Release of Juvenile in Nirbhaya Case

Last three years in Delhi have seen many ups and downs in the trial of  persons involved in tragic case of brutalisation of a girl in Delhi on 16th December 2012.The horrible crime committed in heart of National Capital witnessed protests from young and old in most vocal fashion. The local police and the trial court under pressure of public opinion acted swiftly and finalised the proceedings leading to conviction of six accused. Moved by the force of public resentment the Govt. tried it’s best to save the life of the young victim, even sending her for treatment abroad. There was also some show of strict action against petty Govt. servants whose negligence is believed to have created enabling conditions for bus operators with shady credentials to operate in the National Capital.The identity of victim was kept a guarded secret and name Nirbhaya (fearless) was given to the victim in appreciation of her fighting spirit.

Yet much remains to be done. The eldest of the accused among the six perpetrators of crime committed suicide -perhaps out of feeling of guilt,being a middle aged family man.The youngest having been found to be a juvenile at the time of committing of crime is now a free man having completed detention period of three years.The remaining four persons convicted by lower rungs of judiciary still evade the hangman’s noose since their appeal against the conviction is yet to be deliberated upon by the Apex court.

Country’s  law makers had left no stone unturned to shed crocodile tears on the tragedy. At the last stage when the juvenile accused completed his period of detention and his release appeared imminent,headline grabbing opportunities were contrived  by making a show of knocking at midnight at the doors of Supreme Court- a dramatic move  which expectedly proved to be unproductive being not supported by law.Country is still waiting for legislative action to plug loopholes which came to fore in dealing with juveniles responsible for heinous crimes.

It is a moot point whether the wide publicity given to this case has brought about any respect for law or it has helped the younger generation of women in feeling secure.Tragically in the three years which followed the mass uprising against crime against women, young women have continued to suffer in the National Capital as well as in rest of the country .

While the curtains appear to be drawing on the tragic case we are confronted with the faces of two mothers whose heart bleeds for a child lost for no fault of theirs.On one side is the face of a mother who regrets the fact that one of the offenders is walking away free due to complexity of law. She feels guilty for not having  been able to secure justice for her brutally treated daughter .On the other side is face of a mother in a remote village who had no choice when her young child was moved over to a big city in search of livelihood and got sucked into a vicious life of crime.This mother perhaps also feels guilty for not having been able to give her due to the child.

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Rediscovering Lucknow- the City of Nawabs

Lucknow the Capital of Uttar Pradesh,popularly called as the City of Nawabs,was my home town for several long years.The city has a rich historical and cultural heritage laden with art and literary works. Mythology suggests that the city has  been setup by Lord Lakshman hence named also as  Lakshmanpur. 

The unique composite culture of doaba i.e. land of rivers Ganga and Yamuna has fostered the growth of literary traditions of Hindi literature as well as Urdu poetry known as Shero-Shairi .Colourful stories in back drop of Lucknow culture and history  have   provided inspiration and motivation to celluloid masters of Bollywood to spin some unforgettable masterpieces like Gurudatt's Chaudavin Ka Chand Rajendra Kumar and Sadhana starrer lyrical Mere Mehboob and tale of two ex Nawabs in Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khilari,. 

Around 35 years ago I had boarded Lucknow Mail the popular train to Delhi from Lucknow's Charbagh Railway  Station to join my new job. In between the city was revisited for short spells for occasional family commitments.When I had to recently make a series of short stays at the place for finalising some family matters, there was an opportunity for re bonding with the city.

Now having retired I had no time constraints, and there was ample time to freshly savour the history and culture of the town and have a leisurely trip down the memory lane.

The Chaudhary Charan Singh Airport at Lucknow is named after the famous Kisan leader and one time Prime Minister of India. Coming out of the Terminal a towering statue of former PM greets the visitor.

Initial glimpse of the city while driving through  Airpot Road is quite majestic as Mayawati regime has decked up the drive from Airport to city with lavishly built monuments and Parks.

City Skyline

Our stay in Lucknow at UPTDC owned Hotel Gomti offered view of an ancient house from the window which looked more beautiful as night fell and skyline lit up with exciting colours.

For the morning exercises the proximity of the place to botanical garden made it the best choice.

Exotic Flowering Species at the Botanical Garden

The Lucknow Botanical Garden has been made to grow into a collection of exotic plants in back drop of  a beautiful pond with water lilies. Joggers and morning walkers spread out on the middle area for utilisation of green lawn for yoga and aerobics.

Panormic View of The Botanical Gardens

Shahnazaf Imambara

The Shanazaf Imambara in the vicinity is being given a facelift as if it is coming out to welcome the visitors and faithful .

Mosque at the Immabara

A mosque in proximity gives an insight into architectural accomplishment of architects and masons in the middle ages .

Portrait of Wazid Ali Shah

The lobby at Hotel Gomti has a large beautiful painting of Wazid Ali Shah last of the Nawabs who is remembered for his munificence and love for art forms. His regime had provided the backdrop for movie Shatranj Ke Khilari. 

