G files may 2014

May 5, 2014 `
VOL. 8, ISSUE 2
gfilesindia.com
GOVERNANCE NEED TO FOCUS ON HUMAN SECURITY p14
BOOKS CONTROVERSY OF ACCIDENTAL PROPORTIONS p20
TALKTIME
SYEDA HAMEED
p26
SILLY
POINT
HUM
OUR
AT
THE
HUSTINGS
p44
UPA’s
rash of
postings
SUHAG’S MURKY APPOINTMENT

3www.indianbuzz.com
gfiles inside the government
vol. 8, issue 2 | May 2014
Anil Tyagi | editor
TR Ramachandran | executive editor
Niranjan Desai | roving editor
GS Sood | consulting business editor
Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant
Arvind Tiwari | director, business development
Naresh Minocha | associate editor
Neeraj Mahajan | associate editor
Pranab Prakhar | associate editor
Ajit Ujjainkar | bureau chief (mumbai)
Harishchandra Bhat | associate editor (bengaluru)
Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru)
Kanika Srivastava | editorial coordinator
Mayank Awasthi | reporter
Jyoti Puri | hr
Pawan Kumar | production coordinator
Sumer Singh | assistant manager, logistics
Nipun Jain | finance
Gautam Das | legal consultant
Bushchat Publishing | edit & design
Madan Lal | Webmaster
Abhisshek Tyagi | Director
advertising & marketing
HARISH ARORA— +919650689811
e-mail: adv@gfilesindia.com
U K SHARMA— +919717588883
e-mail: uksharma@gfilesindia.in
RAKESH ARORA— +919810648809
mumbai: 48/C-1, Areshwar, Mhada, S.V.P. Nagar,
Andheri(W), Mumbai 400 053
bengaluru: 2210, 10b main road, 3 block,
jayanagar, bengaluru 560 011
CONTACT — +91 9845730298
e-mail: venu@gfilesindia.in
+All information in gfiles is obtained from sources that the
management considers reliable, and is disseminated to readers
without any responsibility on our part. Any opinions or views
on any contemporary or past topics, issues or developments
expressed by third parties, whether in abstract or in interviews,
are not necessarily shared by us. Copyright exclusively with
Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved throughout
the world. Reproduction of any material of this magazine in
whole, or in part(s), in any manner, without prior permission, is
totally prohibited. The publisher accepts no responsibility for
any material lost or damaged in transit. The publisher reserves
the right to refuse, withdraw or otherwise deal with any
advertisement without explanation. All advertisements must
comply with the Indian Advertisements Code. Published and
printed by Anil Tyagi on behalf of Sarvashrestha Media Pvt. Ltd
at Kala Jyothi Process Pvt Ltd. E-125, Site-B, Surajpur Ind. Area,
Gautam Budh Nagar, Greater Noida-201306 U.P. (INDIA). All
disputes are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of competent
courts in New Delhi only
W
hat should be the responsibility of an outgoing govern-
ment when the Lok Sabha elections are announced?
Is the outgoing government correct in undertaking
appointments in different departments and ministries? If these appointments are
not done, will the government stop functioning? What is the role of the Election
Commission (EC) in clearing appointment files, especially those pertaining to the
appointment of the Army chief? Has the EC the wherewithal to do this job? It is
not just an issue of appointments; the officials being appointed in such haste too
come under a shadow.
The minute elections are announced, the role of the outgoing government
practically reduces to a minimum. It is only in the case of financial emergencies
or national security that the outgoing government should take decisions without
delay. Otherwise, when a general election is being held and the electorate is vot-
ing, then, ethically, the government does not have the right to appoint officers
of its preference. It means pre-empting the right of the new elected government.
In this regard, it is necessary to debate how the Election Commission takes
over the role of governance in the country. The EC’s primary role, under the
Representation of People’s Act, is to hold free and fair elections. The criteria for
the EC should be to see whether such appointments have an influence on the
elections, or whether they are an obstacle to holding free and fair elections. But,
tacitly, the EC has acquired new territory—if one becomes king even for a day,
then why not enjoy the powers that come with it. None of the appointments by
the Manmohan Singh-led UPA II government in the midst of the 2014 elections
jeopardise the holding of a free and fair election. Then why did the EC act more
loyal than the king—just because nobody can question it till the elections are
over. The EC is forgetting that it’s a part of the system which governs the country
and that it too is answerable to the people of India for its acts and omissions. The
people of India expect it to be non-partisan and unbiased. What will happen if the
role of the EC comes under suspicion? That is the peril the outgoing government
has to guard against. The strength of Indian democracy should not be allowed
to dissipate.
The cover story written by ace contributor MG Devasahayam and Associate
Editor Neeraj Mahajan, highlights the appointments made in haste by the out-
going UPA government. Devasahayam explains how the government appears
to be biased in appointing the new Chief of Army Staff. He writes, “In the case
of Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag, the ‘chosen one’, there is lurking suspicion
that the obnoxious feudal practice of ‘Line of Succession’ is being pushed to the
extreme. Under this practice, a favourite of powerful business lobbies/vested
interests is selected well ahead and groomed for top appointments by manipu-
lating the ‘seniority’ and timing the promotion of the ‘chosen one’.” I must share
with our readers that the gfiles’ story on Siachen (Siachen Handout: Bartering
India’s Security?) in our August 2012 issue stands vindicated. We had said then
that the Manmohan Singh government planned to withdraw from Siachen but
the Army resisted. Veteran Journalist GS Chawla has exposed the gameplan of
Manmohan Singh in his story in this issue. He writes, “The Prime Minister, under
American pressure for backdoor talks with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf,
had agreed to withdraw Indian forces from Siachen, giving a major concession to
Pakistan.” We hope that the new government will not capitulate to the wishes of
the Americans and agree to withdraw from Siachen.
ANIL TYAGI
editor@gfilesindia.com
From the Editor
vol. 8, ISSUE 2 | MAY 2014
Download the gfiles app

CONTENTS
www.gfilesindia.com4 gfiles inside the government
5 Bric-a-Brac
polls & roles
8 Cover Story
the story behind suhag’s elevation
12 upa on an appointment spree
14 Governance
time to focus on human security
17 wish list for 7th pay commission
18 role of civil servants
20 Books
controversial memoirs
18 siachen surfaces again
26 Talktime
syeda hameed on her days in the
planning commission
30 Initiative
getting along in the workplace
31 of babus and netas
34 Mandarin Matters
tumultuous days in fiji
42 My Corner
in the interest of the public
44 Silly Point
humour at the hustings
48 Stock Doctor
don’t rush into the market
56 Perspective
aim at the highest possibility
57 By the Way
babus with bated breath
LETTERS
editor@gfilesindia.com
CONTENTS
acquired position / pedestal, a political
party and for obvious reasons usually
from the opposite camp offers you an
opportunity to retain the perks and
privileges enjoyed thus far by offering you
a ticket to fight an election is perhaps not
showing prowess, which is essential in
the space of loyalty as understood by
many and thus such a step is not justified
and must be avoided. I am sure you can
make a difference in the lives of people
by a commitment and still remain out of
politics.
Rajiv Williams via blog
Ref. Prabhat Kumar’s article (‘Should a
civil servant join politics?’ gfiles, April
2014). Being ex-Cab Sec, Kumar will also
appreciate that the government's refusal
to provide for a cooling off period is
essentially the view of babus. The first
major reform has to be to stop the
practice of civil servants joining positions
post-retirement, which affects their
independence during their working
period. All jobs under the government—
regulatory, appellate, etc., must be
manned by serving officers. There must
be a total ban on joining politics. For
private sector jobs, the cooling-off period
must be at least two years with no waiver.
Maybe then the old glory of civil servants
standing up to political bosses will be
revived.
KJ Singh via blog
Civil servants who join politics because of
their desire for public service should be
welcome. Alas, this is a rare breed! Many
join it because of the lure of office. Those
who are willing to change parties because
such a switch offers another shot at office
are nothing but opportunists. They should
be shunned by voters. They bring a bad
name to the service. There should be a
cooling-off period for fresh retirees to
prevent unethical compromises during
service and rank opportunism thereafter.
Narendra Sisodia via blog
Civil servants as
political masters
Ref. the cover story ‘Babu as Neta’
(gfiles, April 2014), in principle, any
Indian can join politics. Our civil servants
are known to be very corrupt and they
are the ones who teach all the tricks to
their political masters, so they should be
kept away from politics even after
retirement.
John via blog
I agree only partly because I feel strongly
that if a government servant or for that
matter a service officer enters the
political arena, then it should be related
to the time of entry. The rationale for my
observation is that it is good to facilitate
improvement through a commitment and
not try to facilitate a process for personal
gains. If the species mentioned above
want to join politics then he / she should
join early in the career when for reasons
of justice or commitment you want to
move on and make a difference in lives
of people. It is perhaps most unjustified
to enter politics as a second career,
having become a senior officer and close
to / on retirement after enjoying the
privileges for many years and most
obediently accepting the existing
system, which controlled your upward
growth. Suddenly because of that

5www.indianbuzz.com
H
OW intriguingly someone can turn into a pariah in politics
can be gauged by analysing the career graph of the maverick
Amar Singh. Once a person who wielded immense power and
influence over political leaders, businessmen and Bollywood celebrities,
today he is viewed as an untouchable by most parties. Nobody wants
to be seen with him. Singh must have obliged top leaders many times
when he used to liaise for Shyam Bhartiya and the Birla group, but today
nobody is ready to come to his aid. Singh was desperate to join the
Congress before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. For this, he contacted the
Thakur politicians in the Congress, but no one showed any enthusiasm
to help him enter the party. Somehow, Singh’s confidante, Jaya Prada,
managed to get an audience with Rahul Gandhi. Sources say that
though Rahul was ready to take Jaya Prada into the Congress fold, the
plea for Singh’s entry got a big no. To Jaya Prada’s credit, she told Rahul
there and then that it would not be possible for her to join the Congress
without Singh. Then a solution was arrived at: Singh linked hands with
Ajit Singh’s party that has an alliance with the Congress.
Clearly, if there’s a will, there’s a way! g
OW
can
Ama
influence over
today he is vi
to be seen wi
when he used
nobody is rea
Congress befo
Thakaa ur politic
to help him e
managed to
though Rahu
plea for Sing
there and th
without Sing
A
Bric-a-bracpolls & roles
name of Ajai Rai, his ‘protégé’, to fight against Modi.
Rai was earlier an MLA with
the BJP. He later moved
to the Samajwadi
Party (SP) and then
to the Congress in
2012. Currently an
MLA from Varanasi,
Rai was inducted into
the Congress at the behest of
Digvijaya. But the fact remains that, though
Rai is a strong candidate, in stature he is
nowhere close to Modi. Though there were
many strong leaders in the party, the par-
adox is that some of them are more loyal
to the biggest business house of India and
not to Rahul Gandhi or the Congress. In
such a scenario, how can Digvijaya or Sharma
fight against Modi when all the three are per-
ceived to be close to the same business
house? Rahul is aware of this too, but
he can’t do a thing. g
If there’s a will, there’s
a way
amar singh resurfaces
T
HE Congress boasts that it is a 125
-year-old party. But, ironically, the
great old party could not find a
leader of stature who could contest
against Narendra Modi in Varanasi.
In fact, the party dilly-dallied on decid-
ing on the candidate against Modi for a
long time. Though Digvijaya Singh ini-
tially put his hat in the ring, he did that
with a rider—he said he was ready
to fight from Varanasi if the party
decided on him. Even Anand Sharma,
Minister for Commerce and Industry,
who has never ever won even a municipal-
ity election, said that he was ready to fight
against Modi if the party chose him.
When the party still remained unde-
cided, Digvijaya recommended the
Misplaced loyalties
battle for varanasi

