Public disenchantment with the ruling dispensation is complete. It is entitled to seek change in bureaucratic attitude and response mechanism to public grievances. Moily Committee report on administrative reforms ignored ground realities. High sounding jargon is meaningless. The UPSC has introduced a paper on ‘Ethics’ in civil services exam. Is this enough to change people’s mindsets and produce the likes of ‘ Ashok Khemkas’, Durga Shakti Nagpals’ etc ? Feet touching is not prohibited under “Conduct Rules”. Will the next central Government take the call and declare the medieval practice as “Misconduct”.

Indian bureaucracy serves as a lapdog to the political class. Feet touching and prostrating before political deities reflects the medieval mindset of politicians. This is rampant in the States  that helps in forging the unholy alliance between politicians and bureaucrats.Those who do not fall in line, fall out of favour. This self-degrading practice is a form of corruption that got maximum fillip during UPA’s rule. As a result of this, the bureaucracy has been under political lockdown? 

Feet touching and prostrating before political masters, are not prohibited under “Conduct Rules”. It is high time, the issue is addressed by DOP&T&AR by enlarging the list of misconducts that are considered unbecoming of government bureaucrats, compromising  their amour pro pre.

Similarly,  holding  “ darbars “ by Prime Minister, ministers and extra-Constitutional  authorities  at  official bungalows, is reminiscent  of medieval practice .Far from redressing grievances, it is a political fraud.  Kejriwal also tried to hold darbar , but made a hasty retreat  after  the stampede.

Archana Ramasundaram (IPS-TN-76) is restrained from discharging duties as Additional Director in CBI as she neither informed  nor took  permission of the State government before joining the investigative agency. She now stands suspended for this mis-conduct.The GOI decided her appointment unilaterally in haste by  over-ruling the selection committee’s recommendations   and in  absence of  CVC’s clearance. What happened to PM’s exhortations on “Good governance” and  “Transparency “?

Why did the Cabinet Secretary (who is Secretary to the Appointments committee of the Cabinet) not advise the PM about the  embarrassment that the decision would cause to  GOI?

Was there political pressure from 10-Janpath to hurry up the appointment? The Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Secretary to PM have a lot to explain on this and several other scams.

Let the new Govt at the Centre apply its mind to this politicization of  CBI.

It is high time that the GOI cut its umbilical cord with the colonial past. Let the GOI Ministers no longer, be treated like Indian princes receiving fat privy purses (Read as salaries), a large number of freebies and a still larger complement of Personal Staff, to boot. Annual expenditure on Ministers’ personal staff runs into crores of rupees with no matching benefits. On the contrary, it facilitates corruption. Ghost man-power is ‘employed’ by ministers and salaries due to them pocketed. These are hard realities of the present political Executive of the Union of India and the federal states. Ministers heading economic and social sector ministries like Coal, Petroleum, and Heavy Industries, Banking, Finance, Commerce, Agriculture, HRD, Rural Development etc mis-use public utilities (including PSUs and PSBs) as personal fiefdoms utilizing their unlimited manpower, transport facilities etc. Their personal staff are deployed to facilitate misuse of powers. A minister who is confident enough to attend to official work, does not require any PS or PA. He /She is free to summon his ministerial officers for briefing or seeking clarification on any point. The fact that a large number of officers belonging to organized services vie for appointment as Private Secretaries to richly endowed ministers bear testimony to the lucrative business that it is! Honestly and seriously speaking, the requirement of a Minister in GOI can be met by engaging at the most three persons instead of the existing over ten. This includes a peon who should also be an Usher. The Prime Minister as the Cabinet Minister-in-charge of DOP&T must put a full stop to the existing practice of Ministers poaching ministries’ officers/ staff for deploying in personal section on informal basis, while pocketing the salaries earmarked for the regulars! This secret, I bet, may not be known to many Civil servants!

Provision of the pernicious "single-point-directive", that exempts senior bureaucrats of the rank of Joint Secretary and above from direct probe by CBI in corruption cases, without prior prosecution sanctions of GOI, must be revisited. The Apex court in 1997 had quashed the exemption clause incorporated in the executive resolution of 1964 that created the CVC. The GoI, however, decided to restore it with statutory force through incorporation in the CVC Act.

According to reply by DOP&T to a Parliament question, the GoI during the last four years, denied sanctions in respect of 15 officers of the level of JS and above, against whom the CBI had solid evidences of graft charges. Worse, 14 cases, filed by CBI had to be closed for want of prosecution sanctions.

 The law cannot inhibit probe against senior bureaucrats and public sector executives and cover merely junior officers and PSU executives. Restoration, based on discrimination, is bad in law.ItsConstitutional validity must be examined by the Law commission, legal luminaries in the light of principle of "Equality before law”. Need it be mentioned that the level of JS and above is the cutting edge level for policy decision making and the scope of corruption is high.

My visit to Urology deptt of RML hospital, Delhi revealed open misuse of discretionary powers by doctors. One doctor carries out perfunctory examination of patients and advises  several pathological tests . The technician of  a private diagnostic laboratory , sitting in the same chamber ,  collects the sample of blood  on the spot along with  photocopies of CGHS card and prescription. The cost of tests is calculated and a suitable cut  earmarked for doctor. Similar malpractices have been going on in other departments. 

The appointment of new Naval chief superseding the claim of a senior, could have been averted by leaving the decision to incoming govt.

May it be known that there is no written promotion policy for officers in indian army. Several amendments to a (non-existing) promotion policy, have been inserted by successive service chiefs to retain undesirable control and subjectivity. Now, an attempt is being made by the political masters to announce the successor to Gen Bikram Singh the present army chief,who is reportedly related to PM.

EC must step in due to on-going elections.

Also, the PRESIDENT OF INDIA  as India's Commander-in-chief  , without whose approval ,no senior appointments could be made, must intervene to keep the morale of the Armed forces intact.  

After Gandhi ji's killing on Jan 30,1948 by a fanatic, people wanted to name roads, memorials after him.However, Jawaharlal Nehru, deploring the mania to name so many things after Gandhi added  that…"It would not contribute either to conveniences or to the glory of the father of the nation. Only confusion will result as well as a certain drab uniformity. Most of us will then live in Gandhi roads in Gandhinagars or Gandhigrams"

 Little did Nehru know  that after his death, there would be memorials in India  named after him ,his daughter and grandsons. What a way to perpetuate Nehru-Gandhi dynasty. Indira Gandhi took no time to change her surname to "Gandhi" to identify with the father of the nation. Feroze's original surname was “Gandhe” and he was not related to Mahatma Gandhi.

I am totally disenchanted with the frenzy of the Congresswallahs to name 450 stadia, airports,hospitals,roads, bridges, flagship schemes, memorials named after the dynasty.

This  deserves a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Sudhir Krishna Secretary union Min of Urban Dev needs to learn Tamil as P Chidambaram is not impressed by former's communication skill in english. At a meeting, the finance minister asked him to speak in hindi (the official language of the union of India) that could be translated into english . This left the Secretary justifiably miffed by the high drama. Krishna’s protest to Cab Secy and Kamal Nath may not help due to high stature of Thiru Chidambaram Be that as it may, such ministerial shenanigans are on the increase, of late.

What has happened to the steel frame of bureaucracy?

Why are Cabinet Secretary and Pulok Chatterjee,Pr Secy to PM,sorry, super PM at 10 Janpath, reticent about this