Whispers Forum

DEBATE (1)
In this present power game no one is number one.
R K Jain
“Treat all Organized Services at par for generalist posts”
Suggestion of S Gopal (WIC, dated May 6,2020 ) for appointing a non-IAS officers as EO , though well-intentioned, will never meet the ends of justice, till officers of all organized services are given representation in promotions and postings. No level playing field. Presently, it is a battleground for the IAS v/s the rest.
There is no pay parity compounded by the delay in empanelment of cadres other than the IAS. All come through the common selection process through the UPSC. All central services officers feel hugely discriminated against the 'elite' Indian Administrative Service, the poor and distant cousin of the erstwhile India Civil Services .
Ironically, the competitiveness for superiority among IAS officers of even same batch, is not unusual. On the contrary, “under-cutting” among inter-Services officers ,is also noticed . Rivalry among officers of different civil services, prevails across the board- both at the Centre and States. Trust deficit hampers Good governance. The artificial distinction between IAS officers and the less fortunately circumstanced central services officers becomes evident even before proceeding for LBSNAA . Seeds of “superiority complex ”are sown early in career.
An artificial dichotomy. Top twenty officers of the merit list are privileged to call on President and Prime minister. One more IAS officers are attached to different central ministries for 3 months. The practice was established by PM Modi. Officers of other services are not considered fit enough even though they participate in central staffing scheme. Empanelment has always been dependent on the discretionary power of the Prime minister.
Officers of IPS, IRS and other services want an end to “ IAS Raj “ to secretary’s appointments . They seek pay hikes. The IAS officers, according to them, corner all specialized posts. Out of some 30 posts of financial advisors (JS and AS levels )in the government, 17 or so are manned by IAS with no specialization whatsoever. The empanelment process is discretionary, arbitrary.
Who benefits by creating artificial discriminations among Services officers ?They all come from same stock. Perhaps, the beneficiaries are the political class in cahoots with the pliant IAS officers, who get easily rewarded for their loyalty.
To sum up , appointments to generalist posts of Secretary and Secretary equivalent , must be thrown open to all organized services including the post of Cabinet Secretary ,Secretary ( DOP&T), Secretary (Revenue) , C&AG, CVC, Secretary to President , Establishment Officer (EO) and scores of others.
The Prime minister is urged to introspect over the matter in consultation with the union Home minister but without the aid of the coterie of elite IAS officers who have deeply rooted vested interests.PM is expected to be neutral in appointments matter. Performance Assessment based on integrity, honesty, commitment, hard-working nature, political neutrality and IB verifications from two independent sources,are necessary criteria
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

DEBATE(1)
Some Indian companies operating in China may decide to relocate to home country but by and large most of the US and American companies would prefer to move to their home country or Vietnam or Indonesia but not India.
S K Malviya
Provide more space for useful views
Fully agree with Arun kumar. Your"s is an important site for people with varied views on issues of National importance. I request you to provide more space for such views.
S Gopal
Make in India options post COVID-19
To achieve the MII goals post COVID-19, we need to re-orient our industrial policy on these parameters: 1. Opt for high technology, or 2. Opt for appropriate technology or 3. Opt for outdated technology, machines, inputs and sales, or 4. Carry on as it is, or 5. Celebrate “informal sector” or move to formal sector, or 6. Promote trade mark, brand, innovation, invention, or 7. Maintain low cost low quality low return low wage production, and 8. Remain a developing country or become superpower, or 9. Celebrate poverty or aim for prosperity of people, or 10. Keep importing common use products like smart phones, laptops or produce locally, and 11. Allow relocation of industries to India blindly (affected by Corona from countries like China) to India or exercise informed choice to select state of the art producers, and finally, only 12. Reform, renew, modify or go for total change? After six years of the present government in office and every sincere effort made to promote Make In India as well as Skill Development, we are no different from where we were 20 years ago on the above parameters, if an honest evaluation is made. It is because producers don’t fear rejection of their products by the consumers as everything sells in India. The market is flooded with fake medicines, fake automobile parts, fake sports goods etc. We need to reverse this approach to Only the Best Sells in India. Nothing more needs to symbolise this predicament than the ICMR supplied/approved faulty Corona test kits during the disaster moment when the Prime Minister himself is supervising management.
M L Gupta
View point for governance
Some viewpoints for governance. 1. The fear psychosis in promotional advertisement appearing in medIas. like TV needs to be immediately stopped in this challenging covid crisis scenario. Typical examples are policy bazaar adv.. 2. India needs a separate policy for urban habitats without houses living in rented premises, which adds to unproductice house holders, scarity of affordable land adding to ineffeciencits in created infrastructure created & making times more difficult for such households LIC housing policies needs to include financing of land for such people in areas of their social activites living for dedes without shelter of their own. High high priced land, reluctancetc to move to high rise buildings in appartments and rpvaluation of land by state governments make the land & houses of theiirs more difficult.. 3. Small business operators with marginal incomes relying on day to day income but with accumulated and recurring family and workforce liabilities needs revisit to existing policy for real situational needs. 4. Elderly persons seems to have been excluded from development efforts based on simple theory of morbidity probability. Insurene coverage either are not avaiable or at unaffordable prices; could have been easily provided by scaled up coverage for all and managing risks using reisurrence instruments helping them to contribute their rich experience of competencies in this difficult time . Best wishes & regards .
Kailash Prasad Bhawsinka