I N S I D E E Y E
ILLUSTRATIONS:ARUNA
T
ILL Priyanka’s limited entry on the
election scene, Rahul Gandhi was
the only general who fought the
battle for the Congress in the Lok Sabha
elections. Though the Congress has many
leaders—and some of them travelled
around the country to campaign too—they
were not in demand by the candidates fighting the
elections. The reason was that they failed to attract crowds.
Their speeches were marked by thin attendance wherever
they went to woo voters. To make matters worse, the media
just focused on the main players like Modi and Rahul and, to
a large extent, ignored the other leaders of any political
party. There was yet another reason. A top Congress
leader told gfiles that the ruling party always fought
elections led by the Prime Minister, the Home Minister,
the Defence Minister, and the Finance Minister. Their
job in every election was to highlight the achievements of
the government. But, in this election, all top leaders are
in mute mode. So, how could the Congress make any
impact on the ground? g
ar
were not in
elections. The r
Their speeches
they went to woo
just focused on th
a large extent
party. There
leader told
elections led
the Defence
job in every e
the governm
in mute mo
impact on
The lone crusader
search for crowd-pullers

7www.indianbuzz.com
Bric-a-bracpolls & roles
Taking charge
priyanka to the rescue
F
INALLY, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has
arrived. As her brother, Rahul Gandhi,
and mother, Sonia Gandhi, campaign
across the country, Priyanka has taken
charge of the Congress party’s election
control room. Though there are many
leaders in the planning team, the final nod is
always taken from Priyanka. It is learnt that the
Congress has roped in a prominent survey
agency, which has briefed Priyanka on the
winnable seats in the election. Kunwar
Jitendra Singh and Suman Dubey, a veteran
journalist and an old friend of the Gandhi family, are
the core members of Priyanka’s team. In fact, the names
of senior leaders who visited different States were also
finalised by Priyanka. Her team also planned optimum
utilisation of helicopters by installing GPS machines.
So don’t be surprised if in the days to come Priyanka
takes over as the de-facto boss of the party. g

COVER STORY
army appointments
All for SuhagThe UPA government’s efforts to appoint Lt Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag as the new
Army Chief are controversial and need to be scrutinised closely
army appointments

9www.indianbuzz.com
by MG DEVASAHAYAM
T
HE impending appointment
of the next Army chief to fill
the vacancy arising on July 31,
2014, has raised a raging controversy.
As the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
commenced the selection process,
General VK Singh, former Army chief,
and his party, the Bharatiya Janata
party (BJP), made this an issue, say-
ing that with the present UPA govern-
ment’s term ending in May, selection
and appointment of the next Army
chief should be left to the new govern-
ment taking over.
Those who counter this argument
say that the appointment of a new
Army chief is a routine administra-
tive decision and it should not be
politicised. The appointment is neces-
sary because a vacancy ‘looms on the
horizon’. Seniority is the determining
principle and normally the most sen-
ior Lieutenant General gets the job.
The only grounds for suggesting oth-
erwise is if the man appointed is seen
as partisan or less than independent.
But if he is the most senior, that will
not be the case.
But in the case of Lt General Dalbir
Singh Suhag, the ‘chosen one’, there is
a lurking suspicion that the obnoxious
feudal practice of ‘Line of Succession’
is being pushed to the extreme. Under
this practice, a favourite of powerful
business lobbies or vested interests
is selected well ahead and alleg-
edly groomed for a top appointment
by manipulating the ‘seniority’ and
timing the promotion of the ‘chosen
one’. For this purpose, dereliction of
duty, command failures and even any
criminal nexus of the ‘chosen one’
are allegedly suppressed and pushed
under the carpet.
In Suhag’s case it happened not
once but twice, and both related to
severe abuse of the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act (AFSPA) when
Suhag was commanding III Corps,
with Assam, Nagaland and Manipur
as the Areas of Responsibility.
Directly under Lt General Suhag was
the Dimapur-based Intelligence Unit
(IU), commanded by one Colonel
Govindan Shreekumar.
The first incident of abuse came
to light in July 2011 when Col
Shreekumar’s own second-in-com-
mand, Major Takula Ravi Kiran,
wrote to the Brigadier General Staff
of III Corps, under Lt General Suhag,
stating that on March 13, 2010, three
Manipuri boys (Phijam Naobi and two
others) had been abducted and shot
dead by the IU. Despite an FIR and
evidence on record, Suhag reportedly
refused to act. Even after Major Kiran
wrote again, giving lucid details of the
cold-blooded triple murder that took
place in the unit officers’ mess, Suhag
allegedly ignored it and disposed of it
with a one-man inquiry!
The second incident of abuse was
the ‘dacoity’ committed by the same
IU in December 2011. An armed
party of 15 soldiers, dressed in bat-
tle fatigues, under the command of
Captain Rubina Kaur Keer, had raid-
ed the house of one Poona Gogoi, an
army contractor in Jorhat, who was
away in Guwahati. All the members
of the family—wife (Renu Gogoi) and
three children—were manhandled
and tied up. On the orders of Captain
Keer, soldiers forcibly took the keys
of the locked cupboards and took
into possession a licensed pistol with
13 cartridges, jewellery worth Rs 6.5
lakh and cash adding up to Rs 1.5 lakh.
They also took away an assortment
of items, including a laptop and four
mobile phones. After Poona Gogoi
registered an FIR with the police sta-
tion listing the items that had been
stolen, III Corps handed back the sto-
len pistol, most items and the cash,
but not the jewellery and cartridges.
Later, Suhag told the police that the
issue would be dealt with by Army
authorities and that they had no fur-
ther jurisdiction in the matter.
Both these serious crimes have
been committed in an AFSPA-
covered area by the IU under Colonel
Shreekumar’s command. Though
the Colonel denied being part of the
raiding party, the police accessed his
mobile call records, which clearly
established that he was constantly
in touch with Captain Keer before
and after the raid. Shreekumar had a
virtual free hand as he reported
directly to Suhag and was reportedly
involved in various nefarious activi-
ties, including the flow of narcotics
and a network involving vehicle thefts
in Rangia district of Assam.
The Court of Inquiry (CoI) ordered
bythethenEasternArmyCommander,
Lt General Bikram Singh, was an
eyewash and deliberately meant to
protect Suhag as was evident from
the fact that it was headed only by
a brigadier-rank officer. This was
premeditated because, being directly
responsible for the IU, Suhag should
have been the first person to answer
for its illegal actions. The CoI was
obviously orchestrated, which was
evident from the fact that, despite
a clinching FIR and evidence, the
accused could get away on some
technical ground or the other.
In the case of Lt General
Dalbir Singh Suhag, the
‘chosen one’, there is a
lurking suspicion that the
obnoxious feudal
practice of ‘Line of
Succession’ is being
pushed to the extreme.

COVER STORY
army appointments
D
ESPITE this shielding, the for-
mer COAS, General VK Singh,
besides directing stringent
action against the culprits, issued a
Show Cause Notice (SCN) on May
19, 2012, to Lt General Suhag and
simultaneously placed him under a
Discipline and Vigilance (DV) ban.
The SCN brought out lapses noticed
by the then COAS for not handling
a unit, placed under the corps com-
mander’s direct command, in a pro-
fessional and appropriate manner,
and also for not following up on cer-
tain other complaints sent earlier
through HQ, Eastern Command.
Instead of taking notice of these
allegations and much against the
rules, the MoD appointed Suhag in
the acting post of Army Commander
from June 1, 2012, even before his
reply to the SCN and its detailed pro-
cessing on merit. What is worse, as
soon as he took over as Army chief,
Hatimuta and Havildar Jeevan Neog,
who got severe reprimands. This
order, issued much after General VK
Singh demitted office, fully justified
the DV ban imposed on Suhag.
Under Section 391 of the Indian
Penal Code (IPC), dacoity is described
as “five or more persons conjointly
commit or attempt to commit a rob-
bery, or where the whole number of
persons conjointly committing or
attempting to commit a robbery…”
Punishment laid down in Section
395 is life imprisonment or rigorous
imprisonment up to 10 years. Section
397 prescribes a minimum punish-
ment of seven years.
The first case could attract the
charge of cold-blooded murder under
Section 302, IPC. Letting off the cul-
prits with a mere reprimand is a joke.
Is this how the draconian AFSPA is
being implemented in practice in the
most sensitive regions of the country?
Suhag and the MoD are respond-
ents/accused in three writ petitions—
two criminal and one civil—which
are pending adjudication. On the
dacoity issue, Poona Gogoi moved
the Gauhati High Court with a crimi-
nal petition demanding action. In
The Court of Inquiry ordered in the ‘dacoity’ case in
Jorhat by the then Eastern Army Commander, Lt General
Bikram Singh, was an eyewash and deliberately meant
to protect Suhag as was evident from the fact that it was
headed only by a brigadier-rank officer.
General Bikram Singh got the DV ban
on Suhag lifted in an illegal manner to
makehimaregularArmyCommander
against the vacancy kept unfilled for
over 15 days. The CoI, on its part,
led to a court martial which ordered
dismissal from service of Havildar
Sandeep Thapa. Colonel Shreekumar
was given a severe displeasure while
Captain Rubina was given a repri-
mand along with Havildar Bhupen
Former Army Chief VK Singh had placed Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag under a Discipline and Vigilance ban
PIB
PIB

