Whispers Forum

DEBATE (1)
Bureaucrats know the subject very well. They can do better than the politicians.
Arjun Rana
Cry for Judicial Reforms
A Prime Minister reformed the rules governing sanction of pension to the retiring public servants eradicating a practice which made the retired employee beg the competent authority for more than 6-12 months or more. The Prime Minister ordered that the pension papers shall be prepared 6 months in advance, and in any case provisional pension shall be sanctioned on the last day of the employee on duty. Two, the silly practice of attestation of papers by a gazetted officer was discontinued under the present Prime Minister (the demand for it was raised in a post by me on WIC also) and the individual has been given responsibility to self-attest. The third, I appeal to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India: bail to the innocent citizens of India, especially in cases in which the police or others frame him/her/them. Let the citizens Self-Certify the bail conditions and take the responsibility to honour the promise. The Constitution guarantees the “dignity” of the individual. The citizen may not be able to furnish the surety of even 500 rupees (an LSR student commits suicide as she could not pay the fees. We are a poor country. Our promise should be enough). Bail is a huge source of terrible corruption and affects adversely the dispensation of justice. If reformed as appealed, big police reforms will also ensue. Proud that the Rule Of Law works in India. यतो धर्मस्ततो जय:
M L Gupta

The appellant passed intermediate examination from NIOS in the year 2015 but the name of appellant’s mother was incorrect in the passing certificate. The appellant had submitted a demand draft of Rs.350 in favour of Secretary, NIOS on 24/08/2017 for correcting his mother’s name in the passing certificate. In this context, the appellant sought under RTI to provide passing certificate with correct name of appellant’s mother.
The appellant filed an appeal to CIC as a duplicate copy of his passing certificate was not issued to him. He was informed by the CPIO and the FAA that the correction in his mother’s name was done and which was also published on their website. It was clearly informed that there is a proper procedure to apply for a new passing certificate and for this, the appellant has to submit a proforma duly filled in with all the required details accompanied by the requisite fee. It was also stated that a passing certificate cannot be provided under the RTI Act. The CIC concurred with the submissions of the PIO as under the provisions of the RTI Act only the available and existing information can be provided and in this particular case, the appellant has prayed that his correct passing certificate may be issued. The issuance of a correct passing certificate in itself means the creation of new information which does not come under the provision of Section 2(f) of the RTI Act. The CIC ruled that in case the appellant wanted a correct copy of his passing certificate, he was bound to follow the procedure laid down by the concerned authority in this regard.
Comments
The rights of an applicant under the RTI Act is limited seeking and obtaining information as defined under section 2(f) of the Act.
Citation: Shri Amarendra Chaudhary v. UIDA in Second Appeal No. CIC/NITIA/A/2018/127581, Complaint No. CIC/NITIA/C/2018/648714, Date of Decision: 31.10.2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

DEBATE(1)
IAS ministers are sober and available to the people but not the IFS Ministers.
K D Meena
No change in Central Government Employees' Group Insurance Scheme since long
I would like to mention that there is no change in Central Government Employees' Group Insurance Scheme since long. At present Group A employee is insured only for Rs. 1,20,000/-. This is very less amount in the present scenario of COVID-19. Sunil Choudhary
When a government servant has a official timings for attending the office and is being paid for that work, the public has a right to know whether he attended the work during the prescribed timings. If he avails leave, it is under specific rules and the people have a right to know whether it is as per rules. Hence, it is ridiculous to say that the attendance is a personal information. If this logic is accepted, everything would be personal and it means the END OF THE RTI ACT. Better to say the obituary to the RTI Act and the Judiciary for its kind interpretation of the law.
Shashank Srivastava
NSIC Director
Why there is no order for giving Additional Charge to anyone by the Ministry till date.
Sunil

