Whispers Forum

Dear Fellow Congresspersons,
Congratulations on the revival of the party's electoral fortunes, beginning with Haryana Vidhan Sabha elections. Government formation will, of course, depend on Dushyant Chauthala's stand and our ability to rescue him from Blackmail pressures being exerted by the BJP government at the Centre.
However, Haryana has finally shown the way to the entire Congress Party: when it comes to survival, State leaderships in the Congress Party can work together despite bitter differences.
Once old Congress hands come together, they can break all strategic shackles and self-defeating game-playing limitations imposed from within by the party's own central leadership which is being blackmailed by the BJP government into agreeing to sacrifice the Congress Workers, the state units and the Party's winning ability.
Hereafter, this is the way forward for the Congress Party.
Namit Verma
ICS officer Sen passes away
He was a very kind and large hearted officer. I was an undersecretary in the Dept. of Defence Production when he was the Secretary. On one occassion when I had a problem I approached him and he was gracious enough to guide me and help me out of the problem. I will never forget his humane approach.
Lakshminarayanan

The appellant sought information regarding enrolment of an Advocate in the Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana. The information was denied on the plea of being exempted under Sections 8(1)(d), 8(1)(e), and 8(1)(j) of RTI Act. The CIC observed that the public has a right to know as to whether a person who claims to be an advocate is enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council or not. Hence, larger public interest mandates the disclosure of the information sought for.
Comments
The “public interest” override clause of the RTI Act allows for disclosure of information which is otherwise exempt from disclosure.
Citation: Mahender Pal v. CPIO, Bar Council of Punjab & Haryana in Second Appeal No. CIC/BCOI/A/2018/104444, Date 23.10.2017
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. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at the link: - Right to Information Act 2005- RTI Foundation of India

Whenever an 'entitled' person in our society breaks the law, we see a strange reaction. If a case is filed on corruption charges against an official ( a genuine one ) his colleagues would react " बेचारा। फंसा दिया उसको। मंत्री चोरी करे तो कोई कुछ नहीं बोलता। " Or someone could say " CM is very vindictive against civil servants. X is much more corrupt but CM took no action against him as X is CM's caste.". In short, there is sympathy.
2. If an army officer is caught taking a bribe and action is intitiated, then people immediately say " Government shouldn't take such harsh action. He should have been asked to resign quietly. Otherwise, this would weaken our armed forces and help our enemies.".
3. When a PM/CM/Minister commits a crime, then his party takes a standard defence " This is political vendetta ". Once a CM was charge sheeted. In his defence he said " I did not understand these complicated financial things. The Secretary/CS recommended and i signed". I believe a PM recently also took the same line of defence.
4. If a /Supreme Court/High Court judge does something wrong, no one even mentions it for fear of contempt.
5. If a rich man commits a serious felony, he has a band of highly paid lawyers who will prove, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the alleged culprit :
- was not in town the day the crime occured, or
- the cctv footage or photograph is not genuine, or
- the complainant is a prostitute/pimp/blackmailer/mentally deranged blah blah blah, or
- new evidence is 'suddenly discovered' which demolishes the prosecution case. For example, a speeding SUV kills four people sleeping on a pavement but it had no driver!
Then, of course, the high priced lawyer has 'other' specialisations to win his case. It's just that the fees go up.
Likewise, doctors and scientists are holy cow. They can do no wrong.
Therefore, the expression " Be thou ever so high ............that the law can never catch you.".
In Britain, the PM and his wife had to go to the thana to get their son released. That is Rule of Law.
We boast of jugad or the Rule by Flaws.
Prabeer K Basu (R)
(BH:76)
IRTS can be abolished
IRTS cadre looks after the work of Transportation and Commercial matters in the Ministry of Railways. This service can be abolished and the work of Transportation could be handed over to the IRSME and the work of Commercial matters to the IRAS .
BBS

I have on two occasions brought out in the Forum the blatant injustice of using 360 degree assessment to empanel, promote or post officers of the IAS and other Group A services. This most unfair practice is keeping honest, hardworking and deserving officers out of their career advancement simply because a casual enquiry from any member of their service and a junior in their office has not brought forth a favourable appreciation of the officer out of jealousy, petty-mindedness or some grudge. I personally know of a very bright woman officer who was not empanelled as Joint Secretary because of unfavourable 360 degree assessment by a senior in her service and a junior in her office. One does not even know who were asked about her. In the case of this lady she learnt somehow about the senior who was asked. It was one whom she rebuffed as the man was trying to be funny with her. As for the junior he bragged about taking revenge from the 'madam' for scolding him once on his shabby office work. As brought out by another surfer today in the forum great injustice is being done by following this archaic practice adopted by Germany for their military personnel during World War II and later adopted and given up by USA because of lack of objectivity in such assessment. Lack of transparency is the hallmark of this vicious practice. This practice is totally illegal. But who will go to the court as people have lost their faith in the judicial system too.
Aarti Khosla

