G Alagarsamy (IPT&AFS), S Nagalaswamy (IA&AS), Dr Chittaranjan Satpathy (IRS– C&CE), Usha Anthony (IDAS), Vinita Chopra (IRS–IT), B Pugazhendhi (IOFS), Saravan Annemalai (IPoS), SM Kumar (ICAS), NM Madhusudan Rao (IRTS), PV Vaidialingam (IRAS), Pichai Rajan (IRPS), AG Sekaran (RPF), AP Frank Noronha (IIS), Agnewar Sen (ITS) and Arun Prasad Meganathan (ICLS) have undoubtedly enriched the book. g Gautam Sen (IDAS, 1976, Retd.) last served the Government of India as Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts, and later as Adviser (14th Finance Commission).

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FIRST STIRRINGS madhukar gupta

Perception and prejudice

PHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI

His years as a civil servant taught Madhukar Gupta how wide the gap between reality and perception could really be

HEN Madhukar Gupta, an alumnus of Allahabad University, decided to appear for the civil services examination in 1970, he was only following a norm set by his grandfather, father, uncles and brothers. His grandfather, Lala Prasadi Lal, was in imperial service, an euphemism for the civil services under the British rule. His father, Dr Anandswarup Gupta, had an illustrious career as an Indian Police

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officer (1939 batch), which included serving as the Founder-Director of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D). Four of his uncles were also in the premier service. Two of his elder brothers had already joined the civil services when Madhukar Gupta, the third among the male siblings, joined the IAS (Indian Administrative Service) on July 1, 1971. Eventually, his youngest brother also got into the IAS.

Since one of his brothers had opted for the Foreign Service, his father’s only request was that he serve within the country. “In those days, one would get 10-15 days to make a choice. I wanted to go for the Foreign Service. But my father did not want it. I (eventually) opted for home (Uttar Pradesh) cadre,” he recounts. He still remembers OP Gupta, his batchmate, who went to Tokyo in his place. He landed up in Tehri as a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM). Gupta says he trekked and walked a lot, a trait he inherited from his father, to keep a check on his government subordinates. “When my father was ASP in Banaras, he would patrol police stations in his personal vehicle at night. Once he found nobody in a police station and walked away with the daily diary and the lantern (there was no electricity in those days) from there. Next day, the daroga (station officer) reported to him that there was a dacoity in the thana. When my father put the diary and lantern on his table, the daroga fell at his feet. I learnt to do supervision from him,” he recalls, parked on a sofa in his drawing room. The plan for Tehri Dam began during his tenure as SDM (1972-73) and its first phase got completed when he was the Chief Secretary in Uttarakhand in 2001. During the Emergency, he was the District Magistrate (DM) in Pratapgarh and did not like the idea of passing on vasectomy targets to his district staff. “I didn’t like the idea of using force. My record was poor and I had to hear reprimands from the Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary,” he reminisces. After the Janata Party came to power in Delhi, the situation turned on its head with the government granting too many concessions to people, even to the detriment of the state. So much so that a minister

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FIRST STIRRINGS madhukar gupta

in Uttar Pradesh—Jamuna Prasad Bose—told people in Banda district publicly that their revenue levy was waived. Gupta, who was leading a revenue collection drive in the district as DM, did not like it. He contradicted the minister and said the collection would go on. “You do not make such an announcement. I told him in as many words,” he narrates. As an outcome of the conflict, Gupta got transferred to the UP Cement Corporation in Churk (Sonbhadra district).

N August 1980, after a massive communal riot rocked Moradabad, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Vishwanath Pratap Singh, dispatched him there. To restore a ‘modicum of governance’, he decided to deal with the situation strictly. He cancelled all curfew passes issued in the district and two joint magistrates went door-to-door to disburse compensation after the violence. The Congress accused him of being antiMuslim. In October, the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, undertook a tour of the riot-affected areas. Gupta took her around the city and explained how he dealt with the situation. “I had been told something else,” she said, apparently an approval of his actions. Gupta got validation of his impartiality on his transfer a few months later when the then head of the panchayat in Karbala and Karula, Muslim villages located on the outskirts of Moradabad which were the worst-affected in the riots, gifted him a brass idol of Goddess Durga as a token of love. The farewell gift was proof of how much gap could exist between reality and perception. Since his father, Anandswarup, was ill and showed no signs of improvement, he looked for a posting near Delhi to get him treated in the national capital. However, much to

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Since one of his brothers had opted for the Foreign Service, his father’s only request was that he serve within the country. He landed up in Tehri as a SubDivisional Magistrate (SDM) his chagrin, the state administration put him in Gorakhpur. His father stopped him from quitting. “I told him I would like to resign. He said duty should come first,” he recalls. Anandswarup passed away a monthand-a-half later. His next posting was as Administrator and Vice-Chairman of Lucknow Development Authority

(LDA). This came after Indira Gandhi spotted garbage in the state capital during her visit there sometime in 1981 and the state government wanted an efficient officer to remove the mess. During widening of a chowk in the city, he wanted to demolish a small temple. But Swaroop Kumari Bakshi, the then home minister of the state, opposed this and sat on a dharna. Gupta raised the matter with CM VP Singh, after which the latter told Bakshi in his presence, “Chowk is not your area of responsibility.” His next posting was as Deputy Secretary in the Planning Commission in Delhi. During this period, his wife developed serious health problems.

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He wanted to take her abroad for treatment and requested the then Cabinet Secretary, PK Kaul, for a foreign posting. Within less than 72 hours, Kaul ordered his posting in the India Investment Centre at Abu Dhabi. Gupta initiated constitution of an NRI (non-resident Indian) forum, an idea which arguably later culminated in celebration of Pravasi Bharatiya Divas. On October 7, 1990, Mulayam Singh Yadav, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, sent him to Faizabad as Divisional Commissioner. The frenzy over the Ram temple was at its peak. On October 30, lakhs of kar sevaks succeeded in sneaking into the division on the call of Hindutva groups. The police had to open fire. Gupta says there was ‘minimal damage to life’ but the press incited passions by coining headlines like ‘Saryu turns red’ with blood of kar sevaks.

OR Gupta, who was considered anti-Muslim in Moradabad, life came a full circle in Faizabad with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its sister organisations portraying him as anti-Hindu. He faced the worst kind of ostracism. “A price was put on my head. Lawyers stopped visiting my office (in those days DMs and Divisional Commissioners also had judicial powers). A campaign almost succeeded in demonising him for fulfilling his responsibility. So much so, that a lawyer from Gonda who visited his office expressed surprise on meeting him. “You look like me,” he recalls the lawyer having told him. This was the second instance when he realised how wide the gap between reality and perception could be. Fearing harassment under the BJP Government in Uttar Pradesh, Gupta sought deputation with the Centre in 1992. He got posted as Joint

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Secretary (Jammu & Kashmir and human rights) in the home ministry. The border state was on the boil with militants calling the shots. Gupta had to liaise with multiple agencies like the police, paramilitary, intelligence, state administration, Ministry of External Affairs and diplomatic missions. But the real challenge came in 1996 when India decided to hold elections in Jammu & Kashmir. There was requirement for 10,000 polling personnel. They were assembled from different parts of the country with a local Urdu-speaking person included in every polling party. Bank employees filed a writ against their deployment in the state in Delhi High

