I met
a senior Secretary in the Government of India last year. Belonging to a
middle-class family in Uttar Pradesh—his father was a school teacher in a small
town and mother was a housewife—he was in a mood for introspection. He felt
that while his schoolteacher father could built an independent house while
educating him and his siblings—one of his brothers is an IAS officer, the other
an IPS officer and his sisters are professional doctors—he finds it difficult to
do so. “When I analyse, I feel I can’t have an independent house, being a
Secretary in the Government, and can’t educate my sons the way I want,” he
said, adding, “I can’t believe that in the past 30 years, decent education,
healthcare and housing are out of reach for a middle-class man. Where is India
heading, I don’t know?” The answer to this needs to be debated.
February 9, 2015
Modi’s mission for transforming India
COVER STORY
NITI AAYOG
six-decade-old Planning
Comission has been disbanded and the new Niti Aayog has been launched by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi with the target of giving more autonomy to the States to
plan and utilise the resources in a true sense of the federal spirit of the
nation. Prabhat Kumar, MG Devasahayam, MK Kaw and Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
analyse the Niti Aayog.
Define the nuts and bolts
COVER
STORY
niti aayog
prabhat kumar
The functions of the Niti
Aayog and how it will proceed to transform India need to be spelt out clearly
and without much delay
In his first flush of
governance reforms, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the Planning
Commission and its replacement with the National Institution for Transforming
India. Almost everyone, except the Nehruvian ideologues, welcomed the decision
as it was generally agreed that the Planning Commission had outlived its
purpose and utility and that something had to be done about it.
I wish
the Niti Aayog succeeds in fulfilling the promise with which it has been
created. And I hope that in its first meeting on February 6, 2015, it spells
out its mission as well as the mechanism to do it.
From Planning to Transformation: An uphill task!
COVER
STORY
niti aayog mg devasahayam
The task
is cut out for the new avatar of the now disbanded Planning Commission
At The
Economic Times’ Global Business Summit in mid-January, Prime
Minister Narendra Modi laid out his Transformation Agenda in no uncertain
terms. After presenting a poser—“India is a $2-trillion economy today. Can we
not dream of an India with a $20-trillion economy?”—he unveiled his ‘doctrine
of development’ in lucid terms: “The government must nurture an ecosystem where
the economy is primed for growth; and growth promotes all-round development.
Where development is employment-generating; and employment is enabled by
skills. Where skills are synced with production; and production is benchmarked
to quality. Where quality meets global standards; and meeting global standards
drives prosperity. Most importantly, this prosperity is for the welfare of
all.” With such seamless segueing, India will be transformed from a
poor/low-income to a high-income/rich nation and poverty will stand eliminated.
Niti Aayog or Atithi Aayog?
COVER
STORY
planning mk kaw
Simple solutions lie buried
in the reports of a myriad Commissions and Committees. All we need is
implementation
When I first heard the policy pronouncement of the
new government that the Planning Commission was going to be abolished, I felt
like celebrating. Since the early 1960s when I joined the service, I have
harboured a deep-rooted prejudice against this leviathan.
The
reason was simple. Even a blind man with his eyes bandaged could plainly
perceive the incandescent truth that the Deputy Commissioner and the
Superintendent of Police were the two draught animals who pulled the
bullock-cart of peace and progress in the field. Yet the Planning Commission
was totally blind to this reality. So much so, that the revenue and police were
the only departments which did not have a Plan scheme to their name.
Bose : pioneer of planning in India
COVER
STORY
niti
aayog
shubhabrata bhattacharya
In keeping with Netaji
Subhas Chandra Bose’s thinking, rename Yojna Bhavan as Subhas Sadan
Contrary to popular belief, the now
deceased Planning Commission was not a legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru. The
blueprint for this institution was outlined by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in
his presidential address at the Haripura session of the Indian National
Congress in February 1938. Netaji envisaged that the first task of the
government of free India would be to set up a ’National Planning Commission’.
In pursuance of his thought, which had received the
endorsement of the AICC, Netaji set up a National Planning Committee in
December 1938 and appointed Jawaharlal Nehru as its chairman. Differences
of perceptions and opinions between Netaji and Nehru has been widely discussed.