The Central government has made the annual appraisal process online with defined timelines. But still in Income Tax Dept senior officers continue to sleep over the requirement of timely appraisal of the performance of their juniors. This results in delays in career progression leading to heartburn and inefficiency. DoPT has not put in place a mechanism to monitor the system. The purpose of introducing online reporting is defeated. Adding to the woes is that tainted officers are also allowed to appraise their juniors. This also leads to a sense of despair among efficient junior officers
Satyavachakan
Not in good taste
It is not in good taste to imply that retired / aged people who are not healthy & unable to travel/ visit CGHS Wellness Centres/ hospitals are all corrupt!!!! Respecting old age & disability is also the mark of a civilised Society. There is also the universal truth that today’s youth will grow old too.
Vikas
It should be in all public dealing offices
I agree that in all public dealing offices/organisations there should be chit system with electronic display of numbers. This will definitely improve the situation.
S Gopal

There is no need to feel inconvenience, if you are in the Rt Path. Addressing Sir is a voluntary and shall not come in the way of discharging your duties without in bias. I think that is what our PM believes.
A R Rao
Joys,Shocks and jerks of a by-poll
The general feeling about any state Assembly by--polls has been that the ruling party will win these.In Punjab ,since 1994,in 17 such elections, the opposition has tasted victory only in four,so this perception has a sound base..A political party had got unprecedented victory in the Assembly elections in the late 1990s.However ,a year after that ,in a by-poll, the party was utterly shocked at its defeat by a very very thin margin of a single digit.
After the elections, a meeting of the ministers and senior party leaders was held at the CM's residence to deliberate over the reasons of this unexpected defeat.A leader said,''CM sahib,we have been defeated by the partisan Returning officer.She is daughter of a senior leader of the opposition party.''He wanted to continue with his loud speech, but was interrupted by a senior minister,who said,''Sahib Bahadur,it was our legitimate right to get recounting done,but she did not allow the recounting.Even Election commission seemed to be mixed -up.It did not listen to our complaints''.Chief Minister was very seriously listening to the arguments being advanced.After the minister finished,he very gently said,''Oh ttan ji,har round tton baad ohne saare representatives de dastkhat laye si,phir recounting kis base te hundi ji?''(She was getting signatures of representatives of all the parties after counting of each round,then how could recounting be asked for?)One highly talkative minister said,''Sir,then what is our use to be in power and in government,if even junior officers do not listen to us.Dekho ji panj chhe votan da ki hunda ae,inna faraq ttan aiwen hi nikal janda ae(look the difference of five/ six votes could have been conveniently taken care of).The girl has intentionally defeated us,otherwise we had won the election''.A very soft-spoken minister added,''CM sahib, if the officers behave like this and do not listen to us,then how will we face our workers?Such officers must be taught a lesson.Saanu kaan(crow)maar ke tangna chahida a ji( We should kill a crow and hang it for the others to see)''.Many voices were raised in unison for taking action against the lady officer.CM said,''Oh ttan theek ae ji,par election commission di parwangi tton baad hi result announce kita si,kis kaaran action lawan?( true,but the result was announced after the approval of the election commission,on what basis i should take action?''.A party leader shaking his neck right and left and bringing some made-up anger on his face said,''We must take action ,otherwise who will listen to us.Our government would only be 'jholachhap',do something ji''.Two and three voices were raised together,''She must be suspended immediately ji.''To this the CM raised one hand and said with concern,''Dekho ji, kurhi barhi imandaar a ohnu suspend karan da sochya vee nahi ja sakda (look, the lady officer is honest, I cannot think of suspending her).''.The reaction to this came in spontaneously from one and all,'' Then she must be transferred to a insignificant post at a far away place.'' CM said that he would look into it and took up another important matter..
Deliberations were made to transfer her to Chandigarh. Sometimes some divine intervention takes place to safeguard the well-being of straight-forward and honest people. It was almost decided that she would be transferred to Chandigarh. An angel-like lady financial commissioner revenue got wind of this punitive and vindictive programme of the government. She knew that the lady officer had two small college- going children and it would be great injustice ,if the transfer was done at that particular time. She was in the process of transforming the Revenue department into the best administered wing of the government. She approached the chief minister through her chief secretary husband and with great difficulty got the lady officer posted in her own department at the same headquarter. However she was put on the post, which was not cadre or ex-cadre post of a PCS officer and on which earlier never a PCS officer was posted. She worked on that post for more than two years and brought laurels for the government. She has honorably retired as senior govt functionary, but not before showing to the world that nobody can harm a fearlessly honest government functionary.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, IAS retd

