Whispers Forum

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

DEBATE (1)
It’s a good move of the Government. Why should there be monopoly of the IAS ?.
Dr Manoj Mathur
CSS has given wrong picture about CSSS
Brig. Hoashiar Singh has commented on Sr.PPS generally. but I differ from his views as they are Dy. Secretary level and they should be utilised effectively rather than commenting in a bad taste. He is doing so, I believe, CSS has given a wrong picture about CSSS. See in tandem,, everybody is doing a great job. In every service 10% will never work, be it in public or private sector. Officers should also respect the cadre and utilize effectively
Seth
Congratulations
Congratulations to Dilip Padhye on his promotion to HAG. I hope, you will make notable contribution to ever changing telecom sector.
A K Verma, ISS (Retd.)

DEBATE (1)
I support lateral entry in services. If a Person of a specialised field is appointed Joint Secretary, it will be beneficial to the country.
G S Mathur (DG) (Retd)
IC could have played more effective role
The Information Commission could have played a more effective role if certain powers for grievance redressal in respect of "information" were given to it. Without such powers, its effectiveness is greatly reduced. It should be give enough power to initiate penal proceedings for incorrect record maintenance and also for systemic denial of information.
P Shankaran
Why is govt delaying ?
Why govt is delaying to give OGAS and NFFU to CAPFs ? It is already given by the Supreme Court of India and Del high court.
Mahesh Nath

DEBATE (1)
JS LATERAL ENTRY SCHEME 2019- Thanks to PM Modi for his innovative scheme to induct Professionals/ Domain Specialists laterally in Govt of India at JS level. Why are British legacy ias so jealous and furious about this professional para-trooping scheme. After all The same UPSC selected these professionals who selected ias. Crying now is to doubt the integrity of UPSC. If a bright and younger NHPC officer has been selected as JS by UPSC why are ias frowning? Why didn't they feel pain of professionals (Doctors Engineers serving in Govt of India and recruited through All India Exams IMS and IES inducted by UPSC) who were senior in batch but were forced to work under a much Junior IAS of JS level due to skewed JS empanelment policy which favours IAS only. My suggestions to PM Modi: 1. Scrap automatic JS AS Secretary level empanelment based on batch year. 2. Let an yearly advertisement be made by UPSC calling for appointment of Group A Govt officers of ALL organised services to the posts of JS, AS, Secretary with minimum criteria being number of years of Group A service rendered in Govt and initial recruitment being made through All India Open "competitive exam" (i.e. excluding officers recruited through limited "recruitment tests/interview"). 2. High APAR grading are normally based on inter personal relations with superior and if superior is corrupt and junior refuses to be a part of corruption gang, then he will get bad remarks in ACR irrespective of the fact that he is really meritorious and a specialist. Hence APAR grading should no be eligibility criteria. 3. There should be a written test for testing analytical ability followed by a rigorous interview by UPSC board consisting of non-IAS officers, private professionals and a psychologist. 4. Tenure of selected officers should be 5 years.
Bharat
“I don’t miss whispers’ political news” !
I open whispers in the corridors daily not to miss my favorite whispers political news.
V K Gupta
Nasim Zaidi quits Jet Airways Board
This fellow should not have joined Jet. An over rated guy.
Ashok Menon

DEBATE (1)
Getting so many outsiders as joint Secretaries through lateral entry is not a good idea.It deprives the direct recruits of career promotion opportunities by filling so many posts by those who have not gone through the rigours of Civil Services Exam and intensive training in LBSNAA and in the field to learn the ropes of Administration. How these nine persons selected now are real specialists as they do not seem to have worked in their respective field for which they are chosen. No details about their qualifications have been given barring a perfunctory information on the basis of which one cannot make out how much specialisation they have in the field they have been chosen for. How does a person working in FAO become a specialist in Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare ? Similarly, how a person running a business in the field of wind energy becomes a specialist in all aspects of Non-Renewable energy. A civil servant though a Generalist does acquire specialisation when working in a particular field for a number of years. The arrangement of having outsiders occupying such senior level posts would definitely create relationsip problems between juniors and seniors which ,apart from lack of motivation is not conducive to good governance.
Any way only time will tell whether this experiment will lead to any improvement in governance. On the face of it this fiddling with the civil services at this level appears to be a disturbing proposition. Getting well groomed specialists with impeccable credentials at Secretary level as in the past is another matter. Persons like Manmohan Singh, MS Swaminathan and a few others showed their worth and usefulness when inducted in Government Of India at that level. They were the real specialists in their respective fields. In any case we should not call these recruits as Lateral IAS or LIAS as one Prof who bragged about his being the author of this proposal by including it in BJP manifesto for 2014 election calls them as per his article in The Economic Times of today(22.4.2019) which I just happened to read. How this academician is an expert on administration and what gives him an authority to add this new service to the list of services we already have. The problem is that we pick up suggestion from casual sources without examining the pros and cons.
Aarti Khosla
No one is above criticism
It is surprising that several IPS officers have criticised Sadhvi Pragya for being critical of Karkare. Are they saying that he is above criticism because he got an award ! Where was their concern when some CBI officers, Verma et al had harassed and tortured Mani of MHA and Rajendra Kumar, a fellow police officer in Ishrat Jahan case! Our PM has given an apt reply to those who criticise her for being made a candidate , while on bail! Well the game of these elements of criticising the NDA on any ground, and turning a blind eye or having selective amnesia to the atrocities of UPA, is exposed as people have now seen through their game and these elements have absolutely no credibility. Next they will perhaps criticise the EC for having transferred some IPS officers in Bengal? The ECI was recently criticised by a bunch of bureaucrats, who feel that they still run the show, and have not reconciled to the fact that their days of patronage are over. I am sure we will get to see their impotent rage, on a whole lot of ther issues till the elections are over. Afteral they have to ingratiate themselves to their former masters, lest they be left out if their former masters come back to power, howsover remote and distant it may look.
S Chatterjee
Eight former DGP’s condemn Pragya’s remark
Bold gesture. They would do better to insist on EC taking serious action against the lady.
Paarth

