What people say about us !

Very informative website.

Amit Mathur

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Obama has a wish list and the wish list has been handed over to PM!!! Top of the list is watering down the Nuclear Civil Liability provisions.....both GE and Westinghouse have petitioned via their lobbyists to the American Government that India's Nuclear Civil Liability provisions are unacceptable..... despite the yarn that PM did not succumb to US pressure please do note he said........ US Companies concerns will be addressed..... so that means the packaging is on...... PM and his spin Docotrs will package it as if US has conceded to India... gift packaging!! France's Areva on the other hand has no problems with the provisions!! US is also still eyeing the Fighter Jet Deal. One must not forget for the US Economy it's imperative that it's Arms Industry keeps getting business and for this even if it has to instigate an Arms race or maybe a war or two 'all is fair in National (US's) interest'!!! Spin Doctors are already working that new provisions do not erode provisions of Nuke Civil Liability Law... I repeat this because it should be a cause on concern for India and Indians... Obama has demanded it and it will be done!!

And what Obama does wish it is a command for our PM!!!
Sometimes I feel more than Sonia he is Obama's GM!!

The floodgates of FDI are being opened!!! First 26% FDI in Pension Funds...... will benefit pensioners!! Then 26 % FDI in Aviation Sector.... money is needed in an Industry that is bleeding!! 51% FDI in multi brand Retail...... now this could end up in the small retailers taking a hit.... and down the line Indians taking a hit!!! In both Commodities and in 51% FDI Multi brand essentials (foodgrains, dals, veggies and fruits) should be kept out..... okay PM will say 'but this does not happen anywhere in the World'..... well Mr. Manmohan Singh we need to think out of the box and ensure that our own needs are not overlooked while allowing FDI into India!!!! Tesco , Carrefour and Wal-mart have the ability to control prices in the food sector, as they are middlemen, wholesaler and retailer, and sometimes hoarder, all rolled into one!! Today what is actually needed is 'reigning in the kind of profit that middlemen rake in' via short-changing not only the Farmer but also the consumer!! Reducing the losses in food grains and veggies from farm to fork!! And also stopping the huge leakage in India's Agri land bank!!

And in Obama's wish list FDI also figures!!!
Organized trade of the size of Wal-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour disorganized trade these literally wipes out...disfigures!!!

It seems in Congress kicking is self defence!!! Singh and Prasad say they ran up to the protesters who were protesting at Rahul's Chopper landing site to protect Rahul!!!! Fact is they reacted only after the Cops had already 'floored' the protestors and were giving them a taste of their lathis!! Cabinet Minister behaving like street brawlers ... unacceptable!!! Okay now coming to UP...... it was being said that Congress-RLD talks had broken down and now RLD was in secret parlays with BJP.... a few hours later it was revealed that Digvijay was in talks with RLD!!! Mulayam has said that Azam Khan could be the next CM of UP.... an indication that pre-election there will be no alliance with Congress!!! Though Mulayam did not decimate Congress in his 'election kick off' speech!! The alliances will fructify post the election... and of course will not reflect what Public has voted for!!

Rahul has a lot to lose if Congress is not able to get a Congressman to sit on UP's throne!!
And there is no way in hell that Congress can achieve this alone!!

PS..... After Swamy got the file PC's 'sleepless in Delhi'!!! File shows PC was aware of the 'dilution of stakes game to sell the licenses' and he even approved of it 'classifying the0 blatant chori as FDI'!!! Why is PM living in a 'dream World'.... China and India rise together.... he needs to just got to Shanghai and he'll realize that China has already 'risen'!!! Rahul ko gussa kyon aatha hai.... after seeing the free for all at the Chopper landing site and realizing that Opposition will joke that he literally kick started his campaign Rahul got angry...anger for people... a bit too late in the day!!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

Maharashtra's winter assembly session starts on Dec 12
Winter session of Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly slated to be held from December 12 to December 23, in Nagpur, is going to see as many as 20 bills for passage. However, the much contentious Lokpal bill has not been listed as yet, say sources in the state government.