But these differences did not deter Netaji from recognising the potential of
Nehru, who was emerging as a favourite follower of Mahatma Gandhi and was
appointed the head of the body which was Netaji’s dream.
All for a price
state scan
corruption
noida
Politicians of all hues have
incorporated the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway Authorities into
their fiefdoms
Right
from recruitment of employees to their promotions, transfers and
revocation of suspensions to allocation of tenders for works in different
residential and industrial sectors of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna
Expressway Authorities, politicians, particularly those belonging to the party
ruling in Lucknow, have a definite say. Political parties seem to follow the
principle ‘corrupt and let corrupt’, reportedly filling their coffers from the
commission collected from tender allocations and allowing government officials,
right from junior engineers to senior managers to their higher-ups, to
collect bribes.
It is the system, stupid!
GOVERNANCE
administration prajapati trivedi
A change in systems
contributes much more to the performance of an organisation than mere change in
persons working in it
The now famous slogan, ‘It’s the economy, stupid’,
is given a big chunk of the credit for the election-winning campaign of Bill
Clinton in 1992. Slogans work in elections because they effectively capture the
current aspirations of the electorate.
Similarly,
Modi’s campaign of 2014 successfully captured a great yearning among the Indian
electorate for a change in the prevailing system. He cited a large number of
problems confronting the electorate—corruption, inflation, lack of electricity
and roads, poor quality of education and health facilities, and so on. He
promised to deliver on these fronts not by throwing more money but by changing
the system, including the political system. Therefore, people voted for Modi
and not necessarily for the BJP.
Be wary of lobbyists
GOVERNANCE
bureaucracy appointments
Shubhabrata Bhattacharya
analyses the possible move for lateral inductions in public appointments and
cautions against the perils of unsavoury lobbying
In order to take the reform process—the Naya Daur (new era)
initiated by Narendra Modi—to its next level, it may be imperative that people
from a wide range of backgrounds take up public appointments. In order to
reflect the rich diversity of our society, it may be necessary to source public
appointees from among those who have experience and a better understanding of
the mosaic that is India. While sourcing human resource from various
fields—private sector, academia, civil society, et cetera—due caution ought to
be observed to ensure that unsavoury lobbying does not receive a fillip.
The interests of the Indian State must be safeguarded.
Tobacco: A Catch-22 situation
GOVERNANCE
health tobacco ban
It’s easy to say that there
should be a ban on tobacco. But, till the farmers get an equally profitable
option, it is a difficult step to take
- Annual loss of over Rs. 25,000
crore (over Rs. 19,000-crore excise duty
and around Rs. 6,000-crore worth of
foreign exchange) which accrue to the national exchequer on account of
excise duty and export of raw tobacco and tobacco products.
- Loss of gainful employment to over 30 million farmers growing
flue-cured Virginia (FCV) tobacco in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and
farmers growing beedi tobacco in Gujarat.
- Closure of around three dozen government offices belonging to
the Indian Tobacco Board and Central Tobacco Research Institute (CTRI),
employing around a thousand employees.
Lofty promise, tardy action
STATE
SCAN
economy madhya pradesh
The impact of delay in
investment implementation is going to cost the State dear, according to an
ASSOCHAM report
Madhya Pradesh is centrally located and it is
very important from the perspective of the Indian economy. The State’s
contribution to India’s GDP at constant price is 4.1 per cent in 2013-14, and
which was 3.80 per cent in 2004-05. In terms of the size of the economy,
currently the State is ranked 10th amongst the major 20 States in India.
IPS Rebel
FIRST STIRRINGS
ks subramanian
A Communist orientation and
an Oxford stint combined to make this IPS officer socially sensitive and
pro-poor
KS Subramanian is perhaps the
first victim of Hindutva forces as represented by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad
(VHP). It was on November 6, 1966 when he, then a young Indian Police Service
(IPS) officer, was attacked by VHP agitators outside the All India Radio (AIR)
building in New Delhi.
The Parishad was taking out a
procession towards Parliament demanding a ban on cow slaughter and the 1963-batch
Delhi-Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer, then SDPO (Sub-Divisional Police
Officer), Lajpat Nagar, was deployed on Sansad Marg.
