WHISPERS' IMPACT
'Whispers' on our website whispersinthecorridors.com are taken very seriously by the Government, which takes adequate steps to plug loopholes or shortcomings in policy matters, if any. The investigations into the 2G spectrum Scam and role of a lobbyist, that is under scanner is an ample proof of the impact of whispersinthecorridors.com. A small news item published on our web site earlier about the lobbyist caught the attention of the government. While the news item did not name the industrial house or the lobbyist, the investigating agencies still took cognizance of the news item and started the investigations into it, which is on record now.

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> & <mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Aaj Ki Aawaz

CONVERSATION WITH AMAR,AKBAR AND ANTONY

My car's gone for repairs and so I take the 1736 fast from Churchgate to Andheri and just as I get to solving my favourite crossword in the evening newspaper at Marine Lines I hear three familiar voices.

Voices: Salaam Bharat Miya, Namaskar and Hullo.
Me: Salaam Akbar Miya, Namaskar Amar and Hullo Antony.

These three are regulars on this train and off and on when I travel I meet them and I love talking with them. Not only time pass but thought provoking too!

Amar: Arre Boss long time no see!
Me: I missed meeting you guys the other day as I reached the station a little late and had to take the 1732 train.
Akbar: Miya Nitish ne toh bajaa diya Congress and Laloo ka band!
Antony: That's putting it lightly!
Me: Akbar Miya this time even the Muslims have voted for Nitish!
Akbar: Arre Miya kabh takh waadon ke bharose pe jiye ! Come election and Congress and Laloo show us 'sabz baag' and then they forget! Nitish ne kaam kiya, rozi diya and Nitish Raaj mein Musalman befiqar ho karr jiya!
Amar: And all that Congress and Laloo do is criticize! Rahul and Sonia during their campaigning just criticised Nitish! This actually made the people realize that Congress lies, because Public knows Nitish has delivered on his promises!
Antony: And I feel this time the biggest positive factor has been people accepting the 'vote ghoos' but then voted as per their own evaluation! Laloo and Congress's confidence prior to the election was based on their 'distribution of vote ghoos'…… they had cast their vote ghoos net far and wide and hoped it would net huge number of votes!
Me: India may still have caste and religious equations but now performance is what endears one to all ….. cuts across all lines! Fact is the stomach has no religion! Amar: Arre Congresss toh ek dum jhooti nikli! They keep saying mehengai will come down. Arre Bhai humaari toh mehengai ne hawaa nikal dee!
Antony: Banana was the only fruit I could afford to buy and now even Banana is out of my reach! Boss now they sell Bananas by weight! India was a Banana Republic as Banana was in everyone's reach and was the commonest fruit!!
Akbar: Miya Neta logon ko mehengai ki aagh nahi karti touch! Unn ke almaariyon ki safe mein paisa bharra hotha hai khuchaa - kach! Me: Wah Akbar Miya.... Wah!!
Amar: Now we ourselves water down milk! I recall some time back I used to tell the milkman to take some more money but not add water to the milk! Me: Yes Congress will have to face the music electorally for the price rise! Though I will not be surprised if for upcoming elections Sonia issues tickets to only those Congressman who give a famished look! Though it will be difficult to find such Congressmen….. but then as Congressmen can do anything for a ticket, maybe slimming centres will be deluged with Congressmen wanting to loose weight!!
Amar: Arre yeh Rahul ne Modi ko Mao ke saath kyon compare kiya?
Antony: Seems the lad has not learnt a lesson from the Bihar election. He criticized a performing CM and see what he got in return! And now he's criticized another performing CM!!! Once is a mistake…… twice is a blunder!!!
Akbar: Congress has this habit of painting others black to look white itself! Amar : See Rahul airdrops into a State and the Public knows he's here for votes! Rahul's visit is perceived as ….. aaye, bolle aur khiske!!! The lad is prone to doing dramas….like staying overnight in Dalit homes….. or breaking the cordon and jumping into the public or doing manual labour!
Me: I feel Congress has to realize that Public is no longer naïve! They tend to see through all this drama! They want results and not just dramas or lip service! Antony: Arre Boss what does this Raja fellow eat????? He's made so much money …… must be eating gold leaf covered rice and dosas!
Amar: Arre Bhai aise logon ki kismet mein humaare jaise khaana kaha likha hothaa hai!!! Diabetes , BP, Dill ki bimaari ki wajeh se their diet is restircted!!!
Akbar: Miya aise logon we wajeh se Doctoron aur Vakeelon ki chaandi hothi hai!! Pehle sehath gawaathe hai paise banane ke liye aur firr paisa gawaathe hai sehath wapas paane ke liye!!
Me: Yes maybe God makes them pay but when it comes to the Law these people are able to get away!! I am sure Raja will ultimately get away!!! Yes the matter will drag on and he'll pay through his nose for legal help and I'm sure his health will suffer too!!
Antony: That's why I think Rattan Tata has said India is going the Banana Republic way...... and it is not because Banana is the National fruit!!
Akbar: You know I always felt that Tatas were above all this. But just the other day I read the transcripts of the conversation between Radia and Rattan Tata and I felt like saying et tu Tata!!!
Amar: I read the transcripts of the conversation between Barkah Dutt and Radia!! By the way why is Government scared of Barkah Dutt????
Antony: Why Barkah only even Vir Singhvi is involved!!!
Me: This allegation has been doing the rounds now for months! Like our Judiciary our Media too is like a holy cow! Our Netas circumvent the law via power! The rich and famous are able to buy their way out and circumvent the law via money power!
Akbar: Law is only for us! Here the smaller the chori more the punishment and bigger the chori more the chances you can walk free!!
Me: Yes a Banana Republic is where the law is not the same for everyone!!!

