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Ms.Kiran Dhingra is Secretary HUPA in GOI
Ms.Kiran Dhingra who so far was Director General(DG) Shipping has assumed her charge as Secretary Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation(HUPA) in Government of India(GOI). She is an IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre & belongs to the 1975 batch.The slot had fallen vacant ever since H.S.Anand (IAS of Haryana cadre from 1973 batch)had retired on August 31,2008.
(We said this on September 2,2008)
G Jayalal is DG,AIR
G Jayalal has been promoted as the Director General (DG), All India Radio(AIR). It may be stated here that for the last one year, Prasar Bharati CEO BS Lalli was holding additional charges as the DG of AIR.
Maharashtra cadre IAS joins politics in Andhra Pradesh
Former 1987 batch Maharastra cadre IAS officer T Chandrashekar has joined the new political party of Film Star Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh.
IAS changes in Uttar Pradesh
Venketeshwar Lu will now be Divisional Commissioner Meerut.Anil Kumar has been made Divisional Commissioner Basti.Ram Surat Dube has been posted as Secretary Small Irrigation Projects.Mayur Maheshwari will bw DM Bagpat.G S Priyadarshi will be DM Azamgarh.
IPS postings in Uttar Pradesh
There is IPS reshuffle in Uttar Pradesh. New postings are :Mssrs R K Srivastava SSP Gorakhpur,Piyush Mordiya SP CBCID Lucknow,Abhay Kumar Prasad DIG Basti,K K Tripathi DIG Gorakhpur,Ram Dev IG Telecom,Vijay Singh IG Establishment and Sanjay Kackar Prosecution Lucknow.
IAS postings in Orissa
In a minor bureaucratic reshuffle Orissa Government has posted Nikunja Bihari Dhal Additional Secretary Water Resources Department as State Project Director OPEPA.Ms Sujata R.Kartikeyan,now on leave has been appointed as joint Secretary, Water Resources with additional charge as Managing Director, Orissa Lift Irrigation Corporation.
IPS changes in Orissa
The postings of Surendra Panwar, IG of Police CID (CB) ,Orissa at Cuttack and Arun Kumar Ray , IG of Vigilance, Cuttack have been swapped.
2 CCITs transferred
Two Chief Commissioners of Income Tax(CCITs) have been transferred.They are R.K.Singh(1973 batch) CCIT ( C )-II Mumbai to CCIT(Inv)Mumbai & R.Bhardwaj (1974 batch) CCIT-Kolkata to CCIT-V Delhi. AACIT(CCA) Kolkata will hold additional charge as CCIT-X Kolkata till further orders.
P.S.Choudhary posted in CBDT
P.S.Choudhary ACIT Delhi has been posted as OSD(A & PAC-I) in Central Board of Direct Taxes(CBDT) with immediate effect.
1979 batch IFS officers to be Additional PCCFs in MP
Indian Forest Service(IFS) officers of Madhya Pradesh cadre who belong to 1979 batch will be elevated as Additional PCCFs. In MP there are 10 posts of Additional PCCFs .
Ms Puri moves to NW Railways
IRAS officer Ms Nishtha Puri has been moved from the South West Railways to North Western Railways.
IAS postings in AP
G Ramnarayana Reddy has been appointed Collector Vizianagaram. B Ramaiah has joined as Joint Collector Kishna District.
Perfect control in London High Commission
Mohamed Afsar (Attache - Admin) in High Commission of India, London, is doing a great job in streaming of the administration of the Mission. All the officers and staff in HCI London are in tender-hooks because of his effective control. Afsar gets full support of Ashok Mukerjee, Deputy HC. It is to be noted that Afsar is only from the PA cadre and he was PA of Anand Sharma, MoS, MEA earlier.
1978 batch IPS to be ADG Crime in Uttarakhand
1978 batch IPS officer Vijay Raghav Pant is back to the parent Uttarakhand cadre from central deputation.On return he has been made ADG Crime.
CVO post advertised
Post of CVO Tuticorin Port Trust has been advertised.
Saurabh Kumar is posted in Chandigarh
Saurabh Kumar, 2003 batch IFS officer of UT cadre, has been shifted from Andman & Nicobar to Chandigarh as DCF.
New Chennai Collector
Mythili K. Rajendran has been appointed new Collector of Chennai district in the place of Kakarla Usha.
