From the Editor : Anil Tyagi

Yatha Raja, Tatha Praja (The way the King is, so is the society)”. This is an old Indian saying. But there is a contradiction in modern India. “Neither will I eat (take a bribe), nor will I let others eat.” This was a promise that Prime Minister repeated several times, during his 2014 election campaign, and as the head of the country. However, during the 65 months of his reign, corruption hasn’t died down. Petty corruption continues – one can sit in one’s house and get a visa, or any other official documents, at the cost of an illegal payment. Low-level officials in key agencies, like the Police, continue to line their pockets. More importantly, systemic corruption thrives. People at the highest levels continue to receive tainted money in an organised manner – from the various mafias (liquor, mining, and drugs), Big Business, and large domestic and global government-to-government deals.

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Corruption : From Raj to Rafale13: The Mysterious Mr Q

In the 1980s, an entire generation, or possibly two, read avidly about Mr Q, a Sicilian-Italian who was publicly known, but there was a huge ring of mystery around his character, network, and antecedent. OttavioQuattrocchi was the regional director of a Milan-based multinational, Snamprogetti. But, during that period, he could get ministers transferred, had unrestricted access to the Prime Minister’s Office and residence, and could swing lucrative business deals in areas such as energy and fertiliser.

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COVER STORY : Shadow Boxing : The fight against corruption

As the economy continues its downward spiral with certain sectors touching a historic low, it seems the government will be hunting for feel-good headlines in the coming days. If that is the case, sacking some more bureaucrats and government officials in the garb of fighting corruption might turn out to be a convincing exercise. Vivek Mukherjee reports on the process to scrutinise the bureaucracy for corruption and inefficiency.

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COVER STORY : Shooting the messenger

On August 21, Collector of Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Kannan Gopinathan, a 2012-batch AGMUT cadre officer, resigned from his post and quit the civil services. Usually, resignations of junior civil servants don’t attract much attention. In the past too, junior officers have quit without much ado. But in Gopinathan’s case, his resignation created quite a flutter in the bureaucracy and the media and even seemed to have caught the government on the wrong foot. This was so because Gopinathan resigned in protest against the blanket communication blockade that was imposed in Jammu and Kashmir following the abrogation of the Article 370 and 35A that granted special status to the state. (See main story for Gopinathan’s statement that he issued after resigning from service).

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GOVERNANCE : Abandon proposed education policy

The “New India” Government was sworn in on May 30, 2019. The very next day, a Committee led by Dr K Kasturirangan, former ISRO chairman, submitted the voluminous Draft National Educational Policy (DNEP) to the new Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal. The public was given just a month to express opinion on a policy that will gravely impact not only our children but the very future of India. Such is the tearing hurry of vested interests pursuing a pre-set agenda!

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