Whispers Forum

Why not keep the three Farmers Acts in suspension for six months and use the time to discuss with the farmers unions separately State wise, and decide.
Prasad
No Langar, TV Coverage or Politician for them
The severe cold in Delhi NC Region evoked pity for the agitating farmers from the Congress, communists, socialists and about 24 opposition parties. Their antics provided rich free content to TV channels. Even ex-professors made their intellectual contribution! They were provided free langar, tea, refreshment and machines for massaging their feet. Most of them were well dressed to face the winter. But none of these human hearts had shown any sympathy for another set of lakhs of farmers (who had to migrate to cities due to little income from farming), engaged in construction activity, starting early in the harsh haad kapadenewali aur daant kitkitaanewali sardi of Delhi-NCR winters when the Left Hand refuses to even touch the Right Hand and working till late hours. Barely clad in any woollens on the body, head or feet, these men and women lift and carry bricks, steel, concrete and wood on their head in the winter described so vividly in TV studios. Nobody ever provided these farmers any free langar. No intellectuals, journalists, TV anchors, retired university professors or bureaucrats, Marxists or Maoists or Naxalites or Socialists or whatever their distinct identities made even a passing reference about their plight in the same severe Delhi-NCR winter. None marched to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. None presented a memorandum to the President of India. None damaged any mobile towers for them. They were just neglected. Their babies lying in the open near the construction site made none of them feel any sympathy for them. Why? Because they can do no harm to anybody in Delhi-NCR or India. The others are feared for political consequences. Can these super-souls demonstrate any love for these farmers by providing the same comforts of hot water bath, hot food and tea, a night in the AC tractor trolley and woollens just for one day in their miserable life?
M L Gupta
We need more good officers like Vineet Kumar
Hello Sir I have read your one of the post "IFS probationers posted". I want to share some important points which everyone needs to know. Vineet Kumar, having technical background, is doing fabulous work in Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve. In past 10 years, he is the only officer who is making big changes and taking good initiatives there. He is doing great for tribals development and conservation & protection of wildlife and forest. The most important work he is doing is - Motivating each and every staff. He is graduated from IIT, worked abroad and in big MNCs. After that he tried for UPSC, in a very first attempt he cleared it without any coaching, joined this service by CHOICE. Today we need more good officers like him. Hope sir achieve more great heights. Thanks
Rupak

CBIC has issued promotion order no. 161/2020 dated 30/12/2020 for the direct recruit ACs of 2016 batch once again denying promotion to 2014 Promotee ACs batch. In the said order 190 direct & 11 Promotee ACs have been promoted to the rank of DC, where as quota is 50% direct and 50% promotee. So far Board has promoted more than 600 AC of Direct Recruit batch of 2014, 2015 & 2016. This is gross injustice, discrimination and biased attitude of Board. It seems Board is for the direct, by the direct and of the direct recruits. It is so insensitive that it does not even consider promotee officers as even human beings ! Only direct intervention by Prime Minister can get justice for promotee officers.
Venkatramaiah TPS
Government has ulterior motive
I beg to disagree with Shri ML Gupta, three laws were made without consulting the stake holders i.e. farmers, mandis, mandi managers, mandi staff, transporters, transporters supporting staff, may be the list be to long of stake holders. Also why the laws were not discussed in parliament in detail, why it was not referred to parliament committee on agriculture and subsequently to JPC, why it was passed with voice vote in Rajya Sabha. Government has ulterior motives of passing these laws in Covid crisis
Harish Kumar

The appellant sought to know why the Punjab National Bank (PNB) returned a particular cheque unpaid with a reason insufficient funds. The CIC observed that the respondent has shown callous and unprofessional attitude both while representing during the hearing as well as dealing the RTI application. The CIC held that the respondent may not evade their responsibility as a public authority on the pretext of relocation of their office in addition to the lapse of over two years. A show cause notice was issued to the PIOs to show cause as to why penalty under provisions of section 20 (1) of RTI Act may not be imposed upon each of them for not responding to the RTI application within the prescribed time limit.
Comments
It is the duty of the PIO to maintain a professional behaviour and follow the provisions of the RTI Act. Relocation of the Office cannot be used as a ground for denial of information.
Citation: Lopamudra Chatterjee v. Punjab National Bank in Second Appeal No. CIC/PNBNK/A/2018/130662, Date of order: 12.05.2020
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

