Whispers Forum

DEBATE(1)
I reckon that Priyanka Gandhi can outshine her brother Rahul Gandhi in politics. She should be allowed to lead the legacy of Congress. Priyanka can put herself in Indira Gandhi’s shoes easily. She's got a real knack for doing politics.
Sunil Kumar
DEBATE (2)
Kamal Nath has been creation of Gandhi’s. He stood with the family in all the difficult times. He can very well lead the party .
Anshuman
Creation of a dedicated area for Protests_ Central Vista Development
Government is redeveloping the Central Vista in New Delhi. In a Democratic Country like ours, protests, Demonstrations are genuine means for People to voice their concern/opinion on various issues. They would like to be heard either directly or through their representatives(MP).
For this purpose, I suggest Government should ear mark some space in the newly developed Central Vista e.g. near National Stadium, for such protests/demonstrations. It should be able to accommodate 1000 people. Apart from Toilets and drinking water facilities, it should provide communication equipment(s) so that the people there can interact with the Government officials/MP's. This will satisfy them. They should take prior permission for such demonstrations which should be given easily.
This space will be similar to Hyde Park in London.
S. Gopal

DEBATE (1)
Kamalnath is submissive .He can only be acceptable to the old as well as new Congress leaders. Though he is a senior Congres leader but he connects the young men well.
B Gupta
DEBATE (2)
Minus Gandhi family the Congress party will disintegrate.
N Srivastava
DEBATE (3)
Only Sharad Pawar can do well if his party is merged with the Congress.His life time ambition is only to become PM and for this he can unite many parties with the Congress.
T N Sinha
PESB out-of-job ; Will PM take the call ?
WIC news dt Dec 2,2020, about the non-functional PESB makes a disturbing reading. As its former Secretary in last millenium, I got curious to know the ground reality. PESB has not been functioning for the past three months ever since Rajiv Kumar left the chairmanship to join as Election Commissioner, a Constitutional position held till 65 years of age.
No interviews held since Sept 1,2020. Reasons? Awaiting an IAS officer to take over Board’s Chairpersonship. Non-IAS officers are considered below level, lacking in caliber vis-à-vis IAS officers. The existing two members of the Board are non-IAS. The unwritten age old convention has been that IAS officers consider it infra dig to serve under non-IAS. Dark and Open secret.
Some six dozen Board level vacancies are ready for interviews which cannot be held in absence of an IAS Chairperson. In the past, in such a situation, the senior-most member could take over as Ad hoc Chairperson. Not now!
One wonders whether PM Modi is even aware of the impasse besides the simmering discontentment among the public sector Executives. PM’s total reliance is on PMO bureaucracy that is all powerful and could manage anyone. Strong networking.
Will PM take the call as Cabinet Minister-in-charge of DOP&T?
A K Saxena ( A former civil servant)

DEBATE(1)
If all goes well , we should see a new leadership in the Congress ending pandemic year 2020. Congress Party may balance with senior leadership as President & young and dynamic leader as working president. The prominent contenders may be;
Rahul Gandhi / Priyanka Gandhi; Sushil Kumar Shinde ; Capt Arminder Singh ; Randeep Singh Surjewala ; Sachin Pilot and Mukul Wasnik.
Vivek D
DEBATE (2)
Digvijay Singh is the only leader who can revive the party.Reason is-his long experience in the Party organization and the Government.
M W Ansari
A very big den of corruption is the Registrar Offices all over the country. The files there do not move without greasing the palm of the officials/staffs. A lot of money is also being gulped by the officials/staff of City Development Authorities. The employees of these offices are saving their entire salary amounts and the day to day expenditure is being carried out through the ill gotten money. The clerk sitting at the desk taking 'thumb prints' also takes his share. A lot of lawyers and chartered accountant are thriving in the vicinity of these offices. A lot amount of money is being transacted in these forums, on which no tax is going to the exchequer. I don's why the present regime of Mr. Modi is giving a blind eye to such a corruption. There is a need to make the system of property transaction entirely Information Technology Based. Further, the service of property transaction should be delivered at the residence. AAP in Delhi wants it but every body is discouraging them.
Anurag Srivastava

