Logjam of files

cover story
files that don’t move

Logjam of files

Decision-making in the Government has taken a back seat, with the bureaucracy not willing to act unless it is assured that there will be no negative repercussions

 

by Ramesh dixit

 

Governance is in an intensive care unit (ICU). Decision making is in a paralysis mode. This is the refrain of all who have a vested interest in governance, but who are not within the Government. In the private sector, decisions are taken at what to them appears to be a breakneck speed. Decisions there are taken first and formalised subsequently through written communications. The situation in the Government is just the opposite. Discussions do take place in a plethora of the meetings. However, no decision is taken. For any decision to be taken in the Government, first a file needs to be created. While creating or opening a file, in official terms, is easy, it is almost impossible to bring it to a close. READ MORE

Files & excuses

cover story
files that don’t move

 

Files & excuses

All Government work revolves around 3Ds and One F: Dak, Draft, Desk and File. And endless meetings, rules, procedures and precedents are a way of life.

 

by Neeraj Mahajan

 

Eighteen-year-old James Dilip Mirpagare, the son of a Railways driver suffering from renal failure for six years, died in a city hospital, even though his uncle was ready and willing to donate his kidney. James could have survived only if the paperwork associated with transplant operations had been completed faster. Ironically, his family got a call to pick up the letter sanctioning the kidney transplant the day he died. While technically a transplant operation is possible within five days after the need arises, this rarely happens. This is because the Government representative on the hospital ethics committee first interviews the patient and donor, who then have to produce no-objection certificates from the hospital apart from a host of other documents, a process which on an average at least three months. There are 26 documents a patient has to submit even if the donor is from within the family! READ MORE

Programmed for crash landing

GOVERNANCE
aviation airport authority of india

 

Programmed for crash landing

AAI has become a textbook example of bad governance. It is being groomed to slip into the red on the lines of Air India

 

by Naresh Minocha

 

To provide for closer communication integration, better administration and cohesive management of airports, aeronautical communications and air traffic management services, it has been found necessary to merge the International Airports Authority of India (IAA)) and the National Airports Authority (NAA) which the Bill seeks to achieve.” READ MORE

Banking on scams

governance
hsbc banking

 

Banking on scams

The reported money-laundering and terror financing operations run by HSBC bank pose a threat to the safety and integrity of not only the banking industry but to the security of the country itself

 

by Ajit Ujjainkar

 

Activists Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan’s recent accusations charging the multinational bank HSBC  of alleged money laundering and running a huge hawala operation to launder thousands of crores of illicit money belonging to leading corporates only confirms that all is not well with surveillance mechanism of the fast-growing banking and financial services industry in India. READ MORE 

Sri Lanka: In search

GOVERNANCE

neighbours m g devasahayam

 

Sri Lanka: In search

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle.

 

EVENTS in Sri Lanka mark a grave failure of the United Nations to adequately respond... during the final stages of the conflict and its aftermath, to the detriment of hundreds of thousands of civilians” – so said an internal UN report on the BBC in mid-November. The report condemned the UN’s failure in its mandate to protect civilians in the last months of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war that ended in May 2009. Ironically, it is India that was largely responsible for this failure!

 

The 26-year war left at least 100,000 people dead. There are still no confirmed figures for tens of thousands of civilian deaths in the last months of battle. An earlier UN investigation said it was possible that up to 40,000 people had been killed in the final five months. Others suggest the number of deaths could be even higher. The final months of the war saw hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians, 330,000, according to the UN Panel of Experts report of 2011, trapped in the territory held by the Tamil Tigers. READ MORE

‘Work done by women after marriage is more than dowry’

talktime
prem narain, secretary, women and child development

‘Work done by women after marriage is more than dowry’

THE Government cannot reach every family or every home in the country, says Prem Narain, a 1978 batch UP cadre IAS officer and Secretary, Women and Child Development Ministry. Excerpts from an interview with Anil Tyagi and Neeraj Mahajan:

Gfiles: Was it easy to bring in the amendment to the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act or did you have to pull strings?