For Gupta, who was considered anti-Muslim in Moradabad, life came full circle in Faizabad with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its sister organisations portraying him as anti-Hindu Court. Gupta argued the case personally in the court before the writ was rejected. Subsequently, Gupta was sent to the United States of America to brief American Senators and journalists on the situation in Jammu & Kashmir. In 1997, the government decided to send him on an Elizabeth House Fellowship on global terrorism to Oxford University. The one year proved to be a good sabbatical for him. In 2000, after the creation of Uttarakhand, Gupta was allotted the state. He served as Chief Secretary for two years under BJP CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari and Congress CM ND Tiwari. Subsequently, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Delhi Development Authority

(DDA) on deputation. In June 2007 he was appointed the Union Home Secretary. On November 24, he went to Islamabad for the annual home secretary talks between the two countries. The team was to return on November 26. But considering the talks were conducted in a cordial atmosphere and the Pakistani Government wanted Gupta to call on the then Pakistani Home (Interior) Minister, his stay was extended for a day. After the meetings, the team was shifted to Murree, a hill station near the Pakistani capital. Just when Gupta was preparing for dinner, he got a call from his daughter, Bhavna. “Bombay mein gangwar ho raha hai (There is a gangwar going on in Bombay).” Soon, the Cabinet Secretary and the Director Intelligence Bureau (DIB) were on the phone and a special plane was arranged for his return. When he was about to board the plane, the Pakistani liaison officer told him that Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attack. Gupta angrily retorted, “Do you know where Deccan is? Don’t you see the difference between Urdu and Deccan?” Surprisingly, the media hardly reported the fact that the Home Secretary was in Pakistan when the 26/11 attack began. The incident got Gupta a new Home Minister, with P Chidambaram replacing Shivraj Patil. He was instrumental in formulating CCTNS (crime & criminal tracking networks and systems) and oversaw constitution of COBRA battalions to take on Naxalites. Gupta superannuated on June 30, 2009. Nobody from the new generation in the Gupta family is into the civil services anymore. They have moved on to professional private services. Gupta attributes it to deterioration in the civil services. g As told to Narendra Kaushik

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

ECONOMY

income tax tn pandey

Futile efforts Frequent short-term committees, with hurriedly conceived terms of reference, have not reformed the income tax law

HE culture of constituting short-term committees for changing the income tax law of the country seems to have become a past time with finance ministers. In the past few years, there have been umpteen decisions to appoint committees/tax panels to amend the income tax law. The most recent has been the announcement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, on October 27, 2015, of setting up a panel, headed by a retired judge of the High Court and nine members, for reviewing the Income Tax Act, 1961. Its duration is one year and it has to submit its first interim report by January 31, 2016, so that the acceptable suggestions can be included in the Finance Act. The objective for setting up a new committee for changing the Act has been explained by the Finance Minister saying that “...time has come to look at some provisions of the IT Act to look at how their drafting rafting qualder to avoid ity can be improved in order dy is certain ambiguity so that everybody as to what the Act is…” However, despite so many any committees and expert panels, thee IT law conx, litigation tinues to remain complex, prone, unstable, lacking in n attributes like neutrality, revenue elasticity asticity and similar qualities that tax laws aws need to possess. This has been because cause of the ad hoc nature of decisionss for appointing such bodies without serious homework to frame the ‘terms of reference’ and inadequatee time given

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vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

to such bodies for completing their work. The main responsibility for this can be placed on PC Chidambaram, the former Finance Minister, who wasted nearly two decades (barring six years of the Atal Biahari Vajpayee government) not amending the IT law. But his efforts backfired because of deficiencies in his decision-making and the bodies chosen were improperly constituted, mandates to them

Despite so many committees and expert panels, the IT law continues to remain complex, litigation prone, unstable, lacking in attributes like neutrality, revenue elasticity and similar qualities that tax laws need to possess p

were vague and time for submitting the report was unduly short. The committee appointed in 1996 by Chidambaram to amend the income tax law and give a new code was merely given a general mandate ‘to examine the existing Income Tax Act and to suggest changes that have become necessary, particularly in the light of the new economic policy and reforms’. The committee (which comprised mainly IT Department officers) was given only five months (later extended by two months) to complete the task and give a draft of the new Act (which too was done in another few months). Obviously, the exercise was impromptu, done by a body which was not equipped with varied expertise and became a waste. In his second term as Finance Minister from 2004, Chidambaram did not appoint a formal body to amend the IT law and got it done through IT Department officers under his guidance. They, offi directly, without a report, produced dire DTC, DTC 2009, which was severely critici cised and his successor, Pranab Mukherjee ordered a re-look at the M 2009 draft, which was replaced by 20 th 2010 code, which too dragged the on and has ultimately been junked by Arun Jaitley, who has chosen to appoint a new committee, as stated stat earlier. Compared to the in-house comC mittees appointed by Chidambaram mit for DTC, the new committee comprises independent members com from different disciplines. However,

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Justice AP Shah Committee submitting its report on MAT (Minimum Alternate Tax) to Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley, in New Delhi.

a 10-member committee was not necessary, as it can create bottlenecks in working. It could have comprised five-six members. The terms of reference for the new Committee read as: Ɣ Study and identify the provisions/phrases in the Act that lead to litigation due to different interpretations. Ɣ Study and identify the provisions which are impacting the ease of doing business. Ɣ Study and identify the areas and provisions of the Act for simplification in the light of the existing jurisprudence. Ɣ Make recommendations to bring about predictability and certainty in tax laws without substantial impact on the tax base and revenue collection.

VEN here, the terms of reference are not comprehensive and cover limited areas. There are still very many areas which need consideration to avoid another committee and piecemeal legislation. The new attempt, though better than past decisions, still ignores some basic aspects. Here too, proper homework has not been done and the basic exercise, which is necessary before initiating any exercise for tax reforms—what is sought to be achieved; how it is proposed to be achieved (which would include taking care of implementational aspects also); what would be the reaction of the reforms in the existing social, economic and political set-up—has not been done. The proposals are to be balanced in the background of four rules—Rule

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PIB

Making of tax reforms cannot be a hurried and ad hoc exercise through inept reform bodies of short-term duration with general terms of reference. It has to be a consolidated approach for improving the working of tax laws for a long-term application of Results, Rule of Relevance, Rule of Robustness and Rule of Resilience. Regretfully, such aspects have not been considered before appointing the committee and drafting its terms of reference. The Minister, in appointing the new committee, does not seem to have benefitted from past failures. In taking decisions regarding the new body and terms of reference, only some peripheral changes have been considered, ignoring the factors that led to past failures. The most important amongst these has been mixing of short-term objectives with long-term ones. Tax reforms need to be handled with two-phased approach. For shortterm issues, needing early solutions, short-term committees/panels can be appointed for these on the lines of Justice AP Shah Committee, appointed recently to review the provisions relating to Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) on foreign portfolio investors. Based on the recommendations of this panel, the government has

successfully closed the issue and the law to implement the decision will be amended by the Finance Act, 2016. Long-term changes, inter-alia, could be said to be those which affect the basic structure of the Act, such as bringing in new concepts not hitherto tried, inclusion in the Act of the provisions which deviate from the generally accepted concepts like deeming certain receipts as income when it is not so in common understanding, introduction of provisions in the Act, which lead to sacrifice of tax revenue in order to achieve some non-tax objective such as for encouraging exports, change in law concerning searches and seizure, and so on. For long-term changes, a separate committee, with detailed terms of reference with a longer period for submitting the report, needs to be constituted. Or, this could be referred to the Law Commission of India for its report as was done when the present Act was drafted. Making of tax reforms cannot be a hurried and ad hoc exercise through inept reform bodies of short-term durations with general terms of reference. It has to be a consolidated approach for improving the working of tax laws for a long-term application, inter-alia, for the economy of the country and provide finances for achieving the government’s overall goals. For this, the prerequisites are political will and clarity regarding the purpose. g The writer is former Chairman, CBDT

