Whispers Forum

DEBATE (1) Next Government
It is early to predict. One thing is certain, Gujarat election results and UP Civic Bodies election results will be an indicator.
Vijay Tiwari
"Is it not a failure of Modi on Corruption?"
"Is it not a failure of Modi on Corruption?" (Wic 21.11.17). It is true that crusade of PM against corruption has failed miserably in ministries/ departments in Delhi and also in states. In Delhi, no one is afraid of being involved in corruption. Corrupt officers are having protection of corrupt Private Secretaries (PS) of Ministers. Honest and straight forward officers are being removed from ministries while Corrupt officers are being encouraged even if they were earlier raided by CBI for corruption or are under CBI scanner for causing financial loss of more than Rs 500 crore to Govt in Le Meridien Hotel scam. PM has to see for himself at a personal level that honest officers are not punished/thrown out by corrupt officers or Minister's corrupt PS. PM has to keep a secret check on corrupt PS and officers. Otherwise his mission on anti-corruption shall fail miserably and may affect him in elections. People voted PM because they were fed with corruption of old govt. Hope our PM will listen and monitor corruption at a personal level.
Bharat
Views about SAIL are correct
Views about SAIL are very correct. I remember that in 2001, there was scheme that Rs 2 lakhs fort emperors transfer Rs 2.5 lakhs for promotions in SAIL. And this is still continuing. Those who availed this scheme now reached top. One director select now was selected by PESB in 2015 and acc was scraped. This shows how influence was he. This man introduced the scheme in 2001. He was instrumentatal in demoting honest director commercial from director ship to ed level. If such persons are in top how do one expect sail will do profit? Pm should order for CBI investigation.
Prasad

DEBATE (1) Next Government
Present scenario says there will be no single party Governemnt. Only coalition government.
Dr Manoj Mathur
“Corruption, lack of Accountability, Unethical practices & Immortality”
I am confident, I articulate the views of the fellow Indians, across the country, in their day-to-day experiences. Sample my following experiences:
The private Chartered Accountants charge hefty fee from clients for filing IT returns allegedly for "bribing" IT officers, retaining lion's share for themselves.
This is being openly admitted by the practicing CAs.
Similarly, lawyers allegedly act as conduits in subordinate judiciary
All bribe their way through the dark alleys of court premises by greasing palms of petty court officials. Bails, adjournments, acquittals etc are readily available. But, all for a price. Recent expose/ sting operations by the Republic TV channel, should be an eye-opener both for subordinate and top Judiciary. This has nothing to do with the shortage of judges. Simply put, it is all due to total lack of judicial accountability.
Consider Delhi. Ubiquitous touts can be seen hovering around public dealing offices like Police, local bodies, transport,Jal boards,Bijli boards and so on.
Engineers of local bodies and the Police collude with each other with the blessings of local legislators ,by openly demanding heavy cuts for permitting encroachments by the venders on public land.MCDs , DDA are the worst offenders.Their vigilance officers are incompetent, laidback .
This is the scenario in the National capital. Situation in States is incredibly horrifying.
All government departments are forced to observe Vigilance Week,year-after- year, wasting manhours, public exchequer.
Politicians get undeserved publicity by the electronic and print media. The politicians enjoy their own speeches at the cost of public discomfiture. Event managers do roaring businesses, charging heavy cost. Their empanelment by government organisations based on “security consideration”, is an open secret. The only positive feature is that they are security-vetted. But ,not, competitive. A racket prevalent all over the country. Can some one, for instance, guestimate the total expenditure in organising an event in Delhi’s Vigyan Bhavan ? Phenomenal. We need to conserve our resources and utilise it in priority areas.
Similarly, foundation-stone laying ceremony by celebrities is another atrocious practice dear to politicians. A drain on public exchequer that must be abolished. In Uttar Pradesh , the CM has reportedly, barred his Ministers and Chief Secretary from performing such ceremonies. Achieving “Amaratva” (Immortality ) through foundation-stone laying , is the sole prerogative of the political class alone. Funny, but, true.
No one is aware of the demoralising impact such events have on the hapless citizens who constitute the largest public interface and the worst victims.
A K Saxena ( A retd civil servant)

