Sense of The Corridor: babu blogger on Pulok, Nilekani and Facebook notings

An imaginary outline of babu blogger

THE Sense of The Corridor is here. An overwhelming 38 percent visitors of babus of india (BoI) who participated in an online poll say babu blogger is a male retired bureaucrat whereas another 15 percent lock for “male serving bureaucrat”. babu blogger’s mandate is to narrate inside tales of Indian bureaucracy with strokes of accuracy and spot those trends which could later turn into rules.

But 18 percent of participants of the online poll say babu blogger is a female journalist. And another 14 percent believe babu blogger has to be a female private secretary of a minister, meaning with lots of insights about the corridors. Yet, one out of six visitors of this site say babu blogger is neither a male retired or serving bureaucrat nor is babu blogger a female journalist or a private secretary to a minister. It does not matter who babu blogger is, but here are babu blogger’s 6 best wishes for the year 12.

Let Only Pulok Be Political

In a government that has many pairs of warring ministers, read PC--Pranab and Jairam--Pawar, let top bureaucrats not fight even on one menu. Let the arrangement of principal secretary to PM Pulok Chatterji and his batch-mate cabinet secretary Ajit K Seth continue. Let Seth concentrate more on apolitical part of bureaucracy leaving Chatterji enough room for political maneuvering if and when needed.

Let Nilekani Not Fail

The Planning Commission babus’ advice to Nandan Nilekani's team is not technically wrong. But their persistent chorus of “don’t move on another track” to Nilekani’s men is now being heard outside the Plan Panel. The home ministry does not want unique identity, UIDAI, to encroach their mandate and the Planning Commission does not want to make arrangements for huge fund. But for the heaven sake, let’s not kill this unique project. Nandan’s failure means you cannot woo yet another top corporate honcho in future.

Let The Best Be At The Top

More and more bureaucrats on Central deputation have begun to believe that the state posting is cool. You can still maneuver better in the states, and rules will not chase you so much as it does at the Centre. The top-notch bureaucrats no longer lobby for getting plump jobs at economic ministries which till recently were considered lucrative. Let 2012 witness a resurgence of the best of lot making beelines for the top ministries. Let’s prevent mediocrity dictating in key ministries.

Let Performing Babu Get More Salary

The government’s decision to extend the tenure of professor-turned secretary in cabinet secretariat, Dr Prajapati Trivedi, by one year and eight months is a welcome step. The man has been fighting a losing battle to bring pay disparity among bureaucrats. Why should a high performing secretary draw the same salary of Rs 80,000 as his non-performing colleague in another ministry? Let the cabinet take a serious look at Trivedi’s excel-sheet of calculating variable pay for bureaucrats and introduce it this year.

Let ‘Yes Boss’ Be Rare

There is no point of repeating what events of 2011 taught Indian bureaucrats. Already, everyone has seen how blindly following your boss could lead you to jail. Bureaucrats are supposed to show the ministers the rule books and take all precautions before signing a file. Let top secretaries assert when a major policy decision crops up. Say what is correct, and not what is politically correct.

Tech Moves Faster Than Files

Dear babus, don’t shy away from social media. You have learnt to use emails, Blackberrys and i-Pad tablets. But tech moves much faster than your files. If social media is changing how the world thinks today, you can’t be miles behind. Read blogs, follow Twitter and experiment Facebook. Ask your son or daughter, follow them but yes, don’t hurriedly join the bandwagon. Take the same precaution in social media as you do in file-noting.

Here is where you can follow babu blogger’s Facebook notings: http://www.facebook.com/babublogger

Corridors of Surrender, not Power: Those in white ambassadors begin to lose power tag

Flashback 2011. If the nervousness of Indian bureaucrats has anything to go by, India’s corridor of power is virtually turning into corridor of nervousness, and even corridor of surrender. This could ultimately prove to be a temporary phase, but as it stands now, the high and mighty in Raisina Hills are standing in front of the mirrors to figure out whether they are still the most powerful men and women in India.

It’s an unusual year when there is a near-consensus that Comptroller and Auditor General is actually more powerful than principal secretary to Prime Minister. And the men on the street, read Anna followers, are not hesitating to publicly ridicule appointment of the CBI chief, a trend that was earlier unheard of. Even top bureaucrats in Delhi can no longer risk themselves by guaranteeing anyone that “the work will be done”. Also, taking cue from others, even corporate leaders who had earlier refrained from making any public statement against bureaucrats, are talking about policy paralysis and making strong anti-bureaucrat statements. Have the men inside white ambassadors lost the power that they wielded till last year?

The majority of bright young Indians still want to join civil service not because of any fat salary packages but for prestige, social status and opportunity to make a difference to the society. According to an official Civil Services survey undertaken in 2010 with a large sample size of over 4000 serving bureaucrats including IAS, IPS, IRS etc. “visible symbols of power” was an “important” determinant to join bureaucracy, at least for 44 percent respondents. For 18 percent respondents, “visible symbols of power” was the “very important” reason for their joining the services. As high as 56 percent respondents also agreed that they chose to be civil servants because of the “prestige and social status associated with civil service”.

But the events in 2011 have definitely shaken Indian bureaucrats and attacked the very visible symbol of power associated with civil servants.

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Action and Appointments

a) Shankar Agarwal, a 1980 batch UP cadre IAS, has been appointed as additional secretary in the defence ministry.

b) Chirravuri Viswanath, 1981 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, currently joint secretary in the department of food and public distribution, has been appointed as additional secretary in the information and broadcasting ministry.

c) Suresh Chandra Panda, a 1981 batch Assam cadre IAS, presently development commissioner in SEZ, Noida, has been appointed as additional secretary and financial adviser in home ministry.

d) Deverakonda Diptivilasa, a 1981 batch UP cadre IAS, has been appointed as additional secretary in urban development ministry.