Whispers Forum

DEBATE
I agree that both – the elections (political rallies) and the Kumbha fair - were not at all justified in view of the Corona Virus threat. Had the powers that be acted little sensible, the dance of death throughout the country could have been avoided to a large extent. The government could have postponed the elections and allowed the Kumbha Mela only symbolically. It could have saved the precious lives of hundreds and thousands of people.
Rohatgi
Welcome Mrs Mayuri Vasu’s appointment as Commissioner, Durgapur Municipal Corp in WB
Welcome to Durgapur Municipal Corporation. We hope you will be looking into various issues that affect the lives and livelihood of citizens of Durgapur. That DMC has number of Health centres that cater to the medical needs of people around. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we have a Public sector steel Hospital in Durgapur from where number of Nurses have retired soon as they are of the age of 60. Many of them take to working in nursing homes and various clinics around this city and most of them have reverted to the original profession of being a house wife. Taking advantage of the situation you as Secretary of the DMC could initiate taking these retired nurses to run the health centres which do not have qualified, experience nursing staff to make use of their proficiency in public health at a appropriate honorarium and other benefits as may seem to be appropriate.
Rabindra Nath

Refer post of Sanjeev who has rightly pointed out the merits of PM's decision of appointing non-IAS Chairperson of PESB and for snubbing babus like Sivaraman who get post-retirement sinecures through sycophancy.
The percentage of female candidates recommended by PESB to top managerial posts in public sector undertakings is abysmally low. Perhaps the appointment of a woman chairperson will address this problem.
To bring professionalism in the public sector, the Department of Public Enterprises needs to be abolished and the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management strengthened.
M. P. Bauer
DBT:Very premature order!
Centre and the Punjab state govts are at loggerheads over the issue of implementation of DBT from the Rabi crop 2021,without the involvement of the commission agents. It is very essential to understand the Punjab Land Records and land administration system, to evaluate the implement-ability of the order of govt of India, issued through FCI to transfer the procurement price of the wheat directly into farmers' account, without any role in this, assigned to the commission agents. The present land records system is the creation of the Britishers by undertaking the Settlement procedures. The lands ,which were annexed first, were subjected to the Settlement first. Punjab was the last to be annexed and the initial flaws in the system were eliminated ,when the Settlement of Punjab(including Haryana, Delhi),and Western UP was completed. The comprehensive system so evolved is the best in India and one of the best in the world. The individual owners are recorded in separate column, and the tenants and tillers of various categories are entered in the separate column of possession. There are various categories of occupants, who are also the owners of the land, but others cannot understand such intricacies. For example proprietary rights of some Shamlat deh lands vest in the individuals, but their names are entered in the column of cultivation and not column of ownership. Same is the position of Shamlat Patti lands
The Occupancy tenants like saunjhidars, muqararidars, Bhondidars etc are owners of the land but govt is still in the process of conferring proprietary rights on them. There are some areas where the ownership is defined by the share/s in the well. When the lands were allotted in the garden colonies after partition of the country, some plots were earmarked for residences. Those areas have not been partitioned so far and in the column of ownership in Record-of Rights is entered as, ''Yet to be partitioned''.
Lakhs of land owners are living abroad without having bank accounts in India. There are lakhs of land owners, whose land is still in the names of the great grandfathers and grandfathers. Almost more than 25%lands are in joint names and shares are yet to be determined. In certain khewats their may be more than hundred shareholders. About quarter of a century back tenancy laws had made the life of the farmers a living hell. The matters almost stand settled and the land are given on rent without any written agreements. The lessees pay to the owners in advance and in the new system the payment will be made to the owners. The society living in peace may be forced into the cauldron of avoidable turmoil. There are govt lands where these are given on rent and the land record shows all such lands in the name of the govt.
Computerization of land records was started in the year 1988 in Ropar distt.Till date Record- of-Rights has been been computerized in more than 95% villages. However, even after 3 decades ,the system has not finally settled. Moreover with new legislations, the system has to be made compatible. From the revenue trained staff, the land records have been given control to the Computer savvy staff on contract. The mistakes in the recor are in thousands. Uploading it and making it compatible for DBT to farmers in such a short period is impossible. Let Piyush Goyal do it.
When the demonetization was done, none of its goals was achieved. Implementation of GST and Lockdown ,proved counter productive. If the govt intends to stop the smuggling of food-grains purchased at rs 900 per quintal from other states and then selling it in Punjab at MSP rate of 1975,the purpose can be served by taking other stringent measures. We cannot put the entire population in jail to prevent any murder taking place. The atom bomb will also fall on commission agents and their profession will meet certain death abruptly. The matter needs to be adequately addressed in due course and not in such a clumsy hurry.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

EVMs have really become controversial though authorities say that EVMs are fullproof. In these days of technological revolution anything is possible. Western countries are still following paper ballots. Why don't we follow the same system?
Kumar
Demand for scrapping EVMs, not unjust
The demand for scrapping of EVMs is not unjust given the number of incidents happening in every election where their sanctity is being violated. There have been rumours of lakhs of EVMs gone missing after purchase. These are being transported in total violation of the protocol. West Bengal Assam And other states have seen such breakdowns. The doubts on results of Bihar election still rattle the people there. It would therefore in the interest of saving democracy in India that we scrap the EVMs for some years till we get an absolutely full proof system of voting by machines and get back to ballot paper .
Aarti Khosla

