Whispers Forum

The appellant sought information with regard to Chief Minister Relief Fund such as the complete list of funds, contribution received on account of NCT of Delhi, Chief Minister Relief Fund between the financial year 2013-16 and the list of beneficiaries to whom money was paid. The PIO argued against the disclosure of identity of the beneficiaries as the same may prejudice the privacy of the individual concerned and depict him/her in a position which is looked down upon by society. The CIC ruled that the names of beneficiaries as well the amount disbursed should be intimated to the appellant and found no impediment in placing the aforesaid data in public domain as well. The CIC observed that the names of beneficiaries and financial aid disbursed cannot be denied to the legislature and hence, the same doesn’t attract Section 8(1)(j).
Comments
The recipients of state aid cannot claim privacy as regards the benefits received by them and to ensure transparency in exercise of discretion by the authority, such data should be proactively disclosed by the public authority.
Citation: Mr. Aseem Takyar v. Chief Minister’s Secretariat GNCTD in F. No.CIC/LTGSE/A/2017/135671 and F. No.CIC/FDEPT/A/2016/304308, Date of Decision: 31.10.2017
Dr. Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is the co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION – LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO’s guide to RTI. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation of India at - http://www.rtifoundationofindia.com/

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Only the next Union Budget will reveal how much of banking re-capitalisation took place. The budget estimates will provide a clear idea on the resources the Government utilised to re-capitalise banks.
Sanjeev Kumar Singh
Wailing foundation stoneS
The Assembly elections held some months back in the five states, had set in motion the foundation/Inaugural stones laying spree, before the imposition of the model code of conduct .Thankfully the new govt in Punjab has taken notice of this wasteful exercise and have resolved to restrict it substantially. The foundation stones laid before the last elections still remain at the stage where these were laid ,not a brick added thereafter. The public expects the miracle of the completion of the promised projects. Many such stones of the previous elections are still mocking at the gullible public, which had been cheated and deceived repeatedly with the foundation stones
, The saying goes, ''In most of Indian cities, there are more auto-rickshaws than human beings and there are more foundation stones than the streets, roads and buildings'' In all these cities and rural areas the foundation stone platforms are noticeable in large numbers. About five months back, i saw a foundation stone in a very popular and historical park, which was 12 feet wide and 6 feet high, and it mentioned about three hundred characters, who were associated with the foundation stone laying ceremony. The inscription was thankfully not legible because of the constant excreta of the birds on it. Some thoughtful civic body officials have demolished and removed it now, giving the area much better and cleaner look. Foundation stone laying urge is the off-shoot of self importance and ego of the VIPs, and succumbing to traditions of sycophancy of the subordinates. It is sort of compulsion for the politicians to show their importance to the supporters and a occasion for the subordinates to keep the political bosses busy and happy. A good foundation laying ceremony ensures safe passage to the main organiser. However the interest of the foundation laying dignitary wanes immediately after the ceremony, most of the time.
There are thousands of foundation stones in the cities, where the work was never carried out, there are thousands other, which cover the open space and have become the eye sore of the citizens. There are some very small parks, where the number of foundation stones cross double digits. In one such park,there were 14 such stones, outnumbering the grown up tree .In Nawanshahr distt, there was a Deputy Commissioner, who never laid the foundation stone and instead always got a small and graceful religious ceremony performed at the time of inauguration.