Ms. Usha to head Bangalore centre of NIFT
Chennai Collector Ms. Kakarla Usha is joining as Director of the newly opened Bangalore based centre of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Ms. Usha who is an IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre belongs to the 1994 batch.
( We said this on 23 July )
New Principal of St Stphen's College
Reverend Valson Thampu has been appointed new principal of St. Stephen's College.
Rajroop Singh Chhonkar no more
Rajroop Singh Chhonkar former Director of the Dandakaranya project is no more.He was 80.He is survived by his wife,three sons,three daughters and relatives including his son in law Virendra Singh,CRM IRCTC,Bhopal.His cremation took place in Bhiwani on Saturday.
160 promoted as Assistant Commissioners by CBEC (UPDATED)
The Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) has promoted 160 superintendents as Assistant Commissioners of (C & CE)on ad hoc basis for six months.They are being given in situ promotion.However,their seniors have to ensure that none of them is facing any departmental action.Promoted officers have also been asked to inform concerning authorities their five choices by September 17,2008.Those who don't inform ,for them it will be construed as if they have no choice in this regard.Those who have been promoted are: M. G. Sangamkar , P. Sanjeevl , S. Sakthivel , J. K. Gulatl , D.H. Utpat, MS. Anita Sharma, Avtar Krishan Raina , Ashok Kumar Sharma , M.L. Narasimha MurthyY , A. S. Dattapra Kash , K. S. Srinivasan , M.A. Sathanandan , P.K. Govinda Pillal , M.R. Ingale, K. Kaail Shath , M.P. Mallappa , A.N. Prasanna Kumar , K.C. Appachu , A.S. Bljjal , H. Naraynan , G.Sampath Kumar , Harish KR. Bhandarl , M. S. Bhatnagar , Vinay Prakashjal , Mohan Lal Kathuria , O. B. Mundada , Amresh Kumar , RameshWar Singh, Awedhesh Kumar , A. K. jain , C. V. Parmar, R. K. Mishra , M. J. Motiramani, A. M.R. Khan , Purshcttam Gupta , S mt. Neelam Aneja, Nazakat Hussain, S.K. Pareek , Lallan Prasad, Ramnaresh Prasad, Naresh Prasad Singh, Rajesh Tomar, A.K. Nuhawan , LoveE Kumar Narang, S. Raghyendran, R.P. Rocqu, M.V. Thakur, R. D. Shedge, A. G. Kapre, D. G. Deshpande, S M Verghese, R. D. Goswami, A. V. Nadkarni, U. S. Deshpande, A.D. Paul , M. S. Survase H.B. Gawali, S. R. Payl, Ashok Kumar Sharma , Anil Kumar Khanna , Ravi Chand Sharma, Vinod K. Seth, Rajinder Kumar Malhotra, Madan Mohan Verma , Manilt Singh, Ashok Kampania, Suresh Chand Sharma , Kuldeep Singh, Chakarvarti Vais, Jagat Singh Juneja, P. K. Awasthi, S. K. Joshi, H.G. Bagwe, P. D. Kulkarni, A.D. Gaikar, P. S. Kukareja, D. V. Kulkarni, M.T. Mathew, C. R. Sukale , A. M. Shah, M. A. Hirani, P. R. Kulkarni, V. N. Sapre, V. G. Nevgi, D. S. Mane, H.R. Tiwari, S. M. Desai, A. P. Bhave, J. S. Rote, P. M. Gupte , J. H. Arora, C. N. Sawant, U.V. Deshpande C.G. Thoke, M. Sriramachandra Murihy, B. Ziauddin Ahmed, A. A. Bhosale, Asit Kumar Mohanty, Tapan Kumar Das, N. I. Kazi A. S. Kale, V. Sankarnarayanan, Rabindra Kda s -II, Suresh Kumar Nayak , Ashok Kumar Dutta, Atul Kumar Verma, S.K. Mondal, P.H. Bhoir, M. D. Mohekar, Smt. R. A. Rokade, Madanlal Mandar, U.S. Ingale, D. Mohandass, Dayaram, Babul Nath, Ram prasad) . , Arjun Singh, Jooesh Chand Das, Jimut Biswas, A.K.Das, Jayanta K. Nayak, K. N. Parmar , S. N. Parmar , K. L. Choudasama, H.C. DAS, D .Mallick , swapan kr Roy , G Malleshaiah , C.V.Mohan Kumar , Munnikrishna , A.N.Choudhary , N.S.Chhawal.R.N.Kachari , RaghavanKoya , G.L.Kotkar , H.R.Heena , H.M.Sachdev , K.V.Somnath , V.B.Tiwrekar , R.N.Tiwari , N.J.D'Souza , A.D.Pyorkar , R.k.More , M.H.J , Reddy , N.M.Desai , G.M.Mallick , S.K.Chakraborty , Arunabha Desarkar Tapankar hazra Arunkr das s.s. mukhopadhyay om prakash singh ajoy kumar chopra, s.n. Dole A.j. kanojla S.p. holemukhe, N. jangalayya, Amal B. barua, S.S.Sharma
259 MOUs signed with IPPs-says HP,Chief Secretary (UPDATED)
