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Dhruvendra Singh

Aaj Ki Aawaz

The other day I was returning from my morning walk when I saw Mr. Mistry a retired CMD of a renowned footwear Company and who lives in the building I live in, sitting on his haunches going through used shoes at the kiosk of the neighbourhood Mochi!!!

Me: Mistry Uncle what's this......... are you planning to start a used footwear Company????
Mistry: Kemm cho dikra (how are you son)....... no no nothing of the sort........ I'm actually going in for shoe therapy!!!!

Me: What........ my God what will these quacks come up with next??????

Mistry: Dikra just like Ladies use sandals and shoes as footwear therapy for eve teasers a citizen uses shoe therapy to teach Netas a lesson and also alleviate his or her frustration caused by Netas taking the Nation down the tubes!!!

Me: But why are you sifting through used shoes???
Mistry: Dikra do you think I'll waste a good shoe on these Netas........ not a chance......... I'm collecting used shoes for this purpose!!!

Me: But at your age do you think you should indulge in such an adventure?????
Mistry: I think elders should lead from the front......... today's youngsters have this chalta hai attitude.......... maybe our resentment will make them sit up and smell the poo all around them!!

Me: Chalo Uncle let me buy you a cup of coffee ( in my neighbourhood there's this NDMC stall that's run by a South Indian and he really knows how to make coffee)

Me: Here Uncle (handing him a cup of coffee)....... tell me Uncle you must have seen how the Journos at the Press Meet at Congress's Office beat up the shoe brandisher!!!!

Mistry: Shameful....... why did they have to beat him up???????Or maybe all the Journos at this Press Meet were Congress supporters and each one of them tried to outdo the other to get into Congress's good books.... I think while he was brandishing the shoe it was announced that he was a RSS man!!

Me: Yes.... surprising that even before his credentials were checked out Congress was putting the blame on RSS and BJP!!

Mistry: Dikra if Sonia or Rahul Gandhi get the sniffles Congress will blame RSS and BJP for these sniffles........ this Manish Tiwari fellow is really obnoxious.... I would not be surprised if this shoe brandisher was actually trying to aim at Tiwari over Diwedi's head !!!

Me: Yes Uncle ........ but then also do remember Tiwari is defending the indefensible!!! And one of these days Ram Jethmalani, for whom Manish Tiwari says he has great respect, is going to get exasperated with Tiwari and will give him a piece of his mind in full camera glare!! What's your take on Ramdev????

Mistry: See if he was really a Baba he'd not have pranced about the stage when the Cops came to arrest him.......he would not have put young girls in the line of fire by making them form a protective shield around himself....... he'd not have tried to slink away in a salwar kameez!!!! He's more of a Neta businessman rolled up into one......you know why he demands a direct election for PM...... he feels he then has a shot at becoming PM... he'll then try to pranayam his way to the PM's chair!!

Me: I remember when your BP was going haywire when you had not retired you had gone to Ramdev's Ashram!!!!

Mistry: Yeah my Secretary was an ardent follower of his, I came to know of this later..... later I also came to know she had sent many of her colleagues to Ramdev's Ashram for treatment...... she was the Ashram's patient scouter!! She told me that a couple of years back she had suffered from a dreaded disease and Ramdev had cured her!!! Later on I was told she had no medical problems!!!!

Me: Did you get cured???????

Mistry: Dikra it's all just a scam!!!! They first find out about your status!!! They came to know I was a CMD and so they recommended me to check into one of their Five Star rooms!! My family physician had told me to control my salt intake and there at the Ashram they told me not to worry about my salt intake...... in fact advised me to splurge on salt...... they gave me these veggie juices laden with salt..... I was given food laden with ghee.....as per them ghee has curative properties whereas my Docs had advised me ghee was one of the major culprits for clogging up the piping in the body!!! One day I had a severe headache and I asked my wife to take my BP and it was 210/110.... bass Dikra... I decided to check out!!! When I asked for my Bill they gave me a Donation Receipt asking me pay the amount on the Receipt and the asked, more like ordered, me to vacate the room within an hour....and till I left the Ashram gate I had a person tailing me!! I was entitled to Medical Reimbursement but I could not claim it because of this Donation Receipt scam..... they were just avoiding taxes..... for a week's stay I had to shell out ek petti (one lakh)!!!

