Gfiles july 2016

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Haryana

Vadra Land Deal

ISSN 0976-2906

ja b n o on ar ok d ra ha ext jiv n ra p4 g tha ct 2 an k dh ur i

Deepinder Singh Dhesi Chief Secretary, Haryana Government

Will Khattar act against Dhesi? 1

PRESENTS

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From the Editor

vol. 10, ISSUE 4 | JULY 2016 Anil Tyagi | editor TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | consulting business editor Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Naresh Minocha | contributing editor Anish Gandhi | consultant, foreign affairs Narendra Kaushik | associate editor Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) 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: e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com chandigarh: RAMESH SHARMA— +918699519405 e-mail: rameshsharmaemail@gmail.com mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 CONTACT — +91 9845730298 e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in $1,/ 7<$*, 35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 QG IORRU GGD VLWH QHZ UDMLQGHU QDJDU QHZ GHOKL ă +All information in gfiles is obtained from sources that the management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews, are not necessarily shared by us. Copyright exclusively with Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved throughout the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in whole, or in part(s), in any manner, without prior permission, is totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any advertisement without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. Published and printed by Anil Tyagi on behalf of Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd at Polykam Offset, C-138, Naraina Industrial Area, Phase I, New Delhi 110028. All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent courts in New Delhi only

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HE post of Chief Secretary is not only enshrined in the Constitution as the sole authority of the administration, but the person holding the post is also the custodian of civil services of a State. In Haryana, the Chief Secretary used to have an aura of strength. I have seen many Chief Secretaries in the State in the last 34 years and most of them worked with dignity and authority. The downfall basically started with the Om Prakash Chautala regime which exploited the State machinery and used it like a fiefdom. This trend was perfected by Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who had a secretariat of classmates and friends. gfiles’ cover story on Haryana Chief Secretary Deepinder Singh Dhesi reveals how the State machinery succumbed before Hooda’s authoritarian attitude, where not a single officer objected to the granting of commercial licence to Robert Vadra. Vadra had every right to apply for the licence, but adhering to the rules and guidelines was the duty of Dhesi and his colleagues. Why has gfiles done a story on Dhesi and the Vadra land deal? The Justice Dhingra Commission has recently sought an extension to dig out facts about Vadra’s land deals. Either Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is not aware of the facts or is misrepresenting the facts to the people of Haryana. gfiles has put the record straight and has exposed the coterie which initiated and sanctioned the deal. These facts are with the Haryana government too. But, for reasons best known to Khattar, it appears the State government is protecting the involved civil servants and Vadra. The Khattar government came with a bang and was a source of hope for the people of Haryana. But, the Chief Minister now feels that the civil servants nurtured, by the builder lobby and Hooda will not allow him to fulfil the political agenda for which the BJP selected him. But the real issue is, who is stopping him from taking action against those officers who have connived in the alleged illegal deals over the last ten years? It seems, Khattar does not have the courage to act. Dhesi is considered to be an intelligent officer and was seen as Cabinet Secretary material among his 1982 batchmates. But, the way he has performed in Haryana and earlier as the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Commerce, defies this belief. As Neeraj Mahajan’s story on MMTC shows, Dhesi was an active partner in the alleged scandals that took place during his tenure as CMD. Under him, the MMTC for the first time went into the red. The Khattar government is not very enthused with Dhesi as his leadership is not inspiring the State administration. Dhesi himself wants to move out from the State as soon as possible. But, will the Khattar government take any action on the Vadra land deal or will the case remain as yet another example of politicians’ doublespeak. Our Foreign Affairs consultant, Anish Gandhi, and I travelled to Dublin, Ireland, to attend the IATA AGM in the first week of June to get an idea of the issues before the world aviation industry. IATA DG and CEO Tony Tyler’s talked about how the industry is troubled about the increasing terrorism-related incidents across the globe and wildlife smuggling. Back home in India, the Ministry of Civil Aviation also announced the National Civil Aviation Policy in June. Jitender Bhargava, a veteran of the aviation industry, analyses it and hopes, “One is tempted to take a positive stance because the potential to expand air connectivity to cover tier II and III cities does exist. Success is also critical if the target of 300 million domestic tickets by 2022, from the present 80 million tickets, is to be achieved.� ANIL TYAGI

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gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

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CONTENTS

LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com

06 Bric-a-Brac

leonardo at rss party, wooing varun, london dateline, chauhan gets fashionable

comprehension why the NMDC would resort to selling iron ore at a discount, especially when other governmentowned miners like Hind Copper and NALCO fix the price of copper and aluminium in line with prevailing international prices. The low prices set by NMDC definitely affects the market for other sellers and creates an uneven playing field. K Rao via blog

08 Cover Story

dhesi debacles: no action from haryana chief minister khattar 16 dhesi’s days at mmtc

18 Eyes Wide Shut the parity debate

20 Governance

cleansing the electoral rot 28 aviation policy: focus on regional connectivity 32 iata meet bemoans funds crunch 36 iata ceo says, security paramount

26 State Scan

unhealthy air at mcd

41 Stock Doctor

look for opportunities

42 Book Extract

the rajiv years

50 Perspective

more than just imagination

57 By the Way

reprieve for blacklisted producers, new rules for deputation, freshers report for duty, rae bareli post

Shivraj’s woes The cover story on Madhya Pradesh (‘Simhastha jinx stalks Shivraj’, gfiles, June 2016) was an eyeopener. It needs to be read in the context of the recent clean chit to Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan. According to newspaper reports, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has not found any “political conspiracy” or evidence of an “organised syndicate” in the Vyapam scam which rocked Madhya Pradesh and threatened to oust Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government. Commenting on the scam, the CBI said that, most cases investigated so far appear to be individual cheating and corruption cases, and it is difficult to connect one case to the other. There are only a few cases where the accused are common or middlemen have worked together. But clearly, this is not the end of the matter. As the gfiles story indicates there are many aspects that still need to be considered. I hope those will be taken into account. SK Sinha via email

Iron ore scam The NMDC story (‘Iron ore heist’, gfiles, June 2016) only begs the question, why? It is beyond

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Mining has always been a sector rife in controversies. The story of NMDC selling iron ore at a discount only adds to the litany of woes surrounding the sector. The Indian mining industry, moreover, is passing through a critical phase, especially in the last two years, witnessing negative growth. As mining is interlinked with industrial development, availability of raw material is of prime importance and as such, the pro-active role of union and state governments is called for to ensure an era of mineral development. Mining projects across the country remain stalled owing to environmental, regulatory and land acquisition issues. Corrupt practices need to urgently give way to clean development of the sector. Lata via blog I would like to congratulate you on the excellent expose of NMDC illegal practices. I look forward to more such articles from gfiles. Dhiraj via blog

Reviving the Ganga There has been a lot of discussion on the Ganga revival plan (‘Purifying the purifier, gfiles, June 2016) and now from gfiles, we learn that a parliamentary committee too has discussed the matter. But I would like to ask whether anything is happening on the ground or is it all in the air? Anita M via blog

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Bric-a-brac friends & foes

Leonardo at RSS bash in London branson also expected to attend

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HE UK-based Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, known as a branch of the RSS, will be celebrating its golden jubilee in Britain at Hertfordshire County ground in Luten, about 45 km from London, on July 29-31, 2016. The RSS has branches in 34 countries. It is not present in Islamic nations, where it is not allowed to function. Its most prominent branches are in the US and England. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other ideologues, Dattatreya Hosbole and Swamitra Gokhale, head of Sangh’s foreign

department, are the main organisers of the event. The convention titled ‘Sanskriti Mahashivir’ (cultural meeting) will focus on Hindu philosophy, vegetarianism and cow slaughter. Some reports indicate that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio and Richard Branson of Virgin fame will share the dais with Bhagwat. DiCaprio will in all probability endorse vegetarianism as well support a ban on cow slaughter. With the star attraction being DiCaprio, the convention is expected to be attended by more than 10,000 people.

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Game on in Uttar Pradesh congress trying to woo varun

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HE Congress seems to be playing a game to create confusion in the BJP ranks ahead head of elections in Uttar ar Pradesh. The saffron brigade is hoping to wrest rest power from the Samajwadi Party in n 2017 by taking on the might of Mulayam Singh ngh Yadav av and Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party. maj Par arty. The Congress is leaderless in UP. Ferozee Varun, the son of Maneka Gandhi, hass emerged as the BJP’s most acceptable abl ble face in the seven surveys conducted ed d by UP’s most prominent papers so far. r. However, the BJP is reluctant to project ro oject him as a possible face in UP because u of his use surname and several senior leaderss of the party briefed journalists during the National Executive in Allahabad that there would w be difficulty in accepting him as a leader deer in UP. There are stories being planted in different newspapers that the Congress may declare him as the candidate for the UP Chief Minister’s post. As per these stories, if

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Varun agrees then the trio of Rahul-Varun-Priyanka Gandhi will wil sweep the polls in UP. It sounds good. The reason for these rumours is that Priyanka, Robert Vadra and their daugh daughter spent some quality time with Varun V at the wedding reception of her family friend, Tehseen Poonawala, at the Meridien fr T Hotel H iin Delhi a couple of months ago. Sonia So onia Gandhi and Rahul also attended the function. Congress leaders found func ncti Priyanka’s candid interactation with Priya ya Varun Varu un significant enough to spread the word. word. Rahul Gandhi’s key adviser and UP poll strategist Prashant Kishor is stt understood to have called on the BJP leader understt with an o offer of making him the chief ministerial ministeria a face of the Congress if he chooses to switch swittc sides. Sources said that Prashant Kishor was politely told that this Ki proposal was unacceptable and though there were family ties, politically, the cousins were on different sides of the fence.

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Who appointed Chetan Chauhan? from cricket to fashion

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VEN some politicians in the BJP are not able to digest how w well-known cricketer Chetan Chauhan was appointed the Chairman off the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). A loyalist of former mer Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) President and Union Minister ster Arun Jaitley, sources said Chauhan gained from the backing of the BJP, JP, but were hard-pressed to explain his credentials for the post. Sources disclosed that even Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not kept in the loop. It is reported that an all-powerful minister in the Modi government called Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar and asked him to release a notification appointing Chauhan immediately. Gangwar was confused because use he had not received any instructions from the PMO. Sources say ay the minister tried to ask the leader if he had spoken to the PM about Chauhan. an. The allpowerful leader confirmed that he had informed the PM. Gangwar war had no reason to disbelieve him and announced the appointment. Incidentally, dentally, the other minister was on leave that day. After the announcement, ent, Gangwar got a call from the PMO and, sources say, the ministerr got a piece of the PM’s mind. Gangwar was reportedly told that he should have asked the PMO before taking any such decision.

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Over to London party circuit provides fodder

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ONDON is a happening place for Indians, especially in summers. All those who can afford the cost generally move to the beautiful city. Influential facilitators of the Indian government are seen holidaying in London, according to reports. The first report was about a book release by a socialite. He got into trouble when he boasted to a well-known industrialist of his proximity to a very senior minister. He said that he could facilitate any work that was temporarily stalled. What the man did not know was that the industrialist was visiting the same minister that day itself. The socialite received a warning from the concerned minister. Another report informs that Sri Sri Ravi Shankar recently met Robert Vadra in London recently. Sources say that Sri Sri apparently asked Vadra

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to ensure that Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka went to his ashram in Bangalore publicly; after that he would personally ensure that Vadra got a clean chit. This has infuriated the ruling dispensation and Sri Sri has been told not to involve himself in these kind of activities otherwise he would be declared persona non grata. In another report datelined London, Essar Group head Ravi Ruia, after getting the permission from the CBI court to meet a close relative who was counting his last breaths, was seen partying at the Loulou night club at London’s 5, Hurt Ford Street. Sources disclosed Ruia, an accused in the 2G scam, was also seen with Robert Vadra and Jyotiraditya Scindia. Sources also say the party was thrown by Vadra’s close friend and Dubaibased industrialist Rajiv Vazir. Stay tuned for more...

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COVER STORY haryana dhesi

Vadra land deal

Dhesi under a cloud

Deepinder Singh Dhesi Chief Secretary, Haryana Government

Deepinder Singh Dhesi, the Chief Secretary of Haryana, is being chased by a controversial past. According to documents with the Haryana government, Dhesi was hand-in-glove in sanctioning land in Gurgaon to Robert Vadra’s company, a deal that flouted rules and regulations at the behest of then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The question is, when will Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar act against him and others involved in the controversial deal? And why he has not done so till now?

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by ANIL TYAGI

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HEN Manohar Lal Khattar took over as the Chief Minister of Haryana on October 26, 2014, he did not have a slightest idea how to run the administration. Khattar joined the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in 1977. He worked as a full-time pracharak for 14 years before moving to the BJP in 1994. During 2000-2014, Khattar was Organisational General Secretary of the BJP in Haryana. He was, by all means, a political worker who was far away from the intricate world of governance, administration and civil services of the State. When

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he took over as Chief Minister, he even did not know civil servants by name or face. He appointed Sanjeev Kaushal, a 1986-batch IAS officer, as the Principal Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. Kaushal, a seasoned civil servant, started building his team, keeping in mind the political agenda of the new government in the State. As PK Gupta, Chief Secretary, Haryana, a 1981-batch IAS officer, was about to retire on December 31, 2014, Khattar was looking for a new Chief Secretary. First, Ashok Lavasa, the then Secretary, Union Ministry of Environment and Forest, and now Finance Secretary, Government of India, was offered the job. But he politely declined to move to the State, stating the Prime Minister has assigned him an important task to complete and it will not be courteous to move in between. Another senior officer, Anuradha Gupta, a 1981-IAS officer, who is posted at WHO at Geneva, was also contacted. But she was not eager to leave the highly paid job. As per sources, Kaushal had in mind to have a congenial group to administer the State. Apart from this, it was the first time the builder lobby of Haryana was not aware how a new Chief Minister will administer the State. Khattar was absolutely new to the builder lobby, which was desperate to get a senior official appointed as Chief Secretary who had earlier worked with them and was sympathetic to their cause. Kaushal, meanwhile, was contacting all available senior-most officers. He called Deepinder Singh Dhesi, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Haryana, who was serving as Additional Secretary Commerce, to find out was he

available to join as Chief Secretary. Dhesi had earlier worked as chief of Town & Country Planning Department in Bhupinder Singh Hooda government. Being a Haryana cadre officer, he was well versed with the system. But, he was not sure about his future as he was still four years from

At the behest of Hooda, the officers of, the Ministry of Urban Development, Country & Town Planning Department and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) not only connived with the process of allotment but did not even raise any objection regarding the allotment

retirement. These four years had to be meticulously planned. Kaushal and Dhesi had worked earlier in Om Prakash Chautala and Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s regimes, so both had very cordial relations. Dhesi immediately joined as new Chief Secretary of Haryana. Khattar, a complete novice, did not have an idea about the background of Dhesi and the intentions of the powerful builder lobby.

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HERE are two parts to Dhesi’s career. First, when he was posted as Joint Secretary in Haryana and was heading the Town & Country Planning Department, and second, regarding Dhesi’s role when he was serving as Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, with additional charge of Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India (MMTC). (See ‘School for scams’ by Neeraj Mahajan.)

gfiles inside the government

COVER STORY haryana dhesi

Before joining the Ministry of Commerce, Dhesi was allegedly involved in a commercial land plan sanction in Haryana to Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd, a company of Robert Vadra, son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Khattar government has constituted a one-man commission headed by retired High Court Judge SN Dhingra to investigate commercial licence of land to hundreds of private companies, including Skylight Hospitality and DLF. Justice Dhingra sought six-week extension to submit the report, hours before the deadline was to end on June 30, 2016. Gfiles has reviewed the allotment document of Sky Light Hospitality. The way former Chief Minister Hooda

and officers along with Dhesi allotted land to son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi shows systematic failure of the State machinery. At the behest of Hooda, the officers of the Ministry of Urban Development, Country & Town Planning Department and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) not only compromised the process of allotment but did not even raise any objection to the allotment. (See the signatures on the sanction list). The document reveals the unabashed loot of resources in defiance to all regulations. The story starts on January 4, 2008. The project sanction file’s first line states: “This case relates to grant of licence to develop a commercial colony over an area measuring 3.53

Sanction Circus 2008 January: Onkareshwar Properties applies for a licence to commercially develop 2.53 acres in Sector 83, Gurgaon. February: Robert Vadra's Sky Light Hospitality buys the plot from Onkareshwar. March 10: Sky Light Hospitality applies for a licence. Officials say while financial capacity papers of the company do not exist, the status of Robert Vadra should be considered for approval. Other exceptions and interpretation of rules help the company. March 21: Sky Light Hospitality's application gets the approval of the Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. March 28: Letter of intent from the government for a commercial licence given to Sky Light Hospitality. August 5: Armed with the letter, Vadra's company signs collaboration agreement with DLF; DLF is to invest in and develop the commercial plot, Vadra's company to get half the built-up area. November 13: Sky Light Hospitality's licence application rejected. November 18: Sky Light Hospitality's licence proposal, backed by agreement with the DLF, approved.

2012 April: Licence is transferred from Sky Light Hospitality to DLF. September: Sky Light Hospitality sells its entire stake to DLF at more than 700 per cent of the price at which it bought the land.

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acres of land at village Sikohpur in Sector 83 in Gurgaon by M/s Onkareshwer Properties Pvt Ltd.” Onkareshwer Properties is owned by Satyanand Yajee and Godavari Yajee, registered at Flat No B-14/C, First Floor, Freedom Fighters Enclave, Neb Sarai, New Delhi. It’s alleged that both are proxies of Hooda. After reviewing the 29-page file one understand how the files moves when the Chief Minister has allegedly vested interests. There should be many files like this. If the Khattar government digs them out, it will open a Pandora’s Box, but to do so needs political will, honesty and courage.

