Army Jawans seek instant redressal

Army jawans ransack police station, beat up cops
PTI | Sep 11, 2012, 07.28PM IST
JAMMU: Army jawans allegedly ransacked a railway police station and beat up cops on duty, injuring six of them, in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir. Cases were registered against the army troopers for allegedly beating up and injuring the cops last night, police officials said here today. The trouble erupted following an altercation between an Army jawan and GRP personnel, they said.
The jawan had allegedly unplugged the metal detector installed at the railway station to charge his mobile phone.
When the policemen objected to this, an altercation ensued between them after which the armyman was taken to the police station. On getting information about the incident, the jawan's colleagues, including some officers, reached the police station and allegedly went on a rampage, the officials said. They beat up the policemen on duty injuring six cops, they said. They also took away the jawan with them. The army jawans were waiting for a train at the Kathua railway station for their journey outside the state.
Police booked the jawans for beating and injuring the cops, the officials said. When asked about the incident, the PRO Defence said the Army was yet to come out with a statement on the matter. The jawans belonged to the 225 field regiment stationed at Janglote in the Kathua district.
Army jawans ransack police station, beat up cops
Lessons Learnt
Jawans do not have access to online booking because they are posted at a location without internet or telephone. The only thing the Railways can do is to give them one bogey for hundreds of Jawans going on leave from J & K. Alternatively the units need to book their tickets online in bulk for the leave party. Jammu Railway Station is always chaotic and unfriendly.

Indian Army’s growing morale problem
Today the cost of living has risen much more than the wage increments. Given increased land prices and other avenues of income, the army has lost some of its sheen as a sought-after employer. A recent comment in the Indian media reads:
“An objective review of the manner in which the pay, allowances and status of the military have been lowered over the last two decades reveals some startling facts. The average ‘fauji’ (soldier) retires at a much younger age than the civilian counterpart who serves up to age 60. Many anomalies abound.”
Indeed, it is important for New Delhi to closely look for solutions to pre-empt the disgruntlement among the jawans turning alarming levels. There are already rising instances of industrial unrest in India.
Dissatisfied workers of car manufacturer Maruti brutally assaulted management cadres recently, killing a senior executive and injuring several others. The Maoist violence in large tracts of Central and Eastern India is linked to mining companies exploiting the local tribal populations resulting in deep grievances.
Unlike its neighbors Pakistan, Bangladesh or Nepal, the Indian army has remained largely apolitical and has worked well under civilian political leadership since India’s independence in 1947. The Indian jawan deserves his due.
(Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He can be reached at sidsri@yahoo.com)
Read the full article of declining Morale of Troops
Indiscipline growing due to disconnect in the command and control structure: This video clip proves the point!

SCPC: Resentment after pay hike

February 24th, 2009
By Our Correspondent
Feb. 23: In what has created a resentment among the officers of the Central and state services, the government of India has offered additional allowance of 25 per cent of basic salary as special allowance to the officers of All-India Services posted in Northeastern states. In this regard the ministry of personal, public grievances and pension has issued a separate notification on February 10 to the state governments of the region. The notification no 14017/4/2005-2005 AIS (II), signed by director (services) Harjot Kaur said, “The ministry has decided to grant special allowances to officers belonging to any cadre of All-India Services working in Northeastern states.

The allowance, known as special allowances, will be at the rate of 25 per cent of basic pay and in addition to other allowances payable to officers posted in Northeastern states.” If insiders are to be believed, there has been no recommendation of the Pay Commission in this regard or decision of the Cabinet. The letter written to all chief secretaries and finance department of the Northeastern states said that this notification has been issued after an effective concurrence of the department of expenditure, ministry of finance and will be made effective since the day the notification has been issued (February 10, 2009). The special incentive that has been given to IAS, IPS and IFS only has created resentment among the officers of other Central services and the state governments as well as they started questioning the relevance of this “special treatment”.

This has come close on the heels of alleged distortion of Cabinet decision in September last year on the Pay Commission report by the government in formulating certain pay scales for IAS and IFS officers. The exorbitant 25 per cent special allowance is also going to create a serious problem for the state governments which are yet to mobilise fund for its employees who are agitating for salary hike already given to Central government employees in the Sixth Pay Commission. Most of the Northeastern states have expressed their inability in implementing the Sixth Pay Commission of the Central government to its employees. The officers of other Central services posted in Assam and other Northeastern states have also expressed surprise that such important notification was issued “secretly” and not displayed on the sites of the ministry.
Resentment after pay hike

Satyam: Ramalinga Raju’s experiments with truth

The truth behind Satyam fraud
The Tribune, Chandiagrh
The fall of the IT czar by Aditi Roy Ghatak

There may be no confessional to explain why Ramalinga Raju confessed. Accountancy corridors are rife with stories of others getting away with more serious fraud. In fact, there is some derision with which the lurid acknowledgements of the Satyam supremo – a first generation cheat – are treated in those exalted circles. Elsewhere, the averments are regarded as sheer stupidity that will force the investigative searchlights into the universe of crooked corporate accounting practices.

