Snippets/ Mail Today, September 14, 2009

Post- retirement blues of the babus

THE balance of post- retirement power is gradually shifting and superannuated bureaucrats are beginning to feel a sudden sense of loss. All along, most IAS and IFS officers approached retirement knowing that there was a new life waiting for them. Many of them managed to get themselves plum post- retirement jobs which, at home or abroad, entitled them to continue to enjoy all the perks they were used to. But Manmohan Singh’s preference for technocrats is increasingly seeing many a glamorous job slipping out of their hands.

The appointment of Dr Arvind Virmani, Chief Economc Advisor to the Finance Ministry, as India’s Executive Director to the International Monetary Fund, to replace Adarsh Kishore, an IAS officer, signals the PM’s determination to put technocrats in key slots in the future. The government had earlier made similar changes in the Asian Development Bank where an IAS officer was replaced by a technocrat.

With rumours swirling that Pulok Chatterjee, a 10 Janpath loyalist, is being brought back from his World Bank job in Washington for apprenticeship before taking over as Cabinet Secretary when incumbent KM Chandrashekhar retires next year, all eyes are on the selection of Chatterjee’s successor and the odds are on another technocrat being sent. The prime minister’s preference for professionals is nothing new. When he first took office more than five years ago, friendly TV channels had reported his preference for Montek Singh Ahluwalia in the Finance Ministry, but stiff opposition from the political class scuttled the move and Montek never got to occupy the office, instead settling for Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, a post he holds to this day.

I know it for a fact that he was never quite comfortable in the initial days, dealing as he was, with chief ministers and such like who never spoke the language ( I don’t mean literally) that he did. Montek has come a long way since then, as will the many technocrats who are edging aside bureaucrats to take up the many attractive jobs on offer.

Some are even willing to forego fancy cars for the humble Tata Indigo, as some technocrats who recently joined showed. If you are close to South Block, power is seldom measured in terms of BHP.

Police chiefs’ annual ritual begins today

FOR three days, starting today, DGPs and IGPs from all states will meet in Delhi. As usual, when they return after their deliberations, no one will be the wiser. And nothing will ever change.

I say this because it is a farce that has gone on for nearly 90 years now. The first ever conference of IGPs was organised by the IB back in 1920. Since 1973, it has become an annual affair attended by heads of police from states and union territories and the chiefs of about a dozen central police and paramilitary organisations. As with similar meets, this will be at best another exercise in tokenism where no major policy is initiated.

There will be platitudes from the PM and the Home Minister about fighting terror and naxalism, etc. Our structure is federal and all state police forces report to their respective state government. The aim of the conference “ is to provide an interactive platform for senior police professionals to freely discuss and debate diverse national security related” issues.

I am sure such lofty ideals have been spelt out in each of the 43 conferences held since independence but the country is still waiting to see these move beyond mere words. There are as yet no visible efforts to develop a platform for effective police coordination among the states which will guarantee minimum acceptable national standards in policing.

The meeting comes barely three weeks after the prime minister convened a meeting of chief ministers where policing and internal security figured high on the agenda. The meeting witnessed sharp differences between UPA and non- UPA chief ministers.

That’s why I forsee a lot of cross talk during the three day meet. Officers from the states will be ready with briefs from their state governments. Will the DGP of Uttar Pradesh be ready to bury those and take orders from the people at the Centre or will he go by Mayawati’s brief? Ditto for those from Gujarat.

THE last time a revolt happened in the Congress, it was exactly a decade ago when Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel et al walked out to protest “ foreign leadership” and formed the NCP. They have since teamed up with Sonia once again but that’s another story. The party has seen dissent since then, but this been in the form of gentle murmur. For the first time now, the Congress is faced with the real prospect of a revolt in one of its strongest units — Andhra Pradesh.

Last week I had written about Jaganmohan being a man in a hurry. It is now clear the man is nothing less than impatient. The party old guard’s capitulation to one of its youngest members may have more to do with safeguarding their political and financial interests than total faith in his political instincts. The happenings have sickened the toughest of stomachs. The battle has reached the worldwide web. More than a handful of sites, appropriately named “ SaveAndhra. com” or saveap, have sprung up in recent days and Reddys, Khammas and Kapus, wherever are taking frequent breaks from duty and business to flood the net with the pros and cons about Jagan and Rosaiah.

