India celebrates Republic Day on Tuesday; BoI remembers Delhi Police’s first woman officer Shakuntala Vasishta

AS INDIA is celebrating the Republic Day on Tuesday, with French president Francois Hollande being the chief guest in the parade, it’s the Delhi Police which is taking the challenge in keeping the capital city safe. City’s commissioner of police Bhim Bassi has given messages in social media sites on how to stay alert. “If you notice anything suspicious, inform Delhi Police on tele no 100 or 1090”, he tweeted. But Delhi Police is not about one person or one boss. It has evolved over the years as a strong police force. BoI here remembers Shakuntala Vasishta, the first…

Om Puri’s anti-politician comment gives “backhand compliments” to IAS, IPS

ACTOR Om Puri’s allegedly “derogatory and defamatory” language against politicians might have made Members of Parliament utterly angry and upset, some bureaucrats have quietly expressed their happiness about a part of the comment, if not in entirety. The babus who along with politicians have now been under fire from civil society activists on the issue of corruption, say it was a “backhand compliment” to them. None of the bureaucrats have, however, said anything on record.

Standing next to anti-graft crusader Anna Hazare at Ramlila Ground on last Saturday, Puri told a gathering that he felt ashamed to see “an IAS or IPS officer salute a ganwaar neta (illiterate politician)”. The Bollywood actor did not stop there. He said: “Yeh anpadh hain, inka kya background hai? Aadhe se zyaada MP ganwaar aur nalaayak hain (They are uneducated; what’s their background? More than half of the MPs are illiterate and useless).” Puri later apologised for his statements, saying the comments were made in the heat of the moment. There were allegations that Puri was drunk when he made those comments. Puri denied allegations that he was drunk then.

Meanwhile, Parliament accepted Privilege notices against actor Om Puri and former IPS offiicer Kiran Bedi for using “derogatory and defamatory” language against politicians. An MP in Rajya Sabha accused lawyer activist Prashant Bhushan for reportedly saying that legislations are passed by Parliament after taking bribe.

The MPs who took the initiative to bring Privilege motion included PL Punia, Jagadambika Pal, Ramashankar Rajbhar, Lalchand Kataria, Mirza Aslam Beg, Praveen Aron and Shailendra Kumar.

Action and Appointments

a) The government has decided to crack the whip on over 200 IAS officers who have not submitted their immovable property returns despite many reminders. The last date is January 1 every year. V Narayanasamy, minister of state for personnel told media that all cadre authorities were told to call for explanation of officers, who had not submitted their returns.

b) The Central government has approved extension of inter-cadre deputation of PB Salim, a 2001 batch West Bengal cadre IAS from West Bengal to Kerala cadre for a period of six months December 15, 2011.

Government’s Lokpal to give 3 layers of protection to corrupt officials, says Team Anna Hazare

Anna with Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi

Anna Hazare's team that has also included two former bureaucrats, 1972 batch IPS Kiran Bedi and 1995 batch Indian Revenue Service officer Arvind Kejriwal, has chosen to term the government version of Lokpal draft as ‘Protection of Corrupt Public Servants Bill, 2011’. Anna Hazare and his core team have been ridiculing the government’s version of the draft as Jokepal after the Union government chose to ignore the civil society’s version of the draft bill and introduced its own version in Parliament to decide. Now, a standing committee is scrutinizing the merits and demerits of the draft Bill.

On Tuesday morning, Delhi police detained Anna, Bedi, Kejriwal and advocate Prashant Bhushan among others for their proposed plan to protest without getting requisite permission. There was an apprehension that the protests would disrupt normal life in India’s capital city. But many common men were annoyed to witness Delhi police’s crackdown on Anna Hazare.

Bhushan has been arguing in news channels that government’s Lokpal Bill would in fact shield corrupt officials. Here is his argument. The draft Bill has a provision to bring 30 lakh NGOs across the country under the ambit of Lokpal but only 60,000 Class I officers and above would come under the Lokpal. Team Anna’s further contention is that the punishment for false complaint is two years imprisonment while the punishment to corrupt officers is only six months under the government version.

“In case any complaint is lodged against a public servant, there is provision for a counter case of ‘false complaint’ which will start immediately in the special court but the corrupt officer will get three layers of protection even before a chargesheet can be filed by the Lokpal,” Bhushan told a news channel.