Clearly, the problem was with Raju being a novice at the complex game of manipulative mathematics. He may have mastered the art of concealing the numbers but not how to manage the business environment. He did not know whom to please and how much.

India is a country where corporate fraud is a matter to be brushed under the carpet. Tax evasion is not a crime whether it be on a medical prescription or electronics goods; one is happy to refuse a receipt and evade the tax. That much is a matter of public knowledge. When it comes to bigger fraud, the first problem is to have the fraud seriously investigated and the second is to get a conviction.

The more than 50,000 cases under the Companies Act pending in the country’s courts with a conviction rate of 5 per cent or less is adequate testimony to this. The corresponding conviction rate in the UK is reportedly around 61 per cent.
The fall of the IT czar

Question: Maytas is Satyam if it is spelled backwards. What do you infer from it?
Prabu Chawla: Why are you surprised? It was meant to ensure reverse flow of money from Satyam to Maytas.

Comment: We may never get to the bottom pit of Corporate Corruption. The Politicians have made it a black hole, like investment in real estate inflating like a balloon and collaping. Or like smuggling, money laundering, hawala, and generating black money and invested in foreign banks, which comes back in the "FDI" route. The parallel unaccounted money is almost as vast as the GDP of the nation. This is the main reason why poverty and slums are prevalent in spite of 60 years progress, we have 70% population left poor. No reason to see why the motion picture Slumdog Millionaire is reaping the harvest. Satyam Raju is one in a million....sadly he spoke the truth to save the perpetrators.

Bureaucratic Terror: RTI Act Sabotaged

RTI application to the PIO of Governor's Secretariat Kerala

I had been sending a number of complaints to the Governor of Kerala on a host of issues ranging from service provided by the government being a most essential service and hence strike by government employees being illegal to the case of a minister using his official car with false registration number to removing the CIC for subverting the RTI Act. But none of them elicited even an acknowledgement. Finally I was forced to seek an interview with him and... you guessed it right... there has been not even an acknowledgement to that also. Under the circumstances I have filed an application under the RTI Act. Copy of the same is attached click here for you perusal.

Regards and best wishes
Maj PM Ravindran (Retd)
RTI application to the PIO of Governor's Secretariat

Governance: The truth is bitter!

All the direct IAS officers almost 100% retire as Secretaries to government of India/ Special Secretaries/ Chief Secretaries of states and as such get One rank One Pay/ Pension i.e the highest Pay/ Pension available in the government. About 1% direct officers from Army/ Navy/ Air Force get the same pension as 100% IAS officers.

This self serving "I Am Safe" (IAS) service was in charge of all departments of the country/ states/ local governments for the last over six decades and brought the country to a chaotic stage- large scale poverty continues, cities after cities are becoming urban nightmare, Indian Defence is getting weaker, Police and Security Forces remain subservient to IAS officers etc. Since implementation of policies remained in their hands for the last six decades, all the problems which India is facing today are their creation. Till date they remain unaccountable and refuse to own any responsibility for all our ills. For any failure Police/ Defence Services/ Security departments get the blame, Ministers/ Chief Ministers have to resign, but IAS officers play safe and remain unaccountable and refuse to own any responsibility.

India needs strong Defence Forces and Policing and not outdated self serving rusted steel frame of bureaucracy- IAS. The earlier India abolishes this service, only then we will be able ressolve all our major problems.

There is an immediate need to increase defence expenditure to over 4% of GDP and strengthen defence forces through both Capital and Revenue Budget and Defence Ministry should not have a single IAS officer at any level. One Rank One Pay/Pension was agreed by MOS (Defence) in mid 1980s and is being stalled by IAS officers sitting in Min of Finance and Defence. They are prepared to allocate a very large amount on the leaking subsidies, outdated purchses like bullet proof jackets of World Wars 1 and 2 era etc but not on the defence and security of the country. 6th Pay Commission as modified by IAS officers has sent a clear message to defence services "remain subservient to IAS officers". An IAS officer of about six years seniority is far senior/superior than an Army Officer of about 18/20 years seniority. ---Prem Sabhlok