With opening of Malls all over the city the landscape appears to have changed with time, but city has still retained the old world charm. Hazratganj the less than 2 km long stretch of market in heart of town covering  land mark buildings like GPO, Northern Railway Hqs and the Press Club besides the old Hanuman temple still remains the favourite shopping destination for upmarket Lucknowites. 

 The GPO Lucknow

NR HQS LUCKNOW

Panormic view at Press Club

THE  HANUMAN TEMPLE

While taking a stroll down the Hazratganj it was quite noticeable that with the fencing of walkways, the strolling along the footpaths (popularly referred to as "ganjing" in code book of students in old times) is no longer the pleasant experience it used to be, and popular hotspots such as lover's lane have also vanished.Off course the addition of hotspots like Cafe Coffee Day and Aryan near Raj Bhawan has blended a new upmarket dimension to the ambience and compensated for the loss. 

The Hazarat Ganj Market

It was a pleasant surprise to rediscover  the tantalising taste of tikki and pani ke batashe at Motimahal Sweets and the malai paan at Ramasrey Halwai and to realise that skills of these masters of culinary delight have remained unchanged over the years.

Tomb of Begum Hazarat Mahal

As Hazratganj stretches towards river Gomti, historical buildings pop up from every corner.A turn to left takes us to Bara(large) Imambara and Chhota (small)Imambara.

Bara Imambara constructed in 18th Century by Nawab Asifuddaulah is also known as Asifi Immabara.There are tombs, mosques and other structures which are connected with royal activities. Chhota Imambara has a lighting Hall decorated with imported lamps.A local guide on visit to the place opens up loads of stories about royal behaviour, secret passages underneath and insight about architectural highlights.

Panormic View At Bara Imambara

There are anecdotes about royal treasures and underground tunnels which were to provide escape routes in ancient times.Close to Imambara is the clock tower with ancient picture gallery which has paintings depicting Royalty in full glory.Interesting insight into Royal charities is offered in the Wasikadar office located in the clock tower.The descendants of Royal family and other beneficiaries of Royal patronage are known as Wasikadars. The office maintains volumes of records for ensuring regular payments which may be as low as a handful of rupees.But being  a Wasikadar means being a part of royalty , something to be proud of to no extent.

Mueseum at Residency

History has left behind it's footprints in shape of another land mark which are the ruins of British Fortress known as Residency- the place where families of British Resident and other Britishers stationed in Lucknow were staying when the city was besieged by soldiers of British Army under Mutiny in year 1857.








Residency with lush green lawns and preserved structures bears mute testimony to historic events of the era.A museum in the basement has rare collection of pictures and writings connected to uprising which was labelled as "Sepoy Mutiny" by the British.

As population increased Lucknow continued to grow beyond Gomti river as colonies of Niralanagar and Mahanagar came up.  Further stretching of city limits has added up Janaki Puram , Gomti Nagar and Indira Nagar taking the city upto outpost of Chinhat .As Metro Rail Construction Boards dominate the skyline even Wajid Ali Shah would find it difficult to locate his Lucknow.

The city of Nawabs in ancient times was famous for Nazakat and Nafasat two Urdu words meaning delicacy of style and tastes. Nazakat and Nafasat epitomised the character of Lucknowite in middle ages.The traditions have been meticulously preserved in Chickan Art works (very finely embroidered garments for both sexes) and semi solid Galouti kababs of famous Tunday Kababi in Aminabad in old city. 

Luckhnawi Tehzib in times of Nawabs was summed up as"Pahle Aap" culture, meaning "..Please Sir...you first".There is a famous joke referring to two Nawabs who could not board a train as they kept on requesting each other to board the train first..."Pehle AAP..Pehle AAP"....and the train whistled and left the station.

Now as Metro Train network is coming up in the city Lucknowites shall definitely need to give up at least this one part of traditional culture  while boarding and de boarding the Metros or the slide gates would be locked!!.

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Seventh CPC:Benefits for Defence Forces and Military Nursing Services

The recommendations for Armed Forces are based on approach similar to that adopted for civilian employees as spelt out in previous posts.The  Pay Bands and Grade pay have been done away and fitment factor of 2.57has been applied to all categories.The entry pay to a category (except for MNS) is arrived at by calculating minimum of pay band and accounting for subsequent increments earned in the pay band (except for the rank of Brigadier where fitment table notified by the Ministry of Defence through its Special Army Instructions of October 2008.)

Like civilian pay scales the Commission has, for deciding entry pay at various stages, proposed index of rationalisation toaccount for higher degrees of responsibility and accountability at various levels .While this is  fixed as 2.57 for PB  -1 it rises  steadily climbing to to 2.81 for Service Chiefs .Index of 2.57 applies also to the officers in the rank of Colonel and Brigadier and their equivalent.

The starting pay in existing pay structure is ₹8,460 Sepoy (and equivalent), Under the recommendations the pay of entry level personnel in the defence forces, has been fixed in the Defence Pay Matrix at ₹21,700. Fixation of pay will follow the same principle as that for a regular promotion in the pay matrix.

The Commission has not recommended any increase in the number of MACPs. which is presently pegged at 8, 16 and 24 years .

