Tuesday, May 20, 2014

What bureaucrats have to say about BJP’s landslide victory, formation of Modi Sarkar

Lotus blooms in Delhi traffic signals (Courtesy: Abhishek Singh, IAS)
A DAY before the results of the general elections that gave Narendra Modi-led BJP a thumping victory, IAS officer of 1995 batch Abhishek Singh posted this photo in Twitter showing how a boy was selling lotus flowers in a Delhi street. His caption: “Lotus blooms on traffic signals in Delhi! #bjp #namo #lotus”. A day later, when actual results were out, union industry secretary and 1980 batch IAS Amitabh Kant wrote: “This is vote against doles, against vote bank politics, against corruption, against dynastic politics! A vote 4 growth and jobs! Task begins now!” BoI here lists a few social media posts by serving and former bureaucrats on BJP’s landslide victory and formation of Modi Sarkar:
Vishnu Prakash, IFS, India’s Ambassador to South Korea
BJP - what a political journey!! Just 2 Indian Parliamentary seats in 1984 to 283 seats in 2014 in House of 545

Amitabh Kant, IAS, DIPP Secretary
Vote 4 decisive leadership! Vote 4 governance! Vote 4 growth and progress! 1st India will have CM of a State as PM. Greater power 4 States?
The holy trinity-Ganga, Shiva and Khasi r ever watchful in #Varanasi. Yet it's on d verge of civic collapse. Needs a heavy dosage of governance.


Nirupama Rao, Ex-IFS, Former Foreign Secretary
@samirsaran: Woke up to a different India. Decisive verdict offers period of unambiguous leadership all were awaiting.. #NewBeginnings
With malice toward none and charity towards all, let India develop, develop, develop. Let this be our prayer.

Srivatsa Krishna, IAS
Mega swearing-in for Narendra Modi likely to be at Rashtrapati Bhavan forecourt. Over 3000 invitees, date not yet finalised

Anil Trigunayat, IFS, Ambassador to Jordan
People of India have given a unique verdict now the leadership and the largest democracy move on to fulfil the aspirations of all Indians.

NK Singh, Former IAS, Now BJP Member
Govt formation going on. Never easy to balance domain knowledge w/ diversity of representation. Both important. #DreamCabinet
Getting right Ministers in the right deptt quite rightly is in focus. But equally so reorganization of Govt itself.
After long, @narendramodi ji hs flexibility to reorganize Govt d way he wants.No coalition compulsions but outcome & performance ultimate obj


Alex Paul Menon, IAS, Chhattisgarh Cadre
Congrats n All d very best fr d new govt. D people hv voted decisively fr one party n agnst loose coalitions, Lots of hope on d new govt.

Arvind Padhee, IAS, Odisha
Let d best thing hpn to our State n d nation. Let India be a superpower during our lifetime. #Results2014 As a member of AIS, can't spk more.

7 comments:

  1. Our expectations from the new Government are sky high. Now it is time for –

    1- Overhauling of Central Ministries, weeding out officers who do not have any field experience and have angled positions through contacts & patronage. It is time to target Corrupt self seeking officers and protect upright officers. Name & Shame the corrupt. All complaints of corruption suppressed till now or stage managed for closure by CVOs due to State patronage, lobbying & cronyism need to be inquired into and Action taken, displayed on website for all to see.

    2- The bureaucracy needs to be controlled & disciplined. Deputation mafias, transfer-posting mafias, criteria for selection of officers for training courses based on individuals convenience and desire to stick on in Delhi, rather than organizational interests etc etc, the wish list is too long but all this must end. Merit and competency based on outcome of a written online examination & personal interview needs to be introduced. Transparency in all decisions is a must.

    3- To establish rule of law. While rules introduced by the Government are binding on it, but unfortunately Govt. is the biggest flouter of rules. Thus it is essential to ensure accountability if rules are flouted. It is time consuming & cumbersome to approach the overburdened Courts, therefore an independent authority like an Accountability Commission needs to be created to punish officers for deliberately submitting wrong, misleading facts in File noting and orchestrating decisions. It is high time responsibility is fixed on Secretaries of Ministries. While the RTI Act allows access to information but real empowerment will come only when there is an authority outside the Ministry/Department which can be approached for punishing such willful acts of brazenness by the bureaucracy.

