Gfiles Oct Small 10

VOL. 4, ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2010 | RS 30

R.N.I. NO: DELENG/2007/19719

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FIRST STIRRINGSOP GAHROTRA p32

THE LAW: PROBES TO NOWHERE p20

gfiles INITIATIVE: CITIZENS’ PETITION FOR POLL REFORMS p30

BIG BOSS: RENTALA CHANDRASEKHAR ON SPREADING E-GOVERNANCE p6

NATIONAL SECURITY: LOOKING FOR ALIBIS p18

THE PEOPLE WHORUN INDIA

TKA Nair

S Sundareshan MM Nambiar N Gangadharan Raghu Menon K Mohandas Sudha Pillai

R Gopalakrishnan KM Chandrasekhar CL Fernandez Nirupama Rao GK Pillai

SS Menon Vinod Rai KG Balakrishnan PJ Thomas S Ayyappan R Gangadharan

gfiles inside the governmentVOL. 4, ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2010

THE open letter to our Prime Minister from a retired IAS

officer outlines what are perhaps the three cardinal chal-lenges to governance in this country: poverty alleviation

and the creation of a social security network; law and order and the alien-ation of tribal populations who are not only utterly deprived of a share ofIndia’s expanding economic pie but are also unaware of the existence of thepie itself; and tackling the political demands of alienated groups like theseparatists in the Kashmir Valley who pose not just a law and order problembut also a challenge to national security.

Some will argue that these problems persist because we are a “soft state”as against the examples of Stalinist Russia and Maoist China who eitherswept such issues under the carpet or simply annihilated or confined tolabour camps uncomfortable opponents, ethnic groups, dissident peasantsand small landowners by dubbing them enemies of the state or agents ofcapitalist encirclement.

But in many ways, thank God, we are a “soft state” in the sense that thereis no instrument of government policy – notwithstanding gross human rightsabuses and police excesses such as custodial deaths–that supportspogroms or the crushing of peasant revolts or even differences based on eth-nic and caste factors with murderous ruthlessness.

In general, our “soft state” has often saved us from lengthy tyranny. Butthis does not mean it has protected us from the tyranny of bad governancethat also takes a huge toll of human freedom in terms of corruption, non-per-formance, rampant injustice and economic inequality.

Our retired IAS officer focuses on NREGA, the Naxalites and the Kashmir sep-aratists as symbolizing the extant grassroots problems of administrationand governance that a government formed by any party can ignore only at itsown peril and the larger peril of our nation.

He suggests some via media solutions such as fixed pension plans, andalso does well to focus on the controversy about distribution of free grain.And herein lies the rub for a rapidly developing country like India. How farshould populism go? What is the point at which populism begins to under-mine the 9-10 per cent growth rate that must be sustained for at least adecade if poverty levels are to be reduced incrementally?

If the engines of wealth creation are completely derailed then who will cre-ate the wealth that must ultimately be shared equitably so that the yawningeconomic divide in this nation is lessened and consequent social tensionsavoided?

Opposition to wealth generation through natural resources like land,metal, oil and gas is today rapidly becoming the politically correct language.If this remains an unbridled phenomenon then capital and skills, bothdomestic and foreign, will flee India and we will create another West Bengaldisaster story in the entire country. Finding the right balance is the criticalchallenge facing the government today. Those who find the right answersand implement them as practical solutions rather than hiding behind doctri-naire vote-bank positions or supporting crony capitalism will be the trueleaders of the new India. I hope the people whom we have put on this issue’scover are paying careful attention.

INDERJIT BADHWAR

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vol.4, issue 7 | October 2010

Inderjit Badhwar | editor-in-chief

Anil Tyagi | editor

Niranjan Desai | roving editor

Yana Banerjee-Bey | deputy editor

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Venu Gopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru)

Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant

TR Ramachandran, Col Sunil Narula | senior editors

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All disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competentcourts in New Delhi only

From the Editor-in-Chief

Keep hammeringaway, gfiles!

I am stumped at gfiles’turning over a newactivist leaf in the lastcouple of months,including reduction in

its price. Congratulations. Der aaye,durust aaye. Better late than never.

The Praful Patel story (August issue)not creating a furore in the country pointsto the magazine’s reach. You will have toseriously think about the issue. However,you must keep hammering away, toattract notice. Also employ innovativeways to do that. We can put our headstogether. In the September issue the stuffis promising. Wish you all the best in thenew avatar.SC Nagpal (Retd Chief Commissioner of

Income Tax), via email

Everyone in the aviation industry knowsthe Civil Aviation Minister is pro-JetAirways and is trying to destroy the repu-tation of AI and have it shut down so thathe can gain much from the private air-lines. I would like to see what the govern-ment does about it. Will it take action andsave its flag carrier or see it run agroundby Mr Patel? David Samuel on blog

Our freedom fighters gave their lives tothis country whereas these politicians aretaking away the livelihood of their coun-trymen. Their children will pay for theharm they are doing to others. Asha, on blog

Praful Patel must be hanged for rapingAI/IC. He has used tax-payers’ money andshown favour to Jet Airways.Dinshaw on blog

Has a PIL been filed? This is too much.Please take it up and punish these crimi-nals. The saddest part is, the FinanceMinister and the top brass of this govern-

ment know everything. But they arequiet! They took a kickback from the air-craft deal to finance the last election! Jayshree, on blog

Keep up the good work, folks. Let the rob-bers be brought to book. DH Shah, on blog

It is disgraceful! First Mr JRD Tata wasmade to resign as Chairman of Air Indiawhich he founded and now this! With thecorruption at the ministerial level, sadly,India will never progress. I suggest thatthe airport be renamed JRD TataInternational Airport so that the people ofIndia know who in fact gave the aviationgift to India. Guloo Austin, on blog

Largely innocent, not allowed to be edu-cated, deprived Indians, living in ruralIndia, even urban, today feel stumpedand bowled by the elected leaders who,instead of parenting, have turned out tobe greedy and rogues. Truant bureau-crats have connived and critically delayedjudicial actions e.g. Union Carbide,Satyam, Reliance, even Uphaar. Visitnnfi.org.in. For NNFI, trustee Promod Chawla, on blog

Make bureaucrats accountableNR Narayana Murthy’s comments arevery relevant (“The Augean Stables”,September issue). At present civil ser-vants function like rulers. They should bemade accountable as in the case of corpo-rate CEOs and their payout. More than 90per cent civil services officers becomecorrupt, irresponsible and indulge theirown interests. They must be given thetask of accomplishing targets and theirpay and promotion should be linked to it.Fear plays a vital role in this community.Their powers should also be curtailedand should be specific to the salary for-mat.Hriday Joshi, on blog

gfiles inside the governmentVOL. 4, ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2010 4

www.gfilesindia.com

INBOX

CONTENTS6 Big Bossrentala chandrasekhar speaksabout e-governance

12 Bric-a-Bracof politicos — dependent, inde-pendent and self-reliant

14 Cover Storysnapshots of the goi’s movers and shakers

16 Spotlightelection permutations and combinations in west bengal

18 National Securitywhy are india’s political leaders notproactive in tackling problems?

20 The Lawthe muffling of inquiries involvingthe high and mighty

22 Talk Timeanil kakodkar chats about india’snuclear programme

26 dcp jaspal singh discussespolicing delhi’s central district

28 National Issuesa retired bureaucrat writes to thepm on issues facing the country

30 gfiles Initiativewe reproduce a citizens’ petition

32 First Stirringsop gahrotra looks back on solvingtax collection problems and vat

35 Book Reviewa look at our heads of government

37 Stock Doctorwatch your step, you’ll make money

42 By the Waywhat a little bird told us aboutbanks, babus and policemen


www.gfilesindia.com

BIG BOSSsecretary, telecommunications rentala chandrasekhar

CHANDRASEKHAR, who pioneered the concept of e-governance in India through Hyderabad’s evolution into“Cyberabad” and played a pivotal role in formulating

the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), established the firstDepartment of Information Technology in the country, in AndhraPradesh, and was its Secretary from June 1997 to December 1999.With an MS degree in computer science from Pennsylvania StateUniversity, US, and an MSc degree in chemistry from IIT,Mumbai, Chandrasekhar began his IAS career in 1975. The sub-ject of this interview is the national policy, strategy and action planfor e-governance implemented by him in his previous post asSecretary, Information Technology. He was conferred the PM’sAward for Excellence in Public Administration in 2007-08.

interviewed by ANIL TYAGI

gfiles: How much progress has been achieved under theNational e-Governance Plan (NeGP) that was launched by yourdepartment in May 2006 to “make all government services acces-sible to the common man in his locality”? Rentala Chandrasekhar: There are two parts to e-gover-nance: 1) enabling the services’ delivery everywhere; 2)enabling people anywhere to access that service. You are refer-ring to the second part: service delivery platform. In a very

broad sense, in villages we cannot expect people to have theirown computers and access services. So we have the conceptof assisted aid, we have service delivery points. The infrastruc-ture of these points, called Common Service Centres (CSCs),is spread across all the villages. The initial programme was toreach one lakh villages and cover all the panchayats, going upto 2.4 lakh by 2012. To make these CSCs ready for deliveringservices, they need to have computers, power, connectivityand trained operators, who are incentivised to provide servic-es in the villages. This is being done under this scheme.gfiles: What have you achieved?RC: We have about 8,000 CSCs in place. Each is expected tocater to around six villages. The business of government isconducted by several departments and agencies. So, to enabletheir services to be provided digitally, they need to do certainthings within their department and in common. For example,the Department of Land Record or the Revenue Departmentin a State has to digitize all the land records and make themavailable through a network medium on the internet.Typically, this will be done by hoisting on a data centre andproviding access to that centre. Then, anybody can access iteither from a service centre or his personal computer.

So, the departments have to convert their operations intodigital mode. What the Department of Information

‘e-governance will provide services to citizens at theirdoorsteps’

Technology (DIT) does is provide a common platform andcertain common infrastructure which makes the job easier.First, there is a network which connects the State headquar-ters to the district headquarters and further down up to theblock and tehsil levels. That eliminates the necessity for eachdepartment to set up its own network. The data centre at eachState headquarters allows everybody to store the data secure-ly at a centralized location where all the necessary technicalsupport is available.gfiles: Have the State governments been successful in digitiza-tion?RC: Out of the 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs), 11 are inthe State sector, nine in the Central sector and seven in theintegrated sector which covers both State and Central govern-ments. There are only two projects yet to be approved and

three are in the final stages of approval. Other projects are inthe process of implementation by the departments concernedin various States. Some of them have been completed – theMinistry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) functions online, andsome other services are also available online like income tax,excise, passports, courts, land records, transport and so on.

One of the MMPs is called e-Districts under which Stateshave been funded for various kinds of high volume servicesfor simple and routine government services like caste certifi-cate, income certificate, birth certificate and filing an RTIapplication. So, these services for which a large number ofpeople come to government offices, district and subordinateoffices are covered under the e-Districts project which isunder implementation in about 14 States and 40 districts.

Now, we are taking necessary steps for obtaining anapproval for nationwide roll up. It has been completed inAssam, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. In other States, it isnearing completion as far as pilot districts are concerned. Itdemonstrates to citizens the benefit of getting these servicesand facilities and provides government servants in variousorganizations and departments hands-on experience of howthis system functions, their role and the revised relationshipbetween the government and citizens. gfiles: Are CSCs functioning as the front-end delivery points for


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‘Evaluation of land records, transportservices are based on a methodologyby IIM, Ahmedabad, and NationalInstitute of Smart Governance.’

RA

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government, private and social sector services to rural citizens inan integrated manner? RC: Absolutely. The intention of e-governance in all theseareas is to provide services to citizens at their doorsteps. Wehave had evaluation of land records, transport sector servicesand property registration, based on a methodology developedby IIM, Ahmedabad, and the National Institute of SmartGovernance and carried out by an independent third party,SSR, on random sampling basis with actual surveys by mar-ket research agencies.

According to those surveys there has been a significantreduction in the number of trips people have to make to gov-ernment offices, in the wait for a service as well as the inci-dence of bribery. There is not yet an adequate number ofservices enabled. It was clear from the outset that all govern-ment services will not become available overnight. It takestime. Therefore, the CSCs were set up to bring the infra-structure into place. gfiles: Do you face problems regarding broadband? What’s thebandwidth available to you?RC: The assessment revealed that there are areas of concern. 1 Power: in most villages power is still a problem. This isbeing addressed in two ways – one is by using low power con-suming devices like laptops. Today, there are extremely lowcost chips, having rugged devices so that you don’t need airconditioning. The other is use of generators and solar power.TERI, which is the energy partner for the CSC scheme, hascome up with an integrated 350-watt solution using solarpower which has been tried out in a few locations. 2 Connectivity: Again, connectivity, especially broadband, isan issue in rural areas. That is being tackled in two or threedifferent ways. One, under the scheme itself, BSNL was askedto provide wireless connectivity to the CSCs. Through this,connectivity for the CSCs which don’t have a high bandwidthlandline available was covered. Right now, the broadbandavailable with us is very limited. With 3G auctions completedand broadband wireless auctions underway, we expect accel-eration of broadband availability in villages. So the rollout ofthe CSCs, connectivity and services has to be synchronized,though done independently. Considering the challenges andnumber of different agencies involved, considerable headwayhas been made and services are now visible in many places. gfiles: What is the status of the e-Courts project? Would it helpthe government restore the aam aadmi’s faith in the rule of law? RC: One of the MMPs is the e-Courts project that is beingimplemented through the Ministry of Justice and they havecertain mechanisms through which the courts are involvedin overseeing the project. In the MCA, all filing is done elec-tronically. In income tax, electronic filing by a company is

mandatory. Individuals are also allowed to file though it’snot mandatory. Similarly, for filing a court case, there areapproximately 13,000 court locations across the country. Inany case, connectivity up to block and tehsil level is availableunder this scheme.