DEBATE (1)
Bureaucrats should not be given place in any Ministry.Politicians are genuine persons and not bureaucrats.
V K Sharma
Sanjay Srivastava appointed BBMB Chairman
I am Rehmat Ali, family member of BBMB and also representing the employees of BBMB under Chief Engineer, Bhakra Dam Administration, through Nangal Bhakra Mazdoor Sangh (Regd. and Recognized union) in the capacity of General Secretary. I on behalf of the members of the union and employees convey our heartiest and warmest congratulation on your elevation as Chairman, BBMB - an organisation which has international repute. I do hope that under your able guidance and vast experience of hydrol engineering. Kind regards.
Rehmat Ali, General Secretary, NBMS (INTUC)

DEBATE (1)
Politician ministers are much much better for Indian democracy.
Aarti Jain
Ban firecrackers well in advance
We come across with the problem of air pollution through firecrackers every year. It is also a fact that we, the government and the NGT become active just a few days before the festivals and demand ban on air polluting items. Why not declare the same as banned at least three months in advance so that shopkeepers don’t stock them. Now the stockholders have purchased firecrackers and they will find ways to sell them either with the connivance of officials enforcing ban or through backdoor methods citing religious sentiments. Taking action to ban firecrackers well in advance is the need of hour. Banning just a couple of days before festivals will not solve the problem.
Raj Kumar Thakur

DEBATE (1)
IAS Ministers behave like a commoner but the IFS Ministers are full of arrogance that suits the Modi Government.
Anjali
CGHS Wellness Centres working?
Govt. of India has taken good steps for the reimbursement of OPD medicines prescribed by the Specialist till December, 2020 taking into consideration of Covid-19 crisis. But surprisingly bills submitted even in August and September 2020 in Delhi wellness centres are still lying in some of the wellness centres. These wellness centres are taking it so casually and even are not bothering to forward for processing the bills. Even some wellness centres lack completely to maintain the records of bill submitted. In case the bills are lost, beneficiaries will loose the complete amount as originals are submitted to wellness centres. Chief Medical Officer incharge will give different excuses even to manage the reimbursement of bills. Best excuse they have lack of staff. It is earnestly requested that Minister of Health and family welfare may issue suitable instructions so that the reimbursement of bills during this Covid-19 pandemic is processed smoothly without much beneficiaries troubles. In Delhi already Covid cases are increasing and have crossed 7000+. The movement is also restricted. Beneficiaries are also not informed that bills have been forwarded for payment.
Naveen

An application was filed under the RTI Act seeking copies of documents related to the biometric attendance of all the staff members of Office of Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog during a particular period. The information was denied claiming that the bio-metric attendance of staff is an arrangement between the employees and the employer which fails under personal information category, the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or public interest and disclosure of which would cause unwarranted invasion of privacy of the individuals. The CIC observed that the applicant has failed to establish that the information sought for is for any public interest, much less 'larger public interest'. The CIC ruled that the requested information cannot be supplied to the applicant under Rule 8(1) (j) of the RTI Act.
Comments
In the case of R.S. Gupta v. Govt of GNCTD and Ors., LPA 207/2020 dated 31.08.2020, the Delhi High Court held that the attendance record is part of service record which is a matter between the employee and the employer and ordinarily these aspects are governed by the service rules which fall under the expression "personal information".
Citation: Shri Amarendra Chaudhary v. UIDA in Second Appeal No. CIC/NITIA/A/2018/127581, Complaint No. CIC/NITIA/C/2018/648714, Date of Decision: 31.10.2020
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is an expert on RTI matters and has co-authored the books RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Apart from her weekly article here, her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: www.rtifoundationofindia.com