Me: Yes now it's coming out he runs this Ashram like a business and via his right hand man Ramdev controls a maze of Companies and now they say this right hand man is a fugitive from Nepal.... and now there are allegations of land grab!!! But I'm sure Congress was in the know about the truth about Ramdev..... why was what is coming out now not brought out earlier??????

Mistry: Dikra he must have had a close association with Congress!!!

Me: But then what happened????
Mistry: Small man getting swollen head........Congress spoilt him and gave him importance that this man simply could not handle!!!! And then there is talk of him being a 'double agent'...... he was in touch with both Congress and RSS/BJP!!! I was told that after the Congress Ministers received him at the Airport his attitude changed..... he stopped taking calls of his well-wishers .... just a few hours earlier he was taking their calls and after his eviction he started taking their calls again!!

Me: But despite all this I feel the midnight eviction of people who had come at his call in the name of fighting black money was horrendous!!

Mistry: Absolutely....... Ramdev called them and then was least bothered about them when the Cops came.........and I think whatever Congress may say this was a horrendous decision that will haunt Congress for years!!! Congress, RSS/BJP and Ramdev played games and it's those who came to fight the scourge of black money were the ones who suffered!!

Me: Yes no one bothered about their plight......next day Congress went into a huddle, Ramdev changed his slinking away disguise and started ranting and raving and BJP Leaders were singing and dancing at Rajghat..... no one was bothered about those who landed up in hospital or were missing!!

Mistry: Dikra now you know why I'm choosing these used shoes?????

Me: So now Uncle where are you off to...... will you start today itself?????

Mistry: No no..... today I'm going to meet my friend Keki who was a medal winning Discuss thrower and I'm going to learn how to throw these shoes!!!

Me: Discuss throw shoes......

Mistry: Haven't you noticed now the top Leaders ensure that distance between the stage they sit on and the crowds is what a shoe thrower will consider as 'not viable for throwing shoes'!!! I'm going to devise a way of throwing my shoe achieving both accuracy and distance!!

Me: Best of luck Uncle!!!!!

Mistry: Dikra not standing up to what's taking place in India today is letting the Netas know that we are lumping down the goo they are dishing out and with such an attitude we would also be doing a huge disfavour for coming generations!!!!!

Statutory Warning: Indian Politicians have decided not to let shoe throwers or brandishers walk free. Shoe throwing or brandishing could be injurious to one's health. Escape route and escape should be well thought out and practiced. If you are able to retrieve the thrown shoe, depending on the target you could get a fair ammount of money by auctioning the retrieved shoe.... contact www.kamaalkajoota.com.

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> &

<mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Who is ruling India?
Who is ruling India these days ? This is a hot topic of discussion in the corridors of power. The way everything is taking place in India, it has become quite confusing that who is actually ruling India whether it is Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh,Ten Janpath or Judiciary or Media?.

Cabinet reshuffle at Centre still uncertain
The much awaited reshuffle of the Dr. Manmohan Singh led union cabinet at the Centre is sill quite uncertain.

Nepali government getting closer to China
Nepal's governments besides army and secret agencies have started developing friendly relations with China. Now this can be quite dangerous for the Government of India (GOI).

Who will be Home Minister?
Who will be Home Minister in case P.Chidambaram is shifted to Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)?This is a hot topic of discussion in the corridors of power.

BUREAUCRACY

SURVEY REPORT : Does ACC system have its relevance for all posts?
Does the ACC system has its relevance as far as appointment of incumbents for all posts was concerned? No. If one was to go by the views of the respondents to the survey conducted by the whispersinthecorridors.com. Majority of the respondents said that it was not only time consuming but ministerial arbitrariness, which politicizes bureaucracy to a large extent, also defeats the whole purpose.