This dot on time promotion to the IAS in every grade, if need be by creating new posts, despite having no vacancies, speaks volumes of the injustice perpetrated by this cadre. In many central services, there are vacancies for the posts at additional secretary and special secretary levels , but they do not get it until they complete two years in the earlier grade and since they never reach this earlier grade on time , they simply lack the AGE to get to the apex scale despite having vacancies . Imagine the IAS in this case is getting promoted to the APEX 225000 GRADE without reaching the earlier Addl Secy Grade of 205400 . Its a two ladder jump from the grade of 182200 i.e. the grade of Principal Secy in the states. So it is two promotions for the IAS at once despite the fact that the state of Chhattisgarh is a small state and what will it do with 10 ACS rank officers ? Justice thy name is absence from India.
Hussain
SAIL Chairman be an IAS
SAIL must get an IAS as its Chairman as solution to all its problems like NMDC. Corruption in modernisation of SAIL plants must be investigated thoroughly. Those guilty must be punished to set example to others. SAIL a Maharatna PSU is forced to sell some of its plants to cover up its losses made by wrong decision of some individuals. If SAIL can't be repaired under Honourable PM Modiji, it will never could be done again in future. Some plants are shut down for months and employees being paid without work when private steel plants can be profitable why can't SAIL? In effective Minister must go as well.
Prashanth

Respected Madam/ Sir,
As is well known, air pollution has become a menace all over northern India. Delhi has been in the news for the deadly smog that has engulfed it for the past few days. However, high pollution is common and endemic in all the north Indian states, including UP, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan etc., especially in the cities and even most smaller towns. The effects of severe air pollution on the health of children, the elderly and those whose immunity is compromised are being felt all over these states. However, the lasting consequences and morbidity due to heavy air pollution cannot be lost sight of. It is time that steps are taken to ameliorate the situation. One major problem is the lack of awareness amongst the general public of these states which continues to burn plastic waste, tyres, garbage, municipal waste, leaves, crop stubble, etc. without any thought of consequences on even their own health. State governments across India can act as leaders in efforts to reduce air pollution and the attendant hazards. They can even make such efforts part of the political discourse and make their initiatives in this regard part of their election efforts. Kindly take some action in this regard.
Sincerely,
Ordinary Indian

It has become a fashion these days, for some people to raise objections to anything, a BJP government does, and for the so called self declared pseudo intellectuals and journalists with vested interests, to pick on it and try to spread the opposition through social media. It is a different matter that people have seen through their game, and giving them befitting reply, election after election. So it was with army constructing a bridge in Maharashtra, as if it is being built by a foreign enemy, or the latest GST slab rate change, where it seems the govt has committed a sin, by being proactive to the needs of people of all sectors. It is really hilarious to see the kingpin of scams and loot in UPA, calling demonetisation , a plunder and loot. Well the people have already given a verdict on it in UP election. However the opposition is so desperate that they are trying to catch on to any straw, including going to Pakistan and asking Pakistanis to throw out the PM. Well they will all rant and rave, till the country becomes mukt of all these anti national elements. That does not appear far off . Till them let them continue to shout in wilderness!
S Chatterjee
Gabbar Bole To?
Gabbar: kya khabar laayaa re Pahale? Pahalaa: Sarkar ko Netalog aajkal GST kahane lage hain, aur aapko pakadne ke liye police ne 51,000 kaa inam rakhaa hai, Sarkar. Gabbar: Tu bata, kyaa khabar laayaa hai doosare? Doosaraa: Picchle saal road accident mein kul 1 laakh 51 hazaar jaanen gayee aur 4 laakh 95 hazaar zakhmi ho gaye. Kahate hain SME ke nakali kal-purzon kaa kamaal thaa. Karodon kaa dhandhaa hota hai saalaanaa. Gabbar: Hamne ek maaraa to 51,000 kaa inam aur accident ke zimmedaar nakali kalpurze bechne walon par koyi inaam nahi? Tu bataa Teesare tu kyaa khabar laayaa hai? Tisaraa: Sarkar, bahut badi khuskhabari laayaa hun, sunate hi inaam de denge? Gabbar: Jaldi bataa kyaa khabar hai? Teesaraa: Sarkar, hospital mein nakali glucose chadhaane ki bajah se 50 se jyaadaa bacche ek raat mein mar gayee. Government ne nakali davaa banaane waalon ki dharpakad shuru kar di hai. Senkadon karod rupayaa pakadaa gayaa hai. Notebandi ne unhe pahale hi kangaal kar diyaa hai. Sarkaar ki madad chaahate hain Gujarat Chunaav jeetne ke liye aur agale Loksabhaa chunaav ke liye. Gabbar: Yeh achchi khabar hai be Tiddi? Koyi Advance nahi laayaa? Inam nahi tu ab goli khaa. Thaanya, thaanya, thaanya. Bach gaya…la? Kyaa goli tamanchaa bhi nakali hai?
M L Gupta

