Whispers Forum

DEBATE (1) Congress
Who is happy with NDA Government ?. Congress will be revived automatically.
Girdhar
Debate (Congress) 2
At this juncture a low profile Man Mohan Singh can revive the Congress Party.
Ranjit Singh
Used and Cheated !
Hello Suresh ji ,
I have seen your passionate and emotional coverage of Modi government in past and now seen a question on the website, One thought came to my mind that whenever journalists or any professional becomes emotional and does his work later, he feels used and cheated.
Vishal
Angry Yashwant
The recent spate of charges between YS and AJ has caused a serious dent in the current Government. In any case, one cannot deny the fact that a sense of arrogance has crept in the top echelons of the government. The Bureaucracy is mainly responsible for the ills of the country. We have Minister for State for personnel, who is week. He listens to everybody, gives commitment and does not honour. The result is that a lot of ill will is being developed. The Civil Servants are at a position wherein they make an image of the Government before the general public. They are the disgruntled lot and are spreading all ills in the market.. The arrogance of the current government is time and again being exposed. IAS is not the sole Civil Services in the country. They are not specialist in any field of governance. They try to project themselves as Mr. no all. There are many brilliants in other areas of governance and they are experts in their area. They can also come up with brilliant ideas for reviving the economy. Modi should rise from his wilderness and interact more out of the coterie or otherwise he is in for doom. As he is person of integrity and has the right intentions, we need him for more years. He needs to have a decisive Minister of State of Personnel, who ensures that all the Civil Servants are attended to fast in order to settle their grievance. His proposed inter action with Directors and Deputy Secretary should take place at the earliest.
Anurag

DEBATE (1) Congress
Dissidence will lead to the revival of Congress.
A P Jain
Debate (2) Congress
Only Nehru-Gandhi family can revive
D C Nagar
Mainu samajh nahi aandi,ikk khokhe naal ki farak painda ae
Encroachment of govt lands by way of setting up of kiosks,illegal structures,static use of hand driven pushcarts and mule carts. for vending and permanent parking of vehicles on roadsides,have been a perennial source of irritation and nuisance for the top administration and also a source of regular illegal income for some some employees of the municipalities and Improvement Trusts etc.These are symbolic of the weak governance accompanied by failure of law and order.But it appears we will have to live with this mushroomed largesse of political heavy weights.
Some decades back the local govt minister had waived to Commissioner of a very important Corporation to stay back after the meeting for an important assignment.Incidentally i was also present during the entire conversation between the minister and the commissioner.'' commissioner sahib, i have been telling you for the last 6 months to allow Telu Ram to instal his kiosk on the Mall.He is our sincere and dedicated worker for more than 40 years.What is the problem?''By that time the minister had also called Telu Ram and some other persons.Commissioner looked around and was hesitant for a moment to speak.Anticipating commissioner's hesitation the minister said,''Koi gall nahi, eh saare aapne e bande ne.'' Commissioner started very diffidently, choosing the words discreetly,''Sir, there are already 50 applicants for the site,which is already under litigation.We have already initiated eviction proceedings,where we are sure to succeed.Only two kiosks are there presently,who have got stay orders, and if we allow another kiosk then there will be no end and the road in the poshest area of the city will be choked.''The minister's eyes bulged out a bit in anger on hearing this,''Eh dekhna tuhada kamm ae.Pehlan 2 kyon laggan dite?Eh vichara garib kitthe jave?''Commissioner was very cautious as he had got posting as commissioner after remaining parked in a very unimportant department as a special secretary at Chandigarh for more than a year. ''Sir, meri submission ae ai ji Telu Ram ji kitte hor jagah dekh lain, nahi ttan assin case haar jawange''.He suddenly remembered something and going near the minister he whispered in his ears,which was otherwise audible,''Sir the Pagri rate near the site is rupees 3 crores,the genuine shopkeepers around the area have already threatened to launch agitation if more kiosks are installed there.''''ki farak painda ae,main dekh lawanga je agitation karange,'' minister said and looked towards the ceiling and with small gestures of the hands pretending to be annoyed, he added,''Sawere main Bus stand walon aaya see, saara rasta khokhyan naal bharya hoya ae gandgi de dher lagge ne,mainu samajh nahi aandi ke ik garib da khokha laggan naal ki farak pai jaega.''