11www.indianbuzz.com
the case of abduction and murder of
Phijam Naobi and two others, Phijam
Manikumar has filed a criminal peti-
tion in the High Court of Manipur. Lt
General Ravi Dastane’s civil appeal
against Suhag’s promotion despite
the DV ban is before the Supreme
Court.
Despite the disturbing facts nar-
rated above, the MoD is bent on the
appointment of Suhag as the next
Chief of the Army Staff, obviously
due to extraneous considerations.
The drum-beaters are applauding
the move, saying this is in keeping
with both technical requirements
and established convention—that
have no relevance to this case. As for
the seniority of Suhag, it is not final
since the same has been challenged
by Lt General Dastane in the Supreme
Court. If the SC rules in his favour, it
is he who will be the next Army chief
and not Lt General Ashok Singh, a rel-
ative of General VK Singh, as is being
falsely propagated.
It appears that behind the push by
the UPA government in its dying days
to install Suhag as the next COAS is
the powerful arms lobby which has
billions of dollars at stake. This has
been brought out in Dr Subramanian
Swamy’s letter to the President, who
has sent it to the Prime Minister for
consideration and action. But, obvi-
ously, acting under the orders of their
powerful masters, the MoD and the
UPA spin doctors are at it again, bla-
tantly suppressing heinous AFSPA
abuse, trivialising facts and spreading
lies and canard that cannot stand up
to basic scrutiny.
F
OR these worthies, civil liberty,
human life, the nation’s interests
and integrity of the Armed Forces
are of no value. Serious abuse of AF-
SPA and gross dereliction of duty are
of no consequence; line of succession
of the ‘chosen one’ is all that matters.
They are perhaps emboldened by
their ‘success’ in consummating this
practice by appointing the present
Army Chief (General Bikram Singh)
against whom an alleged fake en-
counter case was pending in the J&K
High Court, seeking a Commission of
Inquiry. Also, a Court of Inquiry was
going on in Meerut over his lapses as
Commandant of an Indian Army con-
tingent on a peacekeeping mission in
the Congo, which was accused of rap-
ing local women and siring illicit chil-
dren. This was done through sheer
skullduggery. Pleas in the Supreme
Court against this appointment fell
on deaf ears! The court relied on
presented by the government and did
not make any inquiry. Despite efforts
through the RTI Act over the past two
years, the MoD and Cabinet Secretari-
at are reportedly keeping these papers
Being used to committing perjury
in a routine manner, the MoD and
PMO are already lying through their
teeth in the Suhag matter and indulg-
ing in manipulation and terror tactics.
Lt Gen Dastane’s civil appeal hearing
in the Supreme Court was curiously
shifted from May 2 to September,
rendering his case meaningless. The
Jorhat ‘dacoity’ is being brushed
aside as being a case of a junior NCO
stealing a cellphone. Major Kiran,
the whistleblower in the triple mur-
der case, is allegedly being coerced to
retract his complaint! What a way to
make the ‘chosen one’ the Army chief.
The question is not whether the Army
is being politicised but whether it is
being criminalised. The jury is out. g
The impending elevation of Lt General Suhag (extreme left) has raised many eyebrows

COVER STORY
government appointments
Farewell gift to
backroom boys
The moment the elections are announced and the code of conduct is in
place, governments in power usually desist from taking important policy
decisions. This is an age-old tradition based on ethics, morality, propriety
and respect for the opponent. But, today, who cares? When you have the
Election Commission willing to turn a blind eye to the illegitimate whims
of the government, everything goes. Neeraj Mahajan reports
A
T the fag end of its tenure, the
UPA government is setting
examples of bad governance
and politicising the appointments
in various government institutions.
Most of these appointments are
being seen as a motivated exercise
to change the Line of Succession
by a government that is unlikely to
return to power when the results are
announced on May 16.
A case in point is the manner in
which Lt General Dalbir Singh Suhag
has been named as Gen Bikram
Singh’s successor. Since the COAS
was due to retire in July-end, more
than two months after the new gov-
ernment takes charge, this decision
could have been left to it.
Similarly, in unprecedented haste,
the government has appointed
Admiral RK Dhowan as India’s new
Navy chief, superseding Vice-Admiral
Shekhar Sinha. Interestingly, com-
missioned in 1975, Admiral Dhowan
has been Flag-Officer-Commanding,
Eastern Fleet and was Chief of
Staff (Headquarters), Eastern Naval
Command. But, he has never been
Flag-Officer-Commanding-in-Chief
of any operational naval command.
Ironically, Dhowan has been staff
officer to Admiral Ramdas, who was
made the Chief of Naval Staff, bypass-
ing Admiral S Jain. This led to an
intense power struggle in the Navy,
with Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat alleg-
ing high-level corruption. Admiral
Bhagwat later rose to be chief, only
to be dismissed from service under
mysterious circumstances.
One fails to understand the urgency
now to announce the naval chief when
the Navy had been without a chief for
almost eight months since the resig-
nation of Admiral Devendra Joshi in
August, owning moral responsibility
for a series of lethal accidents.
Justice RM Lodha, at 64 years
of age the seniormost judge of the
Supreme Court, was sworn in as the
41st Chief Justice of India. Justice
Lodha took over from Justice (Retd)
P Sathasivam, who demitted office
after nine months as the head of
the judiciary.
In a related development, Justice
G Rohini was appointed the Chief
Justice of Delhi High Court—she
is the first woman Chief Justice of
the court.
Similarly, eyebrows were raised
when the government decided to
appoint Archana Ramasundaram,
IPS, Tamil Nadu cadre, as the CBI’s
Additional Director besides clear-
ing the appointment of one Deputy
Inspector General (DIG) and five
Superintendents of Police (SPs), less
than a month before the formation of
a new government. The post has been
vacant for a few months now.
Archana Ramasundaram, who has been
appointed CBI Additional Director

What was the urgency to
appoint DK Pathak, IPS, as
the new Director General of
the Border Security Force
when the post was lying
vacant since Subhash Joshi
retired on February 28?
Significantly, the Chief Vigilance
Commissioner (CVC), not once but
twice, suggested West Bengal cadre
IPS officer RK Pachnanda’s name for
the CBI Additional Director’s post.
But the Appointments Committee
of the Cabinet (ACC), headed
by Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh, was reportedly in favour of
Ramasundaram.
In a typical bureaucratic game
of musical chairs, Pachnanda, who
was found unfit to be appointed as
Additional Director of the CBI, was
posted as the Additional Director
General (Operations and Works) in
the Central Reserve Police Force, the
country’s largest paramilitary force.
“A man who has been the Calcutta
Police Commissioner, if his track
record was suspect, then why was
he given charge of anti-Naxal opera-
tions, counter-insurgency tasks and
other law and order duties?” a Home
Ministry official asked.
M
EANWHILE, another
attempt to appoint a Special
Director in the CBI failed
at the last minute. Odisha DGP
Prakash Mishra, Kerala DGP KS
Balasubramaniam and BPR&D chief
Rajan Gupta were considered for the
Special Director post by a committee
headed by CVC Pradeep Kumar. At
present, Anil Sinha is the only Special
Director in the CBI. It is one of the
posts lying vacant since December
after K Salim Ali’s retirement. Among
the three, Mishra has the longest ten-
ure ahead—till February 2016—and, if
The government appointed Admiral RK Dhowan as India’s new Navy chief, superseding Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha
chosen, may go on to be CBI Director.
So, why should the post of CBI Special
Director be filled barely 22 days ahead
of the Lok Sabha results?
Similarly, what was the urgency to
appoint DK Pathak, IPS, as the new
Director General of the BSF when the
post was lying vacant since Subhash
Joshi retired on February 28, 2014?
Further, Rajiv Takru, a 1979-batch
officer of the Gujarat cadre, has been
appointed the Revenue Secretary and
Gurdial Singh Sandhu, a 1980-batch
officer of the Rajasthan cadre, the
Secretary, Department of Financial
Services. Also, the 1978-batch
Arvind Mayaram, Economic Affairs
Secretary,hasbeenappointedthenew
Finance Secretary, a post lying vacant
since Sumit Bose retired on March
31, 2014. Likewise, the retired Chief
of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal
NAK Browne has been cleared to take
over as the next ambassador of India
to Norway. g

GOVERNANCE
development mg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
vol. 8, issue 2 | May 201414
Human security is much
more than national
security. Only when its
four vital elements—
material sufficiency,
human dignity,
democracy and
participatory
governance—coalesce
can there be true
development
Human security is
true ‘development’
there are hardly any job or income
opportunities for the poor. Bereft of
‘human security’, they fall back on the
freebies and charity handed down by
the State government.
To propitiate such ‘development’,
the Central and State governments
extend massive concessions and
facilities to these MNCs who, in turn,
pay fabulous salaries to their expatri-
ate managers and are earning profits
in billions, most of which is repatri-
ated to their home countries. This is
‘neo-liberal’ development at work!
This is also true, perhaps in a larger
measure, of Gurgaon, adjoining
Delhi, that has morphed into a ‘mon-
strous city’. At the height of the glo-
balisation rampage, the late Caroline
S
RIPERUMBUDUR Parliamen-
tary constituency, adjoining
Chennai in Tamil Nadu, is a
‘developed’ one if the neo-liberal
‘development’ criteria are adopted.
This is the home of some state-of-the
-art ‘infrastructure’ projects, special
economic zones and giant MNCs—
Motorola, Samsung, Dell, Ford,
Hyundai, BMW, Nokia, Saint Gobain,
Nissan, Caterpillar, to mention a few.
But, as pre-election surveys show, the
locals are left wondering as to what
the ‘development’ is all about! For
them the roads are bad, bus services
are poor, power cuts are frequent, the
environment has sharply degraded,
water sources are drying up and pol-
lution is increasing. What is worse,