In a Municipal Corporation city, there was a Commissioner, who was stopped from laying any foundation stone by his seniors. His development vision prominently displayed his hunger for seeing foundation stones with his name boldly engraved therein. The Mayor was very close to CM, so he had arm-twisted him not to venture forth for any publicity. Unable to suppress his urge to lay foundation stones outside, he laid the foundation stone of a room for his buffaloes at his residence, where incidentally i was also present. There was a divisional commissioner, who asked the deputy commissioner, a night before the foundation stone ceremony that the name of his wife should also be inscribed on the foundation stone, since she would accompany him. The deputy commissioner could not comply with this Nadarshahi order, in spite of his best efforts to do so and paid the price by getting lukewarm annual confidential report . One of my colleagues, who had penchant for laying foundation stones, once asked me as to how many foundation stones I had laid in the career. I politely told him that I even do not get my name inscribed on such stones, when my seniors lay them. He gave me a contemptuous frown of considering me a worthless fellow. He could not restrain his boasting instincts and told me that he had laid 124 foundation stones. Once, it so happened that Principal Secretary PWD fixed the date of inauguration ceremony of a widened and upgraded important state highway with the CM.I told him that such a stone laying ceremony of the road had already been performed by the former CM. However, the most hilarious and ludicrous solution to the problem was provided by the local MLA, to the Principal Secretary. The ceremony was performed at the other end of the road. Such foolish innovations are hall -mark of the vain-glorious and meaningless regimes. This highly wasteful and ostentatious ceremony, which entails dilution of probity, should be given burial once for all. Thousands of houses can be constructed for the poor in the country with the debris of the foundation/inaugural stone platforms .It would also clear many obstructions and eyesores permanently. It is to be seen how long the regime resists the temptation of these age-old ceremonies
Surinderjit singh Sandhu, Amritsar

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Recapitalisation of banks that have lost their capital due to NPA's and indiscriminate lending euphemistically referred to as market-based lending is no reform. Nor does it mean following a package of recommendations given by the favorite consultants who may consult on any subject from heart surgery to legal reforms without practical knowledge of the field. In the context of the PSUs it would mean
!. Appointment of persons as directors with professional competence with known integrity as independent directors and removing all the nodding directors like Joint Secretaries and Ministers Chamchas unless the JSs have professional knowledge of finance.
2. Large loans should be extended only after a thorough professional analysis of the outcome of the loans taking into account likely market and economic developments and the capacity to meet the interest and repayment liabilities.
3. Officers who do the analysis must express their clear views in support or against the loan irrespective of any political or other considerations and these officers should be insulated against prejudicial treatment.
4. A monitoring unit manned by professionals in the bank should follow up on loan utilization and recommend releases of installments only after field inspection and market analysis. These officers become personally liable for misreporting.
5. Banks should notify large loans approved in their websites.
6. Bank managers in whose jurisdiction the loanee falls must visit project site or do personal verification if lending is against stocks held in warehouses as these are the common deception points when lending is done against non-existent stocks of materials o without any progress in the field.
7. An independent audit unit should be created under the chairmen of banks authorised to visit the large loanees and ascertain the utilization of loan and capacity of the loanee to repay.
M. R. Sivaraman, IAS, Former ED, IMF
Is there anyone in charge ?
I wonder daily when i have to pass through DND Flyway on way to Delhi and back. From the time Allahabad Court removed the toll collection from this road it has become a hellhole made worse by the an SDMC booth put up by the contractor to collect toll on their behalf from commercial vehicles entering Delhi. Traffic does not move or moves at a snail's space. A distance which just took 30 minutes when the jam is not there now takes more than an hour. Forbidding the Noida toll Bridge Company from collecting toll on a plea of small time politicians in league with some Residents' welfare Associations the court ignored the repercussions of such a step. More than 400 persons losing their jobs, maintenance of the road, taking care of the breakdowns and smooth flow of traffic. With the toll company staff gone if a vehicle breaks down no one is there to help in removing it on one side. The other day one came across a terrific traffic snarl. On crossing the same it was found a Wagon R stalled just in the middle of the road and a young couple desperately pushing it on one side with the help of a commuter. I hope the Apex Court where the appeal is pending against the Allahabad High Court Order for the last one year takes note of all these factors. These days our Courts are adding to citizens' travails rather than resolving the same.
Aarti Khosla

DEBATE (1) Banking reforms
Bank re-capitalisation has everything to do with fiscal deficit. The Government needs to make public the fiscal deficit percentage which would provide some idea on how banking reforms would progress in the coming years.