The data centres are now being established in the Stateheadquarters but the key challenge is to do the computeriza-tion within the courts – the operations of the courts, judge-ments, case diaries, filing and registration and the like. gfiles: One of the nine Central MMPs is the national citizensdatabase. Is it distinct from the project of the Unique IdentificationAuthority of India (UIDAI) under the Planning Commission? RC: Actually, this project originated in 2006 when theNeGP was approved and the idea was really to have a citizenor resident ID mechanism to facilitate service delivery. Inmost services there are two things necessary. One is identi-fication for a person to receive or apply for any service. Thesecond is the payment mechanism. So these are two typesof common services which need to be integrated into e-gov-ernance service. Today, there are certain activities beingundertaken under the creation of the National PopulationRegister (NPR) alongside the census. This is being done bythe Registrar General of India (RGI) of Census of India.Again, there are primary departments who handle this. We


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‘TERI, the energy partner for the CSCscheme, operates an integrated 350-watt solution using solar power whichhas been tried out in a few locations.’


www.indianbuzz.com

only provide some support wherever required in terms ofcommon infrastructure and so on. gfiles: Isn’t there some kind of duplication between NeGP andUIDAI?RC: There is a certain amount of apparent duplication butthere is a mechanism for coordination because they addressslightly different areas. NPR is being done by the RGI and itis required under the law. UIDAI is to facilitate service deliv-ery. In fact, there is a coordination committee between theHome Ministry, UIDAI and Department of IT on a continu-ous basis to ensure that not only actions are coordinated butoverlaps are eliminated in the execution. For example, underthe NPR, service delivery and provision of services is not a pri-mary focus, there are security concerns and other issues. Ifyou look at UIDAI, service delivery is a paramount concernand delivery of welfare benefits and financial services are alsovery important. gfiles: How far has the National Internet Exchange of India(NIXI) succeeded in its objective of routing domestic traffic with-in the country instead of taking it all the way to the US? Will thisstrategy help reduce cyber attacks on Indians? RC: Significant progress has been made in the NIXI. A num-ber of centres have been set up where the traffic gets aggre-gated and routed locally, the idea being that internet trafficoriginating from India and destined for India shouldn’t go outof India for routing. NIXI has the participation of industryplayers and representation from the Department of

Telecommunications. It’s an organization chaired by theSecretary of DIT but it’s an autonomous company. gfiles: Will it benefit India security-wise or so? RC: When the traffic is routed within the country, the cost willget optimized. Cyberspace is completely global but the laws ofa country are applicable within it. If the origin and destinationare within India, then the implementation of legal provisionsbecomes much simpler and can be done strictly. This is cer-tainly helpful as far as security aspects are concerned. gfiles: Has the Information Technology (Amendment) Act,2008 proved to be adequate for ensuring national cyber security?If not, what is in the works? RC: Security consists of several different actions. Legal provi-sions are only one part of cyber security. The IT AmendmentAct has to provide adequate basis to take all the steps requiredto ensure security. The office of the Chief Controller ofCertifying Authority (CCA) has been set up after the 2000Act. This created a mechanism for digital and electronic sig-natures which provides a basis for secure transaction.gfiles: Do you have any data to show how we compare with theworld in cyber security?RC: Yes, there is continuous exchange of informationbetween the searches in different countries, passing on infor-mation to one another about threats and attacks or about pat-terns. Such data is available and patterns are shifting. At dif-ferent points of time you find more attacks coming from aparticular source and more attacks taking place within somecountries. There was an incident which brought down thewhole infrastructure in Estonia, and also in the US and Korea.gfiles: Are you finding it difficult to take action in cases of deface-ment?RC: Yes. There are two parts to it. One is that you are takingaction against the attacker. That becomes difficult if the attack-er is not located in the country or is using resources in someother country. But protecting yourself also means you shouldnot make yourself so vulnerable. So, certain steps are beingtaken in terms of advising people about the measures theyneed to take to secure themselves, the practices to avoid suchattacks or, even if such an attack takes place, to ensure that youdo not succumb to it. gfiles: Has DIT put in place any strategy to remove periodic mis-givings in the US, the UK and elsewhere on outsourcing of IT-enabled jobs to Indian BPO units? RC: As far as arrangements for business process outsourcingin India are concerned, it’s well recognized that India is a verygood destination for provision of such services. We have goodquality manpower, infrastructure, IPR protection, stronglegal framework and clear IT Act. So all the necessary instru-mentalities of any civilized democratic set-up to protect infor-

‘Quality manpower, infrastructure,IPR protection, a clear IT Act are theinstrumentalities of civilizeddemocracies to protect information.’

mation are there. The contractual laws are also in place. gfiles: How is it that DIT does not have any commercial PSUsunder its administrative control? RC: When the liberalization of the economy began in 1991,several sectors were liberalized early. IT was one of them. TheIT industry grew to be globally competitive within a decade.There is no need for the government to continue to have aPSU in that space when there are so many competent andactive private sector companies. The role of the departmenthas become largely supportive and facilitative. gfiles: How do you estimate the market for computers in India? RC: It’s a completely globalized market. It’s a very high-vol-ume, low-margin and high-velocity business. All the threeparameters are there in this business, so there are several fac-tors which are taken into account by investors when theyinvest in a particular location. Second, the investment in Indiais not necessarily made solely on the basis of the Indian mar-ket demand, but on global market demand. The third aspectis that one has to look at the kind of demand and supply bal-ance on the global basis and there is actually supply surplusglobally. It’s a matter of time before the desirable investmenthappens in India. gfiles: Is there any plan to unveil an incentive scheme for otherelectronic components such as passive components? RC: Shortly after this government took office, the Ministerconstituted a task force on IT, covering software services, elec-tronic hardware and manufacturing. The main focus was get-ting the manufacturing sector promoted in the countrybecause that was one area where we felt we needed to domuch more. So the task force was set up with all the industrypeople covering different areas like IT hardware electroniccomponents, consumer electronics, telecommunicationequipment, medical electronics and so on. The task force,with Ajay Choudhary as chairman and Kiran Karnik as co-chairman, has made a number of recommendations whichhave been analysed and shared by other Ministries. We havehad several rounds of discussions with the NationalManufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC). Now, tak-ing the views of the industry, the department, NMCC andother Ministries involved, the issue has been taken to theCommittee of Secretaries after which it will go to the Cabinet. gfiles: Why has India not been able to replicate its softwareexports success story in the field of hardware exports? RC: The task force on manufacturing and other things hasmade a number of recommendations, one of them beingestablishment of clusters for hardware manufacturing. As Imentioned earlier, this sector is high-volume, low-margin andhigh-velocity, it requires very good infrastructural support andtrade facilitations for moving in and out. Trained manpower

is not a problem in our country. So what we are looking at inthe task force report is that we need to build our hardwareindustry by extending and expanding our strengths in R&D,design, prototype manufacturing and testing. We need tobuild all-round in this context rather than simply going forjust manufacturing in terms of getting high volume because,first and foremost, it’s a relatively low-value addition area. gfiles: The mobile telephone revolution has been propelled by adrop in service tariff and in price of handsets. Is it possible toachieve a similar drop in the prices of other electronic productssuch as laptops, LCD televisions and washing machines? RC: We have witnessed a huge drop in the cost of telecomservices, especially the cost of bandwidth – fuelled, to a largeextent, by technology. Higher bandwidth is available atlower cost due to technological advantages. As far as equip-ment like computers is concerned, material cost is involved.Therefore, technological advancement will obviously bringdown prices substantially. Every year, there is reduction inthe cost of computers.

For making computers more affordable, there are twothings. 1) Proliferation of services and growth in differentkinds of services which bring down the cost. 2) Growth ofbusiness models which does not involve the capital cost. Forexample, BSNL and other companies provide a bundle ofinternet services including peripheral equipment on a sub-scription model. This model has become very popular inIndia because you don’t need to pay the cap packs. g


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‘With 3G auctions completed and broadband wireless auctionsunderway, we expect acceleration ofbroadband availability in villages.’

gfiles inside the governmentVOL. 4, ISSUE 7 | OCTOBER 2010

www.gfilesindia.com

No-show to Gadkari show iftar do turns tables

THOUGH BJP chief Nitin Gadkari iskeen to make inroads into the

minority community, its repre-sentatives among the party leader-ship view this as a threat. Theparty has two influential leaders,Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi andShahnawaz Hussain, in itsminority community panel butGadkari, it seems, does not wantto utilize them.

Gadkari organized an iftar partyat the Ashoka Road party office inDelhi with the help of a mediabaron who is a surgeon and anRSS worker. On the day of theparty, Hussain rsvped that hewould not be able to attend. Naqviwas in the office when the partywas on and was asked to partici-

12

Mayawati in a cagepolice keeps dalits away

IS there a threat to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s life in her own State?Yes, if the UP police is to be believed. This police force unearthed a threat letter

somewhere in the Kanpur-Allahabad region after a massive search operation lastinga month or two.

Promptly, an investigation was started, meetings were held and a new strategy toprotect the Chief Minister wasplanned. The best the policecould come up with was, letthe Chief Minister not moveout from her house. Now, shewalks out the back of herhouse and enters a lift, whichtakes her straight to her officeon the famous pancham tal(fifth floor) of the Secretariat.

However, Mayawati is nowsurrounded only by babus.Dalit workers of the BahujanSamaj Party are kept out of thecharmed circle as they mightpose a danger to her life.

BRIC-A-BRACconnect & disconnect

MCX-SX and Mammonsetback for shah

EVERYONE knows how politically well-connectedJignesh Shah, Managing Director of MCX Stock

Exchange (MCX-SX), is and he is also a celebrity inIndia’s financial circles. So the rejection of MCX-SX’s application to run stock exchanges offeringtrading in equity and derivatives by SEBI ChairmanCB Bhave has come as a surprise to most.

The application was rejected on the grounds ofprotecting trade interests as well as public interests.The stock exchanges, considered the grass-rootsregulators, cannot simply be handed over to thekind of people who lack transparency in function-ing and repose faith in their financial and politicalmuscle.

Shah is a confidant of Maratha leader SharadPawar and harbours a long-cherished dream – along with his political mentors – of makingMCX-SX the biggest and richest stock exchange of the country. But Finance Minister PranabMukherjee keeps a tab on how and where his party’s detractors are making their moves in thefinancial world. As long as MCX-SX does not put on even a semblance of transparency, it isdoubtful that Pranabbabu will open the door for Shah to become the richest man in the country.

pate but pretended to be busy.Insiders say the episode helped

Gadkari prove he could manage theshow without the help of stalwarts andsent a message to their pawns.


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Chauhan’s better halfsadhana governing mp

FOR all his placid composure inpublic, Madhya Pradesh CM

Shivraj Singh Chauhan is turningout to be a smart strategist. Hehas strategically divided his workin the state. He deals effectivelywith political opponents likeKailash Vijayvargiya and hasblocked Uma Bharti’s efforts tomake a comeback in State BJPpolitics. Of course, Nitin Gadkari’sappointment as BJP boss came asa blessing in disguise forChauhan.

The CM also tours a lot. So thereal business of governance hasbeen assigned to wife SadhanaSingh. In the corridors of the Secretariat, every Minister and babu knows where thefile will go for final approval. So, whether it is mine projects, construction work, roadrepair, purchase of vehicles et al, Sadhana enquires, verifies, and, if need be, “holds”the files before giving the final nod. g

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INSIDE EYE

TKA Nair – Principal Secretary to PM A 1963-batch Punjab cadre officer, Nairretired from the IAS 12 years ago. He wasalso Secretary to former Prime MinisterIK Gujral and Atal Behari Vajpayee andserved in the Planning Commission.

R Gopalakrishnan – Addl. Secretary, Prime Minister’sOffice (Personnel & General Admn)

A 1979-batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IASofficer, he has been for long the PMO’spointman for the social sector. He has beenoverseeing the Bharat Nirman programmeand is Member-Secretary of the National

Innovation Council set up by the PM recently. He func-tioned as Joint Secretary in the PMO since his appointmentin June 2004. He was Congress leader Digvijay Singh’sinformation adviser when the latter was Madhya PradeshChief Minister. He monitors social sector Ministries and thegovernment’s flagship schemes.

