Whispers Forum

A new social media app PIXSTORY founded by a group of Indian Journalists is gaining momentum. Just as Koo is becoming an alternative to Twitter, PIXSTORY is being positioned as a tool for combating hate and disinformation. Also, per sources, US Senators and Congressmen are being impressed upon to lend weight to PIXSTORY to counter Chinese soft power and use it as an QUAD initiative. The Board of PIXSTORY is headed by Mr Peter Watson a senior former White House insider who was part of 3 White Administrations. Besides, former Telecom Secretary, Ms arun Sundarajan, a Senior Japanese Diplomat, key influencer in Indo-Australian ties Mr Amitabh Mattoo, are part of the initiative. The App has also been able to get backing of key social media activists like NBA star Dwight Howard. PIXSTORY is placing itself as Indo-US venture and with the backing of US and Japanese funding give it international focus. PISXTORY is available on Apple Store and Google Playstore
Ajay Agnihotri
When Judiciary and executive join hands to weaken a law !
In the country, the courts have often tried to redefine law through interpretation. However, most such cases, if not all, have been to benefit the common man. In the recent times, a trend has been witnesssed where the judiciary and executive have joined hand to weaken a law. The RTI Act has been crippled be the delays on the part of the PIO and the different interpretations given by the judiciary to a very simple Act. The RTI Act is clear that the onus is on the CPIO/SPIO to given the reason for denial. If there is no justification, it is liable for penalty. Here is a case where the Information Commission finds that there is no reason for delay but prefers not to impose any penalty. Either the information commissioner has not read to law or has turned senile to understand it. Such delays are the ones leading to the death of the RTI Act in the country. Why can't action be taken for such poor decisions?
Sumati Sharma

The appellant claimed that he was working as a carpenter at the Rashtriya Rifles Bn and was asked to perform fence sentry duty at night. He sought certain information about it including if duty can be assigned with those weapons for which training has not been imparted. The appellant claimed that though he had specifically requested that a reply be provided in Hindi, he was given a reply in English. The CIC directed to provide a Hindi version of the reply provided by the PIO. As the appellant had shown an inability in understanding any communication other than Hindi, the translated copy of the CIC order was also provided.
Comments
The RTI Act does not put an obligation to translate the available information. The applicant should be provided the information in the form it is maintained with the public authority.
Citation: Pankaj Kumar v. Rashtriya Rifles in File No CIC/IARMY/A/2019/117057 dated 17.03.202
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

Recently, the Prime Minister came down heavily on the ‘babu culture’ in the country.
Who made civil servants ‘babus’ in the first place?
There are two types of ‘babus’ in India. One ‘babu’ can be found in the conversations of the higher echelons of society. The second ‘babu’ is an older term. When the PM blasted the ‘babu’ culture, he probably meant the Steel Frame of India, its civil servants.
To quote from the PM: ‘Sab kuch babu hi karenge. IAS ban gaye matlab woh fertilizer ka kaarkhana bhi chalayege, chemical ka kaarkhana bhi chalayege, IAS ho gaye toh woh hawai jahaz bhi chalayege. Yeh kaunsi badi taakat bana kar rakh di hai humne?’.
‘Babu’, in popular parlance, implies a government worker who is lazy and deliberately delays processes. The term that reeks of the colonial era has been stuck with civil servants and other government officials. The IAS Association criticized the use of the word in 2016.
Many IAS officers are professionals, like the employees of other offices. Most of them have to handle more than one department during their service, but they obviously don’t serve all departments.
The question arises: who benefits from the ‘Babudom’ that was lately referred to? Obviously the government that has appointed IAS officers to pivotal posts such as Shaktikanta Das, a history graduate, a former Revenue Secretary and no more than a ‘career babu’, who was made Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. Or R.K. Singh, a former IAS officer from Bihar, who was given two ministries by the government.
IAS officers have been handling the most coveted posts. But they do not appoint themselves.
The IAS falls under the All India Services, and its members are initially posted in the districts. There, they gain experience in Health, Agriculture, Education, Law and Order and other fields and learn how to implement democratic processes. They are supposed to be the facilitators.
They seldom have the domain knowledge for all their postings (such as in aviation, chemical industry or electronics) but it is also true that they have an understanding of government procedures which makes them quite indispensable. One can’t easily bypass procedures in government, because that could invite exploitation of rules and lead to disdain for peoples’ rights.
This understanding of procedures is so crucial that in the much-debated farm laws, the ‘babus’ were given the task to deal with dispute-settlement.
Or take the Coronavirus pandemic and the migrant workers’ exodus. The government – Centre or States – could just about manage the situation because of the officers on the ground – the so-called ‘babus’.
An officer is a public servant, but in reality, he/she has to act like a political servant, more or less, and that is where the problem lies. If the political executive is keen to remove ‘Babudom’ from State institutions, its interference in the civil services should be reduced.
Everyone knows that by clearing one examination, any person doesn’t become a ‘babu’. It’s the system that treats them as such. The ‘Mai-Baap’ attitude passes on to them and the public starts treating them as such.
With pressure and responsibility, they go from being professionals to ‘babus’.
Arun Bhatnagar, former Secretary, GoI
Sinha’s resignation for personal reasons - a mystery !
The real reason behind resignation of Principal Advisor of PM, P. K. Sinha for personal reasons, is a mystery. May be someone in the know can throw some light.
N Ramu

