What people say about us!

Very useful information for government servants to find out their future course of action.

H R Meena

POLITICS

Lok Sabha ticket - Congress and BJP
There are reliable whispers that the BJP will give Lok Sabha ticket even persons attaining the age of 75 but the Congress will not give ticket to candidates over 55.

BUREAUCRACY

Kaun Banega RBI Governor ? ( 7) Dr Ashok Lahiri
Dr Ashok Lahiri who till recently was the Executive Director of ADB at Manila is a very strong candidate. He was the Chief Economic Adviser at Ministry of Finance and P Chidambaram had sent him to ADB in early 2007. The tenure for ED is 3 years but he has been ED, ADB for a record 6 years. He was in Delhi recently and had met both PM & FM to canvas for this position.

Vice Admiral Dewan to take oath of UPSC Member today
Indian Navy-vice chief of the naval staff vice admiral D K Dewan is taking over as new Member of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Monday . Earlier the name of an IAS officer was in circulation.
(We said this on June 26, 2013)

Posting of 1983 batch IAS officers to commence
Posting of 1983 batch IAS officers to the rank of Additional Secretary is expected to commence this week. A couple of officers may get posting.

Meeting of Supreme Court Collegium on Tuesday
Meeting of the Supreme Court Collegium is reportedly is being held on Tuesday.

Anil Goswami is new Home Secretary
Anil Goswami has taken over as Secretary, Home in the Government of India. The 1978 batch IAS officer of J & K cadre Goswami has succeeded R K Singh.
(We said this on April 24, 2013)

Bimal Julka is new I & B Secretary
Bimal Julka has taken over as Secretary, Information and Broadcasting. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre. He has succeeded Uday Verma.
(We said this on June 28, 2013)

Vishwapati Trivedi is new Shipping Secretary
Vishwapati Trivedi, Chairman, Inland Waterways Authority of India, has taken over as Secretary, Ministry of Shipping. Trivedi, a1977 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, has succeeded Pradeep Kumar Sinha.
(We said this on June 28, 2013)

Shyamal Sarkar is new DoPT Secretary
Dr Shyamal Kumar Sarkar has taken over as new Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre. He has succeeded P K Mishra.
(We said this on June 18 and again on June 26, 2013)

P K Sinha is new Power Secretary
P K Sinha has taken over as new Secretary, Power, in the Government of India. He is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. Orders have been issued.
(We said this on June 21 and again on June 26, 2013)

Gauri Kumar is new Border Management Secretary
Gauri Kumar has taken over as Secretary, Border Management, in the Government of India. She is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.
(We said this on June 28, 2013)

Alok Rawat is new Water Resources Secretary
Alok Rawat has taken over as Secretary, Water Resources, in the Government of India. He is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Sikkim cadre.
(We said this on June 20 and again on June 27, 2013)

Afzal Amanullah is new Parliamentary Affairs Secretary
Afzal Amanullah has been appointed new Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre. He has succeeded Desh Deepak Verma.
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Nita Chowdhury is new Women and Child Welfare Secretary
Nita Chowdhury has been appointed new Secretary, Child and Women Welfare. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Prem Narain put on compulsory wait
After the appointment of Ms Nita Chowdhury (IAS UP:77), Secretary, Department of Youth Affairs, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports as Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Prem Narain, who was holding this post, has been put on compulsory wait in the Ministry of Women and Child Development until further orders. The latter is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Sangita Gairola is now Secretary, Youth Affairs
Secretary, Culture, Ms Sangita Gairola has been moved as Secretary Youth Affairs. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre. She has succeeded Nita Chowdhury.
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Ravindra Singh is new Culture Secretary
Ravindra Singh has been appointed new Secretary Culture in the Government of India. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. He has succeeded Sangita Gairola.
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Arunendra Kumar to be Acting Chairman of Railway Board
Member, Mechanical, Arunendra Kumar has been appointed acting Chairman of the Railway Board. Vinay Mittal has retired on June 30.