KM Chandrasekhar – Cabinet Secretary A 1970-batch Kerala cadre officer, he earlier served as

Revenue Secretary. A former ambassadorand Permanent Representative of India inthe World Trade Organization, he was thefirst IAS officer to be Director of Fisheriesin Kerala. The PM has appointedChandrasekhar head of a committee to

monitor the Commonwealth Games with powers to over-ride the Games’ Organizing Committee.

Christy L Fernandez – Secretary to the PresidentDr Fernandez (IAS, 1973 batch, Gujarat cadre) became

Secretary to the President when PratibhaPatil took office in July 2007. Belongingto the Latin Catholic diocese of Quilon inKerala, he was also Secretary to theDepartment of Tourism at the Centre. Hehas served as Joint Secretary in the

Agriculture and Petroleum Ministries, Additional Secretaryin the Commerce Ministry and Principal Secretary of theGujarat Town Development Council.

Nirupama Menon Rao – ForeignSecretary Nirupama Menon Rao, IFS, is the secondwoman to hold the post of ForeignSecretary. In 1973, she topped the civil

services examination before joining the IFS. She wasMinister of Press Affairs in Washington, Deputy Chief ofMission in Moscow, and in the Ministry of External Affairsas Joint Secretary, East Asia, and External Publicity, makingher the first woman spokesperson of the External AffairsMinistry. She was also Chief of Personnel, and ambassadorto Peru and China, and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.

Gopal Krishna Pillai – Home Secretary The 1972-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre served as Special Secretary forIndustries, as Secretary, Health, and asPrincipal Secretary to the Chief Ministerof Kerala. He was also Joint Secretary incharge of the Northeast over 1996-2001.

S Sundareshan – Secretary, Petroleum & Natural Gas A 1976-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, he was earlier Additional Secretaryand Special Secretary in the Ministry. AnMBA from University of Leeds, UK, hehas held positions including JointSecretary in the Department of Economic

Affairs (Ministry of Finance), Minister (Economic andCommercial), Embassy of India, Tokyo, and Joint ChiefController of Imports and Exports (Ministry of Commerce).

M Madhavan Nambiar – Secretary, Ministry of CivilAviation A 1974-batch IAS officer from the TamilNadu cadre, he was earlier SpecialSecretary, Department of InformationTechnology, Ministry of Communicationsand Information Technology.

Neela Gangadharan – Secretary, Dept of Justice,Ministry of Law and Justice A 1975-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, she has been Land RevenueCommissioner, Agriculture ProductionCommissioner, Excise Commissionerand Additional Chief Secretary in charge


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COVER STORYmovers and shakers

The ones wBrief sketches of the men and women w h

of Cooperation and Parliamentary Affairs. On Central dep-utation, she was Joint Secretary in the Agriculture andCooperation Ministries. She was Minister of Agriculture inthe Food and Agriculture Organisation, Rome.

Rudra Gangadharan – Secretary, department of AnimalHusbandry and Dairying A 1975-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, he was formerly Director of the LalBahadur Shastri National Academy ofAdministration, Mussoorie.

Raghu Menon – Secretary, Informationand BroadcastingA 1974-batch IAS officer of the Nagalandcadre, he earlier served in the CivilAviation Ministry and Air India. He wasalso Joint Secretary and Additional

Secretary in the I&B Ministry.

K Mohandas – Secretary, Shipping A 1974-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, he was earlier Secretary in theMinistry of Overseas Indian Affairs. Hehas vast experience in the sectors ofFinance, Industry and Commerce,

Education, Urban Development and GeneralAdministration. He has been Special Secretary/AdditionalSecretary in the Department of Revenue, Ministry ofFinance and was Principal Secretary in Kerala.

Sudha Pillai – Secretary, Planning Commission A 1972-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, she was earlier Union LabourSecretary. She stood second in the IASexamination and was originally allotted tothe Punjab cadre. She has served as DCof Thiruvananthapuram, Chairman and

Managing Director of the Kerala Finance Corporation, andPrincipal Secretary, Finance. She served in the Ministries ofIndustry and Corporate Affairs, Panchayati Raj, and Mines.She is married to GK Pillai.

Shiv Shankar Menon – NationalSecurity AdviserA 1972-batch Indian Foreign Service offi-cer who has served in China, Israel,Austria, Japan and Sri Lanka, and was anadviser in the Department of Atomic

Energy, he retired in July 2009. As Foreign Secretary, hebacked India’s successful bid to join the civil nuclear com-merce mainstream.

Vinod Rai – Comptroller & Auditor General of IndiaA 1972-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, he was earlier Secretary in theMinistry of Finance, and responsible formanaging the Financial Services sector,including banks and insurance compa-nies. He has also been Principal

Secretary, Finance, in the Kerala government apart fromholding senior positions in the Union Ministries ofCommerce and Defence.

KG Balakrishnan – Chairperson, National Human RightsCommission He is the sixth Chairperson of theNHRC. He was appointed a judge of theKerala High Court in 1985. He becameChief Justice of the Gujarat High Court in1998 and was transferred to the High

Court of Judicature at Madras. He assumed charge there asChief Justice in 1999. He was elevated as Supreme CourtJudge in 2000. In 2007, he was appointed Chief Justice ofIndia and retired on May 12, 2010.

PJ Thomas – Central VigilanceCommissioner A 1973-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre, he is India’s 14th CVC. He is a for-mer Chief Secretary of Kerala andParliamentary Affairs Secretary. As

Telecom Secretary, he was instrumental in holding the 3Gauctions that brought IN Rs 67,000 crore.

Dr S Ayyappan – Secretary, Agriculture Research He obtained BFSc and MFSc degreesfrom the College of Fisheries, Mangalore,and a PhD from Bangalore University.He headed CIFA and CIFE beforebecoming Deputy Director General ofFisheries in ICAR in 2002. g


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s who rulew ho run India’s institutions of governance


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SPOTLIGHTwest bengal

by DIPTENDRA RAYCHAUDHURI

THE Left is surely seeing red now. Its leaders in WestBengal perpetuated the myth that the defeat in the Statewas due to the alliance between the Congress and the

Trinamool Congress (TC) of Mamata Banerjee. It is anothermatter that a similar tie-up in the 2001 Assembly electionsbrought the Congress-TC combine less than one-third seats.But now the Kolkata municipal poll results have exposedhow cut off the Left leaders in West Bengal are from thepolitical reality.

So what will happen in West Bengal next May when, mostlikely, a new government will be formed after the Assemblyelections? One thing is easily predictable. It will not be a Leftgovernment. This prediction is not based on the municipalpoll results as its electorate consisted of only 16 per cent of thetotal number of Assembly voters. It is based on the swing ofthe popular mood from the 2008 panchayat electiononwards. Now, certain things have become evident:

One, the Left is consistently losing its vote. From slightlyover 50 per cent in 2006, in four years it has reduced to below40 per cent. This is the lowest since 1977, surpassing the pre-vious most-dismal performance in 1984 when, after IndiraGandhi’s assassination, the Left secured about 46 per cent.

Two, the geographical area of domination of the Congress-TC is clearly demarcated. TC dominates 150-160 seats (mostlyin South Bengal), the Congress dominates 60-70 seats

(mainly in North-Central Bengal), and both parties have thecapability to cut into each other in the remaining 65-75 seats(mostly in districts like West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankuraand Coochbehar which are still dominated, though to a muchlesser extent, by the Left).

Three, in case there is no alliance between the Congressand TC, the geographical demarcation will be more stronglyevident before the Assembly elections. The public as well aspolitical workers and leaders will definitely veer to the locallydominant opposition party. After all, the opposition is all setto come to power after three-and-a-half decades.

No one can vouch for either state Congress supremo ManasBhunia or the TC chief caring to retain the alliance in theAssembly poll. While Mamata incorporates much too stronganti-CPM fervour, Bhunia is similar to any Congress leader inthe State who does not mind taking or extending supportwhen it comes to the Left.

But what will happen if the Congress and TC come togeth-er? Or, if they are not together? Until now, considering thethree sides in the contest, the TC enjoys supremacy inapproximately 120-125 seats, the Left in about 100 seats andthe Congress in 35-40 seats. The rest of the 294 seats areeither hanging in the balance or dominated by smaller par-ties. One can build different scenarios keeping in mind thevote percentage of the parties and geographical imbalancesin support base. g

SCENARIO I (POSSIBILITY: 80%)TC and Congress get 2/3 majority

Despite the CPI(M)’s effort to create a rift between theCongress and TC, both parties are likely to fight the Assemblyelection together. If it happens, the opposition unity will causefurther erosion in Left votes.

The alliance is likely to get 200+ seats in the 294-memberAssembly. The TC may get about 150-160 and the Congressabout 40-50. However, if we take into account the gain theopposition has made after the 2009 polls, it may go beyond250. The government will last a full five years.

SCENARIO II (POSSIBILITY: 10%)Mamata as CM with a simple majority

If the alliance breaks, there are two possibilities. One, Mamataand her allies get a simple majority—say, about 150 seats. Thishappens if the TC retains its popularity level from the 2009 polls.

Then Mamata will be CM for five years. Congress will notdare to vote against this government as that will attract thestigma of helping the CPI(M). That will doom the futureprospects of the national party and will wash away whatev-er it has retained till now. But Mamata will not be in an unen-viable position.

Left in tWill the Reds gain if theCongress and Mamata

Banerjee part ways?


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SCENARIO III (POSSIBILITY: 7.5%)Mamata as CM without majority for TC

In case of a very sour break-up of the alliance, the TC may missthe magic mark by a few seats and then will have to dependon Congress support again post-election.

Mamata will be CM but it will be an unstable governmentand another election will ensue soon.

However, it may so happen that a large chunk of the newlyelected legislators of the Congress comes out of the party tojoin Mamata. In that case Mamata will have no difficulty running the government for a full five years.

SCENARIO IV (POSSIBILITY: 2.5%)Congress heads a minority government

This happens if, in case of a sour break-up, the Congress doesnot back Mamata. The Left will be happy to extend support toa minority Congress government (with maybe 15 per cent ofMLAs).

The survival of such a government will depend on the over-all political environment in the country.

It is clear that if the Congress and TC split, there is no guaran-tee that the Left will gain significantly. There is only a 2.5 percent chance of the Left gaining.

Sonia and Mamata: chugging along on the anti-communist bandwagon

the lurch

PIB

by COL R HARIHARAN

Iam no great admirer of Henry

Kissinger. But his pithy remark,“America needs a strategy, not an

alibi”, in a recent article on the US oper-ations in Afghanistan sums up the situ-ation. If you substitute India forAmerica it would aptly describe the des-perate straits of New Delhi in handlingour own internal situation across thecountry, whether it is Kashmir or theMaoist and Northeastern extremists.

Kashmir is in an undeclared “intifa-da” with the disgruntled youthindulging in “stone warfare” against thepolice and paramilitary forces. It doesnot require the World Cup Nostradamus– octopus Paul – to guess the hiddenhand of jihadists in whipping up emo-tions there. They have now done moredamage to upset the state apparatus thanthe terrorists ever achieved. Both the rul-ing and opposition political parties aredithering. And Srinagar and New Delhiappear to favour the firefighting meas-ure of deploying the Army rather thantaking concrete action to put out the fire.

The Home Minister’s much publi-cized “war” against Maoists appears tobe going awry. The grim scorecard of thepolice and paramilitary losing lives at thehands of Maoists is going up. They con-tinue to flout elementary rules of insur-gency warfare despite the HomeMinistry spouting data about their spe-cial training. The Ministry tried to getthe Army into action though Armymencome from a similar background as theCentral police troops. Veteran cop ENRammohan, who investigated theDantewada incident, calls the CRPF a“lathi force”. If that is so, why offer themas sacrificial goats?

New Delhi still appears to be confusedas it gropes for a common strategy. Atthe Chief Ministers’ meeting on July 14in New Delhi, dissonant voices of someof the worst-affected States showed theHome Minister’s problem is far from

over. Four worst-hit states –Chhattisgarh, Orissa, West Bengal andJharkhand – agreed to form unifiedcommands for anti-Naxal operationsmodelled after those existing in Jammuand Kashmir, and Assam.

In spite of the Maoists fighting thestate in over 170 districts, the govern-ment recently objected to a UN reportcalling it an “armed conflict” though theHome Minister has called it a “war”.The report, produced by the office ofSecretary-General Ban Ki-moon andsubmitted to the Security Council, hadhighlighted the recruitment and use ofchildren by the Maoist armed group insome districts of Chhattisgarh.

The core issue is, do we want to fightthe Maoists or not? Or do we want tocarry party politics down to the Statelevel and carry on a slanging match ontelevision? If not, why is there lack ofprofessionalism in all avenues fromplanning to action? Clearly, there issomething seriously wrong in the han-dling of the issue and nobody knowswho is responsible.

