gfiles May 2012

May 2012 Rs 100vol. 6, issue 2

gfilesindia.com

scope awards 2012 best pses p22

deVasaHaYaM o teMpora! o Mores! p32

eXposetHe coal rip-offp16

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winning sMile7tH ciVil serVices daY

3gfiles inside the governmentvol. 6, issue 2 | May 2012www.indianbuzz.com

Anil Tyagi | editorTR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | business editor Naresh Minocha | associate editor Bisheshwar Mishra | associate editor Neeraj Mahajan | associate editor B Harishchandra | associate editor (bengaluru) Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Col Sunil Narula | senior editor Kh Manglembi Devi | editorial coordinatorAvantika Tyagi | reporter (trainee)Pawan Kumar | production coordinator Madan Bugalia | web master Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics Nipun Jain | finance Charanjit Kaur | hr Gautam Das | legal consultant Crossmedia Solutions | edit & design advertising & marketing118, 2nd floor, dda site 1,new rajinder nagar, new delhi – 110 060tel/fax: +91 11 2874 4789, +91 11 4508 2832,+91 99531 20281, +91 99111 10385,e-mail: [email protected]: AshnA kAlrA— +91 9999413838mumbai: nAresh MordAAni— +919920392797 Senior Vice-PreSident, SaleS & Marketing (all india)e-mail: [email protected]/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar,Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 VenugopAlAn — +91 9845730298sAnjAy jAriwAl— +91 9900239492

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THE Prime Ministers’ Excellence Awards 2012 on the 7th Civil Services Day saw two new faces on the dais with the Prime Minister — A K Seth, Cabinet Secretary, and Pulok Chatterjee,

Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. T K A Nair, Advisor to the Prime Minister and K M Chandrasekhar, former Cabinet Secretary, were sitting in the first row. Faces keep on changing in the government but the motto remains the same: performance with change. It is the system which delivers but officials remain the authoritative tools for good governance. ‘Perform or perish’ is the motto of any organisation that dreams to be big, but governments are not shaped in that mode. Security of job and career, spanning almost 38 years in an institution called government, gives one many options from the beginning itself: either make yourself so capable or result-oriented that one becomes indispensable to the system, or let the system force one to act, or one lets the situation take its own course the and organisation moves on in a default mode, irrespective of the results.

Gfiles cover story on the ‘Civil Services Day Awards’ is an endeavour to appreciate the good work done by officials who have got the award and also those whose work has gone unnoticed by their big brothers sitting in South Block. Congratulations to Manmohan Singh who initiated the idea, but it will become redundant if the government doesn’t initiate action against non-performers. Inaction by the government will not only hamper the working environment but multiply its unsolved problems.

Also in this issue, two experienced bureaucrats give a clarion call to those who are sleeping in the comfort of their job security. Former Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar starts a dialogue with his fraternity with a word of caution: “Today, a civil servant is accused of not only being out of touch with the people but even being alien to them. He has ended up in a cul-de-sac of his own making.” The paradox of good governance can be understand from M G Devasahayam’s column where he says, “My objective is to run the organisation in an honest, efficient and vibrant manner. My Minister’s objective is to make money on purchases, transfers and protecting corrupt officials.”

One feels proud of the vision of our founding fathers when the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) awards are given to PSEs who excel not only in India but internationally. Gfiles covers the SCOPE awards in this issue to make the point that it is aware of all the good work and performance done in any sphere of the government. Undoubtedly, PSEs can perform much better if the chairmen, CEOs and controlling ministries stop using them as their personal fiefdoms. We should not let the government think that PSEs are just a bailout mechanism to mitigate the fiscal deficit.

The expose by Naresh Minocha ‘Robbing the black gold’ is an eye opener and suggests that it may be the big daddy of all scams. Minocha writes, “Most of the coal block allottees (CBAs) have not mined even one gram of coal or invested anything. Even some public sector CBAs have not invested a single rupee and yet earned a fortune from the allocations. A majority of the CBAs have handed over the blocks to third parties called mined developer-cum-operator mine managers.” Do you think that a scam of such magnitude can happen without the tacit consent of those running the government? No way! It is a systematic failure, designed by politicians, greedy coal mafia and bureaucrats at the cost of robbing the nation of its natural resources.

An i l Ty A g i

[email protected]

From the Editor

vol. 6, issue 2 | May 2012

5years

CONTENTS [email protected]

www.gfilesindia.comgfiles inside the governmentvol. 6, issue 2 | May 20124

5years

April 2012 Rs 100VOL. 6, ISSUE 1

gfilesindia.com

STATESCAN MANMOHAN’S GAMEPLAN FOILED p23

GOVERNANCE BABU RAJ OVER THE MILITARY? p26

EMPOWERINGCONSUMERS

SPECIAL REPORT MINING IN MP: UNHOLY NEXUS

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RAJIV AGARWAL, SECRETARY, CONSUMER AFFAIRS

6 Bric-a-Bracgame players and game changers

10 Cover Storycivil services day-celebrating excellence?

16 Exposecag overlooks details in coal scam

22 Cover Story pses with a vision

32 rooting out the corrupt

36 ‘in-betweenity’ of civil servants

38 Governanceare the elected truly representative?

42 Rapid Firedc north delhi opens up to gfiles

44 My Cornerredefining eligibility for key posts

46 First Stirringsrm sethi’s maxims of life

48 Book Reviewbihar in the making

50 Silly Pointmaking the grade

51 Stock Doctorlook out for good deals

57 By the Waymaking the most of a post

Consumer far from king‘Consumer is king’- my foot! Right from the government, everybody is cheat-ing and looting the consumers and the consumer courts are the worst culprits in cheating the consumers. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum at Palakkad, Kerala holds sittings only for less than an hour everyday and disposes of only about one or two cases! More than 30 per cent of the cases are pending for more than three years! Taxpayers’ money is being totally wasted on these useless people. And even the odd case that is delivered in favour of the com-plainant can hardly be said to compen-sate for all the hardships caused by the forum itself! P M Ravindran on blog

Laws like CPA can be best administered if they distinguish between two cases and bring an equity approach rather than mere law. There are cases where law can lead to reasonably just decisions, provided the loser is willing to accept the matter was fairly heard and abides by the verdict. Then there are cases where the law is seen by the loser to have failed -- an empty drumbeat -- due to the unjust formalism in law trumping over the unique circumstances of the case.

Traditionally equity has been used in Anglo Saxon jurisprudence through the Lord Chancellor to fill the gap. Both RTI and CPA should blaze the same trail and accommodate an equity approach.R Srinivasan on blog

Ruling over the armyDevasahayam’s article titled ‘Are bu-reaucrats ‘controlling’ the military?’ is a timely and well articulated introspection. He has analysed the problems well. Solu-tions? How do you educate the political bosses and other national leaders about such “looming dooms”? All of us are aware of these impending perils! How do we leash these looters and sanitise the system? Any action plans or sugges-tions?R Sivasailam on blog

The matter regarding the succession line being worked out, by manipulating the careers of some potential candidates by a Chief, seems very farfetched and a figment of one’s imagination. Should the writer be able to establish this by evidence and bring the name of the concerned Chief out in the open, the conjecture will be settled for once and all. The officer must then be publicly castigated and should go down in history as a sectarian and communal disgrace, who was a Chief.Brig S D Dangwal on blog

Breaking newsRef. your article ‘Well-oiled breaking news’ (gfiles March 2012), if you have the list, why not publish it in public interest? Why are you holding on to it? Sudipto Mondal on blog

Disgusting, but not surprising. Those in journalism at least know the names of most of these racketeers here. But for that woman journalist. Wow! May your tribe grow. Savita on blog

Cover Photograph: FOTOS4INDIA



Bric-a-bracchairs & shares

The Law Ministry is in the limelight. Not surprising in an era of scams and scandals. After all, its job is to give

legal opinion to all ministries on any and every issue. Naturally, even big business houses need to engage with the law minis-try. enjoying the limelight is Law Minister Salman Khurshid. But now Salman has invited trouble for himself. The President of the Legal Service Officers Association, Prabhakar Singh, who is a Joint Secretary in the ministry, is filing a petition in the CAT against the minister. The issue at hand is the manner in which a highly controver-sial officer NK Sharma was promoted to the rank of additional secretary by superseding six others. We all know the DOPT rules state that promotions can only be through two methods – either by seniority or going by the ACR. In this case, interviews were conducted by Salman Khurshid himself

Business of laws khurshid cosy with corporates?

Politicians seem to have a knack for smelling out

the moolah! seeing the big bucks in the defence

offsets programme, several ministers have joined

retired military and air force officers in strengthening the

offset policy, so to speak. Gfiles has come to know that the

scions of various interested defence officers flew to Russia,

Targeting big bucks ministers eye defence offsets

France, israel and the Usa to discuss participation modal-

ities with companies who have bagged orders or are likely

to corner big deals. Under its defence procurement proce-

dure, india imposes counter-trade obligations on original

equipment manufacturers (oEMs) awarded defence con-

tracts worth more than Rs 300 crore to transfer critical

technologies and production of components to india. the

revised (offsets) policy recognises transfer of technology

(tot) as eligible for discharge of offset obligations. the

policy says, “the tot should be provided without licence

fee and there should be no restriction on domestic produc-

tion, sale or export. the offset credit for tot shall be of

10% of the value of buy-back by the oEM during the period

of contract, to the extent of value addition in india.” so

every arms supplier has to transfer technology and for that

he needs local collaborators. Who better

than politicians and retired army per-

sonnel! it also suits the supplier as he

can make inroads into the Defence

Ministry through retired officials and into

the government through ministers. and,

under the guise of the offset policy, it’s

all legal – and big money. g

and Sharma was handpicked. It is learnt that Sharma is close to the younger brother of a prominent business house from Mumbai. It is no secret that the younger brother and Salman are good friends and the younger brother takes a great deal of interest in the postings of ministers and officials of the law ministry. There is also a buzz in the ministry that the senior brother also called on the minister recently as he want-ed his candidate appointed as law secretary.

Former Law Minister Veerapa Moily is going around telling the

world that he was ousted from the Law Ministry under pressure from corporate lobbies. And ironi-cally, Salman Khurshid was removed from the Corporate Affairs Ministry because he was seen as being too close to corporate lobbies by the Congress leadership. g


I N S I D E E Y E

Lining up for Prezpranabda may opt out

5years

ILLuSTR

ATION

S: ARu

NA

InDia will select the first citizen of the country in July.

and, the heat and dust has begun. all the major politi-

cal parties want a say in selecting the next resident

of Rashtrapati Bhavan. if insiders are to be

believed, the congress has decided that there

will be no elevation for the Vice-President

and no repetition of past and present

Presidents (read Kalam and Patil ). Mamata

Banerjee too is reluctant to elevate

Vice-President Hamid ansari.

this does clear the mists

for the wannabees. Many

new contenders have

emerged in the last three

months. leading the race

are nRi entrepreneur and

Rahul Gandhi advisor sam

Pitroda, Mahatma Gandhi’s

grandson and former West

Bengal governor Gopal Gandhi, infosys chairman Emeritus

nR narayana Murthy, india’s self claimed reformer ex-Pres-

ident aPJ abdul Kalam, congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee,

lok sabha speaker Meira Kumar and former Madhya

Pradesh chief minister Motilal Vora. there are one or

two more names but they are not in the reckoning.

insiders inform that Pranabda will exit from the race

by issuing a statement that he clearly cannot be

spared from the cabinet and the party needs

him at this juncture. there’s also another

aspect to the race for President. some so-

called political preachers are demanding

that the President of india should be

apolitical. the question we would

like to ask them is: if the President,

Vice-President and Prime Minister

(at present all don’t face the elec-

torate directly) are apoliti-

cal, then why should they

build a political career at

all? this does not sound

politically correct! g


Bric-a-brac

Party later, me first… gadkari ready to back modi

chairs & shares5years

LosinG weight has worked wonders for nitin

Gadkari. But the BJP President, albeit a little

more active these days, is worried about gaining

weight, political weight that is. Gadkari wants a sec-

ond term as BJP President though he has not done

anything great in the last two years. Given the large

number of aspirants, he is wooing his party colleagues

left, right and centre. But BJP insiders inform that

narendra Modi wants to position his trusted man as

the next party chief. and he trusts very few in the

party! Modi has targeted 2014 to emerge on the

national scene but first he has to win the Gujarat

assembly elections (to be held before January 17,

2013). Modi and his close advisors are of the view that

the party president should be their man so that after

the assembly elections, there can be a smooth transi-

tion to the national scene.

Well aware of these plans, nitin Gadkari is also play-

ing his cards well and is believed to be even

ready to declare Modi as the BJP candi-

date for Prime Ministership. He knows

nobody can predict what will hap-

pen in 2014. it is not yet clear

what the Rss headquarters at

nagpur is planning but they clearly

don’t have much choice available to

replace Modi or Gadkari. g



cover storycivil services day

As compared to a mini-skirt, which reveals more than it hides, Prime Minister Manmohan singh’s speech on the 7th Civil services Day was more like a sari –

hiding more than it revealed. Besides Prime Minister Manmohan singh, Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, leading civil servants such as cabinet secretary Ajit seth and principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterji, were present on the occasion at Vigyan Bhavan.

Accepting the fact that there was a growing perception that the moral fibre of today’s public servants “who rank among the best in the world”, is not as strong as it used to be and that the present lot of civil servants are more likely to succumb to extraneous pressures, the Prime Minister said, “these perceptions might be exaggerated, but I do

A govt thatruns, but how?by Neeraj MahajaN think that there is a grain of truth in them.”

“Even as we celebrate our successes, we should also be honest in admitting our failures and our deficiencies. I would like to take today’s opportunity to flag some issues about the civil services which I believe agitate the public mind.” he said.

“The decisions that civil servants take must be fair and objective in nature, based on sound evidence and deep analysis and designed to serve the best interests of our country. Their judgment and advice should not be affected by the nature and colour of the political leadership. If this does not happen, the impartiality and fairness of the deci-sion-making processes in public administration would get compromised,” he added.

According to the Prime Minister, “civil servants in our country should fight the tendency of not taking decisions



5years

Sometimes, how you run the government is more important than merely running it. This was the message that came out loud and clear during the 7th Civil Services Day.

Over the last few years, the government has been experi-encing a ‘decision-making paralysis’ with many otherwise bright and capable bureaucrats deciding to ‘take it easy’ instead of taking a decision and making a mistake in the process. Invariably this would lead them into a political minefield where the beleaguered bureaucrat might get a wrap on his knuckles, even if the mistake is made by the minister. A case in point is that of ex-telecom secretary shyamal Ghosh, where the file was reopened after nine years of his retirement. Increasing frequency of incidents like this started the trend of institutionalised corruption and running the government without taking any decisions.

significantly, the country’s chief economic advisor, Kaushik Basu, kicked up a political storm recently when he claimed that economic reforms have slowed down in India

because of the fear that things might go wrong and they might be penalised for that... we should encourage bold-ness in decision making, provided that the decisions are well considered and as per the law of the land. A civil serv-ant who does not take decisions might always be safe, but at the end of the day he or she would have contributed nothing to our society and to our country.”