Ambresh Kumar Singh
Court ruling on unborn child
Does an unborn child have the right to life? A recent court ruling reported in the media lays down a new law which defies all tenets of natural justice. The question which seems to have escaped the court’s attention is whether an unborn child has the natural right to be born, brought up and live a normal life? Can a pregnant adult woman abort the child without the unborn child’s consent, arbitrarily, at will, whimsically and in a fit of temper? Even if the personal laws applicable in the matter or the medical advice were to be kept out of the discussion, can it be justified purely on the basis of the extant law of the land? As far as is known, there is no law in India on the subject. As happens in the case of legislative vacuum, it is an instance of legislation by the court. Neither the Law Commission of India nor the parliament had deliberated on the subject. Can such an act of killing an unborn human child be justified on the basis of the right of an adult woman alone? Is the right of an adult woman not pitted against the right of the unborn child, living and growing in the secure environs of a womb? What relevance is there of “human rights” or inhuman acts in the light of such a right to throw out the unborn? A marriage metamorphoses two individuals into one couple, where they dissolve their individual identities and acquire a new identity of a couple. It is during their single identity that the unborn child enters their life. Both have the same rights on the unborn, as does the unborn over both of them in all matters embracing affection to property. The unborn child is an invaluable joint asset of the couple. The seed can’t be reduced to nothingness, as even animal, horticulture and crop seeds (e.g. GM seeds) carry premium value. The human seed is decidedly more valuable than all other species. It is almost simultaneously that the seed starts pulsating in the womb. The unborn plays in the womb, smiles, eats, enjoys, tries to break the enclosure by kicking it, turns upside down or sideways. Suddenly the mother decides to abort her/him. It is murder. She has no right to kill the unborn. The court has ruled that an adult woman has an “unimpeachable right to give birth or terminate pregnancy”.
M L Gupta
What about the bureaucrats who really prostrate and stoop before the Parliamentarians for their personal gains.
BBS
‘Ae meri topi palat ke aa’
In film Funtoosh, debonair and lively Dev Anand sings the song and calls back his magically dancing and eluding hat 'Ae meri topi palat ke aa'. About quarter of a century ago, a very reputed leader and a veteran freedom fighter, who was religiously dressed in white and wearing kishti topi as a headgear had confessed to an interviewer on television, ''There were times when everyone respected us for wearing this dress and now this dress has become so dreadful that it terrifies the onlookers and they feel like running away from us ,hammen iss dress mein dekh ke hi humse bhagna chahte hain.''That leader ,who had sacrificed a lot for the freedom of the country was feeling the pulse of the people,because of the degradation of the ethics and the values, once practiced by the wearers of this dress. In the year 1976,Smt Indira Gandhi, the then PM, came to Malerkotla, to preside over the function of total electrification of Punjab villages.I was on duty at the helipad. I did not see many kishti topis before her arrival,though white turbaned men could be seen in large numbers. As soon as madam's helicopter was in sight, many white caps could be seen. Hans Raj Sharma,and Chowdhary Gurmel Singh, who were to receive her along with Giani Zail Singh ,very deftly brought out their neatly ironed topis from their pockets and were in full party dress to receive her. In Amritsar Sh Sadhu Ram sharma ,the then president of the Amritsar district congress and who had close resemblance to Sh Morarji Desai,was always immaculately dressed wearing congress cap and seen walking along with his cycle, in the Amritsar streets. Similarly Sh Gian Chand Kharbanda always wore this cap and used to walk in Amritsar streets even as a minister in early 1970s.Slowly and slowly the political people discarded this symbol of fight against Britishers' oppression.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Banking reforms will have bad effect on the economy of the country. It is already crippled.
Girja Shankar
DEBATE (2) Banking reforms
The biggest hurdle in banking reforms is weeding out the corrupt in this section who have encashed demonetisation.