The Commission has maintained pay parity in civilian and defence personnel at matching levels .Group `A’ entry level is identical at ₹56,100 in the case of both civilian and defence service officers. Similarly the pay of the Major General and Joint Secretary and equivalent officers and those above [viz., Lieutenant General (in HAG, HAG+, Apex) and Chief of each defence service] has been kept identical with their civilian counterparts. Identical pay levels has been devised for JCO/ORs and their civilian counterparts corresponding to the existing pay bands and grade pay.

For defence forces personnel, there are two separate matrices, one for the Service Officers and JCO/ORs and another for theMilitary Nursing Officers. The Pay Matrix designed for the Defence Forces personnel is more compact than the Civil pay matrix keeping in view the number of levels, age and retirement profile of the service personnel.

The Commission has further clarified that the pay structure designed by it for the defence forces personnel has been done keeping in view (a) some of the aspects in their rank structure unique to them and (b) pay structure is not intended to determine the status of the personnel vis-à-vis their counterparts on the civil side.

In the design of the Pay Matrix for Military Nursing Service (MNS) , the Commission has kept in view the approach followed by previous Pay Commissions and traditional relativities between the Armed Forces Officers and Military Nursing Service Officers. In particular the pay scales/grade pay based on the V and VI CPC Reports were kept in view.

While deciding the level of minimum pay fro MNS the following formula has been adopted:Minimum Pay for a Rank in MNS= (Minimum Pay for that Rank in Defence Pay Matrix) x (Grade Pay of the Rank in MNS)/(Grade Pay of that Rank in the Services).The pay Matrix for MNS thus conceived is as below :

Following exceptions have  been made for purposes of rationalising the pay structure:

1. In the case of Captains, the Commission has moderated the minimum pay level upwards to ₹59,00017, to avoid bunching of minimum pay of MNS Lieutenant and Captain.
2. In the case of Brigadiers some moderation downwards from the figure arrived at by the formula (₹1,26,800) has been effected to provide suitable differential in the minimum of the pay level between Brigadier and Major General of MNS. Hence the mid-point of the minimum of the pay levels of Colonel and Major General viz., ₹1,19,700 has been taken as the minimum pay for the Brigadier of MNS.

For Military Service Pay the Commission has recommended an MSP for the four categories of Defence forces personnel at ₹15,500 for the Service Officers, ₹10,800 for Nursing Officers, ₹5,200 for JCO/ORs, and ₹3,600 for Non Combatants (Enrolled) in the Air Force per month. MSP will continue to be reckoned as Basic Pay for purposes of Dearness Allowance, as also in the computation of pension but will  not be counted for purposes of House Rent Allowance, Composite Transfer Grant and Annual Increment.

For calculations in individual cases the procedure as outlined in previous post can be followed.The Report of CPC is also included in this blog on the “REPORTS” pages.In case of difficulty in viewing the pay matrix  original can be viewed on page 89 & 91 of the report.

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Seventh CPC Approach for simplification and rationalisation

The Seventh CPC like other Pay Commissions had been entrusted with the responsibility of evolving pay structures which were rational and simple.It was expected that the pay packages offered should be able to attract best talent in civil and defence services and also be capable of ensuring  performance related efficiency while taking note of  the existing socio political setup in the country.The pay structure should ensure value addition to services by talent of individual employees.

While discussing the pay structure for civilian employees the report explains the evolution of compression ratio to present level.Compression ratio is the ratio between the lowest pay  and the highest salary drawn by Secretary to Govt. of India in the pay structure.At the time of first CPC the ratio was 1:36.4(min Salary of ₹ 55 against highest of ₹ 2000.) .This came down to 1:11.4 in sixth CPC (min Salary of ₹ 7000 against highest of ₹ 80000).

There were several innovations brought about by  VI CPC which included running pay bands for both Civilians as well as Defence forces as well as  the introduction of the concept of Grade Pay as a level differentiator besides  calculation of the annual increment on percentage basis.Sixth CPC had also recommended abolition of Gr.D category posts by elevation of present incumbents to Gr.C by skill upgradation.It reduced 35 pay scales of Vth CPC to 23 (19 Pay bands +4 fixed pay levels).

However the Seventh CPC was confronted by stakeholders with several inconsistencies in Pay bands and Grade Pay structures and anomalies in Entry pay  recommended by Sixth CPC at various level . This  scenario had lead to demand for a fitment factor which may cover all cases in equitable fashion.

The recommendations of Seventh CPC are for abolishing the system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay and creation of  new functional levels  by merging the grade pay with the pay in the pay band. Commission said that it has ensured that all of the existing levels have been subsumed in the new structure; and no new level has been introduced nor has any existing level been dispensed with.The Seventh CPC has recommended a Pay matrix with distinct Pay Levels. The Level would henceforth be the status determiner as per table given below:

The Commission  has pointed out that  with this methodology of pay fixation “..any new entrant to a service would wish to be able to make a reasonable and informed assessment of how his/her career path would traverse and how the emoluments will progress alongside. The new pay structure has been devised in the form of a pay matrix to provide complete transparency regarding pay progression.”

In addition to the pay matrix the CPC has also applied concept ofrationalisation of entry pay to take care of uneven pattern of  a jumps in the career hierarchy under existing pay scales in the Government of India. This system is based on the premise that with enhancement of levels from Pay Band 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and onwards, the role, responsibility and accountability increases at each step in the hierarchy.