If the overall mood of the PM’s speech is any indication, the days of the cavalier “couldn’t care less” attitude are numbered. The true significance of the PM’s short and yet not-so-sweet speech lies in the fact that like a precision-guided missile, it drove home the point that civil servants and bureaucrats in India need to be more competent, more professional, and alive to the requirements of the 21st cen-tury to act as agents of social change and facilitate rapid socio-economic progress.

5years

phoToS: foToS4inDia



and would remain so till the next general elections in 2014. speaking at function at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an eminent Washington-based think-tank, Basu said that relatively less important bills might go through Parliament.

“As the chief economic adviser, I have often expressed opinions which are not necessarily that of the Ministry of Finance or of the Government of India. This is one of the strengths of India that it allows us to generate and discuss new ideas without the government having to first endorse them,” Basu said in his clarification.

A background paper prepared by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions for the occasion of Civil services Day noted that graft is

prevalent at all levels of officialdom and focused on the unholy nexus between politicians and the top echelons of the bureaucracy. “At senior levels, it (corruption) is usually a result of strong nexus between politicians and civil serv-ants and, at lower levels, it is a result of poor systems and ill-defined public service levels,” it said.

Going a step further, the paper observed: “Programmes and schemes have been made in the past to provide social security to the marginalised. However, the benefits have hardly reached these people because of rampant corrup-tion.”

According to the paper, bribery has become a common phenomenon in government departments to expedite the

A background paper prepared by the Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Ministry noted that graft is prevalent at all levels of officialdom and focused on the unholy nexus between politicians and the top echelons of the bureaucracy.

PM gives away the awards


5years

processing of any application. “The challenge lies in chang-ing the mindset of civil servants. Over time, they have been led to believe that corruption is a part and parcel of the public administration process,” the paper read.

Making a scathing comment at many of the civil servants who seem to have lagged behind in the technological domain, the paper said, “Most senior officers see technol-ogy as a black box and have a tendency to go around it, rather than trying to explore and embrace it. They must use

it as an enabler for achieving greater efficiency.”To make the most of the occasion, the organisers also

initiated a debate on the possibility of allowing lateral entry in the civil services. “It’s noticed that some civil servants with a time-bound career progress get lazy and lethargic, which in turn, damages the overall efficiency of Indian bureaucracy,” a concept note released on this year’s Civil services Day stated.

The 56-page long background paper, which formed the basis of the panel discussion, gave the example of United Kingdom where more than 30 per cent of vacancies at the top three levels of the civil services were openly advertised during the recent years. “It would also give opportunities to people who might have either missed the bus initially or might think of entering the civil service after acquiring expertise in a particular area,” the paper said.

speaking on the occasion, former President APJ Abdul Kalam was all praise for two former Cabinet secretaries he had interacted with – C R Krishnaswami and Prabhat Kumar. “Mr Prabhat Kumar would be remembered for his unique action by not only the millions of internet users, but also the 100-billion-dollar IT industry which is growing at around 12 per cent per annum,” Dr Kalam said.

How come a man like Dr Kalam, who has served as a technocrat, could think of just two praiseworthy people? significantly, it was Dr Kalam who had identified corrup-tion as one of the biggest challenges for India a few days back when he said, “the country’s political-bureaucratic-



judicial system requires an urgent ‘chemotherapy’ to deal with a ‘cancer-like situation’ engulfing the country.” Both Manmohan singh and Dr Kalam need to be complimented for expressing their heartfelt concerns? But the issue is who would follow his master’s voice? Who will bell the cat? And how?

Later, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan singh gave away the ’Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration’. Four such awards for outstanding initia-tives were given away under individual, group and organi-sational categories.

THE award in the individual category was given to M Manimekalai, IFs, a former Indian Ambassador, for rendering selfless service to evacuate Indian nation-

als amidst civil war in Libya. In the group category, the award was given to Tripura and Jammu & Kashmir. Ms saumya Gupta, district magistrate and collector, North Tripura district, Dr sN Choudhuri, district family welfare and district surveillance officer, Mr Amalendu Bhowmik,

The true significance of the PM’s short and yet not-so-sweet speech lies in the fact that like a precision-guided missile, it drove home the point that civil servants and bureaucrats in India need to be more competent, more professional, and alive to the requirements of the 21st century.

Programme Officer (ICDs), Kumarghat, and Pinaki Acharya, technical director and DIO, Ministry of IT and Communication, NIC, North Tripura district centre, received the award for an initiative called Village Health and Nutrition Day in Complete Convergence Mode, Tripura.

Likewise Jammu and Kashmir bagged the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration in the group category for successfully conducting the Panchayat elections in the state. The award was received by Chief secretary Madhav Lal, DGP Kuldeep Khoda and Chief Electoral Officer and Home secretary B R sharma.

similarly, in the Organisation category, the scientific Watershed Management project in Gujarat was awarded and Ram Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forests, Gujarat, received the award. The award includes a medal, scroll and a cash amount of Rs 1 lakh. In case of a group, the total award money is Rs 5 lakh, subject to a maximum of Rs 1 lakh per person. For an organisation, the amount is limited to Rs 5 lakh. All officers of the central and state govern-ments individually, or as group, or as an organisation, are eligible under this scheme of awards.

However, if recognition of merit is the objective of such awards, we really need to sit back and think whether these awards are representative enough to celebrate the merit of 6.4 million civil servants in India, and motivate them. Can just four awards do the job? It’s fine for the handful that got the award, but what about the unsung hero(in)es who con-tinue to serve with a smile without even a pat on their back? Do they not deserve an award? g

5yearscover storycivil services day


5years

EXPOSEcoal scam


The Comptroller & Auditor General’s draft perform-ance audit on discretionary allocation of coal blocks, identifying windfall benefits reaped by allottees, has

evoked extreme reactions from its critics.A high-profile economist, for instance, dubbed the CAG

findings as “outlandish” under a column headlined ‘Where donkeys fly’ published in The Indian Express. Similarly, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal rubbished CAG conten-tions, including its recommendations for auction of coal blocks as “baseless” and “illogical”.

Both these eminent persons apparently did not do their home work before targeting the CAG. They should eat their words after reading this write-up. The fact is that the CAG has barely scratched the surface of the coal blocks’ allocation scam! Its 110-page draft report made public by The Times of India does not mention certain crucial ele-ments of the scam.

The CAG ought to delve deeper into the scam before finalising its report. And once it does so, it would end up concluding that captive coal mining (CCM) is a sham. It is a bogey that has caused huge loss to the state exchequer and has brought windfall benefits to the coal block allot-tees (CBAs) and their associates. It has legitimised crony capitalism and epitomised reforms paralysis.

Most of the CBAs have not mined even one gram of coal. Many of them have invested peanuts in the allotted blocks. Some public sector CBAs have not even invested a single rupee and yet earned a fortune from the alloca-tions. A majority of the CBAs have merely acted as land-lords. They have handed over the blocks to third parties called mine developer-cum-operator (MDO)/mine man-agers.

Robbing the Black Goldby Naresh MiNocha

The CAG report on discretionary allotment of coal blocks only touches the tip of the scandal, and could well turn out to be the ‘mother of all scams’

The prime contributors to the phased dilution of the 1993 CCM policy includes legal luminaries and now sen-ior Cabinet Ministers like P Chidambaram and Kapil Sibal, whose legal opinion in 1994 was endorsed by the Attorney General in 1996, ultimately resulting in substan-tial relaxation of CCM guidelines (Box: Captive Coal Mining diluted to the core).

By opting for MDOs and other investors, the CBAs har-vested windfall benefits in the form of cashless /sweat equity not only through joint ventures (JVs) but also through downstream power JVs.

A few CBAs articulated their rights over waste from coal washeries linked to their coal blocks. And they are now monetising these rights as facilitation fee per tonne of washery reject and/or as cashless equity in washery rejects-based power plants!

Certain CBAs have also secured from MDOs or from JVs one-time upfront fees and facilitation fee per tonne of coal mined over the entire lifespan of the block. Other CBAs have either secured or asked for commitment from MDOs to supply coal at steep discounts (more than 42 per cent in one case) to the market price. Others have secured access to cheap or free power to be produced from such coal. The CBAs have indeed opened a cornucopia of assured benefits. They have also limited their investments or exposure to 26 per cent equity investment in mining JVs.

The information about this sea of wealth is littered in tender documents, testimonials, brochures and press releases issued over several years. And, yet such benefits find no mention in the CAG report.

The CAG should collate data on all such and similar benefits reaped and proposed to be reaped by CBAs. Their aggregation in a tabular form will give a broad pic-


5years

ture about the bonanza reaped by CBAs. This exercise will also give the public a rough idea of the presumptive rev-enue loss to the states.

The CAG has relied on just one norm for calculating a windfall gain of Rs 6.31 lakh crore to allottees over the entire span of the mining period (which may

vary from 10-30 years, depending on the size of the reserve and the yearly extraction). The CAG has reckoned

the windfall in two steps. It first calculated the difference between the sale price of coal and cost of production in CBAs’ mines. It later multiplied the price difference with discounted coal reserves of CBAs.

This windfall gain covers both captive CBAs and Central and state PSUs that were separately allotted coal blocks. The CAG excluded coal blocks allotted to developers of ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) from this calculation as they bagged UMPPs through electricity tariff-based

5years

ArunA

EXPOSEcoal scam


bidding. The assumption here is that the lowest tariff quoted by successful bidder factors in the advantage of captive mining.

The Coal Ministry has so far allocated 216 coal blocks, with geological reserves of about 50 billion tonnes since June 1993. Out of these, 24 allocations have been can-celled. There have been several litigations over allocations as well as cancellations.

A few critics and analysts have mistaken the CAG’s windfall calculation as revenue loss to the exchequer. The CAG has neither considered nor valued other benefits, such as cashless equity reaped by CBAs and profits to be earned by MDOs. The CAG has also not estimated the presumptive and actual revenue loss to the states.

It is an extremely difficult task and yet worth trying. No two coal blocks are identical, unlike the radio-spectrum of the 2G scam fame. The value of a coal block depends on

factors such as geology, reserves, mining techniques, size of reserve, its location and the quality or grade of coal.

ThUS, the CAG should have relied on timelines speci-fied in CBA guidelines to compute the loss of royalty or dead rent due to the inordinate delay in the devel-

opment of blocks. The reasons for delays are many. These include availability of domestic coal at cheap prices even after decontrol of coal prices in January 2000. As domestic and global coal prices soared, and the demand for blocks turned into a scramble, it dawned on the CBAs that they were sitting on a jackpot. This was corroborated by subse-quent MDO deals or tendering competitions arranged by CBAs for their respective blocks.

had the blocks been auctioned, the states and not the CBAs would have collected facilitation fee per tonne of coal, similar to the revenue-sharing arrangement in the telecom services sector, apart from existing royalty. They could have also asked for upfront, one-time licence fee from bidders. Such fee would certainly be realisable in the case of fully explored blocks having prime grades of coal.

The CAG could have averaged different rates of facilita-tion fee per tonne of coal negotiated by the CBAs with the MDOs. It should have then multiplied the average fee with total reserves of allotted coal blocks to arrive at the gross revenue foregone by the states due to the Centre’s feet-dragging over auctions.

Different percentages of cashless equity or sweat equi-ty, ranging from 26 per cent to 51 per cent that CBAs have secured in mining JVs should be roughly valued to give

Some have mistaken the CAG’s windfall calculation as revenue loss to the exchequer. The CAG has neither considered nor valued other benefits, such as cashless equity reaped by CBAs and profits to be earned by MDOs. The CAG has also not estimated the presumptive and actual revenue loss to the states.

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CApTive coal mining (CCm) by power, steel and cement compa-nies under guidelines announced

in june 1993 is a misnomer. The dilution of the CCm concept virtually coincided with the start of coal block allocations.

one of the coal block allottees (CBAs), nippon Denro isplat Ltd (nDiL) of the ispat group sought relaxation of the guidelines as two foreign investors in its 1082 mW power project at umred in maharashtra were not interested in making investments in coal min-ing. The company had floated another company, Central india power Company Ltd (CipCo), to set up the power proj-ect. nDiL had then suggested that the group should be allowed to float a new company, Central india Coal Company Limited (CiCCo), to develop its three allotted coal blocks.

official records show that nDiL forwarded to the Coal ministry the legal opinion of senior supreme Court advocates, Kapil sibal, p Chidambaram, K K venugopal, r F nariman and G ramas-wamy, through a series of letter submitted during August-september 1994 in support of its request.

An official note says: “all the legal experts were unanimous in their opinion that a suitable Gazette notification issued by the Central Government under section 3(3) (a) (iii) (4) of the Coal mines nationalisation Act

declaring that the supply of coal mined from the captive block by the coal company to the power company for the exclusive use of the latter will be the end-use for the purpose of this Act.”

The Coal ministry later referred this legal opinion to the then Attorney Gen-eral who concurred with this opinion. Later, nDiL submitted a proposal to form a holding company for the power and coal mining companies, CipCo and CiCCo. it proposed that the holding company, ispat urja Ltd, would hold 26 per cent stake in each of these two companies.

Foreseeing the possibility of receipt of similar applications, the Coal minis-try that took a first shot at the dilution of Cpp guidelines by issuing a gazette notification on march 27, 1996. The Cpp guidelines incorporated a special dispensation to provide for setting up of associated coal companies by coal block allottees. The guidelines say:

“a company engaged in any of the approved end-uses can mine coal from a captive block through an associated coal company formed with the sole ob-jective of mining coal and supplying the coal on exclusive basis from the captive coal block to the end-user company, provided the end-user company has at least 26 per cent equity ownership in the associated coal company at all times.”

The guidelines also provide for a holding company that can invest in the end-user company and in the associated coal mining company. The guidelines say: “There can be a holding company with two subsidiaries, i.e., a company engaged in any of the ap-proved end-uses and an associated coal company formed with the sole objective of mining coal and supplying the coal on exclusive basis from the captive coal block to the end-user company, pro-vided the holding company has at least

26 per cent equity ownership in both the end-user company and the associated coal company.”

A few years later the guide-lines were further diluted. The liberalised guidelines enable a CBA to mine coal through a mining company for getting exclusive coal supplies, pro-vided the CBA or the end-user company has a firm tie up with the mining company for supply of coal, supported by a legally binding and enforceable contract /agreement.