Lalit Shastri
Thanks for RTI judgment
Thanks for the RTI judgment. As a CPIO, I have felt constrained on many occasions to provide the reply within the time limit of 30 days. The RTI Act is silent about whether any extension can be given in deserving cases. This judgment provides a support to all those like me who wish to provide the information but are restrained by conditions which are beyond their control. I was earlier advised not to give an interim reply, but with this judgment, I think there would be little difficulty with a part reply.
Subodh K Sahai
Who will run MCI?
MCI: Kal, AAJ aur KAL will be run by Ketan Desai. There is no replacement for him. Even top offices can't do anything about this.
Alok

DEBATE (1) Banking reforms
New banking reforms are welcome. Only question is eight lakh crore NPA. Who will bring back.
G S Mathur
DEBATE (2) Banking reforms
The banking reforms processes; I don’t think will be a matter of a few months. With such huge operations of some public sector banks, the implementation would take at least two to three years. It is unlikely that the banking system will be able to absorb the new processes in a matter of a few months. On the positive side, the reforms are welcome and would surely benefit the economy.
Jagat Sinha
No improvement on any front in UP
I join the reaction of two of my fellow surfers on the disgraceful ,arrogant ,and thoughtless instructions given by UP Chief minister to the civil servants to be subservient to the politicians by standing up when they come, offer them hospitality etc. etc. This only shows that priorities for this chief minister are lopsided. There has been no improvement on any front in UP. Living in Noida which is UP i find everything sickening be it law and order, cleanliness, water problems the response of the officialdom to citizens' complaints and the dirty nallahs around. Yogi Ji is a mahant par excellence. He is busier in his religious duties of pujas and does not seem to be knowing how to tackle administrative mess that UP is. Bureaucrats should be left to do their real work rather than fawning on the politicians.
Aarti Khosla
Judgments of Addl Judges of HCs to be evaluated by Committee
Why there is no such system for tribunal members especially of Tax tribunals like ITAT and CESTAT. There should be administrative review of their orders by respective High Courts' committees.
SA

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Whether the banker will allow reforms? This is a million dollar question.
R K Meena
DEBATE (2) Banking Reforms
Fair selection to the top positions in banks is a good sign.
T K Deshmukh
Modi to win Gujarat
Modi is going to win every single seat in Gujarat.
Vijay Kumar
Very interesting anecdotes in forum
The forum gives very interesting anecdotes, just like S S Sandhu posts now and then, including others. Often in our career, we come across many humorous, memorable, inimitable anecdotes and incidents, which can hardly be appreciated or understood by those outside the government eco system. Surely many more contributors can relate, narrate such anecdotes before they are lost in the annals of forgotten memories?
S Srinivasan

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Recapitalisation might be part of Banking reforms already
The recapitalisation move of the Banking sector is a very positive step taken by the Finance Ministry. This was anyway long overdue. The move might have been already part of the Banking reforms and not any stop-gap arrangement to boost the economy. The step is welcome.
Raghvendra Singh
Gharhuka Express vs Bullet train
About 3 years back,the Indian regime had initiated the move to introduce first Bullet trains for fast and safe journey. Meetings with Japanese and other big players and experts have yielded only vociferous rhetoric in Electronics media and dull articles and news reports in print media. The big leaders also embellished their shallow speeches with the tall claims of doing what their predecessors could not do for more than six decades. The announcement of first Bullet train on Bombay Ahmadabad track is followed by similar announcement of second such train on Amritsar Delhi track. So far the announcements are nothing more than the illusions. In the same period,i have witnessed the mushrooming of Gharhukas in various parts of Punjab after hibernation for sometime. As the 3 wheelers are giving nightmares to the mini buses and road transport in general, Gharhukas may laugh at the bullet trains. Peter rehrha, gharhuka, dhindsa and maruta are the common names of the dreadful vehicle locally fabricated, and frequently and extensively used for carrying school going children, passengers, goods , and many other works. Its very sight brings revulsion in the minds of the onlookers, as these are neither manufactured by any automobile company, nor these are tested for any road safety mechanisms and to cap it all ,no tax is being levied on them. So the mishaps which these vehicles cause and the deaths and injuries these generate hardly shake the authorities to wake up and stop their operations.This automobile was first seen in Sangrur ,Bathinda areas in the late 1970s and it was a coincidence that it was being derisively called dhindsa after the name of the then suave and young transport Minister ,who had nothing to do with it, except to order stopping of their operations. However within three four years the vehicle got so popular that it was seen running on all the state and national highways doing all the works which a commercial vehicle does after undergoing safety tests and paying high taxes.