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HE controversial case in which Dhesi, who was then heading Town & Country Planning Department, SS Dhillon, Additional Chief Secretary to the Haryana government, Transport and Civil Aviation Departments, who was then Director, Town & Country Planning Department and Chhatar Singh, Member, Union Public Service Commission, who was then Additional Principal Secretary to the Haryana Chief Minister, approved the land plan for commercial use overruling all mild objections. The land in question is 126.80 acres which was allotted to 14 developers (see box), including Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd. The controversial land deal concerns 3.53 acres of this land. This piece of land was a prime property as it was surrounded with top commercial sanctioned plans. After investigating the documents, it was pointed out by junior-level officials that the area measuring 0.83 acre falls in residential zone for which licence cannot be considered. The area was then reduced to 2.70 acres. In its files, the State government recorded that the 24-metre-wide road within the Sky Light’s plot would take

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away 1.35 acres from the overall plot. In its report, the CAG said this would leave only 1.35 acres to commercialise, which is less than the minimum requirement of two acres according to rules. The noting on file states: “As per the provisions of the development plan of the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex, the 50 per cent of the Commercial Zone area can be considered for grant of commercial licence.” Actually, after all the statutory deductions, the land available for

The land in the controversial commercial sanction plan has no road or provision for any connectivity. Legally, no plan can be sanctioned if there is no road connectivity to any commercial or residential plan commercial utilisation was just 1.621 acre, which junior level officers pointed out to be on the lower side and could not be considered for sanction. The dealings in Haryana were questioned by the CAG report on Haryana’s Town & Country Planning Department, released in March 2015. The report notes that to camouflage the facts, the file all through talks about ownership for 3.5 acres of land, whereas it was actually 1.6 acres.

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ECOND, the land in the controversial commercial sanction plan has no road or provision for any connectivity. Legally, no plan can be sanctioned if there is no road connectivity to any commercial or residential plan submitted before the government. Third, the plan was

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Will Dhesi continue?

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ill Deepinder Singh Dhesi, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, and the Chief Secretary of Haryana, be removed? Sources disclosed that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is not content with the working style of Dhesi. Reportedly, Dhesi seldom speaks in the meetings and does not express his frank opinion. Sources disclosed that Khattar is planning to replace Dhesi, but the real issue is whom to bring on this crucial post? Sources close to Dhesi also say that he himself desires to move out from the State and is eager to join as Secretary in the central government. It is learnt that he was offered the post of Secretary, Woman and Child Development Ministry, but he was not enthused as he was eyeing the Ministry of Urban Development. Also, Dhesi has visited Delhi many times regarding a MMTC case being investigated by the CBI, but there is no respite till now for him. In Haryana, Khattar has to take a tough call in a caste-ridden State. If one ggoes byy seniorityy and availabilityy of officers,, Anuradha Gupta p is the senior-most. It’s to be seen if th the government offers, will she be WHO able to join leaving her W job. The next in line is Jalan, a Krishan Kumar Jala officer, 1982-batch IAS of who is Secretary, Micro, Small Ministry of Micro Enterprises. & Medium Enterp hardworking Jalan is a hardw has 11 officer and ha before he months befor best retires. Next b State choice for the S Kesani government is Ke 1983Anand Arora, a 1 batch IAS officer, Secretary of Additional Secretar Government. She Haryana Governme will retire in 2020. T Then there is YS Malik, a 19 1983batch IAS officer, posted as Ayog. Additional Secretary, NITI A replaces Wait and watch who replace decides to Dhesi, if Khattar decide him. say goodbye to h

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COVER STORY haryana dhesi

allegedly sanctioned because Vadra was the Director of Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd. On Page 7, point 10 of the sanction report states that as after deducting the land for the road the remaining 1.62 acre is on lower side of the total site area, therefore the ground coverage and FAR shall be permitted on the area of 1.62 acres, subject to actual demarcation of site. An important observation is made by officials on page 10 of the sanction file. It states: “After examining it is reported that site does not have any approach, either through revenue rasta (road) or any constructed road in development plan as also reported by patwari.” It means the land was locked from all sides and had no road connectivity. But when a Chief Minister desires and officers connive, many ways could be found. Same happened in the Vadra case.

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HE real twist took place in March 2008. Page 15 of the sanction states: “M/s Onkareshwar Properties Pvt Ltd, vide application 10.03.2008 (PUC), has intimated that they have sold this land to M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd (SLHPL) and now the licence may be considered in the favour of SLHPL.” SLHPL has two directors, Robert Vadra and Maureen Vadra, registered at 268, Sukhdev Vihar, New Delhi– 110025. The officers were conscious about the importance of the file and the personality involved, so they noted their objections in a subdued manner. The sanction report’s page 23 mentions the apprehension of officers: “To safeguard the proposed arrangement, necessary conditions have been proposed in the office note. It is submitted that the department has been

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Signatories of the final approval documents

considering an approach road from the existing plotted colony for grant of additional licence, but there are no precedents as per the arrangement proposed.” This report did not deter or create any obstructions to the sanction as the government planned to create an approach road to the said land, which was almost two kilometres from the main road. The road had to be constructed with public money to facilitate M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd.

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AGE 24 of the report doubts the credentials of Mr Vadra. It clearly says: “The department has not granted any license to the applicant company M/s Sky Light Hospitality Pvt Ltd for setting of commercial colony in Haryana. The financial capacity considering the status of the Director (read Robert Vadra) of the applicant company can be considered.” It means though Vadra was new to the business, but being Vadra, he may be considered. Documents with the Haryana government show that Sky Light Hospitality did not submit any document as proof of its financial capabilities at this stage. The operative part of the report is summarised between pages 27-29, which is inconsistent with the earlier notes: “There is no existing approach to the applied land but the same is adjoining the proposed plotted colony of M/s Onkareshwar, M/s Mark Buildtech and others in collaboration with M/s Vatika Landbase Ltd. The detailed comments in

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COVER STORY haryana dhesi

not only gave a clean chit to the deal, but also held that Khemka had acted beyond authority by cancelling the mutation of land that was sold to DLF by Vadra’s company. The State government then reportedly reversed Khemka’s decision and sanctioned the land deal.

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List of applicants who applied for commercial projects in Sector 83

the regard, in this note of DTP (HS) may kindly be persued. If agreed, a condition shall be imposed that the company will submit NOC from M/s Onkareshwar Properties (P) Ltd and M/s Mark Buildtech (P) Ltd to allow access till the construction of 24-metre wide internal road as proposed by the office, from their site.” Following this, the file moved rapidly and was cleared by March 25, 2008. It is signed by Dhillon, Dhesi and all concerned senior and junior officers and, finally Chattar Singh, APS CM1, signed it with the stamp “CM has approved”. It is on record

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that Hooda did not sign a single file; it is a tradition in Haryana that PS of the CM signs the file and it is considered as CM’s approval, which is constitutionally void ab initio. But who cares... Ashok Khemka, an IAS officer of the 1991 batch, had claimed that Vadra had falsified documents for the 3.5 acres of plot at Shikohpur village of Gurgaon. Later, the Hooda government constituted a three-member panel, headed by the then Principal Secretary (Revenue), Krishna Mohan, to investigate Khemka’s charges. In its report, submitted in March 2013, the panel

URGAON is full of such illegal deals by real estate developers. The builders in Haryana adopted a new technique while aggregating land from farmers before getting any township plan sanctioned. They offered advance to farmers and got land registered on the promise that as and when the township will be sanctioned, the balance payment will be made. It is alleged that many colonisers have not cleared the payments till now. Why and how it happened? The Revenue Department, Country & Town Planning Department and HUDA were aware of the deceit, but when palms of most of the officers were allegedly greased, who would have stopped the loot. Sources disclosed that there are many farmers who have knocked every door but are not able to get justice. There was nobody in the Hooda regime to take notice of these farmers. Documents establish that Dhesi was very much a part of these misdeeds of the Hooda government. It belies the faith of Haryana’s people when Khattar government claims that it is serious in investigating all Vadra land deals in Gurgaon. It is ironic that perpetrators of the alleged crime are running the Khattar government. The people of Haryana have punished Hooda by dethroning him. Now the Khattar government has to act. Why it is not doing so even as it has all the documents in its possession is though not clear. g

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KILLING FIELDS OF KAIMUR p24

RIGHT TO INFORMATION THE SWELLING TIDE p16

POLITICS SON RISE IN CONGRESS p34

WEST BENGAL: DISTANT THUNDER p22 VOL.

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gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

15

COVER STORY scam mmtc

School for scams During Deepinder Singh Dhesi’s tenure as CMD, MMTC for the first time went into the red

by NEERAJ MAHAJAN

I

N case you are wondering why mega public sector undertakings continue to make losses and bleed, here’s why: Mismanagement and total lack of accountability from top to bottom in the leadership chain. One of the classic examples of such mismanagement and sorry state of affairs is Metals and Minerals Trading Corporation of India Ltd (MMTC), one of India’ top exporters, highest foreign exchange earner and largest public sector trading giant, which has been accorded the status of a Five Star Export House by the Government of India. You just have to flip the coin to reveal it as a school for scams, scandals, and shady deals. Right from the very beginning in 1963, MMTC has had a chequered history of misgovernance, nepotism and corruption. Recently, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India passed strictures against MMTC’s financial mismanagement, possible fraud, negligence and absence of financial prudence. According to the CAG report tabled in Parliament, MMTC suffered a loss of `1.33 crore in a deal with Suchetan Export Pvt Ltd for the procurement of cotton waste. The CAG report expressed concern over losses suffered because of inadequate security and release of stock on the basis of PDCs (post-dated cheques) in various deals. According to insiders, one of the

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worst phases seen by MMTC was during the tenure of Deepinder Singh Dhesi as CMD, MMTC. Even though MMTC has seen many inefficient leaders in the past, it was never a loss-making organisation. But during Dhesi’s tenure, MMTC for the first time went into the red. It was also a period when delinquent officials were reportedly protected and honest officers were victimised. Such was the mismanagement that persons with shady backgrounds—

In what is a closely guarded secret, Dhesi, Gupta and Trivedi flouted all norms to participate in speculative gambling at the Jignesh Shah-promoted National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) Rajeev Jaideva, Anand Trivedi and MG Gupta—were not only allowed to rise to board-level posts, but also to abuse their positions to draw allowances beyond 50 per cent of basic pay, which is the maximum permissible as per DPE guidelines. One of the first things that Dhesi did after taking over as CMD on October 6, 2012, was to bring in his own set of people in the Functional Management Committee of Directors. Gupta, who had caused a loss of `10 crore to MMTC in the M/s Suchetan Exports deal by ordering import of 11,000 MT of coal at a high price from a foreign

supplier, was appointed Director (Finance), while Trivedi, another Dhesi favourite, was appointed Director (Marketing) in July 2012. Incidentally, Trivedi, a BCom third class, is the son of former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India and Governor of Gujarat, RK Trivedi. Likewise, Jaideva, against whom strictures were passed by the CBI for showing undue favours to NAADP without requisite securities, was appointed Director (Personnel), flouting the PESB rules. All this is similar to the infamous promotion fraud in MMTC when Nripendra Mishra was holding additional charge of CMD, MMTC in February 1998 and 18 DGMs were promoted to the post of GMs. Cover up operations MMTC entered into a Long Term Agreement (LTA) “to purchase freshly mined and washed coking coal” from Anglo Coal on FOB (trimmed) basis. The agreement ran into rough waters and the Arbitration Award was pronounced in May 2014 for alleged non-lifting of 453,034 MT of coking coal by MMTC and Anglo was entitled to recover damages from MMTC to the tune of US$78 million (`500 crore) with interest. MMTC challenged the Arbitration Award in the Delhi High Court through former Union Law Minister P Chidambaram, but the petition was dismissed. “For the aforementioned reasons, the Court finds no grounds having been made out by MMTC

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under Section 34 of the Act for interference with the impugned majority Award dated 12th May 2014. The petition is dismissed with costs of `1,00,000, which shall be paid by MMTC to Anglo within four weeks,” the Delhi High Court order by Justice S Murlidhar read. Dhesi suppressed the liability on MMTC as per the Arbitration Award by not informing the Department of Commerce. Further, instead of taking disciplinary action against the guilty officials, a chargesheet was initiated against M Thyagarajan (the then CGM) who was the whistleblower and the complainant to CBI in the Chennai Gold Fraud Case (`120 crore). Ironically, one of the prosecution witnesses in the departmental inquiry against Thyagarajan, Gurumurthy, then GM (F), was an accused in CBI’s chargesheet in the Chennai Gold Fraud case.

I

N what is a closely guarded secret, Dhesi, Gupta and Trivedi flouted all norms to participate in speculative gambling at the Jignesh Shahpromoted National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL). Both Gupta and Trivedi had close links with Shah since the time they were CGMs (West Zone). Gupta even managed to get his son, Vineet Gupta, employed in NSEL. But, instead of initiating disciplinary action against him, Dhesi sided with him to trade on NSEL platform. Following a circuitous route, trading on NSEL was approved by MMTC’s Functional Management Committee of Directors (FMCOD), chaired by Dhesi, without taking the approval

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Persons with shady backgrounds—Rajeev Jaideva, Anand Trivedi and MG Gupta—were not only allowed to rise to boardlevel posts, but also to abuse their positions to draw allowances beyond 50 per cent of basic pay, which is the maximum permissible as per DPE guidelines of Board of Directors as required under the MMTC’s Delegation of Powers (DOP). Accordingly, GM (Precious Metals), N Balaji, and GM (F&A), T Kumaran, were asked to sign the application for NSEL membership on behalf of MMTC. Interestingly, even at that initial stage, CGM (Finance), Vijay Pal, and GM (Finance), Surjeet Singh, objected to the high-risk trading at NSEL where warehouse receipts were not supported by physical stocks. But, Dhesi overruled their objections in the 88th meeting

of the Functional Management Committee of Directors, which was held on June 14, 2013. The result was a whopping loss of `250 crore due to speculative trading through NSEL. Money was advanced to private parties without any collateral security. This was in violation of Delegation of Powers of MMTC. MMTC acknowledged a loss of `226 crore in its quarterly results ending June 30, 2013, and `25 crore on account of VAT. Interestingly, the associates of MMTC, who acted as sellers, were also the buyers for the same commodity that was sold to MMTC? Many of these buyers and sellers, like Mohan India and Yathuri Associates, were common to both NSEL and MMTC. The Supreme Court, in the State of Gujarat vs Mohanlal Jitamalji Porwal and Anr. AIR 1987 SC 1321, observed, “The entire community is aggrieved if economic offenders who ruin the economy of the State are not brought to book.” Likewise, in the Ram Narain Popli vs CBI, 2003 (3) SCC 641, the Apex Court observed, “In the last few years, the country has seen an alarming rise in white collar crimes which has affected the fibre of the country’s economic structure. These cases are nothing but private gain at the cost of the public and lead to economic disaster.” This notwithstanding, Dhesi a 1982-batch Haryana cadre, IAS, lords over as the 32nd Chief Secretary of Haryana. Dhesi, who still has nearly four years of service left, took over from PK Gupta as Haryana chief secretary on December 1, 2014. g

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17

EYES WIDE SHUT prabhat kumar

The war within IAS and non-IAS officers continue to wage a battle of words on the question of parity. The essence of civil service lies in serving the people, which, unfortunately, the civil servants possess only by exception.

T

HE war for parity between IAS and non-IAS officers Quixote charging at the windmills. Arguably, an IAS officer of the Union Government is far from being over. In gathers enormous amount of experience while handling a the last couple of weeks, it came very close for the range of issues like law and order, public distribution, non-IAS services to win parity with IAS. I am sure the bit- consumer affairs, agriculture, irrigation, community ter war of words on the social media and elsewhere will development, industry, rural development, which continue unabated despite, or as a consequence of, the according to some, is required to play a leadership role in Government’s decision to defer it for further examination. policy making. The opponents to IAS supremacy say that Twenty-odd organised Civil Services of the Union had the processes and techniques of governance have acquired moved a petition before the 7th Central Pay Commission a complexity far beyond the capability of mere generalists. for ending the much-maligned IAS supremacy by remov- They say that the emerging civil service structure needs to ing the handicap suffered by non-IAS officers in matters of evolve to meet contemporary challenges. Since both the emoluments and hierarchical positions. They argued that groups have emerged from the same selection process and possess identical intellectual over the years, the IAS had been stonewalling any move to bring According to the chairman of the calibre, I do not think the debate has any possibility of approaching down the edge given to them after Pay Commission, there was no a plausible resolution. Independence. The main pain justification for the continuation of The essence of civil service is area was the two-year differential the two-year gap, an ‘archaic not the knowledge of the domain in empanelment for higher posiconcept in the present realm’ or the 360 degree familiarity with tions in the Central Government. governance, but the spirit of It was argued that earlier empanelment entitled IAS officers to higher pay and other ben- serving the people, which, unfortunately, the civil servants possess only by exception. In the babble of mutual efits than their batchmates belonging to other services. The report of the 7th Pay Commission, which recom- mudslinging, the point is missed by both. There are several mended by a majority vote the opening up of central staff- individual officers who show the path of real public service ing scheme for competition to give all participating ser- by raising the bar above the normal call of duty. One such vices an equal chance at top posts, came as a premonition officer says, ”To my mind, the challenge is to transform of disaster to the IAS fraternity. According to the chair- more within than without.” The main discourse in the arena of governance the man of the Commission, there was no justification for the continuation of the two-year gap, an ‘archaic concept in world over is regarding conscious public service. There are the present realm’, as the Indian bureaucracy had since international conventions and workshops on the theme of come of age. He says, “the main cause of resentment is that reorienting the mindset of public functionaries. A colloover a period of time IAS has abrogated to itself all powers quium on the subject was organised in Brazil, which conof governance and relegated all other services to a second- cluded that ethics, and not efficiency, is the soul of good ary position… It is time that the government takes a call governance. I wonder, if the debate between the services that subject domain should be the criteria to man posts would ever focus on quality of their service delivery. Endpoint: Has the Indian Bureaucracy really and not a generalist.” Judgment signed and delivered. The arguments on both the sides, in my view, are equally come of age, as claimed by the Chairman of the 7th unconvincing. While the supporters of IAS harp on the Pay Commission? g singularly appropriate all-round experience to hold top The writer was the Cabinet Secretary and the first Governor of policy making jobs, it is ridiculed by the rivals as Don Jharkhand. He can be reached at pkumar1511@hotmail.com

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INITIATIVE nhai project

ADVT.

