‘My dream holiday is to go to Switzerland’

RAPID FIRE

zu siddique dc, north delhi

 

‘My dream holiday is to go to Switzerland’

The 1985 batch IAS officer of AGMUT Cadre, Z U Siddique is a focused, hard working officer who joined as DC North Delhi in 2009

 

What kind of music do you prefer to listen to?

Z U Siddique:Indian music, light classical music and of course, ghazals.

 

Which is the latest movie you have seen?

Siddique:Well, I haven’t seen any movie for the last 7-8 months. 3 Idiots was the last movie I saw.

 

Which character did you like the most in that movie and why?

Siddique:The character of Aamir Khan fascinated me. He has a simple funda: ‘Run after excellence, success will follow you’. Parents should not impose their wish or unfulfilled desire on their children; their role should be that of a facilitator.

 

Delhi is a major cuisine hub. What kind of food tempts you the most?

Siddique:See, I am a very simple, desi man, and so I prefer arhar ki daal, chapattis with mango chutney....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=289&Name=RAPID%20FIRE%20-%20zu%20siddique%20dc,%20north%20delhi

Living life king size

FIRST STIRRINGS

rm sethi

 

Living life king size

RM Sethi has worn many different of hats while leading a life completely on his own terms. And, he has succeeded in almost everything he did.

 

Coming from a refugee family that set up a small shoe shop in Allahabad to make a modest living after migrating from Pakistan, Ravi Mohan Sethi has never been afraid to lose. And as far as he remembers, he has always lived life on his own terms and this has paid off...

 

“I believe in taking quick decisions… what is the worst that can happen… badshah se rank aur rank se badshah banne main samay nahin lagta…” he says.

 

A one-time academic-turned-bureaucrat-turned-entrepreneur, RM Sethi has worn so many different kinds of hats that many others don’t even get to see in a lifetime.

 

As an IAS officer, he has been former MD of the Uttar Pradesh Financial Corporation (UPFC), MD, Pradeshiya Industrial and Investment Corporation UP (PICUP), and Secretary Agriculture, Government of UP. He is today Chairman of Steller Group, having interests in real estate, cooperative banking, IT parks, Hospitality and Recreation (which he himself started) besides being the independent director of Rs 250-billion public sector natural gas transmission company, GAIL India Ltd...http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=275&Name=FIRST%20STIRRINGS%20-%20rm%20sethi

So remarkable a journey

BOOK REVIEW

development

 

So remarkable a journey

Bihar through the eyes of a seasoned IAS officer

 

by Diptendra Raychaudhuri

 

A book like this, almost each page of which is filled with interesting anecdotes, that too by someone who has remarkable insight, is a reader’s joy, particularly for those who want to have a better understanding of the functioning of the system. 

 

Some of the observations by the author, like the one on the Finance Ministry that ‘has become a choking point in speedy disposal of matters’ are not unknown. But the author has not stopped there. He has recommended a way out, one that could have sounded utopian even a year ago. But no longer. Take for example: ‘There should be a penalty for deliberate delays recoverable from the person responsible. The outer limit for taking a decision should be three months’. If only the government of the land was a little sensitive to what its own employees felt, it could have brought into effect changes that would have saved it from Team Anna’s wrath. Even now, the agitators on the streets have not raised their voice against the slow functioning of the government due to its own internal ‘choking point’ that Sharan is talking about (p. 263). But will anyone listen to him?...http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=276&Name=BOOK%20REVIEW%20-%20development

Patternless postings

SILLY POINT

humour mk kaw

 

Patternless postings

I am reminded of my years in the Department of Defence Production in the early 1990s. There were four Joint Secretaries and two Additional Financial Advisers, reporting to N Raghunathan, a 1959 veteran of the Maharashtra cadre.

 

Raghu was a topper of his batch and a gentleman to a fault. He let us do what we wanted, helping us out only when we were about to get into trouble. After we had spoken on a file, there was an unofficial zero hour, when we could discuss anything and everything. Most of us were into it and enjoyed ourselves a lot. There was just one exception, the Joint Secretary in-charge of Ordnance Factories. Sometimes, one of us would raise a point about him during zero hour. Raghunathan would smile and change the subject. Sometimes, if one of us persisted, he would wink and say, “Oh you need not worry about him. He will be all right.”....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=277&Name=SILLY%20POINT%20-%20humour

Caught in uncertainties

STOCK DOCTOR

dr gs sood

 

Caught in uncertainties

 

The 50 basis point cut in the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by the Reserve Bank of India on April 17 came as surprise and brought widespread cheer to the markets. However, the bullish mood was short-lived and the markets corrected sharply thereafter, pointing to the concerns that remain alive. The latest addition in the long list of such concerns is the confusion with regard to the General Anti Avoidance Rules (GAAR). GAAR has, in fact, dampened the mood of foreign institutional investors (FIIs), especially hedge funds and has led to a significant slowdown of inflows since Budget Day.