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GOVERNANCE environment mk kaw

Pollution politics

EW Delhi and Beijing are among the most polluted cities of the world. The quality of response that the two political systems have provided to the crises is a sad commentary on the efficacy of a democracy in the art of combatting b g emergencies. When Bejing was declared the most polluted city of the world, it inter alia declared d a red alert, closed its schools, shut down osed the thermal plants, and imposed el restrictions on plying of diesel generators and vehicles. New Delhi’s response was tepid by contrast. Even when the Delhi High Court somewhat hysterically described life in Delhi to living in a gas chamber, the ongoing fight between the Central Government and the State Government did not permit the launching of a national response with all parties on o high alert ready to move into action in well-rehearsed joint int manoeuvres. Internet humour Instead we got internet humour. mour. Arvind Kejriwal’s decision to allow vehicles with odd and even numbers mbers ernate to ply on Delhi roads on alternate days inspired the following joke: e: Advertisement in matrimonial monial column: Boy with car having g even number seeks an alliance with a girl possessing an odd number. mber. Girl’s merits, qualifications, famamily background, religion, caste etc., no consideration. Apply with photograph of number plate at post box number…

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Attitude of CP, Delhi The Commissioner, Delhi Police who reports to the Lieutenant Governor and not to the Chief Minister said publicly that he had not been consulted and he was not sure that he had the

surplus manpower in the ranks of the police to take on this additional responsibility. Suggestions made by the HPC of the LG, Delhi Fortunately, y, the High g Powered Committee

ARUNA

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of the LG, Delhi took the matter more seriously and suggested the following measures: i) A cess of `1 should be imposed on each pack of cigarettes and bottle of liquor, in order to create an urban transport fund. ii) The police should make it mandatory for vehicles to display a sticker showing the Pollution Under Control certificate on the windshield. iii) The PUC certificate should be a mandatory requirement for every purchase of petrol and diesel. iv) Vehicles that do not have a destination in Delhi should not be allowed to enter Delhi. v) Premium parking rates should be charged for parking in highly congested areas. battery-operated vi) Only vehicles should ply for last mile connectivity. vii) Metro Rail Corporation should introduce eight coaches for all its trains by 2016. Decisions taken by Delhi Govt The Delhi Government suggested the following measures in order to counter pollution: a) Vehicles with odd and even

numbers would be allowed to ply on designated alternate days. This proposal received such an immoderate amount of flak, despite the clarification that the decision was patterned after the Beijing precedent, that the CM was compelled to say that the decision would not be imposed on the public if it was seen to inflict too much inconvenience on them. p The Supreme Court,, however,, found nothing undesirable in this decision which has been taken elsewhere also. b) Special checking parties of the Transport Department would check the PUC certificates of vehicles. c) There would be a sustained public awareness campaign to indicate the steps needed to be taken by them, especially with regard to reductio ion of emissions through reduction constant attention to engine tuning and maintenance. d) The Mass Rapid Transit System which had been introduced on an experimental basis should be extended. Having watched the operational problems faced by the system in the experimental stage, Delhiwallahs are not exactly ecstatic about this suggestion.

e) Fiscal incentives will be provided for buying new replacement vehicles. f) The quality of fuel supplied to Delhi leaves much to be desired and will be constantly monitored. g) The latest emission standards will be adopted for manufacture of vehicles in the country and for import of vehicles from abroad. Euro II standards will be applicable from 2017. h) The movement of trucks will be perm permitted only after 11 pm. i) As dust d creates particulate matter, the government shall arrange for vacu vacuum cleaning of roads. j) There Ther shall be a massive plantation drive along arterial roads. k) All thermal power plants shall be closed c down for some time. In the case of the Dadri plant, the Nati National Green Tribunal shall be requ requested to pass on the orders. Obser Observations of Supreme Court HE matter also went up to the H Su Supreme Court. The Court fo found the pre-eminent position of Delh Delhi as the most polluted city of the world â&#x20AC;&#x153;most embarrassingâ&#x20AC;?. It cal called on the authorities to adopt a multi-pronged approach to the problem and come up with short-term, short-t medium-term and long-term solutions. It hiked the long-te pollutio pollution tax on commercial vehicles entering Delhi. enterin

Suggestions of experts Various experts have analysed the problem of pollution in Delhi and suggested their own solutions. 1. An example is the pollution caused by the use of pyre wood for the burning of dead bodies. It has been suggested that CNG/

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

GOVERNANCE environment mk kaw

electric crematoria should be used instead. Although this may hurt the sensibilities of orthodox Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist communities, it is possible to educate the more enlightened of them. On the use of generators and vehicles based on diesel oil, there are varying points of view, ranging from a demand for absolute ban on use of diesel for any purpose whatsoever to a graded system of pricing and taxation designed to limit its use. Some experts favour the ban to be imposed in a gradual manner over a period ranging from three to five years. It has also been suggested that only inverter battery systems and gas-based generators should be permitted as new backup units. Distribution companies should not be permitted any unscheduled power interruption exceeding five minutes and should be penalised for a break if it occurs. Bonfires based on wood and coal should be banned and be replaced by electric hotspots. Waste incineration power plants should be installed in the vicinity of large garbage dump sites. All metal fabrication workshops emitting toxic fumes should be moved outside the city. The municipal authorities should formulate a Code of Conduct for builders. During demolition and construction of structures, the whole area should be cordoned off with proper covering and provided with dust catchers to prevent particulate emission into the atmosphere. Building material should not be allowed to be stacked on the streets. All new construction should be frozen for a certain period of

