Whispers Forum

There should be uniformity in timings of CGHS dispensaries to avoid any confusion - some close at 1.30 pm and most others at 2.00 pm. Registration timing in most of dispensaries is till 1.45 pm while in a few others, it is at 1.15 pm, but in actual practice, registration closes at 1.00 pm, like that at Kingsway Camp Dispensary, where computers are shut down exactly at 1.30 pm even when many registered patients, including senior citizens, wait for their turn. There should be a system that all registered patients are seen by the doctors. – Paul
They have had full 4 years plus and failed in putting out any stuff worthwhile. And they have 4 months to go! Good luck to this Government and yourselves. If removal is a solution to fight dissent, half the nation would be empty.
Srinivasan

Kamal Nath is an experienced campaigner and is aware of presence of Jyotiraditya Scindia in the state political scenario. He does not have an absolute mandate also.
Saumya
UPA’ tenure civil service officers frustrated
It seems that a band of civil service officers, who were in key positions during UPA rule, participated or aided/abetted in the loot, and feel frustrated that they are no more having the patronage they thought was their birthright, have been giving vent to their frustration by writing letters to the government, once in awhile, and publicising it. The idea is that if congress comes back to power , they will again get back their entitlements. The retired ones of course don’t matter, but there are still a large number of them who are occupying important positions, and sabotaging the efforts of government. NDA should find out and throw them out ruthlessly, else there may be more trouble
S Chatterjee

The root cause of PM Modi's recent electoral reverses was his total inability to be a good listener of people's grievances and a genuine implementer of the same.
Endless rhetorics through monthly monologues like Man-ki-baat, was a flop show due to lack of people's participation.
Terribly stereotyped speeches with heavy dose of statistics, that no one is bothered about. The ground realities are totally at variance with boring statistics.
Being Out- of - sync with the ground realities resulted in arrogance of power, over-confidence and " I- am- the- custodian-of- all -wisdom - syndrome ". Consultative mechanism wiped out.
All signs of totalitarianism.
Regrettably, PM Modi’s failure in reining in his loose-cannons, goons and chaatukaars, led to his political waterloo ?
Public is angry, frustrated, disillusioned, disenchanted and in retaliatory mood.
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

Modi needs to come out of the web of the IAS cadre people and interact with the other cadre officials in order to understand the actual ground level situation and initiate remedial measure. He needs to ensure that central Ministries/Departments are on e-Office platform on e-Office by Jan 31, 2019. All websites are GIGW compliant by March 31, 2019. All Ministries/Departments should update their manuals clearly defining the financial and administrative powers of officials positively by March 31, 2019. Revise and update the Central Secretariat Manual by Jan 31, 2019. Automatically the Governance will improve and the citizens will start reaping benefits from government in a speedy manner. The Department of Administrative Reforms is sleeping since long over these matters. Cabinet Secretariat needs to jump and hold the drivers seat on all the aforesaid facts.
BBS
BJP lost due to its arrogance
It is due to Arrogant attitude/behaviour of BJP/RSS leaders coupled with Goondaism let out by party workers due to which they lost the Elections. They need to reign in their workers otherwise people will forget some of the good work done by the Government.
S Gopal

The CBDT conveyed to the CIC that the online application filed by the Complainant had not been attended to properly by the then PIO and that it was admitted that on receipt of the notice for hearing before the CIC, they learnt about the lapses on their part. The First Appeal that was filed online had also not been attended to about which the Respondent feigned ignorance. The CIC expressed its displeasure on the casual and callous approach adopted by the respondent in responding to the RTI application. With regards to the imposition of penalty u/s 20(1) of the RTI, Act it was stated that the RTI Application was received on the portal, which may not have been accessible to the then CPIO for reasons better known to him. After taking over the charge, the current CPIO had obtained the user ID and password to operationalize the access to the online applications. Penalty was not imposed and the CIC cautioned the PIO to exercise due care in future to ensure that information is furnished timely to the RTI applicant.
Comments
Online filing of RTI Applications was launched with the expectations that it would make the process easy and convenient. In this case, the Respondent admitted that there were a large number of issues in handling the online RTI applications due to technical problems and unskilled manpower. It appears that the whole system of online filing of RTI Applications needs a review.
Citation: Mr. Shiv Kirti Singh v. CPIO M/o. Finance in Complaint No. CIC/BS/C/2015/000189-BJ, Dept. of Revenue CBDT, Date of Decision: 17.04.2017, 29.11.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of 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 http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