It is heard loudly in power corridors that the IAS lobby has clipped the wings of IRS-IT service by pushing for faceless system in the IT dept. Of late IRS-IT has bagged many coveted posts like CVC, EC, ED etc., which were normally given to IAS. IRS gained prominence under the present govt. Biding for their time IAS lobby successfully got implemented faceless system which curtails the power and reach of IRS-IT. It is the reason it seems many IRS officers are opting for VRS.
Vikas
New Year gift to young officers in Commerce Ministry
As many as 22 Engineers promoted as Dy. Directors in Commerce Ministry: In a true new year gift to the young officers, the Commerce Ministry promoted 15 officers of Indian Supply Service (ISS) and 7 officers of Indian Inspection Service (IIS) to the Senior Time Scale post of Dy. Director on 31.12.2020. The credit of timely promotion goes to the dynamic Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, his personal staff and all the ministry officers and staff involved in the process, who worked during odd hours to ensure timely promotion to the officers. The ISS and IIS Group-A officers are recruited through a 3-stage Indian Engineering Services (IES) exam conducted by UPSC.
CM
FM must intervene to avoid unpleasant work atmosphere iin CBIC
CBIC has issued ad-hoc Promotion order no. 160/2020 dated 29/11/2020 from DC to JC. In every para the word - ad-hoc promotion order - has been used. What is stopping the Board to issue such an order for upgrading Promotee ACs of 2014 to the Senior Time Scale of DC, when it is not even promotion, but Non Functional Upgradation ? FM must intervene at this juncture and issue instructions to Chairman to follow this simple, just and equitable solution and avoid unpleasant work atmosphere among officers.
Dwarkadhish Mohapatra

In the year 2016, Punjab state legislated, ''The Punjab Settlement of Agricultural Indebtedness Act'', which was later amended in the year 2018. It had taken almost 11 years to make this law, which has not been implemented till day. The institutional loans have been partially waived off, but the loans from private lenders at very high rates have not been touched despite existence of legislation in this regard. In the year 2016, farmers of Tamil Nadu had marched to New Delhi in the most miserable conditions. In the year 2017, agitating farmers of Madhya Pradesh had to face the bullets and in the year 2018, thousands of Maharashtra farmers had to undertake long march to Bombay, in the most inhospitable conditions. It is a gospel truth that even before the legislation of 3 new laws in Sept 2020, the life of the farmers' of this country was uncomfortable. But the farmers now consider the new laws to be their death warrants.
''O jaane walo jao na ghar apna chhorh ke, mata bula rahi hai tumhe haath jorh ke,''this soulful song was picturized on great Indian actress Nargis,in magnum -opus of Indian cinema Mother India, where she beckons her fellow villagers not to leave the village, after the fury of the floods had devastated it and they started to leave. Presently, the farmers, across the country, are leaving their lands and villages and converging near Delhi, when they think that the three new laws ,recently legislated, will oust them from their lands and farmery permanently. Their houses, their cattle-heads, their fields and their orchards are missing them and beckoning them to return for their sake. Legendary film maker Mehboob kKhan, had very thoughtfully made this film ,very minutely depicting the miseries of the farmers, at the hands of nature and the greedy money-lenders. The film was made at his own village Bilimora, in Baroda district of Gujrat state. Sukhi lala, a greedy shahukar of the village, so heartlessly inflicted atrocities and insults on the family that it compelled Birju, one son of Radha(Nargis), to become a rebel.
Prior to making Mother India, Mehboob Khan had made AAN in the year 1952. In this film, he portrayed that the extremely loyal farmers also acted as sword-arm of any benevolent regime, in time of any external aggression. But, if the ruler turned out to be a tyrant, these loyal brave hearts, did not hesitate to raise their swords against such rulers. In film 'Shikasat', made by Ramesh Sehgal, in 1954, the atrocities against the farmers have been vividly delineated and, as in AAN, in this film also, Dilip Kumar delivers the farmers from tyrraneous and miserable life. Incidentally, it was Ramesh Sehgal who gave break to Sunil Dutt in film Railway Platform in 1954 who played Birju in film Mother India later, in 1957.
In 1989,when the extremism was at its zenith in Punjab, and no solution was in sight, the new PM,VP Singh, immediately after taking the oath, came to Golden Temple at Amritsar. It raised hopes of the people towards a solution. But nothing happened in the next some months, except that the same PM came to Golden Temple, once again.On 20th December ,this year, a day after the martyrdom day of Guru Tegh Bahadur ji , PM paid obeisance at Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, again raising hopes of solution of the problem. This is the right time to save the farmers from the sukhi lalas, who will reach, every nook and corner of the country, at breakneck speed, if brakes are not put now. Let statesmanship replace mundane politics.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu
Failed to serve masters in 1962, doing it now
Pakistan was the first country that treated India with contempt in 1948 and grabbed the entire territory of PoK- Indian land. Then came China in 1962 audaciously and grabbed the entire Aksai Chin territory of India. When it tried to repeat the misadventure during Prime Minister Narendra Modi it was met with a stout reply and successful diplomacy checking China in its tracks on expansionism through economic and military strategy of string of pearls and economic cooperation. The failed China and Pakistan supporters have grown wings in the democratic liberal set up of India and want to serve their masters now loyally. So, they are openly inviting China to attack India. As a part, they have devised the farmers’ agitation and violence in Punjab. They are confident of destabilising the government at the centre and states specially chosen for the plan- Punjab, Bihar, UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and the 7 sisters in the NE, J&K UT and Ladakh UT. They are moving with strategy whereas the politicians don’t even realize the enveloping dangers to national security, territory and sovereignty. They are caught in the maze of political jargons like communalism, regionalism, language etc. They do not acknowledge the great achievements of every single communist country in the world in registering high industrial and economic growth rate in the past 73 years and world class corporates creating huge wealth for them. On the contrary, the communists in India cannot boast of a single corporate giant promoted by them in any state of India ruled by them even though industry, education, health and agriculture have been in state subjects within the executive authority of those communist regimes. They only destroyed every industry creating jobs or wealth. And they do not regret having done so. They carry the same with whatever little others have succeeded in achieving. All other parties with pretensions of socialism, progressivism, liberalism, Gandhism, anti-Gandhism, Left-Right-middle etc. have similar record. Attacks organised on the Indian economy are meant to harm India as a nation and destabilise a strong and popular government under Narendra Modi, so that they can render service to their masters now and rule poor India as regents on their behalf. In the early years of our independence we were a pitiably poor country. Besides poverty, we were a feudal country of millions of fealty serving their masters for free called beggar (which was to be outlawed by the Constitution of Free India later). The mesmerism of Marxism in those days was so powerful that associating with the communist ideology was a statement of being forward looking. Many people named their children after Marx, Lenin, Stalin and even conjunction of Marx & Lenin coining a new name. Later Mao was added to the litany. As political power came in the hands of such people, they shifted priority to their siblings and dynasty. The then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was struggling to take India on a path of industrialisation and all round development and the communists were opposing every move of the government. As ignorant and idealistic youth, my generation bought the dream of a revolution promising everything, particularly equitable distribution of wealth and means of livelihood and income. It came as an intensely painful disillusionment to see the insincerity of the leaders professing ideology publicly but acting pragmatic in life. We are in the year 2021 and it is a different India. The exploitation of the Kisan, Majdoor, Farmers (in case they are assigned a different category), students and poor citizens must end and political parties adopt service to the people as their motto and work sincerely to solve problems by explaining the benefits of the 3 Laws instead of the current tod-bhod ki rajniti and make a public appeal to the farmers to call off the agitation forthwith.
M L Gupta
Thanks whispersinthecorridors
11 IRS-Customs promoted to PrCC/PrDG of Customs grade. Thanks to whispersinthecorridors
Nilima