15gfiles inside the government
vol. 8, issue 2 | May 2014www.indianbuzz.com
Thomas, Professor of Global Politics
at the University of Southampton,
wrote a book Global Governance,
Development and Human Security
(Pluto Press, 2000). It was well before
the warped concepts, ideologies
and methodologies that dominated
Liberalisation, Privatisation and
Globalisation (LPG) made an unre-
lenting onslaught on the Indian econ-
omy due to the predatory policies and
practices unleashed by UPA II, sup-
posedly under an ‘economist’ Prime
Minister. These policies, perceived
mostly in a macro and material con-
text, are related to structural reforms,
allocation of natural resources, big-
ticket projects, foreign investment,
GDP growth and world trade. Poverty
alleviation is expected to take place as
a ‘trickle down’ effect.
The book dealt with the “growing
inequality and widespread poverty
that characterises the era of ‘neo-
liberal’ development” and “uneven
distribution of the benefits of the
globalisation process, and the gen-
eral failure of that process to attend
to the human security of the majority
of humanity.” The UPA triumvirate
of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan and P
Chidambaram had no use for this
book or what is written in it. In the
event, by their LPG policies, they cre-
ated an India of “growing inequality,
widespread poverty, galloping prices
and increasing unemployment.” At
the hustings they are going to pay for
it very dearly.
At the global level, the UNDP
Report, 1997, describes the “uneven
distribution of the benefits of the
globalisation process”. It depicts a
global society bereft of conscience
or concern for human suffering.
While one-third of the human race
was reeling in poverty and penury,
a microscopic minority of the global
population wallowed in opulent
wealth and splendour. Subsequently
thingsgotworseas‘globalgovernance’
tightened its grip on hapless Third
World nations. In an inhuman
system, where over one-third of the
world’s population does not have a
secure life, harping merely on ‘GDP
growth’ and ‘unrestricted world
trade’ as the central theme of LPG is
indeed perverse and blinkered. This is
precisely what happened in India in
the past 10 years, resulting in nearly
two-thirds of the population living in
poverty and penury.
W
ITH a new government
coming in, there is a need
for a realistic and holistic
approach to evaluate the LPG regime
of ‘development’ and the system of
governance that went with it, and pro-
vide a talisman that could measure its
effectiveness. ‘Human security’ could
be the talisman with individual digni-
ty and poverty reductions as the core
theme. The ‘human security’ talis-
man makes a fine distinction between
‘income poverty’ and ‘human pov-
erty’. The neo-liberal reforms under
the LPG regime seek to address only
the ‘income poverty’ while virtu-
ally ignoring ‘human poverty’. This
is what has led to the skewed, unsus-
tainable ‘development’ that has taken
place in India. ‘Human security’ is
much more than ‘material growth and
sufficiency’ (income security) and is
described as “a condition of existence
in which basic material needs are met
and in which human dignity, includ-
ing meaningful participation in the
life of the community, can be met”.
While material sufficiency lies at
the core of human security, the con-
cept also encompasses non-material
dimensions to form a qualitative
whole. Human security is oriented
towards an active and substantive
notion of democracy, and is directly
engaged with discussions of democ-
racy at all levels, from the local to the
global.Thisisfreshandpositivethink-
ing, harnessing four vital elements—
material sufficiency, human dignity,
democracy and participatory govern-
ance—that constitute the core of a civ-
ilised society. One without the other is
incomplete and unsustainable.
In the Indian context, a fifth
dimension could be added. While the
economy is expanding and getting
globalised, politics is shrinking and
descending from national, regional
and state levels to communal/caste/
tribal outfits, causing tensions and
conflicts that never existed before.
This phenomenon is taking place
primarily because of a growing
While glitzy shopping malls (left) are perceived as a sign of 'development' by policy-
makers, people continue to suffer from inefficient civil works like bad roads (above)

GOVERNANCE
development mg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
vol. 8, issue 2 | May 201416
perception that global and national
governance, as being practised today,
does not provide adequate human
dignity, identity and security.
I
T is time human security replaced
threat-centred security, which is
the obsession of all countries. This
makes sense because for most people
today, a feeling of insecurity arises
more from worries about daily life,
rather than from the dread of war
or any cataclysmic event. Job secu-
rity, income security, health security,
environmental security, security from
crime, safety for women–these are
the concerns of human security.
The LPG/neo-liberal model of
development will never be able to
achieve such security because by
nature it is exploitative, with its very
roots in crony capitalism—an econo-
my that is nominally a free market but
works on preferential regulation and
other favourable government inter-
vention, based on money power and
personal relationships. This is what
has been in practice in India ever
since the LPG era of the early 1990s.
The blatant manifestation of this
crony capitalism was described
by former West Bengal Governor
Gopalkrishna Gandhi while delivering
the 15th DP Kohli Memorial Lecture
at the CBI’s year-long golden jubilee
celebrations: “Corporate greed has
crossed all bounds.... We used to talk
of black money as a parallel economy
and so it continues to be. But Reliance
is a parallel state. I do not know of any
country where one single firm exer-
cises such power so brazenly, over the
natural resources, financial resources,
professional resources and, ultimate-
ly, over human resources, as the com-
pany of the Ambanis. From Ambedkar
who spoke of economic democracy, to
Ambani, who represents a techno-
commercial monopoly of unprece-
chart a distinct course in economic
development. India would pursue
need-based, human-scale, balanced
development while conserving nature
and livelihoods. In a self-respecting
nation every citizen should get the
strength, resource and opportunity
to stand on his/her feet and earn his/
her livelihood with honour and digni-
ty instead of endlessly depending on
corporate trickle-downs and govern-
ment freebies and charity. God-given
resources—land, water, jungle and
minerals—belong to the people and
these must be managed as such. Only
then will there be human security.
The election manifestos unveiled
by the political parties come nowhere
near this ‘idea’. The Congress party
talks of ‘internal security’, ‘law and
order’ and ‘modernising the police’.
It also talks of ‘securing from external
threats’ and modernisation of Armed
Forces with imported weapons.
The BJP, in addition, talks of ‘food
security’ and ‘energy security’.
There is hardly any holistic
approach. However, General VK
Singh, former Chief of Army Staff
who joined the BJP and contested the
Parliamentary elections, came nearer
to the ‘idea’ when he said in an inter-
view to rediff.com: “If you look at
national security, it is not just external
challenges. National security is exter-
nal, internal, environmental, econom-
ic – anything that affects the health of
the nation is national security.”
Human security is much more
than national security. Only when
its four vital elements—material suf-
ficiency, human dignity, democracy
and participatory governance—coa-
lesce can there be true ‘development’
that would spread prosperity across
the board! Will such an era ever dawn
on India? g
The writer is a former Army and IAS
officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com
The LPG policies of the
UPA triumvirate of Sonia
Gandhi, Manmohan Singh
and P Chidambaram have
created an India of
'growing inequality,
widespread poverty,
galloping prices
and increasing
unemployment.'
UNI
dented scale, is a far cry indeed.”
This is the kind of ‘parallel state’
that has facilitated one person to live
in a `5,000-crore mansion in Mumbai
with all the security money can buy
while millions sleep on pavements
and in abandoned pipes, deprived of
even basic safety and dignity.
Substituting Ambani with Adani
is not the solution. India needs to go
back to the basics–the economic idea
of India envisaged by the Founding
Fathers of our Republic. In this ‘idea’,
development of independent India
would be sui generis, a society unlike
any other, in a class of its own that
would not follow the Western pattern
of mega industrialisation, urbanisa-
tion and individuation. India’s would
be a people’s economy that would

17gfiles inside the government
vol. 8, issue 2 | May 2014www.indianbuzz.com
by MG DEVASAHAYAM
I
read this news in The Hindu on the
morning of April 14, 2014 under
wish-list for pay panel’ and a strapline
saying, ‘Comprehensive and united
representation of demands planned.’
The news story went like this:
When the country is in the midst of
electing a new government, the exec-
utive is busy drafting its wish-list for
the Seventh Pay Commission.
As per a recent resolution, the Cen-
tral Indian Administrative Service
present a comprehensive and united
representation of its demands before
the Seventh Pay Commission, the set-
ting up of which was announced by
the government last month.
The association has asked the
Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Uttar
proposals for pay revision. Andhra
Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and
Rajasthan Associations have been
allocated the job of drafting various
including security, transportation or
and attendant allowances.
Dearness, travel and other
allowances like entertainment and
perks will be looked into by the
Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra
and Tamil Nadu associations
The Sixth Pay Commission,
while giving a huge pay
hike to the IAS, tried to
focus on good governance
and sprucing up the
bureaucracy to provide
cutting-edge
administration. It adopted
the maritime mantra—
‘shape up or ship out’—to
send a clear message.
IAS officers sans
conscience?
education, housing, vehicles and
gadgets have been entrusted to the
Gujarat, Rajasthan and Arunachal
Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union
Territory (AGMUT) cadre.
Health insurance and risk cover-
age and health facilities will be dealt
Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Ma-
harashtra, AGMUT and Haryana.
Government residential quarters
and housing schemes for members
will be studied and proposals sub-
of the Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and
Uttar Pradesh cadre.
I knew the IAS has been on the de-
cline for the past several years, yet I
thought it continued to be a service
with some dignity and conscience.
I never thought the service as a
whole would descend into being a
pack of mendicants seeking noth-
ing except pay, perks, dearness,
travel, other allowances, attendants,
security, car, education for children,
housing schemes, healthcare, insur-
ance and risk coverage, entertain-
ment and what not from the Seventh
Pay Commission.
The Sixth Pay Commission, while
giving a huge pay hike to the IAS,
tried to focus on good governance
and sprucing up the bureaucracy to
provide cutting-edge administration.
For this, the Commission adopted
the maritime mantra—‘shape up or
ship out’—to send a clear message.
The Fifth Pay Commission also at-
tempted something similar, though
without any success. The result was
that while tax-payers’ money is be-
ing drained, there has been neither
downsizing nor improved productiv-
ity. On the contrary, the bureaucracy
subsuming a myriad of commissions
and regulatory bodies! Governance
has collapsed and corruption has as-
sumed humungous proportions – all
under the nose of IAS mandarins. And
will do is to recollect the talisman of
Mahatma Gandhi and tell the manda-
rins that the ‘elite service’ they belong
to is rooted in the ethos of this talis-
man: “Whenever you are in doubt, or
when the self becomes too much with
you, apply the following test. Recall
the face of the human being whom
you may have seen, and ask yourself
if the step you contemplate is going
to be of any use to him (her). Will he
(she) gain anything by it? Will it re-
store him (her) control over his (her)
own life and destiny? In other words,
will it lead to swaraj (freedom) for the
hungry and spiritually starving mil-
and your self melt away.”
Lest you forget! g
While governance has collapsed and corruption has
increased, the IAS mandarins have come out with a
wish list instead of addressing these issues
GOVERNANCE
7th pay commission wish list