Mrs.Asha Swaroop, Chief Secretary said that the Government has signed 259 MOUs with an aggregate capacity of 829.35 MW for projects upto 5 MW with Independent Power Producers (IPPs). She said that being a hydro rich state, Himachal Pradesh has the potential in feeding the power deficient northern grid in particular and other grids of the country in general. She was presiding over the first Conference on Hydro Power Policy at HIPA, Shimla on September 13,2008 organized by HIMURJA (H.P. Energy Development Agency). She said that the year 2008 could be called the centennial year of H.P. Hydro, as Bhuri Singh Power House in Chamba district and Chaba in Shimla district were commissioned in 1908 in the 20th century and it was a matter of great pride that these are still in operation after a century.The Chief Secretary said that over next five years the government aims to ensure that installed capacity of the State reaches 12000 MW through medium and large projects and another 500 MW would be realized through small hydro projects by the end of 2012.

CORPORATE
Ombudsman to be appointed
An ombudsman will be appointed for regulating tariff structure at all airports and competition among fuel suppliers.
Vivek is CEO of Birla Sun Life
Kanwar Vivek has been appointed CEO of the Birla Sun Life Distribution Company.
Subramanian is IRF Chairman
R Subramanian has been appointed Chairman of the Indian Retail Forum.
NMDC pays final dividend of Rs. 210 crore to Ram Vilas Paswan
The National Minerals Development Corporation (NMDC) presented final dividend cheque of Rs. 210.64 crore to Indian Minister for Steel, Chemicals and Fertilisers Ram Vilas Paswan in Delhi on September 12,2008. Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that NMDC paid interim dividends of Rs. 430.37 crore earlier this year. With this the total dividend paid by NMDC to the Government for the year 2007-08 become Rs. 631 crore, which is the highest ever, dividend paid by NMDC.Presenting the cheque, Chairman and Managing Director of NMDC Rana Som said that NMDC has not increased prices of iron ore since October 1, 2007 & are much lower than the international market. The price revision is due from April.
A new showroom of Rolls-Royce cars,Delhi
Graeme Grieve, Director, Sales and Marketing, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars had inaugurated a new show room of Rolls Royce cars in Delhi located The Shangri-La Hotel.Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the dealership in Delhi is Yadur Kapur.This was second show room in India & 82nd in the world. The first show room of the car was opened in Mumbai located Atria Mall.Car's authorised dealers in Mumbai are Navnit Motors.

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Shouldn't India be worried about Bush's letter to Congress!!!!
For a clarification shouldn't India press????
But seems Mohna has chosen to ignore the letter!!!!
He should know better!!!!Mohna knows that the letter cannot be wished away!!!!!
Letter will be on record though in White House Bush would not stay!!!The letter shows US's mindset,
That if 'test ban' by India is not met!!!Letter should not be underplayed!!!!
Letter in strongest terms needs to be flayed!!!!Cabinet reshuffle in all probability will not take place!!!!
Because early next year elections Country will face!!Few probables will suffer acute heartburn!!!
That fate made them miss out on 'their turn'!!!!Recent revelations on the Judiciary are indeed worrying!!!!
And with an intrusive Media now like in the past there can be no burying!!!
'I have full trust in Judiciary' says an untrustworthy Laloo!!!!
Should the Judiciary feel proud on being given a medal by someone so chaloo???
Amrinder boasted time and again that no Judge could put him in jail!!!!!
And facts show this because he always managed to get bail!!!!
Our Judiciary wants to be treated like a Holy Cow,
To whom everyone should bow!!!
Judiciary feels it is not accountable and does not need to be transparent!!
