PM throws OROP into a Committee's capsule: Will it see daylight?

Highlights of Prime Minister’s Speech on 15 August, 2012

-- You are aware that these days the global economy is passing through a difficult phase. We cannot do much about the conditions that prevail outside our country. But we must make every effort to resolve the problems inside our country so that our economic growth and the creation of employment opportunities in the country are again speeded up.

-- If we do not increase the pace of the country’s economic growth, take steps to encourage new investment in the economy, improve the management of Government finances and work for the livelihood security of the common man and energy security of the country, then it most certainly affects our national security.

-- I believe that this period of difficulties will not last long. Even as we face these problems, we should be encouraged by the fact that we have achieved extraordinary successes in many areas in the last 8 years. We now need to replicate these successes in newer areas.

-- Today, one out of every 5 households in the country has become eligible to benefit from the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Act through a job card. In only the last one year we have provided employment to more than 8 crore people under this scheme.

-- When the UPA Government came to power in 2004, we had promised that we would provide electricity to all villages. To fulfill this promise, we launched the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Scheme. More than 1 lakh new villages have been provided with electricity connections under this scheme and now almost all the villages in the country have been electrified. Our next target is to provide electricity to each and every household in our country in the next 5 years and to also improve the supply of electricity.

-- Today almost all children in the age group 6-14 years are being admitted to schools. More than 51,000 new schools have been opened in the country and about 7 lakh teachers appointed in them in just the last 2 years. Now we will focus on improving the quality of education. In the next few months we will put in place a system of continuous assessment of the benefit our children are getting from teaching. Participation of the community and parents would be ensured so that they can be satisfied with the quality of teaching.

-- The National Skill Development Council has formulated a major scheme for skill development in which 8 crore people will be trained in the next 5 years. This is an ambitious scheme which can be implemented only through a specialized agency of the Central Government. Therefore, we are considering the establishment of a National Skill Development Authority so that skill development programmes all over the country can be implemented in a coordinated manner.

-- Recently we have taken new measures to accelerate infrastructure development. Ambitious targets have been fixed in roads, airports, railways, electricity generation and coal production. The Government will take steps to increase investment for infrastructure development with the help of the private sector. To attract foreign capital, we will have to create confidence at the international level that there are no barriers to investment in India.

-- Just 10 years back only 3 out of every 10 households in our villages were benefitting from banking services. Today more than half of the rural households get the benefit of bank accounts. It will be our endeavour to ensure that all households benefit from bank accounts in the next 2 years.

-- We want to create a system in which money from Government schemes - pension for old people, scholarship for students and wages for labourers - can be credited directly into people’s bank accounts. This would reduce inconvenience to the beneficiaries, make it easy for them to receive payment and increase transparency. For this work, we will take help from the Aadhar scheme under which about 20 crore people have been registered so far.

-- To provide housing for our poor brothers and sisters residing in urban areas of our country we will soon launch the Rajiv Housing Loan Scheme. Under this scheme, people belonging to the economically weaker sections would be given relief on interest for housing loans of less than Rs. 5 lakh.

--The incidents of violence which occurred in Assam recently are very unfortunate. I know that these incidents have resulted in the disruption of the lives of a large number of people. We fully sympathize with those families which have been affected by the violence. We are doing everything possible to provide relief to them. I also promise to you that our Government will make every effort to understand the reasons behind the violence and work hard with the State Governments to ensure that such incidents are not repeated in any part of the country.

--I would like to congratulate our scientists and technologists who have enhanced our prestige by successfully testing the Agni V Missile and launching the RISAT- I Satellite in space this year. Recently the Cabinet has approved the Mars Orbiter Mission. Under this Mission, our spaceship will go near Mars and collect important scientific information. This spaceship to Mars will be a huge step for us in the area of science and technology.

--Our Government has set up a committee to examine issues relating to pay and pension of armed forces personnel. This committee will also look into matters concerning pension of retired men and officers and family pension being paid to their families. We will take prompt action on the recommendations of the committee, once they are received.