GOVERNANCE
bureaucracy ashwani lohani
The turncoat bureaucrat
Bureaucrats have failed to play the role assigned to them in the task of nation-
building. Instead, they seem more concerned with enjoying the fruits of power
T
HE imminent change of guard at
Raisina Hill will once again wit-
ness the emergence of turncoat
bureaucrats, this time in large num-
bers due to their long association with
almost a decade of single- coalition
governance at the Centre. Misrule or
otherwise, the penchant of the Indian
bureaucrat to disassociate himself
from the previous government and
actively associate with the next, even
at the cost of being termed a turncoat,
is perhaps beyond compare.
Bureaucrats are expected to be
non-political and, therefore, meant
to guide and obey the diktats of their
elected political masters. Yet, many
of them emerge as bigger and wily
politicians in their perpetual efforts
to have a good time, almost always.
Good times they invariably have,
albeit at the cost of the nation and the
hapless populace.
Bureaucrats also have another
major role to play—that of keeping
the nation in the throes of poverty
and backwardness, for it is only in
a developing nation like ours that
the bureaucrat is the most impor-
tant and the most powerful of the
various clans that constitute a nation.
Strutting like a master in developing
and backward nations, the bureaucrat
in the developed countries is almost
always an invisible commodity where
the bureaucracy is way down in the
choice of professions as opposed
to our own, where being a collector
or a superintendent of police is the
height of ambition of the middle and
lower classes.
Ambition for what? Serving the
nation. Unbelievable. Ambition is
for flaunting power over the heads
of those he is expected to serve,
totally oblivious of the role that a
servant—after all, bureaucrats are
government servants—is expected
to perform. Besides, in the past few
decades, the tremendous opportunity
for garnering ill-gotten wealth that
a bureaucratic role offers, has also
added to the charm of being a part of
the elite.
In the process, the true role of those
who were once regarded as the steel
frame has been lost sight of. While the
politicaldispensationisexpectedtobe
temporary, the bureaucracy, that had
permanence of job, was expected to
provide stability and guidance to suc-
cessive governments. Unfortunately,
the servants, in connivance or on
their own, have become almost as
powerful as the masters themselves
without sharing the responsibility
that generally comes with power.
The most dangerous fallout of this
non-adherence to the avowed role
is the rapidly mushrooming cloud
of corruption that has encompassed
almosttheentiregamutofmachineries
meant to govern at federal, State
and local levels. Graft has become
an essential ingredient of almost all
sarkari decisions and contracts, to
the extent that it is rare to come across
even a single act of government that is
straight and devoid of the customary
manipulations.
Yet, the blame for the ills is invari-
ably laid at the altar of the politician,
regardless of the fact that without a
bureaucratic nod or misrepresenta-
tion of facts, it is almost impossible for
the neta to move ahead on the short-
cut to prosperity. The social pressure
for acquiring materialistic gains bears
hard on the bureaucrat, who does not
lose any substantial period of time in
picking up the ropes. Sometimes—
only sometimes—it is also a case of
lack of will or spine to be able to say
“no”, rather than direct indulgence
in money-making on the part of
the bureaucrat, who finds himself
in the soup without partaking of the
loot. But even then, it is only the
bureaucrat to blame.
It is time that nation-building
through adept governance and devel-
opment is realised as the only role
of those who are in the business of
governance. The primary issue in
achieving the same would be the mas-
sive course correction that would be
needed, keeping in view the misdi-
rected take-offs attempted since the
midnight tryst with destiny.
Yet, in God and providence we
trust! India shall once again rise and
achieve its destined glory. g
The most dangerous fallout
of this non-adherence to
the avowed role is the
rapidly mushrooming cloud
of corruption that has
encompassed almost the
entire gamut of
machineries meant to
govern at federal, State
and local levels.

POLITICS
BJP:OVER
TO
RAJNATH
p38
Years

BOOKS
controversy memoirs
Tell-all books shake
the edifice
The recent spate of books by former bureaucrats has raised a lot of heat and
the debate is again on whether writing such books is ethical or not
by NEERAJ MAHAJAN
A
few years back Vajai Vardhan,
Principal Secretary and
Financial Commissioner of
Haryana, released Ibadat—the breath
of my soul, a collection of 120 haikus,
or short poems. His earlier book,
Beyond the Great Beyond was based
on research on Sufi poets in Lucknow.
Close on his heels, Haryana’s chief
electoral officer, Sumita Misra, came
up with A Light of Life, a compilation
of poems. Within a few months,
another bureaucrat, Vivek Atray,
released Move on Bunny, a comic
fiction on the life of a Punjabi boy.
In other words, it is fairly common
for bureaucrats to write books. The
system permits them to express them-
selves creatively, but within limits, as
long as they write pleasant things in
the fictional domain. But the moment
they try to transcend from fiction
to reality, all hell breaks loose and
motives are cast about on why they
are saying things they should not be.
These issues are again in focus
with the recent release of a spate of
books by former Cabinet Secretary
TSR Subramanian, the PM’s Media
Adviser, Sanjaya Baru, Chief Election
Commissioner SY Quraishi, former
Coal Secretary PC Parakh and RAW
officer RK Yadav. Three things need
to be considered concerning these
books—the timing of the book release,
information revealed and the impact.
The most controversial of the
lot, Baru’s The Accidental Prime
Minister—The Making and
Unmaking of Manmohan Singh,
coming at a time when the elections
are on, depicts Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh as a powerless
political puppet in office, but “not in
power”. According to Baru, on many
occasions, instead of calling the shots
as the boss, Singh was forced to toe
the party line and nobody in the
cabinet felt obliged to him for his
position, rank or portfolio.
“He was himself incorruptible,
and also ensured that no one in his
immediate family ever did anything
wrong, but he did not feel answer-
able for the misdemeanors of his
colleagues and subordinates. In this
instance, he felt even less because he
was not the political authority that
had appointed them to these min-
isterial positions. In practice, this
meant that he turned a blind eye to
the misdeeds of his ministers. He
expected the Congress party leader-
ship to deal with the black sheep in his
government, just as he expected the
allies to deal with their black sheep.
While his conscience was always clear
with respect to his own conduct, he
believed everyone had to deal with

It is fairly common for
bureaucrats to write books.
But the moment they try to
transcend from fiction to
reality, all hell breaks
loose and motives are cast
their own conscience,” Baru writes.
Another significant revelation
made by Baru is that Singh had vir-
tually no control over his cabinet
and senior bureaucrats would seek
instructions on the important files
directly from Sonia Gandhi instead
of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
“Dr Singh was clearly the exception
to that rule. He not only resisted the
temptation to spy on his colleagues,
but gave up even the opportunity
to be offered such information by
declining to take a daily briefing
from the intelligence chiefs. He
was the first Prime Minister not
to do so. The chiefs of both the IB
and the Research and Analysis Wing
(R&AW) were told to report to the
NSA instead. I didn’t think the intel-
ligence chiefs would deliver their best
if they reported to an intermediary
instead of the Prime Minister him-
self, and repeatedly implored him to
take a direct daily briefing from them.
Every now and then he would, but the
NSA became their effective boss in the
UPA PMO,” Baru says in the book.
Without taking away any credit
from Baru’s book, one could say that
most of the things mentioned in it
were part of gossip in political cir-
cles for long. But this is the first time
someone close to the Prime Minister
has attested to and corroborated it.
Another revelation that the book
makes is that despite corruption
scandals and the economic slowdown,
Singh was allowed to continue and
the UPA-II government never
considered retiring him because
of repeated failures of party vice-
president Rahul Gandhi.
According to Baru, Singh’s biggest
drawback was that he did not have a
political base of his own when he was
picked up by PV Narasimha Rao in
the 1990s. Even during the 10 years
in office as PM, he never built one. His
“biggest mistake” was not to fight the
Lok Sabha elections in 2009. If he had
become a political head, the UPA-II
would have been stronger, Baru sug-
gests. “If I were Manmohan Singh,
I would tell myself looking into my
bathroom mirror that I am 81-years-
old. I must own it now,” says Baru.
T
HE Congress spokesperson
dismissed Baru’s book as “cheap
fiction” and dubbed him “an out
of job, disgruntled turncoat”. Even
the PMO issued a strong statement
saying, “It is an attempt to misuse
a privileged position and access to
high office to gain credibility and to
apparently exploit it for commercial
gain. The commentary smacks of
fiction and coloured views of a former
adviser.” Baru’s book enraged Singh’s
eldest daughter, Upinder Singh, a
professor of history, so much that she
described it as “nothing but a stab in
the back…a huge betrayal of trust” and
a “mischievous, unethical” exercise.
She alleged that Baru nursed a deep
sense of resentment for not being
re-inducted into the Prime Minister’s
Office in 2009.
Another book, by former coal sec-
retary Parakh, corroborates the fact
that Singh had little authority over
his government and cabinet. In his
book, Crusader or Conspirator—
Coalgate and other Truths, Parakh
categorically states that the coal scan-
dal could have been avoided if there
was an open auction of coal blocks.
According to him, the PMO had ini-
tially approved his proposal for open
bidding of coal blocks in 2004, but
reversed it later because of resistance
from coal ministers in his cabinet.
“Pressures come in the form
of enticements, such as post-retire-
ment assignments, partnership in
business, bribery, blackmail or pure
intimidation. Pressures also come
from friends and relations,” Parakh
wrote in the book. The book contains
several shocking disclosures about
corporate entities and ministers
attempting to scuttle open auction of
coal blocks. It may be recalled how

BOOKS
controversy memoirs
both the 2G spectrum and coal alloca-
tion scams dented Singh’s reputation.
Another revelation Parekh makes is
how Mamata Banerjee, the then Coal
Minister, forced Coal India Limited
Chairman MD Sashikumar to hire
50 of her party workers as trainees.
Accordingly, they were clandestinely
appointed as security guards in gov-
ernment service and appointed in the
North Eastern coalfield without any
notification or interview. No wonder
their services were terminated within
four months once Didi left the minis-
try. Likewise, Mamata tried to pres-
sure the Coal India Board to lay the
foundation of a super-specialty hospi-
tal in Kolkata, whereas the board was
of the opinion that the hospital should
be in Jharkhand where 50 per cent of
its workers come from.
I
N an attempt to document the
deteriorating relationship between
civil servants and the political
executive, Parakh details how difficult
it has become for bureaucrats to take
fair decisions. The main problem,
according to him, is that the quality
of civil servants as well as the political
executive has deteriorated.
Likewise, former Cabinet Secretary
Subramanian’s book, India at
Turning Point: The Road to Good
Governance, dwells on the turf war
between the bureaucracy and its
political masters on governance
issues. In his no-holds-barred nar-
rative style, Subramanian tries to
unravel the cobwebs in the polity.
Instead of focusing on the bureau-
cracy or politicians, the book looks at
why, 70 years after Independence, we
have not been able to reach out and
provide education and work to the
poorest population. In his book, An
Undocumented Wonder: The Making
of the Great Indian Election, the
17th Chief Election Commissioner of
India, Dr SY Quraishi, tries to satisfy
readers’ curiosity through a first-per-
son account of recent electoral history
and the challenges encountered.
Similarly, Mission RAW, by RK
Yadav, who left the Research &
Analysis Wing (R&AW) after 16
years of service in 1989, sheds light
on the intrigue and deceit behind
the veil shrouding India’s external
intelligence agency. Yadav, who was
close to R&AW founder-director RN
Kao, and his successor K Sankaran
Nair, highlights little-known facts
about the functioning of R&AW.
The books have provided ammu-
nition to the BJP which is trying to
make political capital of the situation.
The party has raised the issue not only
in rallies but also attacked Sonia for
belittling the constitutional office of
the Prime Minister.
“These books have raised serious
questions about the way this govern-
ment functioned and set its priorities.
It clearly shows the Prime Minister
was not in control and this leads us
to ask questions from Sonia Gandhi.
The first family cannot run away from
giving the answers,” said BJP spokes-
person Nirmala Sitharaman.
Clearly, it’s time to ask whether
breach of trust, faith, confidence, eth-
ics and morality have a role to play
in the matrix of power. Also, does it
mean that till the point a person is
keeping quiet despite knowing vari-
ous things, it is okay but the moment
he writes a tell-all book people have
the right to paint him as a dubious
character or an agent sponsored by
political enemies? g
Without taking away any
credit from Baru’s book,
one could say that most of
the things mentioned in it
were part of gossip in
political circles for long.
But this is the first time
someone close to the Prime
Minister has attested and
corroborated it
The books by PC Parakh (left) and
Sanjaya Baru (above) have stirred a
hornets’ nest