While some respondents said that the whole exercise was a sham as its implementation lacks honesty and public purpose, others opined that the system has been exploited so much by vested interests that honesty, devotion to duty, functioning as per the law etc are no more virtues.

Add to it, several respondents said that the CSB should have the final authority on all appointments in the Central Secretariat even as the CSB should have one member each from the IAS and two from Central Services to ensure fairness in selection and afford other services a chance to serve the Centre on their own merit rather than on
extraneous considerations.

For detailed report, read June issue of the Whispers in the Corridors.

Will R.K. Singh become Chairman of NHAI?
In case 1975 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre R.K. Singh misses the bus for the post of Secretary Home or Defence he may be appointed Chairman of the NHAI because of vast experience in the sector. In Bihar, R K Singh as head of the Road Construction Department had done a great job to improve the condition of roads.

Who will be Member of PESB?
Who will be new Member of the PESB? Tie is said to be between two Chaturvedi's - Atul Chaturvedi and Sudhir Chaturvedi. Atul Chaturvedi is a 1974 batch retired IAS officer while Sudhir Chaturvedi is CMD of the Powergrid Corporation. It seems one Chaturvedi is sure to make it as a Member of the PESB.

There will be more Muslim Secretaries in GoI?
There is a decision to appoint a couple of more Muslim officers as Secretaries in the Government of India. There are already four Muslim Secretaries in the GoI.

Monika Mohta to be Ambassador to Poland
Ms. Monika Mohta, presently Minister in High Commission of India, London has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Poland.

Mukul appointed Ambassador to Oman
J.S. Mukul, Joint Secretary at headquarters, has been appointed as the next Ambassador
of India to Sultanate of Oman in succession to Anil Wadhwa.

Government to appoint Prasar Bharati members
From now onwards the Government of India (GoI) unlike the past will appoint members of the Prasar Bharati Board. Thus, GoI will have full control over the said Board. Earlier the President of India and the Vice President of India were appointing them.

Will Justice Lahoti move to Rajasthan?
Grapevine has it that Justice K.K. Lahoti of the Madhya Pradesh High Court is being moved to the Rajasthan High Court.

30 IES officers to get SAG
As many as 30 officers belonging to batches of 1985 & 1986 in the Indian Economic Service (IES) are soon going to get promoted to senior administrative grade (SAG).

Singh to be ADGFT !
Devendra Kumar Singh is being tipped to be Additional Director General, Foreign Trade (DGFT). He is 1989 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre.

Chandra Prakash to be JS Labour
Chandra Prakash is all set to join the Government of India as Joint Secretary Labour. He is 1982 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

Dev Varman moves to UNDP
Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Labour S.K. Dev Varman is moving to the UNDP assignment. He is 1988 batch IAS officer of Manipur Tripura cadre.

PMO clears file of Banks EDs
The Prime Ministers' office (PMO) has cleared file pertaining to elevation of General Managers (GMs) as Executive Directors (EDs) in PSU banks. This had come back to the
Financial Services department. Accordingly, allocation of Punjab National Bank (PNB) to Ms. Usha Ananthasubramanian who since June 16, 2009 is GM (Southern Zone) of Bank of Baroda (BoB) was also cleared.