T

O provide better commuting experience to road users using the stretch and for generating employment for female population residing in close vicinity of the Mathura toll plaza, the NHAI concessionaire has employed only local girls as collectors of toll fees. The Delhi-Agra toll project is 180 km in length and connects Delhi, the National capital with the historical town of Agra and has prominent religious places/ towns like Mathura, Virindavan and Govardhan located en route. There are two toll plaza located on the project road, one at Palwal, (KM74.000) and other at Mathura, (KM164.000). NHAI has entered into an agreement with concessionaire Delhi-Agra Toll Road Pvt Ltd (DATR), a group company of Reliance Infra Ltd, for widening the road from existing four lanes to six lanes carriageway. What started as an experiment has become a precedent for others to follow as the girls at Mahuvan (Mathura) Toll Plaza are persistently and diligently carrying out their duties for last one and a Half years.

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Female power at NHAI’s Mathura toll plaza

Currently, a total of 25 female staff is employed at the toll plaza for carrying out various duties. Belonging to poor communities, these local female staffers are running their family independently and are a social support for their dependents. Out of the three shifts, the morning shift is exclusively manned by female staff; they not only collect the toll fees but also manage traffic in the lanes. Initially, the concessionaire did face problems as the concept was being tried for the first time in this part of the country and with the toll industry being a predominately male dominated industry, parents were not keen on their daughters taking up the job. Also, the girls themselves were unsure whether they would be able to perform the duties, or not. But the result has been every encouraging. There have been less user complaints and decline of altercations at the plaza. The women are sincere, disciplined and honest in their work. Due to inherent characteristics, they possess soft skills needed to handle the duties. g (Inputs from NHAI)

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19

GOVERNANCE

elections mg devasahayam

Indian democracy’s underbelly

Time to clean-up

EC does not consult the people, the sovereign and the real stakeholders who give power to the politicians. Instead they pander to political parties, who are only interested in grabbing power by fair or foul means

P

RIME Minister Narendra Modi prostrates before Delhi’s Parliament House, venerating it as ‘Temple of Democracy’. At Capitol Hill in Washington DC, he uses the same superlative for the US Congress: “This temple of democracy has encouraged and

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empowered other democracies the world over… It manifests the spirit of this great nation… In granting me this opportunity, you have honoured the world’s largest democracy and its 1.25 billion people… As a representative of world’s largest democracy, it is indeed a privilege to

speak to the leaders of its oldest.” On June 26, the 41st anniversary of Emergency, PM Modi said this in his Mann ki Baat: “The night of June 25-26, 1975, was the darkest night for democracy. All rights of citizens were taken away, country was turned into jail. Many political

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leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan were put behind bars‌ we are now in a democracy. Democracy is our strength.â€? These comments are eulogising India’s democracy. Has he ever bothered to look at its underbelly? If he had done so, he would have found it rusted, moth-eaten and crumbling, not something to be hyped about. Country’s trackrecord of timely DQG HIÂżFLHQW HOHFWLRQV KDV JLYHQ considerable prestige and legitimacy to India’s democratic polity and its SROLWLFLDQV ZKR DUH WKH EHQHÂżFLDULHV But the moot question is what kind of people get elected? Are they ‘leaders’ or ‘dealers’? Nearly a third of elected representatives face serious criminal charges such as murder, rape, abduction and offences relating to moral turpitude. Almost all of them have amassed wealth much beyond their known sources of income! Successive governments did not lift D ÂżQJHU WR VHW ULJKW WKLQJV +RZHYHU the Supreme Court intervened and in its judgment in March 2003, directed all candidates contesting elections to ÂżOH DIÂżGDYLWV EHIRUH WKH 5HWXUQLQJ 2IÂżFHUV VWDWLQJ WKHLU FULPLQDO antecedents, assets and liabilities. This was meant to curtail criminal and money-power in elections. The same court on July 9, 2013, struck down Section 8 (4) in the Representation of People’s Act (RP Act) allowing MPs and MLAs to continue to be elected representatives even after they get convicted for criminal offences. On July 5, 2013, the apex court decreed that ‘Freebies shake the root of free and fair elections to a large degree’ and directed the Election Commission (EC) to frame guidelines for election manifesto. But all these have come to naught and the rot is deepening. We saw this glaringly in Tamil Nadu Election in 2016 where money power and

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IUHHELHV ZHUH LQ IXOO Ă€RZ 7KH UROH of money power is described by the EC in its order rescinding election in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur assembly constituencies: “Decision is based on the Commission’s assessment about the vitiated atmosphere in the constituencies created by the illegal use of money power to allure the electorate by unethical and unlawful means resorted to by the candidates and the parties.â€? The word ‘vitiated’ appears at several places in the Order. What was written of these two constituencies was applicable mutatis mutandis to almost the entire State! EC’s Model Code of Conduct, 2014, (MCC) on freebies directs political parties and candidates to

Nearly a third of elected representatives face serious criminal charges such as murder, rape, abduction and offences relating to moral turpitude. Almost all of them have amassed wealth much beyond their known sources of income! “avoid making those promises which are likely to vitiate the purity of the election process or exert undue LQĂ€XHQFH RQ WKH YRWHUV LQ H[HUFLVLQJ their franchiseâ€?. Also, in the interest of WUDQVSDUHQF\ OHYHO SOD\LQJ ÂżHOG DQG credibility of promises, manifestos VKRXOG ÂłUHĂ€HFW WKH UDWLRQDOH IRU WKH promises and broadly indicate the ZD\V DQG PHDQV WR PHHW WKH ÂżQDQFLDO requirements for itâ€?. Election Manifesto released by the AIADMK Party on May 5, 2016, just 10 days before the polling date, was in total violation of the Supreme Court judgment and the MCC. Earlier, the

DMK had issued its manifesto with some freebies. EC did not take any action on these blatant violations except issuing a belated and weak notice to these parties, that too on the representation from civil society. No further action was taken, polling proceeded and government was installed in power. Post-poll surveys clearly revealed that the massive freebies offered in the manifesto were the clincher.

A

DDED to these was the serious matter of seizure of huge cash of `570 crore at Tiruppur, just two days before election (around midnight of May 13-14, 2016) that had raised suspicion of humungous electoral bribing. The totally unbelievable story of this money (supposed to belong to SBI), moving from Coimbatore to Vizag, is yet to be fully investigated. On the orders of the Madras High Court, the CBI is looking into it. But, since this happened in an election-bound State under the virtual administration of EC, it is their responsibility to ascertain facts and initiate stringent action. Why the rot? Major factor is the attitude and approach of political parties who are a law unto themselves. These entities have failed to bring about inner party democracy, transparent funding and functioning as well as merit-based selection of candidates free of criminal and corruption taint. The Political Parties (Registration and Regulation of Affairs) Bill, 2011 drafted by the Association for Democratic Reforms is in cold storage. What is worse, political parties do not even want to be considered as ‘public authorities’ and KDYH ZLOOIXOO\ GHÂżHG WKH 57, $FW 7KH\ OLEHUDOO\ ÂżHOG FULPLQDOV DQG FRUUXSW as candidates seeking election. They

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21

GOVERNANCE

elections mg devasahayam

indulge in electoral corruption of alarming proportion that includes individual bribing and vote-buying as well as mass inducement through lavish showering of fancy/consumer goods as freebies in the election manifesto. All these have made the HOHFWRUDO ¿HOG DQ XQHYHQ FHVVSRRO Being controlled by these very political parties, the central government is averse to any change. Proposals from the EC are pending for decades. Though all kind of reforms are being brandished to make India a super-rich and super-clean country, there is not even a whisper about electoral reforms to clean-up and enrich India’s democracy which is our greatest asset. Most glaring instance LV UHQGHULQJ WKH 6& PDQGDWH RI ¿OLQJ RI DI¿GDYLW E\ WKH FDQGLGDWHV LQWR D damp squib because the government has failed to amend rules to disqualify corrupt and criminal elements at the thresh-hold. Political parties continue WR ¿HOG WKHVH SROLWLFLDQV ZKR EHFRPH 03V 0/$V HYHQ DIWHU ¿OLQJ IDOVH DI¿GDYLWV DERXW WKHLU FULPLQDO UHFRUG and illegal wealth! And most of them get elected!

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HE constitutional mandate and Supreme Court judgments hold EC squarely responsible for conducting fair and free elections, which is a basic feature of the Constitution. For this, EC is vested with legal (RP Act) and plenary powers (Article 324 of the Constitution). Yet, (& LV ÂżQGLQJ LWVHOI EHWZHHQ D URFN (political parties) and a hard place (government). For instance, though Section 58A of RP Act empowers EC to countermand election for ‘booth capturing’, it has not been extended to ‘vote capturing’ through bribes and freebies. Bullied by political parties and disheartened by the government’s indifference, EC has

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Though all kind of reforms are being brandished to make India a super-rich and super-clean country, there is not even a whisper about electoral reforms to clean-up and enrich India’s democracy which is our greatest asset compromised on electoral integrity. Result is the sharp diminishing of India’s democracy. However, in TN Election, 2016, exercising plenary powers, EC rescinded elections in two constituencies due to widespread bribing of voters. It also issued notices to the two major political parties on the lavish promises of freebies in their election manifestoes. One has to be thankful for small mercies. Issues & Posers We need to look at India post liberalisation, privatisation and

globalisation regime starting from early nineties. No doubt, the country KDV PDGH JUHDW VWULGHV LQ PDQ\ ¿HOGV and is now being heralded as world’s fastest growing economy. Twenty¿YH \HDUV GRZQ WKH OLQH ZH DUH LQ WKH grip of a market economy. Rich have become richer, black economy has boomed and there is extreme poverty and inequity. In these years, election technology and management has advanced with EVMs, IT solutions and vast array of observers, surveillance/ raiding teams and paramilitary forces. But democracy has decayed. Among the WKUHH SOD\HUV LQ WKH HOHFWLRQ ¿HOG rule-less political parties are going from strength to strength, rule-bound government is indifferent and EC is paralysed. Another key and powerful player, judiciary, is treating election in a casual manner and would not decide election-petitions for ages, making it a mockery. In all, it turns out that election is a mere exercise to facilitate political

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z Selection process of candidates by political parties to contest elections should undergo a paradigm change. India needs a system wherein people can select and elect their representatives who can be recalled if they don’t perform or indulge in corrupt practices. z We need to develop mechanisms at the level of the constituencies where an elected constituency committee will involve the electorate in the process of selection of candidates. In open meetings of this committee, merits of potential candidates should be discussed and selection made. These selected candidates will be known and trusted by the people. z As of now, electoral arena is totally biased in favour of parties to capture and retain power by fair or foul means. Fundamental principles of democracy, such as electoral integrity and level playing ¿HOG GR QRW VHHP WR KDYH PXFK VSDFH in the scheme of things. We are seeing this happening right before our eyes. In TN, politicians bought peoples’ votes and became MLAs. In many other States, MLAs sold their votes to money-bags to make them MPs (Rajya Sabha). Lok Sabha election is no better. Grassroots elections (panchayats and urban local bodies) are even worse. India’s ingenuity for jugad has morphed world’s largest democracy into world’s biggest satta bazar! What needs to be done? Post-TN Assembly and Rajya Sabha elections, a round table of eminent activists, senior politicians and civil society leaders along with representatives from the EC threw up some very practical and pragmatic solutions to VWHP WKH URW HQJXO¿QJ WKH FRXQWU\

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Party politics has drowned good governance. EC has the power for about two months to control the parties. EC should have power throughout and not just at the time of elections established parties that have a permanent symbol that can be easily recognised by the voters. Since this is not available to smaller parties who want to enter the fray to provide alternatives, they are put at tremendous disadvantage. Either all registered parties should be assigned permanent symbols or none. Every party should get different symbol for different election. This could usher in a levelplaying field, which is the biggest bugbear in today’s elections. z Announcing mind-boggling

freebies in the election manifestos in violation of MCC should be an electoral offence punishable with de-recognition and disqualification of the concerned political party from contesting elections. z Corporate funding should be banned since it brings undue influence of money power. This was done for a brief period in the late 1970s. It was again permitted under the plea that they have as much right to fund elections. This ban should be brought back. z A judicious mix of the existing first-past-the-post system and a list-based proportional representation system would be good for India. z To prevent criminals from getting elected, MCC must demarcate political activists from criminals. For this purpose, Section 8 of the RP Act needs to be amended. It may not be foolproof but at least there can be a check. z The appointment of Election Commissioners should be by a collegium rather than being left to the whims of the government of the day. z When a new political party wants to work for the country, they should get the opportunity to reach out to the electorate through the media, which is now being controlled by big corporate houses and political parties. It is they who decide the winner through opinion polls and creating “waves� about a particular party or messiahs. EC should ensure equal access to media for all players. z Party politics has drowned good governance. EC has the power for about two months to control the parties. EC should have power throughout and not just at the time of elections.

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GOVERNANCE

elections mg devasahayam

But all hope is not lost because “We, the people, who gave ourselves the Constitution” have not given this responsibility to the government or political parties, but to the EC. People have also bestowed EC with legal and plenipotentiary powers. In a catena of judgments, the Supreme Court has further strengthened it by ruling that “conducting free and fair elections is the basic feature of the Constitution” and this is the responsibility of EC. It is, therefore, imperative on the part of EC to function as a catalyst to rally the forces and ensure electoral integrity by all means and not remain tied to the apron strings of the government.

z People may be accepting cashfor-votes since they know that they will not get anything after the elections. So they take whatever is given before the elections. Political parties are reportedly funded by mafia and it is their money which is used to bribe the voters. EC should take action to stem this before, during and after the elections. z Mafia money used for bribing voters is accumulated and stacked over a period of time and it is not possible for EC to unearth it in a

body should go into the whole issue of political funding. It can check the character and experience of the proposed candidates and can keep a watch on the entitlements of elected representatives. This body can work with EC to bring about political and electoral integrity. z People are ignorant about the basic tenets of democracy and the purpose of holding periodic elections. They think it is just about political parties capturing power. Massive education and awareness building is required to undo this. Democracy and electoral process should be made part of the school and college syllabus in all streams of studies. time-period of two months. This is the responsibility of the IncomeTax department and Enforcement Directorate. EC should evolve a mechanism to involve these agencies over longer period instead of doing fire-fighting at the nick of time. z There is need for an all-India nongovernment body, whose main objective would be to oversee the process of political integrity. This

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Election Commission as the Catalyst Consensus is that due to neartotal lack of electoral integrity, India’s democracy is facing serious decay. Neither political parties nor governments are willing to take the necessary remedial steps to pull democracy out of this morass by ensuring stringent standards of electoral integrity.

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S of now, EC does not consult the people, the sovereign and the real stakeholders who give power to the politicians. Instead they pander to political parties, who are only interested in grabbing power by fair or foul means. EC is not placed there by “We, the People” to bring political parties to power and allow them to do whatever they want. EC is there on behalf of the people to sustain democracy and make it vibrant. So, EC must initiate a country-wide discourse wherein people across-the-board should be involved. Civil society organisations, that include everyone except those governed my military laws, can assist the EC in this task. EC is not a subordinate entity of the government. It represents “We, the people” to ensure electoral integrity. In that capacity, EC should seek a fresh RP Act, incorporating all the above suggestions as well as the provisions of the draft Political Parties Bill, 2011. Sooner this is done the better it is for India’s democracy! g The writer is a former Army and IAS officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com

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STATE SCAN mcd health

MCD

the diabetes infamy Ashok Garg

Dr Ashok Garg, while heading the Corporation’s Diabetic Centre, earned lakhs of rupees by ordering purchase of medicines that were neither purchased, nor received and were never issued to patients by K SUBRAMANIAN

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HE Delhi Government called a two-day special session of the Assembly beginning Friday, June 10, 2016, primarily to highlight alleged corruption and irregularities in the municipal corporations of Delhi. The session was extended by a day and concluded on Monday, June 13, 2016. Speaking at the session, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the BJP-ruled civic bodies

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were riddled with so much corruption that 95 per cent of councillors would have been in jail if an impartial probe was done. He further alleged that the State government has given substantially enhanced amount to the civic bodies compared to the previous two governments ruled by the Congress and the BJP, but the entire amount was siphoned off and it was shameful that these corporations had no money to even pay for salaries to their employees.