Commissioner tried to say that he would look into the matter, burt minister was not listening and started small whispers with Telu Ram.Not knowing what to say or what to do Commissioner said ,'' I will report back sir.''He sought permission to leave and then left without waiting for minister's nod.After 2 months i passed by that area and saw that Telu Ram had not yet set up his kiosk there.To commissioner's good luck ,the area was badly marooned because of the unprecedented rains and washing away of embankments of nearby canal,so he got riddance of this puzzle for two more months.After 5 months Telu Ram came to commissioner's office and while he was sitting in his office,minister rang up the commissioner,''Mainu pata lagga ae Majitha road te 200 khokhe lagg gaye ne,par mainu samajh nahi aandi Telu Ram lai khokhe e mukk gaye.''Saying this the minister banged the phone.Commissioner was visibly perturbed.I forgot about this khokha event for about a year.Presently that neat and clean area is full of kiosks ,Telu Ram having the biggest chunk.
Surinderjit singh sandhu, Amritsar

The appellant sought certified copies of TA claims, Professional Development Allowance (PDA) etc. filed by certain officials. The respondents stated that on points 1 to 4, 51 pages and on points 5 to 6, 88 pages of information had been provided to the appellant free of cost. The Commission observed that the PIO had provided voluminous information free of cost to the appellant including copies of TA/DA bills pertaining to third party. The Commission cautioned the PIO to be careful in future and not to divulge information to RTI applicants without invoking the provisions of Section 11(1) of the RTI Act, 2005.
Comments
There is a protection provided in the RTI Act to the PIO for the action done in good faith. Whenever a PIO intends to disclose any information which relates to or has been supplied by a third party and has been treated as confidential by that third party, the PIO is expected to give a written notice to such third party of the request and of the fact that the PIO intends to disclose the information. The third party should be invited to make a submission regarding whether the information should be disclosed and such submission of the third party should be kept in view while taking a decision about disclosure of information.
Citation: Shri Sarbjit Singh v. Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (SLIET) in Case No. CIC/SLIET/A/2017/186226/MP, Date of Decision: 29th September, 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) Congress
Negative votes will revive the Congress Party.
S Mathews
DEBATE (2) Congress
Only Nehru- Gandhi family.
R K Jain
DC Sahab da Dhaba
In the year 1994-95,Andhra Pradesh started selling the rice at subsidized rates to poor, thereafter Tamil Nadu led the field including the cheap food for all at subsidized govt canteens. Punjab didn't lag behind and started selling Atta dal at cheap rates to targeted groups in 2007.So there is tough competition at populism at national level. In the recent days, the only work which the govt seems to be doing, is to start Saadi Rasoi or Sanjhi Rasoi through the deputy commissioners generally at district head-quarters, where everyone will get food at fixed affordable rates. There is inter-se competition amongst the deputy commissioners to outdo their peers and that too speedily. Not in the very distance past ,similar competition was visible amongst them to initiate steps for e-governance. I don't remember if any district stood second in that cut-throat competition. Every other day there used to be report that such and such district of Punjab has stood first in the country in e-governance. The public still stands in wilderness, eyes wide open, as to know the benefits of e-governance.
