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On
Record Making
rural employment Act work |
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Power sector in
Punjab under constant review
Profile Reflections Diversities
— Delhi Letter
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On Record
Mr Tripathy, 57, is also a well known researcher, columnist and author of several books in Oriya. His latest book is The Gita Govinda of Sri Jayadev, the 12th Century A.D. saint poet. In the context of the ensuing Conference of Chief Secretaries on Responsive Administration in New Delhi (July 19-20), he speaks to The Sunday Tribune in Bhubaneswar on the current reform process. Excerpts: Q: Is the IAS still the best option for brilliant students? A: No. There are many other opportunities available for the talented for much higher emoluments and comforts because in these fields there are no reservation for the SC, ST and Other Backward Classes available for the competent candidates and no political intervention. There is no appreciation of a committed, dynamic and yet an honest officer in the present system. You get paid much less than what you give to the system. Q: Do you see any significant change in the calibre and potential of the present-day recruits? A: Yes. In the changed system, we do not get all round personalities in the service any more. We mostly get those who know the tricks of scoring very high marks in selected papers. There are many who come from engineering, medical, agriculture, veterinary and other technical lines as well as from the management discipline. We get more and more officers with very fixed views and notions of life and often with angularities and eccentricities which make them square pegs in round holes. Q: Is the recruitment system okay? A: It isn’t okay. The suggestion to have three tests is still worse. The fate of those who fail to qualify is very uncertain and the graduates or MBA degree holders from the Academy (after training) would only languish in the market as IAS discards. MBAs joining the IAS these days can be trained as business managers. We may reorient the course content in the Academy to include basics of financial, marketing, personal and information management (IT or computer application). These can be incorporated in the foundation and professional course in the Academy which would serve the purpose better. After five years, a higher course in these fields can be imparted in a six-week course, which would incorporate the latest innovations. Q: How are you able to meet your goals and targets despite pressures? A: I have always tried my best to meet the targets. IAS is the service created for achieving the objectives in spite of pressures. In this service, the officers get career postings where the buck ends with them. Therefore, non-achievement of target (due to pressure) cannot be an excuse. If we require an IAS officer for a particular assignment, we should allow him to cross the obstacles and go ahead rather than sloth around quoting rules and orders. Q: What about the suggestion for a fixed tenure for the Collectors? A: Fixed tenure will be a liability for those who cannot deliver. Many of them also break down under pressure and cannot tackle natural calamities and disaster and serious law and order situations. There are others who do not know how to work hand in hand with the elected office-bearers of local government. Moreover, in a democracy, the elected representatives are accountable to the legislature through the government. They run the government and the seniormost IAS officer is only a government servant. The elected government cannot take cover behind the rule of fixed tenure of civil service for any failure in the field or state headquarters. The government must run efficiently and effectively. Q: Why are worthwhile initiatives of the Collectors either dumped or forgotten when they are transferred? Why don’t you continue them? A: Administration in both public and private fields suffers from four basic demerits. One, my predecessor did nothing right. Two, nothing original comes from below. Three, morbid fear of excellence. And four, worship of mediocrity. The whole system feels very comfortable with mediocres and public administration is no exception. Excellence in politics also creates enemies. Q: The P.C. Hota Committee recommended that an IAS officer should become an Additional Secretary to GOI at 45-46 years and Secretary at 48 so that he/she can work in more ministries/ departments. A: The suggestion is impractical. What would the government do with outstanding officers who are left with less than three years of service when they are due for holding the post of Secretary to GOI? Instances are not rare where an outstanding officer holding the post for six months to one year has achieved spectacular results than a mediocre and negative-oriented officer holding the post for three years or more. We have seen such officers who have played safe throughout their career getting outstanding entries while contributing very little to the system. Q: There is stagnation among state civil service officers. How can we motivate this crucial link in the system? A: The
situation in Orissa, compared to other states, is much worse because here there
is no system of recruitment of administrative officers at Junior Class-I level.