Mr Narain: Even earlier, this Act was referred but not passed….but this time, everyone agreed that indecent representation of women needs to be curtailed. Therefore, it was passed unanimously. READ MORE 

‘Police is still looked upon suspiciously

FIRST STIRRINGS

arun bhagat

 

‘Police is still looked upon suspiciously

 

Instead of acting objectively, senior officers today have a tendency of looking at which way the wind is blowing

 

 

The appointment of Ranjit Sinha  as the new CBI director has been ‘unnecessarily politicised’, says Arun Bhagat, the former chief of Intelligence Bureau (1997) who was also the Commissioner of Police, Delhi (1990-92), This is especially because all regulations and parameters had been met. Some political parties, however, feel that this decision should have awaited the enactment of the Lokpal Bill. But this would not have been sound administration. I think as far as possible every political party should eschew matters which lower the morale of the police or its agencies. READ MORE

Engaging with China

MANDARIN MATTERS

china jagat s mehta

Engaging with China

Competition between the uncaged elephant and the inscrutable dragon is inevitable. Jagat Mehta paints the history of encounters on a wider canvas of the civilisational identities and ideological aspirations of India and China.

 

My interaction with China started when I was transferred as deputy secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs in 1956. The deputy secretary (East) had four sections under him. They were Nepal (N), Bhutan, Sikkim and Tibet (BST), East Asia (EA) which dealt with China, Japan, Mongolia and North and South Koreas, and of course NEFA. China as part of the eastern division was the least burdensome. Reports did come from Tokyo and Peking (now Beijing), but the order sections took up most of the time. My chief concern was NEFA. READ MORE

Excuse me, sir

MY CORNER

appraisal amitabh thakur

 

Excuse me, sir

The use of 360-degree feedback helps improve employee performance as it helps those being evaluated to see different perspectives of their performance.

 

Times are changing and we need to amend many of our traditional thoughts and beliefs, especially when it comes to the way performance appraisal is being done in the Government. A performance appraisal (PA), or performance evaluation,is a systematic and periodic process that assesses an individual employee’s job performance and productivity in relation to certain pre-established organisational objectives and criteria. The role and importance of performance appraisal has been universally recognised and accepted. It improves an organisation’s effectiveness, gives an employee feedback about his/her job performance, facilitates communication, enhances employee focus through promoting trust and helps in goal setting and desired performance reinforcement.READ MORE

Black money and politics

ReflectionS

democracy b n uniyal

 

Black money and politics

People expect too much of their politicians. They wish them to be clean, moral, ethical, honest, upright, truthful and saintly, if not saints. In a word, people want their politicians to be all that they themselves are not. This is an attitude we have inherited from a generation of politicians who actually fit this bill.  Early public life in India did not require much money. The times were simple then and participation in public causes was voluntary, spontaneous. The first generation of public leaders comprised mostly successful professionals—lawyers, journalists, judges and teachers. They often spent their own money for public causes, such as printing and distributing pamphlets, resolutions, etc., for protest meetings and rallies. That was the case from the 1883 Ilbert Bill protests to the founding of the Congress in 1885, when organisers charged a membership fee from delegates, a convention which continued largely until Gandhi’s ascendance in the Congress at Nagpur in 1920.READ MORE 

Rahul Baba and the File

SILLY POINT
humour mk kaw

 

Rahul Baba and the File

 

The recent pronouncement of Rahul must have rung alarm bells. Old timers, both ministers and bureaucrats, who have mastered the art of using a file as a weapon, and were dreaming of the day Rahul would take over as the Prime Minister, now have to rethink their strategy. They can no longer take him for a ride.

 

Now that Rahul has found out the importance of the file, all those who had doubts about the seriousness of his pretensions to the throne, will need to revise their tactics. I, for one, have always been on Rahul Baba’s side, whether it is because of his fair colour which bespeaks of his Kashmiri origins or the dimple on his cheek which gives him such a look of guilelessness, I don’t know READ MORE

Enhancing the potential of life

PERSPECTIVE

life sadhguru

 

Enhancing  the potential of life

 

I am often asked, ‘What is the purpose of life?’ If a person were blissful at that moment, he would never ask this question. If just sitting here and breathing was ecstatic, it would never arise. Only when life becomes burdensome, do we have questions about ‘to be or not to be’.