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    1. Modi Govt. should focus on introduction of 'Civil Services Standards and Accountability Bill, 2010'. The Congress Govt. only paid lip service as they wanted to complete their tenure with pliable self seeking bureaucrats in toe. This Bill will hopefully make bureaucracy more professional and independent, responsive to the needs of subordinates and citizens, professional, neutral, merit-based and accountable. One salient feature of the draft bill is the establishment of a Central Public Services Authority (CPSA) that would act as an interface between the government and the bureaucracy. The CPSA would consist of three to five members of “eminence in public life” with enough experience to deal with problems related to public policy and management. The body would be in charge of transfer and promotion of bureaucrats and also formulate a “public services code of ethics”. Those found in breach of the code would be eligible to punishments ranging from fines to demotion to even dismissal.

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  2. The best thing the Congress Govt. has ever done is introduce RTI Act and empower the people of India. I have been reading in the papers and also in private discussion many officers criticizing RTI Act and how difficult it has now become to work in govt. service. The government employs and pays salary to officers as their main job is to take decisions. What do officers do? They ask Dealing Assistant to submit file note as per their want and all merely initial. If trouble falls the Clerk is hanged. Officer in win win situation. He gets decision as per his desire and no responsibility. Clerks come handy and much in demand when responsibility is to be fixed. If officers have clear heart and right attitude, decision making should not be difficult. But officers on the sly want to milk system and therefore twist and play with rules and interpret them as per their want. Therefore they are wary of RTI Act. Tell me who wants to hide decisions in Files ? Obviously all those who have taken advantage and played hanky panky. No honest officer will be afraid of transparency or RTI. Have you visited the parking area of Government Colonies. Many officers have swanky cars and lavish life style with air conditioner in every room. These are the officers who are afraid of RTI. All officers who complain and cringe that they are unable to take bold decisions because of the RTI Act need to be immediately dismissed from service for gross incompetence. I hope the new Modi government takes appropriate steps in this direction.

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  3. Ministers should be more accessible to staff, listen to problems, grievances and be in a position to take independent decisions. They should get involved in the working of their Ministries. Time should not be wasted in ribbon cutting ceremonies and empty socializing. A Minister should be pro-active and lead from the front instead of being managed and maneuvered by his Secretary and other darbaris in the Ministries. Therefore BJP Government under NaMo should select competent, energetic, incorruptible Ministers like Shanta Kumar, Jagmohan, Arun Shourie etc. and avoid Ministers like Yedurrappa, Ram Vilas Paswan & Ramadoss. History is watching keenly at every step taken by Modi.

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  4. The Congress Government weakened & diluted rules to favor corrupt officers. COngress & COrruption are synonymous. One example in which the Central Bureau of Investigation had identified IAS officers Jairaj Phatak a former Mumbai municipal commissioner and Pradeep Vyas a former finance secretary, as accused in the Adarsh housing society scam. The State Govt. had suspended the duo on 22 March 2012, after the CBI named them as an accused. Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan recently reinstated them & justified the reinstatement, citing a government resolution, dated 14 October 2011 which states that a review committee headed by the Chief Secretary can recommend reinstating suspended senior officials, who were named in criminal offences, if criminal proceedings and departmental probe against them had not been completed within two years of suspension. The Congress Govt. has never practiced what it preaches. Can Modi Govt. deliver & ensure zero tolerance to corruption?

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  5. Transparency in transfers / postings and some rules for deputation and posting at the same station, popular station or otherwise, is the need of the hour. Officers should be posted in Headquartes, RDSO, PU's and Railway Board only after they have gained sufficient relevant experience in the field. A railway officer.

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  6. The real reason why UPA failed so miserably on all fronts is because it stressed too much on preparing long winding policies on paper. Implementation was very very poor. The Babus took it easy going on sight seeing trips. They took family members and spouse in trips abroad while on training etc. It can be imagined what training they must have done, what with all attention diverted in arranging for day tours & entertainment of wives, bunking classes. Foreigners are very particular and serious about their work, Such non serious casual attitude of officers damages the reputation and impression of India. But no any body is bothered. I, me, mine, Country last. When these Babus return from sight seeing trips abroad they sit in office and fudge figures. Thus on file all targets have been met cent percent. The RFD target is complete. There is no provision of any external agency check on these fudged figures. Even if independent agency is there, they will always find means to circumvent it. Thus MMS Govt. happy all targets met cent percent but ground reality different, no work done. This bringing deep despair in people of India. They disgusted when seeing MMS praising his Govt. SG & RG also patting back of MMS. All happy. On ground nothing happen, fudged figures lying imprisoned in worthless files, secretly misplaced. No checking. Officer enjoy get even PMs award on Civil service Day. Fudging of figures ki Jai Ho. Result MMS have biggest fall.
    dimpychopra@yahoo.com

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