M.V.Tanksale soon to be CMD, Central Bank
As the grapevine has it appointment of M.V.Tanksale Executive Director (ED) of the Punjab National Bank (PNB) as Chairman & Managing Directors (CMD) the Central Bank of India (CBI) will be notified very soon

Ms. Usha Ananthasubramanian to be ED, PNB
As the grapevine has it Ms. Usha Ananthasubramanian who since June 16, 2009 is GM (Southern Zone) of Bank of Baroda (BoB) on elevation will be Executive Director (ED) of the Punjab National Bank (PNB)

Anand Kumar is CHS&C, NTPC
Anand Kumar has joined as Corporate Head of Security & Coordination (CHS&C) (at IG level), NTPC, in Ministry of Power. Earlier, he was Secretary Home with the UP Government. Kumar is an IPS officer of 1988 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on May 5, 2011)

IA&AS officer H.R. Shetty transferred to Bangalore
H.R. Shetty, Deputy Director, in the office of the Director General of Audit, Post & Telecommunications, New Delhi, Branch office Hyderabad, has been transferred and posted as Deputy Accountant General (Com/SEB), in the office of the Principal Accountant General (C&CA), Bangalore

N. K. Nanda is a hot contender for NMDC's top slot
As the grapevine has it, N. K. Nanda Director (Technical), NMDC is one of the two hot contenders for the post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the NMDC interviews for that are slated to be held on June 27, 2011.

Candidates for CGMs not short listed in SBI
As the grapevine has it, so far General Managers (GMs) of State Bank of India (SBI) for consideration to be elevated as Chief GMs (CGMs) have not been short listed.

Who is behind goings on in the Petroleum Ministry?
Who is behind goings on in the Petroleum Ministry? This is a hot topic of discussion in the corridors of power. Whether, it is Vedanta group or Reliance Industries or Mittals', who are responsible. Discussion on this has gained momentum in the wake of Petroleum Minister S.Jaipal Reddy has surrendered services of Apurva Chandra Joint Secretary (Marketing) to the DoPT.

Ms Abha Asthana is now Trustee Secretary Bharat Bhawan
Ms Abha Asthana has been appointed by the Madhya Pradesh Government as Trustee Secretary of the prestigious Multi -Arts complex Bharat Bhawan.1977 batch IAS officer Ms Asthana is presently ACS Culture.

Vineel Krishna to join as PS to Jairam Ramesh
The Orissa Government has given NOC to 2005 IAS officer R Vineel Krishna to join the Government of India as PS to Union Forests and Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh.

Eight IPS officers allocated Gujarat cadre
As many as eight IPS officers who had qualified for the all India Police service during 2009 civil services examination have been allocated Gujarat cadre. They are Mahendar Bagria, Meghani Dipakkumar ,Vasudevbhai, Nirlipt Rai, Ms Patil Leena Madhavrao, Antrip Sood, Ms Sweta Mali and Jaipal Singh Rathore

Ms. Ghazala Meenai promoted as Director General
Ms. Ghazala Meenai, Principal Director in the office of the Comptroller & Auditor General of India has been promoted to the grade of Principal Accountant General. On her promotion, she will take over as Director General.

Pakistan : Federal Board of Revenue concerned on 79% tax gap
Pakistan's Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is concerned that the tax gap, i.e. gap between potential tax due and actual collection which was 69% in 2008 has jumped up to 79% during the current fiscal. According to a study carried out in 2008 the gap in respect of direct taxes was whooping 143% while in the case of indirect taxes the gap was just 36% which in simple terms means that income tax is being evaded by a large number of potential tax payers. According to Mr Salman Siddique chairman of FBR serious administrative measures are being contemplated to reduce the over-all gap to 40 or 50% during the ensuing financial year. Tax gap per se isn't unique to Pakistan as even developed countries like US and the UK too have tax gap to the tune of 22% and 8% respectively.

IPS changes in Haryana
Vikas Arora has been appointed Joint Commissioner of Police, Faridabad Saurabh Singh will now be Deputy Director, PTC, Sunaria, Rohtak.Dr.Rajshree Singh has been made SP, Mahendragarh .Hemand Kalson, AIG, Welfare, goes as SP, State Vigilance Bureau.
Parul Kush Jain has been made SP, Kurukshetra, while Nazneen Bhasin goes as SP, Railway.Pat Ram Singh will be SP, Jhajjar.Ashok Kumar has been appointed SP, Jind.