Is it true that IAS officers in general are averse to giving any thing to IPS officers as a service and not consider them for any benefits/ privileges, as IPS lot. Individually IAS-IPS officers make the best of friends, spouses, relatives but this mindset doesn’t go away and hold IAS back to give away even their ( IPS) rights and dues. The country can only prosper if these two services need to have the most harmonious relationship and March together joining hands, keeping aside all their differences and egos.
Ramesh Kumar
State can’t kill its citizen
State can not kill its citizen in the name of war against Naxals, two way approach is required Political as well as anti naxal operations. Every body knows that there are more numbers of civil population as compared to Naxals in the area and when you heavy equipment and Forces casualties of civil population is bound to happen which will further lead to distraction of civil population from main stream and will not be a good outcome.
Umesh

The appellant sought for the pay scales for teaching staff and payments as per labour law (Minimum Wages Act of State/Central Govt.) for non-teaching Staff from the inception of the MESCO College of Pharmacy, Hyderabad i.e. from 2003-04 to 2019-20. The PIO, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to whom the RTI application was sent, the provided the information available with him and informed that the concerned college denied their consent to the disclosure of the information. The CIC observed that the square denial of the information by the PIO citing the refusal of the concerned college to part with the information is grossly inappropriate as no exemption clause of Section 8 and/or 9 of the RTI Act was invoked for the said denial. Moreover, the information sought for pertains to the pay scales of the employees of the college which should ordinarily be made available in the public domain by the concerned authorities. The CIC directed to provide the information related to the pay scale and gross salary of the faculties & non-teaching staff to the Appellant.
Comments
The case shows how information about the private institutions can be sought from the regulatory authorities. All PIOs should note that denial of information under the RTI Act can be done only as per section 8 or section 9 of the Act.
Citation: Dr Javed Akhtar Ansari v. All India Council For Technical Education in File No : CIC/AICTE/A/2019/644119, Date of Decision: 01/04/2021
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

EVM has been rejected by USA and the western world as anything which is pre-loaded programme.
Harish Kumar
Penalty on Ambanis
It is gratifying to learn that stock market regulator SEBI has levied a penalty of Rs25 crores on the members of Ambani family and others within 21 years of the alleged violation of some provision of law. The speed and efficiency with which SEBI has acted in this case is to be admired and is sure to be appreciated by the first Chairman of SEBI who passed away recently. It is reported that the affected parties are likely to appeal against the SEBI order. One would hope that SAT will not only reverse the order but also levy a major penalty on SEBI to be recovered from all the past and present Chairmen for the glacial speed with which they have acted.
Raghavan
Really commendable
The gesture of Spl DGP Chhattisgarh is really commendable. We need such officials on top everywhere.
B P Pande

CBDT has notified new Income Tax Return forms ITR-1 to 7 for AY 2021-22 so tax payers get sufficient time to plan and manage their filing. It appears CA Association has written for early routines. Tax payers has concerns about the compatibility and operating software versions issues while downloading the forms, generating XML and uploading the same. XML schema gives error many times due to compatibility issues. All these issues can be resolved making ITR forms available for directly online filing from e-filing portals (like ITR-1) without generating XML and uploading the same. CBDT should not delay to make these forms available for direct e-filing from the portal. CBDT may consider to make the filing simpler and seamless by allowing salaried class to use ITR-1 if there is no tax liability on account of LTCG on transfer of equity or equity oriented MF. It means when there is loss or gain is less than 1 lakh on account of LTCG, a option may be given to tax payers to use ITR-1 or ITR-2. There is no point of asking details in schedule CG table 112A of ITR-2 when there is no tax liability. Otherwise it makes the process difficult and complex for tax payers as well as for Assessing Officer. This can be implemented by issuing FAQ. The details can always be asked whenever it is required by tax authorities. It should be kept in view that tax compliance is highest in salaried class. As Govt has allowed two options for tax payers whether to follow new system or old system whichever is beneficial for income tax purpose. The work should be managed in professional way instead of following orthodox methods and wasting manpower and time without any increase in tax revenue. Such small things may improve the working of the tax department and increase the trust and confidence between tax payers and tax administration. Tax administration approach should be friendly with tax payers and resolve the difficulties if any faced by tax payers. CBDT may consider closing all old cases more than three years where no tax liabilities have been fixed and are not involved in any disputes. It will clear the unproductive works from the desk of tax officers and officers can be involved in more innovative works to increase tax revenue and reduce the leakage of tax revenue. Let us work together to achieve the objective of Govt..
Naveen
Mormugao Port Trust creates history
Congratulations for the achievement. It has really done well.
A R Rao

