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PRAJAPATI TRIVEDI PLANNING USELESS WITHOUT IMPLEMENTATION p22 AMITABH THAKUR HOW CIVIL SERVANTS HAVE NO FREEDOM TO SPEAK p50

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Prabhat Kumar, MG Devasahayam & MK Kaw on raising the retirement age of government servants

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vol. 8, ISSUE 9 | DECEMBER 2014 Anil Tyagi | editor TR Ramachandran | executive editor Niranjan Desai | roving editor GS Sood | consulting business editor Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant Naresh Minocha | contributing editor Neeraj Mahajan | contributing editor Ajit Ujjainkar | bureau chief (mumbai) Harishchandra Bhat | associate editor (bengaluru) Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru) Kanika Srivastava | sub-editor & coordinator Mayank Awasthi | reporter Pawan Kumar | production coordinator Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics Nipun Jain | finance Gautam Das | legal consultant Bushchat Media | edit & design Madan Lal | Webmaster Abhisshek Tyagi | Director advertising & marketing RAKESH ARORAâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; +919810648809 e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar, Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053 bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block, jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011 CONTACT â&#x20AC;&#x201D; +91 9845730298 e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in $1,/ 7<$*, 35,17(5 38%/,6+(5 QG IORRU GGD VLWH QHZ UDMLQGHU QDJDU QHZ GHOKL Ä&#x192; 7(/ )$;

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HE year 2014 will be remembered as a milestone year which proved to be a gamechanger in the Indian polity.

Narendra Modi is the hero of 2014. This will be a red letter year in the life and times of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the BJP. Finally, the RSS is emerging from its shell and for the first time in the history of India, guiding the governance of the country. The other facet of this year is that the 125-year-old Congress party has receded into oblivion. This year will also be remembered for Rahul Gandhi failing to prove himself as a leader of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest and oldest party. The year will also be marked for Manmohan Singh ruling 120 crore people for 10 years without having a political constituency or facing the electorate. What a paradox! History has begun judging Manmohan Singh from 2014 as he allowed scam after scam, just to remain in power. Again, the year will be noted for the display of how to market and use multimedia to influence, motivate and fetch votes. And it will go down in the political history of Haryana and Maharashtra that saw, for the first time, a BJP government. The year will also be remembered for the beginning of the end of regional satraps. The year also stands out for the fact that Indians have partially emerged from the camouflage trick of divisive politics to separate Muslims and Hindus. India has emerged as a votary of development. The electorate of India has wrought a coup by voting on the premise that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;achche din aa sakte hainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; or good days can be here if a decision to choose the right government is taken wisely. Indians have tremendous hope in the leadership of Modi and there is a clamour for development.

There is no movement in the economy of the country this year. The way India has opened up its doors for international relations has left everybody wondering as to how the roadmap will plan out. After the time of Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, External Affairs is emerging as Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prime focus. This year will also be remembered for a Prime Minister taking oath with less-experienced ministers.

The paradox of this year is that the country was ruled by an economist Prime Minister and yet is cash-starved and resources are scarce to implement Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development agenda. The real challenge of Modi in 2014 was how to take India onto the path of progress without the required resources. Neighbour first, Make in India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, Jan Dhan Yojana, Digital India, Smart Cities, SAARC satellite, visa on arrival and hassle-free travel, and a proposed new body to replace the Planning Commission are all decisions by Modi in the last six months where, without budgetary support, only political will was required.

The biggest challenge facing Modi is how to make India a market-friendly nation and generate resources. His â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Look East, Link Westâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; policy is for making India a part of the global supply chain. For strengthening this, Modi is linking hands with tech-savvy and financially sound Japan, Australia (a land of abundant natural resources) and the politically most powerful US while making inroads into the markets of SAARC nations. It appears to be the best possible roadmap in the given circumstances. Modi has to start sowing the seeds of development, so that Indians do not become disillusioned after posing unquestionable faith in his administrative and political acumen. Let us hope for the best in 2015.

ANIL TYAGI editor@gfilesindia.com

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vol. 8, issue 9 | December 2014

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CONTENTS

LETTERS editor@gfilesindia.com

6 Bric-a-Brac gains & pains

10 Cover Story

SPECIAL 125TH YEAR OF NEHRU p32-43 MG DEVASAHAYAM, MK KAW, JANARDAN THAKUR

November 5, 2014 ` VOL. 8, ISSUE 8

don’t throw away experience

FIRST STIRRINGS ASHOK CHANDRA

p44

22 Governance

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time for implementation

24 Awards

was cool and contemplative. I hold that people like Nehru and Patel were a godsend for our new-born nation. They were our best bid in those formative times of unprecedented turmoil. It’s a bit churlish to find fault with those titans.

Ram Varma via blog

scope: rewarding meritorious psus

42 Book Extract

SEBI

48 First Stirrings

kk jaiswal goes down memory lane

50 My Corner

do civil servants have freedom of expression?

52 Stock Doctor days of the bull run

54 Perspective

on national identity

65 By the Way

postings and transfers

UK SINHA Chairman, SEBI

no security, less exchange, only bailouts

KP SINGH Chairman, DLF

CO G M OV PE E TI RN T A p2 ION NC 4 CH E AO S

lal bahadur shastri: no sparrow

Post-dated blues Your November 14 issue was very informative and gives an insight on various issues. As regards the article titled ‘SEBI Turning Blind Eye’ I may only say that perversity is parading as morality. Why should the government authority be finding fault at a later stage when it has already inspected all the documents and at a post date, the private party becomes the thief. The government should challenge the wisdom of its mandarins and book them for overlooking the facts. It goes without saying that the private party can never venture any camouflage if the watchdogs don’t have any hidden agenda. If the government machinery is taken to task concurrently with the private parties, it will deter the officials from falling prey to petty gain. This is only a suggestion and not any accusation which I am neither empowered nor authorised to make.

Mahendra Goel via email

Remembering Nehru The two companion pieces on Nehru on his 125th birth anniversary by MG Devasahayam and MK Kaw (gfiles, November 2014) were a study in contrast.

While MGD’s piece was unnecessarily arrogant and acerbic, presumptuous and prescriptive, MKK, on the other hand,

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MG Devasahayam responds: It looks as if my friend and former colleague, Ram Varma, does not want to face realities and is comfortable with his ostrich-type approach and cult worship. Probably he also does not have fundamental knowledge of economics and an inquisitive mind. Lord, forgive him for he does not know what he is writing.

What Nehru’s critics ignore completely are that he had to deal with the following factors: A fledgling nation just recovering from a bloody partition, a battle for Kashmir, protecting and securing our borders on all sides, dealing with separatist-minded states, forming a bureaucracy, armed forces, police, and, above all, making sure democracy took root and strengthened. He had disinterested, if not hostile, western powers, a greedy China, and no influential NRI diaspora to play offence for him. He and the men with him deserve our eternal thanks and admiration for building our roots. We are still a young democracy, and it will take us perhaps another 50 years to arrive at our final political structure, even that of our States. We had not actually governed ourselves for 700 years prior to 1947 and had a fair bit of catching up to do in learning who and what we really are. We need to look at what condition America was in when they were 67 years into their democracy [1840s] in order to see how well we have done. The one advantage they had was no 5,000-year-old history containing fact and mythology, each of which overlaps with the other and causes confusion.

Ravi Katari via blog

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Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

Agile, Versatile, Reliable

Advanced Light Helicopter (Dhruv)

â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Perfect Blendâ&#x20AC;? - Men, Machine & Mission

Bric-a-brac gains & pains

RSS sets the rhythm to coordinate well with the bjp

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HE Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is very active in the governance of the country, albeit cautiously. The social organisation does not want to make any faux pas this time. It has been observed that some of the ministers are still waiting for the appointment of their Principal Secretary/Private Secretary/ Personal Assistant. As per sources, a list of government servants who are RSS sympathisers or those who have sharp technical knowhow is being prepared. The RSS is also said to be reshuffling its top hierarchy to manage the BJP in a better way. Ram Madhav, the new general secretary of the BJP, is likely to be shifted out from the party to some important assignment. Ram Lal, another RSS pracharak who is deputed to the BJP, has been assigned charge of overseeing the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in 2017. On the other hand, Krishna Gopal, an experienced and capable pracharak, has been brought in as party general secretary from the North-East. All these activities have changed the dynamics within the BJP office at 9, Ashoka Road, and the middle and lower rank party office-bearers are finding it difficult to acclimatise to the fast-changing circumstances in the party.

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Waiting with bated breath defence sector watches parrikar

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HE Defence Ministry is today in such a state that it cannot afford a non-performing minister like AK Antony. In fact, the Defence Minister was more in the news on account of his honesty and simplicity than for his competence in the delivery mechanism. All eyes are now on the new Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar. The new minister comes dressed in a plain shirt, trousers and chappals. When he moves out of his office, nobody comes to know. Parrikar does not use a car to move from South Block to North Block; he generally walks down to meet his predecessor, Arun Jaitley. He starts giving appointments from 6 am onwards and reaches the office at 8.30 am. To function smoothly, he has brought in his old trusted bureaucrat, P Krishnamurthy, as his Private Secretary. Krishnamurthy has been attached to Parrikar since his first stint as Chief Minister of Goa. The grapevine has it that Parrikar was not interested in joining the Defence Ministry though he had been earlier asked twice by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But he could not refuse when Modi asked yet again. He realised that the Prime Minister needed him in Delhi to galvanise and manage the infamous defence sector. Now the players in the sector are closely watching Parrikar to see whether he will be able to deliver or will be ejected like Antony who did more harm than good by just bearing the honesty tag.

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INSIDE EYE

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

All for Capital revenue industrialists queue for chandrababu naidu

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NDHRA Pradesh is agog with activity. Nara Chandrababu Naidu is a much sought-after Chief Minister and industrialists, business houses, especially infrastructure companies, are queuing to meet him. The reason: the new capital of Andhra Pradesh is to come up in Guntur district with the government identifying 30,000 acres across 17 villages. Approximately, `40,000 crore will be spent

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on the construction of the new state-of-the-art Capital.

Surprisingly, most of the land has been purchased by top Congress leaders, who were part of the State reorganisation. Globally reputed firms are in the race to become the Project Advisory and Management Consultant (PAMC) that will advise and help the State government in the project. The London-based Arup Group, in consortium with the San Francisco-based Thompson Design Group, the globally known McKinsey, the joint venture of Korea Land and Housing Corporation and Yooshin Engineering Corporation (both from the Republic of Korea), the Japan-based consortium of Oriental Consultants Global and Capital Fortunes Private Limited, Hyderabad, and the Netherlands-based Royal Haskoning DHV Consulting Private Limited in consortium with Haskoning DHV Nederland BV are among the eight groups shortlisted for the PAMC project.

As many as 15 companies had submitted the Expression of Interest. What will happen when 100 smart cities will be built in India, can be imagined!

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Bric-a-brac gains & pains

Chacko’s challenge

History repeats itself

set things right in delhi congress

question papers no exception

C Chacko is the new man in charge of the Congress for the forthcoming Delhi Assembly elections. Chacko knows Delhi since he was a Youth Congress leader and sources disclose that Rahul Gandhi has given him a free hand. Chacko, who lost his Lok Sabha seat from Thrissur in Kerala in the general election, has set up a temporary abode in North Avenue. Delhi Congress leaders are jittery as with great difficulty they had got used to the former party in-charge, Shakeel Ahmed. The party is in a mess and the Delhi Pradesh Congress has not even constituted block-level committees. Ticket-seekers are trying to be friendly with anybody who knows Chacko, who is facing a problem as the Delhi Congress is vertically divided in pro-Sheila and anti-Sheila groups. All ticket-seekers belong to one group or the other. Surprisingly, both groups enjoy the patronage of the top leadership. As a result, Chacko is planning to focus on individual candidates. Chacko’s real challenge is to overcome pressure from Delhi’s rich property dealers and builders who are in the queue for tickets.

APOLEON Bonaparte said that history is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon. In the recent Delhi University examination for the BCom fifth semester, the question paper was found to be a replica of that distributed in the varsity’s School of Open Learning annual exam. The administration department claimed that the question papers had been set by a board of three teachers from various colleges.

Despite all such checks and balances, this plagiarism has put the administration in an embarrassing situation. Similar claims have unravelled in the past when reputed institutions and universities have picked up a few questions from various sources to prepare a bouquet of question papers. In the final examination of Direct Taxes conducted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in November 2014, in most of the question papers, old questions were presented with hardly any alterations.

A similar instance was noticed in the examination of IPCC tax papers also in November and in earlier examinations conducted by the institute.

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vol. vol.8,8issue , issue 9 7| December | October 2014

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COVER STORY retirement

Ajit Doval

BK Chaturvedi

Brajesh Mishra

Counting old as gold ESL Narasimhan

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K Padmanabhaiah

Naresh Chandra

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NC Saxena

Nripendra Misra

PC Alexander, an IAS officer, served as Governor of Maharashtra till the age of 72. Brajesh Mishra, an Indian Foreign Service officer, served former Prime Minister of India Atal Behari Vajpayee till the age of 76. TKA Nair, an IAS officer, served as Adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh till the age of 73.

Pulok Chatterjee, an IAS officer, served Manmohan Singh till the age of 65. K Padmanabhaiah was working as interlocutor for the North-East for almost 10 years after retiring as Home Secretary. BN Yugandhar, after retirement as Principal Secretary to late Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, worked elsewhere for many years and was brought back as Member, Planning Commission in UPA-I. SS Sidhu after retirement served in ICAO, a UN body, as its head and later as Governor, Manipur and Goa. ESL Narasimhan, after retiring as Director, Intelligence Bureau, has been serving as Governor of Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh for the last eight years. Shiv Shankar Menon served as NSA till the age of 64. BK Chaturvedi, former Cabinet Secretary, served till the age of 69. Naresh Chandra, former Indian Ambassador to the US, served till the age of 67. NC Saxena, Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, served till 70. Ajit Doval, present National Security Adviser, is 69 years old; Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is also 69 years old. These are the whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who of the Indian Administration and Civil Service. They have served almost 45-50 years with the Government of India.

They are mentally agile, physically fit and have abundant experience to solve even the most intricate of problems.

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PC Alexander

When all these seniors have and are running the nation, then why should the available experienced human resource be superannuated at the age of 60 years? The moment most officers retire, they look out for a cushy post-retirement abode, to enjoy the ultimate luxury of life. It is a sheer wastage of resources. The government has to re-plan and restructure so as to ensure the best utilisation of its competent human resource, which it has nurtured over the years by acclimatising these people in different administrative terrain.

As it is, thousands of posts of IAS and IPS officers are lying vacant. These cannot be filled up in a jiffy.

Given this scenario, retiring experienced and trained bureaucrats on whom the state has spent a fortune over a period of 30 years clearly does not appear practical.

When the Government of India trusts its officials till the age of 70-71, sometimes even 75, then why does the system retire them at the age of 60? These are pertinent questions which should be debated.

Globally too, there is an ongoing debate on when governments should retire their human resources. The National Democratic Alliance government will also have an uphill task before it as Modi has reposed faith in running his administration with the help of civil servants above the age of 65-70 years. In this cover story, Prabhat Kumar, former Cabinet Secretary, MG Devasahayam and MK Kaw, both also former IAS officers, discuss why the government should not retire its human resource at the age of 65.

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COVER STORY

retirement prabhat kumar

To retire

now or later?

With increase in life expectancy, it makes eminent sense to raise the retirement age of government employees to 65 years

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HE little murmur about increase in the age of superannuation of Central government employees has been quashed for the time being by the announcement of the government. However, the question whether people should continue working beyond the age of 60 years, not only in the government but also in private companies, lingers on and needs to be debated. It is really surprising that neither the civil service community nor civil society activists have raised the matter in public discourse. The activists seem to be obsessed with finding fault

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with bureaucratic functioning and unconcerned with improving their productivity in governance.

In my view, a policy debate on the issue of civil service reforms should also include the age of superannuation of civil servants.

Such a policy debate should not merely be a political debate. The question should be seen from at least two angles: from the viewpoint of the employee and from the larger perspective of the employer, which is the government

in this case. We are of the view that it is the opportune time to revise the age of retirement upwards.

The employee looks at his physical suitability, his financial requirements after retirement and continuance of an occupation on superannuation, and so on. He starts thinking of life after retirement at least five years before the actual event.

On the other hand, the government has to consider the elements of usefulness of the employee to the job, the prospects of younger employees, recruitment of new entrants, and so on. Besides being interested in the welfare of aging employees, the

The government has to consider whether it would be beneficial to the system and governance to keep experienced officials in service for a longer period

ARUNA

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government has to consider whether it would be beneficial to the system and governance to keep experienced officials in service for a longer period.

In May 1998, the Government of India decided to raise the retirement age of Central government employees from 58 years to 60 years.

The decision was taken by a new governing coalition within two months of its taking up the reins of government. In fact, in the month of May 1998, two abrupt decisions were takenâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;exploding thermo-nuclear

devices in Pokhran and raising the age of retirement. In both the cases, there were no prior deliberations within the government. In both the cases, the decisions were taken and then the process of carrying them out was delineated. The decision to increase the age of superannuation was mainly based on the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission.

I remember the deliberations in the Union Cabinet when it was introduced by me with some trepidation. I had expected a lively debate by informed ministers like Yashwant Sinha, Rangarajan Kumaramangalam, Ram Jethmalani and Suresh Prabhu, besides others. I was prepared to answer the possible queries in the Cabinet. Curiously, the proposal was approved without any discussion.

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HY was the decision to increase the age of retirement taken? To the best of my recollection, it was not a priority in the election manifesto of the National Democratic Alliance in 1998-1999, nor was there a financial emergency of a serious order. I think it was decided because the Fifth Pay Commission had, along with other recommendations, suggested that the Central government employees should continue in employment till the age of 60 and also because many senior bureaucrats, who were on the verge of retirement and were close to the new political executive, wanted to continue in authority.