Kashyap to be FC for six months in Railway Board
R Kashyap will be Financial Commissioner of the Railway Board for next six months. The post has fallen vacant.

Kul Bhushan gets additional charge of Member Traffic
Member, Electrical, Kul Bhushan has been given additional charge of Member Traffic in the Railway Board.

Air Marshal Raha is new Vice Chief of Air Staff
Air Marshal Arup Raha has over as Vice Chief of Air Staff succeeding Air Marshal D C Kumaria, who retired on Sunday.

Mohapatra is new Chief Secretary Odisha
J K Mohapatra has taken over as Chief Secretary of Odisha. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer.
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Haryana Chief Secretary gets six months extension
Haryana Chief Secretary P K Chaudhary has been given six months extension in service. The 1977 batch IAS officer Chaudhary was to retire on June 30.
(We said this last month)

CS is now Chairman of SSC in Odisha
Odisha Chief Secretary B K Patnaik who retired on June 30 has taken over as Chairman of the Staff Selection Commission, Orissa. He is a 1976 batch IAS officer. He is 40th Chief Secretary of the state
(We said this on June 25, 2013)

Karnataka Chief Secretary gets four months extension
Karnataka Chief Secretary S V Rangnath has been given four months extension in service beginning July 1. The 1975 batch IAS officer Rangnath , who was to retire on April 30, got a two-month extension due to the Assembly polls.
(We said this on June 17, 2013 )

Verma is new Chief Secretary of Assam
P P Verma has taken over as Chief Secretary of Assam. He is a 1978 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.
(We said this on June 17, 2013)

Four 1983 batch IAS officers get ACS rank in Odisha
Four 1983 batch IAS officers Injeti Srinivas, Taradatt, Upendra Nath Behera and Aditya Prasad Padhi have been promoted to the rank of ACS in Odisha.

Amit Khare gets additional charge
The Additional Charge of Technology Enabled Education in MHRD has been assigned to Amit Khare, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation and Planning).

Dev Choudhury takes charge as MD, BLL today
H K Dev Choudhury, GM, HMT, is taking over as Managing Director, Biecco Lawrie Limited (BLL) on July 1, 2013.
(We said this on Feb 28, 2013)

Tailor joins as Director (Fin.), BCPL today
O P Tailor, Director (Finance), BSCL, is joining as Director (Finance), Brahmaputra Crackers & Polymers Limited (BCPL) on July 1, 2013.
(We said this on Oct 10, 2012)

Nautiyal takes charge as Director (Pers), GRSE today
R C Nautiyal, GM, BEL, is joining as Director (Personnel), Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) on July 1, 2013.
(We said this on Jan 21, 2013)

Orders of Sridhar Patra as Director (Fin), THDCIL issued
The orders of Sridhar Patra, GM, MRPL, for the appointment as Director (Finance), Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Ltd (THDCIL) have been issued by the Government of India.
(We said this on January 11, 2013)

Balasubramaniam is new Tripura DGP
C Balasubramaniam has taken over as DGP of Tripura on June 30. He is a 1981 batch IPS officer .
(We said this on June 29, 2013)

Rakesh Asthana is Gujarat IPS Association President
Surat Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana has been elected President of the Gujarat IPS Association. Other office bearers are - A K Singh Vice-President, J K Bhatt Secretary and G S Malik,Anupamsingh Gehlot, Himanshu Shukla, Nipuna Toravane, Gagandeep Gambhir and R V Asari Executive Committee Members.

60 IFS officers go on MCT programme
60 IFS officers belonging to 1980, 1981,1985 and 1986 batch have gone for MCT programme at IIM Bangalore .The programme will be till July 27.

Air Marshal Jagdish Chandra retires
Air Marshal Jagdish Chandra, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, has retired after rendering 37 years service to the nation. Born on June 2, 1953 at Nagaur in Rajasthan, the Air Marshal was commissioned in the Electronics stream of Aeronautical Engineering branch in IAF on July 8, 1976.