Captive Coal Mining diluted to the core

the public an idea of a second set of presumptive loss to the states. A similar exercise needs to be done for the sweat equity of 11-26 per cent that CBAs have sought in the washery rejects-based power JVs.

The allocation of coal blocks to state-owned PSUs under the Government Dispensation Route (GDR) has turned out to be a backdoor for private energy companies in non-captive coal mining, a business that has remained a non-starter since 1997 for want of amendments to the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1997!

It is a backdoor entry because such PSUs are allowed to

sell fuel to any customer. And, PSUs have shared this business opportunity with private MDOs by forming JVs with them, giving them control of such blocks. And in most cases, the PSUs have not invested anything from their own pocket! In fact, some state PSUs had the audac-ity to invite expression of interest (eOIs) for joint venture participation and grant of sweat equity, etc., even before they applied for coal blocks. And such eOI invitations attracted a fairly good response.

Ironically, competitive bidding-based selection of MDOs serves as a compelling rationale for auction of coal

EXPOSEcoal scam


Most of the coal block allottees have not mined even one gram of coal or invested anything. Even some public sector CBAs have not invested a single rupee and yet earned a fortune from the allocations. A majority of the CBAs have merely acted as landlords. They have handed over the blocks to third parties called mine developer-cum-operator (MDO)/mine managers.

blocks. If bidding can open jackpots for CBAs, why should states not reap a windfall by forcing the Centre to resort to auctioning?

All this analysis should convince CAG critics that the Centre has deprived the states of an opportunity to earn additional revenue since February 1997, when the Union Cabinet decided to auction coal blocks.

Unfortunately, the CAG report has erred in listing this and other milestones in coal reforms. The report says: “Audit observed that in 2004, the concept of allotment through competitive bidding was first made public on June 28, 2004.”

It appears the Coal Ministry has not given all the docu-ments on this matter to the CAG. In any case, the CAG could have found facts on the proposed auction of coal blocks from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites.

Answering a question in Rajya Sabha on March 10, 1997, the then Minister of State for Coal, Mrs. Kanti Singh, stated: “The Government have, subject to legisla-tive changes, decided to offer new coal blocks to Indian companies, including public sector companies, on the basis of competitive bidding. The rules and regulations for such bidding are under consideration in consultation with the Ministries of Mines and Law.” The Government arrived at this decision on the basis of recommendations made by the Committee on Integrated Coal Policy (CICP) in May 1996.

This recommendation was echoed by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on energy in its report on Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill 2000 submitted in August 2001. Taking note of the industry’s demand for transparency in coal blocks allocations, the house panel recommended that this job, including auctions of blocks, should be done under the supervision of an independent regulator.

Subsequently, several enti-ties either recommended auction or need for transpar-ency and objectivity in allo-cations. Instances include reports of the expenditure Commission and the consult-ants that prepared the road-map for coal reforms under a World Bank project in 2000.

These milestones do not find a place in the CAG report. Another crucial fact absent in the CAG report is

‘The Coal and Lignite (Regulation & Development) Act’. The Government drafted this bill in the late nineties to constitute an independent coal regulator but it never introduced this bill in Parliament.

Another fact overlooked by the CAG is that the Government has been playing around with different ver-sions of the draft for the tendering competition over the last seven years! One draft tender document prepared in 2005 says: “The bidder(s) shall quote ‘production linked payment (PLP)’ as percentage of production year-wise and grade-wise to be shared with Government for the entire mine life.” Such payment is the same as the facilita-tion fee being mopped up by CBAs from MDOs.

For the truth about why the Coal Ministry delayed the take-off of coal blocks auction and allowed discretionary allotment requires a high-level probe. g

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cover storypublic sector day


First among equals

by Ravindra Dubey

The SCOPE Awards given away by the President of India saw several Navratnas bag the spotlight as award-winning PSEs in different categories.

The Department of Public enterprises and Standing Conference of Public enterprises (SCOPe) jointly organised the function on April 13. The President of

India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, presented the awards.Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was pre-

sented the SCOPe meritorious award for environmental excellence and Sustainable Development for 2010-11. The SCOPe Gold trophy also went to this enterprise along with the Steel Authority of India Ltd for Corporate Governance. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Tehri Dam and hydro electric Project (ThDC) won the award for Corporate Social Responsibility, Indian Oil and Bharat electronics Ltd (BeL) for R&D,

Technology Development, Bharat heavy electricals Ltd (BheL) for best practices in human Resource Management, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for best managed bank and financial institution and National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC) for best managed PSe set-up under Section 25.

Commendation certificates were given to the Gas Authority of India Ltd (GAIL) for Corporate Governance, hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (hPCL) for Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsiveness, engineers India Ltd (eIL) for human Resource Management and National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation (NBCFDC) for Best-Managed Bank, Financial Institution or Insurance Company under Section 25.


5years

ASIA’S leading financial publication, Finance Asia, lists the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) as top among Indian

blue chip companies. In accordance with 100-year-old energy market information service, Platts of the US, it is the world’s third biggest oil and gas exploration and production company. Platts also placed it 123rd in the Platts top 250 Global energy Company Rankings last year. ONGC stood at number 155 in Forbes maga-zine’s list of world’s largest companies last year.

With a net worth of Rs 864 billion, it posted a profit of nearly Rs 168 billion last year. ONGC is the only fully-integrated petro-leum company in India, operating along the entire hydrocarbon value chain. It holds the largest share of hydrocarbon acreage in India, producing near 80 per cent the country’s oil and gas. It owns and operates more than 22,000 km of pipelines in India and participates in 40 projects in 15 countries.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation

Sudhir Vasudeva, the Chairman and Managing Director of Oil and Natural Gas Corp Ltd. serves as its Head of offshore oil and gas fields. He served as Director of Offshore since February 2009. Joining ONGC as an Executive Trainee in 1976, Vasudeva steadily worked his way up with majority of his assignments in offshore oil-fields. He has diverse and rich experience of more than three decades in various fields, majority being in offshore oil-fields. He was President of Mumbai arm of Society of Petro-leum Engineers (SPE). He also steered the Offshore Joint Venture segment of ONGC’s Operations and tried to improve recovery from ageing Mumbai High fields.

SCOPEAWARDSuDhiR VaSuDeVa

Chairman and Managing Director, ONGCCategory: Environmental Excellence and Sustainable Development



SAIL, the country’s leading steel-making company, is a fully integrated iron and steel maker, producing basic

and special steels for the domestic construction, engineer-ing, power, railway, automotive and defence industries for sales abroad. SAIL is also among the four Maharatna Central PSes.

SAIL has achieved landmarks in corporate governance as it has the required number of independent directors on its board. Besides, inter alia, it constituted an Audit Committee of the Board, long before SeBI made it man-datory. It has also constituted a shareholders/investors grievance committee, prepared a code of conduct for board members and the senior management personnel, framed an enterprise Risk Management (eRM) policy and the board meetings are held regularly.

SeT up in 1975, NTPC is India’s largest power generat-ing company with an installed capacity of 34194 MW

through 15 coal-based, seven gas-based and six joint ven-ture power stations. It has been ranked as Asia’s no. 1 and the world’s no. 2 independent power producer in the Platts top 250 Global energy company ranking. Besides, it has undertaken many community development activities in the fields of education, health, capacity building, women empowerment, development of infrastructure, support for physically challenged persons and support during natural calamities.

Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL)

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC)

Chandra Shekhar Verma took charge of SAIL in June 2010. Before this, he was Director (Finance) with BHEL. As he has stated himself, his first priority was to get SAIL to produce more value-added products so as to fulfil the power sector requirements. Currently, SAIL sells 7 per cent of its steel to BHEL and Verma is trying hard to get BHEL to increase its purchases from SAIL. Besides, he is also looking at acquisition opportunities abroad, especially for raw mate-rial assets.

Arup Roy Choudhury is a civil engineer from BIT, Mesra, Ranchi, with a post-graduate degree in management from IIT. He was earlier head of the National Buildings Con-struction Corporation (NBCC). He was the youngest Chief Executive Officer of a Central PSU when he joined NBCC at the age of 44 in April 2001 as CMD. He has undertaken a number of initiatives to further strengthen NTPC. Under him, it has achieved its highest ever new capacity addition of 2490 MW in one year (2010-2011). He has been unani-mously elected Chairman of Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) for a consecutive second term from April 1 last year.

SCOPEAWARD

SCOPEAWARD

ChaNDRa ShekhaR VeRMaChairman and Managing Director, SaiLCategory: Corporate Governance

aRup ROy ChOuDhuRyChairman and Managing Director, NTpCCategory: Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness


5years

ThDCIL, a joint venture corporation between the Government of India and Government of Uttar

Pradesh, was incorporated as limited company under the Companies Act 1956, in July 1988, to develop, operate and maintain the Tehri hydro Power Complex and other hydro projects. The works were handed over to ThDCIL in June 1989. equity is being shared by Government of India and Government of Uttar Pradesh in the ratio of 75:25.The Corporation has an authorised share capital of Rs 4,000 crore. The business of ThDCIL is in remote hilly areas where there is acute poverty. It is engaged in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in educa-tion, environment management, healthcare, income gen-eration, women empowerment, infrastructure develop-ment, welfare activities and water conservation.

INDANe, the most popular product of Indian Oil, is today one of the largest packed LPG brands in the

world. having launched LPG marketing the mid-sixties, Indian Oil is credited with bringing about a ‘kitchen revo-lution’. It has led to substantial improvements in the health of women, especially in rural areas, by replacing the smoky chulha. Awarded in the category of Research and Development, the company today has India’s fore-most centre of excellence in the areas of lubricant and refinery technologies, fuel additives, engine-testing, mate-rial and environmental sciences, pipeline transportation, biotechnology and alternative fuels.

Tehri Hydro Development Corporation India Limited (THDCIL)

Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

R S T Sai took over as Chairman & Managing Director of Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd (THDCIL) on March 8, 2007. Prior to this, he was Director (Finance) in the company since May 2005. An electrical engineer, Sai is a fellow of Institution of Engineers. He has done management diploma from IIM, Bangalore, and law from Delhi Universi-ty. Sai has 33 years of experience in banking, finance, com-mercial, EPC contracting and contract management. He has developed transparent tender documentation for evaluation of suppliers’ credit and also introduced innovation of bonus for early project completion in Delhi Metro. Before THDCIL, Sai worked in SBI, NTPC, Powergrid and Delhi Metro.

Before joining Indian Oil, RS Butola was MD of ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). Under him, OVL built a formidable E&P portfolio, comprising both discovered and producing as-sets in over 15 countries. Out of 30 years of professional life, he spent 20 in the hydrocarbon industry. He was also responsible for evaluating Mumbai High Redevelop-ment Scheme and implementation of ONGC’s first ERP. As the first Chief (Commercial) of ONGC, he negotiated and executed the first crude oil sales agreement with the refineries upon dismantling of the administered pricing regime. He holds an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies, New Delhi, and is a certified Associate of Indian Institute of Bankers.

SCOPEAWARD

SCOPEAWARD

R S T SaiChairman and Managing Director, ThDCiLCategory: Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness

RS BuTOLaChairman and Managing Director, indian OilCategory: R & D, Technology Development and Innovation



The Ministry of Defence established BeL in Bengaluru in 1954 to meet the specialised electronic needs of the

Indian Defence Services. It developed into a multi-prod-uct, multi-technology, multi-unit company serving the needs of clients in India and abroad. A wide spectrum connects the services offered by BeL, be it radars, military communications, naval and electronic warfare systems, telecommunications, sound and vision broadcasting, opto-electronics, tank electronics, solar photovoltaic sys-tems, embedded software and electronic components.

BeL has diversified in civil areas, including electronic voting machines, solar power LeD-based traffic signal lights, simputers and set-top boxes. however, defence remains its prime focus. It also offers contract-manufac-turing services for both domestic and international cus-tomers.

SeT up in November 1964, BheL is the largest engi-neering and manufacturing enterprise in the energy

and infrastructure related sectors. It has an excellent track record of performance, earning profit since 1971 and paying dividends since 1976. Commercialisation of prod-ucts and systems developed by way of in-house research and development contributed around 18 per cent to the company’s turnover of Rs 4,34,510 million in 2010-11. With an R&D spend at over 2.3 per cent of its turnover, BheL is the highest spender on R&D in India for its kind of industry.

Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL)

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)

Anil Kumar joined BEL at its Ghaziabad Unit in February 1975 after graduating in Mechanical Engineering from Punjab University in 1974. He completed M Tech from IIT Delhi in 1979 while in service. He has extensive experi-ence in development & engineering, production, material management and installing and commissioning of radar and communication systems. He served as Chief Regional Manager at BEL’s New York Regional Office for two years. He has visited Russia, Poland, Belgium and France in con-nection with technology transfers and project work.Anil Kumar was earlier Director (Other Units) of BEL.

B Prasada Rao took over at a crucial time when BHEL was building capability to help meet the country’s power forecast for the eleventh plan and beyond. A mechanical engineering graduate from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, and a post-graduate in indus-trial engineering from NITIE, Mumbai, he has 30 plus years of diversified, versatile and varied experience of working in strategic and operational areas in all major segments of BHEL, ranging from concept to commissioning activities. As the head of industrial systems and products business, he enhanced the business growth in the industry sector to an unprecedented level and marked a number of first-ever achievements in all the eight business segments.

SCOPEAWARD

SCOPEAWARD

aNiL kuMaRChairman and Managing Director, BeLCategory: R&D, Technology Development and Innovation

B pRaSaDa RaOChairman and Managing Director, BheLCategory: Best Practices in Human Resource Management


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ESTABLISheD in 1986, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) Limited is India’s leading financial institution

that provides a comprehensive range of financial products such as long-term loans for power generation, transmis-sion, distribution and R&M projects, short-term loans, buyer’s line of credit, debt refinancing schemes as well as non-fund based services like default payment guarantees and letters of comfort. It also produces various fee-based technical advisory and consultancy services in the power sector.

SeT up in February 1989, National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC) was

bifurcated in 2001 into two separate corporations -- one each for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The objectives of NSFDC are to economically empower Scheduled Caste persons living below Double the Poverty Line (DPL) by providing concessional financial assistance for income generating activities, developing and upgrad-ing their technical and entrepreneurial skills and assisting them in making avenues.

Power Finance Corporation Limited

National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation

A graduate in commerce and an MBA in finance, Satnam Singh held the position of Director (F&FO) of PFC. He also handled various responsibilities including business devel-opment, loan disbursement and financial and legal opera-tions. He was also instrumental in successful completion of IPO in February 2007 with over-subscription of 76 times, an all-time high for a public sector company. He has over 28 years of experience in the power and financial sec-tors, including NTPC and SJVNL. He assumed board level position in PFC as Director (F&FO) at the age of 47 and led the company on a profitable growth track resulting in consistent dividend payment to its shareholders. His other assignments include representing PFC on the Board of PTC, Chairman of Coastal Andhra Power Limited (Krish-nampattna UMPP) and Chairman of Jharkhand Integrated Power Limited (Tilaiya UMPP).