The noble work Saanjha chulha, Sasti rasoi , Saadi rasoi etc is being done without any financial help from the govt. Many, so called philanthropists have been roped in for financial boost to the project. The district officers will have to pay through their noses, for these acts of ostentatious charity, in due course, as such philanthropists have hidden agenda. Primarily Red Cross has taken the initiative to manage these food courts. People still remember that on several occasions in the past, the govt had categorically stopped collection of money by the govt employees for Red Cross. There were serious allegations of misuse of such funds, even at the level of deputy commissioners and a commission was appointed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court , to probe these allegations.It is a fact that the govt collect funds for Red Cross coercively at the time of registration of documents, issue of Arms licenses, issue of driving licenses, issue of Birth and Death certificates and many other similar govt works. The people who voluntarily pay for Red Cross are scarce. Red Cross has done the maximum harm to the probity of the officers over a long period. It is one of the largest organizations, which have promoted corruption in the govt. Here you rob Ruliya Ram to pay Ruldu Ram. One poor is robbed to make other poor comfortable.
Should Punjab open such dhabas, which will be a constant nuisance for the district administration ? Who will be the beneficiaries ? Punjab is not a state ,where such arrangements are required. Most of the poor people live in rural Punjab and they cannot come to the district head-quarters to avail of the cheap meals. Most of the beneficiaries are going to be from the category, which can afford meals at reasonable rates. The regime should not have been carried away by the media reports of success of such schemes in other states, where the number of poor and the level of poverty is much higher.
I remember, in Bhatinda,in 1978,S.Bikramjit singh IAS, the deputy commissioner, had got a Red Cross Bhojan Bhandar ,opened, for general public. It remained a very successful venture as it was self reliant and did not have to depend on the forced charity. If the deputy commissioner will run the dhaabas, then from whom we can expect good governance. There are reports that govt was planning to appoint more than 12000 persons ,mostly ex-servicemen, as guardians of governance. If the Chief instrument of governance will run the dhaba, then where the governance will be for guarding it ? The state must know that already the governance did not exist in the state and that too for large number of years. It is not poverty but governance which has been living in self exile. The regime should use Galileo's telescope to see it somewhere. I remember ,many years back, a chief minister of the state expressed his worries about the dwindling finances of the state , as the govt had failed to pay salary to its employees for one month. He had a large battery of advisers, who tried to soothe him. They said that there was nothing to worry as Bihar had not been able to pay the salaries for many months together. The position has come to a stage, where we cannot even look at Bihar for consolation.
The deputy commissioners ,out of fresh zeal and the urge to please the seniors, are devotedly, opening the Rasois. Once the priorities change, the scheme may generally get ignored for generating large number of complaints. It is the right time that the regime understands the potential and value of their brilliant officers and put them on the track of governance and only governance and not succumb to the populism to underutilize them and consequently undermine them. Thank God! SSPs have not been deployed to open Sweets shops for the poor so far.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

DEBATE (1) Congress
The only way Congress can revived is through regular visit of Shri Rahul Gandhi, with a lot of fanfare, to all the important Hindu temples, Gurudwaras, Churches and Masjids in the country. At all places prayers should also be organized so that god listens to the dreams of the Congress (I).
BBS
DEBATE (2) Congress
Symptoms of misdemeanors done by the BJP Government at centre have stated manifesting. The way Narendra Modi rose to such an exalted position, the same way he would fall. Modi, who turned the haters into fans with his tall promises, now started facing the music after he retreated from his pledges to provide employment to the common man and good days. The country is stepping to the edge of an abyss with creating a situation like “financial emergency” in his regime. Voices of dissent not only from Opposition but also BJP itself began to rise against the established authority as it failed at all fronts. A wave of anti-incumbency is howling around the country. The eyes of people can been seen flickering anger. They started venting their spleen on social media. The Congress should derive political mileage out of all these. In the digital age, Congress should launch a hammering campaign on social media to repose the faith among its traditional votes.
Barkha Soni

Debate (1 ) Congress
In my opinion, the only option Congress could opt is fighting without the name of "CONGRESS" but unfortunately they have used this "Brahmastra" for very short and smaller purpose in Delhi. Now they cannot reuse it. As our epic Mahabharata suggests it’s a weapon of mass destruction, we can see the after effect of this. It creates our country as opposition less, the maximum harm they did for the country.