The OAS officers are recruited in Class-II and they take years and years to
become a Junior Class-I and then considered for promotion to Class I and then to
IAS. Therefore, they are neither adequately motivated nor inspired. Moreover,
one-third of the IAS in the state, which is filled up by these people, most
often come at a ripe old age to the service and hence, they do not contribute
much to the decision making process. The Orissa Government should introduce
recruitment of OAS and OPS officers at the level of Junior Class-I. |
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Making rural employment Act
work The enactment of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is commendable. It guarantees 100 days of employment a year to every household. It has begun in 200 districts five months back and will be extended to the entire country in five years. How is it being implemented at the grassroots level? Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), a Delhi-based NGO, has assessed the implementation of the scheme on the basis of parameters such as the process of registration of names of the employment seekers, issuance of job cards to job seekers and giving them jobs on the identified sites of works, the panchayats’ role, planning, allocation and execution of works, payment of wages, transparency and social audit arrangement. According to the PRIA study, there is a very low level of awareness among people about the scheme. In Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, only 7 per cent of those interviewed were aware about the scheme. In Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttarachal, the registered people do not know how to go about it. In some places, people have not applied for jobs as they were under the impression that they would get allowance by sitting at their homes. That is why in some states, this scheme is called "Bhatte Wali Yojana". In most states, perspective plans are prepared without people’s participation as in Madhya Pradesh. In a taluk of Sabarkantha district in Gujarat, of the six gram panchayats, only two participated. There is also inordinate delay in providing jobs to people. Under the scheme, though 30 per cent jobs should go to women, very few women have been offered jobs in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. Of course, this is not the case in Haryana, Gujarat and Rajasthan. Most works under the scheme have been executed by the gram panchayats; the role of other panchayati raj tiers remained negligible. Another problem is the workers’ failure to get the minimum wages prescribed by the state in some states. Irregularities and corrupt practices, the lack of adequate human resource and training also dog the scheme. There is a shortage of programme officers, gram sachivs and junior engineers. The grievance redressal mechanism needs to be put on a firm footing. One should also look into transparency, monitoring and social audit aspects of the scheme. Concerted efforts are required for the successful implementation of the scheme. First, horizontal (State-PRIs relationship) and vertical (people-PRIs relationship) accountability in the functioning of the panchayats is a must. Secondly, adequate administrative and technical personnel should be kept at the disposal of the implementation agencies. Why are the states reluctant on this when the Centre will meet the cost? And thirdly, training and capacity building of various stakeholders has to be built up at different levels. The writer is Associate Professor, Haryana
Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri, Karnal |
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Power sector in
Punjab under constant review With focus on the socio-economic revitalisation of Punjab, our government initiated comprehensive measures to provide a right platform for growth and development. As part of this, funds to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore were earmarked for all-round development and Rs 700 crore along being allocated to the unique grass-root based Punjab Nirman programme. Our commitment to the people of Punjab, in both rural areas and urban centres alike, remains paramount. Power, being a key ingredient of economic development, has received the desired attention by our government. Simply put, our primary objective has always been to provide regular supply of electricity to every nook and corner of the state, at competitive and affordable prices. It is a goal we have worked hard to realise. For the first time in recent past, the Government of Punjab is spending 24 per cent of the State Budget on power generation. Punjab, with relatively higher levels of economic development, has a per capita electricity consumption of 806 kwh — the highest in India and twice the national average. This is largely due to electricity being supplied to 13, 123 villages of the state on urban pattern. Our endeavour to bring uninterrupted power supply to rural areas has resulted in each of these villages being connected by feeders on an urban pattern at an outlay of Rs 284 crore. This is the most important milestone in the history of