Hardip Singh Kingra, an IFS officer of 1980 batch of Himachal Pradesh cadre, took over as CMD, NSFDC, under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

SCOPEAWARD

SCOPEAWARD

SaTNaM SiNGhChairman and Managing Director, pFCCategory: Best Managed Bank, Financial Institution and Insurance Company

haRDip SiNGh kiNGRaChairman and Managing Director, NSFDCCategory: Best Managed PSE set up under Section 25



GAIL is India’s flagship Public Sector enterprise in the natural gas value chain. Started as a single project

company 27 years back, GAIL has grown to a turnover of around Rs 32,500 crore.

Corporate Governance, for which the company has been awarded the commendation certificate, has been strengthened by formulising and adopting the code of conduct for directors and senior management personnel, code of conduct for prevention of insider trading, policy on risk assessment and minimising procedures, etc.

A Fortune 500 company, hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (hPCL) is a company with 20

per cent market share and a strong network. It owns and operates the largest lube refinery accounting for over 40 per cent of India’s total Lube base oil production, in addi-tion to fuels refinery at Mumbai and Vishakhapatnam. The corporation’s turnover increased by 22 per cent to Rs 1,32,670 crore in 2010-11.

Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL)

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL)

A mechanical engineering graduate from NIT Allahabad, B C Tripathi started his career in Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and subsequently joined Gas Authority of India Limited (now GAIL India Limited) in 1984 when the gas industry in India was at its infancy. He is one of the founder employees of GAIL and has worked under different capacities in different departments. He successfully ex-ecuted several prestigious projects of GAIL, from the HVJ to the recently concluded Dahej-Dabhol Pipeline. He was the project manager for GAIL’s prestigious Dahej-Vijaipur Pipe-line project, which received Silver Medal for Excellence in project Management in the Mega Project Category from International Project Management Association, Germany.

S Roy Choudhary took charge on August 2010. Prior to this, he was Director Marketing from May 2004 to July 2010. He is a mechanical engineer from the University of Assam and started his career with Assam Oil company, Digboi. He joined HPCL in June 1982 as a construction engineer. In these 29 years, he has worked in the refinery, marketing (operations) and projects and sales divisions as General Manager (Supply, Operations and Distribution), General Manager (Pipelines), General Manager (Sales), West Zone, and Executive Director (Direct Sales).

SCOPEAWARD

SCOPEAWARD

B C TRipaThiChairman and Managing Director, GaiLCategory: Corporate Governance

S ROy ChOuDhuRyChairman and Managing Director, hpCLCategory: Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsiveness


5years

EIL is a total solutions consultancy company and ePC contractor in the fields of petroleum refining, petro-

chemicals, pipelines, oil & gas terminal and storages, min-ing and metallurgy, and infrastructure projects. The company has diversified into newer areas such as nuclear, solar and thermal power, water and solid waste manage-ment, city gas distribution and fertilisers.

engineers India Limited (eIL) was set up in 1965 to provide engineering and related technical services for petroleum refineries and other industrial projects. eIL is working under the administrative control of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoP&NG), Government of India. In addition to petroleum refineries, with which eIL started initially, over the years it has diversified into and excelled in various other fields

Engineers India Limited

An electrical engineer from Delhi University, A K Purwaha has more than 35 years of extensive experience in oil and gas sector. He started his career with ONGC in 1977, al-most at the inception of Bombay High in drilling business group. In 1985, he joined GAIL (India) Limited and served the company in various disciplines like cross-country pipelines for gas distribution, operation and maintenance of gas pipeline systems and project management for gas-based LPG recovery plants. He also functioned as Manag-ing Director of Mahanagar Gas Limited from 2001 to 2006. In 2006, he became Director (Business Development), GAIL (India) Ltd., and in October 2009, he took over as Chairman & Managing Director, Engineers India Limited (EIL).

SCOPEAWARDa k puRwaha

Chairman and Managing Director, eiLCategory: Best Practices in Human Resource Management.

ON April 29, 2012, His Maj-esty The Emperor of Japan

honoured Ratan N Tata, Chairman of theTata Group, with The Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, in recognition of his outstand-ing contribution to strengthening and developing the economic relations between Japan and India. The ceremony for conferment will be held in Tokyo on May 8, 2012 at the Imperial Palace, when Ratan Tata will be conferred the decoration and will be given an audience with His Majesty The Emperor of Japan.

Ratan Tata conferred Japanese award

UN

IU

NI

We light up more than cities and towns.

Enlightenment through education. That’s our mission in all communities we belong in.

In the communities around our 29 power stations, NTPC puts a lot of funding and energy into education. We adopt schools. Promote rural sports and cultural activities. Run Adult Education Centres. Focus intensely on educating girls. Provide education aids and equipment and sponsorship and more…to bring light into the darkness of underprivileged minds.After all, there’s more to NTPC power than street lights and industry and transportation and mechanization.48000 students educated every year in the schools run and promoted by NTPC. There’s the quality of living…and learning.

37014 MW I 29 power stations I Ranked 341st in Forbes Global 500 I Over 25000 employees

NTPC Limited, NTPC Bhawan, SCOPE Complex, 7 Institutional Area, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003. www.ntpc.co.in


cover storycorruption m g devasahayam

IN the mid-fifties, Management Guru Peter Drucker advocated ‘Management by Objectives

(MoB)’, a system that seeks to align employees’ goals with the goals of the organisation. This ensures that eve-ryone is clear about what they should be doing and how that is beneficial to the whole organisation.

Nowadays, any American idea is instantly gulped up. But this concept took time and became a rage only in the early eighties. As the then chief of Haryana’s State Transport Undertaking, I attended a World Bank training course at the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI) for senior Government and PSU officials. A professor from one of the Ivy League universities in the US gave a two-hour lecture on MoB. Balwant Reddy, ASCI’s officiating Director, was present.

During question-time, I remained silent, but Balwant goaded me. So I queried: “Government is a combina-tion of employees (civil servants) and non-employees (Ministers). On whose objectives should an organisa-tion be managed?”

The Professor was baffled and could not understand the question. So I elaborated: “I am the Chief

Today, the objectives of civil servants and their political masters have seamlessly coalesced, with the former awaiting ‘orders from above’ on almost everything

Civil Services: O Tempora! O Mores!

In 2011 alone, the government gave its nod to chargesheet IAS officers in 15 corruption cases. In the Adarsh building scam, the CBI arrested senior IAS officers, some of whom were beneficiaries. There are many more examples!

Executive of Haryana Roadways and my objective is to run the organisa-tion in an honest, efficient and viable manner. My Minister’s objective is to make money on purchases, transfers and protecting corrupt elements. The Chief Minister wants big deals. Now, by whose objective should Haryana Roadways be managed?” The Professor acknowledged the mis-match of objectives, but did not give an answer.

Things have changed and it looks as if objectives of civil servants and their political masters have seam-lessly coalesced. The 2G Spectrum scandal commenced when a senior civil servant solicited the job of Telecommunication Secretary prom-ising complete compliance. Senior civil servants in the Commonwealth Games Secretariat and the Prime Minister’s Office not only allowed rogue politicians to run amuck, but also took part in the loot. The Adarsh Housing scam highlights the unholy nexus between the political class and the bureaucracy in Maharashtra. The fodder scam in Bihar, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) fraud in Uttar Pradesh, mining scams in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and the forestry scam in Haryana all point


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along with ministers and MLAs. In Andhra Pradesh, two senior IAS offic-ers were arrested in the case related to illegal iron ore mining as well as the APIIC-EMAAR real estate fraud.

THE Enforcement Directorate has attached property worth Rs 350 crore belonging to sus-

pended Madhya Pradesh IAS officers Arvind and Tinu Joshi. Officers of Uttar Pradesh, Jharkand and Orissa cadres have been chargesheeted and arrested by the CBI for allegedly pos-sessing disproportionate assets worth several crore.

The 1971-batch Neera Yadav is the first Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh to be jailed for corruption. Prasar

Bharati CEO BS Lalli and Director-General Aruna Sharma were sacked, and the CBI registered cases against them for colluding with the UK-based broadcast firm SIS LIVE that resulted in a loss of Rs.135 crore. Ravi Inder Singh, an IAS officer in the Home Ministry, was arrested and jailed for passing on sensitive information to business houses in exchange for cash and sexual favours.

Such a long ‘rogue gallery’, howev-er, did not impress a retired IAS officer, who had served as the vigi-lance and anti-corruption watchdog: “Most of these are small fries. The big fish and crocodiles continue to swim and swallow with abandon. Nobody touches them because they are in

to strong politician-civil servant nexus. In Tamil Nadu, some hardcore bureaucrats coach and guide newly-appointed Ministers on ways to loot the exchequer!

Let us come to specifics. In 2011 alone, the government gave its nod to chargesheet IAS officers in 15 corrup-tion cases. In the Adarsh scam, the CBI arrested senior IAS officers, some of whom were beneficiaries, for their complicity and conspiracy.

Senior IAS Officers in Uttar Pradesh have been arrested and chargesheeted for alleged irregulari-ties in utilisation of NRHM funds. Haryana’s multi-crore forestry scam is likely to hit the headlines soon and several IAS officers are involved in it

Are bureaucrats becoming too political?

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cover storycorruption m g devasahayam

innovative joint ventures with politico-business looters.”

Yet, most starry eyed teenag-ers topping in secondary school examinations dream of entering the IAS and ‘transform the coun-try’, and successful youngsters joining the service eagerly look forward to ‘serving the people’. Happily, hope is still alive!

Way back in 1984, eminent jurist Nani Palkhiwala wrote these words: ‘The picture that emerges is that of a great coun-try in a state of moral decay. The immediate future seems to belong to the doomsayers rather than to cheer-mongers. We suf-fer from a fatty degeneration of con-science, and the malady seems to be not only persistent but prone to aggravation. The lifestyle of too many politicians and businessmen bears eloquent testimony to the dictum that the single minded pursuit of money impoverishes the mind, shrivels the imagination and desiccates the heart.’

THIS lifestyle now includes sev-eral civil servants. Single-minded pursuit of mammon

has desiccated their heart to such an extent that they are actively assisting politicians and businessmen to plun-der our land, forests, minerals, waters, oceans and skies thereby rav-aging our economy and environment. These corrupt elements persecute those resisting them using the harsh-est anti-democratic instruments of a police state. Shameful examples are far too many. Repression and sup-pression through draconian sedition laws of farmer-fisherfolk peacefully protesting against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project; tribals pro-tecting their forests from mining mafia and villagers trying to save

‘political convulsions of compro-mise and corruption’ instead of standing by their objectives. Even the background paper pre-pared by the Union Department of Personnel on the occasion of Civil Services Day admits this and contends that corruption in civil services is institutionalised!

In several states, senior Civil Servants have virtually abdicated their role and await ‘orders from above’ on almost everything. In Tamil Nadu, they do not open their mouth and interact with media or civil society in any mat-ter. The Law of ‘Omerta’ is strict-ly enforced! Members of IAS,

who enjoy constitutional protection to perform their functions without fear or favour, genuflecting like this is nothing but betrayal of the people they are mandated to serve!

Contemplating on the state of Civil Services today one is reminded of Rome of 63 BC. Cicero, a consul and lawyer, was charged with the respon-sibility of prosecuting the infamous Sergius Catilina, known for his extravagance and evil ways of plun-dering the treasury. This conspiracy was timely discovered by Cicero and as he tuned himself up to prosecute Catilina, he famously lamented: ‘O Tempora! O Mores!!’ meaning ‘Oh! the times! Oh the morals!!’

This is not the time to lament like Cicero, but to fight for some morals and values. The good among the Civil Servants should assert and stand by the constitutional scheme of things. They should hear and heed the sane advice of philosopher-statesman Edmund Burke: “When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpi-tied sacrifice in a contemptible strug-gle.” Sooner the better, before irrepa-rable damage is done! g

their land from MNCs are just a few. Fortuitously, there are still many

honest and conscious Civil Servants who pine for democratic governance and do not indulge in such horror? But, there are also equal numbers who either become zombies, content with crumbs and sinecures, or just fade away, unable to stand up to the venal and the corrupt. In the event, it is not the ‘brutality of the bad, but the silence of the good’ which is the mis-fortune of civil services.

An overarching objective of Civil Services is to “give an independent, honest and just democratic adminis-tration to the people”. But over a period of time, civil servants have lost their moorings, abandoned their objective and become part of the

An overarching objective of civil services is to “give

an independent, honest and just democratic

administration to the people”. But over time, civil servants appear to

have lost their moorings.

5yearscover storycorruption

cover storypsychology prabhat kumar


The civil service in India has lost much of its credibility because of its own undoing. Despite

possessing unmatched intellectual calibre, its members have relegated themselves to playing the role of pas-sive advisors and order takers. They have not assumed the ownership of policies aimed at improving the wel-fare of the people. Instead of talking about innovative strategies for pov-erty alleviation and social justice, they have ceded the initiative of voic-ing the aspirations of the masses to other actors. In fact, politicians, civil society and the media have rendered the civil service into being a carica-ture of stupidity. Now its incompati-bility with governance is a syndrome that is being passed down from sen-ior members to new entrants.

It is said that every dog has his day; except the Indian civil servant. For the last 60 years after Sardar Patel, rarely has a civil servant been credit-ed with anything. While he is regard-ed as a character in the drama of governance, one is not too sure about the role he plays. Is it that of a villain or of a comedian? Or is he merely a sidekick of the villain?

In the beginning, the civil servant had a distinct advantage of close con-tacts with the public. he worked with grassroots leaders, knew the condi-

The civil servant is afraid of annoying his political masters; afraid to do something that does not have a precedence and is always fearful of being victimised.

Heroes or villains?

tion of the poor and had the flexibility of reacting to local problems. As dis-trict officer, he could provide justice to the weak and the helpless. And, scores of IAS officers excelled in becoming friends of the people.

Somewhere along the way, howev-er, the will to govern for the welfare of the common man disappeared, both among political leaders and bureaucrats. One feels nostalgic about the era when leaders used to ascer-tain the wishes of the people in order to win their support. It is nobody’s fault; it is just how the modern capi-talist democracy has developed. Today, a civil servant is accused of not only being out of touch with peo-ple but even alien to them. he has ended up in a cul-de-sac of his own making. he has become a victim of the illusion that he is invisible.