Bhupendra
Debate (3) Congress
Congress can be revived in Madhya Pradesh, if Digvijay Singh is given full control of the state party organisation.
Sharik Khan
SBI’s revision of minimum balance amount ridiculous
The news about State Bank of India revising the minimum account balance for its savings accounts, as well as the penalties for non-maintenance of minimum balance, is being projected as a great favour to account holders which is ridiculous. The major change has been made with respect to savings accounts in metro cities, where SBI account holders will now have to maintain a monthly average balance (MAB) of Rs 3,000, instead of Rs 5,000. The bank should think there are a large chunk of customers for whom maintaining Rs. 3000 MAB is also a big amount.
RK

The complainant claimed that 09 of his RTI applications were replied by way of a single letter by the PIO and none of his RTI applications were replied satisfactorily. The Respondent referred to the heavy load of work due to additional charge & that the Complainant had opportunity to file the first appeal but he did not file the first appeal and neither did he attend the hearing. The CIC noted that the exemption u/s 8(1)(j) was claimed regarding information relating to the total number of RTI Applications & Complaints filed under the RTI Act. The CIC directed the then PIO Mr. P.K Mondal, now posted as JCIT, TDS (in charge of Dhanbad and Ranchi) to show cause why penal action should not be taken against under the provision of Section 20(1) of the RTI Act.
Comments
The above case points to the need of periodic conferences/seminars to sensitize, familiarize and educate the officials about the relevant provisions of the RTI Act, 2005 for effective discharge of its duties and responsibilities. This judgment series is a humble attempt in to achieve this goal.
Citation: Mr. Radha Raman Tripathy v. Income Tax Department in Complaint No.:-CIC-CBDTD-C-2016-299256-BJ Date of Decision: 21.07.2017
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/

The Congress party has to first re-organise its State-level units with appointment of leaders who have the ability to ensure victory in Assembly and Lok Sabha seats in various states. Without this ,revival of the party would be a distant dream .
Pramod Sharma
Debate Congress – 2
No one will be able to revive the Congress party until and unless Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi mend their ways. They should leave their arrogance, listen to their party leaders, have faith in them and then only one can think of revival of Congress fortunes.
Nirmal Kulshrestha

DEBATE (1) Congress
The true planning can revive congress by quoting all previous work done by congress for nation since independence.
There need to be proper guide to Sonia ji and Rahul ji.The spokesman should be wise and convincing.
The policy of opposing the work done by the opposition is negative factor.
No body wants hatred speech.
What congress had done for citizens in past needs to be the only part of speech to attract people .
No new face needs to be brought forward.
Only tuning of existing congress members need to be done.
At this stage inter unity is desired.
If you think that I can be proper person in this regard to guide then I request to get fixed my appointment with Sonia ji and Rahul ji.
Harsh Mehta
DEBATE (2) Congress
The Congress has failed to overcome from relentless enemies in the party itself. The Congress is not suffering from leadership problem, but the party is split by internal squabbles. An internal party dissent is major threat to the party. The Congress can revive itself if all the leaders are united to the party cause.
Archana
DEBATE (3) Congress
The Congress party should give a chance to Rahul Gandhi by installing him as Congress President. He should be given free hands to prove his mettle when party is suffering from internal splits.
Iram
“ Performance Extraordinaire”
An unprecedented address by Sushma Swaraj at UNGA on Sept 23,2017.
Finest ever by an indian Foreign Minister since independence..
A big retort to Pakistan that refuses to learn from history.
People-to-People contact between India and Pakistan has failed to dissolve the hostility between the two sub-continental cousins.
India empathises with the people of Pakistan for having been denied the fruits of democracy by Pakistani army by remote-controlling the civil administration.