Major reshuffle of IPS officers in Karnataka
There has been a major reshuffle of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers in Karnataka. Accordingly, Bipin Gopala Krishna has been posted as DG, CID, Bangalore, B G J Mirji as ADGP & PS, Home Department, M N Reddy as ADGP, Law & Order, Bangalore, Ashit Mohan Prasad as ADGP, Intelligence, Bangalore; Alok Mohan as ADGP, Administration, Bangalore; Raghavendra H Auradkar as ADGP & Commissioner, Bangalore city; N S Megharikh as ADGP, Crimes & Technical Services, Bangalore; Sanjay Sahay as IG, Internal Security Division, Bangalore; Dr S Parashiva Murthy as IG, Eastern Division, Davanagere; Gopal B Hosur as IG, Home Guards & Civil Defence, Bangalor; N Shivakumar as IG, Planning & Modernization, Devanagere; Dr M Abdulla Saleem as IG & Commissioner, Mysore city; K L Sudheer as IG & Additional Director (Fire Services), Bangalore; B Dayananda as IG & Additional Commissioner, Traffic & Security, Bangalore city; Syed Ulfath Hussain as IG, Administration (Chief Office), Bangalore; Bijay Kumar Singh as DIG & Joint Commissioner, Law and Order, East, Bangalore city and S Ravi has been posted as DIG & Joint Commissioner, Law & Order, West, Bangalore city while the post of Pronab Mohant has been re-designated as IG & Additional Commissioner, Crime, Bangalore city.

Two IRAS officers shifted
A K Bhadoria, SS/IRAS, on return from deputation to KRCL, has been posted on Western Railway in the cadre while Ranjanesh Sahai, SAG/IRAS presently ED (CC), Railway Board is being appointed as SDGM in Northern Railway.

Kalpana Awasthi gets additional charge of RC UP in Delhi
Kalpana Awasthi has been given additional charge of UP Resident Commissioner in New Delhi. She is presently posted as Commissioner NCR Ghaziabad.

Lt Gen Bakhshi takes over GOC
Lieutenant General Rajan Bakhshi has taken over as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Central Command .

Juthika Patankar is back to UP
Juthika Patankar is back from central deputation. On return she has been made Principal Secretary (Secondary Education).

Vipul Mittra's book goes world wide
Vipul Mittra IAS (1986) has signed up with Random House for worldwide release of his second book 'The Dream Chasers'. Its a humorous and enjoyable story on the youth and the college life.His first novel 'Pyramid of Virgin Dreams' was a satire on life in bureaucracy, and was a best seller.

Kanakaraj is Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, MC(UPDATED)
Air Marshal P Kanakaraj has taken over as the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Maintenance Command, IAF on July 1, 2013. He was commissioned in the Aeronautical Engineer (Mechanical) branch of the Indian Air Office on July 25, 1977.

Dr Anant posted as Sarguja Commissioner in CG (UPDATED)
Dr B S Anant has been appointed as Divisional Commissioner, Sarguja in Chhattisgarh. He is a 1993 batch IAS officer of Chhattisgarh cadre.

Four IPS officers promoted to IG rank in AP (UPDATED)
As many as four IPS officers of 1995 batch have been promoted to the rank of Inspector General in Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, Dr R S Praveen Kumar has been promoted to the grade of Inspector General of Police and will remain as Secretary, AP, Social Welfare Residential Education Institutions Society while Atul Singh will remain as Director, State Crimes Record Bureau after promotion and Mahesh Muralidhar Bhagwat is posted as IG, Security Intelligence after promotion. Besides, Mrs Swati Lakra has also been promoted to the grade of Inspector General of Police and posted as IG, APSP, Battalions.

Three IPS officers transferred in AP (UPDATED)
*K R M Kishore Kumar has been posted as Additional Director, AP Police Academy while Harish Kumar Gupta will now be IG, Law & Order and V V Srinivas Rao is DIG, CID III & PCR & Social Justice.

