Whispers Forum

Political Sociology, Economic Sociology & Sociology of Religion A book titled “The Burning Forest: India’s War In Bastar” has stirred a controversy in the academic circles in Delhi. The subject is stated to fall in the genre of “political sociology”. However, it can’t be studied in isolation and out of the context. Born in the west, political sociology has grown from Christianity, Marxism, Socialism, Atheism, Secularism and Modernism. The rich Indian legacy on political power is not covered in these studies. Can any study in political sociology be of any relevance to India without understanding the economic sociology as practiced in the organisation of caste and sociology of Varna structure and power guided by Dharma only? Picking up a short study of Bastar and superimposing some foreign ideas or conclusions on it is an exercise in dogma and cult to serve a specific purpose. Actually, we urgently need “A Social History of India” (in addition to the work of Sadasivan). So far, India was importing only political ideology; of late it has also started attracting “verbal FDI”. A combo of politicians, journalists & academics has overtaken all the intellectual space in the country. So, mediocrity easily passes off for great scholarship. But monopoly and control of the academic field in the name of progressive ideas is political academics only. If the progressive forces seek to prescribe one kind of books to students, the university must also prescribe all relevant books by Karl Marx, Max Weber and several other scholars. Students are entitled to learn the fundamentals of every subject without prejudiced mind in the most objective manner and dispassionately. Books meant to arouse passions or incite social tensions are scripts for stoking political upheavals so that resulting violence ending in heavy casualties can be harvested for many years. Hope the M/o HRD is alert so that facts don’t get distorted sullying the image of the country as Bastar is a predominantly tribal area.
M L Gupta
WIC should restore previous system
WIC should restore previous system of Right click for copy-paste should be restored. By stopping it, you are shutting out genuine readers and contributors who want to disseminate the whispers widely or retain it for future reference. Fully agree with the correct feedback of Ramajays.
K P Singh

Pradeep Kumar is a very competent, mature and knowledgeable person. It is very good selection for this kind of assignment. our best wishes....
R K Tyagi
WIC should Resort to old practice !
The reason for your disallowing copying or disabling right click is not understood. The noble idea of this site to be seen by millions of people is defeated. When people pass on interesting news to others by copying interesting information that creates interest in the mind, they invariably start coming to this phenomenal site. Right now my spelling Phenomenal is not correct. Kindly resort to the old practice that enabled copying and right clicking. Thanks. Last but not the least is reading your code to send which is quite an Herculean task.
Ramajays
An apt choice !
An apt choice for the slot of Home Secretary. However, Rajiv Gauba is requested to alert the concerned officials dealing with NDMC (pertaining to activate the ground work in Khan market, as numerous communications in this regard to Naresh Kumar, Chairperson have had no effect and fallen on deaf ears). All the best in his new assignment in August.
Kishore Dudani

Even honest officers have not been empanelled. They just ask “What is their fault”. Is this because of 360 degree assessment.
R C Nigam
NDA govt taking tough call on CIL !
I guess this time their lobby has not worked for them. NDA govt is at least taking tough call on CIL where Board Director consider them self as a Demigod as local economy depend on Coal so there are getting the a lot of respect of locals and which made them arrogant as well as senior management i.e. GM and DGM give them more value than what they deserv. Managing politican and Trade union does not work this time. unfortunately Coal India looses very deserving officer for the position N. Kumar Director (Tech) CIL, he would definitely be best the best option if he would be alive
Rishi
It would be disastrous
Bringing in Coal India Limited an IAS officer as CMD, would be disastrous. IAS officials are never loyal to any subjects. It will be appropriate to appoint a senior IRTS officer Babu, who deals with the subject of coal day in and day out, as CMD-CIL.
B B Srivastava
Indianise the litigation system
Abpoout 3.1 crore cases are reported to be pending in courts. The major cause for the huge pendency is the costly system of dispensation of justice borrowed from abroad. When it has been accepted that alternate dispute settlement system is a very efficacious mechanism, why have we not gone for an alternate system of filing cases, hearings and disposal? Why should every case be accompanied by an affidavit? It should suffice if the petitioner(s) sign an undertaking which forms the text of the affidavit, dispensing with the Notary/OC signing it for payment? Should the plaint run in to thousands of pages when the issues can be raised in a single page? Why can’t the judge go through the material on record and dispose it off after one or two hearings if required for any clarification? Parties to the case can raise their objections in one go rather than innumerable hearings going on for years even in the simplest of cases? The poor litigant is being robbed “lawfully’ by the system which benefits only the lawyer, Notary, stamp vendor, typist and others associated. It destroys millions of trees by wasteful use of millions of tonnes of paper!During the Licence Raj, this used to be fate of applications for an industrial licence which pended for decades!
M L Gupta