The train nears Andheri and I get up to get off. Just then my eye catches a picture on the front page in the evening in my hand. It shows… Kalmadi garlanding winners on the podium at the Asian Games, smiling ear to ear. I get off and walk to the window and show the newspaper headline to my three friends.

Me: And where crime pays!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

NDA to return to power
General perception emerging in public is that if general elections were held now then the NDA will return to power at the centre.

BUREAUCRACY


Decision about new CBI Director today
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a top level meeting, on Monday, to decide about new Director of the CBI. If insiders are to be believed, Prime Minister has so far not given his mind to anyone. It is however, believed that either A P Singh will be appointed new Director or present Director Ashwini Kumar would get one month extension till the fresh panel comes through the new CVC.

Will CVC resign ?
Grapevine has it that Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister,T K Nair has conveyed CVC, P J Thomas, to tender has resignation.
Nehchal Sandhu to take over as OSD in IB
Newly appointed Intelligence Bureau Chief Nehchal Sandhu will take over as OSD on December 1. 1973 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre Sandhu would succeed Rajiv Mathur as IB Chief on January 1.
Sumit Majumdar to be CBEC Chairman on December 1
Sumit Majumdar is all set to take over as new Chairman of the CBEC on December 1. Formal orders are expected to be issued on Tuesday. He will succeed Sridhar who is retiring on Tuesday.
( We said this on August 16 and again on November 9)
Rajesh Dhingra to be Member of CBEC
Rajesh Dhingra will take over as new Member of the CBEC on December 1. He is 1975 batch IRS (C&CE) officer.
( We said this on October 8 )
Khanna promoted in R&AW
Rajinder Khanna is believed to have been promoted to the rank of Additional Director in the R&AW. He is 1978 batch IPS officer.
Mansoor Ali Sayed to be empanelled
Mansoor Ali Sayed, Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police, is likely to be empanelled for the post of Special Commissioner of Delhi Police (ADG). Order will be issued within two days. He is an IPS officer of the 1982 batch who belongs to UT cadre. Will another officer of this batch J K Sharma also be empanelled ?
Will Partha Bhattacharya join Planning Commission ?
Grapevine has it that CMD of the Coal India Ltd. Partha Bhattacharya is joining the Planning Commission after his superannuation on February 28.
D. C. Garg is no.2 in panel for CIL's chief
D. C. Garg Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL),is number two in panel for the slot of Chairman Coal India Ltd (CIL) interviews for which took place on November 25, 2010
Who will be DGCA
Who will take charge of DGCA on Tuesday ?.It is believed either the new Secretary Zaidi will hold additional charge or Additional Secretary Bharat Bhushan would be given additional charge .
Ms. Neelam Shami Rao to be CVO, NIFT
Ms. Neelam Shami Rao is poised to be CVO, NIFT. She is Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer of the 1992 batch.
Who will head NHAI ?
Selection of new Chairman of the NHAI is expected to be made soon.Three months extended tenure of the Chairman Brijeshwar Singh is coming to an end on Tuesday.It is believed either Secretary R S Gujral will get additional charge or Brijeshwar Singh will get another three months extension.
Sharda Prasad to resume duty on December 1,2010
Sharda Prasad, Director General (DG), Employment and Training, who was on leave will be resuming his duty on December 1, 2010. He is an IAS officer of the 1981 batch who belongs Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Dipesh Juneja in ITBP is DIG,Chandigarh
Dipesh Juneja who had joined ITBP on deputation has been posted in Chandigarh. Juneja who is an IPS officer of the 1992 batch belongs to the Uttarakhand cadre.
1989 batch of IRTS to get elevated SAG soon
As the grapevine has it, 22 IRTS cadre officers belonging to the 1989 batch have been cleared in a DPC meeting for elevation to the Senior Administrative Grade (SAG). They are: N. Sri Kumar, Manoj Kumar, Vishwanath Thakur, N. Srinivas, S.K. Jain, S. Mazumdar, D.Y. Naik, Vivek Shrivastava, Chittaranjan Swain, Prabhat Ranjan, Sanjay Bajpai, Alok Sharma, Ravinesh Kumar, Vikas Kumar, R.K. Kashyap, Mohammed Owais, Sanjay Mishra, Prabhat Dansana, Vijay Bhaskar, Jai Singh Meena, B. Nagya and G. Vishwanathan. Formal orders will take sometime.
Gujarat - the sleeping lion has woken up
The Secretary Gujarat Tourism department Vipul Mitra says the state's brand ambassador Amitabh Bachchan has proved to be a big hit as far as promoting Gujarat's tourist destinations were concerned. "With Bachchan we got larger numbers, 47 percent increase in tourists and investors rushing in to set up resorts and hotels. Land prices in Gir and Dwarka have shot up multiple times in last couple of months as a large number of resorts are coming up, he added. Now there is a pressure on administration to deliver. Lastly use of technology, websites, call centres, virtual helpdesks are very important. We are doing all this in Gujarat. He says, in the next five years Gujarat will race past most of the other Indian states. We have got a new logo and are privatizing existing properties. We have excellent roads, electricity and safety records. And we have so much to showcase. The sleeping lion has woken up, he adds. Vipul Mitra who is an IAS officer of the 1986 batch & belongs to the Gujarat cadre.