Judges not willing to disclose their assets makes this very apparent!!!
Manmohan is very right when he asks for review of Judicial appointments!!!
Because Judiciary has caused in recent times numerous disappointments!!!
The entire Justice delivery system needs to be reviewed!!!!
And a lot needs to be renewed!!!
Justice delayed is justice denied!!!!
And Judges not being held accountable is justice defied!!!
Can Sonia stand up to Chiranjeevi…. not a chance?????
Sonia in her wildest dreams cannot make a crowd of lakhs dance!!!
YSR knows that his goose has been cooked!!!
Someone who met him said 'very hopeless he looked'!!!!
In AP Sonia Amma is perceived to be an electoral bird that flies in and flies out!!!!
And when it comes to language a few word is all that she can shout!!!
And double whammy anti incumbency will take its toll!!!
In AP both State's and Centre's anti incumbency will make Congress pay in the next poll!!!
Insiders say Congress is trying its best to find something to twist Chiranjeevi's haath!!!
What else can you expect from Congress when they have Amar's saath!!!As per Kamalnath PC's is stunting Indian exports!!!!
Lets see with what Chiddy or PC retorts!!!Could be Madam is using one of her pawns to hit out at Chiddy!!!!
In Punjabi it would be that after PC Sonia's put apni ik tiddi (one of her flea's)!!!
Seems that The Fixer is trying to bring the Raja and Runk to speak to each other!!!!
Working through Rahul to get a word to his Mother!!!
In the upcoming General Elections SP plans to use Big B in a big way!!!!
'Abh UP mien jurum jyaada hai' Big B will say and as per Maya bray!!!
See the Media bytes and Jaya's taunt is very evident!!!!
And it is indeed very clear what Jaya meant!!!
Indian Oil basket is now in double digit!!!
Ask Deora about reducing prices and see him fidget!!!
By the looks of it Oil will fall more!!!
Some say could go very soon to 94!!!!
Confucius says....Arab money made Oil rocket!!!!
And with high oil prices and oil derivative profits they filled apne sabh pocket!!!Adds....Many say Oil money made Oil prices rocket!!!!
And now falling oil prices have burnt a hole in many an Arab's pocket!!!!

Forum
Injustice to Group 'C' & 'B ' Govt. employees in 6th PCI may point out discrepancy in the Pay Commission finally accepted by the Government. In the report, there is huge increase in upper level while lower level gets meager increase.
As all know, around 95% Govt. employees are in Group 'D'.'C' & 'B '. However, there increase is very modest. All these would get basic pay [ pay in pay band + Grade pay] less than Rs. 20,000. Whereas, Directors and above would get at least Rs. 46,100/-. It may be added here where all Group 'D'.'C' & 'B ' Govt. employees are getting pay in the pay band by multiplying 1.86 factor whereas Directors and above level officers would get by multiplying 2.40-2.61. This is almost more than 10 years benefit / increment at one go for them. It is basic principle that pay should be multiplied by almost the same for all Government employees. Why the Government is giving benefits of more than 10 additional increments to Directors and above level officer. Is it not hand and glove of the senior bureaucracy who distributes benefits heavily to their kith and kin cadre whereas lower level staff got almost nothing in compared to that?
It is a decided fact that lower level staff gets some financial benefits due to promotion. However, in the present report, only one increment is granted on promotion. It is highly derogatory recommendations which give only pecuniary benefits for remaining service period for all Group 'D'.'C' & 'B ' Govt. employees. Needless to add, higher officer have already got fixed their pay in such a high level and got additional increment without any proper justification, that they need not to bother in this regard.
One eye-wash is made to most of the Group 'C' & 'B ' Govt. employees whose initial basic pay lies between 5000 to 8000. Most of the cases, pay commission recommended for up-gradation in the next pay-scale for example employees getting salary in Rs. 6500-200-13500 would get Rs. 7450-225-11500 etc. . However, their pay fixation would be made on the basis of pay drawn as on 1.1.2006. for example, in spite of upgradation to the pay scale of Rs. 7450-225-11500, if a Govt. employee is drawing Rs. 6900/-, they would get only 6900 x 1.86 = Rs. 12834/- and not even minimum of the prescribed pay scale 7450 x 1.86 = 13857/-. It is huge eye-wash made by the pay commission. Compare it this one a officer getting Rs. 18400/- would get Rs. 44700/- as its pay in the pay band i.e., multiplication of 2.42. Gr. 'A' officer getting benefits of more than 10 years /increment in the fixation whereas Gr. 'C' & 'B ' would get loss of around 3-4 years /increment in the fixation. Is not act of willful trying to sabotage career of lower staff and getting additional shine to Gr. 'A' service?