There are innumerable stories of officials working in these civic bodies being involved in rampant misappropriation of funds and irregularities making millions, whereas the city stinks and suffers due to lack of basic amenities. The Assembly adopted a motion to set up a house committee to enquire into charges of ‘rampant corruption and irregularities’ in municipal corporations and recommend measures to improve sanitation, health, and education. Taking the

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clue, Gfiles considered it appropriate to start a series of investigative write ups aimed at exposing some of the most corrupt officials, manning various departments, who made millions at the cost of suffering to the general public. The first of such cases belongs to the Health Department. Dr Ashok Garg was heading the Diabetic Centre set by the Corporation with much fanfare in Arya Pura, Delhi. Dr Garg allegedly squandered lakhs of rupees by ordering the purchase of medicines that were neither purchased, nor received and were never issued to patients. All this was done with active assistance of his juniors, namely Radha Piari (pharmacist/ store keeper) and Dr Meenu Mahendru (MO). Dr Garg, who is alleged to have illicit relations with some of the female members of his staff, embezzled millions in the name of organising diabetic camps. One can get a fair idea by the following cases as to how Dr Garg did this. At a camp organised in Gita Colony on September 2, 2007, from 8 am to 12 noon, vide OO No. AD. MHO(M)/1435, to which Dr Garg was the OSD and Radha Piari the store keeper, tests were reportedly conducted on 563 patients (no authentic records for the same were found). For this, 563 blood sugar strips were shown to be used, 2,000 urine sugar strips were used, 2,000 albumin strips were used and 550 urine pregnancy strips were used. But, how is it possible to conduct all such tests for 563 patients within 4 hours? Also, how a diabetic camp is attended by patients who all were pregnant? Also, all things were issued under the signature of Dr Mahendru, the then MO In charge despite storekeeper Radha being present. Similar mass-scale embezzlement of money is alleged to have been

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made by organising several such camps, including ones at Jheel Colony on September 30, 2007. Thousands of fake tests were done and medicines/ equipment were shown to have to been used in camps organised at Majlis Park on October 14, 2007, Hardev Nagar on November 4, 2007, Budh Vihar on December 16, 2007, Gupta Colony on December 23, 2007, Uttam Nagar on December 30, 2007, Jonti on January 6, 2008, Rani Garden on January 13, 2008, Karala on January 20, 2008, Roshan Pura on January 27, 2008, and February 3, 2008, Gita Colony on

There are innumerable stories of officials working in these civic bodies being involved in rampant misappropriation of funds and irregularities making millions, whereas the city stinks and suffers due to lack of basic amenities February 17, 2008, Sagar Pur on March 14, 2008, and March 30, 2008, Mandawali on April 6, 2008, Jangpura on April 21, 2008 and April 27, 2008, Nimri Colony on April 20, 2008, and May 4, 2008, Gautam Nagar on May 4, 2008, Shahdara on June 8, 2008, Raghubar Pura on July 19, 2008, Gita Colony on August 19, 2008, Usman Pur on August 19, 2008, Pitampura on October 2, 2008, Gita Colony from October 2, 2008, to October 4, 2008, etc. Dr Garg, when contacted, said, “No camp was organised without the approval of the higher authority.� He added that the very next day of the camp, a report was submitted to the higher authorities giving the number

of patients attended to. As OSD, Dr Garg personally used to place all orders for medicines/ test kits, then receive them, inspect them and even consume them despite having no such financial powers. In 2007, MCD purchased semi-auto analyser and other equipment for diabetic centre at Rajouri Garden laboratory, spending lakhs of rupees. However, these are yet to be used and must have been damaged or spoiled by now. Such brazen and crude were the ways to squander the money that Dr Mahendru purchased kits of Glycocylated Hemoglobin, T3, T4 and TSH and these were shown to have been consumed despite there being no machine in the laboratory to use them for these tests.

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R Garg is not only involved in serious financial irregularities, but is also allegedly known to have openly sought sexual favours from female staff attached to him, who were threatened to keep mum. However, Dr Garg said that no female staff member has ever accused him of sexual harassment. An inquiry committee, comprising Dr Dharampal Vashisht, Dr Prabhodh Kumar Sharma and Dr Santosh Kumar, was instituted to look into the irregularities committed by Dr Garg. The committee submitted its report to the Additional Commissioner, Health, on March 27, 2014, vide Diary and dispatch no. 6724/3161, recommending stern action against Dr Garg. However, the report was dumped by senior officials for the alleged largesse extended to them by Dr Garg. Dr Garg is presently posted as Officer in-charge, Pharmacy and Store, and is actively engaged in the purchases for the department—a position akin to something where the thief is made the king. g

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GOVERNANCE G GO OVERNANCE

avvia avi a aviation via iati tion io on n jitender jitende de err bhargava b ar bh a gava ga g ava a

National Civil Aviation Policy

Better late than never A mistaken belief that setting parameters will ensure success is fraught with danger

I

NDIA finally has a National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP)—a good 25 years after private airlines were allowed to fly in Indian skies; a good 63 years after Air India and Indian Airlines came into inception as government airlines through nationalisation; and, a good 84 years after JRD Tata heralded the birth of Indian civil aviation by operating the maiden Karachi-Mumbai flight via Ahmedabad. Initial euphoria of eventually having the NCAP apart, one cannot but wonder why the policy was in the works for almost three decades. What is in the policy that should have taken the country so long? After all

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the basic features enshrined in it are predictable—affordable travel, enhanced air connectivity, development of airports, impetus to cargo business, MRO, etc. For one who has been associated with the industry for almost three decades, it is not difficult to surmise that a combination of factors— absence of vision, lack of capability and low priority accorded to the industry as in the socialist era it was deemed as elitist—can be listed as some of the causes for the delay. This, of course, if one discounts the fact of deliberate omission in to-do list to enable policymakers revel in ad hoc decision-making for grant of licenses, formulating policies like the infamous 5/20 rule to benefit a particular airline or doling out seats to foreign carriers with or without consideration. Whatever be the rationale to justify the delay, the irony is that India has lost out in a sector which was

given a head start by JRD Tata. India is now deemed only as a growing market for exploitation by foreign airlines and not for its standing amongst global mega carriers or aviation expertise. While the current incumbents in the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA), including the ministers, can justifiably be proud of giving the country the NCAP, they ought to consider formulation of policy as the beginning of the process for giving Indian aviation a sense of direction rather than a culmination of a “prolonged effort”. Since MoCA has been witness to frequent changes in recent years at the Secretary level and bureaucrats serving the ministry have never demonstrated knowledge or understanding of the sector, it will only be prudent for the ministry to constitute a think-tank to translate the vision spelt out in NCAP. A mistaken belief that setting

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up as promptly as they had mushroomed because entrants lacked adequate knowledge of the sector and the ministry had evolved no procedures to check financial robustness or business plans of the over-enthusiastic ‘entrepreneurs’ who ventured into the hitherto unexplored field. One can foresee a similar repetition of history in the mad race that may set in once the parameters for regional connectivity, which is a key element of NCAP, are spelt out. Collapse of even a couple of new regional carriers in initial stages will not only spell doom for the incumbent players, but deter others from venturing into it. Hence,

parameters will ensure success and that their responsibility has ended with the announcement of the policy is fraught with danger. Learning from the past Old timers need to recapitulate for the benefit of the current policymakers the scenario the country witnessed when Indian skies were opened to private airlines in 1990s. Airlines folded

The irony is that India has lost out in a sector which was given a head start by JRD Tata. It is now deemed only as a growing market for exploitation by foreign airlines and not for its standing amongst global mega carriers or aviation expertise

there’s the need for caution and handholding by the government. Regional connectivity HE basic guidelines in NCAP relating to regional connectivity—State governments meeting cost of airport services, security, fire arrangements, offering concessions in applicable VAT on Air Turbine Fuel (ATF)—are worthy of being appreciated. However, for ensuring success, one needs to dwell more on it by finding answers to some basic questions. Why would a State government incur expenditure on providing these services? Will the index-linked capped fare of `2,500 for a less-than-60 minute flight help the prospective operator recover operational costs? One is tempted to take a positive stance because the potential to expand air connectivity to cover tier II and III cities does exist. The success is also critical if the target of 300 million domestic tickets by 2022, from the present 80 million tickets, is to be achieved. The States, rather than being left to decide on their own volition (many probably lack the

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Policy Objectives

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HE policy in its vision statement states that it will "create an eco-system to make flying affordable for the masses and to enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027; and international ticketing to increase to 20 crore by 2027". Further, in its objective, the policy states: 1. Establish an integrated eco-system which will lead to significant growth of civil aviation sector, which, in turn, would promote tourism, increase employment and lead to a balanced regional growth. 2. Ensure safety, security and sustainability of aviation sector through the use of technology and effective monitoring. 3. Enhance regional connectivity through fiscal support

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and infrastructure development. 4. Enhance ease of doing business through deregulation, simplified procedures and e-governance. 5. Promote the entire aviation sector chain in a harmonised manner covering cargo, MRO, general aviation, aerospace manufacturing and skill development. The all-encompassing NCAP covers all facets of the industry—regional connectivity; safety; air transport operations; route dispersal guidelines; 5/20 requirement for international operations; bilateral traffic rights; codeshare agreements; fiscal support; airports developed by State governments; private sector or in PPP mode; air navigation services; Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO); ground handling, etc.

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GOVERNANCE

aviation jitender bhargava

foresight), ought to be told of the gains that will accrue to the region through development of hospitality industry, movement of local produce, affordable means of travel, etc., once a particular region of the State is linked with air connectivity. Only if the State administrators are made to see the larger gains manifesting for them over a long term will they feel the urge to encourage regional connectivity. Capped fare of `2,500 Likewise, existing airlines or budding entrepreneurs wishing to enter the

everything going for it as it prepares to take off, with or without the need for Viability Gap Funding, a provision for which has been made in NCAP should the operational costs exceed the revenues fixed at the capped fare of `2,500 per passenger.

T

HE government, considering the significance of regional connectivity for overall development, can in fact go a step further—facilitate purchase/ leasing of aircraft at favourable terms. Since regional players are expected to have small fleets, they may not get the best deal from

airlines have been sending their aircraft for maintenance abroad— Dubai, Singa-pore, Sri Lanka, etc. NCAP, while finally recognising the importance of MRO, not only accords infrastructure status to the sector but also provides incentives that will lead to reduction in maintenance costs. The impetus being given may soon lead to a reversal in trend. Instead of Indian carriers sending their aircraft abroad for maintenance, our MROs may begin undertaking maintenance of aircraft of foreign carriers. It is a field that has hitherto remained unexplored. Both, the regional connectivity and

Only if the State administrators are made to see the larger gains manifesting for them over a long term will they feel the urge to encourage regional connectivity

regional connectivity business may have to be convinced of profitable business, which it will be, provided the regional connectivity operations is structured professionally. A review of current one-hour flights and fares will show that on many sectors, the fares are generally below or around `2,500. The economies of scale (since on existing sectors a larger aircraft is used whereas smaller aircraft will be used for regional connectivity) can be offset with saving that will accrue due to there being no airport and landing charges, no passenger handling fee besides only 1 per cent VAT on ATF for regional connectivity as against 20-30 per cent for other sectors. Simply put, regional connectivity has

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aircraft manufacturers. As collectively the demand for small aircraft can be 200-300 aircraft in the near future, why not club the requirement and get the best deal not only in terms of price but also maintenance from the manufacturers? One only has to look at how Emirates, Etihad and Qatar airlines had clubbed their demand for new aircraft in 2013 and managed to get a good bargain from both Boeing and Airbus while ordering aircraft worth $200 billion. Reversing the trend The other aspect of NCAP that merits attention is the Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (MRO). In the absence of MROs in India, all private

MRO, have enormous potential to generate employment opportunities for the country’s youth. With the kind of gains that one can foresee in the aviation sector through this one omnibus policy—even if it fails to pass the test on all thresholds—one is tempted to ask the basic question: Why did it take the country so long to formulate a policy? In the lost years, the politicians took numerous ad hoc decisions to benefit a particular airline, or a country, thus not only harming India’s long-term interests but also giving foreign airlines a stranglehold on most routes against which our own carriers will now have to compete to serve our own market. Better late than never! g The writer is former Executive Director, Air India, and author of ‘The Descent of Air India’

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GOVERNANCE iata dublin agm

IATA’S DUBLIN AGM

Blocked funds raise concerns The sum of blocked funds globally exceeds $5 billion. The top two countries blocking the repatriation of airline funds are Venezuela and Nigeria by ANIL TYAGI AND ANISH GANDHI FROM DUBLIN, IRELAND

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ISTORIC Royal Dublin Society was aesthetically decorated in the first week of June to host the 72nd International Air Transport Association (IATA) annual general meeting (AGM) at Dublin, Ireland. $709 billion Air Industry with an estimated profit $39.4 billion this year and representing over 260 airlines accounting for 83 per cent of global air traffic, Dublin AGM was splendid

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by all means. Air should make more money than previously expected this year, helped by low oil prices and effort by airlines to fill planes and drive ancillary revenues. This was the second time the IATA AGM was organised in Ireland—the first being in 1962. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced leadership changes at the conclusion of the Association’s 72nd AGM. Willie Walsh, CEO of International Airlines Group (IAG), succeeds

Andres Conesa, CEO of Aeromexico, as Chairman of the IATA Board of Governors (BoG). Walsh, who represents British Airways (BA) on the IATA BoG, takes up his duties immediately for a one-year term until the conclusion of IATA’s 73rd AGM. Alexandre de Juniac, Chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, was confirmed to succeed Tony Tyler as IATA’s Director General and CEO. His appointment is effective from September 1, 2016. IATA’s AGM was concerned about

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IATA’s board of governors

Terrorism and Safety, Environment, Security of the passengers along with illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products. The outgoing DG Tony Tyler was worried about Taxation. There are nearly 2,000 government-imposed aviation taxes and charges in IATA’s database—of which 230 are statutory taxes imposed on tickets. Most increases are incremental, but they add up. And, it is not unusual for the net impact of government taxes and charges to reach 20 per cent or more of the cost

Alexandre de Juniac, Chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM, was confirmed to succeed Tony Tyler as IATA’s Director General and CEO. His appointment is effective from September 1, 2016 www.indianbuzz.com

Factfile ‡ &RQVXPHUV EHQHILW IURP ORZHU IXHO SULFHV ZLWK ORZHU IDUHV PRUH URXWHV DQG ZLOO VSHQG RI ZRUOG *'3 RQ DLU WUDQVSRUW ‡ (FRQRPLF GHYHORSPHQW LV D ELJ ZLQQHU IURP WKH GRXEOLQJ RI FLW\ SDLUV DQG KDOYLQJ RI DLU WUDQVSRUW FRVWV RYHU WKH SDVW \HDUV ‡ *RYHUQPHQWV JDLQ VXEVWDQWLDOO\ IURP EQ RI WD[ QH[W \HDU DQG IURP DOPRVW PLOOLRQ ¶VXSSO\ FKDLQ· MREV ‡ /RDG IDFWRUV DUH IRUHFDVW WR VOLS D OLWWOH DV FDSDFLW\ DFFHOHUDWHV EXW EUHDN HYHQ VKRXOG IDOO HYHQ IXUWKHU DV IXHO KHGJHV XQZLQG ‡ (TXLW\ RZQHUV VHH D IDU EHWWHU DQG ZLWK D DYHUDJH DLUOLQH 52,& DERYH WKH FRVW RI FDSLWDO IRU WKH ILUVW WLPH ‡ &UHGLW PHWULFV LPSURYH IXUWKHU ZLWK QHW GHEW DGMXVWHG IRU RSHUDWLQJ OHDVHV IRUHFDVW WR GHFOLQH IURP [ WR [ (%,7'$5 WKLV \HDU ‡ -REV LQ WKH LQGXVWU\ VKRXOG UHDFK PLOOLRQ SURGXFWLYLW\ ZLOO EH XS DQG *9$ HPSOR\HH RYHU ‡ ,QIUDVWUXFWXUH XVH FRVWV DUH ULVLQJ IXUWKHU SOXV LQHIILFLHQFLHV LQ (XURSH DORQH DGG Ä„ EQ WR DLUOLQH FRVWV QH[W \HDU ‡ 1 $PHULFDQ DLUOLQHV SHUIRUP EHVW ZLWK D IRUHFDVW QHW SRVW WD[ SURILW PDUJLQ LQ $IULFD LV WKH ZHDNHVW ZLWK D ORVV

of travel—nearly four times the airlines’ average net margin. Many governments are simply not doing the maths. The UK government

pockets GBP 3 billion a year from its Air Passenger Duty. PwC estimates that the UK economy would be GBP 18 billion more prosperous if the

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GOVERNANCE iata dublin agm

tax was abolished. “The foundation stone of security has been rocked by tragedy. In the last twelve months, terrorists have laid claim to atrocities involving Metrojet 9268, Daallo 159, and at Brussels Airport. These are grim reminders that aviation is vulnerable. Airlines rely on governments to keep passengers and employees secure as part of their responsibility for national security. And we are committed to working with them in that challenging task,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO. “Intelligence is the most powerful tool that governments have to protect their citizens wherever they are—at work, in their homes or while travelling. One of the biggest risk areas are large crowds. Industry is helping to bolster these efforts with practical measures—Smart Security and Fast Travel—that will mitigate risk by reducing airport queues,” said Tyler. IATA unanimously endorsed a resolution denouncing the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products and pledging to partner with government authorities and conservation organisations in the fight against the traffickers of endangered animals. IATA AGM was concerned about blocked funds globally, the sum of

IATA unanimously endorsed a resolution denouncing the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products and pledging to partner with government authorities and conservation organisations in the fight against the traffickers of endangered animals

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which exceeds $5 billion. The top two countries blocking the repatriation of airline funds are Venezuela and Nigeria. Airline funds blocked from repatriation in Venezuela total $3.8 billion. Currency controls implemented in 2003 necessitate government approval to repatriate funds. Total airline funds blocked from repatriation in Nigeria are nearing

Top Five Countries Blocking Repatriation of Airline Funds Country

Amount US$ Million

Months Held

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4 IATAS DGS and CEOS together (above); Airbus welcome reception (left top); 72nd AGM opening session (left below)

Juniac, the perfect choice

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$600 million. Repatriation issues arose in the second half of 2015 when demand for foreign currency in the country outpaced supply and the country’s banks were not able to service currency repatriations. A highlight of the World Air Transport Summit was a panel discussion on the industry’s top issues featuring Bernard Gustin, CEO, Brussels Airlines; Ed Bastian, CEO, Delta Air Lines; Sir Tim Clark, President, Emirates Airline; Jayne Hrdlicka, CEO, Jetstar Group; and Charamporn Jotikasthira, President of Thai Airways. The discussion was moderated by CNN’s Richard Quest. There were only two airlines representatives from India, Jet Airways Chairman and MD Naresh Goyal and Air India’s Pankaj Srivastava, Director Commercial and Board Member. Next year’s AGM will be held in Mexico. g (gfiles was not hosted by IATA for this article)

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GOVERNANCE iata tyler

Force for Good... “Security is the foundation stone of aviation industry, although it has been tested by recent outrages, like atrocities involving Metrojet 9268, Daallo 159, and Brussels Airport. Two important IATA initiatives can help mitigate risks with efficient processes that reduce queues and crowds. The first is Smart Security, where we are working with Airports Council International (ACI), and the second is Fast Travel, our initiative to speed-up passenger processing with self-service technology,” said Tony Tyler Director General & CEO of IATA during his speech at the Dublin AGM.