The ‘in-betweenity’ of most IAS officers is truly amazing. They want to do the right thing, but the relative security of employment guaranteed by the Constitution prevents them from getting into open hostility with their political masters. They are con-stantly seeking to balance between integrity and avoidance of open con-flict with the politicians. They con-spicuously avoid performing their public duties for fear of being victim-ised. Benjamin Franklin said ‘he that

is secure is not safe’, and it applies beautifully to the Indian bureaucrat.

For the odd IAS officer who wants to speak out, the microphone is miss-ing. even I am not fully satisfied with what I did at various stages of service. Now I feel that I should have done much more than what I did. I can cite several cases where I did not bend to unscrupulous political pressure, but I did not go to the extent of sticking my neck out or becoming a hero by airing my views against my political masters in the public or the media.

For instance, I was in charge of a progressive district for about three years. I always thought I had done a lot for improving irrigation. I got a large number of tubewells bored and energised. I encouraged the construc-tion of a number of cold storages for the potato crop, which earlier used to be either sold at throwaway prices or used in the fields as manure. I started an annual development exposition to


5years

many questions left unanswered by the political leadership, like why the National Security Guards (NSG) failed to get airborne on time and why did the police in Amritsar not obstruct the passage of the aircraft.

As Cabinet Secretary, I fell short of providing effective leadership to all civil services. Not that I did not try. Though I did a little like giving oppor-tunity to officers of non-IAS services to hold posts of secretaries to the Government of India, it was not

enough. I conducted cadre review exercises for some non-IAS services and created higher level posts for them. But I was more preoccupied with the day-to-day requirements of a Cabinet Secretary’s work – Cabinet meetings, GOM meetings, COS meet-ings, CCS meetings, advising the Prime Minister, ACC work, policy formulation, etc.

At the policy-making level, a civil servant is charged with more than merely tendering judicious advice to the political bosses. he has to take the lead in creatively thinking of measures that elude the politicians. It is my hypothesis that if retired bureaucrats analyse the situation faced by them and study the alterna-tives in retrospect, it will help the present administrators in doing their job well. The fact is that we do not consider possible alternatives before taking a certain step. We are all pris-oners of our delusions. We live in them and exult in them.

In my view, it is now the turn of the civil servant to not knock before entering the arena of public discourse. And, this puts enormous responsibili-ties on him. he can no longer hide behind the cloak of anonymity. Till now, his voice has remained in the confines of confidentiality. The Right to Information Act opens his conduct and actions to any citizen. At the same time, the RTI makes it possible for him to go to the people through the media. he has to ensure that because of his timid conduct, the door may not be shut tightly again.

Lest I may be accused of painting the civil service by a broad brush, I wish to clarify that I am trying to start a conversation, not to have the last word. g(The writer was the Cabinet Secretary and

the First Governor of Jharkhand. He can be

reached at [email protected])

The ‘in-betweenity’ of most IAS officers is truly amazing. They want to do the right thing, but the security of employment guaranteed by the Constitution prevents them from getting into open hostility with their political masters.

highlight the composite Ganga-Jamuni culture. But when I visited the district years later, I was shocked by what more I could have done. I can seek excuse in my pre-occupation with law and order or in the day-to-day exigencies of a district officer.

During the Ayodhya days, I should have gone to the Cabinet Secretary and requested him for the Central Government taking possession of the land appurtenant to the temple-mosque or for issuing directions to the state government under Article 355. Though I did submit to the Chief Minister the complexity of the pre-vailing situation, I did not have the courage of approaching the Cabinet Secretary.

During the hijacking of Air India flight 814 in December 1999, I should have taken steps to order an inquiry into the facts and circumstances in which the aircraft was allowed to leave Amritsar airport. There were

aruna

Governancedemocracy a k verma


Think About a Second Republic?

Think About a Second Republic?

photos: uni


5years

her from getting elected. The fundamental function of the

legislature is to legislate, debate for-eign and domestic policies, and ensure transparent governance for the benefit of the citizen. Unfortunately, the jury is out whether such functions are indeed being per-formed. One sees a paralysis in action in the legislatures on key issues and a slide towards a greater collapse. The TV is conveying to one and all the images of daily disorder in the august chambers. The citizen is left to won-der whether this is the way to pro-mote his interests and safeguard his security. He fears that the country is being pushed towards a grim future.

As far as the citizen is concerned, he is seeing a can of worms opening almost everyday. His long term wel-fare is entwined with issues of educa-tion, growth of infrastructure, research and development, and a proper evolution of regulatory sys-tems. In each one of these fields, the failure has been monumental. Poverty levels have not abated. Inflation is out of check. Right to education remains a promise unfulfilled. Inequalities are soaring. Corruption has moved on from the tactical level to strategic heights. According to information floating on the internet, there is almost no one at the ethereal heights untouched by the tar of cor-ruption. Cynicism has grown to such extent that few seriously believe that there is a genuine will to fight the demon of corruption. At the same time, one notes a popular desire to punish corruption. According to some psephologists, the change in the for-tunes of some leading lights in recent State Assembly elections was brought about by the changing perceptions of the electorate on the issue of corrup-tion.

Appropriate laws and mechanisms

of 31 to 50 years are similarly blessed. The fear is that if the trend continues, the Lok Sabha will become the monopoly of a few families in the years ahead. This will be a reversal of history of India getting rid of its zamindars, taluqdars, rajas and maharajas.

How representative are our parlia-mentarians of the citizens in whose name they enter the Lok Sabha and participate in the governing process? Most get elected if they can secure 20-30 per cent votes. Some manage to get into Lok Sabha with 10 per cent or lesser votes in their favour. Electoral indifference has in the past been responsible for this phenome-non. The Election Commission has been doing an admirable job in edu-cating citizens why they must exer-cise their right to vote. But such edu-cation cannot disband the vote banks, which flourish on caste and other extraneous considerations, and which remain prize catches at election times.

All this has had a baneful effect on the quality of people who manage to enter the Lok Sabha. It has not been possible to prevent entry of a large number of persons facing criminal charges. Electoral reforms which would remedy the situation are not seeing the light of the day, because no one can be expected to approve legis-lation which will disqualify him or

Electoral reforms are not seeing the light of day, because no one can be expected to approve legislation

which will disqualify him or her from getting

elected

QUESTIOnS are being raised about the validity of democ-racy in the Indian Republic.

There is a widespread view that democracy in India is no longer by the people, of the people, for the peo-ple.

The leaders who brought democ-racy to India in 1947 were giants in conviction, commitment, ethics and morality. There were many of them. Their tribe lingered for many years after Independence but their num-bers kept on diminishing. Today, that tribe has vanished completely. Search as one might, not a single individual can be found qualifying for the citi-zen’s unquestioning acceptance as the leader of the nation.

Responsible for this sad state is the continuous growth of unscrupulous politics, degeneration of instruments of democracy and emergence of a new elite, reliant on the power of money, muscle and mafia, to monop-olise the rewards of democracy. Today, no sense of shame is felt in claiming that compulsions of coali-tion politics require principles of pro-bity to be jettisoned.

Practice of democracy fundamen-tally requires that democratic norms will be upheld and observed in all interactions at the citizen’s level. But it is ironic that while the Constitution has been amended to introduce democracy at the Panchayat level, with multilateral political support, real inner party democracy eludes many political entities and very little support has emerged to secure this end.

The result is that politics in the country is becoming more and more dynastic. In the present Lok Sabha, all the elected members in the age bracket 25 to 30 years are closely related to serving politicians. Again, 50 per cent of those in the age bracket

Governancedemocracy a k verma


are the crying need of the hour for controlling corruption. The mobilisa-tion under Anna Hazare last year was a measure of the popular disenchant-ment. It will be a mistake to think that that this mobilisation has petered out. Anger in the people’s awareness on this issue is like a volcano, which can erupt perhaps sooner than later. Public esteem for those presiding over the destiny of the nation has touched an all-time low.

THE thinking classes in the coun-try are cognizant of these trends and in their thinktanks, semi-

nars and intellectual discussions have been shouting for reforms. There have been a plethora of events on administrative, electoral, judicial, intelligence and police reforms but no meaningful action has been con-summated in any of these sectors. The case of police reforms is reflec-tive of the mindset of the governing classes, who are refusing to allow the mechanisms of police to be estab-lished on the principles of autonomy despite mandatory orders of the Supreme Court. In plain words, this is an illustration of how the political executive is ready to flout the dictum of the highest judiciary in order to protect its own interests. Concomitant with this reality is the question: is the Supreme Court so helpless that it cannot ensure its deadlines? The Supreme Court may be keen to avoid a direct confrontation with the execu-tive, and perhaps for good reasons. Right in our neighbourhood, a drama is being enacted where a Prime Minister is publicly refusing to carry out the injunctions of his Supreme Court and announcing his readiness to face contempt proceedings.

The issues highlighted above have very wide amplitude. It will be no exaggeration to state that the prob-

lems of poor governance and corrup-tion are part of a common mosaic which includes black money, stag-nant or declining economy, and the nation’s security. Such an amalgam constitutes a threat not only to the individual citizen but also to the integrity, cohesiveness and unity of the entire nation. Under these cir-cumstances, the sovereignty of the citizen from whom is derived all the powers of the Constitution just becomes a concept on paper. now, according to some, the consequent denial of freedom of thought, expres-sion and action to citizens, guaran-teed under the Constitution, on account of the degeneration of the legislative, executive and judicial sys-tems, has been of an order that no cure can be expected from them. When the whole body has been affect-ed by cancer, an attempt at remedy-ing it part by part will bring no solu-tion.

One has again to go back to 1947 to understand that the seeds for such a harvest were planted then, though the intentions were honourable. The systems that were inherited from the British Raj in 1947 continue substan-tially in the same format and form. Those systems belonged to a different age and era, when the sovereign resided in Britain and the subject people in India. A new era dawned in 1947 when sovereignty was trans-ferred to the subject people. The qual-ity of governance was expected to change dramatically but this did not happen as the governing machinery

The mobilisation under Anna Hazare last year was a measure of the popular

disenchantment. It will be a mistake to think that that

this mobilisation has petered out.

Governancedemocracy


5years

remained colonial in temper and practice, and the new governing classes allowed their idealism to be subverted by pursuit of power for self enrichment. The consequential effects were soon seen in all the three organs of governance, legislature, judiciary and executive. The legislatures have also become the playground for the rich as the wealth returns of candi-dates seeking elections to the legisla-tures in the recent past indicate. Thus, it is not surprising that the quest for economic justice remains a distant dream and the rich become richer but the poor poorer.

TOdAy’S India requires not just structural reforms but also a vision. Vested and greedy ele-

ments have to be eliminated. The whole society needs to be trans-formed, not just a small nucleus of people. Any roadmap, drawn to reach an envisaged destination, will remain unattainable, unless new paradig-matic norms are brought in exist-ence.

A vision of India involves the set-ting of a goal, what India should be at the end of a specified period, say 20 years, and crafting a roadway for it. The starting point for developing a

vision would be our present poten-tial; not in an abstract sense, but how far we are actually matching it. Our vision can be built up only on the basis of the development of the mar-ginalised sections of our people. At the heart of such development, will be elements such as law and order, corruption free administration, social and economic justice, fair treatment of weaker classes and so on. Such a vision requires expansion of funda-mental rights of the citizen. He should have the right to recall his elected representatives and to demand refer-endum at the national, state, district and village levels. This is a vision of direct democracy. Such ideas should be an indivisible part of our democ-racy. Unfortunately, the present state of national politics, divisive, fractured and mutually distrustful, absolutely rules out acceptance of a comprehen-sive programme of reforms national parties do not seek same answers.

So, what is the way to challenge these multiple problems of failure and to create a new vision? Perhaps, the time has come for India to think of a Second Republic. A holistic exer-cise seems called for because piece-meal remedies have not been found to be effective. The example of France may be kept in mind where Charles deGaulle led France into the Fifth Republic to tackle problems which were defying solutions.

Methodology will have to be thought out also since altering the basic structures of the Constitution is presently forbidden. But the country appears to be in a mood for changes. Those who fall within the spectrum of demographic dividend, i.e., the young, are the most favourably inclined, as without substantives reforms their future can remain stuck in the dark doldrums of uncertainty and despair. g

RAPID FIREzu siddique dc, north delhi


5years

‘My dream holiday is to go to Switzerland’

foto

s4in

dia

The 1985 batch IAS officer of AGMUT Cadre, Z U Siddique is a focused, hard working officer who joined as DC North Delhi in 2009

What kind of music do you prefer to listen to?Z U SiddiqUe: Indian music, light classical music and of course, ghazals.

Which is the latest movie you have seen?SiddiqUe: Well, I haven’t seen any movie for the last 7-8 months. 3 Idiots was the last movie I saw.

Which character did you like the most in that movie and why?SiddiqUe: The character of Aamir Khan fascinated me. He has a simple funda: ‘Run after excellence, success will follow you’. Parents should not impose their wish or unfulfilled desire on their children; their role should be that of a facilitator.

Delhi is a major cuisine hub. What kind of food tempts you the most?SiddiqUe: See, I am a very simple, desi man, and so I prefer arhar ki daal, chapattis with mango chutney.

Which luxury brand do you prefer?SiddiqUe: Anything that suits me and is comfortable. It should fit me and make me look like a gentleman.

Besides governance, what interests you?SiddiqUe: Whatever time I get, I spend it on physical fitness and badminton. I have a badminton court in my house. I play with my wife, children and colleagues.

Your most absurd fear...SiddiqUe: Being looked upon as a corrupt and arrogant officer. I dread if someone says such things about me.

The lowest and highest points in your life...SiddiqUe: As a bureaucrat, I have done a lot of improve-ments wherever I was posted like in revenue, food and

supplies, and labour departments. But I feel that I couldn’t do much as people’s expectations were too much. In my personal life, I am a contented man with my wife and two children. These are the highest points of my life. But yes, when my kids don’t study, I do feel low.

Are you tech-savvy?SiddiqUe: Yes, I can use a computer well.

Who has inspired you the most in your life?SiddiqUe: My maternal uncle and his name is A A Siddiqui. He is an IPS, Punjab Cadre, and retired as DGP, Punjab.

One dream that you’d like to realize…SiddiqUe: My dream is that all bureaucrats should respond to the people’s needs and their problems when-ever they are approached for this.

What is your dream holiday destination?SiddiqUe: Switzerland, because I am told it’s like our Kashmir. I have not been there and so I want to explore that beautiful place. I would also love to go to Europe.

What other profession would you have chosen?SiddiqUe: Law, as I have done LLM from Allahabad University, or most likely, teaching law in a varsity. g


MY CORNERappointments amitabh thakur


Appointed to disappoint

remain part of it, moving from one rank to another and getting appoint-ed to various posts available to that particular service. In all such cases, the concerned person becomes a part of such service through a selection process. Posts are advertised and applicants get selected and become part of the service, if they fulfil the requirements.