Be that as it may, it cannot be denied that people today are living longer than in the 1950s when the age of retirement in the government was 55. The worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population is steadily growing older. The prospect of enjoying a retirement lasting 20 to 30 years is already a reality for many in the 34 countries which

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COVER STORY

retirement prabhat kumar

make up the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). In India too, most of the retirees work in gainful employment for years after getting relieved of their formal jobs.

In my view, it makes sense to raise the age of retirement in government to 65 years, provided it is accompanied by twin provisions of weeding out the less competent and worn-out employees at stipulated intervals and complete estoppels of re-employment after retirement. I must mention that I had insisted on amending the Fundamental Rules for prohibiting all extensions in service and it was duly incorporated in the All India Service Rules. It was clearly said in the amended FR 56 (d) that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no government servant shall be granted extension in service beyond the age of retirement of 60 yearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. However, the Rule was amended on the day I retired from the Indian Administrative Service to provide extension to my successor beyond 60 years.

It makes sense to let suitable officials continue in service beyond 60 years because it meets the requirement of the government, utilising the best of talent, accumulated knowledge and experience in the civil service and, at the same time, satisfying the need of those civil servants who want to continue working for a few more years without having to look for another employment elsewhere or hankering after re-employment by resorting to questionable conduct. I think the lure of re-employment would not weaken at 62 years (as was being contemplated by the government) but would possibly abate at reaching 65.

Arguably, it is the age at which people get maximum financial and way-oflife benefits from working, and if they work beyond this age they see their

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way-of-life benefits decline.

Another argument that is universally advanced to justify higher retirement age is of improved longevity owing to better heathcare and nutrition. In most developed countries, the age of superannuation has been rising with longer life expectancy. In Europe, it varies between 65 years (Belgium, Netherlands, Greece, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland) and 68 years (Britain, France). In a number of countries, it is 67 years (Spain, Germany, and Norway). In Germany, there is a move to raise it to 69 years.

In our country, the life expectancy at birth was about 40 years in the early 1950s and has increased to

It makes sense to raise the age of retirement in government to 65 years, provided it is accompanied by twin provisions of weeding out the less competent and worn-out employees at stipulated intervals and complete estoppels of re-employment after retirement about 70 years today. In fact, life expectancy has roughly been registering an increase of five years in every decade. For instance, it has increased from 63.9 years in 2004 to 69.6 years in 2014. Thus, since Independence, against a longer average life span of 30 years, the working period has increased by five years only. So, for the average person, 65 years seems like a perfectly reasonable retirement age given the improvements in life expectancy since 1950.

The next question is how these

additional years of life expectancy should be spent. Shouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t improved mortality be utilised for increasing productivity in society? One view is that the retirement age should be so adjusted that the expected number of years after retirement remains unchanged. Another view is that the retirement age should be so set that the ratio of the expected number of years spent in retirement to the expected number of years working remains constant. This seems to be a better measure because it distributes gains in life expectancy into both working years and retirement years.

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INALLY, though we cannot attach professional competence to parliamentary committees in India, it may be mentioned that a parliamentary committee had recommended in February 2014 that retirement age should be increased from 60 to 65 years, citing the increase in the ageing population and its productivity. The Standing Committee noted that the population of senior citizens is expected to rise to 12.4 per cent by 2026 against 7.5 per cent in 2001 and the numbers of those above 60 and 80 years of age would see a big increase of 326 per cent and 700 per cent, respectively, by 2050.

Similarly, the election manifesto of one of the major political parties in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections promised to increase the retirement age of State government employees from 60 to 65.

I strongly suspect that the Seventh Pay Commission would see the justification of revising the retirement age upwards and make its evidencebased recommendation to the government. g The writer was the Cabinet Secretary and the first Governor of Jharkhand. He can be reached at pkumar1511@hotmail.com

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COVER STORY

retirement mg devasahayam

Retirement blues and the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;joy of doing nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;!

To retire is not a pretty thought for many civil servants who hanker for extensions or sinecures. But then there are some who revel in doing nothing while in service to prepare for post-retirement life Retirement Bluesâ&#x20AC;Ś OR Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civil servants there are two kinds of retirementâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; one, compulsory (at age 60) and two, voluntary (after 20/30 years of TXDOLÂżHG VHUYLFH 7KH RYHUZKHOPLQJ majority drink the civil service cup to WKH EULP EHIRUH IDGLQJ RXW %XW WKH resourceful among them, who have access to powerful patrons, enjoy one or two more helpings by way of extensions, sinecures, independent directorships, high-level committees RU UH HPSOR\PHQW , EHORQJ WR WKH YROXQWDU\ FDWHJRU\ 7UXH WR P\ EHOLHI that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;one lives but onceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, I had academic and army stints before entering the civil service, which I left 15 years before time to experiment with a corporate career, consultancy, entrepreQHXUVKLS SROLWLFV DQG SXEOLF FDXVHV I never belonged to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;inbreeding poolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; from which â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;experts and specialistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are drawn for commissions, tribunals, directorships and other FRYHWHG SRVW UHWLUHPHQW DVVLJQPHQWV

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7KHUH LV VLPPHULQJ SXEOLF DQJHU against the proliferating practice of post-retirement largesse to civil servants who develop the habit of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bending OLNH UHHGÂś 7KLV SUDFWLFH LV DWWULEXWHG WR â&#x20AC;&#x153;the tendency among civil servants to serve their political masters more than WKH SXEOLF´ 7KH SHUFHSWLRQ LV WKDW RQO\ such â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;politicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s servantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; are rewarded with extensions and sinecures well past their retirement age!

7KHVH FRQFHUQV DUH LQGHHG YDOLG ,Q 1998, when the retirement age of All ,QGLD 6HUYLFH 2IÂżFHUV ZDV UDLVHG IURP WR WKH 'R37 1RWLÂżFDWLRQ FOHDUly stated that â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;no extension in service shall be granted beyond the age of 60 \HDUVÂś %XW VXEVHTXHQW VXEVWLWXWLRQV insertions in the AIS Rules made this D PRFNHU\ $ QRWLÂżFDWLRQ LQ SURvided for six monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; extension to a &KLHI 6HFUHWDU\ RI 6WDWH JRYHUQPHQWV In 2007, â&#x20AC;&#x153;extension in service to the incumbents of the posts of the Cabinet Secretary, Defence Secretary, Home 6HFUHWDU\ 'LUHFWRU ,QWHOOLJHQFH %X-

reau, Secretary, Research and AnalyVLV :LQJ DQG 'LUHFWRU &HQWUDO %Xreau of Investigation for such period DV GHHPHG SURSHU´ ZDV DOORZHG ,Q 2011, the Cabinet Secretaryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s extension was taken to four years while restricting the others to two and giving a further three monthsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; extension to WKH +RPH DQG 'HIHQFH 6HFUHWDULHV All this was done in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;public interestâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, whatever that meant!

Once this dilution took place in $,6 5XOHV LW VSUHDG OLNH ZLOG ÂżUH LQ State governments where favourites and agenda-men were rewarded with sinecures of all sorts! Faced with uncomfortable questions on the lack of FODULW\ LQ DOORZLQJ VRPH RI LWV RIÂżFLDOV to continue in service after retirement, the government conceded in Parliament that post-retirement appointment on contract basis is not FRYHUHG E\ WKH UXOHV GHÂżQLQJ H[WHQVLRQ RI VHUYLFH 7KLV LV D W\SLFDO ZD\ RI hoodwinking!

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civil services is built around

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a 35-oddyearsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; career, with one way in after college and one way out at UHWLUHPHQW ,W WKXV KDV WXUQHG out to be a place for employees who care more about long-term security WKDQ VKRUW WHUP DFKLHYHPHQW 1RZ they want the security to last longer DQG JR EH\RQG WKH SUHVHQW DJH RI 5HFHQWO\ D 3,/ ZDV ÂżOHG LQ WKH /XFknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, seeking direction to extend WKH UHWLUHPHQW DJH RI RIÂżFHUV RI All India Services from 60 years to at least 65 \HDUV $FFRUGLQJ WR WKH petitioner, IAS, IPS DQG ,)6 RIÂżFHUV UHWLUH DW 60 years, while people of about 80 years and sometimes even more continue as President, Prime Minister, Governor and Chief Minister, Minister DQG 0/$V ,QGHHG VR 'LG ZH QRW VHH Morarji Desai assuming prime ministership at the age of 81 and M Karunanidhi, past the age of 90, aspiring to be again the Chief Minister RI 7DPLO 1DGX $WDO %HKDUL 9DMSD\HHH became Prime Minister at the age of DQG 0DQPRKDQ 6LQJK DW $V for Governors, as someone said, Raj %KDYDQV KDYH EHFRPH JHULDWULF ZDUGV 7KHQ ZK\ FDQÂśW WKH FLYLO VHUYLFH DOVR EHFRPH RQH RIÂżFLDOO\" $UHQÂśW FLYLO servants pulled out of retirement in their 60s and 70s and appointed to heavy and hard responsibilities like principal secretaries to the 3ULPH 0LQLVWHU DQG &KLHI 0LQLVWHUV"

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7KH SUHVHQW JRYHUQPHQW RI 3ULPH 0LQLVWHU 1DUHQGUD 0RGL KDV determined 75 as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;retirementâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; age for WKH SROLWLFDO H[HFXWLYH :K\ QRW WKH VDPH DJH OLPLW IRU FLYLO VHUYDQWV DOVR" Or, for that matter, why not abolish retirement itself so that bureaucrats can serve for a full lifetime and die in KDUQHVV" 7KLV FDQ VDYH WKHP DQ[LHW\ and depression, particularly in the transition period (adjusting from ZRUN OLIH WR UHWLUHG OLIH 'XULQJ WKLV

odd period of life, many civil servants reportedly experience these pangs because suddenly they have all this free timeâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;with no commitments, no ÂżOHV QR PHHWLQJV QR VWDII FDUV DQG attendants, which have been part of WKHLU OLYHV ZKLOH LQ RIÂżFH Studies reveal that retirement blues lead to identity crises for those who have not developed an independHQW SHUVRQDOLW\ 3URIHVVRU :LOOLDP Leber, of the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and a specialist in neuropsychology, has this to say: Âł3HRSOH OLWHUDOO\ MXVW YHJHWDWH 6RPH havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t the slightest clue what to do ZLWK WKHPVHOYHV 7KH\ ÂżQG WKHPselves cut off from their daily routine DQG WKHLU VRFLDO FLUFOH ,I WKH\ GHÂżQHG themselves by their work and the people they work with, when retirement comes, they are cut off from WKHLU LGHQWLW\´ $ VWXG\ SHUIRUPHG E\ researchers at the Georgia State UniYHUVLW\ DQG WKH 8QLYHUVLW\ RI 1RUWK Carolina at Chapel Hill bears out the correlation between retirement and GHSUHVVLRQ $PRQJ WKRVH LQWHUYLHZHG in the age group of 58 to 64, ones who kept working scored high for self-esteem, while retirees who had high levels of education showed an increase in GHSUHVVLRQ DQG IDFHG LGHQWLW\ FULVHV 7KLV LV D SHUIHFW ÂżW IRU ,QGLDÂśV FLYLO servants and no wonder there is such a desperate bid and knee-bending to land some extension of service or SRVW UHWLUHPHQW VLQHFXUH

D

OES this make out a case for ÂľVHUYLFH LQ SHUSHWXLW\Âś" %HIRUH going the whole hog on this, let us see as to what impact retirement has on the mental and physical health RI D FLYLO VHUYDQW $V SHU WKH :KLWHhall II longitudinal study (2003) of civil servants (aged 54 to 59), mental health functioning deteriorated among those who continued to work,

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retirement mg devasahayam

but improved among the retired.

However, improvements in mental health were restricted to those in higher employment grades. Physical functioning declined in both working and retired civil servants. The study found that retiring at 60, albeit with pangs, had no effects on physical health while there was improvement in mental health, particularly among high socio-economic status groups.

Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civil servants belong to the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;higher employment gradesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;high socio-economic status groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and, therefore, there is no case for â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;lifetime serviceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. But a reasonable retirement age is par for the course. Of the 64 countries surveyed, the highest retirement age of 68 is in Finland followed by 67 in Australia, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and the United States. Some countries have 66 as retirement age and many peg it at 65.

The lowest is 60, which is the practice in several countries, including India, though Nepal is still sticking to 58.

But, before any meaningful debate could start on upping the retirement age, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s civil servants must cease functioning as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;politicianâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s servantsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and stop bending backwards for some odd post-retirement job or sinecure.

In a scenario wherein the very relevance of AIS is under question, any talk of raising retirement age could be scorned. Besides, in a country throbbing with the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;demographic dividendâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of a youthful population, the old must yield to the young; lengthening the work-life of civil servants could run counter to this imperative. ...and the Joy of doing Nothing UT then, why bother so much about retirement age when one can revel in the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;joy of doing nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; while earning a fat salary and perks in service?! This is a story from

B 18

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There is simmering public anger against the proliferating practice of post-retirement largesse to civil servants who develop the habit of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;bending like reedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This practice is attributed to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;the tendency among civil servants to serve their political masters more than the publicâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Germany where the retirement age is 65. A civil servant there has admitted that he "did nothing for 14 years" prior to retirement. The man, aged 65, sent a farewell message to 500 colleagues on his retirement day, boasting that he had earned ÂŁ613,000 (`59,37,390) for doing no work: "Since 1998, I was present, but not really there. So I'm going to be well prepared for retirementâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; Adieu," he wrote in the leaked email.

The unnamed man, who had worked LQ D PXQLFLSDO RIÂżFH VLQFH DFcused the authorities of creating inHIÂżFLHQW RYHUODSSLQJ DQG SDUDOOHO structures and jobs, leaving him with nothing to do. This is the real â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;joy of doing nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and getting paid for it!

This may be an exception in Germany but a norm in India, and I had a taste of this. We have an AssociaWLRQ RI 5HWLUHG ,$6 2IÂżFHUV LQ &KHQnai of which I am a founder-member.

Around 100 members meet every quarter for a sumptuous lunch and a few hands of tambola. Some senior founder-members of the Association were of the view that such an elite/ intellectual body, with vast exposure and experience, should have some public conscience and occasionally take up important issues for deliberation. Accordingly, I wrote to the Secretary of the Association, seeking

time to speak during the luncheon meeting convened in October 2013.

He, in turn, circulated this email to the members. The matter I wanted to raise pertained to the humiliation of the IAS following the arrogant and arbitrary way the young Durga Shakti Nagpal was suspended by the UP govHUQPHQW Âľ5HGHÂżQLQJ ,$6Âś RQ ZKLFK , had written an article in JÂżOHV, was to be my theme.

As I was about to be invited, someone jumped on the stage and put up a vitriolic show couched in humour, extolling the virtues of the 'joy of doing nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. He had come well-prepared. , ZDV Ă&#x20AC;DEEHUJDVWHG EXW LPPHGLDWHly, it dawned on me that the side-show ZDV RUJDQLVHG E\ VRPH VHQLRU RIÂżFH bearers to snub me and convey the message that they are happy with the 'joy of doing nothingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. They were in no mood to tolerate my nonsense. Obviously, the German had many companions here! In anguish, I gave them a bit of my mind and walked out. Since then I am SHUVRQD QRQ JUDWD and has been shut out of the get-togethers!

In the subsequent exchange of emails, this is what one of the seniormost members of the Association wrote: â&#x20AC;&#x153;I had long ago stopped attending these luncheons, after conspicuously failing on the few earlier ones I attended to impress on the assembled gathering, representing hundreds of years of valuable experience of dealing with micro- and macro- issues, the need to discuss themes relating to clean politics, good governance and public service, and pursue with policy makers constructive suggestions to effect improvements. My heartfelt sympathies to my dear friend Devasahayam, who had to learn his lesson the hard way!â&#x20AC;? Nothing more need be said! g The writer is a former Army and IAS officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com

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COVER STORY retirement mk kaw

Retired or re-tyred?

Will the increase in retirement age check the tendency of government employees to seek extension by hook or by crook?

At present, this does not seem likely

T

HERE was a time when government employees retired at 55 years of age. The received wisdom was that most people died at 50 or, at best, at 55. It then made sense to say goodbye at 55. The government did not have to pay the employeeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s pension for too long a period.

As medical facilities improved, the average age kept on increasing. The government was compelled to take note of this trend and raised the age of superannuation to 58. But, the longevity of the average employee went on improving and a stage was reached when there was a clamour for a further increase in the age of retirement.

I was then Member-Secretary of the Fifth Central Pay Commission.

We tried to ascertain the situation in other countries. When we visited Canada to make an on-the-spot study, we were astonished by the revelation that a bureaucrat need not retire in Canada. This seemed so absurd that we probed further. How had this situation come about?

We were informed that an employee of the Canadian government had challenged the order retiring him from service on the ground of unconstitutionality. The Constitution laid down with great clarity that no citizen would be discriminated against on the ground of sex, religion, creed, class or age. He was being discriminated against on the ground of age.

The matter went to the Supreme

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Court of Canada. The court ruled that the objection raised by the employee was valid and upheld his contention.

It held that an employee could continue in service as long as he wished and was medically fit. It was entirely his prerogative to decide when he would like to retire.

Were there overage employees still in service, we asked? They had the statistics. We were told that 118 employees above the normal age of retirement were still in service. We also came to know that the Judges of the Supreme Court of the USA had the same privilege. We did not attempt to collect data from all the countries of the world.

When we looked at the demands put by staff associations, we saw that many of them wanted an enhancement of retirement age to 62 or 65. I was not clear what stand we should take. So, I sought an appointment with one of my illustrious predecessors, LP Singh. Singh had been Home Secretary, Government of India, and was highly regarded as a bureaucrat.

When I called on him in his office at

The Sixth Pay Commission felt that there was no justification for an increase in the age of retirement as it would deny employment opportunities to the fresh entrants into the workforce

the Centre for Policy Research, he was quite frank. The retirement age deserved to be raised to 60. But if we recommended 60, it would not go through. He suggested we should propose 62. Then the chances of the government approving 60 were bright.

