NSEL SCAM CONTINUES TO WIDEN p26 EVOLVING A SYSTEMATIC RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE p34

January 2020 ` 200 VOL. 13, ISSUE 10

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TRACKS TO NOWHERE RAILWAYS PRIVATISATION

1 FROM RAJ TO RAFALE CAPITAL ACCOUNTS p10

Bric-a-brac ups & downs

Change is in the air New look for Rajya Sabha

The dynamics within the Rajya Sabha will change this year as 69 members of the house will retire in 2020. One nominated member veteran advocate K.T.S Tulsi is retiring in February. As many as 51 members will retire in April while 11 members retire in November 2020. One member will retire in July and 5 members in June 2020. As per the rule, one-third members of the house retire after every two year and new members are elected by the state legislatures. The prominent ones are Sharad Pawar (Maharastra), Ramdas Athawale (Maharashtra), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s confidant Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh (Bihar), Vijay Goel (Rajasthan), Laloo’s trusted Lieutenant Prem Chand Gupta (Bihar), Congress’ Adivasi Leader Madhu Sudan Mistry (Gujarat), Andhra’s Congress Leader T.Subbarami Reddy (Andhra), Haryana Congress President Kumari Shailja (Haryana), prominent face of BJP in Bihar Dr. C. P. Thakur (Bihar), and Congress’ Veteran Leader Moti Lal Vohra (Chhattisgarh). Prime Minister Narendra Modoi has to decide who will replace KTS Tulsi as a nominated member. Sharad Pawar has to decide whether he will continue as a

Chintan baithaks’ (concern meetings) are being organised within the RSS. There are two concerns of the top RSS leadership. One, how to deal with the uprising against CAA-NPR-NRC. Two, the menace of corruption and its penetration among the RSS organisation leadership. The top leadership is meeting with influential people from all walks of society and trying to understand how it has misfired and how it can be corrected. The way the uprising is strengthening, it’s feared that the BJP may lose assembly elections which are going for the polls in this year. The RSS is always cautious about the image and ideology and top leadership does not compromise on this score. A complaint related to financial irregularities by few organizational secretaries Shadow of corruption Growing concerns in RSS

ries

parliamentarian or will lead as a patriarch. Harivansh also will also have a smooth re-nomination from his mentor Nitish Kumar as he has worked hard for balancing JDU and BJP leadership in Delhi. In a short time Harivansh has made a place for himself as a parliamentarian. Vijay Goel a politician from Delhi was hammered by many politicians within BJP, so he surrendered his services to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Though he wishes to be the Chief Minister of Delhi, it seems to be a tough walk. Now, It’s up to Amit Shah and Modi

whether they would like to send Vijay Goel back to Rajya Sabha or not. Maverick T.Subbarami Reddy doesn’t have any chance as Congress was wiped out in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. The BJP may not re-nominate Bhumihar leader Dr. C.P. Thakur as he is 89 years old. The re-nomination of Moti Lal Vohra entirely depends on Sonia Gandhi, though he is aged but he is an insider and loyal party leader. Digvijay Singh and Shailja’s re-nomination is beyond any doubt as both are very influential in their respective states. Madhu Sudan Mistry is a tribal leader of Gujarat and close to Rahul Gandhi. In the given scenario, it’s to be seen how his victory can be assured in Ahmedabad. g

reached the top leadership. A committee was immediately formed to investigate the matter which went through minute details. Allegations of corruptions were also proved against several and sources reveal that a dozen organizational secretaries are likely to be changed. It’s noticed that for last six years, the living standards of RSS functionaries have changed. The RSS functionaries are in demand across the country by the facilitators. The RSS functionaries never saw the aura,

power and wealth in the politics in last sixty years, but being part of the ruling dispensation they have

started relishing power and reportedly it’s leading to an unabated corruption. It’s aptly said about politics, power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely’? But the RSS is a social reform organisation and they have to contain corruption by all means! g The RSS func facilitator pow but politics, powe But the RSS contai n corru

Dushyant in a hurry handles 11 portfolios y

Dushyant Chautala, the Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, appears to be a man in a hurry. He has been allotted the plump 11 portfolios which include excise and taxation, development and panchayats, industry and commerce, food and civil supplies departments, revenue, disaster management, public works, labour and employment, civil aviation, archaeology and museum, and rehabilitation and consolidation. These are core departments which makes him the most powerful minister in the state. Haryana collected ` 7,500 crore from the ‘liquor business’ and around ` 18,000 crore comes from GST and other taxes. Given the size of the liquor and GST revenue pie, it makes the Excise and Taxation Department most powerful not only a revenue generator but a politically influential tool. As per the Haryana government budget of 2019-20, ief Minister of a hurry. H e portfolios opment and d and ster

water supply, sanitation, housing and urban development has allocation of ` 9,691 crore, social welfare and nutrition was allocated ` 8,645 crore and rural development has a budget of ` 5,365 crore. This is now under the control of Chautala. Insiders reveal

that civil servants are finding it difficult to implement the official and so-called unofficial dictates of the Deputy Chief Minister. The ruling BJP leadership is reportedly keeping a vigil on his movements. It appears Dushyant knows his real strength; he has a fragmented family and fragile political party which has only 10 MLAs out of a house of 90 MLAs. Insiders reveal that BJP’s top leadership may change its course of action after the Delhi assembly elections and Dushyant knows he is running against time. Wait and watch. g water s develop social w ` 8,645 bu r m hi s fam