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VIATION is not just connecting people and shifting goods,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO in his report on the air transport industry at the 72nd IATA AGM in Dublin. “Our work is building a better future for the peoples of the world.” There are nearly 2,000 government-imposed aviation taxes worldwide, for example. Often, the taxes and charges can make up more than 20 per cent of the cost of air travel, four times the airlines’ annual net margin. Tyler noted that the math simply doesn’t add up, with governments foregoing gains in economic performance and job creation. The UK’s air passenger duty generates £3 billion in revenue for the government, but one study puts the potential gain, if the tax is abolished, at £18 billion.

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Similarly, the need for cost-efficient infrastructure to meet demand suffers from short-term politics rather than benefits from a long-term vision. Congestion is seen in all corners of the globe, from London to Sao Paulo to Bangkok. And often the airspace is little better. “Unfettering airlines from infrastructure constraints will facilitate growth and prosperity will follow,” said Tyler. Here are the excerpts from his speech which gives an insight into challenges faced by the Air Transport Industry: This year people will make 3.8 billion journeys by air. Among them will be families reuniting, students exploring the world, businesspeople creating prosperity, aid workers responding to crises and political leaders seeking to understand and solve problems. Our fleets will deliver 35 per cent of goods traded internationally some 52 million tonnes of cargo. Aviation makes our world a better place. In doing so, it supports 63 million jobs and underpins 3.5 per cent of global GDP This year we expect a collective net profit of $39.4 billion (6). It will be only the second year in our history— and the second in a row—in which airlines will make an aggregate return in excess of the cost of capital. After decades of capital destruction, that’s a significant achievement. But it is still just the minimum performance that investors expect. On average, airlines will make $10.42 for each passenger carried. In Dublin, that’s enough to buy four double-espressos at Starbucks. Put another way, for every $100 in sales that Starbucks makes, their net profit is over $11. But airlines will only make $5.60. We don’t begrudge Starbucks their profitability. But there is clearly

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still upside for airlines. Lower oil prices are certainly helping—though tempered by hedging and exchange rates. And your hard work is strengthening the business. Load factors are at record levels. New value streams are increasing ancillary revenues. And joint ventures and other forms of cooperation are improving efficiency and increasing consumer choice while fostering robust competition.

“The need for cost-efficient infrastructure to meet demand suffers from shortterm politics rather than benefits from a long-term vision. Congestion is seen in all corners of the globe, from London to Sao Paulo to Bangkok. And often the airspace is little better. Unfettering airlines from infrastructure constraints will facilitate growth and prosperity will follow.” Safety Our top priority is safety. The Egypt Air tragedy reminds us that safety is a constant challenge. Our thoughts are with the victims, their friends and families; and our colleagues at Egypt Air. Accidents are extremely rare. And the strength of the foundation stone of safety was clear in our 2015 performance. There was one major accident for every 3.1 million flights—a 30 per cent improvement on the fiveyear average. True to that commitment, the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)—used by over 400 airlines worldwide—now includes continuous

compliance monitoring. Global standards also help us tackle emerging issues. z Aircraft tracking came to the forefront in 2014 with the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Under the leadership of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with input from industry, a global tracking standard (14) has been established. And our capabilities may grow more robust in the near future as space-based technologies mature. z And when we saw Just Culture being threatened by litigious popular culture, relief was found in global standards. Working with ICAO, Just Culture is now protected by an amendment to the Chicago Convention’s Annex 19 on Safety Management. This will ensure that people can share important safety information of any kind without fear of reprisal. Security O too, is the foundation stone of security, although it has been tested by recent outrages. In the last twelve months, terrorists have laid claim to atrocities involving Metrojet 9268, Daallo 159, and Brussels Airport. All are grim reminders that terrorists do not care who they victimise in trying to achieve their ends—including innocent travellers. The Brussels attack highlighted the importance of security in airport “landside” areas. This is fully within the remit of government—as is any public space. As an industry we certainly do not advocate the pre-screening procedures imposed in Brussels. Nonetheless, two important IATA initiatives can help mitigate risks with efficient processes that reduce queues and crowds.

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The signing of Wildlife Declaration

z The first is Smart Security, where we are working with Airports Council International (ACI). It will streamline security with a riskbased approach and modern technology, with the triple benefit of reduced queues, more effective screening and a better passenger experience. z The second is Fast Travel—our initiative to speed-up passenger processing with self-service technology. But airport security programmes are not the keystone in the battle against terrorism. Government intelligence capabilities play the biggest role in keeping our societies secure and stopping terrorists far away from airports. Airlines help support the risk assessments that governments make by complying with requirements to provide Advance Passenger Information and Passenger Name Record data. We have worked with ICAO, and other international agencies on global standards for data collection and transmission. It is paramount that governments implement

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these standards consistently—or efforts to neutralise terrorism will be weakened by complexity. ICAO established an online portal for governments to share critical information for airline risk assessments. But governments need to improve the quality and quantity of their contributions.

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ASTLY, protecting cyber security is a growing challenge. Our electronically connected world is vulnerable to hackers bent on causing chaos. We are all vulnerable and there is no guaranteed way to stay a step ahead. That makes real time collaboration and information exchange with governments and across the industry critical. Make no mistake. We face real threats. Government and industry must be nimble, share information, use global standards and keep a riskbased mindset when developing counter-measures. Global Standards Global standards and processes are themselves a foundation stone.

Many global standards have been built by airlines working together in IATA. And their importance extends beyond safety and security. We could not operate to the scale that we do without them. And we will not be able to accommodate the expected doubling of traffic in less than two decades unless we continuously modernise them. Airlines began this century by working together to create value by Simplifying the Business. That has enabled a whole new way to travel powered by e-ticketing and bar-coded boarding passes. Popular self-service Fast Travel options emerged that already are accessible to a third of travellers. Four years ago we launched a programme to complement these travel options with a state-of-the-art online marketplace for air travel. New Distribution Capability (NDC) is now a reality. Twenty airlines are using NDC schemas to sell tickets. We also have launched an NDC certification programme. This will help airlines, IT suppliers and travel agents to find each other.

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NDC will also enable further simplification. IATA’s ONE Order initiative will combine and modernise processes for PNR, e-tickets and electronic miscellaneous documents. The result will be one reference number— simplifying life for passengers and streamlining complex and costly reconciliation processes. Sustainability At COP 21 in Paris last December, governments reached a landmark agreement to mitigate climate change by managing carbon emissions. Aviation has been a step ahead in understanding that our license to grow rests on being a sustainable industry. In 2009, we committed: z to improve fuel efficiency by an average of 1.5 per cent annually to 2020. z to cap net emissions with carbonneutral growth from 2020, and z to cut net emissions to half of 2005 levels by 2050. To meet these challenging targets, airlines and industry partners have been guided by a four-pillar strategy. The first three pillars focus on improving technology, operations and infrastructure. As a result, emissions are growing more slowly than the kilometres we fly, and we are on track to meet our fuel efficiency target On the technology front, airlines continue to invest in new and more fuel-efficient fleets. Over the next two decades airlines are expected to invest in aircraft worth some $5 trillion. And the adoption of a CO2 standard by ICAO this year will ensure continuous improvement in carbon-efficiency for future aircraft generations. The proposal on the table at ICAO is called CORSIA—Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation. We do not want a patchwork of

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conflicting regimes with overlapping taxes and charges. We need a mandatory global carbon offset scheme that is fair, transparent, effective, and simple. Force for Good IRLINES compete fiercely as individual businesses. At the industry level, airlines cooperate to be safe, secure, efficient and sustainable. It is a combination that has generated enormous value— helping aviation unleash ever-greater energy for economic and social development with global connectivity. The question is, are governments aligned with us? Although we share a critical goal—to grow prosperity— too often governments make decisions that weaken our ability to be a force for good. The divergence is clear in three very important areas—regulation, taxation and infrastructure. We must redouble our efforts to change that—for the sake of the people and economies that depend on air transport.

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Aircraft tracking came to the forefront in 2014 with the loss of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. Under the leadership of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), with input from industry, a global tracking standard (14) has been established. And our capabilities may grow more robust in the near future as space-based technologies mature

Taxation Taxation is a good place to start. We have nearly 2,000 governmentimposed aviation taxes and charges in our data base—of which 230 are statutory taxes imposed on tickets. Most increases are incremental, but they add up. And it is not unusual for the net impact of government taxes and charges to reach 20 per cent or more of the cost of travel—nearly four times the airlines’ average net margin. Airlines are a force for good creating jobs and spreading wealth. Why then are we taxed as punitively as the “sins” of alcohol and tobacco? Many governments are simply not doing the maths. The UK government pockets GBP 3 billion a year from its Air Passenger Duty. PwC estimates that the UK economy would be GBP 18 billion more prosperous if the tax was abolished. One can only wonder why the tax still exists. Infrastructure The same force for good message applies to our need for cost-efficient infrastructure capable of meeting growing demand. Some governments understand that aviation infrastructure is a driver of national competitiveness. But too many have forgotten. We see that with bottlenecks in global cities as far flung as New York, London, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Bangkok. And in some cases we have the paradoxical situation of world-class airports on the ground and gridlock in the skies. I know the authorities in China are working to improve the frustrating situation there. It’s important that we see improvements in the Gulf as well. The bigger question is why aren’t government decisions on infrastructure more motivated by seeing aviation as a force for good? Near-sighted

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At the closing session of the Dublin AGM that gave the message that aviation is a force for good

short-term politics get in the way of long-term national interest. To strengthen the force for good argument we have done some work to quantify what’s at stake—jobs, GDP growth, and productivity. The first focus was Europe where infrastructure deficiencies are acute. Air traffic management is an inefficient mess. The Single European Sky is the answer but there are few signs of progress. And airports are so difficult to build or expand that Eurocontrol expects that 12 per cent of demand in 2035 will go unmet. The prize for tackling these issues is big. A Single European Sky would add EUR 245 billion to the European economy in 2035 alone. And if Europe could ensure sufficient airport capacity the prize increases to over EUR 300 billion. Putting into numbers what we—as a force for good—can make possible is important. It should help governments put more muscle into the long-term political leadership needed for infrastructure development.

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And that’s as true in Europe as it is anywhere else. Unfettering airlines from infrastructure constraints will facilitate growth and prosperity will follow. Regulation HE last area where our force for good message provides clear guidance concerns regulation in general. Aviation has been well served by regulation—particularly in safety where everyone is committed to make flying ever-safer. Not all regulation, however, has the same galvanizing clarity of focus. Passenger rights rules, for example, often seem more intent on penalizing airlines than helping passengers enjoy the benefits of efficient travel. In a more positive light, where economic regulation of airport monopolies takes into consideration the interests of passengers, we have seen reduced costs, service level improvements and efficiency gains. Unfortunately examples of this are

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all too rare. As a force for good, we need Smarter Regulation—clearly defined rules easily implemented to solve real issues while respecting global standards. Regulation must stand up to rigorous cost-benefit analysis. And ideally it should be built with plenty of consultation as a joint effort to unlock aviation’s benefits. z It’s also important for our 264 members and the entire value chain to work together. Because together we can send a proud message that aviation is a force for good. And we can do more good when tax burdens and infrastructure constraints are removed, and when the principles of Smarter Regulation are applied properly. People are thirsty for the opportunities that aviation makes possible. Every day we safely transport ten million people and 140,000 tonnes of cargo. We are not just connecting people and shifting goods; our work is building a better future for the peoples of the world. g

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STOCK DOCTOR dr gs sood

Move with caution

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ARKET will witness heightened volatility in the short to medium term though the outlook for the long term remains bullish. The effects of Rexit, Brexit and the progress of monsoon that has remained erratic so far and needs to be watched closely besides India’s failure to get the membership of NSG may lead to a sharp correction. Britain’s exit of EU has further increased global risks and may adversely affect global growth outlook. Even before Brexit, the World Bank had forecasted that world economy will grow at 2.4 per cent in 2016 and at 2.8 per cent in 2017 lower than the earlier forecasts of 2.9 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively due to increased risks to growth. India will remain one of the fastest growing major economies ahead of China for next three years though it has lowered growth projections to 7.6 per cent and 7.7 per cent for 2016-17 and 2017-18. There is limited scope left for further stimulus by central banks in the developed markets with interest rates being at the lowest possible level. The world may witness volatile forex movements with devaluation of pound sterling and China soon taking the lead to devalue its currency. Raghuram Rajan in fact warned of it long back that the world may witness a spate of competitive devaluations and ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ policy. Also, China’s corporate debt is 145% of Chinese economy and public and household debts are another 40% each. There are real dangers of China not being able to meet it especially when its economy is slowing. The potential losses are estimated at

around 7 per cent of GDP and could cost more than US$ 1 trillion. The rupee may come under severe pressure in the short to medium term since UK and EU account for around 24 per cent of rupee’s exchange rate. Brexit may lead to risk aversion in equity markets resulting in outflow of FPI money. The volatility in the rupee may further get accentuated with estimated US$ 20 billion outflows likely to take place during SeptemberNovember as most of the FCNR deposits raised in 2013 will not be rolled over. Companies having large exposure to UK may get temporary jitters. However, there is a positive side of the story as well. All this make the possibility of a US Fed rate hike almost zero. Also, Brexit coupled with China’s slowing growth may lead to commodity prices softening further giving respite to the recently increasing rate of inflation thereby giving some elbow room to RBI to go in for a rate cut sometime in August. India remains a sweet spot being

one of the most sought after destination for investment due to its improving macroeconomic fundamentals. However, current valuations are a bit stretched with the Sensex trading at trailing PE of around 20 and forward PE of around 18. The Nifty is at 2.8 times its book value, the highest among top global bench mark indices. The market could have witnessed sharp correction but for the support of domestic funds. The private capex cycle may take another year or so to set in motion due to surplus capacities with corporate India. Rising food prices is already giving sleepless nights to the ruling dispensation and disbursal under 7th Pay Commission may further fuel inflation. Investors would, therefore, do well to exercise caution and use only steep corrections to increase exposure to equities. The market may give excellent opportunities to buy even blue chips when its gets beaten down amidst bouts of selling due to heightened global risks. g

Stock Shop BY

RAKESH BHARDWAJ

Srikalahasthi Pipes (CMP `247)

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HE company is into manufacturing of steel and iron pipes, demand for which is growing due to rapid urbanisation. The government’s thrust on infrastructure offers immense opportunities for the company. The company’s profit has been consistently growing quarter-on-quarter

for the last several quarters. The company has also reduced its debt considerably. The current market price discounts the EPS by just around 6 times as against the industry PE of around 10. It has declared an enhanced dividend at the rate of 50 per cent for this year. Mainly catering to the domestic markets, the company is fairly insulated from the global risks. The stock can give decent returns over a period of 1-2 years with negligible downside risk.