--Our commitment to make the work of the Government and administration transparent and accountable stands. On the last Independence Day, I promised you that we would take many steps for this purpose. I am happy to state that during the last 1 year we have achieved good progress in this area. The Lok Sabha has cleared the Lokpal and Lokayukta Bill. We hope that all political parties will help us in passing this Bill in the Rajya Sabha. A number of other Bills have also been presented before the Parliament. The Cabinet has cleared a Public Procurement Bill. *** MP/RCJ/SC/SH/SKS/RK/SK/LM (Release ID :86183)
Highlights of Prime Minister’s Speech on 15 August, 2012

Why DRDO is compelled to contradict Army chief on Tatra Truck

DRDO contradicts Army chief, says Tatra trucks 'outstanding'
PTI Mar 31, 2012, 09.40PM IST
NEW DELHI: Contradicting Army Chief General V K Singh, DRDO chief V K Saraswat on Saturday said Tatra trucks were "outstanding" and there was nothing substandard about the vehicles used as base for launching all important missiles like Prithvi and Agni. "Tatra truck is an outstanding truck... They have a very good cross country capability and can move at good speeds," Saraswat said at a press conference at Defence Expo here.
DRDO contradicts Army chief, says Tatra trucks 'outstanding'
DRDO: The True Face
S.Venugopalan (Pune) 06 Feb, 2011 11:19 AM
I feel embarrassed to say that I served in DRDO for about 25 years. It IS true that it is a fast rotting organisation, mired in total inefficiency, mysterious unaccountability, atrocious nepotism and favouritism and above all, the dangerous culture of bluffing the public about its "achievements". Huge amounts of taxpayers' money is going into the drains in the name of DRDO budget in a country where millions do not get food to eat even twice a day. All committees appointed to review the performance of DRDO after a lot of public outcry are all bogus and eyewash committees which make some cosmetic recommendations in the form of bulky reports. The Govt. must seriously think of dismantling DRDO and resort to the import of ammunitions and weapons or think of complete privatisation.
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Can Canteen Profits be used for Welfare of Veterans?

Audit finds lapses in defence canteen operations
New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) India's audit watchdog has found lapses in financial and business operations and the pricing and quality of goods of the Canteen Stores Department (CSD) that sells household products at cheaper than market rates to armed forces personnel and their families.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, tabled in the Lok Sabha Friday, says the 3,600 unit-run canteens (URCs), or retail outlets, of the CSD across the country have been kept out of the "purview of parliamentary financial oversight as they are considered to be regimental institutions".
This despite the fact that these URCs get soft loans and quantitative discounts through the CSD from the Consolidated Fund of India, it says.
"Neither the budget documents nor the proforma accounts of CSD reflect the operations of the (URCs) that are also not subject to the accountability regime for operations funded by the Consolidated Fund of India," the report says.The CAG said it was denied access to the URC records by the Army Headquarters in Delhi "in spite of repeated requests".
The matter was taken up at the level of the defence minister too but to no avail.
In the interest of transparency, the operational results of the units should be disclosed in the proforma accounts of CSD after ensuring that the units follow uniform accounting principles, the CAG has recommended.
This would enable the financial statements of CSD to provide a "true and fair view of the complete operations of the organisation".
Praising the CSD for its 55 percent increase in gross turnover (Rs. 6,955 crore in 2008-09 from Rs. 4,481 crore in 2003-04), the report says the gross and net profit however had not shown commensurate increase during this period.
"This was mainly due to increase in cost of goods purchased for sale as also increase in quantitative discount given to the units."
It says that evidence indicated that grants given to various organisations of the armed forces out of CSD profits did not follow the provisions of General Financial Rules (GFR) of the government.
"Grants were given to organisations without even insisting on application for funds. Statement of accounts was never sought before sanctioning the grants. Receipt of utilisation certificates was not watched, as required under GFR. Utilisation certificates were never insisted from major recipients namely the army, navy or air force for the grants provided."
The proforma accounts prepared by the CSD did not follow the generally accepted regimen of financial reporting, it said.
During the six years from 2002-2003 to 2007-08, Rs. 883.46 crore was transferred in the form of quantitative discount from the Consolidated Fund of India to the URCs.
Evidence also indicated that benefit of quantitative discount (QD) has never been passed to the consumer.
"Such discount could not be viewed as a trade discount as units operated in a captive market with pricing determined in accordance with the existing policies. QD was in fact another way of transferring money from CFI to non-public fund without conforming to the provisions of the GFR," the report says.
Audit finds lapses in defence canteen operations
Related Reading
Forces, CAG lock horns over audit of unit run canteens
Canteen Stores Department (India) Demystified

"Civil Service: Accountability to People", the penalists are Shri Wajahat Habibullah....!