The  pay matrix as suggested by CPC is intended to  replace  existing system of Pay Bands and Grade Pay.The pay matrix comprises of two dimensions. ” It has a “horizontal range” in which each level corresponds to a ‘functional role in the hierarchy’ and has been assigned the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and so on till 18. The “vertical range” for each level denotes ‘pay progression’ within that level. These indicate the steps of annual financial progression of three percent within each level.”

The Commission has devised the pay matrix by calculating the sum of Basic pay and Grade Pay at various stages and multiplying the sames of  by a multiplication factor of 2.57 . While devising the pay matrix the entry pay has been calculated by adopting different multiplication factors (shown as index in table below) for different pay bands depending on respective functional responsibilities.Pay Matrix is given below.

The following methodology has been suggested for fitment:

“The fitment of each employee in the new pay matrix is proposed to be done by multiplying his/her basic pay on the date of implementation by a factor of 2.57. The figure so arrived at is to be located in the new pay matrix, in the level that corresponds to the employee’s grade pay on the date of implementation, except in cases where the Commission has recommended a change in the existing grade pay. If the identical figure is not available in the given level, the next higher figure closest to it would be the new pay of the concerned employee. “

The CPC report has given some working examples for calculation.Having had a brief insight into Civilian Pay Scales we shall take up Army Pay Scales shortly.

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Seventh CPC Report -just arrived!

Hurrah ! The wait is over for all Govt employees . For those who are directly affected as well as those who would reap benefits of the fall out. Whether it's time for setting up crackers or for waiting till VIIIth Central Pay Commission (CPC)  will be known in coming days.Unlike previous occasions the CPC has ben considerate to the extent of submitting the report on time leaving enough time for Govt to deliberate and accept or reject various recommendations.

The initial signals are that of modest gains except for a few who were persistent about catching up with Indian Administrative Services and creating a level playing field. The Pay Commission has ultimately got convinced to extend the edge enjoyed by IAS in matter of pay fixation at various stages of career to IPS and IFoS.Following are some of the highlights.

The CPC while deciding about pay scales and procedure for fitment has come up with innovative concept of Pay Matrix whereby the lateral spread in the matrix would denote the panorama of job functions and related pay packages . The vertical movement would cover the  pay hikes.The system of Pay Bands and Grade pays introduced by the previous CPC has thus been laid to rest.The  CPC had been confronted with several anomalies by the representationists which prompted the change. Pay matrices have been drawn up for civilians, defence personnel and for military nursing service.

For the Civilian Employees the minimum pay starts from Rs.18000/- (corresponding to existing lowest pay of Rs.7000/-)and with the suggested annual increment rates of 3% the highest salary is pegged to Rs.2.25 Lakhs.A progressive suggestion is for dispensing with the differential pay system between direct recruits and those occupying a post by internal promotion.The strategy for pay fixation has been further simplified with introducing fitment factor of 2.57 which should expectedly take care of pay fixation anomalies which crop up whenever the matter of revision of pay scales comes up.This fitment factor of 2.57 is being proposed to be applied uniformly for all employees.

 A similar Pay Matrix for defence personnel starts from Grade Pay of Rs. 2000/- which covers salary of sepoys and equivalents.A somewhat similar system has been conceived for Military Nursing Services.The aspect of performance monitoring and periodic promotions will continue through Modified Assured Career Progression Scheme  as per past intervals of 10/20/30 years with the changed  promotion criteria being benchmarked at" very good". For military personnel the review is pegged to 8/6/14 years.

All ranks of the Defence forces upto Brigadier and equivalent ranks will continue to be entitled to payment of Military Service Pay (MSP)which is given in recognition of job related challenges and consequential difficulties.MSP would be counted for calculation of DA and Pension but not for House Rent Allowances (HRA) and Annual Increment.For defence personnel the Commission has also recommended rationalisation of compensation to Army Personnel for death or injury under various eventualities.

For  Short Service Commissioned Officers the good news is is that they may be permitted to exit Armed Forces any time between 7 and 10 years of service with a terminal gratuity equivalent of 10.5 months of reckon able emoluments. along with recommendation for a fully funded one year Executive Programme or a M.Tech. programme at a premier Institute.

The Commission has made drastic recommendation in respect of allowances admissible to Employees "with the overall aim of transparency, simplification and nationalization".The Commission has highlighted the  difficulties related to staff housing and revised the upper limits  for housing loans besides liberalising the process and permitting separate loans to spouses who are in Govt. job. Requisition of private house for Govt. Employees has been recommended wherever the available staff quarters are not sufficient to meet the demand.

The Commission has proposed enhancement in the ceiling of gratuity payable at the time of retirement from the existing ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh from 01.01.2016.adding that the ceiling on gratuity may increase by 25 percent whenever DA rises by 50 percent.

Another area covered extensively is that of periodic Cadre Review.The Commission has recommended  that proposals of this nature be examined by Departments initially coopting DoPT and Department of Expenditure under concerned Secretary of the Department.Only after this basic scrutiny the matter can go to Cabinet Secretary in deserving cases.