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

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prime ministers rajiv gandhi

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

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The antipolitician

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AJIV Gandhi was an unique example in Indian politics. He was the anti-politician who became the Prime Minister without wanting it, perhaps without ever having dreamt of it, at least until Sanjay Gandhi was around. Everything had come to him on a platter: membership of Parliament, post of general secretary of the Congress, and now the country’s topmost job. All of this in less than four years. In March 1977, he had been under pressure from his wife, Sonia Gandhi, to leave the country; when Sanjay Gandhi died, she was set against his getting into politics even if it meant ‘just helping Mamma’; and if Sonia Gandhi could not even press him this way or that on October 31, 1984, it was more because of the failure of nerves all around. There was not even the time to think. Things were just happening. Events had taken a life of their own. In a dazed silence, Rajiv Gandhi, the new Prime Minister of India, had stood hour after hour, with dignity and grace, by the side of his mother’s body as people in thousands, people great and small, Indians and foreigners, filed past, laying wreaths and flowers at the feet of the brave woman who had said just the day before that she would shed her last drop of blood for the country. She had. By the manner of her dying she had transcended all her faults, all her failings. Indira Gandhi’s greatest wish had also come true: her son had stepped into her shoes. Rajiv Gandhi had begun with a head start like no other man in politics, and he won an election like no other Prime Minister ever had. He still knew next to nothing about politics, and yet he was saying the right things, just the things people had been saying for years and years without any leader listening to them. When Rajiv Gandhi spoke at the Bombay session of the Congress in December 1985, it seemed he was breathing new life into a dead party. Here at last was a leader who was articulating the despair of the people, without any hedging. He was saying all the things that needed to be said, in a tone and voice that sounded sincere, for the simple reason that this was not some foxy politician engaged in the usual double-talk. Here was a young Prime Minister and party president who was calling spade a spade. He was saying the country had government servants who did not serve but oppressed the

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poor and the helpless. He was saying the police did not uphold the law but shielded the guilty, tax collectors did not collect taxes but connived with those who cheated the state. He was saying there were whole legions whose only concern was their private welfare at the cost of society. “They have no work ethic, no feeling for the public cause, no comprehension of national goals, no commitment to the values of modem India. They have only a grasping, mercenary outlook, devoid of competence, integrity, and commitment...” He was saying that instead of a party that fired the imagination of the masses throughout the length and breadth of India, the Congress had shrunk, and had lost touch with the toiling masses. Millions of ordinary Congress workers throughout the country were full of enthusiasm for the Congress policies, but they were handicapped, for “on their backs ride the brokers of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert a mass movement into a feudal oligarchy...” Obviously that speech was ghost-written, but if Rajiv Gandhi meant what he was reading out, as people thought he did, there was great hope for the future. Here for the first time a young Prime Minister was talking of “marching India into the 21st century” and that roused hopes no end, because it was Rajiv Gandhi who was saying it, a Prime Minister who was an ‘anti-politician’. It was a great start. 1985 was rightly called the ‘Year of Hope’. Hope sprang up on all sides, even in strife-tom Punjab and Assam. The accords, sadly, were half-baked and did not hold for long, but even so the people saw that here was a well-meaning Prime Minister, a man without malice who was eager to heal the wounds of the past, and was striving for it. Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had won the biggest landslide in Indian electoral history — 48.1 per cent of the popular vote and a staggering four hundred one of the five hundred and eight Lok Sabha seats. At Bombay in December 1985, his image had soared so high that it seemed no other leader, no other party could touch him for the next twenty years or more. It looked too good to be true. His image could not go higher. It could only go down. And down it did go, and so fast that one could only feel sorry and sad. The euphoria died too soon. He was becoming too much of his mother’s son: imperious, distant, arrogant - without her political savvy. He had no real understanding of politics. It was not only the grammar of politics that was beyond him; it was more that he just could not understand the ‘language’ of his party men. He had

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suddenly become the president of the party but remained a stranger to most Congressmen right till the end. Within a year or so, Rajiv Gandhi started showing a different side of himself. Hubris was taking over. Even at her majestic worst, Indira Gandhi had never exhibited the kind of arrogance that Rajiv Gandhi did when in a rather cavalier manner he sacked the foreign secretary, AP Venkateshwaran. Right in the middle of a televised press conference. A senior journalist from Pakistan had asked him about his planned visit to Pakistan. “I have not planned any such visit,” the Prime Minister said. But, said the journalist, the Indian foreign secretary had suggested that such a trip was on the cards. “Ask the new foreign secretary,” beamed the Prime Minister arrogantly. What a way to announce the dismissal of a foreign secretary! Watching him at the press conference that morning, I was amazed that he should sit on that chair and be so flippant and insouciant. Could it have something to do with genetics, I had wondered.

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MONG his government’s biggest achievements were the various accords he had signed, and it was here that he was proving most vulnerable. The Punjab accord had become a dead letter, in Assam the agreement was cracking to pieces. But the Prime Minister had a totally different view of things. He had brought to the press conference what he described as the ‘original’ agreements to refute the widespread belief that they had failed to work. Point by point he ran through the documents, to show how most of the points had been ‘done’, and that if some of the points still remained to be implemented, it was ‘the fault of either chief minister Surjit Singh Barnala or of Prafulla Kumar Mohanta and not of Rajiv Gandhi.’ By then Rajiv Gandhi had totally forgotten about his great “power-broker” speech. No more action was needed against them, he was saying. The power-brokers were already out of the party, that is to say! Forgotten too was all talk about ‘marching India into the 21st century’. The downhill slide was getting faster. The Republic Day, 1986, which had been set as the deadline for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab came and went. The Sikhs lodged in Jodhpur jail had still not been released. Instead the government had started a campaign to pacify Haryana, obviously because of the impending Assembly elections, due in the summer of 1987.

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Stirrings of dissent had started in the party, but they were either ridiculed as ‘idle chit-chat’ or put down with a heavy hand. Organisational election, he now realised, was an anathema for the party. With every split in the old party, Indira Gandhi had trimmed and honed the organisation to suit her own purposes, and now to talk of restoring what some kept describing as “inner-party democracy” would have amounted to going against the party’s grain. Few doubted, even then, the intentions of the young leader. Fewer disagreed that he had brought a whiff of fresh air in the conduct of the government. He still wanted to simplify the operations of the government, and speed up decisions. The Congress Party had started using computers and there was a new look to the party headquarters. But behind the facade of modernity the party was slipping. Dissenters were raising their heads. A bit of confidence was regained by the election victories in Nagaland and Tripura in early 1988, but a stunning blow awaited the part)’ when the new challenger Vishwanath Pratap Singh won the Allahabad by-election. From the new hopes generated at the AICC session at Maraimalai Nagar in April 1988, which had been described as a “love fest of sycophancy”, the mood had swung to one of despair. Rajiv Gandhi responded by changing two chief ministers and shuffling his pack at the Centre. In the process he showed that he was returning to the comparative security of the old guard. Though the honeymoon seemed to be coming to an end, people were still fond of Rajiv Gandhi, but he could retain their support only by ‘giving uninhibited expression to his own deepest beliefs’

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EANWHILE, arrivals and departures from the Rajiv ministry had become so frequent that dozens of hopefuls in the party seemed to be glued all the time to their telephones for a possible call from the Prime Minister’s Office. They prayed all the time that when Rajiv Gandhi gave the next jerk to his ministerial kaleidoscope, they were not left out on the grey margins. Those who kept track of the quick-change patterns in the shifting kaleidoscope said during the first three years of the Rajiv Gandhi regime, nearly 80 Congress MPs, or 80 ‘bits of glass’, if you please, had at one time or another found a place in the kaleidoscope’s ‘central design’, in other words the Central ministry, their periods of stability ranging between a few weeks to seven or eight months, except in the cases of some ‘rare specimen’. By the end of his two years as the PM, Rajiv Gandhi had sent off 47 of his ministers to the guillotine. Rajiv Gandhi’s first ministry, before he got his own man-

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date, had been virtually a carry-over of his mother’s team, except for a few who were bundled out unceremoniously. After the massive mandate of December 1984, the Prime Minister could begin playing with his new-found toy, if only a little tentatively. At one jerk of the kaleidoscope, the diminutive Pranab Mukheijee, who had slowly risen to the top in Mrs Gandhi’s power structure and become her No.2 in the Cabinet, was flung overboard. It had been whispered that after Mrs Gandhi’s assassination he had coveted the post for himself, an inexcusable misdemeanour. Another jerk of the kaleidoscope had brought in a curious mix or young and old, dubious warhorses and greenhorns, with a good number of old Doon School chums. Critics could only keep their judgements in suspension over the entry of the heavyweight cousin, Arun Nehru, or Madhavrao Scindia, or K Natwar Singh, a former career

At the funeral of Indira Gandhi

diplomat. If the carping ones could raise their eyebrows at the entry of the Haryana Strongman, Bansilal, whom even Indira Gandhi had flung aside after her return to power in 1980, they could not help welcoming the induction of a couple of experienced men like Krishna Chandra Pant, son of Nehru’s one time Home Minister, Govind Ballabh Pant, and Vishwanath Pratap Singh, the former Raja of Manda whom Sanjay Gandhi had made the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. The former Raja was to become, first Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘knight in shining armour’ and then his biggest nightmare. Even while dust had begun to settle on Rajiv Gandhi’s image, that of VP Singh was becoming glossier. He was being hailed as the mascot of Rajiv Gandhi’s ‘clean government’. Singh had struck terror in the hearts of businessmen and industrialists and the more shock- waves he created the happier he seemed. In one of his first interviews

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as the Prime Minister, Rajiv had been asked why he had dropped Pranab Mukherjee and he had said, “The Finance Minister has to be very tough. He can’t be goody-goody...I don’t think he (Mukherjee) was tough enough...” Singh was his tough man. He was clapping big businessmen behind bars. He was being described as a “lionhearted Finance Minister”. VP Singh was enjoying every minute of his crusade against the ‘scamps and scoundrels’ of the business world. Eyebrows had begun to go up in the Rajiv circle. There were undercurrents of consternation around. Some of Rajiv Gandhi’s aides had begun telling him to watch out against Singh, but he was not willing to believe that his dear Finance Minister could have any ulterior motives. He had ‘absolute trust in VP’. But the Finance Minister was slowly chipping away at the Prime Minister’s main plank. While Rajiv Gandhi was getting associated in

— VP Singh had promptly assumed charge of the Defence portfolio and moved from the North Block to the South. Everyone could see that Singh had resented the transfer. The rift between VP Singh and Rajiv Gandhi assumed a new dimension in April when the Defence Ministry issued an official press release announcing that an inquiry had been ordered into a `30-crore commission reportedly received by an Indian agent in a defence deal with a foreign country. The release said the ministry had received a formal intimation through a telex message from an Indian embassy that an Indian agent was involved in a defence deal worth more than `400 crore for which he got a 7 per cent commission. VP Singh had consulted neither the Cabinet nor the Prime Minister before ordering the probe. Faced with attacks from the Congress, VP Singh declared he was ready to “undergo the severest test to prove my loyalty to my party and my leader.”

S With mother Indira Gandhi

the public mind with the process of economic liberalisation and getting flak for it, VP Singh was seen as the man who was really crusading against corruption. He was emerging as “cleaner than Mr Clean”, and the more Rajiv Gandhi slipped and blundered, the more VP Singh’s image shone. On January 22, 1987, Rajiv Gandhi had called VP Singh to 7 Race Course Road and shared with him his thoughts on the need for a full-time Defence Minister. Indian troops were already deployed on the Punjab border with Pakistan and the forces of the two countries were “eyeball to eyeball”. The top Army brass was apprehensive of a major crisis erupting any time. Rajiv used the opportunity to shift VP Singh to the Defence Ministry. He did it two days later, causing an immediate howl all around that the Prime Minister had used the pretext of a border crisis to get rid of an inconvenient Finance Minister. Saying Neta ka hukum sir mathe par — the leader’s orders are supreme

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UCH was the furore in the Congress, with many asking for Singh’s dismissal, that Rajiv Gandhi cut short his visit to Uttar Pradesh and rushed back to Delhi. While the Raja kept repeating that he would “stand by Rajiv Gandhi, come what may”, several Congress leaders told the Prime Minister that “Singh has literally declared a war against the Government.” A few days later, VP Singh wrote a two-page resignation letter, put it in a sealed cover marked ‘Prime Minister’ and drove down to Rajiv Gandhi’s residence. As VP Singh himself described his meeting with the Prime Minister: “It was a heart-to- heart talk with some very touching moments...” According to another account given by Rajiv Gandhi’s acolytes, it had been a highly emotional meeting: “VP Singh had wept and sobbed and then hugged Rajiv Gandhi at the door before leaving.” In public, VP Singh was still pledging “everlasting support and loyalty” to his leader, Rajiv Gandhi. And then just four days after he resigned, the Swedish Radio dropped a bombshell. It reported that an arms firm, Bofors, had won Sweden’s biggest export order by paying bribes to senior Indian politicians and key defence figures through secret Swiss bank accounts. The Political Affairs Committee of the Cabinet met in a state of panic and denied the report, but the Swedish Radio not only stuck to its story but even promised to release documentary evidence to support it. The mystery deepened with the Radio claiming that it had the numbers of secret Swiss bank accounts into which the multi-million dollar bribe had been stashed. With the Opposition mounting an attack on the Government, and an already alienated President pressing

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

45

BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers rajiv gandhi

for details of the Bofors deal, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi rose in Parliament to deny the charge that any clandestine payments were involved in the Bofors arms deal. Rajiv Gandhi was now seen to be in trouble, but very few of the Congress MPs were ready to stick their necks too far out. Elections were still far away, and even VP Singh’s Jana Morcha MPs were keeping their Parliament seats, even at the cost of their sensitive souls! VP Singh had given several ‘clarion calls’ to Congress MPs to rise in revolt against Rajiv Gandhi. All he got was a sullen silence. Even if the pastures could later turn out to be greener on the other side, where was the guarantee that they would get nominations for Parliament in VP Singh’s new set-up?

A

TOP Raisina Hill, tempers were mounting. Zail Singh’s term was ending, and Rajiv Gandhi had already started discussions with the Opposition parties for a new consensus candidate. Amid widespread rumours that the President was planning to dismiss the Rajiv Government came Zail Singh’s statement: “The President has noted with distress the reports and comments which have appeared in the Press persistently speculating that the President intends to dismiss Mr Rajiv Gandhi from the office of the Prime Minister. The President has so far refrained from commenting on these reports as also on the conjectures concerning what transpired in his recent meeting with the Prime Minister. The President feels that reports and comments concerning so grave a matter as the dismissal of the Prime Minister cannot be allowed to remain uncontradicted any longer. The President therefore wishes it to be known in the clearest terms that the said reports and comments are utterly devoid of any basis.” Even so, the controversy took a sharper turn after the Prime Minister armed himself with a Cabinet resolution in support of his contention that the Council of Ministers was the final judge on how much information could be given to the President. Having done this, the Prime Minister finally turned down the President’s request for more details on the Bofors. On the night of June 20-21, the Rajiv Government seemed to teeter on the brink of a precipice. The plot to dismiss him was being given final shape in the Rashtrapati Bhawan atop Raisina Hill. President Zail Singh and his circle huddled for nearly six hours and the eminent jurist Asoke Sen was even ready with a draft announcing the dismissal of the Prime Minister. At one point, the scenario took a farcical turn, when one of those gathered there suggested that Raiiv Gandhi should be called for talks and

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gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

then locked up in a room until after a new Prime Minister was installed. Indian politics had been reduced to a burlesque. The President had contacted VP Singh to find out if he was willing to be sworn in as the new Prime Minister. Singh had gone into his own huddle and decided that even if he made it to the Prime Minister’s chair this way, he could not last very long, and what was more, it would finish him forever. He gave a No to Zail Singh. Next morning was a decisive day. The Opposition parties were meeting to choose their candidate for the President’s post. The game was really over after the two communist parties rejected the candidature of Zail Singh. And now Rajiv Gandhi was being pressed by his advisers to go and a have a meeting with the President. “Sir, please be cool and

Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly

patient with that man,” they pleaded. “Sir, please don’t be provoked by what he says, Sir...Only listen to him, Sir...”3 Rajiv had agreed. At a cordial 70-minute meeting, Zail Singh had been ‘sweet as honey’ and assured Rajiv Gandhi that all the reports that he was planning to act against him were “totally motivated and baseless.” By then he had already given up the hope of winning a second term for himself as the Opposition’s candidate. But Rajiv Gandhi was still jittery. Thirty-three days still remained for Zail Singh to step down from the steps of the Rashtrapati Bhawan. What if he changed his mind? Some Congress leaders, including Kamalapati Tripathi, began trying for a rapprochement between the Prime Minister and Vishwanath Pratap Singh, who was the only person whom Zail Singh could use if he got down to mischief. Rajiv could trust neither Zail Singh nor VP Singh. The former Finance Minister was still saying in public that Rajiv Gandhi was in no way involved in the Bofors scandal, that his objective was not to “harm my leader”. Even so, he

www.gfilesindia.com

was creating waves, and every day he was becoming a little perkier, demanding that the Bofors deals be scrapped, that the government sign a bilateral treaty with Switzerland for getting information on Indian money stashed away in their banks. He was spinning round the country. He had set his sights on the Prime Minister’s chair. On June 26, the Rajiv camp was in real panic when news came that VP Singh had finally joined hands with the other Congress dissidents. At a tea party at the Sunehri Bagh residence of Arif Mohammed Khan, who had left the Rajiv government over the controversial Muslim Personal Law bill, VP Singh had joined hands with the former ‘Boss’ of the Rajiv government Arun Nehru. The slogans at VP Singh’s meetings were becoming more and more reminiscent of the JP movement. “Desh neta kaisa hop ...Desh

On the election trail

ka neta V.P. Singh...” The Raja of Manda was now talking about the need for a change in the ‘political system’, for an awakening of Janashakti’ (people s power). The opposition too was becoming aggressive. Rajiv Gandhi’s confidence had somewhat revived after Venkataraman’s election and his own visit to Moscow where President Gorbachev had assured him full support in his “fight against destabilisation”. He finally struck. The bouquets and garlands from a triumphant rally at Hardwar were still fresh when VP Singh learnt that his three newfound comrades, Arun Nehru, Vidya Charan Shukla and Arif Mohammed Khan, had been expelled from the party. On his way back from Hardwar, VP Singh had stopped at the telegraph office at Muzaffamagar and wired a long ‘resignation letter’ to the Prime Minister. Condemning the expulsion of his three friends, he wrote, “The action taken against them was undemocratic and dictatorial. This has proved that Congressmen can be politically hanged without any hearing or show-cause notice.” The telegram

www.indianbuzz.com

went on to say that if his removal served the party, he was prepared to offer the “supreme political sacrifice” and resign from the Congress. His ‘letter’ itself could be treated as his resignation, he said, and “as a natural corollary I am also attaching my resignation from the Rajya Sabha, which may be forwarded to the Chairman...” Rajiv Gandhi rejected VP Singh’s ‘resignation’ on the ground that it was a ‘conditional offer’.

