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3gfiles inside the governmentvol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020www.indianbuzz.com https://twitter.com/gfilesmagazine https://www.facebook.com/gfilesmagazine

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COVID-19 has devastated us socially, mentally, physically, and economically. It has also exposed the instability and inefficacy of the governance system. In ‘God’s Own

Country’, the policy makers revealed that they lacked the wherewithal to protect their citizens during an extreme and unforeseen calamity. The reverse exodus of millions of poor migrants—from cities to villages—led to the bitter realisation that the country is vertically divided between the haves and have-nots. Almost 30 per cent of the population was on the highways, and walked hundreds of kilometres to reach their homes. A few died on the way; we have no idea how many got infected by Covid-19 and other viruses. A few experts, like renowned epidemiologist Jayapraksh Muliyil, contend that half of India’s 1.37 billion people will finally contract the disease.

Indians are in a fix. Should they save their lives, or livelihoods? Most have decided in favour of the latter as urban streets and roads get crowded by the day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave several messages over the past few months—“Jaan hai toh jahaan hai” (only if there is life there will be livelihood), “Jaan bhi Jahaan bhi” (lives and livelihoods matter equally), “Jaan se lekar jag tak” (from an individual to humanity), and Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan (Self-reliant India Mission). Most of us are unable to decipher the coded language and find it difficult to relate it to reality.

According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, 140 million Indians lost their jobs during the various lockdowns. More than 45 per cent of the households reported a decline in incomes this year. This is the official data. One has no idea of the adverse situation in the unorganised sector, and among marginalised farmers. As per Acuité Ratings, the Indian economy possibly lost ̀ 32,000 crore (US$4.5 billion) every day during the first 21 days of the complete lockdowns. Raghuram Rajan, the former RBI Governor, maintained that the pandemic may just be the “greatest emergency since Independence” in India. Former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said that India would need `10 trillion ($140 billion) to overcome the economic contraction. Although the government announced what seems like a huge stimulus package, the actual expenditure is much less. The treasury is empty; the Emperor seems to have no clothes.

Clearly, we live in a country that’s divided along several lines—one of them now is economic. There is an India, which lives in the cities, owns computers, transport, and smart phones, and studies in quality schools. It can speak English, has access to health facilities, and manages three square meals a day. The other is Bharat, which lives in the villages, and does not have material comforts, or even the basic amenities like health, food, and education. Those who are in governance are unable to decide whether they should focus on India or Bharat. This is the biggest policy paradox, an insurmountable challenge whose solution is crucial.

In fact, the current debate is whether we need to transform and change our governance system. More importantly, were we wrong in choosing the wrong socio-economic model in 1991. Instead of growth-driven development, which was city-centric, we could have focused more on the 640,867 villages, along with the semi-urban areas. We had a ready model to follow. The father of the nation Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi advocated that we need to build self-reliant villages as the basis of a free democracy. Even RSS’ top thinker Nanaji Deshmukh was the votary of village development. Sops and benefits like MNREGA may help the rural workforce avoid starvation and keep up a minimum standard of life. But, in the long run, such welfare schemes aggravate the situation, avoid the problem, and only lead to temporary relief. We can still make it happen; still take a U-Turn and focus on a model founded on ‘Village Republic’, which was visualised by Gandhi. The fact is that India cannot progress without Bharat. Anil TyAgi

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From the Editor

vol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020

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4 gfiles inside the governmentvol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020 www.gfilesindia.comhttps://twitter.com/gfilesmagazine https://www.facebook.com/gfilesmagazine

CONTENTS

7bric-a-bracFinally, BJP needs media; CPM : Let Mamta be defeated first; Dharavi Goldmine; Kingmaker needs flesh

34GOVErNaNcEKamath, Kochhar, Kalpana & Others

28GOVErNaNcENailing labour to the cross

40GOVErNaNcEStrengthening Social Enterprise Ecosystem: Need for systemic support from the Government

46GOVErNaNcEMCX’s Gold Delivery Syndrome

48TaLKTiMESir Mark Sedwill, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, UK

56GLObaL scaNThe bear flexes muscle

64birTHDaYs OF ciViL sErVaNTs

68TracKiNG: TraNsFErs & POsTiNGs

73bY THE WaYRed tapism prevails; KAS : Murmu’s Challenge; Hole in Pocket; PMO overhaul

Cover Story

Tablighi Jamaat: Increasing political links

10


new look!Hurrah!

gfilesindia.com

14years


TwEETS

Punjab IAS Association@IasPunjab Apr 17With the extension of the lockdown, livelihoods have been affected and great hardships are being faced by the poor. To provide urgent support, EC appeals to all officers to contribute 30% salary for 3 months to CM COVID Relief Fund; as per the call of CS Punjab. @IASassociation

District Magistrate South Delhi@DMSouthDelhi2000 beds of District South’s 10000-bedded Sardar Patel #COVID Care Centre & Hospital ready to #takecare of its patients. Sincere thanks to ITBP, Radha Soami Satsang Beas and so many sponsors & donors for generous support! #Covid_19 #TogetherWeCan #IndiaFightsCorona #HealthForAll

IAS Association @IASassociation District Administration, Ranchi led by Rai Mahimapat Ray, #IAS @rmray adopted multipronged strategy in fightagainstcorona, by focusing on containment; mass-screening & health services; meals, shelter & transport for stranded workers.

IAS Association @IASassociation Sh Munish Moudgil, #IAS, led Karnataka’s tech-enabled strategy of tracing #COVID19, monitoring home quarantine from the war room to enable State Administration to respond to emerging challenges in #fightagainstcorona #CoronaWarriors

IPS Association @IPS_AssociationA distraught brother approached SP @pankajsingh ips from b@DGP_Goa, requesting permission for his pregnant sister to travel back home to Nashik for her

delivery. SP Singh ensured that she reached home safe & celebrated the arrival of the young one with her family.

IPS Association RetweetedBarnala Police @BarnalaPoliceChildren are our most valuable resource & its our responsibility to keep them HEALTHY & HAPPY. We conducted DOOR TO DOOR campaign to create COVID-19 prevention awareness stressing on importance of hand washing & wearing mask. #MissionFateh #CMOpb #DGPPunjabPolice

IPS Association @IPS_AssociationIPS Association mourns the demise of Shri Ved Marwah, IPS, who served as Commissioner of Police (Delhi), Director General of the NSG & as a Governor to 3 states. Shri Marwah’s works & life will never be forgotten. May his soul rest in peace! Our thoughts are with his family!

@IPS_Association‘Chuppi Todd’ initiative of SSP Raipur Arif Shaikh, IPS embraces tech & psychology to tackle domestic violence. Victims reached out to Raipur Police via phone & WhatsApp & close to 2000 domestic violence cases have been lodged already. #GoobJobCop #IPSInnovates #NexusOfGood

IPS Association @IPS_AssociationThank you @BajpayeeManoj for acknowledging the efforts of men & women in khaki. We are all a ‘family man’ and a family woman, just that we also have to look out as much for our extended family, the citizens #gratitude

Quote Tweet manoj bajpayee@BajpayeeManoj@IPS_Association Excellent work by all the

frontline police officials .Scores of Policemen have themselves been infected because of being on frontline duties and high exposure to the virus. Stay safe too. Thanks for great service to mankind. Folded hands Folded hands

IPS Association @IPS_AssociationUnder the leadership of TN DGP JK Tripathi, IPS, Chennai Police Commissioner AK Vishwanathan, IPS & Addl. Commissioner Prem Anand Sinha, IPS @chennaipolice_ has arranged safe & successful farewell for more than 1 lakh migrant workers & stranded people so far #IPSCares #GoodJobCop

IRS Association @IRSAssociatioWe salute our brave hearts who made the supreme sacrifice while protecting our borders. We stand firmly with our Armed Forces and their families in protecting the sovereignty & integrity of our Nation. @adgpi

IRS Association @IRSAssociationThe #IRS is proud to have as its part @DrSatyapalMeenaIRS 2007, who first transformed his village Dhanora in Rajasthan into India’s 1st #SmartVillage and is now trying to replicate the model in 100 other villages. More power to this incredible officer!

IRS Association RetweetedCapt Sanjay Prashar @PrasharSdp May 10Retweet = Salute He is DG Shipping, Sh Amitabh Kumar (IRS), Great help to many Seafarers and Shipping Companies. He pursued Seafarers being on #Vande_Bharat_Mission flights. He is an Inspiration. He issued toughest SOP for Crew Change and got Seafarers COVID test done.


Bric-a-braclock & stock

Finally, BJP needs mediaMinisters instructed to reach out

NDA 3 OR MODI 2.0 has completed one year but the BJP leadership feels it has not created the desired impact among the masses. First, the

media is busy reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic. Further, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has his own way of dealing with the media since 2014. It is akin to one-way traffic; whenever and whatever he desires to inform, he does through Twitter or Facebook. It has been observed that he never interacts with any individual or group of journalists. Most of the media bureaus have written off the PMO beat. The BJP believes that the NDA 3 ‘splendid’ work should be communicated to the masses across the country. So, cabinet ministers were advised to speak to the media. Senior ministers like Nitin Gadkari, Prakash Javdekar, Dr Harshvardhan, Nirmala Sitaraman and Ravi Shankar Prasad among others have talked to various media houses on a one-to-one basis. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been especially sent to Lucknow to speak about NDA 3’s achievements. Apart from this, many ministers are also tweeting on various issues. State BJP presidents too have been asked to propagate the Modi government’s efforts to thwart the coronavirus crisis along with lambasting the opposition. Cabinet ministers have been assigned to travel to the different state capitals and brief the media as per Ravi Shankar Prasad “Modi’s India”. g

CPM : Let Mamta be defeated first !All eyes on assembly polls

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is in a fix as only 10 months are left for the state assembly elections and Covid-19 and the super cyclone

Amphan have devastated the state. The problems are manifold. First, Governor Jagdeep Dhankar is reportedly on her neck every day raising one issue or the other. Second, BJP is hell bent on alluring her ministers into their fold as they do not have state leaders within the party. Third, CPI (M) continues to pose a bigger challenge that the BJP as the latter does not have foot soldiers in the state. Fourth, Mamata does not see any hope of an alignment with Congress till the time Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury is the face of the Congress. The real worrisome situation is with CPI (M). CPM leader Sitaram Yechury raised the issue of free grains and food and MSP purchase in the virtual meeting of all opposition parties organised by Narendra Modi. What surprised everybody was that both Sitaram Yechury and Mamata not only shared the platform but also the line of action. Political observers, however, say that this does not indicate anything, One section of the CPI (M) thinks that Mamata is the biggest enemy, so let her be defeated first, the BJP can be easily handled later on. The Bhadralok of West Bengal is still not tilting towards BJP, despite all-out efforts to mingle with them; they still prefer Mamata. In addition, former President of India Pranab Mukherjee supported Mamta Banerjee in the last assembly elections but after the Bharat Ratna bestowed to him, no one knows where he stands as far as state politics is concerned. Interestingly, Pranab Mukherjee, Sitaram Yechury and Mamata all reportedly have links to the same influential Mumbai business house. Mamata is perturbed and is not discussing election strategies with many leaders as she is totally dependent on the ambitious Prashant Kishore. The top leaders of the Trinamool Congress confide that though the situation is fluid and competition will be tough, Mamata will sail through. g


Dharavi GoldmineCovid-19 helps developers’ cause

Dharavi. The moment one hears the name, a picture of ghastly slums and the den of some dreaded criminals appears in one’s mind. Dharavi is Asia’s

biggest slum, covering 535 acres with a population of approximately one million and churning out business worth `7,000 crore, in the heart of Mumbai. Dharavi alone accounts for half the slums in the city with nearly 2.33 lakh shanties–the current market price of a shanty in this area is up to `12 lakh. This gives us a figure of nearly `27,965 crore. Indeed, it is a gold mine for anyone who gets it. Covid-19 appears to be a blessing in disguise for greedy builders and politicians of Maharashtra. Dharavi has always been in the schemes of every chief minister for redeveloping and rehabilitating residents. But many hurdles exist. First, there is complete opposition by the residents who do not want to relocate irrespective of the filth and spread of communicable deceases. Second, the opposition and influence of criminals, who easily hibernate in any eventuality as it is a godsent abode. The former Fadnavis government on June 1 2015, invited expressions of interest (EOI) for its `9,250- crore Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP), involving rehabilitating 57,000 families. “Over 100 companies participated in the bidding process, but nothing moved due to politics of many stakeholders. Adani infra and Dubai-based Sealink Group participated along with 20 bidders but due to the state assembly elections in Maharashtra, the deal never actualized. Covid-19 has now set up opportunity as an exodus has taken place due to fear and unemployment. Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are both experienced leaders and could possibly shape up Dharavi. Stakes are high, so is the life of 57,000 families. Wait and watch whether greed will prevail or the have-nots will have a final say. g

Kingmaker needs fleshCoterie acts in a state

It is quite intriguing to observe how politicians become Cabinet Ministers and Chief Minister. They travel hazardous roads to reach this pinnacle. In due course,

they meet many characters who shape, dictate, help, and plan their career. Many are helped by so-called followers. Sometimes it also happens that the politician is already an established leader but needs a second term as Cabinet Minister or Chief Minister, but the atmosphere is not conducive for the party to win second time. Sometimes a known coterie which runs TV, newspaper, sugar mill and liquor business in the state assure the leader of dividing the opposition party, funding it, and seeing to it that the divided faction gets the desired legislatures to form the government. The idea is implemented. The leader gets elected second time as Chief Minister with the help of the faction of the divided opposition. Now the problem starts. The coterie now starts demanding their pound of flesh. It is double edged sword. The faction of the breakaway group share the power and coterie starts demanding a share out of the state exchequer in the shape of advertisements to their TV, newspapers, waiver of loans to sugar mill farmers, and allotment of liquor shops. Top-ranking civil servants soon get an idea about the tide and they also start favoring the coterie. In one state, the Chief Minister is under tremendous pressure to clear even backdated bills of advertisements which his predecessor issued. The coterie gets payment released on priority whereas other vendors keep waiting for months. Not only this, in the era of Covid-19, the power sharing partner mints money by reportedly selling the stock of the liquor from the back door and Chief Minister was forced to control the damage. One has to pay the price for the crown after all! g

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COVER STORYdeep focus


Two contradictions are evident. Through April and May this year, the government vilified Tablighi Jamat, a social organization that claims to be apolitical but has deep religious roots. The health minister claimed that with 4,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases discovered among the people who gathered around its headquarters, the Nizamuddin mosque in Delhi, it accounted for 30 per cent of the then 14,000-odd patients. The number looks irrelevant now with 5.50,000 cases in India.

Four days after the March 25 lockdown, the most powerful non-political individual in the country, National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval, personally visited the mosque. He was there to urge the Emir of the institution, Maulana Saad, to allow the testing, and possible quarantine, of the members. It was an act of appeasement at the highest level. It hinted at the clout of the Emir, not just in India but across the world. Even Doval could not simply storm into the mosque.

However, what transpired between the government and Tablighi is not about COVID-19. It is about two essential facts that we invariably forget because of the biased blinkers that we wear, or the myopic vision that we have. The

first relates to the global and multiple-level ramifications and implications of socio-religious organizations. Even if they claim to be non-political, they willy-nilly emerge as major actors, and actively influence governance, geopolitics, and diplomacy.

The second is about the fact that government agencies – in areas such as intelligence, security, military, economic offences, and immigration – are completely aware of the range of activities of such organizations. They have the information, insights, and sources. But either by default or deliberately they fail to take proper measures to control and monitor such non-state players. This is true, not just of this government, but the past regimes controlled by different political parties.

Institutions like Tablighi, as was the case with Rome, are not built in a single day or year. They evolve, mature, and become full-fledged influencers over decades, and a century. They operate freely, and with impunity. Let us not look at this as an Islamic problem. This is as true for Hindu and Christian organizations. To understand them, one needs to look at them, and in a holistic manner. One needs to understand their history and social context in which they were nurtured.

Tablighi JamaaT

1000 years of revenge

is Kama



in the wee hours of March 29, around 2 am, a short bespectacled man with a fairly receding hairline with a posse of discreet security men in civilian clothes, knocked on the heavy door of the Markaz at Banglewali Masjid housed inside

the congested lanes of nizamuddin in South Delhi. He knocked on the door several times without

eliciting any response from inside. He then pulled out his mobile phone and dialled a number. In a matter of minutes, the Markaz door swung open. The man who stepped inside the building was none other than India’s national Security Advisor (nSA), Ajit Kumar Doval. The man he went to meet in the dead of the night was none other than, Maulana Saad, the Emir of Tablighi Jamaat.

This mammoth story on Tablighi Jamat, based on a three-month investigation by Sadia Rehman & Vivek Mukherji, is a mere chapter, a case study, to showcase the reach of these socio-religious institutions. It is an attempt to help the reader understand how history shapes us, and we become subconscious participants in historical events. The origins of Tablighi Jamaat lie in the British Empire, and traverse across several Indian states, enemy neighbours, and countries in Europe and North America.

However, remember another crucial fact. What is left untouched, either deliberately or otherwise for vested interests, inevitably comes to haunt us, stare us in the face, and terrorise us. The British now face the wrath of the forces they unleashed a century ago, and which led to the birth of Tablighi Jamaat, at their doorstep. America confronts the ill-effects of slavery, racism, and Christian white supremacy today. India too has gone through such travails. Maybe it is time to stop this madness.



Doval went inside the Markaz to convince the potentate of the orthodox religious order to open the gates of the Markaz so that the guests who were holed up inside since the global congregation that was held from March 13-15 could come out for getting tested for Covid-19 and be quarantined if necessary. Five days prior to Doval’s night-time rendezvous with Saad, Prime Minister narendra Modi had announced a country-wide lockdown with just three-and-a-half hours notice to contain the spread of Covid-19 virus.

The nSA’s personal intervention in a seemingly trivial matter raised many eyebrows. After all, why did Doval exert himself in the middle of the night to visit a relatively unknown mosque in the heart of South Delhi? What are his link with the head preacher of an orthodox religious order? Was the issue so serious that it was a threat to national security?

aS the story unfolded, it turned out that a significant number of more than 1,500 people who

were holed up inside the Banglewali Masjid were carriers of the Corona virus. It was a matter of considerable religious sensitivity since Maulana Saad has cultivated a certain amount of political clout with various regimes at the Centre, including the BJP-led, nDA-3 government.

What is Tablighi Jamaat? The Emir of Jamaat, Maulana Saad, is no ordinary man. His outfit, Tablighi Jamaat, is networked in more than 150 countries, where it reportedly enjoys influence among approximately 180 crore Muslims and is entrenched in the power structures in those countries. The Jamaat has presence in Dewsbury (England), has deep roots in Chicago

(USA), Malaysia, Indonesia and several African countries.

The Tablighi Jamaat was not built in a day. The spread and influence of the deen took less than 100 years to reach in positions of influence. It’s also the story of a simple Maulana, who was genuinely interested in educating the illiterate Muslim nomads in India and faraway lands. Maulana Ismail, the founder of the order, was indeed a learned and pious man and was held in high esteem as a religious teacher.

As the story goes, Ismail was a man of great piety. His life’s philosophy was shaped by the teaching of hadith. He displayed great compassion in attend-ing to the needs of the poor, whom he considered as Allah’s bondsmen. In

sifting through the layers of ismail’s story reveals some intriguing subtext linked to a concerted plan for islamisation of Mewat, which was then a part of the princely state of alwar and had an uneasy relationship with the Mewatis, who were Meo Muslims


those days, nizamuddin was more of a thick forest of trees and bushes, instead of the concrete jungle that it has now become. nizamuddin was considered as the gateway to Mewat.

Every day, Ismail would venture out of the mosque to check if there was anyone who needed his help. One of the stories seems to suggest that one day he met some labourers who were searching for work. During the course of the conversation he came to know that they were Muslims from Mewat. He also realised that they had no knowledge of Islam and held on to their Hindu past.

Disillusioned by the lack of knowl-edge of Islam among the labourers, the righteous Maulana decided to take

Delhi. Adjoining the baithak (parlour) of Bakhsh’s bangla (house) was a small mosque, which due to its proximity royal residence got named Banglewali Masjid. This mosque was in the cus-tody of Maulana Mohammad Ismail.

Maulana Mohammad lived in a house located nearby, on top of the Red Gate of the historical building called Chaunsath Khamba (64 pillars). The Maulana was a pious man and a respected religious teacher. Bakhsh revered him, because his sole occupation in life was worship, Zikr and propagating the teachings of the

Banglewali Maszid Dewsbury Masjid, London

matters in his hand. He felt compelled that the only redemption lay in teach-ing the Mewatis the rules and princi-ples of Shariat and Islam in general. Ismail asked the labourers how much they earned in daily wages and made an offer of to match their daily earn-ings, provided they accompanied him to the mosque.