One Rank One Pension for all Ranks
Supreme Court had passed a judgement in 1982 on the One Rank One Pension scheme for military veterans and the KP Singh Deo Committee had recommended the same unequivocally in 1984. It was also one of the main reasons for protests by veterans earlier this year. However the defence minister has categorically stated its unacceptability in the Rajya Sabha today:
"Government has not found acceptable the demand of Ex-Servicemen for one rank one pension. This information was given by Defence Minister Shri AK Antony in a written reply to Shri Kalraj Mishra in Rajya Sabha today. The defence personnel have not rejected the recommendations of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, he added."[PIB]

Declare War on Terror

JOIN THE MOVEMENT AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Click on link to take the pledge Online: Declare war on terror

Citizens appeal to the Politicians

To: Indian MPs and Leaders of National Political Parties
Dear Members of Parliament and Leaders of National Political Parties

As concerned citizens, we urge you to restore the country’s faith in our highest democratic institutions by removing the taints of crime and cash from the election process.

We urge you to take immediate steps to ensure that only clean and capable candidates are nominated for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections as well as for the Assembly Elections in October- November in Rajasthan, MP, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Mizoram.

The process of nominating criminals and spending exorbitantly on election campaigns should stop immediately.

It is ironic that an ordinary citizen cannot get a Government Class IV job with even a small criminal record, but one can become a Chief Minister or Cabinet Minister, with a murder charge against him. The current Lok Sabha has 22.1 \% (120 out of 543) elected MPs with criminal records against them. The number of cases of serious criminal charges against Lok Sabha MPs is 333, with several MPs having multiple cases.

Corruption in society begins with the huge spending in elections. The Chief Election Commissioner wrote publicly that “If a candidate is willing to spend ten times more than the prescribed ceiling, it is not out of philanthropy, but in the secure knowledge that he can earn ten times what he spends once he gets to the seat of power.” Therefore, exorbitant expenditure in the elections, including distributing cash, liqour, clothes, and other in-kind inducements to voters to influence their votes should be completely stopped.

We reiterate that you actively work to persuading your party leaders to nominate only clean and capable candidates for the elections.

This is a petition sponsored by National Election Watch - a non partisan, non political campaign led by citizens comprising of a nationwide network of 1200 civil society organizations, people’s movements, NGOs, eminent citizens and leaders. The National Election Watch campaign is supported by the Association for Democratic Reforms (www.adrindia.org) and now has over 25,000 records of all candidates, including all the Lok Sabha MP and candidates from 2004. The findings are widely distributed by the print and electronic media which has supported these election watches and campaigns.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Click here for petition online

Ex Army personnel alleges corruption in purchase of goods, High Court asks him to give names

Express News Service Posted: Nov 26, 2008 at 0055 hrs IST

Alleging largescale corruption in the purchase of goods and ration in the Army, a former Army personnel has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court demanding an independent inquiry into the matter. The Court has asked him to file an affidavit naming the officers involved, within two weeks.
Ajit Singh Dahiya, who has not mentioned his rank in the petition, claimed that he was president of Haryana wing of Mahavir Kranti Dal, Ambala. He appeared in person today before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Jasbir Singh.

Dahiya has made seven Brigadiers, 10 officers of Colonel rank and a Major, party to the case. Dahiya has alleged that senior Army officers charge a commission of 35 per cent on the contracts given to various contractors to make purchases. Dahiya claims that in order to expose 'corruption' in the Army, he made a firm under the name of R K Traders and supplied various types of equipment to the Army.

He has said that he has done a ‘sting operation’ of various Army officers and has collected evidence against them. He served in Ordinance Corps, where most of the Army purchases take place.

However, the Court asked the petitioner if he is aware of the consequences if the petition turns out to be false. “Your own hands are soiled”, the Court remarked. In response, Dahiya said he is ready to face any consequences but wants the 'corruption' to be exposed.
He has stated he has written to various senior Army officers demanding action. “A letter was written to the Chief Justice of India who asked the CBI to look into the matter on May 31, 2007 but CBI did not take any action,” reads the petition.

Chouhan Satvinder Singh Sisodia, counsel for the petitioner, submitted that the CBI did not take any action on the representation made by him, stating that Dahiya has not been able to provide any material evidence to prove the accusations. Several items which are cheaper and easily available through CSD service, are also being procured from the local market with ulterior motives, he has alleged.

