Whispers Forum

During a visit to the most inhospitable terrain Siachen, George Fernandez ,the then Defence Minister, came to know that the defence ministry was not sanctioning the requisite budget for purchase of some very essential equipment, which could make the life of army units stationed there better. He solved the matter by sending the secretariat staff stationed at Delhi to spend some days in Siachen. Thereafter, there was never any delay in sanctioning of budget for the army units at Siachen. Till early 1970s,all the field revenue officers, including the deputy commissioners and sub divisional magistrates, were required to spend specific number of nights in the villages. The British had framed these rules so that the key administrators could know the ground realities and the pulse of the people.
Recently Amitabh Kant, CEO of the Niti Aayog, has remarked that too much of a democracy in India was making tough reforms very difficult in the country. This made me recollect the scenario of Panchayat elections in Punjab in the year 1993. Any candidate for the post of sarpanch, would be detained by the police, if he defied the regime or he would not be allowed to file his nomination papers. Some of my relatives were detained and restrained from filing nomination papers, as they were opposed to the regime. In the year 1998, a roster was made for the reserved posts of the sarpanchs in the panchayat elections but the interference by the regime was as bad as ever. In the subsequent election, when some deputy commissioners did not conform to the unlawful demands of the politicians to fiddle with the roster to accommodate their proteges, they protested with the then chief minister. He had to call a special meeting of the deputy commissioners in this regard, where one or two deputy commissioners explained the law, but there were some, who said in loud voices that they would consult the relevant persons and accommodate them. They were lavishly cheered and one politician, who used to be a revolutionary professor told the CM that only such type of brave officers should be put as deputy commissioners. One deputy commissioner told the CM that he had already got the roster approved by the state election commission, so there was no question of accommodating anyone. CM, looking sternly at the officer said, ''I will hold separate meeting with you.''
One candidate for post of sarpanch, went to the office of BDPO to file his papers. The officer told that person that his papers had already been rejected, after looking at a list, taken out of his pocket. The candidate very respectfully said ,''Sir, all the papers are still in my 'jhola' (small cloth bag). I have not filed these papers so far, how these have been rejected ! 'The officer immediately said, ''Tere kagaaz jhole vich ee radd (your papers are rejected in the jhola itself). After saying these words, the officer barged out of his office and the candidate continued ranting his threats for sometime.
The policy makers seem to be living in the world of their own making, far far away from the ground realities. They need to establish close contact with the hard realities and sons of the soil.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu

In the flux of time, the mode of politics has changed and so have voters. Results of elections suggest that the voters are supporting foul-mouthed leaders who create nuisance and stir up hatred. The BJP has had strength of such leaders and Congress is almost devoid of such leaders. Congress has no such leader who can counter such foul-mouthed leaders.
Sunil Kumar
Why not scrap the central Vista Redevelopment project ?
Why not scrap the central Vista Redevelopment project which on date is estimated to cost more than 20000 crores..If not for other reasons( like environmental degradation) for austerity sake.
Aarti Khosla

Hope the policy of giving extensions beyond the age of superannuation is discontinued forthwith for all. This rule should also apply to the cabinet secretary, chief secretary chairman of PSUs and banks, ceo of the railways. No one is indispensable and the other officers awaiting these postings after long and dedicated service should get their due .
K Srinivasa Rao
WB IPS officers deputation
It is not that they want the central deputation, it`s other way round. Why should they join centre without their consent.
Vikas Singh

DEBATE(1)
Sachin Pilot is young, visionary and dynamic. He can lead the party in the coming years .
Mahesh Maheshwari
DEBATE(2)
In the difficult times, only Kamal Nath can steer the ship of the Congress party. In Madhya Pradesh he single handedly faced the mighty BJP by mobilizing resources in the recently held elections.
Ankur Jain
Congratulations to CSS fraternity
Heartiest Congratulations to Centre Secretariat (CSS) fraternity on their long pending legitimate demand for promotion.