Welcome... ...and unwelcome visitors

Once you become a national leader from a local leader, it has its own consequences. BJP’s president Jagat Prakash Nadda hails from Himachal Pradesh. Though he has been a minister in the cabinet, he has never been a mass leader. He came into prominence due to his proximity with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Today he lives in a big ministerial bungalow. Mr. Nadda likes a very hygienic atmosphere but being the president of a national party, his home is flooded with visitors and political leaders from all walks of life. To cater to the crowds is necessary and that includes making arrangements for water and toilets. Officials at Nadda’s house, however, don’t seem to like common people entering the house, so they have put a urinal van just at the entry gate of the house. Though it’s a good arrangement but clean environment of the road is spoiled by a local P’s om

the old fashioned van. Home Minister of India Amit Shah too faces a problem. The Anti CAA/NPR demonstrations have created another issue for him. In 2014, former Home Minister Shushil Kumar Shinde also used to live on this road. When the Nirbhaya rape case agitation was at its peak, the

youngsters barged in. The security officials who manage VIP security are aware about the seriousness of the movement of CAA/ NPR and they don’t want to take any chances. So they have closed the road by barricading Krishna Menon Marg and Sunheri Bagh Road. Delhi is now under the National Security Act. The Lieutenant Governor of Delhi passed an order conferring the Commissioner of Police with the power to detain under the draconian National Security Act (NSA) for a period of three months — between 19 January and 18 April. Now the kings and queens of Lutyen’s Delhi can sleep in winter with comfort. g the old fash Shah too fa demonstrat 2014, for also rap ba Bagh R Securit

SELLING FAMILY SILVER

The recent merger of various Indian Railways services seems to have ruffled many feathers. In the corridors of the Rail Bhawan, it’s being interpreted as a hamhanded approach to address the various problems that plague the world’s biggest railway network. Experts view the latest move by the Railways Ministry as the cynical first step towards privatisation of the Indian Railways, instead of trying to address the systemic issues that have adversely impacted its Operating Ratio, affecting its modernisation plan, expansion and efficiency. The sweeping changes that the ministry is trying to ram through also mark the beginning of the end of a welfare enterprise that provides a cheap means of transport to the country’s poorest of the poor. In a bigger context, this is, perhaps, the first clear signs of the end of a welfare state. It’s also apparent that the government is in no mood to learn from the disastrous consequences of privatisation of Railways in other countries, especially in Latin America and Africa, as it embarks upon dismantling the superstructure of transportation in India, writes Srinand Jha

GOVERNANCE nsel scamnsel scam

GOVERNANCE environment policy GOVERNANCE environment policy

Climate crisis knocking on our doors

Drawing attention to the latest efforts being undertaken to conduct systematic observation and understanding of the impacts of climate change in India through initiatives such as long term ecological observatories programme, Lokesh Chandra Dube suggests a framework for systematic and coordinated research in this direction.

BOOK EXTRACT ambedkar, gandhi and patel

The Makings of Dalit Political Power

Even in today’s India, dalit politics continues to be shaped by the ideas and struggles of BR Ambedkar against an unjust social system that had its roots in orthodox Hindu caste structures. Raja Sekhar Vundru provides a historical perspective to the emergence of dalits as a distinct political force

AMBEDKAR hailed from a family of military men. His father Ramji Sakpal was a Subedar Major in the British Indian Army. Ambedkar’s maternal grandfather and six uncles were also Subedar Majors in the British force. Subedar Major was the highest post any Indian could rise to in the British Army. The valour, loyalty or spiritual liberation did not break the shackles of centuries of untouchable status for the dalits. The untouchables were treated with unqualified disdain and hatred: physically, socially, economically, spiritually just as the Hindu social order demanded, upon its inhabitants. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, born in a military cantonment in 1891 and received his initial education at a lessstigmatic military environment. In his first exposure to the society, he was treated as an untouchable as brutally as it must be, despite his different military background. As a child, he was denied water, beaten up for drawing some water and could not ride a cart even after he paid for it. Ambedkar later shifted to Bombay and was a city boy where he pursued high school and college education. He won a scholarship to study abroad and was the first ever untouchable to do so.