Major reshuffle of IAS officers in AP (UPDATED)
A large number of officers belonging to Indian Administrative Service (IAS) have been transferred and posted at different places in Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, Dr D Srinivasulu has been posted as PS (Cooperation & Mktg), Agriculture & Cooperation while Mrs Y V Anuradha will now be Commissioner, Public Health & Family Welfare and B Ramanjaneyulu is Secretary, Rain Shadhow Areas Development. Similarly, Dr A Ashok has been appointed as Commissioner, Labour; Sandeep Kumar Sultania as Registrar, Cooperative Socities & Commissioner for Co-operation; V Durga Das as VC &MD, AP Oilfed; S A M Rizvi as CMD, A P CPDCL, Hyderabad; Cholleti Prabhakar as Additional Secretary, A P Secretariat, Mutyalaraju Revu as Joint Collector and ADM, Eas Godawari district; A Murali as Additional CEO, SERP; M V Reddy as Joint Collector & ADM, Ranga Reddy district; K Champalal as Joint Collector & ADM, Ranga Reddy district; T R K Rao as VC & MD, AP Mineral Development Corporation; N Srikant as Collector, Nellor district; Mukesh Kumar Meena as Collector, Hyderabad; B Sreedhar as Collector, Ranga Reddy; Siddarth Jain as Collector, West Godavari and G Kishan was posted as Collector, Warangal.

Seven IPS officers of 2000 batch get Selection Grade in AP (UPDATED)
As many as seven IPS officers of 2000 batch have been promoted to the selection grade. The officers are : Manish Kumar Sinha, P V S Rama Krishna, K V V Gopal Rao, B V Ramana Kumar, P Muni Swamy, P Hari Kumar and C S R K L N Raju.

Ajoyendra Pyal posted as DG, MCR HRD Institute (UPDATED)
Ajoyendra Pyal has been posted as Director General of Dr MCR HRD institute of Andhra Pradesh. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of this state cadre.

Air Marshal Soman takes over as AOC-in-C, WAC, IAF (UPDATED)
Air Marshal SS Soman AVSM VM has taken over Air Officer Commanding in Chief Western Air Command. He was commissioned in Flying Branch in December 1976 and has more than 3400 hours of flying on Fighter Aircraft.

Air Marshal Dhanoa assumes charge as SASO, WAC, IAF (UPDATED)
Air Marshal B S Dhanoa YSM VM has taken over as Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command (WAC). Air Marshal BS Dhanoa was Senior Air Staff Officer of Eastern Air Command prior to his present appointment. He was commissioned in the Indian Air Force as a fighter pilot in Jul 1978.

Air Marshal PS Gill is AOC-in-Chief, Training Command (UPDATED)
Air Marshal PS Gill, AVSM VM has taken over as Air Officer Commanding in Chief, Training Command.

Girdhari Lal Nayak promoted as DG, Home Guard, Jail in CG (UPDATED)
Girdhari Lal Nayak has been appointed as DG, Home Guard and Civil Defence with additional charge of DG, Jail and Reform Services after he was promoted to the grade of Director General in Chhattisgarh. He is a 1983 batch IPS officer.

Orders of Krishna Shankar as Director (IS&P), BHEL issued (UPDATED)
The orders of W V K Krishna Shankar, ED, BHEL, for the appointment as Director (Industrial Systems & Products), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have been issued by Government of India.
(We said this January 29, 2013)

Sabyasachi Ghosh is PS, Industries & Commerce in AP (UPDATED)
Sabyasachi Ghosh has been appointed as Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce Department in Andhra Pradesh. He is a 1994 batch IAS officer.