DEBATE (1)
Now that the corona is almost over, relative normality has returned to the China. It will restore to its economic glamour with emerging as super power country in trading sector in the world.
Nitin Saxena
How can international travel begin?
While there are many experts , here is my humble suggestion - Make it mandatory to conduct RT PCR test for everyone taking a flight ( bring them to the airport a couple of hours earlier and get this test done ). Likewise , do it for all arriving passengers. The cost of test must be in built in the airline ticket cost , and airlines should pay the same to AAI or do the test themselves - in case RT PCR test is negative, the person is not transmitting ( even if he or she is in early stages of COVID infection...PL CONFIRM THIS WITH ICMR ).., so risk is rather minimal the next 24 hours - Usual social distancing norms, gloves, mask , packaged food ( no service )and self dispensing soaps and sanitisers at airports and in the planes - Repeat RT PCR test on arrival airport. If someone earlier negative now becomes + ve, quarantine the person and all those sitting within 2 metre of that person ..for 14 days - If tests are negative on arrival, send them into mandatory home quarantine ( with GPS enabled tracker ) ,, addl cost of this will be 200 USD ( not counting addl cost of empty middle seat) but this can surely kick start the sector ..
Mohan
Plight of CSS officers
Is there any one to listen to the plight of officers of CSS. Officers are retiring without promotions inspite of there being vacancies..
Regular visitor
CSS & CSSS officers not getting promotions
As rightly pointed out, CSS & CSSS officers are not getting promotions. Government should be forthcoming in solving the problem. As I have written earlier, motivation factor will be missing totally if it continues to be like the present situation. Please give us atleast adhoc promotion. Court cases will be lingering on for years
Seth

Curb government expenditure on tours and travel
In addition to the aforesaid suggestions for expenditure control, I have also got one suggestion that steps should also be taken to put a curb on government expenditure on tours and travel. Majority of the Conferences/Meetings should be done through Video Conference. Use of vehicles at the exchequers cost for personal purposes by the Ministers/Bureaucrats should be stopped once for all. One of the Minister of the current Cabinet, belonging to Uttar Pradesh, had taken reimbursement of money spent on Hajmola and Hawai Chappal at the cost of office expenditure. The air travel bills of the wife and daughter of Minister is also being paid by the office, with concurrence of Finance Division. Shame on the feudalistic lords in the Government, who are at the helm of affairs of the Government, and indulging in such unethical practices. If we take strict measures to plug such unnecessary expenditure of Government, we will be saving a lot and bringing back the economy on the track.
BBS
Another airport size RT-PCR sanitised room required
The normal time taken for processing in RT-PCR (a nuclear-derived method for detecting the presence of specific genetic material from any pathogen, including a virus) is six hours job including the preparation time added to it. Normally the RT-PCR processes the batch of maximum 70 to 100 tests and seeing the number of passengers travelling we need to have another airport size RT-PCR sanitised room with approximately thousand machines lined up with equally trained manpower.
Rajendra
Appoint non IAS officer as EO
Some Non IAS officer should be appointed as EO
S Gopal