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

maximum risk. 10. Double-decker buses should be introduced on all major routes. 11. Autorickshaws should be replaced by compact GPS-equipped cars. 12. An intelligent, internet-based traffic management system should replace the present manual system 13. Electric vehicles should be introduced on a large scale.The following components of the strategy may be implemented: i) Production and operation of such vehicles should be exempted from all taxes and duties for seven years. ii) A family unit should be allowed only one conventional fuel vehicle. Additional vehicles should all be EVs. iii) All cabs should switch over to battery power in a phased manner. iv) Import of vehicles based on conventional fuel power should be barred. v) To increase the popularity of EVs, all VIPs, super stars and youth icons should be encouraged to use EVs. vi) All government and companyprovided vehicles should be EVs. vii) All potentially important areas like residential and commercial buildings, parking areas, etc., should be equipped with charging stations. Lessons from international experience A quick review of the international experience in pollution control reveals the following nuggets of wisdom: 1. Japan taught us that we should act as fast as the natural or manmade calamity that has befallen us. 2. China taught us that we should not

target the particular city in whose atmosphere we are interested. We should target the entire region. 3. Singapore taught us that draconian laws and exemplary financial punishments were effective instruments of action. 4. Some countries have fixed a certain number as the maximum that would be permitted for registration in that financial year. This acts as an effective deterrent against excessive registrations and prevents the entry of fresh vehicles on the road. Conclusion HERE is no doubt that New Delhi is currently in the unenviable position of being the most polluted city of the world. At present, it is undergoing a highly critical phase and should in fact have been formally notified as being in a state of emergency. The courts have responded admirably to the crisis and used appropriate language to push the authorities on the path of speedy action and spirited response. By saying that the court felt highly embarrassed by the position Delhi had earned, the Supreme Court has goaded the Government to action. By comparing Delhi to a gas chamber, the Delhi High Court has revived memories of Nazi atrocities. Unfortunately, the politicians are locked in a vicious battle. The BJP has not been able to stomach the AAPâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s winning of 67 out of 70 seats in the Delhi Assembly elections. Nor has the Bihar election improved the situation one bit. The BJP would not like to help out AAP in any important challenge the latter may face in Delhi. Therein hangs the tail! g

MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government of India. (The views expressed are those of the columnist.)

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LEISURE

travel madhya pradesh

Close to nature in Madhav

adhav National Park is located in close proximity to the Shivpuri town. Madhav National Park has been the hunting preserve of the Maharajas of Gwalior, and is one of the oldest protected areas of Madhya Pradesh. Spreading over an area of almost 355 sq km, the Madhav National Park is fascinating mix of natural splendors of history and architectural wonders. It is said that Emperor Akbar, while returning from Malwa in 1854, captured a large number of wild elephants in its forests. However, at present there are no elephants in this tract. The common fauna in Madhav National Park include leopard, wild dog, wolf, jackal, hyena, spotted deer, nilgai, chinkara, chowsingha and wild pig. There are reports of tigers straying into the area from adjoining forests. Having a varied terrain of wooded hills, dry, mixed deciduous forests, and flat grasslands around the lakes, the park offers abundant opportunities of sighting a variety of wildlife. The park is unique in having both lake and forest ecosystems. Sakhya and Madhav Sagar are the two lakes in the park, which are important biodiversity support systems. These lakes not only add to the natural beauty of the area, but also provide a permanent source of water to the

wildlife, and a fine wetland habitat to the aquatic fauna including thousands of migratory waterfowls. Marsh Crocodiles are in abundance

GETTING HERE The nearest airport to this National Park is at Gwalior which is 130 km away. Pre-paid taxi services are available from the Gwalior airport to Madhav National Park. State Transport Corporation as well as private buses connect the park to adjoining cities of Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, Jhansi, and Ujjain.

STAY

Tourist Village (Shivpuri) Tel: (07492) 223760 , 221297 , 9977073318 Email: tvshivpuri@mptourism.com

BEST TIME

October to March

www.indianbuzz.com

in Sakhya Sagar lake. Due to this, the lake looks like a â&#x20AC;&#x153;Crocodile Safariâ&#x20AC;? and attracts special attention of tourists. The artificial lake, Chandpatha, is the winter home of migratory geese, pochard, pintail, teal, mallard and gadwall. A good site for bird watching is where the forest track crosses the rocky stream that flows from the waste weir. Deep inside the Madhav National Park, at its highest point, stands the exquisite George Castle. Interestingly the castle was built by Jivaji Rao Scindia of the Gwalior royal family for an overnight halt for tiger shooting by the British King George V, when he was to pass that way during his visit to India in 1911. Ironically, it so happened that the emperor shot a tiger on the way itself and did not stop at Madhav. Other attractions are Tunda Bharka spring, Bhura-kho spring and watch tower, and Churanchaj ancient wall paintings. g

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

SPOTLIGHT The Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Narendra Kumar Sinha, inaugurating the gallery at the National Museum Foundation Day celebrations in New Delhi.

The Minister of State for Culture (Independent Charge), Tourism (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation, Dr. Mahesh Sharma, addressing a press conference on flight operations from Chennai airport, in New Delhi. The Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, RN Choubey, is also seen.

The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh, addressing a press conference on good governance initiatives in New Delhi. The Secretary, DoPT, Sanjay Kothari, is also seen.

The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Nripendra Misra, officially handing over the first set of files related to Netaji to the DG, NAI, in New Delhi. The Additional Principal Secretary, PK Mishra, is also seen.

Finance Secretary Ratan P Watal addressing the concluding session of the first Conference of State Finance Secretaries, in New Delhi. The Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Shaktikanta Das, and other dignitaries are also seen.

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

PHOTOS: PIB

The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Chaudhary Birender Singh, releasing a publication on â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Good Governance Initiatives under PMGSYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Sudarshan Bhagat, and Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, JK Mohapatra, are also seen.

The Minister of State for Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge), Prakash Javadekar, addressing a press conference in New Delhi on December 16, 2015. The Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Ashok Lavasa, and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal presented the National Energy Conservation Awards, at the National Energy Conservation Day function in New Delhi. The Secretary, Ministry of Power, PK Pujari and other dignitaries are also seen.

The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Radha Mohan Singh, releasing an official publication Bee World, in New Delhi on December 16, 2015. The Secretary, Department of Agriculture and Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Siraj Hussain, is also seen.

The Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Amitabh Kant, interacting with the media regarding achievements so far and the future plans under the Make In India scheme, in New Delhi on December 17, 2015.

The Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley, releasing the Government of India Calendar 2016, in New Delhi. The Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, the Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Sunil Arora, and the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, JS Mathur, are also seen. Compiled by Kanika Srivastava

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

PERSPECTIVE life sadhguru

T is only a juvenile intelligence that analyses and arrives at a conclusion. If your intelligence is sufficiently evolved, you realise that the more you analyse, the further away you are from any conclusion. As we dissect everything, wanting to excavate truth from physical nature, we enter into the minute dimensions of particle science. From protons, neutrons and electrons to neutrinos, bosons, and super-symmetric particles, we seem to be going deeper and deeper. But all this is still only in the realm of physical nature. Dark matter, we are told, comprises more of the universe than matter—and this is not composed of atoms at all but of particles of a still unknown type. Pick up a glass of water and take a look at it. What do you really know about it? Why, for instance, do hydrogen and oxygen combine to become water? Or, pick up a pebble and gaze at it long and hard. Why does it have this particular shape, size, grain, texture? Or, just look at yourself: why are you the way you are? What is the basis of this form, this body, this individuality? If you go deeply into any aspect of life, you will move further and further away from any conclusion. Life becomes more mysterious than ever before. The more you delve into life, you see that it is an endless and unfathomable process. You cannot get it because you are it. When you realise experientially that every atom, every grain of sand, every pebble, every piece of life from the smallest to the biggest is unfathomable, you will naturally bow down in utmost devotion to everything. If you simply sit here and breathe, you will know life better than with any deep analysis. Traditionally in India, it was said that one ought to bow down to

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Mystery of creation everything that one encountered. Whether it was a tree or a cow or a snake or a cloud—you just bowed down. When you bow to everything, it could mean that you are a fool, or that you have looked at life in its utmost profundity. The difference between an idiot and an enlightened being is thin. The two look similar, but they are actually worlds apart. An idiot is incapable of drawing conclusions. A mystic is unwilling to draw conclusions. The rest have glorified their conclusions as knowledge. The fool just enjoys whatever little he knows. One who has seen life in its utmost depth enjoys it absolutely. The rest are the ones who constantly struggle and suffer. One morning a man walked into his office and told his boss, ‘Boss, I want you to know, three big companies are after me. You must give me a raise.’ His boss said, ‘What! Which companies? Who wants you?’ He said, ‘The electric company, the telephone company, and the gas company.’