Indira vs old warhorses
BOOK EXTRACT
prime ministers indira gandhi
Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi had started with hesitant steps. She had a ‘kitchen cabinet’, composed
largely of the earlier members of the ‘Back-benchers’ Club’, who advised a
low-key approach. For a time she retained LK Jha as her Principal Secretary.
She had respect for his ability, but a major point against him was that he had
been ‘too close to Shastri’. Even so, she was not for any drastic changes
around her.
For a time, Indira
just followed the path chalked out by her advisers and went along with the new
economic policies initiated in the days of Lal Bahadur Shastri. She had
travelled to the US some months after becoming the Prime Minister.
Victim of rape?
MY CORNER
crime amitabh thakur
The concept of burden of
proof shifts to the accused, both legally and socially. This is the real threat
and danger involved in the crime and herein lies the need for having a relook
at the criminal provisions related with it
Life is known to have huge and startling surprises in
store for all of us. One such bolt from the blue knocked on our door on
January 17 when a journalist from a lesser known newspaper in Lucknow
called my wife, saying that a Ghaziabad woman had accused me of raping her and
he wanted my wife’s reaction, and mine, to this news.
This
definitely was news to us as well—completely bizarre and unthought-of. The
story narrated as regards this alleged rape was akin to a political pot-boiler.
This woman had approached the UP State Women Commission alleging that some
politician got her acquainted with us in Ghaziabad and my wife, Nutan, called
her to Lucknow, falsely luring her with the promise of a job.
‘Me too’ syndrome
BOOK REVIEW
civil service
non-fiction
THE author
was a member of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the Tamil Nadu cadre
from 1968 to 2005. The book deals largely with his experiences as a bureaucrat
at the district, State and Central levels. He had further assignments in public
sector undertakings (PSUs) during 2005-2012. The use of the term ‘reluctant’ in
the title is puzzling. Can an officer be considered to be ‘reluctant’ when he
has not only completed, largely successfully, his entire career in government
without getting into a major controversy and has gone on to serve in PSUs for
five years after retirement? Or, is he to be described as ‘reluctant’ because
he resisted political interference in a rural development project during his
term as Collector and DM? Or do his experiences of humiliation during a few of
his Central assignments or postings justify the description?
Decline in near future?
STOCK DOCTOR
dr gs sood
The
Sensex is fast galloping towards the 30,000 mark, riding on the global
environment that is turning less negative and India shining in a world starved
of growth. Flush with liquidity unleashed first by the US Fed followed by the
Chinese and Japanese and now the European Central Bank (ECB), India is amongst
the rarest bright spots experiencing steady rise in growth rate, relative
currency stability with steadily increasing forex reserve, declining inflation
and interest rates, moderating fiscal deficit, strong reforms push leading to a
decisive shift in the policies aimed at giving a boost to public
investment-driven macro stabilisation and a potential sovereign rating upgrade.
All this has tremendously increased its attractiveness for investors
across the world.
Discard the baggage
PERSPECTIVE
memory sadhguru
Human memory is the very basis of civilisation. It is the fundamental ingredient
responsible for all science, technology and culture on the planet. But this
source of empowerment can also become a source of enslavement. Memory is like a
doorway. Doors can open, but they can also close. If doors open, you experience
them as wonderful. If they keep slamming in your face, they can be horrible.
Mere intelligence cannot
produce civilisation. The transmission of memory from generation to generation
enables us to build a foundation and forge ahead. Otherwise, we would be doomed
to keep reinventing the wheel.
The great Naidu dream a capital like singapore
Bric-a-brac
high & dry
Nara
Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, is a one-man army in the
State. He is also the President of the Telugu Desam Party. In his party and
government, there is no No. 2 leader. He is the ultimate boss. Chandrababu
Naidu has a profound knowledge of business and entrepreneurship. Most of the
MLAs from the Telugu Desam Party are entrepreneurs or belong to prominent
business houses of the State. He likes all the best things in life. He is
modern and open in his approach. He likes and reportedly has business interests
in Singapore. His supporters state that he has a dream to build a new state
capital like Singapore. Sources disclose that he is surrounded by town planners
and big city developers most of the time, discussing his dream. It is in the
public domain that Chandrababu Naidu is one of the richest politicians in the
country. This can be gauged from one important fact, whether he is in or
out of power, whenever or wherever he travels within India, he travels by a
private aircraft along with his trusted ministers or friends. High living and
big dreams is the new mantra of Naidu.