IPS officer unlikely to join NPA ?
Dr Soorya Thankppan is now unlikely to go on deputation to the National Police Academy Hyderabad. The Orissa Government is reported not to have given permission to 2001 batch IPS officer, Dr Surya, for central deputation.
Rajiv Malhotra posted in FM's office
Rajiv Malhotra has been posted as Additional Economic Advisor in the office of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. He is an Indian Economic Service (IES) officer of the 1987 batch.
Rahul Dev quits CNEB, joins Aaj Samaj as Editor-in-Chief
Rahul Dev has resigned from the Hindi news channel CNEB where he was Editor-in-Chief and CEO and joined Aaj Samaj where he will be Editor-in-Chief of both the newspaper and magazine domains. He had joined CNEB in September 2008, few months after launch of the channel.
Railways transfers and postings
Surender Pal of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from NR and posted in the cadre on NR itself, YP Singh of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from NR to be posted as CTE on NR itself, Mukesh Kumar Garg of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from NCR and posted as CTE on NCR itself, AF Shevare of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from NCR and posted as CAO(C)-II in SAG, VK Govil of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from RB to NCR to be appointed in HAG and posted as CAO(C), G. Narayanan of HAG/IRSE has been on return from leave transferred from SR to be posted as PCE/SR, Ajai Kumar Srivastava, Group`B` officer, has been transferred from NER, as Sr. AFA(C) to NR and posted in the cadre, Pompa Babbar of GM has been transferred from ICF also to look after the current duties of the post of GM/SR in addition to her own, till resumption of duties by Deepak Krishan, GM/SR, Dr. Shushil Kr.Sharma, Sr. Rajbhasha Adhikari has been transferred from NCR to NR in the same capacity against an existing vacancy and Ramesh Kumar of SAG/IRSE has been transferred from NER to CORE in the same capacity and posted as CE.
Last date for participation in Climate Change course extended
A Group Training Course in Development of Strategies on Climate Change is slated to be be held in Japan from January 10, 2011 to March 5, 2011. The last date of accepting applications for the same has been extended upto December 6, 2010.
CSS officer Balram appointed as Dy Secr
A Balaram, CSS has been appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Department of Personnel & Training.
Letika Saran re-appointed DGP of TamilNadu
Letika Saran has been re-appointed as the Director-General of Police (DGP) in TamilNadu/.1976 batch IPS officer Letika Saran is the first person to be appointed DGP in the country through the process of empanelment by the UPSC in the wake of the Prakash Singh's case. Infact her appointment as DGP had been set aside by the Madras High Court on October 8,
IAS changes in Jharkhand
Sudhir Prasad has been given full charge of drinking water and sanitation department. P.K. Jajoria will now continue to function as the urban development secretary.
Mahto is new Advocate General of Bihar
Ram Balak Mahto has been appointed new Advocate General of Bihar.