There is another class of people associated with governance who are not career bureaucrats or permanent government servants. They get appointed on some kind of contrac-tual basis. The posts of Vice-Chancellors of Universities and vari-ous technical or expert advisors in different organisations can be cited as examples. Here again, most of the time there is some definite process of appointment. Advertisements are issued, the intention to fill in the required vacancies is made public through some definite process and then through some kind of selection process, a few persons are found more suitable than others to be appointed to the post.

In each of the above two cases, there is some kind of selection through some process. Thus, it can be said that there is transparency in the way decisions are being made. Again, every person is being given equal opportunity to get appointed, in case he fulfils other requirements and eli-gibility criteria.

The same holds true for MLAs and MPs, who constitute the other pillar ar

un

a

There are thousands of senior posts in various bodies, commissions and institutions belonging to the Government where no definite method of appointment exists

OUR country has a very large number of bureaucratic posts, which have been framed in a

manner that only career bureaucrats (or government servants) can be appointed. Thus, we know that a peon in a State Secretariat or a Secretary belongs to some distinct services. So is the case with a major chunk of the governance machinery. These people join a particular class of service and


5years

transparent. Often, words like expert in the field, having sufficient knowl-edge and/or experience, being a renowned personality, etc., are used. But we all know that such open-end-ed words have the capacity to encom-pass almost every person in the coun-try. There is no legal and technical definition of being an expert, having sufficient knowledge or experience and of being a renowned personality. Whoever is appointed to the post can later be pointed out as being an expert or being renowned.

This is exactly what is happening all over the country. People, who are completely unknown to the masses,

get suddenly appointed as chairmen and members of important commis-sions, committees and institutions solely on the basis of their political importance. Some of them are the brothers, sisters, sons, daughters and even concubines of powerful political entities. Others are political workers. Thus, despite having no knowledge or experience or proficiency for the post to which they are being appointed, such people get appointed because of political necessities. This is nothing but political dole-giving. This is a kind of political patronage, where certain persons are being obliged at the cost of the masses. It is quite

obvious that if a person has no exper-tise or knowledge or experience or sincerity for the post to which he/she has been appointed the public will get little benefit. The real sufferer in such cases is the general public while the incumbent enjoys various privileges and perks, and feels politically and socially important.

This arrangement is against the basic tenets of democracy and is also clearly against transparent govern-ance. One possible way to minimise this problem can be to make the entire process as transparent as pos-sible. We heard of Anna Hazare’s suggestion about the appointment of the Lokpal. In my opinion, similar procedures can be adopted for all such posts, which presently are being filled through political patronage. The first step is to make the appoint-ment process to all these posts open. Let there be open advertisements about all such vacancies. Let there be some definite eligibility criteria and let everyone be permitted to apply. If the same procedure can be adopted to appoint vice-chancellors of univer-sities, I am sure that this can be extended to all other Government posts as well.

Once the appointment process becomes public and transparent, the Government will certainly become answerable for whatever action it takes. This will be scrutinised not only by the people but will also be liable to judicial review. I do not say that such a process will completely wipe out all kinds of incorrect politi-cal benefactions, but it will certainly make a very clear dent. I am also sure that adopting such procedures will make such commissions and organi-sations more relevant than what they are presently proving to be. g(Amitabh Thakur is an IPS officer

associated with the National RTI Forum)

of democracy. They are not selected by someone but they have to get elected by the people. Thus, they pass through the rigour of being chosen by the masses. This needs acceptability of the people and is again a well-de-fined process. The Ministers as the heads of various ministries and departments, who are often members of various legislative bodies, need to enjoy the confidence of the Lower House at the Centre or the States.

Hence, whether it is career bureau-crats or contractual appointees or elected legislators or ministers, each of them are chosen through a process that is well-defined and well struc-tured. Sadly, unlike them, there are thousands of posts in our country, both with the Central Government and the State Governments, where no definite method of appointment exists. There is no transparency in the way people are chosen or selected for such posts.

What is pertinent to note is that most of these posts are extremely important. They include chairmen, vice chairmen and members of vari-ous commissions, committees, insti-tutions and companies belonging to the Government. Thus, ironically, we do not know why someone is appoint-ed to the post of chairman or member of the Central Information Commission or the State Information Commission. Similarly, we do not know why a par-ticular person is appointed as the chairman of the Human Rights Com-mission or Child Welfare Commission or Women Commission or Minorities Commission and so on.

I agree that in most of these cases, a few basic criteria and/or eligibility norms have been fixed. But still the issue remains that setting such crite-ria (often quite generalised, vaguely stated and open-ended) does not itself make the appointment process

There is no legal and technical definition of

being an expert, having sufficient knowledge or

experience and of being a renowned personality.

Whoever is appointed to a post can later be pointed out as being an expert or

being renowned.

FIRST STIRRINGSrm sethi


Coming from a refugee family that set up a small shoe shop in Allahabad to make a modest

living after migrating from Pakistan, Ravi mohan Sethi has never been afraid to lose. And as far as he remem-bers, he has always lived life on his own terms and this has paid off...

“i believe in taking quick deci-sions… what is the worst that can happen… badshah se rank aur rank se badshah banne main samay nahin lagta…” he says.

A one-time academic-turned-bu-reaucrat-turned-entrepreneur, Rm Sethi has worn so many different kinds of hats that many others don’t even get to see in a lifetime.

As an iAS officer, he has been former mD of the Uttar Pradesh Financial Corporation (UPFC), mD, Pradeshiya industrial and investment Corporation UP (PiCUP), and Secretary Agriculture, government of UP. He is today Chairman of Steller group, having interests in real estate, cooperative banking, iT parks, Hospitality and Recreation (which he himself started) besides being the independent director of Rs 250-bil-lion public sector natural gas trans-mission company, gAiL india Ltd.

Apart from this, as an iAS he had been an instructor at the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration, mussoorie; he studied management and economics at the Boston University, USA; he was among the first Hubert Humphrey Fellows from india in 1979-80; and, he had man-aged to save some money from his salary as a consultant on the Un Watershed project.

He has been able to all this because he never hesitated in taking a deci-sion—and lived life king size…

Yet many things occurred in his life as if by accident. After his Bachelor of Arts in Economics, Political Science

Living life king sizeRM Sethi has worn many different of hats while leading a life completely on his own terms. And, he has succeeded in almost everything he did.

pho

toS:

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toS4

ind

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5years

“You have a good reputation and track-record; you may retire as Cabinet Secretary if everything goes on the way it is going,” he was told.

“i know my answer did not make much sense to many people then and now, but there are situations in life when you wish to challenge yourself. i wanted to be sure that i could sur-vive the cocoon of the iAS. The tag of iAS symbolises power and everything merges into it, i just wanted to explore if i was something more than iAS or a factor of iAS alone,” he says.

This was when something he had learnt from Laxman and Rajaram – two cobblers in his father’s shoe-shop – came in handy. Laxman and Rajaram were extremely proud of the fact that no competitor craftsman could sew the shoe sole like them… This important lesson became Ravi mohan Sethi’s mission statement: “Create as if you are creating for eter-nity… but do so at a speed as if you are going to die tomorrow”.

interestingly, even at this time Sethi had no idea as to what he was going to do ahead in life. There were, of course, a few people who had offered him jobs in the corporate sec-tor while he was in service; many of them did not bother to call up when he was out of the job.

There were a few others who offered money to start a business venture on absurd terms. So, after voluntary retirement from the iAS in February 1996, Sethi set up the Stellar group of Companies, investing his savings and income as a consultant bringing large and medium scale pri-vate companies back to health. The rest is history.

Thanks to his unique blend of administrative experience and never say die attitude – he is a living suc-cess story. g(As told to Neeraj Mahajan)

bombshell. “Are you sure?” she asked“Yes,” he said.“Are you happy?”“Yes,” he said.“i believe in you and i am with you,”

she said. And with these three short sentences, the entire decision was made. The next day, Sethi formally put in his papers for voluntary retire-ment after 25 years of service in iAS.

This came as a surprise to many people, including motilal Vora, who was the governor of Uttar Pradesh. He tried to dissuade Sethi. Even the then Cabinet Secretary Surendra Singh – who was from the UP Cadre -- and his wife Hemlata tried to con-vince Sethi not to commit “suicide”.

and English Literature, and masters in Political Science, he was quite happy teaching at the Allahabad University when he was selected to join the 1970 batch of the prestigious indian Administrative Service in the UP cadre.

obviously, Sethi was happy to be the first and only iAS officer in the family. The iAS in those days was considered to be a profession where you walked with the kings. Sethi too had his share of glory. Km Chandra Sekhar, the former Cabinet Secretary, was one of his batchmates. Big-time industrialists like Dhirubhai Ambani and Singhania were on first-name basis. As a collector in Bahraich, he created history by opening the first mosque after independence. As the mD of UPFC, he transformed a sick and dead unit into a profit-making organisation. Apart from this, his stints as nD Tiwari’s special assistant and Director, information and Chief Censor earned him lot of clout and high-level contacts. in short, every-thing was going smooth for him and he had a promising career ahead of him in the iAS.

THAT is when he decided to give it up – just like that; without any apparent reason or provo-

cation. The timing of his decision was, however, important: the wed-ding of one of his 24-year-old twin daughters was less than a month away and his son was studying in class 11th in modern School.

“it was guru nanak’s birthday, a holiday when i saw eagles soar in the sky… Suddenly my decision was made. i did not consult any astrolo-ger,” he says.

He was that time in Kanpur while his wife and children were in Delhi. So on november 7, 1995, he called up his wife Anita Sethi and dropped the

Badshah se rank aur rank se badshah banne

main samay nahin lagta, Sethi explains the

basic thought behind his capability of taking

quick decisions”

“

BOOK REVIEWdevelopment


5years

by D i p t e n D r a r a y c h a u D h u r i

A book like this, almost each page of which is filled with interesting anecdotes, that too

by someone who has remarkable insight, is a reader’s joy, particularly for those who want to have a better understanding of the functioning of the system.

Some of the observations by the author, like the one on the Finance Ministry that ‘has become a choking point in speedy disposal of matters’ are not unknown. But the author has not stopped there. He has recom-mended a way out, one that could have sounded utopian even a year ago. But no longer. Take for example: ‘There should be a penalty for delib-erate delays recoverable from the person responsible. The outer limit for taking a decision should be three months’. If only the government of the land was a little sensitive to what its own employees felt, it could have brought into effect changes that would have saved it from Team Anna’s wrath. Even now, the agita-tors on the streets have not raised their voice against the slow function-ing of the government due to its own internal ‘choking point’ that Sharan is

talking about (p. 263). But will any-one listen to him?

There are many such suggestions that come from the experience of a seasoned IAS officer. The author joined the IAS in 1955 and quit it in 1989 to promote his own agenda of social service. He was born in a fam-ily that had many luminaries. Lal Bahadur Shastri was his maternal uncle. Jaya Prakash Narayan was his father’s uncle. He was close to Anugrah Narain Singh, a stalwart in Bihar politics. He has revealed all these details in the penultimate chap-ter (My Family Life) of his book. He himself was a keen observer of things. He has described how in the Senate Hall in Patna, students manhandled Nehru during the turbulent days of communal frenzy, but listened to Jaya Prakash Narayan (p.59). It is only expected that such a man will throw new light on different aspects of administration and political life. He has done that with proper analyti-cal prowess.

Though in the eyes of the common man, a District Magistrate or Collector is a man of immense power, in reality, they face hundreds of obstacles. The book gives several such examples. At times, the officer may have to risk his own life to ensure fair administra-tion. Read this: ‘I found the SP com-fortably ensconced at Jamalpur PS. While I upbraided him for inadequate patrolling, news came of an immi-nent breach of peace elsewhere...… The SP came with two truckloads of armed force and teargas after the crisis is over.’ (p. 164-5) He refers to

another case where the SDO revolted against him and stuck to orders he gave out defying the order of the Collector! (p. 167-8)

Sharan left IAS to serve the society in his own way. He tried his hand on various vexed problems the country faces, from Kashmir to Babri Masjid to the Maoists. But, his love and con-cern for Bihar has remained the anchoring point of his life and this gets wonderfully expressed all through the book. The Bihar he saw as a student, the Bihar he served as an IAS, and the Bihar he sees now are not the same. He has seen the decline of the great state and is concerned. At the end of the book, he discusses present-day Bihar and the develop-ments, particularly in agriculture, that are taking place in that state. Sharan concludes the book with three sentences with which everyone con-cerned about Bihar will happily agree: ‘Bihar has also looked down on per-sonal ambition and has cultivated humility, perhaps a relic of its Buddhist influence. Happily, humility and high ability combine very well as in numerous Bihar leaders of national fame. May that be Bihar’s contribu-tion to their and India’s future.’ g

Title: Making Sense of Bihar: An Autobiography of a Civil Servant in BiharAuthor: Shree Shankar SharanPublisher: Abhinav PublicationsPrice: Rs 500

So remarkable a journeyBihar through the eyes of a seasoned IAS officer

Next Month

An outsider everywhere Revelations by an Insider

May

‘12

SILLY POINThumour mk kaw


Patternless postings

I am reminded of my years in the Department of Defence Production in the early 1990s. There were four Joint Secretaries and two Additional Financial

Advisers, reporting to N Raghunathan, a 1959 veteran of the Maharashtra cadre.

Raghu was a topper of his batch and a gentleman to a fault. He let us do what we wanted, helping us out only when we were about to get into trouble. After we had spoken on a file, there was an unofficial zero hour, when we could discuss anything and everything. Most of us were into it and enjoyed ourselves a lot. There was just one exception, the Joint Secretary in-charge of Ordnance Factories. Sometimes, one of us would raise a point about him during zero hour. Raghunathan would smile and change the subject. Sometimes, if one of us persisted, he would wink and say, “Oh you need not worry about him. He will be all right.”

It was a few years later. Orders were issued posting this gentleman as the Defence Secretary. Some of us shook our heads in disbelief. The one person we did not think would make it even to the Additional Secretaries’ panel was now holding the all-important seat.

In fullness of time, we all retired. This gentleman now found a berth as Governor of an important State, a post he still holds. Many of us again shook our heads in disbelief and mumbled about the inscrutable workings of fate and how postings did not follow a pattern.

It was at a party that the mystery was unravelled. We discovered to our astonish-ment that our friend was no less than the brother-in-law of an up and coming member of the Service. This gentle-man had been the Deputy Com-missioner

of Rai Bareli and ever since was tied strongly with hoops of steel to the Dynasty. He was a close confidant of Rajiv, an icon of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, a high official with the World Bank and had finally landed up as the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, with a projected career graph of Cabinet Secretary, India’s Ambassador to the United States of America… going into the stratosphere. In other words, no less a person than the redoubtable Pulok Chatterjee.