 

It is because human beings have not realised the immensity of their existence that they are constantly looking for ‘meaning’. Only someone who has paid no attention to life and has paid too much attention to his mind asks such a question. The problem with human beings is that they are so full of themselves that they think there must be some grand hidden purpose. READ MORE

FII’s quest for market

STOCK DOCTOR

dr gs sood

FII’s quest for market

 

The market has increased by more than 20 per cent since the year began, mainly driven by foreign institutional investment (FII) inflows that exceeded US$19 billion (around Rs 1 lakh crore). However, I am unable to find an explanation for such a stellar performance of the Sensex with the economy going down or at least showing no signs of a significant revival. Is it because of the fact that abundant global liquidity is resulting in risk-taking, leading to massive inflows into the Indian market? Also, it is worth noticing that this has not caused a bull run, with only very selective sectors and stocks reaching new highs, with their growth being driven by noticeable FII activity. So, does it mean that domestic institutions and retail investors have been sellers and are not able to see what the FIIs have been banking upon? READ MORE

All the Sheila’s men

...by the way
All the Sheila’s men

What is it that a Chief Minister wants to do but can’t? Even though Delhi has a sanctioned strength of 309 officers, only 163 officers are available to run the Government. This shortage of senior IAS officers is proving to be a blessing in disguise for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, as she can retain all her trusted officers, defying the orders of the Union Home Ministry. DM Sapolia, Secretary (Finance), will in all probability become the new Chief Secretary of the Delhi Government after the present incumbent PK Tripathi retires. This becomes clear given the work that Sheila put in to get Sapolia into her fold, getting Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde to cancel his transfer as Chief Secretary of Arunachal Pradesh. Sapolia appeared to have been already selected as Chief Secretary when he took charge as Finance Secretary. On his part, Sapolia who did not have a good rapport with PK Tripathi appears to have patched up and made his way into the inner coterie of the Chief Minister. Rakesh Bihari, Principal Secretary, PWD and Urban Development, another contender for the post of Chief Secretary, also seems to be at loggerheads with Tripathi. Rakesh Bihari, an IAS officer of the 1977 batch, was not even considered for empanelment as Secretary in the Government of India and had to move the Central Administrative Tribunal, which passed an order in his favour. Reports emanating from the Delhi Government indicate that the all-powerful Chief Secretary, PK Tripathi, is tipped to be advisor to the Chief Minister upon retirement.  

Royal ride for investors

...by the way
Royal ride for investors

Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Securities Exchange Board of India appear to be singing the same song as far as the utilisation of the Investors’ Education Fund is concerned. It is a different story though that both appear to have little idea on how the real stakeholders, the investors’ interest, must be protected. This is especially the case since UK Sinha took over as SEBI Chairman. While there have been one or two meetings with certain NGOs, there has been no result on the ground. Both the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI now have evolved the fantastic idea of roping in the Institute of Company Secretaries, Assocham, FICCI and CII to spread the message of investors’ education, the meetings organised by these associations for this purpose appear to have excluded the real stakeholders. Thus, when these powerful trade bodies organised grand meetings of the then minister Veerappa Moily in the four metros, the business glitterati was present, but small investors were conspicuous by their absence. It was in October that the Ministry had brought out a report of the Committee for ‘Follow-up of Action Points relating to Investor Related Issues Identified from ICIM Events’. The committee was made up of representatives from these industry bodies and its recommendations appear to have little to do with investor education. SEBI, which is the nodal agency for making investors aware of all possible frauds by different companies, appears to feel that the way forward lies in companies setting up investor-friendly websites and ensuring a faster redressal system. Is this an attempt to squander Rs 1,000 crore plus coprus allocated for the ignorants investors. What an idea, sirji!