The menace grew very fast and in early 1990s it attracted the attention of the Punjab and Haryana High court which it ordered that wherever this vehicle was seen, it must be impounded and dismantled. It caused some fear in the minds of the owners as the authorities became very active, as the progress of dismantling was being monitored. Recently i have been to the different parts of Amritsar district. There is hardly any road where these vehicles are not being plied, and in utter disregard of the law and the road safety. About 2 years back, the entire nation stood aghast, when a Central minister died in a road accident at New Delhi.It appeared that the government would legislate Road Transport and Safety Bill within no time and that would be a panacea for all roads' and vehicles' related evils and ills. Nothing has been done in these years so far.
However how hard are the law breakers, I would like to narrate an incident, to elucidate. I was Secretary regional transport authority(RTA) in 1993.I was doing traffic checking at Zeera-Makhu road at about 5 pm in November. In those days traffic checking meant stopping of more than 50% vehicles, wherever these were, till the checking was over, making the roads look deserted. At some distance from the main road, my hawk- eyed driver saw a gharhuka carrying passengers. My traffic staff also pointed it out as if they had seen a lion. I saw that when my white Ambassador car took a turn towards that direction, the gharhuka accelerated its speed. For 5 kilometers we chased it ,but could not narrow down the distance. That indicated that it could run as fast as a car. When we thought that it was disgraceful if we were unable to catch it ,i asked my gunman to fire in the air. He fired three rounds without any effect on the driver. After chase of about 15 kms ,it stopped near a sugarcane field, the driver got down and turned it upside down in the field and ran away. He might have thought that we would not be able to take it away the .We could not catch the driver. But the traffic staff very efficiently dismantled it. However the menace has persisted for the last about 4 decades. The good thing govt may do is to organize inter-state gharhuka championship instead of Formula 1,looking at the enhanced number of voters involved in the unlawful business. May be some day like Tonga defeats a Bus in speed in film 'Naya Daur,' our Gharhukas overtake Bullet trains
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar.

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
It may turn out to be another GST.
Girdhar Soni
DEBATE (2) Banking Reforms
Reforms in banking sector would do wonders if implemented sincerely and honestly.
V K Jain
Mughals & The Delhi Mughals
When history can’t be changed, why indulge in vitriol? All said and done, the Taj Mahal is a commitment to matrimony, not the Valentine Day love of the contemporary. Shahjahan married his love and lived with her memory after her death. So be it. The notes of Som’s music, even though no less intoxicating for some people than the mythological Som Ras, has failed to impress all those people who advocate commitment to the institution of marriage, its sanctity and healthy bonding till death does part the couple as it did to Shahjahan & Mumtaj Mahal. So, no person who cheats on his wife/husband is entitled to make irrelevant political statements on the topic. Nobody knows today if there is any living heir to the Mughals. But Delhi is witnessing the re-do of the Mughal family feud. While the current dispensation of Delhi has no compliments for the Delhi Mughals, his predecessor has given them generous compliments. Starting with the previous regime, the CWG (Commonwealth Games) is a monument of the rule of the Delhi Mughals. The loyalists & the committed among them contributed to the establishment of The Dynasty over Democracy in India (not Delhi alone), imposed Black Emergency in 1975 and stole the 2004 General Election from AB Vajpayee, to cite only a few representative instances from a treasure trove of such historic achievements of individuals at the cost of the public and the country. They established firmly the significance of “self-service” over “public service”. They were a law unto themselves, mocked at the CVC sanctioned Major Penalty which would have led to their dismissal and rose to the highest level in the hierarchy beyond which it was not possible even for them to rise in spite of the Delhi Moghul Rule. Interestingly, they continued to get rewarded even after drastic and total changes in Delhi.