After his education at the Columbia University, New York in 1916, he was appointed as the Military Secretary in July 1917 to his benefactor Maharaja of Baroda. The lowest class of officials and peons refused to serve him for his untouchable origin, despite his rank as a military secretary. He was denied accommodation by every lodge and was beaten up for hiding his caste at a Parsi lodge in Baroda. The Columbia

...by the way

Fading sheen of Delhi Darbar T he graveyards are full of indispensable men, said Charles De Gaulle. This apparently appears to be true with the central government. Raisina Hills is facing an acute shortage of IAS and IPS officers. Sources disclosed that senior officers who used to join on deputation and serve as Joint Secretary are no longer enthused about coming to Delhi. Senior civil servants report that an atmosphere of fear pervades Raisina Hills and there appears to be trust deficit. This vacuum has opened unthinkable opportunities for allied service officers who, though, are designated at the end of their career as Secretary or Additional Secretary, never get an opportunity to run the ministries directly. As one can observe from the list of Ministry of Home Affairs, most Joint Secretary-level officers are from Central Secretariat Services, Indian Defence Account Services (IDAS), and Indian Postal Services. Even Joint Secretary Police 1, which used to be headed by an IAS officer has now been allotted to an IDAS officer. There is a shortage of 1494 officers against the sanctioned strength of 6699. The Central Government requires 1494 officers to run the system efficiently but only 511 officers are available with the Department of Personnel and Training. One Secretary who has been just superannuated felt that it is the loss of IAS services that officers are not opting for central deputation. If this persists, other service officers will not yield to the IAS fraternity in the future. g

Seeking gurus H ow to penetrate the ‘steel frame of India’? This question puzzles everybody – whether it’s businessmen, politicians, NGOs, diplomats or so called self-proclaimed ‘Gurus’. The edifice of the Government of India is so humongous that it’s difficult to know where to start. The latest entrant to breakthrough the ‘steel frame of India’ is none other than Bharat Ratna aspirant Sri Sri Ravi Shanker of ‘Sudarshan Kriya’ fame. His newly launched Government Executive Programme (GEP) is Art of Living’s flagship offering for Government organizations – Central Government, State Governments, Subordinate Departments, Autonomous Bodies, Public Sector Undertakings, Armed Forces / Police Forces, and Training Institutes. His website artofliving. org explains after conducting some workshops of civil servants, “Our internal feedback mechanism reports that more than 90% participants feel more energetic, free from stress and achieve greater mental focus and clarity. The impact on working environment is evident from the fact that more than 90 per cent participants report higher preparedness to take new challenges and improved efficiency and interpersonal relationships. A significant 80 per cent feel that the programme creates a positive work environment, is likely to lead to more ethical behaviour and contributes to organisational growth”. What is so peculiar in this news? Nothing! The punchline of the story is that Bhagwan Ravi Shanker disciples are not able to get the requisite number of civil servants for their programme. Sources disclosed that Sri Sri has deputed many of his followers to contact joint secretary-level and senior officers from North and South block and ministries located on both sides of Boat Club. It’s difficult nowadays to even enter government offices without appointment. So, the disciples of Sri Sri are searching for gurus who can facilitate their introduction to top ranking civil servants. It’s a tough job, indeed. g Forces,

...by the way

A Secretary’s Dilemma E verybody wants their sons/daughters to be gainfully employed and that too with a top ranking institution. This becomes easier if the son/ daughter happens to be the ward of a top-ranking civil servant. But the opening up of the economy has made it difficult for senior civil servants to pursue multinational organisations and convince them to concede to their requests for favour to a family member. There is a top-ranking secretary in the government who has tremendous clout in private sector companies by virtue of his position. His son is working with a private bank in a very senior position. The Chairman of a private bank recently took over a beleaguered controversial infrastructure company for assets management. The controversial company has a balance sheet of more than ` 1.15 lakh crore. The said secretary desired his son to gain experience in a topranking multinational private equity (PE) firm. They chose a company and pursued his son’s case; even a very influential banker from Mumbai personally called the chairman of PE firm, but the PE firm did not pay any heed to the request of a private banker. Meanwhile, the banker is on the spree of selling assets of a beleaguered company without bothering about consequences as he has a mentor in the secretary, who is reportedly always ready to help. g

Perturbed IAS lobby in UP T he Uttar Pradesh government recently introduced the police commissionerate system by posting two additional director general (ADG) of police rank officials as the first police commissioners of Lucknow and Noida, Sujit Pandey and Alok Kumar, respectively. The IAS officers of UP see the move as an attempt to “undermine the superiority of the cadre”. A total of 15 functions, which were earlier administered by the district magistrate office, will now be taken care of by the police commissionerate. While almost all serving officers said they disapproved of the commissionerate system but were unwilling to say anything on record. The Uttar Pradesh IAS Association has decided not to comment on the development. There is fierce discussion going on in Lucknow. As one IAS officer explains, “there are several occasions when protests are of civil nature and can be dealt with by the District Magistrate. Police action in such matters can complicate the situation. Another opined that “in the administrative system, the civilian authority is considered supreme. The common man also prefers to approach the district magistrate with his problems rather than police officers. There is an element of fear of the uniform which creates a barrier. A balance should be maintained between the District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police.” IAS officers are asking in a hush tone, “The state government should have clarified what was the need for implementing the commissionerate system and where did the old system go wrong.” g