Systematically destroying IRS
It is no surprise that Government ( virtually IAS lobby) issued charge sheets to IRS Association office bearers for giving a report on reviving economy in good faith though the recommendations are of poor intellect. Contrast this with clean chit given to an IPS officer who favoured financial criminals in Maharashtra. IRS Association needs to realize that it is an interest group to protect the interests of IRS officers and not a think tank. It does everything except to protect interests of IRS officers. It is open secret that CBDT bosses have surrendered to Modi government and converted IT Department as an arm of BJP to hound its political adversaries. In return, Modi government is only rewarding its henchmen in the department and systemically destroying the service with innovations such as no promotion in the guise of deferment, arbitrary use of 56J, transfers to remote locations. However, corrupt henchmen of Modi in the income tax are getting all rewards. Will IRS association stand up to protect collective interests of the IRS?
Prasad
IRS force
Suggestions for revenue mobilisation by income tax officers has, instead of starting any serious discussion, started a jokestream on Twitter. Why?
First, the qualifications. Income tax officers are not economists. They do not (nor are they expected to have) any idea of what a particular tax (say, inheritance tax or wealth tax) does to the economy. Their expertise is limited to collecting direct taxes, nothing more.
Second, the populism. ‘Soak the rich’ is a popular refrain across the world. Are the income tax officers (not very popular among the honest people in the society) trying to become popular?
Third the intention. If the suggestions were to be accepted it will increase the power of income tax officers tremendously. It is doubtful that it will be exercised with restraint and without corruption.
Finally, the missing link. The popular perception of most income tax officers being corrupt is misplaced. The officers (at least the idealistic ones) could have proved it by suggesting how to reduce arbitrariness and corruption in the organisation’s various activities. For example, international businesses have to negotiate a bribe for not deducting advance tax. This is a cost to exports. When dealing with assessees, the officers advise them to get a chartered accountant. If the officers had suggested measures for elimination of middlepersons and bring about honesty in their department, they would have been taken seriously. If their association is worth its salt it could advise young direct recruits to expose their corrupt bosses.
In the meantime the government should award them for bringing hilarity in these dark times.
If you see an income tax officer and a chartered accountant drowning and you can save only one of them what would you do? Go home or go for a walk?
Prof. N.C. Saxena

DEBATE (1)
In the present context, COVID-19 has emerged as super-power making super power countries: USA, Russia, China and India powerless.
Manoj Kumar
“Please do not stifle Freedom of Speech”
As an avid fan of Whispersinthecorridors.com since its inception, I venture to share my views with you on certain aspects. The topics selected for ‘ Debates’ have, of late, been serving certain vested interests, bereft of universal relevance. I have noticed a drift in the editorial policy of WIC from original mandate. Some posts do not find space in your FORUM without specifying the reasons. I don’t know, why? But, let us not forget that rapid expansion of new portals implies that one media platform’s censored or dropped column, becomes a prize catch for another.
It is, no doubt, your absolute discretion to accept or dismiss columns without assigning reasons. Your editorial –cum-proprietorial- cum-commercial compulsions, cannot be disputed. You have to run the publication by getting ads from government and corporate sectors. Quite justified.
There are certain points, I would like to share with you in the interest of our Constitutional right relating to Freedom of Speech and Expressions.
First, by not posting the views in WIC FORUM, you are stifling the freedom of speech and expression of genuine contributors. The contributors are not supposed to be supportive of the Governments of the day. If they do, they become paid journalists. More important point is about maintaining the credibility and independence of Journalism. Pressures during the UPA era headed by the then de facto PM Mohtarma Sonia ji, was blatantly explicit , vindictive.
Not under the present NDA era headed by PM Modi. I admire him for his honesty, commitment, nationalistic outlook and exceptional leadership during Corona crisis. I also criticize him freely on other issues.
I have grown with WIC for two decades and started contributing posts after retirement in 2007. I have noticed some change in editorial policy, of late . You would agree that it would be neither ethical nor advisable for contributors to support the policies of the governments of the day on various issues. This explains why you invariably insert a ‘Disclaimer’.
We do not expect the editor-in-chief of WIC to act as the Spokesperson of ruling dispensations at the Centre and States. If that were to be so,then what is the difference between the Whispersinthecorridors.com ( WIC )and the pompous Opinion makers of several mainstream newspapers. You ought to be different.WIC is accessed globally by one and all especially the bureaucracy.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)
Grievance of CSS officers
People in CSS are waiting for promotions in May 2019....No body to listen on this grievance of CSS officers.
GB

The Appellant sought information regarding the examination conducted for the post of Maintainer Electrician by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation like the category wise cut off marks of the candidates selected in the main merit list, the number of candidates finally selected and issues related thereto. He alleged large scale corruption in the selection process by the Respondent Public Authority. On being queried by the Commission whether the lists of selected candidates were available on the official website, the Respondent replied in the affirmative. The Appellant vehemently contested the averments of the Respondent and submitted that names of the selected candidates along with the marks secured was not available in the public domain and that the Respondent was duty bound to upload the same as per the decisions of the Superior Court. The CIC directed to furnish a copy of list of the selected candidates along with the marks secured as also the formula adopted in Normalisation Process by DMRC, to the Appellant within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the order depending upon the condition for containment of the Corona Virus Pandemic in the Country.
Comments
Though many State Information Commissions are non-functional, the CIC has been working while being mindful of the difficulties being faced due to the Coronavirus infection.
Citation: Mr. Sohan Singh v. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation in Second Appeal No.(s):- CIC/DMRCP/A/2018/627844–BJ+ CIC/DMRCP/A/2018/628759-BJ, Date of Decision : 28.04.2020
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