Days after Xi's exit from Chennai, he started his usual mind games by conducting military exercise in Tibet near Arunachal Pradesh. India had also recently conducted military exercise in Arunachal Pradesh. This was condemned by China through diplomatic demarche.
So, mistrust still exists between two neighbours. This will always remain. All words of emotional bondings uttered by President Xi at Chennai are farce. Let India’s diplomats demonstrate more foresightedness rather than be swayed by sweet pillow talks of China which is adept in playing mind games.
Consider a concomitant development.
India is making its presence felt by pledging a $1 billion Line of Credit for development of the Russian Far East. This region though minerally rich, has a hostile climate and is sparsely populated. Some separatists tendencies have reportedly been noticed, of late, by Russia in the area due to low investment on infrastructural development. Russia is suspicious about wily intentions of the expansionist China, having its eyes set on the area.
India is governed by its geo-political compulsions, not business interests. It is also trying to counter growing Chinese presence in Russian Far East. It would also guard against China's growing hegemony around south-China sea region.
Nations have no permanent enemies or friends. But, only interests are permanent.
A K Saxena (A former civil servant)

"Why can't IAS officers stand upto the politician ?" I forget how many times this question has been put to me, mostly by journalists, but also by businessmen/women, venerable judges, friends and scientists.
I for one have never spare a single opportunity to point out ills of our systems whenever I encounter one. In fact, i have recorded my views in my two books, if anyone cares to read them. Whenever I do so, if the issue is important enough, I request my journalist friends to carry my views in their newspapers ( I do not know anyone in the TV world - not that any sensible person watches tv news anymore. ). My request is never honoured. One senior journalist was frank enough to tell me the reason - the management/editor will not approve your views to be printed in the paper. Why they not stand upto their editors? I write only facts and the truth. As I have narrated earlier, during one election i found a very senior journalist covering election meetings in a car provided by the Chief Minister. Then you expect him to stand up to that Chief Minister? In the same magazine, a journalist had written about some hanky-panky by a controversial but influential officer. He got a message from the editor to not repeat that mistake. Shortly he was eased out. I have met only one Rambo journalist, namely Arun Shourie. We all know about how he stood upto Indira Gandhi during the emergency and what work he did in the Bofor's case, just to name a few. As my minister in disinvestment also i have seen him stand upto to his corrupt colleagues. I find no other example.
During my disinvestment days i saw the business world from very close quarters. Few cases will elaborate. One very young bright lawyer came with his boss ( Top 5 law firms ) for a discussion. I knew this boy to be of integrity. The boss tried to bullshit me with some wrong legal advise. I thought the junior would atleast point out that what i was saying was correct. He kept mum, though he appeared uneasy. Of course, i rejected his bosses suggestion. Meeting over, they left. Later, the boy comes to me and says " Sir, you were absolutely right but i cannot contradict my boss.". Why he could not stand upto his boss? When we were selling balance shares of a very big company, the CA firm was trying to hoodwink government by giving a low share price. I told him that this won't do. He says " Sir what to do? My partner says that the private partner has asked us not to cross a certain price. I told him " If the private partner is angry he would not give you future business but if i catch you acting smart government will give you a room in Tihar. Now you chose.". Worked. Always does. Why couldn't this mighty CA firm stand upto one businessman ?
Scientists. As Agriculture Secretary i have seen a DG, ICAR who used to succumb to every wrong request of some netas. Every other scientist kept silent. Those scientists who stood up, like Dr Swapan Dutta, a renowned geneticist, suffered. Even after he was recommended for a very important position by the highest authorities, he was denied the job.
About judges, whatever i say may be construed as contempt. Therefore, I'll only mention the 4-1 verdict in the ADM Jabalpur case and the reasons and fallout of it.
And then there is other thing about diluting the service by allowing entry at advanced ages. By the time they come into the IAS, they have served in one or more places and become "worldly wise". Their number would be around 10 %. So this sizeable chunk is available to the leader to fill up all the key positions. The balance 90 % are at the periphery of governance and hence no opportunity of conflict ever arises. Public does not see them ever.
So, we have one Arun Shourie, one Swapan Dutta. But we have Seshan, Lyngdoh, Sunder, EAS Sarma, Abhash Chatterjee, M N Buch, S V Bhave, V S Dubey, D Bandopadhya, S Ramasubramanium, R K Nair, V K Shunglu and hordes of others who stood upto politicians, and the younger generation of IAS officers, who are still doing so. It is impossible for 5000 IAS officers to carry the burden of all others. We are not descendents of Atlas. Unless everybody stands up to wrong doing this nation cannot be numero uno. And if even with an honest and patriotic Prime Minister we can't do it, then God help us all !
P K Basu IAS (R)
Former Secretary Agriculture, GoI
Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
Share some information on grant of HAG NFU
Yes , would request 'Whispers in the corridors' to share some information/whispers regarding issue of orders for grant of HAG NFU to 1988 Group A services. It is has been inordinately delayed by DoPT ? Is it a deliberate action.
V K Jain