Khan to be Dy Governor RBI ?
Latest information says that H R Khan is being appointed new Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). He is presently ED of the RBI.The post is falling vacant on June 20 following the superannuation of Shyamala Gopinath.

N.C. Jha as CIL head gets 3 months extension
N.C. Jha Director Technical in Coal India Ltd (CIL) who is acting Chairman of CIL from March 1,2011 has been three months extension as CIL chief. He had succeeded Patha S. Bhattacharyya who had retired on February 28, 2011.

IPS postings in Nagaland
1986 batch IPS officer L. Thenchamo Lotha has been promoted and posted as ADGP (ops) while IGP (hqr) S.T. Sangtam has been posted as ADGP (adm) on promotion. AIGP (adm), PHQ, Roopa M has been posted as SP Tuensang. Jasbir Singh has been posted as AIGP (supply).S.R Saravanan has been made AIGP (adm). Rajashekharan has been made SO (SB), PHQ. Sanmeet Kaur will now be SP (security), PHQ and W. Krome Sr. SP PHQ.

6 figure in panel for CBEC's members
As many as six officers of the rank of Chief Commissioner have been cleared for being appointed Members in the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC). They are:Praveen Mahajan, Ms.Sheela Sangwan, Sreela Ghosh, M.S.Badhan, J.N. Mary Shantisundaram and Indranil Mazumdar.

Mishra gets in-situ promotion
Jai Shanker Misra Chief Executive Officer, Khadi & Village Industries Commission under the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises has been given in-situ promotion in the pay of Additional Secretary, with effect from 06.12.2010. He is 1980 batch IAS officer of UP cadre.

K Naresh Babu to be MD (BC) HAL
K Naresh Babu is being tipped to be new MD (Bangalore Complex ) of the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

DEBATE

Next Lok Sabha-Congress and BJP to get less than 100 seats ?
If today's political scenario is taken into account, both the Congress and the BJP will get less than 100 seats in the next Lok Sabha elections. In such a case, what could be the emerging scenario? Mail your valuable views to us at -

mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com or suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com

CORPORATE

Prestige of Maruti Suzuki India nosedives
Prestige of Maruti Suzuki India -the country's largest car manufacturing company has nosedived in the wake of ongoing strike by its workers a Manesar.

Commodore K.S. Subramanian is new Director HSL
Commodore K.S. Subramanian has taken over as Director (Ship Building) of Hindustan Shipyard Limited (HSL).

Mitra is now CEO of ICVL
ED in the Coal India S K Mitra has been appointed CEO of the International Coal Ventures (ICVL).

Rangarajan is Director of Naval Laboratory
S.V. Rangarajan has taken over as Director of the prestigious naval laboratory.

Sanjeeb Chaudhuri to head Stan Chart Consumer Banking
Sanjeeb Chaudhuri to is all set to head Stan Chart Consumer Banking operations in Mumbai.

Irani steps down as Director, Tata Motors
Dr J J Irani on turning 75 years of age stepped down from the Board of Directors of Tata Motors Ltd on June 2, 2011 in accordance with the Company's Retirement Policy.

Desai appointed Addl. Director, Tata Communications Ltd
U B Desai has been appointed as an Additional Director (Independent) with effect from June 6, 2011 on the Board of Tata Communications Limited.

Srinivasamadhavan appointed Head (Marketing), HSBC India
HSBC India has appointed Srikanth Srinivasamadhavan as Head ( Marketing ) for HSBC India.

Raut appointed Editorial Director, Lokmat Group
Lokmat Media Ltd has appointed Bharatkumar Raut as Editorial Director for Lokmat Group.

Sharma elevated as Managing Partner, Maxus Mumbai
Kartik Sharma has been elevated as Managing Partner from the rank of General Manager at Maxus, Mumbai.

Rosland appointed Senior Economic Officer, IMC, India
Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ontario, Canada has appointed Aaron Rosland as Senior Economic Officer of its International Marketing Centre (IMC) in India.

