Whispers Forum

Apropos "DOPT' breaking News" by AK Saxena, it is quite funny to ask the applicants for Vigilance Commissioners' posts to write an essay of 300 words to judge their suitability. Strange things are happening in bureaucracy. For empanelment and promotion a system adopted by German military during World War II (and long given up by them and USA which copied it) known as 360 degree route is resorted to. That means two persons a senior and a junior from your service are asked for their views about the you irrespective of the fact whether you have ever worked with him or her. A bad feedback which could never be objective becomes your undoing. A junior who himself may be a bad worker and reprimanded by officer at some point has the power to spoil your career howsoever an outstanding committed officer you are. Who are being asked to opine about him , the officer does not know. This lack of transparency is highly illegal and malafide. This practice has resulted in many brilliant officers being left out and not so good officers getting in. Does it not lead to corruption as those adept at networking can always find out who have been asked for an opinion about them. In one case mentioned to me sometime back a lady officer who was not empanelled as joint secretary came to know that her senior who was approached for an opinion about her was rebuffed by her for trying to sexually harass her. Phew on this 360 and phew for one whose brainwave this system is. The bureaucracy it seems is under siege. Biometric attendance is fine but then officers and staff are expected to put in extra hours after office. There are ministers who call meetings only at 9 P.M or even 10 P.M which go on till midnight. The latest one I read in a newspaper the other day is to monitor the movement of officers through a GPS like device. This certainly does not lead to good governance. You have to motivate the employees to give their best instead of scaring harassing and spying on them.
Aarti Khosla
Bureaucrats in all States creating gap
Not only in Rajasthan but the bureaucrats in all States are creating a gap between the people and the Government. This applies to the diplomats as well, because the voice of the diaspora is silenced before it reaches the government.
Zile Singh

The appellant wanted the basic procedure following which warning/red alert regarding weather conditions is issued by the Indian Meteorological Department. He sought the list of dates and details of all warnings/red alert issued by the department, the reason of warning/red alert ex. Heavy rain, earthquake, cyclone, storm, etc, the place for which it was issued, and whether it turned to be true or false. As the information was voluminous, the PIO sought a clarification from the appellant regarding the specific area and period pertaining to which the appellant wanted the information. The CIC directed the PIO to provide a detailed report to the appellant explaining the procedure through which such alerts are issued by the Department and number of such alerts issued in 2017 that turned out to be true and number of alerts that failed.
Comments
Whenever a voluminous information is sought, the PIO should seek a clarification from the applicant to narrow down the request.
Citation: Chetan Kothari v. Indian Meteorological Department in CIC/IMETD/A/2017/180721, Date of Decision: 01.02.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICand PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

The media has reported leakage of Aircel Maxis status report much before the same was submitted to the Supreme Court on Jan 13,2018.The document was recovered during the raid at P Chidambaram’s residence by the CBI on Jan 3,2018 i.e. 10 days before submission to SC.
An officer of CBI allegedly leaked the report to P Chidambaram former finance minister. This confirms the existence of moles. Highly disturbing.
There must be hundreds of moles planted by the Congress-led UPA during its misrule. Open secret. Various sensitive organizations like the CBI, ED, IT,IB, RAW, NTRO and, last but not the least, the bureaucracy-at-large are infested with the “ caged parrots” of the erstwhile political dispensation.
Private detective agencies are professional enough to make easy inroads into government departments/agencies to access secret documents. These are, more often than not, manned by retired personnel of government agencies. This explains the drop in conviction/ success rates of anti- corruption and intelligence agencies
PM Modi is expected to take the leakage from CBI seriously. A thorough cleansing is needed across the board.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)

There are a lot of contracts like that of contractual labour which need to be modified in the light of the Right to Information Act. However, most of the government organisations are oblivious of it and as a result, the RTI Applicants are unable to get the information which is rightfully their due. In all the outsourcing work, the records must be owned by the public authority.
Samay
Govt should investigate
Govt should investigate the two years temporary transfers, promotions, foreign training since 2001 onwards in SAIL, where the price tag for these starts from Rs 2 lakhs on wards to few crores in this steel PSU.
A Visitor

Applicants for Vigilance Commissioner's post in the CVC are required to support their applications with a 300-word essay to prove their " hollowness or otherwise ".
Essays will be evaluated by the infamous dynasty of bureaucracy.
Innovative. Out-of-box thinking of DOP&T manned by babus. .
Writers , Journalists and Professors in great demand as proxy writers.
A K Saxena ( A retd civil servant)
Details be enclosed with bills
Since the payment of contract employees is required to be made only after receipt of attendance and details of deposit of EPF and ESI contribution, the details must be available with bills admitted for payment.
Mehar
No need to divulge parent cadre
There is no need to divulge the parent cadre of officers posted in Indian Missions Abroad from outside the MEA
Zile Singh