Eight IRS-IT officers at CIT/DIT level shifted (UPDATED)
As many as eight officers belonging to Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of Income Tax cadre and working at the grade of Commissioner/Director have been transferred and posted at different places. Accordingly, A G Bhatkar has been posted as CIT (A)-33, Mumbai CCA while Ajay Pal Singh is also posted as CIT (A)-3, Mumbai and Pravin Varma was moved as CIT (A)-30, Mumbai. Similarly, Durga Charan Das has been appointed as CIT (A)-8, Delhi; Arvind Kumar as CIT-5, Delhi; S S Kemwal as CIT (Audit), Bhopal; B K Singh as CIT (A), Jamshedpur and Vir Birsaekka has been posted as CIT, Jamshedpur.

28 IRS-IT officers at CIT/DIT get additional charges (UPDATED)
As many as 28 officers belonging to Indian Revenue Service (IRS) of Income Tax cadre and working at the grade of Commissioner/Director have been assigned additional charges. Accordingly, Om Prakash Yadav has been given an additional charge of CIT (CIB), Hyderabad while Ramesh Narain Parbat gets additional charge of CIT (A)-4, Baroda and Shantam Bose was given the charge of CIT (A)-3, Cochin. Similarly, Kandlakunta Venkat Narsimha Charya has been given an additional charge of CIT (A) Trivendrum; Abhaya Kumar Singh as CIT (A)-2, Cochin; Ajay Kumar Kurapati as CIT (DR ITAT), Cuttack; Prabodh Seth as CIT (A)-1, Faridabad; Om Prakash Pahadia as CIT, Aligarh; Rahul Kaul as CIT (A), Vijayawada; Anant Akhilanand Khalko as CIT, Ranchi; Keshav Saxena as CIT (A), Ujjain; Desh Deepak Goel as CIT-2, Jaipur; Neera Malhotra as CIT (A), Rohtak; Mohan Swaroop Kaushik as CIT, Durgapur; Lakshmi Singh Negi as CIT, Burdwan; Jagdish as CIT, Varanasi; Rajendra Prasad Srivastava as CIT (CIB), Kanpur; Vidhu Shekar Singh as CIT (A), Ghasiabad; Nutan Sharma as CIT, Muzzafarnagar; Boota Singh as CIT-4, Nagpur; Satyendra Kumar Mishra as CIT (A), Shimla; Aparna Karan as CIT (A)-1, Patna; Rajeev Agarwal as CIT, Valsad; Prasenjit Singh as CIT (A), Valsad; Vishwas Rattan as CIT-I, Thane; Omkareshwar Chindra as CIT-I, Madurai; Lakshim Vara Prasad Gude as CIT (A)-I, Madurai and T H Lucas Peter has been appointed as CIT (ITAT), Vishakhapatnam.

Lt Gen Chachra takes over Northern Command at Udhampur (UPDATED)
Lt Gen Sanjiv Chachra has assumed the charge as Army Commander of the prestigious Dhruva Command at Udhampur onJuly 1, 2013. Chachra, who is a second generation Rajput Officer, was commissioned in 17 RAJPUT in June 1974.

Lt Gen Anil Chait takes over as Chief of IDS to CISC (UPDATED)
Lieutenant General Anil Chait has taken over as Chief of Integrated Defence Staff to the Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee (CISC) on July 1, 2013. The General Officer in his career spanning over 39 years has held various coveted Command, Staff and Instructional appointments.

CORPORATE

Brar selected for the post of Director (T&M), IRCTC
A K Brar in the Ministry of Railway has been selected for the post of Director (Tourism & Marketing), Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited (IRCTC) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting. As many as 14 persons were interviewed for the same.

No suitable candidate found for Director (Fin), IL
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has failed to find anyone suitable for the post of Director (Finance), Instrumentation Limited (ILL) and decided to convert itself into search cum selection committee.

Khadke resigns as Nominee Director, Ankur Drugs and Pharma Ltd
Anil Kumar Khadke has resigned as Nominee Director of Central Bank of India on the Board of Directors of Ankur Drugs and Pharma Ltd.