IAS Ministers know the public pulse well. IFS Ministers even do not recognize Common men.
S Sisodia
Govt cares for the state language ?
Don't think the govt does not care for the state language. After India became an independent country, its constituent states were reorganized on the basis of a language formula. However Punjab was the last state to be reconstituted on this formula on Nov 1, 1966, based on the census of 1961.Since then every year 'Punjabi language week' is celebrated from Nov 1 to Nov 7. The importance of such weeks like the celebration of International days has been dwindling over the period. Punjabi language was spoken in a very vast tract before the partition of the country, though 'urdu' was the official language of the state. When the agitation for the Punjabi suba was going on, many communal people made vigorous campaigns across the state to motivate the like-minded people not to mention Punjabi as their language during the census and they succeeded. Since Punjab was politically truncated, the language Punjabi was ignored in the newly constituted states, but it got lesser importance in Punjab itself. The Revenue record was originally prepared in Urdu. Although it was changed to Punjabi language later on, yet the original Urdu words still dominate the revenue record.
The govt has been showing to the public that it was serious about the Punjabi language by legislating, ‘The Punjab Official Languages Act 1967’. By this Act 'Punjabi' became the official language of the state on Dec 29,1967. I remember, during those days the govt officials started learning as to how to sign in Punjabi in Gurmukhi script, instead of learning the language. In the year 2008,''The Punjab Official Languages Amendment Act was passed, which made Punjabi compulsory in the govt offices, subordinate courts, and in all schools till class 10.This Act initially jerked the govt offices to use Punjabi, but gradually this legislation has lost sheen and impact. Now English is predominantly being used in govt offices. In the years 2004 ,2009, I performed election duty in Rajasthan and Bihar respectively and in these states entire work is being done in their state languages. I remember, in the year 1977, in Sangrur, its deputy commissioner always used Punjabi in his office. Once, he got his right hand fractured and used left hand for writing notes on files. One senior officer once remarked, ''sir, since you are writing with left hand, the writing is not coming good. ''The deputy commissioner immediately said, ''Sajje hatth naal mein iss tton v bhairha likhda haan.'' This officer later on became administrative secretary, but till retirement he always wrote on files in Punjabi. In my 38 years of service, I have found only him, who always used Punjabi. There was another deputy commissioner in the 1980s,who in his first meeting with his staff said, ''Please use English only while writing notes on the files.'' He became chief secretary and whenever he found any note in Punjabi, he would remark,'' This man is torturing me by writing notes in Punjabi.''
It is a truth that Punjabi is existing largely in exile. The writers' organisations, many film industry people, and good singers are still carrying on the torch of Punjabi. Anyone ,who has heard Nurjehan and Dilip kumar conversing in Punjabi in 1983,would say that the angels were speaking in the heavenly language. In 1988, Raj Kapoor in his last interview to Simi Grewal had said, ''Maa janendi satt, bhag na dendi wand.'' These people relished the Punjabi language. The lackluster celebration of one week and ignoring the mother tongue throughout the year is like many of bad tracks on which the state has been treading.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

DEBATE (1)
IFS ministers are well dressed and well mannered.
R D Singh
Excellent write up based on ground realities
May sense prevail quickly amongst the top leadership in China otherwise we may see second round of Tiananmen Square protest which will result in loss of huge human lives. True the Chinese masses have truly respected the Indians for their culture in the past and continue to do so even after feeding them with disinformation etc against India. The Modi magic have only added to their spirit in promoting democracy in pursuing holistic goals of any country. In the past expansionist policy has only resulted in break up of a nation, this will happen to China as well for which India cannot be blamed but be a silent spectator. They already have enough land and population to manage which if done properly they need not aspire for lands of other nation. Once again, let us hope and pray better sense prevails in China mainland.
S Meenakshi Sundaram
Totally wrong !
Persons who spend most of the time in training institutions fail miserably when they are told to do desk job. A retired government officials who has been involved and slogged with the framing of the Central Secretariat of Manual of Office Procedure in DAR&PF or recruitment rules, reservations, promotions etc and Budget & Accounts in central Ministries/Departments are in a better position to explain the practicality of situation of working, first hand knowledge and minute details of the concepts. You are totally wrong.
Anurag Srivastava