Great
nations are not built by brick and mortar but people who are prepared
to shed sweat in peace and blood in war. Have you wondered what is it
that makes ordinary men and women go beyond the call...READ MORE
The
higher you go…the greater and faster you fall – this is a simple law of
physics that does not apply to Ratnakar Yashwant Gaikwad the
high-profile and well connected 61 year-old man for all seasons and
reasons. If the present day ground situation is an indication-- his days
are numbered but the big question obviously is – when, how and how soon
will he have his great fall? Who will bell the cat—if at all?...READ MORE
It
might have done wonderwork in the past and had the greatest of
investigators – but that’s beside the point. CBI’s greatest folly is
that it is an organization destined to hit and miss -- produce lot of
smoke but no fire. Imagine a person who knows the law and can plead a
case quite convincingly before any judge but technically does not have a
LLB degree...READ MORE
ENTERING
2013, investors need to be cautiously optimistic and should not expect
any fireworks. While the fundamentals of the economy will continue to
improve, the markets may not witness any major upside from the current
levels since they have already run up a lot ahead. Recent policy
pronouncements have changed the mood and expectations, the first
pre-requisite of any bull run and has helped PE expansion from 13 times
to nearly 16 times. this has to be followed by execution leading to
earnings expansion that may require further rate cuts to revive the
investment cycle, failing which the market may fall. Foreign
institutional investors have remained strong buyers despite domestic
institutional and retail investor selling due to high fixed deposit
rates. Domestic selling may considerably reduce, especially if the
Reserve Bank of India announces rate cuts with the focus shifting from
inflation to growth...READ MORE
Are
departmental enquiries and criminal investigations of the same nature?
While the Supreme Court has made it clear that the nature and intent of
the two are different, the Central Information Commission (CIC) seems to
think otherwise. That too in a matter related with the Right to
Information Act. 2005, which promotes transparency and accountability,
enabling access to information under the control of public authorities
to citizens...READ MORE
INDIA
is an ancient civilisation. Over the millennia, we Indians have
suffered from a definite identity crisis. So our savants have asked the
only question that is worthy of exploration: Who am i? The Upanishads
too asked this question and after many false starts came up with the
famous ‘Tat twam asi, Shvetaketu’ (Thou art that, Shvetaketu). This answer held sway till the 8th century AD, when Adi Sankaracharya tried to improve on it, by declaring ‘Chidananda rupa shivoham shivoham’ (consciousness and bliss combined, that Shiva am I)...READ MORE
THE
New Year is a tremendous opportunity and possibility for newer
visions of life. Unfortunately, if you feel the world around you, you
will see that your experience is a cacophony of voices, thoughts and
emotions. With all the conveniences and facilities we have, human beings
today remain in an absolute confusion. When man is in this level of
confusion, the pain and suffering that he creates for himself and for
others is untold...READ MORE
Changemakers
simply create history as founders, innovators and titans. They are the
stuff that legends and folklores are made of. They are the harbingers of
change who are the pride of any country, society or organisation,
people cut above the rest, who think out of the box and have
unconventional ways of doing things. They have the courage of conviction
and determination to walk the untrodden path. There are still many such
personalities waiting to be discovered. Neeraj Mahajan makes an attempt
to look into the lives of some changemakers in the Indian bureaucracy –
who were discovered and awarded by gfiles in the first ever Governance
Awards 2012...READ MORE
The UPA
Government has thrown up its hands over rational energy pricing and
energy self-sufficiency. It is groping for crutches to steer the country
out of the muck-racking politics over energy pricing, especially with
regard to offshore Krishna Godavari (KG) basin gas. It just does not how to balance the conflicting interests of energy producers and consumers without compromising...READ MORE 
National
and international pressures have created great anxiety and concern
regarding corruption and corrupt practices, and the ways and means for
checking this are being conceived, debated and strategies discussed.
People across the country are becoming increasingly agitated about
eradicating corruption, catching the delinquents and punishing them. The
judiciary too has become an active participant through its decisions
and actions like constitution of special investigating teams (SITs). To
illustrate the judiciary’s concern, observations of the apex court in
one of its judgments (in the case of State of MP vs. Sri Ram Singh &
Ors. JT 2000 (1) SC 518) were:...READ MORE
Rape
is not necessarily an act of a deviant mind. More often, it is a crime
of opportunity. The intent behind the crime can be an amalgam of several
thought streams. Principally it is not about sex. The main motivation
can be a drive to seek domination and power, with ingredients of
intimidation and violence interlaced. Instinct has a big role to play.
It is important to understand this to determine how rapists should be
punished...READ MORE
The
Indian Railways may take pride in being the world’s largest and
cheapest passenger carrying service. But it does so by incurring a huge
loss of Rs 25,000 crore. Of the 20,000 odd trains that the Railways run
every day, more than 14,000 are passenger carrying trains. It is also
noteworthy that every new Railway Minister without fail introduces in
his budget speech some new trains...READ MORE
Development
of infrastructure like roads and railways in India – is stuck in a
quagmire of constraints. Paucity of funds, tardy decisions due to
democratic, political, administrative and social roadblocks have
contributed to keep the infrastructure in a perpetual state of neglect.
While everyone agrees that development of infrastructure like roads and
railways is the sine qua non of economic growth and prosperity, work in
these two sectors has remained woefully neglected and imbued with
inherent constraints...READ MORE 
Once
rated to be the second-most powerful woman leader in the Congress,
second only to Sonia Gandhi, Ambika Soni seems to losing her prominence.