In case a parallel example is sought, the case of Wajahat Habeebullah comes to mind. Any time any sensitive posting falls vacant, Wajahat is the logical choice.

That reminds me of another Muslim officer, under whom I had the privilege of serving. These days we talk with a sense of consternation about the manner in which Thomas was appointed as the Chief Vigilance Commissioner. But human memory is very, very short. Let us recapitulate the circumstances.

P V Narasimha Rao is the Prime Minister of India. It is an unstable perch, as, by the laws of primogeniture, Rajiv should have been in that chair. Rao is preparing his speech for Independence Day. Can he do something dramatic, to show the Muslims of India that his heart is in the right place? His advisers scout around. Someone comes up with the explosive idea that a Muslim officer can be appointed as the Cabinet Secretary of India. There is just a tiny snag. Zafar Saifulah, who can be considered for the job has eight CBI cases registered against him. Eight CBI cases! Even the shadow of a single CBI case would cook his goose under normal circumstances. What

does one do to eight cases?Simple. Withdraw and file all the cases. Appoint

Saifullah as the new Cabinet Secretary. And, announce it from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

This is done. An officer, who was perched on the shelf as Chairman, Bombay Port Trust, with eight

CBI cases against him, now occupies the senior-most post in the civil service. And not even a dog whimpers.

Given the precedent of Zafar Saifullah, the decision in the case

of Thomas no longer falls in the category of patternless postings! So what are we whimpering

about?!g(MK Kaw is former

secretary, Government

of India )aruna


The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions byreaders of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to [email protected] with Bhardwaj’s name in the subject line.

STOCK DOCTORdr gs sood 5years

Stock ShopCaught in uncertainties by Rakesh bhaRdwaj

Jayshree Tea & Industries (CMP Rs97)

This B K Birla Group compa-ny is engaged in the manu-

facture of tea, sugar, chemicals and fertilisers. it derives about 75 per cent of its revenues from tea and the balance from sugar, fertilisers, etc. The consolidated margins of the company are likely to improve substantially because of an expected improve-ment in margins from tea plan-tation coupled with reduction in losses from the sugar business. Analysts expect tea prices to tread higher on a sustainable basis in the long run due to pro-duction falling short of rising demand led by continuing glo-bal shortages, lower inventory in india, lack of recovery in the Kenyan crop and rising con-sumption. The stock has cor-rected substantially from its 52-week high of Rs 181 and is currently available near its 52-week low, with a price to book value of 0.79. The current market price discounts the TTM EPs of Rs 9 by 10.8 only as against the industry average of 16.78. The company has had an uninterrupted record of paying dividend with current dividend yield of more than 3 per cent. in the uncertain global environ-ment, the stock is a safe pick with the scope for a decent appreciation.

ThE 50 basis point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of india on April 17 came as

surprise and brought widespread cheer to the markets. however, the bullish mood was short-lived and the markets corrected sharply thereafter, pointing to the concerns that remain alive. The latest addition in the long list of such concerns is the confusion with regard to the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR). GAAR has, in fact, dampened the mood of foreign institutional investors (Fiis), especially hedge funds and has led to a significant slowdown of inflows since Budget Day.

There is no denying the fact that the rise in the markets witnessed during the first

three months of this calendar year was mainly driven by the liquidity supplied in part by the European Central banks’ long-term refinancing operations. however, it is equally true that the indian markets have shown great resilience by not correcting sharply to any contagion from Europe or other parts of the world.

some economists feel that RBi has played with fire by slashing the repo rate by 50 basis points and it may prove coun-terproductive in the longer term. This, they say, is in view of the prevailing high current account and fiscal deficit, which coupled with the declining capital inflows and tight domestic liquidity may put significant pres-sure on the rupee that is already at its three-month low. inflation may have mod-erated but the upside risk remains alive, especially due to the suppression of admin-istered prices of fuels, fertilisers, etc.

The global outlook remained gloomy, with increased worries about Europe’s financial health, an unexpected rise in job-less claims in the Us and disappointing home sales and factory activity data. China also witnessed its weakest GDP growth in the last three years. All this may result in softening of commodity prices, especially oil, and that may bode well for economies like india. The growth in earnings of corpo-rate india are likely to remain subdued on a year-on-year basis though net earnings for the March quarter may not entirely be dis-appointing due to reduced foreign exchange losses since the rupee did not witness sharp depreciation till March end.

The market is likely to remain range bound in the short-run with a negative bias. such a scenario can be used by investors to steadily accumulate good stocks on every correction and build a sound portfolio. g

The prevailing high current account and fiscal deficit, which coupled with the declining capital inflows and tight domestic liquidity may put significant pressure on the rupee that is already at its three-month low

IAS officers’ birthdays May 16, 2012 — Jun 15, 2012 IAS officers’ birthdays May 16, 2012 — Jun 15, 2012

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com


birthdaysNarendra Kumar Sinha

16-05-1958CADRE : BIHAR

[email protected]

Anwar Ehsan Ahmad

16-05-1952CADRE : MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

S Chandramohan 16-05-1956CADRE : TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

V Umesh 17-05-1956CADRE : KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Anil Kumar 17-05-1953CADRE : NAGALAND

[email protected]

Hemanta Narzary 18-05-1959CADRE : ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Harshdeep Shriram Kamble 18-05-1970CADRE : MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Kishor Uttamrao Gajbhiye

19-05-1957CADRE : MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Anil Kumar-II

19-05-1966CADRE : UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Shivaputara M Jaamdar

20-05-1952CADRE : KARNATAKA

[email protected]

S F Khongwir 21-05-1949CADRE : ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Tahang Taggu 21-05-1958CADRE : UNION TERRITORY

[email protected]

Jamjam Syamala Rao

22-05-1967CADRE : ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Manjit Singh

22-05-1950CADRE : PUNJAB

[email protected]

S K Sandhu 23-05-1959CADRE : PUNJAB

[email protected]

T R Srinivasan

23-05-1948

CADRE : TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

M Subrahmanyan

24-05-1952CADRE : ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

V Shashank Shekhar

24-05-1973CADRE : NAGALAND

[email protected]

Lalrinliana Fanai

24-05-1970CADRE : UTTARAKHAND

[email protected]

K Kailashnathan

25-05-1953CADRE : GUJARAT

[email protected]

Deepak Singhal

25-05-1959CADRE : UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

Sumana N Menon

26-05-1959CADRE : KERALA

[email protected]

Injeti Srinivas 26-05-1960CADRE : ORISSA

[email protected]

Sanjiv Kumar

27-05-1960CADRE : HARYANA

[email protected]

V Somasundaran 27-05-1956CADRE : KERALA

[email protected]

Ajai Singh Nabiyal 28-05-1952CADRE : UTTARAKHAND

[email protected]

N Gulzar 29-05-1974CADRE : ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Sreya Guha

29-05-1968CADRE : RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

A Subbiah

30-05-1963CADRE : WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Ravindra Kumar Srivastava

31-05-1957CADRE : JHARKHAND

[email protected]

Lian Kunga

01-06-1957CADRE : BIHAR

[email protected]

Jagatsingh L Vasava

01-06-1952CADRE : ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Om Prakash Choudhary02-06-1981CADRE : CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Bhagwan Shankar 02-06-1962CADRE : SIKKIM

[email protected]

M G Kiran 03-06-1954CADRE : SIKKIM

[email protected]

C R Prasanna 04-06-1976CADRE : CHHATTISGARH

[email protected]

Solanki Pravinbhai Khodabhai 04-06-1978CADRE : GUJARAT

[email protected]

Balbir Tegta

05-06-1953CADRE : HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

Rabi Narayan Bohidar 05-06-1949CADRE : ORISSA

[email protected]

Vikas Sitaramji Bhale 06-06-1967CADRE : RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Depinder Singh Dhesi

07-06-1959CADRE : HARYANA

[email protected]

Chanchal Mal Bachhawat 07-06-1958CADRE : WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Rajesh Gupta 08-06-1955CADRE : BIHAR

[email protected]

Ajatshatru Srivastava

09-06-1958CADRE : MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Ajeet Kumar Sahu

10-06-1974CADRE : JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Saroj Kumar Dash 11-06-1952CADRE : HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

Rajendra Kumar Sharma 12-06-1954CADRE : MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Rajesh Kumar Singh

12-06-1963CADRE : MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Alaknanda Dayal 13-06-1975CADRE : PUNJAB

[email protected]

Ankur Garg

14-06-1980CADRE : UNION TERRITORY

[email protected]

Patil Dhyaneshwar Bhalchandra

15-06-1976CADRE : MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Kanwal Singh Mehra 15-06-1952CADRE : UNION TERRITORY

[email protected]

IPS officers’ birthdays May 16, 2012 — Jun 15, 2012 IPS officers’ birthdays May 16, 2012 — Jun 15, 2012

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com


Nanda Kumar Biswas16-05-1949 CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

T. Krishna Raju16-05-1956

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

A.K. Pateriya

17-05-1960

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Raghavendra Suhasaa H.G.17-05-1972

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

Ashish Batra18-05-1972CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

T.T.Tamang18-05-1955

CADRE: SIKKIM

[email protected]

N.Tamil Selvan19-05-1961 CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

P. Vijayanand19-05-1955

CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

Y. Puran Kumar19-05-1973

CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

V.Kamaraja20-05-1955 CADRE: HARYANA

[email protected]

N.R.K. Reddy21-05-1960

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

[email protected]

G.Umaganapathy Sastry22-05-1959

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

H.C.Kishore Chandra

22-05-1959CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

K. Radha Krishnan Nair23-05-1942

CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

M.C.Narayana Gowda23-05-1952 CADRE: KARNATAKA

[email protected]

Harish Chandra24-05-1955

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

S. Anantha Krishnan24-05-1963

CADRE: KERALA

[email protected]

A.B.Venkateswara Rao 25-05-1964CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Arvinder Singh25-05-1973

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

B.P. Mohapatra 26-05-949CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

Tashi Dawa26-05-1943

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

D.R.Doley27-05-1959

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

[email protected]

Pranabindu Acharya27-05-1964

CADRE: ORISSA

[email protected]

S.M. Shaikh28-05-1952

CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

Jyoti Narain29-05-1969

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

[email protected]

P.V. Krishna Prasad

29-05-1967CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

[email protected]

A.Natrajan

30-05-1962CADRE: JHARKHAND

[email protected]

M.D.Antani30-05-1954

CADRE: GUJARAT

[email protected]

Natarajan Ramesh Babu31-05-1967 CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Sita Ram Mardi31-05-1960

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

[email protected]

T A Chavan01-06-1954CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Lakhan Lal Ahirwar01-06-1954CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

Rajendra Namdeo Dhoke02-06-1965CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

Muneer Ahmad Khan02-06-1959CADRE: J&K

[email protected]

Durga Pada Tarenia03-06-1959CADRE: WEST BENGAL

[email protected]

Jyoti S Belur03-06-1968CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

[email protected]

Manoj Nath04-06-1952CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

Sanjay Sinha05-06-1953CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Shalin 05-06-1974CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

G Dorairaj06-06-1951CADRE: TAMIL NADU

[email protected]

Sangey Dorjee07-06-1956CADRE: SIKKIM

[email protected]

Tehal Singh Dhaliwal07-06-1953CADRE: PUNJAB

[email protected]

B K Shrivastva07-06-1950CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

[email protected]

P V Sunil Kumar08-06-1966CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

[email protected]

Kiran Bedi09-06-1949CADRE: AGMUT

[email protected]

Birendra Prasad Rao10-06-1949CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

[email protected]

Girdhari Naik11-06-1959CADRE: CHATTISGARH

[email protected]

P Doungel11-06-1963CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

[email protected]

Jasbir Singh12-06-1972CADRE: NAGALAND

[email protected]

Ashok Juneja13-06-1963CADRE: CHATTISGARH

[email protected]

M G Saanap14-06-1952CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

[email protected]

Arvind Pandey Pradhan15-06-1963

CADRE: BIHAR

[email protected]

5years


SUDRIPTO ROY The 1978 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh.

R PARASURAM The 1978 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed as Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh.

OP RAWAT The 1977 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has joined as Secretary, Public Enterprises in Government of India.

PRADEEP KUMAR DEB The 1977 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre has been appointed Secretary, Sports in Government of India.

RAM SEWAK SHARMAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre, Director General and Mission Director, Unique Identification Authority of India, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

SUDHIR MITTALThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

BIPIN BIHARI SRIVASTAVAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, Additional Secretary, Central Information Commission, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

K N DESIRAJUThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre, Additional Secretary, Department

of Health & Family Welfare, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary. R BHATTACHARYAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

DESH DEEPAK VERMAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Director General, Sports Authority of India, Department of Sports, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

A K MANGOTRAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, Director General, DGS&D, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

V CHHIBERThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary. PANKAJ JAINThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

VIVEK RAEThe 1978 batch IAS officer of AGMU cadre, DG (Acquisition), Ministry of Defence, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

SANJAY KOTHARIThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

RAJIV MEHRISHIThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary. S R RAOThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

SUDHIR KUMARThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

ANIL GOSWAMIThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Jammu & Kashmir cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary Government of India.

PANKAJ AGARWALThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

UTTAM KUMAR SANGMAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand

Tracking For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

ASSAM-MEGHALAYA Alok Perti (1977) Jagatsingh L Vasava (1982)

ANDHRA PRADESH T Sanyasappa Rao (1980) S Balasubramanyam (1992) M Subrahmanyan (1993)

BIHAR Prabeer Kumar Basu (1976)

CHHATTISGARH S. R. V. Prabhat (1979)

GUJARAT

Chhotilal Meena (1984) P. N. Patel (1994)

HARYANA Narinder Kumar Jain (1978)

JAMMU & KASHMIR Bua Ditta (1995)

KARNATAKA K Jairaj (1976) V Madhu (1978) K Jothiramalingam (1978)Shivaputara M Jaamdar (1980) Babu Rao Mudbi (1990)

MAHARASHTRA R. Y. Gaikwad (1975) S D Thakre (1993) B D Sanap (1998)

MANIPUR-TRIPURA Anwar Ehsan Ahmad (1976)

PUNJAB Bhushan Chander Gupta (1975) Darbara Singh Guru (1980)Ashok Kumar Singla (1997)

RAJASTHAN Lalit Prakash Kothari (1977)

TAMIL NADU D Uthirakkumaran (1998)

UTTARAKHAND Ajai Singh Nabiyal (1994)

UTTAR PRADESH Kanhaiya Lal Meena (1983)

UNION TERRITORY D C Sahoo (1996)

WEST BENGAL Sridhar Kumar Ghosh (1995)

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in May 2012


cadre, Additional Secretary, North Eastern Council, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary Government of India.