One mail I got from a Telugu in Chicago was detailed about YSR’s contribution to the rebuilding of Congress in Andhra. YSR’s contribution cannot be belittled and in death he has become even bigger. But the manner in which these are being flaunted makes me wonder whether Jagan himself is behind this frenzy. If so, he better watch out. Sonia hasn’t lost an intra party war in a decade. She is not about to start by losing to a greenhorn.THE last time a revolt happened in the Congress, it was exactly a decade ago when Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel et al walked out to protest “ foreign leadership” and formed the NCP. They have since teamed up with Sonia once again but that’s another story. The party has seen dissent since then, but this been in the form of gentle murmur. For the first time now, the Congress is faced with the real prospect of a revolt in one of its strongest units — Andhra Pradesh. Last week I had written about Jaganmohan being a man in a hurry. It is now clear the man is nothing less than impatient. The party old guard’s capitulation to one of its youngest members may have more to do with safeguarding their political and financial interests than total faith in his political instincts. The happenings have sickened the toughest of stomachs. The battle has reached the worldwide web. More than a handful of sites, appropriately named “ SaveAndhra. com” or saveap, have sprung up in recent days and Reddys, Khammas and Kapus, wherever are taking frequent breaks from duty and business to flood the net with the pros and cons about Jagan and Rosaiah. One mail I got from a Telugu in Chicago was detailed about YSR’s contribution to the rebuilding of Congress in Andhra. YSR’s contribution cannot be belittled and in death he has become even bigger. But the manner in which these are being flaunted makes me wonder whether Jagan himself is behind this frenzy. If so, he better watch out. Sonia hasn’t lost an intra party war in a decade. She is not about to start by losing to a greenhorn.

Power & Politics / Mail Today, September 14, 2009

F OR most ordinary Indians who have the tough task of balancing their family budgets every month, these are testing times. Just when the aam aadmi began to tighten his belt by another notch, our ministers put up a tasteless display of their own importance last week. It just proved how much they are out of touch with the common man whom they claim to represent.

If you watched TV or read the papers last week, you may have been led to believe that all it takes to cut government expenditure is to ask all ministers and MPs to travel economy class on airliners. MPs were interviewed and straw polls conducted to find out if our honourable ministers should indeed be dumped on cattle class. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is not silly to believe that symbolic austerity measures will set the government’s finances right. When he asked two of his ministerial colleagues to move out of the 5- star hotel suites they had been occupying since May — because the bungalows allotted to them weren’t to their liking — he was not seeking publicity.

He was merely asking them to follow the rule book. It’s almost two decades ago, but it is hard not to reflect back on those muggy days when we Indians had to pledge our gold reserves to buy the next month’s ration. Since then, we have been on austerity drive. The Rao government started the trend in 1991 by initiating several cost cutting measures including — don’t laugh, I am being dead serious — asking ministers and bureaucrats to surrender one official phone each! Later governments did not abandon the austerity drive.
In 2005, even when the economy was booming and the government’s coffers were overflowing, the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram laid out guidelines for government spending. That however did nothing to stop our ministers and bureaucrats from accumulating frequent flyer miles on first class. Early last year, in a cover story on jet- setting ministers, India Today magazine had reported that in their first four years in office, 71 of the 78 ministers in UPA1 had logged enough miles to circle the earth 256 times. At least one minister had spent one out of every three days away from home.

This is extravagance that the country can ill afford. That ministers intend to continue with their bad old ways was evident at last week’s cabinet meeting when Pranabda was heckled by his colleagues — some of whom I assume are wide-bodied — who insisted that the economy class seats even in the widebodied Airbus airplanes were not big enough to ensure them a pleasant and comfortable journey. But Pranabda cocked a snook at them the next morning by flying abudget carrier to Kolkata.

Measures like 10 percent cut in non- plan expenditure on things like ministerial and bureaucratic travel expenses, advertising and publicity, office and administrative expenses, buying new vehicles and conducting seminars and conferences are at best symbolic.

How much does the government expect to save through such measures? Rs 100 cr? 200 crore? What about the tens of thousands of crores that could be saved if the government cut down on major expenditure by, say, downsizing its machinery. Instead of downsizing, each year sees the creation of new ministries and departments. Start from the top, at the council of ministers which is the largest ever in the country’s history. Each minister and his establishment costs the exchequer a minimum of Rs 2 crore annually. A notch lower come secretaries to the government.

Two decades ago, there were about 80 secretaries; now there over 400 people who hold the rank of secretaries, including dozens of bureaucrats who have been reemployed following superannuation. One of the perks of being minister is that you get what you want. This is all the more so in a coalition set up where every minister — even from a one MP party — throws his weight around. One cabinet minister recently refused to accept the house allotted to him even though his predecessor had spent about Rs eight lakhs just months before moving out.
You’d think the CPWD officials are a hassled lot, having to tinker with the same things again and again when they should ideally be taking care of civic amenities.