Two Directors cease to be on Board of Kanco Enterprises Ltd
Pavan Kumar Poddar and Golam Momen have resigned as Directors of Kanco Enterprises Ltd

Dubey appointed Company Secy, Kavveri Telecom Products Ltd
Kavveri Telecom Products Ltd has appointed Avinash Kumar Dubey as Company Secretary of the company.

Kapoor appointed Addl. Director, Ravinay Trading Company Ltd
Ravinay Trading Company Ltd has appointed Ashish Kapoor as an Additional Director of the company.

Jain resigns as Director, Ravinay Trading Company Ltd
Vardhman Mishrilal Jain has resigned as Director of Ravinay Trading Company Ltd.

Tupare resigns as Company Secy, Menon Pistons Ltd
Baburao Maruti Tupare has resigned as Company Secretary of Menon Pistons Ltd.

Pai to be appointed CEO, Hindalco Industries Ltd?
Satish Pai to be appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hindalco Industries Ltd.

(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)

Change the system

This is the meaning of democracy in India. The People, who are the master of the system are treated like anything and the servants are treated like master of the country. If a change is thought of, then change the system by changing the legislators.

Manas Acharya

Make e-filing simple and easy

The income tax department should realize that all citizens are not geeks nor is IT return filing the only work they have to spend so much time on. If the department wants to replace paper returns with e-filing, it should be made much easier and simpler than now. In U.S it is sufficient to just key in your social security number which serves as the security key for your return. Here it is a literal obstacle-course for an average citizen to complete the procedures for e-filing (don't give us the gratuitous and supercilious advice to approach a tax consultant!) not to speak of the further requirement of digital signature (again don't give that advice to approach the firms which sell us our own signature and get rich on our payments for this absurd procedure!)or the further burden of taking and sending a paper copy of the ITR V acknowledgement. Even taking a printout of the acknowledgement requires a password!

N T Raman

Water solution - boil, filter, cool and then consume

We are in an era where we cannot trust nature, government and the man. The best solution to live with water is to first boil it, filter it, cool it and then drink it. We should also not try to depend solely on the market made filters like aqua- guard, kent etc. In these days of increased pollution and development of new type of organism through Mutation, they have also loss their relevance to a great extent and it would be better to boil the drinking water to above 100% centigrade. It would only involve an increased expenses on fuel. As your dear/closed ones cannot be priced, it would rather be better to spend the extra amount.

A Srivastava

What is the government doing ?

What is the government doing....what will happen to officers who are short of two years for becoming GM

Ram

Reason for unity is sufferings

If there is so-called 'Dalit-Backward-Muslim' lobby as alleged, then the credit for the unity goes to discrimination of upper castes and their political leaders in avoiding the social, economic, and political interests of these minorities. However, there had been no social unity in upper castes among themselves, they had been resorting to honour killings among upper castes, there had been no social equality among upper castes, extremely rare cases of inter-marriages etc. in the past. But they have united socially to keep the minorities away from rule and this grouping of theirs have led to unity in minorities to seek their rightful due in society. Basically, this unity or alliances of 'Dalit-Backward-Muslims', if any as alleged, is not for political reasons but deprivation of certain rights in an organized manner by a select few. So the reason for unity is not politics but common sufferings 'Dalit-Backwards-Muslims' have been forced to go through. Fighting against centuries old social indiscrimination on a common platform is not politics but a healthy sign of social reforms in secular India.

Singh R K

Stop politicization of services

In the IPS in the UP cadre, the ACRs of many "General" category officers were deliberately downgraded by superiors who were affiliated to the previous dispensation. The politicization of the services into caste groups has to stop. This is a feature peculiar to the state governments, especially UP.

Arjun Mallik

Reshuffle of IAS officers in TN

Let the reshuffle of IAS officers bring a major change in Tamil Nadu.

A Kirubagaran

Don't spare those responsible for lapse

I think some social organization should come forward, contact all those who suffered due to contaminated water, make a full group, hire a lawyer and file a compensation case against those who are responsible for this lapse. Those who suffered were paying all municipal taxes. The compensation should not be less than Rs. five crores for each family.