Ahead of BCCI election
Bric-a-brac
high & dry
amit
shah’s absence costs him presidentship
Cricket is
no longer a gentleman’s game. It has always been about the money but that has
been exposed only recently. The Supreme Court of India has delivered a historic
judgment; it has restrained N Srinivasan from contesting the election of the
BCCI due to a conflict of interests. The BCCI is such a fat milch cow that
Srinivasan does not want to loosen his grip on it, even if he has to shelve his
IPL franchise, Chennai Super Kings. Clearly, BCCI politics is becoming murkier
by the day. Sources have disclosed that the government is keeping a watch on
the activities of the BCCI. The new BCCI president has to be elected in six
weeks. If Srinivasan is not able to control BCCI himself, his group is planning
to have its pawn as President. As the Congress regime has gone, things are not as
simple for Srinivasan now. The cricket fort is held by Arun Jaitley, Vice
President of BCCI, and Amit Shah, President of the Gujarat Cricket Association.
Jaitley, being the Finance Minister, is loaded with work and is not the obvious
choice for BCCI president. Shah is competent to hold the post and he would have
contested and won but fate does not support him all the time. Being the
President of the BJP, he has a very hectic schedule and seldom attends the BCCI
board meetings. To become BCCI president there is a rule that the contestant
should have attended a predecided number of meetings. Shah is short of
attendance and is out of the race. It will be interesting to see who luck
favours as the chief of this cash-rich sports body.
My way or the highway rp singh on his way out?
Bric-a-brac
high & dry
Nitin Gadkari
is gearing up to control the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. Nine
months have passed but there has not been much movement. Vijay Chhibber,
Secretary of the Ministry, is completely in tune with Gadkari. Sources say
that the biggest bottleneck in the smooth running of the ministry is RP Singh,
a 1976-batch IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, who is unable to keep
pace with the government’s ambitious target of building 30 km of highways every
day. Singh has worked as a backroom boy in Manmohan Singh’s government and is
considered a tough taskmaster. Gadkari wants to speed up the projects of
2013-14; NHAI has been able to complete just 1,436 km of highways as against
the target of 7,500 km. Besides, some 28 projects worth `43,918
crore failed to attract bids since 2012. The speed of building NHAI projects is
implemented and monitored by the Chief General Managers (CGMs). Most of the
CGMs are from NHAI but Gadkari has succeeded in breaking the monopoly as he
managed to appoint the CGMs directly from the ministry in January. The way
things are taking shape in the ministry, Gadkari will manage to pack off
Singh soon.
Rawat’s floating! ramdev is his new friend
Bric-a-brac
high & dry
Uttarakhand
Chief Minister Harish Rawat has to
save his position by all means. Rawat has been systematically demolishing
opposition within the party. His targets are Kishore Upadhyay, President of the
Pradesh Congress, and Vijay Bahuguna, former Chief Minister of the State.
Upadhyay got the first jolt when his name was cleared for the Rajya Sabha seat
but in the end a relatively insignificant former President of the Mahila
Congress, Manorama, snatched the coveted seat from him. The last blow by Rawat
was in the Cabinet reshuffle, when he inducted some Independents in his
government, including Dinesh Dhaney, who had defeated Upadhyay in the Assembly
elections. To safeguard his position, Rawat is out to woo all the independent
MLAs, whether they are arch rivals of the party leadership or not. A neglected
Bahuguna is so upset that he has threatened to launch a massive campaign
against Rawat. Bahuguna has warned Rawat that only the Chief Minister has
changed in the State and not the ruling party. Rawat, in the meantime, sensing
the political urgency, has started developing relations with Baba Ramdev. Even
BJP leaders are cautious about Rawat’s moves. He seems to have mastered the art
of floating when one is on the chair!