It is heard lot of outstanding IAS officers of 1991 batch have not found their names in the list of empanelled officers. The officers would have excelled in their jobs and their honesty, integrity, ethical working would have been flawless and their CR also would have been excellent but under the currently followed 360 degree assessment, they are to be further evaluated also by randomly chosen IAS officers who might have worked under them some time and their reports play an equally important contribution in the consideration for empanelment. This introduces many a time a dubious element in that , an opportunity to these randomly chosen discontented officers to take revenge by giving adverse report on the upright and outstanding officer who did not allow anyone to indulge in corruption, making people work to their potential etc. Another quite commonly seen trait of Jealousy in human beings, seen in these officers whatever may be their education and upbringing, also come to their mind at the time of the opportunity given to them to assess an outstanding result oriented officer. An example that immediately strikes is can our PM will ever get good report from his adversaries despite doing his best for the country. If Modi was a bureaucrat, he would not have been empanelled as the randomly selected officers would have taken revenge on him. Many states outstanding officers have missed making it. May be , the individuals would be disappointed for some time but the loss to the nation is much more colossal and is permanent. We must have lost many outstanding officers in the past also. What would be the morale of these outstanding officers who must have given their every thing for their state, people and the country.? Let us ponder !
Ramjavs
Queueing
There has been a debate in Forum whether senior citizens should have a separate queue for accessing public services (specifically, CGHS for serving and retired government servants). Elsewhere there has been a debate whether women should have a separate queue.
In most civilized societies queues are very relaxed. Sometimes, it is not even visible as people keep distance from each other. In India, situation is improving; still people do not respect personal space and stand within an inch of the person in front for the fear of someone coming in between. Apart from privacy issues standing like this is bad for health.
Easy solution to this is Chit pull out system which is used in many places in India as well. When you reach the office, you take out a numbered chit from a machine. The number of the chit holder being served is displayed on the screen. You can sit in the waiting space and when your number comes up (or is about to come up) you approach the counter or the room of the service provider.
In case of CGHS, in some places the reception gives a number but there is no electronic display board to show the patient-number being served. If chit pull out system is made compulsory in all Government offices where visitors are permitted, it will avoid hassle to all.
M P Bauer

My father is 85 years old. He retired as an IRTS Officer and retired at the level of Special Secretary. He lives in Vasant Kunj. He travels to the Railway Hospital almost 18 km away on a regular basis either in a Bus or Metro. As he was honest and hardworking officer, he has been able to maintain his health and easily stand in queue in the Hospital. Till date he has not taken assistance of his five children to go to hospital. Lead an honest, moral and healthy life. You will be able lead a normal life and not get irritated for standing in queue. No body is denying that for emergency cases, the queue has to be broken.
A Srivastava
Only listening to our wise men will do good to this country.
While we are celebrating the award of noble Prize to Indian born Abhijit Bannerjee with his wife and one more economist we are ignoring his expert advice as given by him in a lecture at Brown University under O.P Jindal University lecture series. Listening to our wise men will only do good to this country.
Aarti Khosla

