Whispers Forum

DEBATE(1)
Lateral Entry Debate First: thanks to those bureaucrats who are “jittery” that they have brought down the Joint Secretary level for their narrow gains. Today the entire civil service has lost its charm. Even Secretary level seem to have caused frustration if the number of applicants for outside posts like Information Commissioner is any indication. Is the Joint Secretary level still a Senior Position? It is no more no more a Senior Position. There were corridor whispers after the VII PC Report that the JS and AS levels will be merged. Instead, they merged the JS and Dir levels. In the past, these jittery geniuses had equated DS and Dir levels, robbing other civil services of the motivation to work hard and devoted. Now they are simply reaping the benefits of their fiddling with the rules. They acted arbitrary by not bringing out the annual panels for promotion in July as the law required or appointed those on the panel. Instead, they “bunched” five batches to favour their loyalists and harmed meritorious civil servants depriving the nation of their valuable services. The famous “nexus” (central part of the NNVohra) report is more than enough evidence. There was always an informal arrangement of “picking up wits”! There were lateral entries in technical as well as non-technical positions, with little positive gains, exceptions apart. The Government of India is the biggest corporation with the largest pool of talent in every field, but a myth is floated that lateral entry will bring the latest knowledge. Civil servants are a very valuable asset and should be utilized to the maximum rather than wasting them. Auctions in the past marginalized real talent who refused to put a sales price on their integrity. Administrative reforms demand a wholistic approach and not piecemeal decisions. What will 9 or 19 officers recruited under the later entry scheme do in a corporation like the Government of India where more than 200 are in position? Take as many as you like, PROVIDED the ethics of recruitment mandated by the Constitution is maintained. The decline in the standards of civil services tells a different story, though!
M L Gupta
Accountability of top leadership of PSU Banks and financial institutions
Everyday the media is full of news about some company or other going bankrupt. The unique feature in all these cases is that they are private sector companies financed by PSU banks and financial institutions. These financing entities are staring at huge losses. What is the accountability of the top leadership teams of these entities? Is there job is only to shovel tax payers money into private hands, enjoy the privileges that come with it and turn a blind eye to what is going on. Surely these companies did not go bankrupt overnight. The signs must have been visible to astute observers. The top leadership team - past and present must be prosecuted for gross negligence and treated as economic traitors. Economic treason is far more dangerous than say security treason and economic traitors should be punished severely. I appeal to people like Shanthi Bhushan and like minded persons who are taking up many causes in Supreme Court to take up this very important cause also through PILs.
S.Raghavan
R. Subramanian
No Army Commander wants to relinquish Army CDRs appointment
Gen Narvane will become VICE Chief of Army which is of same status and pay. In fact no Army Commander wants to relinquish Army CDRs appointment to become Vice Chief. Yes being in Delhi he can carry out better lobbying for become next COAS.
Ashok Pandey

DEBATE (1)
Modi wants to do away with the IAS type of administration and this is a step in that direction.
Amitabh Agarwal
Transparency: Need of the hour
Transparency is the need of the hour. Had the transparency been followed in our system, the banks would not have suffered the problems of rising NPA. At last now RBI has been asked to give the names of willful defaulters above certain limits as per media report. This will send the right signal to the public and defaulters for making the payment of loan in time. Every one is afraid of bad name and image and will come forward for making the payment to lenders. The effect of bad name/image can be judged that Mallya (as per media report) has offered to repay the loans to banks. Even Nirav Modi and Choksi are willing to settle the loan with PNB. In IL&FS case also exposure of different banks are still not fully known. The information is coming in piecemeal in absence of forensic audit. When public money is in stake, public has the right to know the names of defaulters at least. It is not clear why the names are being kept behind the curtains. Giving technical reasons is no excuse. People starts doubting the intention. To make things clear it is essential to follow the transparency except for security and strategic reasons. In fact banks should display in their web-site the list of firms/people taken loan from the banks. Similarly the purchasers of electoral bonds are not known. In fact banks should send the details to income tax department as soon electoral bonds are purchased disclosing the names, PAN, amount etc. So at least Govt. knows who is purchasing these bonds. The working of NBFC can be improved if things are made to work in transparent manner. Let us support the transparency in our public life as well as in working.
Naveen