 

There is no denying the fact that the rise in the markets witnessed during the first three months of this calendar year was mainly driven by the liquidity supplied in part by the European Central banks’ long-term refinancing operations. However, it is equally true that the Indian markets have shown great resilience by not correcting sharply to any contagion from Europe or other parts of the world.....http://www.gfilesindia.com/frmArticleDetails.aspx?id=278&Name=STOCK%20DOCTOR%20-%20dr%20gs%20sood

 

Targeting big bucks

Targeting big bucks
ministers eye defence offsets

 

Politicians seem to have a knack for smelling out the moolah! Seeing the big bucks in the defence offsets programme, several ministers have joined retired military and air force officers in strengthening the offset policy, so to speak. Gfiles has come to know that the scions of various interested defence officers flew to Russia, France, Israel and the USA to discuss participation modalities with companies who have bagged orders or are likely to corner big deals. Under its defence procurement procedure, India imposes counter-trade obligations on original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) awarded defence contracts worth more than Rs 300 crore to transfer critical technologies and production of components to India. The revised (offsets) policy recognises transfer of technology (ToT) as eligible for discharge of offset obligations. The policy says, “The ToT should be provided without licence fee and there should be no restriction on domestic production, sale or export. The offset credit for ToT shall be of 10% of the value of buy-back by the OEM during the period of contract, to the extent of value addition in India.” So every arms supplier has to transfer technology and for that he needs local collaborators. Who better than politicians and retired army personnel! It also suits the supplier as he can make inroads into the Defence Ministry through retired officials and into the government through ministers. And, under the guise of the offset policy, it’s all legal – and big money. g

 

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Business of laws

Business of laws
khurshid cosy with corporates?

 

The Law Ministry is in the limelight. Not surprising in an era of scams and scandals. After all, its job is to give legal opinion to all ministries on any and every issue. Naturally, even big business houses need to engage with the law ministry. Enjoying the limelight is Law Minister Salman Khurshid. But now Salman has invited trouble for himself. The President of the Legal Service Officers Association, Prabhakar Singh, who is a Joint Secretary in the ministry, is filing a petition in the CAT against the minister. The issue at hand is the manner in which a highly controversial officer NK Sharma was promoted to the rank of additional secretary by superseding six others. We all know the DOPT rules state that promotions can only be through two methods – either by seniority or going by the ACR. In this case, interviews were conducted by Salman Khurshid himself and Sharma was handpicked. It is learnt that Sharma is close to the younger brother of a prominent business house from Mumbai. It is no secret that the younger brother and Salman are good friends and the younger brother takes a great deal of interest in the postings of ministers and officials of the law ministry. There is also a buzz in the ministry that the senior brother also called on the minister recently as he wanted his candidate appointed as law secretary.

 

Former Law Minister Veerapa Moily is going around telling the world that he was ousted from the Law Ministry under pressure from corporate lobbies. And ironically, Salman Khurshid was removed from the Corporate Affairs Ministry because he was seen as being too close to corporate lobbies by the Congress leadership. g

 

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Lining up for Prez

Lining up for Prez

pranabda may opt out

 

India will select the first citizen of the country in July. And, the heat and dust has begun. All the major political parties want a say in selecting the next resident of Rashtrapati Bhavan. If insiders are to be believed, the Congress has decided that there will be no elevation for the Vice-President and no repetition of past and present Presidents (read Kalam and Patil ). Mamata Banerjee too is reluctant to elevate Vice-President Hamid Ansari. This does clear the mists for the wannabees. Many new contenders have emerged in the last three months. Leading the race are NRI entrepreneur and Rahul Gandhi advisor Sam Pitroda, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former West Bengal governor Gopal Gandhi, Infosys Chairman Emeritus NR Narayana Murthy, India’s self claimed reformer ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam, Congress stalwart Pranab Mukherjee, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Motilal Vora. There are one or two more names but they are not in the reckoning. Insiders inform that Pranabda will exit from the race by issuing a statement that he clearly cannot be spared from the Cabinet and the party needs him at this juncture. There’s also another aspect to the race for President. Some so-called political preachers are demanding that the President of India should be apolitical. The question we would like to ask them is: If the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister (at present all don’t face the electorate directly) are apolitical, then why should they build a political career at all? This does not sound politically correct! g

 

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Party later, me first…

Party later, me first…

gadkari ready to back modi

 

Losing weight has worked wonders for Nitin Gadkari. But the BJP President, albeit a little more active these days, is worried about gaining weight, political weight that is. Gadkari wants a second term as BJP President though he has not done anything great in the last two years. Given the large number of aspirants, he is wooing his party colleagues left, right and centre. But BJP insiders inform that Narendra Modi wants to position his trusted man as the next party chief. And he trusts very few in the party! Modi has targeted 2014 to emerge on the national scene but first he has to win the Gujarat assembly elections (to be held before January 17, 2013). Modi and his close advisors are of the view that the party president should be their man so that after the assembly elections, there can be a smooth transition to the national scene.

