The politics about Durga Shakti Nagpal and Civil servants

The suspension of a 2010 cadre civil servant in Uttar Pradesh has been latched onto by the media and is playing on TV day in and day out with bits and pieces of new information coming out. My understanding of this story has been through the media and I’m attempting a bit of reading between the lines. Let’s assume that the civil servant didn’t do any wrong and has applied sound judgement in the case she’s accused of malpractice.

Did the ruling government suspend the civil servant only because a minority community is party to the structure in question?

Is the opposition party at the centre crying the loudest for the same reason?

The Great Indian Bureaucracy has had stalwarts in it’s service. Year after year one hears of stories of simple individuals exhibiting great heights of integrity and ethics despite being in government service where the power they wield is substantial and the opportunities for making money under the table looms large.

The District Collect of Madurai who stood up to the mafia that controlled the town and reached out to the marginalized, who spends his time today as the Managing Director of Co-optex is a good example of a decent civil servant.

There are have been instances of personnel who took their job seriously and would never bow down to power like this Police officer who towed the Prime Minister’s car, who rose to the heights of service in the force but despite which couldn’t take charge as Police Commissioner of the national capital. A grudge she probably still nurses inside !

We’ve also seen examples of civil servants who made it their life’s ambition to cleanse our polity of corruption and take up the aam-aadhmi’s cause like a crusade but who’ve then been massive disappointments by cozying up to the executive and taken up prestigious or plum postings after retirement, literally peddling the agenda of the government of the day.

That brings me to JM Lyngdoh, who retired as the Chief Election Commissioner of India and was lauded for the conduct of elections in two key Indian states in the early part of this century. A rare breed of civil servant who stood up to what he thought was morally and ethically right and hasn’t sucked up to the executive after retiring, like he vociferously declared in this interview to the BBC 10 years ago.

It’s another matter that the Chief Minister of one of the two states that went to polls in that period kept referring to him as “James Michael Lyngdoh” every time he spoke to the media sort of alluding to his religion and therefore making him seem like an enemy of the majority. There was no way JM Lyngdoh could be an Indian in his books that he even asked if the man came from Italy. However, India at that time was fortunate to have AB Vajpayee at it’s helm who chided his party’s own Chief Minister for all the mischief, ABV’s disappearance from the political scene is sorely missed today.

P.S: Politicians look at Civil Servants as “slaves”, literally, people who can be ordered around and dropped at one’s whim. An example for this can be seen in this TV debate. Make no mistake, this contempt for the bureaucracy exists in all political parties and not just the one seen in this video.

 

 

The Anna Hazare Project – saga continues …

Another revolution came upon our country, the last time I missed most of it, this time I didnt. This one was flagged off on the 16th of August 2011 and ended on the 28th of August 2011 at 10 AM IST. This time Kisan Baburao Hazare went on an indefinite fast (re-labelled his fast unto death to avoid future court cases perhaps!) with the following demands:

1. Table the Jan LokPal bill in Parliament in the monsoon session itself
2. Bring the Prime Minister and the Judiciary under it’s ambit
3. Also bring the conduct of MPs inside the Parliament under it’s purview
4. Get the bill passed by 30th August 2011
5. Clear Anna Hazare’s name from corruption charges levelled against him or file an FIR

On 27th August the Parliament in an unprecedented show of solidarity, government and opposition came together, debated and accepted the following demands:

1. On publishing a Citizen’s charter in all govt departments
2. On bringing the lower bureaucracy under the purview of the LokPal
3. To establish LokAyukta’s in all states

The moot question that then comes in our heads is if the fast was worth the time and effort of the nation and most importantly risking the life of a 74 year old man? From taking maximalistic stances in the initial interactions with representatives from the government what happened that Baburaoji’s team settled for far too less in the end?

The media stood on the fence, like the BJP, in the buildup to the fast. From being on the fence to become voices for the movement the media did a complete volte face. Logic lost to chest thumping and populist sloganeering. Nobody dared asked questions to the contrary. Everything that the IAC members did was absolute truth if one had to believe the news channels. A simple and rather straight forward allegation that the IAC has accepted donation from the Ford Foundation became blasphemous in the sense that the media was attributed it to be an attempt to call the IAC member a foreign agent.

This despite the fact that none of the news channels found it safe to catapult their star anchors into the thick of the RamLila action, nor were their female anchors able to get into the crowd to get reactions. Nobody dared report that a big chunk of the crowd was under the influence of alcohol and rampant loss of purses and cellphones went unreported. Delhi police noticed the highest number of traffic violations by Anna crusaders on bikes. The policemen who were subjected to taunts and then physical roughing up raised a squeak, nobody wanted to pursue the cause of the forces. The media literally took over the roll of PR agency for Baburaoji’s fast and his team.

Arvind Kejriwal made fiery speeches, he’s the modern day Mark Anthony. Kiran Bedi made a joke of herself out of frustrations I’d suppose. Retd Justice Santhosh Hegde appears to have lost his patience with the negotiators that he started asking the fast to be called off towards the end. Swami Agnivesh appears to have been the trojan horse playing both sides in a way, he too gave up on the fast a couple of days before it ended. Arindham Chaudhri’s speech during the fast was puke inducing, sample this: "We live 60-70 yrs because we kill 200 million people before 40 yrs".