We discussed the matter in a meeting of the Commission; the consensus was for 60 years. Prof Suresh Tendulkar was not for subterfuge. He said that we should strongly recommend 60 with cogent arguments so that the Government would approve our recommendation. The Chairman, Justice Ratnavel Pandian, concurred.

So, 60 it was.

Our recommendation was based on two arguments. One was the usual plea based on statistical figures of longevity. The second, and more potent, argument was that most employees felt they had still a lot of energy left in them and they exerted their utmost to obtain an extension in service by hook or by crook, or to be re-employed in some capacity as consultant or chairman of a public sector undertaking (PSU) or a committee. We strongly inveighed against this tendency and suggested a total ban on extension or re-employment.

When the report was submitted in February 1997, we expected that the same would be implemented immediately. All eyes, especially of those who were about to retire, were glued to the TV sets, hoping to see a government

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COVER STORY retirement mk kaw

announcement coming forth as â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;breaking newsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. Months passed but no announcement came. The grapevine was agog with rumours flying back and forth.

At last, a whisper was heard in the corridors of power that Nand Kishore Singh was due to retire in July 1998 and that the order to raise the retirement age to 60 years would be issued just in time for him to be benefited.

And so it proved. Nand Kishore brought in luck for thousands of retirees. The government approved the recommendations in toto.

T

HE Sixth Pay Commission had also received numerous suggestions pleading for the age of retirement to be raised to 62 or 65.The Commission felt that the expectation of the Fifth Pay Commission that, consequent upon the amendment of age, the tendency among senior officials to try and obtain extension or re-employment would abate had not materialised. It came to the conclusion that any further enhancement in the age of superannuation would not have any impact on that tendency.

In fact, the Sixth Commission quoted figures to prove that the population in the working age group between the ages of 15 and 64 years would increase from 62.9 per cent in 2006 to 68.4 per cent in 2020. It was clearly evident from the statistical trends that India was the beneficiary of a demographic dividend and every passing year would show a higher proportion of younger people in the workforce.

The Commission came to the conclusion that there was no justification for an increase in the age of retirement as it would deny employment opportunities to the fresh entrants into the workforce. It, therefore, recommended that the age

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of superannuation be maintained.

Further, no extension in service should be given, except in the case of scientists and medical specialists.

Meanwhile, some posts had been declared as tenurial posts. Examples at the senior level were Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary and Defence Secretary. Appointments to these posts are now made for a specified tenure and the incumbents of these posts continue in office till the tenure is over. The Sixth Pay Commission, however, recommended that appointments to tenurial positions should be made carefully so that only persons with enough period of service left were appointed. Thus, the age of superannuation stayed at 60 years after the Sixth Pay Commission made its recommendations.

In UPA 2, most of the officers retiring from the IAS or the IFS were drafted as consultants in the government, especially in the Prime Minister’s Office

ARUNA

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As far as the Seventh Central Pay Commission is concerned, there was a press report that no staff association had asked for an increase in the age of superannuation. But that was quite some time back. I am quite certain that by now the staff associations must have clamoured for raising the retirement age to 62 or even 65 years.

The Samajwadi Party, which rules Uttar Pradesh at present, has promised in its manifesto that the age of retirement would be raised to 65. But, this seems to be an off-the-cuff promise and one is not sure that the party means it seriously.

The enormous increase in the proportion of the young in the population still continues and is an important

parameter to be kept in view while taking a stand on this issue.

It is a fact that the tendency on the part of senior officials to leave no stone unturned while trying to obtain an extension or re-employment in the government or a government-sponsored, owned or controlled entity, has not abated.

Initially, good sense had prevailed on the government and the provision for extension had been removed from the Fundamental Rules. But the Cabinet Secretary got his post exempted from this rule by converting it into a tenurial position. His colleagues did not hesitate in following his lead. Soon the Home Secretary and Defence Secretary were also placed in the same category.

M

ATTERS came to such a pass that in UPA 2 most of the officers retiring from the IAS or the IFS were drafted as consultants in the government, especially in the Prime Minister’s Office.

The IC Centre for Governance considered this question at great length and concluded that the age of retirement should be raised to 62. This represented a compromise between the suggestion of no change and the proposal for 65 years. Accordingly, a formal proposal has been sent to the Seventh Pay Commission.

As far as I am concerned, when I retired in 2001, I went to my guru, Bhagwan Sri Sathya Sai Baba, for advice. I said, “Baba, I am going to be retired.” Baba said, with a glint in his eyes, “Not retired. Re-tyred.” I asked, “Baba, what should I do now?” He said, “Until now you were doing service (naukri). Now do service (seva).”

That is sound advice for all those about to retire! g

MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government of India

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economy prajapati trivedi

India needs an Implementation Commission The crisis of arrested development in India is not due to lack of ideas but because of lack of effective implementation

A

S a development economist, I have often repeated the following familiar story to my audiences. It is said that the study of economics is like looking for a black cat in a dark room and economic theory is like a blind man looking for a black cat in a dark room. By now the audience would generally be on my side and I would go on to say that econometrics, one of my specialisations, is like a blind man looking for a black cat in a dark room when the cat is not even there. Finally, my punch line would be that a development economist like me is a blind man looking for a black cat in a dark room when the cat is not even there but he keeps saying: “I have got it, I have got it.”

This story encapsulates the current state of development economics.

There is a consensus among development economists that there is no consensus on what causes development. I have been taught development economics by great teachers who have gone on to win the Nobel Prize for Economics, but they have not still cracked the development code.

However, as a teaching, preaching and practising economist, who has worked in the policy trenches in more than 25 countries, I have discovered

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that the countries in the world can be divided into two broad categories.

There are some countries where the gap between what they say and what they do is huge; in the other group of countries they pretty much do what they say. There is no prize for g guessing which group of countries develops faster. The countries where the he implementation gap between rhetoric toric and action is smaller tend to develop elop faster than those countries with a gaping implementation gap.

Thus, I have come to develop lop a firm conviction that development nt is all about the ability of a country to implement agreed policies, pro-grammes and projects. The government’s ability to implement is the most powerful predictor of future

development and also provides a robust explanation of the existing development divide between ‘more developed’ and ‘less developed nations’.

Management experts tell us that success in any enterprise

Unfortunately,, development experts erts spend all their energies rgies debating what are the ‘right things to do’ in n order to achieve development ment and they do not seem em to worry about how to o ‘do them right’ www.gfilesindia.com ww www w w ww w.gfilesindia.com

depends on doing the ‘right thing’ and also ‘doing it right’. Unfortunately, development experts spend all their energies debating what are the ‘right things to do’ in order to achieve development and they do not seem to worry about how to ‘do them right’. The debate about implementation aspects of policies and programmes is conspicuously missing from the prestigious journals in development economics. There seems to be a presumption among development economists that good policies, programmes and projects will self-implement.

Consequently, intense debates among economists take place about the design of policies and programmes but hardly any on their implementation aspects. In the language of economists, implementation is assumed away, or taken as a given.

As someone whose job was to j review the performance of 80 departments of the Government of India, I can say with confidence that I

The government’s ability to implement is the most powerful predictor of future development and also provides a robust explanation of the existing development divide between ‘more developed’ and ‘less developed nations’ hardly came across a really bad policy or programme. Invariably, the failure to deliver results could be traced to bad implementation. It is common knowledge that similar government programmes work well in some States and not so well in other States. Take the Right to Services (RTS) policy, implemented byy around 17 States. p First, if it is such su uch a great idea (which it is), then why have only 17 States been able ab ble l to implement it?

Second, why is the the implementation of thiss policy far more in effective Karnataka than in other States of Indian the Union? Also, why is Karnataka the

only State which has obtained an ISO 9001 quality certification for its implementation? The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. It is the ability and capacity to implement policies that explains these differences more than anything else. To paraphrase Alexander Pope: For forms of schemes let fools contest Whatever is best implemented is best

I

N today’s information age, implementation ability has become one of the key determinants of a nation’s competitive advantage.

Today, it has become much easier to search for best practices in any area.

For example, if you are interested in devising a programme for Oral Re-hydration Therapy (ORT) to reduce infant mortality from diarrhoea, and if you Google it, you will get close to three lakh hits. On most major policy issues of the day, international development organisations, universities, and think-tanks have tool kits and approach papers. Thus, figuring out the ‘right’ thing to do is becoming increasingly easier. The race among nations, however, will not necessarily be won by figuring out the right policies and programmes.

Rather, by ensuring their effective implementation.

The crisis of arrested development in India is not due to lack of ideas but because of lack of effective implementation. Thus, there is need for an Implementation Commission and not another think-tank in place of the Planning Commission. In fact, we should have a moratorium on new ideas till the backlog of unimplemented good ideas from innumerable commissions and committees has been reduced significantly. g

The writer is former Secretary to the Government of India, Performance Management Division, Cabinet Secretariat

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

RE-EXAMINE, RE-ENGINEER, RE-ENHANCE 24

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PIB

SCOPE Meritorious Awards recognise the excellent work done by Central Public Sector Enterprises in various fields in 2012-13

by NEERAJ MAHAJAN

T

HE central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) have a vital role to play in transforming India into a world-class global manufacturing hub. But to make this a reality, the CPSEs need to critically reexamine the existing systems and develop newer and efficient ways of doing business. This is the advice

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that President Pranab Mukherjee gave to the CPSEs while addressing the Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) Meritorious Awards function at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on November 5, 2014.

“Over the years, our CPSEs have developed a certain way of doing business. In today’s scenario, it is critical to re-examine, re-engineer, and re-enhance processes in order

to continuously stay ahead of market requirements and expectations,” the President said.

Highlighting the pivotal role of the CPSEs, set up immediately after Independence to channelise investment in areas that were critical for economic development and selfreliance, he said, “As envisaged at the time of their creation, they have proved to be the backbone of our development effort and are rightly recognised as drivers of growth in infrastructure and other critical sectors of the economy.”

“The government has taken a

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

number of steps to improve the functioning of CPSEs. These include empowerment of the Boards of Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna CPSEs, professionalisation of CPSE Boards and strengthening of performance evaluation systems. These steps have contributed significantly in creating a positive and conducive policy framework for CPSEs,” he said.

Making a special mention of the Prime Minister’s recently launched ‘Make in India’ campaign, he said, “They (CPSEs) have, over the years, established excellent manufacturing facilities in various parts of the country... We should aim not only at catering to our huge domestic demand, but also towards high quality product development and greater access to foreign markets. This would not only create adequate employment opportunities for our youth, but also raise standards of living.”

Speaking on the occasion, Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete said that the Indian CPSEs have emerged stronger and more efficient in the face of an increasingly competitive scenario and are now ready to become global entities. In fact, he said, many CPSEs have already made successful global forays and many more are ready to spread their wings.

However, the Minister added, to fully exploit the opportunities presented by the emerging global economic order, the public sector and private sector companies need to increase their technological edge and improve productivity while adhering to good corporate governance practices and with greater emphasis on social orientation mandated in the Companies Act, 2013.

To enable the CPSEs Boards to exercise wider powers, the minister announced the government’s decision

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to grant Navratna status to three more CPSEs—the Container Corporation of India Limited, the Engineers India Limited and the National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited.

The Navratna status empowers PSEs to invest up to `1,000 crore, or 15 per cent of their net worth, on a single project without seeking government approval. In a year, these companies can spend up to 30 per cent of their net worth not exceeding `1,000 crore. They can also enter joint ventures, form alliances and float subsidiaries abroad.

(

arlier, MoS for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises P Radhakrishnan informed that around 270 CPSEs had an aggregate investment of more than `8,50,000 crore and a turnover of more than `19,45,000 crore for the year 201213. The total net profit of 229 operating CPSEs was more than `1,15,000 crore and they contributed more than `1,62,000 crore to the central exchequer by way of excise duty, customs duty, corporate tax, dividend, and so on, during 2012-13. “These figures show that our CPSEs have put in a remarkable performance which needs to be recognised as is being done today,” he said.

The CPSEs were later conferred SCOPE Meritorious Awards for outstanding performance in areas like corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, human resource development, environment and sustainable development, as well as technology development and innovation. The recipients included the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAI) for Environmental Excellence in Sustainable Development, the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) for Corporate Governance,

the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) for Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsiveness, the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for Technology Development and Innovation, the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for Best Practices in Human Resource Management, the Power Finance Corporation Limited (PFC) for Best Managed Bank, Financial Institution or Insurance Company, and the National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation for the Best Managed PSE set up under Section 25.

Apart from these, the Oil India Limited (OIL), the Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS), the Ircon International Limited (IRCON), the REIL Electricals India Limited and the THDC India Limited were given Commendation Certificates.

The three new Navratna CPSEs were also felicitated by the President on the occasion.

The awards ceremony was jointly organised by SCOPE and the Department of Public Enterprises.

The awardees were finalised by a panel of judges under the chairmanship of Justice RC Lahoti, former Chief Justice of India. The eminent members in the jury comprised former Secretary (Steel), Padma Bhushan Moosa Raza, the renowned management consultant, Padma Bhushan MB Athreya, the former Chairman, PESB, C Phunsog, the former Chairman, SAIL, Arvind Pande, and the DG, SCOPE, UD Choubey.

SCOPE is an apex professional organisation representing the CPSEs and has state enterprises, banks and other institutions among its members. Its objective is to promote excellence in organisations, where public investment is involved, to enable them to be globally competitive.

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

PHOTOS: FOTOS4INDIA

Environmental Excellence & Sustainable Development

Steel Authority of India Limited SAIL’s Corporate Environmental Policy lays down that the company will conduct its operations in an environmentally responsible manner, comply with applicable regulations and strive to go beyond

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HE `50,000-crore Maharatna Public Sector Enterprise and India’s largest steel producing company, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is adopting various environment-friendly technologies that include pollution control, effluent treatment plants, water and energy conservation, noise reduction, recycling solid wastes and improved housekeeping measures.

The overall effort is on waste minimisation, conservation at source, recovery and recycling. Also, over 20 million trees have been planted in green belts, parks and tree-lined avenues at various SAIL plants and units.

In 2013-14, about 1.51 lakh saplings were planted in SAIL plants and

SAIL Chairman CS Verma receives the award from President Pranab Mukherjee in the presence of Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Anant Geete and Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises P Radhakrishnan

about 0.54 lakh in the mines.

The efforts have borne fruit in terms of better solid waste utilisation and reduced water consumption, CO2 emission and about 22 per cent energy consumption in SAIL plants.

The company has achieved an increase of 11 per cent in steel production without any increase in total energy consumption in the last 5 years. As a result, CO2 emissions were reduced by 6 per cent.

Dedicating the award to all SAIL employees, SAIL Chairman CS Verma said, “SAIL plants are bringing in new, clean and green technologies, which will lead to reduction in the air and water pollution, energy use and increase in utilisation of wastes.”

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Indrox Global Pvt. Ltd (IGPL) “POLLUTION ABATEMENT PLANT”

“ Maintenance of Acid regeneration plant (ARP) and Iron oxide production facilities. Indrox Global is the only company in INDIA to take up Acid regeneration projects on turnkey basis i.e. build, operate & maintain the Plant & is also doing the marketing of Iron Oxide.

Indrox Global Pvt. Ltd (IGPL) was set up in the year 2003 and started its operations to process the waste pickle liquor (WPL) in the year 2004.

WPL produced by nearby steel plants to Jindal, Tata, Essar etc is treated in Indrox Global and converted into regenerated hydrochloric acid with yield up to 99% recovery and is returned to these industries for reuse.

Indrox Global Pvt Ltd is ISO 9001:2008 certified for “Quality Management System” & ISO 14001:2004 certified for “Environmetal Management System”.

Indrox Global employs more than 60 Engineering, Production and Project personnel.

With broad spectrum of technical expertise and comprehensive in house capabilities, Indrox Global is a leader committed to provide economical solutions with superior technology to all our customers.

Indrox Global technology offers flexibility to produce specific grades of “Iron Oxide” varying in physical properties and chemical purity.

“

M/s Indrox Global Pvt. Ltd (IGPL) is the leading Indian company in Operation &

Indrox Global is pioneer in Design, Installation, Operation and Maintenance of Acid Regeneration Plant (ARP) & Iron oxide production.

CORE COMPETENCIES position to perform multi cultural business environment and to serve clients in following capacities: ł Operation & Maintenance of Acid

Regeneration Plants ł Acid Regeneration plant on Turnkey basis

Designing Basic & Detailed Engineering Equipment sourcing Construction Erection & Commissioning Operation & Maintenance

ł Acid Regeneration Plant on

BOO basis

Build Own Operate & Maintain

ł Plant UP gradation and

replacement ł Marketing of Iron Oxide ł Hazardous Material

Management

NEED FOR ACID REGENERATION PLANT

ł The Steel Industries producing cold rolled steel products use Picking operation for cleaning

of the steel sheets, long and flat products, to remove surface iron oxide built up on steel. ł During Picking process, steel sheets are passed through pool of Hydrochloric acid to remove surface impurities, before these sheets can be processed further. This process generates waste hydrochloric acid WPL which is considered as industrial waste and needs further treatment before disposing into the environment as per the pollution standards. Typically, each ton of the steel pickled will produce 30-35 liters of WPL. ł Even the ETP treated effluent has been a potential hazard to the environment as the disposed acidic water contaminate the water bodies and the landfills affect the soil.

These eventually result in unrecoverable damages to land and water bodies. ł Indrox Global designed plant is Zero discharge plant making the environment pollution-free.

The plant provides total relief from environment hazards in disposal of acidic effluents.

ł Indrox Global designed ARP ensure the compliance to ISO 14001:2004 (Environmental Pollution Control and Management) viz Section 26 of water (Prevention & control of Pollution) Act 1974 Section 21 of Air (Prevention & control of Pollution) Act 1974 Rule 5 of the Hazardous waste (Management & Handling) Rules 1989 and amendment rules 2003

ł The economics of the process is promising as apart from regeneration of hydrochloric acid with 99% chlorides recovery (that being re-used in pickling line), good quality Iron oxide is also produced as byproduct which is used by Paint Industries and in the manufacture of different grades of ferrites (used in magnetic and electronic components in various industries), under material for refractories etc.