S

INGH stepped up his campaign. Six more days were still left for Zail Singh to relinquish office. There were hopes in one quarter, jitters in another. Pressures on Rajiv Gandhi from within his caucus became so strong that he finally expelled VP Singh from the party. The very next day, Singh told the Press that he favoured the prosecution of Rajiv Gandhi. He had suddenly forgotten all his vows and pledges. On his last day in office, President Zail Singh rejected a petition by cartoonist-politician Rajinder Puri seeking permission to prosecute the Prime Minister. He may have feared that any action on that front could create problems in his search for a proper house and post-retirement security for himself. Gianiji had finally caved in. The danger from the Rashtrapati Bhawan had ended, but the other fronts remained. Most of all the danger from Rajiv Gandhi’s own front. In the long run, he proved to be his own worst enemy. No other Prime Minister had got the kind of start that he had, none had less to worry about from the Opposition than he did. Even the opposition that emerged later was his own creation. When he began, there was virtually no opposition in the country; they had all been stunned into silence. All had been reduced to a virtual zero, when the electoral pendulum could well have swung their way once again in a normal election despite all their cannibalistic fights during the Janata interregnum. Rajiv Gandhi was a likeable man, but he was a man who had no real convictions of his own. There was the joke in Delhi that Rajiv Gandhi was like a cushion which took on the impression of the last person who sat on it. Destiny had suddenly pitchforked him into a job which was simply beyond his ken. Even so, he did the best he could to understand the intricacies and complexities of the office he held, and to the extent that he could, he did bring about several changes. What if Rajiv Gandhi had stuck to his anti-politician stance? What if he had stuck to his own true self? Maybe he would still have failed, but that failure would have been far less tragic than it turned out to be. g Excerpted from Prime Ministers: Nehru to Vajpayee by Janardan Thakur, Eeshwar Prakashan, New Delhi

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

47

SPOTLIGHT Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, presented the National Excellence Awards-2016, at the inaugural session of the National Workshop on Rooftop Solar Power, organised by the Ministry of New & Renewable Energy. Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, Additional Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Dr PK Mishra, Secretary, Ministry of New & Renewable Energy, Upendra Tripathy, and Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat, SK Srivastava are also seen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an interaction with think tanks, in Washington DC.

Chief of Army Staff, General Dalbir Singh, presenting a memento to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Jai Jawan Awas Yojna (JJAY), in Bahadurgarh, Haryana.

Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha, Commerce Secretary Rita A Teaotia and other dignitaries at the valedictory session of the 3rd National Standards Conclave 2016 on “Challenges of Standards and Technical Regulations”, organised by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in New Delhi.

The Joint Secretary (Multilateral Institutions), Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Raj Kumar and Country Director, ADB’s India Resident Mission, Teresa Kho, Jharkhand Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma along with the officers of the Ministry of Finance and ADB at the signing ceremony of an agreement between Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India, for $200 million loan to upgrade 176 km of state roads in Jharkhand.

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gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

PHOTOS: PIB

Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Babul Supriyo, releasing a publication on ‘Human Settlements-Planning & Design’, in New Delhi. Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), Nandita Chatterjee and other dignitaries are also seen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a group photograph with business leaders during the USIBC Round-table, in Washington DC, USA.

Textiles Secretary, Rashmi Verma, inaugurating the Purbashree Emporium at Handloom Haat, New Delhi.

Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Kalraj Mishra, launching the MSME data book, at a Press Conference, in New Delhi. Minister of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Giriraj Singh, MSME Secretary KK Jalan and other dignitaries are also seen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the Judges and members of the Bar, during his visit to the Allahabad High Court Museum, in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh.

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Thaawar Chand Gehlot launching a scheme “Reimbursement of Membership and Annual Fee to SCAs for Membership of Credit Information Companies (CICs) for the SCAs”, in New Delhi. Minister of State for Social Justice & Empowerment, Krishan Pal, and Secretary, Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Anita Agnihotri, are also seen.

www.indianbuzz.com

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

49

PERSPECTIVE spirituality sadhguru

O

NE of the reasons the word ‘spirituality’ arouses such suspicion in our world today is the fact that it is pursued by several who have little or no control over their imaginations. Unfortunately, these unbridled flights of fancy have given rise to the view that the spiritual process is intended only for those who can boast of past-life experiences or visions of angels and celestial lights. Imagination is strictly a faculty of the mind. It has nothing to do with the existential. It does not matter how wild or fertile your imagination is, it is still very firmly rooted in your past experience of life. Most people do not know where memory stops and imagination begins. The lines of demarcation are very blurred. If you try to recall an incident that occurred in your life thirty years ago, you would find that half of it is pure imagination. If you imagine God is always with you, it could bring you comfort, or imbue you with confidence, but no more. People believe that imagining God is better than imagining the Devil. On the contrary, the Devil might be preferable, because there is a strong likelihood you would want to be liberated from this hallucination real quick! For those on a tantric path seeking mastery over a particular aspect of life or nature, imagination can be a powerful tool. But for those seeking mukti or liberation, it is of no consequence whatsoever. In fact, if you are seeking liberation, you must first liberate yourself from imagination and memory, because these are very deep traps. When people try to meditate, their biggest problem is that they are either thinking about the past or dreaming about the future. Once you release yourself from these two traps, you find meditation is just natural. Spirituality has been grossly mis-

50

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

Liberate yourself from imagination understood by those who have sought to blindly imitate certain legendary devotees. A very small number of people in the world are truly devout; the rest are conditional devotees. The legend of Poosalar is well known in southern India. Poosalar was a poor man, but determined to build a magnificent temple for his beloved Shiva. Every day he diligently went about building this temple, brick by brick, entirely in his mind. This inner exercise took him years. The king of the country was also planning to inaugurate a huge Shiva temple that he had built. The night before the grand opening, the king had a dream in which Lord Shiva appeared and told him that he could not come for his temple opening because his most faithful devotee, Poosalar, had invited him to his temple instead. The king was dumbfounded. He wondered who had been able to build a temple grander than his own. He set out in search of Poosalar and finally found him in a ramshackle hut in the poorest district in town. “Where is

your temple?” demanded the king. “The only temple I have,” replied Poosalar, “is in my heart.” Now, that is a devotee. His consciousness is so crystallised that he has, in a sense, become one with the Creator. The distinction between what is real and what is not real is obliterated. If such a person believes in a certain form, that form just comes alive for him. This is not imagination anymore. This is creation. Looking at the lives of a few devotees of such calibre, others have tried to use the imagination to emulate them. But it will not work because Poosalar’s inner temple was not built of the imagination; it was built of flawless, unwavering, singleminded devotion. The bhakta or devotee is not seeking to be special. He is content to be ordinary – ‘extra-ordinary’, in fact. He is not aspiring to become powerful: that is his power. g Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

www.gfilesindia.com

birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

IAS officers’ birthdays July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

Rigzian Sampheal

Vivek Pandey

Kundan Kumar

Rajeev Kumar

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

rigzian@ias.nic.in

vivek@ias.nic.in

kundankumar@ias.nic.in

kumarr14@ias.nic.in

Ashwini Kumar Vaishnaw

Puneet Agarwal

Ranjeeth Kumar J

Manoj Kumar Sahoo

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

vaishnaw@ias.nic.in

puneet@ias.nic.in

ranjeeth.k.j.@ias.nic.in

mksahoo.ias@ias.nic.in

Arti Dogra

N Saravana Kumar

Ritesh Kr Singh

Brijesh Kumar Sant

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

artidogra.ias@ias.nic.in

kumarns@ias.nic.in

singhrk9@ias.nic.in

brijesh.ias@ias.nic.in

Ashish Vachhani

Kamal Kumar Dayani

Sonia Sethi Bali

Chandesh Kumar Yadav

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

vachhani@ias.nic.in

dayanikk@ias.nic.in

ssbali@ias.nic.in

chandesh.ias@ias.nic.in

Patibandla Ashok Babu

M Thennarasan

SVR Sriniwas

Santanu Mukherjee

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

pashokbabu@ias.nic.in

tarasan@ias.nic.in

snivas13@ias.nic.in

smukher@ias.nic.in

Dheeraj Kumar

K Phanindra Reddy

S Bharathi Dasan

M Ariz Ahammed

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

dheeraj.kr@ias.nic.in

reddykp2@ias.nic.in

bharathidasan.ias@ias.nic.in

ahmedma@ias.nic.in

Onkar Singh Meena

Manoj Kumar Singh

Aunjaneya Kumar Singh

Manohar Agnani

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: SIKKIM

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

meenaos@ias.nic.in

singhmk1@ias.nic.in

ak.singh@ias.nic.in

agnanim@ias.nic.in

P Vaiphai

Amod Kumar

Uma Kant Umrao

Jayant Narlikar

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

vaiphaip@ias.nic.in

kramod@ias.nic.in

umraouk@ias.nic.in

jnarlikar@ias.nic.in

Manish Kumar Gupta

Arunish Chawla

Meeta R Lochan

Mukesh Kumar Meena

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

guptamk2@ias.nic.in

chawlad@ias.nic.in

lochanmr@ias.nic.in

mmukesh@ias.nic.in

Solanki Vishal Vasant

S Swarna

Rajiv Bansal

Anoop Kumar

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: NAGALAND

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

s.v.vasant@ias.nic.in

swarnas@ias.nic.in

bansalr@ias.nic.in

kranoop@ias.nic.in

Ritu Sain

Sonali Ramesh Ponkshe

Rajesh Kumar

Arabinda Kr Padhee

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ORISSA

ritusain@ias.nic.in

ponkshes@ias.nic.in

kumarr5@ias.nic.in

padheeak@ias.nic.in

C Vijayaraj Kumar

Varun Roojam

Arti Kanwar

Arushi Choudhary

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

kumarcv@ias.nic.in

varunroojam@ias.nic.in

kanwara@ias.nic.in

arushi@ias.nic.in

Chandra Bhanu

Gaurav Dayal

Kaushal Raj Sharma

Adusumilli V Raja Mouli

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

bhanuc@ias.nic.in

gauravdayal@ias.nic.in

kaushal.ias@ias.nic.in

adusumilli@ias.nic.in

16-07-1975

18-07-1970

18-07-1979

19-07-1970

20-07-1974

20-07-1977

20-07-1970

21-07-1969

21-07-1967

22-07-1982

22-07-1978

22-07-1965

22-07-1967

22-07-1979

23-07-1974

24-07-1973

25-07-1965

25-07-1971

25-07-1965

25-07-1965

25-07-1971

26-07-1968

26-07-1971

27-07-1975

27-07-1978

27-07-1979

28-07-1975

28-07-1975

28-07-1973

29-07-1969

30-07-1965

31-07-1977

31-07-1976

01-08-1966

02-08-1966

02-08-1963

03-08-1965

05-08-1975

05-08-1978

05-08-1969

07-08-1979

10-08-1971

11-08-1975

12-08-1964

12-08-1968

14-08-1964

15-08-1978

15-08-1971

15-08-1964

15-08-1969

15-08-1977

15-08-1973

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

www.indianbuzz.com

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

51

birthdays IPS officers’ birthdays July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

IPS officers’ birthdays July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

Manoj Kumar Lal

Vivek Gogia

VJ Gautam

Ravi Kumar Lokku

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

manojlal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vivekgogia@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

cor-crime@gmail.com

rklokku@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Anita Roy

Deo Prakash Gupta

Kumar Vinoy Singh Deo

Seemant Kumar Singh

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

anitaroy@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

dpgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vsdeo@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

seemant@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Pawan Deo

Hari Kishore Kusumaker

Rakesh Aggarwal

Ghanshyam Upadhyay

CADRE: CHATTISGARH

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: HIMACHAL PADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

pawandeo@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

hkkusumkar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rakesh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ghanshyam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Ganji Anil Srinivas

Tomin J Thachankary

Yogesh Deshmukh

Ajitabh Kumar

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: BIHAR

gasrinivas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

tomin@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

yogesh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ajitabhk@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

UC Sarangi

Manoj Yadav

SS Deswal

J Poornachandra Rao

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

sarangi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

manojyadav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ssdeswal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

poornachandra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Mahendar Bagria

G Akhito Sema

Surendra Panwar

Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota

CADRE:GUJARAT

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: PUNJAB

spdcp2-ahd@gujarat.gov.in

akhitosema@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

surendrapanwar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

iqbalpreet@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Harishekaran P

Nasir Kamal

Satya Narayan Pradhan

Jawed Shamim

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: JHARKHAND

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

harishekaranp@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nkamal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

snpradhan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jawedshamim@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rakesh Asthana

B Srinivasan

N Shanker Reddy

Ashok Dohre

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

rakeshasthana@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

srinivas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nshanker@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

adohare@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Bishwajit Mahapatra

Rajni Kant Misra

Mahesh Dixit

Shailesh Kumar Yadav

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

bmahapatra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rkmisra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

maheshdixit@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

skyadav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Piyush Mordia

Harish Kumar Gupta

Patil Ajit Bhagwat Rao

S Nithiyanandam

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: AGMUT

piyushm@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

hkgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

patil@mail.svpmpa.gov.in

snithiyanandam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

M Gopi Krishna

Satyajit Mohanty

KV Sreejesh

Nalin Prabhat

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

mgopikrishna@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

satyajitmohanty@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kvsrejesh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

prabhat@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Saji Mohan

TV Ravichandran

Milind Kanaskar

KK Sindhu

CADRE: Jammu & Kashmir

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

sajimohan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ravichandran@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

milindkanaskar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kksindhu@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

SK Jha

Vitul Kumar

Upendra Kumar Jain

MVN Surya Prasad

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

skjha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vitul@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ukjain@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mvnsuryaprasad@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-07-1963

16-07-1966

16-07-1968

17-07-1971

18-07-1962

19-07-1982

21-07-1968

22-07-1961

22-07-1962

23-07-1970

24-07-1961

24-07-1967

25-07-1964

25-07-1965

25-07-1969

25-07-1972

29-07-1963

30-07-1965

30-07-1967

31-07-1962

01-08-1964

02-08-1959

02-08-1965

03-08-1961

03-08-1964

03-08-1968

04-08-1956

05-08-1963

05-08-1968

05-08-1968

06-08-1961

06-08-1961

06-08-1964

07-08-1960

07-08-1967

07-08-1974

08-08-1974

09-08-1962

10-08-1967

10-08-1966

10-08-1970

10-08-1973

11-08-1968

12-08-1961

12-08-1962

12-08-1971

13-08-1961

13-08-1965

14-08-1960

14-08-1968

15-08-1961

15-08-1962

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

52

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

Lok Sabha Members July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

Lok Sabha Members July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016

Ajay Tamta

Harsimrat Kaur Badal

Mukesh Rajput

Nepal Singh

BJP (Uttarakhand)

SAD (Punjab)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

ajay.tamta@sansad.nic.in

harsimratk.badal@sansad.nic.in

mukesh.rajput@sansad.nic.in

dr.nepalsingh@sansad.nic.in

Ramesh Bidhuri

Prem Dasn Rai

B Sreeramulu

Arjunlal Meena

BJP (Delhi)

SDF (Sikkim)

BJP (Karnataka)

BJP (Rajasthan)

ramesh.bidhuri@sansad.nic.in

mpsikkim@gmail.com

sreemulu070@gmail.com

arjunlal.meena@sansad.nic.in

Anshul Verma

Hari Om Pandey

Hariom Singh Rathore

Rameswar Teli

BJP (Uttar Pradesh) anshul.verma@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Rajasthan)

BJP (Assam)

hariom.pandey@sansad.nic.in

hariomkelwa@gmail.com

rameswartelimp@gmail.com

Manohar Utawal

Ramesh Bais

Ranjanben Dhananjay Bhatt

Bahadur Singh Koli

BJP (Madhya Pradesh),

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

BJP (Gujarat)

BJP (Rajasthan)

utawalmanohar@gmail.com

ramesh.bais@sansad.nic.in

ranjanbhatt135@gmail.com

mpbskoli@gmail.com

16-07-1972

18-07-1961

18-07-1961

19-07-1966

25-07-1966

31-07-1954

01-08-1956

02-08-1947

08-08-1968

08-08-1971

09-08-1957

10-08-1962

12-08-1940

12-08-1964

14-08-1970

16-08-1961

Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav 20-07-1954

02-08-1954

BJP (Gujarat)

RJD (Bihar)

haribhaipchaudhary@gmail.com

jpnarayan.yadav@sansad.nic.in

Mallikarjun Kharge

Pasunoori Dayakar

INC (Karnataka)

TRS (Telangana)

mallikarjunkharge@yahoo.in

pasunooridayakar@gmail.com

Vinod Kumar Boianapalli

Rabindra Kumar Jena

TRS (Telangana)

BJD (Odisha)

vinodkumarboianapalli@yahoo.com

rkjena.mpblsloksabha@gmail.com

Ananth Kumar

Saugata Roy

BJP (Karnataka)

AITC (West Bengal)

ananth@ananth.org

saugatapolitics_roy@yahoo.co.in

BK Hariprasad

Sitaram Yechury

Vishnu Dayal Ram

Tamradhwaj Sahu

INC (Karnataka)

CPI (M) (West Bengal)

BJP (Jharkhand)

INC (Chhattisgarh)

vishnudayalram.mp@gmail.com

loksabhadurg14@gmail.com

Darshan Singh Yadav

PC Mohan

Kamlesh Paswan

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Karnataka)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

pc.mohan@sansad.nic.in

kamleshpassi67@gmail.com

Prabhakar Kore

G Hari

Priyanka Singh Rawat

BJP (Karnataka)

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh),

tiruttani.hari@gmail.com

priyankasingh.rawat@sansad.nic.in

21-07-1942

22-07-1959

22-07-1959

23-07-1951

24-07-1963

25-07-1960

02-08-1967

04-08-1967

06-08-1947

06-08-1949

06-08-1976

07-08-1985

Rajya Sabha Members July 16, 2016 — August 15, 2016 AV Swamy

K Chiranjeevi

IND. (Odisha)

INC (Andhra Pradesh)

18-07-1929

1-8-1955

av.swamy@sansad.nic.in

Vishambhar Prasad Nishad 18-07-1962

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

Pradeep Kumar Balmuchu 26-07-1957

INC (Jharkhand)

29/07/1954

Anu Aga 3-8-1942

NOM. (Nominated)

Narayan Lal Panchariya 10-8-1954

BJP (Rajasthan)

narayan.panchariya@sansad.nic.in

12-8-1952

hariprasad@sansad.nic.in

31-07-1944

darshan.yadav@sansad.nic.in

Renuka Chowdhury 13-08-1954

INC (Andhra Pradesh)

chowdhury.renuka@sansad.nic.in

1-8-1947

p.kore@sansad.nic.in

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gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

53

Tracking

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

OM PRAKASH MEENA

K GNANADESIKAN

GAREEB DASS

The 1979-batch IAS officer has been appointed Chief Secretary of Rajasthan.