R C MISHRAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre, Central Provident Fund Commissioner, Ministry of Labour and Employment, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary Government of India.

PREM NARAINThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, Adviser, Planning Commission, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

V RAJAGOPALAN1978 batch IAS officer 1978 UP), Additional Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

S K SRIVASTAVAThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Mines, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

ARVIND MAYARAMThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Rural Development, Ministry of Rural Development, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary, Government of India.

GOKUL CHANDRA PATIThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre, Additional Secretary in the Department of Agriculture and Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary.

A P JOSHIThe 1978 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre, Additional Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, has been promoted in-situ as Special Secretary, Government of India. SHASHI SHEKHAR The 1981 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed as Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in Government of India. DEVENDRA CHAUDHARY The 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed as Additional

Secretary, Ministry of Power in Government of India.

S NARSING RAO The 1986 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre has assumed charge as Chairman-cum-Managing-Director of Coal India Limited (CIL). T Y DAS The 1982 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre has joined as Joint Secretary (North East Region), Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

SANJAY KUMAR RAKESHThe 1990 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre has been appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in the Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), New Delhi.

RAJAT BHARGAVA The 1990 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre has joined as Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs. SUBHASH CHANDRA SHARMA The 1996 batch IAS officer has been appointed as Secretary in the Home in Uttar Pradesh.

DEEPAK ANURAG The 1988 batch IA&AS Officer has been appointed Joint Secretary, Defence. SANJOG KAPOOR The 1999 batch IRS-IT officer has been posted as First Secretary, Income Tax Overseas Unit (ITOU), Embassy of India, and Tokyo, Japan.

R SUDALAIKANNAN The 2001 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Road Development Company Limited (TNRDC) in Tamil Nadu. A K JAIN The Resident Commissioner, Madhya Pradesh Bhawan, New Delhi, has been appointed as Advisor, Planning Commission under the Government of India.

PAWAN KUMAR SHARMA The 1999 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been shifted on inter-cadre deputation from Madhya Pradesh to AGMU cadre and appointed as Deputy

Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Delhi.

RAJINDER BHAGATThe High Commissioner of India to Ghana has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to Burkina Faso, with residence in Accra.

ANIL TRIGUNAYATThe Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Libya.

DEBRAJ PRADHANThe Ambassador of India to Angola has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, with residence in Luanda.

SANJEEV KUMAR The 1993 batch IRS C&CE officer has joined as private secretary (PS) to Indian Corporate Affairs Minister, M Veerappa Moily.

MD PALIATH The 1978 batch IAS officer has been appointed new Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts.

RATNAKAR BARAL The 1982 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura, Addl. DGP - Manipur, has been promoted to DGP scale in the cadre. K SREENIVASULU The 1994 batch IAS officer has been posted as Managing Director, Govt. Fruit Preservation Factory, Singtam, Sikkim.

MANU SHRIVASTAVA The 1991 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed as Managing Director of Madhya Pradesh Power Management Company Limited.

SAURABH CHANDRA The 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre has taken over as new Secretary Industrial Policy and Promotion in the Government of India.

VIMLENDRA SHARAN The 1992 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra cadre, Private Secretary to Agricultural Union Minister has been appointed as Joint Secretary Agriculture Ministry, Government of India.

5years


Tracking For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

G K PILLAI The Former Union Home Secretary has been appointed part-time non-official Director in the HPCL.

SIBICHEN K MATHEW The IRS officer has been deputed as Advisor in Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) at the regional office of Bangalore.

G P KUNDARGI The Director (P&P), MOIL, has been selected for the post of Chairman and Managing Director, MOIL Limited at a Public Enterprises Selection Board.

SHRAVAN KUMAR GOTRU The Director (A & PAC), Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has been nominated as Liaison Officer for the Board.

KUMAR PAL GAUTAM The 2009 batch IAS officer has been posted as Sub-Divisional Officer (OSD), Ramgarh (Alwar) in Rajasthan.

P ANURADHA BALRAM The 1986 batch IES, Director, Adviser, Food Processing Industries, has been promoted to Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) and posted as Economic Adviser, Food Processing Industries.

NEERA RAWAT The 1992 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre has joined as GM, Security Airport Authority of India in Ministry of Civil Aviation.

AKSHAYA KUMAR MISHRA The 1987 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre has promoted as Additional Director General of Police, Rajasthan Government.

VIJAY RAGHAV PANT The 1978 batch IPS officer has taken over as new Director General of Police Uttarakhand. CHITTARANJAN DASH The 1999 batch IRS IT officer has been appointed as First Secretary, Income Tax Overseas Unit, Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

MUNISH KUMAR The 1986 batch IES officer, Director, Planning Commission, has been promoted to SAG and posted as Economic Adviser, Labour.

MADHUKAR DWIVEDI has been moved as Secretary (Home). PRAGYAN RAM MISHRA has been made Divisional Commissioner of Mirzapur. SAROJ KUMAR TIWARI has been appointed Secretary (Planning). SUBHASH CHANDRA SHARMA, DM, Bareilly will now be Secretary Labour. RANVEER PRASAD will be Additional Commissioner of Rural Development and Census. AJAY AGARWAL has been promoted and posted as Secretary (Finance). MUKESH MESHRAM has been appointed Mission Director, National Rural Health Mission and Executive Director of SIFPSA. DEEPAK SINGHAL has been given additional charge of Principal Secretary, Irrigation. ALOK KUMAR (II) has been given additional charge of secretary protocol. SANJAY AGARWAL, Principal Secretary,

Health and Family Welfare, has been given additional charge of Principal Secretary, Food and Drug Control Department as well. Y K GOYAL Etah DM has been transferred.L.VENKATESHWAR LOO, has been appointed commissioner, land consolidation department. MANOJ SINGH has been posted as commissioner and secretary board of revenue, Lucknow. MOHD MUSTAFA has been relieved from the additional charge of commissioner land consolidation. SUSHIL KUMAR has been appointed Director Social Welfare. RANVIR PRASAD has been moved to the GAD. SANTOSH YADAV (1995 IAS UP) Divisional Commissioner Meerut, transferred as Vice Chairman (VC) of the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). R N SINGH has been moved from Azamgarh to Pratapgarh as DM.

THE fOLLOWING IAS OffICERS, DISTRICT MAGISTRATES AND fIVE DIVISIONAL COMMISSIONERS HAVE BEEN RESHUffLED IN UTTAR PRADESH:

MUKUL SINGHAL Divisional Commissioner Kanpur, K R RAO Secretary Information Commission, RAVINDRA NAIK Divisional Commissioner Bareilly, RANJAN SHUKLA Secretary Stamp Registration, Dr HARIOM DM Moradabad, S SAMMADAR Special Secretary Health, P R MISHRA Member Board of Revenue, ANIL KUMAR Divisional Commissioner Gorakhpur, SURESH CHANDRA Director Training and Employment, CHANCHAL TIWARI Divisional Commissioner Varanasi, RAJESH K SINGH additional charge Forests, SANJAY PRASAD Divisional commissioner Saharanpur, AMRIT ABHIJAT Secretary Technical education, R RAMESH KUMAR Secretary Languages, K S ATORIYA Divisional Commissioner Devipaten, HARI RAJ KISHORE PS Small Scale Industries, Dr HARSHARAN DAS Labour Commissioner Kanpur, SUBHRA SAXENA CDO Meerut, ADITI SINGH CDO Lucknow, VIJAY KARAN ANAND CDO Barabanki, BHANU GOSWAMI CDO Varanasi, ANUJ KUMAR JHA CDO Jhansi, MALA SRIVASTAVA Joint Development Commissioner Allahabad, NITIN BANSAL CDO Allahabad, RUPESH KUMAR CDO Agra, M ALI SARWAR CDO Moradabad, VIVEK CDO Mathura, BHUPENDRA CHAUDHARY CDO Jaunpur, D P DUBEY Special Secretary APC, PRAKASH BINDU CDO Gautam Buddha Nagar, C RAJA LINGAM CDO Moradabad, GOVIND RAJU DM Mirzapur,RAKESH DM Sultanpur, K VIJAY PANDIYAN DM, VIKRAM SINGH DM Mau, Ambedkar Nagar, RAJESH KUMAR DM Sant Kabir Nagar, S DUBEY Special Secretary GAD, MUTHU SWAMY V DM Farrukkhabad, KANCHAN VERMA DM Fatehpur,Y BHASKAR DM Shravasti, KUMAR R SINGH DM Deoria,RAVINDRA Special Secretary Commercial Taxes, SAMIR VERMA DM Varanasi, SUBHASH SHARMA Spl Secretary Labour, MANISH CHAUHAN DM Bareilly, ANIL GARG DM Aligarh, GAURAV DAYAL DM Jhansi, SURENDRA SINGH DM Muzaffarnager, S V S RANGRAO DM Firozabad, AMRIT TRIPATHI DM Sant Ravi Das Nagar, RAVI KUMAR DM Gorakhpur, SANJAY KUMAR DM Mathura, R JACOB DM Rai Bareilly, ABHAY DM Gonda, RITU MAHESHWARI DM Bhim Nagar, RAJ SHEKHAR DM Pilibhit, MANISH TIGHOTIA DM, Jalaun, PAWAN KUMAR DM Chandauli, LOKESH M DM Etah,P N SINGH DM Gazipur, G SRINIVASLU Spl Secretary Housing, MADHUKAR DWIVEDI Special Sec Higher Education, PINKI JOVAL DM Ballia,K SINGH DM Bahraich, VIDYA BHUSHAN DM CSM Nagar, SAROJ KUMAR DM Kaushambi,S MUTHU SHALINI DM Basti,Dr KAJAL DM Mahoba and B CHANDRAKALA DM Hamirpur.

UTTAR PRADESH RESHUffLES IAS OffICERS:


...by the way

Search for Chief Secy

Orders appointing P K Chaudhary as the new Commerce secretary were on their way to Udyog

Bhavan. The Prime Minister had approved his name. suddenly, the next thing we came to know was that he was the new Chief secretary of Haryana. What happened? Let us tell you. Apparently, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder singh Hooda was in a fix. His Chief secretary Urvashi Gulati was retiring at the end of March. He first approached Finance secretary r s Gujral but the latter told Hooda, “I will do more for the state as Finance secretary than to be the Chief secretary”. Insiders, however, say Gujral cannot forget “one old indecent incident” so he politely refused. so Hooda landed in the office of Commerce Minister Anand sharma and P K Chaudhary got a call from the Minister’s office. Anand sharma informed Chaudhary that Hooda wanted him to be the Chief secretary of Haryana. Chaudhary said, “When Chief Minister Hooda has come all the way to ask for me to be Chief secretary, I am honoured and accept.” Chaudhary is also believed to have asked Hooda, “Why do you want me to be in Haryana, when there are so many honest and efficient officers available”. Hooda replied to Chaudhary, “no doubt there are many but I want honesty should be seen.” Chaudhary is said to be committed to restoring the prestige of the office of Chief secretary and has already started implementing the result Frame document with all the ministries. g

Winners all?

WHen a war is won, if all the awards were to go to the General what would we think about

him? A similar situation prevailed at the PM’s Award for excellence in Public Administration, held in Vigyan Bhawan at delhi recently. When the awards for successful holding of panchayat elections in J&K were announced, nobody was surprised. But when the awards went to the Chief secretary, director General of Police, Chief electoral Officer, special secretary to Chief secretary, and Principal secretary (Planning and development), everybody was left a bit nonplussed. In principal, all these officials are duty bound to hold the elections. It was nothing great. It would have been in the fitness of things if the work of collectors and sPs who did all the field work was recognised instead! How the awardees are selected is a great mystery however. The department of Administrative reforms and Public Grievances, which is the apex body for organising this award, never briefs how many citations it had received. Who are the officials in the selection committee? How do they decide which 10 out of thousands will be awarded? The entire process needs some introspection. It is learnt that Cabinet secretary A K seth personally called the secretaries and Chief secretaries to be present so the only solace which they can get is that the function was well attended. g

5years


...by the way

Unproductive assets!

THe Planning Commission’s main task is to decide where government money has to be

spent wisely. This job is being done admirably by Montek singh Ahluwalia, the deputy Chairperson. It would not be wrong to say that Ahluwalia virtually controls the finances of the Government of India. His wife, also an economist, Isher Judge Ahluwalia has produced a book titled ‘India’s economic reforms and development: essays for Manmohan singh’. Clearly, the husband-wife team is completely dedicated and loyal to the Prime Minister. But preaching to Ministries and states to control wasteful expenditure is easier said than done. And what about if Yojana Bhawan,the building which houses the Planning Commission, doesn’t care for Ahluwalia’s dictums. Insiders inform that two ‘smart toilets’ have been constructed for elite members of the Planning Commission. One can only have the access to these ‘smart toilets’ through smart cards. naturally, this is causing much heartburn. These ‘unproductive assets’ have cost huge money. now Aswani Kumar has to take a call to go to the bottom of the issue and see from where this plan of constructing costly toilets has originated. g

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Ministry of Singhs

THe steel Ministry has many singhs right now since dilip raj singh Chaudhary has joined as the secretary, steel.

Three other Joint secretaries who are already working in the ministry are Upendra Prasad singh, Uday Pratap singh and dalip singh. so, the buzz is that the steel Ministry belongs to the singhs. The Prime Minister’s Office was undecided who they wanted as steel secretary for the last couple of months as the stakes in the ministry are very high. doPT secretary PK Misra was handling the ministry on an ad hoc basis. He toured different countries in March to complete the unfinished agenda but there are many issues which have to be settled on a priority basis and the Minister Beni Prasad Verma can’t wait. so, the PMO appointed drs Chaudhary, a 1977 batch MP cadre IAs with a successful three years stint in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Chaudhary, an MA in political science, was deputy secretary in the Ministry of steel between 1986 and 1990. The advantage with Chaudhary is that he understands naxal issues and threats very well as he has handled naxal Management in the Home Ministry. This experience will prove useful as most of the steel mines are in naxal infested areas. Chaudhary is believed to have already started work at a fast pace. If insiders are to be believed, he is determined to clear all

obstacles regarding the Posco project. Let us wait and watch

how the Beni-drs team enthuse the steel Ministry

and bring back it to the speed which PMO is

looking for. g

Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2010-12 Licence No. U(C)-3/2012, Licence to post without prepayment Posted on 7th & 8th of every month at SPM SRT Nagar, Post Office, New Delhi 110055

R.N.I. No: DELENG/2007/19719. Rs.100, vol. 6, issue 1 | April 2012

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gfiles May 2012