HEAD OFFICE: A-19, Ground Floor, Kailash Colony, New Delhi-110046 Pone: 011-29237845, 29237846 Fax: 011-29237849 Email: a.wadhawan@indroxglobal.com Website: www.indroxglobal.com www.indianbuzz.com

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gfiles inside the government PLANT: B-11, MIDC Tarapur Industrial Area, Near TMRCT, Hospital, Boisar (W) 401506, Distt.

Thane (Maharashtra) vol. 8, issue 9 | December 2014 Phone: 02525-260614/261858 Fax: 02525-261627 E-mail: indrox_tarapur@rediffmail.com

GOVERNANCE scope awards

Corporate Governance

BPCL CMD S Varadarajan receives the SCOPE Meritorious Award 2012-13 from the President

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited The main emphasis of BPCLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corporate Governance philosophy has been to ensure fairness to all its stakeholders through transparency, full disclosures, empowerment of employees and collective decision making

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PCL exemplifies how good corporate governance holds the key to enhancing competitiveness, profitability, growth and superior returns for stakeholders.

With the focus on transparency, fairness, disclosure and accountability, BPCL has been committed to enhancing the shareholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; value with good corporate governance. This seems to be paying rich dividends as in the year 2013-2014 the company achieved a net profit of `4,060.88 croreâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;almost double that of last year. As a result, BPCL achieved the highest average Gross Refining Margin (GRM), market sales volume and market share amongst the public sector oil companies.

With an annual turnover of around `534 billion, BPCL is a leading player

in the business of refining crude and marketing of petroleum products. It is the second-largest petroleum marketing company with an overall market share of 22 per cent in retail products and a market share of 27 per cent, 32 per cent, 25 per cent and 16 per cent in HSD, MS, LPG and SKO, respectively.

The company traces its history to 1928 when the Burmah Shell Oil Storage and Distribution Company of India was incorporated in England to enter the petroleum products business in India. In 1952, Shell and Burmah Oil Company set up Burmah Shell Refineries to establish a refinery in Mumbai. Its operations were nationalised in 1976 and the Refinery and Marketing Companies were merged to form BPCL.

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness

Indian Oil Chairman B Ashok and Director (Pipelines) VS Okhde receive the award from the President

Indian Oil Corporation Limited India’s flagship energy major and Maharatna company, Indian Oil, has been meeting India’s energy demands for over half a century

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NDIAN Oil Corporation Limited’s strong presence can be felt across the entire hydrocarbon value chain —exploration, production and refining to piped transportation and marketing of natural gas and petrochemicals. Indian Oil is the driving force behind many health, family welfare, education, environment protection, drinking water, sanitation and women empowerment programmes.

The Corporation’s CSR initiatives can be classified into three main thrust areas—’Clean Drinking Water’, ‘Health and Medical Care’ and ‘Expansion of Education’. Every year, a fixed portion of its profits is set aside for community welfare and

development programmes. About one-fourth of the community development funds are spent on the welfare of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries.

Indian Oil also aims at developing techno-economically viable and environment-friendly products and services while ensuring the highest standards of safety and environment.

Indian Oil has also been in the forefront of helping victims of calamities and during national emergencies.

Speaking on the occasion, Indian Oil Chairman B Ashok said, “Receiving this award brings in greater responsibility on us and we would continue to serve India in all our capacities.”

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R&D Technology Development & Innovation

HAL Chairman RK Tyagi and Director (Design & Development) T Suvarna Raju receive the award from the President

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited HAL has filed over 300 patents in the last two years and identified 111 technologies on which its experts could contribute with the funding to be provided by the company

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INDUSTAN Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has designed and developed some 15 types of aircraft and helicopters, including basic trainers, intermediate trainers, fighters and light helicopters. It has designed more than 600 avionics systems and accessories for a variety of aircraft and is manufacturing about 15 aircraft/helicopters (with in-house R&D) and is producing 14 types of aircraft/helicopters under licence.

Research and Technology Development is a priority area for HAL which has created an R&D corpus, earmarking 10 per cent of operational profit after tax, to promote technology development within the company. Ten R&D centres of the

company have been brought under the ambit of the Committee of Institutional Network (COIN) to ensure synergy. HAL has also entered into MOUs for technology collaboration with IIT-Kanpur for rotary unmanned systems, IIT-Kharagpur for avionics and electronic warfare systems, IIT-Roorkee for aircraft subsystem research and with IIT-Bombay for communications systems. HAL is also working with IIS, Bengaluru, DRDO laboratories and private industries for various R&D activities.

Some of the R&D feathers in its cap include Advanced Light Helicopter, Light Combat Aircraft, Intermediate Jet Trainer, Light Combat Helicopter and Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2014 13-12-2014

AWARDEES 2013

Jayesh Ranjan, IAS Excellent Contribution Award

alip Singh on behalf of Santha Sheela Nair, IAS Excellent Contribution Award

Amarjit Singh, IAS Exceptional Contribution Award

Ashwani Lohani, IRES Excellent Contribution Award

OUR PARTNERS

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WELCOME TO GOVERNANCE AWARDS 2014 AWARDS CATEGORIES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWA W RD EXCEPTIONAL CONTRIBUTION AWA W RD EXCELLENT CONTRIBUTION AWA W RD

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JS Deepak, IAS Exceptional Contribution Award

Satish Kumar, Advisor, DMRC, on behalf of E. Shreedharan, Lifetime Achievement Award

Abhayanand, IPS Exceptional Contribution Award

Atul Patney, IAS Excellent Contribution Award

FOR INVITE CONTACT Mobile: +91 99111 10385 Phone: +91 11 2874 4789 Fax: +91 11 4508 2832

Email: summit@gfilesindia.com

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

Best Practices in Human Resource Management

BEL Chairman and Managing Director SK Sharma and BEL Director (HR) ML Shanmukh receive the award from the President

Bharat Electronics Limited BEL has been constantly evolving innovative strategies in Human Resource Management to develop the employees as the most valuable assets of the company, enriching their careers and aligning them with the current and future business strategy of the enterprise

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HARAT Electronics Limitedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s (BEL) initiatives on Human Resource Management include Behavioural Competency Modelling, Competency-based Development Centres for senior executives, 360-Degree Feedback, Leadership Development Workshops, Employee Engagement, Organisational Culture Building, Leading the Change management programme, Outbound Learning Programmes and strategy workshops.

BEL has a staff of around 10,000, including 3,991 engineers and scientists. Around 20 per cent of these are women. Some 240 engineers, scientists and other professionals were inducted during the last year. BEL

plans to recruit 400 engineers in the current year. Faced with severe competition from the private sector, BEL has tailored its HR practices to attract and retain talent, specially in engineering disciplines.

As part of this initiative, BEL is conducting various training programmes to enhance competencies in technical, functional and managerial or leadership areas. A new performance management system (PMS) has been introduced for all DGMs and highrt staff across the company.

Global consultancy firms like Ernest & Young have been asked to suggest ways to improve the working ethos and performance-oriented culture in the organisation.

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Best Managed Bank, Financial Institution or Insurance Company

PFC Chairman and Managing Director MK Goel receives the award from the President

Power Finance Corporation Limited PFC is today the largest non-banking finance institution (NBFC) in the country in terms of net worth and enjoys the status of a Navratna company

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et up on July 16, 1986, as a dedicated financial institution for the power sector, the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has emerged as the financial backbone of Indian power sector. It has overtaken HDFC to reach the top spot in the NBFC market.

PFC has sanctioned loans worth `59,429 crore and disbursed an amount of `39,818 crore. PFCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s net profit has increased 16 per cent over last year to reach `3,032 crore. Its total income has risen 28 per cent to `13,037 crore and net worth has jumped 37 per cent from last year to reach `19,493 crore today.

PFCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strategy is to retain its supremacy in the Indian power sector

by continuing its growth story while making inroads into new avenues of business. It has a wide range of products and services to cater to the changing needs of clients across the value chain of the power sector. To expand its operations beyond traditional financing, PFC is exploring options in renewable energy, loan syndication and equity financing related to the power sector.

As part of its strategy, PFC is moving towards new and allied areas like coal mine development, development of ports for coal transportation, power equipment and energy efficiency. It is also planning to enhance its presence in non-conventional energy financing, such as solar and wind power.

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

Best Managed PSE set up under Section 25

NSKFDC Managing Director M Nagaraj receives the award from the President

National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation The NSKFDC has been successfully achieving more than 100 per cent of its targets every year in respect of sanction and disbursement of funds

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HE National Safai Karamcharis Finance and Development Corporation (NSKFDC), a social sector company under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, was incorporated as a not-for-profit company under Section 25 of the Companies Act on January 24, 1997.

The corporation’s focus is on ‘manual scavengers’, or persons engaged in manually cleaning, carrying, disposing or handling human excreta in unsanitary latrines and open drains.

NSKFDC’s main aim is socio-economic upliftment of such conservancy workers and their dependents

throughout the country. The corporation aims to help them break away from traditional occupation. No income limit is fixed for availing of financial assistance for such persons.

However, the corporation accords priority to the economic development and rehabilitation of scavengers, women and Persons with Disabilities from among the target group.

The NSKFDC provides loans at a concessional rate of interest to the beneficiaries through the State Channellising Agencies (SCAs) appointed by the respective State governments and Union Territories across the country.

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COMMENDATION CERTIFICATES Environmental Excellence and Sustainable Development

Oil India Limited

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HE emphasis at Oil India Limited (OIL) is to deploy advanced technology in all its operations while protecting the environment. The company is investing `600 crore to set up renewable energy capacity through wind and solar power plants and by diversifying into clean energy sources. The company already has a 57.6-megawatt (MW) wind power plant with an investment of `400 crore and plans to build a 5-MW solar power project in Rajasthan this year. If the National Action Plan on Climate Change is to be taken seriously, India should generate 15 per cent of its power from solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable sources by 2020.

OIL is the secondlargest national oil and gas company in India.

It is involved in exploration, production and transportation of crude oil and gas. Ninety-four per cent of its oil and natural gas reserves are located onshore in the Upper Assam basin, in the States of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. Further, it is exploring crude oil and gas in Egypt, Gabon, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Timor Leste and Yemen.

OIL’s Reserve Replacement Ratio (RRR) of 200 per cent and exploratory success rate of 76 per cent is better than the best globally—the world average exploratory success rate is 20 per cent. No wonder, OIL has been named in the ‘Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings’ for 2014.

OIL owns and operates a 1,157-km cross-country crude oil pipeline with a capacity to transport over 44 million barrels of crude oil annually. OIL also owns and operates a 660-km petroleum pipeline, connecting Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) to Siliguri in West Bengal. The company has interests in downstream activities through a 26 per cent stake in NRL, a 10 per cent stake in Brahmaputra Cracker and Polymer Limited (BCPL) and a 23 per cent stake in Duliajan-Numaligarh Pipeline (DNP) Limited. OIL also holds a 10 per cent stake in a 741-km pipeline project in Sudan.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Oil India Limited, SK Srivastava, received the SCOPE Meritorious Award Commendation Certificate 2012-13 for

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‘Environmental Excellence and Sustainable Development’ from the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Anant Geete.

Corporate Governance

WAPCOS Limited

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NCORPORATED under the Companies Act, 1956, WAPCOS Limited is a Mini-Ratna Public Sector Enterprise under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Water Resources. The company provides consultancy services in critical areas of water resources, power and infrastructure development and is recognised amongst the leading consultancy organisations in India and abroad.

WAPCO’s areas of specialisation cover irrigation and drainage, flood control and land reclamation, river management, dams, reservoir engineering and barrages, integrated agriculture development, watershed management, hydro-power and thermal power generation, power transmission and distribution, rural electrification, ground water exploration, minor irrigation, water supply and sanitation (rural and urban), environmental engineering including environmental impact assessment and environmental audit, ports and harbours and inland waterways, rainwater harvesting, survey and investigations, human resource management, system studies and information technology.

WAPCOS has also been venturing into newer fields such as software development, city development plans, financial management system, technical education, quality control and construction supervision, roads and bridges.

It is registered with various international funding agencies like the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Japan Bank for International Cooperation and United Nations Office for Project Services.

Apart from India, WAPCOS has successfully completed consultancy assignments in more than 50 countries and is currently engaged in providing consultancy services in 26 countries.

WAPCOS Chairman and Managing Director RK Gupta received the SCOPE Meritorious Award Commendation Certificate 2012-13 in the ‘Corporate Governance’ category.

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GOVERNANCE scope awards

Corporate Social Responsibility & Responsiveness

IRCON International Limited

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RCON International Limited (IRCON), incorporated by the Central Government (Ministry of Railways) under the Companies Act, 1956, was originally called the Indian Railway Construction Company Limited. Its mandate was to utilise the Indian Railway’s experience in helping developing nations of the world to instal or maintain their own railways and to execute railway projects for the private sector. It is today a specialised constructions organisation, covering the entire spectrum of construction activities and services in the infrastructure sector in India and abroad. It has completed more than 280 infrastructure projects in India and more than 90 projects in 21 countries across the world.

The only construction PSU to be granted the MiniRatna status by the Government of India, IRCON specialises in railways, railway electrification, signal and telecommunication, construction of roads, highways, commercial, industrial and residential complexes, airport runways, airport constructions, leasing of locomotives and mass rapid transit system. It is among the top 225 construction contractors of the world, with a higher than average profitability of 6.90 per cent. It is also the highest foreign exchange earner in the construction sector.

IRCON Chairman and Managing Director Mohan Tiwari received the SCOPE Meritorious Award Commendation Certificate 2012-13 in the ‘Corporate Social Responsibility and Responsiveness’ category.

R&D Technology Development and Innovation

Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited

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HE Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Limited (REIL) has a long-term vision to deliver new and innovative electronics, renewable energy and information technology-based solutions and services for the social and economical development of people in the rural areas.

REIL has launched over 15 products, like data processor unit, electronic milk adulteration tester, auto electronic milk tester and solar auto tracker, through inhouse R&D efforts. It has also been working jointly with

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the Government of India’s R&D centres in the last three years. These innovations have helped the organisation in vertical integration by significant contribution in manufacturing activities.

REIL Managing Director AK Jain, who received the SCOPE Meritorious Award Commendation Certificate 2012-13 in the ‘R&D Technology Development and Innovation’ category, reiterated the company’s commitment to work for the success of the Government’s ‘Make in India’ mission by increasing the manufacturing component. This, he said, would be done by focusing on the R&D, technology development and innovation.

He said REIL firmly believes that the path to social and economic progress of the country lies through the villages.

The company is committed to the upliftment of the rural economy by taking technology to the villages.

Best Practices in Human Resource Management

THDC India Limited

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HE THDC India Limited (formerly Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited), jointly promoted by the Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, is a MiniRatna Category-I Enterprise. It operates and maintains the Tehri (1,000 MW) and Koteshwar (400 MW) hydro power complexes. The Union Government holds 73.08 per cent shares in THDCIL and the balance is held by the Government of Uttar Pradesh.

THDCIL Chairman and Managing Director RST Sai, who received the SCOPE Meritorious Award Commendation Certificate 2012-13 in the ‘Best Practices in Human Resource Management’ category, said the award was an acknowledgement of exemplary initiatives taken by the company.

THDCIL, which has plans to increase its installed capacity to 2,424 MW by the end of the 12th Plan, has implemented many innovative HR policies and strategies to motivate its employees and attract people to join the organisation. It has an enviable track record of zero loss of mandays, which symbolises that there’s a cordial relationship between the management and the employees.

THDCIL won the gold medal at the World HRD Congress in the category of ‘Best HRD Strategy in line with Business’. In June, the company’s Director (Personnel), SK Biswas, was conferred with the ‘HR Leader Award’ at the 4th Annual Green-Tech HR Awards in Bengaluru. g

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BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers lal bahadur shastri

Janardan Thakur started his career in journalism with the nationalist Patna daily, The Searchlight , in December 1959. In his long and distinguished career spanning the reign of each Prime Minister since Independence, Thakur reported from the thick of some of the most momentous contemporary events at home and afar—JP’s ‘total revolution’, the Emergency, the bristling emergence of Sanjay Gandhi, the fall and rise of Indira Gandhi and then the rise and fall of Rajiv, the Kremlin of Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Khomeini’s revolution in Iran, Ronald Reagan’s re-election in an America swinging Right, VP Singh’s ascent as a messiah with tainted magic and the rasping run to power of the BJP. Thakur’s journalism, from the very start, broke traditional moulds of reportage and writing, going beyond the story that meets the eye and into processes and personalities that made them happen. His stories on the Bihar famine of the mid-1960s and the manmade floods that ravaged the State were a sensation. He was perhaps alone in predicting defeat for Indira Gandhi in 1977 and again singular in exposing the corroded innards of the Janata Government that followed. A Jefferson Fellow at the East-West Center, Hawaii, in 1971, Thakur moved to New Delhi as a Special Correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika group of publications in 1976. He went freelance in 1980 and turned syndicated columnist. In 1989-91, he was Editor of the fortnightly Onlooker, and The Free Press Journal.

Thakur authored All The Prime Minister’s Men, probably the most successful of the crop of books that followed the Emergency. His All the Janata Men, the story of the men who destroyed the first non-Congress government in New Delhi, was equally successful.

He passed away on July 12, 1999.

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The little colossus

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NE of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s first major decisions as Prime Minister was to offer the third position in the Cabinet to Morarji Desai, who had been the main aspirant for the top job. Shastri must have known the result: Desai would refuse. There was no way a stubborn man like him would take a position lower than Gulzarilal Nanda, who had been just a parliamentary secretary in Bombay when Desai was not only a minister in the 1937 government but had been a minister for years since 1946, before becoming the chief minister. Shastri had succeeded in his manoeuvre to keep Desai out. As the little man had once said, “I am not as simple as I look.”