the state’s electrification programme ever since the 1960s when we achieved 100 per cent rural electrification. Despite the ever-increasing demand for power (a sign of economic growth), the state government has worked hard to bridge the gap between demand and supply by resorting to purchase of power from external sources. The vagaries of monsoon notwithstanding, our farmers or industrialists have not been subjected to any extreme power shortage that could have a telling effect on production. While Punjab faced drought-like conditions in 2003 and 2004, our agricultural production actually increased substantially. One of the key factors was timely and assured supply of power to the farmers. We purchased additional power worth Rs 5160 crore during 2002-05 to ensure regular power supply to both agricultural and industrial sectors. Our government has released over 1 lakh new tubewell connections, taking the totally tally to 9,50,000 connections. In addition, 50,000 seasonal connections are also released every year. The state government is providing nearly Rs 1,600 crore as subsidy to the PSEB for supply of free power to agricultural sector. Some economists have questioned this decision of the government. But, in a situation where farmers’ cost of production has risen over 127 per cent as against the increase in output prices by 51 per cent during the last decade, there was perhaps no other alternative for us to ameliorate the farmers from economic miseries being faced by the them. Our government’s effort have been focused on not only anticipating and providing regular power supply for agricultural, industrial and domestic use but also on investment for building a sustainable future. Power sector projects have long gestation periods and thus state governments are normally loath to invest in such projects. However, this has never detracted us from our legitimate concerns for posterity. Our government signed an agreement for Rs 2,500 crore investment for setting up the 500-MW thermal power plant at Goindwal Sahib. Work is on schedule at the 500 MW Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant valued at a cost of Rs 1,789 crore; it should be commissioned by early next year. The 168-MW Shahpur Kandi Power Project along with the 19-MW Mukerian Hydel Project Stage-II and 75-MW Upper Dari Doab Canal (UBDC) projects have also been taken up to further augment hydel power generation in the state. Our government has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with GAIL India Ltd to lay a gas pipeline from Dadri (in UP) to Nangal. Plans are afoot to set up a 1800-MW gas based power plant near Doraha. Our commitment on the power generation front has evinced great interest from the private sector too. Reliance Energy has offered supply of 100 MW of power and the GVK has also agreed to establish a 500-MW thermal power plant in the state. In addition, the NTPC has agreed to allocate 1,500 MW of power to Punjab from its 4,000-MW Super Thermal Power Plant in Chhattisgarh. To strengthen the distribution network in the state, 47 new grid stations would be commissioned by the end of the year. Given the critical importance of power, there is no denying the fact that constant review is essential. The power sector in general and the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) in particular are undergoing a series of reforms targeted towards improving production and efficiency as well as the general satisfaction levels of consumers. However, our government has been alive towards the concerns expressed by different interest groups and we have thus sought extension from the Union Government in the stipulated deadline for unbundling the Board. As part of our election manifesto in 2002, we had promised to assign this sector the importance it deserved and to stand committed towards strengthening this vital component of the state’s infrastructure. Four years later, I can take some satisfaction in that not only have we attempted to bridge the fast increasing gap between supply and demand but more important, we have reached out to the marginalised sections of society with 200 units of free electricity for domestic consumption. Growth must be accompanied by equity and development must have a human face. However, our social commitment to the weaker sections and to agriculturists has not adversely affected the financial condition of the PSEB due to sustained government support. The initiatives taken by our government have brought positive changes and today not only is the quality of power in Punjab better than any other state in Northern India, the tariff is one of the lowest in the country. The writer is the Chief Minister of Punjab