The 1982-batch IAS officer, Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu, has been moved as Chief of the Industries Development Corporation, Tamil Nadu.

The 1977-batch IPS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been appointed as Director (Vigilance) in Railways Board.

SANTHA SHEELA NAIR The 1973-batch IAS officer will now be OSD to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary (Expenditure) in the Government of India.

MEENA

ASHISH MADHAO RAO

RISHI KUMAR SHUKLA

The 1989-batch IAS officer has been appointed Secretary to Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa.

The 1983-batch IPS officer has taken over as new DGP of Madhya Pradesh.

CHETAN SANGHI

The 2005-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu.

PRABHAS JHA The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has assumed office as Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

PC PHARKA The 1983-batch IAS officer has been appointed Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh.

RAMA MOHANA RAO The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu.

VIJAY KUMAR The IAS officer has been appointed Secretary to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.

The 1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development.

SAMEER VERMA The 2002-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, who is currently on compulsory wait, has been appointed Deputy Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Government of India.

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in July 2016 ASSAM

Swapnanil Barua (1997) Mahtabuddin Ahmad (1997) Dhrubajyoti Hazarika (2000)

ANDHRA PRADESH

MV Satyanarayana (1993)

BIHAR

Anand Vardhan Sinha (1978) Ram Bujhaban Choudhary (1999)

MANIPUR

Vinod Kumar Thakral 1982) S Minlianthang Vaiphei (2005)

MADHYA PRADESH

Dr. Akhilesh Kumar Shrivastava (2001)

RAJASTHAN

UTTARAKHAND

HIMACHAL PRADESH

UTTAR PRADESH

JHARKHAND

UNION TERRITORY

PS Vastrad (1998)

MAHARASHTRA

Prem Singh Meena (1981)

54

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

The Executive Director, SAIL, has taken charge as Director (Technical), Steel Authority of India Limited.

MP CHAUDHARY The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Director (Finance), MOIL, as Chairmancum-Managing Director, MOIL Limited.

NS VISHWANATHAN The officer currently ED, RBI overseeing the banking regulation and non-banking department will be the new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India.

The 1991-batch officer of IA&AS cadre has been appointed Planning Adviser (JS level) in North Eastern Council Secretariat (NEC), Shillong under the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.

GUJARAT

KARNATAKA

RAMAN

TAMIL NADU

T Radhakrishanan (1978)

Vidya Kant Pathak (2002)

The director has taken charge as Chairman-cum-Managing Director, BEML Limited.

CH KHARSHIING

CV Sankar (1982) Hemant Kumar Sinha (1982) VMX Chrisso Nayagam (1998)

Prem Chand Dhiman 1984)

DK HOTA

Onkar Singh (1999)

CHHATTISGARH

Ganga Ram Aloria (1981)

RAJEEV RANJAN

Avnendra Singh Nayal (1997) Vijay Bahadur Singh (2000) Ramesh Negi (1984) ZU Siddiqui (2002)

WEST BENGAL

Ananda M Chakrabarty (1999)

BVRC PURUSHOTTAM The 2004-batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre has been appointed Deputy Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT).

BUDHDHABHATTI The 2008-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been relieved to join as Private Secretary to Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State for HRD.

www.gfilesindia.com

PHOTOS: PIB

ASHOK KUMAR SINGH The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of GM, BCPL, as Managing Director, BCPL.

YUGUL KISHORE JOSHI The 1997-batch officer of the IRPF cadre has been appointed as Director, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

YASHA MUDGUL The 2007-batch IAS officer of the Jammu & Kashmir cadre has been transferred and posted as Additional Resident Commissioner and ex-Officio Secretary, Resident Commissioner, New Delhi.

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED TO DIFFERENT PLACES IN JHARKHAND SKG RAHATE has been posted Secretary, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Raj Bhasha; SURENDRA KUMAR has been made Special Secretary, Energy; RK SRIVASTAVA has been appointed Additional Secretary, Energy; ARUN KUMAR SINGH has been given additional charge of Jharkhand State Housing Board; KK KHANDELWAL gets additional charge as Transport Commissioner; PRADEEP KUMAR gets additional charge as Kolhan Division Commissioner; ARUN becomes Secretary, Rural Development (Rural Works); ABINASH KUMAR has been appointed Secretary, Excise and Prohibition; SATENDRA SINGH has been appointed Secretary, Tourism, Art and Culture Department; AMITABH KAUSHAL has been appointed Project Director of National Rural Health Mission (Jharkhand) with additional charge as State Project Director of Jharkhand AIDS Control Society and MD of Jharkhand Medical And Health Infrastructure Development And Procurement Corporation Ltd; DC MISHRA has been appointed Special Secretary, Industry, Mines and Geology; AB SIDDIQUE has been appointed Mines Commissioner; MUKESH KUMAR has been appointed State Project Director of Jharkhand Education Project Council.

President Pranab Mukherjee with the Officers of the Indian Engineering Services (IES) of 2013 and 2014 batch posted in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.

President Pranab Mukherjee with the Officers Trainees of the Indian Engineering Services (IES) of 2015 batch from CPWD Training Institute, Ghaziabad, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi.

RAJ KUMAR The 2001-batch IPS officer has been appointed as Director in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

NEERAJ KUMAR The officer of the IRS-IT cadre has been

www.indianbuzz.com

deputed as Chief Vigilance Officer in Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).

R BHAMA The officer of IRS-IT cadre has been appointed as Principal CIT (OSD) in the office of Principal CCIT, Delhi.

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

55

Tracking

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

GODALA KIRAN KUMAR The 2005-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary, Statistics & Programme Implementation Department, West Bengal.

MK PANDEY The officer of IIS cadre has been appointed as Member, Staff Selection Commission.

SS MAJUMDAR The officer has been appointed as Director, National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB), Hyderabad.

NILKANTH AVHAD The 1999-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre has been appointed Counsellor (Economic) in the Economic Wing of Embassy of India, Washington DC, USA.

PRASHANT LOKHANDE The 2001-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Counsellor (Economic) in the Economic Wing of the Embassy of India, Beijing, China.

V THIRUPPUGAZH The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Senior Adviser, National Reconstruction Authority (NRA) of Nepal.

MK MALIK The Director-General, Air HQ, has been appointed as Air-officer-in-charge Administration (AOA), Air Headquarters, New Delhi.

MK UNNI The Lt Gen has been appointed Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services , in New Delfi

SATISH CHANDRA The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre has been appointed Additional Chief Secretary, Local Bodies Department, in Punjab.

RAHUL AGARWAL The officer of the IRTS cadre has been appointed Executive Director (Statistics & Economics), Railway Board.

56

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED TO DIFFERENT PLACES IN GUJARAT MS DAGUR has been appointed Additional Chief Secretary, Forests & Environment; SUJIT GULATI posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Energy & Petrochemicals; PUNAMCHAND PARMAR appointed Principal Secretary, Urban Development & Urban Housing; SANJAY PRASAD was appointed as Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Cooperation; VIPUL MITRA appointed Principal Secretary, Ports & Transport; RAJIV KUMAR GUPTA appointed Principal Secretary, (Primary and Secondary Education), Education; L CHUAUNGO appointed Principal Secretary, Labour & Employment; RAJ GOPAL appointed Principal Secretary, Panchayats, Rural Housing & Rural Development; ANURADHA MALL appointed CEO, Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority; ANITA KARWAL appointed Principal Secretary, (NRI & ART), General Administration and also Director General, Sardar Patel Institute of Public Administration (SPIPA); KAMAL KUMAR DAYANI appointed Principal Secretary, Social Justice & Empowerment; D THARA appointed Vice Chairman & Managing Director, Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation; MONA KHANDHAR appointed Secretary, (Economic Affairs), Finance; T NATARAJAN appointed State Project Director, Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Ex-officio Commissioner of Primary Education; MUKESH KUMAR appointed Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation; ARUN KUMAR M SOLANKI appointed Managing Director, Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation Ltd; HAREET SHUKLA appointed Commissioner of Land Reforms and Exofficio Secretary, Revenue and is also Revenue Inspection Commissioner; DN PANDEY appointed CEO and Rehabilitation Commissioner, Sardar Sarovar Punarvasavat Agency, Vadodara; MANOJ AGGARWAL appointed Development Commissioner; HS PATEL is Additional CEO, Gujarat State Disaster Management Authority; ROOPWANT SINGH appointed Commissioner of Geology & Mining; M THENNARASAN appointed Commissioner of Women and Child Development and Secretary, Women and Child Department; MR KOTHARI appointed Municipal Commissioner, Bhavnagar Municipal Corporation; VP PATEL appointed Secretary, Sports, Youth & Cultural Activities; ANJU SHARMA appointed Principal Secretary, Agriculture & Cooperation; DP JOSHI appointed Special Commissioner, Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in the Commissionerate of Rural Development; MANISH BHARDWAJ appointed Commissioner of Relief and Ex-officio Secretary, Revenue; GT PANDYA appointed District Development Officer, Rajkot; RM JADAV appointed Commissioner of Transport; VINOD R RAO appointed Municipal Commissioner, Vadodara Municipal Corporation; and MANISHA CHANDRA appointed Director, National Rural Health Mission.

MUKTESH KUMAR PARDESHI

NISHI SINGH

The 1991-batch IFS officer, currently Ambassador of India to Mexico, has been concurrently accredited as High Commissioner of India to Belize with residence in Mexico City.

The Member (Personnel and Vigilance) in Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been assigned zonal charge of Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur.

BN REDDY The 1993-batch IFS officer has been appointed the next High Commissioner of India to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The Member (Revenue) in Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been assigned zonal charge of Kolkata, Guwahati, Patna and Bhubaneswar.

PRADEEP CHADDAH

MADHUSUDAN PRASAD

The District and Sessions Judge, North Delhi, has been appointed Whole Time Member (Law) in the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, outgoing Secretary Urban Development, has been appointed Member, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB).

GOPAL MUKHERJEE

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way Nobody for Rae Bareli

I

t appears that nobody wants to go to Rae Bareli in the government. There are few takers for the post of project director in the Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU), located in Rae Bareli’s Fursatganj area. Rae Bareli is Sonia Gandhi’s constituency and RGNAU is a major institution in the area. In the changed political circumstances, there few takers for the post. Basically, it is used as a private helipad by Rahul Gandhi, Captain Satish Sharma, Sonia Ganhi and Priyanka Gandhi. They all travel by private planes and seldom use train to reach Rae Bareli It was originally a joint secretary-ranked post, downgraded possibly after there were few takers. The earlier government in March 2014 decided to keep the place of posting in New Delhi so as to possibly attract more applicants. The DoPT office memorandum dated June 8, 2016, however, added that “the project director would be required to also operate from the project site, i.e. Fursatganj, UP” though the officer will be stationed in New Delhi. In 2013 when the UPA-II headed by the Congress was at the helm and Rae Bareli Member of Parliament and Congress President Sonia Gandhi was all powerful, the JS level post was designed to be located in Rae Bareli only. But even in 2013, the government received a lukewarm response from applicants. “Since no response has been received from the eligible officers, it has been decided to once again circulate the post of Project Director (Joint Secretary Level), Rajiv Gandhi National Aviation University (RGNAU) under the Ministry of Civil Aviation on deputation basis,” a DoPT letter dated November 22, 2013 and signed by a DoPT director, said. The post was originally advertised on October 3, 2013 after the Union Cabinet on July 11, 2013 decided to set up the aviation university and construction works needed to be planned and monitored. The decision to shift the project director’s location to New Delhi was taken by the UPA-II itself, as mentioned in a DoPT advertisement dated March 19, 2014. In May 2014, the NDA government came to power. The NDA government continues to hunt for an eligible officer. The post is a non-Central Staffing Scheme post to be filled through the civil services board (CSB) procedure. The officer will be posted on a deputation to the Ministry of Civil Aviation for an initial period of three years. g

www.indianbuzz.com

Learning at the Centre

F

or three months, between August and October this year, about 200 IAS officers of 2013 and 2014 batches will be posted in Central government ministries and departments, mainly to give them a first-hand experience of the functioning in the Central government before they begin their administrative career in the States. This is the second year in a row when young IAS officers will work at the Centre on central deputation and not directly move to their states from LBSNAA—the IAS academy where the officers are being trained. “The officers of the 2014 batch on expiry of the phase-II training in LBSNAA on 29.07.2016 will be placed at the disposal of Central government. The officers of 2013 batch who will be appointed this year, will be placed at the disposal of the Central government with effect from 01.08.2016,” said an office memorandum dated June 15, 2016. “Though the appointment of these officers in Central secretariat is for a period of three months, it has not been treated as temporary transfer. Their appointment has been treated as Central deputation,” the memorandum added. In that case, they will get one-time composite transfer grant (a month’s basic salary) in relaxation to Rule 114 of the Supplementary Rules. These assistant secretaries will report to the joint secretary (administration) in DoPT. The officers will get usual medical facilities, travel entitlements and accommodation being provided by the Ministry of Urban Development. The officers are, however, requested not to take any leave, considering the short period of their appointment. g

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

57

...by the way

Empowering Ministers!

A

Slot bidding racket

P

rasar Bharati is surprisingly gung-ho about the scheme of rehabilitating private producers who were dropped for not meeting financial parameters and whose litigation resulted in un-estimated loss to exchequer. It was a cartel of Mumbai based producers who made serials in 1990s for DD Metro and DD National who failed to pay their dues. The elongated litigation resulted in nothing and Prasar Bharati succumbed to the diktats of the syndicate of producers, advertisers and some insiders. It was well known in media circles that the inclusion of these blacklisted producers was plotted to buttress their dwindling fortunes. It began at the policy drafting stage itself, where the CEO, Prasar Bharati, allegedly tried influencing the Acting DG, Doordarshan, to incorporate a line in policy document favouring erring applicants for slot bidding. The doughty officer stood his ground on propriety and principles. The result became obvious when Ms. Aparna Vaish was shifted to All India Radio. It was sad that the CEO who often asserted himself as the ‘only-brain around’ seemed unaware of implications of the forced clause ‘can be considered’ that gave enormous leverage to those who did not qualify but could yet be adjusted. Ms Aparna Vaish, then the Acting DG Doordarshan, who did not want to go beyond Eligible and Not Eligible clauses thought it wise to deny any such manipulation. How else could cash-rich Balaji Television (Ekta Kapoor and her father Jeetendra), Numero Uno (Sanjay Khan), Cinevista (Sunil Mehta), Creative Eye (Dheeraj Kumar) among others be given a reprieve at the cost of the public exchequer. g

peculiar case of a PCS officer from UP has come to our notice who managed to stay put on deputation to Delhi South MCD, NDMC for 16 years despite dubious credentials. Cases for major penalty proceedings are pending consideration in the Central Vigilance Commission and State Vigilance Commission of UP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the officer’s repatriation to UP as soon as his government took over. And this issue has been further clarified in a recent DoPT circular. If a ministry or a department or any other organisation wishes to retain an officer on deputation beyond five years, it can now do so with the approval of the minister concerned, without the case being referred to the DoPT. The only conditions, however, are that the extension has to be “absolutely necessary in the public interest”, and it can be only “up to a period not exceeding 7 years at a stretch”, according to the DoPT letter dated June 27 to all state chief secretaries. The subject of the letter was “Consolidated Deputation Guidelines for All India Services”. All other requirements such as willingness and vigilance clearance of the officer concerned, no-objection certificate of the lending authority or state government, and the UPSC or ACC approval wherever applicable, however, still need to be fulfilled. g

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

58

gfiles inside the government vol. 10, issue 4 | July 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

10

th POLITICS SON RISE IN CONGRESS p34

5

years years

GOVERNANCE FERTILISERS: WRONG MEDICINE p26 February 20 013 5 013 5V V VOLL. L. 6 6,, IS IS SS SUE SUE SU UE 11

INTERVIEW AIR CHIEF NAK BROWNE p22

gfilesindia.com

IISRAEL

IINDIA

Thanks

BJ PO P L RA : OV ITIC JN ER S p3 AT T 8 H O

PETITION P ETITION IN PUBLIC INTEREST IIN NT TE EREST SUBMITTED SUBMIT UBMITT TED TO TO T THE HE HON’BLE HON’ SUPREME COURT THE GREAT ROBBERY IN HARYANA. C OURT BY Y GFILES REGARDING REGARD ARD DING T HE G GRE EAT LLAND AND ROBBER AN HOW IN HIS HO H OW HOODA OW HOODA ALONG WITH HIS CRONIES S PLUNDERED PLLU UN ND DERED HARYANA HAR YEARS 9Y YE EARS OF RULE. p10

Venod Sharma

Kunal Bhadoo

Congress MLA, Ambala

Hooda’s son-in-law

KP Singh

Owner, BPTP

Owner, DLF

JAPAN

ABEPLOMACY JEFF KINGSTON p76

gfilesindia.com

Haryana’s

De facto

Chief Ministers? p6

8

Kabul Chawla

February 10, 2014 ` Febr VOL. 7, ISSUE 11

M G RA DE CE VA FO SA R HA PM Y AM

Year Begins

BHAI B BHAI? B

Sameer Gehlaut

Arvind Walia

Anil Bhalla

Owner, Indiabulls

Owner, Ramprastha

Owner, Vatika Builders

59

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. 10, issue 4 | Date of Publication: 5/7/2016 | Pages 60

GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2016 26-11-2016

AWARDS

60

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