“There is considerably more guile in the little man than his manner indicates, and the appearance of mediocrity is often an advantage for a politician,” wrote Welles Hangen, author of After Nehru, Who? Shastri may have been devoid of charisma, he was certainly very ordinary and unimpressive in looks, maybe a little too polite (as though politeness is a disqualification), but he had a very good grasp of the problems and the maladies that bedevilled the country, and if he had lived longer he may have put the country’s politics and administration much straighter than they were. Shastri knew that people considered him mediocre, and he had once spoken about it: “Although I am mediocre, yet I find that a mediocre like me is able to produce something new and original, not in a very high sense, but whatever new things are suggested in the ministry, well, they generally come from me, and the officers who are far, far abler than myself go on with their routine way of thinking and perhaps routine way of working...”

Shastri was a nuts-and-bolts man who got into the intricacies of people’s minds and their problems, and he had the humility and the patience to see things from the others’ point of view. These were the qualities which established his credentials as an accomplished troubleshooter of Jawaharlal Nehru. Whether it was a problem in Trivandrum or in Guwahati or in Kathmandu, or at the Hazratbal Shrine in Srinagar, Shastri was the man to soothe ruffled feathers. Everywhere he went with the full confidence of Jawaharlal Nehru.

‘The little sparrow’ had no enemies. He was simply inca-

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pable of making one, either in politics or in personal life.

He had the patience of Job; he could tire out people bent upon fighting. People around Shastri were often amazed at his gentle art of soothing frayed tempers. One of the best examples of this was his mission to Kerala, the way he handled the fight that had erupted between the then chief minister, Pattom Thannu Pillai of the Praja Socialist Party, and the deputy chief minister, R Sankar, who belonged to the Congress.

The story is best narrated by Home Ministry officials who had accompanied Shastri to Trivandrum, as the state capital was called until some years ago. For a whole day and well into the night, Shastri sat in the Raj Bhawan meeting scores of people, one by one. The official team, which included LP Singh of the Indian Civil Service who was then the Additional Secretary in the Home Ministry, was exhausted with what had seemed like a never-ending process. Singh had suggested: “Sir, you now know the whole problem inside out. You know the lines on which a solution has to be attempted. So why not place it before them and be done with it, instead of listening to scores of people telling you the same things over and over again, and wearing you ragged in the process?” Shastri just smiled and said, “You know the people here feel so strongly about these matters that it just keeps welling and bubbling within them. If I were to choke them off and say I know all about these matters, would they be in the mood to listen to me? Now you see what is happening. Each ones comes and tells me, Shastriji, you don’t know this fellow. He is a rogue and should be put behind bars, and in the process he will bang the table. I just keep murmuring, O, I never knew. Thank you so much for telling me. And when he goes out his admirers are waiting for him in the lawns and they gather round eager to know what has transpired. And the leader will again bang the table and get a tremendous kick out of telling them: I told the Home Minister this and that and that and so on. When he has got all this steam off his chest and some of the bitterness out of his system, do you not think he will be in a better frame of mind to listen to me and consider my suggestions?” LP Singh smiled and shrugged and said, “Sir, you know best.”

And so for three days and almost three nights, the Home Minister sat in the Raj Bhawan listening to hundreds of angry politicians. On the fourth day, having listened to everyone, when he finally put forth his suggestions, they

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all agreed. That the agreement broke down again later was a different matter.

When Shastri became Prime Minister, LK Jha became his Principal Secretary. A few years before he died, LK Jha had shared with me some of his old memories. He recalled how fond Shastri was of ‘walking and talking’ in the compound, between the office block and his residence. Jha was often beside him as he walked, and he remembered how one day a momentous decision was taken. Shastri had been averse to going to Tashkent. “What’s the use?” he had said. “They will ask us to move to the cease-fire line and I don’t want to do that. Instead of saying no to them there, why not just stay put here?” The then foreign minister, Sardar Swaran Singh, had been persuading Shastri very hard, but he was refusing to budge. That day, during the walk in the compound, LK Jha got his chance to make his point. “I said, Shastriji, with the withdrawal of our troops to the cease-fire line, the line becomes an international boundary and neither side can then have any claims to the other side except by mutual negotiations. Wouldn’t that be something worth having?”

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HIS had made sense to Shastri and he said, “Then accept it. We will go to Tashkent. But the Army Chief must come, and the Defence Minister must come too, because I don’t want the Army to feel that they risk their lives in battle and gain some territory and then we ask them to pull back.”

“A number of things about Shastriji had amazed me,” Jha said. “For example, I discovered that he had taught himself proper English by studying the works of Bertrand Russell in jail. Russell had made a tremendous impact on his thinking. While Shastriji had read Russell to improve his own English, the writings had changed his pattern of thought on many fundamental issues. When he became the Prime Minister, Russell wrote him a letter asking him to join his Peace Foundation. He had asked me to draft a reply. Tell Mr Russell, he said, that I am in agreement with him in what he is doing, but as the Prime Minister of India, I may have to do certain things which would not be in keeping with the ideals of his Peace Foundation. So I would rather not join it.”

Jha recalled that when Shastri went to London for the first time, he said he wanted to meet Bertrand Russell.

Prime Minister Harold Wilson said he would invite Russell.

“He’ll come over and see you.” But Shastri told him, “No, I

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BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers lal bahadur shastri

must go to him. He is my mentor.” And so Shastri went on a ‘pilgrimage’ to meet the great philosopher.

Unlike most leaders of his time, Shastri was not rooted to any ideologies, either of the left or the right. He had described himself to Welles Hangen as a Gandhian Socialist, which the writer thought was a “practically meaningless term”. Industrialist GD Birla who had known most politicians of that era closely, had said: “He (Shastri) is not leftist, but not a rightist either. He’s a good, clean man who has no great ideas about economics.” Most people saw him just as a ‘faithful echo of his master’, who could not take any decisions for himself without referring it to Nehru. “A loyal, colourless party wheel-horse who does what Nehru tells him,” remarked one editor, who obviously did not know the latent potential of the man.

One of the major concerns of Shastri as Prime Minister was the need to reform the administration, and check corruption. He was incapable of condoning corruption, “He put character above ability and integrity above efficiency,” wrote Frank Moraes. “Nehru, on the other hand, with his fetish about efficiency, had often turned a blind eye to things he chose to ignore. A classic instance was that of Sardar Pratap Singh Kairon, a highly efficient Chief Minister of Punjab who was notoriously venal. For many years Nehru tolerated and defended him, until a judicial commission finally pronounced him guilty of several malpractices, and he met a gangster’s end, waylaid and shot in his car not far from Delhi.”

O

F all the personalities Hangen wrote about in his book, he found Shastri the most ‘authentically Indian’. He was closest to the mind and soil of the country, and reflected both the strengths and weaknesses of a homespun Indian.

Some called him ‘an apostle of self-effacement’. So meek and humble was Lal Bahadur’s appearance that when Hangen went for his first interview with him, he wondered if he was not meeting an office messenger. “He could easily be mistaken for a minor clerk,” he wrote. Shastri was the most “unpretentious government official” he had ever met. Hangen was surprised that Shastri, who was then the Home Minister, virtually running the country, said ‘please’ to telephone operators and ‘thank you’ to the peons. He would have been even more surprised if he had seen the deference with which he treated his officers—he would not only get up from his chair but go round the table to shake hands with them before settling down to work. The scene at 1, Motilal Nehru Place where he then lived, Hangen noted, resembled a metro railway station at rush hour!

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When Shastri travelled out of Delhi on official tours, he avoided staying in VIP government guest houses.

When he lost the Home Ministry because of the ‘Plan of Mr Kamaraj, he wrote in a letter to a trusted officer, Rajeshwar Prasad: “I shall be going to a smaller house. We have reduced one vegetable dish, as well as milk, and have started washing some of our clothes ourselves. I am using Ramji’s (his son-in-law, Vijay Nath Singh) car and shall put in petrol myself. We shall have to be careful in respect of other things also. I have left office twice before also and this is the third time...It is natural for you to be concerned.

It is perhaps better not to think too much about what may come. I believe that whatever He does, we should accept cheerfully.

Hariye na himmat, bisariye na Ram ko Jahi vidhi rakhen Ram, tahi vidhi rahiye (Do not lose heart and forsake Ram/ In whatever manner he chooses to keep you/ In that manner should you learn to live)...”

Shastri’s beginning had been very humble, very poor, like the beginnings of a majority of Indians even today.

After the death of his father, a school teacher who later became a minor government employee, his mother had taken him and his two sisters to live with Shastri’s maternal uncle. His uncle helped him get his early education.

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The turning point in Shastri’s life came in 1920, when he heard Mahatma Gandhi’s appeal to the students of Benares to boycott government schools and colleges. Shastri decided there and then that he would quit his studies and join Gandhi’s non-cooperation movement. The 16-year-old Shastri went home and told his mother and uncle of his decision to quit studies and become a Congress volunteer for national service. Everyone was furious with him.

His uncle rebuked him for having become ‘irresponsible’.

“What will happen to your mother and sisters if you don’t study,” he had asked. Unruffled, the boy had listened to everyone and then finally turned to his mother. All she told him was: “Think deeply about the right course of action, then make up your mind and hold firmly to your decision.”

His mother’s words became his talisman for life.

Next morning, he became a Congress volunteer. After a short imprisonment for participating in non-cooperation activities, he worked under Acharya JB Kripalani who had resigned from the Benares Hindu University to join the freedom movement. He became a member of the Servants of the People Society and later enrolled himself at the Gandhi-sponsored Kashi Vidyapeeth. There he came under the influence of the great scholar, Dr Bhagwan Das, who had been made the first Chancellor of the Vidyapeeth. At midnight on December 31, 1921, Shastri was among thousands of students listening intently to the spirited speech by a handsome young man who wanted their approval for a resolution demanding unconditional freedom. Shastri joined the big roar of approval. He was deeply impressed by the young man, whom he was to succeed 43 years later as the country’s Prime Minister.

In a reminiscent mood one evening, the late Kamalapati Tripathi talked about the ‘new catch-as-catch-can culture’ that had swamped political parties and leaders of the country. The old leader, who had been close to Indira Gandhi, was then the ‘working President’ of the Congress.

Every day he was getting a little more frustrated at the way he had been sidelined. Suddenly his eyes had got glued to the bungalow across the road from his: 10 Janpath, where Lal Bahadur Shastri had lived as the Prime Minister. He remembered the last time he had met and talked with Shastri—the night before he left for Tashkent. Tripathi had come on a visit to Delhi from Lucknow where he was then stationed. It had been a hectic day for the Prime Ministers, what with meetings and consultations all day in preparation for the summit with Pakistan President Ayub Khan.

Several days earlier, Tripathi had sought an appointment with Shastri and he had promised that he would certainly find some time for him that evening.

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It was after ten on a chilly January night when Shastri had come out to the lawns of 10 Janpath for a little ‘walk and talk’ with his old colleague from Uttar Pradesh. Shastri had spoken briefly about his departure for Tashkent next day, and of what he hoped to achieve. Tripathi had then asked him if he was well prepared to face the sub-zero temperatures he would encounter in Tashkent. Was he taking some woollen undergarments? Had he got any woollen trousers stitched? The legs and feet were particularly vulnerable to frosty winds, he had told Shastri. The Prime Minister had laughed and, pointing to his dhoti, he had said, “Don’t worry, Tripathiji, I will be all right in this. I am taking a few woollen socks.” Tripathi had insisted he couldn’t do with dhoti and woollen socks, he must take some heavier woollens, some undergarments. But Shastri had laughed it off, saying, “You think I am a rich man, don’t you. Don’t forget I have led a very poor life.”

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HE memory of that night brought tears to the old man’s eyes. What an irony, he said, that Shastri who had never really gone abroad before he became the Prime Minister (except to Nepal, as Hutheesing had pointed out) should have died in a foreign country. And now, the attitudes of politicians had changed. From the spartan lifestyle of Shastri to the ‘filthy-rich ways’ of the present-day ‘Neta log aur Baba-log’. The last was obviously a reference to editor Romesh Thapar’s pet description of the new Son of India, Rajiv Gandhi, and his whiz-kids. Baba-log!

As Shastri was to show, he not only had a mind of his own, but a conscience, too. When he took over as the Prime Minister, someone wrote prophetically, “Like so many other compromise candidates throughout history, he might well surprise those who chose him for his apparent pliancy. The mouse might well roar.”

He did roar when India was forced to go to war with Pakistan. Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan became his great slogan.

The lilliput had turned into a giant, regardless of the snide remarks of the Nehru-Gandhi acolytes. Never mind if Shastri had looked “pathetically ineffectual as always”, as Hutheesing thought, “seated at the big round council table, surrounded by the burly soldiers and diplomats of India, Pakistan and Russia”. Even she had to admit that Shastri had “proved his mettle in tough negotiations that lasted for seven days”. Shastri was incapable of bluster, but bluster is not courage. Shastri had wiped out the disgrace of 1962. It was a very rare occasion when he said of himself, “I may not show it, but there is plenty of fire and determination in me.” He had burnt his candle at both its ends, but it gave a lovely light.

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BOOK EXTRACT

prime ministers lal bahadur shastri

NPL

In Tashkent, on the morning of January 10, about 18 hours before his death, Shastri had an intimate talk with LP Singh who had accompanied him. Peace and good relations with Pakistan, Shastri said, were essential if India was to preserve her soul and that was the main reason why he had made the Tashkent Agreement. â&#x20AC;&#x153;On the last day of his life, Shastri had returned to his innermost Gandhian self with all his heart.â&#x20AC;?

D

ESTINY had turned the little man into a colossus, but again, destiny took him away in the very hour of his triumph. After death, Shastriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s body had turned blue, which had led many to suspect there had been foul play. For years, stories about the unfortunate circumstances of Lal Bahadurâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death whirled and eddied, and several journalists and writers continued to raise questions. No satisfactory answers ever came. A national opinion poll some years ago on the comparative popularity of Indian Prime Ministers conducted for the Centre for Media Studies under the direction of Dr N Bhaskara Rao, put Lal Bahadur Shastri at the top, much higher than the others in terms of attributes like leadership, contribution, values and discipline. Strangely, copies of the survey ÂłSURYHG LPSRVVLEOH WR WUDFH´ (YHQ VR 'U 5DR FRQÂżUPHG the results of the survey, which showed that while Nehru and Shastri had been the most popular Prime Ministers, Shastriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s popularity was slightly higher than Nehruâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s.

Scores of politicians, journalists, social scientists and pseudo-intellectuals who have thrived for years on propa-

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JDWLQJ WKH 1HKUX *DQGKL OHJHQG JR LQWR D Ă&#x20AC;XWWHU DW WKH slightest prick lest the bubble bursts. Over the years, there has been no end to panegyrics and hagiography. But even a gentle laudatory portrait of the little colossus, even a mild FRPPHQW DJDLQVW WKH ÂľJLDQWVÂś DQG WKH VSDUNV Ă&#x20AC;\ Some took serious objection to parts of LP Singhâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Portrait of Lal Bahadur Shastri. One of the passages they found particularly offensive was: â&#x20AC;&#x153;A sycophantic culture, normally associated with hereditary monarchy or dictatorship, developed in India after Shastriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s death, swamping democratic decencies and the objective judgement of a past political leader. The achievements of earlier leaders were ignored and they were even denigrated to highlight the excellence of the present incumbents; in this process the memory of Shastriâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s qualities and achievements was obliterated to the extent that this could be done by those ZKR FRQWUROOHG WKH RIÂżFLDO PHGLD ´ $QRWKHU ÂľQRQVHQVLFDOÂś paragraph they blue-pencilled was: â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is undoubtedly a tendency in India to hero-worship political leaders who happen to be in power at a particular time. When this combined with a mythology about the virtues of a political dynasty, there is a disposition to run down, or at least grossly underestimate, the qualities and achievements...â&#x20AC;?

They couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even stomach a word beyond that! â&#x20AC;&#x153;Oh, dear! What is one to make of this nonsense,â&#x20AC;? carped one prominent peddler of the Nehru mythology.â&#x20AC;? Oh, my!

How truth hurts! g Excerpted from Prime Ministers: Nehru to Vajpayee by Janardan Thakur, Eeshwar Prakashan, New Delhi

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47

FIRST STIRRINGS

RAVI BATRA

kk jaiswal

‘They could not accept a Secretary questioning orders’ KK Jaiswal, former UP Secretary, Rural Development, recounts his days in the service and how he discovered that life is not a bed of roses

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HIS is the most incredible story of KK Jaiswal, an honest and straight-forward bureaucrat, who was so desperate without official accommodation that he decided to leave his home State and accept the post of Under Secretary in the Government of India because along with it came a one-room temporary accommodation in the transit hostel.

“It was becoming impossible to survive in Lucknow without accom-

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modation. So I decided to accept the offer because I was being given accommodation,” he says.

Jaiswal was just 28 and on top of the world when he got his first charge as District Magistrate at Uttarkashi. “I am more than satisfied … I consider it a privilege to have been given the opportunity to deal with matters of such great importance so early in my life,” he says.

It was not a conscious decision on

his part to join the IAS, even though the family had a tradition of government service. His father was in the judicial service. After completing MSc at the age of 18, he became a lecturer at Banaras Hindu University and started taking interest in subjects like history. There was no coaching. He did not even expect to qualify but cleared the lower papers. Due to a death in the family, he could not appear for the higher papers but was still selected for the Railways Accounts service.

He cleared the IAS the next year and joined the 1968 batch in the UP cadre.

However, he soon discovered that life is not a bed of roses — every rose stem has many thorns attached to it.

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As the DM in Uttarkashi, Jaiswal managed to offend a minister who was contesting from there. The minister wanted to misuse the government machinery and logistics in the elections. He was furious at being refused, so Jaiswal was given marching orders and asked to leave within 24 hours.

Jaiswal happily went to Varanasi but just six months later he was shunted out to Haldwani to set up the office of the Regional Food Controller. Six months later, he was again transferred to Lucknow … and not given a house.

“All I wanted was a one-room official accommodation but it was not given… I had made it clear to my wife to be prepared to pack up and move to another location at short notice…

My wife took it in her stride and she never complained,” he says.

In 36 years of service, Jaiswal was a witness to many changes in all walks of life, including in the IAS itself.

“At that time the administration commanded a certain respect. The political executive was also deferential but later the relationship got soured and there was some stress. I was fortunate in the sense that I never had any serious problem in my life.