It seems the somnolence in manag-ing the internal situation is everywhere.Take the case of the Manipur blockade.Over two million people of the Statewere held to ransom for two monthswhen the All Naga Student Associationof Manipur (ANSAM) established roadblocks at entry points into the State. Theblockade was “suspended temporarily”at the “request” of the Prime Ministerand Union Home Minister. Of course,the media, quoting governmentsources, reported that Central paramili-tary forces “lifted” the blockade.

The ANSAM blockade was ostensiblyagainst the ban on the visit of ThMuivah, the leader of the NationalSocialist Council of Nagalim – IsakMuivah (NSCN-IM) to his hometown ofSomdal in Manipur. But, as the Manipurgovernment has pointed out, the realreason was the NSCN-IM’s opposition tothe holding of autonomous districtcouncil elections in Manipur.

This is a direct consequence of NewDelhi’s inability to reconcile Muivah’sdemand for Naga sovereignty and


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NATIONAL SECURITYinternal disturbances

Looking for alibis,not action

The political leadership is seized of a marked s

“greater Nagalim” with the conflictinginterests of neighbouring states. This isafter New Delhi’s 56 rounds of talks forthe past 13 years with Muivah! The onlygainer seems to be Muivah, who is call-ing the shots. He has established hisarmed followers in the heart ofNagaland in “peace camps”. They havebecome fat cats thriving on extortion.With this kind of governance, how canManipuris feel they are part of this coun-try when the state cannot ensure theirright to normal life?

Not only internal security, but gover-nance as a whole appears to be in slowmotion. For instance, government inac-tion for political reasons has empoweredkhap panchayats to pass the death sen-tence! But the worst example is theBhopal tragedy. Twentysix years after thedisaster, a GoM deliberates on the issue

for a few hours and discovers that itneeds to prosecute Anderson, the thenCEO of Union Carbide in the US.

IT would be charitable to describe thedecision-making process as lethargic;it is best described as poodlefaking.

The public is equally guilty in allowingthe government to get away with it timeand again. It is time we started meaningwhat we say and do what we mean.

The US has not covered itself withglory in the war in Afghanistan againstthe Taliban and Al Qaeda terrorists. Ithas poured in money – over $80 billion– and its Army continues to suffercasualties. All it has to show there nowis a democratically elected governmentsteeped in corruption, controlling bare-ly 21 per cent of the country. But, evenin the midst of all this adversity, in the

US there is a sense of urgency ofthought and action. The people heldPresident George W Bush responsiblefor the failure and elected a Democratas President. There is free airing ofopinions and fixing of responsibility.President Barack Obama continues tomonitor performance of his generals.He does not hesitate to sack GeneralMcChrystal, the chief executive of oper-ations, and appoint General Petraeus inhis place. So, though Kissinger maysuggest strategy rather than alibi, atleast the US government shows it isalive to the situation.

Though American operations inAfghanistan are not worth emulating,the Indian government can take a cuefrom them on maintaining clear focuson the core issue. And that is what weare not doing. We are only looking foralibis and not action. There is not evenknee-jerk reaction anymore, only para-lytic spasm. At best we can hope foranother Group of Ministers to sit, dis-cuss and debate this issue. If that hap-pens we will be where we started. g


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Not only internal security, but governance as awhole appears to be in slow motion.

d somnolence in tackling difficult situations across the country

Muivah (left) and Chidambaram: 56 rounds of talks in 13 years!

PIB

by NL RAJAH

WHENEVER there is a piece of“breaking news” of a scandalrelating to criminal acts by the

powerful or influential, an all-too-famil-iar pantomime unfolds. In the begin-ning the news is broken; this is followedeither by a stock denial or stoic silence bythe person concerned; the political oppo-sition or public interest groups thenclamour for an investigation; a CBIprobe or a police inquiry is ordered; thenthe powers that be sanctimoniouslyintone that the law will take its owncourse; silence follows while the investi-gation is on; a chargesheet is filed; final-ly, aeons later, when the incident hasbeen given a proper burial in publicmemory, we hear that the concernedperson has been acquitted.

This state of affairs exists becausethere is a serious hiatus in our criminaljustice dispensing system.

An investigation begins with filing ofa First Information Report. The proceed-ings during the course of investigationtake place in a dark tunnel. No externalagency or authority other than the con-cerned investigating team and the con-cerned Ministry can have access to anyinformation relating to the investiga-tion. Even the Right to Information Actis incapable of unearthing informationregarding what is happening during theinvestigation. The chargesheet, whenfinally filed, is open to public scrutiny.

Since it is ordained by law, the judici-ary has been protective of this proce-dure. In Union of India vs Prakash PHinduja (AIR 2003 SC 2612), theSupreme Court held that the mannerand method of investigation should beleft to the discretion of the police andeven the magistrate cannot interfere.This position in law is exploited to thehilt when an investigation concernsthose in power or the influential. Even aminor but crucial discrepancy in record-ing the results of an investigation or the

manner of conduct of an investigation(which occurs, quite often, intentionally)becomes a brahmastra in the hands of acompetent lawyer to make mincemeatof the case. The accused sings his wayhome. In short, there is no accountabili-ty to any independent authority duringthis crucial phase of prosecution.

The US recognized this vital flaw inthe criminal justice system quite early.In 1978, in response to the outcry thatfollowed the Watergate scandal and theSaturday Night Massacre, Congressdrafted the Ethics in Government Act or

the Independent Counsel Act. The Actprovided for the creation of the office ofa Special Prosecutor, which later cameto be known as the office of theIndependent Counsel. This officewould be used by the legislature or theAttorney General (either suo motu or ona request from the investigating agency)to investigate individuals holding or for-merly holding certain high positions inthe federal government and in thenational election campaign organiza-tion. The investigating agency, when itfeared interference by the high and


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THE LAWaccountability

Probes to now hAgencies investigating criminal charges against the influ eaccountable to an independent authority

What happens at the State level to ensure accounta-bility in investigation? As things stand, there is noaccountability to any independent authority asregards investigations by the State police.

AR

UN

A

mighty, could ask for the probe andprosecution to be done under the watch-ful eyes of the Independent Counsel sothat there would be no executive inter-ference. The Constitutionality of thisoffice was upheld by the US SupremeCourt in Morrison vs Olson. The officehas been put to good use to investigatecharges of alleged use of drugs byJimmy Carter aide Hamilton Jordan(1978), the Iran contra affair (1986-93),corruption charges against Mike Espy(1994-2001), the suicide of Vince Fosterwho was involved in the Whitewaterscandal (1994-2001) and, most famous-ly, the Monica Lewinsky scandal (1994-2001). The Independent Counselsupervises the investigation and, moreimportant, insulates it from executiveand other influence.

IN India, recognizing a similar flaw inthe criminal justice dispensation sys-tem, the Supreme Court, in the cele-

brated case of Vineet Narain vs Union ofIndia, conferred powers of supervisinginvestigation of sensitive cases involvingpublic servants on the Central VigilanceCommission. Several directions werepassed by the Supreme Court to insulatethis authority from political interfer-

ence. These directions finally (thoughnot with the same vigour, but that isanother story) assumed the status of leg-islation with the passing of the CentralVigilance Commission Act, 2003. Theimpact of this reform has been restrict-ed, since the Central Bureau ofInvestigation (CBI) has jurisdiction toinvestigate a very limited category ofcases, ie corruption by public servants ofCentral government departments,Central Public Sector Undertakings,economic crimes, terrorism, and thelike. A large number of cases continue tobe investigated by the State police. Sowhat happens at the State level to ensureaccountability in investigation? Asthings stand, there is no accountabilityto any independent authority as regardsinvestigations by the State police.

However, the Soli SorabjeeCommittee which drafted the ModelPolice Act, 2005, has done commend-able work in borrowing from the idea ofthe CVC and developing an authoritycalled the Police AccountabilityCommission at the State level andPolice Accountability Authority at thedistrict level. The model Act (Sections158 to 179) contemplates the establish-ment of an Independent PoliceAccountability Commission at the Statelevel and in each district.

The model Act draws from the con-cept of an Independent Counsel and theCentral Vigilance Commission when itmandates, in Section 167 (2): “TheCommission may also inquire into any

other case referred to it by the DirectorGeneral of Police if, in the opinion of theCommission, the nature of the case mer-its an independent inquiry.”

The attempt here is not to curtail orinterfere with the powers of investiga-tion of the police but to ensure account-ability to an independent authorityrather than just the powers that be. TheCommission is to consist of five mem-bers, ie, a retired High Court judge, aretired police officer from another Statecadre, a person with a minimum of 10years’ experience as a judicial officer,public prosecutor, practising advocateor a professor of law, a person of reputeand standing from civil society, and aretired public administration officerfrom another State, provided that atleast one member of the commissionshall be a woman and not more thanone member shall be a retired policeofficer. The Commission effectively pro-vides a window to the dark tunnel ofinvestigation, through the office of thePolice Accountability Authority.

Pursuant to the Supreme Court direc-tions in the Prakash Singh case, manyState governments have enacted a newpolice Act. However, virtually no Statehas provided for establishment of aPolice Accountability Commission.

The existing procedures have nothingto commend their acceptability otherthan their antiquity. Only public pres-sure can salvage the situation. gThe writer is a senior advocate of Madras

High Court.


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w herelu ential should be

A web portal providingComplete Information on Government

Anil Kakodkar is an eminent Indiannuclear scientist and mechanical engi-neer. He was the Chairman of the AtomicEnergy Commission of India and theSecretary to the Government of India,Department of Atomic Energy. Beforeleading India’s nuclear programme, hewas the Director of the Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre, Trombay, from 1996-2000. He was awarded the PadmaVibhushan, India’s second highest civil-ian honour, on January 26, 2009.

interviewed by DINESH LAKHANPAL

gfiles: On having been chairman of theDepartment of Atomic Energy....Anil Kakodkar: Actually, in theDepartment of Atomic Energy we areall Team DAE and I think all of us arekind of wedded to a common mission. gfiles: Any motivations to join the thenAtomic Energy Establishment?AK: I passed out from VJTI as amechanical engineer in 1963 andjoined the Atomic Energy Establish-ment in 1964. In those days mechani-cal engineers were in great demand.All of us had appointment letters fromvery important companies, even with-out having to appear for an interview. Ihad a full file of appointment letters,but the industry scene at that time wasnot very exciting for me whereas in theAtomic Energy Establishment in

Trombay it was clear that one would bein a position to do several new things.gfiles: What was your first interactionwith Dr Homi J Bhabha like?AK: The atomic energy programmewas quite small in those days. I wasalready in the seventh batch and thebatch was quite big, maybe around ahundred people. We all somehow feltthat we were too many compared to thesize of the programme, so once weasked him about that. He said, “Whyare you worried?” We said that we justwanted to know whether this pro-gramme would be large enough to pro-vide interesting activities for all of us.Somebody asked, “Aren’t you spend-ing too much for a kind of undefinedactivity?” He said, “You don’t worryabout all that. You do your R&D, yourresearch, whatever and even after 10,15, 20 or 30 batches, if one or two ofyou turn out to be Nobel laureates, allof my money would have beenreturned.” gfiles: What were your priorities whenyou took over as Chairman, DAE?AK: The three-stage programmechalked out by Bhabha was well ontrack and I think that is still valid today.I had been working on nuclear power,so I had my own insights into whatneeded to be done further. Over time,there were some drifts but I straight-away started off with a sort of re-cali-

bration in terms of where the pro-gramme was and what was needed tomove on. There are a few DAE publica-tions charting what we need to do inthe area of nuclear power, in develop-ment of technologies required fornuclear power and then we got intocollective mode to move forward andit’s going on since. gfiles: What caused drift?AK: I think it had happened withoutpeople being conscious of it. It hap-pened because the rest of the countryitself is like that. Bhabha created some-thing which was different from therest of the country and maybe as wewent along it was not emphasizedenough...so we were sort of gettingaligned with what had happened in therest of the country.gfiles: What could be the factors?AK: As the system becomes biggeryou have to also be conscious aboutyour peer group and see what is hap-pening in the rest of the country,whether you are on a par or lagging orleading. That is also true in develop-ment. For example, if you are con-structing a nuclear power project,there will be comparisons. You arespending so much money, you are pro-ducing electricity at such and suchrate, somebody is producing a thermalpower station at a much cheaper rate –so you get driven by those kinds of


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TALK TIMEindia’s energy options anil kakodkar

‘Dr Bhabha’s visionwould have solvedIndia’s energy shortage’

comparisons and you want to win thecompetition which is importantbecause without that you don’tprogress.

We want to be the best in the world.We cannot be unless such segmentsare interconnected. gfiles: Would you blame market forces,consumerism?AK: Well, yes and no. The consumer isalways going to have a short-termfocus. He will say, while buying some-thing, “Am I getting the best?” Therewas a time when Indian householdswere full of Indian products, refrigera-tors or kitchen appliances and so on.