DEBATE (1)
Instead of lateral entry, government should go for retirement age at 58 years instead of 60 at present straightaway. Also fix responsibility for efficiency, say like posts for Sr.PPS and PPS which has been increased recently after cadre restructure, i.e. they main responsibility should be that they have got to be in office before their officer come and leave only after their officer leave office. Apart from this the train given to them by DoPT like presentation, taking verbatim of meetings(important) should be performed by them. Important dictations should be given to them by their officers. Recenlty, they are simply doin supervisor work and leaving these important works to their subordinates like Steno and PA or PS. And they also leave office around 6 PM except very few.. At present the work which they are doing can be easily performed by a DEO recruited from outside. Also it would better to revert back to 6-day week that was existing until 1985, i.e. 10.15 am to 5.15 pm with second saturday only being holiday.
Brig Hoshiar Singh (Retd)
IAS Association also condemns statement on late Hemant Karkare
The Associations need to do something concrete against the candidate and not be satisfied with a a disapproval.
Paarth
Is there any decorum left
Fielding of Sadhvi Pragya as a Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal is the last nail in the coffin of decent electoral practices. Only goal matters. Means can be any. After what she said of Hemant Karkare who was killed by terrorists on 26/11, she does not deserve to be an M.P. what with all her background of yet not being cleared of the Malegaon case. But then who cares. Election Commission has called for her statement as if they could not hear it in TV. Punishment if at all will be 'ban on campaigning for 12 hrs' or may be 48 hrs. Is that enough ?
Aarti Khosla
Why are IAS and IPS officers Association selective ?
IAS and IPS officers Association has condemn the statement of Sadhvi Pragya on Hemant Karkare but they did not even bother to notice the rubbish statement of Azam Khan that after his win in election he will ask officers to clean his shoes. The silence of both Association indicates that they are ready to clean.
Chetan Naira

Information regarding the action taken report on a representation addressed to the Chief Engineer, CPWD, copy of note sheets of the proceedings, copy of enquiry report, if any conducted along with the certified copy of report etc. was denied to the appellant under section 8(1) (h) of the RTI Act. The CIC directed the CPWD to furnish a copy of the enquiry report to the Appellant within 15 days of the receipt of the order.
Comments
The limited scope of examination by the CIC is whether the information sought for by the respondent was provided to him; if the same was denied, whether such denial was justified; whether any punitive action was required to be taken against the concerned PIO; and whether any directions under Section 19(8) were warranted. The CIC is not a body for grievance redressal.
Citation: Ms. Mithila Rai v. CPIO and Chief Executive Engineer and Vigilance Unit, CPWD in Second Appeal No.:- CIC/CPWEH/A/2017/116001-BJ + CIC/CPWEH/A/2017/147342-BJ, Date of Decision: 08.02.2019
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. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

DEBATE (1)
Bringing experts from outside domain of Civil services are not new and the previous inductees have proved their worth. An IAS may feel let down and chances of ego clash is also not ruled out but why to take all the decisions taken out of the box be treated in negative perspectives only. An IAS is treated as "Master of all trade" because he/she proves his worth at entry level and get selected from lakhs of aspirants but definitely lack the trick when technical skill is more important than administrative skill. In present case selected 9 have been brought from different field and going to add new dimensions to the thought process. Having read background of some of them, it is certain that they have been getting remuneration far more than what they will get as JS which proves that they are committed too. In my opinion, a very good move and moreover they are only nine among probably hundreds of Joint Secretaries in GoI or in states.
V K Pandey
BBB wants to be allowed to assess performance of PSB WTDs
Performance of all bank employees should be linked with the financial performance of the bank. The salary of every employee ie even the peon of a branch should have a fixed component and performance linked ie profit of their branch/Region/Zone. This will lead to better customer service and every employee striving to make their branch attract more customers, deposits and other businesses leading to more business per employye
COL Ashok Kumar Pandey
Non- IAS officers not allowed to join Chintan Shivir ?
Look at your own site- its dominated by news of IAS officers. Clearly that is the reality today- merit counts only once - at the time of the civil services exam.
Suhas Joshi

DEBATE (2)
If they can work under politician (minister) ,then why not under these officers. At least new officers can deliver their best based on earlier experience and compel others to do so.
Tez
Veteran officers want retired Lt Gen rank officers as Addl Secys in MoD ?
I differ. Most of them have restricted knowledge matter that is purely military.
Ashok Kumar Pandey
Karnataka cadre IAS officer suspended arbitrarily
This appears to have been an arbitrary decision by the ECI. Justifiable reasons for this action appears to be absent since the Circular relied on by the ECI does not specify any such condition. How does his attempt to search the craft / vehicle illegal?? So much for transparency & level playing field.
Tridiv