M L Gupta
Well written
Very well written - All the pseudo seculars, psuedo liberals., JNU leftists and other leftists from other Central universities who show scant respect to our democratically elected government but support directly or indirectly antinationalist elements will dare not criticise the Chinese but will jump at any slight provocation to attack our PM and the govt. They do not realise that they have made themselves a laughing stock in front of the vast majority of our countrymen who are solidly behind this govt and will be in 2019 also without any iota of doubt.
Srinivas

DEBATE (1)
The quality of Banking and Financial Sector reforms have everything to do with the way policies have been implemented so far. The effort right now looks very knee jerk which shows lack of maturity in implementation . Banking and Financial reforms should have a very long term Roadmap and can’t be done with just tweaking and ‘out-of-box’ thinking.The traditionality of policy formation cannot be replaced by abrupt policy corrections when they are implemented. Not sure how much this reform effort will work .
Avinash Singh
“VVIP Racism in CM Yogi’s era”
CM Yogi's commandments to its bureaucracy for behaving like doormats to UP politicians is thoughtless, imprudent, injudicious and ill-advised. Sheer arrogance of power concentrated in few hands.
Guidelines force the bureaucrats to stand up, welcome the legislators with samosa, lemon-water, chai with half-spoon of sugar and so on.
Foundation-laying ceremonies monopolised by CM. Out of bound for bureaucrats.
CM Yogi has made a fool of himself by issuing such moronic, childish guidelines
Treating civil servants like kindergarten students is disgraceful. Enough is enough.
Should UP civil servants and others accept instructions from their chief secretary lying down ? What happens to the undeserved title of ‘steel frame of bureaucracy '.
Has the steel frame become malleable, pliable, tractable and ductile?
Sheer violation of norms of dignity and human rights of poor bureaucrats bound by Conduct Rules.
Let the political executive also change the Conduct Rules by allowing VVIP racism.
Politicos extracting reverence from bureaucrats is actually an euphemism for seeking forced compliance of their illegal orders.
We have seen N D Tewari carrying late Sanjay Gandhi's chappals. We also saw UP officers taking off Mayawati's, Mulayam, Shivpal and Akhilesh Yadav's shoes in the not too distant past.Their arrogance boomeranged in elections.
PM Modi is Pradhan-sevak and CM Yogi is a Shehnshah
PM must step in and put his foot down.
Chamchagiri, sychophancy has no place in the lives of honest civil servants.
Supreme court is urged to take suo moto cognizance and quash UP government's un-Constitutional instructions.
The court may also order a total ban on foundation stone-laying ceremonies wasting tax payers money.
A K Saxena (A retd civil servant)

Sahab Bahadur, give me back my land
About two decades back, one land acquisition case was giving sleepless nights to the revenue department .
It was a known fact that big chunk of land of a very affluent and powerful family had been acquired about more than three decades back. Big buildings had been constructed there and the govt officers functioned in those buildings. There was a court case with the plea that the land should be returned to the original owners as no compensation had been paid. The govt could not produce any record ,so the case was decreed against the state. The case came to the notice of the then financial commissioner revenue, Mrs Shyama Maan, who would not allow even a penny of the govt to be wasted without contest. And this case involved amount of about 200 crores. She personally monitored the case with the sagacious and knowledgeable practical help of S. Balwant Singh (retd Tehsildar) and S. Jaswant Singh PCS. She would go to the revenue record room and study the old record personally. With her tireless and purposeful efforts, and indomitable spirit ,she traced all the record to prove that the powerful owners had received the compensation. She saved colossal amount and the prestige of the state. This reminded me of still a older case
A graceful looking elderly man entered my office with bundle of papers with him. I looked at him and said,'' Hanji , dasso. ''He placed his papers at my table and said, ''These revenue papers clearly mention me as owner of the land, I have asked the patwari to show me my land for hundred times, but he has not demarcated it. ''I looked at the latest copy of the record of rights, where his name was recorded as owner of 10 marlas of land. I wrote on his application, ''Please report facts within 2 days,'' and sent it to the tehsildar. He came to my office after 4 days .The report of Tehsildar had been received, which clearly mentioned that his land had been acquired for the Nangal Hydel Channel about 4 decades back and presently the canal had been flowing through that land. I told about the report to that gentleman, who indignantly retorted, ''I was not given any notice of acquisition, the land is in my name, i was not paid any compensation”. He was right to the extent that if his land had been acquired for the canal, the land revenue record should have been updated by making the entry of the department of irrigation and canal. So, I decided to look into the matter myself. I told the gentleman to come after 10 days, who went out of my room, after mumbling many words against the department and the immense injustice caused to him.