DEBATE (1)
Police and politician nexus has always been there. Money factor is not a news for this department.
Amit Pande
Right hand not knowing what the left hand doing
It is a typical case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand does. In most government organisations, there is little sense of ownership. It is apparent that the CPIO did not find it proper to forward the RTI Application to the SPIO of the concerned state (Andhara Pradesh) . More importantly, the CIC also preferred to overlook the lapse on the part of the CPIO and did not issue a show cause notice to him. If such a situation persists for long, people may lose faith in the RTI Act to deliver information.
Sudhakar Sharma
Incorrect comparison of CS-ACS and DGP-ADGP
All India Services officer have right to compare and agree or disagree. But pl analyse as whether top heavy organise will be able to deliver required public service. In my view not. Hence system should have one or two CS/DGP in state.
R K Upadhayay
Why should you speculate unnecessarily ?
Dear Sirs. I tam of the opinion it is very incorrect on your part to speculate that if by chance a stray EVM functions a agitation will start. Why should you unnecessarily speculate and add some masala to the unjust demand of scrapping EVMs.
K Srinivasa Rao

Refer post of Sivaraman, another typical BABU. Does he even know how many years it takes for an army officer to become Major. Like a typical BABU rightly ticked off by PM, he thinks IAS officers are good at everything. He doesn’t even know what he is talking and so have been ignored by PM. Thanks God that a day will come when government officers will be professionals rather than people like Sivaraman (BABU) who thrived on nepotism and reducing other services. See Delhi Metro a shining example where IAS BABUs shadow also didn’t fall. Kudos to PM for bringing in chairman PESB from Private Sector.
Sanjeev
RERA post MP
Irresponsible act from a government responsible organization that the seat remained vacant for more than 6 months. Highly shameful.
Vikas Arora
CGHS dispensaries have ill trained personnel
The CGHS dispensaries vaccinating for coronavirus have extremely ill trained personnel. Often, these personnel force people to remove their masks in order to take photographs if they feel that photographs are not clear in the Aadhar system. Such an approach can only be termed completely perverse and indeed shameful. Beneficiaries comply because they fear being turned away if they do not. Many personnel at these dispensaries also do not wear their masks properly, either. Such serious shortcomings are not going to help the coronavirus situation. Strict instructions should be issued to CGHS personnel manning these dispensaries not to expose people to the virus in this manner and to comply with Covid appropriate behaviour at all times.
Vijay Kumar

This is a wonderful website. Only one suggestion. You always mention the batch of IAS officers. Similarly when you mention about other services, their batch should be mentioned.
Kumar
New era starts in PESB
New era starts in PESB- Ms Mallika Srinivasan becomes first woman Chairperson, PESB
Great news. One if the most dynamic personalities in the corporate world who brought TAFE a part of the Amalgations to glory. She occupies the chair graced by eminent personalities like Shri N Vittal the father of telecom and IT revolution on the country and who later became CVC We wish her all the very best.
K Srinivasa Rao
“ Surgical Strikes on India’s Red Corridor ”
That China and ISI provide covert support to the naxalites-finance, sophisticated arms, fighter aircrafts and training, is an open secret. It would be absurd to segregate internal security from external threat. Both are closely intertwined. The naxalites receive moral support from the urban naxals, the Congis and the commies, who also act as conduits.
The efforts of para military forces must be supplemented by roping in the Armed forces who have been reluctant to step in. The situation has undergone a paradigm shift.
Time for hard decision. The State must consider involving Indian Air Force in liquidating the naxalites before the situation spins out-of-control. Surgical strikes on all naxalite camps in the red corridor will be a game-changer.
For how long shall we tolerate our security forces getting ambushed, abducted and massacred by the naxalite guerillas ?
Did our security forces walk into the maoists' U-shaped trap, based on faulty intelligence inputs?
Why is NSA speechless?
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

DEBATE (1)
There is always a nexus between police and politician. In states politics plays vital role in transfer and postings. Mostly good posting is available when money is paid.
D P Devgan
DEBATE (2)
Debate-Should Central Govt allow more than sanction strength at Chief Secretary grade/Director General of Police/Principal Chief Conservator of Forests.Central Govt is cadre controlling authority for All India Services.If rules are violated at top level,it gives impression of adhoc/arbitrary approach.It is also waste full expenditure of State Govt.Lower level post are kept vacant to control expenditure.State like UP have 70 DGP/ADGP and more than 2 dozen CS grade IAS officer.
R K Upadhyay
Come elections and noise on the EVMs
Every time there is an election in the country there is lot of noise on the EVMs. These can be hacked people say. These are tampered with. Critics say you vote for one party and the votes get transferred to another party. In Bihar it was said to be happening on a large scale. In the first phase in Bengal a voter came out with this charge that he voted for a particular party and the paper verification slip came in the name of another party. Is it true. In the absence of any clarification on the part of Election Commission people have started believing all such malfunctioning or tampering with of EVMS. If that is true, it is very serious - a real onslaught on the democratic process ..It is time the Election Commission should try to convince Public that nothing is wrong with the EVMs. Their silence is only spoiling their image as an impartial body .Today in the perception of public they are no longer a neutral organisation as they should be. With all the good work done by them in conducting elections all these years of our Republic lack of faith in the body is very damaging. One way of convincing the people about EVMs could be to hold election through ballot paper in a segment where it has been held through EVMS.
Aarti Khosla