The seniormost bureaucrat in the country has recently had yet another headache added to his Pandora’s box of problems plaguing the government’s workload. Cabinet Secretary KM Chandrasekhar has been writing letters to the Union Council of Ministers to impress upon them the need to make public their assets and liabilities. But the Ministers chose to sit on the issue. So the Cabinet Secretary was forced to send a second letter as a reminder. Many of the Ministers belonging to the Congress have not even shown the Cabinet Secretary the courtesy of responding to his letters. A little bird tells us that the Prime Minister’s Office is worried about the attitude of these public figures.
Is Bhide in IMF race?
Union Revenue Secretary PV Bhide, who is due to retire in February next year and has gone on leave, might be considered for the post of Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund. However, since there are two other contenders, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will take a call once the time comes. On its part, the PMO wants to send a Foreign Service officer to the post.
Meanwhile, a race is on for the post of Union Health Secretary among three officers – Deepak Gupta (1974, Jharkhand cadre), S Jalaja (1974, Bihar cadre) and Sujatha Rao (1974, Andhra Pradesh cadre). The last is the daughter of former Union Minister KL Rao, who had mooted the idea of interlinking the rivers of the country.
With Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad known to encourage efficient women officers, and with swine flu in the headlines, she might well become the top civil servant in the Health Ministry. The ministry is not new to her as she has done an extended stint there before.
Unequal work in UP
The politicization of the UP bureaucracy hits one in the face. Departments like General Administration, National Integration, Programme Implementation and Language have an army of officers virtually without work. General Administration has only one section, but the department has a Principal Secretary, two Secretaries and two Special Secretaries. On an average, one or two files come to their desks in a week.
Now, if anyone thinks the UP government is overstaffed, they are wrong. Look at Vijay Shankar Pandey, who is Additional Cabinet Secretary, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, and Principal Secretary, Information Department. Shailesh Krishna is Principal Secretary to CM, apart from being in charge of Disabled Welfare. Nat Ram, another PS to CM, also has charge of Excise, Sugar Industries and Sugar Development. Kamran Rizwi is Secretary to CM and also in charge of Higher Education and Secretariat Administration.
Navneet Sahgal is Secretary to CM while heading more than half a dozen departments. JN Chamber is Principal Secretary, Small Scale Industries and also looks after Programme Implementation, Textiles and Planning. Pankaj Agrawal has dual charge of transport and the UP SRTC. Awanish Awasthi is Secretary, Tourism and MD, Tourism Development Corporation, and manages Language and Culture.
The list can go on but the point is made.
Dr Singh’s bid to heal the plague
The long process of consultation is the disease that afflicts bureaucratic work. The doctor in the PMO, Dr Singh, wants to treat the disease. So a super group under Principal Secretary TKA Kutty Nair has been brought into the PMO. Amitabh Kant, the IPS officer of the 1980 Kerala batch and the man behind the “Incredible India” campaign that rejuvenated the tourism industry, has also been roped in.
The group will minimize the time spent on consultation regarding important developmental projects. Manmohan Singh is dissatisfied with the speed of developmental work. Apart from delay due to consultation, the implementation process gets mired in procedural obstacles. Only time will tell if Dr Singh’s prescription will work.