Something is always behind the so-called smart people, those with confirmed conclusions about life! Or else, they are always busy chasing something. An idiot can sit here quietly. A mystic can sit here quietly. The rest cannot. Devotion is a simple method of dissolving all the hurdles on the path. Bowing to everything does not seem to be particularly good for your selfesteem. But becoming a devotee does not mean you are a pushover. That which knows how to bend will not break. This is the rationale behind hata yoga and the ancient martial art traditions in the East. That is so with everything within you. Unfortunately, these days even so-called spiritual leaders are talking about self-esteem. ‘Self’ and ‘esteem’ are both a problem. Both are very limited entities; both are fragile, insecure. If you have no esteem, very good. If you have no self¸ fabulous! g Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

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birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016

IAS officers’ birthdays

Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016

Arvind Shrivastava

Ram Prakash Sisodia

Usha Titus

G Ashok Kumar

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

sharvind@ias.nic.in

sisodiar@ias.nic.in

titusu@ias.nic.in

kgashok@ias.nic.in

Sucha Ram Ladhar

Sumantra Chaudhuri

Anuradha Khati Rajivan

MK Shanmuga Sundaram

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

ladharsr@ias.nic.in

sumantra@ias.nic.in

rajivand@ias.nic.in

sundaram97@ias.nic.in

Talitemjen Toy

Dinesh Kumar Jain

Bhupinder Kaur Aulakh

RP Watal

CADRE: NAGALAND

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

toyt@ias.nic.in

jaindk@ias.nic.in

bkaulakh@ias.nic.in

watalrp@ias.nic.in

Krishna Kumar Nirala

Vinod Kumar

Anup K Pujari

Sanjay Kumar

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

kk.nirala@ias.nic.in

kumarv10@ias.nic.in

pujaridk@ias.nic.in

kumars13@ias.nic.in

Yogendra Tripathy

Mukesh Puri

Shyam Lal Mewara

VB Pyarelal

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

tyogen@ias.nic.in

purim@ias.nic.in

slmewara@ias.nic.in

pyarelal@ias.nic.in

Roopa Roshan

Gayatri A Rathore

SK Pal

VK Sharma

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

roopa.ias@ias.nic.in

rathoreg@ias.nic.in

palsk@ias.nic.in

sharma.vk@ias.nic.in

Munish Moudgil

Kishore Kumar Sinha

Jagpal Singh

Indevar Pandey

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

moudgilm@ias.nic.in

sinhakk@ias.nic.in

sjagpal@ias.nic.in

pandeyi@ias.nic.in

Shashi Prakash Goyal

Ashok Kumar Barnwal

Akhil Arora

Sudhir Garg

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

spgoyal@ias.nic.in

barnwala@ias.nic.in

akhilaro@ias.nic.in

gargs1@ias.nic.in

Subrata Biswas

N Nagambika Devi

Manoj Kumar Parida

Rajni Sekhri Sibal

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: HARYANA

sbiswas90@ias.nic.in

devinn@ias.nic.in

paridamk@ias.nic.in

sibalrs@ias.nic.in

Dev Raj Dev

Rajiv Nayan Choubey

Prem Kumar Taneja

Neetu Kumari Prasad

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: TELANGANA

devdr@ias.nic.in

choubeyr@ias.nic.in

tanejapk@ias.nic.in

prasadn3@ias.nic.in

Lok Ranjan

Shasidhar K Srinivas

Sunil Kumar Chaturvedi

Ram Niwas

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: HARYANA

ranjanl@ias.nic.in

snivas6@ias.nic.in

cskumar@ias.nic.in

niwasr@ias.nic.in

Parag Gupta

Senti Yanger Imchen

Navin Verma

Naved Masood

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: NAGALAND

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

guptap1@ias.nic.in

imchensy@ias.nic.in

vnavin@ias.nic.in

masoodn@ias.nic.in

Avinash K Srivastava

A Vidya Sagar

Rajeev Chawla

Vikas Pratap

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: PUNJAB

savinash@ias.nic.in

sagarav@ias.nic.in

chawlar@ias.nic.in

pratapv@ias.nic.in

16-01-1971

16-01-1959

17-01-1964

17-01-1974

18-01-1962

18-01-1980

19-01-1974

20-01-1967

20-01-1963

21-01-1973

22-01-1964

22-01-1962

23-01-1960

24-01-1968

24-01-1961

25-01-1959

25-01-1964

26-01-1964

26-01-1975

27-01-1955

27-01-1967

28-01-1962

28-01-1959

29-01-1965

29-01-1967

30-01-1956

30-01-1961

31-01-1956

31-01-1970

01-02-1956

02-02-1957

02-02-1958

03-02-1957

04-02-1969

04-02-1962

05-02-1957

05-02-1963

06-02-1959

06-02-1962

07-02-1964

07-02-1969

08-02-1956

08-02-1961

09-02-1959

10-02-1955

10-02-1964

11-02-1964

12-02-1960

13-02-1962

14-02-1959

14-02-1955

15-02-1969

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

birthdays IPS officers’ birthdays

Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016

IPS officers’ birthdays

Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016

N Sridhar Rao

Raghavendra H Auradkar

PP Pandey

Rajiv Ranjan Verma

CADRE: SIKKIM

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: BIHAR

nsridharrao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rhauradkar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pandepp@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rrverma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rajesh Kumar Arya

Bipin Bihari

Mukul Goel

Pragya Richa Srivastava

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

rkarya@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bipinbihari@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mgoel@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pragyaricha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Atul Katiyar

Amit Kumar Sinha

Md Quaiser Khalid

R Tamil Chandran

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

atulkatiyar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

aksinha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

qkhalid@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rtamilchandran@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Om Prakash

Ashutosh Shukla

Pramod Kumar

VR Kamble

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

om_prakash@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ashutoshshukla@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pramod_kumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vrkamble@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

MR Ajith Kumar

Kamal Saxena

Pandeya Niraj Nayan

Arun Pratap Singh

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

mrajith@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ksaxena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pnnayan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ap_singh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

A Sunder Kumar Das

Anjani Kumar

KP Maghendhran

SN Pandey

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

askdas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anjanikumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

maghendran@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

snpandey@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Satish Kumar Mathur

Ritesh Kumar

MR Krishna

Rajbir Singh Deswal

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

satishkm@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

riteshkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mrkrishna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rsdeswal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

CV Muniraju

Parminder Rai

N Suryanarayana

SG Bhati

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

muniraju@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

parminder@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nsuryanarayana@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sgbhati@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Pankaj Kumar Thakur