Most of the allowances that have been retained have  been given a raise that is commensurate with the rise in DA. Allowances that are in the nature of a fixed amount but fully indexed to DA have not been given any raise. Regarding percentage based allowances, it has been stated that since the Basic Pay will rise as a result of the recommendations of the Commission.

For House Rent Allowance the Commission has recommended rationalisations to 24 percent, 16 percent and 8 percent of the Basic Pay for Class X, Y and Z cities respectively. A formula has also been suggested for upward hike in HRA pattern as Cost of living index crosse 50% and 100%.Currently, in the case of those drawing either NPA or MSP or both, the amounts of NPA/MSP are included with the Basic Pay and HRA is being paid as a percentage of the total amount. The Commission has recommended that  HRA should be calculated as a percentage of Basic Pay only and that add-ons like NPA, MSP, etc. should not be included while working out HRA.

Amongst the allowances suggested for abolition are Night Duty allowances and Motor Car /Motor Cycle purchase advances. .

The Pay Commission has made several suggestions for improving  Health Coverage for Employees .These suggestions  include Scheme for Health Insurance,and suggestion for extending list  of hospitals from private sector in those areas where coverage is low.The Rates of contribution for Health Insurance are proposed to be increased upto Rs.1500/2500/5000.The higher rates for contribution would result in insurance covers extending to Rs.15/25/50 Lakhs.

For the Pensioners  the Commission has sought to make complete parity of past pensioners with current retirees.Under the recommendations  the pension of  personnel who retired prior to 01.01.2016 (expected date of implementation of the Seventh CPC recommendations) shall first be fixed in the Pay Matrix being recommended by this Commission, on the basis of the Pay Band and Grade Pay at which they retired, at the minimum of the corresponding level in the matrix. This amount shall be raised, to arrive at the notional pay of the retiree, by adding the number of increments he/she had earned in that level while in service, at the rate of three percent. Fifty percent of the total amount so arrived at shall be the revised pension. In the case of the Defence personnel, total amount so arrived at shall be inclusive of MSP.Another  calculation is to be carried by  multiplying the pension fixed under sixth  CPC  by 2.57 to arrive at an alternate value for the revised pension.Pensioners will be given the option of choosing whichever formulation is beneficial for acceptance.

This was what I could grab in the first reading of CPC report.Will be coming up with subject wise write ups in ensuing articles.

 

 

Civil servants who abdicated the beacon light

A recent piece of brilliant writing by a senior civil servant highlighted the life story of an IAS officer who gave up comfort and authority of civil services in favour of a life of spiritual leader.The graphic description of transformation in life of the much respected spiritual leader from civil servant to the guiding spirit of a much revered ashram also evoked certain questions in my mind.Questions are ultimately related to objective of human existence.Or to state it more clearly are all the human beings expected to be divine creatures involved in purification of self and remaining detached from all the weaknesses of mankind.If yes then how shall the difference between good and bad survive? Further what will  be the  fate of all those individuals or activities which are not exactly divine or to put it bluntly are not working solely for betterment or welfare of all human beings ?The answer is not difficult to find . Human beings like other creations of nature will remain as they are - a mixture of good and bad. If that is so then who will take the responsibility for fighting the demons in hand to hand fights...who will teach lessons to the criminalized politician or the   crooked businessman.Off course it will be the civil servant --the street fighter using all his inner strength and survival instincts to stay afloat and also to deliver something for betterment of lives of vast population. In my eyes he or she the Ashoks and Durgas who abdicated their prime postings showing unbending spirits  for upholding rule of law are the true heroes and heroines and hopes for future of mankind.

In defence of Delhi

A popular magazine recently published an article on city of Delhi lamenting the heartless character of the city , highlighting absence of it's cultural history and rubbishing the claim that the city is now a hundred years old.

Having spent close to 25 years in the city I am compelled to agree with some of the facts relating to the unusually rough treatment which one has to face in Delhi in public dealings on many times. I have been born and brought up in a north indian State and later had a 25 year stint in Delhi before serving in other parts of India for about a decade . I have always felt great admiration for courtesy and politeness which is hallmark of public behavior in certain South Indian States.There are places in MP and Maharashtra where I felt more at home sometimes as compared to my native town in UP.

Still on going through the article I did feel sad for the fact that a sensitive creative personality has so much of hurt and anger over the character of the city. Despite having been myself a critic of the city I did feel obliged to sit up and think as to why my heart still pines to return to Delhi and are there any good points which were missed out by the author of the above referred article.

Ofcourse there are reasons to see the city in a different color. For an outsider the feel of the city is based on adding together several images drawn from history, personal encounters and experience sharing. On the other hand my attachment to the city is for sake of memories which are associated with the various places where I stayed and worked . Memories of places where we took children on weekends, the UPSC chatwala and the street corner parathawala, memories of Asiad 82, film festivals movies in picture halls which are no longer in existence, the swimming pool where the whole family brushed up our swimmimg skills, the hospitals where my children were born and the hospital where my parents received long treatments make Delhi an emotional link which will always beacon me back .

