February 19, 2011
Manifestoes have increasingly been used in the recent past for seeking votes by promising moon to the electors. It is perhaps the tyranny of the electorate that compels the political parties indulge in abrasive display of one-upmanship in offering sop after sop with no holds barred. There is no provision in our laws to ensure […]
Read MoreJanuary 20, 2011
Thatâs what my politically confused wife said while holding a cup of bed tea precariously close to my snoring nose. I was taken aback as it was she who had over the years encouraged my morning stupor for the tranquility she looked for. âJago Sarvesh Jagoâ she said, âWe have stepped into the Jago Eraâ. […]
Read MoreNovember 16, 2010
Friends, if we do not deliver, we shall perish. For saving us as a class from virtual redundancy and eventual extinction from the overall scheme of governance, we need to focus upon quantum and quality of citizen service delivery. The day has come when instead of looking at the peripherals in the name of administrative […]
Read MoreAugust 12, 2009
I had named it âGood Morningâ. A Gurkha family living in the servant quarters of my neighbourâs house had reared it. Meticulously punctual in waking me up at the first sign of twilight, it crowed deafeningly to throw me out of bed. The early morning alarm was at times very irritating, particularly after the late […]
Read MoreJuly 30, 2009
After almost two decades, I have an occasion to walk across the bank of Chandigarh Sukhna Lake. I realise that it is ageing faster than I do. Silt seems to have choked its arteries, while dry patches show up like a boney rib-cage. It has gone pale. Its pristine glow is missing. Deforestation in the […]
Read MoreJuly 30, 2009
With the much valued media freedom having reached its acme and even extended itself to crude intrusions into private grief, ailment, distress and such personal matters which are ordinarily of no interest to the public, many questions agitate a thinking mind despite inherent respect for the institution. Basking under very weak defamation laws and their […]
Read MoreJuly 29, 2009
It is a fashion amongst the naive to wrongly perceive and lambast civil servants as guardians of secrecy. The hush hush image of senior civil servants is the result of the historical gag order enforced through the AIS Conduct Rules. Divulging information, expect in an impossibly rare scenario, renders a civil servant liable to disciplinary […]
Read MoreJuly 25, 2009
Terrorism has found its niche in the political scene worldwide. It has of late found its improvised manifestations in administration too. It all started in the recent times as a desperate autocratic response to long standing systemic evils in electoral process by T.N. Seshan by whimsically punishing civil servants with deterrent humiliation. The virus is […]
Read MoreJuly 25, 2009
Annual confidential reports, with the passage of time, are no longer annual or confidential, or true evaluation reports. A number of All-India officers find their annual reports recorded after a delay of years and years while the service and political superiors sit over them to hold extra-legal strings vis-Ă -vis the officer reported upon. Confidential they […]
Read MoreMay 6, 2009
Rather than striking at the roots of the problem, there is of late an increasing trend to render superficial legal remedies and lip service to deep rooted socio-economic challenges. Instead of embarking upon an effective systemic correction, knee jerk responses to the tragic reality of female feticide are akin to applying cosmetic remedies to a […]
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