Ex Army personnel alleges corruption in purchase of goods, High Court asks him to give names

Comment: This is an all India phenomena and not solely confined to Punjab and Haryana. Even low level army officers demand anywhere from 10% to 20% on local purchases as cut/ bribe. The disease is endemic. The defence forces need to find a antidote hurriedly before the command and control structure completely collapses. The need of the hour is to preserve the honour and dignity of a soldier. Corrupt soldiers can never win a battle!

RTI Act 2005 Public Grievances

Dear Friends,
The text of a mail received by me is reproduced below. I have NOT seen the advertisement myself but not surprised either. They would have advertised in some very limited papers. Just compare this with the full page advertisements issued by the various minstries, for example by the railways even when a renovated platform is inaugurated in some remote corner of the country!

Regards and best wishes
Maj PM Ravindran (Retd)

Parliament of India
Rajya Sabha Secretariat
Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law And Justice Invites Suggestions on Implementation of RTI Act 2005

The Above Standing Committee Headed by Dr. E M Sudarashana Natchiappan M.P., has taken up the Subject: "Implementation of Right to Information Act 2005, in various Ministries Departments/Organisations/ PSUs etc. for examining and report. The Committee has invited Memoranda Containing Suggestions /Views in the Subject Confined to Utility of RTI Act, level of Awareness in the People, Major Impediments, Strengthening the Act and Ammendment if any required. Please Submit your Memoranda in two sets to (english or Hindi) to K N Earendra Kumar, Deputy Director , Rajya Sabha Secretariat Room No 222 , Parliament annexe, New Delhi 110001 (telephone No. 23035447 Fax No. 23016784 E-mail: rs-cpers@sansad.nic.in) within 30 days of publication of this advertisement (which published on 22nd November, 2008). The Memoranda submitted to the Committee would be treated as confidential in terms of the advertisement.

SCPC: Primus Inter Predators?

Best practice? The PM gives a pep talk to IAS probationers.
EXCLUSIVE: SIXTH PAY PANEL: IAS ADVANTAGE
Primus Inter Predators? The IAS lobby has cornered for itself far more pay than the Union cabinet cleared....

Smash and Grab

The Union cabinet had cleared two additional increments for IAS officers, but bureaucrats gave themselves four

Even the two additional increments cleared by the cabinet were meant only for a limited period. But the IAS lobby has manipulated to see that this incremental edge over others stays throughout service period.

The additional fiscal burden for these increments not sanctioned by the cabinet is Rs 12 crore a year

New notifications scripted by the babus have ensured that junior IAS officers will draw more than their seniors in other services

Those in other services who were drawing the same pay as their IAS counterparts will now get less

Who is supreme, the Union cabinet or the bureaucrat? There was never the need to raise this question. But the flurry of notifications from babus of the department of personnel and training after the Sixth Pay Commission's recommendations were approved by the cabinet on August 14 makes one wonder whether bureaucrats—IAS officers—have overriding powers. Documents accessed by Outlook show that the cabinet approved a certain pay structure, but it was subverted by the IAS lobby for salary gains.
The notification that gives IAS officers a pay advantage
At a conservative estimate, this manipulation entails an additional annual burden of Rs 12 crore on the exchequer, not taking into account the proportionate gains the IAS lobby has allowed the IFS, or foreign service. Besides, in terms of arrears, 4,000 IAS officers will end up being paid Rs 32 crore. All this is money that wasn't authorised by the cabinet in the first place. Here's how the interpretations and manipulations took place:

On August 14, the cabinet okayed two additional increments for the IAS in the fifth year of service. This would put them ahead of other streams vis-a-vis salary till the completion of sixteen years, after which there is pay parity across all services.

However, while interpreting the new pay band system, the IAS lobby slipped in an additional two increments in the tenth year as well.

The bureaucrats have also ensured that the pay edge they have got over others remains till they retire. There will be no cutoff after the 16th year in service.
These machinations haven't gone down well with the other services. They have already shot off strong letters to the cabinet secretary and have also taken up the matter with senior members of the cabinet. "This malafide manipulation raises a basic question about who is supreme in the government—is it the Union cabinet or the IAS? The fact that this has been done shows that even the cabinet has no sanctity when it comes to the self-interest of a particular lobby in government," a senior police officer told Outlook.

State associations of IPS and Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers have sent in strong protests and representations, demanding not only a reversion to the original intent of the cabinet but also action against the officials responsible for "misinterpreting a cabinet decision."

In response to a fax to the Union finance ministry, an official associated with the pay commission told Outlook that the intention of the cabinet was to continue with the advantage for the IAS and IFS at three levels.

"This was discussed at several meetings and has the sanction of the government," the official insisted, and pointed out that "members from the other services, including the IPS and the IFS, were present, they were fully aware of the implications, and gave their stamp of approval." However, the meetings took place on July 2, much before the issue came up before the cabinet.