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Profile V.P. Singh’s another pre-occupation is to help desperate farmers who are driven on a suicidal course. He has taken to social service to ward off the mental stress and strain and tension of the dreadful diseases he has been suffering from. In spite of dialysis and cancer, he keeps himself fit. He also finds time for painting and writing poetry which, he says, gives him solace. When he came to know of two terrible diseases, he mulled over his future for days. He would sit under tree shade, on sea shore and ask himself how many days more, how many days more? He then took a vow — he would not spend the remaining days with a long face but make use of them. He came to terms with dialysis and cancer. “This realisation gave me immense inner strength. If one can get rid of sorrow and fear, one becomes strong”, he says. V.P. Singh’s kidneys gave way as far back as 1993 when he sat on hunger strike in Mumbai following a request from the Janata Dal workers. The place was a busy road junction and there were no conveniences in the vicinity. He reduced the intake of water and, consequently, his kidneys were affected. By 1997, they completely failed. In the course of a blood test in London, doctors discovered that he has been suffering from “myeloma”— cancer of bone marrow. “My wife was sitting by my side. My first thought was what will happen to her. I felt morose. Then my self-respect was kindled and I made a determination; disease may physically break me but cannot shatter my spirit. I will not bow before it”, he says. Over a decade has passed since his kidneys have stopped functioning and cancer was diagnosed. “When I see mirror every morning, I am assured that I will not pop off, at least, today and I get busy with my work. Tomorrow will take care of itself”, he says. After the fall of the 13-day-old Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 1996, intense pressure was put on V.P. Singh to head the United Front government, but he declined. His ailments were showing no signs of abatement. To a question why he took such a step, he often recites a verse, composed some time back: Muflis se choor ab baan raha hun, par es bharre bazaar se kaya churaon, yahain vohi cheeje saji hain, jise loota ke mai muflis ho chukka huin (I am becoming thief from a pauper but in the booming market, I find all those articles which I had forsaken to became a pauper). V.P. Singh paints when he wants to be with himself and escape stress. Collection of his paintings have already been published and exhibitions held. His father, Raja Bahadur Bhagwati Prasad, ruler of the tiny princely state Daya, near Allahabad, had three wives and Vishwanath is the youngest son of the third. His elder brother is Chandra Shekhar Singh. The first wife gave birth to three sons, one them was Santbux Singh. He was an articulate member of the Lok Sabha in the Sixties and known for his intellect. The ruler of the neighbouring state of Manda adopted V.P. Singh at the age of five. His ambition was to became an atomic energy scientist and do research in this field, but when he did his B.Sc, he became overage. Starting his political career as MLA of the UP Assembly, it took 20 years for him to become the Prime Minister. He became an MLA when he was 38 and after two years, he entered the Lok Sabha. He had to wait for three years to become Union Deputy Minister for Commerce in the Indira Gandhi government. He was sent to UP as the Chief Minister but resigned within two years making eradication of dacoity as a prestige point. He returned to the Centre and became Union Minister for Commerce, Finance and Defense. He could not complete his tenure in any of these posts. He became the Prime Minister in December 1989 and remained in office for 11 months eight days. V.P. Singh has always lived amidst controversies, sometime self-created. He is very quick to take pledges and making promises which he could not fulfill. His feudal pride is touched when he is not able to live to his pledge and he quits. Paradoxically, even though hailing from feudal lineage, he has identified more with the common
man. |
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Reflections
I was sent a book with a request if I could release it in an event being planned. The book was
Healthy Thinking written by Dr Tom Mulloholland and published by Wisdom Tree. I accepted the invitation and took the book along to read over a flight I was taking the following day. I boarded the plane at 6 a.m. to fly to city Mumbai en route to city ‘Y’ (name withheld) for an event I was invited to. After reaching Mumbai I took the connecting flight to ‘Y’. I informed my host as soon as I boarded it. She was very pleased that I was closer to honoring my commitment we had negotiated for last many months. Meanwhile, I used my travel time to read the book I was to release. The thoughts expressed in the book were in tandem with most of my past reading. Hence it was like an endorsement for me in many ways with added clarity. All seemed to be going as per plan till all the ideas given in the book were put to a real test by actual happenings on the flight to ‘Y’.