BUREAUCRACY

Who will be Indian High Commissioner in UK?
Who will be new Indian High Commissioner in UK? Still tie is said to be between two IFS officers Pawan Verma and Jaimini Bhagwati.

Suresh Kumar to be Director (Finance), HOCL
Suresh Kumar R, GM, HOCL, has been selected for the post of Director (Finance), Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited (HOCL) at a meeting of Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) held on Friday. As many as nine persons were interviewed for the same.

Rajeev Lochan poised to be Director, Road Transport
As the grapevine has it, Rajeev Lochan on central deputation is poised to be a Director in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. He is an officer of 1992 batch who belongs to the Indian Defence Services of Engineers (IDSE) cadre.

Ahmad to be Dy Secretary, Disinvestment
Ghyasuddin Ahmad is joining the Department of Disinvestment as Deputy Secretary. He is 2000 batch IDAS officer.

TN cadre IAS, Ms. Qudsia Gandhi to retire this month
Ms. Qudsia Gandhi, Additional Chief Secretary and Chairperson-cum- Managing Director of Power Finance and Infrastructure Development Corporation of Tamil Nadu, is retiring in November. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

Justice Rajmani Chauhan to join Army Tribunal in Delhi
Justice Rajmani Chauhan is going to join the Delhi located principal bench of Army Tribunal as Judicial member.

Book written by wife of a Customs officer
A book of poems has been written by Mrs. Nivedita Mallick, wife of Neerav Kumar Mallick, IRS. It is named "Musings" and is available on Flipkart, Amazon, Indiaplaza and will soon be available in major book stores like Landmark, Croosword etc.

New DG, IDSA to be appointed directly
As the grapevine has it, new DG, IDSA, will be appointed directly by the Government of India (GoI). Dr Arvind Gupta is said to be the front-runner.

Pune to have Green Tribunal Circuit Bench
There is a proposal to set up Green Tribunal Circuit Bench in Pune. Operations will start soon.

Maira writes a book on Capitalism
Planning Commission Member, Arun Maira, has written a book called "Transforming Capitalism - Improving the World for Everyone"

Post of CMD vacant in MOIL Limited
The post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) is lying vacant in MOIL limited. Those willing to apply can send applications before January 23, 2012.

Mysore DRM, B B Verma shifted to Northern Railway
B B Verma, DRM, Mysore, South Western Railway (SWR), has been transferred to Northern Railway (NR) and posted as FA & CAO/Traffic.

Kerala to have SBI
The Kerala Government has decided to set up a State Bureau of Investigation on the lines of the Central Bureau of Investigation.

IAS changes in Orissa
Arbinda Kumar Padhee will now be Director Projects. Usha Padhee has been appointed Director NRLM and Director Employment Mission. Manish Kumar Verma will be Additional Secretary Water Resources.

Pakistan: Appointments to higher judiciary
Pakistan's parliamentary committee on judicial appointments has approved names of Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chowdhary and Justice Ijaz Afzal Khan Chief Justices of Lahore and Peshawar High Court respectively for appointment as Judges of the Supreme Court. Justice Gulzar Ahmed of Sindh High Court too has been approved for elevation to the apex court. However for some reasons not made public decision regarding another judge of the Sindh High Court Justice Mohammad Atahar Saeed whose name was recommended by the judicial commission headed by chief justice Iftekhar Chowdhary for elevation to the apex court has been withheld. The committee has also approved appointment of three members of the bar- one each from Punjab, Sindh and FATA as additional judges in the Islamabad High Court.

IPS changes in Uttar Pradesh
DIG Fire Services, D D Mishra will now be DIG Anti-Corruption Bureau. DIG Atul Kumar has been made DIG prosecution and Ajay Kumar Mishra has been sent to the election cell in the DGP headquarters.