IAS officer suspended
1994 batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh has been suspended .
SBI official Arora transferred
Ravi Arora, Assistant General Manager, Commercial Branch, Mid Corporate Group, Dadar, Mumbai has been posted as Deputy General Manager, Hyderabad Circle.
IPS reshuffle in Rajasthan
There is major IPS reshuffle in Rajasthan.Altogether 57 officers including 5 ADGs,11 IGs and 20 SPs have been transferred.
While Suresh Chaudhary has been made the Additional Director General of Police Traffic, Ravindra Singh Dhillon is the new ADG Railways. Similarly, Manoj Bhatt has now been posted as ADG of police headquarters, Jaipur, Jaswant Sampatram as ADG Vigilance and Krishna Kumar Sharma is ADG Planning and welfare. Besides, Sunil Kumar Malhotra has been made IG Jail, Dr. Hemant Kumar Purohit IG Railways, Dalpat Singh Dinkar - IG, kota range, Kota, Dr. Alok Tripathi has been appointed the new IG Police, Intelligence, Jaipur, Rajiv Kumar Daasot is IG Jaipur Range (Second), Jaipur, Mohan Lal Lathar is IG RAC, Rajasthan, Jaipur, MC Meena has been made IG Police CID (CB) Jaipur, Ramphal Singh has been made IG Law and Order, Jaipur, Utkal Ranjan Sahu - IG PolicePlanning, Modernisation and Welfare, Rajasthan, Jaipur, Mrs Neena Singh has been made IG Police Headquarters Rajasthan, Jaipur, T guite - IG Bikaner Range, Bikaner, Govind Gupta - Dy IG Jail, Jodhpur, Sunil Dutt - Dy IG Police Armed Batallion - 1, Jaipur, Ashok Kumar Rathore - Dy IG CID (CB) Rajasthan, Jaipur, Sachin Mittal - Additional Director - RPA, Jaipur, Sanjeev Kumar narjari - Dy IG Anti-corruption Bureau, Jodhpur, LN Meena - Deputy Director, Police Intelligence, Jaipur, Nisar Ahmad Faarooqui - Dy IG Police Jail, Udaipur, Mehtab Singh - Dy IG Law and Order, Jaipur, Ranjeet Singh - Dy IG RAC - II, Jaipur, G N Purohit - Dy IG ACB - II, Jaipur, S C Kalla - Dy IG Jail, Jaipur, Dr. Giriraj Lal Meena - SP Sikar, Gajanand Verma - Commandant STS, Jaipur, Mohan Singh Nitharwal - SP Jaipur (Rural), Devendra Singh - Commandant 5th Batallion, RAC, Jaipur, Vipin Kumar Pandey - SP Ajmer, Alok Kumar Vashishtha - SP Udaipur, Dr. BL Meena - SP Nagor, Mrs. Lata manoj Kumar - SP Banswada, Dr. Vijendra Jhala - SP Headquarters, Jaipur, Rohit Mahajan - SP Traffic, Jaipur, Rakesh Saxena - Commandant 10th Batallion, RAC, Bikaner, Ratan Lal - Commandant 3rd Batallion, RAC, Bikaner, Vipul Chaturvedi - SP Sirohi, Shiv Lal Joshi - SP Jhunjhun, Bal Mukund Verma - SP Hanumangarh, Hari Prasad Sharma - SP Jodhpur (City), Mahesh KumarGoel - SP Alwar, Bahadur Sin gh Rathore - Commandant 4th Batallion, RAC, Jaipur, S N Khinchi - SP Churu, Hinglajdan - SP Jhalawad, Satyaveer Singh - SP Dausa, Gaurav Srivastava -SP CID (CB) Jaipur, Mrs. S Parimala - Asstt IG (Training) Jaipur, Msd. K B Vandana - Commandant , Hadi Rani Batallion, Jaipur, Vikas Kumar - SP Chittorgarh, Rajesh Meena - SP Jalore, Sawai Singh Choudhary - SP Taank, Ajay Pal Lamba - SP Pali, Anshuman Bhomiya - SP Jaisalmerand Don K Jose - SP of Dungarpur.
Sharma is VC of Rajasthan University
Gujarat's Bhavnagar University Vice-Chancellor B. L. Sharma has been appointed as Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan University.

