From the Editor-in-ChiefFrom the Editor-in-Chief
 PERHAPS one of the most important Bills to be tabled in Parliament after Cabinet approval in August is the proposed law seeking to protect whistleblowers from official retaliation. After the RTI (Right to Information) legislation, this Bill, if passed in the right spirit and without any emasculation, will be equal in import. It will be another vital blow in support of good governance and Best Government practices.
In summa
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GOVERNANCE | Emergency EraCOVER STORY | ias whistleblower | petition versus tamil nadu government
The persecution of a man who committed the truth
gfiles focusses on the indomitable spirit of an upright individual who rose from the ranks of the Scheduled Castes to become an officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre. A persistent exposer of wrongdoing since the start of his tenure in the early 199os, C Umashankar has run afoul of the state’s formidable DMK establishment and its bureaucrat apparatchiks. Not a single individual indicted by Umashankar in his various official probes has bee
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Untitled Page MANDARIN MATTERS | civil services survey | ac nielsen org-marg findings
How is the steel frame holding up?
India’s maiden Civil Services Survey has opened up a new avenue for administrative reforms, with the Centre attempting to put its finger on the pulse of members of three All-India Services and seven Central services
by NARESH MINOCHA
THE feedback is certainly pulsating: As many as 85 per cent of respondents take pride in being civil servants; 81 per cent believe that political corruption takes place because t
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Untitled Page MANDARIN MATTERS | civil services survey | analysis
How the world views them, how they view themselves
In dismantling archaic percepts and constructs lies the challenge and opportunity for IAS reformers
by MG DEVASAHAYAM
TWO surveys on the civil services have come out in quick succession. One is an online survey, with 340 responses, that gauged public perceptions of the Indian administrative system. It was conducted by professors from the University of Bahrain and the Institute of Management Technology, Dubai. T
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Untitled Page MANDARIN MATTERS | civil services | opinion
The Augean Stables
Now is the time for Manmohan Singh to radically transform the civil services and prove his critics wrong
by RAHUL SINGH
SINCE becoming an adult, I have interacted extensively with civil servants. In the milieu that I grew up in, they were considered the elite of the country. Two of my parents’ closest friends were distinguished civil servants, Prem Kirpal and EN Mangatrai. The first became Education Secretary, even though he had not qualified through
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GOVERNANCE | Emergency EraGOVERNANCE | outsourcing
Expropriate the corporators!
Outsourcing municipal functions will bypass the corrupt corporator and improve civic governance
by MAJOR GENERAL MRINAL SUMAN
MY mother is 88 years old, perfectly alert and, having been born and brought up in Lahore, always reminisces about “the good old days”. Recently, after watching a TV news round-up on a particularly bad and depressing day, she made an extraordinary suggestion: “Our leaders have failed miserably. We should outsource governance to competent
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GOVERNANCE | Emergency EraGOVERNANCE | higher education
Temples of new India
Expansion of university education is a prerequisite for India’s economic growth
by VIJAY SANGHVI
IN the coming decade, a major challenge for the Manmohan Singh government is the expansion of university education in order to churn out nearly 40 million graduates a year. This would keep the pace of economic growth that can help India outrun China as the emerging super economic power. The government would have to cover nearly 30 per cent of the student population rathe
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PROFILE | Justice Sh KapadiaSPECIAL REPORT | himachal pradesh | brakel scam
Dhumal’s Adani connection
The unholy nexus between the Chief Minister and a Gujarat-based industrialist has created a stir in the hill state
by N N DHIMAN
HIMACHAL Pradesh is being rocked by scandalous allegations of illegal favours given by Chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal to Gautam Adani. The Gujarati business tycoon, whose proximity to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is no secret, has in the recent past used his political clout to bag some maj
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PROFILE | Justice Sh KapadiaREFLECTIONS | b ashok
MONKEYING IN MUSSOORIE
How the apes influence our future administrators
OUR verdant Mussoorie campus is cohabited (along with officers, trainers and trainees) by around 400 rhesus monkeys. They are everywhere, foraging from dinner leftovers, fruit trees and even residential litter boxes. Most are of rhesus variety – the ugly yellow grey ones; and some are langurs – the black-faced taller ones. They are protected by the Wildlife Act and rhesus monkeys are also revered as descendants of Hanuman by t