Harish Kumar

Himalayan Blunder

Time for introspection and reflection, not the time to be emotionally blackmailed by these hypocrites, who are shedding crocodile tears, with only one interest - Votes.

As a citizen, I am absolutely concerned and have full empathy with the victims of devastation in Uttarakhand, HP and other flood affected areas. Is my contribution to be restricted to make donations to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund? Is that the symbol of my being a compassionate individual sharing the grief of fellow human beings? If the answer is 'Yes', I am appalled at our thinking and ashamed to trivialize such a national tragedy, which is a man-made disaster, an outcome of inept, insensitive, arrogant and corrupt governance. This is the time to wake up and take those responsible for lack of governance to task. We need answers, as to why such a disaster could not be prevented or minimized. Why was inputs from expert environmentalists not taken heed of ? Why was the CAG report not taken cognizance of ? Why has development been allowed to take place in areas which endangers and upsets the ecological balance ? What are the SOPs on disaster schemes in place at the centre and in the states ? This state, albeit small and sparsely populated, has hundred odd IAS officers and half that number of IPS officers enjoying the pay and perks of these brave faujies double their service and providing succour without fear or favor nor a care for their safety or life. We want pin-point responsibility and accountability to be identified. We want heads to roll of those entrusted for dereliction of duty and disloyalty to the nation. What is this bloated bureaucracy paid for by the citizens of this country ? We want to know what is the road map which will now be laid for the future. We do not accept that this could not be prevented as it is an act of nature. We do not want condolence messages. We do not want aerial surveys by the PM & Sonia Gandhi, who lack the basic understanding that such trips would eat into the aerial space and restrict time to carry out evacuations and other operations. "Sonia directs all party MPs and MLAs to donate their one month salary and also directs all party MPs from Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to give Rs 10 lakh each from their MPLAD Fund". Is the MPLAD Fund an earning of the Congress MPs ? Are they giving it from their pockets ? This money belongs to the people, it has been contributed by the tax payers. Such is the shamelessness of these politicians, that they want to exploit tragedies of this magnitude to support their only interest, i.e. remain in power. As regards their salary, they have shown continued reluctance in declaring their annual assets and source of income. When they do declare at the time of elections, their assets have multiplied several times but the IT and ED have no interest to probe their source of income! The Government of India has enough money. Have we not heard an announcement by the PM after every rail accident, every Maoist attack, every gang rape, a terrorist attack, a fire, an earthquake, a compensation package for the victims/ relatives of victims. That's all what he can do ... disburse money (or make announcement of, as one is not sure if it reaches the deserving) with such elan as if he is giving it from his personal bank account .... incompetent, non-performing governance laced with insensitivity and hypocrisy!
And then we have a Home Minister who only believes in giving statistics ... so many dead, so many rescued, so many stranded. If the PM wants money, let him recover the loot from CWG scam, the 2G scam, the Hawala scam, the Coalgate scam, the mining scam, Swiss and other foreign banks and so many other scams that I have lost count of ... the only thing he shall do is appoint GoMs, Committees, Commissions, Tribunals, think tanks! Let us not fall for these hollow appeals. Not even 10 % of the money contributed shall reach the victims. Most shall not be identified. Those done will face the hassle of proving their NOK. Be a realist, not emotional and an idealist. Just wait and watch. Already people must be eagerly waiting for tenders to be floated for reconstruction and rehabilitation .. whew!!! What an opportunity to make more money ... and believe me, most of the jobs will go to persons with politico-bureaucratic connections .... what an opportunity, they are already smiling!! I, for one, shall NOT contribute to the PM's Relief Fund .... I am ready to be a part of that activity which can make governance responsible and accountable, functional and operational, empower and enable people to live a life of respect and dignity, with integrity, intent, empathy and humility!!

The time is NOW!!

Brig Prasad