So much so that scribes are now mockingly calling her biography as ‘The
rise and fall of Ambika Soni’. So far there are no indications that she
would be given any major responsibility now that she has lost her
ministership thanks to her own politics, say insiders. Though she is the
convenor of the Chintan Shivir organising committee, the chairperson of
the Meghalaya election screening committee and a member of the
publicity committee sub-group set up for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,
Congress leaders says all this is thanks to Digvijaya Singh who heads
the publicity committee and is pushing her case as a...READ MORE
Haryana
Congress continues to be a faction-ridden battleground with the
majority of leaders pitted against each other. This came out clearly
again when state PCC President Phool Chand Mulana, a loyalist of Chief
Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, called a meeting of the Haryana PCC in
Chandigarh. While AICC general-secretary Hari Prasad was stranded at
Delhi airport due to fog and could not make it to the meeting, the three
big leaders of Haryana – Selja, Kiran Chaudhary and Chaudhary Birender
Singh – did not attend as they had all been suspended by the PCC
President and as far as anyone knows, the suspension has not been
revoked. Their claim is that since they are AICC members, so the PCC has
no jurisdiction to suspend them. This was their plea against their
suspension for not attending the meeting. Only one MP and two state
ministers were present at the meeting, which was a complete non-starter...READ MORE
The
newly-elected Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh is
visibly a happy man today. The only time his grin turns into a scowl is
when he sees AICC general-secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh
Birender Singh. So much so that he looked past him and failed to
acknowledge him at his own swearing in. Another leader who has been
adversely affected by Virbhadra Singh’s victory is Union Commerce
Minister Anand Sharma. Chaudhary Birender Singh had been opposing
Virbhadra allegedly at the behest of his old friend Anand Sharma. The
duo allegedly tried to marshal the opponents of Virbhadra Singh after
the assembly election results, but the wily Thakur was too smart for
them. Before anyone could react, he had already faxed a signed list of
30 Congress MLAS favouring him as the Chief Minister. The list was
reportedly sent straight to 10 Janpath. Sonia Gandhi, it is said, was in
no mood to create trouble knowing well that Virbhadra was no Harish
Rawat and had the capacity to split the party right down the middle. Not
only this, Virbhadra also informed Sonia Gandhi about allegedly the
money collected by the AICC general-secretary in the name of ticket
distribution. He reportedly sent all the documents to 10 Janpath. It is
said...READ MORE
It
is a well-known fact that Ministers, especially Chief Ministers,
verbally order their principal secretaries or private secretaries to do
most of their administrative work. It is also well-known that whenever a
file comes from a Ministers’ office for a favour, a yellow slip is
tagged with a pencil note. The note helps the Minister avoid any query
under the right to information or any investigation. Thus, when Mayawati
was the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Vijay Singh, an IPS officer
who was her secretary, used to send a file with his signature stating
that the Chief Minister had given her approval to the matter under
consideration. Akhilesh Yaday, the present Chief Minister continued this
practice, with his Secretary Anita Singh, a 1990 batch IAS officer,
signing on files on his behalf. All was well until Amitabh Thakur an IPS
officer of 1992 the batch, belled the cat. Thakur challenged the
practice of secretaries in the Chief Minister’s office signing such
files. Thakur filed a petition in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad
High Court, alleging that one of his files had been signed by Anita
Singh instead of the Chief Minister. In his appeal, Thakur argued that
Mulayam Singh Yadav and other Chief Ministers of UP used to sign the
files of officers themselves. The issue that has now arisen before the
High Court is whether a secretary can sign files on behalf...READ MORE
Governance
is the art of balancing all the resources at one’s disposal. A slight
error in judgement can prove to be a grave mistake.Who
knows this better than Shiela Dikshit, the fire-brand Chief Minister of
Delhi. The fact that she likes to be surrounded by favourable forces
was amply clear when she asked the Central Government to put Delhi
Police under her adminstrative control. Even otherwise, she seems to be
having a tough time marshalling the men and women close to her. One such
person is her trusted lieutenant P K Tripathy, a retired IAS officer
who is a known power centre in her absence. He was recently...READ MORE
The
North Block, which administers Delhi Government, is thinking of
changing the Lt Governor of Delhi, the constitutional head of the Union
Territory. This is mainly because of Tejinder Khanna’s absence from the
National Capital when the infamous rape incident took place on December
16. If sources are to be believed, Khanna, who was on a visit to the US,
was asked by the Union Home Ministry to rush back to New Delhi
immediately. Khanna has been lucky enough to hold on to the hot seat as
the Lt Governor of Delhi for more than five years. Whenever there is any
discussion to remove him, some kind of public unrest take place in
Delhi. The national Capital witnessed many demonstrations in 2012 and
disturbed a lot of people, but Khanna was not one of them. While he is
an able administrator, the year-end rape incident is being seen as
adding fuel to the fire that country is witnessing, forcing the Home
Ministry to think of changing guard...READ MORE
The
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is facing a peculiar problem.
It is small ministry but its spread and grip is nationwide. With meagre
resources on hand, three public sector undertaking under its umbrella,
it has one Cabinet Minister and two Ministers of State. C P Joshi the
firebrand member of Parliament from Rajasthan, has a tight grip on the
Ministry. As a result, the two Ministers of State – Dr Tushar A
Chaudhary and Sarvey Sathyanarayana – are only figurative heads, who
literally have any work on hand, barring the routine signing of files in
the Ministry. The de facto boss of the Ministry is R P Singh, Chairman,
National Highway Authority of India. It is the biggest PSU under the
Ministry and all work related to national highways is routed through the
NHAI.,,,READ MORE