Was Siachen to
be handed over to
the Americans?
by GS CHAWLA
P
RIME Minister Manmohan
Singh’s former Media Adviser
Sanjaya Baru’s book, The
Accidental Prime Minister—
The Making and Unmaking of
Manmohan Singh, has created a lot
of controversies, not only about the
timing of the release of the book but
also certain important facts. When
Baru was with Singh, he did enjoy the
confidence of the Prime Minister. But
he was known as a loudmouth, who
used to make derogatory remarks
about journalists and politicians
whom he did not like. While talking
to some journalists and other friends,
he did not spare even the Congress
President. This reached 10 Janpath,
which later blocked his entry into the
Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and
Harish Khare, a nominee of Ahmad
Patel and Jairam Ramesh, replaced
Baru in the PMO.
What Baru has written in his book
about Siachen is absolutely incorrect.
This shows that many other things
which he has written might also be
factually wrong. I know about the
developments on the Siachen issue
as I was writing, almost on a daily
basis, on this issue–about the senti-
ments of the Army top brass and how
Arjun Singh (left), the man who saved Siachen; Pranab Mukherjee (right) was initially opposed to withdrawal of troops from Siachen

BOOKS
controversy memoirs
they were resentful about the move
to withdraw from Siachen. The for-
mer Indian ambassador to Pakistan,
G Parthasarthy, used to discuss this
issue with me every morning and he
was fully aware of the role played by
ArjunSinghandAKAntonyinthemat-
ter. In fact, many top army command-
ers were in touch with Parthasarthy
and were conveying their resentment
on the move to vacate Siachen.
People are not aware, not even
the political leadership, that if Arjun
Singh had not moved fast, Indian
forces would have withdrawn from
Siachen much before the Lok Sabha
polls in 2009. The Prime Minister,
under American pressure for back-
door talks with Pakistan President
Pervez Musharraf, had agreed to
withdraw Indian forces from Siachen,
giving a major concession to Pakistan.
M
ANMOHAN Singh had
announced that he wanted to
seeSiachenasazoneofpeace.
Hewaspreparingthegroundtovacate
the area and allow Americans to set up
an important research centre there.
It would have provided Americans
a foothold in the Siachen region for
the first time. Singh and Musharraf
had almost agreed on this settle-
ment. Manmohan was to announce a
date for his visit to Pakistan when an
agreement between the two countries
would have been signed.
The Indian Army was anguished
over this and was repeatedly pleading
with the government not to enter
into any such agreement as this
would enable the Pakistani Army to
re-capture the area and the strategic
peaks. The Indian Army then would
not be able to evict the Pakistani
Army. Some years earlier, Musharraf,
as a Brigadier of the Pakistan Army,
had launched two attacks to push the
Indian Army back from Siachen. But
both the attacks were repulsed by
Indian forces.
Pranab Mukherjee, before being
shifted to the External Affairs
Ministry, was, as Defence Minister,
opposed to the withdrawal. But when
Manmohan promised to persuade
Congress president Sonia Gandhi
to promote him as Deputy Prime
Minister, he also fell in line.
When Antony took over as Defence
Minister, Arjun Singh invited him
for a cup of tea and pleaded with
him to listen to the point of view of
the Army Commanders in Siachen in
the national interest and convey their
views to the authority that mattered
(Sonia). Antony did exactly that.
At the next core group meeting of
the Congress, there was a one-to-one
45-minute meeting between Sonia
and Manmohan. Usually, such meet-
ings used to be only for eight to 10
minutes. When both came out of the
room, the rest of the Congress leaders
were watching their body language.
It was obvious to them that Antony’s
briefing of the Congress president had
had the desired effect.
At the meeting, it was decided
that Manmohan would not make any
statement on Siachen and instead
Pranab would announce that since
Pakistan was not prepared to sign the
maps depicting the positions the two
forces were occupying. India was not
prepared to agree to any withdrawal.
Thus Arjun Singh achieved his goal,
though indirectly, through Antony.
This was his greatest contribution.
Otherwise, Manmohan would have
fulfilledhisdesiretovisitPakistanand
his home village and signed an agree-
ment with Musharraf on Siachen. g
When Antony took over as
Defence Minister,
Arjun Singh invited him for
a cup of tea and pleaded
with him to listen to
the point of view of the
Army Commanders.
Manmohan Singh was ready to sign an agreement with Pakistan on Siachen

TALKTIME
Syeda Saiyidain Hameed
‘We have introduced a
gender lens in all sectors’
gfiles: What has been left undone?
Syeda Hameed: I will begin on a
positive note of what has been done.
Our chapter in the Twelfth Plan which
is called Women’s Agency and Child
Rights has been universally acclaimed
as an outstanding chapter. We have
come a long way since it used to be
called Women and Children Welfare
or Empowerment and Development.
gfiles: What is the qualitative
difference?
SH: The difference is that women
are agents of their own change. So
you give responsibility in the hands
of women. Children are not recipi-
PHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI
Dr Syeda Saiyidain Hameed figures in Sanjaya Baru’s
controversial book The Accidental Prime Minister. Baru, who
has kicked up a political storm as an author, mentions
Dr Hameed as someone who pipped Anu Aga, Chairperson of
Thermax, as Member, Planning Commission. The Prime
Minister had asked Baru to sound Aga but a last-minute change
saw Hameed in and Aga out. Hameed also raked up
controversy when she performed a nikah, a Muslim marriage,
in Lucknow. This was the first by a woman. A nikah is usually
contracted by a Qazi. In the Planning Commission, where
Dr Hameed spent 10 eventful years, she focused on gender,
minorities and health. On the eve of demitting office, she spoke
to gfiles on the tasks done and those she leaves unfinished.
Excerpts from an exclusive interview with Kumkum Chadha:
syeda saiyidain hameed
TALKTIME

ents of development but they have
rights. More important, we have
placed nutrition higher on the agenda.
Women and children bear the brunt of
malnutrition. Also, we have developed
a matrix where women and children
are multi-sectoral. They are there in
every sector, be it transport, energy,
environment. Women’s concerns have
to be addressed in every sector vis-a-
vis policy and resources. This assigns
responsibility to 33 departments of
government to take their share of the
loadofwomenandchildren.Thisisthe
plan the whole country has signed: a
multi-sectoral development of women
and children. If civil society wakes up
to this, it will hold the respective State
governments accountable irrespec-
tive of parties. The tragedy is, every-
one signs and it ends there. Then it
is business as usual. We have a very
forward-looking plan and there is a
great responsibility on this country to
ensurethatgenderandchildrendonot
get the customary treatment of gender
budgeting or 33 per cent but actually
are mainstreamed in a strategic man-
ner to which everyone has consented.
gfiles: This is precisely the problem.
The path which has been laid out is
actually untravelled and untrodden.
Thereisagapbetweentheory,thewrit-
ten word and action on the ground. So,
isn’t it, in a sense, defeatist?
SH: You are right. It is defeatist.
Therefore, if the State governments
have committed, they must honour it.
gfiles: My sense is that the State gov-
ernments do not even read what they
have signed.
SH: Maybe because there are a
lot of commitments. If the officers
read what the politicians sign, they
would probably advise them to have
a rethink. So it is a self-perpetuating
prophecy of no action on the ground.
The way forward is that a vigilant pub-
lic ensures that the commitments that
are made are honoured both in terms
of policy and resources. Nobody takes
the planning exercise very seriously.
gfiles: Haven’t the government and
the States failed to translate policy
intoactionand,moreimportant,with-
out accountability? They sign because
they want to be politically correct and
not ignore gender. They don’t sign
because they are committed.
SH: Another irony is that this
particular meeting of the National
Development Council (NDC)
happened within days of Nirbhaya,
so every State Chief Minister and
the Prime Minister only spoke about
ensuring zero tolerance for violence
against women. So it was an NDC to
do with gender and that was the NDC
that signed this plan. But that is where
it ended. The amount of commitment
there was should have reflected in the
nitty-gritty that was being played out
in that meeting.
gfiles: Don’t you feel that these 10
years you have put in have been a
no-show?
SH: It is certainly not commensurate
with the work we have put in but
it has moved forward. One, we will
never go back to women and children
development again. The fact is
women are now regarded as agents;
we will never go back to looking at
the plan without a gender lens; we
have introduced a gender lens in all
the sectors. No government worth
its name will be able to make a plan
without looking at every sector
through the gender lens.
Of course, there are lapses. A basic
flaw is that the Ministry of Women
and Child Development is not very
high-profile. Why should it not have
Cabinet status? Why should the per-
son responsible for the destiny of
women and children not have Cabinet
status? When we say that women’s
concerns should be mainstreamed,
why should that person not be part of
the entire decision-making? This is a
basic flaw. What we need is a concep-
tual change. Then, why 33 per cent?
Are you 33 per cent of the population
or, with children, are you 65 per cent?
Then there is a little bit of shortchang-
ing also. You bill something as gender
but when you deconstruct it, you do it
for both. If you are making a road, you
say it is for both, but when a woman
walks a road there have to be toilets,
lights and, therefore, you have to be
sensitive to her needs.
gfiles: Yet zero results?
SH: It has not been as fast as it
should have been. It is a slow machine
and has not gathered speed. The
Nirbhaya fund is with the Ministry
of Home Affairs: it could have been
in the Ministry of Women and Child
Development.
gfiles: So actually, nothing has
changed?
SH: Things have changed. There is a
lot more awareness, violence against
women is now a global issue. Ten
years ago, you could not raise the
issue of women and children before
‘There is a lot more
awareness and violence
against women is now a
global issue. Ten years
ago, you could not raise
the issue of women and
children before some Chief
Ministers because they
were marginal issues.’