The canal was the part of Bhakra dam project ,where work was started in the year 1948.It was a gigantic task to retrieve more than 40 years old record, which was in Urdu and to study it to know the truth. However ,the tehsildar had told me that the man was a habitual complainant and many a times he had been told that his land had been acquired. But he also could not satisfy me as he had no answer as to why the mutation of acquisition had not been sanctioned and whether compensation had been paid to him or not. The land acquisition notification clearly mentioned that the land had been acquired, but the field number of the complainant was inadvertently not mentioned while entering the mutation of the acquired land. The registers of payment and the roznamcha waqiati clearly mentioned that he had himself received the compensation. I got the mutation of correction of entry sanctioned in the name the department irrigation. When he came to me on the appointed date, i gave him the latest copy of revenue record and also showed him his signatures on the acquittance rolls and roznamcha as proof of receipt of compensation. He did not admit the facts and rather threatened me that he would go to the High Court.
A week after the incidence, Nirmal Kumar Mukherjee, the then Governor of Punjab came on tour to the Sub Division. He was a former ICS officer of 1943 batch and a legendary deputy commissioner of Ferozepore. He first met the delegations inside the room of a small rest house, turned into a office. Thereafter ,he came out to meet the people to know their grievances. That man(complainant) was in the forefront and he vent out his ire and theatrically feigned grievance as if great injustice had been done to him. I was the target of his fire-spitting invectives. That calm and composed Governor just looked at me once .As he understood i wanted to say something, he signalled me not to say anything with gentle gesture of his hand. He took all the complaints and handed over those to the deputy commissioner for reports. I sent the report to him through the deputy commissioner. After about a week ,i got personal letter from him for the pains i had taken to dig out the truth. But the presumptive aggrieved person continued giving us trouble by making complaints against us, whenever any VIP visited the Sub Division.
Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Amritsar

DEBATE (1) Banking Reforms
Coming to the point I want to share some insights during my brief six years of public sector banking with regards to resurrection of Indian Banking Sector. Just as to heal a fracture the doctor has to detect a fracture first , I am listing out the systemic flaws of PSBs first before moving on to the remedial solutions for the same.
I also appreciate that instead of simply sitting and blaming you have initiated such kind of thought exchange so that solutions can be formulated rather than mere problemanalysis.
Too much analysis leads to paralysis!!
I am also apologizing in advance to every reader of this text for the forthcoming part is quite bitter yet true.
Systemic Flaws of PSBs
1. Promotion , Transfer and Posting have no relation what so ever in a PSB (Public sector Bank). Each of these three things are distinct and based on luck in case of an upright officer or the degree of intensity of an officer's sycophancy towards his superiors. Staff members are given Foreign exchange trainings and then are immediately posted to rural branches citing Government rules compliance. First randomly loans are given without due diligence then owing to growth of branch business a promotion is obtained and the next posting entails membership of staff accountability committee where earlier bad loans are pinned on subordinates so to protect their recipe of success.
