A govt that runs, but how?

COVER STORY
civil services day

A govt that runs, but how?

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

by Neeraj Mahajan

As compared to a mini-skirt, which reveals more than it hides, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s speech on the 7th Civil Services Day was more like a sari – hiding more than it revealed. Besides Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Former President APJ Abdul Kalam, leading civil servants such as cabinet secretary Ajit Seth and principal secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterji, were present on the occasion at Vigyan Bhavan.

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

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=267&Name=COVER%20STORY%20-%20civil%20services%20day 

Robbing the Black Gold

EXPOSE -coal scam

 

Robbing the Black Gold

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

 

 

by Naresh Minocha

 

The Comptroller & Auditor General’s draft performance audit on discretionary allocation of coal blocks, identifying windfall benefits reaped by allottees, has evoked extreme reactions from its critics.

 

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

 

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

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=268&Name=EXPOSE%20-%20coal%20scam 

First among equals

COVER STORY

public sector day

 

First among equals

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

 

 

by Ravindra Dubey

The Department of Public Enterprises and Standing Conference of Public Enterprises (SCOPE) jointly organised the function on April 13. The President of India, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, presented the awards.   Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) was presented the SCOPE meritorious award for Environmental Excellence and Sustainable Development for 2010-11. The SCOPE Gold trophy also went to this enterprise along with the Steel Authority of India Ltd for Corporate Governance. The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Tehri Dam and Hydro Electric Project (THDC) won the award for Corporate Social Responsibility, Indian Oil and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) for R&D, Technology Development, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) for best practices in Human Resource Management, Power Finance Corporation (PFC) for best managed bank and financial institution and National Scheduled Castes Finance & Development Corporation (NSFDC) for best managed PSE set-up under Section 25. http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=269&Name=COVER%20STORY%20-%20public%20sector%20day

Civil Services: O Tempora! O Mores!

COVER STORY

corruption m g devasahayam

 

Civil Services: O Tempora! O Mores!

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

 

IN the mid-fifties, Management Guru Peter Drucker advocated ‘Management by Objectives (MoB)’, a system that seeks to align employees’ goals with the goals of the organisation. This ensures that everyone is clear about what they should be doing and how that is beneficial to the whole organisation.

 

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

 

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

 

The Professor was baffled and could not understand the question. So I elaborated: “I am the Chief Executive of Haryana Roadways and my objective is to run the organisation in an honest, efficient and viable manner. My Minister’s objective is to make money on purchases, transfers and protecting corrupt elements. The Chief Minister wants big deals. Now, by whose objective should Haryana Roadways be managed?” The Professor acknowledged the mismatch of objectives, but did not give an answer....

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=270&Name=COVER%20STORY%20-%20corruption 

Heroes or villains?

COVER STORY

psychology prabhat kumar

 

Heroes or villains?

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

 

 

The civil service in India has lost much of its credibility because of its own undoing. Despite possessing unmatched intellectual calibre, its members have relegated themselves to playing the role of passive advisors and order takers. They have not assumed the ownership of policies aimed at improving the welfare of the people. Instead of talking about innovative strategies for poverty alleviation and social justice, they have ceded the initiative of voicing the aspirations of the masses to other actors. In fact, politicians, civil society and the media have rendered the civil service into being a caricature of stupidity. Now its incompatibility with governance is a syndrome that is being passed down from senior members to new entrants.

 

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

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=271&Name=COVER%20STORY%20-%20psychology 

 

Think About a Second Republic?

GOVERNANCE

democracy  a k verma

 

Think About a Second Republic?

 

Questions are being raised about the validity of democracy in the Indian Republic. There is a widespread view that democracy in India is no longer by the people, of the people, for the people.

 

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

 

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

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=272&Name=GOVERNANCE%20-%20democracy 

Appointed to disappoint

MY CORNER

appointments amitabh thakur

 

Appointed to disappoint

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

 

OUR country has a very large number of bureaucratic posts, which have been framed in a manner that only career bureaucrats (or government servants) can be appointed. Thus, we know that a peon in a State Secretariat or a Secretary belongs to some distinct services. So is the case with a major chunk of the governance machinery. These people join a particular class of service and remain part of it, moving from one rank to another and getting appointed to various posts available to that particular service. In all such cases, the concerned person becomes a part of such service through a selection process. Posts are advertised and applicants get selected and become part of the service, if they fulfil the requirements.

 

There is another class of people associated with governance who are not career bureaucrats or permanent government servants. They get appointed on some kind of contractual basis. The posts of Vice-Chancellors of Universities and various technical or expert advisors in different organisations can be cited as examples. Here again, most of the time there is some definite process of appointment. Advertisements are issued, the intention to fill in the required vacancies is made public through some definite process and then through some kind of selection process, a few persons are found more suitable than others to be appointed to the post....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=274&Name=MY%20CORNER%20-%20appointments

‘My dream holiday is to go to Switzerland’

RAPID FIRE

zu siddique dc, north delhi

 

‘My dream holiday is to go to Switzerland’

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

 

What kind of music do you prefer to listen to?