Besides awarding themselves additional increments, the bureaucrats have also arbitrarily awarded themselves a higher salary structure than what was recommended through several arbitrary means. While the commission recommended Rs 9,000 as grade pay for joint secretary level officers, it has been increased straightaway to Rs 10,000.

The justification runs thus: an IAS officer of the director rank is equivalent to a colonel in the army or an SP in the police. The next step up the ladder makes a bureaucrat a joint secretary, equivalent to a major general or inspector general of police. However, police officers and those in the army and other defence services have to pass through one more rung—the brigadier-DIG level —before they are on par with a joint secretary. The commission's increment for DIG-level officers meant a grade pay of Rs 8,400—just Rs 100 more than an IAS director. The former protested and the grade salary was raised to Rs 8,900. This upset the joint secretaries, as their grade pay was Rs 9,000. The IAS lobby promptly raised it to Rs 10,000.
The cabinet mandated that the IAS has an edge over other services at only 3 middle levels, with 2 additional increments. But the new notification means that IAS officers get 4 additional increments, which continue throughout their career.
The manipulation of recommended pay structures doesn't end here. In a bizarre move, the slew of new pay notifications have also ensured that junior IAS officers get more money than their seniors in other services. For instance, a junior IAS officer drawing Rs 16,300 in the old pay structure will now get a gross of Rs 40,890 under the new scheme. But officers from other services, who were his seniors and were drawing a higher pay packet of Rs 16,400, will now get Rs 39,690.

The other services have also been crying foul at the way grade pays have been fixed for them, while keeping the IAS at an advantage. In representations to the Centre, other service associations have pointed out that their increments have been proportionately much lower than that of their IAS counterparts. While increments for other ranks have been higher, for the DIG/brigadier level the ratio has been kept at a measly 0.14. This has led to IAS officers at a lower level drawing more than DIGs and brigadiers.

Similarly, an IAS officer drawing Rs 15,100 today will now get Rs 39,690. But his counterpart in the other services, drawing the same salary, will now, inexplicably, get Rs 38,500. "It is not just about money," a police officer says. "Pay structure also decides seniority, perks and powers. By ensuring the superiority of one service at the cost of all other services, you are ensuring bad governance. This will mean that other services will remain subservient to the wishes of the IAS. Is that desirable in our framework of good governance or in view of the efforts that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is making to bring about more professional delivery of governance in India?" he asks.

In the end, even as bureaucrats bestow increments and sops on themselves, can citizens expect better governance? All government employees associations have rejected a key recommendation made by the commission: to link twenty per cent of annual increment to performance. So, while the exchequer is drained at the expense of the common man, the babu has ensured that he will continue to reap benefits—even as he shortchanges the government he is supposed to serve.
Primus Inter Predators?
We thank Brig VA Subramanyam (Retd) for the link to this interesting article highlighting ploy played by the IAS manipulators.

Services Selection Board: Diluting Standards

Five DAY PROGRAMME
The candidates are called through “Call Letters” to appear in 5 days tests at SSB (Allahabad/Bhopal/Bangalore/Mysore/Varanasi/Dehradun)

Four categories of tests: A) Screening Test B) Psychological Test C) Group Testing Officers (GTO) Test D) Interview Screening Test (First Day). After the individual has filled in certain Forms and also the Bio Data forms known as “Personal Information Questionnaire” (PIQ), the candidates will undergo two types of tests as under.

a) Verbal and Non-Verbal tests
b) Picture story writing followed by discussion of the stories

Once the Screening Test is over, the results are declared within 1 hour of the completion of the test. Those who clear the test are required to stay back for the next 4 days and the remaining persons are dropped back at the Railway Station for their return journey.

Psychological Test (Second day). These tests are in four parts as under:-

Thematic Apperception Test (TAT)- Commonly known as Picture Story writing.
Word Association Test(WAT)
Situation Reaction Test(SRT)
Self Description Test(SD)
Group Testing Officers (GTO) Test (Third and Fourth day)
The following tests are conducted in this caregory :-

Group discussion
Group Planning Exercise (sometimes known as Military Planning Exercise)
Progressive Group Tasks
Half Group Tasks
Individual Obstacles
Group Obstacles Race
Command Task
Lecturette
Final Group Task

Interview: (Held during afternoon/evening hours on 2nd/3rd/4th day)

Board Meeting (Fifth day)
The candidates are required to appear before the complete Board of Examiners comprising of President,Dy President, all the psychologists, all the GTO’s and Technical Officer. After the Board Meeting is over,the final result is declared within ½ an hour. Selected candidates are required to stay back for their medical examination (takes about 3 to 5 days) in the Military Hospital near by or at a different place and the remaining candidates are dropped at the Railway Station for their return journey.