Jashn-e-execution

...by the way
Jashn-e-execution

Did Pakistani High Commissioner Salman Bashir deliberately choose November 26 to host a party for the Indian media or was it an inadvertent slip up that was later corrected. November 26 is a day that the Indian public, Government and media are not likely to forget in a hurry. Four years ago, terror and mayhem ruled Mumbai when 10 Pakistani terrorists landed in the city and struck at various locations, including some five-star hotels. The wounds of 26/11 are yet to heal with many of its perpetrators yet to be punished, so when the Pakistan High Commissioner decided to host a dinner that day there was surprise and disquiet. But the date was quickly changed and a new date agreed upon after the significance of the first date was brought to the notice of the High Commissioner. Surprisingly, the dinner invites were sent just days after Ajmal Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist involved in the carnage, was hanged before the fourth anniversary of 26/11. This makes it even more difficult to believe that while the entire country was reliving the trauma of four years ago, the Pakistan High Commission slipped up on the date. Or was it a genuine mistake? 

Bihar’s political cauldron

...by the way
Bihar’s political cauldron

Politicians and bureaucrats are inseparable twins. Many bureaucrats like to hide behind the back of their political masters and bag top posts at the Centre. Some of them even aspire to become politicians. Home Secretary RK Singh with the help of Digvijay Singh, a fellow Thakur, is looking to contest the next Lok Sabha elections. He is from Saharsa but it is not clear whether he will contest from there or somewhere else. The new CBI director, Ranjit Sinha, who is also from Bihar, is said to be backed big time by RK Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav. Sinha was the SP CBI during Laloo’s fodder scam days and he went all out to help the RJD leader. His efforts, however, did not bear fruit because of the tough and uncompromising UN Biswas, who was the then zonal director of the CBI. The court passed strictures against Ranjit Sinha in the fodder scam investigations. Now that the Congress and Laloo’s RJD are in an advanced stage of negotiations over an alliance in Bihar for the next Lok Sabha elections, the rank and file in the Congress is upset that the very sight of Laloo may drive the upper caste vote back to the BJP and Nitish Kumar. The Congress needs an alliance in Bihar given its dismal assembly performance. Congress leaders Meira Kumar and Shakeel Ahmed need the alliance to win their seat. Even RK Singh too favours an alliance with Laloo Yadav. Laloo and Digvijay Singh have been close since the time the Thakur from Madhya Pradesh was in charge of Bihar. Laloo offered Digvijay a Rajya Sabha berth from Bihar and also tried to support moves to make him the Home Minister before P Chidambaram was offered the post. But matters didn’t work out and now Digvijay Singh has begun nursing his Raghogarh constituency as he plans to contest the Lok Sabha elections once his self-announced ‘vanwas’ ends in 2013.

Engineering trouble

Bric-a-brac
airs & heirs

Engineering trouble
tmc is anand sharma’s bete noire

Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma is probably the most disliked politician in recent times. While his arrogance is well known, this is becoming public with his colleagues in Parliament also taking potshots at him. Even though Parliament has not been functioning, Anand Sharma managed to engineer a major skirmish with Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee on the floor of the Lok Sabha when he provoked the Trinamool MP who hit back with a vengeance. While the Trinamool Congress MPs were protesting like many others over foreign direct investment in retail, Anand Sharma passed a caustic remark saying, “that is the reason why no investment is coming into West Bengal.” An angry Kalyan Banerjee hit back at the Minister, calling him an “agent of the corporates”. The exchange took place on the floor of the Lok Sabha after the house was adjourned. Continuing to hit out at Sharma, Kalyan Banerjee shouted at him saying, “don’t show your red eyes to me. You may be a Minister now but soon when you are no longer a Minister, even a dog will not follow you.” An enraged Anand Sharma asked Banerjee to behave in a civilised manner but it was only when members and other ministers intervened, and tried to pacify the Trinamool MP that matters returned to normal. Anand Sharma is like a red rag to many MPs who find his behaviour offensive. As the Commerce Minister, he is expected to reply to the debate on FDI in retail, but the new worry in the Government is that just his appearance may put off many MPs and leaders, and may lead to a battle-like situation. This may further fray tempers, leading to more charges and counter charges being hurled across the political divide. Like the Prime Minister and other senior Ministers in the Government, Anand Sharma is also an aggressive votary of FDI. This is what annoyed Kalyan Banerjee who decided to make his views on Sharma public on the floor of the Lok Sabha, even though the house had been adjourned.