There he started teaching them how to offer namaz and read Quran. The labourers would receive an amount equivalent to their wages at the end of the day. The Maulana imparted daily lessons of deen (religion). Once

they learnt to offer their regular salaat (prayer), the daily payment was with-drawn with mutual consent.

THIS gave birth to the madrasah (seminary) at the Banglawali Masjid. It became a residential

school for providing instructions in Islamiyat to the poor Mewati labourers. Meals for the students were provided by Mirza Ilahi Bakhsh, who was a closely related to Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last of Mughal Emperor, through the marriage of one his daughters to Mirza Fakhru, the son of the last Mughal king.

Bakhsh’s dwelling was near the tomb of Hazrat nizamiddin, which was then considered as the outskirts of

faith and Quran. Ismail returned the favour by teaching the children of his royal patron.

But sifting through the layers of Ismail’s story reveals some intriguing subtext linked to a concerted plan for the Islamisation of Mewat, which was then a part of the princely state of Alwar and had an uneasy relationship with Mewatis, who were Meo Muslims.

By the late 19th century, the power balance in the sub-continent was undergoing radical transformation. The British Empire was on the rise, while the Muslim identity, derived from the Mughal Empire in the imme-diate and preceding Muslim regimes starting in the late 13th century, was waning. It was also the period when



Memoirs of Mr. Hempher, The British Spy to the Middle East or Confessions of a British Spy is a document purporting to

be the account by British agent, Hempher, of his instrumental role in founding the conservative Islamic reform movement of Wahhabism, as part of a conspiracy to corrupt Islam. It first appeared in 1888, in Turkish, in the five-volume Mir’at al-Haramayn of Ayyub Sabri Pasha. Hempher has listed the complete details from the beginning of 1710 A.D. right from when Britain delegated him to collect information for bracing the ways to break Muslims and control their land in Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, Iran, and AI-Hijaz.

As per his documents Ottomon was the mighty empire that covered southeast Europe, northern Africa and western Asia. Even the holy lands of Mecca and Medina were under its jurisdiction. As India became vital for the British economy, the imperial government desired to have a safe, secure, and direct land and sea route between India and Britain. The region ensuring such passage was under the control of Ottomons. Hence gaining control over the Ottomon lands became mandatory for Britain.

Second, the holy cities of Mecca and Medina also gained strategic importance for the colonial power. Every year millions of Muslims from all over the world gathered there for hajj. In this religious congregation exchanges of all types took place including the exchange of pan- Islamism and anti-colonial ideas.

Britain never wanted to exert direct control over these lands, as they rightly feared that such a move could be deterrent to millions of their Muslim

subjects worldwide. It applied various means for achieving its goal. They apart from providing monetary and military resources for inciting small rebellions of the states within the Ottomon Empire also established an efficient espionage system.

The British government held many conferences attended by diplomats and religious men from Britain, France, and Russia. In these conferences the ways and means for ripping apart the Muslims were discussed with the focus on stripping them of their faith and beliefs.

Mr. Hempher was the trained spy. He was sent to the city of Baghdad in Iraq to create disorder between the Sunni and Shiites. He was also assigned the duty of finding weak point of Muslims which can be used for diffusing the unity of Islam. Also, his mission in this trip was to identify the conflicts among Muslims and create an atmosphere of disagreement, expiation, and mistrust among them. He was also directed to make up different faiths and form fake colonial religions enabling

the Britishers to divide Muslims instead of eliminating Islam.

In 1710 A.D. the British Colonies Ministry assigned 10 spies with the espionage duty. These spies were provided with sufficient money and information, possible maps, names of governors, scholars, tribes and family chiefs. In order to pretend Muslims, the spies carefully studied Quran and Hadith, learnt ablution and prayer. They were made familiar with the social and political sites in the Islamic societies and their extreme trends. These spies were taught Turkish, Arabic and Persian languages.

Wahabism and the british Empire

Mohammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab


The British colonizer handed over to its spies organized and well evaluated plans suitable to the intellectual background of the different classes of Muslim. The spies were directed to spread fake and made up beliefs among the four groups of Sunni in order to create extreme differences and disputes so that each group would claim that they represent the true Islam and the others are renegades and infidels and must be ushered on the right path. After training, these spies were sent to Egypt, Iraq, Tehran, AI-Hijaz, and Estonia to gather information beneficial for tearing apart the Muslim Community.

They mixed up with men of religion to discuss the Islamic rules. They short-listed some names, one of them being Mohammad bin Abdal-Wahab, a Islamic scholar of Jewish lineage. They started following him step by step. They found in Muhammad ‘Abd-al-Wahab many attributes such as the love of glory, immorality and extreme views. They realized that he is the person the British government is in search of for establishing the group.

After spying for a period of two years in the Islamic countries they received orders from the Ministry to go back to London. The ministry listened to their reports, evaluated them. Hempher who was taught Persian, Turkish, and Arabic in London was named Mohammad and was sent to a mosque in Turkey for the purpose of mastering these languages and learning Islamic science.

After two years he was sent to Basra where he worked as a carpenter claiming to be from Azerbaijan. The people believed him because of his looks and his Turkish language.

As directed, he met Muhammad bin’Abd-al-Wahab in AI-Basra and befriended him. Humfur found Bin ‘Abd-al-Wahab to be an ambitious young man irritable and resentful of the Turkish

rule. He explained Koran in the light of his own views, different from the views of Caliphas and Imams. This is where he came under Humfur’s control. Humfur who by now has developed substantial and intimate relationship with him started fanning his ego and poisoning his thoughts. Hence Wahab fell into mistakes and committed sins. On finding the right opportunity Hempher pointed out to Wahab to introduce what according to Wahab was the correct version of Islam.

Hence, Hempher, the spy stirred Muhammad bin ‘Abd-al-Wahab the way the British intelligence chose to.

When Muhammad ‘Abd-al-Wahab was in Isfahan, Hempher openly approached him to work for the interest of British Government. It is reported that he agreed. He was directed to run the Wahabi Movement in return for Britain protecting him from other governments, and scholars. He was reportedly provided with money and weapons and promised to have an emirate on the outer skirts of Najd.

Years after the ‘Abd-al-Wahab began his work; the British official circles, were able to win a Muslim chieftain of Jewish origin Muhammad bin Su’ud, and asked him to work along with Muhammad bin ‘Abd-al-Wahab.

The spy Hempher was designated by the government to inform both, Muhammad bin ‘Abd-al-Wahab and Muhammad bin Su’ud that Wahab will assume religion while Su’ud will assume authority. Hence the first Saudi State was formed.

According to pact the it is alleged and reported that Britain started secretly supplying the duo with sufficient money and servants. These servants were in fact the best British intelligence officers trained in Arabic language and desert fights. As thought, the Wahabi Saudi ordeal proved beneficial for the imperial British.



the Hindu revivalist movement called the Shuddhi Movement (purification movement) founded by Dayanand Saraswati was picking up steam. The aim of this movement was to draw those who had converted to Islam back into the folds of the Hindu religion. It was against this backdrop that a par-allel Islamic consolidation movement was taking its roots in Mewat. Maulana Ismail played the most significant role in giving life to this movement.

aFTER Ismail’s death in 1898, his eldest son, Maulana Muhammad, took the charge of the madrasah

in nizamuddin until his death in 1918. Following the death of Muhammad, the followers in Delhi and Mewat urged Maulana Muhammad Ilyas to take up residence at nizamuddin to fill the void caused by the death of his father and brother. They stressed upon Ilyas that awareness of Islam among the Mewatis was primarily due to the efforts of his father and brother and if they were left on their own, they would again slip back into Hinduism.

They also promised to make monthly donations to the madra-sah. Ilyas, after discussing the matter with Maulana Khalil Ahmad, took leave from his job as an instructor at Mazaahir-ul-Uloom in Saharanpur to take charge of the madrasah at Banglewali Masjid.

It’s believed that donations received from well-wishers were meagre and there was no regular source of income. Ilyas, on many occasions, used his own money to keep the madrasah functioning. However, the financial situation of the seminary remained precarious, often forcing the students to starve.

Faced with continuous short-

age of money, Ilyas would occasionally tell the students to fend for themselves and they were free to leave the madra-sah if they so wished. But the moral and spiritual teachings held such a sway over the students that none of them left the seminary. They were content to eat wild berries and fruits picked from the forests that surround-ed nizamuddin and collected wood to bake chapatis, which they consumed with pickle.

For a few Mewati and non-Mewati students, life revolved around the small brick mosque, a shed, a small settlement to the south of the mosque that housed the attendants of the tomb and a basic living quarter.

After completion of the course, Ilyas would send the students back to Mewat where they would start indoc-trinating the locals into the ways of the faith. Once some devotees of his father and brother invited him to Mewat to renew the spiritual allegiance, Ilyas went a step ahead, suggesting estab-lishing maktabs (primary learning centres) and madrasahs in the village so that Islamic influence could spread among a wider population. He thought of it as an effective step towards bring-ing the Meos closer to a purer version of Islam.

When he discussed his plan with those who came to invite him, he found out that the Mewatis were reluctant and was told that establishing primary learning centres and seminaries in the region was next to impossible. The locals felt given the acute poverty of the people in the region, sending children off to religious schools would mean depriving helping hands at work and loss of wages.

Ilyas, however, remained invested in his idea of estab-

He (Maulana ilyas) held a firm belief that people will become good

Muslims not by reading books, but through people-to-people contact and active participation

in da’wah (proselytisation

work). The cornerstone of his

thought process was that the responsibility

of spreading islam should not be

confined to the ulemas (scholars) only, but should be moral obligation of

every Muslim


The first expeditionary Muslim invasion of India took place in 711 CE, when the Caliph of Damascus sent Mohammad bin Qasim in search for new lands to the East that led to the capture of Baluchistan, Sindh and Multan. This was followed by almost a lull for approximately 300 years until the arrival of Mahumad of Ghazni, who plundered the Rajput kingdoms in North India. He set up his base in Punjab from where he launched the conquest of the Kathiawar coast, including the destruction of the Somnath temple.

The decisive blow against Hindu rule in North India was delivered in 1192 CE when Prithviraj Chauhan lost the second Battle of Terrain to Muhammad Gori, laying the ground for the subsequent Muslim rule in India for almost 700 years, starting with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in 1206 CE, spanning over five prominent dynasties: Slave dynasty (1206-90), Khilji dynasty(1290-1320), Tughlaq dynasty (1320-1413), Sayiid dynasty (1414-51) and Lodhi dynasty ((1451-1526).

It was during the reign of the Delhi Sultanate, lasting for a little more than 300 years, that the process of Islamic conversion started in North India. It gathered momentum during the Tughlaq and Lodhi dynasty rules.

However, despite conversion, there was a clear division in hierarchy. Those from Arab, Turkish and Afghan lines of descent were considered ashrafs (noble), while the neo-coverts were referred to as ajlafs (low category). At that time, the clergy and the scholars were drawn from the upper category and were considered as the true repositories of Islamic teachings and values. The unintended consequence of this class divide was that the neo-converts were not staunch followers of Islamic practices and

maintained their connections with the Hindu traditions. Among the early converts were the Meos of the Mewat region. Since they fell in the lower category of Muslims, many of their customs and traditions continued to reflect Hindu traditions and customs.

Though, Meos were mostly land owners, they remained extremely poor and borrowed heavily from the bania (traders) moneylenders at exorbitant rates. Over a period of time, from being land owners they became indentured labour on their own land and were forced to pay high taxes to the local Hindu chieftains on almost every economic activity such as animal tax, grazing tax, tail tax on different types of animals and religion tax.

In 1933 when Jai Singh Prabhakar took over as the ruler of Alwar— Mewat was under the jurisdiction of Alwar—he quadrupled the taxes on land. This led to a revolt by the Meos, but it was quelled by him with the help of the British.

It was against this backdrop that a chance meeting of a few labourers from Mewat with Muhammad Ismail in Nizamuddin, opened the doors for the poor Meos to find solace in religion to mitigate the hardships of daily life, made unbearable by the oppressive regime of the Rajput king of the region. This search for finding their Muslim identity took stronger roots when Muhammad Ilyas took over the small mosque at Nizamuddin, laying the firm foundations of the Tablighi Jamaat.

Following the Meo uprising of 1933, the Jamaat movement gathered steam with the help of carefully crafted plans of Ilyas to spread Islam in the region. Over the next few decades, the Tablighi Jamaat movement fanned out from Mewat to different parts of North India, giving it the shape of a religion order.

Mewat: the springboard for the Jamaat



in what is now known as the First War of independence, the Muslim clergy rose in unison alongside the revolting sepoys against the british East india company. Thirty-four islamic scholars, drawing inspiration from shah Waliullah and his predecessors, issued a fatwa, calling on Muslims for jihad against the british

lishing a seminary in Mewat. To achieve his purpose, he resorted to the formula of his father and broth-er by asking his followers to pro-vide him with pupils in exchange of money, as compensation for lost wages, that the children would have to forego.

The plan worked as 10 maktabs were opened during the visit. Soon more seminaries and primary learn-ing centres were established in the Mewat region. The preacher, however, was unsatisfied since they were not spreading the deen (religion) of Allah amongst Meos at the desired pace.

Interestingly, every time Ilyas returned from hajj, he would tweak his strategy. Upon his return from his second hajj in 1926, he coined the slogan, Aye Musalmano! Musalman bano (Come O’ Muslims! Be Muslims). He moulded his fledgling spiritual organisation according the tenets of Sunni version of Islam. It was during this period that the formal contours of the Tablighi Jamaat started to emerge.

HE held a firm belief that people will become good Muslims not by reading books, but through

people-to-people contact and active participation in da’wah (proselytisa-tion work). The cornerstone of his thought process was that the respon-sibility of spreading Islam should not be confined to the ulemas (scholars) only, but should be a moral obligation of every Muslim. To carry forward his idea, he formed a small group of eight preachers comprising ulemas and common Muslims.

The group set out from the village of Ferozepur nanak early in the week to reach Sohna by Friday. The first Friday congregational prayers were offered at Sohna and over the next

two Fridays prayers were held at Taoru (Rajasthan) and nagina (Gurgaon). This was called the Tablighi Jamaat and the first iteration of the movement was launched. And, Ilyas became first Emir of one of the largest Islamic organisations in the world.

Dynamics of the movementAfter returning from his third hajj, Ilyas further refined his approach to adopt a more systematic approach. He got the locals to prepare a detailed map of the Mewat region with names of roads and villages, population figures and influential Meos in the region. This speeded up his work as he started sending out jamaatis far and

Tablighi Jamaat Emir Moulana Saad Kandhlavi (praying) inside the Holy Prophets Mosque, Haram Sharif Masjid al-Nabawiin the Holy City of Madinah, Saudi Arabia. Source Facebook


wide, bringing the Mewatis into his interpretation of Islam.

In 1938, when Ilyas went on hajj for the fourth time, he made attempts to extend his work in Saudi Arabia. However, monarchical protocols and bureaucratic processes pre-sented obstacles to his call for mis-sionary preaching in the Arabian Peninsula. He returned and remained focused on spreading his work in India and in the region until his death in 1944.

To understand the dynamics of the Tablighi movement, the clock needs to be turned back to the sepoy revolt of 1857. In what is now known as the First War of Independence, the Muslim clergy rose in unison along-side the revolting sepoys against the British East India Company. Thirty-four Islamic scholars, drawing inspi-ration from Shah Waliullah and his predecessors, issued a fatwa, calling on Muslims for jihad against the British.

sOME of the most prominent spiritual leaders of the time who joined the revolt of 1857

were Imdadullah Muhajir Makki and his anti-colonialist ulema follow-ers, Muhammad Qasim nanautawi, Rasheed Ahmad Gangohi and Muhammad Yaqub nanautawi.

On May 10, 1857, local Muslims under the ulemas gathered at Thana Bhawan, a small town in Shamli dis-trict in current-day Uttar Pradesh, around 120-km from Delhi, to stage a violent protest against Company Raj. The clergy won the day in what came to be known as the Battle of Shamli. But they would eventually lose the war, due to the treachery of some among the ranks.

As soon as the native soldiers and the clergy revolted against the British, they activated their espionage net-

road to become a Jamaati

a new entrant into Tablighi Jamaat has to perform three chillas (40-day period) to learn about the various guiding principles and tenets of Islam and

the discourse of preaching. During the initial phase, they undergo indoctrination for reforming themselves to be of service to Islam. After a new entrant has been initiated, it’s mandatory for him to perform at least one chilla every year.

Those who successfully complete the chilla are sent on khuruj (tour), which is central to the process of da’wa (preaching) for which eight to ten men form a travelling group called jamaat that goes to different parts of the country spreading the values of Islam, moving from house-to-house in a particular locality. They also call upon the people to attend the evening prayers at the local mosque.

The new jamaatis are made to study the Fazail-e-Amal—a book written by Maulana Muhammad Zakariya al-Kandahlawi in the 1930s about the values of Islam.



work. Over the years, the British East India Company had built an efficient network of spies drawn from the local population. Without an efficient espionage network at its disposal, the British rule would have ended in India prematurely. One of the persons who spied for the British was Mirza Ilahi Bakhsh—the patron of the Madrasah Banglewali Masjid. In fact, due to his close relationship with the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, who was the figurehead of the revolt, he gained access to a lot of information about the plans of the mutineers. Bakhsh played a significant role in the fall of Delhi in 1857 that led to the exile of the last Mughal emperor to Rangoon in British-controlled Burma

Following the collapse of the 1857 revolt, the British retaliated brutally, holding the Muslim clergy responsible for the uprising. Most of the scholars were executed, though some managed to escape or go underground. Hajji Imdadullah sought refuge in Mecca, while his associates went underground.

aFTER the uprising of 1857 was quelled, the imperial British government, representing the

Crown, took over from the East India Company. It marked the beginning of the British Raj that would last until 1947. Under the new political system, rights of Indian Muslims were sig-nificantly curtailed. In order to face this challenge, some of the Muslim scholars led by Maulana Muhammad Qasim nanotavi focussed their atten-tion towards reforming Islamic educa-tion. They rallied together for creat-ing social awareness among the sub-continent’s Muslims. Their aim was to safeguard Islamic education from the influence of Christian missionaries as the British started putting greater

emphasis on English as the medium of instruction in schools.

On May 30, 1866, an Islamic madrasah called Darul Uloom was established in Deoband. In a departure from the past, the new seminary, despite employing a traditional

approach towards Islamic sciences, was quite modern by prevalent standards. The new seminary made a conscious effort to maintain a distance from any direct political engagements, yet its curriculum promoted resistance against colonial rule through Islamic

On May 30, 1866, an islamic madrasah called Darul Uloom was established in Deoband. in a

departure from the past, the new seminary, despite employing a traditional approach

towards islamic sciences, was quite modern by prevalent standards. The new seminary made a conscious effort to maintain a distance from

any direct political engagements, yet its curriculum promoted resistance against colonial

rule through islamic education


education. Though, Darul Uloom adopted

an arm’s length approach to politics, the scholars felt it was necessary to participate in the political movement against British occupation. During the period from 1919 to ’45, quite a few Deobandi religo-political parties came into existence. Some of the prominent parties that came out of movement were Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (1919), Majlis-e-Ahrar-e-Islam (1929) Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and its Indian offshoot, Jamaat i-Islami (1941), among others. The Tablighi Jamaat too began as the non-political offshoot of the Deobandi movement.

Though, the majority of Deobandi parties of that time were against the idea of partition, a faction of Deobandi scholars were vociferous supporters of the Indian Muslim League’s demand for a separate nation to be carved out on religious lines, which resulted in the formation of Pakistan in 1947. Similarly, after the partition, several Deobandi political parties sprouted in Pakistan.

Once the British consolidated their hold on power in the Indian sub-continent, they successfully deployed the “divide and rule” policy to keep the native anti-colonial politi-cal movements in a state of constant simmer.For this purpose, the section of Muslim clergy and scholars, who were in favour of a separate state, was exploited to drive a deep wedge in the freedom movement.