Here is simple pay fixation
For Gr. B,C & D staff: Existing basic pay x 1.86 or less = new pay
For Gr. A officer: Existing basic pay x 2.4 or more = new pay
Gr. A = luxurious AC room, only sign, seeking rule position, giving verbal direction
Gr. 'D' = Hard work
Gr. 'B' & 'C' = all file work including preparation of noting, drafting etc., explaining rule position and suggesting best option [ only signing is left to Gr. A' officerG SinhaPay revision has discouraged the lower employees
I would like to bring to the notice of the authorities concerned that new pay revision has discouraged the lower employees by merging the scale of 5000, 5500 and 6500, with the grade pay of 4200. Now the new promotion will increase only grade pay + one increment, whereas earlier it goes to the next scale. A UDC in the CSCS will be promoted to 5000 scale due to merger of pay. This is insufficient and arising dissatisfaction. Government has divided the officials as pre 2006 and post 2006, in order to mitigate protest.Sarvesh Kumar
CSS merger with CSSThis is with reference to comments made by Arun Kumar, CSS Officer. Kumar has very rightly acknowledged the fact that stagnation in CSSS is greater than CSS. Kumar has further advised that CSSS should fight their struggle for progression on their own in their own line. LE for PSs stands stopped forcibly in spite of the fact that the matter was subjudice. Courts also observe that cadre issues be left to executives/expert bodies. Now when these expert bodies are biased or behaving erratically then where the CSSS will go. I agree with Shri Kumar that there is certainly no comparison between the two services. Both have their own sets of allocated duties. Now authorities feels that there is no question of CSSS progression since merger is in the pipeline; this is the answer from all administrative authorities. Maximum they quote is that some Anomaly Committee would be formed to look into the issue of merger. Recent notification regarding formation of Committee on Cadre Restructuring of CSS nowhere mentions the CSSS unlike earlier occasions, just on the pretext that CSS would be a full-fledged cadre known in future!!! Now what option should CSSS fellow? I would like to invite all learned readers to comment.KaushalThis topic should be stopped now
My humble request is to please stop this VI th Pay Commission's recommendations topic now ever sarkari babu either IAS, IPS, IRS, UDC, LDC, CSSS, CSS has got the share what is meant for them.
There are other topics to discuss, My humble request is also to www.whispersinthecorridors.com to stop this useless topic VI th Pay Commission's recommendations. These sarkari babus will never be satisfied with what they get from Government and from public in the form of bribe or gifts.GurvinderI hope she remembers !My father is a retired Indian Railway Traffic Service Officer (IRTS:1959). BB Srivastava, Adviser Traffic (retired in 1993 -011-26132878). By virtue of his nature, personality and the post he held during the last few years of his service, he was helpful and fond of some young middle level IAS officers of that time representing their states, Dr. Manjula Subramanium being one of them. She had also got great respect for my father and when she was Commissioner of Ahemdebad my father and mother had visited Gujarat. She received my mother at the Railway Station with a bouquet. I hope she still remembers my father more so at the time of her retirement. Anurag Shrivastava
SOURCE: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
THE ECONOMIST
Indians have only succeeded in countries ruled by whitesIn this last Swaminomics of the millennium, I would like to sum up
our performance in the 20th century in one sentence. Indians have
succeeded in countries ruled by whites, but failed in their own.
This outcome would have astonished leaders of our independence
movement. They declared Indians were kept down by white rule and
could flourish only under self-rule. This seemed self-evident. The
harsh reality today is that Indians are succeeding brilliantly in
countries ruled by whites, but failing in India. They are flourishing
in the USA and Britain.
But those that stay in India are pulled down by an outrageous system
that fails to reward merit or talent. Fails to allow people and
businesses to grow, and keeps real power with netas, babus, and
assorted manipulators. Once Indians go to white-ruled countries, they
soar and conquer summits once occupied only by whites.
Rono Dutta has become head of United Airlines, the biggest airline in
the world. Had he stayed in India, he would have no chance in Indian
Airlines. Even if the top job there was given to him by some
godfather, a myriad netas, babus and trade unionists would have
ensured that he could never run it like United Airlines..