It is the most appropriate time for India to launch an Army-to-Army contact and replace the present sham democracy in Pakistan by India-like democracy.
The country gives its compliments to PM Modi for choosing such an able, sober and logical lady as foreign minister.
A K Saxena ( A retd civil servant)
Rahul feels more at home abroad
Rahul Gandhi, the President in waiting of his party hopefully and Prime Minister -in -waiting (For life it looks like) has gone to USA to reinvent himself. Looking at his photograph with the students of Princeton University, it seems he is nostalgic about his young days when he was a student in his 20s(Where? we do not know) it does seem that he feels more at home abroad than in India as he can find faults of his own party. Has he not said that UPA too failed to create jobs as has Modi failed. He needs to remember that UPA was there for 10 years and Modi has been there for three years. He still has seven years to deliver (He is expected to be back in 2019) and people hope he will deliver.
Aarti Khosla

Debate (1) Congress
I am of the view that two contributory factors worked to keep the Congress at bay. First is polarisation of Hindu votes and second anti-incumbency waves against Congress at centre after ruling two decades consequently. Congress can return to power with concerted efforts.
Rajesh Kumar
DEBATE (2) Congress
The Congress party riven by internal disputes should overcome internal party dissent and roll up its sleeves in view of Vidhan Sabha election in MP in 2018 and Lok Sabha in 2019. The Congress party should confer with party senior leaders to set further course of action to snatch the power from BJP.
Sunil Kumar
Cheapskates!
In early 1960s,i was in fifth class, when a senior officer of my father started living in our street in a rented accommodation. His son was five years younger to me and since he was pampered at our house, he would freely visit us three or four times in a day. He was very innocent looking, brilliant child. Almost regularly,out of innocence, he would alternatively say,''We got many mangoes today free(Ajj barhe amb aaye,oh vi mufti),we got sweets today free(ajj mithiaian aayian oh vi mufti).''His father was a superintendent in a very important office ,so the subordinates often kept the supply line flourishing and the little boy thought that they were getting everything free.His name was Vinay, but everybody started calling him Mufti Ram.
In those days in the college,often we came across friends, who would never spend a penny,but whenever tea was ordered in the canteen, such spongers would appear like the characters in a magic show,take tea and vanish into thin air as soon as payment was to be made.Here was one such jovial fellow,who belonged to a rich family,but never ever spent even a single penny on his friends.He was called johnny as he had styled himself on Dev Anand, though his name was very simple and rustic. Dev Anand's 'Johnny mera naam',had proved a big blockbuster in those days.Often he was referred to as a makhi(fly), being a hanger on and a burden on other people's purse. Nobody could ever see his purse or any money in his hands.He had the knack of making his friends laugh even at his own cost. He knew that he was derisively called a mufatkhor,so he very jocularly named himself as Johnny Makhtaurhi (mufatkhor) in the party of friends in college canteen. This man has a flourishing business in Madras now, where he had gone 45 years back as a stranger with 12000 rupees cheque and no other reference. Once he met me at Delhi Airport with two gentlemen around him .He introduced one as the Chief commissioner Income tax and the other as Home Secretary of Tamil Nadu. I took him aside and asked him whether he lived by the same principles of mufatkhori. He laughed loudly and asked me to look at his friends and judge whether he has still to spend any money.He appeared proud of his specialisation in spending from others' pockets
My tayaji(uncle) was a very senior army officer and every year he would spend some days with us. He hated the civil officers like plague and even i was not spared by him. He thought us to be the most corrupt and incapable people unworthy of any respect.He had the habit of taking nap of about half an hour at 3 pm.In our officer's colony, a very old gentleman would at that time bring his pushcart and hawked loudly,''Ajnale di Basmati lai lao 15 rupye kilo( Take Basmati of Ajnala at Rs 15 per kg).''On the first day tayaji just murmured in his mouth as to why he was disturbing the people at that hour.Next day was saturday and incidentally i was present when the vendor came and started saying loudly,''Ajnale di Basmati.''My Tayaji asked me harshly,''Yaar ,don't you pity this old man,who comes here daily,tires himself and his throat and i have never seen him selling even one kg of basmati.''He paused for a moment and told me to tell him not to come again in this colony and waste his time.I was unnerved at the suggestion as i could not tell the old vendor not to come.Tayaji looked at me for a few seconds and then barged out speedily.''Bhai sahib zara gall sunna'', he raised his hand to signal the old man to come closer.I also got near the window to hear what tayaji had to say.The old man came very near to tayaji,who asked him ,whether he knew, who lived in that colony.He did not wait for any response from that old vendor and added.''Eh mufatkhoran di basti a,itthe apna time na kharab karo,ik paiya basmati vi nahin kisse ne karidni itthe,kite hor ja ke vecho eni vadhiya cheez.(It is the area of cheapskates,don't waste your time here,nobody will purchase even 250 gms of basmati,go and sell this precious commodity elsewhere).''I looked around .Thank God! nobody else had heard what Tayaji had said.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar.