It is a good decision. IAS person should be from non Bihar and non eastern UP cadre or domicile. Sail should be restructured. Bhilai steel plant and its mines, Salem steel plant, visl bhadravati, cfp Chandrapur, Moil, Nmdc, kiol, should merge with Rinl Visakhapatnam. Then only steel industry will grow. When Tatas, jaw Bellary, has put top with honest, dedicated qualified South Indians, to run their organisation into profit, sail has introduced the policy not allowing honest, sincere and qualified to top positions. Govt and PMO should take a note of it. It was very clearly mentioned in organiser magazine published in April 2013 by editor Balashanker, that 25000 crores scam taken place in modernisation. The effect is loss making. Even sail could pay PRP, nor implementing pension nor wage revision. But I don't understand why govt is still given Maharatna status, when it is not fulfilling the clauses. PMO should take a note of it.
Prasad, A retired DGM, SAIL
IPS officer Behera no more
My deep condolences to the members of the bereaved family. One fails to understand as to how God too at times turns to such brute cruelty. Sixty is no age to bid good bye to this lovely creation of Almighty. But no one other than Him understands this mystery. May be good people receive invitations much sooner.. May he give strength to the family to bear this irreparable loss and bless the departed soul to rest in peace.
O P Sharma

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
The banking sector in general, and PSBs in particular, have been at the receiving end of various brickbats ever since the initiation of the demonetisation process last November. This is despite their wholehearted professional support to implement the demonetisation programme. Steps should thus be taken to improve the situation.
Mukesh Shukla
Mess in PSUs
Corruption, regionalism and casteism, favouritism, nepotism is still active in loss making Maharatna PSU. Honest sincere and qualified executives have taken voluntary retirement recently. How one can expect that loss making PSU comes into profit. We take pledge corrupt free India for show bazzy. But the corruption is still prevailing. If somebody raises voice, he should be removed or transferred. It is very shameful. One director reduced age 1953 to 1958, several complaints have been made but no action.
A Retd Executive in Maharatna PSU
Take action
Delhi is reeling under the effects of a deadly smog whose after effects will continue for years. Why doesn't the Centre dismiss the Delhi government if it is responsible for this state of affairs ?
Vijay Kumar