Though many of my colleagues had to suffer,” he says.

“I always accepted the fact that we were to play the role of advisers and the main decision rested with the political executive. I had absolutely no problems in accepting the equation that they were the people’s representatives and our job was to assist them. But at the same time I was also very clear in my mind that I would be failing in my duty if I did not advise them to the best of my ability.

I never tried to anticipate their wish and formulate my advice as per their wishes,” recollects Jaiswal.

In the mid-1980s, Narayan Dutt

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Tiwari, who was then the Industries Minister, was virtually airlifted and dropped at Lucknow as the Chief Minister of UP. He had only about six months or so before the Assembly elections. The Congress was fighting for survival in the State. Tiwari was under the impression that by keeping government servants who were opinion leaders in their areas on his side, he would be able to influence the voters. So he started granting extensions to all government servants who were about to retire.

Jaiswal, who was then Secretary, Rural Development, started receiving files with orders from the CM to grant an extension. He would record

‘I always accepted the fact that we were to play the role of advisers and the main decision rested with the political executive. But, I was also clear that I would be failing in my duty if I did not advise them to the best of my ability’ his comments and send the file back.

As a result, the files went back and forth 2-3 times. “In 95 per cent of the cases, the CM eventually relented but in some cases he would record, ‘I agree with the Secretary’, however as an exception this needs to be done… He never took it ill. It was considered to be a legitimate function of the Secretary. It goes to his credit that such defiance of the Secretary was not held against me but the next coalition government under Mulayam Singh Yadav as CM was a different ball game altogether. They just could not accept that a mere Secretary would question the orders of the Chief Minister,” he says.

T

hough there was never any direct confrontation with the Chief Minister, Jaiswal continued to ruffle the feathers of his minister. “Within a space of 2-3 months, a dossier had been compiled on the orders which I had defied. I got a note from my administrative superior, the Agriculture Commissioner, saying that the minister has taken very strong exception to persistent defiance of orders… and she has recommended your suspension. I was asked to give an explanation,” he says.

“I was aghast… I went to the Agriculture Protection Commissioner and told him that he was not doing his job. He could see the impropriety of the minister’s orders, the least he was expected to do was to protect his officer and tell the minister that she was exceeding her powers and she had no right to demand compliance with orders that were blatantly illegal. For three days, I shut myself in my office, delved into all the files and prepared a detailed explanation. Eventually, my position was vindicated in every single matter. The minister had to eat humble pie but I was promptly transferred and sent to the dog house on an important job,” he says.

“Of course I would revisit some of my actions because now I know in hindsight that perhaps I could have acted in a different manner but then I would be happy to be placed in the same situation again. I don’t think I will be making any sacrifice in going through this again. The satisfaction of being able to do something far outweighs the inconvenience that one had to face,” he adds. “A job well done has its own rewards. Satisfaction has to come from within… it does not really matter what post you held or how long you stayed at a particular post,” he philosophises. g – Neeraj Mahajan

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MY CORNER

rules amitabh thakur

Let â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;em speak

The public servant is definitely handicapped through various conduct rules and is even denied the freedom of expression

ARUNA

R

ECENTLY, Bihar-cadre IPS officer, Amitabh Kumar Das, currently posted as SP, Bihar Human Rights Commission (BHRC), was in the news. He sent a report to the Inspector General (Special Branch) of Bihar Police, regarding alleged links of a newly inducted Union minister with the Ranvir Sena, a banned organisation. The BHRC issued a notice to Das, seeking an explanation for sending this report.

This was followed by a prominent political leader from Bihar seeking

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Dasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; immediate suspension, saying that he had exceeded his jurisdiction by writing a letter to the IG (Special Branch). The leader made personal comments against Das, saying he has always been controversial from the beginning.

At the outset, I would like to make it clear that I do not have any personal knowledge about the veracity of the facts presented by the two parties. Das might be correct in his allegations about the Union minister having relations with a banned outfit and he might be absolutely mistaken.

As far as possibilities go, there could be definite motive and slant to his act because what a man thinks and does is best known to him only. Hence, as a prudent person, all of us need to refrain from arriving at any con-

clusion as regards these allegations except regarding the fact that such allegations have been made.

But one issue that directly interests me here is the unequal position in which the political persons and public servants find themselves in if any such situation of personal allegations arises. The political persons, as citizens of this nation, have their rights emanating from Article 19(1) of the Constitution which gives the right to freedom of expression, with a few riders. Being the representatives of lakhs of people, this right also acquires the shape of a duty because whatever they are saying is also being said as the voice of all the people they represent, who expect their voices to be expressed to the larger audiences.

Take, for example, this particular

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case. Das wrote something regarding the conduct of a Union minister.

Some other political person reacted on behalf of the Union minister, making personal allegations against Das and seeking strong action against him. Which of them is correct is not the issue and is a matter of verification, but the inequality between political persons and the public servants as far as defending themselves as individual entities emerges pretty obviously.

We all know that public servants are human beings, they are not robots. They have their families, near and dear ones, they have relatives and they also live in society. In such circumstances, when political persons make allegations of a personal nature that place them in a position of social awkwardness, unfortunately the public servant is seriously handicapped in having a mechanism to defend himself.

Most of the rules and regulations regarding the conduct of government servants prohibit them from interacting through the media. For example, Rule 7 of the All India Services Conduct Rules 1968 regarding criticism of government makes it very specific that they shall not make any statement of fact or opinion which criticises any current policy or action of the Central or State government.

Many a time in the past, criticism of an individual holding a public office, like the Prime Minister, Chief Minister or other ministers has been construed as criticism of the government and if one goes through the vast annals of departmental action against government servants, many instances would definitely emerge where a public servant was penalised for personal criticism of a political public officeholder. His action was treated as criticism of the government.

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A

DMITTEDLY, there is Rule 17 in the Conduct Rules of the All India Services which deals with vindication of acts and character of members of the Service. Though, to the best of my knowledge, such rules and provisions do not exist for all public services. But even this rule begins on a negative note, saying that no member of the Service shall, except with the previous sanction of the government, have recourse to media regarding criticism or attack of a defamatory character for the vindication of his official act.

There was possibly a time when these issues were not taken seriously because it was not envisaged that in the days to come, 24x7 media would slowly encompass almost every vista of life. This includes piercing the government veil and going deep into analysis of individual public servants.

The argument of secrecy of functioning must give way to the strength of transparency for better governance and a better India Thus, every day we witness one or more news reports being published about the alleged impropriety of public servants. But in all these cases, while the person making such allegations has the immensely strong tool of freedom of expression assisting him, the public servant is definitely handicapped through various conduct rules.

The second facet not envisaged by the lawmakers in those days was the way in which relations between political masters and public servants would change in the future. From whatever I have understood through the reminiscences of public servants of those days in the 1950s and 1960s, the instances of public servants and

political masters clashing were minimal. There may have been a historical reason: The political masters were the offspring of the great freedom struggle and imbibed extremely high moral values that possibly guided them to be very cautious of their character and image. The same held true for the public servants.

With change in the flavour of the times, there has been a definite deterioration on both sides, and today the news of a minister being associated with a terrorist or extremist outfit or being a supplier of illegal arms and ammunition or being a member of a notorious gang does not come as a big surprise. Many political persons would definitely have been behind bars, if the various limitations of our social and legal milieu had not come to their assistance. In the same manner, today we keep on hearing news of senior government officers being involved in drug peddling, flesh trade, anti-national activities and so on.

In such circumstances, it seems necessary to take a relook at the existing conduct rules for public servants and to provide them the same kind of freedom of expression that has been granted to every other citizen of this nation, so that both the politician and the public servant are equally equipped and are able to face these adverse situations which now arise every other day. This seems to be the only way in which the current precarious condition can be overcome because this will only assist in bringing all the facts into the public domain. The argument of secrecy of functioning must give way to the strength of transparency for better governance and a better India. g Amitabh Thakur, an IPS officer from UP, is also working for transparency in governance. The views expressed are personal.

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STOCK DOCTOR dr gs sood

T

Stay with the run

HE market has gained about 40 per cent in a year and is trading at an all-time high with mid-caps and small caps gaining around 65 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively, mainly driven by change in the sentiment led by the formation of a government with a strong majority and a Prime Minister who is the most pro-growth pro-investment leader in the world with the credentials, will and capability to deliver. But, this also makes Modi the biggest risk for the market — if something happens to him or if he fails to deliver. Besides a stable government that holds the promise of reforms, the market is rising due to change in the environment led by small steps such as scrapping of the Planning Commission, removal of diesel subsidy, launch of Jan Dhan and Swachh Bharat programmes, faster decisions and making the bureaucracy work, to name just a few.

The Indian market is riding on a structural story of positive demographics, a cyclical recovery, ample global liquidity, low commodity prices, especially crude, return of risk appetite with a revival in US economy and spurt in FII investment that has so far touched `94,000 crore during this year. Domestic mutual funds are also witnessing sustained inflows that have propelled them to invest `25,000 crore so far this year.

According to Christopher Wood, Managing Director of CLSA Ltd, “India is the most attractive equity market in the world from a five-year perspective with the economy bottoming out and a rating upgrade being just around the corner.” Most of the major economies of the world

are facing ‘3D’ problems of high debt, adverse demographics and deflation.

If the investment cycle can be revived with a few reforms, India can be well poised to notch up a growth rate of 7 per cent plus and a Sensex may well get to 40,000. The country is best positioned to benefit from falling commodity prices as against Russia, Brazil, and South Africa who are at the receiving end.

Inflation is going down faster than expected, giving a good inflation growth matrix that may well prompt the Reserve Bank to go for rate cut earlier than expected. With the kind of global liquidity unleashed by central banks like that of China, Japan and Europe, a lot is likely to flow to India, putting at rest the concerns raised due to rate hikes to be announced by the US Federal Reserve sometime next year.

There have been concerns very recently with regard to the stretched valuations and corporate earnings getting more misses than hits. The fact that the last three bull markets never peaked below PE of 25 times, that too happening in the 3rd, 4th or 5th year, the market at forward PE of 16 is at a reasonable distance and we are just in the first year of a multi-year bull run. The best part is that this time there is no competition from other emerging markets. As against the previous bull run that simultaneously witnessed rising commodity prices, the prices are on a decline, giving us a further edge. Moreover, the aggregate margins of Indian companies are at an 18-year low due to persistently high inflation, currency depreciation, low capacity utilisation, delays or stuck

Stock Shop R B

BY

AKESH

HARDWAJ

Firstsource Solutions (CMP `35 )

T

HE company is in the computerssoftware medium/small sector and has reported consolidated sales of `769.80 crore and a net profit of `61.30 crore for the quarter ended September 2014. The stock is trading at a PE of around 14 as against the industry average of 17. The company is steadily driving down its debt and

by FY17 most of its debt will get repaid and it will start driving free cash flows. In terms of customer business management, the company enjoys a very good clientele base with two of the top 10 telecom companies, six of the leading US banks and three of the top 10 healthcare companies. The company has been signing deals worth US$ 45 million in the quarter gone by apart from deals around US$ 31-33 million signed in the previous quarter.

Increasing deal wins, a good amount of cash flows, deleveraging of balance sheet and cheap valuations is the story of Firstsource that makes it an IT company with a difference. Investors can buy for a decent return with a 2-3 years’ perspective.

projects and weak demand. All this is likely to change and the corporate sector may witness a profit growth of 10-20 per cent as the margins move towards normal.

Investors are advised to invest with a long-term perspective and remain invested for a period of at least three years to reap decent returns. They should use any sharp correction to add good stocks to their portfolio. g

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions by readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to editor@gfilesindia.com with Bhardwaj’s name in the subject line.

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STOCK DOCTOR dr gs sood

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions by readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to editor@gfilesindia.com with Bhardwajâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name in the subject line.

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gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 9 | December 2014

53

PERSPECTIVE nation sadhguru

N

ATIONS are created on the basis of race, religion, language or ethnicity. India, however, is a mind-bogglingly complex combination of all these ingredients and more. Sameness has been the basis of the making of nations. India stands in total defiance of this formula!

In some ways, we’re probably the oldest nation on the planet. Although we comprised over 200 political fragments in the past, we were still seen—from outside and from within this subcontinent—as an entity with a certain civilisational unity. And so, this land was called Bharat, or sometimes Hindustan.

The term ‘Hindustan’, it must be remembered, pre-dates religion. It did not refer to one particular faith.

It meant a geographical identity—the land between the Himalaya and the Indu Sarovar (as the Indian Ocean was known).

But why was this subcontinent considered one entity? This is an important question for anyone trying to understand Indian democracy. After all, for every 50 miles you drive in this land, people look different, speak different, dress different, cook different, eat different. Everything about them is different.

What, then, makes us a single entity? The reason is unique to India.

And it is this: this is not a land of believers. This is a land of seekers. A seeker can never be a believer because you seek only when you realise you don’t know anything about life! Everywhere else, people have organised themselves around a religious belief, an ideology, a philosophy. But this is the one land on the planet that does not hold God or heaven as the highest goal. We hold mukti or freedom as the highest. To be sitting eternally on God’s lap is not our aspiration. Our aspiration is liberation. To be free

54

gfiles inside the government vol. 8, issue 9 | December 2014

Land of seekers from God also — that is the goal!

It is a totally erroneous concept that people have to believe in a single thing to stay together. People who believe in one god or one ideology have always been at war all over the world. When there is no belief system, no fixed set of ideas in your head, life is your mission, life is your teacher. You are receptive, willing to learn, always seeking your way through life.

This milieu sets the right atmosphere for a democratic process. If we have predetermined ideas of what party, caste, creed or race we’re going to vote for, a democratic process cannot happen. It is just a wasteful exercise— feudalism of a kind. Real democracy can happen only when an individual is willing to look at everything afresh, without any preconceived ideas or beliefs. Only if each of us is willing to exercise our individual intelligence, does democracy make sense.

So, the roots of the spiritual process are also the roots of the democratic process. Spiritually, it makes no difference what your ancestry or karma is; if you are willing, you can aspire to the highest. Likewise in the democratic process, your pedigree or your past makes no difference; who you are makes the difference. Every citizen, like every seeker, has an opportunity

to make his life the way he wants.

So, India has the necessary credentials to be a great democracy. The scale and efficiency of our electoral process is quite incredible. But for us to have a truly alive democratic process, it is important not to lose sight of the fundamental spiritual thread that holds us together.

When I say ‘spiritual’, I do not mean anything religious; I mean a scientific way of looking at human wellbeing. No culture has looked at the human mechanism and its ultimate possibility as profoundly as this culture has, without any system of dogmas or beliefs. This is the fundamental contribution of the East to life on this planet. Which is why when Mark Twain visited India he said, “Anything that can ever be done by man or God has been done in this land.’’

It is time to reinforce and strengthen this unique spiritual thread, which has been hacked in an active, organised manner for far too long. It is time for India to establish itself once again as a land of spirituality beyond religion, spirituality beyond sectarianism, spirituality as a process that is relevant to every human being. g Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary, humanitarian and a prominent spiritual leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

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birthdays IAS officers’ birthdays Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

IAS officers’ birthdays Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

Sudeep Singh Dhillon

Aniruddhe Mukherjee

Alok Kumar

Jawaid Akhtar

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

dsudeeps@ias.nic.in

anirudhe@ias.nic.in

kmralok3@ias.nic.in

akhtarj@ias.nic.in

Dilraj Kaur

Manoj Ahuja

Rajiv Ranjan Mishra

Hage Khoda Shalla

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

kaurd@ias.nic.in

ahujam@ias.nic.in

mishrarr@ias.nic.in

khodah.ias@ias.nic.in

Ajay Tirkey

Lingaraj Panigrahi

Binod Kispotta

MP Nirmala

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

tirkeyaj@ias.nic.in

panigrh2@ias.nic.in

kispotta@ias.nic.in

nirmalam@ias.nic.in

Jyoti Kalash

Asheesh Sharma

Satish Balram Agnihotri

Jawed Usmani

CADRE: NAGALAND

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

kalashj@ias.nic.in

sashish@ias.nic.in

ahotrisb@ias.nic.in

usmanij@ias.nic.in

MK Varshney

Vijayendra Kumar

Deepak Mohan Spolia

Ranjit Bannerji

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: UNION TERRITORIES

CADRE: GUJARAT

varshney@ias.nic.in

kumarv9@ias.nic.in

spoliadm@ias.nic.in

ranjit79@ias.nic.in

KA Prasad Sinha

Veenu Gupta

Amit Kumar Agrawal

Pankaj Kumar Pandey

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

sinhaap1@ias.nic.in

guptav2@ias.nic.in

akagrawal@ias.nic.in

pk.pandey@ias.nic.in

Shailendra Kumar Joshi

Upma Chaudhary

Shambu Dayal Meena

Ritesh Chauhan

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

joshisk@ias.nic.in

upmac@ias.nic.in

mshambu@ias.nic.in

ritesh.c@ias.nic.in

Manoj Kumar Das

TM Vijay Bhaskar

Yashpal Singh

Sanghamitra Ghosh

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

dasmk@ias.nic.in

vijaybtm@ias.nic.in

singhy@ias.nic.in

ghoshs2@ias.nic.in

Manoj Kumar Das

P Sivasankaran

Kuldeep Ranka

K Ellangovan

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: KERALA

shinderd@ias.nic.in

sivasnkr@ias.nic.in

rankak@ias.nic.in

ellango@ias.nic.in

Somesh Kumar

DP Joshi

Ajay Kumar Singh

Vikas Anand

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ASSAM-MANIPUR

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

kumars2@ias.nic.in

dp.joshi@ias.nic.in

singhak6@ias.nic.in

anandv@ias.nic.in

Kumar Jayant

Dhirendra Kr Tiwari

Raj Kumar

CTM Suguna

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: ODISHA

jayantk@ias.nic.in

tdhirenk@ias.nic.in

guptar4@ias.nic.in

sugunact@ias.nic.in

Ravi Capoor

Ajay Yadav

Divesh Sehara

Anil Goswami

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

kapoorr@ias.nic.in

ajay.yadav@ias.nic.in

d.sehara@ias.nic.in

goswamia@ias.nic.in

Dinesh Arora

Ashish Kumar Singh

Anshu Sinha

Kripa Nand Jha

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: JHARKHAND

arorad@ias.nic.in

sashishk@ias.nic.in

sinhaa6@ias.nic.in

kn.jha@ias.nic.in

16-12-1957

16-12-1973

17-12-1963

17-12-1963

18-12-1956

19-12-1967

20-12-1959

20-12-1966

21-12-1954

22-12-1963

22-12-1967

23-12-1960

23-12-1976

24-12-1968

24-12-1964

25-12-1957

25-12-1971

26-12-1969

27-12-1963

28-12-1959

28-12-1960

29-12-1962

30-12-1957

30-12-1968

31-12-1976

31-12-1963

01-01-1960

01-01-1962

02-01-1959

02-01-1955

03-01-1955

04-01-1977

04-01-1957

05-01-1957

05-01-1972

06-01-1959

06-01-1965

07-01-1979

07-01-1972

08-01-1964

08-01-1958

09-01-1955

09-01-1956

10-01-1954

10-01-1976

11-01-1983

11-01-1970

12-01-1962

12-01-1975

13-01-1958

14-01-1955

15-01-1975

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

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55

birthdays IPS officers’ birthdays Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