NOTE: Candidates appearing for the first time for a particular type of entry are paid 2nd class return journey fare from the place of their residence to the place where they have come for the interview. Accommodation and messing are free for the entire duration of their stay while under going SSB Tests. The Air Force candidates are required to go to a different place for medical examination on the specified date. Air Force candidates who had applied for ‘Pilot Entry’ have to first appear in ‘Pilot Aptitude Battery Test (PABT)’. Those who are rejected in P.A.B.T cannot re-appear in this test subsequently.

Diluting the Selection Process
The Asian Age, 19 August 2008
General faces probe over Army selections
New Delhi: The Indian Army has ordered a court of inquiry against a senior officer of the rank of Major-General who had earlier headed one of the Service Selection Boards (SSBs) at Allahabad, Army sources have confirmed. The court of inquiry was set up after allegations that the officer had favoured a candidate for selection, sources said. "The findings of the court of enquiry are awaited," sources said. The Service Selection Board is the board which conducts personality and intelligence interviews to analyse the potential and capability of aspirants wanting to become officers in the Indian Army...
Diluting the selection process: OLQ debased!
SSB Guide

RTI call centre: The Bihar Model

Congress run-states may soon follow the model of an RTI call centre run by the NDA government in Bihar to make information more accessible to the poor and illiterate. When asked if the non-subsidized option involving over a 10-fold increase in the cost won't defeat the call centre's object of taking RTI to the poor, minister Prithviraj Chavan said that if the call centre route worked out to be more expensive, the citizen had the option of sending his RTI application by post. "Cost is not a major issue — whether for government or for the applicant," he added.

The difference in perception between Sonia Gandhi and Chavan is obvious. While Chavan sees the call centre essentially as a convenient mode of filing RTI applications, the UPA chief took it as a breakthrough for empowering the masses to enforce accountability.

Whatever choice DoPT finally makes on the question of subsidy, the call centre is likely to be run on the lines of the Bihar model in the first year. This is because UNDP is funding it as an e-governance project developed by the department of information technology. UNDP has agreed to provide Rs 2.5 crore for setting up infrastructure in Gurgaon and meeting operational costs in first year.

Right To Information
RTI Members
RTI Act and Fee Rules Updates
RTI Exposing Corruption
Sonia wants Bihar model for RTI call centre
RTI Statewise Success Stories
Now, an RTI call centre for queries
More defence papers come under RTI ambit

ESM: The RTI is a powerful weapon and a tool to combat anomalies of various pay panels and pay commissions which has denigrated Armed Forces Personnel in respect of salary, allowances, rank pay, warrant of precedence, decadence of rank structure and most important of all the honour of a Jawan.

Supreme Court directs flak at errant babus and cops

New Delhi, August 8
“In this country you need huntering (flogging) to make you work,” the Supreme Court today said while venting its anger on babus and top police officials for their failure to respond on an issue related to punishing errant cops who refuse to register FIRs on public complaints.

“Is this Ramrajya in this country...So this is swaraj. This is the concept of swaraj,” said a bench of Justices B.N. Agrawal and G.S. Singhvi, while lamenting the attitude of the top bureaucrats and the frequent complaints of citizens that policemen do not register FIRs promptly.
SC directs flak at errant cops, babus
Babus, top cops invite SC ire – ‘You need flogging to make you work’

Babu's as Cops: Bureaucrats occupying seats of power in MOD are akin to the cops who do not take cognizance of the Ex- Servicemen woes. The Pay Commission anomalies are synonymous to Babu's emptying the pockets of the Defence Forces Personnel. The Armed Forces have been reduced to a force without teeth.

An NRI Victory: Right to Information Act

Activists of Association for India’s Development U.S. demonstrating outside the Indian embassy in Washington, D.C., demanding that the Indian government withdraw its amendments to curtail the Right to Information Act.

After persistent efforts from volunteers of the Association for India’s Development, the Embassy of India in Washington, D.C., has implemented India’s landmark Right to Information Act, 2005, bringing its operations fully under the act’s purview.