360 degree assessment
Infact, retired bureaucrats settle scores with their juniors in this exercise. Their views should also be cross-checked.
Narsimhan
“ Coal miners receive PESB sentence badly”
Apropos of WIC’s input dt June 20, 2017, it is surprising that none of the four internal candidates ie CMDs of four Coal subsidiaries, was found suitable for the post of Chairman, Coal India Ltd ( CIL), the Holding company.
Reasons must be analyzed by experts, independent of Min of Coal. I had a long stint as Secretary, PESB. Rejection of candidates could possibly be attributed to following factors :-
(a)Absence of succession planning ;
(b) Lack of Vigilance clearance in respect of 4 candidates ;
(c)Poor track records of all 4 candidates ;
(d) Plan to bring an outside professional , as a wild card entry.
(e) Deliberately fixing high bench mark ostensibly to bypass the professionals and misuse this as a ploy to force bureaucratization of the Maharatna by the backdoor. Bringing in Sanskari babus with zero field experience in coal sector has always been disastrous.
During the UPA era, top posts in coal sector (and coal mines,too ) were auctioned. The then de jure PM used to merely formalize the decisions taken by extra-Constitutional authority . The unethical practice has been done away with by PM Modi.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)
Subtle attempt to scuttle disinvestment and remain "sarkari"
A very subtle attempt to scuttle disinvestment and remain "sarkari" I am sure by not serving salad and inflight magazines the airline will turn around.
Amitabh Agarwal

Both plus and minus points.
Raju
Masterstroke of BJP
The selection of presidential candidate by the BJP, has been a masterstroke ! BJP has ensured that an rss man is selected, and rightly so, having got the peoples mandate, at the same time by selecting a dalit, have shut the mouths of all secularists and pseudos.The congress and left must be seething in impotent rage! Serve them absolutely right!
S Chatterjee
PED or PSD ?
The Indian cricket team seems to be on PED and PSD in intervals. That is the only explanation for their victory over Pakistan first and defeat later. They were on performance enhancing drugs earlier and performance suppressing drugs later !
M L Gupta

With regard to your question I find it rediculous to sought information regarding integrity of the officer concerned from officers,serving or retired whose integrity itself highly questionable
Dr G Sudhakar
Priyanka has the potential to revive Congress !
After Indira, who has the potential to revive Congress? Only Priyanka Gandhi.
Sonchita Yadav
Conduct impartial probe
Huge land scams in Telangana this is in reference to huge land scams which have occurred in Telangana. It looks as though the govt is trying to cover up all the issues as it looks like it involves some of its own prominent leaders. What else can happen if honest officers are sidelined in the administration. Earlier days it looked like the CM was a no nonsense person. But somehow I don't have the same opinion now. I am of the serious view that there must be an impartial probe by someone who understands the land management and not juts any police organization. serious state of affairs in Telangana. God save Hyderabad.
Vijay