And then we went into this liberal-ized system and I think many of thoseproducts have vanished. There could

be many reasons. But the fact is that intechnological terms the Indian prod-ucts did not compete. Because theywere based on technology transfer.Somebody got into a technology trans-fer arrangement with somebody elseabroad and started making those prod-ucts. Now when there is liberalizationor an open market, people who havebetter technologies are not going togive them to you. They will straight-away market it here. So the better tech-nologies came in and so-called Indianbrands got wiped out.

By copying technology, you can atbest be a good second. You can neverbe first. Bhabha had understood this,that is why he emphasized a particularculture. And it is important that we get

back those elements. It will be good forus in the long run. gfiles: Can you throw some light on whatDr Bhabha visualized 65 years ago andwhere we stand today? AK: I think this has been a continuousprocess. There are several people whohave contributed to carrying it for-ward. For example, the pressurizedheavy water reactor technology. Today,our PHWRs perform with global stan-dards. Some of our reactors have beenjudged the best in the world. They havewon global awards. Some of our peoplewho operate the reactors have wonglobal awards. That has happenedbecause this is a road to excellence butit is sustained work. While this hashappened, we have also gone throughrough weather. Our reactors had a lotof technological problems. Opera- tional excellence had to be achieved.

The same thing is true of the fastreactors. We are able to have themtoday because the Indira GandhiCentre worked on it for 25 years. TheCentre was set up in Sarabhai’s time.There was this emphasis on this 500megawatt reactor, getting into massivedevelopment, that came in duringRamanna’s time. Compared to thetime-frame in his mind, there hasbeen a delay although we are veryproud to have mastered those tech-nologies. We have shown global excel-lence in those technologies but thingshave got delayed. But the energyrequirements today are far more acutecompared to what they were earlier oreven what we would have visualizedfor today 10 or 15 years ago. So there isa much greater level of urgency today.

The starting base is by externalinputs and because we have developedthis technology on our own, it will bevery easy for us to assimilate whatevercomes from outside. It will also be veryeasy for us to build up a multiplier.After all, in a three-stage programme,


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‘The consumer is always going to have a short-term focus. He will say, while buying something, “Am I getting the best?” ’

PIB

Kakodkar receives the Padma Vibhushan from President Patil: lifetime achievement

there is a multiplier. There isone 10,000 megawattPHWR that can become a500,000 MW fast reactorwithout any additional urani-um being required.gfiles: How is the nucleartreaty going to help the weakestin our society?AK: If the three-stagenuclear programme hadgone on at the rate at whichBhabha had visualized it,then the energy shortage wesee today would have beenbridged because the multi-plier would already havebeen in force. In 40 or 50years from now, we will seemuch higher shortages. Evenif we use every bit of energyresource that you can havefrom within the country and are able toexploit it to the fullest potential in thequickest possible time, we will still beleft with a huge energy deficit by 2050. gfiles: We might have to import?AK: Of course. To meet that shortage,you will have to import energy. Interms of coal, we will have to import1.6 billion tons annually. It will chokeall our ports, railway lines, everything.It is not possible. First of all, where willyou get that kind of money? Even if yousay it is an economic activity, the coun-try will find the money, it is very diffi-cult to provide matching infrastruc-ture. On the other hand, we can get acertain quantity of uranium, set upsome additional thermal reactors,allow multiplication through fast reac-tors. Again, we should work with thesame vision as Bhabha, we should beable to realize all this in the kind oftime-frame he visualized. See, we weredependent for food at one stage.Thanks to the Green Revolution, foodsecurity is there. Similarly, this willmake India energy independent. And

we are doing this without changingone bit our autonomy regarding R&D.gfiles: The architect of the GreenRevolution, Prof MS Swaminathan, hasbeen advocating a renewed approach –from Green to Evergreen Revolution. Doesthe energy cycle also need the sameapproach?AK: It is like that. We often use theterm “energy security”. It means, evenin troubled times the country shouldbe able to provide for its energyrequirements for a reasonable period.Energy independence is that you nolonger have to worry about energycoming from anywhere. Perpetualenergy security, that is what I mean. gfiles: The number of young men andwomen opting for science as a career hascome down and the country has failed toattract the best talent.AK: We need scientists who can engi-neer India and you need engineerswho understand this new sciencewhich is not taught in engineering col-leges. This is also a major challenge forour education system. As for the atom-

ic energy programme, it isvery important that a student,while he or she is goingthrough the education pro-gramme, gets a holistic expe-rience.

Students should be able tobuild their own experimentalset-ups. They must knowhow much activity goes into aworkshop so that they under-stand what it means in termsof making that set-up. On alarger scale, they should beable to understand the sci-ence and the technologybehind it and, if it comes tothat, they should be able toengineer it themselves.There is a third component ineducation. Students must beexposed to the problems of

this country. When students are obliv-ious of the problems of their owncountry or society, there remains a biggap in their education. gfiles: Can the recent bubble burst of theIT industry and the recession be used to fillthe gaps you spoke of?AK: Probably, but we need to be moreproactive than that. We should be ableto create an ambience where a studentis learning and in a neighbouringroom a Nobel laureate is carrying outsome research and on the other side isa room where some technology isbeing developed which the wholeworld is vying for. On the third side,there is some great rural extensionprogramme going on. It enriches thewhole ambience if all of it is donetogether.

The problem is, you must maintainexcellence in all. A little dilution ofexcellence is a disaster we can’t allow.It is eminently possible to do this whilemaintaining excellence in each area.In the DAE, we have managed to do soto quite an extent. g


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TALK TIMEindia’s energy options anil kakodkar

‘If the three-stage nuclear programmehad gone on at the rate Bhabha visu-alized, the energy shortage we seewould have been bridged.’

A 1996-batch IPS officer of the AGMUTcadre, DCP Jaspal Singh heads the law andorder machinery of Central District – one ofthe most important and communally sensi-tive districts of the National CapitalTerritory of Delhi. In the first part of a gfilesfocus on the law-enforcers of Delhi, hedetails security measures and communityparticipation initiatives and emphasizesthe importance of public cooperation inmaintaining law and order. He was earlierDCP, North East District of Delhi. Postedas SP, Nicobar, three days after the tsuna-mi struck in 2004, Jaspal Singh was com-mended by the Lt Governor, Andaman andNicobar Islands, for his contribution to therescue and rehabilitation effort.

interviewed by KALLOL DEY

gfiles: How difficult is the task of theDCP, Central District, of the NationalCapital Region?Jaspal Singh: Law and order is in con-trol but we can’t be lax for even amoment. The job demands constant vig-ilance and judicious mobilization of per-sonnel. One of the main engagementsof the Central District Police force isescorting VVIPs and VIPs, especiallywith round-the-year visits to the GandhiSamadhi. The district has major reli-gious monuments like the Jama Masjidand the Laxmi Narayan temple. As it hasa mixed population, every religious festi-val is celebrated in a big way. Ensuringsecurity during the celebrations is one ofthe biggest challenges. Then we haveChauri Bazaar and Ajauri, the two majortransit areas for people passing throughDelhi, which need constant monitoring.Central District also has the most num-ber of guesthouses and hotels whichhave to be checked regularly. gfiles: What is the mechanism to moni-

tor the transit population, especially withmushrooming of hotels and guesthouses?JS: It is impossible to monitor the tran-sit population completely. Both the rail-way stations – Old and New Delhi – arelocated in this district. It has been madelegally mandatory for hotels and guest-houses to photograph customers, main-tain proper records and instal CCTVcameras. The police regularly cross-checks the records. gfiles: How are the markets monitored?JS: I ensure a beat system. However,public initiatives like installation ofCCTV are making our task easier. Thebusiness communities of Gafar Marketand Paharganj Market have alreadyinstalled CCTV and it is being done inthe Karol Bagh Market. ECIL isinstalling CCTV for Delhi Police. Thecooperation of the Resident WelfareAssociations and Market Associationshelps us ensure vigilance.gfiles: With a flourishing business com-munity in the district, there must be manycases of extortion…. JS: No. Contrary to this perception,there are very few cases of extortion andwe have ensured that there are no pro-fessional extortion gangs. gfiles: What are the most frequent crimesin Central District?JS: Two kinds of crime are common.One is vehicle theft. Patel Nagar, DBGRoad and Ranjit Nagar are primarilyaffected. We have brought down the rateof vehicle thefts but cars kept in unse-cured areas and the proximity of the

Delhi border make things difficult forus. And, while people are ready to spendhuge amounts on buying cars, they arestingy when it comes to installing high-end gadgets which would discouragethefts. The other common crime is rob-bery. Rajinder Nagar is most affected. gfiles: Central District is dotted withmosques, gurudwaras and temples. Is thepolice adequately prepared for crowd con-trol and to check incidents which couldspark communal tension?JS: We have crowd control equipmentand special lights. CCTV cameras areinstalled during any big gathering likeRamlila. The Quick Reaction Team isalways at hand to douse any volatile situ-ation. The police also gets assistancefrom Nagarik Suraksha Samitis[Citizens’ Protection Committees] whowork zealously during every religiousfestival. Eid, Holi or Diwali – every reli-gious festival is celebrated with gusto.Two extra companies are deployed everyFriday during namaaz prayers at theJama Masjid. There are hardly any inci-dents. I have always believed that with alittle effort it is possible to maintain com-munal harmony. People basically wantto live in peace. There isn’t much com-munal tension between the religiouscommunities, it is the troublemakerswho intentionally try to disturb peace. gfiles: Is there any threat perception orfrequent incidence of crime in the areaaround the Jama Masjid? JS: In Delhi, incidence of crime is theleast in the Jama Masjid area. A majori-


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TALK TIMEdcp (central), delhi jaspal singh

‘Community alertness is very im p

‘The Quick Reaction Team is always at hand to douse any volatile situation. The police also getsassistance from Nagarik Suraksha Samitis.’

ty of the population has been residentthere for very long and the mohallah cul-ture still exists. There is no precedenceof terrorists being sheltered in the area.Moreover, I have faith in the minorities.[Jaspal Singh spoke before the shootingof Taiwanese journalists.]gfiles: What measures have you taken toface the terrorism threat?JS: Terrorism continues to be thebiggest challenge in the whole of thecountry. But other agencies are work-ing on it too. We conduct regularpatrolling, tenant verification, and sen-sitization drives with property dealers,motor mechanics and second-hand cardealers, cyber cafes and PCOs, guest-house and hotel owners. And theycoordinate with us by informing usabout anything unusual. I have beenstressing community policing initia-tives and the involvement of stakehold-ers like businessmen. The Eyes & Earsscheme of Delhi Police, in which thecommon man on the road acts as theeyes and ears of the police, is payingdividends. Many cases have beensolved and people rewarded for theirassistance. The success of the schemein the past two years has prompted theMHA to suggest other States imple-ment it too.

The participation and alertness of thecommunity is very important in tacklingthe terrorism threat. Stakeholders needto share the responsibility and the peo-ple have to share information with thepublic authority if they want to be safe.The community involvement in CentralDistrict is encouraging. It is helping us alot. We also get rehriwallahs, chowkidars,patriwallahs, guards, landlords andmembers of Residents WelfareAssociations and Market Associationsinvolved through regular interaction. g


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m portant in tackling terrorism’

RA

JEEV D

ABR

AL

September 28, 2010Respected Prime Minister,

In a landmark ruling from the viewpoint of the poor, theSupreme Court has directed that surplus food grains with-out proper storage facility should be distributed among thepoor rather than be allowed to rot. The Government of Indiais reportedly unwilling to abide by the ruling, maybebecause the Bill of Right to Food includes provision only forcheap grain, not free grain. There is a provision in theNatural Calamities Code for distribution of gratuitous relief,including free cooked food or grain. The fear is, what is con-ceded now will be demanded in future. The question iswhether distress is limited to times of natural calamities oralso exists due to acute poverty, prolonged unemploymentor disease in normal times which cannot be taken care of byNREGA in the best of times, though the best of times sel-dom occur and the scheme is defeated and wages stolen bythe implementing bureaucratic machine. Also, the schemehas a life of only six months. The answer, from a great manyof us, is no, and we have the Supreme Court on our side. TheGovernment of India should not be unnerved by numbers.The Supreme Court ruling does not cover the entire popu-lation of the poor. There is a natural calamity in some partof the country or the other, which hits the poor the most.Free distribution for the poor can be tied to these areas.

Some of us will even contest this limited view whichdelinks free grain from poverty and links it with naturalcalamity alone. If free grain is not a desirable option, wehave to give the poor the means to buy grain cheaply. Thegovernment should open a postal account for every BPLfamily and deposit Rs 500 a month. This will cover themost vulnerable, the old, women and children. NREGAleaves out this section because they cannot undergo therigours of work dealing with earth. The Rs 100 a day wageis meagre and a sure way to keep the poor poor in terms ofcalories consumed. A Rs 500 allowance will still be meagrebut it will be some proof that we care for the poor beyondpaying them wages for hard work.

Poor members of the community are also public ser-vants since they contribute to the country’s productivewealth but we reserve our regard for only a section of pub-

lic servants formally appointed by the government. The dis-tinction is purely artificial and arbitrary. The sooner weexpand the boundary of public servants for affording basicamenities the better.