IPS officer appointed MD in Kerala
IPS officer Tomin J. Thachankary has been appointed the new managing director of MarketFed in Kerala.

NBCC's CMD lays foundation of NBCC Heights (UPDATED)
Vishnu P.Das, CMD, NBCC, laid the Foundation Stone of NBCC Heights - a multi storied residential complex in Sector 89, Gurgaon recently. Ajay K. Garg, Director (Finance); A.K. Mittal, Executive Director (Co-ordination); Rakesh Marya, Executive Director were also present on the occassion.

Rajeev Bhargawa refuses to be GM RWF,Bangalore (UPDATED)
Rajeev Bhargawa Additional Member -Works in Railway Board who on elevation was posted as GM Rail Wheel Factory (RWF)
Bangalore,has reportedly refused to join.As the grapevine has it he has pleaded for his review DPC of 2009-10.

(DEBATE)
EMPANELMENT IN GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Whether administrative procedure for empanelment of Additional Secretary and Secretary in the Government of India is fair and legally sound?
Mail your views to suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Jeyaseelan appointed Director in NHPC
R Jeyaseelan has been appointed as non-official part-time director National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited.

G Ramaswamy, President, ICAI elected as IFAC Board Member
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been elected as Board Member of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) at the IFAC Council Meeting held at Berlin, Germany.

Ms Nair appointed Director KFC
Ms Premila V. Nair has been nominated as Director on Board of Kerala Financial Corporation (KFC).

Nagori appointed CFO, Bajaj Corp Ltd
Bajaj Corp Ltd has appointed V. C. Nagori, President (Finance) as Chief Financial Officer of the company in place of D. K. Maloo Vice President (Finance).

Three directors to continue as Non Exec. Part Time Directors on ONGC Board
The tenure of S. Balachandran, S. S. Rajsekar and Santosh Nautiyal as Independent Directors on the Board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has ceased with effect from November 10, 2011 after expiry of the term of three years from the date of their joining the ONGC Board i.e. effective from November 11, 2008. The ONGC has now informed Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that it has now appointed them as Non-official Part Time Directors on the ONGC Board for a period of three years.

Poddar resigns as Company Secy. Sungold Capital Ltd
Ms Sweta Poddar, Company Secretary, Sungold Capital Ltd has resigned from the company.

Srivastava appointed MD, Jenson and Nicholson (India) Ltd
Jenson and Nicholson (India) Ltd has appointed B. C. Srivastava as Managing Director of the company w.e.f. November 3, 2011 for a period of three years.

Alam appointed Addl. Director, Jenson and Nicholson (India) Ltd
Faisal Alam has been appointed as an Additional Director on the Board of Jenson and Nicholson (India) Ltd w.e.f. November 3, 2011.

Sant resigns as Company Secy. Apte Amalgamations Ltd
Vivek Kashinath Sant has resigned as Company Secretary of Apte Amalgamations Ltd with effect from November 11, 2011

DGCA is acting like petty traffic cop

When Kingfisher Airline is neck-deep in losses amounting to Rs 7000 crores, the FA-cum-DGCA Bharat Bhushan's great remedial step is to issue show cause notice for cancelling some flights! He is acting like a petty traffic cop who cannot see beyond his nose and sees only photo-ops and publicity ops even in such a deep crisis of the aviation industry. At least the civil aviation minister and prime minister have come out with more mature reactions on the crisis. Why does the DGCA not issue notices or take remedial action when Air India and Air India Express have been cancelling their flights left, right and centre, both domestic and international, causing untold misery to air travellers all over the country.