The Civil Services Day will be observed tomorrow. The Vice President of India, Shri Mohammad Hamid Ansari is to inaugurate the fourth Civil Services Day in the Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. The theme for this year is "Excellence in Governance". This Day is observed by all the Central Civil Services to rededicate and recommit themselves to the cause of the people. It provides a unique opportunity for introspection as also chalking out future strategies to deal with the challenges being posed by the changing times. The Day is being celebrated since 2006.

The Vice President will give away the "PM Award for Excellence in Public Administration" for the year 2007 – 08. Nine outstanding initiatives in three categories – individual, group and organization - have been selected for the award. These are: (i) Financial Sustainability of Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Karnataka), (ii) Evacuation of Indian National from Beirut during the war, (iii) State Motherhood and Child Survival Programme (Gujarat) and (iv) Activity Based Learning (ABL) Modules (Tamil Nadu) in the individual category.

In the group category, the winners are: (i) Computerization of Personnel Information System in Manipur (Manipur), (ii) SCORE: e-Registration in Bihar (Bihar), (iii) MCA-21 and (iv) Improved Health and Sanitation Practices through Convergence among district administration, panchayats and community in district Surguja (Chattisgarh). The third category of ‘Organization’ includes one initiative i.e Implementation of Risk Management in Customs.

A book on initiatives in e-Governance titled “BYOB” compiled by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances will also be released on the occasion.. The book covers various innovations successfully tried out by different Ministries / Departments, state / UT administrations, national and international organisations.

After the inauguration, the technical session would commence with successive panel discussion on two issues. The panel discussion will be chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The panelists of the first panel discussion on ‘Performance Management in Government’ are Sh. C.M.Vasudev, Shri E.Sreedharan, Shri P.C.Halder, and Dr. Prajapati Trivedi. For the second panel discussion on ‘Civil Service: Accountability to People’, the penalists are Shri Wajahat Habibullah, Shri V.N.Dhoot, Shri. D.Swarup, and Shri G.K.Pillai. The valedictory session will feature an address by the Chief Justice of India.
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions: Vice President to inaugurate Civil Services Day tomorrow

Comment: The "Civil Services" the most notorious for their "INCIVILITY" are literally being tried and penalised by Shri Wajahat Habibullah, Shri V.N.Dhoot, Shri D.Swarup, and Shri G.K.Pillai!

SCPC: ESM widows receive Pension Googlies from Banks

Respected Sir,
The accuracy of defence pension payments is far from satisfactory. This has been accepted by concerned authorities at various forums. But so far no remedial measures are in place to set it right. Now that a great organisation IESM has come up besides fighting for the OROP we will have to fight for the payment of correct pension to all the veterans and their families.

Recently, the Tirunelveli District Ex-servicemen Welfare Association, traced out that there were 6 widows who were paid Rs 1,275/- pm instead of Rs 2550/-(Pre-revised) for the past 12 years. It took us 3 months to get the arrears of Rs 15 lakhs and revised pension to them through vigorous correspondence with various authorities. I am sure still there are many more defence pensioners all over India who are not paid their correct pension. The AG Audit, the RBI Audit, Bank Audits and Pension Adalats are all an eye wash. The CDA(P) Allahabad has done nothing in this regard. The Bank (IOB) and the various Auditors who have done audit for the last 12 years have not even regretted their mistakes. If an accountability norm was fixed for the erring official, the widows would have have got an interest of Rs 1,35,000 for the delayed payment. No accountability is fixed on the part of the Bank officials in this regard. Unless we take up the issue seriously now itself, things will worsen day by day.

In the circumstances, I am attaching an article 'How to update the pensions of PBOR' for your perusal and dissemination to all ESM organisations. If necessary, we will form a team to work in this direction and fight for justice of Widows and PBORs.

Yours sincerely,
C.Muthukrishnan, (Ex Sgt)
Active Member of IESM
Blog: indianexserviceman.blogspot.com
HOW TO UPDATE THE PENSIONS OF PBOR

Attacking the aam aadmi's swabhiman

Sun, Mar 1 05:54 AM
Sudheendra Kulkarni
In a recent interaction with my party's young campaigners in the coming parliamentary elections, I asked them, "What is the first and foremost expectation of young people like you from the next government?" I was expecting them to say "employment", "better education" and so on. One of them, an alumnus of IIT Delhi who studied and worked abroad and has now taken to political activism, gave a one-word reply: "Swabhiman" (self-respect).