H S Chauhan
Ever heard two orders from DoPT ?
Have you ever heard two orders from DOPT issued at 10.30 p.m. on Friday (11th December) for promotion as Directors/Dy. Secretaries of CSS (the great people) whereas it was pending for the last two years. What is the urgency and if at all there is, why CSSS orders were not issued simultaneously from Sr. PPS to PSO and PPS to Sr. PPS? The reason behind is the selfish attitude of CSS people who are bothered only about their cadre and they are the GOD who deals the cadre of both CSS & CSSS. They always show scant respect and never care for CSSS as they think CSSS works under them. I am not against promotion given to all the deserving employees but my root question is why to leave one cadre and promote their own whereas both the cadres were waiting for a very long time for their due promotions. CSS should shun their arrogance and try to work impartially. In fact, this promotion has happened because of CSSS Association people who appealed to the present Secretary (Home Secretary) to expedite the promotion processes. CSSS are suffering at the hands of CSS people even for a very tiny administration work as files are put up by CSS only. They don't understand it is a part of a system and they should not indulge in petty politics as they assume they are a step ahead. I challenge every CSS person to work with senior officers for a week and realise how difficult it is. We have left our career behind and dedicated our service to the office/officers for the smooth functioning of office. We are working on most of the holidays/Sundays/gazetted holidays and we sacrifice our Earned and Casual Leave for years. Hope at least now better sense prevail and treat your colleagues properly.
Seth

DEBATE (1)
Now time has come to merge the Congress and the NCP. Sharad Pawar can definitely counter the Modi Government.
G Shankar
DEBATE(2)
Manmohan Singh and Kamal Nath duo can do wonders for the party.Gandhi’s should work from behind the curtain.
V D Garg
“Need for Austerity”
Country is passing through grave economic crisis, falling GDP, rising inflation, shortages of commodities especially farm products due to farmers’ protests and last but not the least, the war-like situation. All former governments enforced austerity measures by curtailing administrative expenses. Consider ground realities.
Here is a list of Luxury Cars used by top govt functionaries in India. Each car costs between 40 and 50 lakhs rupees.
(a)President of India uses Mercedes-Benz S 600 Pullman; (b) Prime minister of India uses BMW 760 LI High Security Edition ;(c) Chief Justice of India and C&AG use Toyota Camry ; (d) Jaguar XE is used by Speaker of Lok Sabha.
Other beneficiaries :
(e) Skoda Superb used by Puisne Judges of Supreme Court & Chief Justices of High court of Delhi, Lt.Governor of Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner; (f) Toyota Innova is used by special Forces and Senior Bureaucrats; Toyota Fortuner used by Union Cabinet Ministers; (g) Maruti Suzuki SX4 is used by Senior Bureaucrats;
Others use public modes of transport , self-owned cars ,bikes etc.
(Source: Official Cars Used)
While Country is already in massive economic distress, War looks imminent. The governments at the Centre and States may find it difficult to pay salaries.It needs to brace for great economic depression.
While VVIPs including the President,PM, CJI / C&AG and Speaker ,Lok Sabha may continue with status quo, others may be advised to use less expensive cars.
Other Steps Needed
Use of fuels must be rationed;Foreign tours must be banned except by IFS officers;Transfers/postings from outstations must be suspended; unfilled posts in govt offices must remain unfulfilled till better times;Total ban on appointment of consultants in governments; Stopping foundation stones laying ceremonies except by PM.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)
Addl charge for important ministries for long periods not advisable
With reference to Ravi's comment on my additional charges as a routine it pleases me to learn that in case of CSS and CSSS it has turned out to be boon. I wish there were many officers like Home Secretary. Prima facie additional charges for important ministries for long periods are not advisable.