Bharat needs PM Narendra Modi for 10 years, then only this country develops. After PV Narasimha Rao, He is only bold PM. May God Bless him with enough strength.
Rao
Real test of Congress came in Vidhan Sabha elections
The Congress, which had split between certain and uncertain political future and been political exile for 15 years after a string of defeats one after another and teetering on the edge of total political wipeout, proved its mettle in Madhya Pradesh. The results will augur well for Congress and seen as the catalyst for the new political developments in the State. However, the BJP did not suffer a humiliating defeat. But the BJP was clearly on the ropes. The Congress, which is riding the crest of a wave of win by the lowest margin, has to face Lok Sabha elections in 2019. The vote percent of BJP in MP is more than Congress and it can be realized by BJP in the same. The fight of Lok Sabha is likely to be neck and neck between Congress and BJP.
Sunil Salve

The cadre restructuring proposal of Indian Railways is yet to be cleared .This put the large number of Railway officers belonging to eight organised services at a disadvantage vis a vis other Group A services like Indian Postal Service, IP&TFAS service , Indian Revenue Services, ICAS, IDAS, IA&AS etc. The officers of almost all Group A have benefited with promotions etc due to additional posts being approved as a result Cadre restructuring however the file with Railways is still doing the rounds in DoPT.
Vox Populi
Head of Law Enforcement Agency : Politically Exposed Person (PEP)
Involvement of head of the law enforcement agency in sabotaging investigations and other serious charges are not a new story at least in India . All such top posts are categorised as PEP i.e. Politically Exposed Person , a terminology developed by Financial Action Task Force (FATF) when there is high risk of abuse of posts and powers by such class of officers . Needless to mention here that CBI like situation exists almost in every law enforcement agency. On such issues India may have to face embarrassing situations during next mutual evaluations by FATF.
S Karan

The RTI applicant sought information regarding a certain mediclaim, penal actions that could be taken against the Medanta Hospital, Gurgaon for overcharging Rs. 750/- from insured as per the IRDA guidelines, action taken on complaint made to LIC of India and IGMS relating to the medical claim and issues related thereto. The CIC observed that the framework of the RTI Act, 2005 restricts the jurisdiction of the Commission to provide a ruling on the issues pertaining to access/ right to information and to venture into the merits of a case or redressal of grievance. The CIC observed that technically, the RTI queries had been replied by the Public Authority but the discussion during the hearing raised several issues regarding the mediclaims of the family pensioners under LIC-NIA Scheme and the issues associated thereto that need to be addressed meticulously by the Public Authority. The CIC advised the Public Authority officials to re-examine and re-evaluate the steps under taken by them for implementation of the mediclaim policy and ensure that the delivery mechanism is strengthened and made more robust.
Comments
The jurisdiction of the CIC under the RTI Act is limited. While deciding whether a citizen should or should not get a particular information “which is held by or under the control of any public authority”, the Information Commission does not decide a dispute between two or more parties concerning their legal rights other than their right to get information in possession of a public authority.
Citation: Mr. Akshay Kumar Malhotra v. CPIO Manager (CRM) LIC of India, Divisional Office in Second Appeal No. CIC/LICOI/A/2017/170260-BJ, Date of Decision: 16.11.2018
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of 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 http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

The RCTs (Railway Clams Tribunals) are big white elephant. RCT is a big liability. In fact, so much so, it is the common knowledge that even if Railways accept and settle all he claims filed, it will still work out cheaper. Two Members in each RCT with a massive set up and building is a huge drain on the exchequer
Ravi Pipal
Extortion game in CBI wasn’t a secret
But everyone knew the extortion game going on in CBI. Its good that things have come out in the open. Last few Directors had less than impeccable integrity. Remedial steps can emerge only when malaise is admitted.
Atul Kumar Gupta