2. There are only two rules in a PSB : Rule No.1 The Boss is always right. Rule No. 2 In case of doubt refer to rule no.1
3. As an efficient employee in a PSB you have to pay the price of performance by getting loaded with the work of your colleagues who fool around at your cost (your health and family)
4. Unfortunately if you are a lady officer you would be questioned about attendance at parties or get- togethers hosted by Bank's superiors in late evenings or nights outside office premises rather than target achievement publicly in official meetings.
5. Your caste matters more than your academic degree or your track record in handling difficult assignments while getting selected for high profile postings in PSB.
6. Being PSBs means being instruments of government agenda like financial inclusion etc. This also translates into loss making business activities like opening of zero balance accounts on a mass scale or demonetization 2016. (I am neither supporting nor opposing demonetization 2016 but bank staff members have claimed a substantial amount per head for the extra time spent in branches pushing the PSB's already weak profits into losses!!)
7. Whenever a new CMD joins a PSB GM Credit , GM Information Technology are replaced shortly. These are two plum posts for satisfying the unethical financial demands of getting promoted out of pocket for the new CMD.
8. Even in Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) time period a PSB has promoted its staff. PCA for banks is like an ICU for the patient. In PCA expenditure curtailment is a priority but this particular PSB not only promoted its staff (increase in staff expenses) but also gifted sedan class cars to its retiring GMs at a throwaway price on account of car depreciation value!!
9. The lending policy of PSBs varies bank to bank varying RBI's regulatory prescriptions .In some banks it is so hazy that Chairman has been endowed undefined powers whereas in some banks the credit portfolio industrial credit sectoral allocation is literally skewed for fulfillment of unethical financial demands. For e.g. in a PSB 32.5% of total bank credit can be given to Real estate. Real estate means home loans , NBFCs in housing finance , Builders and developers etc. But this particular PSB is notorious for financing dubious builders and the sanctioning authority getting 1-3 big plum locality flats in exchange of loan sanction.
10. Hardworking officers are singled out for suspension or termination in case they do not agree to the unethical financial demands of bank's top management. If there is nothing to prove against such folks they are routinely transferred -monthly / daily etc.
Remedial measures for PSBs
PSBs deal in public's money and wherever there is money , corruption follows. Just as risk corruption can be minimized never eliminated. There are various forms of corruption - monetary , seeking "company " favours from lady officers ,influencing superiors for desired postings with a strong political connection etc.
In short there are three kinds of ills PSBs today face :
1. Idiosyncratic flaws ( monetary corruption)
2. Removable flaws ( Banking operations and software related)
3. Random Error ( Man made or God sent events) Idiosyncratic Flaws can be minimised at best by adopting carrot and stick approach of CBI raids , CVC cases as well as increase in payment of PSB employees.
Removable flaws can be mitigated :· career mapping - after ascertaining the skill set of an employee he should be posted accordingly . A generalist officer should not be shown as a specialist officer and a specialist officer should not be thrown in hinterlands of India for completion of rural tenure
· Automatic deduction of service charges for services provided from customer's account. In PSBs this is done manually leading to huge revenue loss. · Business decisions should be taken professionally not to facilitate colleagues in other banks for monetary considerations. For e.g. takeover of hidden NPA accounts of other PSB
· Moratorium for loans should be kept at 6 months at max instead of 2-3 years so that the sanctioning authority can't go off the hook in case of quick mortality of loan account.
· Staff should be sensitized with regards to types of frauds and bottom to top communication should be strengthened for timely reporting.
· Fee based income and treasury income should focused using the law of vital few (20% actions give 80% results) so as to bail out the weak PSBs
· Increasing CASA and retail advances , reducing bulk deposits as well as bulk loans, increased focus on fee based income and reduction in NPAs by means of recovery should the mantra for PSBs today.
Random error can be minimized by Scenario Analysis .
P D Naik
Herculean task
Budget presentation on Feb 1 going to be Herculean task for Min of Finance as time period is reduced.
M Sriram
Sad for EC
We were planning to have elections simultaneously for the entire country and now it is difficult to have it even for two states. Sad for EC.
ARC Kumar