Chhibber’s poll promise
...by the way
The members of Delhi’s elite
Gymkhana Club are waiting for the implementation of an election promise made by
the current president, Vijay Chhibber. A 1978-batch IAS officer of the Manipur-Tripura
cadre, Chhibber made this promise during the elections. Chhibber is currently
working as Secretary, Road Transport and Highways. The boundary of the Club is
located opposite the residence of the Prime Minister and runs parallel to its
front gate. The Land and Development (L&DO) authorities in the Ministry of
Urban Development had acquired 3.5 acres of land on the premise of a possible
security threat as the club is a public place. The management of Gymkhana went
to the High Court to get the land back but the Delhi High Court rejected the
case stating that the Gymkhana does not have the right to take a stand on
national security issues. During the Club elections, Chhibber did not know what
to do, so he promised the members that he would bring back the land once he was
elected to office. Clearly, like many Indian politicians, Chhibber is not
worried about his election promise now that he has already won the election.
Lavasa’s passion
...by the way
A secretary in any ministry in
the Government of India maintains a very hectic schedule. Their day starts at
nine in the morning but there is no guarantee of when it will end. If a
secretary manages to keep his passion alive in such a schedule, it is truly
commendable. Ashok Lavasa, a 1980-batch IAS officer from Haryana who is
currently posted as Secretary, Environment and Forest Ministry, is passionate
about photography and always spares time to pursue it along with his wife,
Novel. The couple has an eye for photography and both understand the subject
and the camera well. Lavasa has recently put his passion to good use. He has
designed a personalised calendar titled “Footprints of our future”, using
Indian wildlife as a theme. The calendar has 26 pictures depicting the couple’s
sensibilities. Although the calendar does not mention the time when the
pictures were taken, it still gives an idea that the two travel a lot whenever
they get time, to see wildlife. Lavasa has the calendars in stock; if you call
him you may be among the few who can sample this treasure.
Sanghi’s doldrums
..by the way
Chetan Bhushan Sanghi, a
1988-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre and Chief Secretary of Puducherry,
has been transferred as Joint Secretary, Women and Child Welfare. Sources
disclose that Sanghi is stressed with the transfer in the Central Government as
this post is routine in nature. He wants to get the transfer cancelled by the
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). As per the rules, if he does not
join he will be debarred from further postings. Chief Minister of Puducherry N
Rangaswamy has also written to DoPT, seeking to retain Sanghi for some more
time but the DoPT is not amused. The logic given to DoPT is that when KK
Sharma, a 1983-batch IAS officer was posted as Additional Secretary in Women
and Child Welfare, his posting was cancelled and he was posted instead as Chief
Secretary, Goa. But DoPT is in no mood to oblige Sanghi. If Sanghi does not
join the designated office and is debarred from future postings, he will face
serious problems in his career. There is another twist to this story: other
officers are waiting for Sanghi to join as JS. One prominent lady officer in
the Delhi government is eager to take his position as Chief Secretary,
Puducherry, as soon as Sanghi demits office. Sources disclose that a lady
officer, with considerable influence, sitting on Raisina Hill, is eager to help
the female candidate. We will just have to wait for the DoPT order and see if
it bails Sanghi out or not.
Spying on the boss
...by the way
Working within the government
system is becoming a very delicate matter. On the surface, everything looks
calm and composed but you will never know who will stab you in the back and one
always has to be cautious. If one visits North Block, where the Home Ministry
is located, everything seems routine but behind the curtains and closed doors,
no one is spared from probing eyes. The corridors of North Block are agog with
the latest buzz that one of the senior most officials of an investigative
agency, recently reposted, spied on the friends of his immediate boss. It is
also quite astonishing that while no one dared to track his immediate boss, he
kept a very close eye on the movements and discussions of his boss’s friends on
the phone. Now, the immediate boss is also concerned with the only relief being
that the officer concerned has been divested of office. The immediate boss’
only worry is that nothing should come out in the public domain before his
retirement. Sources say that Home Ministry officials have become cautious after
the reported incident and are trying to find a way to evade the investigative
agencies’ network, which works under their domain.
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