This wasn’t an entirely new tactic adopted by the British in India. They had successfully used the divide and rule policy to bring down the mighty Ottoman Empire, which shifted the balance of power in the Arabian Peninsula in favour of Muslims, giving them control over two of the holists shrines of Mecca and Madina. It was

under the patronage of the powerful clergy that a more stringent variant of Islam, which came to known as Wahhabism (Salafi), firmly took roots in Saudi Arabia. The rise of the House of Saud, which continues to rule modern Saudi Arabia even today, also traces back to the cataclysmic machinations that included wars, treachery, shifting alliances and jostling for power that culminated in the end of more than a 700-year-rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1923. The hardening of Wahhabism in the Arabian Peninsula and the rise of the Deobandi movement in the Indian sub-continent mirror each other, as the latter derived its philosophical core from the former.

THE Soviet invasion of Afghanis-tan in 1979, and the subsequent occupation until 1989, was

another cataclysmic event of the last century that altered the DnA of many offshoots of Pakistani Deobandi parties that took part in the holy war to the west of the Durand Line. The influx of Saudi money and a strong streak of Wahhabism and American arms that fuelled the jihad against Afghan occupation left behind a toxic cocktail of fundamentalism that gripped the various offshoots once the Soviets retreated across the Friendship Bridge over Amu Darya.

In the fertile soil of discontent, caused by the sudden withdrawal of resources by international spon-sors of the Afghan jihad like the USA and Saudi Arabia, outfits such as Sipah Sahaba (1980), Taliban (1994), Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (1996), Jaish-e-Muhammad (2000) and Islamic Jehadi Union (2002) among many others took roots. These outfits, representing the Deobandi school of Islamic thought, morphed into full-fledged terrorist

organisations. Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Jaish-e-Muhammad, with the active support of the Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), carried out terror-ist activities in the Kashmir valley. Further, the close cooperation between Jamiat Ahle Hadith and Darul Uloom graduates, drawing on the influence of the Salafi movement, morphed into Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimoon or the Muslim Brotherhood.

Jamaat’s International ExpansionThe core theological philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood is propagation of Islam across the world. This made the Tablighi Jamaat a natural ally of the Muslim Brotherhood. Since Muslim population is widely spread out in the world, the Jamaat took upon itself the holy duty to render its services for propagating Islam around the world.

The international expansion of the Jamaat is attributed to Mualana Muhammad Yusuf, who took over the movement following his father’s demise in 1944. For the next two decades, Tablighi Jamaat remained focused on South Asia.

Any religious movement needs financial backing to expand. In the case of the Tablighi Jamaat, it was mainly financed through contribution from Gujarat. In fact, Yusuf launched the international operations of the Jamaat with help from wealthy Gujaratis living in Africa, Australia, Europe and the United States. To spread the word, Yusuf undertook many international trips.

According to the book, Making Muslim Space in North America and Europe, edited by Barbara Daly Metcalf, the Tablighis reached Britain in 1946, the United States in 1952 and France in 1962. Today, the Tablighi Jamaat has established its presence in



165 countries. However, the organisa-tion remains banned in Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Though international expansion of the Jamaat could be traced back to the 1940s, it gained momentum in the 1960s, when a sizable South Asian population migrated to Europe and the US. The strong presence of the Jamaat in South Asia helped in spreading it in the western world.

But this migration came with its attended problems. The lack of Islamic institutions in the West in the ’60s and ’70s meant that those who migrated felt rootless and were yet to be fully integrated into the culture of their new world. The next generation of these migrants were even further removed from their religious roots. It’s in this vacuum that the Tablighi Jamaat stepped in with the purpose of bringing the diaspora back into the fold of the religion just like Yusuf ’s great-grandfather and Ilyas had done for the Mewatis close to a century back.

sTARTInG in the ’60s for the next three decades, Tablighi Jamaat sent Urdu-speaking preachers

to Europe and the US to connect with Muslim migrants and teach them the way of Islam. The Jamaatis are the larg-est group of proselytisers of any faith. By keeping a low-profile, avoiding the media and staying away from any overt political activity or movement, the Tablighi Jamaat has managed to remain under the radar and avoid harsher scrutiny of its activities. It has also helped them to develop cordial relations with people in the govern-ment in host countries.

Though, the Jamaat doesn’t directly engage in political activity, its political beliefs are antithetical to the concepts that define modern of societies. It rejects the ideas of secularism,

democracy and self-determination, while promoting a lifestyle and a belief system that demands strict allegiance to a narrow definition of the Wahhabi school of thought. The core of Jamaat’s ideological philosophy is that the ummah, or the entire Muslim world, is under threat due to the impact of westernisation,

which promotes jahiliya (ignorance) and other heterodox forms Islam that have flourished in the sub-continent and South Asia. The Jamaat feels that it’s their moral obligation to promote a pristine form of Islam, defined by narrow orthodoxy, over any other forms of the religion or faith.

it is reported that Mian Muhammad sharif, father of multiple-term Prime Minister of

Pakistan, Nawaz sharif and founder of the ittefaq Group, was one of the prominent

supporters of the Tablighi Jamaat. He was just one in the line of influential patrons of the

Jamaat that includes Muhammad rafique Tarar, the former President of the country and Javed

Nasir, former Director General of the all-powerful inter-services intelligence

Maulana Ibrahim Dewla


The Gujarat Connection & the splitSince the ’40s, the expansion of the Tablighi Jamaat was underwritten by wealthy Gujarati Muslims. Even now, Gujarati Muslims continue to hold influential positions in the movement. Maulana Ahmed Lad of Surat and Maulana Ibrahim Dewla of Bharuch, have had a long association with the Jammat and the Chelia community from north Gujarat, are at the fore-front of Jamaat’s work in the state, Maharashtra and Mumbai.

But in 2016, a power struggle broke out when Maulana Saad, without consulting the shura (supreme council) declared himself as the Emir of Tablighi Jamaat. The 90-year-old Lad and Dewla (82) were in favour of the shura and rejected the authoritarian-style power-grab by Saad. This led to

a vertical split, with the two influential Gujarati members of the movement moving out of the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz (headquarters) at nizamuddin to set up their base at the Faiz Ilahi Mosque at Turkman Gate inside the walled city in Old Delhi. The rival faction operates from there as the headquarters of the shura, which claims to enjoy the support of 60 per cent of Jamaatis in India and Pakistan-based Maulana Tareeq Jameel.

Among the major centres, the Saad faction controls UP and Telangana, while the Gujarati faction controls the Mumbai, Gujarat and Maharashtra operations. The London centre is with the shura of Pakistan and Dewsbury centre in the UK reports to Saad besides exercising control over the Chicago (US), Malaysia and Indonesia operations. The rival faction, on the other hand, holds sway

in most of the African countries.Interestingly, several news reports

indicate that the congregations planned by the Lad and Dalvi faction in March in Delhi and Mumbai, similar to the one organised by Saad at nizamuddin which went ahead from March 13-15, were voluntarily cancelled when Covid-19 cases started rising in India.

The Modus Operandi The Tablighi Jamaat is an extremely secretive organisation. It does not issue any communiqués, does not publish any journals, does not publicise its membership figures, its financial statements are not in any public domain and it does not engage with the media or explains its objectives or policies. It does not even have a formal organisation structure. In short, top leadership of Tablighi Jamaat ensures that the organisation and its work remain under the radar, devoid of any public scrutiny. Its preferred mode of getting any message out is through word of mouth, using people-to-people contact. Explanations and answers to new recruits are given orally. This strategy gives the Jamaatis the flexibility to use words to suit any purpose or occasion.

There is an undocumented but fixed organisational hierarchy which passes down the instructions through various levels to the lowest of functionaries. no one is encouraged to question any decision or instruction passed down the chain of command. The structure of the Jammat is such that it doesn’t fit any conventional definition of organisations. It prefers to stay as a loose collective of the devout, owing their allegiance to the Emir and the shura. The amorphous hierarchy of Tablighi Jamaat is drawn from various mosques affiliated to the Jamaat. The

Maulana Saad in centre with son, Maulana Yusuf (right) at a hotel city of Makkah, KSA



“full-time” elders of the movement make up the shura or the supreme council, which advices the Emir on various matters.

The Tablighi Jamaat propagates its ideology with the help of travelling preachers in groups of 8 to 10 Jamaatis. These travelling preachers undertake proselytising missions ranging from three days to 40 days (chilla) to four month to one year. The short three-day tours are focused on local areas, while during the longer 40-day tours, they try to cover as many places as possible within the country. For longer duration tours of four months to a year, the preachers travel overseas. On these missions, they usually stay in mosques in the area, which serves as their base. During the day, four to five members of the party perform ghast (moving around) in the neighbourhood, going from house-to-house asking the men to attend the local mosque for maghrib (sunset prayers). Those who attend these prayers are extended a da’wa (invitation), where the attendees are taught the Jamaat’s six principals and are encouraged to form their own jamaat (group of preachers).

MOST of the Jamaatis offer voluntary service and the participants are free to leave

the movement anytime. Since there is no formal registration process, it is difficult to estimate the exact number of Jamaatis in any country. The Tablighi Jamaat publically claims that it doesn’t accept money for its work and the volunteers spend their own resources on preaching missions. The Tablighi Jamaat has zealously guarded the source of its finances, despite being one of the largest religious organisations in the world. The shrouded secrecy surrounding its financial network has given wind to

many theories about its involvement with the underbelly of hawala transactions, which is suspected to be a major source of its finances.

The Tablighi Jamaat of Pakistan It is reported that Mian Muhammad Sharif, father of multiple-term Prime Minister of Pakistan, nawaz Sharif and founder of the Ittefaq Group, was one of the prominent supporters of the Tablighi Jamaat. He was just one in the line of influential patrons of the Jamaat that includes Muhammad Rafique Tarar, the former President of the country and Javed nasir, former Director General of the all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence. It is also been speculated in Pakistan that when Benazir Bhutto, far less sympathetic to hardline Islamic beliefs, ascended to power, the Jamaat conspired with the ISI in an attempt to overthrow her regime. Over the years, periodic accusations against Jamaat members of being involved in deep-state activities have surfaced in Pakistan. Yet, Tablighi Jamaat continues to enjoy the patronage of influential people embedded high up in Pakistan’s power structure.

The Jamaat has assiduously cultivated an image of it being an apolitical religious order, but the truth in Pakistan is quite far from this perception. The shared conservative Islamic values of jehadi organisations and the Jamaat lead to a convergence of core philosophies. This makes the Jamaat congregations a rich recruiting ground for jehadi terrorist organisations. And the standard operating procedures of the Jamaat aid and abet this process.

Jamaatis, who accomplish a few local da’was (proselytising missions) are treated as stars at the Tablighi

headquarters in Raiwind on the outskirts of Lahore. It’s here during the congregations that the various paths to radical Islam, some of which lead directly to various Pakistan-based terrorist organisations, intersect each other, where young Tablighi recruits are lured by outfits like the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, Taliban and Al Qaeda among host of other terrorist organisations that keep changing their names to avoid international sanctions.

Once the interns are recruited by any one of the terrorist organisations, all overt links with Tablighi Jamaat are severed, though it helps these recruits in getting the necessary documenta-tion and paperwork for travel.

Over the years, intelligence agen-cies around the world have found evidence of links between terrorist organisations and Tablighi Jamaat. The extremist group Salafia Jihaiya, according to Moroccan authorities, were found distributing leaflets to it members urging them to join Tablighi Jamaat in order to conceal their “true identity” and “work openly”.

Links with Terrorist Outfits In December 2004, eight members of Tablighi Jamaat were charged by the Uzbek authorities under Article 244 of Uzbek Criminal Code for their links with the terrorist organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir, that carried out a series of bombings earlier in year in Uzbekistan. The Tablighi Jamaat, which arrived in Uzbekistan in 1975 through the Bangladesh chapter when it was still Soviet Union, was subsequently banned and declared a terrorist organ-isation in the country. Uzbek authori-ties also accused Tablighi Jamaat of recruiting 400 Uzbeks for terrorist training in Pakistan and Afghanistan.


JTF-GTMO Detainee Assessment

1. (S) Personal Information: DIMS/NDRC Reference Name: Amir Mohammed Current/True Name and Aliases: Mohammed Yakoub, Abu Abdul Rahman

al- Ansari, Amir Bin Yaqub, Yaqub Muhammad al-Tayisha Place of Birth: Omdurman, Sudan (SU) Date of Birth: 9 May 1971 Citizenship: Sudan Internment Serial Number (ISN): US9SU-000720DP

JTF-GTMO-CDR 27 January 2008

MEMORANDUM FOR Commander, United States Southern Command, 3511 NW 9lst Avenue,Miami, FL 33172

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) forGuantanamo Detainee, ISN US9SU-000720DP (S)

(S//NF) Prior History: Detainee speaks Arabic, minimal English and has a working comprehension of Pashtu. In 1990, after graduating high school,2 detainee heard a presentation at a local mosque about the JDQ led by Jamil al-Rahman, and decided to join the jihad in Afghanistan. In early 1991, detainee flew from Sudan to India (IN) via Kenya. On the flight to India, detainee met a representative of the Tabligh movement who told detainee about a large Tabligh center in New Delhi, IN, where he could go for assistance.3 Detainee misrepresented himself as an interested Tabligh candidate in order to obtain a Pakistani visa. Detainee traveled to Lahore, PK and then to Peshawar, PK, where he stayed at the Bayt Dhiyafa al-Mujahid Guesthouse operated by the JDQ.4 Two days later, detainee and approximately two dozen other Arabs traveled across the border to the Topshi Training Camp operated by Sudanese national Abu Hajir in Konar Province, AF.5 At the training camp, detainee received one month of militant jihad training in March before traveling to the front lines. Detainee trained on the use of the AK-47 assault rifle, M-16, rocket propelled grenade (RPG), 82 mm mortar, and a piece of Soviet artillery. At the end of 1991, detainee returned to the camp and met Abu Ikhlas al-Masri, an Egyptian mechanic who worked at the camp on various projects. Detainee returned to the camp for a second time in mid-1992 and stayed for approximately one year, working on miscellaneous projects with Abu Ikhlas al-Masri. Responding to a fatwa in 1993, detainee traveled to the Kashmir region for three months to participate in hostilities against Indian forces with members of the al-Birq and jihad forces. Detainee returned to the Topshi Training Camp for the last time in early 1994, after traveling to Kashmir to join the LT and Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI) for jihad. Detainee spent approximately two years at the camp with Abu Ikhlas al-Masri. Detainee stayed with Abu Ikhlas al-Masri again from 1995 to 1996, working as an accountant for al-Masri’s new concrete pillar fabrication business and helping to rebuild mosques. Pakistani authorities arrested detainee in early 1996, an event detainee attributed to political infighting within the Pakistani government. A Sudanese national named Abu Mughira, a teacher detainee met while studying the Salafist doctrine, assisted detainee in returning to Sudan in February 1996.



The British and French intelligence have repeatedly flagged the Tablighi Jamaat as a front recruitment organi-sation for various Islamic terrorist organisations in the world, includ-ing Al Qaeda. In September 2016, British-born Pakistani and a well-known member of Tablighi Jamaat, Anjen Choudary, went on to head the Al Mujajiroun network that radi-calised and recruited British Muslims for various terrorist organisation, was sentenced to a five-year sentence for his links with the London bombers. The French intelligence has called the Jamaat as an “antechamber of fundamentalism.”

According to a report on a Bangladeshi website called The Weekly Blitz, which quoted Robert Blitzer, FBI’s first head of Islamic counterterrorism unit, around 2,000 American Muslims were recruited by Tablighi Jamaat to join various terrorist organisations in the 1990s. The reports further states that the “shoe bomber” Richard Reid, the “dirty bomber” Jose Padilla, and Lyman Harris, who tried to bomb the Brooklyn Bridge, were all members of

the movement at various points in their lives. The Jamaat operates from the Al Falah mosque in Queens, which serves as its US headquarters. The US chapters continue to receive liberal donations from various Saudi Arabia-based charities. The report further states that a long-time Tablighi member, Israr Ahmad, was instrumental in giving life to the conspiracy theory that Jews were behind the 9/11 World Trade Centre terror strikes.

According to a classified Department of Defense memo dated January 27, 2008, available on Wikileaks, reveals that a known Al-Qaeda and Lashkar-E-Taiba (LET) operative, Amir

Muhammad, lodged in Guantanamo, admitted to be a Tablighi Jamaat member. After arriving in India from Sudan, he stayed at the Markaz in nizamuddin before going to Pakistan for terrorist training in handling fire-arms, explosives and rocket launchers.

“In early 1991, detainee flew from Sudan to India via Kenya. On the flight to India, detainee met a representative of the Tabligh movement who told detainee about a large Tabligh center

in new Delhi, where he could go for assistance. Detainee misrepresented himself as an interested Tabligh candi-date in order to obtain a Pakistani visa (sic),” reads the memo.

It further states that, Amir carried out terror activities on behalf of LET in the Kashmir valley. “Responding to a fatwa (religious order) in 1993, detainee travelled to the Kashmir region for three months to participate in hostilities against Indian forces with members of the al-Birq and jihad forc-es. Detainee returned to the Topshi Training Camp for the last time in early 1994, after traveling to Kashmir to join the LT and Markaz-ud-Dawa-wal-Irshad (MDI) for jihad. Detainee spent approximately two years at the camp with Abu Ikhlas al-Masri. (sic)”.

inDIAn intelligence agencies have repeatedly flagged the Pakistani operations of the Tablighi Jamaat

as a recruiting ground for terrorists, who have wreaked havoc in Kashmir at the height of terrorism in the 1990s. Even the current breed of terrorists have been found to be indoctrinated in fundamentalist Islamic beliefs at vari-ous congregations organised by the Pakistani wing of the Jamaat.

Given the history of Tablighi Jamaat in India, the intelligence agencies keep a close watch on its activities. Doval being an intelligence veteran, who has also served in at the Indian High Commission Pakistan before going to head the Intelligence Bureau, has developed links with the top function-aries of the movement. When the news broke that over a thousand Jammatis were holed up inside the Markaz, he was deputed to resolve the stalemate. After all, the Jamaat in India derives its influence from its equations with power structure through a low-profile give and take relationship. g

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GOVERNANCEopinion labour market


by ViVek Mukherji

THEY grease the wheels of India’s economy with their sweat and toil. They plough the land, sow and harvest in the scorching sun and

pouring rain. They bend their backs to carry food from the farms to the forks. They build air-conditioned towers of glass and steel for the comfort of the privileged. They polish the rough stones into dazzling gems that adorn dainty necks and elegant fingers. They cook and wash cars. They deliver convenience at the doorsteps. They are the invisible 130 million—according to 2011 Census—who provide muscle to the machines of progress.

And then COVID-19 happened. The Coronavirus might have travelled from China to India, hitching a ride inside the bodies of the well-heeled, jet-setting lot that is projected as the shiny, spit-polished embodiment

of #newIndia hiding a corroded core, but it was the millions earning minimum wages, who were treated as grist for the millstone in the five-part lockdown scenes of the Theatre of The Absurd that played out from the zero hour of March 25.

In a matter of hours, they lost their livelihoods and pending wages swindled. With the spectre of hunger and deprivation looming large, they walked, peddled, hitched rides on trucks, in the belly of concrete mixers and milk vans and on push-carts towards the safety of their homes and hearths. Millions of hungry and tired men and women, young and old made up the cast of the horrors scenes of the great Indian labour exodus that began to unfold. The sound of marching of blistered and bloodied soles was lost in the din of banging pots and pans and the dark melange of exhausted

faces got overpowered by the light of glowing lamps.

Some of them died on the roads due to exhaustion, got mowed down by trains and vehicles; all nameless and faceless. At last, when the government grudgingly resumed special train ser-vice, so aptly named Shramik Express, they got lost in transit. In more cases than one, 24-hour journeys trans-formed into three to four-day life-threatening ordeals, without much food or water. According to various news reports around 40 trains lost the way to their original destination. Around 80 people died in these trains. Rough estimates indicate approxi-mately 800 people died since curtains went up on the first act of the Theatre of The Absurd during the lockdown period due to non-Covid reasons.

The absence of concrete data makes the task of assessing the impact of the

nailing labour To The cross

The great reverse migration of labour in the wake of the most ill-planned lockdown exposed the rotten core of

India’s labour market, which is caught between rapacious corporate greed and impotent trade unions


28 gfiles inside the governmentvol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020


lockdown on India’s labour force, both in the organised and unorganised sec-tors, particularly difficult. With more than 90 per cent of India’s labour force engaged in the unorganised sec-tor, comprising small and medium scale enterprises, they were the worst hit. Estimates tend to indicate that approximately 40 million people and counting have been rendered jobless since March end.