India must pre-empt China's possible wild card entry into the Maldives in order to restore democracy there and bolster India's maritime security in the Indian ocean.
It would be foolhardy for India to wait for a formal Maldivian invite in view of China's string of pearls woven around India. Ethics is China's anathema. Reigning President of the Maldives is out and out pro-China. China is waiting to pounce.
The present Maldivian regime has proved itself as illegitimate, undemocratic, hell bent on defying Supreme Court directive by refusing to release political leaders. It is ready to arrest top SC Judges and extend temporary emergency beyond 15 days.
Let us re-enact Operation Cactus to enhance India’s maritime primacy in Indian ocean by showing our capability to mount a successful operation at short notice
Let us not forget, there are some 22,000 Indian Diaspora in the small island nation. Hence, the need for swift commando action before the crisis reaches a flashpoint.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)
Apt analysis
Very apt analysis on the budget by Shri Kumar and Ms Aarthi Khosla. Hearty Congrats to o both the contributors.
K Srinivasa

Pakistan is waging a virtual war with us .What else are everyday serious incidents at Loc.By sending antitank guided missiles and heavy mortar shells across the Line of Control on our posts and habitated villages along the border they are killing our soldiers and civilians in several sectors in Jammu Region. Their latest belligerent act the other day took the lives of a young captain and three jawans. It seems the rogue army of Pakistan is having a field day with no worth the name civilian Government in Charge. As it is the military there is always over ruling the elected Government. Terrorists like Hafiz Syed and the army seem to be writing this agenda. Their aggressive posture is also an outcome of frustration on being condemned by the World Powers for promoting terrorism. Their next door neighbour Afghanistan is also their victim. What should India do to rein in this rogue elephant ? War is not the answer. Arrogant of being a nuclear power they will not hesitate to use it even if their own people suffer. Keeping quiet over these provocations, also resulting in heavy casualties, will not stop them from such nefarious acts. I am sure our armed forces, of which we are proud will give them a befitting reply. The tears of the family members of Captain Kapil Kundu and our other soldiers killed by these animals need to be wiped by a suitable response.
Aarti Khosla

If this NDA government continues for another five years, the salaried class will be at the receiving end of trader. The salaried class only will be paying tax without any relief. The trader be small or medium or big who are involved in rice, dal and other grocery item business, will be earning more but will be paying only meager tax to the satisfaction of this part.
Rahul
Medicare scheme will lead to massive scandal
Medicare scheme announced in the budget will give rise to a massive scandal by hospitals-false bills .admissions etc.
ARC Kumar

NDA govt has great political acumen. That is why he has completely ignored the middle class. They never vote nor are they united. If the rural folk were ignored they would have voted against. Good political exercise.
ARC Kumar
Unique Union Budget!
Notwithstanding the Naysayers calling it an election manifesto, the Union Budget is unique in many ways. It has really focussed on what needs to be done. The agriculture was in dire need of attention. Farmers were not getting adequate return for their produce .Debt-ridden they were ending their lives in desperation. The Budget promises them good MSP. Were the villages not in need of good infrastructure. By providing road connectivity, irrigation projects and better housing to the people in our villages the Budget aims at uplifting them from their present moribund status. The National Health Scheme dubbed as largest such health care scheme in the world will provide relief to crores of poor people who cannot afford such care today. Giving relief in tax to medium and small scale industries will encourage setting up of more such ventures boosting employment. This budget is indeed not a run of the mill exercise we have been seeing so far. The middle class left out of this budget for not being given any relief should not mind making this sacrifice for helping the kisans who feed them and for lifting the poor out of their present state so that India grows in the real sense and inequalities get reduced.
Aarti Khosla

The appellant sought certain information about the contract employees. The CPIO informed that the attendance register and salary slip of the employees of contractor are maintained by the contractor and hence, the custodian of these documents is the contractor. These documents are not available with them and they have nothing to do with the employees of the contractor. The CPIO informed that the records were called for from the contractor two times but he did not produce any document and he has been blacklisted. Furthermore, they do not have any instrument to force the contractor to call for the documents legally. The Commission observed that due to absence of any terms & condition, regarding calling for the record, in the agreement arrived between the NPCIL and the contractor, the respondent is not able to force the contractor to produce the documents. The CIC advised the respondent to look at their agreements and make change, if necessary, for calling for the record from the contractor.
Comments
This case law offers a lesson for drawing an agreement for all those government departments where contract labour is hired for any work.
Citation: Mr. Rakesh Kumar Devatiya v. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., in Appeal No. CIC/NPCOI/A/2017/185052 CIC/NPCOI/A/2017/185055, Dated of Decision: 18.10.2017
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICand PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/