TALKTIME
Syeda Saiyidain Hameed
some Chief Ministers because they
were marginal issues. But in later
years these were raised and were
responded to. Joh bachchon ki baat
kabhi hoti nahin thi, woh hone lagi.
Also, we could seek accountability and
we were able to name and shame the
States. That is a change, and progress.
There is a forward movement but I
feel it should have been much more
and faster.
gfiles: What actually changed?
SH: What has changed is that
women, children and nutrition have
become big issues and are more
upfront. Earlier, nutrition was never
mentioned. Now we hammer it.
gfiles: You are the only woman
member of the Planning Commission.
It must be tough?
SH: Gradually, my male colleagues
became aware and once issues
were raised, they supported them. I
would say that in the next Planning
Commission, if there are 10 members
at least five should be women. I have
been the only woman for 10 years and
I think this must change.
gfiles: There is no provision. It is
government-dependent.
SH: There is no provision but there
should be. The pressure has to come.
Maybe it will change.
gfiles: Don’t you think that accounta-
bility and penal action must be woven
in if State governments do not trans-
late commitments into action?
SH: I think we need punitive powers;
if States are not performing, you cut
the budget. Right now, the Planning
Commission has very little power.
When I started out, I said why can’t we
cut the budgets and everyone laughed
and said there is a Gadgil formula,
and you work according to that.
gfiles: Has there been any concerted
effort to work towards that?
SH: Individual voices maybe, but
institutionally, no. There is a counter
argument that we, in any case, give
little money, the rest the States
generate. Phir thora paisa hi kam kar
do. That also we cannot do.
gfiles: Isn’t this a failure of policy
and government?
SH: It is. The Prime Minister says
the Planning Commission is an essay
in persuasion. But there is no end to
persuasion. States have become very
strong now.
gfiles: States have become strong
because the Centre is weak…
SH: The world is moving towards
federalism. The smaller States need
money but the big States are strong,
so what can you do with them?
gfiles:DrSingh’spolicyofpersuasion
has failed. As against that, will Modi’s
policy of cracking the whip work?
SH: Not necessarily. Federalism and
identity politics are very strong and
cracking the whip will never work.
gfiles: What will work then?
SH: Persuasion may still prevail. It
is a slow process and does work. We
need speed. By cracking the whip you
will alienate everyone. So persuasion
with a name and shame.
I used to suggest that Parliament
mein bahut bara map ho jahan
constituency by constituency
be earmarked where girls are
being killed—khoon ka rang surk
hona chahiye—and some states
would be green and others would be
blood-red.
gfiles:Thisgovernmenthasdonealot
of tokenism: first woman President,
first woman Lok Sabha Speaker, but
it stopped there...
SH: Glass ceilings did break and I
think that is a step forward. It may
not have filtered down.
gfiles: Do you leave your office with
a heavy heart or a balance that kuch
hua, kuch rah gaya?
SH: I leave with a balance.
gfiles: If the BJP comes to power
with its anti-women stance, don’t you
think the gender initiative will have
a setback?
SH: I don’t think this will be possible.
Aberrations apart, the way the global
dialect is now, I don’t think anyone
can afford to ignore or trample on
gender. When any party becomes
government, they have to tread the
path of reason.
gfiles: Have governments failed
women?
SH: This government, of which I
have been a part, has not. It made
important policy movements and
took extremely important landmark
decisions, though much more could
have happened and the acceleration
should have been more. g
‘In the next Planning
Commission, if there are
10 members at least five
should be women. I have
been the only woman for
10 years and I think this
must change.’

Celebrating journeys
that are about places,
experiences, culture,
authenticity, ethnicity and
photography
Providing content that
feeds the mind and fuels the
imagination
Enhancing an authentic
sense of place by exploring
historical, cultural and
natural linkages
www.terrascape.in TAKES YOU PLACES
Monthly travel and culture magazine
Available at major stores across the country
Contact: info@terrascape.in

INITIATIVE
workplace dalip singh
“We know from daily life that we
exist for other people first of all, on
whose smiles and well-being our own
happiness depends.”
– Albert Einstein
“How can I manage my
company when two of my directors
on the Board have not spoken to
each other for years?” laments the
chairman of a large government
sector steel company.
“The management is locked up
in various courts for the last two
decades over personnel issues. There
appears to be no end to litigation.
Every second employee is in the
habit of moving the courts against
the management or peer group. All
senior posts are lying vacant and
people are retiring. No new recruit-
ments are being made. The morale of
officers and the organisation is at a
nadir,” confesses the CEO of a power
generation company.
“Please ask the MD to meet us
at least once to hear our grievances,”
the workers' union of a public sector
bank pleaded with the chairman on
his inspection visit. Enquiry revealed
that the MD had taken a policy deci-
sion not to interact with the work-
ers, terming it a waste of time.
Resentment among the employees
was escalating as their grievances
were not being addressed.
In a large ministry of the
Government of India, senior officers
enjoy their lunch together every day.
The ‘lunch club’, as it is popularly
known, involves sharing a variety
of food delicacies in a thoroughly
informal atmosphere. Subliminally,
official matters are also discussed.
Several jokes are cracked and
Managing interpersonal skills
enjoyed. The meal culminates with
a cup of black coffee. The improved
interpersonal relations result
in effective performance at the
workplace due to improved trust and
mutual respect among the officers.
Interpersonal relations matter
in personal life as well as in profes-
sional life. We are never alone in the
world. Wherever we are—whether
in the family or in the office—we are
surrounded by people. Management
experts believe that very few peo-
ple work by themselves and achieve
results by themselves—most people
work with other people and are effec-
tive through other people. To manage
oneself, therefore, requires taking
responsibility for relationships with
other people. This is called man-
aging interpersonal relationships.
Interpersonal relationship is the skill
or ability to work effectively through
and with other people. It includes
a desire to understand others, their
needs and weaknesses, and their tal-
ents and abilities. It is the study of
why beliefs, attitudes, perceptions,
prejudices and behaviours can cause
problems in personal and profes-
sional relationships. In a workplace
setting, interpersonal relations also
involve an understanding of how peo-
ple work together in groups, satisfy-
ing both individual needs and group
objectives. If an organisation is to
succeed, the relationships among the
people in that organisation will be a
determining factor. No matter what
we do, we do it with people. People
create technology. People implement
the technology. People make it all
happen. People ultimately use what-
ever it is we create. No matter how
small or big your organisation or how
technical or non-technical its process,
it takes people to be successful.
Two decades ago, many forecast-
ers predicted that by this time in his-
tory, strong computer skills would
be the No. 1 factor in the workplace.
However, now perhaps more than
ever, administrators and corporate
planners are placing greater emphasis
on the human factor. This shows that
recent trends in the workplace give
new importance to human relations.
The best-managed organisations
understand that work is done through
relationships. Technical competen-
cies are not sufficient for success.
Interpersonal relationships are key
to sustainable competitive advantage.
The best-managed
organisations understand
that work is done through
relationships and that
technical competencies are
not sufficient for success.

Let me elaborate further—think
about a civil servant who gets along
well with others in the workplace, a
doctor who empathises with patients,
a lawyer who listens carefully to cli-
ents —all of these people will most
likely be seen by their co-workers,
patients and clients as nice, helpful
people who are capable of meeting
their needs. No doubt such a civil serv-
ant would get more willing coopera-
tion from his colleagues and juniors;
the doctor would get more patients;
and the lawyer would get more cli-
ents. In other words, such profession-
als are likely to be more successful
compared to their colleagues who do
not show these interpersonal skills.
In the United States, research stud-
ies have found that doctors who give
more time to their patients, listen to
them with attention and behave well
with them, have far fewer litigations
or court cases filed by their patients
for incompetence or negligence in
treatment compared to their medi-
cally more competent colleagues.
I
N all aspects of life, you will deal
with other people. Workplaces ben-
efit if people working there have
good relationships. In other words, in
these years when people are said to be
the only true competitive advantage,
it is evident that interpersonal rela-
tions in organisations and processes
of nourishing them have become
essential for organisational success.
You can say that everything at the
office depends on good relationships
between employees and the manage-
ment. Interpersonal relationships
by AJIT UJJAINKAR
O
ntheeveofthegeneralelection,
the IC Centre for Governance
(ICCFG) hosted a lecture
series on the changing role of the civil
services. The lectures on the critical
topic of the relationship between the
bureaucrats and the political leader-
ship were delivered on April 4, 2014,
at the India International Centre,
New Delhi.
In his opening remarks, Prabhat
Kumar, former Cabinet Secretary and
Governor of Jharkhand and currently
the President of the ICCFG, said that
Sardar Patel, the founder of the civil
services in independent India, had
visualised a clear role definition for
the two crucial categories of bureau-
crats and politicians. The political
leadership defined the policies and
the bureaucracy implemented these
policies. The politicians had the
vision and perspective, and the civil
servants the domain knowledge and
institutional memory. They started
with feelings of mutual trust and
interdependence. But over the years,
they failed to delimit their respective
roles with precision and clarity and
this created feelings of mistrust and
suspicion among them.
Vinod Sharma, Political Editor of
the Hindustan Times, traced the his-
tory of the relationship by narrating
some telling anecdotes about the con-
fidence that leaders like Jawaharlal
Nehru had in senior civil servants
and the fearlessness and courage with
which the bureaucrats tendered their
frank advice. He felt that the recent
trend of bureaucrats joining political
parties immediately after retirement
cast suspicion on their neutrality and
non-alignment, and this tendency
should be nipped in the bud.
BK Chaturvedi, former Cabinet
Secretary and at present Member,
Planning Commission, expressed the
view that both politicians and bureau-
crats need to build a strong value sys-
tem.Theyshouldjoinhandsinworking
for the welfare of the common masses
through ethical governance. He said
that if the civil servants expressed their
views fearlessly and with courage, the
political leadership would accept their
advice much of the time.
It was good that the Supreme
Court had laid down certain policy
parameters to protect bureaucrats
from premature and vengeful trans-
fers. A concerted effort by the politi-
cal and administrative leadership
would surely give an impetus to the
country to move rapidly on the
trajectory of economic growth and
social development. g
Of Babus and Netas
IC CENTRE FOR GOVERNANCE
are absolutely essential, as they help
employees to have a mutual under-
standing between themselves and
work in a team. It is a proven fact that
if you need to reach a goal or a target
in your process, you necessarily have
to work together in a team. Even when
someone is otherwise only average at
a job, good human relations skills can
usually make that person seem better
to others. Sadly, the opposite is also
true: poor interpersonal relations
can make an otherwise able person
seem like a poor performer. Thus, the
importance of interpersonal relations
in our personal and professional lives
cannot be exaggerated. g
Dr Dalip Singh, a 1982-batch IAS officer of
the Haryana cadre, has a PhD in psychol-
ogy from the University of Delhi.
He can be contacted at www.eqindia.com