Apart from emotional aspects I feel drawn to the city for the reason that despite all setbacks and so called scams the city infrastructure has been getting improved and modernized . A fact which can be felt by only those persons who have experienced the city during different phases of evolution in recent past. For a middle class person like me the shopping and entertainment joints do hold charm of a better quality of life in future .

From professional angle the city does offer tremendous opportunity for interacting with best performers in all fields and last but not the least the life is so hectic that there is hardly any time left for brooding over the character of the city

How hard is the hard posting ?

After initially working at Delhi for more than 2 decades I had to move to several other reigons  in the country  covering in the process  Goa,  Andamans and North East  . While the initial understanding was that I would return to Delhi in 2-3 years times , the ex Delhi tenure has kept on stretching. Since several of my colleagues managed to remain at Delhi for longer period and also got back to Delhi after short stints outside Delhi I felt cheated sometimes and wondered whether this banishment from Delhi was fair. However  after maturing through  several destinations away from Delhi I could see the silver lining (pun unintended) and started wondering whether the craze for sticking to Delhi is not an indication of a self centered  individual with an attitude which is not progressive .

Self centered because , although the  job offers  a possibility of rotation to various nooks and corners of the country but a group of people  consider it their divine right to be posted to a metro city , by all possible manipulations  or even if posted outside Delhi they would  try to get a place of choice , such as  one connected by land route  to the country ( so that there is possibility of an overnight train to Delhi!).These divine righted colleagues forget in the process that by cornering the comfort zones they have pushed out many other colleagues in the sun and  forced them to remain at the so called hard postings for longer period . The assumed difficulties of a hard posting would have appeared less uncomfortable and would not have been prolonged if all of us shared the hard areas on equitable basis.But for many mortals  a posting in Delhi injects a feeling of power and immortality which somehow  insulates them from grasping the essence of such mathematical analysis of  a social issue.

The other aspect is that of being less progressive or narrow minded. While moving out from Delhi one is give  subtle hints  that the concept of a true nation state is  also colored by feelings of regionalism in various parts of the country . However  an open minded and mainstreamed  person can easily understand  that even in Delhi  persons coming from other parts of the country need time to accquire respect and acceptability in their social circle. The same process of social acceptability can be expected at other places also . However once you move out and settle down the other benefits of being away from Delhi also become prominent.

First  and foremost is the clean air and relatively tension free work style which prevails at smaller destinations  . And then in due course of time one may (or may not) get to know a bunch of people who can be counted as selfless friends irrespective of their background. The quality and pace of  social life varies from place to place but still social networkings are developed with ample time available for the same without burden of  traffic related worries. The social groups though small ( sometimes very small in fact) are cohesive and homogenous and sometimes based on common interest in readings or movies (downloaded via internet). Natural beauty is always close on hand and if there is a good camera you can get submerged with flickr or Picassa. There is so much to learn about flora and fauna and lifestyle of tribes . And then there are so many opportunities  for water sports , chopper ride , snorkeling and diving which a  person  in Delhi can expect only once or twice in a lifetime as part of some heavily priced vacation.

But...even with all above virtues there will always be a bunch of colleagues who are counting their days for return to Delhi and in the process creating a morbid atmosphere for silent survivors.The best course is to avoid such tear jerkers. In fact with internet and broadband having infiltrated everywhere who needs non virtual friends now.

Visit to Lakshdweep :heady memories of a cocktail

Being an individualistic and self oriented person a  three day outing to an exotic   Island in group of nine persons with different backgrounds and different linguistic styles,  is not  my perception of  a dream holiday.  At a particular stage in life an outing is meaningful if it helps you in unwinding yourself. An isolated beach bed under the umbrella with periodical dips in the sea and your glass of beer by the side build up the true atmosphere for this kind of experience on an island. Long back when kids were small and we had a great eagerness to see every waterfall and mountain, sunset and sunrise point on the guide map then the outings used to be very hectic and different. But with passage of time we (meaning me and my wife) realised the importance of companion ship and solitude as the sole driving force for a relaxed holiday. But this time the chain of events was just beyond my control so this excursion to Lakshdweep group of Islands  happened to be different.

This  group of Islands located on West Coast of Indian Penisula are scattered in a rather haphazard fashion unlike other islands all over the world which are laid out from North to South. After an hours’ flight in a ten seater Dornier aircraft from Cochin we landed at Island of Agatti  which with presence of Air India and Kingfisher Airlines is  the only Airport in the Islands.  The Island also has a Govt Guest House with AC Rooms and excellent dining    facilities.

Agatti is a linear land mass of about 9 Km length and so narrow that one can see  sea waters on   both sides. One side has clear water and calm sea and the other side has uneven sea bed with     corals scattered all along. An enterprising  member of the group soon discovered the hotspots on Agatti which included a private beach with water sport facilities and boat ride for discovering corals on the sea bed. On this discovery everyone promptly marched to the destination. It was sunset time now and as the sun went down in the sea the skyline was painted with myriad shades of red and blue .Next morning was reserved for the boat ride to watch Corals through the fibber glass bottom of the boat . The half hour  bumpy ride in the   choppy sea was not without thrills. At one stage the motor boat engine stopped  and the operator appeared to be confused. His efforts in comforting us through the  information  that we shall not drown due to life jackets was in fact more frightening. Crisis situation was  however soon blown over and forgotten.