The top-most lawmakers have drawn a road map for lawenforcement with a heart. Laws and policies should mirrorand codify our inclusive and generous impulses. I haveoften grieved over the absence of a mechanism to transmitto the poor a share of the nation’s growing prosperity but forexpansion of the service sector at fairly inelastic wages anda small rise in employment, nowhere comparable to the risein profits and executive I salaries or even the salaries that thepeople’s representatives accord to themselves.

The right to food of the vulnerable sections of the poorwould be one such mechanism, part of Bharat Nirman inhuman resources. Without it we may win the economicbattle but lose the political. Another effective mechanismwould be to make it mandatory for business undertakingsto allow a share of equity to panchayat members in the areawhere the industry is located besides payment of compen-sation at market rates to the victims of land acquisition,jobs, as far as possible, and apprentice training so that therural areas perceive a change in both their physical andmental landscape and are more welcoming of industry.

I am conscious that there is a growing awareness amongour rural folk of industrialization being the only ticket out


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NATIONAL ISSUESopen letter to pm

Thoughts on NREGA,

of the trap of poverty for some, if not all, of them. That iswhy they vote for parties that support and promote indus-trialization. Even land reforms, though desirable to createan ambience of equity, cannot end poverty and can at bestcreate full employment with poverty. So growth must go onbut with as many concessions to equity in distribution aswe can think of. Our most serious human and politicalproblem is poverty, more than growing rich or strong. Thelatter will be welcomed to the extent the former is eased.

NREGA should be additive to survival money of a bareallowance of Rs 500 for the vulnerable sections. It should

include not just earth work but training in the semi-skilledwork of electricians, plumbers and computer maintenanceengineers which will have a growing market. Besides, itshould, to honour the Father of the Nation, include khadi,weaving and selected cottage industries to guarantee mini-mum wages to skilled workers hit by industrialization.

Let me touch on Naxalism which has grown out of pover-ty and endeared itself to a section of the poor. We should tryto negotiate a deal on rural problems and involve them ina sort of land army, a Lohia vision, or a vigilance commit-tee. Killings, selective or indiscriminate, will not kill themovement. Nor will the government’s misuse of authorityto snuff out proactive support for tribal and environmentalpolicies that impede development by dubbing them pro-

Naxalite. It will only get worse.Finally, we have to learn to live with difficult and trouble-

some neighbours, driven by oversized ambitions. But wecan only be patient and not overreact till we have earnedtheir respect by our own growth and put a cost tag onunfriendliness difficult to bear.

Kashmiris are not our neighbours, they are our own peo-ple. We should heed them as we heed others. We may betough for a while but not indefinitely. We should appointan impartial commission of inquiry under someone likeRajendra Sachar or Kuldip Nayyar to look into specific alle-gations. We should not panic and courageously reduce thesecurity forces’ presence. We should invoke help from oneof the dissident leaders like Yasin Malik or Shabir Shah byoffers of power-sharing besides using informed negotia-tors to carry on behind-the-scenes talks with bothKashmiris and Pakistan. If Pakistan does not respond, weshould put on the table Nehru’s own solution to the prob-lem before he died, as recorded by Sheikh Abdullah inChinar in Flames, which he personally took to Ayub Khan.

I write this long letter out of respect for your humanitar-ian qualities.

Best regards,Shankar Sharan

IAS (Retd), 1955, Bihar cadre

Convener, Lok Paksh, Patna/ New Delhi


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Naxals and Kashmir

REU

TERS

Most respectfully and with high hopes, we, the voter-cit-izens of India, whose signatures are appended herewith(eleven thousand seven hundred plus), humbly approachyou to kindly pay attention to the degenerated and furtherfast degenerating electoral system of the country. Since thismore than eleven thousand number is based on only onevoter member signing for the whole family, the number ofvoters directly represented is more than forty-seven thou-sand. Interestingly, not even a single voter, when explained,gave a second thought while signing this petition.We our-selves have restricted the number of signatories, because ofthe volume of paper involved. Otherwise, crores of voterswould be eager to sign this petition.

Through the election system we are following, politicalpower has already gone into the hands of the moneyed andmuscled corrupt and criminals, because our elections havecome to depend solely on money and muscle power. Eventhe Prime Minister of India has lamented that educated,honest, service-minded persons are not coming forward inthe field of politics. Not only that, educated and well-informed middle and upper class voters seem to have lostfaith and interest in voting itself because they, more oftenthan not, find that none of the candidates fielded by thepolitical parties and Independents come up to their expec-tations. Most of today’s politicians have lost the respect of

the people. This leads to low voting percentage, particular-ly of the educated and better-informed voters of the coun-try. It is only the poor, ignorant and uneducated personswhose votes are mopped up by the moneyed and muscledpoliticians. As a result, our democracy has degeneratedinto government by the poor and ignorant people, of theunconcerned and indifferent bureaucracy and for the cor-rupt politicians.

While celebrating the 61st Republic Day of India, at thePensioner Bhawan, Ludhiana, more than 400 retired per-sons, including high-ranking civil servants, educationists,defence officers and professionals, deliberated on the issuewith deep concern and felt that the present system of elec-tions is highly inimical to the healthy development of ourdemocracy and, if left as such, will lead to total chaos in thesociety. After long and sustained deliberations, we came tothe following solution of the problem, which will give anadequate chance to our democracy to survive the onslaughtof criminals and corrupt politicians and put it back on thepath to healthy development. We put forward these sugges-tions for your consideration and humbly request you withall the seriousness at our command to save Indian democ-racy. Your considered action at this stage will leave anindelible positive mark on our democracy, for which futuregenerations will remain ever grateful to you. The electionsystem we propose is detailed below:A:In the keyboard of the voting machine add one red buttonat the top, indicating NOBODY. This will give a choice tothe voter to reject all the candidates if he or she does notconsider anyone up to the mark.

◗ The red button votes should be counted just as the votesof all other candidates are counted.◗ The winning candidate must obtain votes more thanthe number of red button (Nobody) votes.◗ If no candidate gets more than Red Button/Nobodyvotes, this would mean the majority of the voters do notelect/approve any of the candidates.◗ In such a situation, the elections of such constituen-cies/wards should be cancelled and held anew.◗ In such an eventuality, all the candidates that got reject-ed by the voters should be debarred for six years fromcontesting elections.

B:The elections should be held at government account/cost:


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GFILES NATIONAL INTEREST INITIATIVEelection reforms

To

Her Excellency, The President,Republic of India,Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi

His Excellency, The Vice-President, Republic of India,New Delhi

Hon’ble Prime Minister of India,North Block, New Delhi

Hon’ble Speaker,Lok Sabha, New Delhi

Hon’ble Chief Justice of India,New Delhi

Hon’ble Chief Election Commissioner,New Delhi

Subject: Need and request for Electoral Reforms to enableIndian democracy to survive the onslaught of criminals andcorrupt politicians

A citizens’ petition from Punjab, p

◗ The government should set up stages/pandals atprominent places in every Assembly/Parliamentary con-stituency.◗ The number of stages (say 15-25) will depend on the sizeand spread of the constituency.◗ Every candidate (party nominee or Independent)should get an equal chance by turn to address the votersfrom every stage/podium/pandal on his/her pro-gramme or vision or election manifesto.◗ These pandals/podiums should be provided with ade-quate security, day and night, during the period of cam-paigning.◗ No candidate should be allowed to contact the votersindividually or make door-to-door calls. Because it is theindividual contact or door-to-door campaigning whenintoxicants, money or other considerations are passed onto the voters. No one can distribute these considerationsfrom the podiums or pandals.◗ Hence, any candidate (directly or through his/heragent/supporter) found contacting the voters individual-ly should be considered to be indulging in electoral mal-practices, which should render the concerned candidateliable to be disqualified.◗ Political parties can be allotted time on TV and radio

channels for putting forth their manifestoes/pro-grammes to the people.◗ The nomination fees may be increased to Rs 25,000 ormore to partially meet the election expenses incurred bythe government on providing pandals and security.

These steps will in totality reduce the economic costs of electionsand will set healthy traditions.

We are conscious that even if, overall, it may involvesome additional expenses, it will be only once. This costwill, however, certainly pay back manyfold in its turn by fil-tering out the criminals and the corrupt from the highlysacred and powerful profession of politics. In the followinground, after cancellation of elections in affected con-stituencies, and for the future, the political parties and indi-viduals will think a hundred times before putting up theircandidatures.

We most humbly make a fervent appeal once again thatour request on these proposals may be given seriousthought and implemented in order to enable our democra-cy to survive the onslaught of criminals and corrupt politi-cians, who have made nefarious inroads into the politicalset-up of the country. Honourable Sirs and Excellencies,the future of our highly valued Indian democracy is in yourhands. If some solid action on these lines is not taken atthis stage, doom will come calling on our otherwise vibrantsociety.

Most respectfully, we, the voter-citizens of India:1. Dr. S. S. Johl (Awarded Padma Bhushan), Ex-Vice-Chancellor, 2920, Gurdev Nagar, Ludhiana (Punjab), Mob:+91-98151-86766 2. S. P. Karkara, IAS (Retd), President, Senior CitizensWelfare Association, 32 Swami Vivekananda Vihar,Ludhiana, Mob: +91-98142-436433. Capt. Kamaljit Singh Walia, President, Gurdev NagarAssociation (Regd), 2930 Gurdev Nagar, Ludhiana (Punjab),Mob: +91-98141438504. Dr. Lakhbir Singh Brar, Director of Horticulture (Retd),Gen Secretary, PAU Alumni Association, Ludhiana (Punjab),Mob: +91-98155-533255. B. R. Kaushal, Add. Registrar (Retd), Chairman, RetireesWelfare Association, Urban Estate-Phase II, Ludhiana, Mob:+91-98140-54016

(List of additional signatories with their telephone numbers as

identity is enclosed)


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, pleading for change

PIB

Iwas the Additional Chief Secretary,Finance, and then Secretary,Planning. I was also Secretary in the

Ministry of Commerce in Delhi. Unlikeother bureaucrats, we who come fromthe Indian Financial Services cannot betransferred to any other department.Ours is a specialized job – that of man-aging state finances and also planningfor the future. In each posting, I tried tocome up with innovative ideas that havebrought qualitative changes in theadministration.

I was the first Finance Secretary ofMaharashtra to have presented two suc-cessive surplus Budgets. What we didwas to plan the expenditure of everydepartment, seek its monthly cash flowrequirement, allocate the expenditureaccordingly, and present the monthlycash flow receipts before the State legis-lature. The net result was that wastefulexpenditure was curtailed and moneybegan to be spent where it should havebeen in the first place.

However, all that was trashed once Ileft office. In our system, politicians and,more so, bureaucrats thrive on controls.Bureaucrats are basically control freaks;they thrive on power, their ability to con-trol things. Unlike in the private sector,where bosses have to reach out to thepeople, the bureaucrat is unmindfuleven if no one comes to him. Let the per-son’s file remain where it is as long asthe person does not come to him forredressal of his problem.

When I was Sales Tax Commissionerin Mumbai, I faced this problem of thou-sands of sales tax assessees who did notfile returns for years. On investigationwe found out that 40,000 traders hadsimply shut shop. However, since theirsales tax number was not cancelled,their assessments kept mounting withno attempt being made by my lowerranking officers to recover the outstand-ing dues.

Another collateral effect of the mount-

ing unrecovered dues was that thedepartment had to create posts ofInspectors to manage those accounts.Besides, there was no record available tofind out when the trader’s account wascreated and how much taxes collected.In 1992, I was instrumental in comput-erization of sales tax records. For this, wehad to keep our offices closed for twomonths.

After that, I made it mandatory for acomputer data entry to be made beforeallotting sales tax account numbers totraders. Then I began pursuing my sub-ordinate officials to secure pendingdues. I set targets for recovery of taxesand dues. But still there was this prob-lem of inoperative accounts and unre-covered dues. So I proposed amendingthe law and cancelling all the 40,000inoperative accounts and issuing freshaccount numbers. We placed full-page

advertisements in all the newspapersand asked the traders to simply cut outthe application form from the newspa-per, fill it in and submit it to us.

We put up extra desks in the office toclear all the applications at one go, gavethe traders their new account numbers– sans any help from the sales tax practi-tioners. The Sales Tax PractitionersAssociation was not going to like thisone bit as it meant shutting down theirshop. They raised a hue and cry andstaged massive demonstrations. Wipingout that many inoperative accountsmeant reducing that many number ofofficers in the department who handledthose accounts, freezing recruitment forthe next three years. Moreover, the salestax practitioners lost that client base. Myargument with the traders was, why doyou need the help of the practitionerswhen you can do it yourself?