AK Atri

Anisa Husain

Raghubir Lal

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

pkthakur@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akatri@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anisa@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

raghubirlal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Charu Bali

Ganesh Dutt Bhargava

Mukesh Agrawal

Aruna M Bahuguna

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

charubali@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

gdbhargava@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mukeshagrawal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bahuguna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Nipuna Milind Torawane

Rajeev Kumar

Dayal Gangwar

Johny William

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: JAMMU &KASHMIR

nipuna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rajeevk@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dayalg@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jwilliam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rakesh Kumar Gupta

Navin Kumar Singh

Vijoy Kumar

Sonal Misra

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

rakeshkgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nksingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vijoykumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sverma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Muktesh Chander

Prem Shankar Meena

Karan Singha

Rajpal Meena

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: PUNJAB

mukteshchander@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

psmeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

karansingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rmeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-01-1967

16-01-1968

17-01-1970

17-01-1957

18-01-1968

18-01-1957

19-01-1964

20-01-1957

20-01-1971

21-01-1970

22-01-1974

23-01-1961

23-01-1962

24-01-1960

24-01-1961

25-01-1972

26-01-1961

26-01-1962

28-01-1966

28-01-1969

29-01-1959

29-01-1956

30-01-1957

31-01-1966

31-01-1973

01-02-1958

01-02-1957

02-02-1964

02-02-1972

03-02-1958

03-02-1962

04-02-1959

05-02-1956

05-02-1976

06-02-1963

06-02-1972

07-02-1958

07-02-1962

08-02-1956

08-02-1968

09-02-1965

10-02-1956

10-02-1957

11-02-1961

11-02-1957

12-02-1958

12-02-1970

13-02-1957

14-02-1957

15-02-1974

15-02-1956

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

Lok Sabha Members Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016

Tariq Anwar

Manoj Kumar Tiwari

Dasrath Tirkey

Kirit Somaiya

NCP (Bihar)

BJP (NCT of Delhi)

AITC (West Bengal)

BJP (Maharashtra)

tariq.anwar@sansad.nic.in

mt7tiwari@gmail.com

dasrath.tirkey@sansad.nic.in

kiritsomaiya@gmail.com

Mamtaz Sanghamita

Sukender Reddy Gutha

Krishna Pratap Singh

Sushma Swaraj

AITC (West Bengal)

INC (Telangana)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

mamtaz.sanghamita@sansad.nic.in

gutha.loksabha@gmail.com

kpsingh.jnp@gmail.com

sushmaswaraj@hotmail.com

Ravindra Kumar Pandey

Dharmendra Yadav

Kulamani Samal

Ram Prasad Sarmah

BJP (Jharkhand)

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJD (Odisha)

BJP (Assam)

rkpandey@sansad.nic.in

d.yadav@sansad.nic.in

kulamani.samal@sansad.nic.in

ramsarmah@gmail.com

R Vanaroja

Chhedi Paswan

Rao Inderjit Singh

Vincent H Pala

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

BJP (Bihar)

BJP (Haryana)

INC (Meghalaya)

r.vanaroja@sansad.nic.in

chhedipaswan.mp@gmail.com

rao.inderjit@sansad.nic.in

vincentpala@gmail.com

Rahul Kaswan

Krishan Pal Gurjar

Neelam Sonker

Asrarul Haque Mohammad

BJP (Rajasthan)

BJP (Haryana)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

INC (Bihar)

rahul.kaswan@sansad.nic.in

palkrishangurjar@gmail.com

neelam.sonkar@sansad.nic.in

mahaqqasmi@gmail.com

Darshana Vikram Jardosh

KC Venugopal

BJP (Gujarat)

INC (Kerala)

darshanajardosh@sansad.nic.in

kcvenugopal.org@gmail.com

16-01-1951

16-01-1946

20-01-1959

20-01-1977

21-01-1961

01-02-1971

02-02-1954

03-02-1979

04-02-1956

04-02-1957

04-02-1963

Kanwar Singh Tanwar

Nihal Chand Chauhan

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Rajasthan)

ks.tanwar@sansad.nic.in

mos-mopr@nic.in

21-01-1961

04-02-1971

Srinivas Kesineni

Shrikant Eknath Shinde

TDP (Andhra Pradesh)

SS (Maharashtra)

kesineni.srinivas@sansad.nic.in

shrikantshinde87@yahoo.in

22-01-1966

04-02-1987

Kaushal Kishore

Venkateswara Rao Magantti

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

TDP (Andhra Pradesh)

kishore.kaushal@sansad.nic.in

maganttibabu@gmail.com

25-01-1960

05-02-1960

Hari Manjhi

Santosh Kumar

BJP (Bihar)

JDU (Bihar)

manjhihari@gmail.com

santosh.kumar19@sansad.nic.in

Nishikant Dubey

Upendra Kushwaha

BJP (Jharkhand)

RLSP (Bihar)

nishikant.dubey@sansad.nic.in

upendra.kushwaha19@sansad.nic.in

28-01-1963

28-01-1969

05-02-1976

06-02-1960

Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore

Maheish Girri

BJP (Rajasthan)

BJP (NCT of Delhi)

rajyavardhan.rathore@sansad.nic.in

maheish.girri@sansad.nic.in

29-01-1970

08-02-1974

Gopal Chinayya Shetty

Balabhadra Majhi

BJP (Maharashtra)

BJD (Odisha)

gc.shetti@sansad.nic.in

bmajhi86@yahoo.co.in

31-01-1954

09-02-1961

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

www.indianbuzz.com

09-02-1967

09-02-1977

10-02-1949

11-02-1950

11-02-1973

12-02-1954

14-02-1952

14-02-1955

14-02-1968

15-02-1942

Rajya Sabha Members Jan 16, 2016 — Feb 15, 2016 Ali Anwar Ansari

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

16-01-1954

vijila.sathyananth@sansad.nic.in

JD-U (Bihar)

Prem Chand Gupta

ali.anwar@sansad.nic.in

03-02-1950

Javed Akhtar

RJD (Jharkhand)

17-01-1945

pgupta@sansad.nic.in

Nominated

AW Rabi Bernard

javed.akhtar@sansad.nic.in

03-02-1959

PL Punia

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

23-01-1945

r.bernard@sansad.nic.in

INC (Uttar Pradesh)

Ronald Sapa Tlau

pl.punia@sansad.nic.in

04-02-1954

Pyarimohan Mohapatra

INC (Mizoram)

25-01-1940

rs.tlau@sansad.nic.in

IND. (Odisha)

Biswajit Daimary

pyarimohanap@sansad.nic.in

04-02-1971

Dilipbhai Pandya

BPF (Assam)

30-01-1944

bj.diamary@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Gujarat)

Ambeth Rajan

ds.pandya@sansad.nic.in

09-02-1956

Prakash Javadekar

BSP (Uttar Pradesh)

30-01-1951

ambethrajan@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

Basawaraj Patil

prakash.j@sansad.nic.in

10-02-1944

Parimal Nathwani

BJP (Karnataka)

01-02-1956

bpatil.mp@sansad.nic.in

IND. (Jharkhand)

Ahamed Hassan

parimal.nathwani@sansad.nic.in

Vijila Sathyananth 02-02-1971

14-02-1953

AITC (West Bengal)

ahmed.hassan@sansad.nic.in

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Tracking TIRATH SINGH THAKUR

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

The Justice has been appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India.

cadre has been appointed Director General, Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals.