DEBATE (1) Congress
Capable or not, there is none other than Rahul Gandhi at this point of time to keep the congress flock together. Manish Tiwaris, Digvijay singhs and several groups as found in Tamilnadu congress will crop up resulting in total elimination of the congress. Look at what is happening to AIADMK IN TAMILNADU after Jayalalita. For Congress revival, Rahul should resort to the following. 1. Stop forthwith commenting on Narendra Modi. More comments he or his closest aids make about PM, more sympathy about Modi comes in people's mind. People still believe and respect that an ordinary person ,one like them, without any personal or family attachment fighting corruption is leading the country. Any attack on him is construed as an attack on ordinary person becoming the PM of the nation. 2. By branding every unwanted incident or utterences of some fringe elements in BJP as that of Modi or RSS and giving that as Anti secular attitude of PM, gives the majority community a feeling of appeasement for a particular community and weans them away from congress. 3. Congress lost last time because of association with proven corrupt parties like RJD and DMK 4. Rahul should apologise to people for the massive corruption that took place because of coalition politics and assure people that corruption free government will be provided 5. Last but not the least, he should at least from now on wards for the rest of the term of Loksabha show the people and BJP how an opposition party should conduct themselves in Parliament for orderly functioning by debates and discussion concerning people and issues. 6.It is not yet late for congress to revive or at least perform better than last election as people are slowly getting disappointed with the present government. 7.Rahul should shun away from Lutyans group and should not give credence to what they say. He should understand they all work for their vested interest and not in the interest of congress coming back to power. His focus should be for the people, to the people and by the people.
Ramjays
DEBATE (2) Congress
What keeps the congress party together is the Gandhi tag, even if fake. Without it everyone in congress is a leader in his/her own right, even if they have no followers. So only a Gandhi family member can revive it.There appears no prospect in near future! Maybe congis will wait for the next generation in the family to lead them, while many of them, who are acceptable, will switch to BJP.However the BJP has to be cautious in choosing, else they may have to face the ire and wrath of the people, if the thugs and unsrupulous among congis are taken in by BJP.
S Chatterjee
DEBATE (3) Congress
Rahul Gandhi makes a difference in past and present congress if he will be the congress leader.
Rohit Jain
DEBATE (4) Congress
No chance, BJP is dominating in all sectors.
Hemant Sahi
Promotion to take place genuine
The promotion which has to take place is based on the existing CSS Rules, past practices and is also genuine. There is only one impediment. It is the whims and fancy of the current Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training. The Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions is a weak character. This was the reason as to why he did not get promotion in the last Cabinet reshuffle. People do not realize that they are trying to create intentional hurdle. The nature and god is sitting up there high in the sky to dilute things (adverse or in-adverse) at a later date).
B B Srivastava