However the path of getting RTI to the U.S was not all that rosy. Volunteers of AID have been campaigning since November of 2006 to get the Indian Embassy officials in Washington to implement the RTI act. A number of emails and phone calls were made. Later, realizing that the communication with the embassy officials was proving to be futile, a few volunteers started communicating directly with the Chief Information Commissioner in India, Wajahat Habibullah, seeking his intervention. The Central Information Commission issued an order around April 2007 bringing all the missions abroad under the purview of the RTI act. It took 90 days more of campaigning by AID volunteers to get the Indian Embassy in Washington D.C. to accept its first RTI petition.
An NRI Victory: Right to Information Act

SCPC: Can the Armed Forces trust Bureaucrats?

A majority of all loss making PSUs in country are managed by IAS officers and now they have become parking slots for bureaucrats waiting to find a berth in various ministries.

It is time to question the very relevance of All India Services like the IAS, IPS and IFS. Have they contributed towards national integration? No! Bollywood has done a better job. In any case states like J&K and the North-East are too eager that their cadre officers from outside serve in Delhi. North Indians don’t want to serve in the South and vice-versa. The local officers are much more influential in their own state and the state Governments function in whatsoever manner despite the presence of so called IAS and IPS officers. Today the country needs more Bhabhas, Sarabhais, Kalams, Swaminathans, Pitrodas, Gills, Gare Khans, Ratan Tatas, Monteks and Manmohans at the helm of affairs than the bureaucrats. It is time to signal a goodbye to them altogether or reduce their intake to the very minimum for regulation and induct technocrats/ specialists from outside for the thrust areas like telecom, finance, commerce, and defence.

Dr Manmohan Singh as a disciplinarian and an eminent economist has rightly focused on the need to reform the bureaucracy which has outlived its use. The country is waiting eagerly to see the outcome.

Can Bureaucracy be reformed?
Fight Corruption Now: JN Jayashree

Extract: PM's reply to Vote of Confidence 22July 2008, assurance

"Equally important is the effective implementation of the Right to Information Act to impart utmost transparency to processes of governance. The Administrative Reforms Commission has made valuable suggestions to streamline the functioning of our public administration."

Ex- Servicemen Plea: Dr Manmohan Singh has won the vote of confidence in the Parliament and has the active support of the vast majority of Indian population. We the Defence Forces of India repose hope and faith that the Sixth Central Pay Commission Report will deliver Justice to Defenders of the Nation.

Vice President releases ‘India Corruption Study 2007’

Extract of Shri M Hamid Ansari, Vice President address:

Over the years Transparency International India has done commendable work to quantify corruption, described by the Xth Plan as the ‘most endemic and entrenched manifestation of poor governance’. The focus of this latest report is on analysing the misery caused by corruption to the poorest of the land, for accessing the most basic of services. What are the findings? They cover five basic services – PDS, hospital, school education, electricity, and water supply - and six need-based services – police, land records, forests, housing, banking and NREGS. In specific terms, they reveal:

About one-third of BPL households paid bribes to avail one or more of these eleven services.

The benefits of recent steps taken to improve delivery of public services have not substantially percolated down to the poor as yet.

Nearly two-third of BPL households could not avail of PDS, School Education and Electricity as they could not pay the bribe or use contact or influence to avail of the service.

The situation stands at an alarming level with regard to police and Land Record/Registration.

I am confident that both the government and civil society would take the Study and these suggested correctives seriously. An old maxim states that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. In today’s world, it is also insurance for proper governance. In the final analysis, good governance involves meaningful response to the public’s desire for clear, effective, and transparent governance. I commend the effort of Transparency International India and Centre for Media Studies and thank Admiral Tahiliani for inviting me today.

Read full address at India Corruption Study 2007

Comment: A similar study needs to be undertaken by the Ministry of Defence in respect of working of Zilla Sainik Boards all over India, with a view to streamlining and eliminating corruption so that the innocent Jawans do not fall prey for whose welfare the organisational set up exists.

Law enforcers become law breakers

When cops turn into killers. Suspended Inspector General of Police R.K. Sharma has earned the dubious distinction of becoming arguably the first IPS officer in India convicted of murder. He has been held guilty of hatching a conspiracy to murder Shivani, a newspaper correspondent, who had allegedly developed intimate relationship with him and was threatening to expose him.

How Georgia Tamed the Police
Mr Saakashvili's most eye-catching change has been to streamline the interior ministry. More than half the country's police officers have been fired and interior troops transferred to the defence ministry.

"Traffic police paid $2,000-$5,000 to get a job," says Irakli Okruashvili, the new interior minister. "Then they gave a percentage of the bribes they received to their bosses and used some to buy uniforms and cars. The system was self- financing. No one considered it corruption. It was a tradition."

The new anti-corruption measures aim to be self-financing, with the money saved from staff cuts used to increase salaries five-fold to $200 a month. Mr Okruashvili estimates this is more than the previous "take-home bribe" after "taxes" had been paid to superiors.