Aarti Khosla

DEBATE(1)
Many Minus Gandhi Family- There is no dearth of leaders of the Yes Sir/Madam kind in the Congress Party. Successful Chief Ministers have no chance as usual. The voices of “conscience” of Emergency kind are notably flagged “dangerous’ in Akbar Road parlance- they don’t have the guts to act a Jagjivan Ram. What is left of the All India Congress Party? No Satyagrah, no non-violence, no sacrifice(material/political/social/financial), no vision, no mission, no socialism of the JLN kind, no respect for standards set by the likes of Lal Bahadur Shastri and other national leaders, no adherence to the ideology or vision of the real Gandhi, no integrated view of India as a sovereign nation, destroying family as the strongest institution of the Indian society by encouraging perversity and vulgarity in the name of creative arts, literature and films, no effort to unite India but divide to rule only, soft towards conversions of the poor by inducement and immoral means, fomenting trouble all the time, blatant disrespect for the ancient Faiths of India, lack of respect for others’ point of view, patronising corrupt bureaucrats destroying the spirit and pride of the public services(on the lines of Indira Gandhi after the Black Emergency), destroying institutions, institutionalising corruption, insulting the armed forces and their chief and their patriotism, insulting the judiciary and its chief, politicising even COVID-19 vaccine, love for committed press and electronic media only, friendship with the enemy bleeding India on a daily basis by terrorism, commission-khori in defence deals and other sensitive departments, destroying Small scale Industry, contempt for promotion of Khadi or/and village industry, going against the delicensing policy launched by Rajiv Gandhi audaciously in 1985 which struck at the roots of corruption prevailing in Licence Raj, revival of Licence Raj, preference for parallel government. Even if a leader tries to correct course now, Congress cannot be saved. Let another party of the real Gandhi’s ideals be born and rise from its ashes!
M L Gupta
DEBATE(2)
No body. Only poster boy of the Gandhi family is acceptable.
Vijay Tewari
Income Tax Return Filing
A Tiring Job Many steps have been taken to improve the income tax return filing, realising the fact that only 1.5 crores pay income tax in the country of population of 130 crores. This was observed by the highest authority and directives were issued to improve the system to make it tax payers friendly. There are less number of tax payers and paying tax honestly was also observed. This is subjective and debatable. But there is still scope to improve it further by knowing the grass root problems. Last date for filing returns is approaching fast i.e.31December 2020 for AY 2020-21. Tax payers are struggling hard to file the returns specially those .who are using ITR2 in filling schedule CG table 112A even thou tax payers have no liability to pay tax under Sec.112A. SSR case has given enough indications that in entertainment industries 60-70% of contract value is paid in cash which is outside of financial monitoring system of Govt. This excess cash gives rise to generation of black money, corruption and many other ill side effects. CBDT has to work hard how to really make the system transparent and uses electronic payment methods. Let the cash transactions be limited to only Rs.10,000/- which may help in increasing tax revenue when they are in system. There are some points worth considering to improve the ITR filing to make it painless and seamless: 1. Make the filing for all forms online directly using efiling portal like ITR1 without downloading, generating XML and again uploading the filled forms. We have best software experts and can make it feasible easily. 2. Make ITR2 optional if tax payers have no tax liability under Sec.112A. It is painful to fill the table with 60 odd entries in case mutual funds purchased using SIPs are redeemed. 3. Tax Authorities should give the format of table 112A to DMAT providers or intermediaries .to provide the information in the desired format to DMAT holders for calculation of LTCG in case of equity or equity oriented MFs so tax payers can directly lift the figures and fill it in case they are filing returns to show their CGs. 4. CBDT should close all old cases more than five years older where no tax liability is fixed leaving those cases which are in dispute, under scrutiny, in courts, in arbitrations or any other disputes so the tax officials can be utilised for more productive work to find the solution to assess the income of professionals and finding the methodologies to reduce cash transactions . This is major leakage of tax revenue due to cash transactions. Let us hope good results are achieved and return filing becomes painless and seamless.