My instinctive interpretation of his answer was that he was referring to India's honour and self-respect. "No, I am not talking about desh ka swabhiman and desh ka gaurav. Every patriotic Indian, belonging to any party, wants India to be heard, honoured and respected more by the international community. What I am referring to is the self-respect of ordinary citizens. When the aam aadmi deals with the government in his own country, why is his self-respect routinely bruised? Why do government officers and employees behave with citizens as if they are our masters and we their subjects? Why do they make us feel that they are doing us a favour when the service or information we are seeking is our right as citizens? And, often, the 'favour' is done to us only after we have met their demand for bribes."

Why have we failed to make the system respect the citizens more? It's a complex problem, but some roots of it lie in the fact that the government has two parts-the democratically elected executive that is accountable to the people and has to seek their mandate; and the 'permanent government' of the bureaucracy that is largely unaccountable and remains unchanged even after Party A is voted out and Party B is voted in. It is high time the progressive section of our political class and leaders of civil society paid serious attention to reforming these "permanent rulers" to make them truly citizen-friendly. Good governance is being much talked about in the current election campaign. We can move towards this goal only by introducing radical citizen-centric reforms.

Write to: sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com
Read more:Attacking the aam aadmi's swabhiman

India is an easy target for terrorists

Indian Express Posted: Dec 07, 2008 at 1308 hrs IST.
Kiran Bedi has said that India is a soft target for terrorists and that the 'neighbours' are aware of it.
Mumbai: Accusing the political class of holding on to the reins of control of the police force, former IPS officer Kiran Bedi has said the country is a soft target for terrorists and that the 'neighbours' are aware of it.

"Our system is old and medieval and the neighbours know this. We have not let the police system become professional and fully accountable because politicians and bureaucrats want to retain control," the first woman IPS officer said.

"Professionalising the police means true rule of law - a police fully accountable to law and no one else," Bedi said.

On the recent Terror attack on Mumbai, Bedi said, "All those who had access to information, be it politicans, bureaucrats, law enforcement agencies and police among others should be held responsible for the attack."

"Breach in accountability ought to have meant dismissals and not mere transfers or suspensions. And later, reinstatements," she added.

Calling for sweeping changes in the archaic criminal legal system, Bedi said citizens should play an active role in demanding changes and seeking accountability.

"Our laws have never been known to keep pace with ground needs. We still have the Police Act of 1861, Prison Act of 1894 and the Indian Penal Code, also of the same vintage.

Our elected representatives accuse each other but do not legislate. They have failed us on this completely," she said.

"We all have to wake up and shake off the slumber or else we will be victimised more and more. And the invisibles will continue to get away," Bedi said.

The problem cannot be solved by rolling heads of politicians, Bedi said adding, "It requires a major shift in the way we administer policing...its processes and its resources, the way we govern, coordinate and deliver...the sense of urgency with which we treat police and justice issues, laws and resources."

Lack of manpower, technology and little coordination are a few reasons for lapses in security, the Magsaysay Award winner said.

"Where are the men and resources even for normal day-to-day policing? Ordinary crimes are not registered for want of manpower. Mobility is weak. Use of IT is low. And coordination almost negligible," Bedi said.
India is an easy target for terroists: Kiran Bedi

Updates on Mumbai Terror
Mumbai terror attacks may spur closer US- India ties
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McCain warns Pakistan of Indian strikes
Mumbai Blasts: Taj Burning; More pics from terrorist killing
India's most wanted

Who else can be more competent than Kiran Bedi as advisor to the Home Minister? She is best cop in the world. Kiran Bedi is the only one capable of reducing terror to a zero in the Nation. Will the Politicians repose trust in her like the common people- a million dollar question?

Firing from the other man's shoulder?

Dear Fauji Friends,

Last week Maj Gen Joshi called on me. He was an esteemed instructor during our Degree Course days, and EME officers would remember him as one of our finest engineers. Indeed, he spent most of his time with the DRDO. He was commissioned in Jun 1960 and was in the Eastern sector during the 1962 debacle. He has analyzed the event very systematically, and his study reveals the following :

Pt Nehru, the architect of modern India suffered a severe stroke of depression from which he never quite recovered. He died in May 1964 at the comparatively young age of 73.

