FIRST STIRRINGS vijay sanghvi

FIRST STIRRINGS

vijay sanghvi

 

‘I broke through the lines’

As a journalist from regional newspaper, Vijay Sanghvi overcame the
disadvantage that one suffers in a city where the political language is English

 

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ithin a week of my arrival in Delhi in May 1967, my first encounter was with giants of political journalism assembled outside the Congress Party office waiting for the Congress Working Committee session to end. They were well over 50 years in age while I had only three months earlier stepped into my 28th year. They worked for reputed English dailies published from the capital, had the added advantage of knowing politics and politicians well, and operated in groups to bamboozle their way in. It was apparent that they would not allow a young person like me to have an edge. In addition, I also had inherent disadvantage of working for an out-station regional language paper that few could easily access or read. Every regional language media person suffers from this disadvantage because the political language of Delhi is English. No other language is recognised by decision makers in politics or the bureaucracy.

The only way I could overcome the shortcomings I realised would be by building one-to-one relations with decision-makers. I had my contacts in Mumbai and used them to get an exclusive copy of the 10-point programme that the Working Committee had adopted in its marathon session. My report was picked up the next day by news agencies enabling me to make my entry into what appeared to have been an impregnable wall of seniors in Delhi media circles because they greeted me as one of their own at our next encounter....READMORE

AVIATION air india regulation

AVIATION

air india regulation

 

Spreading the malaise

The ripple effect of Air India’s defaults in clearing dues of airports, oil companies and other suppliers would have not taken place had the Government put in place an independent regulator

 

by Naresh Minocha

 

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ITH the governance of the country’s aviation sector not even being skeletal, the proverbial bad fish spoiling the whole pond is coming into full play. Today, the Government is spreading the financial burden of managing sick Air India Limited on other entities in the aviation sector. The ripple-effect of bad governance of a hopeless public sector enterprise now threatens to even dent the Income Tax Department’s receipts from airport and the aviation sector.

Air India and private loss-incurring airlines have already hurt the financial health of public sector oil companies, such as Indian Oil Corporation, through delayed payment of fuel bills. The oil companies, in turn, are facing bills, though modest, against fuel handling facilities provided by airports.... READMORE

SECURITY task force challenges

SECURITY

task force challenges

 

Agencies cry for covert ops

The Task Force appointed to review existing security systems needs to consider not only the world security scenario and social media threats, but also the role and ambit of our intelligence agencies

 

by AK Verma

 

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 Task Force, comprising retired senior officials and heads of all government departments having national security responsibilities, with the convener of the National Security Advisory Board as its Chairman, has been holding sessions to review the existing systems and suggest improvements, changes and modifications of the processes, procedures and practices to bring about a qualitative change in the internal and external national security posture. The Task Force is also expected to examine what remains to be done with respect to the recommendations of the committee set up after the Kargil war. It is likely to submit its report by March-end.

The Task Force faces a daunting task. Ensuring comprehensive security is getting more and more complex every day. The external environment has become vitiated by new perspectives of political permissiveness, which have brought in their wake questionable doctrines of unilateralism, pre-emptive strike and regime change. Globalisation has made economic penetration a much simpler activity. Technological advances render territorial frontiers insignificant. Emergence of a single superpower after the Soviet Union’s disintegration has not resolved the equation of balance of power. Three emergent powers in Asia, China, Japan and India, are engaged in aggressive competition for status, markets and resources. China, in addition, is involved in a hectic pursuit of military power to equal that of the US in the coming decades. The world security architecture, therefore, remains in a constant flux, with new alignments, realignments and conflicts surfacing in dramatic ways.....READMORE

Governance defence

Governance

defence

 

Does the Ministry of Defence have a hidden agenda in denying ‘natural justice’ to the Chief of the world’s third largest army?

 

by M G Devasahayam

 

THE Chief of the Army Staff, General Vijay Kumar Singh’s main contention in the Supreme Court, where he has gone seeking justice is: “The government needs to explain as to why the senior-most officer of the Army could be treated in a manner which reflects total lack of procedure and principles of natural justice, and that too on an opinion obtained from the Attorney General.” He goes on to state that the conduct of the government is affecting his reputation and the action on their part is affecting his image before the general public and the armed forces.....Read More

GOVERNANCE - public policy

GOVERNANCE

public policy

 

Forever and ever

Food, drinking water, education, healthcare and sanitation are issues that governments and officials say cannot be solved in haste, but this has not prevented them from glossing over other challenges, answers to which are within reach

 

by BN Uniyal

           

Shame, said the Prime Minister, that 42 per cent of Indian children are malnourished! Shame, said the Supreme Court, that thousands of children, particularly girls, are dropping out of schools because there are no toilets for them! Shame, said the Rural Development Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, that absence of sanitation is the biggest blot on India!

–The Hindu, January 22, 2012

 

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here is too much around and about us for every Indian to be ashamed of. The Hindu could have very well have added a shame for 70 per cent adulterated milk sold and yet another shame for the 41 per cent or so of the population that goes to sleep on an empty stomach every night, or for the low quality of education in our schools, and so on and so forth. We have a national shame for every day of the week.