 

Well aware of these plans, Nitin Gadkari is also playing his cards well and is believed to be even ready to declare Modi as the BJP candidate for Prime Ministership. He knows nobody can predict what will happen in 2014. It is not yet clear what the RSS headquarters at Nagpur is planning but they clearly don’t have much choice available to replace Modi or Gadkari. g

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Search for Chief Secy

Search for Chief Secy

 

Orders appointing P K Chaudhary as the new Commerce Secretary were on their way to Udyog Bhavan. The Prime Minister had approved his name. Suddenly, the next thing we came to know was that he was the new Chief Secretary of Haryana. What happened? Let us tell you. Apparently, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was in a fix. His Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati was retiring at the end of March. He first approached Finance Secretary R S Gujral but the latter told Hooda, “I will do more for the state as Finance Secretary than to be the Chief Secretary”. Insiders, however, say Gujral cannot forget “one old indecent incident” so he politely refused. So Hooda landed in the office of Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and P K Chaudhary got a call from the Minister’s office. Anand Sharma informed Chaudhary that Hooda wanted him to be the Chief Secretary of Haryana. Chaudhary said, “When Chief Minister Hooda has come all the way to ask for me to be Chief Secretary, I am honoured and accept.” Chaudhary is also believed to have asked Hooda, “Why do you want me to be in Haryana, when there are so many honest and efficient officers available”. Hooda replied to Chaudhary, “no doubt there are many but I want honesty should be seen.” Chaudhary is said to be committed to restoring the prestige of the office of Chief Secretary and has already started implementing the Result Frame Document with all the ministries. g

 

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Winners all?

Winners all?

 

When a war is won, if all the awards were to go to the General what would we think about him? A similar situation prevailed at the PM’s Award for Excellence in Public Administration, held in Vigyan Bhawan at Delhi recently. When the awards for successful holding of panchayat elections in J&K were announced, nobody was surprised. But when the awards went to the Chief Secretary, Director General of Police, Chief Electoral Officer, Special Secretary to Chief Secretary, and Principal Secretary (Planning and Development), everybody was left a bit nonplussed. In principal, all these officials are duty bound to hold the elections. It was nothing great. It would have been in the fitness of things if the work of collectors and SPs who did all the field work was recognised instead! How the awardees are selected is a great mystery however. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, which is the apex body for organising this award, never briefs how many citations it had received. Who are the officials in the selection committee? How do they decide which 10 out of thousands will be awarded? The entire process needs some introspection. It is learnt that Cabinet Secretary A K Seth personally called the Secretaries and Chief Secretaries to be present so the only solace which they can get is that the function was well attended. g

 

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Unproductive assets!

Unproductive assets!

 

The Planning Commission’s main task is to decide where government money has to be spent wisely. This job is being done admirably by Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the Deputy Chairperson. It would not be wrong to say that Ahluwalia virtually controls the finances of the Government of India. His wife, also an economist, Isher Judge Ahluwalia has produced a book titled ‘India’s Economic Reforms and Development: Essays for Manmohan Singh’. Clearly, the husband-wife team is completely dedicated and loyal to the Prime Minister. But preaching to Ministries and States to control wasteful expenditure is easier said than done. And what about if Yojana Bhawan,the building which houses the Planning Commission, doesn’t care for Ahluwalia’s dictums. Insiders inform that two ‘smart toilets’ have been constructed for elite members of the Planning Commission. One can only have the access to these ‘smart toilets’ through smart cards. Naturally, this is causing much heartburn. These ‘unproductive assets’ have cost huge money. Now Aswani Kumar has to take a call to go to the bottom of the issue and see from where this plan of constructing costly toilets has originated. g

 

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Ministry of Singhs

Ministry of Singhs

 

The Steel Ministry has many Singhs right now since Dilip Raj Singh Chaudhary has joined as the Secretary, Steel. Three other Joint Secretaries who are already working in the ministry are Upendra Prasad Singh, Uday Pratap Singh and Dalip Singh. So, the buzz is that the Steel Ministry belongs to the Singhs. The Prime Minister’s Office was undecided who they wanted as steel secretary for the last couple of months as the stakes in the ministry are very high. DoPT secretary PK Misra was handling the ministry on an ad hoc basis. He toured different countries in March to complete the unfinished agenda but there are many issues which have to be settled on a priority basis and the Minister Beni Prasad Verma can’t wait. So, the PMO appointed DRS Chaudhary, a 1977 batch MP cadre IAS with a successful three years stint in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Chaudhary, an MA in political science, was Deputy Secretary in the Ministry of Steel between 1986 and 1990. The advantage with Chaudhary is that he understands naxal issues and threats very well as he has handled Naxal Management in the Home Ministry. This experience will prove useful as most of the steel mines are in Naxal infested areas. Chaudhary is believed to have already started work at a fast pace. If insiders are to be believed, he is determined to clear all obstacles regarding the Posco project. Let us wait and watch how the Beni-DRS team enthuse the Steel Ministry and bring back it to the speed which PMO is looking for. g

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