On the contrary, nothing makes them happier. They love ministers coming and going because every new incumbent means another round of renovation and another slice of the pie. I sometimes wish the RTI had a clause under which public spirited citizens could find out about money wasted by the government on needless expenditure. The figures would be revealing. And shocking.

Seedhi Baat / Aajtak, September 13, 2009

'One has to be young at heart'

Actor Salman Khan on the show Seedhi Baat talks about his upcoming film Wanted and his evolution as an actor over the last two decades.He also speaks about his relationship with Katrina Kaif, the rivalry between the film industry’s big Khans, and his newfound love for football and says he still has many years to go in the film industry.
Part2 ; Part3 ; Part4 ; Part5

Power & Politics / Mail Today, September 07, 2009

POLITICIANS are rarely blessed with the gift of decency. In Andhra Pradesh, even less so. It was a measure of his image at the national level and the cross- party respect Y. S. Rajashekhara Reddy commanded that when he died last Wednesday in a chopper crash, many states, including those ruled by non- Congress parties, observed a two- day mourning, the flag at the BJP headquarters at 11 Ashoka Road fluttered at half mast for two days, and the Leader of the Opposition L. K. Advani joined Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi at the funeral of the late AP chief minister.
It was a pity thus to see Andhra Congress leaders indulge in a naked display of power politics even as YSR’s body lay in state. The memory of this mindless and absolutely disrespectful lobbying by state Congress leaders, shown 24X7 on TV, will live much longer than the many good deeds associated with the departed leader. Instead of condoling the demise of a man who was undoubtedly dynamic, they indulged in a naked and greedy power dance.

The state cabinet met on Thursday to condole his death but they did not mourn the passing of a leader. The meeting was a precursor to a battle to grab the seat that fell vacant with his death. After the meeting, ministers came out and started the chorus for the elevation of Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy, YSR’s son, as the new chief minister. Worse, it all happened in front of K. Rosaiah, the seniormost Congressman who had just been named as interim CM by the high command.

Signature campaigns were floated and TV channels were fed stories about Jagan having the support of more than four- fifths of the Congress Legislative Party. The papers and newscasts were full of stories of suicides and heart attacks though the exact number of victims depended on which factional leader you spoke to. It was as high as 150, as the pro Jagan camp would have us believe; merely 30, the other side said. Having created the hysteria, the Congress courtiers brought forth a solution.

In an unprecedented move, all ministers ( appointed by YSR of course) signed a representation, obviously aimed at putting pressure on Sonia Gandhi to sanction Jagan’s coronation. The man behind the exercise is KVP Ramachandra Rao, Rajya Sabha MP who was YSR’s classmate.

The young Reddy is undoubtedly a successful man. With not a little help from his father, he became a media baron and last May, he won his first election to the Lok Sabha. Jagan may have the grit and guile of his father but it is doubtful if, without YSR’s guiding hands, he will have the Jaganmohan same political valuation. Yet, he has the financial muscle and control of the party’s coffers.

This is a state which has given the Congress and the country some of the tallest leaders: Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, Narasimha Rao, Brahmananda Reddy, NT Rama Rao, M. Chenna Reddy etc.

The Congress is in a dilemma: can it afford to ignore Rosiah, its senior most leader who has been a minister in seven governments, and a backward to boot, and elevate a greenhorn? The behaviour of the senior leaders, as seen on TV, was sickening and the naked greed for power is not likely to let the dead rest in peace.

Seedhi Baat / Aajtak, September 06, 2009

Actors want to reinvent: Rani

Actor Rani Mukherjee on the show Seedhi Baat says that for her latest movie Dil Bole Hadippa she learnt cricket for six months.

Part2 ; Part3 ; Part4 ;Part5

Snippets/ Mail Today, September 07, 2009

EVERYONE thought so far — this writer included — that President Pratibha Patil is the dullest personality ever to have moved into the Rashtrapati Bhavan. After hearing reports of her ongoing visit to Russia, I will admit to a readiness to eat my words. At a function hosted by the Indian Ambassador, she reportedly had the audience in splits. She acknowledged she was merely recalling what Valentina Tereshkova, the world’s first woman cosmonaut, had told her more than 30 years ago when she was an MLA in Maharashtra. Incidentally, Ms Tereshkova was among the evening’s audience. The Chinese have a knack of complicating things. The proverb that Ms Tereshkova quoted was Chinese: “ While man is the head of the family, the woman is the neck that turns the head”. In simple English, that translates to “ Behind every successful man there is a woman”. Woman power, in short. No quarrels on that.