Food, drinking water, education, healthcare and sanitation were considered “burning issues” when I started my career 50 years ago. Today, as my career as a journalist is coming......  Read More

GOVERNANCE - tribal rights

Sepoy’s misstep

Despite Rahul Gandhi’s airy assurances to tribals, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes is the Centre’s stepchild

 

by Naresh Minocha

 

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N August 2010 at a tribals’ rally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said, ‘My job as your sepoy in New Delhi has just started. Whenever you require my support, call me. I will be there with you.’ The rally was organised to celebrate the denial of permission to Vedanta to mine bauxite in the Niyamgiri hills of Orissa. Rahul added: ‘True development takes place by respecting the interests of the poor and tribals, and not by muffling their voice.’

But going by the maltreatment of the constitutional authority for protection of tribal rights by the UPA government, Rahul’s promise appears to have fallen by the wayside. The government has not tabled even a single annual report of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) in Parliament, leave aside taken a decision on the recommendations by the commission. The NCST has repeatedly had to struggle to enforce its constitutional right to advise the government on proposed policies and regulations that impact tribals. Two glaring instances are the mining bill and the food security bill.......Read More..

BIG BOSS - jawhar sircar,secretary, culture

‘Do not apply value judgements to culture’

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awhar Sircar, a 1975 batch IAS officer, is an exceptional bureaucrat who enjoys working in the Culture Ministry. No wonder, he has been the longest-serving Secretary in this Ministry. He has tried to cater to the ‘cultural  community’ in various ways. He draws satisfaction from the fact that his efforts have brought back the community to the Ministry. No doubt, he has achieved a lot in this field because of his keen interest in the subject. From the mid-1990s till 2005, he took the lead in upgrading the annual Kolkata Film Festival to a remarkable and recognised event of international standards. His other interests are in theatre, in which he became involved from his mid-teens, and in certain genres of music and dance. In this interview, he speaks about the problems of attitude and orientation in the functioning of the Ministry and its associated bodies.

 

interviewed by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

 

gfiles: Throughout your career, you have mostly served in finance or related departments and ministries. You also served as Chief Election Officer of West Bengal. At the fag end of your career, you became Secretary in the Culture Ministry. How has been your experience here?

Jawhar Sircar: True, I spent around 17 years in industry and finance, but I have also spent.....Read More

BIG BOSS - bc gupta, secretary, food & civil supplies

‘In no part of the world has such a right been conferred by the state’

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HE National Food Security Bill, introduced in the winter session of Parliament, is now with the Standing Committee. When passed, it will make access to foodgrains a legal entitlement for every citizen. It aims “to provide for food and nutritional security, in human life cycle approach, by ensuring access to adequate quantity of quality food at affordable prices, for people to live a life with dignity.” The Bill has many supporters, but a slew of objections has emanated from even those who feel such legislation is necessary. BC Gupta, Secretary, Food and Civil Supplies, discusses the Bill with gfiles.........readmore

GOVERNANCE - gfiles summit

A unique confab

The first summit of gfiles aroused all-round interest because here high officials were deliberating upon the issue of performance of the government in the presence of bureaucrats and journalists. There were three eminent speakers and hundreds of important listeners. With gfiles’ banner, ‘Challenges of Governance’, glittering in elegance as the backdrop, the evening assumed a different dimension.

by DIPTENDRA RAYCHAUDHURI 

 

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HE first summit of gfiles aroused all round interest, with three senior government officials deliberating the performance of the government in the presence of bureaucrats and journalists. At the outset, the “history” of gfiles, as narrated by Editor Anil Tyagi, made interesting listening:....readmore

GOVERNANCE - gfiles summit

Womb of fancy

Can elaborate systems, designs and approaches make a dent on the real world and ground realities?

by BN UNIYAL

“G

OVERNANCE” caught on as a catchword about a decade ago and by now has been so badly flogged that if the word had any sense of shame it would have gone into hiding. Soon after the word gained currency, World Bank and IMF status reports began tagging it to another catchword of the times – “reforms”. Today, both catchwords have gone viral. No day passes without someone inviting you to a conference or a conclave, a seminar or a symposium on something like “Crisis of Governance” or “Governance and Reforms” or, better still, “Administrative Reforms and Good Governance”. Most such events are organized for no easily understandable reason and with little seriousness, at most inconvenient locations and most inappropriate hours............Readmore

Everyone on the crossroads

There is so much that hangs on this UP Assembly election that punters are betting not merely on its outcome but on the very future of India itself! So much so that many feel that the upshot from here may decide whether there will be trouble and turmoil in India in the near future, or peace and progress.

by BN UNIYAL

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O much hangs on this UP Assembly election that punters are betting not merely on its outcome but on the very future of India itself! Many people feel that the upshot may decide whether there will be trouble and turmoil in India in the near future, or peace and progress. A decisive verdict will give the nation some sense of certainty and some measure of faith and hope; an indecisive one will mean a long run of national turmoil that India can ill afford. All legislative action such as the Lokpal, food guarantee, citizens’ charter and so on will come to naught if UP is plunged into disorder after the election. A split verdict will mean a gash on the national body politic which is already so badly slashed all over..........readmore

ARMED FORCES - selection of chiefs

Merit must be criterion, not d.o.b.