VK Krishna Menon was removed from the post of Raksha Mantri for his incorrect assessment of the situation.

Gen Thapar, the COAS was sacked. The careers of Lt Gen Kaul and scores of other military officers took a "U" turn.

A few thousand soldiers died; many more were wounded and some were taken prisoners.

The psyche of the country received a severe blow. It was considered a 'National Shame'

The question he asked me was, "Who was the Defence Secretary? And what was the punishment meted out to him?" I have asked several friends and also surfed the Internet but I am unable to find an answer. In all probability nothing was done to him, because he had no role in this!

Gen Joshi then took this discussion a step further. He observed that during the recent attack on Mumbai, dozens of soldiers and policemen have been killed. The whole nation is shaken. Mr Shivraj Patil has lost his prestigious job. The CM of Maharashtra has been axed and several heads in the government are likely to roll. Can some one tell us as to what action has been taken against the Union Home Secretary or the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra? (Thomas tells me that they will all be "promoted" soon though he does not know why).

Having spent many years in and around the South Block, I marvel at the way our government has been structured. The Civil Servants rule the roost. In terms of promotions and status they are ahead of every one else by miles. They are central in the Pay Commission and the Cabinet Secretary is involved in every major decision making process. Yet, when things go wrong, they wash their hands off so clean that one wonders how!

A slightly closer examination reveals the secret. I have figured it out this way:

They never do anything themselves. They always find some one else to be the head, and they know how to reduce him to be a 'figure head'. (In the Pay Commissions, they have a retired Judge). However they place themselves in a spot which has the maximum opportunity to influence matters.

After the event, they never face the Press or the Media. Their role is amorphous.

The senior amongst them rarely sign a letter or order. Our pension letter is signed by a Director, who is not directly recruited IAS officer. Only rarely do you find a paper signed by a Joint Secretary. Officers above that level do not sign any document.

They have a strong association. It protects the interests of its members dutifully and diligently.

So we have our Defence headquarters in which the postings, promotions, rewards and punishments of all senior officers are controlled by the civil servants; and they also have the final say in the process of procurement of weapons and eqpt, but they are not "responsible" if things go wrong! It is authority without responsibility. (For those who may not know, a lowly officer in the MoD can have a Deputy Chief posted out, but a Service Chief can not get even a Desk Officer moved)

When Gen Joshi left, I found myself perplexed. What sort of system have we evolved? And how has it survived all these years? It is a bit like a unit in which the clerks are running the unit and the CO is so dependent on the Head Clerk that he can not move without their help!

Can someone give a cogent answer to the questions raised by Gen Joshi?

Regards,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)

PS: Politicians wear the dress of the people they represent, to identify themselves with the masses. Soldiers and Policemen wear uniforms. Can some one tell what the Civil Servants wear? The answer came from the wag who said, "Civil servants wear thick skins".
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The crumbling steel-frame of bureaucracy
Military, Bureaucracy and Political Leadership: Lessons
Public Accountability

Height of Prophesy
Winston Churchill had the following outburst on the eve of independence of India...
"Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues and freebooters. All Indian leaders will be of low calibre and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles".

It has proven to be even worse than his prediction. May we, the people unite and start taking those rascals and rogues to task...
Jai Hind!
Col RP Chaturvedi (Retd)

Retired general chosen Veterans Affairs minister in Obama cabinet
US president-elect Barack Obama has chosen retired general Eric K Shinseki to be the next Veterans Affairs secretary, turning to a former Army chief of staff once vilified by the Bush administration for questioning its Iraq war strategy.

Shinseki is a recipient of two Purple Hearts for life-threatening injuries in Vietnam.

Upon leaving his post in June 2003, Shinseki in his farewell speech sternly warned against arrogance in leadership.

"You must love those you lead before you can be an effective leader," he said. "You can certainly command without that sense of commitment, but you cannot lead without it. And without leadership, command is a hollow experience, a vacuum often filled with mistrust and arrogance."

Shinseki also left with the warning: "Beware a 12-division strategy for a 10-division army".
Rumsfeld nemesis named in Obama Cabinet

Question: Can we not have an Ex- Serviceman or Soldier to head the ESM Welfare Deptt in the MoD? Do civil servants have the competence to comprehend the burning issues beseeching the ESM fraternity?