The new generation of traffic police is forbidden to carry more than $5 in cash. Plainclothes inspectors frisk them periodically to ensure they have not demanded money from innocent citizens. A dozen have been fired. Those left have received new uniforms and cars and now see the prospect of better career development. Public perception is changing, with a nightly television soap opera, called Patrol, launched to improve the image of the police.

It was one example of the corruption that permeated Georgia's police force and much of the rest of society, and that is being tackled by the youthful administration of President Mikheil Saakashvili, one year after the downfall of Eduard Shevardnadze, his predecessor. Within span of 3 years the level of corruption in Georgia has been reduced so much so it has a 10% GDP rate compared to almost nil five years back!

Pronounced Guilty, Tribune
Georgia Police Reforms

Comments: There is urgent need to overhaul the recruitment systems in the states. Bribes are paid for recruitment to Police which is supervised by IPS Officers. Corruption can be reduced if ESM (PBOR) are recruited who are already trained, physically more robust and disciplined. The Georgia Model is an eye opener. Maybe our GDP can grow at 20% if corruption is reduced/ controlled starting from the Police and moving upwards.

Governance and Transparency

One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. Plato

It's not the voting that's democracy; it's the counting. Tom Stoppard

For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery. Jonathan Swift

I'm tired of hearing it said that democracy doesn't work. Of course it doesn't work. We are supposed to work it. Alexander Woollcott

Here is my first principle of foreign policy: good government at home. William Ewart Gladstone

Laws too gentle are seldom obeyed; too severe, seldom executed. Benjamin Franklin

Work and creativity are what built this country- not money. Karl Hess

The first sign of corruption in a society that is still alive is that the end justifies the means. Georges Bernanos

Bureaucracy is the epoxy that greases the wheels of progress. Dr Jim Boren

Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. Justice Louis D Brandeis

Corruption and hypocrisy out not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtadly are today. Mahatma Gandhi

The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference. Bess Myerson

The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently. Friedrich Nietzsche

Corruption never has been compulsory. Anthony Eden

The Romans, like others, as soon as they grew rich, grew corrupt; and in their corruption sold the lives and freedoms of themselves, and of one another. Thomas Blackwell

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. Johnson

No people can be great who have ceased to be virtuous. Johnson

Good government is no substitute for self- government. Mahatma Gandhi

There are two kinds of people- those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group, there is less competition there. Indira Gandhi

Praise and money, the two powerful corrupters of mankind. Samuel Johnson

An evil- disposed citizen cannot affect any changes for the worse in a republic, unless it be already corrupt. Machiavelli

Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder. George Washington

A minister who moves about in society is in a position to read the signs of the times even in a festive gathering, but one who remains shut up in his office learns nothing. Duc de Choiseul

Politics is more difficult than physics. Albert Einstein

All political power is a trust. Charles James Fox

He serves his party best who serves the country best. Rutherford Birchard Hayes

Politics can only be a small part of what we are. It's a way of seeing, it's not all- seeing in itself. Brian Keenan

Those who would tread politics and morality apart will never understand the one or the other. John Morley

Better a hundred times an honest and capable administration of an erroneous policy than a corrupt and incapable administration of a good one. Edward J Phelps

Political necessities sometimes turn out to be political mistakes. George Bernard Shaw

At a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self- evident. Schopenhauer

We have no constitution which functions in the absence of a moral people. John Adams

Bureaucracies are designed to perform public business. But as soon as a bureaucracy is established, it develops an autonomous spiritual life and comes to regard the public as the enemy. Brooks Atkinson

What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections upon human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. James Madison

Whatever is morally wrong can never be politically right. Abraham Lincoln

Those who talk about the peoples of our day being given up to robbery and similar vices will find that they are all due to the fact that those who ruled them behaved in like manner. Niccolo Machiavelli

There are several good protections against temptations, but the surest is cowardice. Mark Twain

Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. Woodrow Wilson

Far more has been accomplished for the welfare and progress of mankind by preventing bad actions than by doing good ones. William Lyon

Knowledge is the true organ of sight, not the eyes. Panchantantra

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws. Publius Cornelius Tacitus

All bad precedents began as justifiable measures. Gaius Julius Caesar

It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power. David Brin

The deterioration of every government begins with the decay of the principles on which it was founded. C L De Montesquieu

You can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook. Harry S Truman

Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. Ambrose Bierce

We can’t solve the problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. Albert Einstein

When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first thing to be bought and sold are legislators. P J O'Rourke