Myanmar army , China’s lap dog’s massive atrocities on civilians has caused mass- infiltration of locals into India through its four bordering States especially Mizoram. India cannot remain a mute witness to army carnage on pro-democracy movements.
Myanmar, whom India had once helped by successfully carrying out surgical strikes against local police and army, needs our help in this hour of crisis. Inaction will pose grave security threat to India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
India’s credibility, as World’s largest democracy, is badly hit. It’s candyfloss, wait and watch policy and inability to save our neighbouring democracy, will endanger India’s security as hundreds of infiltrators ( or refugees) keep swelling. Are we to re-live the horrors of millions of refugees who entered India before and during 1971 BD war
QUAD’, UNO are merely good at issuing empty threats. Terribly scared of taking military action against China that is freely interfering in Myanmar’s internal affairs.
Military action by India , must supersede all diplomatic initiatives aka Galwan victory.
Absence of coercive action by not permitting Indian armed forces to carry out surgical strikes, is being viewed as a weakness by pro-democracy forces around the globe.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

As rightly pointed out in forum, Pr Commissioners in Income Tax, GST etc are now placed in HAG grade. Earlier i.e prior to May 2013, this grade was meant for Chief Commissioner level. Now Chief Commissioners are in HAG + grade. Duties and function at Chief Commissioner level remains same. In fact before May 2013, some Chief Commissioners were discharging cadre control function also now performed by Pr CC rank officers in the apex pay grade. But earlier Chief Commissioners who retired before May 2013 continue to draw pension in HAG scale. It is only fair that Govt refixes pension of these officers who retired before May 2013. Their pension should be refixed in HAG+ scale. Chief Commissioners who had discharged cadre control function on regular basis should be given pension in the apex scale.5579
Kumar

DEBATE(1)
This Government is not all for the IAS.They are keen to have experts as Secretary in the GoI.
P K Rao
New Challenge for CBDT
FY 2020-21 is coming to close and 2021-22 starting from 1st April. Though there has not been any major changes in direct tax structure except some changes here and there. CBDT will provide prefilled ITR forms from 1st April including dividend income and LTCG details for the benefit of tax payers. No doubt it is welcome step and provides relief to tax payers. This was part of budget. Now to make the ITR filing easy, seamless and painless, it is utmost important to make the filing online directly from e-filing portal without downloading the forms, generating XML and uploading the same, This will resolve many problems such as compatibility issues and versions of operating software. Making pre-filled ITR forms (1,2,3,4) available directly on e-filing site for filling of additional data and submitting the same like present ITR1 filing on the web-site. This will meet the objective of seamless and painless ITR filing. This is not difficult to start from 1st April 2021 as we have the best software engineers who will develop the necessary routines and upload it for the system to work but requires extra efforts to achieve the same and CBDT will achieve this objective as Chairman CBDT has made significant contributions in the preparation of Budget 2021-22 and knows the nitty-gritty of the subject. We expect the process of filing ITRs directly online will start from the start of next FY.
Naveen
“AICTE’s Misadventure”
As per AICTE’s decision , Physics, Chemistry and Maths in class 12, are no longer mandatory for admissions. into engg. Students with any three out of subjects like biology, IT, biotechnology, agriculture, engineering graphics, businessstudies,entrepreneurship streams are eligible for admission into engineering that is now open to medicine, commerce etc.
Is it not a bizarre decision especially as Physics, Maths And Chemistry will continue to be part of engg syllabi even after the change.
There is already a glut of brilliant minds who compete year-after-year to fill limited number of seats in the engg stream .
The motive, one hopes, is surely not to increase the catchment area for selection. If, so, it it would be foolhardy.
Let us leave it to students and those who teach engineering to comment on the logical reasoning of the seemingly irresponsible change being touted as a “ game changer”. One wonders whether the stakeholders were consulted.
This would lead to an endless debate
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

