When babus decide to take on politicians, they mean business! Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang learned this the hard way. He had to quit the post for angering a 1979-batch Indian Forest Service officer of the AGMUT cadre. After the elections on October 7, 2004, the Congress came to power in the state by winning 34 of the 60 Assembly seats.
Apang became Chief Minister and all was smooth sailing for nearly two years. Then he made the mistake of recalling the Resident Commissioner of Delhi’s Arunachal Bhawan,Avinash Mishra, to Itanagar. On return, the officer was relieved of the state posting and asked to report back to his cadre ministry in Delhi – the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Mishra approached Dorjee Khandu, the Minister for Power in the Apang Cabinet, and convinced him that he could topple Apang. Khandu, a former employee of the Indian Army Intelligence Core and a recipient of the gold medal for meritorious intelligence services during the Bangladesh war, launched “Operation Oust Apang”.
Dissidence was engineered among Congress MLAs and 25 of them demanded Apang’s ouster in
March 2007.After a fortnight of political drama, the Congress high command crowned Khandu as the fifth Chief Minister of the state on April 9, 2007. Mishra, who had stayed on in Itanagar, then got his reward from the new CM and returned to Delhi as the Resident Commissioner of Arunachal Bhawan.
Narayana swamy: tyrannical boss
The style of functioning of Delhi Chief Secretary Ramesh Narayanaswamy is marked by two characteristics that have displeased the civil servants working with him no end. He has lately started to distrust them. Be it an issue of governance, soliciting advice or choosing an officer to accompany him on tour, his choice is invariably a non-IAS officer. Rajbeer Singh, a section officer in the Secretariat, has earned the reputation of being Narayanaswamy’s alter ego.
This jigri dosti is brewing discontent among the civil servants who are being forced to play second fiddle to a section officer. On the other hand, the power brokers are happy as Rajbeer is more accessible.
To add salt to the wound, Narayanaswamy also speaks rudely to the officers. Even during formal meetings, he gives each bureaucrat a dressing down. Until recently, the hapless officers had no choice but to swallow the insult.
Last month Narayanaswamy called a meeting of all the bureaucrats and was surprisingly unlike his usual self. He remained courteous throughout the two-hour meeting. When it ended, everyone wondered what was behind the boss’ new avatar. And then, one of the more practical officers exclaimed, “Eureka! Didn’t you notice the unusual presence of a non-gazetted lady staffer—a favourite of his?” So now, whenever the Chief Secretary convenes meetings, the bureaucrats ensure that the lady also joins them.
MP-cadre officers rock in UPA govt
Halcyon days are here for Madhya Pradesh cadre bureaucrats in the UPA government! Three important Union Ministers from Madhya Pradesh, Arjun Singh, Suresh Pachauri and Kamal Nath, are politically poles apart yet always united when it comes to promoting the interests of any officer from their home state.
Among such officers, Sudip Banerjee, an old IAS favourite of Singh’s, became Chancellor of the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) after retirement from the HRD Ministry. He continues to work as an adviser to the ministry. Never mind that this has rendered the new Secretary, RP Agarwal, a 1972-batch IAS officer, ineffective.
BS Baswan of the MP cadre was made a senior consultant to the Planning Commission after his retirement as Secretary from the HRD Ministry. However, sources say he is finding it tough to continue there under the shadow of one of the non-IAS members of the Commission so Singh is trying to send him to the Indian Institute of Public Administration. If this happens, Baswan will enjoy another five-year term.
Another IAS officer from MP, LK Joshi, who retired from Department of Personnel and Training under Pachauri’s Ministry of Personnel, has found a berth in CAT. And Pachauri readily clears CAT files! The ministerial trio will do the same for a non-MP officer only if he has earlier worked with any one of them. Champak Chatterjee of the West Bengal cadre falls in this category.
Chatterjee is Secretary, Higher Education in Singh’s ministry and has got an appointment as Member, CAT.
