Old Babudom mantra: As were political bosses, so were civil servants
New Delhi: Move over Alapan Bandyopadhyay episode. In Punjab of mid-nineties the story was almost similar to 'Pishi-Bhaipo menace' of West Bengal.
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| Arjun Singh was also Punjab Guv |
Soon after Harcharan Singh Brar had taken over as the Punjab CM after assassination of Beant Singh, an extra-constitutional power centre allegedly developed around his wife, daughter and son.
In 1996 when O P Sharma, senior Punjab cadre IPS officer, was appointed as Nagaland Governor by the H D Deve Gowda government, from Chandigarh to New Delhi and from Delhi to northeast, there was a big debate about how Congress chief Minister Brar had made life 'miserable' for Sharma.
Brar declined to make Sharma, a compatriot of KPS Gill in fight against militancy, the DGP; and instead rewarded his handpicked man and pliable Sube Singh.
Such things had happened with civil servants and top police officials in several states across India. Soon after Brar was replaced by his party colleague Rajinder Kaur Bhattal in November 1996, a major bureaucratic reshuffle was ordered and at least 40 of them 'close to Brar' were moved out in different places.
Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, the civil servants were at awe about seasoned Congress leader Arjun Singh. Those days, Madhya Pradesh was a large state (with Chhattisgarh region still under it) and was notoriously one of the BIMARU (ill-governed) states.
Senior civil servants in the central Indian state would certainly give credit (or discredit) to Arjun Singh for successfully taming the babus.
The Madhya Pradesh babudom – needless to mention – had earned the negative tag for corruption, complacency and cynicism.
Arjun Singh’s illustrious ‘successor’ Digvijaya Singh as CM also developed an image of an officers-friendly political boss.
One Rajgopal Naidu, who was under investigation by the Lokayukta, was ‘rewarded’ with a posting as Bastar collector ostensibly because of his proximity to Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh.
It is worth mentioning while Bastar was a punishment posting even till late 1980s, but by the nineties the image transformed as huge central funding had made Bastar a lucrative position for the babus.
In fact, during Digvijaya Singh's tenure, one senior official Vijay Singh (Principal Secretary, Home) later opted out of the office and quit as he found ‘political meddling’ a difficult thing to handle.
In Kerala, the equation between bureaucracy and LDF governments has been mostly an uneasy one.
But Congress veteran K Karunakaran had his strong likes and dislikes. IAS officer Ramachandran Nair was taken back to the parent cadre state from the Union Finance Ministry, but Karunakara was not fond of him. And as the Chief Minister, Karunakaran had blocked Nair’s elevation as the Chief Secretary for two years.
But in some states, babus have been upright and also resisted political pressures.
In such cases, the guiding theme being : “Show me the political boss, and I will show you the rule”.
From Mamata Banerjee-ruled West Bengal, here is another instance.
The state Chief Minister grew suspicious of 'even training programmes' of young IAS officers.
The Bengal cadre officials of 2013 batch on return to the state were 'kept awaiting' for six-nine months when the regular posting of eight of them were delayed.
Mamata was suspicious that 'brainwashed' by Delhi's training programme, these officials could be used against Trinamool in the 2016 assembly polls.
Again in Madhya Pradesh in 2020, state health commissioner, Prateek Hajela, often made news.
Curiously, one reason was that he is an Assam cadre IAS official who was involved in the controversial National Register of Citizens.
In December 2018, Congress chief minister Kamal Nath ordered the transfer of 48 senior officials and the explanation was that such a 'surgery' was necessary to gear up the Congress party for Lok Sabha elections of 2019.
PM Modi speaks to Kamala Harris, both discuss vaccine supply issue
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening spoke to US Vice President Kamala Harrisand both the leaders discussed about vaccine supplies.
Vice President Harris informed Prime Minister about US plans to make vaccines against COVID-19 available to other countries, including India, under its "Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing", an official source said.
The Prime Minister expressed his appreciation to Vice President Harris for the US decision.
"I deeply appreciate the assurance of vaccine supplies to India as part of the US Strategy for Global Vaccine Sharing. I also thanked her for the all the support and solidarity from the US government, businesses and Indian diaspora," the Prime Minister tweeted.
Both the leaders also discussed ongoing efforts to further strengthen India-US vaccine cooperation, and the potential "of our partnership to contribute to post-Covid global health and economic recovery".
Mr Modi also thanked the US for all other forms of support and solidarity that India has received in recent days from the US Government, businesses and the Indian expatriate community in the US.
The leaders discussed ongoing efforts to strengthen the health supply chain between the US and India, including in the area of vaccine manufacturing. They highlighted the potential of the India-US partnership as well as the Quad vaccine initiative in addressing the long-term health impact of the pandemic.
Prime Minister expressed the hope to welcome Vice President Harris in India soon after the normalisation of the global health situation, the official source said.
Kamala Harris is the daughter of cancer biologist Shyamala Gopalan, who had migrated from the southern
Indian city of Chennai. Her father is a Jamaican migrant.
In her maternal grandfather's hometown of Thulasendrapuram in Tamil Nadu, about 350 kilometers from Chennai, people had overwhelmingly rejoiced Kamala taking charge as the US Vice President earlier this year.
India's abstention from vote on Israel-Palestine conflict is "not a new stance"
New Delhi: India on Thursday defended its decision to abstain from voting on the Israel-Palestine conflict at the UN Human Rights Council and said such a position was hardly a new one.
"....The position that we took (at UNHRC) is not a new position. And we have abstained on previous occasions and I think that explains our position quite clearly," MEA spokesman Arindam Bagchi told reporters at a virtual media conference.
With regard the letter from Palestinian foreign minister to External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar registering strong protest over India's abstention, the MEA spokesman said, "Regarding the letter from the Palestinian foreign minister, I understand that Palestine has written similar letters to all the countries that abstained during the UNHRC vote".
Palestinian foreign minister Riad Malki in a letter to his Indian counterpart on May 30 had said that India’s abstention during the UNHRC vote on May 27 “stifles the important work of Human Rights Council at advancing human rights for all peoples, including those of the Palestinian people”.
On the vexed issue of 'origin' of Covid19, Mr Bagchi said: "This is a very important issue. The WHO is undertaking a global study on the origin of Covid19. You will recall we have recently issued a statement welcoming this as an important first step and sought cooperation of all further studies. I think that explains our position clearly".
On the issue of 'disengagement' along the India-China border, the MEA spokesman said,"I would like to reiterate what I have shared earlier that the process of disengagement remains unfinished. The two sides have agreed that in the interim they would maintain stability on the ground and avoid any new incidents.
It is our expectation therefore that neither side should do anything that is not in keeping with these understandings".
He underlined that an early completion of disengagement in the remaining areas could lead to de-escalation of forces in Eastern Ladakh, which would hopefully lead to full restoration of peace and tranquility in the border areas and enable overall progress in the bilateral relationship.
The remarks come close on the heels of a statement from Army Chief Gen M M Naravane, who has said that there can be no de-escalation without complete disengagement at all friction points in eastern Ladakh.
The Army chief also said the Indian Army is prepared for all contingencies in the region.
On pandemic vaccines:
On Covid19 vaccines and related issues, he said, "We remain engaged with US vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Moderna as part of the effort to fight the pandemic. We are also engaged with the US Administration to ensure that necessary components and raw materials for vaccine production in India are readily available".
Bagchi further said, "This issue was taken up most recently during External Affairs Minister Jaishankar's visit to the US. It is in our mutual interest to combat the global pandemic by expediting vaccination efforts".
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