Rana Talwar has become head of Standard Chartered Bank Plc, one of
the biggest multinational banks in Britain, while still in his 40s.
Had he been in India, he would perhaps be a local manager in the
State Bank, taking orders from babus to give dud loans to politically
favoured clients.
Rajat Gupta is head of Mckinsey, the biggest management consultancy
firm in the world. He now advises the biggest multinationals on how
to run their business. Had he remained in India he would probably be
taking orders from some sethji with no qualification save that of
being born in a rich family.
Lakhsmi Mittal has become the biggest steel baron in the world, with
steel plants in the US, Kazakhstan, Germany, Mexico, Trinidad and
Indonesia. India's socialist policies reserved the domestic steel
industry for the public sector. So Lakhsmi Mittal went to Indonesia
to run his family's first steel plant there. Once freed from the
shackles of India, he conquered the world.
Subhash Chandra of Zee TV has become a global media king, one of the
few to beat Rupert Murdoch. He could never have risen had he been
limited to India, which decreed a TV monopoly for Doordarshan. But
technology came to his aid: satellite TV made it possible for him to
target India from Hong Kong. Once he escaped Indian rules and soil,
he soared.
You may not have heard of 48-year old Gururaj Deshpande. His
communications company, Sycamore, is currently valued by the US stock
market at over $ 30 billion, making him perhaps one of the richest
Indians in the world. Had he remained in India, he would probably be
a babu in the Department of Telecommunications.
Arun Netravali has become president of Bell Labs, one of the biggest
research and development centres in the world with 30,000 inventions
and several Nobel Prizes to its credit. Had he been in India, he
would probably be struggling in the middle cadre of Indian Telephone
Industries. Silicon Valley alone contains over one lac Indian
millionaires.
Sabeer Bhatia invented Hotmail and sold it to Microsoft for $ 400
million.
Victor Menezes is number two in Citibank. Shailesh Mehta is CEO of
Providian, a top US financial services company. Also at or near the
top are Rakesh Gangwal of US Air, Jamshd Wadia of Arthur Andersen,
and Aman Mehta of Hong Kong & Shanghai Banking Corp.
In Washington DC, the Indian CEO High Tech Council has no less than
200 members, all high tech-chiefs. While Indians have soared, India
has stagnated. At independence India was the most advanced of all
colonies, with the best prospects.Today with a GNP per head of $370, it occupies a lowly 177th position
among 209 countries of the world. But poverty is by no means the only
or main problem. India ranks near the bottom in the UNDP's Human
Development Index, but high up in Transparency International's
Corruption Index.
The neta-babu raj brought in by socialist policies is only one reason
for India's failure. The more sordid reason is the rule-based society
we inherited from the British Raj is today in tatters. Instead money,
muscle and influence matter most.
At independence we were justly proud of our politicians. Today we
regard them as scoundrels and criminals. They have created a jungle
of laws in the holy name of socialism, and used these to line their
pockets and create patronage networks. No influential crook suffers.
The Mafia flourish unhindered because they have political links.
The sons of police officers believe they have a licence to rape and
kill (ask the Mattoo family). Talent cannot take you far amidst such
rank misgovernance. We are reverting to our ancient feudal system
where no rules applied to the powerful. The British Raj brought in
abstract concepts of justice for all, equality before the law. These
were maintained in the early years of independence. But fifty years
later, citizens wail that India is a lawless land where no rules are
obeyed.
I have heard of an IAS probationer at the Mussorie training academy
pointing out that in India before the British came, making money and
distributing favors to relatives was not considered a perversion of
power, it was the very rationale of power.
A feudal official had a duty to enrich his family and caste. Then the
British came and imposed a new ethical code on officials. But, he
asked, why should we continue to choose British customs over desi
ones now that we were independent?
The lack of transparent rules, properly enforced, is a major reason
why talented Indians cannot rise in India. A second reason is the
neta-babu raj, which remains intact despite supposed liberalisation.
But once talented Indians go to rule-based societies in the west,
they take off. In those societies all people play by the same rules,
all have freedom to innovate without being strangled by regulations.
This, then, is why Indians succeed in countries ruled by whites, and
fail in their own. It is the saddest story of the century
Ravi Shankar Jayaram
Research associate
Council on Hemispheric Affairs
The Hague
Contributed by-Anita Saxena