DEBATE (1)
Political wisdom is with Kapil Sibal.He will however not been acceptable to the “Chamchas”.
G K Nadir
DEBATE(2)
A visionary Kamal Nath who is considered Gandhi family loyalist can be a unanimous choice.
Anjani Kumar
Broker defaults in Stock Markets
There have been number of Broker defaults in Stock Markets. Result is Shares of Clients have been sold and huge losses suffered by Individuals and no recourse to recover barring FIR for cheating. The Power of Attorney given to Brokers is often misused.
A Suggestion to curb this would be to abolish all depositories including Stock Holding Corporation And Have BSE and NSE only as Depositories.
This would enable faster Clearance mechanism and finish any Risk of defaults by Brokers running their own Depositories.
Banks having online trading and Depositories would similarly have to surrender their Depositories mandate.
Hope this suggestion is accepted by SEBI to:
A: Speed up clearance mechanism and enable T+1 to be implemented,
And,
B: Finish possibilities of any Broker defaults.
Ajay Agnihotri
Bureaucracy knows how to manipulate the system and Law
I fully agree with M L Gupta. Our bureaucracy particularly those dealing with public has become very smart and know how to manipulate the system and Law. They have no Morals and can go to any extent to save themselves.
S Gopal

The Appellant sought information in the context of a complaint letter dated 27.12.2017 received against him which was denied under Section 8(1)(j) & 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act claiming that these documents bear mention of names of other employees and disclosure of the same may endanger their physical safety as Appellant has threatened some of these employees in the past. The CIC observed that the documents sought pertain to Appellant’s termination from service and he has every right to seek copy of these documents. Adverting to the apprehension of the PIO that disclosure of the same may pose harm to the physical safety of some employees, the Commission sparingly concedes with the applicability of Section 8(1)(g) of RTI Act. The CIC directed the PIO to provide copy of specific and available documents sought after severing the names and identifying particulars of other employees/individuals whose reference figure therein. The severance of records will be carried out in consonance with the provision of Section 10 of RTI Act.
Comments
There have been cases where employees have been terminated or removed from service under 56 (J). This case laws provides some window for such employees to seek information.
Citation: Anupam Singh v. Ordnance Factory in File No: CIC/OFBKO/A/2018/154675, Date of Decision: 16/07/2020
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

DEBATE (1)
Kamal Nath who is Gandhi family loyalists can be acceptable choice of most of the Congressmen in the country.
V D Thomas
DEBATE(1)
Minus Gandhi family Manmohan Singhji will be acceptable choice with Kamal Nath as working president. Both can steep the Congress ship in these difficult times.
R K Minhas
Allowing Ayurvedic Doctors to perform Surgeries in Allopathic Hospitals
Patience’s dilemma-treatment by Ayurvedic practitioners in Allopathic Hospitals. The recent notification by Central Council of Indian Medicine authorising postgraduate Ayurveda Practitioners to be trained to perform general surgical procedures has generated mixed reactions. IMA (Indian Medical Association) wants this notification to be withdrawn as it will be a retrograde step.
There is nothing wrong in training Ayurvedic practitioners for certain surgical procedure and treating patients keeping in view the acute shortage of Doctors in the Country. How ever, patients should be told in advance about it and consent taken. To make all these more transparent following should be done;
a) All Ayurveda Practitioners should use VAID before their name and not Dr.
b) All allopathic Hospitals should DISPLAY names of AYURVEDIC practitioners working there at the reception area of their Hospital/clinic and where are they posted.
c) According to Chairman of CCIM (as reported in TOI) 95% of ICU’s are manned by Ayush Doctors. If it is true, Consent of the Patient or his/her relatives must be taken right at the time of admission that they have NO OBJECTION to be treated by an Ayurvedic Vaid.
d) Government should set up more Ayurvedic Hospitals particularly in Rural Areas where there is shortage of allopathic doctors. These trained Ayurvedic doctors will be able to perform minor surgeries etc. at these hospitals.
e) All Hospitals should revise their fee/charges depending on the number of Ayurvedic doctors they are employing.
S. Gopal