Naveen

The appellant sought the name, State, community, marks obtained by the candidates who were selected for the admission during 2018 in Hindi Teachers Training Programme – ‘Parangat’. Initially, the PIO and the FAA denied the information under section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act. However, with the change in the PIO, the new PIO provided certain information containing the list of candidates, with category and the name of the State from which they belong. The PIO further submitted that the marks obtained cannot be given but the candidate can visit the office and inspect the records relating to marks. The CIC observed that personal information of third parties is not disclosable. The CIC also observed that different stands cannot be taken by different officers of the same organization.
Comments
The case shows the ignorance of the PIO and the lack of ability to deal with the applications as per the provisions of the RTI Act. Through this column, an attempt is made to provide fresh information about RTI cases on a weekly basis.
Citation: Dhirendra Kumar Panda v. Central Institute of Hindi in File no.: CIC/MOHRD/A/2019/103985, Date of Decision : 06/10/2020
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)
Acceptability of Kamal Nath is more than others because he is a known face. Had Digvijay Singh shaped himself properly he would have been the favourite.
L S Hardenia
DEBATE (2)
Kamal Nath who is close to the Gandhi family has CEO type working.He can definetly deliver results.
Dipika Agrawal
Wasteful initiatives of government
Axiomatic and assiduous initiatives of government of India to Go lean and closing many unviable units, now working as boondoggle. The institutions are created after Shorn of rhetoric and appreciating the need for the same , however with the passage of time the utility and the purpose for which the institution is created becomes less productive ,vestigial and obsolete while duplicating the job . upholding the philosophy ,the government under the tutelage of our worthy Prime Minister has done away many archaic rules and observations to make the board of contemporary governance as clean and lean as possible Thers are hundreds of training institutions including this national textile corporation NTC,which have become redundant but the only factor had been ,who will bell the cat strangely these white elephants have been in operation no matter there is no contribution to the government but the decorated staff enjoys full salaries and social recognization as the government employees are taken as highly esteemed in all strides there should be a social and concurrent audit of these many institutions so as to assess their contribution to nation is whether perceptible or like boondoggle . These audits should be conducted by the people of eminence and be made public for a better understanding of public at large If found only intonation and Warbling of inertia or vestigial attempt should be made to close them to save the avoidable salaries for some better productive contribution elsewhere . Regards .
Mahendra Kumar Goel
Gender finds matching in some ways
We very often hear about ‘councillor husband’, 'sarpanch husband’, 'panch husband', MLA husband' and even 'minister husband', when the husbands of the lady dignitaries represent them or work as their proxies. But the ladies also cull out their status from their husbands' official positions, in some ways
One fine morning, a lady teacher came to the school with a box of motichoor ladoos. Her husband had been selected in the provincial civil services, with a very high merit. More than distribution of the sweets, she was on the spree to influence the Principal .Principal very smilingly congratulated her .While sharing ladoos with her colleagues ,she repeatedly said, ''Now i will see him-this Hitler of a man'', referring to the stern Principal. It took about a year for husband to join the new service, but Principal remained entwined to his duty and discipline, not allowing anyone any undue liberty.. She got herself transferred to the station and school of her choice, when her husband got first appointment as executive magistrate. She resumed her old ways of getting salary without doing any work.
In those days, it used to take five to eight years for a pcs officer to become sub divisional magistrate. We used to meet very often.. However, it may be a sheer coincidence that he got appointment as SDM very early. During that period ,she had met my wife and said, ''Tusi vi apne husband nu kaho ke oh vi kite SDM lagg jaan, tusi apne aap sub division di 'first lady' bann jaoge.'' My wife one day asked me, ''Eh first lady bann ke ki hunda a? ''Then she told me the context of this query. I told her,'' I know nothing of it except that we refer to wife of the President of the Republic and that of Governor of a state as first lady''. Later on we came to know that as president of the ladies' club of the sub division, she would be amused when she was addressed as 'first lady' of the sub division. So she became first lady of the district in her own way, when her husband was put as deputy commissioner, after about two decades of service.