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
RBI’s ‘Financial Stability Report December 2016‘ has pointed out that there has been a significant deterioration of asset quality of PSBs with their gross non-performing advances going up substantially to 11.8 per cent (of total advances). This has pushed up the stressed advances — that is, gross non-performing advances plus restructured standard advances which is alarming.
Anil Khanna
America’s Foul Investment
The American Administration has made only foul investments since the end of the second World War. It is clear that it has not learnt any lessons in peaceful coexistence even after loss of millions of lives in the two world wars and destruction of properties across several countries. In war America seems to have found opportunities for business in the name of reconstruction and its arms industry. Peace is poverty but war is prosperity for America. It has suffered great humiliation in all the wars it has fought since the end of WW-II. It has, though, not stopped at it. The Americans operate in the name of democracy in countries practicing other forms of government. But their sincerity is doubtful. They have not shown any respect to Russia after the USSR was dissolved and Russia shifted to an elected form of government. Rather it adopted an adversarial and hostile approach to Russia. It is not a reliable friend of democratic countries like India even. Every time America and India move towards strong friendly relations, the administration puts spikes killing all prospects. The American administration thinks of itself as a new colonial power. But it should know that it is not. It would be in the long-term interests of America to learn to treat India as an equal power. When President Barack Obama came to India in 2015, it promoted warmth between the peoples of the two nations. But the mandarins of the American administration had other ideas and killed the goodwill almost instantly on the concluding day of his visit by introducing a misplaced idea of tolerance. Can America talk of tolerance in view of its record of intolerance of the blacks for its entire life span? But then, the Administration has jobs for the Americans and profits for its corporation on top of everything. Now, President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have forged a good rapport giving a feeling that Indo-American relations were moving in the right direction. Suddenly the reverie has been jolted by the state department of America notifying a grant of US$ 500,000 for disrupting democratic functioning and destabilizing the Narendra Modi led government. The thin veneer of human rights, religiously motivated violence and discrimination fails to hide its true intensions. It can’t mask the foul intentions of the vested American religious groups. The world knows how much love for human rights of non-Christian residents the Americans have. The Americans have been running a continuous campaign against Russia & Putin alleging that they had interfered in the American Presidential Election 2016. Left to themselves, they will impeach Donald Trump for it. But the same Americans have no qualms of conscience nor democratic ethics in interfering openly in elections in India. The dirty game of US$ 500,000 is the most reprehensible attempt by the American disruptors of healthy and strong democracies anywhere in the world. Do the Americans think India is a vast market for American Evangelists to operate on a large scale? America is not even 300 years since its birth and is too young in comparison to India. It shouldn’t behave petulant, arrogant, abrasive towards others, least against India. It is contemptible that it considers a petty sum of US$500,000 enough to destabilize the Narendra Modi government by directly interfering in the forthcoming election in Gujarat, which happens to be his home state, and use it to ruin his election in 2019. But it is a warning sign for every Indian. The petty figure of US$ 500,000 is deceptive and will be increased if enough traitors can gang up against Modi and his party. How do the Americans plan to pursue their goals? They have dangled the carrot for all the NGOs. The greedy for Dollars of American easy money will take the bait. These recruits shall be trained by the Americans. They have started it with political leaders they consider useful and capable of challenging Narendra Modi. They will enlist hundreds of journalists who can influence public opinion. They will use social media workers to spread fake news and paint the Hindu population of India as perpetrators of religiously motivated violence. The NGO/applicants will have to come up with proposals to develop and implement early warning systems for reducing religiously motivated violence and discrimination in India. Why not use them for similar merciful work in America? It is to stoke religious violence at the behest of the Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, who will arrange for hostile publicity globally against the government of India (Orwellian: War Is Peace). They want civil society to be educated. They want journalists to be educated. They want advocates and Judges to be educated. They want the law enforcement agencies to be educated. So, the American State Department is on a recruitment drive for “Fidayeens” of sort to serve its interests of sabotaging the forthcoming Gujarat Election and certainly the General Election 2019. Clearly the target is the Indian Hindu community and all those who support Narendra Modi. They are particularly angry at India not facilitating mass scale proselytization. All Indians need to take a serious note of the mischievous American agenda of first exploiting the divisive tendencies in our society and the diverse elements comprising it and thereafter carry out mass scale proselytization. They are a powerful nation in at least one sense: they can destabilize any government. They had threatened India with the 7th Fleet in 1970. The then Defence Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram was prompt to retort that India didn’t care two hoots even if America sent its 77th Fleet. The same mindset of the State Department is holding out similar threat using soft weapons like human rights, religiously motivated violence etc. They need to be watched by every citizen as they move in a highly sophisticated and organized manner and bagful of Dollars to trap the elite and liberal citizens who don’t understand their designs. If the American government contradicts these conclusions, let it publicly condemn the authors of such absurd grant scheme for such nefarious activities in the US Department of State.
M L Gupta