Bengal cadre has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety and Standards Authority.

RASHMI VERMA

ASHA RAM SIHAG

CHHABILENDRA ROUL

The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Textiles.

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary of the Union Public Service Commission.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education.

SMITA NAGRAJ

SARASWATI PRASAD

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Director General (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been upgraded to Additional Secretary level in the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

UDAI PRATAP SINGH

SUMEET JERATH

The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AssamMeghalaya cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

NEERAJ KUMAR GUPTA The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance.

SANJAY MITRA The 1982-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

BASUDEB BANERJEE The 1983-batch IAS officer has been appointed the new Chief Secretary of West Bengal.

ASHIM KHURANA

R RAJAGOPAL The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Adviser, Inter State Council Secretariat.

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, at Additional Secretary level.

BHUPENDRA SINGH

BINOY KUMAR

PAWAN KUMAR AGARWAL

The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Telangana

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the West

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chairman, NPPA.

KALPANA MITTAL BARUAH The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

M GOPAL REDDY The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, has been upgraded to Additional Secretary level.

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in January 2016 ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

Prashant Naik (1984) Hemanga Kishore Sharma (1992)

ANDHRA PRADESH

IYR Krishna Rao (1979) A Vidya Sagar (1984)

JAMMU & KASHMIR

RAJASTHAN

KARNATAKA

TELANGANA

MAHARASHTRA

UTTAR PRADESH

Saleem Mohammed (2002) Anup K Pujari (1980)

Khurshid Ahmad (1999) Kumar B Narayan Singh (1999)

Anand B Kulkarni (1982) Gautam Chatterjee (1982) HK Jawale (1998) YW Gedam (2002)

GUJARAT

MADHYA PRADESH

BIHAR

SK Nanda (1978)

HIMACHAL PRADESH Rajender Singh (2000)

JHARKHAND

Radhey Shyam Poddar (1982) Hans Raj Singh (1999) Umashashi Chatarji (2001) Jitwahan Uraon (2001)

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Raghuveer Shrivastava (1992) Dwarka Das Agrawal (1995)

ODISHA

SudarsanamSrinivasan (1980) Ranglal Jamuda (1981) Debi Prasad Panda (2001) Harekrishna Behera (2001)

Hanuman Singh Bhati T Radha (1983) Jawed Usmani (1978) Lov Verma (1978) Kush Verma (1979) Siraj Hussain (1979) Net Ram (1979) Chandra Prakash (1997)

UNION TERRITORY

Ved Prakash Rao (1999)

WEST BENGAL

Trilochan Singh (1982) Debabrata Pal (1997) Amal Roy Chowdhury (1997)

www.gfilesindia.com

PRADIP BHARGAVA The 1973-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Independent Director in the NMDC.

RK MATHUR The 1977-batch IAS officer of the Tripura cadre, former Secretary Defence has been appointed the new Chief Information Commissioner (CIC).

ARVIND JADHAV The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre, Chairman, Karnataka Appellate Tribunal, has been appointed Chief Secretary to the Government of Karnataka.

SHYAMAL SARKAR The 1979-batch retired IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Independent Director in the NMDC.

M VEERABRAHMAIAH The 1979-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been appointed Commissioner for Cooperation and Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Telangana.

AMITABH KANT The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been assigned additional charge as CEO, NITI Aayog.

ARADHANA JOHRI The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chairperson, National Authority of Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC).

IS DANI The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chairman of the Land Reforms Commission in Madhya Pradesh.

RK CHATURVEDI The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Implementation Cell, Seventh Central Pay Commission.

SHUBHRA SINGH The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Executive Director (Joint Secretary level), Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO), New Delhi.

BHAGWANT SINGH BISHNOI THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARIES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DINESH KUMAR (1996-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre), Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare; VENKATA RAMA SASTRYPIDAPARTHI (1989-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre), Department of Consumer Affairs; RAJIV BANSAL (1988-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre), Department of Electronics & Information Technology; AMIT YADAV (1991-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre), Department of Telecommunications; B ANAND (1987-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre), Ministry of Urban Development; SHRIPAL (1986-batch IFS officer of the Kerala cadre) has been appointed Principal Commissioner (JS level), DDA under the Ministry of Urban Development; SONIA SETHI (1994-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre), Ministry of Culture; PRAVEEN GARG (1988-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre), Department of Economic Affairs; ANIL KUMAR SINGH (1995batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre), Department of Justice; RAJINDER KUMAR KASHYAP (1989batch IPoS officer), Department of Justice; RACHNA SHAH (1991-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre), Cabinet Secretariat.

The 1983-batch IFS officer, at present Deputy Permanent Representative of India to New York, has been appointed the new Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Thailand.

JAIDEEP SARKAR The 1987-batch IFS officer, Ambassador of India to Israel, has been appointed the next Ambassador of India to the Royal Government of Bhutan.

VINAY MOHAN KWATRA The 1988-batch IFS officer has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Prime Ministerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office.

SANJIV KOHLI The 1988-batch IFS officer has been appointed High Commissioner of lndia to New Zealand.

AKHILESH MISHRA The 1989-batch lFS officer, Consul General of lndia, Toronto, has been appointed the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Maldives.

SUSHIL KUMAR SINGHAL The Ambassador of India to the Republic of Angola, has been appointed the new Ambassador of lndia to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome & Principe with residence in Luanda.

SAURABH SHUKLA The 2005-batch IA & AS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs.

SHAMLA IQBAL

KN SATHIYAMURTHY

The 2002-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Managing Director, Karnataka Soaps & Detergents Limited, in Karnataka.

The 1977-batch IPS officer IG, Tiruchi, has been appointed the new intelligence chief in Tamil Nadu.

KILLU SIVAKUMAR NAIDU

The 1984-batch IPS officer of the Haryana cadre has been deputed as Additional Director General in the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The 2011-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been posted as Additional Commissioner, GHMC, Hyderabad, in Telangana.

NENGCHA L MUKHOPADHAYA The 1980-batch IFS officer, Dean (FSl), has been appointed the Ambassador of India to the Republic of lndonesia.

SS DESWAL

PV RAMASASHTRY The 1989-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre IG, NIA, has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs.

gfiles inside the government

www.indianbuzz.com

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

Tracking

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

PIB

PRAVEEN VASHISTA The 1991-batch IPS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Mines.

DC SRIVASTAVA The 1995-batch IPS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Executive Director (Security) in the Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

AMRENDRA KUMARSENGAR The 1995-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed the new IG, NDRF.

MADHAV PRASAD VERMA The 2008-batch IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Superintendent of Police, Pratapgarh, in Uttar Pradesh.

President Pranab Mukherjee administering the oath of office of Chief Justice of India to Justice TS Thakur at the swearing-in ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan

JEYA KUMAR The IRTS officer has joined as the new Chairman of the Goa Port Trust.

selected for the post of Director (Technical), Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at a PESB meeting.

The 1989-batch IFS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been appointed Regional Director, Forest Survey of India (FSI), Kolkata.