Home ministry babus feel the heat

WHEREVER he goes, P Chidambaram is known to send a few shivers down lazy spines. Babus in North Block which houses the home ministry are filled with a feeling of dread after PC ordered the installation of new Biometric Attendance Control systems at the gates to monitor their comings and goings.

“ A working day consists of eight hours ( 9 am to 5.30 pm with half an hour for lunch) and all officers/ officials are expected to work for this minimum period; i. e. eight hours a day and 40 hours in a week… some persons may get delayed due to transport/ traffic problems and such late arrivals within a reasonable period of 15/ 25 minutes will be acceptable subject to their adjusting their working hours up to 8 hours by delayed departure,” said a ministry note.

Bureaucratic gobbledygook, you say. Not for this minister who looks at everything from a productivity angle. He himself reaches office at 9 and promptly places a finger on the machine before going to his chamber and does the same before leaving for the day.
Every day, officers have to give reports about files received, acted upon and disposed of and the work done by their staff. If files are kept pending, reasons have to be given.

Besides monitoring the work done on a daily basis, the new system is also aimed at taking a holistic look at staffing and related matters. I am sure there are several hundred babus working in the home ministry and I have a feeling that after sustained monitoring for a year, Chidambaram will have a clear idea of the number of staff that is redundant. Downsizing has been his mantra since 1996 when he became the finance minister for the first time. If he succeeds, I am sure that other ministries and wings of the government that urgently need to cut flab, will be quick to follow.

IF ONLY walls could talk. Last week, the RSS Sarsangchalak Mohanrao Bhagwat rounded off his highly publicised visit to Delhi by calling on Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The one- on- one meeting without aides or even family members present lasted a little over half hour, but that did not stop the breaking news brigade from churning out a stream of “ exclusives” that claimed Vajpayee was “ disgusted at the goings- on in the BJP”, Bhagwat was “ determined to set things right” and similar fanciful stories.

I drop by “ Bapji’s” house once in a while and I know that he doesn’t talk, watches TV, but mainly for the serials and the movies. Since the tumultuous events of these past few weeks, only party president Rajnath Singh had called on Vajpayee, while those who hold the party levers churned tales to suggest that LK Advani was the sole decision making authority.

Bhagwat’s visit was aimed at erasing that perception, to let the world know Vajpayee’s place in the party, that his word still mattered. In that sense, Bhagwat was the third umpire who played back the true picture. Vajpayee may have merely listened while Bhagwat did all the talking. But I am sure of one thing: the roadmap, if any for the BJP’s revival will have neither the concurrence nor the disapproval of the party’s Grand Old Man. He just wants to be left alone.

Yeddyurappa to occupy slot left vacant by YSR

HUMAN tragedies sometimes throw up unintended opportunities — even beneficiaries. In the tragic death of YS Rajasekhara Reddy, the South has lost its most powerful satrap. With M Karunanidhi ready for the sunset walk, it is his Karnataka counterpart BS Yeddyurappa who stands out South of the Vindhyas. He has been carving out a niche for himself and going on to acquire an image bigger than his party. Of late he has been working on a combination of political, social and economic strategies to ensure inclusive growth and politics. His first move to acquire a pan- South India image was to repair the bad ties between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. For over two decades, the chief ministers of the two states never shared a social platform because of dirty politics over a host of issues including the Cauvery Water dispute.

But Yeddi fell back on statue diplomacy, by inviting Karunanidhi to unveil a bust of Tamil saint poet Thiruvalluvar in Bangalore, and then going to Chennai to unveil one of Kannada poet Sarvajna. Later, when Yeddi visited Chennai for a medical check up, Karunanidhi expressed his desire to visit the hospital. But Yeddi sprang from his hospital bed and landed at Karunanidhi’s Gopalapuram residence. The DMK chief was so moved, he is now said to be ready to talk with Yeddi about all pending inter state disputes.

Yeddi is consolidating himself slowly but surely. He has already ensured massive victory for the BJP in the assembly, Lok Sabha and the recent by- elections, clinically divided the Janata Dal ( S) and made his government stable. By repairing ties with the neighbour, Yeddi will also be doing a favour to the DMK. If the bad blood between the two states is buried once and for all, the DMK will have a huge rain check waiting encashment. And the BJP would have finally found someone who can win it allies.