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FIRST STIRRINGSop gahrotra

‘Coalition governmentsare the biggestobstacles toprogress’Maharashtra’s first Finance Secretary to presenttwo successive surplus Budgets recalls his innova-tive streamlining measures

The State legislature was in sessionwhen the advertisement of the pro-posed law came out in the newspapers.I was hauled up before the legislaturebecause the Opposition said I had com-mitted breach of privilege of the House.It was just a proposed law. I explainedthe matter to the Speaker of theAssembly, who understood my point ofview. He told me to tender an apologyand the matter was closed.

However, there still remained anotherproblem. In those days sales taxInspectors were randomly given traders

and their accounts to recover the taxes.An Inspector was given one trader fromColaba, then another from Worli andanother from Bombay Central.Obviously, the Inspector would not carryout the task. So I regrouped and reallo-cated the areas given to the Inspectors.

Another feature I was instrumental inpushing forward was today’s ValueAdded Tax (VAT) system. Until then,there were 14 items which were chargedat various rates. The net result was thatmanufacturers and government offi-cials, acting hand-in-glove, were fudging

records either to evade paying duty orofficials were trying to fleece the manu-facturer under duress by bracketing hisproduce in a higher taxation categorysimply because he did not oblige him. Itwas the PV Narasimha Rao regime andDr Manmohan Singh was the UnionFinance Minister. I proposed a uniformfloor rate and introduction of VAT whichwas supported by Dr Singh. The rest ishistory.

AS the head of SEBI, I introducedthis now widely known practice ofKnow Your Customer (KYC)

norm. There was no mechanism inplace to ascertain the authenticity of theaccount holder. Besides, we were instru-mental in introducing the demataccount which is now widely used in thefinancial markets.

While I was in the Ministry of


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I proposed amending the law and issuing fresh accountnumbers. We placed full-page advertisements in allthe newspapers and asked the traders to simply cutout the application form from the newspapers.

SOLARIS IMAGES

Commerce, what struck me was thatthere were these two items that were puton the Restricted Items list – tallow andgold. There was no rationale behind this.Due to import restrictions, there wasrampant smuggling of gold. I recom-mended that the government removegold from the Restricted Items category.The move worked wonders, with goldsmuggling now virtually nonexistent.

The biggest hindrance in achievingreal progress today is coalition govern-ment politics. In a city like Mumbai,everybody is focusing energy on whatgoes on in the metropolis. You have toomany blocks to development, NGOs andregional satraps like the Shiv Sena andRaj Thackeray who are out to block yourpath towards development at every andany given time. There are pressures andpulls in different directions rather thanunited commitment on matters of devel-opment. Everybody wants his share ofthe pie.

BUT the biggest blocks are in thefinance department itself. Thebiggest exercise is to cut down on

expenditure and raise revenue throughimposition of new taxes. Since bureau-crats thrive on power, you have onedepartment blaming another or somedepartment facing public flak. That isbecause departments like police, healthand education interact directly with thepeople.

However, the finance departmentoften chooses to shoot down any propos-al from other departments that is likelyto incur expenditure for the govern-ment. The finance department is notanswerable to the public. But the otherdepartments or the BrihanmumbaiMahanagar Palika, for that matter, haveto answer why malaria is spreading ram-pantly or why there are potholes on theroads. Little does anyone know that pro-posals for sanctioning funds for thesedepartments are often shot down by the

finance department.Our bureaucratic and administrative

system is hybrid in nature, though it hastaken several concepts from the British.The British used the police as an instru-ment of terror, with one cop keepingwatch on 10 villages under his jurisdic-tion. So, he naturally resorted to usingbrutal techniques. It is true to someextent even today.

There have been many good schemesthat the government introduced, like thecotton monopoly procurement scheme.The intention was to assure a minimumassured procurement price for cottongrowers. Cotton is such a dangerouscommodity to store, that the growersstart making distress sales or mortgageit even before the crop is due for harvest-ing. The situation is ripe for the privatetraders and moneylenders to exploit.

The government has not augmentedits storage capacity by building moregodowns, grain silos or depots in theState. Also, the greedy cotton growerstend to mix in stones or add water to thecotton bales to increase weight. Once thewater evaporates, the weight reduces,leaving the government machinerycheated as it is supposed to buy all thecotton produce. Another problem in theprocurement system is that often thetraders collude with the growers for thesake of commission and put inferior cot-ton into a higher grade category.

As for the current hue and cry overshortage of storage space to store food-grain and agricultural produce, the lackof infrastructure is the problem. Thegovernment has simply not bothered tocreate adequate storage capacity acrossthe country. g


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FIRST STIRRINGSop gahrotra

As the head of SEBI, I introduced this now widelyknown practice of Know Your Customer (KYC) norm.There was no mechanism in place to ascertain theauthenticity of the account holder.

SH

AR

AD SA

XENA


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BOOK REVIEWprime ministers of india

Title: Prime Ministers of India1947-2009

Author: Compiled and edited by Neena Jha and Shivnath Jha

Photographs by Vijender Tyagi and othersPublisher: Bismillah: The beginning

foundationPrice: Rs 7995

SOME books make us hark back, and the experience israther like glancing at a mirror that reflects lost expecta-tions and squandered possibilities while encompassing

pomp and show. This is true of Prime Ministers of India, a com-pilation of articles by historians, observers and scribes.

Read these lines by Inderjit Badhwar and be sadly remind-ed of the leaders of the day who are gradually making Indiaovertly dependent on the US: “Her dogged stand in which theIndian army helped the democratically elected MujiburRehman come to power in a newly-independent Bangladeshand subsequent defeat of Pakistan was in the teeth of opposi-tion from Nixon and Kissinger who sent the US Seventh Fleetinto the Indian Ocean. The leader of a poor, half-literatenation which had once been dependent on food aid from the

US had had the temerity to stand up to Uncle Sam when theintegrity of her nation had been at stake….”

Come to Morarji Desai, to the days of his fall, and readHasmukh Shah and Mira Desai’s words: “When GeorgeFernandes after making a brilliant defence of the regime inParliament parted company within hours, the battle lineswere drawn. A group of Akali leaders called on Desai andoffered him their support. Akalis liked him. They alsorequested him to agree to three of their pending demands…Desai’s reply was characteristic. In substance it was: yourdemands are easy to meet but I cannot make a deal – mainsaudabaji nahin karunga.”

Vir Sanghvi, Sunil Shastri and Mani Shankar Aiyar throw upinteresting personal anecdotes. The piece on Charan Singh isa bit too critical, overlooking his role in ending the Congresshegemony in India’s political system. The article on ChandraShekhar is similarly harsh. This is not to say that the writers’arguments are flawed but they jar in a compilation of articlesin which no persona is portrayed in black or white (exceptthose written by close associates). The photographs, whichmake up half the book, add equal value despite the fact that allare not captioned. On the whole, a commendable effort incompilation and editing by Neena and Shivnath Jha. g

by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

9911110385

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THE Sensex celebrated the return to20,000 amidst doubtful sarkari dataof GDP growth, inflation and indus-

trial production which only the foreignersappear to believe since the domesticfunds and retail investors have been con-tinuous sellers. According to Jim Rogers,India is no doubt growing and companiesparticipating in that growth deserve gen-erous valuations. But what portion ofthese valuations is based on fundamen-tals and what portion is driven by sheerliquidity? The latter aspect is worrying.

Central banks in the developed worldhave been keeping their policy rates lowand talk of a new round of quantitativeeasing is floating around again, leadingto a significant drop in interest rates.Excessively low yields have led to asearch for higher yields which, coupledwith a weaker dollar and high growthrates promised by India, may continue tosee the flood of liquidity remainingstrong in the near future.

The increase in advance tax collections,however, gives some confidence that theperformance of Indian companiesremains robust. But the valuations with aNifty PE multiple approaching 26 and theprice to book value of around 4 gives lit-tle comfort amidst global uncertainties.The deteriorating current account deficitat 3.5-4 per cent of GDP is another reason

to worry. A stronger rupee makes mattersworse by encouraging imports and dis-couraging exports. Things are fine so longas foreigners are financing, but themoment their confidence is shaken forreasons beyond Indian control – such asan oil price shock or global developmentslike the European debt crisis – theseinflows will disappear and fast turn intooutflows, creating multiple problems. Allthis may lead to a sharp fall in the mar-kets with the only saving grace being thedomestic institutions and retail investorswho have ready cash and are waiting fora correction to happen, thereby limitingthe likely downside.

The Indian growth story has been main-ly driven by domestic demand. But meas-ures taken by policymakers to achievethe twin objectives of growth and control-ling inflation are expected to curtailgrowth in the coming quarters. The pri-vate consumption demand is seen to bestagnating and government consumptionis lower than last year. The credit off-taketestifies to this. The growth in bank cred-it, excluding the telecom and oil compa-nies, is nothing to cheer about. Rather, alarge chunk of credit is accounted for bysensitive sectors like real estate.

The banks may be showing a high loangrowth but that has more to do with debtrestructuring than creating new capaci-

ties. The RBI’s Corporate DebtRestructuring (CDR) system has seen asharp jump in the number of cases of late.As per a report in Mint, the CDR systemwas dealing with 266 cases at the end ofJuly 2010, up from 239 a year ago.Aggregate debt being restructured alsorose to Rs 1,186 billion from Rs 1088 billionduring the same period. This makes banksvulnerable to a sharp drop in earnings,exposing them to market losses in a risinginterest scenario. This also has seriousimplications for sustainability of growth.

Investors are therefore advised to useabundant caution while selecting stocks.They can witness a sharp rally in mid andsmall caps in days to come, but stockselection will be the key. Lots of moneycan still be made by choosing the rightsectors and stocks in this segment cou-pled with the swiftness with which youenter and exit.

FDC Ltd(CMP Rs 100)

THE company, with an operating histo-ry of more than 50 years, is into for-

mulations, synthetics, nutraceuticalsand bio-tech with a focus on therapeuticgroups of ORS, opthalmologicals, der-matologicals, antibiotics, cardio and dia-betes and has well known brands such asElectral, Enerzal and so on. The company,with an R&D focus, has maintained anROE in excess of 20 per cent for the past10 years with a top- and bottom-linegrowth in excess of 15 per cent, zero debtand excess cash position. At an EPS of Rs8 the stock is available at a PE of just 12.5as against the industry average of morethan 24 with a dividend of Rs 1.75 pershare on a Re 1 share. At an index of20,000 plus, a stock like this, belongingto the traditionally safe sector of phar-ma, offers moderate to good returns atlow risk. g


www.indianbuzz.com

STOCK DOCTORgs sood

Exercise caution and time your exit

Investors can witness a sharp rally in mid and small caps,but stock selection will be the key. Lots of money can stillbe made by choosing the right sectors and stocks coupledwith the swiftness with which you enter and exit.

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisionsby readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to [email protected] with Dr Sood’s name in the subject line.


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birthdaysIAS officers’ birthdays|OCT 16, ’10-NOV 15, ’10

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

Anita Tegta16-10-1954 CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

G Prasanna Kumar16-10-1950 CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

Rajesh Kumar17-10-1973 CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Vijaya Shrivastava17-10-1958 CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Tanington Dkhar18-10-1959 CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

LT Tochhawng18-10-1954 CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

[email protected]

Pankaj Joshi 19-10-1965CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

RB Acharjya19-10-1948 CADRE: NAGALAND

[email protected]

Khurshid Ahmed Ganai 20-10-1955CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

RCM Reddy20-10-1963 CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Ashok Lavasa21-10-1957 CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

Vini Mahajan21-10-1964 CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

Radhika Rastogi22-10-1970 CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Geetika Kalha22-10-1953 CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

Indu Shekhar Chaturvedi 24-10-1962CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

KD Prasad Rao25-10-1959 CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

R Lalvena25-10-1977 CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

BK Naik26-10-1954 CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

V Candavelou 26-10-1971CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

[email protected]

Vinay Kumar Choubey27-10-1975 CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Dhanalakshmi K27-10-1972 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

S Sundareshan28-10-1952 CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

S Malathi 28-10-1954CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

M Raju 29-10-1977CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Sanjeev S Ahluwalia29-10-1952 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Pramod Kumar Tiwari 30-10-1965CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

IAS officers’ birthdays|OCT 16, ’10-NOV 15, ’10

Ayamo Jami 30-10-1949CADRE: NAGALAND

[email protected]

O Ravi31-10-1955 CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

B Chandra Mohan31-10-1969 CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

N Siva Sankar01-11-1958 CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Nisha Singh 02-11-1964CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

NS Bhatnagar02-11-1955 CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Hasmukh Adhia03-11-1958 CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

Chithra Arumugam03-11-1968 CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

Gaurav Dwivedi 04-11-1972CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Rahul Anand 04-11-1972CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

R Venkata Ratnam05-11-1960 CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

Anand Kishor 06-11-1971CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Rajkamal 07-11-1970CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

RS Agarwal 07-11-1949CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Kalarickad John Koshy 07-11-1950CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Rajesh Prasad 08-11-1970CADRE: ASSAM-MANIPUR

[email protected]

Yaduvendra Mathur 09-11-1959CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

M Madhavan Nambiar 09-11-1950CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