INITIATIVE
workplace dalip singh

MANDARIN MATTERS
fiji tp sreenivasan
Diplomacy extraordinary
the initiative of the Fiji government.
The seeds of future conflict in Fiji were sown in its
constitution, which came into force in 1970, following
independence. It is believed that Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi advised the Fiji Indian leaders not to insist on their
‘pound of flesh’ as the majority group in Fiji. Instead, they
should work out a formula which allowed them to live and
work in racial harmony. If a one man, one vote formula
had been adopted, the Indians would have come to power
immediately after independence, a prospect the Fijians
considered worse than British rule. The formula adopted,
therefore, was to have a Parliament with 22 Fijians, 22
Indians and 7 others—Europeans, Chinese, and others.
Among these, some were to be elected
within the communities themselves
and others to be elected nationally. The
compact, in effect, was that the Fijians
would form the government with the
support of others and Indians would
be Her Majesty’s loyal Opposition. In
return for this arrangement, Indians
would be given long leases for the land
they cultivated and their children would
be given jobs in the government. The
constitution reconfirmed that Fijian land
was inalienable and the Indians would
not be able to own land. The Indians
made all these concessions in good faith
in recognition of their immigrant status.
‘The world as it should be!’ This was the
description of Fiji from 1970 to 1987. Ratu Sir Kamisese
Mara, who would have been the king of Fiji as the sen-
iormost Fijian chief, assumed the Prime Ministership
and he was hailed by all, including the Government of
India, as the champion of multiracialism in Fiji. He was
the leader of the Alliance Party, basically a consortium of
Fijian chiefs with full Fijian support. The Indians formed
the National Federation Party (NFP), which had leaders
like Vinod Patel, Siddique Koya and Jairam Reddy. The
Indians began to work tirelessly for building the nation,
Fiji marked a turning point in India’s policy towards overseas Indians as the
developments there took place at a time when the government was in the
process of rediscovering the potential of the Indian diaspora
T
HE assignment to Fiji has been hazardous to Indian
envoys at the best of times. For historical reasons,
the envoys are looked upon by the Fiji Indians as
their mentors. At the same time, the Indian envoys are
expected to promote multiracialism and multicultural-
ism and maintain the delicate racial balance enshrined in
the Fiji constitution. Any effort on their part, therefore,
to strengthen the Indian community’s cultural links with
India are seen with suspicion and they are often accused of
interfering in the internal affairs of the country.
In my case, the problems were compounded by the
fact that my arrival coincided with the emergence of the
Labour Party, a new coalition between the Indians and
the educated Fijians which threatened the
alliance government of Ratu Sir Kamisese
Mara. The elections of 1987 were conten-
tious and the Indian mission was under
watch for any encouragement we might be
giving to the Indian community. When the
Labourgovernmentwasformed,theIndian
support to it was seen as prejudicial to the
rights of the indigenous Fijians. A military
coup, specifically aimed at the Indian role
in politics, inevitably put us in direct oppo-
sition to the military government.
We refused to recognise the military
government, imposed sanctions
against Fiji and got it thrown out of the
Commonwealth.Inspiteofthesemeasures,
I continued to function as the head of
mission, with instructions not to deal with the ministers.
Fiji acquiesced in this unusual situation as it did not want
to provoke the Indian community. After two years of an
uneasy and unconventional diplomatic standoff, during
which I was accused of interfering in the country’s internal
affairs, Fiji unilaterally decided to downgrade the Indian
mission as a consulate and asked me to leave in 72 hours.
The relationship between the host government and
the Indian mission during this period defied every
diplomatic norm. Finally, the mission itself was closed at

having set the scenario for the future, and Ratu Mara was
able to win international recognition and foreign aid by
following a clearly pro-Western foreign policy. He kept Fiji
out of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) at a time when
it was fashionable for newly independent countries to join
it. He claimed that Fiji was so non-aligned that it could
not even align itself with the NAM. But the real reason was
his vision of Fiji as a Western ally like Australia and New
Zealand. At the same time, he cultivated India, as he knew
that India’s support was necessary to sustain the support
of the Indian community. He turned out to be a master tac-
tician, one whom the Indians could not match. The richer
Indians, particularly the Gujaratis, supported the Alliance
Party, while the cane farmers and the trade unions voted
solidly with NFP.
B
ELOW the surface of racial harmony lay the major
weakness of the Fijian nation. The constitution had
perpetuated the racial divide. The two major races
had learnt to coexist, but there was no integration as the
Indians considered themselves superior from the day they
landed in Fiji. The race-based constitution did not con-
tribute to integration either. The experiment was to build
a nation that was divided on racial lines with very little
interracial intercourse. The Polynesian-Melanesian race
continued to call themselves Fijians under the constitu-
tion, while the Indian immigrants continued to be called
Indians. Moreover, the majority race had no chance of
gaining political power. It was a recipe for disaster from
the start. A national identity and a common future are
essential for any nation.
When I was posted to Fiji from Rangoon as a head of
mission for the first time, I was quite excited, as I knew
that Fiji was an important post for India. I asked my pre-
decessor whether Fiji was interesting. He was prophetic
when he said that there was a danger of it becoming ‘too
interesting’. But he encouraged me to accept the post and
asked me to bring my golf set along.
Within a few months after my arrival in Fiji, our military
attaché in Canberra came to Suva on an accreditation visit.
The officer in the Fiji army who coordinated the visit was
Sitiveni Rabuka, a colonel who had just returned from a
peacekeeping operation in Lebanon. The Fiji army, hav-
ing nothing much to do in its own country, was a regular
troop contributor to the United Nations. It got its offic-
ers trained in near-battle conditions, earned money for
the government and the soldiers and gained considerable
international exposure. Virtually every Fijian soldier spent
some time on UN peacekeeping. Being neutral ideologi-
cally, Fiji was acceptable in every situation and both the
UN and Fiji benefited from this arrangement. Rabuka was
in touch with my officers, but he also spoke to me a couple
of times on phone. He spoke impeccable English and he
told me that he had been at the Staff College in Wellington
near Ooty. I invited him to a dinner I had organised for the
military attaché, but he declined.
Within a few days I noticed a Fijian golfer playing
alone, like I used to do in the morning every day at the Fiji
Golf Club. He joined me as we arrived at the same time
and it transpired that it was Rabuka. He was very polite
and friendly, but not too talkative. But he did reminisce
over his days in India and expressed appreciation for the
professional skills of the Indian Army. We began playing
Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, the first Prime Minister of Fiji, seen
here on the right of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of
India (above) and to the left of Dr S Radhakrishnan, President
of India (below)
PHOTOS: PIB

MANDARIN MATTERS
fiji tp sreenivasan
regularly, but I did not learn much about his personality
except that he was a good golfer. He declined all my invi-
tations, but he was quite happy joining me on the course.
The election campaign picked up momentum by the end
of 1986 and the likelihood of a Labour-NFP coalition made
it very interesting. Ratu Mara and the Alliance Party were,
however, confident of victory initially, but by the turn of
the year, there was a certain nervousness raising its head.
When Ratu Mara realised that the Indians were going to
support Labour, he began to meet me frequently to see if
I could influence them in his favour. A landslide was not
possible in the Fijian elections because of the structure of
seats in Parliament. The Fijians alone voted, and they went
en masse to the Alliance Party. The Indian seats similarly
went to the NFP. Only the new national seats permitted
cross-voting of communities and these really determined
the outcome of the elections. In 1987, the Fijians and the
Indians voted largely as before, but about 10 per cent of the
Fijian voters switched their allegiance from the Alliance
to the Labour Party and that resulted in the victory of the
coalition. In other words, the Indians did not switch votes
to defeat Mara. It was the educated Fijians who defeated
their feudal masters.
T
HE formation of a coalition government under
Timoci Bavadra was a foregone conclusion once
the results came out as he was already projected as
the candidate for Prime Minister. I met Bavadra and the
other ministers and pledged India’s support. But I cau-
tioned them against dramatic changes in policy, knowing
fully well that the economy was essentially in the hands of
Australia and New Zealand and that the Western countries
had a vital interest in the South Pacific. A radical image
for the new government might do more harm than good.
The Taukei (son of the soil) Movement was born within
days of the formation of the Bavadra government to liber-
ate the country from ‘foreign rulers’. This was seen as the
handiwork of the ultra-nationalist Fijians, who had made
expulsion of the Indians as their platform during the elec-
tions. The movement held demonstrations against the
government mainly in the west of the country. But there
was no sign of it gaining momentum within the Fijian com-
munity. The majority was willing to give the government a
chance. The government itself was reassuring in its initial
statements on maintenance of Fijian rights, particularly
land laws, and there was nothing in their statements to
provoke the Fijians in any way.
On May 10, 1987, I was in the office in the morning,
getting ready to go to the parliament to hear an address
by Prime Minister Bavadra when I received a call from my
son, Sreenath, an aspiring journalist, anxious to break the
news, to say that there had been a military coup in Fiji.
It was the first of its kind in the South Pacific. My golf
partner, Lt Col Sitiveni Rabuka, walked into the Fijian
parliament in civilian clothes with a revolver (unloaded,
it turned out later) and ordered the prime minister, the
entire cabinet and the members of parliament of the ruling
party into waiting military trucks. A number of masked Fiji
army soldiers had lined up inside parliament with auto-
matic weapons to make clear that it was a military coup.
As the truck drove off, Rabuka telephoned Adi Kuini, wife
of the prime minister, to ask for her permission to bring
her husband and his colleagues for detention at the offi-
cial residence of the prime minister. The place of detention
gave the coup a human face right from the start, but it was
no soft coup. The soldiers had their finger on the trigger to
meet any eventuality.
I managed to put in a call to India House to find that

G files may 2014

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

En vedette

En vedette (8)

Similaire à G files may 2014

Similaire à G files may 2014 (20)

Dernier

Dernier (13)

G files may 2014