Bansal resigns as Company Secy. Salora International Ltd
Y P Bansal, Company Secretary has resigned from the services of Salora International Ltd w.e.f. May 31, 2011.

Manocha appointed GM, JW Marriott , Chandigarh
The Marriott International has appointed Deepak Manocha as General Manager, JW Marriott Chandigarh.

Chakraborty appointed Director, Food & Beverages, The Claridges, New Delhi
Arindam Chakraborty has been appointed as Director ( Food & Beverage) The Claridges, New Delhi.

FORUM

Next Lok Sabha-Congress and BJP to get less than 100 seats ?

"Next Lok Sabha- A debate on possible scenarios!"

Even though the scenario before the next general election is not clear, the assumption
of both the Congress and BJP getting 100 seats leading to a hung Parliament , seems
to be within the realm of possibility. The Congress and BJP will be weak partners in
their respective coalitions. The regional parties: the BSP, TMC, AIDMK may emerge as
dominant partners. There would be fight for the post of the PM. Dr Manmohan Singh (Mr
helpless) may not be available for the job due to health resons. He is already 78+ .

Sonia Gandhi's dream of making Rahul Gandhi the PM after 2014, may not materialize
due to his lack of articulation, arrogance and lack of maturity and political vision. He
may not become even the Leader of Opposition. He is not a crowd-puller, the sine qua
non for any successful politician. His present advisors could turn his detractors in 2014.
He is presently living in a fool's paradise. Please watch my words. Sonia Gandhi's
attempt at denigrating Madam Indira Gandhi and responsibilising her for UP's debacle,
will not benefit nor will it remove the stigma of dynastic succession in the Congress

party that is already chased by the charge of rampant corruption.

Pranab Mukherjee may try to become the PM to fulfill his ever green political
aspirations. But, P Chidambaram may resist it tooth and nail. Other leaders like
Mayavati, Jaylalita and Mamta may stake their claims. Ultimately, some uncontroversial,
pliable politician may emerge as the dark horse for the post of next Prime Minister after
2014.

A K Saxena ( A retired civil servant)

ACC system serves as subservient worker to political master

The ACC system serves the purpose of providing a willing and subservient worker to the
political master. It sends the concept of meritocracy to the realm of academics. Its stated
reliance on annual performance/confidential reports suffers from the inherent weakness
of bias in recording of those reports. It would be desirable to, at least partially, bring
the personnel postings outside the Political Executive domain. This was attempted by
institutionalising the Police Establishment Board under the new Police Act. Yet it has
fallen victim to political manipulation through masters' advsories that get incorporated in
the proceedings of the Board. So, enlargement of CSB role is likely to be of no avail.

Lately, the frequent transfer of officials appointed via ACC further indicates its
dysfunctionality.

S. Sharma

Ramdev has become a national hero ?

Even inspite of flip flop done by Baba Ramdev, he has become a national hero because
of lathicharge and use of teargas shells on his sleeping followers to prevent him from
continuing his dharna to bring black money stashed abroad . Anna Hazare who had
expressed his differences with the approach and style of Ramdev came out openly in
support of Ramdev and boycotted the joint meeting on Lokpal Bill. Deporting Ramdev to
Haridwar in a government plane and issuing externment orders is bound to create further
mistrust when there was no problem in making ministers those who were involved in
every type of scam and all kinds of national and international crooks are merrily residing
in Delhi(barring few who fled away to avoid prosecution ) . What is the use of spending
crores of rupees on training of police officers and sending them abroad when all that is
required of them is to resort to brutal lathi charge on sleeping women and children when
asked. Because of the kind of treatment meted out to Ramdev , it appears all those likely
to be affected by his fast if money deposited in foreign banks is brought back gathered
together to teach Ramdev a lesson. Supreme Court has done well to take immediate
cognizance .

Sudhir Chopra

Why so much of resistance Lokpal ?