Limited amount of research done during this period, like the COVID-19 Livelihood Survey conducted by the Azim Premji University, paint a dire picture. The survey indicates that the average fall in the earning of self-employed, non-agriculture workers, is a whopping 91 per cent in the rural areas and 86 per cent in the urban areas and the average reduction in the earnings of casual workers is an alarming 50 per cent in rural areas and 46 per cent in urban areas. The job losses figures are equally staggering. A massive 82 per cent female and 80 per cent male casual workers lost their jobs due to the unplanned lockdown, add to that another 89 per cent of female and 77 per cent of male self-employed workers who lost their livelihood. These are hard numbers and not some fake portraits of dystopia painted by the “prophets of doom” as India’s Solicitor General, Tushar Mehta, made the Supreme Court believe.

The job losses figures are equally staggering. a massive 82 per cent female and 80 per cent

male casual workers lost their jobs due to

the unplanned lockdown, add to that another 89 per cent of female and 77 per cent of male self-employedworkers who lost their livelihood. These are

hard numbers and not some fake portraits of dystopia painted by the “prophets of doom” as

india’s solicitor General, Tushar Mehta,

made the supreme court believe

THE great reverse migration split wide open the rotten core of India’s labour market. It put in

harsh focus a number of disturbing issues that had so far been whitewashed by the prima donnas of the industry and stalwarts the union movement. The urgency to undertake meaningful labour reforms is greater than ever before. Yet, the reaction of the ruling political class, both at the centre and the states, and labour unions, ranged from autocratic diktats with shades of slavery to befuddled confusion. In the most bizarre sense of dark and twisted logic, the political dispensation has come to the conclusion that the labour class will subsidise the losses suffered by industry.

With labour going back to their native land in the face of urban antipathy, the industrial lobbies worked overtime to convince their political masters to come up with ingenious ways to hold them back



against their will for setting the cogs in motion once again as and when full operations resume. It isn’t surprising that the chief ministers of two of India’s worst-governed states, UP and MP, were first off the block to mutilate some of the major laws that protected the labour force, at least on paper.

UP, with one of the lowest litera-cy rates in the country, repealed 35 out of 38 labour laws, retaining only the Employee Compensation Act, 1923; Bonded Labour Act, 1976 and Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act, 1996, through the Uttar

Pradesh Temporary Exemption from Certain Labour Laws Ordinance, 2020, in the name of reviving the state’s economy post-lockdown. Some of the other laws such as the Child Labour Act, Maternity Act and Section 5 of the Payment of Wages Act have also been retained. The euphuistically titled “temporary exemption” is not just for few months; it’s for a period of three years. Among some of the major laws that have been consigned into the dustbin are the Trade Union Act, Working Journalist Act, Minimum Wages Act, Industrial Disputes Act,

Factories Act, Contract Labour Act and Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act among others.

sIMILARLY, the Shivraj Singh-led government carried out large-scale dilution to the Factories

Act, Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and Industrial Dispute Act, besides extending the working hours. Other states such as, Rajasthan, Punjab, Odisha, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh have also amended labour laws to increase the working hours


from the globally-accepted norm of eight-hour shifts to 10 to 12-hour shifts. Apart from Punjab, none of the states that have modified the laws in order to pander to the industrial lobbies will be paying overtime wages.

Karnataka deviously invoked the rarely-used Section 5 of the Factories Act that allows the government to declare industrial emergency in the face of “external aggression or inter-nal disturbances” to extend the work-ing hours. The disruption caused by Covid-19 can’t be classified as external aggression or internal disturbance by any stretch. In the case of Karnataka, it shouldn’t come as surprise where the government stands vis-à-vis labour relations given that South Bengaluru MP, Tejasvi Surya, hailed an earlier intemperate order by the government that restrained construction work-ers from leaving at the behest of the builders’ lobby as a “good decision” in a throwback to the slave traders of yore, who kept up the steady sup-ply of gladiators to keep the decadent Romans entertained.

Make no mistake, a large-scale over-haul and reform of India’s antiqued labour laws is long overdue. A maze of close to 44 Central and dozens of state-specific labour laws weaved cob-webs of nightmare for any entrepre-neur, often leaving them at the mercy of potentates of a corrupt inspector raj. Labour being on the Concurrent List made it a particularly compli-cated subject. In fact, the red tape of labour laws, often overlapping, made a lot foreign investors chary of setting up business in India, especially in the manufacturing sector.

To get around the byzantine labour laws, entrepreneurs happily gamed the system by outsourcing labour sup-ply to contractors, for whom they are

mere cannon fodder. In effect, the men and women who toiled in the factories remained dispensable com-modities, without accruing any of the benefits that they are entitled to under the various laws on paper. The prac-tice of relying on contracted labour is most prevalent in the small and medi-um scale enterprises—though in some cases, large enterprises too happily resort to the workarounds—which employ approximately 90 per cent of the country’s workforce.

DESPITE the multitude of laws safeguarding labour rights, the International Trade Union

Confederation gave India a rating of five on a scale on 1-5 in 2019, where 5 stands for “no guarantee of rights,” according to a study published in the Economic and Political Weekly. The pitiful ranking reflects the shoddy implementation of the laws, many of which exist only paper. The large-scale dilution of labour laws in several states in the garb of Ease of Doing Business has drawn the attention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). Soon after UP repealed most of the labour laws, the ILO reminded India of its obligations towards upholding labour rights as a signatory to various international treaties. Wrecking the existing legal framework, in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic as an excuse to attract investments and boost economic activity is nothing more than a cheap sleight of hand of a con-artiste rather than mind-bending magic performed by an illusionist.

The migrant labour crisis in the wake of the lockdown also shows the state of India’s trade unions in extremely poor light. Since the wind of liberalisation started sweeping across the land in 1991, industry made a

in the case of Karnataka, it

shouldn’t come as surprise where the government stands

vis-à-vis labour relations given that south bengaluru MP, Tejasvi surya, hailed

an earlier intemperate order by the government

that restrained construction workers from leaving at the behest of the

builders’ lobby as a “good decision” in a throwback to the

slave traders of yore, who kept up

the steady supply of gladiators to keep

the decadent romans entertained



conscious, and constant, effort to chip away at the hold of the trade unions by resorting to the contract system of employment. But the greater blow to the influence of trade unions has been dealt by the waning influence of left parties in India’s political milieu. The loss of popular support on the ground has stripped the left parties, which still control some of the biggest trade unions, of the political heft needed to shape policies and opinions. The trade union movement in India too must share a portion of the blame for not grooming the next generation of lead-ers who have their ears to the ground.

The conspicuous absence of the trade unions, both in words and deeds, as the migrant labour crisis unfolded is a telling commentary on the state of disarray the movement

finds itself in. The fightback from the unions to the dilution and weak implementation of labour laws over the past two decades has been spo-radic at best and abject surrender at worst. The muted reaction of the unions to the UP-government’s scrap-ping of the Trade Union Act offers further evidence of their irrelevance in the current context. The sickle has become blunt and haft of the hammer is broken.

In effect, as we emerge from the world’s most ill-planned, lockdown slowly, with weakened unions and rapacious corporate greed forming the two millstones of the labour market, the hand on the machine will remain as the grist that will continue to pay with its blood, sweat and flesh as a subsidy for the economic loss. g

The conspicuous absence of the trade unions, both in words

and deeds, as the migrant labour crisis unfolded is a telling

commentary on the state of disarray the movement

finds itself in. The fightback from the

unions to the dilution and weak

implementation of labour laws over the past two

decades has been sporadic at best and

abject surrender at worst


... about, for, of and bythe powerhouse that runsthe Indian growth engine

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And,if you think you are Ghalib rebornbut no one else thinks so,don’t despair.

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about corruption last night to

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33gfiles inside the governmentvol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020

GOVERNANCEbanking & finance


Amidst rumours thAt former iCiCi BAnk’s kV kAmAth mAy BeCome the next finAnCe minister, he And his women BAnker proteges Are CAught in sCAndAlous whirlpools

KamaTh, Kochhar, Kalpana & oThers


banker was told to be ready so that he could hit the ground running.

It is indeed ironic—and many inci-dents in Kamath’s life are sardonic—that such buzz about the inevitability of his future post happened during a period, when the banker is on the back foot. In the recent past, two of his banker protégés in ICICI found them-selves down in the dumps, with possi-bilities of being locked up in jail. More importantly, Kamath is under scrutiny for the shenanigans of one of them, whose past, but dizzying, banking career was dictated by her mentor.

Kamath, Chanda Kochhar, the for-mer head of ICICI Bank, and Shikha Sharma, the former top honcho of Axis Bank, are being investigated for corruption, nepotism, and misman-agement. Renuka Ramnath, who man-aged private equity firm, and Kalpana Morparia, who peacefully retired recently from JP Morgan, are the other protégés, who had their share of con-troversies. Thus, he and his profes-sional bevy of women are in the news for the wrong reasons, even as he seems to be at the pinnacle of his pro-fessional power.

by k. SubraManian

IT is like a good-turned-horrific, gold-tinted, but not-so-polished, penny that keeps making its untimely appearances at regular intervals. Ever since the begin-

ning of the year, and India Inc’s frus-tration with the economic slowdown, the name of India’s super-banker, who has several skeletons too in his vaults, keeps cropping up in mainstream pink media. It is whispered and, therefore, echoes, in the corridors of power. He is the next finance minister (FM), claims the speculative news. He met Prime Minister narendra Modi to finalise his responsibilities, and discuss India’s fiscal strategy, says another.

Going by the rumours and news items, he should have become the country’s FM at least five-six times. A few weeks ago, when he left the BRICS Bank after the completion of his five-year tenure, there was fresh, but uncertain, talk that KV Kamath, the former ICICI head, was again being considered for the FM’s post. A cabinet reshuffle, said the rumour-mongers, is expected by September 2020, when the COVID-19 lockdown will be completely lifted, and the erstwhile

nepotism charges engulfed and professionally destroyed Kochhar. The CBI alleged that as the head of ICICI Bank she gave huge loans to the Mumbai-based Videocon Group, which turned into bad loans. Curiously, a day after one of the tranches of the loan, worth `300 crore, was disbursed to Videocon International Electronics, “Venugopal Dhoot (one of group’s promoters) transferred `64 crore to nupower Renewable through Supreme Energy, both managed by her (Kochhar’s) husband, Deepak”.

Even more curiously, nupower Renewable was incorporated a few months before the ICICI-Videocon loan deal. Among its three directors were Deepak Kochhar and Venugopal Dhoot, which hints that it was a form of a joint partnership between a business group and husband of a high-profile banker. However, Dhoot resigned from the company, and sold 1.9 million shares in nupower Renew-able to Deepak at a face value of `10 each. However, Kochhar’s husband paid an initial amount of Re 1 per share.

According to CBI, Kamath’s role in

Amidst rumours thAt former iCiCi BAnk’s kV kAmAth mAy BeCome the next finAnCe minister, he And his women BAnker proteges Are CAught in sCAndAlous whirlpools

KamaTh, Kochhar, Kalpana & oThers



these dubious loans to the Videocon Group was of complicity. He was on some of the ICICI committees that sanctioned `3,250 crore to the Mumbai-based group, which included the `300 crore mentioned above. “These loans have turned nPA result-ing in wrongful loss to ICICI Bank, and wrongful gain to borrowers and accused persons. The role of these senior officers (including Kamath) of the sanctioning committee may also be investigated,” said the CBI probe report.

SUBSEQUEnTLY, Kochhar was disgracefully removed from ICICI Bank. An internal probe

panel, which was headed by a retired judge, found her guilty, and she was sacked. Based on the findings, the bank “decided to take back all bonuses given to her between April 2009 and March 2018, and also revoke all ben-efits and stock options”. The panel concluded that Kochhar was unable to deal with issues related to “conflict of interest and due disclosure of recusal requirements” in the bank’s dealings with the Videocon Group.

However, the links between Kamath and Kochhar are deep-rooted and go back a long way. In 2009, when he was an established name, and decided to step down as the ICICI head, his four women stood a fair chance to grab the coveted post. Kochhar got the job, which angered the others, who felt that they were equally talented, if not more than her. Once she was at the helm of affairs in May 2009, it was inevitable that the move would lead to the inevitable exits of the other women competitors.

It happened sooner than expected. Sharma and Ramnath immediately left to redraw their new destinies—the

former landed at Axis Bank, and the latter launched a private equity firm. Morparia, the more sober of the quar-tet, retired as ICICI director, and had a peaceful stint at JP Morgan. The trio’s final trajectories were somewhat dif-ferent—recently, Sharma was asked to leave, Morparia gracefully retired, and Ramnath successfully and profitably sold her firm’s stakes in nine of the 11 ventures it had funded.

Given the current controversies at Axis Bank, and the manner in which Sharma exited from the bank, this is a more intriguing story, which impli-cates and engulfs Kamath indirectly. In the recent past, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office summoned Sharma to seek information on how the controversial nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi borrowed ̀ 12,600 crore from a clutch of banks, including Axis Bank, without proper documents. The duo flew out of the country around the time the scam broke out.

Sharma’s bank extended `700 crore without the verification of the Letter of Undertaking (LoU), a form of bank guarantee, furnished by the borrow-ers. The LoU turned out to be a fake, as did the other documents deposited by the duo at the other banks. Other senior bankers of Axis Bank were called by the SFIO, apart from those in 30 other banks. The Modi-Choksi epi-sode reeks of gross mismanagement, and the lack of checks and balances. There were other incidents that put Axis Bank in the dock.

The national Company Law Tribunal wishes to know how Ramesh Chandra Bawa, a key official of the IL&FS Group, which went bankrupt recently, and his family members were allowed to withdraw money from their bank accounts, and assets from their lockers, both in Axis Bank, even

Kamath, chanda Kochhar, the former head of icici bank, and shikha sharma, the former top honcho of axis bank, are being investigated for corruption, nepotism, and mismanagement. renuka ramnath, who managed private equity firm, and Kalpana Morparia, who peacefully retired recently from JP Morgan, are the other protégés, who had their share of controversies


Who is Kamath?Since 1996, when he returned from his stint in

Asian Development Bank to head icici Bank, Kundapur Vaman Kamath was acclaimed as the

country’s super-banker with concrete links with india’s politics, and within india inc. His banking prowess is proved by the fact that in the 1990s, he quickly grasped the concept of ‘universal banking’. To expand and thrive in the post-reforms era, a bank had to exit its project-finance mindset, i.e. fund private and state projects, ad get into other areas.

Two areas that appealed to Kamath in the late 1990s and 2000s were infrastructure – a growing middle and aspiration class would demand better roads, highways, airports, etc – and retail – a

consumption boom would follow as indians had more money to spend on houses, cars, and consumer goods. He was bang on the spot and, during his tenure as icici head between 1996 and 2009 the bank’s assets grew from a mere `21,000 crore to an unimaginable `380,000 crore – 17 times in 14 years.

in the 2000s, india inc celebrated Kamath as its poster boy. The latter represented the business community’s views on finance, manufacturing, and other policies to make india’s a global hub. no strategy meeting among businesses, especially at the national level, was complete without the super-banker. Kamath found himself as a member of several committees that prepared a futuristic blueprint for the indian economy. His stature within india inc, and among family businesses, was most visible in 2005.

When the two warring Ambani siblings, elder Mukesh and Anil, decided to split the business empire in less than three years after their father’s (Dhirubhai) death, Kamath was the brothers’ “mutually-agreed arbitrator”. More importantly, this was known publicly, and was reported in the media. it showed the banker’s power and influence that india’s first business family, the richest and wealthiest, had approached him to sort out its personal affairs. He was regarded more as a family member by the Ambani clan.

Kamath’s brush with politics started quite early, when his father entered politics and became the Mayor of Mangalore. When he returned to icici in the mid-1990s, he assiduously built his political contacts. He was known to be close to several prime ministers and finance ministers from both sides of the political fence. it was, therefore, not surprising that his proximity with congress’ P. chidambarm didn’t dissuade the Modi regime to appoint him as the head of the BRicS Bank for a period of five years.

now, Kamath has returned back from another foreign stint. The last time, he took over as the head of icici Bank; this time, will it be as the nation’s financial head—the finance minister of india?



after the tribunal froze them. The Enforcement Directorate is interested how the bank was involved in the modus operandi by which a coopera-tive society illegally transferred `2,000 crore abroad through shell companies.

Bankers and observers contend that Sharma’s tenure as the head of Axis Bank – from 2009 to 2018 – was one of the worst in recent banking history. “not only was the performance of the bank pathetic in her final years, she was responsible for a culture that pro-moted marketing that led to poor operational risk controls, and lapses in Know-Your-Customer protocols. The bank was involved in money launder-ing during demonetization,” claims Hemindra Hazari, a registered research analyst.

HE adds that if anyone raised a voice internally against such malpractices, he or she was

promptly silenced. This is evident from the manner in which Axis Bank dealt with whistle blowers. They were persecuted and shunted out. “The bank used the draconian ‘Clause 3.5 of the Bank’s Staff Rules’ that enables it to terminate any employee without a reason. Such whistle blowers were, obviously, unable to find employment elsewhere. Thus, employees were indi-rectly warned that they could not point out regulatory lapses.”

Although Sharma left in 2018, the bank has tottered financially because of her corrupt legacy. In the last quar-ter, it incurred a huge loss of `1,388 crore, which was in contradiction to the market estimate of a profit of `1,478 crore. Obviously, the culprit was the provisioning of a whopping `7,730 crore for future non-perform-ing assets. The bulk of these included loans to MSMEs, which were disrupt-ed by government policies like demon-

etization and GST, and health disasters like Covid-19.

Clearly, the RBI was aware that Sharma’s tenure had taken the bank to the edge of a financial abyss. The turnaround was possible only if she was forced to go, and a new person was appointed in her place. By December 2017, Axis Bank’s bad loans soared more than five times to 5.28 percent, compared to the 1.01 percent when Sharma joined it. In 2015-16 and 2016-17, the RBI discovered that the mismatch between the actual

nPAs, and what were declared by the banks, were `9,400 crore and `4,800 crore, respectively.

Hence, it wasn’t surprising that Sharma’s exit was bizarre. In July 2017, she was recommended for a three-year re-appointment by the bank’s board, which was effective from July 2018. But given the state of financial affairs, it is reported that the central bank intervened, and urged the bank to reconsider its decision. It wasn’t unu-sual that Sharma announced that she would wish the three years to be

The links between Kamath and Kochhar are deep-rooted and go back a long way. in 2009, when he was an established name, and decided to step down as the icici head, his four women stood a fair chance to grab the coveted post. Kochhar got the job, which angered the others, who felt that they were equally talented, if not more than her. Once she was at the helm of affairs in May 2009, it was inevitable that the move would lead to the inevitable exits of the other women competitors


based businessman, who has several scores to settle against Kamath.

However, as we know, Kamath has the uncanny ability to land himself at the right spot at the right time. He was there to emerge as India’s super-banker in the 2000s. Despite his close connections with the Congress, the current prime minister appointed him to head the BRICS Bank, which was an important post in the international finance arena. now that he is back, who knows what he can conjure, what rabbit he can pull out of his hat? It is easy to write off Kamath; it isn’t easy to write him off for a long time. g

reduced to seven months, i.e. until December 2018. It was a face-saver. As usual, the RBI agreed to such an option.

Unlike Kochhar and Sharma, Ramnath and Morparia maintained their professional statures. But the latter two too were involved in past controversies when they were part of the ICICI Group. Morparia was actively involved in one of the turnaround strategies of Dabhol Power, a contentious power company that was promoted by the US-based

Unlike Kochhar and sharma, ramnath and Morparia maintained their professional statures. but the latter two too were involved in past controversies when they were part of the icici Group. Morparia was actively involved in one of the turnaround strategies of Dabhol Power, a contentious power company that was promoted by the Us-based Enron, which went belly-up due to corruption, mismanagement, and doctoring of financial accounts

adequate cash. There was an agree-ment, which left Sharma to blaze a new path in private equity circles.

In lieu of this background—Kamath and two of his women protégés are embroiled in recent scandals, and two had not-so-squeaky clean past, a few media reports have questioned if Prime Minister Modi will appoint such a controversial person as the new FM. It is known that Modi is extreme-ly careful and cagey about his image, and tries to distance himself from scams. In fact, he tries to monitor and

Enron, which went belly-up due to corruption, mismanagement, and doctoring of financial accounts. As many other such moves, this turnaround failed after a few years.

As Sharma got ready to quit ICICI Ventures, she was embroiled in a legal spat with the Azim Premji Group. The latter charged that the private equity wing of ICICI sold shares of Shubiksha, a physical retail chain, just before it keeled over. Sharma denied the accu-sations, and maintained that there was nothing wrong with the financial health of Shubiksha, which went into turmoil because of its inability to raise

regulate senior cabinet ministers, especially those whose family mem-bers are involved in businesses.