IPS officers’ birthdays Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

KV Gagan Deep

R Sreelekha

HS Sandhu

LM Khaute

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

kvgagandeep@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sreelekha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

hssandhu@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

lmkhaute@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Vipul Kumar

Anup Kumar Singh

Sanjeeb Kumar Pat Joshi

ND Solanki

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: GUJARAT

vipulkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anupkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

skpjoshi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ndsolanki@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

PM Mohan

Dr Harshavardhan Raju

Satish Chandra Jha

Rajesh Kumar Jaiswal

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: PUNJAB

pmmohan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

hraju@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

scjha@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rkjaiswal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Pankaj Kumar Singh

Prafulla Kumar

Ravi Kumar Gupta

Ratan Sanjay

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: BIHAR

pankajksingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

prafulla@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ravikgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amritraj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Ravi Gupta

Sanjay Kumar Agrawal

Subesh Kumar Singh

Gopal Lal Meena

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

ravigupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

s_k_agarwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

subeshkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

glmeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Amar Kumar Pandey

Sanjay Singhal

AM Kulkarni

Probodh Kumar

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: PUNJAB

akpandey@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ssinghal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amkulkarni@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

probodhkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Shiradkr S Bhagwan Rao

Pawan Kumar Shrivastava

Tirthraj

Paras Nath Rai

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: BIHAR

ssbhagwanrao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pkshrivastava@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

tirthraj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pnrai@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Peeyush Pandey

Rajnish Seth

Kishan Kumar

NK Mishra

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: SIKKIM

ppandey@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rajnishseth@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kishankumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nkmishra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Niranjan B Vayangankar

Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar

Gopabandhu Mallik

Bhajani Ram Meena

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

nbvayangankar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rrbhatnagar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

gopabandhu@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

brmeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

RK Vij

Harman Prit Singh

Shafqat Ali Watali

Abhishek Pathak

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: CHHATTISGARH

rkvij@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

harmanprits@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

aziz@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

apathak@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rajvir Pratap Sharma

Rajesh Das

MS Maan

Sunil Kumar Mehrotra

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: HARYANA

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

rpsharma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rajeshdas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

msmaan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

skmahrotra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Om Prakash

Nirmal Kumar Azad

Ponugunatla Ramjee

Amulya Kumar Patnaik

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: BIHAR

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: AGMUT

oprakash@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nirmalkumarazad@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pramjee@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amulya@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Ram Narain Singh

Vijaya Kumar Gupta

Avinash Chandra

K Selvaraj

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: HARYANA

rnsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vkgupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

avinash@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kselvaraj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-12-1957

17-12-1969

18-12-1957

19-12-1962

19-12-1965

20-12-1962

20-12-1968

20-12-1968

21-12-1972

22-12-1961

23-12-1960

24-12-1972

25-12-1956

25-12-1960

25-12-1968

26-12-1955

26-12-1974

27-12-1968

27-12-1968

28-12-1965

29-12-1963

30-12-1959

30-12-1962

31-12-1963

31-12-1967

01-01-1957

01-01-1956

01-01-1965

02-01-1956

02-01-1969

03-01-1956

03-01-1964

04-01-1959

04-01-1957

05-01-1955

05-01-1959

06-01-1956

06-01-1970

07-01-1965

08-01-1962

08-01-1956

09-01-1970

09-01-1974

10-01-1963

10-01-1965

11-01-1958

11-01-1962

12-01-1965

13-01-1978

14-01-1959

15-01-1960

15-01-1961

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

56

gfiles inside the government

vol. 8, issue 9 | December 2014

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birthdays Lok Sabha Members Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015 Subhash Chandra Baheria 17-12-1956

BJP (Bhirwara)

subhash.baheria@sansad.nic.in

Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu 18-12-1987

TDP (Andhra Pradesh)

rammohannaidu.k@sansad.nic.in

Ratan Lal Kataria 19-12-1951 BJP (Haryana)

ratanlal.kataria@sansad.nic.in

Laxman Giluwa 20-12-1964

BJP (Jharkhand)

Narendra Keshav Sawaikar 29-12-1966 BJP (Goa)

narendra.sawaikar@sansad.nic.in

Idris Ali

30-12-1950 AITC (West Bengal)

idris.ali@sansad.nic.in

Arvind Ganpat Sawant 31-12-1951

BJP (Bihar)

INC (Madhya Pradesh)

01-01-1971

rajkumar.singh19@sansad.nic.in

scindia1@gmail.com

Arjun Ram Meghwal

Udit Raj

BJP (Rajasthan)

BJP (Delhi)

01-01-1958

arjunrammeghwal@gmail.com

udir.raj@sansad.nic.in

Kunwar Sarvesh Kumar

Sadhvi Savitri Bai Phoole

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

24-12-1967 RJD (Bihar)

rajesh.ranjan19@sansad.nic.in

Deepak Adhikari 25-12-1982

AITC (West Bengal)

adhikari.deepak@sansad.nic.in

Harishchandra Deoram 25-12-1951

BJP (Maharashtra)

INC (Haryana)

ps.chandumajra@sansad.nic.in

Jyotiraditya M Scindia

Rajesh Ranjan (Pappu Yadav)

SAD (Anandpur Sahib )

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

27-12-1982

Raj Kumar Singh

22-12-1951

Deepender Singh Hooda

01-01-1950

laxman.giluwa@sansad.nic.in

20-12-1953

Prem Singh Chandumajra K Maragatham

SS (Maharashtra)

20-12-1952

Lok Sabha Members Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

01-01-1981

sadhvisavitrib.foole@sansad.nic.in

Ramchandra Paswan 01-01-1962 LJSP (Bihar)

ramchandra.paswan@sansad.nic.in

Chandrakant Bhaurao Khaire 01-01-1952

SS (Maharashtra)

cb.khaire@sansad.nic.in

Sanwar Lal Jat 01-01-1955

nityanand.rai@sansad.nic.in

Janardan Singh Sigriwal 02-01-1959

janardan.sigriwal@sansad.nic.in

abhijit.mukherjee@sansad.nic.in

08-01-1969

02-01-1959

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

BJP (Bihar)

chintamani.malviya@sansad.nic.in

kirti@sansad.nic.in

Ashwini Kumar Choubey 02-01-1953

Ram Kumar Sharma 08-01-1964 RLSP (Bihar)

BJP (Bihar)

ashwinikumar.choubey@sansad.nic.in

Aparupa poddar 08-01-1986

Ninong Ering

AITC (West Bengal)

03-01-1959

aparupa.poddar@sansad.nic.in

INC (Andhra Pradesh)

ninong.ering@sansad.nic.in

Brijbhushan Sharan Singh 08-01-1957

Tapas Mandal

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

03-01-1972

brijbhusan.singh@sansad.nic.in

AITC (West Bengal)

tapas.mandal@sansad.nic.in

Sharad Tripathi 09-01-1972

Bhola Singh

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

03-01-1939

sharad.tripathi@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Bihar)

bholasingh.mp@sansad.nic.in.

Sunil Kumar Singh 10-01-1962

Kalyan Banerjee

BJP (Jharkhand)

04-01-1957

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

ranjeet.ranjan19@sansad.nic.in

Chintamani Malviya

Kirti Azad

ramtahal@sansad.nic.in

murli@sansad.nic.in

INC (Bihar)

INC (West Bengal)

04-01-1969

05-01-1934

07-01-1974

02-01-1960

BJP (Jharkhand)

Murli Manohar Joshi

Ranjeet Ranjan

Abhijit Mukherjee

INC (Mizoram)

sanjaykaka.patil@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BJP (Bihar)

Ram Tahal Choudhary

cl.ruala@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Maharashtra)

BJP (Bihar)

CL Ruala

01-01-1942

04-01-1965

01-01-1966

harishchandra.chavan@sansad.nic.in

25-12-1935

Ramchandra Patil

Nityanand Rai

BJP (Rajasthan)

04-01-1978

sunilkr.singh@sansad.nic.in

AITC (West Bengal)

kalyanbanerjee@hotmail.com

KC Patel

10-01-1950

M Chandrakasi

BJP (Gujarat)

kc.patel@sansad.nic.in

m.chandrakasi@sansad.nic.in

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57

birthdays Lok Sabha Members Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

Rajya Sabha Members Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015

Shibu Soren

Baijayant Jay Panda

T Rathinavel

Kanimozhi

JMM (Jharkhand)

BJD (Odisha)

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

DMK (Tamil Nadu)

shisoren@sansad.nic.in

bj.panda@sansad.nic.in

t.rathinavel@sansad.nic.in

kanimozhi@sansad.nic.in

Sakshi Swami Maharaj

Kaushalendra Kumar

Mukut Mithi

Mahendra Prasad

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

JD-U (Bihar)

INC (Arunachal Pradesh)

JD-U (Bihar)

sakshi@sansad.nic.in,

kaushalendra.k@sansad.nic.in

mukut.mithi@sansad.nic.in

prasadm@sansad.nic.in

Mriganka Mahato

Bharatendra Singh

Rajpal Singh Saini

MP Achuthan

AITC (West Bengal)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

BSP (Uttar Pradesh)

CPI (Kerala)

mriganka.mahato@sansad.nic.in

bharatendrasing@yahoo.com

rs.saini@sansad.nic.in

mpachuthan@gmail.com

Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury

Dhananjay Bhimrao Mahadik

Kanak Lata Singh

Satyavrat Chaturvedi

INC (West Bengal)

NCP (Maharashtra)

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

INC (Madhya Pradesh)

abk.chowdhury@sansad.nic.in

db.mahadik@sansad.nic.in

kanak.lata@sansad.nic.in

chaturvedisatyavrat@yahoo.com

M Veerappa Moily

Dimple Yadav

Kahkashan Perween

Kumari Mayawati

INC (Karnataka)

SP (Uttar Pradesh)

JD-U (Bihar)

BSP (Uttar Pradesh)

vmoily@kar.nic.in

dimpleyadav78@gmail.com

11-01-1944

12-01-1940

12-01-1956

13-01-1959

12-01-1963

14-01-1964

12-01-1938

15-01-1972

12-01-1940

15-01-1978

01-01-1951

05-01-1968

01-01-1952

08-01-1940

01-01-1953

08-01-1949

01-01-1962

13-01-1950

01-01-1979

mayawati@sansad.nic.in

Shadi Lal Batra

Sanjiv Kumar

02-01-1940

Rajya Sabha Members Dec 16, 2014 — Jan 15, 2015 Mohammad Shafi 16-12-1943

Vivek Gupta 27-12-1975

JKNC (Jammu & Kashmir)

AITC (West Bengal)

m.shafi@sansad.nic.in

vivekgupta.mp@sansad.nic.in

Vijay Mallya 18-12-1955

AK Antony 28-12-1940

IND. (Karnataka)

INC (Kerala)

mallya.v@sansad.nic.in

ak.antony@sansad.nic.in

Motilal Vora 20-12-1928

Arun Jaitley 28-12-1952

INC (Chhattisgarh)

BJP (Gujarat)

vora@sansad.nic.in

jaitley@sansad.nic.in

Anubhav Mohanty

Avinash Rai Khanna

BJD (Odisha)

BJP (Punjab)

anubhav.mohanty@sansad.nic.in

khanna.avinash@sansad.nic.in

Mahant S Tundiya

Mohsina Kidwai

BJP (Gujarat)

INC (Chhattisgarh)

sb.tundiya@sansad.nic.in

m.kidwai@sansad.nic.in

Praveen Rashtrapal

Nand Kumar Sai

INC (Gujarat)

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

p.rashtrapal@sansad.nic.in

nk.sai@sansad.nic.in

Ramdas Athawale

Md. Ali Khan

RPI-A (Maharashtra)

INC (Andhra Pradesh)

24-12-1981

24-12-1939

24-12-1939

25-12-1959

30-12-1960

15-01-1956

15-01-1958

INC (Haryana)

s.batra@sansad.nic.in

JMM (Jharkhand)

Madhusudan Mistry

Ritabrata Banerjee

INC (Gujarat)

CPI-M (West Bengal)

03-01-1945

15-01-1978

ritabrata.banerjee@sansad.nic.in

Vijay Goel

Narendra Kumar Kashyap

04-01-1954

15-01-1963

BJP (Rajasthan)

shrivijaygoel@gmail.com

Garikapati Mohan Rao 05-01-1948

BSP (Uttar Pradesh)

nk.kashyap@sansad.nic.in

Ananda Bhaskar Rapolu 15-01-1964

TDP (Andhra Pradesh)

mohan.rao@sansad.nic.in

INC (Telangana)

ab.rapolu@sansad.nic.in

Anand Sharma 05-01-1953

INC (Rajasthan)

anandsharma@sansad.nic.in

01-01-1932

01-01-1946

01-01-1948

alikhan@sansad.nic.in

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

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Tracking RAJIV MEHRISHI The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Finance Secretary and Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Ministry of Finance, Government of India, has been appointed India’s Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines.

ANOOP MISHRA The 1978-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Chairman of the Board of Revenue, is now the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha.

HASMUKH ADHIA The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre has been appointed Secretary, Financial Services.

RAJIVE KUMAR The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Special Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Shipping.

SUNIL SONI The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, DG, Bureau of Indian Standards, has been appointed Special

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

Secretary in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs.

PK GUPTA The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary of Haryana.

GS SANDHU The 1980-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Financial Services Secretary, has been moved as Chairman, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC), in the grade of Secretary.

Sabbir Hussain (1996)

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre, DG ESIC, has been elevated to the rank of Secretary.

SHIVALI MALHOTRA CHOUHAN The 1997-batch IDAS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

BP SHARMA The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre, EO, has been elevated to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India.

DEEPAK GUPTA

NAVIN VERMA

The 1974-batch IAS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed the new Chairman of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been appointed Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat.

VIJAY SHANKAR MADAN

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre has been appointed Additional Chief Secretary (Home and Vigilance), Kerala.

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre, DG and Mission Director, UIDAI, has been elevated to the rank of Secretary.

MADHYA PRADESH VS Niranjan (1990)

NAGALAND

BIHAR

PUNJAB

Ashok Kumar Mallick (1999) Arun Derhgawen (1999) Ramanand Jha (1999)

ANIL KUMAR AGRAWAL

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, Vice Chairman of the DDA, has been elevated to the rank of Secretary.

ANDHRA PRADESH

R Bhattacharya (1978)

The 1981-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed Secretary, NDMA, in the rank of Secretary.

BALVINDER KUMAR

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in December 2014 ASSAM

RK JAIN

Maken Toshi Aier (1978) Dharamjit Singh Grewal (1994) Yash Vir Mahajan (2001)

NALINI NETTO

SUNIL KUMAR BHARGAVA The 1984-batch IAS officer of the Odisha cadre has been appointed Chief Resident Commissioner of Odisha, New Delhi, after he was promoted to Chief Secretary rank.

PRAVEEN PARDESHI The 1985-batch IAS officer has been appointed the Principal Secretary to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis.

SN SAHAI

SIKKIM

Rajinder Singh Negi (1996)

KK Pradhan (1998) Nim Yethenpa (1998)

The 1986-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Principal Secretary, Revenue, Government of Delhi.

HARYANA

UTTARAKHAND

MILIND MHAISKAR

HIMACHAL PRADESH

Praveen Kumar Gupta (1981) Sarban Singh (1983) Ramesh Chand Verma (2001)

Manjul Kumar Joshi (1998)

UTTAR PRADESH

JAMMU & KASHMIR

Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad (2000)

Prem Narain (1978) Stuti Narain Kackar (1978) Mukesh Chandra (1999)

MAHARASHTRA

WEST BENGAL

Amitabh Rajan (1979) RD Shinde (1996)

Gautam Ghosh (1997)

The 1992-batch IAS officer has been appointed Secretary to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Phadnavis.

ASHWANI KUMAR The 1992-batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre has been posted as Secretary, Social Welfare and Women & Child Development with additional charge of SC/ST/OBC and Minorities’ Welfare, Government of Delhi.

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PHOTOS: PIB

President Pranab Mukherjee with officer trainees of the 116th Induction Training Programme for State Civil Service Officers, promoted to the IAS, from Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on November 22, 2014.

AJAY JAIN

VARESH SINHA

NAVDEEP RINWA

The 1991-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre has been given additional charge as Secretary, Energy Department.

The 1977-batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre, outgoing Gujarat Chief Secretary, has been appointed the State Election Commissioner.

The 1999-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to Shripad Yesso Naik, Minister of State for AYUSH.

The 1987-batch IAS officer of the Bihar cadre has been assigned additional charge as Managing Director, Bihar State Backward Class, Finance and Development Corporation, Patna.

SACHIN MITTAL

KAILASH CHANDRA

The 1996-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre has been empanelled for the post of Deputy Inspector General (DIG) in the Government of India.