If indeed India has signed the UNCAC (UN Convention Against Corruption) ,why is
there so much of resistance to give effect to Article 6.2 of the UNCAC ,which mandates
creation of an independent Anti-Corruption Body, free from undue influence ,so that such
body ably discharges its functions. Since you can not be a signatory to only a convenient
part of the Convention but the full Convention itself, it is time the public is made aware
of the changed situation. Thus it is not only CVC (which is an advisory body to render
advice in corruption cases) but also the Anti-Corruption wing of CBI which must be
made an independent body, whether under Lokpal or any other name.

Gurty

Corruption, Anna & Baba Ramdev....

It is very sad for the country as a whole, when it looks like a horse race between Govt.,
Anna and Baba Ramdev to fight corruption. Govt. has its own way, having compulsions,
restrictions and obstacles relating to negotiate with foreign countries to bring back "Kala
Dhan" as called by both Anna and Baba Ramdev. On the other side, Anna and Baba RD
are taking the people on roads during these days of scorching heat and that too children
between 12-15 years and ladies to fight to stage Dharna with them to fight government
against corruption. It is, certainly unrealistic on the part of Baba Ramdev, I say, because
he wanted to overcome Anna and take lead in pressing demand for Kala Dhan without
thinking that this is not a small and casual task for a government or anybody else. So, it is
ascertained that Baba want to enter politics or play politics for some nears and dears for
their chairs in the government platform. At Ramlila Ground, it is only Baba Ramdev is
responsible for creating Chaos and unhealthy atmosphere by escaping from the platform
and from his dias. He should have clearly told his followers, that let the police arrest him,
nothing to worry about, and I shall come back within hours and in the meantime you all
go on chatting Bhajan Kirtan or Patriotic songs at the Dharna site. But on the contrary he
left the stage under the shadow of womens leaving behind the followers by provocative
statements to fight with police and force, whatsoever. Not going lengthy on this issue, I
shall simply say that one, whosoever may be, must not go beyond his own mainstream
else, he has to face similar type of actions and tragedies. Baba Ramdev is, certainly, a
well known Yoga personality in the world over and now he has become Zero by creating
chaos in the country and still has a proud to continue the Dharna till Govt. brings back
Kala Dhan. It is riddiculous to say that Parliamentarians, who have been elected by the
people of India, has a right within and outside Parliament to raise such issues and he
should not become an escape goat of any party politics.

I shall be of the opinion that Baba must get away from Dharna and avoid any political
party to remain as a world fame personality. Simultaneously, BJP or any other party
must not offer any shelter to Baba but they must know their own personality and targets
for which people of India have elected them and fulfill the aspirations of the people by
making themselves as a mature politician and real representative of the people.

H.S. Bhalla

Adjustment and corruption?

Delay mostly give chance for networking and should be avoided. The decision should
be on the next date of the interview, as the decision would have been at the time of
interview itself. The immediate decision will always be on merit. Now there are chance
of adjustment and corruption, which is going on all over in the country.

Mukesh Mohan

Are Ministers covered under definition of 'public servants'?

The appellant desired copies of instruction under which Ministers are covered under the definition of public servant and the rule under which the Ministers could remain missing from their official duty for weeks and devote themselves for their party works leaving behind their official work unattended. He also wanted to know whether such prolonged absence from official work could be treated as a part of their official duty and whether a Minister could draw pay & perks for the period of absence from official duty to attend personal or party work. The PIO stated that as per records available there are no
specific definitions of whether Ministers are public servant or not. The CIC felt it necessary for the Government to define whether Ministers are public servant or not and this should be available as a requirement of Section-4 declaration.

Comments

The section 4 puts certain obligations on the public authority to pro-actively disclose certain facts about themselves. The civil servants have been at the receiving end for delay or absenteeism but the performance of ministers has not been questioned. Would the RTI
Act be able to force the attendance of the Ministers?

Mr. H.P. Sharma v. Cabinet Secretariat in CIC/SM/A/2011/000263/SG/12650

- 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)