An issue that affects the quality of the top military leadership has been reduced to a war of ‘succession’

by Major General Mrinal Suman

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he debate about the date of birth of the Army chief has been highly skewed, ill-informed and subjective. It is being said that the order of “succession” would get changed if his year of birth is accepted as 1951 and not 1950. An issue that critically affects the quality of the top military leadership has been reduced to a war of “succession”. Merit has been rendered inconsequential. The term “succession” is incongruent with respect to the appointment of a service chief. It smacks of the old feudal system where the eldest-born, irrespective of his competence, claimed first right over the throne...........Readmore

SPECIAL REPORT - telecom skulduggery

Telescams cheaper by the dozen

For 20 years, the Ministers and babus favoured private players and only indirectly furthered consumer interests

by ALAM SRINIVAS

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HE story of India’s mobile revolution is contradictory, a mix of romantic idealism and crony capitalism, a successful dream to radically transform the way we communicate coupled with nightmarish examples of corruption, and the growth of networks to propagate inclusive growth as also incestuous links between government and big business. It is a shining case of how reforms can work, and how liberalization can also obliterate the basic values in any society..... Readmore

MY CORNER - fdi in retail mg devasahayam

The aam trader’s nemesis

Is the government contemplating a step that will benefit MNCs at the cost of India’s small entrepreneurs?

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N democratic governance, Parliament is the fulcrum around which the people and the government revolve. It is therefore imperative that the functioning of Parliament be positive, proactive, purposeful and parsimonious. What is happening is the reverse.....Readmore

MY CORNER - serving bureaucrats amitabh thakur

Suffering in silence

Pity the poor government servant...

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 am a government servant, belonging to the Indian Police Service. There are thousands of IPS officers and a few million government servants in India. Generally, we are regarded as a privileged lot by everyone else. The media often refers to us as “babus”. The word is used in an apparent derogatory way for the simple reason that there is a general presumption that government servants enjoy privileges and perks with least effort. The public often treats us as parasites eating into the country’s exchequer, hardly giving anything in return. The success of the Jan Lokpal agitation, primarily aimed at government servants, and the massive support it got from all quarters of society, make it amply clear that we are not a very respected community......Readmore

BOOK REVIEW - political biography

A world in a driver’s cabin

A journalist sees the real India through truck rides

by DIPTENDRA RAYCHAUDHURI

 

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E live in a country that remains unknown to 99% of us throughout our lives. The urban elite has no idea how 75% of the population lives (or fails to live) and rural folk do not really know about urban extravagance and the symbols of obscene wealth in the big cities......Readmore

INSIGHT - real estate fraud

Consumer be damned

How the developer sharks are feeding on unsuspecting investors and buyers

by RAJENDRA BAJPAI

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T long last, the government has decided to bring in a Bill to regulate real estate companies. However, thanks to the long slumber, deliberate or otherwise, tens of thousands of investors and home buyers have lost hundreds of crores of rupees. In some cases, small investors and home buyers have lost lifetime’s savings because homes they invested in never came up. If there has been a widespread and organized fraud in this country, it is by real estate companie........Read More

STOCK DOCTOR - dr gs sood

Snap up stocks at right time

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NVESTORS are set to witness heightened volatility in the markets for at least a couple of months in the new year due to the unresolved European crisis that will witness how the scheduled debt repayments of ailing Euro countries actually pan out, the state elections, quarterly results and the countdown to the Union Budget. The near-term outlook for the markets still looks bleak. But the prolonged bearishness seems to have tired even the pessimists who now think that most of the negatives have already been priced in the market that is getting set to live with these kinds of uncertainties.........Read More

CORRUPTION - feudal bias

The king can do no wrong

In his very last article, written for gfiles just before his death in October 2011, BR Lall, an IPS officer who worked with the CBI, says the agency’s investigating officers “are not supposed to cross the path of the elite”. In the last 60 years, no action has ever been taken against any higher-up despite rampant corruption. Whether it’s succumbing to political pressure or sparing the rich and senior IPS officers, it’s evident everywhere. The author explains why and how the CBI has stooped so low.....Read More

CORRUPTION - cbi

Control without controls

CBI chiefs spell out why tinkering with the nodal anti-crime agency could compromise its ability and impartiality

by BISHESHWAR MISHRA

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HOSE manning the CBI – the principal bone of contention in the stillborn anti-graft legislation – watched with considerable trepidation the prolonged debate over the Lokpal Bill in Parliament, which ended in a fiasco. They fear that they will be burdened with several bosses who will pull in different directions. The apprehension is well expressed by Trinath Mishra, former CBI director: “The CBI will turn into a double-roti or pao-roti [meaning several breads, since pao and roti are both breads].” On the pretext of making the CBI more independent, all the proposed versions of the Lokpal seem bent on creating more supervisors – the Lokpal, the Cental Vigilance Commission (CVC), and the government.......Read more