Kasab hanging

Bric-a-brac
airs & heirs

Kasab hanging 
pranab clears the air

Rashtrapati Pranab Mukherjee after clearing the file on Ajmal Kasab now has the file on Afzal Guru on his study table. Recently, there was a recital by Hari Prasad Chaurasia in Rashtrapati Bhawan and one of the guests was Farooq Abdullah, the National Conference leader. Just before the recital ended, Abdullah quietly slipped away and soon after Pranab Mukherjee too left in a bit of a hurry. The buzz is that the President was in consultation with Abdullah over the repercussions of hanging Afzal Guru, particularly in Kashmir, as there are apprehensions that it may lead to widespread protests and violence. Mukherjee, who is considered to be somewhat of a hardliner when it comes to Pakistan and terrorism, was prompt as far as his due diligence is concerned and this is exactly what he did when the file on Kasab was sent to him on October 16. The Home Minister in his excitement forgot to give his notings on the file, something that the Government has to do in such cases, following which the President promptly sent the file back. When the file was re-submitted, Pranab Mukherjee consulted legal experts before he rejected the mercy petition of Kasab. Interestingly, soon after signing the file on November 5, he had a screening of a Bengali film in Rashtrapati Bhawan. The film showed how terrorists and others who are in jail were being brought back into the mainstream, highlighting a reformist approach. Pranabda’s fulsome and wholesome praise for the film confused those who knew him for his tough stance on Pakistan. But when it later came to light that the President had signed the file and Kasab’s hanging happened in complete and utter secrecy, there was a sigh of relief amongst Pranabda’s supporters that despite Rashtrapati Bhawan and his changed role, nothing much had changed as far as he was concerned!! 

I, me and my son

Bric-a-brac
airs & heirs

I, me and my son
dixit, hooda promote progeny

Congress Chief Ministers are constantly in competition with each other. When Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit ensured her son Sandeep Dixit was made an AICC spokesman, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was troubled. He worked overtime and used his good offices with key Congress leaders to bring son Deepender Hooda into the newly set-up publicity committee of the AICC, headed by Digvijaya Singh. But this appointment had interesting fallout. The young MP, Deepender Hooda, is part of the 20-member core committee of Rahul Gandhi, which meets almost twice a month to discuss various issues. But after Hooda junior’s appointment in the publicity committee, Deepender has not been called to the two core committee meetings which have since been held. Rahul Gandhi’s message is loud and clear: if you want to work in the AICC committees and you are pulling strings to get there, then why be a part of my committee. The moral of the story is that sometimes overzealous parents do more harm than good when they set out to help their kids!  

Freebies of Modi

Bric-a-brac
airs & heirs

Freebies of Modi
spending to win votes?

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, knows how to fight elections. He has ordered all district magistrates to prepare a list of requirements in hospitals, municipalities, fire stations and schools before the masses come to vote. As soon as the list was ready, Modi lost no time in sanctioning the demands. So, wherever a district had demanded one fire tender, it was sent two and where two were demanded, three were sent. Similarly, ambulances were sent to district hospitals whether they were needed or not. Municipalities were sent rag-picking rickshaws in their hundreds and schools were suddenly full of desks. Districts were aghast to see the supplies of rickshaws, tractors, fire tenders and ambulances in abundance as there was no Plan expenditure to appoint drivers, rickshaw pullers, teachers, etc. What has happened now is that districts have all the facilities but nobody to make use of them; as a result, they are turning into junk? One can see various utility vehicles stranded as there are no takers due to the lack of revenue expenditure. Surprisingly, all these supplies are from outdated or vanishing companies. According to reports, the Modi Government bought all these utilities at a whopping price of Rs 5,000 crore. On another front, Modi has also been able to rope in around 2,500 swayam sewaks from the Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS) across the State to monitor more than 200 polling booths in every constituency.