DEBATE (1)
In a first, nine private sector specialists were selected by the UPSC for appointment as Joint Secretaries in union departments under the Lateral Entry Mode. Competition was fierce as more than 6000 applications were received. Appointments have been made in sensitive ministries like civil aviation , commerce, Economic Affairs, Environment, forest and climate change, Financial Services, New and renewable energy, Road transport and highways, Shipping, Agriculture, Cooperation and farmers welfare.
The decision to induct contractual appointees without a serious debate, is bound to cause resentment in organized bureaucracy. Here are some apprehensions.
( a ) How to avoid massive heart-burnings that the decision would cause among serving bureaucrats? It is understood that the decision was taken without considering the pros and cons; (b) Will the initiative add value to Good governance ? (c ) The general perception is that the UPSC was associated with selection to lend credibility and acceptability; (d )Were detailed background checks of nine contractual appointees carried out to rule out possible linkages with undesirable contacts? This is necessary in view of the sensitive assignments that they would handle at the cutting edge level in sensitive ministries ; (e) Will induction of private sector specialists into government mainstream solve country’s economic health like raising GDP, reducing inflation, poverty alleviation etc ?(f) How to insulate the nine domain experts from influence by big business houses during policy formulation . How would career bureaucrats develop trust? ( g) Another important point. Once appointed as Joint Secretaries, the so-called domain experts would be immune from investigation, prosecution by CBI without the sanctions of competent Authority. Single point directive; (h)Taking a cue from the Centre, the States governments would be quick to install their protégées from private sector in their mainstream bureaucracy. The new bureaucracy will enjoy salaries, perks and privileges out of tax payers money as rewards for political loyalties;(i) What are safeguards against leakage of sensitive data and information from government files to the corporate lobbyists , media and other vested interests; Absence of accountability and transparency will lead to "fixed matches” due to interference by top business houses.( j) Corporate lobbyists will have free run in the country. Decisions, more often than not, would be mired in “Conflict of Interest Controversies”. Politicians will have vested interests in nurturing a ‘committed bureaucracy’. Mutually beneficial. The high net-worth lateral entrants will have no fear of anti- corruption agencies.
India needs a trained bureaucracy rather than experimenting with 'Accidental Bureaucracy ’
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

DEBATE (1)
Lateral entry is good. It will encourage real talent in the country.
R Menon
Attention CBDT!
A regressive step ITR1 and ITR4 forms have been uploaded for AY 2019-20. ITR 1 has been modified excluding to show exempt income under section 10(38) as the same has been replaced with 112 A. But to surprise section 112A has not been included in pull down menu under exempt income in schedule EI. ITR1 is generally filled by salaried class and pensioners where the compliance is maximum. Now making the life more difficult for these categories who are using ITR1. This is really a regressive step by CBDT and ITR1 should be modified to the extent to include section 112A for LTCG arising on transfer of equity shares or equity oriented MF upto 1 lakh. CBDT should in fact work for increasing not only ITR filers but also to increase the tax revenue from other categories. There is no methodology to assess the income of professions, traders, businessman etc. Incase traders deals only in cash transactions, it is rather difficult to find out the real income. Similarly professionals taking major part in cash, difficult to find out. But Govt. has nothing in hand to find such income as their non-filer monitoring systems works on transactions visible in financial system. CBDT should work for innovative approach using present day technology to assess the real income of such categories where compliance is low and modify the corresponding ITRs instead of fiddling with ITR1. Let SAHAJ be sahaj/simple and restore section 112A to report the exempt income instead of forcing the poor assessees to file ITR2 of 22 pages. Let it be progressive step.
Naveen
Who makes the Prime Minister ?
Do the voters make the Prime Minister of India or the King Makers? Democracy gets compromised when people’s mandate is stolen by the so-called king makers. It heralds revival of monarchy, feudalism, dynasticism, plutocracy and kleptocracy. The cash seized by the ECI during the current run up to the Lok Sabha election is shocking. Still politicians have the gumption to speak the jargon of socialism and social justice?
M L Gupta

DEBATE(1)
The induction of non-All India Officers as Joint Secretary in Government of India should not act as a deterrent to the officers of All India Service. Secretaries and subordinates should extend cooperation to the newly appointed Joint Secretaries on later entry mode instead of making an issue of ego.
A Upadhayay
Admiral Bimal Verma should have approached Supreme Court
Admiral Bimal Verma should have directly moved the petition in Supreme Court citing urgency. His petition should have also pleased stay on taking over by next CNS
Ashok Pandey
Efforts to get temple land in Abu Dhabi over 20 years old
I am sorry I beg to disagree. Indian community, our Ambassadors and MEA mandarins had been trying to get a temple land in Abu Dhabi for the last more than 20 years. Please do not spread spread rumours my dear friend. Diplomacy and Government is a continued process. BJP stalwarts are in the habit of Hyping all trivial issues without doing anything.
Harish Kumar
Modi to get more seats than 2014
Modi is going to get more seats than he did in 2014.
Vijay Kumar