M Imkongla Jamir10-11-1974 CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Kalyaneshwar P Bakshi 10-11-1956CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Pramod Kumar Meherda11-11-1970 CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

Manmath Kumar Raut12-11-1957 CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Laihlia Darlong 12-11-1962CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Naveen Mahajan13-11-1971 CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Nita Chowdhury 13-11-1954CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

K Vidyasagar 14-11-1956CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]


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IPS officers’ birthdays|OCT 16, ’10-NOV 15, ’10

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

Chandra Bhal Rai 16-10-1947 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

KB Gokulchandran17-10-1952 CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Vivek Sharma 18-10-1974 CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Rupak Kumar Dutta 19-10-1957 CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Vijay Yadav 19-10-1961 CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

A Ravi Shankar 20-10-1968 CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

T Kandasamy 20-10-1969 CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Kanwaljit Deol 21-10-1954 CADRE: AGMUT

[email protected]

Venugopal K Nair 21-10-1952 CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Navniet Sekera 22-10-1971 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Ranjit Kumar Pachnanda 23-10-1958 CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Suman Gupta 23-10-1972 CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Raman Srivastava 24-10-1951 CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Sanjay Kumar 24-10-1972 CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

Ashutosh Kumar Sinha 25-10-1968 CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Amitabh Singh Dhillon 25-10-1970 CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

Tripongse Sangtam 26-10-1954 CADRE: NAGALAND

[email protected]

Sudesh Kumar 27-10-1962 CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

JB Pandit Rao 28-10-1963 CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

SB Bagchi 28-10-1971 CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Ashit Mohan Prasad 29-10-1960 CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

SP Vaid 30-10-1959 CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Idashisha Nongrang 30-10-1965 CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

V Thiagarajan 31-10-1952 CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

Arvind Kumar 31-10-1967 CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Pramod Kumar Jha01-11-1961CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

IPS officers’ birthdays|OCT 16, ’10-NOV 15, ’10

Pavan Kumar Rai01-11-1970CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

Neyaz Ahmad02-11-1950CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Banibrata Basu02-11-1955CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

AK Seth03-11-1954CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Vinyatosh Mishra03-11-1966CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

Om Prakash Khare04-11-1947CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

MP Chaudhari04-11-1950CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Ranjit Narayan05-11-1953CADRE: AGMUT

[email protected]

B Lyngdoh Buam05-11-1959CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Subrata Sarkar05-11-1952CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Abhijit Dutta06-11-1952CADRE: SIKKIM

[email protected]

KL Bishnoi06-11-1959CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Raghunath Prasad Singh07-11-1951CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Sachin Mittal07-11-1971CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Lungrinding 08-11-1960CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

BK Roy08-11-1954CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

AG Dhanvijay09-11-1952CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Amrit Paul09-11-1966CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Sunit Kumar10-11-1955CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Rajesh Malik10-11-1959CADRE: AGMUT

[email protected]

PS Pasricha11-11-1947CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Pankaj Saxena12-11-1967CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

VP Sharma12-11-1956CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Satish Chandra Agarwal13-11-1950CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Brij Mohan Saraswat14-11-1953CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Amar Nath Sharma14-11-1951CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

TR

AC

KIN

G

For a complete list of appointm

ents & retirem

ents, see ww

w.gfilesindia.com

RENTALA CHANDRASEKHAR The 1975-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has beenappointed Secretary,Telecommunications.

SHASHIKANT SHARMAThe 1976-batch IAS officer of the Biharcadre is now Secretary, InformationTechnology in the Government of India.

USHA MATHURThe 1974-batch IRAS officer has becomeSecretary, Parliamentary Affairs.

SANJAY RASTOGIThe 1991-batch IAS officer of the Orissacadre on central deputation has beenposted as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO)in the Commerce Ministry.

AJOY ACHARYAThe 1976-batch IAS officer of theMadhya Pradesh cadre is now Secretary,Inter-State Council, Ministry of HomeAffairs.

N SANYALThe 1979-batch IAS officer of the Orissacadre has become Additional Secretary,Food.

ASHOK LAVASA The 1980-batch IAS officer of theHaryana cadre has been posted asAdditional Secretary in the Ministry ofPower.

ATUL KUMAR TIWARI The 1990-batch IAS officer of theKarnataka cadre has been appointedJoint Secretary in the Ministry ofOverseas Indian Affairs.

GSG AYYANGAR The 1987-batch IAS officer of theManipur-Tripura cadre has been postedas Joint Secretary (Operations) in theNATGRID.

AKHILESH MISHRA The 1989-batch IFS officer has beenposted in the MEA as Joint Secretary.

MRIDU PAWAN DAS The 2004-batch IFS officer has joinedthe MEA as Under Secretary in the UNPDivision.

SK MATTUThe 1977-batch IAS officer of theUttarakhand cadre is now Delhi-basedChief Resident Commissioner with theUttarakhand government.

RITESH KUMAR SINGHThe 1996-batch IAS officer of theKarnataka cadre has become PrivateSecretary to Jaipal Reddy, Minister forUrban Development.

DIWAKAR NATH MISHRA The 2000-batch IAS officer of theAssam- Meghalaya cadre has been post-ed as Deputy Secretary in the CabinetSecretariat.

SHAKEEL AHMED The 1995-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre has been appointedSecretary to Meghalaya Governor RanjitShekhar Mooshahary.

AVINASH KUMAR The 1993-batch IAS officer has beenappointed Divisional Commissioner ofKalhan in Jharkhand.

CHARANJIT SINGH The 1990-batch IFS officer of theMadhya Pradesh cadre has joined theGovernment of India as Director, RuralDevelopment.

APPAROO VERELLI The 1993-batch IRSS officer has joinedas Director, Power in the Government ofIndia.

G KAMAL VARDHAN RAOThe 1990-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre has become Chairman of theTobacco Board, based at Guntur.

G ASHOK KUMAR The 1991-batch IAS officer of the AndhraPradesh cadre has been posted asDirector, Power.

SANJEET SINGHThe Additional Commissioner of IncomeTax (ACIT) has been transferred from theKanpur to the Lucknow region.

JAWED ASHRAFThe 1991-batch IFS officer has beenposted as Joint Secretary in charge ofthe Americas’ Division in the MEA.

DEEPIKA SURI SRIVASTAVAThe 1999-batch IPS officer of theMadhya Pradesh cadre is now SP,Sehore.

MANISH CHAUHAN The 1994-batch IFS officer has beenmoved from the WANA Division in theMEA to the post of Director.

GURJOT SINGH MALHI The 1974-batch IPS officer of the


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Haryana cadre has been appointedCommissioner, Bureau of Civil AviationSecurity (BCAS).

DEV RAJ NAGAR The 1976-batch IPS officer has been pro-moted to the rank of DG in Uttar Pradesh.

AJAY MUKUND RANADE The 1995-batch IPS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been posted as Deputy Chairman of the Kolkata Port Trust.

AMITABH PATHAKThe 1977-batch IPS officer has becomePolice Commissioner, Ahmedabad.

SUBHASH KUMARThe 1977-batch IAS officer has beenappointed Chief Secretary of Uttarakhand.

RAKESH JARUHARThe 1976-batch IPS officer of theJharkhand cadre has been promoted tothe rank of DG.

PC SABARWAL The 1976-batch IPS officer of the UttarPradesh cadre has been promoted to therank of DG.

BK DEV VARMA The 1979-batch IAS officer has been pro-moted to the rank of ACS in Meghalaya.

VIVEK KUMAR The 1990-batch IAS officer of the WestBengal cadre has been appointed JointSecretary, Petroleum.

AJAY BHATNAGAR The 1989-batch IPS officer has been pro-moted as IG, CISF Airport Security.

SHAMBHU KALLOLIKAR The 1991-batch IAS officer is nowSecretary to the Tamil Nadu Governor,Surjit Singh Barnala.

RN RAVI The 1976-batch IPS officer of the Keralacadre has become Special Director in theIntelligence Bureau.

MAHAVIR SINGH BALIThe 1976-batch IPS officer of the UttarPradesh cadre has been promoted to therank of DG.

MANJARI JARUHARThe 1976-batch IPS officer of theJharkhand cadre has been promoted to

the rank of DG.

ANIRUDH UPPALThe 1976-batch IPS officer of the HimachalPradesh cadre has been promoted to therank of DG.

ALAXANDER DANIEL The 1976-batch IPS officer of the UttarPradesh cadre has been promoted to therank of DG.

L RADHAKRISHNAN The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Keralacadre has been appointed Chairman of theJawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT).

ANUP K PUJARI The 1980-batch IAS officer of theKarnataka cadre has been appointedDirector General, Foreign Trade (DGFT).

AK MANGOTRA The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre is now Director General ofSupply & Disposal (DGS&D).

KJ SRINIVASAThe 2002-batch IFS officer has becomeRegional Passport Officer (RPO) inBengaluru.

track the latest and hottest happenings inside the Indian bureaucracy

buzz tomorrow’s news todaylog on daily to

indianbuzz.comthe premier web news site about India’s bureaucracy

MOVING ON: ias officers retiring in October 2010

ANDHRA PRADESHAshok Kumar Goel (1974)Bir Singh Parsheera (1974)GUJARATRM Patel (1997)BIHARUN Panjiyar (1973)

S Jalaja (1974)HARYANAG Prasanna Kumar (1975)DD Gautam (1991)JP Kaushik (1991)JHARKHANDSarvendu Tathagat (1994)

KARNATAKAShantanu Consul (1974)Abhijit Dasgupta (1975)MAHARASHTRACS Sangitrao (1987)MADHYA PRADESHRam Kinkar Gupta (1995)

MANIPUR-TRIPURAShashi Prakash (1976)UTTAR PRADESHGiriraj Prasad Verma (1977)Pawan Kumar (1996)UNION TERRITORYYD Thongchi (1992)


www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way

Who’s laughingall the way to the bank?

FOR a banker, becom-ing Executive Director

is a cherished dream and,consequently, the competi-tion is cut-throat. TheFinance Ministry recentlyappointed several EDs invarious banks. Now, thosewho did not make it tothese coveted posts have astory to tell. They say thatthose who did make it didso after having coughed uphuge sums. As to theextent of these sums, it’s afair guess.

The new EDs rubbishthese allegations, claimingthat they were selected onthe basis of merit. NorthBlock babus say that,though the selection tookalmost six months, every-thing is above board.However, it is well knownthat there is no smokewithout fire.

The affair does have asilver lining, though. Forthe first time in sixdecades of independence,a Dalit has been picked forthe post of CMD.

‘Life in Delhi ismiserable’

IAS officers are usuallyvery guarded in speech

and demeanour. However,once in a while, the tryingcircumstances in whichthey find themselves com-pel them to let the maskslip. Recently, the follow-ing exchange took placebetween two senior offi-cers in Delhi.

One asked, “So how areyou doing?” The otherburst out, “Life is thirdrate.” The first was

shocked: “How do youmean?” The disgruntledofficer, who is a seasonedbureaucrat and has alsoserved as PS to a Ministerof a minority community,replied, “In my cadre state,I was happy. Life wasorganized and peaceful. InDelhi, life is miserable. Iwould be happy if this ispublished somewhere.Then I would be trans-ferred back to my state.”

IDBI matches upto its slogan

“AKHIR ma ke pyar kikoi kimat thodi na

hoti hai (After all, a moth-

er’s love is priceless)” isthe new slogan of IDBIBank. And newly appoint-ed IDBI Chairman RMMalla understands well thesentiments of the bank’scustomers. He hasannounced a waiver of thefees for all customer serv-ices, something that’s a lit-tle worrisome for otherPSU banks. Malla’s initia-tives have been given athumbs-up by the stockmarkets.

India has 31 crore sav-ings accounts as of date.This means that 83 percent of the populationdoes not have bankaccounts. Malla’s initia-tive is a likely road mapfor achieving financialinclusion.

Windfall for SPamong chinars

FROM Kashmir comesthis tale of a police-

man who recognizes whenopportunity knocks. Afilmmaker and his team,with all the requisite para-phernalia, landed upsomewhere betweenSrinagar and Udhampur.

Having passed through aseries of police pickets inthe terrorist-plagued area,the team was aghast whentold there was no accom-modation available. Thenthe residents tipped off thefilmmaker: contact the SP,he may bail you out.

Sure enough, the SPproffered a solution. Theentire crew could stay inhis house. Delighted, thefilmmaker and the teamstayed a week in the SP’shouse while shooting.

Then they wound up,packed and were about todepart when the SP, amidvaledictions, asked for aweek’s rent. The filmmak-er ended up paying a largesum, equivalent to what ahigh-end hotel would havecharged. g

ILLUSTR

ATION

S:AR

UN

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Regn.No.DL(C)-12/1161/2010-12 Licence No. U(C)-3/2010-11Licence to post without prepayment Posted on 4th & 5th of every month at Sarojini Nagar Post Office R.N.I. No: DELENG/2007/19719 Rs.30vol. 4, issue 7 | October 2010

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