NO decision about CBI Director !
Officially no decision has been taken so far about the new Director CBI. Prime Minister Manmohan singh heard everybody in the meeting but did not give his mind .It means announcement of the new Director will be made at the last moment on Tuesday.
Ashish Kumar Singh is Secretary to Maharashtra CM
Ashish Kumar Singh who hitherto was Additional Commissioner of Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has joined as Secretary to new Mahrashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Ashish Kumar Singh is an IAS officer of the 1988 batch who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre. Singh had served with Prithviraj Chavan in Delhi before joining the MCGM.
(We said this on November 9, 2010)
Ms.Chandra Iyengar retires on November 30
Ms. Chandra Iyengar Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to Maharashtra Government will be superannuating on November 30, 2010.She is an IAS officer of the 1973 batch who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre.
A race is on for ACS Home, Masharashtra
A race is on for the post of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) to Maharashtra Government is on. Names of certain officers are in circulation. They are: U.C.Sarangi (1977 batch), Ratnakar Gaikwad (1975 batch) and J.K. Banthia (1975 batch). One thinking is that till the assembly session commencing on December 1, 2010 in Nagpur concludes, additional charge of ACS Home may be given to J.S. Saharia (1978 batch).
Jagan goes Sharad pawar way
As predicted on this website November 26 Jagan reddy son of YSR has raised a banner of revolt against the Congress party,


RTI

Adverse entry in ACR of CPIO

The initial application for seeking information remained unanswered and during the first appeal, the CPIO was directed to provide information to the appellant. On not receiving the desired information, the applicant preferred second appeal before the Commission. The respondent submitted several administrative reasons for not providing information in time which failed to impress the Commission. The Commission took a serious view of the conduct of the PIO who was found extremely casual towards her duties mandated under the RTI Act. The CIC directed to provide full and complete information to the applicant within one week of the receipt of the order. Under section 20 (2) of the RTI Act, the Commission directed to make an adverse entry in the ACR of the PIO and issue her a memo warning her to be more vigilant in future while dealing with the RTI applications.