The Island of Kavaratti which has the Secretariat and District level offices and can be accessed through  a Pawan Hans chopper in a matter of 15 minutes was our next destination. Here we understood a bit of history and sociology. The Lakshadweep Islands are said to have been discovered when courtiers of Kerala king named Cherman Perumal ruler of Cannore came in search of the king who had suddenly disappeared from his kingdom. While the king remained untraced the incident opened up the Islands to the rest of the world, at a time even perpetuating an intense struggle for domination between Kings of various ruling dynasties. The Islands had a matrilineal system known as Maru Makkhatayam  for long and were ruled by Queen Arrakkal Bibi  for a long time with a firm hand.  The queen is understood to have prevented domination of other Kings and East India Company The Islands still seemed to have   spirit of the Queen hanging in the atmosphere since we had opportunity to interact with a fair number of dominant personalities from the fair sex. Kavaratti also has an aquarium with exotic fishes and a good fish museum showing collection of some fishes caught over the islands from time to time and some species are really interesting. The island has also started a new initiative for processing the sea water in order to make it fit for drinking by boiling it at low pressure.

Bangaram Island which is a great favourite with foreigners were not in our schedule. The Island is sought after due to water sports facilities and due to the solitude which it offers-the resort with six rooms is beyond the reach of upper end Indian tourists and the facilities for snorkelling and scuba diving are the same way too .Kadmat Island was our destination on the last day. A two and half hour ride in speed boat was a smooth experience in comparison to some disturbing predictions of sea sickness made earlier in anticipation of rough sea. The island does not have a jetty so we had to hop in another motor boat for reaching the destination. Kadmat has some air-conditioned tourist huts and inviting blue waters .However the option of swimming did not appear to be very attractive since there was only one more swimmer in sight and the sand appeared to be sinking below your feet all the time. Weather was really hot and an hours outing appeared to be enough for giving a tanned look even to the fairest members of the group.We returned to Kavaratti in late evening. Next day was our departure to hustle and bustle of city life. In the evening the beach was cool and the sunset was tantalizingly beautiful.

I dipped my feet in cool water and laid down on the sand with closed eyes .I seemed to have dozed off a bit while thinking of the islands past and the divine surroundings. It appeared that the pages of ancient history unfolded to my memory as I found myself with the courtiers looking for their lost king and then the ruler Arrakal Bibi charming but merciless ruling the small kingdom. The colourful pages of history dancing in kaleidoscope of natural beauty had a heady feeling. A once in  lifetime experience definitely.

Public Services Bill 2007: Magna Carta for public servants in India

The Public Services Bill 2007 which is expected to be taken up by the Indian Parliament in the current session is a manifestation of the struggle of the Indian bureaucracy for devising a mechanism which could ensure efficiency and efficacy of public services . The proposed legislation attempts to set up a regulatory and protective framework for making the civil and police officers perform in a competitive atmosphere without interference and without fear of persecution for being upright and impartial. It covers All India Services namely the IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Services. State Govts. have the option to extend it to respective state public services.

The bill visualizes setting up of a Central Public Service Authority as the apex agency responsible for coordination, control and monitoring of various structural changes visualized in the proposed enactment. The matters relating to the constitution of the Central Public Authority are dealt in Chapter VI of the Bill.

The Authority is to be headed by a person of eminence with at least 25 years expertise in dealing with public service matters. However the bill prohibhits appointment of a MP or MLA or a person connected to any office in a political pand India's arty to this post. The authority shall have between 3 to 5 members in addition to the Chairperson.

The appointment of Chairperson and members is to be done with approval of the President of India based on recommendations of a selection committee comprising of the Indian Prime Minister , Leader of Opposition, and India's  Home Minister with  the Cabinet Secretary in the Govt. Of India as the convener. The salary and conditions of service of the Chairperson  and the members shall be at par with the Chief Election Commissioner of India and Indian Election Commissioners respectively. The tenure of appointment is proposed as five years or till attaining of age of 65 years.

The Central Govt shall have to compulsorily consult this Central authority on various matters of public services including evolution and monitoring of a Public Service Code and matters relating to ethics in public service as well as the performance management startegy for public services.

The Public Services which shall be covered by the scheme visualized in the Bill have been defined as below:

Public Services” means the All India Services, the Central Services and any other Service and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union notified by the Central Government;

The principles to be followed in the matter of recruitment to public services are contained in Chapter II which highlights that such appointments shall be on basis of merit and open and fair competition.

Chapter II of the bill deals with certain idealistic concepts such as Public Service values and Public Service Codes. Central Services and All India Services have been so far covered by Conduct Rules which have over the years become a patch work quilt of instructions related to behaviour expected of public servants and need restructuring. The bill proposes to reformulate the approach to these matters .

The Public Service Values projected in the new legislation are coined in more poetic language referring to patriotism, and allegiance to law of the nation while simultaneously making reference to other practical aspects such as integrity, honesty,  transparency etc. for the public services.