DEBATE(1)
Kamal Nath with 40 years experience in the Congress party, in my view, can be the right choice.
Ram Lal Vedanta
DEBATE(2)
In my opinion, Sushil Kumar Shinde a seasoned leader can be a successful Congress President.
Vivek Dhawan
Checks & Balances work in a Moral Environment
Why does the Transparency International paint India as the most corrupt Asian country year after year? Is it biased or its research flawed? Neither. We need to look within this Constitution Day 2020. Our Constitution had set moral standards high, promising us the Rule of Law. Only our governments have failed us. Instead of clean governance, we got dishonest governments, which spread corruption widely in all the ranks. This environment does not sustain clean public servants. Absence of a code of moral values is responsible for this state of affairs. Moral values are not enforceable in a court of law in India. That is unfortunate. Our satisfaction is that the Constitution still prevails in spite of the collapse of checks and balances on ground. The citizen is dissatisfied. That is the reason for change of government so often induced by public disgust against corruption. The corrupt have no morals. Their allegiance to the constitution is superficial. They exercise power only but do not serve. They neither establish the rule of law nor contribute to strengthen it. The fact that corruption cases have registered phenomenal increase in the last 50 years only proves the point that the Rule of Law does not work at the ground level. Like it or not, the corrupt outnumber the honest in government as well as private sectors. We have little respect for honesty. Because of it even the doctrine of checks and balances has failed us. The legislators can’t check the dishonest executive and the executive does not check the dishonest bureaucracy. The result is that the cutting edge of administration tends to act like the government and the citizen feels so helpless and forced to pay bribe. The court exercises its authority when a case is filed before it, which is no easy exercise and is practically unable to supervise the functioning of the government on a daily basis. Too much of law and too little moral values does not uphold the Rule Of Law, without which the constitution remains just another statute. Even a tragedy like COVID-19 is immorally turned in to a political lever and means of making quick illegal money in which doctors, private hospitals and pharmaceutical companies indulge freely.
M L Gupta

DEBATE (1)
Ghulam Nabi Azad: A respected leader and a staunch Congressman can also be party high command's choice for the top post. However, political analysts suggest that the grand old party may not want to appoint a Muslim party president.
K Maheshwari
Congress party should start from the scratch (zero). New and fighter regional leaders should raised the party with new vigour and let the national leader come from the ground(state leader) It has lost its base in most of the states, It has no proper leadership in many states and is out of power for decades in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and Gujarat. Present high command has no sa. Even party leaders are raising voice against its leadership. It will be a great help, if Gandhis say goodbye to the party.
Ajay Chaturvedi, Delhi
Congress is a divided party. Even Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has no neck to pull the party. Its a bad luck that the party is not able to select a new president for the last two years. It will be appropriate to say that the party is in wind up mode.
A retired bureaucrat, Jaipur.

DEBATE (1)
Shashi Tharoor: Thiruvananthapuram MP and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor is also one of the top contenders to become party chief. However, critics point out that Tharoor may not appeal to people in the hinterland.
M D Verma
DEBATE (2)
The problem with congress, since beginning, was that it has revolved around Nehru-Indira clan only. Whosoever tried to raise their voices, were shown the door. It was aura of Indira Gandhi, who could rise from ashes, first after implementation of Kamraj plan and later 'post Janata Party' rule. Rajiv Gandhi carried this aura. Nehru clan have always been the uniting factor. It appears to be fading quite fast in the present period of 'social media available for all'. People today are simply refusing to accept anybody on the basis of family lineage or not having competency. As happened in the past, congress will disintegrate in many factions, if Sonia-Rahul step down. The reason being- each and every senior leaders in the congress hate each and everybody. Senior leaders like Mallikarjun Khadge, Kamal Nath, Digvjay Singh, Ashok Gahlot, Capt Amrinder Singh, Kapil Sibbal, P Chidambaram, Shashi Tharoor can barely win their seat. Young leaders have some kind of energy but are not acceptable to senior leaders. Adhir Ranjan may not win even his seat. In my opinion, Congress can try Dr Manmohan Singh at the helm as uniting factor and small contribution from senior leaders may work for them.
V K Pandey
DEBATE (3)
At present there is no other leader, except the Gandhi family, who can be accepted by all. However, partymen are compelled to pull the Gandhi family.
Sandeep Thakur, Political Analyst, Ghazizabad