Comments

Adverse entry in the ACR is one of the possible pitfalls of not fulfilling the responsibilities of a PIO for which the deemed PIO too, should be careful about.


[Ajay Bhagat v. Jawahar Navodya Vidyalaya in Adjunct to Appeal No. CIC/SG/A/2010/000453DS]


- Weekly article by Dr. (Mrs.) Anuradha Verma
(dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in), RTI Consultant to IIM, Indore and Co-author of the book: RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE by Taxmann.
(The views are Personal)

CORPORATE
ONGC bags "International Partner of the Year" Award

ONGC has been conferred the coveted "International Partner of the Year" Award for 2010 for its outstanding endeavours and achievements through its Methane to

Market (M2M) initiatives.
'International Partner of the Year Award' is one of the most prestigious awards in the oil and gas upstream sector instituted by the United States Environment Protection Agency (US EPA) under its 'Natural Gas STAR Programme'. The award is traditionally given to an organisation in recognition of its commendable jobs towards the M2M programme and mitigation of fugitive emission. The rigour of the selection process can be gauged from the fact that only three other organisations have so far been selected for this award since its inception in 1997. And ONGC is the first non-North American oil and gas company to have been selected for this prestigious award. The award was received by ONGC Team led by A B Chakraborty, Head Carbon Management Group on November 2, 2010 during the 17th Annual Natural Gas STAR Implementation Workshop in New Orleans, Louisiana USA.
Lal is CGM of SBH
S K Lal has taken over as Chief General Manager of State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH).
NHPC Chairman gets award
S.K. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of NHPC Ltd, has been
conferred with a 'Life Time Achievement Award' for "achieving
excellence in productivity, quality, innovation and management. by the
Institute of Economic Studies (IES), New Delhi.
Malla appointed Dir (Sales & Mktg), Novotel
Aditya Shamsher Malla has been appointed as the Director (Sales and
Marketing), Novotel at Hyderabad Airport.
Kaloo re-elected KPA President
Ghulam Hassan Kaloo has been elected as President of Kashmir Press Association for a further period of three years.
Penkar appointed Dir (Training & Guest Exp.) Sofitel Mumbai
Lebana Ezriel Penkar has joined Sofitel Hotel Mumbai BKC, as Director (Training and Guest Experiences).
Jagannathan quits DNA?
R Jagannathan , Managing Director, Daily News & Analysis (DNA) is learnt to have quit the Newspaper.
Shah appointed Global Sales Mgr. , Jumeirah Group
Sonu Shah has been appointed as Global Sales Manager(Western India),
Jumeirah Group.
Heidari appointed GM Renaissance Mumbai Convention Center
Saied Heidari has been appointed as General Manager , Renaissance Mumbai Convention Center Hotel. German luxury carmaker Mercedes- Benz today said it has appointed Peter T Honegg as the head of the Indian operations from the first quarter of 2011,following resignation by its current MD and CEO Wilfried Aulbur.
"Peter T Honegg will succeed Wilfried Aulbur as the new MD and CEO of Mercedes-Benz India," the Indian subsidiary of the company said in a statement.

FORUM
(The views expressed in this column are of the contributors. We do not owe any responsibility, whatsoever, of the views of our surfers as they are their personal opinion. However, we would also request our contributors not to be personal, directly or indirectly, in presenting their views. Instead of countering the views which ‘X’ has already expressed, our contributors are advised to present their own views. Also be brief, say about 200 words at the most since any views longer than that if eliminated at our end would carry the risk of the contrbutor’s item losing its original essence)

CJI should examine AG's submissions

I am sitting judge of the highest court in India. My head hangs up in shame on observations of my colleague Attorney General regarding the eligibility of appointment of CVC. I have written to the President of India to review his remarks. We are sure CJI and his bench will examine AG's submissions.