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GUEST DESK | rama naiduFIRST STIRRINGS | arun l bongirwar
‘Bureaucrats have to adjust to the political mindset’
A former Chief Secretary recalls how the seeds of innovative people’s schemes were planted at the outset of his career
I HAIL from a family of bureaucrats. My father was an IAS officer in Maharashtra and my grandfather was a school inspector. I began my career as Super Numerary Assistant Collector in Ratnagiri district collectorate. A first posting in Ratnagiri was rare. In my very first posting I learned how the Konkan people interacted with the gov
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STOCK DOCTOR | GS SoodSTOCK DOCTOR | GS Sood
Be selective, jettison dud stocks
 THE markets have more than doubled in the past 15 months and are staying at a high whereas a majority of investors are hoping for a correction. However, as big bull Rakesh Jhunjhunwala said, the correction never happens when it is expected most or when a majority of the investors (especially retail) expect it to happen. T
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Walia’s amusing waysBRIC-A-BRAC | footfalls & pitfalls
Pranab treads warily
minister eyes top post
 PRANAB Mukherjee is displaying extreme caution. It seems he does not want to give any leverage to anybody that might jeopardize his final chance to make it to prime ministership. So he is, more or less, following in the footsteps of Manmohan Singh. No hush-hu
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Divided KashmirDivided Kashmir
bhim puts it in a nutshell
 THE government is terribly worried about Kashmir. The State might be ruled de jure by Omar Abdullah and father Farooq, but the Valley is ruled de facto by Pakistani PM Yousuf Raza Gilani’s agitation calendar. At the meeting called by Manmohan Singh, attended by leaders of various political parties such as Ghulam Nabi Azad, S
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Mining mafia on a rollMining mafia on a roll
manipulates governor’s advisers
 MOH Farook was a fiery student leader from Pondicherry who became Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and was then politically unemployed for a long while. Then, at the age of 73, he became Governor of Jharkhand and landed in the Raj Bhawan at Ranchi, to the relief of the populace who were fed up with the Madhu Kodas and Shibu Sorens.
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Governor Bhardwaj shows the wayGovernor Bhardwaj shows the way
bid to oust reddy brothers
 WHILE on Governors, the post of Karnataka Governor was rather low-profile as long as Rameshwar Thakur held it. He did carry out some “odd jobs”, but quietly. But his successor, Hansraj Bhardwaj, is quite the opposite. Bhardwaj’s father was a Personal Security officer for Nehru at Teen Murti Bhaw
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Verma keeps DD sore festering...by the way
Like Minister, liken Secretary
 THE famous trickledown effect is so very apparent in the Ministry of civil aviation. Recently, when a computer company sought a special package from Air India for its employees, the airline refused as it was not in a position to grant it. To the firm’s unending delight, the Secretary, Civil Aviation, M
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Skulduggery in the IDBISkulduggery in the IDBI
 SINCEYogesh Agarwal became chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority in July, he has been busy trying to remote control the IDBI. He was earlier IDBI Chairman and spawned quite a few controversies over sanction of loans.
It is said that he had a deal with two industrial houses, one with interest in civil aviation and the liquor business and the other in wind power. One allegedly received substantial funding f
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No light at end of coal tunnelCold war over SEBI post
 NORTH Block’s two most powerful offices are at loggerheads. The conflict stems from the tussle for appointment of each’s candidate as chief of the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The term of the present incumbent, CB Bhave, is ending and a high-level appointment panel, headed by Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar, has been constituted. There are several contenders for the co
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Penniless, but castles in the air Penniless, but castles in the air
 GOINGby the inertia of the National Disaster Management Authority, the recent cloudbursts in Ladakh and Uttarakhand are apparently not disasters. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is its Chairman while Gen NC Vij is Vice-Chairman. The NDMA is active only on its website and in files. Gen Vij has no funds to tackle disasters, yet he apparently dreams of creating a parallel system for di
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