Vijay, an actor from South Indian blockbusters who hasn’t seen a hit in some time, showed up on stage and mouthed inane lines, one such was thus: "This movement has triggered soliditary (sic) nationwide". I guess he meant “solidarity”, his English teachers in Loyola would be cringing in their seats. It’s one thing to mouth half baked lines in the movies to cheering front benchers and another to attempt the same in front of a live audience. Om Puri took the award for the most useless line by mouthing: "Keep the liquor bottle in the pocket, put the 200 bucks in the pocket, take the blanket home and vote to whoever you want to.”

I’m sure someone in the government’s side would have exclaimed “yes !!!!” when Vilasrao Deshmukh went up on stage to give Baburao Hazare the charter written by the government and parliament agreeing to three of his pussy footed demands. The symbolism of the moment was chuckle inducing. Here was an erstwhile Chief Minister who had to give up his seat due to corruption allegations was on stage with the high priest of the fight against corruption acting as a courier between him and the Government.

Anyone when he/she has power will use it to further his/her own agenda. Let’s say one wants to learn yoga and joins the classes of a particular guru and guess what? At some point the guru or his ilk will try to use the following to further their own social or political agendas. The best example on display was how an organization that proclaims it’s basic purpose “is to inspire, to stoke, and to nurture this innate search in every being, helping them realize the ultimate potential within” brought volunteers on the streets (In Coimbatore) supporting the anti-corruption movement.

Right from knee jerk status messages on Facebook to a utopian dream of wiping out poverty by bringing back the black money stashes in tax havens, most if not all of the outrageous claims made by the cheer leading crowd on the internet went unchallenged. The media channels single minded myopic pursuit of the fast meant that a lot of issues with serious national / regional importance was lost in the cacophony of the reality show that was unfolding.

Kanimozhi’s counsel dragged the PM into the 2G scam asking the court to list him as a witness since it was alleged he knew about license allotments. Monsoonal rains and floods rendered hundreds homeless in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Tamil New Year was shifted back to 14th April by Jayalalithaa who also announced the 1000+ crore new assembly building will be converted into a government hospital on the lines of AIIMS. Vaiko attempted to rouse linguistic passion by says Tamilnadu would secede from the Union of India if the Rajiv killers were hanged. BS Yedyurrappa moved an application for bail in the Karnataka High Court. West Bengal was rechristened Poschim Bangla by Mamtadi. I guess this week all of this events should re-occur and replayed.

The Delhi Police exhibited extreme restraint to avoid any bad publicity and have come up with their head held high. From being blamed for short sighted Govt reactions and taking Baburaoji to Tihar to guarding the fast venue for 14 days without any untoward incident, they’ve come a long way. Kisan Baburao Hazare can live without food for much longer I suspect, but he and his ilk will wither if there are no cameras pointed at them, no questions posed to them. Their energy and strength is not the people as they proudly proclaim but the media and for good reason perhaps.

Everyone has a right to support a cause, to speak against a cause. Everyone needs to have a point of view, search for and gather facts. We all should stop being herded, by politicians, by anyone else. Practice what we preach and we’d have made a world of a difference to our town, city, state and country. This land is ours, let’s make it a better place for ourselves and the future. Jai hind !

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the article are the result of the utmost disgust this author felt when the nation was almost held to a ransom by a group purporting to be voices of the citizens. The author assumes no legal responsibility from anyone using it's content in part or in full and will not assume any liabilities for any consequences arising out of it's usage. This article is written in good faith to present a fairly balanced point of view to an issue which is of importance to the country today. This article has also tried to be fair and objective in putting forth the facts of the matter and scrupulously refrains from alluding motives to any particular social, political or religions group. The author does not intend to violate any law and would be glad to comply with existing regulations if any part of this article is offending or appears hateful.

Shri Ravishankar Prasad's contempt for the bureaucracy

Last night on "The Buck stops here" on NDTV, yes I do watch the show even after the Radia tapes, on a debate if the UPA was on the backfoot with not giving in to the Opposition's demand for a JPC into the 2G spectrum sale issue Shri Ravishankar Prasad made a number of points about Polayil Joseph Thomas (current CVC PJ Thomas) but the one that stood out was that Mr Thomas didn't work as a Director or Secretary in New Delhi and hence on that account wasn't competent enough to hold the high office of CVC headquartered in New Delhi. 

This observation brought about a rather unsavoury side of our politicians (and I suppose bureaucrats too) who seem to think as New Delhi to be the center of the Indian populace around which our lives revolve. How is working in New Delhi a medal of honour on a bureaucrats uniform? How does it become a measure of excellence and merit? Dr Babu Paul asked these very questions back to Shri Ravishankar Prasad who seemed to have taken it personally and exhibited disgust at having to answer a question raised by a bureaucrat. I've read about instances where IAS / IPS officers are treated with contempt by some illiterate politicians but Shri Prasad, an eminent lawyer in the Supreme Court, an ex Minister in the Union of India !!!

A savvy modern politician exhibiting such contempt was unbecoming of a person with such experience in the public domain with such an illustrious political life. Shri Ravishankar Prasad in a fleeting moment of rage showed his real colour, probably a belief deep inside that the bureaucrats were essentially servants of the political class. In those vulnerable moments he probably also forgot that only the cream of our educated graduates manage to clear the Civil Services exams in the first place. Salutations to Dr Babu Paul for the dignified and measured response, people like him bring dignity and respect to the profession. 

Note: This author holds no brief for the current CVC Shri PJ Thomas, this author doesn't have any proof to believe he's guilty or innocent, this author doesn't have an opinion on that front either. Eventually the outcome of PIL in the Supreme Court will make it clear if Shri Thomas was tainted or caught in the middle of a raging political battle. Dr Babu Paul writing about his first step into the IAS be a nice article to read if you'd be interested to know more about him.