Suggestions for international travel
COVID19 is here to stay and most countries have a dilemma on when to open their borders. For flights to operate, one needs guidance and assurance that COVID is not being reintroduced. Here is some food for thought for India and other countries: 1. Every departing passenger entering airport must be tested . Set up camp outside airport, do RT PCR , and get the results in 2 hours...the results be shared by airlines with governments on other side 2. For arriving passengers, do RT PCR test and Anti body test ...before letting them into the country 3. Cost of these tests...be added to ticket cost (200 US dollars / 14000 INR) at most.. 4. Usual social distancing norms (masks, gloves, self dispensing sanitizers in airport, flights, no meal service ( only packed food or drink ) 5. If this looks feasible, airlines may be able to fill up all seats, even middle seats !
V Mohan

DEBATE(1)
United States America (USA) is still supper power as far as military strength is concerned. Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) will not much wreck havoc on the country.
Anup Kumar
Attention Finance Minister
A paper title FORCE (Fiscal Options & Response to COVID-19 Epidemic) developed by nearly 50 IRS officers, the cream of tax experts, is excellent paper for revival of various sectors and boost the revenue. But the paper could not address the real issues of tax leakage and evasions in the system. IRS officers are ground level officers and know the system very well but not able to bring the real issues due to its own limitations. As 10% of population has more than 70% of country wealth and this unequal distribution of wealth is primarily due to aberrations in the tax system. It is estimated that there are people earning more than millions of rupees per TV shows, selling toilet cleaners, selling houses (without physical houses), selling bhujias, endorsing ad. of particular items/brands, performing in stages etc earning millions and millions but how much tax is paid by such professionals, it is to reviewed. Tax professionals should have come with some proposals how to assess the real income of such professionals thru some innovative tools, methodologies etc. in order to reduce the tax leakages and increase the tax revenues. Professionals can show 80% of earning as expenditures and pay the taxes on 20%. Such aberrations should be minimised. A professional earning 50 lakhs get 50% deduction straightway, why it is so? Whereas Salaried class is not even given Rs. 50000/ as standard deduction in the new system.This needs to be seen. Country is passing thru a very difficult time due to Covid-19 and expenditure is being cut to meet the social obligations. But we are allowing tax exemptions to NGOs, trusts, educational institutions etc, These institutions can be brought under income tax act thru an amendment to pay taxes on their donations and contributions. This will solve many problems during this crisis and open a path to increase the tax revenue. As these organisation are already serving the society at large only now the scope will increase to serve the country also by paying the taxes. This will empower the Govt, to know the financial transactions and assets they have when they file their income tax returns otherwise IT and ED takes years to find the details and source of funds. Of course IRS officers can not put such proposals in the paper as it needs a view from highest level to implement such things but this is worth considering in the larger interest of the country. Vivad se Vishwas is good scheme and make it vision of the department .to solve most of the cases. Bring the pendency to zero for the cases older than 5 years. There is no point of dragging the cases. Close the cases if no tax liabilities have been imposed and are in initial stages of notices create the brand TRUST between tax payers and tax administration. Do not chase small tax payers, Sr. Citizens, house wives etc. Conserve the man power and time for more innovative work to reduce tax leakages in the systems. More work is required to assess the income of professionals, traders, contractors etc. using present day technology. Income tax department has done wonderful work developing their website for filing returns and refund is processed very fast now a days, They need appreciations but the fear still continues in the mind of public to go near to the department. This has to go and brand TRUST is developed. ITR filing should remain simple so more people file their returns without the help of CAs. Simplicity is the key to success.
Naveen