SUCH articles speculate that there may other reasons why Kamath’s name crops up at regular inter-

vals. One of them is to make sure that he never gets the coveted post. In the past, it was revealed that if a person’s name was mentioned in the media for a specific job, it was instantly scuttled by their enemies. The second is that some of the stories that mentioned Kamath’s name were published by an entity that was close to a Mumbai-

GOVERNANCEpolicy impact


sTrengThening social

enTerpriseecosysTem

Need for systemic support from the Government



Our societal challenges are enormous. The trinity of the government, market and civil society now need to work together rationally through a structure which has the heart of a social organisation and head of a business entity to hold hand with the government to address our massive societal problems with much needed scale, speed and sustainability. Social Enterprises (SE) are the answer to this. Sensing the pulse, the government has already announced a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) in the budget speech in July 2019 at an opportune time. This also comes with a huge responsibility to build right ecosystem for SE in India. It also necessary to make the stakeholders aware of the market functions of a Social Enterprise, and the roles critical to the government in bringing distinct value in different market sub-segments of social impact investment.

by jyotSna Sitling and bibhu MiShra

THE world faces several challenges today. Businesses in the pursuit of maximising profits and shareholders’ value have already done lot of damage to the environment and society. On the top of it is the ‘rising inequality’. If we talk about

India, in 2018, top 10 per cent of India’s population got 55 per cent of all income and the bottom 50 per cent shared only 15 per cent (World Inequality Report 2018)1 of the income.

Figure 1 suggests that inequality is rising in India at a much faster rate as compared to the USA, China, Europe and even Russia. More importantly, although it is true that millions came out of poverty and share of middle class in total population has grown consistently in India between 2006 and 2016 according to Un2 study, the major concern is that our ranking in Human Development Index is still 129 (out of 189 countries, 2019)3. Similarly, our performance on the status of environment is much appalling. We are ranked 177 out of 180 countries (2018) in Environment Performance Index4. The rising inequality will sharpen further in the post COVID world. This clearly shows that businesses have to find ways which are more inclusive and tries to balance people, planet and profit. This alternate business model gaining momentum across the globe is that of Social Enterprises.

WhaT IS a SOCIaL EnTErPrISE?In simple terms, Social Enterprises are businesses that have a revenue-generating model. Therefore, they cannot be categorised as charity or philanthropy. They re-invest most of their profits into the cause for which the enterprise is existing and do not focus on multiplying shareholder’s money value. They, therefore, are different from traditional businesses. And most importantly, their primary focus is on social and environmental good. However, there is no universally accepted definition of an SE. SE is not new In

1 https://wir2018.wid.world/files/download/wir2018-full-report-english.pdf 2 https://www.in.undp.org/content/india/en/home/sustainable-development/

successstories/MultiDimesnionalPovertyIndex.html 3 http://hdr.undp.org/en/content/2019-human-development-index-ranking 4 https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu/epi-topline?country=



India, but the scale is not there. A number of mutual profit and non-profit organisations registered as a Cooperative, Trust, Society and Section 8 Company in India are unto social business, addressing the challenges of access, affordability and assurance of societal products and services to the needy public.

WhaT IS a SOCIaL STOCk ExChanGE?Social Stock Exchanges (SSE) are different from traditional stock exchanges in multiple ways. Most importantly, they do not facilitate the trading of shares. The most important function of a SSE could be to act as a platform for SEs and ‘Impact Investors’. Impact Investors are investors who are not only interested in financial returns but also focus on social and environmental return. They invest mostly in SEs having direct societal impact, or in socially and/or environmentally responsible businesses and projects that prevent negative impact on people and planet. The impact measurement globally has been characterised by

prominence of metrics, certifications and ratings built on robust assessment systems and measurement systems. This has largely benefited the market by allowing investors to compare and accordingly invest in social businesses by assessing their potential impact. Brookings India 2019 report cautions that although it will be prudent to look into methods and instruments from global best practices for channelising the resources, it will be equally critical to examine several aspects/ externalities of the Indian market on impact focused take up from a policy standpoint.

SSE anD naTurE Of SErvICESGlobally, SSEs have been set up in more than ten countries. The prominent SSEs are in UK, Canada, USA, South Africa, Singapore and Mauritius. The ambit of functions of SSE differ widely with respect to:(i) types of organisations listed—‘for profit’ vs non-profit;(ii) services offered—directory only, matching funders and

organisations and providing for direct online fund raising;

Source: https://wir2018.wid.world/files/download/wir-presentation.pdf

Figure 1: Income inequality rises almost everywhere, but at different speeds


(iii) abilities to trade securities;(iv) methodology for accreditation of organisations and

investors; and,(v) ability of retail investors to participate5. (Roopa Kudwa

and Raahil Rai, 2019).

ThE fOunDaTIOnaL rOLE Of ThE GOvErnMEnT As SEBI is on the task to develop a regulatory framework for SSE operations in India, there is a need now for the government to be involved in multiple layers of intervention that can address supply development, directing capital and demand development through policies, regulations and direct participation in the market (Brookings India, 2019). This is important, especially at this challenging COVID times, to instill the faith in Impact Investors to make effective investments and build morale of Social

5 https://www.business-standard.com/article/markets/designing-a-social-stock-exchange-119082500004_1.html

Entrepreneurs and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) to address refractive social problems with immediate support signal from the government. The key roles that are important at this foundational stage are as under:

Educate market participants: The purpose is to broaden the ecosystem and deepen the knowledge of the sector through education, training and awareness about market players. This could be done through massive targeted campaigns using fiscal neutral resources of the banking sector.

Regulatory reforms for introducing innovative financing instruments that can trigger wide cross sector partnerships to scale up the proven social programs and innovate new social business through SE would need more primary, secondary and applied research on scale and characteristics of SEs in India. Above (from Col 2 to Col 4) is the spectrum of SEs in India. The totally non profits are ( Col1 and CSR of Col 2)

Non-Profit w/o business Activity

Non-Profit Business Activity

Supported Business with Social Purpose

Pvt. Ltd. with Social Purpose

Large Pvt / Pub. Ltd with significant

CSR activity

1 2 3 4 5

Purpose Social Social Social Social Financial

Commercial Activity

None Somewhat significant

Significant Critical Critical

Resource Base

Subsidies / Grants / Donation / Volunteers (SGDV)

SGDV Commercial Activity Income

SGDV Commercial Activity Income

Income from commercial activities

Income from commercial activities

Profits None Reinvesting in Social Purpose

Reinvesting in social purpose

Reinvestment, Div. Distribution

Reinvestment, Div. Dist., Donation

Category / E.g.

Charity organisations

Arvind Eye Care Section 8 company(Eklavya Foundation)

BASIX Ltd., Narayana Hirdayaya, Microfinance Co

Tatas, Mahindras

Not profit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Profit (CSR)



foster social business: The purpose is to design and implement government policies and programmes to improve the social impact investment ecosystem. This can be done through introducing innovative financing (both debt and equity) instruments / products to trigger partnerships and convergence and promoting robust diverse intermediaries for developing optimum traction for social investment.

Strengthen demand side through public commissioning: Public commissioning of services to SEs would require sensitisation and awareness of govt/ public sector on SE policies and ecosystem players and putting administrative practices in place that allows SEs to better work with govt/ public sector. The government should also revisit procurement guidelines for SEs by laying social conditions for public procurement, for example, Public Procurement Policy for MSEs Order, 2018, under Section 11 of MSMED Act, 2006.

Co-build impact audit system for convergence, efficiency and cost effective growth: Apart from becoming a repository of SEs and Impact Investors, SSE platform can become more investment friendly by integrating MIS on recent developments and best practices using AI and machine learning. This needs close collaboration of SEBI with relevant social / business / people / academic institutions / research organisations. The complexity and cost of handling impact audit can also be reduced if the government’s social data (MoSPI), environmental data (MoEFCC & MnRE), business data and CSR data (MCA & MSME), and nGO data and Aspirational District Programme data (nITI Aayog) can be reviewed and be made usable for seamless and authentic confirmation of impact. More importantly, this would help build co-ownership of private, government and CSO to tackle emergent societal problems with much needed scale and speed.

attend specific current barriers and / or opportunities in the social impact investment market: There is a need for identifying and targeting specific current barriers and/ or opportunities in the social impact investment market. Small social organisations in transition need more types of blended capital. It is also seen that retail investors are seeking social value but more mainstream social pension opportunities (e.g. national Pension Scheme) need to adapt and capture this interest.

Inequality is rising in India at a much faster rate as compared to the USA, China, Europe and even Russia... It will sharpen further in the post COVID world. This clearly shows that businesses have to find ways which are more inclusive and tries to balance people, planet and profit. This alternate business model gaining momentum across the globe is that of Social Enterprises


SYSTEMIC SuPPoRT oF GoVT. FoR SCALABILITY

Political

Legal

Regulatory

Financial

and other system changes

Catalyze stakeholders at demand, supply and intermediary

level for scalability through tandem participation of state, market

and civil society organizations’

mandate

Strategic alliance

Collaboration

Convergence

Advocacy

NEED FoR A CENTRAL NETWoRKED BoDY (CNB) To ACT AS GRoWTH CENTRE FoR SoCIAL ENTERPRISE

Government will be able close a full circle of its novel initiative on inclusive investment through

SSE by instituting a Growth Centre for Social investment.

COnCLuSIOnGiven the need to catalyse the market for the social business at a massive scale, especially at this hour, the need has been felt to have a central networked body under public, private and civil society partnership to be developed as Growth Centre for Social Enterprise and Social Impact Bonds. The role of this Centre would be to provide strategic guidance to leverage State, Market and CSOs’ resources and expertise for impact and recommend supportive policies, institutions and instruments in promoting social businesses. In addition, the monitoring of results and addressing of capacity needs will be a cross cutting role of this organisation.

Taking into consideration the challenge of encompassing convergence function to build the market for social business, it will be vital to bring in relevant social, business, people, academic institutions and research organisations as partners for developing the Growth Centre. Equally important would be to identify the collaborative role of these organisations

and the expected outcome of such collaborations in terms of catalysing the social impact market on the ground. Collaboration with the state governments would also be required for necessary policy and programme convergence to give meaningful results.

Given the multi-stakeholder nature of the proposed Growth Centre and its potential in catalysing cross sector partnerships to foster inclusive growth, a Task Force (think tank) could be formed at the highest level in the government to come up with recommendations on the functions and the institutional architecture of the proposed Growth Centre. g

(The views of the Authors are personal) (Jyotsna Sitling is Indian Forest Service officer presently posted as

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Van Panchayat, in Uttarakhand Forest Department.

Bibhu Mishra currently works with The Global Education & Leadership Foundation and previously was a German Chancellor Fellow with

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation based at Humboldt University, Berli

GOVERNANCEmarkets gs sood


PRECIOUS metals espe-cially gold and silver are likely to see heightened action emerging as the most sought-after investment

avenues in the uncertain post Covid-19 scenario. Governments of most countries and leading central banks of the world have unleashed liquidity in abundance to tackle the economic slowdown resulting from the virtual absence of all economic activities due to the pandemic. Major resources have been diverted to spruce up medi-cal facilities so that fatalities resulting from the pandemic can be minimised. Also, liquidity infusion had become necessary to generate demand and reignite economic activities so that incidence of unemployment and pov-erty can be minimised.

However, as has been observed ear-lier also, such liquidity has a tendency to flow more towards risky assets such as equities resulting in a bull run, as witnessed after each such economic crisis. Markets world over, including India, have in fact been witnessing such a momentum during the months of April, May and in fact extending well to the beginning of June despite no meaningful economic activity starting as yet. But it is precious metals that are likely to witness a big momen-tum in the coming days due to the fact that most health experts have not only

been talking of the disease persisting for a longer period than expected but also the fact that there are going to be second and third waves of the pan-demic that may be deadlier than what has been witnessed till date.

Investments in precious metals can primarily be made in two ways—with investors either preferring to buy them in physical form or going for the paper version of the same such as Sovereign Gold Bonds issued by the Reserve Bank of India. The second option not only gives the investor the comfort of buying such metals online avoiding all the hassles and risks relating to stor-age. Also, the governments of most countries encourage investments in this format as it enables them to only control the physical demand of such metals that may be extremely difficult for them to meet but also channelise such money for more productive pur-poses thereby giving a boost to eco-nomic growth. The money spent to buy precious metals that are stored in physical form practically goes out of circulation and remains largely unpro-ductive. Also, Sovereign Gold Bonds has the added advantage of investors earning an interest annually besides the assurance of getting the price of the gold on the date of maturity. However, gfiles based on the survey of some investors, has been surprised to observe a trend that is different this

time. It has been observed that inves-tors are keener to buy physical metal than the paper one. The reasons cited were increased uncertainties in the future and avoidance of lock-in peri-od, etc., that comes with the paper form of investment.

Besides informal channels, inves-tors are most likely to transact in these precious metals through any of the major multi-commodity exchanges functioning in the country. However, some of the incidents regarding the functioning of these exchanges and the regulatory lapses on the part of SEBI have shaken the confidence of not only the investors but the trading members as well in the recent past. To quote Hindu Business Line of August 12, 2019, “Gold prices rose to over Rs 38,000 per 10 gram. This resulted in record delivery of contracts traded on the MCX. But the exchange had to hike its insurance cover for gold over-night to manage the delivery. MMTC-PAMP, a bullion refinery that tried to deliver the contracts, faced hurdles as one of the bullion vaults first sought adequate cover. It was feared that trad-ers seeking delivery of Gold may not have adequate capital as it was for the first time that such a huge amount of metal was marked for delivery. The MCX witnessed record delivery of 5,158 kg (valued at Rs 1,821 crore) in August 2019 delivery.”

Contrary to previous trends and what governments prefer, it has been observed that investors are keener

to buy physical metal than the one of paper

big metal momentum


ening to as much as around 10 per cent. In fact, in the recent past, espe-cially in US and UK, there has been a genuine dearth of physical gold and silver. This may prompt many inves-tors going long on these precious met-als to insist for delivery on the settle-ment day. According to rough esti-mates, the paper gold to physical gold ratio is around 200 to 250 and that of paper silver to silver is more than 250.

As against gold, silver has hundreds of industrial uses where it gets used in very tiny amounts that eventually end up in waste/garbage piles. To quote Mike Maloney again, at the current

There are concerns that such a sce-nario may get repeated in near future. There can be several reasons people may prefer to take physical delivery of gold and silver. Legendry author Mike Maloney in his much celebrated book “Guide to Investing in Gold & Silver” talks of some of the reasons that tilt investor preference for buying gold and silver in physical form. They are:1. Gold and silver are the only assets

that have never failed because of their inherent value that will never fall to zero.

2. They are financial assets completely private and not part of the financial system. Even real estate requires transfer of title. Gold and silver do not.

3. They are one of the few financial assets that are not simultaneously someone’s liability. Stocks, bonds, and derivatives require the perfor-mance of issuer or counterparty. Even cash requires the performance of the government that issues it to have value. If a government fails, so does its currency. Gold and silver never fail.

4. They can be wholly owned. Even owning real estate requires pay-ment of property tax regularly.

5. They are safe haven investments that rise during economic upheaval, war, terrorism, and natural disaster.

6. They have proven track record of performing well in inflation.

7. Physical gold and silver are money in and of themselves. With high value density, they have the same value for a unit.

Also, it is observed that over a peri-od, investors have been experiencing increasing divergence between the price of physical gold and silver than what is quoted by most exchanges in the country. The gap is seen to be wid-

taste of something similar, though not in case of precious metals but for crude oil.

According to a Bloomberg report of April 27, 2020, the benchmark nymex crude for May settlement tumbled from $13 abarrel to minus $37.63 at close on April 20. For brokers in India tracking WTI crude oil prices for trad-ing on MCX, it was a double whammy. not only was the exchange not pre-pared for negative prices, but they were also locked out of trading at 5.00 p.m. as SEBI had curtailed trading hours during lockdown. Despite nymex alerting about the possibility of prices to fall below zero and asking its members including MCX to pre-pare for it, it didn’t pay heed; neither did brokers nor the regulator in India. Three brokers—Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd, Religare Broking Ltd, and PMC Securities Ltd—have dragged MCX, its clearing corporation, and SEBI to the Bombay High Court for the losses citing trad-ing restrictions and inadequate risk management.

The moot question is, are commod-ity exchanges such as MCX and regu-latory authorities such as SEBI pre-pared for an eventuality of this kind so that the faith of investors in the smooth functioning of commodity exchanges is not shaken again and investors do not suffer due to the lack-adaisical attitude of the regulator. A detailed query by gfiles about what steps both SEBI and MCX have initi-ated to ensure that the prices of these metals are not rigged as also the ability of the concerned commodity exchang-es to honour all obligations without disrupting normal functioning in the event of a large number of investors insisting on actual delivery has remained unanswered despite several reminders. g

There is concern about the ability of

commodity exchanges to honor

all obligations without disrupting normal functioning in the event of a large number of

investors insisting on actual delivery

rate of usage, the time that above-ground stocks of silver would last if all mining activity were to cease is now down to just four months. All this implies that in the coming times laden with lots of uncertainties, the price of gold and silver may move up beyond the expectations of most of us. The unexpected volatility in the prices of precious metals may pose challenges for both the commodity exchanges as well as the regulators. It is only very recently that the regulator has got a

TALKTIMEsir mark philip sedwill


Over a year since your appointment, what are your principal reflections on your role and how the different aspects of it intersect?It has certainly been an extraordinary last 12 months. I have one role that combines being Head of the Civil Service and national Security Adviser, as well as Cabinet Secretary. I have found that the issues I deal with engage at least two of those at any one time.

To give an example, one thing we needed to do when Boris Johnson became Prime Minister was to supercharge the work on no-deal planning, which was essential because of the commitment to leave, one way or the other. That required a

Sir Mark Philip Sedwill, KcMG FRGS, is a British diplomat, public policy analyst and senior civil servant who has serving as cabinet Secretary and Head of

the civil Service since 2018. He has served as the national Security Adviser since 2017. He previously served as the United Kingdom's Ambassador to Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010 and as the nATO Senior civilian Representative in Afghanistan in 2010. He was the Permanent Secretary at the Home Office from February 2013 to April 2017. Sedwill was born in ealing on October 21, 1964. He attended Bourne Grammar School in Bourne, Lincolnshire, becoming the head boy. He went to the University of St Andrews, where he gained a Bachelor of Science (BSc), and later gained a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in economics from St edmund Hall, Oxford.

sir mark philip sedwill


political debate. That’s probably the most pleasing aspect, and is, I believe, down to two things.

One is, when we’ve been dealing with the issues in the headlines, we’ve absolutely maintained those core values of honesty, integrity, impartiality and objectivity. Second—and perhaps even more importantly—the fact that, every day, civil servants get on with the job of running frontline public services and looking after their fellow citizens. And they do it brilliantly—often in a way summed up by a word that doesn’t appear in the formal values, but which is absolutely critical to how public servants operate, with ‘compassion’.

For most of the civil servants dealing with the public, compassion is

great deal of work in Cabinet, with ministers and others, to make sure they really understood the issues, and could focus on the big decisions they needed to take.

At the same time, we had the duty of communicating with the Civil Service. First, to engage the energy and enthusiasm of those people working directly on the preparatory work—quite a large group of people in itself. And then to say to the wider Civil Service—the huge majority, who deal daily with issues in social care, immigration and all the other frontline services—to be aware that, while many of their colleagues were working flat out on EU Exit, we relied on them to keep going with their own vital work.

What has most impressed you about the Civil Service response to your focus on teamwork, impact and trust, and the challenges we have faced in the last year?I think those messages have landed pretty well. I was trying to find a way of describing those priorities that was meaningful and felt relevant, whether I was talking to a Permanent Secretary in Whitehall, or to a civil servant on the front line in any and every part of the country.

In many ways the most impressive thing I’ve seen is that public trust in the Civil Service continues to rise and is now at record levels—particularly impressive when the Civil Service has sometimes been drawn into the

We need to be part of a whole range of changes, and the challenge for the Civil Service is to make sure it’s fit to play

its role in the 2020s and beyond. And we should be leading that effort ourselves, generating our own ideas, to

be sure, but also looking internationally at the best practice and asking, what can we learn? says Sir Mark Sedwill,

Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, united Kingdom, in an interview with Simon Holder

‘We need to plan across the system, focus on outcomes’



at least as important as those central values. I think that’s the thing that I’ve seen most. And, of course, it has an impact—one that’s most effectively delivered when people are operating effectively as part of a team.