The 1997-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been posted as Member, DSSSB in the Government of Delhi.

SANJAY MURTHY

ALKA DIWAN

The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre is the new Joint Secretary (Films), I&B Ministry.

The 1998-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, Registrar, Cooperative Societies in the Delhi Government, has been promoted to the grade of Secretary.

The 2002-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been appointed Secretary, Delhi Jal Board, in the Government of Delhi.

B PRADHAN

GITANJALI GUPTA KUNDRA The 1996-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre has been posted as OSD, Swachh Bharat, Secretary, Art, Culture, Language, and Director, Information & Publicity, in the Government of Delhi.

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AMANDEEP GARG The 1999-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed Private Secretary to JP Nadda, Minister of Health and Family Welfare.

MANOJ KUMAR

KARTIKEYA MISRA The 2009-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been appointed OSD, Telangana Bhawan, New Delhi.

J RAVISHANKAR & V YASWANTH The IAS officers have been appointed

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Tracking

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

President Pranab Mukherjee with probationers of the 65th batch of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Central Excise) from the National Academy of Customs, Excise & Narcotics, Faridabad, at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on November 17, 2014.

Special Commissioner, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike, and Commissioner, Karnataka Housing Board, Bengaluru, in Karnataka, respectively.

cadre has been posted as Special Secretary, Vigilance and Special Secretary, Services, in the Government of Delhi.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA).

SHASHI MOHAN

ASHOK KUMAR

SUTIRTHA BHATTACHARYA

The 1982-batch IPS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed the new DGP, Tamil Nadu.

The 1985-batch IAS officer of the Telangana cadre has been selected for the post of CMD, Coal India Limited (CIL) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board meeting.

The 1991-batch ITS officer has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

ASHUTOSH KUMAR The 2002-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT

KIRAN GURRALA The 2009-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre has been appointed

B RAJASEKHAR The 1992-batch IAS officer of the Andhra

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President Pranab Mukherjee with probationers of the Indian Defence Accounts Service (IDAS) 2013 batch at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, on November 3, 2014.

THE FOLLOWING IAS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED SPECIAL SECRETARIES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA: AK SRIVASTAVA (1981-batch IAS officer, Assam-Meghalaya cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment; SHASHI SHEKHAR (1981-batch IAS officer, Tamil Nadu cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Forests and Environment; RN CHOUBEY (1981-batch IAS officer, Tamil Nadu cadre) has been elevated in the Power Ministry as Special Secretary; DEVENDRA CHAUDHARY (1981-batch IAS officer, Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Power; AMEISING LUIKHAM (1981-batch IAS officer, ManipurTripura cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, North Eastern Council; SC PANDA (1981-batch IAS officer, Assam-Meghalaya cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary and FA in the Ministry of Home Affairs; TUK TUK KUMAR (1981-batch IAS officer, West Bengal cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary and FA in the Department of Road Transport and Highways; MADHUSUDAN PRASAD (1981-batch IAS officer, Haryana cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Commerce; AK GUPTA (1981-batch IAS officer, Tamil Nadu cadre) is now Special Secretary, Department of Defence Production; RITA A TEAOTIA (1981-batch IAS officer, Gujarat cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Telecom; PK PUJARI (1981-batch IAS officer, Gujarat cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary and FA in the Department of Agricultural Research and Education; RAJIV YADAV (1981-batch IAS officer, Assam-Meghalaya cadre) has been elevated as Special Secretary and FA in the Department of Fertilisers; SC KHUNTIA (1981-batch IAS officer, Karnataka cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary and FA in the Ministry of Petroleum; ARUN JHA(1981-batch IAS officer, Bihar cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances; VRINDA SWARUP (1981-batch IAS officer, Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, School Education, in the Ministry of HRD; SM VIJAYANAND (1981-batch IAS officer, Kerala cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Rural Development; ANJULY CHIB DUGGAL (1981-batch IAS officer, Punjab cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Expenditure; and RAJIVE KUMAR (1981-batch IAS officer, Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Special Secretary, Petroleum and Natural Gas.

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Pradesh cadre has been appointed Chairman & Managing Director, AP State Civil Supplies Corporation Limited, in Andhra Pradesh.

ARJA SRIKANTH The 1987-batch IRTS officer has been appointed Additional Commissioner, Andhra Pradesh Bhawan, New Delhi.

VINAY SRIVASTAVA The 1992-batch IRSME officer has been appointed Private Secretary to Prakash Javadekar, Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change.

SANJAY SHRINET The 1993-batch IRS officer has been appointed Special Director, Enforcement Directorate (ED), in Chandigarh.

SATNAM SINGH BADHWAN The 1985-batch IFS officer of the Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Chief Vigilance Officer in the Central Warehousing Corporation, Delhi, Department of Food & Public Distribution, at Joint Secretary level.

ABHILASHA M BASAIAWMOIT The 2000-batch IRS-C&CE officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Economic Affairs under the Minister of Finance.

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HARPREET SINGH PRUTHI The 1999-batch IRSS officer has been appointed Director in the Ministry of Power.

DEEPALI CHANDRA The IRS-IT officer has been deputed as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO), Sports Authority of India (SAI), New Delhi.

SANJEEV SHARMA The IRS-IT officer has been transferred from CIT-DR (International Taxation) New Delhi, to Director, APA, in the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

GS SINGHVI The Justice, a former Supreme Court judge, is the new chairman of the Competition Appellate Tribunal (Compat).

T MEENA KUMARI The former Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court has taken over as the new Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission.

CHANDRAMAULI KUMAR PRASAD The former Supreme Court Judge has been appointed the new Chairman of the Press Council of India (PCI).

PRASHANT MISHRA The Additional Judge of Chhattisgarh High Court has been appointed a permanent Judge of the court.

PALASH GOSWAMI The GM, HCL, has joined as Director (Finance), Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL).

SB MALIK The Eexcutive Director, RITES, has assumed charge as Director (Technical), RITES Limited.

RAJESH TRIPATHI The CMD, Dredging Corporation of India Limited (DCI), has been appointed to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC.

AK DWIVEDI The Executive Director, ONGC, has been selected for the post of Director (Exploration) of the company at a Public Enterprises Selection Board meeting.

THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS HAVE BEEN APPOINTED JOINT SECRETARIES IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MC JAUHARI (1987-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre) has been appointed DDG, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI); RAJIV ARORA (1987-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre), Joint Secretary, Commerce, has been moved to NATGRID; SAMEER SHARMA (1985-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre), CMD of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), has been appointed Joint Secretary, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation; MANINDER SINGH (1989-batch IAS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre), Joint Secretary, Environment, has been appointed Joint Secretary in the Department of Health Research; RAM SUBHAG SINGH (1987-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre), Joint Secretary, Defence, has been moved as Managing Director, National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation (NAFED); VIVEK JOSHI (1989-batch IAS officer of the Haryana cadre), Joint Secretary, Child and Women Welfare, has been moved to the Department of Expenditure as Officer on Special Duty, Procurement Policy Division; V SHASHANK SHEKHAR (1996-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Home, in the Government of India; DHARITRI PANDA (1987-batch ICAS officer) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare; JITENDRA SHARMA (1984-batch IFS officer of the Punjab cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, AYUSH; M DEVARAJ (1996-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been elevated as Joint Secretary in the DoPT; MUKESH JAIN (1989-batch IPS officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre) has been moved as Joint Secretary, Department of Disability Affairs; HARISH CHAND AGARWAL (1988-batch IPoS officer) has been appointed Regional Deputy Director, UIDAI; BARUN MITRA (1987-batch IAS officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Shipping; BS BULLAR (1986-batch IAS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; B SUMAN (1996-batch IAS officer of the Kerala cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; MANISH KUMAR GUPTA (1991-batch IAS officer of the Union Territory cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment; DHEERAJ KUMAR (1993-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment; RAJESH AGARWAL (1994-batch IAS officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; JYOTSNA SITLING (1987-batch IFS officer of the Uttarakhand cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; PAWAN KUMAR AGARWAL (1985-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship; K SANJAY MURTHY (1989-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; R JAYA (1995-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; PUNEET KANSAL (1996-batch IAS officer of the Sikkim cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting; ARUN KUMAR VERMA (1986-batch IFS officer of the Gujarat cadre) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power; ANNIE GEORGE MATHEW (1988-batch IA&AS officer) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Department of Expenditure; SANJEEV KUMAR (1986-batch IDAS officer) has been appointed Joint Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment.

PRABHAT SAHAI

TAPAN MAZUMDER

The officer has been appointed Chairman & Managing Director, Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation Limited (MRVC).

The 1991-batch ITS officer has been appointed Director in the Department of Commerce, Government of India.

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President Pranab Mukherjee with members of the 54th NDC Course and the faculty of the National Defence College at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, on November 12, 2014 THE FOLLOWING IPS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN EMPANELLED FOR THE POST OF DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL (DIG) IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 1997 BATCH VINOD KUMAR-I and AJITABH KUMAR of the Bihar cadre; VIJAYASREE KUMAR of the Kerala cadre.

1998 BATCH R BHEEMA NAIK of the Andhra Pradesh cadre; DK ARYA of the Madhya Pradesh cadre; and VN JHADAV of the Maharashtra cadre.

1999 BATCH SATYEN GOGOI of the Assam cadre; ALI MOHD BHAT of the J&K cadre; KV SRIDHAR of the Karnataka cadre; IP KULSHRESTH of the Madhya Pradesh cadre; P NAGARAJAN, VH MOHAMMED HANEEFA and J BHASKARAN of the Tamil Nadu cadre.

THE FOLLOWING IRS OFFICERS HAVE BEEN TRANSFERRED AND POSTED AT DIFFERENT PLACES AT COMMISSIONER LEVEL BINOD KUMAR has been appointed CIT (ITAT)-2, Delhi; SK MITTAL is now CIT, Panchkula and HUKAM CHAND NEGI is CIT, Shimla. ANAND KUMAR AGGARWAL has been posted as CIT (ITAT)-I, Lucknow; OMKARESHWAR CHINDRA as CIT-I, Visakhapatnam; PUNAM K SIDHI as CIT, Delhi; SL MEENA as CIT (A), Ahmedabad; RAMESH CHAND as CIT (TDS), Chandigarh; G APARNA RAO as CIT (ITAT)-I, Hyderabad; SANDEEP KUMAR as CIT, Delhi; ANAND JHA as CIT, CBDT, Delhi; SUNIL KUMAR as CIT, Rohtak; ANSHU SHUKLA PANDEY as CIT (A)-I, Kanpur; UPPULETI DEVI PRASAD as CIT Audit and Co, Bhubaneswar; PRADEEP KUMAR AMBASTHA as CIT, Ghaziabad; NAGESHWAR RAO KORIPALLI as CIT, Guntur; VALAVARTI RAJENDRA as CIT (A)-I, Bengaluru; NAVIRI AMRUTA RAO as CIT (ITAT)-I, Bilaspur; NEENA SINGH PANDEY as CIT (ITAT)-6, Mumbai; SWETABH SUMAN as CIT, Muzaffarnagar; DINESH KUMAR CHHABLANI as DIT (Inv), Bhopal; BANWARI LAL as CIT-3, Vadodara; SUDHA KUMARI as CIT (TDS), Guwahati; AK KHANDELWAL as CIT (A)-4, Surat; TARUN KUMAR as CIT, Meerut; ARUN KUMAR TIWARI as CIT, Dibrugarh; RASMI RANJAN DAS as DIT (Intl Tax), Kolkata; UPAMANYU BASU as CIT (A)-30, Delhi; SUBHASH CHANDRA as CIT (A)-I, Thane; OBOU ATHIKHO MAO as CIT (A)-2, Thane; NARENDER KUMAR CHAND as CIT DR, Mumbai; SUBENDU MOHARANA as DIT Exmp, Chennai; ASIT SINGH as DIT (ITSC)-II, Delhi; MUKESH VERMA as CIT (ITAT)-I, Jaipur; VISMITA TEJ as CIT, Ranchi; ROLEE AGARWAL as CIT (ITAT)-2, Jaipur; Md SHAHID ATAHAR KHAN as CIT (Co), Ahmedabad and SANDIP GARG as CIT (Audit and Co), Pune.

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THE FOLLOWING IPS OFFICERS OF THE 2000 BATCH HAVE BEEN EMPANELLED FOR THE POST OF DEPUTY INSPECTOR GENERAL (DIG) IN THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MEENU CHOUDHARY and IB RANI of the AGMUT cadre; MANISH KUMAR SINHA of the Andhra Pradesh cadre; V CHANDRASEKHAR of the Gujarat cadre; K VENKATA RAMANA of the Haryana cadre; TARUN KUMAR of the Kerala cadre; SUHAS MADHUKARWARKE and ASWATI G of the Maharashtra cadre; KV SREEJESH of the ManipurTripura cadre; YATINDRA KOYAL of the Odisha cadre; LATA MANOJ KUMAR and NAVJYOTI GOGOI of the Rajasthan cadre; ASHWANI KUMAR CHAND of the Sikkim cadre; SONAL V MISRA of the Tamil Nadu cadre; AJOY KUMAR GHOSH, ASIT PAL and BASAB DASGUPTA of the West Bengal cadre.

THE FOLLOWING OFFICERS HAVE BEEN ASSIGNED NEW POSTS BY THE DELHI GOVERNMENT A MONA SREENIVAS has been appointed Mission Director, Mission Convergence-SSS; MADHU RANI TEOTIA is now Deputy Commissioner, North; and ASHIMA JAIN is Additional Director, Education. Besides, RC MEENA (DANICS) has been appointed Deputy Commissioner, Central.

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way Delhi denial

T The notorious Sinha

C

BI Director Ranjit Sinha has gone back to the pavilion. His stint as Director of the premier investigating agency, CBI, dulled its sheen and any successor will take time to repair the damage.

How the top secret documents were leaked out and reached Advocate Prashant Bhushan is no secret now. As more news emanates from CBI headquarters, it appears that there are many brave officers who silently defied the autocratic and dictatorial behaviour of the Director. It is learnt Sinha often misbehaved with his subordinates.

He even did not follow basic courtesies with his colleagues: Whenever an officer up to the rank of IG or DIG used to visit him, he seldom allowed the officer to sit before him. He appears to have been insensitive, as he used to order his subordinates, “Just finish it and report to me,” and never cared about their suggestions. CBI officers who have worked under Sinha say, “We have never seen such a Director of CBI.” g

www.indianbuzz.com

he largest fallout of the change in dispensation at the Centre is seen in Delhi. The governance of Delhi is at a cross-roads. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh appears to be reluctant to change the administrative machinery. BJP leaders in Delhi are also in a fix, though they are in power nobody heeds their opinion in the system. Lt Governor of Delhi Najeeb Jung and Chief Secretary DM Sapolia are holding the fort. It’s been almost a year now that the entire administration is virtually being run by the coterie of their former boss, Sheila Dikshit.

The presence and influence of Sheila loyalists can be felt in every department. AGMUT and DANICS cadre officers who are posted outside Delhi are not being allowed to move in. Officers who have applied to join the Delhi government are being shunted out of Delhi. Generally, whenever there is a regime change, the administrative machinery is also reshuffled but a particular lobby of Sheila loyalists and Sapolia are not allowing the Home Ministry to touch them. The Joint Secretary (Union Territory) is regularly updating the Home Minister on the plight of AGMUT and DANICS cadre officers, but busy Rajnath Singh is not able to spare time to oil the Delhi government machinery. Everybody is waiting for the results of the Delhi Assembly elections.

Maybe that will have some effect. g

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...by the way Platform for vendetta?

Chief Secy for a month!

M

anohar Lal Khattar, the newly elected Chief Minister of Haryana, is facing an uphill task in selecting the new Chief Secretary of Haryana. As a stopgap arrangement, PK Gupta, a 1980-batch officer of the Haryana cadre, has taken charge as Chief Secretary of the State on December 1, but he will superannuate on December 31, 2014. So, a new Chief Secretary has to be selected from the 1982-batch IAS officers. The stakes are high. The builder lobby of Haryana is at the crossroads after Khattar has taken over as Chief Minister.

Some leading builders are learnt to be in touch with the RSS leadership and are pushing for the appointment of their “yes man”. Gupta’s selection is an indication that other 1980-batch IAS officers—Ashok Lavasa, Madhusudan Prasad and Sanjay Kothari—are not available for the prestigious post. So, the selection has to be made from among three top competent officers of the 1982 batch—Deependra Singh Dhesi, KK Jalan and Dr Dalip Singh. Jalan and Dhesi are posted in Delhi whereas Dalip Singh has gone back to his parent cadre and joined the State on November 28. Khattar has to be cautious as the builder lobby has already spread its tentacles into the Haryana administration, especially in HUDA and the Urban Town and Country Planning department. Haryana needs a competent and vibrant Chief Secretary, not a pawn of the builder lobby. g

F

ed up with constant complaints from the Chief Ministers of Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Delhi regarding the transfer and posting of IAS officers within the AGMUT cadre, the Home Ministry had set up a Joint Cadre Authority headed by the Home Secretary. The Chief Secretaries of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Goa and Delhi are the other members. Transfer and postings of IAS officers, excepting the postings of Chief Secretaries and Administrators of UTs, is now decided by the JCA. Till now, only a few meetings have taken place but it appears that the Home Ministry has landed itself in another round of controversies.

The Chief Secretaries now find the JCA to be a convenient platform to settle their personal scores against officers whom they don’t like personally.

As a consequence, some officers who deserve to be posted in a particular segment of the cadre find themselves landing in faraway places. Sources disclosed that there are some officers who are blueeyed boys of some Chief Secretaries who never step out of Delhi. It seems any Chief Secretary has a veto power during the proceedings of the JCA and the MHA no longer remains the real cadre-controlling authority. Minister Rajnath Singh has to take a call on doing away with the dominance of the Chief Secretaries in the JCA. Will he do it? g

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

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Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2013-15 Licence No. U(C)-03/2013-15, 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`200, vol. 8, issue 9 | Date of Publication: 5/12/2014 | Pages 64+4