DEBATE(1)
India certainly will have an edge atleast on trade vis-à-vis China in the aftermath of COVID-19 but United States will remain the military superpower and may invest more in India. In the trade game, Russia will still have lot of military hardware to sell to India.
Jaiprakash Gupta
CSS officers feeling dejected
Central secretariat service is the basic framework of working of the Secretariat at he union level. It is repository of knowledge and expertise. But officers of this service are feeling dejected and demotivated due to in different attitude of Government on the promotions of its officers. There have been no promotions in various grades of this Central Service. In this period of crisis the officers of this service are manning Ministry of Health, Homes Affairs, Labour, Education and many more. Officers are working as frontliners. Decision makers need to pay attention to their grievances.
GB
A Clarification on Priority
Look at the following words and decide which Board examinee or Civil Services examinee is to be rewarded for correct spelling and which one penalised for wrong spelling: colour, flavour, behaviour, harbour, honour, humour, labour, neighbour, rumour, splendour, color, flavor, behavior, harbor, honor, humor, labor, neighbor, rumor, splendour? Students/examinees are “failed” for wrong spelling, unless rules have changed recently where mistakes in spelling words are ignored. Even if the rules have been liberalised, the computer often turns red at every (mis)spelt word! Meaning of words in different English is only adding to the confusion. Millions of students consult local versions of dictionaries (I refrain from naming them) which only add to the misfortune of the learners. The poor examinees would never even know why they failed/got poor marks in the English language paper, which is a compulsory paper. It would be a surprise if the NCERT/equivalent institutions are using only one standard recognized spelling for Indian students in the text books published by them. Careers of students/IAS Etc Exam (now Civil services Exam) were destroyed by a single missing consonant or syllable! There is no government office which is not supplied a dictionary at public expense only to write correct English. Even then half the time is spent in dotting the i or crossing the t or replacing elevator by lift etc. Can the Hon’ble Minister for HRD kindly clarify which English is standard English to be taught to Indian school/college students and for official use for the purposes for which it was being used before the enforcement of the constitution of India, including the Judiciary, Parliament/Legislative Assemblies and Executive? A notification containing different spellings can’t be submitted for signature of the President of India! Can the number of students penalised for spelling colour as color etc. be published since most states have started English medium schools from nursery classes? Should the students go by the computer spelling? Also which dictionary of English should be prescribed for Indian resident learners of English as a second language (L2)? These clarifications are required on Priority in the interests of building strong foundation in English language for the children and youth on whose shoulders we are going to put the responsibility for development after the economic disaster of COVID-19. A very strong foundation in language laid early in school education can guarantee equal opportunities of growth, development and income. It brooks no ambiguity both for the teacher as well as the student.
M L Gupta

DEBATE (1)
India cannot be an economic superpower simply because of its dependence on China for raw material in the industrial space. The US economy will bounce back in a year or two for sure.
M M Singh
Welcome move to cut DA increase
Transport allowance should not be paid to officers and employees working from home. Govt must also scrap NFU with immediate effect. Special dispensations of exorbitant NE allowance, double HRA, Training allowance, etc should be done away with. Government should close offices and cut down strength of officers and employees across all departments. Number of ministries, departments, statutory bodies and autonomous organisation must be curtailed. Cabinet can be halved and other ministers be cut by one third. In effect it is time to start MINIMUM GOVERNMENT MAXIMUM GOVERNANCE, in real sense and not merely as a slogan.
Prakash
How can government find money for fiscal stimulus and create jobs ?
1. It should not be difficult to find savings of say 2-3 Lakh Crores , from reduction in government expenditure . These could range from deferring the redevelopment of central vista of Delhi to freeze in purchase of government vehicles, AC and other non essential expenses
2. The reduction in age of retirement, say from 60 to 58 ( or the formula of 55 / 33 yr service ) both offer twin advantages of reduction in salary bills of governments , and at the same time opportunity to hire fresh recruits . Given the retirees will draw pension , they will not be disadvantaged, but in one go GoI will be able to ensure fresh recruitment, when job losses are staring at our face.
V Mohan

DEBATE(1)
The United States may certainly bring down its investments in China but that does not mean India will have an edge as the United States will look for markets in South East Asia to invest.
K N Kumar
Sonia Gandhi, a character larger than life
I have always been critical of Congress party. I observe that Mrs Sonia Gandhi is a decent lady. She was offered the post of Congress Chief, but she was reluctant to join politics. Mrs Gandhi became card-carrying member of the party only after repeated requests by the Congress senior leaders. After joining politics, she was also offered the post of Prime Minister after party came to power, but declined the offer. Not only this, she also requested the Government to commute the death penalty to life imprisonments to her husband's killers. Her political decisions may be good or wrong. She is personally decent lady, doesn’t indulge in slanging match. Her personal character is larger than life.
Sunil Kumar
Check misuse of Ministers and Bureaucrats
During the time of Corona pandemic, the country is going to face a number of financial constraints. Apart from the various measures being taken by the Government for financial prudence, there is a need to strictly stop the misuse being done by the Ministers/Senior Bureaucrats in the matter of availing facilities over and above their entitlement especially in the consumption of fuel in their vehicles. They should invariably pay from their pocket the money used for personal purposes. They should reduce their official travel.
BBS