There has been media reporting around Civil Service impartiality. How does that make you feel?It’s frustrating, but we can’t be completely immune from the wider public and political debate. One of the things I said in a message across the Civil Service was that Brexit is a

polarising issue. That is a fact. It’s not like other political issues. It wasn’t that people agreed or disagreed about, say, the role of the state in the economy, where people have lots of different views. It was a binary proposition. And, as I said at the time, civil servants, as citizens, weren’t immune from that.

Inevitably, every institution was being drawn into the debate. It would have been virtually impossible for the Civil Service—particularly in Whitehall—when the country’s going through something that significant, and the political temperature is

that high, not to find ourselves drawn in, even if we didn’t step into the debate ourselves.

However, I do believe the wider Civil Service was largely immune from it. Whitehall is probably only 10 per cent of the Civil Service organisation.

It is frustrating to hear civil servants’ impartiality being questioned, because I simply don’t think it’s true. I genuinely don’t know—and don’t need to know—how civil servants voted in the referendum. Some of our most talented people, at all grades, of all


now have a government with a strong majority to deliver Brexit. So our priorities and challenges are about helping the government deliver on its agenda more broadly, through the Brexit inflection point. But there’s also the considerable economic reorientation as we change our trading relationship with the EU and build new trading relationships with other big countries and markets. It’s a significant economic challenge for the whole country, and we have to help businesses and citizens navigate their way through it.

Then, we have the commitments on

need exceptional change leadership. We will also need people whose EQ—their emotional intelligence— is at least as good as their IQ, to deal with those citizens who need our support and are often least equipped to navigate the complexities of state provision.

And, of course, we need people who can deal with the wider global issues that come along. Just consider the last few decades: the fall of the Berlin Wall, 9/11, the Arab Spring—events that essentially defined their decades but weren’t anticipated. Part of what the public service must be

There’s also the considerable economic reorientation as we change our trading relationship with the EU and build new trading relationships with other big countries and markets. it’s a significant economic challenge for the whole country, and we have to help businesses and citizens navigate their way through it

agenda, delivering more and more services to the bulk of the people in the country through digital means.

And—I mentioned compassion earlier—we need to ensure that we wrap around our services in a more holistic way, particularly the acute services that people in the most challenging circumstances—and those with complex needs—require.

So, we’ve got to make sure our services and our operating model moves in two directions—these two channel shifts at once. That’s a huge transformation programme. It will be part of the Spending Review and we’ll

ages, from all parts of the country, absolutely threw themselves into the Brexit project, supporting the government and delivering its policy, whether it was in DExEU (The Department for Exiting the European Union) in the teams in the Cabinet Office, or now in the teams in no.10. So, in the end you think, well, that’s what’s real and important.

What do you see as the big challenges for the Civil Service over the next period?Our challenges, in a sense, are the same ones the government faces. We

climate action: net Zero carbon by 2050, but also climate adaptation. Huge programmes will be required to manage that adaptation, including in infrastructure. It will demand intense engagement with industry and the public, many of whom are already really engaged by the climate change issue and believe in the necessity for action.

We’ve also got the fourth, technological, industrial revolution and all the changes that’s going to bring. We’ve got dual channel shift within the Civil Service itself and other public services: the digital

able to do is adapt to whatever the next big event is—it could be economic, it could be political, it could happen overseas, but we have to be ready.

How do you think we can be better, organisationally and in the way we work, to meet those challenges?I’ve talked to the Prime Minister at length about civil and wider public service reform because it isn’t just about the Civil Service, it’s broader. And I’ve discussed the dual channel shift with both him and his advisers.



Alongside that are other questions: what is the employment model; what kind of people are we going to need, not now but in 2030? Because we’ve got to be recruiting now, and attracting, retaining and motivating. How do we shift more of the leadership and the Civil Service away from London, and use the public service as a whole as part of the engine driving the levelling-up agenda around the country?

There was an interesting piece in one of the Sunday newspapers recently from Andy Street and Andy Burnham, the metropolitan mayors of the West Midlands and Greater Manchester, from different parties, essentially talking about the infrastructure programme. The Civil Service needs to be involved in the regeneration of some of the big metropolitan areas. Moving people into hubs is part of that.

We need to be part of a whole range of changes, and the challenge for the Civil Service is to make sure it’s fit to play its role in the 2020s and beyond. And we should be leading that effort ourselves, generating our own ideas, to be sure, but also looking internationally at the best practice and asking, what can we learn?

We came top of the International Civil Service Effectiveness Index in 2019, which is very gratifying. But we came top in only one of the index’s dozen core indicators. And though we’re in the upper quartile of some, in other areas we aren’t. So we need to be asking ourselves what we can learn from Finland or Singapore or Canada or elsewhere, about digital delivery or some of the other areas where others do it better.

How do you see the Strategic Framework and the ‘fusion’

approach fitting into that long-term agenda of challenge and change?This is as much about government as the Civil Service per se, but we must be a big part of that agenda.

Essentially, the Strategic Framework is taking some of the lessons we’ve learnt in national Security, and from countries that do these things really well. new Zealand has pursued reforms of this kind for several years. They established a

goals around the wellbeing of the individual citizen. These relate to the inclusiveness of communities, the safety of individuals, whether they can go about their daily lives in the way that they want and get the education they need, is crime being tackled in their areas, and so on. You have a whole series of issues around security and safety, and around sustainability and the environment, and then a set of issues around the country’s role and influence in the

national Performance Framework, which doesn’t just, for example, take data on unemployment, inflation or economic growth, but looks across other areas of government activity and asks: how well are we doing across the board?

The Wellbeing Index introduced under the Cameron government is an example of that approach, but we need to look more broadly. The Strategic Framework is really saying, we have a series of economic goals, set by government. Then we have

world. And what we’re saying is, we need to judge how we’re doing as a government and as a country, not on purely economic criteria but against those broader measures.

That’s one part of the change that’s needed. The second part is about building the horizontal structures that are as strong as the traditional vertical structures of government departments. It’s been attempted before, by trying to turn the vertical into the horizontal, and that hasn’t worked. It’s one of the areas where we

Just consider the last few decades: the fall of the berlin Wall, 9/11, the arab spring—events that essentially defined their decades but weren’t anticipated. Part of what the public service must be able to do is adapt to whatever the next big event is—it could be economic, it could be political, it could happen overseas, but we have to be ready


need collaborative effort across government. Climate action is probably the biggest single example, but there are others. If you want to cut crime, you need a whole range of social policy actors, as well as the criminal justice system, to do that. If you want to tackle homelessness, then you’re dealing with the healthcare system as much as you’re dealing with housing and street crime, and so on.

There are many big issues that involve several departments. We need

all of our capabilities, to bear.It’s then about system leadership to

deliver, and that’s about ensuring that we are engaging the wider public service, as well as the private and third sectors.

I have noticed that, if you get a group of public servants together from different organisations, and create the conditions for them to work as a team, across boundaries, where their expertise is respected, on a common problem—let’s say, the

removing barriers and giving them permission. That’s what resetting the relationship between Whitehall, the wider Civil Service and the wider public service is all about.

Can we continue to rely on the public service ethos to attract and retain civil servants; and what can we do to reduce staff movement within and out of the service, which has attracted criticism?I think the criticism has some point. You can see turnover if, for example, the offices of different departments in the same city pay different rates. And though you see more turnover in Whitehall, again, we mustn’t confuse Whitehall, which accounts for only about 10 per cent of the entire workforce, with the Civil Service as a whole. And it’s also true that in certain specialisms, people don’t tend to move. But that doesn’t mean the criticism’s not valid. It comes as much from civil servants themselves as from anyone outside.

I think there are structural factors. Pay is clearly one of them. A decade of pay restraint has made it harder and has incentivised some behaviours that are sensible for the individual but not in the interests of the organisation as a whole. If the only way of getting a pay increase at your grade is to move departments, or the only way to get promoted is to move jobs, then people will move. There is something about those embedded incentives we need to address.

Personally, as we make the channel shift, I would like to see more processes handled by automation, AI and intelligent software. This means that, overall, we will probably need fewer people. And our turnover means that we can manage that in a

to plan across the system, focus on outcomes, get ministers and government to set the direction, align the funding and resources, and then put in place the structures to deliver the policy.

This doesn’t apply universally. Some things are better done by individual departments. But some things need to be done in a cross-cutting way. That’s what that part of a fusion approach is about—doing that in a purposeful way, bringing programme and campaign disciplines,

rehabilitation of offenders—they just love doing it. I saw this borne out recently, when the Public Service Leadership Group, convened by Cabinet Office, brought together senior civil servants from different disciplines, local authority officials, and representatives of other public sector bodies from across the country, at Wormwood Scrubs, specifically to address this issue.

Because most public servants are natural team players, it’s not actually about encouraging them, it’s about



smooth way; that we will be able to pay those people who we retain more. It means training them more. It means ensuring, in particular, that where we value EQ as much as IQ, we’re really equipping those people to do the job well.

There’s also something about whether we genuinely facilitate interchange with the third sector and private sector, or, in effect, say we do but put structural barriers in the way. In my own case, returning after a couple of years away at nATO, I recall feeling that more value could have been applied to the experience I’d gained.

Whether people go out to the private sector or the third sector, we need to get those things right.

We’re not likely to compete on pay, particularly in London, with the leading private sector organisations. But other parts of the Civil Service package are absolutely at the top of the employment offer table—on diversity, on flexible working, on pensions, and job security. People can join the Civil Service and know that, for example, the maternity and paternity leave offers are near or at the very best of any employer in the country.

It’s a competitive package. But the fundamental motivation for civil servants is going to be the public service ethos and doing something that is both worthwhile and really interesting. That’s got to be the core of our offer, always, while also being a great all-round employer.

Do you find it difficult to balance your personal and professional life?People never believe this, but, no, I really don’t.

To be clear, going back to where we

started this interview, I’ve only got one role. It has different facets, but that’s true of any big job. And the role of Cabinet Secretary has changed over the years, according to circumstances. Many of my predecessors did all of the things I’m doing—because they didn’t have national Security Advisers for most of that time—and were also, for example, Permanent Secretary for the Cabinet Office, running a single big institution.

You just have to manage the job in the way that works best for you. I tend

The third one I found particularly interesting: staying calm, and projecting that, helps the people around you stay calm. Even neuroscience tells you they perform better as a result. And sometimes the job is to steady things and keep your head.

Sometimes, the job is to steady things and keep your head.

If you could go back to when you entered the Civil Service and give yourself one piece of

to work long days and a short week. And I don’t live in London, so I can get away and be with my family. I think that’s so important. We live in a rural area. It’s a very different world to metropolitan London, and it gives me a different perspective on some of the issues I’m dealing with. I believe that’s part of where I add some value and helps me maintain a balance.

William Hague had a great line on leadership. He said it’s about three things: have big ideas and communicate them; pick a great team and trust them; and stay calm.

advice—or if you could give one piece of advice to someone just starting their Civil Service career—what would it be?I’ve genuinely never planned my career. My ambition wasn’t for particular positions, it was to be the person who set the standards in every job that I did. Then I’d look around to find what looked interesting, or fun: which country I would like to work in, and on what portfolio. I think it’s really important that you enjoy the journey, as well as focusing on the destination.


Perhaps I was very lucky, but I’ve really enjoyed every job I’ve done. So my advice is: be passionate. Make sure you do the things you can be passionate about and you’ll make a difference. And—after all—that’s why you’re here.

What policy has inspired you most during your time in the Civil Service and why?Mental health is a great example.

Let’s say someone is exhibiting a serious mental health crisis at the

the expertise of a mental health professional who has access to the individual’s records or might even know them? I’ve seen examples of this with street triage, where mental health professionals work alongside the police, and they’ve said, it’s OK, take them home, they’ll settle down, they aren’t going to self-harm. That’s better for the individual and less burden on the police.

The question is, how do you take that model and bring it to an industrial scale, structuring and

the citizen to navigate through the complexity of government.

How can we ensure that the Civil Service meets the target in the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy of becoming the UK’s most inclusive employer by 2020?This is an area where we need a sense of both urgency and patience.

It’s not something where you can say, with edicts from me, if we do the following three things everything will suddenly shift. Building a genuinely inclusive culture and a genuinely diverse workforce requires relentless commitment from everybody over many years. Of course, if there are opportunities to accelerate, to share best practice, we should do that. But we mustn’t think this is a simple challenge.

I’d make one other point. When you talk to civil servants, this is the issue where you can feel the energy levels rise, that this is the kind of Civil Service that people who choose public service as their way of life actually want to be part of. So it’s not about shifting the behaviours and values of the mass of civil servants. The will to create a diverse and inclusive community is absolutely in the DnA of the sort of people we select and promote. But we have to have the right structures and systems to enable that behaviour, that set of values—we don’t have to enforce it, but enable it. g

Courtesy ; Civil Service Quarterly, UK(Simon Holder is a Senior Campaign Manager and member of the Government Communication Service, working in the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office Communications, UK)

if you get a group of public servants together from different organisations, and create the conditions for them to work as a team, across boundaries, where their expertise is respected, on a common problem—let’s say, the rehabilitation of offenders—they just love doing it

weekend on the streets. The primary duty of police officers, who are likely to be first responders, is to ask: “Is that person a danger to themselves or their fellow citizens?” They might feel they have no choice but to detain that person. A police cell is probably not the best environment for that individual, but it may be the only place of safety they can use. They can’t be expected to judge whether it’s safe, for example, to take the person back home, because they might self-harm or worse.

But what if you can bring to bear

incentivising the police, social services, adult social care, the health service and so on, to make that the default way they operate.

There is a great example in the Troubled Families programme that Dame Louise Casey advanced. Some places around the country have really nailed that, with impressive results. Those are the kind of things where we can have a really powerful effect—and again it’s about multidisciplinary teamwork, where you wrap a set of interventions around the citizen, rather than asking

GLOBAL SCANrussia watch


by niVedita kapoor

in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the project of ‘Greater Eurasia,’ a partnership stretching from Atlantic to the Pacific and encompassing the countries of Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), the

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAn) and the European Union (EU). Despite the fact that Europe will also form a part of its Eurasian vision, it is a departure from the post-Soviet ambitions of establishing a Greater Europe from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

The cracks in the relationship with the West were building for some time, characterised by a deep dissatisfaction with the eastward expansion of nATO, and US’ unilateral military actions in vari-ous parts of the world, as it became clear that Russia did not accept the new world order that emerged at the end of the Cold War. The 2014 Ukrainian crisis and the resulting breakdown of ties with the West

have led to the conclusion that Russia is no longer looking at a future that includes integration with it.

While the European vector of Russian foreign policy remains important, the debate about Russian identity has now turned its focus towards the century old idea of Eurasian-ism. The concept looks at the geographical location of Russia as bestowing a unique position on the country and building its identity—that as a bridge between Europe and Asia.

This comes a few years after the much-publi-cised pivot to the East, for which the 2012 APEC summit in Vladivostok was considered to be the key event in heralding its launch. The focus on Asia-Pacific, which has been emerging as the new power centre in global affairs, was a chance to build a multi-vector policy with an increasingly impor-tant region, while also seeking to fulfil domestic economic development goals, especially in the Russian Far East.

As President Vladimir Putin faces one of the most critical challenges of his presidency—the Covid-19

pandemic—he will have to determine an effective way to advance foreign policy goals amid the crisis. This would entail balancing the strategic relationship with China, dealing with a growing bipolar rivalry, and its

impact on foreign policies of other countries

The bear flexes muscle





In recent years, as the relations with the US and Europe have deteriorated, the strategic partnership with China has gained significant ground, with the latter emerging as the key partner for Russia. The Putin period has also been characterised by an attempt

to build multilateral ties, including with non-Western groupings like BRICS, SCO, ASEAn, CSTO, RIC and most importantly, EAEU. It already occupies a permanent seat in the Un Security Council and believes the multilateral organisation should

bear the ‘primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.’

COnDuCT Of ruSSIan POLICyBased on the above discussion, it is clear that Russia has engaged itself in the task of building a new identity after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which stripped it off its superpower status. Since stabilising its economic situation in the 21st century, Moscow has turned its attention to expand-ing its foreign policy influence. The actions of the Russian leadership have revealed their intention to restore their country’s position as an impor-

While a significant amount of debate has focused on russian attempts to interfere with electoral processes in the West, and the use of ‘Private Military contractors (PMcs)’ in africa and Middle East, it is important to see how these actions fit into the broader strategy, and whether their eventual impact has been a net positive or negative for Moscow


major arms exporter, and permanent member of the Un Security Council, its economic strength and global out-reach leave a lot to be desired.

It is between its ambitions and actual capacities on the ground that one can find the rationale behind Russia’s foreign policy actions. While its traditional strengths have lent it to become an important player in certain regions, the same has not been true of other regions where Russia has struggled to present itself as an important player.

and expand Russian influence and repudiate Western values. Whether its actions have eventually led to achievement of its own goals has to be decided on a case-to-case basis, rather than a sweeping assessment of an overarching policy.

THIS is because of Russia’s current position as a middle power in the world system, and the fact that

its actions remain constrained by its own economic capacity and strength. While it remains a nuclear power,

tant player in global affairs, and a steady pursuit of the aim of being a great power.

While a significant amount of debate has focused on Russian attempts to interfere with electoral processes in the West, and the use of ‘Private Military Contractors (PMCs)’ in Africa and Middle East, it is impor-tant to see how these actions fit into the broader strategy, and whether their eventual impact has been a net positive or negative for Moscow.

In terms of an overall strategy, Russia has for the large part focused on preserving its national interests, followed a broadly pragmatic foreign policy with a desire to establish itself as a pivotal power in global affairs,

BID TO InCrEaSE InfLuEnCE

Arms sales

In the period 2015-19, Russia was the second highest arms-exporter in the world. This meant a global share of 21% versus the US share of 36%. The three leading importers of Russian arms were India, China and Algeria. As per SIPRI database, 57% of Russian arms exports went to Asia and Oceania followed by Middle East, Africa, Europe and Americas with 19, 17, 5.7 and 0.8%, respectively.

Accusations of attempted interference in elections of Western countries have also been made against Russia in recent years. Some of the prominent cases include France (2017) and US Presidential elections (2016). Disinformation campaigns have also been reported by Germany (2016) and UK during Brexit. In 2018, the UK government named two Russian citizens as suspects in the attempted murder of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury, UK. The UK and its other western allies expelled diplomats numbering in hundreds as a response to the act, leading to a similar action from Russians.

Recent western allegations against Russia

PMCs

Reports of use of Private Military Companies by Russia have been come in from Nigeria, Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Sudan and the Central African Republic.



For instance, Russia has been cred-ited with using its limited resources to its maximum capacity in the Middle East, where its intervention in Syria has made it the power to reckon with in resolution of the situation, and sig-nalled its return to the world stage. not only has Russia been able to fulfil its goals in the country, it has also used its success as a springboard to engage with various players in the region. These include building of bilateral relations with major regional players like Saudi Arabia, Israel, Iran, Turkey and Egypt.

in the Libyan conflict, it has actively coordinated with Turkey, managing to become a key player in the nego-

tiations between opposing sides. In the Middle East, Russia’s pragmatic foreign policy has been on full display, allow-ing it to engage on a transactional basis with other regional players. While it remains to be seen how this pans out in the long-term, it has helped Russia gain a foothold in the region.

These goals have been achieved both through skilful diplomacy, and optimum use of its military resources, which has greatly increased its stand-ing in the region. The Russian moves have also benefited from an absence of a coherent, viable strategy from the US, a vacuum Moscow has been glad to fill, sensing an opportunity to enhance its presence at the expense of Washington.

In Africa, Russia has been driven by economic, political, and security goals, leading it to convene the first ever Russia-Africa summit in 2019. Given its fairly limited economic strength in the region, Russia has turned to the security domain (arms sales/training and consultancy/use of PMCs (Private Military Contractors) to push for enhancing its presence

through ‘asymmetric’ means.It has also been argued that the use

of PMCs in Africa highlights the limit-ed ‘hard power capabilities and appe-tite for risk’ of Russia in the region. Also, their use has been pragmatic—‘to save costs, avoid military conscript casualties, and for reasons of plausi-ble deniability.’ Having lost its influ-ence in the region almost completely after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian turn to Africa remains at a low level currently, and fruitful engagement remains limited to a few regional states. This has also meant

that its adventurism in Madagascar to influence presidential elections ended in defeat of the candidates that Moscow had backed.