The appellant prayed before the CIC that the Unit Run CSD Canteen may be declared as a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005. The respondent submitted that Unit Run Canteens (URCs) were established with the purpose of providing consumable stores to the Defence personnel at a price cheaper than the market as a welfare measure. They are run by the funds of the formation/unit which are Regimental funds created through contributions from the defence personnel as per statutory rules provided in service regulations. The Respondent categorically stated that URCs are in no way funded by the Government or from the Consolidated Fund of India. The URCs pay rent and allied charge at prescribed rates for utilisation of premises and other services. The URCs are managed through a Standard Operating Procedure formulated by the URC management Committee. The CIC observed that the URC is not a creature of statute. The URCs are run by Regimental Funds which has been held by the Courts to be non-public fund. The Government does not exercise any direct or indirect control over it. The three-fold test of Creation, Finance and Control of an organization as outlined in the definition clause of Section 2 (h) of the RTI Act is not established.
Comments
In the case of R R Pillai, the Apex Court had held that URCs are purely private ventures and their employees are at no stretch of imagination employees of the Government or CSD. There is no statutory obligation on the part of the Central Government to provide canteen services to its employees. The profit generated from URCs are not credited to the consolidated fund but are distributed to the non-public funds which are used by the units for the welfare of the troops.
Citation: Shri Daya Shankar Shukla and others v. Ministry of Defence in F. No.CIC/LS/A/2012/000665 CIC/LS/A/2013/001914 CIC/RM/A/2013/001287 Date of Order : 25.05.2016, 15.03.2017
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 - Right to Information Act 2005- RTI Foundation of India

Excellent policy of PM for IAS and all other 36 organised services. This shall eliminate 'Chaatukarita' business of most officers, especially IAS. An officer, in addition to being liked by his superiors/Minister should also be a good human to be liked by his colleagues and Sub-ordinates/Juniors so that a team-work culture prevails. There are some IAS officers, even at Additional Secretary level, who insist that sub-ordinates of his work team should take prior appointment to meet him even for official work. He desires to follow kingship of his State cadre. Is this not British legacy of Slavery in Swatantra Bharat of Modi.
Bharat
Successor for C M D /O N G C
D K Saraf , present CMD of ONGC will be handing his boots soon and the search for his successor is on. Many aspirants are likely to be in the run and must be pulling strings and contacting their Godfathers for their blessings for this coveted posting of the most powerful behemoth. ONGC is the leading Maharatna PSU and has a pride of place . To head this organisation would be anybody's dream on account of the status that the post carries. In the energy sector ONGC has a very important role . While there can be arguments both ways- to bring an outsider so that he does not have any bias or undue preferences or to promote an officer/director from within on account of experience. I for one , having worked as Executive Director Security and Vigilance for 4 years , then as Advisor (Security) to CMD for good 8-9 years nd finally as an Arbitrator /Conciliator for good 7 years feel that an insider should be the choice. Reasons can b many, e g. he has grown with the organisation and would know better its strength and weaknesses, his equation and bonding with the staff would be an asset for him. He would know the subtle nuances and work culture very intimately. The loyalty of the staff would be already there. Since he has grown with th organisation, his own emotions would be for this organisation and would do his very best to take it to august heights. I am, therefore, a votary for an insider.
S C Agrawal
Director General of Police (Retd.) M.P.
Ex. E D Security and Vigilance, Ex. Advisor, Ex, Arbitrator/Conciliator.
Prompt response required from Income Tax department.
While the Income Tax department insists on the taxpayers filing their annual returns by the due date and lays down heavy penalties for any delay, they do not show any such dispatch in disposing of the returns so filed by the tax payers. Returns filed in April this year are still pending there even after the elapse of two months. Is the ITD waiting for the last date for filing viz July 31 to be over and if so, why should they wait till then? Isn't the taxpayer entitled to an early and time-bound closing of their returns filed so that they can put it behind them and attend to other work?
M S Krishnan