Justice (Name not mentioned in the email)

SC may gag media

Supreme court of india is likely to gag the media from publishing the Radia tapes. A PIL may be moved in SC early this week. SC judges are reportedly not happy with Ratan TATA's name being dragged into the controversy.

Justice ( Retd) Khanna

What remains of the Rule of Law now?

Something "rotten' in a High Court: laments the Supreme Court! Only on 22nd November this year the AG told the court that honesty or integrity was no criterion for appointments, including the appointment of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner(CVC), Government Of India. The Court is not reported to have reacted at all. The government servants are administered the vigilance oath every year under orders of the CVC. What is it meant for? To remain honest? But honesty does not guarantee a promotion even for the best candidate. Were the best candidates chosen to discharge the responsibilities of the post of Cabinet Secretary, administration would not have fallen down to such low levels where hordes of senior most civil, police & defence services officers came under the vigilance lens in less than 3 months. The people were equally unhappy with the way justice was being administered in India but they still hoped that judges were by and large men of integrity and their honesty worth emulation. They entertained high hopes from the judiciary inspite of lurking suspicions to the contrary. But their suspicions have been proved right by the observations of the Supreme Court! What remains of democracy now? People's first disenchantment came from their MPs/MLAs. So one pillar of democracy crumbled! The second pillar of the Executive too went down simultaneously, culminating in the 2-G scam. The judiciary has brutally crushed the hopes of the aam aadmi and the rusted third pillar is also gone(no gain by covering the fact under the carpet that there exists a thriving nexus between the police & judiciary at lower level against the aam aadmi, for whom the impractical laws are foreign and irrelevant and a source of continuing exploitation that has assumed more dangerous proportions than during the firangee raj. Political thinkers have called the press as the fourth pillar of democracy. Unfortunately that pillar had fallen down long ago, without the aam aadmi becoming even aware of it, if the giant killers of the Indian media on the pay rolls of Ms Radia are any indication. And Radia is not the only PR specialist: there is a thriving tribe of some of the finest brains devoted to Public Relations Industry(PR). Americans are not happy unless they use another word for the English word: hence Lobbyist for PR. The Indian Democracy now rests in the air. There is nothing to wonder, since such feats are nothing new to India. Visitors to the Konark temple in Orissa are told that there used to be an idol of Lord Vishnu at the top of the temple, which hung in the air(not supported by any pillars or support). What was this wonder? I would not like to deprive the tourist Guide of his income by revealing the mystery as told to me by him! I can believe him because our Democracy too is suspended in the air without support from the four pillars as is was supposed to have been placed on!

M L Gupta

UPSC deteriorates

UPSC is no more a respectable organisation. DPC cases are examined upto Undersecretary level and issues are raised in piecemeal basis. The points not relevant as per UPSC guidelines are also referred to Admn. ministries. There is complete pick and choose policy and no check at senior level with the result that cases are being delayed for DPC for consideration. It is right time for UPSC to wake up and conduct DPC in time bound manner rather delaying it for months/years.

Ajay

Kudos to PM !

It's good that the Congress party is showing exit doors to some leaders in the interest of the country and party's image. It was Raja, followed by Kalmadi, followed by Chawan , Rochia. Media reports that Sheila Dixit is on the way to exit , followed by Hooda , followed by Gehlot for various reasons of corruption, deteriorating governance, non performance etc . Finally, the PM seems to have applied the philosophy of PAR"s to the politicians also , that existed only for bureaucrats. Kudos to him.

Agrawal

Gehlot's status increases

After the congress debacle in Bihar election, Rajasthan has emerged as the single state with Congress majority MPs in the Hindi cow belt. The status of Gehlot has increased in the party. This may make the CM to wake up from slumber. People are waiting to see good administration or else he may follow Mukul Wasnik and Bihar. People are interested in improvement in material comforts and development. Mere sleeping of the Chief Secretary and Collectors in villages would not improve the living status of the aam admi. In fact it's a burden on Patwaris, SDMs and Village man as they have to stay awake in the village to go through the ritual conducted by these officers. These stunts will give some media publicity and not development and so not the votes. Wake up man, wake up.

Kunal