The bill seeks to ensure preparation of a Public Service Code with the objective of setting standards of good governance for ensuring that public services are carried out with integrity and efficiency. Any breach of public service ethics shall be subject to punishment as per sanctions prescribed in the law.

Chapter IV of the Bill concerns Performance Management and Accountability for the public services .For this purpose a Performance Management Code is to be evolved by the Central Authority .This code will help ensure that the Public Services function as per developmental and management requirements of the State and objective evaluation of performance is facilitated. The code is expected to inject elements of accountability, neutrality , integrity and professionalism of approach in public services.

Chapter V concerns the conditions of service and protection offered to public servants.

The bill proposes to retain the existing jurisdiction and functions of statutory bodies like Union Public Service Commission, Central Vigilance Commission and assigns several responsibilities to cadre controlling authority which include formulation of service rules and a grievance redressal mechanism for public servants.

In course of discharge of it's mandated functions , the Central Authority can seek public opinion on policy matters . It has to also submit an annual report to Govt. on various functional  issues including cases of non consultation or non compliance of it's directions.

The scheme of governance conceived in the bill if accepted and sincerely implemented could metamorphose the picture of public services . Besides offering protection and performance based encouragement it could create a mechanism which is committed to deliver while taking away the interference and pressure tactics which reduce the bureaucratic performance. This will mean depriving the politicians of the unfair advantage which they enjoy today. It is to be seen whether the lawmakers would approve of the suggested changes. Let us keep our fingers crossed.

Do all human beings survive on opiates

Recently one of the leading magazines in India published an article which brought out the fact that gossiping was a favourite pastime of most of us human beings and it added to social networking abilities of human race. While social networking may be one the fallouts of this activity the reason for the indulgence into gossip seems to be something beyond this analysis. Close analysis of day to day human behaviour appears to lead to the inference that human brains appear to need regular dose of stimulation in order to keep us in a state of positive thinking and survive against ups and downs of our struggle for survival in a harsh world. Different members of human species have in the process developed our respective opiates on which we depend for doses of happiness   or excitement .

Take the case of cricket lovers. Nowadays since the game is on round the year in one or another part of the world and innovations like the T20 format of  cricket offer instant results, the cricket lovers seem to have  evolved a continous source of stimulation in shape of ball to ball commentary,  accompanying fanfare and analysis . Other joys and sorrows of day to day life have secondary importance in life of a genuine cricket fan whose brain cells are regularly  tickling with the details on tumbling  records and updates on fluctuations in fortunes of teams and the men who toil between the performance of cheerleaders.When it comes to minute to minute account , another breed of human beings are those interested in ups and downs of share market index. Far too many of us keep track of online tradings without having any worthwhile stakes in the share market.The thrill of being a part of speculation keeps a good proprtion of us glued to laptops when life becomes less exciting for a while.

Not close behind in the reliance on stimulants are the human species practising the avocation which is branded as last refuge of scoundrels. Sheltered behind dignified terminology of politicians these men and women need continuos injection of ego inflating monuments and statues which give  them a temporary impression of towering over ordinary mortals. Take away the stonelaying ceremonies and public felicitations from a politician and the person sinks into depression , becomes  social anarchist and tends to attack everything within sight whether it is a railway budget or a photographer taking snaps.

Religion -another widely used source of stimulation offers allurement  of having higher quality of life after death or in rebirth. That keeps so many of us professing different religious beliefs, busy in continous process of offering our prayers to whichever power we consider to be supreme. In practical terms it gets translated to sporting prominenetly one  religious symbol or other and considering religious duties as something which should take precedence over our professional commitments and social responsibilities. But it does surely keep a large chunk of humanity in state of contentment and sometimes also busy in dreams of conquering all other religions to establish a supremacy of our own religion.

This discussion cannot be complete unless we think of those for whom pay revisions , promtions and transfers are the opiates which keep their minds and hearts preoccupied on 24X7 basis. The Govt. servants  of all hue survive   on calculation of pay benefits,  discussion over supremacy of respective service over others  and the unfair treatment meted out to them by the employer . Hoping for a better posting, anticipating release of next installment of DA or awiting the meeting of Departmental Promotion Committee keeps our brother hood in a state of intoxication which makes them tick in a otherwise treachorous environment.

Bloggers have their own galvanising force.When I statred blogging, the first thing which I usd to do in the morning was to check the hit counter and accordingly would feel happy or depressed if hits were too many or too few during the night. For months together I kept analysing the statistical details to find out as to which readers came from where and read which posts. Thank god I ultimately  realised the absurdity of all this analysis and gave up blog writing for a long time in order to become deaddicted to hit counter.Things are back to normal now i.e. I am more preoccupied with routine addictions of Govt. servants mentioned above.

While  opiates certainly seem to have taken a firm grip over our intellectual behaviour, this situation  has thrown up  some complications and  challenges too.  The recent tragic end of a famous Pop star has exposed the risks involved in  taking of too many anti depressants  since the combination produces unpredictable outcomes.The same complication sometimes occurs when a peron gets addicted to more than one  opiate like a govt servant getting interested in politics or a politician becoming deeply religious .The system and society has to then put in extra efforts to survive the mutants.