MOHD JAMSHED

PRAKASH KUMAR SINGH

The IRTS officer, General Manager, Northeast Frontier Railway, has been appointed Member Traffic, Railway Board.

The Chief Executive Officer of SAILâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Durgapur Steel Plant, has been appointed Chairman, Steel Authority of India Limited.

PRAPHULLA CHANDRA SHARMA

SEEMA GAUR

JUSTICE VIRENDRA SINGH

The 2006-batch IFS officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas in the Government of India.

The 1984-batch IES officer has been appointed Economic Adviser, Office of EA, DIPP.

The former Judge of the Allahabad High Court has been appointed the new Lokayukta of Uttar Pradesh.

PRIYANKA SINGH

DEVENDER SINGH

PREETI KATIYAR

The 1986-batch IES officer has been appointed Economic Adviser, Labour & Employment Ministry.

The 2000-batch IRPS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Biotechnology in the Government of India.

SUNIL AGRAWAL

PRABHAS KUMAR

The 1985-batch IDSE officer has been appointed Assistant Director General at Director level, UIDAI, Delhi.

The 1988-batch IDSE officer has been deputed Director in the Department of Fertilisers in Government of India.

M NAIR RAJEEVAN

SHANKAR MANOHARAN

The Director, Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

The 1998-batch IDAS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Space, Bengaluru.

SAIFUDDIN FIDVI

MUKESH CHOUDHARY The 1996-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Coal in the Government of India.

ASHOK AGGARWAL

The Chief General Manager has been selected for the post of Director (Marketing), Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers Limited (RCF) by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).

The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Senior DR, ITAT, Delhi.

RAMAN

AJAYA KUMAR NAIK

The IRS-IT officer, Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, has been appointed OSD to the Secretary, Department of Revenue.

SURBHAI SHARMA The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

SANJIV SHANKAR The IRS-IT officer has been appointed CIT in the office of the Principal CCIT, Delhi region.

AK JAIN The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes.

The Executive Director, SAIL, has been

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

SWATI BASU The officer has been appointed Scientific Secretary, office of the Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA), Government of India.

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way Search for foreign secy begins

Waiting for Pandora’s box to open

he implementation of the Seventh Central Pay Commission report is a Pandora’s box for the states. The babus in the state bureaucracies are a worried lot as they may not get the benefit of the handsome package recommended by the Pay Commission. It is a norm that once the Central Pay Commission report is implemented by the Centre, the states are automatically under pressure to maintain pay parity. In the current circumstances, the financial condition of many states is not healthy. Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Punjab have reportedly written to the Centre to delay the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission report, citing their fiscal health and inability to shoulder such a huge financial burden. As per reports, it would imply a total burden of `1,02,100 crore on the central exchequer, and if the same formula is adopted by the states, there will be a huge burden on the existing fiscal frame of the states as well. The states have approached the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Cabinet Secretary and Niti Aayog, seeking more time for implementing the pay panel’s report. The states which are nearing assembly elections are really in a big soup. Any suggestions? g

www.indianbuzz.com

he search for the new Foreign Secretary has begun as the incumbent, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is superannuating this year. So, who will be the new Foreign Secretary of India? There are many competent officers in the lineup but, as is the nature of the Prime Minister, there is no indication till now as to who will be appointed to this prestigious post. As the clock ticks, Navtej Singh Sarna would have been the obvious choice but he has been appointed High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. Another officer who would have been a good choice was Anil Wadhwa, but he has been appointed Ambassador to Italy. It is learnt that a lobby within the Ministry of External Affairs was not on good terms with Anil Wadhwa. If the sources are to be believed, India’s Ambassador to China, Vijay Gokhale, is now the frontrunner for the post. It is believed Gokhale’s specialisation in China is in his favour; he also speaks fluent Chinese. A change of guard in South Block does not, however, mean that Jaishankar will be completely out of the ruling set-up. Sources disclose that there might be two security chiefs: one to look after internal security and the other to oversee the foreign front. In the given international scenario, security is going to be a paramount subject of the government. Watch this space. g

gfiles inside the government

vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

...by the way Caught in Kejriwal’s war

Bumping out BSNL

s the government in the mood to wind up public sector institutions? There is no formal directive regarding this but the way some top functionaries of the RBI are working, it appears that it has the tacit consent of the government to ignore PSUs. Recently, there was an important matter—issue of payment banks licence to telephone operators by the RBI. Approximately 41 operators applied for the licence—including BSNL. Almost everybody got the licence—except BSNL. The Reserve Bank granted ‘in-principle’ approval to 11 entities, including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Nuvo, Paytm, Vodafone, and Airtel, to set up payment banks and proposed such licences ‘on tap’ in future. The other entities which have been given ‘in-principle’ approval are the Department of Posts, Cholamandalam Distribution Services, Tech Mahindra, National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL), Fino PayTech, and Sun Pharma’s Dilip Shantilal Shanghvi. Not only BSNL but Mobikwik, Oxigen, Citrus, and Novopay Itz Cash Card also applied for the licence but failed to get approval. Sources disclosed that BSNL was refused on reasons of non-compliance with list of required documents. gfiles investigated this issue and found out that there was a strong lobby working to keep BSNL out of the multi-crore bonanza. BSNL partnered with Sistema, a reputed Russian company headed by Vladimir Yevtushenkov. Insiders reported that BSNL pleaded with RBI authorities that the noncompliance charge was false and that keeping in mind the impeccable reputation of BSNL, the licence should be granted ‘in-principle’. But when authorities have their own bias, who listens. The dream to promote rural banking by BSNL is shattered! g

evi Lal, former Chief Minister of Haryana, used to say that whenever one is at a low ebb in politics, he/she should start fighting with the top leadership of the ruling party. It has a two-way advantage: if you win, nothing better than that and if you lose, people are afraid to fight with you as they are advised, keep away from him, he always fights with big people. Arvind Kejriwal hails from Haryana and he is following the same dictum in Delhi. He is on the warpath with all the bigshots of the nation since he has become Chief Minister of Delhi. In this milieu, most of the civil servants in the Delhi government do not have an idea how the Delhi government is running especially after the CBI raid on the office of Rajendra Kumar Sharma, PS to Kejriwal. Chetan Bhusan Sanghi, a 1988-batch IAS officer, who mportant was heading many important departments has taken leave for three months. The buzz is that when even the CM’s officer is not safe, what protection is there for other officers. vants Most of the civil servants are working as they have to do their job but their enthusiasm for the new government, away from rom BJP and Congress culture, has withered away. What’s more, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has barred all bureaucrats except heads of departments (HoDs) from communicating with the media. Citing “inordinate” delays in processing files and policy, the Aam Aadmi Party has further decided that bureaucrats can object to a Cabinet minister’s decision only once. In a recent Cabinet decision, the government ordered that files sent for reconsideration, if cleared by the minister a second time, would be binding on all officials. It is not surprising that within the Delhi Secretariat, civil servants are saying they have to tune up the radio and keep the TV on all the time as “our government is more seen and heard on newspapers, TV and radio than files”. g ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

gfiles inside the government vol. 9, issue 10 | January 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

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Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2016-2018 Licence No. U(C)-03/2016-17, 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 10 | Date of Publication: 5/1/2016 | Pages 60