Russia’s geopolitical and geo-economic limitations are nowhere as evident as in Africa, where China, the US, EU, and Japan are established players with deep pockets, which severely curtails any grand plans in the region. While Russia has ambitions in Africa, given the recent nature of its forays in the region, it will be some time before the effectiveness of its engagement can be gauged, given the

internal stagnation, which makes russia a less attractive player for other states, will continue to be the biggest roadblock in achievement of its foreign policy ambitions. However, russian leadership is yet to implement the much-needed structural economic reforms


low priority it has been accorded in Russia’s strategic aims.

Russia’s ties with the EU, which touched a new low after the 2014 Ukrainian crisis, had been slowly fray-ing for some time over diverging val-ues and nATO expansion. The steady decline in relations with the US has only made it further difficult to strike any balance in the relationship, as strict economic sanctions continue to be imposed on Russia, both by the US and EU. Other incidents, including use of Russian security services for target-ed assassinations in European coun-tries, alleged support to the European Far Right, and information campaigns have only added to the mistrust, doing Moscow no favours in what is already a difficult situation.

Such incidents have often created more problems for Russia as com-pared to their relative gains. But the key problems are more deep-rooted than the use of the tactics mentioned above. But the breakdown of ties with

the EU in 2014 stemmed largely from the result of events in Ukraine and the downing of MH-17; it was a develop-ment that only added to other critical areas of divergence stemming from differing views on the future of the world order and its possible direction.

in fact, it is the ongoing churn in the emergence of a new world order that has complicated matters further

for Russian policy makers. Moscow is deeply cognizant of the complexity of the current international system, given that it has had to search and build an identity for itself amid this evolution. As the US-led liberal world order has come under stress, and China has experienced rapid growth to make it the leading contender to challenge the established power, the future contours of a new world order remain elusive.

Since 2014, as Russia has seen its relations with the West deteriorate, it has steadily built its relations with China, which has today become its

closest partner. At the same time, Russia’s ties with other players in Asia-Pacific, a region that is slowly becoming the centre of global economics and politics, have not kept pace with that of China. As a result, Russia’s pivot to East has faced criticism for failing to build a truly multi-vector policy in the region, and for the need to strike a balance in its relations with the rising power.

This would include a clear up-gra-dation of relations with Japan, South Korea, India, and the ASEAn states, alongside regional multilateral mecha-nisms to build on its idea of a Eurasian integration framework. Meanwhile, as of now, despite the power differential, Russia and China have managed to navigate their relations pragmatically. For instance, they have built amicable relations in Central Asia, where Russia remains a key player, and the coopera-tion between EAEU and China’s Belt and Road Initiative is only expected to deepen the collaboration.

The trust at the highest level of lead-ership—between President Xi Jinping and President Putin—is often credited for ensuring the steady development of these ties. Russia remains a lead-ing player in Central Asia, despite the increased Chinese economic presence, and the efforts by regional states to have a more diversified foreign policy.

Russia has also shown increasing willingness to engage with multilateral institutions like BRICS, SCO, RIC and ASEAn—apart from CIS and EAEU. This is being done with an aim to diversify its foreign policy, strengthen its relations with emerging powers, promote its own values and ideas about a future world order, and strengthen its global position. Given that Russia is no longer a superpower and recognises that in a world where multi-polarity has not yet



been established, the importance of multilateral institutions for a middle power to push its agenda remains significant.

Despite the obvious advantages of the format, Russia will have to deal with challenges associated with com-peting agendas of member-states, the rising power of China, and the lim-ited ability some of these multilateral institutions have in order to deal with a changing world order.

ThE ChaLLEnGES ahEaDThere is no denying that Russia has come a long way from the decline of the 1990s, and has been successful in restoring its position as a power to be reckoned with in the 21st century. However, given that the world order continues to evolve, Russia’s future in that order also remains unclear. Recognising that it is not one of the two major powers in the world, Russia has resorted to a variety of means to expand its influence, and achieve its own national interests wherever the opportunity has presented itself.

In searching a place for itself in the current global scenario, Russia has benefited from an absence of ideology or the desire to promote its own model of governance. However, not all its tactics have been successful, with some of them back-firing and causing long-term complications for Russia. In order to preserve its interests in the prevailing scenario, Moscow needs a steady development of its multi-vector foreign policy. As Russia seeks to further its global influence, the key challenge remains that of domestic economic growth.

Internal stagnation, which makes Russia a less attractive player for other states, will continue to be the big-

gest roadblock in achievement of its foreign policy ambitions. However, Russian leadership is yet to implement the much-needed structural economic reforms to facilitate achievement of its stated foreign policy goals.

THIS has raised questions about Russia’s vision—both for its own development, and for a future

world order. While it has pushed for establishment of a multi-polar world order, such a development remains far from being realised. As the COVID-19 pandemic increases chances of an intensification in bipolar US-China rivalry, Russia will find itself in a precarious situation—negotiating a dire economic situation at home, and an unstable global order abroad.

As President Putin faces one of the most critical challenges of his presi-dency—the COVID-19 pandemic—

in searching a place for itself in the current global scenario, russia has benefited from an absence of ideology or the desire to promote its own model of governance. However, not all its tactics have been successful, with some of them back-firing and causing long-term complications for russia

he will have to determine an effective way to advance foreign policy goals amid the crisis. This would entail bal-ancing the strategic relationship with China, dealing with a growing bipolar rivalry, and its impact on foreign poli-cies of other countries.

As of now, it has been noted that Russia’s foreign policy is less about the world order, and more about its place in that order, a question that the Russian leadership is still seeking an answer for. Like other powers grap-pling with an international order in a flux, and seeking to expand their pres-ence, Russia too continues to search for its distinct place in the world. g

Nivedita Kapoor is Junior Fellow with ORF’s Strategic Studies Programme. She tracks Russian foreign and domestic policy — and Eurasian strategic affairs. Nivedita’s PhD thesis is titled ‘Russia’s Policy towards East Asia: The China Factor: 1996-2014.’


May

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Rajnarayan Kaushik20-06-1980CADRE: HARyANA

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usha Sharma26-06-1963CADRE: RAJASTHAN

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Brijesh Pandey27-06-1977CADRE: TRIPuRA

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Ashutosh AT Pednekar28-06-1977CADRE: RAJASTHAN

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Govekar Mayur Ratilal30-06-1990CADRE: TRIPuRA

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Rajesh Kumar Singh01-07-1967CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

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Anoop Kumar Aggarwal01-07-1971CADRE: WEST BENGAL

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Chittaranjan Kumar Khetan02-07-1961CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

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IAS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020 IAS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020

birthdaysAjay Kumar Dwivedi04-07-1984CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

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Akanksha Bhaskar13-07-1990CADRE: WEST BENGAL

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Ganesh Shankar Mishra14-07-1983CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

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Vikas Singh17-07-1981CADRE: TRIPuRA

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Raja Sekhar Vundru18-07-1966CADRE: HARyANA

[email protected]

Sachin Kumar Vaishy18-07-1992CADRE: JAMMu & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Arti Dogra18-07-1979CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Biswaranjan Samal20-07-1968CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Shikha Rajput Tiwari21-07-1976CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]



IAS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020 IAS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020

Amrendra Kr. Rakesh21-07-1964CADRE: GuJARAT

[email protected]

Manvendra Pratap Singh22-07-1983CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh22-07-1983CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Bhuvnesh Pratap Singh23-07-1960CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

yeluchuri Ratnakara Rao23-07-1980CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Raji Pramod Srivastava24-07-1969CADRE: PuNJAB

[email protected]

Sirra Karuna Raju24-07-1970CADRE: PuNJAB

[email protected]

Navneet Kumar Sehgal25-07-1963CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Rajat Bansal25-07-1988CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Niranjan Kr. Sudhansu26-07-1975CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Rabindranath Roy26-07-1960CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Gaurav Dayal27-07-1979CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

VS Bhaskar28-07-1961CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Kundan Kumar28-07-1975CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Saleena Singh29-07-1960CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Santosh Kumar29-07-1971CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Ajay Jain30-07-1966CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Rajesh Bhushan31-07-1963CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Sajeeda Ismal Rashid01-08-1960CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

P Venugopal01-08-1961CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Vikas Garg02-08-1970CADRE: PuNJAB

[email protected]

Ravindra Kumar 03-08-1966CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Akshay Sood04-08-1963CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

Sandeep Kumar Singh05-08-1987CADRE: uNION TERRITORy

[email protected]

Ajay Tewari05-08-1970CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Prashant Kumar06-08-1977CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Anil Garg06-08-1971CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Amit Satija 07-08-1978CADRE: uNION TERRITORy

[email protected]

Patil Ajit Bhagwatrao07-08-1974CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Meera Mohanty08-08-1977CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

Anand Mohan Sharan08-08-1965CADRE: HARyANA

[email protected]

S Ramamoorthy 09-08-1980CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Sanjay Bandopadhyay09-08-1964CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Shyam Jagannathan10-08-1973CADRE: ASSAM - MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Nathmal Didel 10-08-1990CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Rajneesh Dube11-08-1964CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Anand Kumar11-08-1961CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

ujjwal Kumar Ghosh12-08-1978CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Swatantra Kumar Singh13-08-1981CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

B Srinivas13-08-1962CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Santosh Kumar Mall14-08-1973CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Harikesh Meena14-08-1981CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

MS Kalshetti15-08-1961CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Anoop Kumar15-08-1964CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Prithvi Raj16-08-1974CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Rajat Bhargava16-08-1964CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Rachana Patil17-08-1981CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Jayanti S Ravi17-08-1967CADRE: GuJARAT

[email protected]

EV Ramana Reddy18-08-1963CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Ashok Kumar Bhargav18-08-1960CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

K Veera Raghava Rao19-08-1977CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

Avanish K Awasthi19-08-1962CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]



A Srinivas20-06-1981CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

M Srinivasulu20-06-1967CADRE: TELANGANA

[email protected]

Kamal Pant21-06-1964CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Ashok Awasthi21-06-1964CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

S Senthil Kumar22-06-1980CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Sunil Kumar Vishnoi23-06-1964CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Isha Pant23-06-1984CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Vikas Sahay24-06-1965CADRE: GuJARAT

[email protected]

M Abdulla Saleem25-06-1966CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Kime Kaming25-06-1967CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Chandrashekhar Solanki26-06-1975CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Anurag Agrawal27-06-1975CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

C Mageswari27-06-1971CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

SB Fulari28-06-1967CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Dilip Kumar28-06-1961CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Anil Subhash Paraskar29-06-1981CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Kuldeep Kumar R Jain29-06-1984CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Reeta Rai30-06-1960CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Virendra Kumar Mishra30-06-1961CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Mahender Nath Tiwari01-07-1966CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Vaibhav Tiwari02-07-1984CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Mekala Suresh Kumar03-07-1969CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Bhupendra Sahu03-07-1972CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

VH Rao Deshmukh04-07-1960CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Navin Agarwal04-07-1961CADRE: JAMMu & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Dhruv Dahiya05-07-1987CADRE: PuNJAB

[email protected]

IPS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020 IPS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020

Lalit Das05-07-1964CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

Sukhwinder Singh 06-07-1965CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

PS Salunkhe06-07-1970CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

S Praveen Kumar07-07-1976CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

Surendra Singh yadav07-07-1975CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Mrinalini Shrivastava07-07-1978CADRE: SIKKIM

[email protected]

AG Babu08-07-1970CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

Ajay Pal Lamba08-07-1978CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Om Prakash Meena09-07-1978CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

Satya Narayan10-07-1976CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Damodar Goutam Sawang10-07-1963CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Ajay Kumar Sahni11-07-1981CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Raja Babu Singh11-07-1967CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Devesh Chandra Srivastava12-07-1971CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Roopa D12-07-1975CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Ravindra Kumar Pandey13-07-1962CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Sudhansu Sarangi13-07-1968CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

A Arun14-07-1972CADRE: TAMIL NADu

igp- [email protected]

Indra Chakravorty14-07-1972CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Ramesh15-07-1962CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Lal Tendu Mohanti15-07-1963CADRE: JAMMu & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Manoj Kumar Lal16-07-1963CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Anita Roy16-07-1966CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Pawan Deo16-07-1968CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Ganji Anil Srinivas17-07-1971CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

uC Sarangi18-07-1962CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]



IPS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020 IPS officers’ birthdays Jun 20, 2020 — Aug 19, 2020

Mahendar Bagria19-07-1982CADRE: GuJARAT

[email protected]

Murli Dhar20-07-1977CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Harishekaran P21-07-1968CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

R Dhinakaran21-07-1971CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

SD Sharanappa22-07-1982CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Piyush Mordia23-07-1970CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

M Gopi Krishna24-07-1961CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

SK Jha25-07-1964CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Vivek Gogia25-07-1965CADRE: AGMuT

[email protected]

Deo Prakash Gupta25-07-1969CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Hari Kishore Kusumaker25-07-1972CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Mahendraa Modi26-07-1960CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Shahanawaz Qasim27-07-1975CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Anup Kuruvilla John27-07-1979CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Kshatranil Singh28-07-1977CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Tomin J Thachankary29-07-1963CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Ridhim Aggarwal29-07-1982CADRE: uTTARAKHAND

[email protected]

G Akhito Sema30-07-1967CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

C Sridhar31-07-1960CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

Avinash Mohanty31-07-1980CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

B Srinivasan01-08-1964CADRE: JAMMu & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Archana Tyagi01-08-1967CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Harish Kumar Gupta02-08-1965CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Krishan Kumar Rao02-08-1970CADRE: HARyANA

[email protected]

Satyajit Mohanty03-08-1961CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

Vitul Kumar03-08-1968 CADRE: uTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Kumar Vinoy Singh Deo05-08-1963CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAyA

[email protected]

Rakesh Aggarwal05-08-1968CADRE: HIMACHAL PADESH

[email protected]

SS Deswal06-08-1961CADRE: HARyANA

[email protected]

Surendra Panwar06-08-1961CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

Kamal Kishor Singh07-08-1968CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

N Shanker Reddy07-08-1960CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

KV Sreejesh08-08-1974CADRE: MANIPuR-TRIPuRA

[email protected]

Milind Kanaskar09-08-1962CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Sashikant Pujari09-08-1960CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Seemant Kumar Singh10-08-1970CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

upendra Kumar Jain10-08-1967CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Ajitabh Kumar11-08-1968CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Amitav Thakur11-08-1972CADRE: ODISHA

[email protected]

Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota12-08-1962CADRE: PuNJAB

[email protected]

Jawed Shamim12-08-1971CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Ashok Dohre13-08-1961CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Shailesh Kumar yadav13-08-1965CADRE: TAMIL NADu

[email protected]

Nalin Prabhat14-08-1968CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Sunil Dutt14-08-1964CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Ajay Kumar Sharma15-08-1966CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

KK Sindhu15-08-1961CADRE: HARyANA

[email protected]

Arun Kumar Choudhary16-08-1964CADRE: JAMMu & KASHMIR

[email protected]

B Srinivasan16-08-1967CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Raju Bhargava16-08-1966CADRE: GuJARAT

[email protected]

Rajendra Kumar17-08-1960CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

Sajjad Wasi Naqvi17-08-1963CADRE: MADHyA PRADESH

[email protected]

www.gfilesindia.com68 gfiles inside the governmentvol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020 https://twitter.com/gfilesmagazine https://www.facebook.com/gfilesmagazine

Tracking KD TRIPATHI The 1980-batch IAS (retd) officer of AM cadre has been appointed Secretary to the President of India on contract basis for a term co-terminus with the tenure of the President or until further orders.

BRIJ RAJ SHARMA The 1984-batch IAS officer of the J&K cadre has been re-appointed Chairman, Staff Selection Commission, New Delhi for a period of two years.

RAVI KANT The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare, Ministry of Defence.

RAJIV KUMAR The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed to the Public Enterprises Selection Board.

VISHWAS MEHTA The 1986-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed new Chief Secretary of Kerala.

SANJEEV NANDAN SAHAI The 1986-batch IAS officer of the uT cadre has been assigned additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

PAWAN KUMAR AGARWAL The 1986-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Special Secretary (Logistics), Department of Commerce

RAM MOHAN MISHRA The 1987-batch IAS officer of the AM cadre has been appointed Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

MANOJ SAUNIK The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been made Additional CS, Finance Department, Maharashtra.

AJAY TIRKEY The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development.

RAKESH SARWAL The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Tripura cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog.

IQBAL SINGH CHAHAL The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed Commissioner, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

S KISHORE The 1989-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce, and Industry.

ANURAG JAIN The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Madhya

Moving on: IAS officers retiring in June 2020

ASSAMRajiv Kumar Bora (1985)udayan Hazarika (2006) Manjula Saikia Bhuyan (2009)

ANDHRA PRADESH Nilam Sawhney (1984) K Damayanthi (1993)M Rama Rao (2005)

BIHAR Manjoor Ali (2005)

GUJARAT MS Patel (2003) PL Solanki (2007) CM Padalia (2009)

JHARKHANDBinod Kumar (2005)

JAMMU & KASHMIR Farooq Ahmad Lone (2009)

KARNATAKA NS Prasanna Kumar (2006) VP Ikkeri (2006) Dr SB Bommanahalli (2010)

MADHYA PRADESH Alok Shrivastava (1984) Prem Chand Meena (1984)

Prakash Chandra Jangre (2003) Ravi Dafaria (2006)Dr (Smt.) Manju Sharma (2007)

ODISHA Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra (2007) Sarat Chandra Nayak (2007)

PUNJABDipinder Singh (1997)

RAJASTHAN Kiran Soni Gupta (1985)Chandra Shekhar Mutha (2002) Prakash Chand Pawan (2007)

TAMIL NADU KA Balachandran (1994) V Anbuselvan (2009)

UTTAR PRADESH Dinesh Chandra (2003) Kanak Tripathi (2003)Dr Akhtar Riyaz (2009) Abha Gupta (2010)

UNION TERRITORY Kapa Kholie (1999)

WEST BENGAL Swarup Kumar Paul (2006) Debabrata Chattaraj (2006)

RAJESH VERMA The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

RAJESH CHATURVEDI The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals.

PRADIP KUMAR TRIPATHI The 1987-batch IAS officer of the J&K cadre has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Steel.

TARUN BAJAJ The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs


vol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020https://twitter.com/gfilesmagazine https://www.facebook.com/gfilesmagazine

Pradesh cadre has been appointed Vice Chairman, Delhi Development Authority, Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs in Government of India.

KATIKITHALA SRINIVAS The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary and Establishment Officer, Department of Personnel and Training.

SHIV DAS MEENA The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board.

MANOJ AHUJAThe 1990-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education .

NIVEDITA SHUKLA The 1991-batch IAS officer of the uP cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Defence, Ministry of Defence.

VIDYAVATHI The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Karnataka cadre has been appointed Director General, Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture.

RAKESH RANJAN The 1992-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development.

MUKESH KUMAR The 1996-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Municipal Commissioner, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation.

SANJEEV JAISWAL The 1996-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has appointed Additional Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

KISHOR NIMBALKAR The 2003-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre has been appointed

Secretary, Public Works Department, in the state.

R SREELEKHA The 1987-batch IPS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed First DGP of Fire Services and Rescue Operation of Kerala Police.

SK BHAGAT The 1988-batch IPS officer has been appointed Secretary, Home, in uttar Pradesh.

VIRENDER SINGH The 1991-batch IPS officer of the AGMuT cadre and Special CP, Security, has been appointed Director General, Home Guards in Delhi Government.

LAXMI SINGH The 2000-batch IAS officer of the uP cadre has been appointed IG of Lucknow Zone.

CHANDAN KUMAR JHA The 2011-batch IPS officer has been appointed SP of Bokaro, in Jharkhand.

RAHUL CHHABRA The 1987-batch IFS officer, High Commissioner of India to Kenya, has been appointed Secretary, Economic Relations, in the Ministry of External Affairs.

C SUVARNA The 1991-IFS officer of the TG cadre has been appointed Chief Executive, National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB).