… The flight could not land in ‘Y’ due to bad weather. We hovered around the airfield for a number of times hoping for visibility to improve. But it did not. Since Bangalore was close to ‘Y’ we flew in there to halt and hopefully return. The halt became a long wait. We all passengers were made to wait on board for over four hours waiting for weather clearance. There were children, elders, and many an impatient person arguing out with the helpless crew. Mercifully we were served food and tea on ‘asking’ for it. My host continued to call and tell me she is at the airport ‘Y’ and that the weather is clearing. Meanwhile, I kept reading the book. It was all about how one responds to stressful situations of the kind I was experiencing. Situations which are not self created but in which ones gets into and what differentiates one person from the other is how one responds, reacts, deals or copes with. Let me share with you the essence of the book I was reading while stranded… I quote...“…Healthy Thinking is like brain surgery without the blood. The more you practice the better you get. It’s free, has no side effects and you don’t need any medications or equipment. All you need are your thoughts and the tolls I call Emotional Algebra. You can change your attitude to suit and eliminate what I call the 10 unhealthy emotions. These are stress, anger, anxiety, guilt, jealousy, resentment, rejection, sadness, frustration and disappointment. They are a waste of time and energy and don’t get you any further ahead”… …You cannot change anyone else except yourself…unquote. Waiting passengers were fretting and fuming. They were losing patience. There were loud arguments on ticket reimbursements, which raised the stress levels in the plane. Some were hungry, some were thirsty. Children too sitting cramped up in their seats were getting noisier. We all had our choices to make with bad weather beyond our control... I almost sensed that I would not make it to city of my commitment from the way we were delayed. I had been in the air since 6 a.m. and it was now almost 6 p.m. It had almost become more of an international flight... I had only one choice to make to take this situation. Fret and fume? Or take it as it was? I had spent a whole working day for this important event. But it was not to be. I decided to keep reading and observing others’ behaviour. Finally around 6 p.m., the captain announced we were on our way to the city ‘Y’ of our destination. I felt good. I informed my host again. It’s been worth the wait. She said she was already at the airport. After a few minutes in the air, the captain announced that we were flying back to Mumbai as ‘Y’ still had bad weather... As I landed bank in Mumbai I called my host and said, “I am sorry I could not make it to your event despite being in the air for last 12 hours. May be next time? I hope to be lucky to get a connecting flight to take me home now. My best wishes for your programme.” She (my host) tells me, “Kiran could you not consider staying overnight in Mumbai and try coming tomorrow morning? Our function is on tomorrow as well”. I felt like blowing my top off. I felt a compelling urge to say, “enough is enough”. This was the most unfair suggestion in the given situation, knowing what I had gone through. Instead of regretting she tells me to stretch my dislocation. I held myself that moment and said, “my friend, you know I have already spent a working day in the air and I have my commitments to honour. Fortunately they are not connected with bad weather. Hence I need to return”. I heard her voice dip. She said, “Alright then”. Reading the book Healthy Thinking had made me extra conscious of my response. It helped me instantly and reminded me. I could not have changed her response but I could handle mine. But as I landed in Delhi there was a message on my mobile from her. It read as follows: “Sorry for the inconvenience you went through. It was my dream to have you preside over my event. But will wait for another day.” This was surely a sign of healthy thinking even though it came a bit
late. |
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Diversities
— Delhi Letter
The tragedy that struck Mumbai has had a definite effect on people in Delhi. That feeling of insecurity coupled with disgust at the madness going on…killings and terrorist attacks rupture not just peace, but leave dents on the human psyche. In this tension-ridden atmosphere, a certain level of maturity ought to be maintained at all levels. In all communities, community leaders ought to play a vital role. Let not religious terms be used. For terrorists are terrorists and it’s absolutely wrong and unethical to call them Islamic terrorists. I have been reading scriptures and sayings of Prophet Muhammad and the greatest stress is on non-violence. The very word Islam means ‘peace’ and there are instances from the Prophet’s life which show that he remained forgiving and unprovoked even when confronted with all possible odds. As the well known New Delhi-based sociologist Professor Imtiaz Ahmad had stressed during the course of an interview that, the term Islamic terrorists is a misnomer and should be avoided…for it’s used by vested political interests to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims in the country. He was emphatic that it’s a notion that more and more Muslims are taking to violence. As he had elaborated, “It is not that more and more Muslims are turning into militants. Worldwide there are many other forms of militancy and terrorism that are equally