Recent CBI raids at the offices and residence of promoter/owner of an independent english TV news channel invited massive criticism of present political dispensation. Vehemently opposed to PM Modi these self-righteous media persons assembled at Delhi’s Press club, attributing raids to “ Political vendetta, Attack on Freedom of Press " etc . Utter nonsense. This is the conduct of captive media that boasts of independence.
Paid media. Bunch of economic offenders. To get at the bottom of the truth, why not look at the meteoric rise in the net worth of certain journalists. ? Compare their IT returns for the FY 2003- 04 with those for FYs 2013-14 synchronizing with UPA era of no-holds-barred corruption.
All aided and abetted by the Congress-led UPA. Their mandate was to file stories that promoted the financial and political interests of the then ruling dispensation. This included brokering for cabinet berths in collusion with corporate lobbyist. Radia gate is not forgotten. It is a part of Indian history of modern journalism, full of intrigues and machinations.
A K Saxena ( A retd civil servant)

Why are officers agitated over the new empanelment policy? Your information is incorrect. The officers of the IPS and the Indian Forest Service are not at all agitated over the new policy. They are very happy with it. For years, the posts of the Central Secretariat, though open posts and meant as per rules to be manned by selection from 37 services, were manned exclusively by the IAS, by hook and by crook. Under PM Modi, this wrong has been corrected and for the first time, justice is being done. The IPS and the IFS(Forest) are also getting opportunities to man senior positions (along with services like IRS etc), for the first time (though as per rules, they should have been doing so earlier as well). They are all very happy. Even the IAS is not unhappy. Only the lazy and corrupt among the IAS are unhappy because the days when they were the lords and masters and could get everywhere just by kowtowing to their corrupt bosses are over.
Vijay Kumar
DEBATE (2) 360 degree assessment
I had already commented in your Forum on the unfairness of the 360 degree approach in the empanelment procedure as adopted by Government of India. I know of a few excellent officers who have not been empanelled as Joint Secretary simply because some disgruntled junior of theirs or some service colleague out of jealousy or a boss whom they did not please with sycophancy gave a bad opinion about them. In any case there is so much secrecy about this. Lack of transparency in the entire exercise is not a feature of good governance. I do not know who advised on this practice which started in Germany during World War II for military personnel copied by USA and then given up in these countries has been picked up by us. The procedure certainly lacks objectivity and must be given up. As a matter of fact officers who were not empanelled because of 360 degree inspite of having good track record should be given another chance by reviewing their cases. They should at least be provided with the opinions given by others so that they can clarify why so and so could be against them. Quite possible those opinion givers are themselves dishonest or corrupt.
Aarti Khosla
Respect after retirement
We live in an age of total bureaucratization where respect is neither earned nor given. Getting respect from one-time juniors, post retirement, is a rare honour. One should count one’s blessings with gratitude.
Attitudinal change in youth is a natural phenomenon in all departments- government, public, educational institutes etc. Retirees are not mandated to supervise jobs, nor record entries in APRs of the youth who served under them possibly sycophantically. Authority is necessary to “ extort” respect.
Merit , more often than not, becomes the casualty while Mediocrity laced with pliability, yawning sycophancy thrive in govt offices. Universal law. Irreverence on part of one-time juniors is to be pitied not hated. The aggrieved retirees can only appreciate the pleasure of being let down.
The retirees have no divine right to demand respect from their one-time juniors. It is too late to inject sanskaars into them. Best policy is to avoid visiting offices where one had served. We count ourselves as a force of 55 lakhs retired civil servants and deserve to be treated with dignity after having spent 35 to 40 years of service.
Let us petition PM Modi to suggest that “All acts of Irreverence by serving employees to retired employees”, must be declared “ Misconducts ”, attracting minor penalties.
Let us not lose hopes and fight for our self-esteem.
A K Saxena ( A retd civil servant)

I think this is a welcome step. Any individual has to be assessed on his capability as a Leader, Team worker and subordinate. 360 degree assessment would judge an individual officer on all these qualities. Today most of the officers become YES MAN to their boss and put all blame on their juniors. To eliminate personal bias, views of three juniors and three colleagues should be obtained. IF there are more than three juniors or colleagues, they should be changed every year.
S Gopal
They can’t rise above party politics !
I agree that such behaviour is indeed very wrong, and an affront to the people of India, especially as this party to which they belonged is mired in controversy on this newspaper issue. They have demonstrated that they cannot rise above party politics.
S Chatterjee