The appellant sought detailed list of sundry creditors to each Private hospital (such as Medanta, Artemis, Fortis, Max, Paras etc) and the Government Owned Hospitals within the NCR region. The PIO informed that there are 390 CGHS empanelled institutions & Hospitals in Delhi. Earlier, due to heavy workload coupled with budgetary constraints, there used to be delay of around one year in settlement of claims of CGHS & empanelled hospitals which has dropped to around 3-4 months. The Commission directed the respondent to make proactive disclosure regarding the institutional creditors of CGHS & amounts due towards each of them.
Comments
A large number of government servants have complained of delay in reimbursement of the expenses incurred on their treatment. Many private hospitals had refused to be a part of the panel of hospitals approved by the Ministry of Health & family welfare where the government employees could take treatment. Hopefully, the public display of the list of creditors would expedite the payment of pending dues.
Citation: Aseem Takyar v. CGHS in F. No. CIC/CGHSR/A/2017/135673 F. No.CIC/CGHSD/A/2017/178863, Date of Decision : 31.10.2017
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 at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Union finance minister Arun Jaitley had long back flagged “undertaking important banking sector reforms and public listing of general insurance companies” as an area where significant reforms need to be undertaken. Since he has already announced possible disinvestment plans for the insurance companies, it may be worthwhile to focus on the areas that need attention in the banking sector.
Ashok Rastogi
DEBATE (2) Banking Reforms
Of late, there have been some seesaw movements in the banking sector and it has been appearing in the headlines for the wrong reasons. First, according to the ‘Report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India‘ released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last fiscal, the consolidated balance sheets of the banking sector grew at a meagre pace. There have been decelerations in growth in loans and advances as well as in deposits of public sector banks (PSBs) which needs to be corrected on top priority.
Rakesh Virmani
Why can’t Army construct bridge in Mumbai ?
Indian Railways does a lot for the Indian Army. Concessional tickets, reserved accommodation and carries tanks, guns and ammunition on a regular basis. As per rules for construction of road over bridge the Railways and State Governments are required to incur 50% each of the cost. If the State Government does not give money, then how can Railways construct one. For political reasons you do not allow the railways to gather actual cost from the passenger and then you expect Railways to make profit. If army can construct a bridge during the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, then why can't they be made to do so in Mumbai. If they have the know how, then why it should not be utilized. They are in any case going to be paid for the job. As it is the country has not fought any was after 1971. We need to keep the army men busy and not make them lethargic. Construction activity in the Army is carried out by the MES (Military Engineering Service and also called Money Earning Service).
BBS
Army has full-fledged Military Engineering Service
Apropos A K Saxena's remarks. FYI, Army has full-fledged Military Engineering Service which can undertake construction works of specialised nature. So any construction will be done by Engineering Service of Army.
Jayant

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Board governance in Public Sector banks remains weak even though non-performing assets (NSAs) are rising alarmingly. To fix these systemic problems, the framework for governing PSBs must create an arm’s-length distance between the government and the bureaucracy, on the one hand, and the government and the PSBs on the other.
Micky Manchanda
Air pollution - we debate more, take no action
You know what many of us are yearning for these days. Fresh air. How we have sullied this God's gift and today are gasping for breath in this gas Chamber in which those living in Delhi and other places in NCR are badly caught. There seems to be no serious effort by any one to tackle this emergency problem which is "critically endangering ' the lives of the people. A serious situation has to be met with equal seriousness. Pollution in Beijing is equally bad but as reported the Chinese have taken several steps like closing the factories, banning the use of cars in certain areas etc. to lower its level. In Delhi while schools have been shut till Sunday to save the children from bad air, the offices and all other establishments except the essential ones should also have been closed for two days . Absence of vehicles on the roads could help in restoring the air quality. Drastic problems need drastic remedies. It seems however we debate more and take no action. Even on odd even scheme the discussion has been going on. Meanwhile citizens suffer .
Aarti Khosla

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
This is trial and error method. They are trying for reforms and can be corrective.
D P Devgan
DEBATE (2) Banking Reforms
Talk to any banker, they are not happy with the merger of banks.
A Banker
Govt should review policy of manning CBI
It is high time that Government reviews its policy of manning CBI. The existing policy of manning the posts in CBI exclusively by Police officials(barring a few officers from I.Tax/customs) has failed. Majority of cases handled by CBI are documents based; it requires special aptitude to read and sift through papers. Unfortunately most of the Police officials are not adapt in it. CBI is a premier National institution. Government should consider recruiting people from various Government services and private organisations for appointment in CBI. They should be recruited after putting them through Psychological Tests.
S Gopal
Date with RTI
It would be prudent to put the names and aadhar number of the beneficiaries of all the schemes on internet. It would ensure that the beneficiaries are real persons and would also point to any duplication in the system. It would prove to be a simple and effective system to end discretion and bring about transparency in the working of administration.
Ghanshyam Uppal