Once, at a divisional head-quarter district was posted a young commissioner, whose wife was very conscious of her status. She was president of the Officers' wives club and on her first visit to the club, even ten men officers were also kept standing around. The cultured and dignified secretary of the club was the wife of a senior PCS officer, posted as settlement commissioner. In the welcome address to the divisional commissioner's wife, the lady secretary, addressed her by her name, without using prefixes and suffixes of proverbial bureaucratic sycophancy. She felt offended and twisted her facial muscles to look furious. The ladies in the sycophancy semi- circle were alarmed. When the snacks were being served ,the secretary was called by the ladies in this semi- circle .In a very angry voice, the lady president confronted the secretary, ''Don't you know I am the wife of the youngest commissioner of India and the first lady of the Division? What do you think of yourself, you have not properly addressed me! ''The graceful secretary was taken aback, but spontaneously retorted, ''What is it mam if you are commissioner's wife, i have done no wrong, I am also settlement commissioner's wife''.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu
Appoint direct recruit as Railway Chairman
Please appoint direct recruit for the post Railway Chairman, CEO, from the Indian engineering services, group-a central service.
A Harish Kumar
Yadav be continued as RB Chairman
Vinod Kumar Yadav may be continued as Railway Board Chairman.
Mastan Vali

DEBATE (1)
Kamal Nath is my choice.A visionary Nath has been central minister and Chief Minister .Being Industrialist there are less chances of his resorting to dishonesty.
Satish Agrawal
Former DGP
DEBATE (2)
Shashi Tharoor I think can counter the BJP in a big way.
T C Rao
Modi shouldn’t relent into the farmers demand
If Modi relents into the farmers demand, then the other parties will also get an opportunity to come down the street and agitate. Like there will be a fresh Shaheen Bagh demanding taking back laws relating to CAA/CAB and Teen Talak. Farmer's agitation should be dealt with an strong hammer. The agitating farmers are being instigated by the middlemen of agriculture trade (who rarely pay tax) and the Lazy/Rich farmers of Punjab, who don'ts slog and leave their land for tilling to poor migrants of Uttar Pradesh & Bihar. The latter do not want the farmers of the UP and Bihar to grow & Prosper and provide employment opportunities.
Anurag Srivastava
CEO Railway Board doesn't deserves extension
He doesn't deserve extension. There are much more competent people who can do a much better job. He will only damage railway.
Manish
RRB CEO should not get extension
He should not get extension, other officer in line should be given chance
Avinash Kr Singh
CEO Railway Board
Good Work with happiness smiles on face every time. Cool person with Good response.
B Rajkumar

DEBATE(1)
Kamal Nath is one of the balanced and experienced leader in the Congress Party.He has seen all the dramas in the party from the close quarters.He can in my view steer the ship in this wild weather.
D P Devgan
(DEBATE) (2)
Kapil Sibal can be a strong leader at this juncture.
T K Naidu
Nothing new except selection panel
Always for the post of ADRMs, DRMs and GMs in Indian Railways, officers who had been rated outstanding for the previous 6 years continuously were being appointed . So there is nothing new in this report except that a selection panel will interview the eligible officers. Selection panels have their own advantages and disadvantages, I do not wish to elaborate further on this point as it is an universal truth how the panels function in the majority of the cases. The existing system is definitely worthwhile continuing.
K Srinivasa Rao
Modi-Govt to relent on Bill ?
It doubts whether the Modi-led Government will relent on the Bill. If it accepts the farmers’ demands, it will give an impression that the Modi govt has surrendered.