Some news agencies have reported about certain observations on the socio-economic scenario in India by Dr Raghuram Rajan, Professor, Booth School, University of Chicago and erstwhile Governor of Reserve Bank of India. No doubt he is an outstanding academician. His H index is 77, which is very high. One of his papers has been cited about 10,000 times. I won't be surprised if he wins the Nobel prize in the near future. So, one must listen very carefully to what such people say.
According to the news report, Dr Rajan's hypothesis is that India is in the grip of 'Majoritarianism' and that Majoritarianism does not improve the economic situation but is taking the country into a dark and uncertain path. I believe what he means is that the majority in India is assertive. I agree. In every country round the world this is true. It is a truism. In a democracy this is what happens. And in non-democracies like China, Pakistan etc there is a small coterie which rules through the barrel of the gun ( now bombs, howitzers, SLRs and drones too ). Dr Rajan says majoritarianism is divisive. It is not clear how this follows. It is valid to the extent that the party which gets the majority in the elections, forms the government and the Parliament is 'divided' into two broad groups - the ruling party and the opposition. This is divisive but nothing wrong I guess. Dr Rajan further postulates that in India majoritarianism means Hindutva. Hindutva has not been defined by him so I guess he means it is the way of life a follower of the Hindu religion ( like Dr Rajan himself i guess ) adopts in India. But there is a catch here. First, only 40% voters cast their vote in favour of BJP in 2019. Therefore, majoritarianism can only be of those 60%, who rejected BJP. Again, lot of Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Muslims, Tribals voted for BJP. So, logically it can't be Hindutva.
Dr Rajan also apparently states that some citizens are treated as 'others' and impossible conditions are set for their being citizens. This is a real twister. Who are these 'others' ? And based on what study/data is the venerable professor concluding so? If a country identifies foreigners living in the country without valid visa and papers, what is it supposed to do? Let Dr Rajan try to live like that in the US and see what Homeland Security has to say about it ?
Dr Rajans logic seems to be as follows. India is in the grip of majoritarianism (whatever he means by the term ). Majoritarianism = Hindutva. 'Others' are facing harassment to prove their citizenship. And all this has the cumulative effect of driving India away from economic recovery and into some dark and obscure corner.
The worst projection of GDP growth rate for India is 6%, one of highest in the world, despite doomsters saying Demonetisation and GST and transfer of RBI reserves to government would ruin the economy. Immense work has been done in the last five years in the social sector. Dr Rajan knows that there is bound to be a lag before these social sector benefits impact the economy. Same is the case with the tremendous growth in road infrastructure. As a result of GST and good roads the economics of long distance road haulage of goods has significantly improved. But again there is a lag before this is felt in the economy. Real estate slowed down because black money transactions were made difficult. All economists have always advised for structural changes in the economy. Now when the government is doing this, Dr Rajan is presenting this very confounded hypothesis which prima facie appears untenable. I wonder why.
Dr Rajan should remember, different people get opportunities to work for this beautiful nation of ours at different points of time. As an IAS officer I got the opportunity to be the Agriculture Secretary of India. I tried my best to improve the sector. Then my successors came, then their successors, each trying to do his bit. And so it goes on. If I take the position that it is me alone who understands the subject and none of my successors do and if the government does not go by my advice always then they are 'a bunch of fools', then it is time I consult my shrink. Nation building is much more complex than economic model building. I have 8 top academicians in my family. One was a professor in University of Chicago itself (Late Partha Niyogy, Louis Block Professor of Computer Science). The best part I like about them is their humility. They accept that ' they are just gathering pebbles on the shore of the vast ocean of knowledge'.
Jai Hind!
Vande Mataram!
P K Basu IAS (R)
Former Secretary Agriculture, GoI
Former Member, Central Administrative Tribunal
Make Dr. Subramanian Swamy Finance Minister
Dr. Subramanian Swamy should be brought in as Finance Minister immediately to develop Indian economy.
Rajendra Pralhad Patil

The feudalistic mentality laden Bureaucrats also need to change their attitude. They should stop thinking themselves as lord almighty. They should interact more with the downtrodden and suffers. If they, within the limits of their power, sort out matters automatically cases in the courts will reduce. Application of reservation is not applicable to temporary upgradation of scale of the post in the Government of India. There are an umpteen number of judgments of the Supreme Court on this subject. By this time DOPT should have come out with rule/guidelines/instructions in this regard. We may won a case in the CAT and High Court on the subject. Instead of accepting their folly, the DOPT has gone up to SC with the Attorney General. This is a simple case of ego. The Civil Servants in this country should live by example. They should once for all end the practice of misuse of office at the cost of exchequer specially misuse of vehicles for personal purposes at the exchequers cost.
A Srivastava
Delay in issue of orders by DoPT
Delay in issue of orders by DoPT for grant of NFU to 1988 batch of all Organised Group A services is quite perplexing. It is due from April 9, 2019 (the day when 1990 IAS batch got orders for posting as Additional Secretary). Even though more than Six months have passed, DoPT is not issuing orders ? Would 'Whispers in the Corridors" throw any light on this.
Yogesh N