aggressive and widespread. In our own country we have had and continue to have militancy in Kashmir and in the North East, to name two persistent forms of militancy in recent times. Outside the country, within the South Asian region, we have had terrorism in Sri Lanka and Nepal. Further away, there are also Muslim militants who are fighting against regimes who are wholly or largely Muslims. It is ironic that following 9/11, the world seems to have forgotten that these are other terrorists. Partly because the US-led war has put the focus on Muslims and partly because Muslims are more widespread, the impression is gaining ground that more and more Muslims are turning terrorists. Actually more and more people in the entire world are turning terrorists.” Almost a year back, when well known scholar-activist Asghar Ali Engineer was addressing a meet at the IIC and when asked by someone in the audience that why today’s Muslim is turning to terrorist activities (in the backdrop of the London bombings etc), he said, “These acts of terrorism are political and are not religious...violence taking place anywhere in the world has to be condemned by each one of us and it must be definitely condemned. There is the fact of the US’ aggression in Palestine and Iraq and with that in the background, these terrorist acts are not religious but political in nature. And then, there are extremist fringes in each community and in each country. Tamil rebels indulging in violence in Sri Lanka, Irish rebels had turned to violence in the UK…!” To another query, why Islam the religion is linked to violence, Asghar Ali Engineer countered it by giving one example after another to prove the contrary. Talking of the period of early Islam, he gave examples of when the Prophet had always discouraged violence of any type and showed compassion even to his enemies,” so much so that when he had conquered Mecca there wasn’t a drop of bloodshed and he had pardoned even those people who had attacked him or his men…in fact, he had even pardoned a woman who had not just killed his uncle but even chewed his liver… there has been one instance after another focusing on compassion and violence has been totally discouraged and condemned in Islam except in self-defence…” Even today, condemnation of violence is taking place. For it’s a fact that Islam does not permit even the slightest form of violence. There is one Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad) after another which stress that restrain and non-violence have to be maintained. Even when certain sections of Muslims had turned violent during the protest against those mischievously provocative Danish cartoons, this is what Javed Anand, co-editor of Communalism Combat had written in that backdrop: “You do not have to be a particularly devout Muslim to feel deeply hurt or offended by the cartoons of Prophet Muhammad that have inflamed the entire Islamic world. Addressing a gathering of the faithful during Friday prayers last week, the Qatar-based Shaikh Yusuf Alqarzadi, a highly respected religious leader, condemned the burning down of the Danish and Norwegian embassies. Exhorting Muslims to eschew extremism, he appealed to them to express their unhappiness over the offensive cartoons in a ‘decent’ and ‘civilised’ manner. “I cannot condone destruction and arson because they are against basic human decency and against the teachings of Islam…” So it would be definitely wrong and incorrect in every sense of the term to give a religious prefix or slot to any terrorist. A person who terrorises people does not belong to any faith. He is being used or paid by political powers and presumably he does not follow any faith. For no religion on earth sanctions killings, loot or destruction of any
kind. |
It is the mercy of my true Guru that has made me to know the unknown; I have learned from him how to walk without feet, to see without eyes, to hear without ears, to drink without mouth, to fly without wings. — Kabir
When one loses one’s ego, he reaches the state of equanimity. — Guru Nanak
Many say, that wealth, power and position corrupt men. Surely they are wrong. By themselves, wealth, power and position can do nothing. Our attachment to them causes corruption.
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Mr Ajit Kumar
Tripathy,Member, Board of Revenue, Orissa, is an able administrator. A
1973-batch IAS officer, he is known for his honesty, integrity and
administrative acumen. He has held important positions like Development
Commissioner and Additional Chief Secretary to the government with
alacrity and diligence..jpg)
Every second day, he goes for dialysis. His kidneys have completely failed. And he suffers from cancer. Yet on dialysis-free days, former Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh is seen in jhuggis and jhopris, trying to prevent poor people from being uprooted and helping the rehabilitation of those who have already been displaced. Sometimes, he stands in front of bulldozers. On return from hospital, crowd of shelter-less people greet him at his residence on the tri-junction of New Delhi’s Teen Murti and Rajaji Marg roads.