DEBATE (10)
Any politician calling senior bureaucrats as “Babus” is only to hide his own ignorance about governance.
Deepa Agrawal.
Not professional qualification alone, Experience also matters
Many times comments are made about the educational backgrounds of officers and it is stated that professionals with degrees in some special disciplines should man government positions in government departments instead of government officers with BA and MA. Now, wherever the government requires professional qualifications, it recruits officers with such professional qualifications, viz. Engineers, Scientists, Agriculture Department officers, Veterinary Department officers, Doctors, Professors, Pilots and so on. The government does not recruit BA and MA for scientific positions in DRDO, for example. For posts where education is required without any special professional qualification, it recruits officers with any educational degree, on the basis of competitive examinations which test the recruit thoroughly on all qualities which are required, e.g. in IAS, IPS, IRS, etc. Notably, professionals are not excluded from such a job profile, many doctors, for example, join the IAS, IPS and IRS. Not only that, recruitment is made from lakhs of aspirants and only a chosen few hundreds make it every year. Further, the recruits with a BA or MA in a couple of years in their formative years have decades long administrative experience in the services and departments they man. Someone may have read Physics for three years in a degree course, but may have spent thirty years in Finance Departments in states or Centre. Should his BSc in Physics prevent him from heading the Finance Department when he may have decades of experience in Finance and government? So, such uninformed comments merely indicate muddled thinking and nothing else.
Vijay Kumar
Acknowledging complaint on the social media platforms
The case brings up interesting questions with no answers from the CIC. The CIC has not given any specific observations on the merits of the case i.e. whether the complaint on the social media platforms should be considered and taken note of by the public organisations. If yes, it would open up Pandora's box. Which platforms to consider? who would monitor the complaints? At what frequency? How to even verify the authenticity of the complainant? The CIC, like many other organisations, has preferred to keep mum on this basic question, Will anyone look into this matter before it acquires giagantic proportions?
Sainath P

DEBATE(1)
People in All India Services come through a very tough competition and they are behind all Government policies and how to execute them. It is totally wrong to call them “Babu” by politicians at the high places.
S C SAgrawal, DGP (Retd)
All Kudos to Modi government
Kudos to the Modi government for making the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) faceless. It is only the Modi government which could have taken this much needed step. The reforms initiated by the Modi government will go a long way to ensure that justice is done, impartially.
Vijay Kumar

The appellant submitted that in respect of his RTI application dated 24.10.2018, no information has been provided to him. The respondent submitted that vide their letter dated 26.08.2020, complete information was given to the appellant on his RTI application. The respondent further tendered his unconditional apology with respect to delay in giving reply to the appellant. The appellant stated that he has not received reply dated 26.08.2020 from the respondent and requested that the information should be sent on his e-mail ID to which the respondent agreed to. The CIC observed that there was a delay in giving complete information to the appellant on his RTI application. The CIC issued a strict warning to the respondent PIO to be careful in future and ensure that reply should be provided to the applicants within stipulated period of time as per the provisions of the RTI Act. This warning of the CIC should be brought into the notice of the Controlling Authority of the then PIO. The General Manager, Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited, Dhanbad should look into the working of the RTI Cell, Sindhri and take appropriate steps in improving the same. The respondent was directed to again send a copy of their reply dated 26.08.2020 to the appellant through registered post and as well as on his e-mail ID as mentioned in the RTI application. The show-cause notice for imposing penalty was dropped.
Comments
As per section 20, a penalty of Rs 250/- has to be imposed on the PIO for each day of delay and the burden of proving that he acted reasonably and diligently shall be on the PIO. In this case, the PIO has not come up with any reasonable cause for delay in providing the information. However, the CIC has preferred to let him go without any justification which does not appear to be legally proper.
Citation: Shakti Chaurasiya v. Hindustan Urvarak & Rasayan Limited, Dhanbad in Second Appeal No. CIC/DFERT/A/2018/171012, Date of Decision: 25-01-2021
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

Debate 1
Has the IAS lost its credibility?
Yes IAS as leader of civils service has lost credibility because the fairness, competence and neutrality expected from it is a thing of past. It has become a trade union they hunt in packs.. In fact the entire gamut of civil service needs a thorough revamp including others services also why to only single out IAS. Forest, Revenue, Railway and Foreign also need revamping as each one has some or the other faultline.People talk about Babudom, what about Netadom or Netacracy which is more damaging to fair governance. We need a referendum on our governance pattern and big ticket reforms.
Dr. VK Bahuguna
Great news
Great news that a professional has become the Chief Stadtician of India. Good sign that professionals snd not generalists are being recognised and appointed to key posts requiring expertise.
K Srinivasa Rao
It would be more meaningful
For all officers empanelled as Principal Commissioner of IT, U may further add that the "Principal Commissioner grade in HAG payband. That would be more meaningful.
Sandeep Mishra

DEBATE(2)
Has any IAS Babu, if they are so intelligent, been able to become CEO of any MNC. They are high headed with colonial thought.
R Gupta
IAS officer Alok Kumar in the race for CMD, BEML
Only a distinguished technocrat should be chief of BEML and no one else should be appointed.. I know very well because after my engineering degree I joined the company a few years after its inception. Very long back and I have occupied very responsible posts in the organisation. I have served the company for 38 years If a non technocrat is selected it will be the greatest disservice to the distinguished technocrats in our country. Hope the selection authority has the wisdom to make the right selection
Anti incumbency will lead BJP to take over WB
Among many factors anti incumbency will be the prime game changer for West Bengal elections making Modi’s BJP to take charge with majority for a successful full term. Change is the order of the day & local voters are looking for a global leader like our PM, as a very important state since independence WB should be in the center of affairs & only existing central leaders can make it possible. Success stories of other BJP ruled states will also be a major contributor heard & seen by Bengal voters looking for a big change. Patience, Respect & discipline are the lessons to be learnt for other major political parties.
Vivek Dhawan