Sunil Kumar
Additional charge to Home Secretary was a boon
This is with reference to an article by Aarti Khosla on additional charge to other secretaries, she may be right in general but in the case of Home Secretary she is required to update herself. Yes you have right to have your opinion on issues but the facts are this additional charge to him has bestowed a new lease of life to the employees of CSS & CSSS. Unlike organised services, employees in CSS & CSSS were not getting their promotions for the last many years due to SC/ST promotion issues stuck in Supreme Court despite clear directions, respective so called regular secretaries could not do anything on the issue. Do you think for any organised service this would have been the fate, if their promotions are delayed for a day, they come in for meeting, their batch is promoted, their insitu is done for the whole batch, their NSFG is done on time, you will never ever understand the pain of these two services, they are not getting timely promotions/NFSG etc. for years and are retiring without getting their due. This is what your regular incumbents did to these services. Dear Madam, the person/system on whom you are casting aspersions have gone extra length to discharge his duty despite his being busy in enormous MHA issues and sorted out this prolonged problems of the down trodden sections of the employees who were being denied all their dues for years and ultimately retire without getting any relief. You ask any CSS/CSSS officers what he has done for them in his additional charge and despite his busy schedules he entertained personnel of both services and tried to redress their genuine grievances. Had regular incumbents done their duty honestly with a heart this so called additional charge Secretary Personnel need not have burned the midnight oil to heal these services. This man has a golden heart, very soft spoken, an urge to go extra length for the needy, a bureaucrat from class apart, not a critique but a man who delivers, even on his birthday he was working till 11 PM just to help others. My heart goes out for him as I am yet to see a personality like him in four decades of my service.
Ravi
RRB CEO should continue
Yes. Present economy situation says RRB CEO should continue.
Bibhas

DEBATE (1)
Is it right to say that Your question of Acceptable face is slightly mischievous ? Acceptable to Congress itself or the Nation ?. Remember in 1991, when Congress was in disarray, choice of PM was between Sharad Pawar & S.D. Sharma, with P.V. Narasinha Rao not considered acceptable. But, Rao became PM, rewrote India History with his bold reforms. So, where cometh the time, cometh the man. Anyway, this will matter only if Modiji sticks to his decision of being PM for 10 years, as he said in 2014. And, if Modiji continues to canvas for a PM of his choice in 2024, I am not sure if any Acceptable face of Congress can make a difference, such is his mesmerizing image among India's electorate.
Narayanan
DEBATE(2)
Being close to Sonia Gandhi, Ashok Gehlot who is vocal against PM Modi can be a good choice to lead the party. He behaves like a commoner.
Dinesh Gupta
DEBATE(3)
Well educated Kamal Nath can only be the choice in the midst of hindu sentiments spread by the BJP. He is known as Hanuman Bhakta.
Ram Nivas Agrawal
Reforms For A 5 Trillion
Economy It was somewhat disconcerting to hear the Hon’ble CJI say that closure of courts due to COVID-19 has affected the lawyers’ earnings as some have been compelled to selling vegetables in Orissa! What has befallen the poor litigants? Cases pending for several years remained unheard for another gratuitous year! The loss of income of the lawyers was bemoaned but nobody has shed a tear for the dejected litigants! I was reminded of an IG Police saying in a seminar that his traffic policemen at least were able to earn some extra money but not those at the police-lines! The British knew the ingenuity of Indians in creating opportunities for upari kamai (extra income) and chose to keep the pay scales deplorably low (Rs.30 a month without pension or perhaps even lower than that) having heard the story about an educated guy making an earnest request to the Raja (eqv. king/Lord) to give him a job. The Raja declined saying he had no vacancy. But the candidate for the job was not to be disappointed. So, he said any job would do. The Raja asked him what job could he give without any vacancy? The candidate had done his preparation well and promptly said: give the job of counting the waves by the river so that I am busy from morning till evening. Perplexed, the Raja granted his wish. Happy at his success in securing a government job, he went straight to the riverbank and started counting waves. Whenever he spotted a boatman cutting the waves he objected as he was disturbed in his job of counting the waves and would not allow him to take his boat to the bank. The boatman was compelled to pay him fine. In due course the Raja came to know that the guy was earning more than his Deewaan/Prime Minister! Proud or ashamed to be a police constable? Let us impart respect to the police constable: instead of calling him/them policewale/policewali, the