Z U Siddique:Indian music, light classical music and of course, ghazals.

 

Which is the latest movie you have seen?

Siddique:Well, I haven’t seen any movie for the last 7-8 months. 3 Idiots was the last movie I saw.

 

Which character did you like the most in that movie and why?

Siddique:The character of Aamir Khan fascinated me. He has a simple funda: ‘Run after excellence, success will follow you’. Parents should not impose their wish or unfulfilled desire on their children; their role should be that of a facilitator.

 

Delhi is a major cuisine hub. What kind of food tempts you the most?

Siddique:See, I am a very simple, desi man, and so I prefer arhar ki daal, chapattis with mango chutney....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=289&Name=RAPID%20FIRE%20-%20zu%20siddique%20dc,%20north%20delhi

Living life king size

FIRST STIRRINGS

rm sethi

 

Living life king size

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

 

Coming from a refugee family that set up a small shoe shop in Allahabad to make a modest living after migrating from Pakistan, Ravi Mohan Sethi has never been afraid to lose. And as far as he remembers, he has always lived life on his own terms and this has paid off...

 

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

 

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

 

As an IAS officer, he has been former MD of the Uttar Pradesh Financial Corporation (UPFC), MD, Pradeshiya Industrial and Investment Corporation UP (PICUP), and Secretary Agriculture, Government of UP. He is today Chairman of Steller Group, having interests in real estate, cooperative banking, IT parks, Hospitality and Recreation (which he himself started) besides being the independent director of Rs 250-billion public sector natural gas transmission company, GAIL India Ltd...http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=275&Name=FIRST%20STIRRINGS%20-%20rm%20sethi

So remarkable a journey

BOOK REVIEW

development

 

So remarkable a journey

Bihar through the eyes of a seasoned IAS officer

 

by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

 

A book like this, almost each page of which is filled with interesting anecdotes, that too by someone who has remarkable insight, is a reader’s joy, particularly for those who want to have a better understanding of the functioning of the system. 

 

Some of the observations by the author, like the one on the Finance Ministry that ‘has become a choking point in speedy disposal of matters’ are not unknown. But the author has not stopped there. He has recommended a way out, one that could have sounded utopian even a year ago. But no longer. Take for example: ‘There should be a penalty for deliberate delays recoverable from the person responsible. The outer limit for taking a decision should be three months’. If only the government of the land was a little sensitive to what its own employees felt, it could have brought into effect changes that would have saved it from Team Anna’s wrath. Even now, the agitators on the streets have not raised their voice against the slow functioning of the government due to its own internal ‘choking point’ that Sharan is talking about (p. 263). But will anyone listen to him?...http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=276&Name=BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20development

Patternless postings

SILLY POINT

humour mk kaw

 

Patternless postings

I am reminded of my years in the Department of Defence Production in the early 1990s. There were four Joint Secretaries and two Additional Financial Advisers, reporting to N Raghunathan, a 1959 veteran of the Maharashtra cadre.

 

Raghu was a topper of his batch and a gentleman to a fault. He let us do what we wanted, helping us out only when we were about to get into trouble. After we had spoken on a file, there was an unofficial zero hour, when we could discuss anything and everything. Most of us were into it and enjoyed ourselves a lot. There was just one exception, the Joint Secretary in-charge of Ordnance Factories. Sometimes, one of us would raise a point about him during zero hour. Raghunathan would smile and change the subject. Sometimes, if one of us persisted, he would wink and say, “Oh you need not worry about him. He will be all right.”....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=277&Name=SILLY%20POINT%20-%20humour

Caught in uncertainties

STOCK DOCTOR

dr gs sood

 

Caught in uncertainties

 

The 50 basis point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India on April 17 came as surprise and brought widespread cheer to the markets. However, the bullish mood was short-lived and the markets corrected sharply thereafter, pointing to the concerns that remain alive. The latest addition in the long list of such concerns is the confusion with regard to the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR). GAAR has, in fact, dampened the mood of foreign institutional investors (FIIs), especially hedge funds and has led to a significant slowdown of inflows since Budget Day.

 

There is no denying the fact that the rise in the markets witnessed during the first three months of this calendar year was mainly driven by the liquidity supplied in part by the European Central banks’ long-term refinancing operations. However, it is equally true that the Indian markets have shown great resilience by not correcting sharply to any contagion from Europe or other parts of the world.....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=278&Name=STOCK%20DOCTOR%20-%20dr%20gs%20sood

 

Targeting big bucks

Targeting big bucks
ministers eye defence offsets

 