John Thomas

Veritable post retirement sops for bureaucrats

Posts of Ombudsman in the Income Tax Department are the veritable post retirement sops for the bureaucrats who have towed the government line and not pushed the apple cart around. For the uninitiated, the only substantial content of Ombudsman's job in Income Tax is attending to grievances concerning delay in refunds. Believe you me ,when half of the Department including it's Vigilance wing are seized of such matters ,where is the need for an Ombudsman - except confirming the public perception that the Department is hugely inefficient on tax payer services. Second ,the climb down in mandate and jurisdiction and job content of a CCIT or a Member ,Chsirman CBDT from having multifarious ,revenue significant , complex issues to refund processing and despatch - only the needy and the desperate will be happy to accept posts of Ombudsman.

Terry

It'll be wrong to bail him out

Some twenty years back the Government took a stand not to bail out the public sector undertakings only for the sake of some crore of rupees. It will be wrong to bail out a person leading a lavish lifestyle in public. After all the public money is involved.

A Srivastava

Stop the Bailout, Mr Prime Minster, Sir !

Starting from Nehru's slogan for controlling the commanding heights of economy and Indira Gandhi's nationalization of private banks, the present day Congress's serial scams in the guise of economic reforms are continuing till date. Now, committed to capitalism , it has no qualms about giving turn- around package to Kingfisher airlines( KFA) from public exchequer. The PM made up his mind without actually applying it. He wants private sector to run efficiently and without losses. Fair enough. But, the streak of his perceived magnanimity was not seen when the common man's demand for a roll back of fuel prices (hiked in quick succession resulting in huge food inflation) was rejected by him. Is this not double standard and a fraud perpetrated on Aam Aadmi ? The UPA-II, it is understood, is asking the public sector banks to re-structure (Read as softening of loan conditions) their debt agreements with KFA. Almost all private airlines have taken huge loans from banks. Will the GoI guarantee their credit-worthiness to the Equity market? The KFA suffered a loss of Rs 1,027 crore in 2010-11 and has a mounting debt of Rs 7057.08 crore. Jet Airways posted losses of over Rs 700 crore and Spice Jet of Rs 240 crore. How could public money be squandered to pay for mis-management in loss-making private airlines? Let the PM answer.

The UPA-II is understood to be contemplating opening the aviation sector to FDIupto 24%. Who is behind this sudden move? Compulsions of coalition politics or Quid pro quo deal? The script,it seems, was already written along with the role of KFA for triggering the crisis. This is borne out by the unsolicited statements made by the civil aviation minister and the PM to help KFA, out of the way.

My short question to the Prime Minister is: Why not have a level playing field for both the private sector and the public sector airlines in India for FDI ? Why not open up India's national airlines (AI/IA) also to FDI upto 74% while retaining 26% controle in their stakes by the GOI? At least, the bureaucrats, Ministers and politicians will not be in a position to mis-use the two public sector utilities under the new dispensation.
A K Saxena ( A retired civil servant)

Free travel by police
The Applicant wanted to confirm whether a wireless message i.e. WTM dt. 15/16.09.1997 was issued by the then Chief Minister of Delhi allowing Delhi Police personnel to travel for free in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses in contravention of the decision of the cabinet No. 259 dt. 28.06.1997. It was intimated to the Applicant that the records relating to the issue of WTM dated 15.09.1997 are not available with the office of the public authority. The Appellant claimed that the Delhi Police personnel are still travelling free of charge on DTC buses resulting in loss of revenue amounting to over Rs. 60 crores annually. In view of the above unsettled dispute between the Delhi Police and the DTC, the CIC recommended that the Principal Secretary, Transport Department, Government of NCT of Delhi settle this dispute between the two organizations decisively through an order or notification by December end. The CIC also directed the PIO to file an affidavit before the Commission - with a copy to the Appellant - affirming that the public authority has no document authorizing the Delhi Police Personnel to travel free on DTC buses.

Comments
The above case indicates how RTI Act can be used not only to obtain information but also get directions issued for some action by the public authorities. Shri Ajay Kumar Gaur v. Office of the Chief Minster, Delhi in File No. CIC/AD/A/2011/002051

(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)