Chairman of C.B.I.C. in his news letter dated 24 Dec 2020 has stated that D.P.C. for 2016 batch of Direct Recruits has been conducted and orders will be issued shortly, again conveniently forgetting 2014 promoted AC batch Direct Recruit AC have completed 4 years of service where as Promoted AC have completed 6 years of service. This is heights of discrimination, arbitrary style of functioning. Revenue Secretary & FM must look into the matter and ensure that justice is done to 2014 Promoted AC batch and Board is not mired with unwanted litigation.
Bal Mukund Rao
“RTI Act is collapsing under its own weight”
The views on ‘ Obstacles in implementation of RTI Act ’ in WIC dt Dec 25, accusing ignorance of PIO and FAA for non-compliance, is not complete truth but only half truth. The officers are smart enough to get compromised for a quid pro quo.
CIC, the highest appellate authority under RTI Act 2005, ruled in 2013 that seven national political parties are public authorities and they must respond to RTI applications, appoint PIOs and make voluntary disclosures. No exemption clause. CIC has repeatedly expressed its helplessness in enforcing its rulings. Willful non-compliance of a toothless statutory body.
RTI was meant to bring about transparency in government functioning by tearing away layers of secrecy. Instead, the UPA supremo ever since its inception in 2005, ensured that CIC is dominated by those who had spent their entire careers keeping information away from the public. The practice continues till date. DOP&T administers the RTI Act. Ironically, Secretary ( DOP&T) after retirement , is often either a member or chairperson of CIC. The superannuated bureaucrats must be barred from re-employment in CIC. More often than not, they have opaque mindsets due to their long association with decision making government machinery.
May I urge PM Modi, as cabinet minister-in-charge of DOP&T, to take the call ?
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)