RESHuFFLE oF IAS oFFICERS IN ANDHRA PRADESH SuMIT KuMAR has been posted as Joint Collector; K SREENIVASuLu has been appointed Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Srikakulam District; G CHRIST KISHoRE KuMAR has been appointed Joint Collector; MAHESH KuMAR RAVIRALA is Joint Collector,Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Vizianagaram District; M VENuGoPAL REDDY is Joint Collector; P ARuN BABu is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Visakhapatnam District; LAKSHMISHA G is Joint Collector, East Godavari District; KIRTHI CHEKuRI is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), East Godavari District; K VENKATA RAMANA REDDY is Joint Collector, HIMANSHu SHuKLA is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), West Godavari District; K MADHAVI LATHA is Joint Collector; SIVA SANKAR LoTHETI is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Krishna District; DINESH KuMAR is Joint Collector; P PRASHANTHI is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Guntur District; VENKATA MuRALI J is Joint Collector; CHETAN TS is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Prakasham District; VINoD KuMAR is Joint Collector, N PRABHAKAR REDDY is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D),Nellore District; D MARKANDEYuLu is Joint Collector, Rythu Bharosa and Revenue (RB & R), Chittoor District; V VEERA BRAHMAIAH ais Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Chittoor District; M GAuTHAMI is Joint Collector, Rythu Bharosa and Revenue (RB & R), Kadapa District; SAIKANTH VARMA is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Kadapa District; NISHANT KuMAR is Joint Collector, Rythu Bharosa and Revenue (RB & R), Anatapuramu District; S DILLI RAo is directed to report to Government in General Administration Department for further posting; B LAVANYA VENI is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Anatapuramu District; PATTANSHETTI RAVI SuBASH is Joint Collector, Rythu Bharosa and Revenue (RB & R), Kurnool District; S RAMA SuNDAR REDDY is Joint Collector, Village & Ward Secretariat and Development (V, WS & D), Kurnool District and SAGILI SHAN MoHAN has been appointed Managing Director, AP High Grade Steels Ltd.


PERIASAMY KUMARAN The 1992-batch IFS officer has been appointed the next High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Singapore.

DR GAUTAM TALUKDAR The 1984-batch ICAS officer has been appointed Chief Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment.

BHASKAR VERMA The 1995-batch ICAS officer has been appointed Chief Controller of Accounts, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.

PRAVEEN NANDWANA The 1995-batch ICAS officer has been appointed Chief Controller of Accounts, Office of Controller General of Accounts.

SANCHITA SHUKLA The 2000-batch ICAS officer has been posted as Chief Controller of Accounts, Central Board of Direct Taxes.

MEDIKONDA ELEESHA The 1989-batch IPoS officer has been appointed CPMG, Telangana.

LT GEN MANOJ PANDE He has been appointed the next Chief of Andaman & Nicobar Command.

LT GEN KJS DHILLION He has assumed charge as Director General, Defence Intelligence Agency and Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff (Intelligence.

Ms KHOSLA The ITS officer has been posted as DDG, DoT Hq in New DELHI.

RICHA KHODA The IRS-IT officer has been appointed CIT (OSD) in the office of PCCIT, Jaipur, Rajasthan region.

K PRAKASH The 1991-batch IPoS has been empanelled for holding the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent in Government of India.

PRADEEP KUMAR SHUKLA The 2009-batch IP&TA&FS officer has been appointed Director (Finance) at Deputy

Secretary level, in the Central Water Commission.

ANIL KUMAR NAYAK The 1986-batch IoFS officer has been appointed Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, Department of Posts.

ANIRUDDHA KUMAR The 1987-batch IRS-IT officer has been appointed Additional Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.

PAWAN KUMAR SINGH The 2000-IPoS officer has been appointed DDG (FS), Postal Directorate, New Delhi.

CHANDAN KUMAR JHA The 2011-batch IPS officer has been appointed SP of Bokaro in Jharkhand.

RAJESH GOEL He has been appointed as Director General, National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) under

RESHuFFLE oF IAS oFFICERS IN JHARKHAND AVINASH KuMAR has been posted as Secretary, Women and Child Development and Social Security; RAHuL SHARMA has been appointed Secretary, School Education and Literacy, VINAY CHouBEY gets additional charge of production and prohibition; HIMANI PANDEY has been posted as Secretary, Planning and Finance Department; ARADHANA PATNAIK has been appointed Secretary Rural Development; KK KHANDELWAL has been appointed Development Commissioner; AP SINGH PRADHAN has been posted as Secretary, Forest and Environment Department; PuJA SINGHAL has been posted as Secretary, Tourism, Art, Culture and Sports; AMITABH KAuSHAL has been appointed Secretary, Welfare; PRASHANT KuMAR has been appointed the new Secretary, Drinking Water and Sanitation and BHoR SINGH uADAV has been posted as Commissioner, Commercial Tax.

RESHuFFLE oF IAS oFFICERS IN CHHATTISGARH ALoK SHuKLA has been appointed Principal Secretary School Education with additional charge of Chairman, Chhattisgarh Board of Secondary Education and Chairman, Chhattisgarh Professional Examination Board; SuBoDH KuMAR SINGH has been given additional charge of Secretary, Public Health Engineering (PHE); DEVI DAYAL SINGH, Secretary GAD, will have additional charge of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste, Other Backward Caste and Minorities Development Department and Public Relations; RITA SHANDILYA has been made Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management; PARDESHI SIDDHARTHA KoMAL has been appointed Secretary, Public Works Department; ANBALAGAN P Secretary, Mining Resources, has been given additional charge of the Culture department; PRASANA R was given the post of Secretary, Cooperatives department, while Joint Chief Election Officer, Chhattisgarh, SAMEER VISHNoI has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society (CHiPS).

RESHuFFLE oF IAS oFFICERS IN GuJARATMuKESH KuMAR has been appointed Municipal Commissioner,Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation; VIJAY NEHRA has been appointed Commissioner, Rural Development and Secretary, Rural Development, Panchayats Rural Housing & Rural Development Department; and AVANTIKA SINGH AuLAKH has been posted as Vice-Chairman & CEO, Gujarat Maritime Board, upon return from training in Gujarat.

RESHuFFLE oF IPS oFFICERS IN DELHI DR AJIT SINGH SINGLA has been appointed Additional CP, Special Branch; MANJEET SINGH has been posted as Additional DCP - I, East Delhi; and RAKESH PAWERIYA has been appointed DCP, Crime in Delhi Police.

Tracking


vol. 14, issue 2-3 | May-June 2020https://twitter.com/gfilesmagazine https://www.facebook.com/gfilesmagazine

the Ministry of Housing and urban Affairs.

LAISRAM ANGAM CHAND SINGH The 1987-batch IA&AS batch officer has been appointed Director General, Regional Training Centre, Bengaluru.

SAURABH KUMAR MALLICK The 1998-batch IA&AS officer has been appointed Officer on Special Duty in Railways Wing.

GOVINDA RAJULU CHINTALA The CGM, NABARD, has been appointed as Chairman, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

SHAJI KV The GM, Canara Bank, has been appointed as DMD, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).

NANDINI PALIWAL The deputation tenure of the Deputy Director, Lal, Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie has been extended for two years beyond May 31, 2020. She is a 2003-batch IAS officer of the AGMuT cadre.

ANIRUDDHA ROY She has been appointed Additional Judge of Calcutta High Court for two years.

BV REDDY He has been appointed Permanent Judge of the Telangana High Court.

PK BHAT He has been appointed Additional Judge of Karnataka High Court for a period of two years.

VIMLA SINGH KAPOOR She has been appointed Additional Judge of the Chhattisgarh High Court .

JUSTICE MADHUMATI MITRA The Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court has been elevated as a Permanent Judge of the Calcutta High Court with effect from the date she assumes charge of her office.

ABHIJIT GANGOPADHYAY He has been appointed Additional Judge of the Calcutta High Court for a period of six months.

SAVANUR VISHWAJITH SHETTY He has been appointed Additional Judge of the Karnataka High Court, for two years

BISWANATH SOMADDER The Judge of the Allahabad High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.

DIPANKAR DATTA The Judge of the Calcutta High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.

MOHAMMED RAFIQUE The Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court has been transferred as Chief Justice of the Orissa High Court.

RS DHILLON He has been appointed Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) .

RESHuFFLE oF IPS oFFICERS IN uTTAR PRADESHPK RAMASASTRY, ADG, Law and Order, Lucknow, has been appointed Acting DG, Vigilance; ANJu GuPTA will be ADG, PTS, Meerut; LAXMI SINGH IG, Lucknow range; DIMESH JuNEJA has been appointed ADG, Personnel, Lucknow; LV ANToNY DEVKuMAR is ADG, CBCID, Lucknow; NEERA RAWAT is ADG, Women Power Line, Lucknow; PRASHANT KuMAR-I is ADG, Law & Order, Lucknow; RAJIV SABHARWAL has been apppointed ADG, Meerut zone; and BK SINGH gets addition-al charge of ADG, Security.

RESHuFFLE oF IAS oFFICERS IN MADHYA PRADESH KAVINDRA KIYAWAT has been appointed Commissioner, Bhopal division; KALPANA SHRIVASTAVA has been posted as Principal Secretary, Secretariat; SAuRABH SuMAN is Collector, Chhindwara; PRAVEEN SINGH ADHAYACH has been appointed Collector, Burhanpur; RAHuL HARIDAS is Collector, Seoni; PRATIBHA PAL has been appointed Commissioner, Indore Municipal Corporation; ASHISH SINGH has been posted as Collector, Ujjain; SHASHANK MISHRA has been shifted to Secretariat, Bhopal; ANKITA DHAKARE has been appointed SDO Revenue, Sabalgarh Morena; M GoPAL REDDY has been appointed Chairman, Revenue Board, Gwalior; ICP KESHARI has been made Vice Chairman, NVDA, OSD-Resident Commissioner, New Delhi, ACS, Tourism, OSD-cum-Commissioner, Tourism and MD, MP Tourism Development Board; ANuRAG JAIN is ACS, Finance, Planning, Economic and Statistics and Special Commissioner (Coordination), Madhya Pradesh Bhawan, New Delhi; MoHAMMED SuLEMAN will continue as ACS, Public Health & Family Welfare, Medical Education and Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation and NRIs; VINoD KuMAR is ACS, GAD, and GAD Human Rights, Legal and Vigilance Cell and ACS (Coordinaion), Chief Secretary office; JN KANSoTIYA is ACS, Animal Husbandry; RAJESH KuMAR RAJoRA is Principal Secretary, Labour; MALAYA SHRIVASTAVA is Principal Secretary, Public Health Engineering and Environment and Environment Commissioner and DG, EPCO; PANKAJ RAG is Principal Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs and Sports & Youth Welfare; ASHoK SHAH is Principal Secretary, Women and Child Development; MANoJ GoVIL is Principal Secretary, Commercial Taxes; MANu SHRIVASTAVA is Administrative Member, Revenue Board, Gwalior; KALPANA SHRIVASTAVA is Principal Secretary, Horticulture and Food Processing; MAHESH CHANDRA CHAuDHARY has been appointed Commissioner, Jabalpur division; and RAVINDRA KuMAR MISHRA is Secretary, Secretariat. Upon return from central deputation, A SAI MANoHAR has been appointed IG, Vigilance, PHQ with additional charge of CID; AMIT SINGH has been appointed Assistant IG, PHQ, Bhopal; and SIDDHARTH BAHuGuNA has been posted as SP, Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh.


SONAM CHOMBAYThe IRS-IT officer has been appointed Commissioner-cum-Secretary to the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh .

MANISH GUPTA The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Director, Inv-III Division, CBDT.

RAVINDER MAINI The IRS-IT officer has been appointed Director, ITA-II Division, CBDT.

J KRISHNA KISHORE The IRS-IT officer has been appointed PCIT (OSD) in the office of Principal CCIT, New Delhi.

SANDHYA RANI The 1987-batch IPoS officer has been promoted as Member (Banking and DBT), Postal Services Board.

SHARDA SAMPATH The 1988-batch IPoS officer has been appointed CPMG, Karnataka circle.

PK NAIR He has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of Niger.

RS DHILLON He has been appointed Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Power Finance Corporation (PFC).

HIRA BALLABH The1993-batch IRAS officer has been appointed Director (Finance), Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL).

RAMESH BABU He has taken charge as Director (Operations), NTPC Limited.

RK CHHIBBER He has been appointed Chairman of the Jammu & Kashmir Bank subject to RBI approval.

PADMANABHAN RAJA JAISHANKAR He has been appointed Managing Director, India Infrastructure Finance Company Limited (IIFCL).

PRADIP KUMAR DAS He has been appointed Chairman-cu-Managing Director, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

TARUN KAPOOR The Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has been appointed Additional Director and Chairman, Petronet LNG Limited.

ADDITIoNAL JuDGES ELEVATED AS PERMANENT JuDGES IN CHHATTISGARH HCJustice PARTH PRATEEM SAHu, Justice GAuTAM CHouRDIYA and Justice RAJANI DuBEY, Additional Judges of the Chhattisgarh High Court have been elevated as Permanent Judges of the Chhattisgarh High Court with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.

ADDITIoNAL JuDGES APPoINTED IN KARNATAKA HCSHIVASHANKAR AMARANNAVAR, MAKKIMANE GANESHAIAH uMA, VEDAVYASACHAR SRISHANANDA, HANCHATE SANJEEV KuMAR and PADMARAJ NEMACHANDRA DESAI have been appointed as Additional Judges of the Karnataka High Court for a period of two years with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.

NEW JuDGES oF CALCuTTA HIGH CouRT JuSTICES BIBEK CHAuDHuRI, SuBHASIS DASGuPTA and SuVRA GHoSH, Additional Judges of the Calcutta High Court have been appointed as Permanent Judges of the Calcutta High Court with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices

ADDITIoNAL JuDGES ELEVATED AS PERMANENT JuDGES IN CALCuTTA HCJustice BISWAJIT BASu, Justice AMRITA SINHA and Justice JAY SENGuPTA, Additional Judges of the Calcutta High Court have been elevated as Permanent Judges of the Calcutta High Court with effect from the date they assume charge of their respective offices.

IRS-C&CE oFFICERS oF 1995 BATCH EMPANELLED AS JoINT SECRETARYRAVI PRATAP SINGH, MANISH SAXENA, RAJESH KuMAR MISHRA, MG THAMIZH VALAVAN, B A V SRINIVASA RAo, uPENDRA SINGH YADAV, K BALAJI MAJuMDAR, DHIRENDRA SINGH GARBYAL, ANICE JoSEPH CHANDRA and VENKAT REDDY have been empanelled for holding Joint Secretary or equivalent posts in Government of India.

IRS-C&CE oFFICERS oF 1996 BATCH EMPANELLED AS JoINT SECRETARYDEEPANKAR ARoN and LIMATuLA YADEN have been empanelledfor holding Joint Secretary or equivalent posts in Government of India.

IRS-C&CE oFFICERS oF 1994 BATCH EMPANELLED AS JoINT SECRETARY MANISH MoHAN GoVIL, K V V G DIWAKAR, SHAFAT AHMAD uSMANI, YASHWANT LAL MAHAWAR, MIHIR KuMAR, NEERAJ PRASAD, ENGINEER KESAVAN, NITISH BIRDI, DEBASHISH SAHu, GAuRAV KuMAR, MANISH GoYAL, ASHIR TYAGI, PERI uMASANKAR and SuBHASH CHANDRA AGARWAL have been empanelled for holding Joint Secretary or equivalent posts in Government of India.

Tracking


...by the way

Red tapism prevails

Prime Minister narendra Modi had sought details about movement of files, particularly those files pending in

the offices of Cabinet Ministers for three years. It was in response to grievances raised by citizens. What action was taken has not been disclosed. Modi has said many times that the travel time of files should be minimised. The menace of holding onto files is not only vogue among ministers but also civil servants. The practice is more rampant in states. The Fifth Central Pay Commission had the following to say on the public impression about civil servants: “not only are public servants perceived to be too many in number, it is also believed that they do not contribute to the gross domestic product (GDP).” Public servants are alleged to invariably come late to office, spend a large part of the day sipping tea, smoking, and indulging in gossip, and leave office early. Consequently, productivity is said to be abysmally low, estimates of their actual working hours ranging from one to two-and-a-half hours in a day. One wonders why is red tapism so prevalent, especially in the states. Most of the time Chief Ministers are an insecure species. Pressure of MLAs to get their job done is so heavy that to seek any administrative reforms seems almost impossible. One will be surprised to know that under normal circumstances in most states, the movement of one file takes 20 to 30 days. It has been observed a single file travels through eight to nine officers. If any officer puts an objection, then nobody knows how many days it will take to have a decision. The central government has instructed officials that file movements should be restricted to a maximum of four officers. The dictum sounds good, but state civil servants work at their own pace and time, because most of the Chief Ministers are not accustomed to the procedural framework and they don’t have zeal to reform the system. So adhocism prevails and their coterie of officers ensure that files from the Chief Ministers office don’t move faster. g

KAS : Murmu’s Challenge

Girish Chand Murmu, a 1985-batch IAS (retd) officer of the Gujarat cadre, the first Lieutenant

Governor of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has the tough task of streamlining the Kashmir Administrative Services (KAS). It is no secret that except for the IAS and IPS cadre, most of the state services are in shambles. J&K was administratively almost closed for Government of India as the centre could not interfere in state services. It is alleged that the Chief Ministers of J&K kept appointing and promoting staff on their whims and fancies. Senior officers were astonished to find that some KAS officers were not even graduates, which is the bare minimum qualification to become an officer. not only that, “some of these backdoor and under qualified KAS officers occupying prime posts in the administration were forwarded for induction into IAS totally bypassing the rules and depriving senior KAS officers of their right.” Sources also disclosed that a high-level official panel has submitted its report to the J&K administration for mitigating the seniority dispute of many KAS officers as there have been allegations of favouritism, illegal promotions and backdoor appointments. Sources disclosed a committee was constituted on March 2. They said, “the report on the issue of the seniority of a large number of the KAS officers has been submitted to the government for resolution of decade-long dispute as per rules.” The seniority list of officers should be prepared based on year-wise vacancy while “backdoor appointees’ should be placed at the bottom of that particular year, the report is believed to have suggested. Those who do not possess the minimum qualification of graduation should be placed completely at the bottom of the list irrespective of the year of “backdoor appointee’s empanelment,” it has suggested. It is learnt that there are clear-cut directions from Lieutenant Governor Murmu and Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam to resolve the dispute once and for all strictly as per the rules without any favouritism and pressure. g


...by the way

PMO overhaul

Prime Minister narendra Modi has reshuffled his office during the Covid-19 crisis. His Private

Secretary Rajeev Topno, the 1996-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, has been appointed as senior advisor to World Bank Executive Director S. Aparna, a 1988-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. now Vivek Kumar, a 2004-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is the only Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of India. Modi has transferred his two most trusted officers—Additional Secretaries Arvind Kumar Sharma of the Gujarat cadre as Secretary, MSME, and Tarun Bajaj of the Haryana cadre as Secretary, Economic Affairs (both 1988 batchmates). Another officer who served in the PMO as Joint Secretary, Brajendra navnit, a 1999-batch IAS officer of the Tamil nadu cadre, has been sent to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of India. Modi has inducted three new officers in the PMO in June. The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Tamil nadu cadre S. Gopalakrishnan has been appointed as Additional Secretary in the PMO. He has been moved from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, where he was serving as Additional Secretary. Chiruvolu Sridhar, a 2001-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre and who was serving as Deputy Director in the IAS training academy in Mussoorie, has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the PMO. Meera Mohanty, a 2005-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre, has been inducted into the PMO as Director. She has been moved from the Cabinet Secretariat. In nDA 3 regime after taking oath Modi first brought PK Sinha, former Cabinet Secretary, as his Principal Advisor. This year Modi appointed Amarjeet Sinha and Bhaskar Khulbe, both 1983-batch IAS officers, as his new advisors. now after Topno’s transfer, the second most important civil servant in the PMO after Dr. PK Mishra is Sanjay Bhavsar, a 2009-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. g

Hole in Pocket

Covid-19 has without doubt created havoc in India. It has impacted even those government servants, MPs,

and MLAs who normally steer clear of such crises. The Government has started doing damage control but many are bewildered by the direction. The Ministry of Finance and Revenue has ordered its employees to ‘willfully’ donate one-day salary to the “Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund” (PMCARES). Even dearness allowance of government employees has been frozen untill July 2021. Surprisingly, most of the state government employees have also been ‘motivated’ to donate one-day salary in Chief Minister’s relief fund. As per the India Spend survey, PMCARES Fund has received about `4,000 crore from government side contributions. Apart from this, on April 7, 2020, the Union Cabinet gave its nod to the temporary suspension of Member of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) Funds during 2020-21 and 2021-22 in view of the Covid-19 outbreak in India. It is reported: “The consolidated amount of MPLAD Funds for 2 years – `7,900 crore – will go to Consolidated Fund of India.” The states are also not lagging behind with most of the states suspending MLAs funds. The central government employees’ federation is keeping mum. Finally, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reacted to the salary donation: “We should be on the side of people whose dearness allowance is being cut. I sincerely believe it is not necessary at this stage to impose hardships on government servants and also on the armed forces people.” MPs and MLAs are also keeping silent, but knowing the tribe of politicians they may strike when the iron is hot. g

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