formal designation must be used. Is police service a matter of honour? Should one feel proud to serve society as a policeman like the soldier guarding our borders or hang his/her head in shame for indulging in acts of violence against the citizens like disrobing and beating a woman prisoner with leather belt? Should the policeman not win the trust and respect of the people by being friendly to them? Needless to repeat that it is perfectly lawful for even a police constable to defy unlawful orders of his/her superior. Because the job of a police constable has been reduced to be less than honourable by the Brown Sahibs of the democratic India, the country’s progress towards becoming a Superpower has been compromised greatly. The police have been deterred from doing its lawful duty to society by ordering them to guard the criminals jailed for more than 3 years! If the police work honestly, they will not implicate innocent people in criminal cases and put them in jail creating opportunities for making illegal money for the police department, politicians, lawyers, corrupt judges and irresponsible journalists denigrating democracy mocking the Rule of Law. If bail becomes the rule and jail the exception it will restore integrity of the constable automatically, reduce court cases drastically and eradicate corruption to a very great extent. Police honesty alone can eradicate more than 75% corruption from India. All other departments will be cautious before acting unlawful if they trust the police will spare no corrupt public servant. Decline in moral standards and integrity in police resulted in increase of all-round corruption in geometric proportions. People know how and why corrupt regimes have been resisting investigation by the CBI. Time to make law for CBI assigned powers without waiting for state government approval. Let us pay due attention to strengthening the cutting edge of administration by making the jobs honourable and satisfying. Government job is more prestige than money, like the noble profession of teaching. Can anybody imagine a prosperous and strong society without teachers? We, the people of India, solemnly say that corruption cannot be eradicated unless we clean the police and make them professional of the highest integrity. Police is like the immune system of the body which alone can keep infection away!
M L Gupta

DEBATE (1)
Amrinder Singh can lead the party. He is mass based popular leader, successful Chief Minister and an effective orator.
A Joshi
DEBATE(2)
Kamal Nath with his wide state and national level experiences can make a good choice. He is fluent in Hindi as well as in English. Most of the Congressmen know him.
Suresh Verma
CGHS reimbursement needs improvement
Govt. has taken number of steps to improve the working of CGHS and recent decision on reimbursement of OPD medicines till December 2020 was great to provide the help to beneficiaries during Covid-19 pandemic. But sorry to submit that reimbursement process is so chaotic and embarrassing that nearly 90% beneficiaries do not submit the application for reimbursement. It is such unorganised working that no one is responsible in whole chain for the delay being in Govt. Starting from the point of submission of reimbursement application in wellness centre at Delhi , to final approval, no one is accountable. It may take months together to get the application forwarded from wellness centre to respective zones for processing the case and afterwards zones take their own time to process the case after threadbare auditing it making sure that large amounts get deducted without assigning any reason..It is surprising that no officials or officers are accountable for such callousness working in Govt. department. Even CMO incharge of wellness centres are not aware of the exact procedure for reimbursement so he or she can guide the beneficiaries. Data may be collected at least for last two years drawing the complete pert chart to know the time taken by each desk from the point of submission of application to final reimbursement of the amount to beneficiary accounts. It looks that we are still working in stone age. It does not look that we are in digital age and any reimbursement should not take more than fifteen days to get the payment done. CGHS reimbursement needs lot of improvement in working. Additional Secretary in Ministry of Health incharge of CGHS can review the whole process and issue necessary instructions for smooth working to give relief to CGHS beneficiaries. Minister of H&FW is requested to please issue necessary directives on this issue for the relief to beneficiaries.specially pensioners otherwise the steps taken by the Govt. becomes meaningless if implementation is done done properly. Reimbursement of OPD medicines are lying since August 2020 for payment. To highlight the point CGHS website shows MRC status Delhi-East Zone: Status of settled MRC as November 2018.and pending also as November 2018. ??? Let us work in more scientific way to improve the working so it should look that we are in digital age--no more than fifteen days to reimburse the amount spent on medical treatment or purchase of medicines..
Naveen