Politicians seem to have a knack for smelling out the moolah! Seeing the big bucks in the defence offsets programme, several ministers have joined retired military and air force officers in strengthening the offset policy, so to speak. Gfiles has come to know that the scions of various interested defence officers flew to Russia, France, Israel and the USA to discuss participation modalities with companies who have bagged orders or are likely to corner big deals. Under its defence procurement procedure, India imposes counter-trade obligations on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) awarded defence contracts worth more than Rs 300 crore to transfer critical technologies and production of components to India. The revised (offsets) policy recognises transfer of technology (ToT) as eligible for discharge of offset obligations. The policy says, “The ToT should be provided without licence fee and there should be no restriction on domestic production, sale or export. The offset credit for ToT shall be of 10% of the value of buy-back by the OEM during the period of contract, to the extent of value addition in India.” So every arms supplier has to transfer technology and for that he needs local collaborators. Who better than politicians and retired army personnel! It also suits the supplier as he can make inroads into the Defence Ministry through retired officials and into the government through ministers. And, under the guise of the offset policy, it’s all legal – and big money. g

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=279&Name=Targeting%20big%20bucks 

Business of laws

Business of laws
khurshid cosy with corporates?

 

The Law Ministry is in the limelight. Not surprising in an era of scams and scandals. After all, its job is to give legal opinion to all ministries on any and every issue. Naturally, even big business houses need to engage with the law ministry. Enjoying the limelight is Law Minister Salman Khurshid. But now Salman has invited trouble for himself. The President of the Legal Service Officers Association, Prabhakar Singh, who is a Joint Secretary in the ministry, is filing a petition in the CAT against the minister. The issue at hand is the manner in which a highly controversial officer NK Sharma was promoted to the rank of additional secretary by superseding six others. We all know the DOPT rules state that promotions can only be through two methods – either by seniority or going by the ACR. In this case, interviews were conducted by Salman Khurshid himself and Sharma was handpicked. It is learnt that Sharma is close to the younger brother of a prominent business house from Mumbai. It is no secret that the younger brother and Salman are good friends and the younger brother takes a great deal of interest in the postings of ministers and officials of the law ministry. There is also a buzz in the ministry that the senior brother also called on the minister recently as he wanted his candidate appointed as law secretary.

 

Former Law Minister Veerapa Moily is going around telling the world that he was ousted from the Law Ministry under pressure from corporate lobbies. And ironically, Salman Khurshid was removed from the Corporate Affairs Ministry because he was seen as being too close to corporate lobbies by the Congress leadership. g

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=280&Name=Business%20of%20laws 

Lining up for Prez

Lining up for Prez

pranabda may opt out

 

India will select the first citizen of the country in July. And, the heat and dust has begun. All the major political parties want a say in selecting the next resident of Rashtrapati Bhavan. If insiders are to be believed, the Congress has decided that there will be no elevation for the Vice-President and no repetition of past and present Presidents (read Kalam and Patil ). Mamata Banerjee too is reluctant to elevate Vice-President Hamid Ansari. This does clear the mists for the wannabees. Many new contenders have emerged in the last three months. Leading the race are NRI entrepreneur and Rahul Gandhi advisor Sam Pitroda, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former West Bengal governor Gopal Gandhi, Infosys Chairman Emeritus NR Narayana Murthy, India’s self claimed reformer ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam, Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Motilal Vora. There are one or two more names but they are not in the reckoning. Insiders inform that Pranabda will exit from the race by issuing a statement that he clearly cannot be spared from the Cabinet and the party needs him at this juncture. There’s also another aspect to the race for President. Some so-called political preachers are demanding that the President of India should be apolitical. The question we would like to ask them is: If the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister (at present all don’t face the electorate directly) are apolitical, then why should they build a political career at all? This does not sound politically correct! g

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=281&Name=Lining%20up%20for%20Prez 

Party later, me first…

Party later, me first…

gadkari ready to back modi

 

Losing weight has worked wonders for Nitin Gadkari. But the BJP President, albeit a little more active these days, is worried about gaining weight, political weight that is. Gadkari wants a second term as BJP President though he has not done anything great in the last two years. Given the large number of aspirants, he is wooing his party colleagues left, right and centre. But BJP insiders inform that Narendra Modi wants to position his trusted man as the next party chief. And he trusts very few in the party! Modi has targeted 2014 to emerge on the national scene but first he has to win the Gujarat assembly elections (to be held before January 17, 2013). Modi and his close advisors are of the view that the party president should be their man so that after the assembly elections, there can be a smooth transition to the national scene.

 

Well aware of these plans, Nitin Gadkari is also playing his cards well and is believed to be even ready to declare Modi as the BJP candidate for Prime Ministership. He knows nobody can predict what will happen in 2014. It is not yet clear what the RSS headquarters at Nagpur is planning but they clearly don’t have much choice available to replace Modi or Gadkari. g

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=282&Name=Party%20later,%20me%20first%E2%80%A6 

Search for Chief Secy

Search for Chief Secy

 

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

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=283&Name=..by%20the%20way 

Winners all?

Winners all?

 

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

 

http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=284&Name=...by%20the%20way

 

Unproductive assets!

Unproductive assets!

 

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

 

  http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=285&Name=...by%20the%20way