Big brother is watching

When Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister, bureaucrats were overjoyed. There was a visible loss in the popularity of the elected public representatives. In fact, department secretaries of different ministries started superseding the ministers and directly submitted their report to the PMO. But now the things seem to have changed. The Prime Minister reportedly now feels that civil servants are tipping off the government’s plans and schemes to journalists. A few days ago, when a new secretary took charge of an important ministry, as many as four journalists visited him in his office. The secretary informed the journos about government initiatives, drafting important points of the new policy, etc. Even before these journalists could step out the secretary’s office, the latter received a call from an important official from the PMO. According to sources, the PMO official informed the secretary that he is not a minister and it is not his job to talk to journalists; he should rather concentrate on his work. In the next few days, another secretary was invited by a news channel to speak on policy issues. He too received a phone call. The secretary replied that he was going to the Conclave to propagate the achievements of the government. He was told that there are many other people to speak about the government’s achievements; he should rather concentrate on his own work. The hum in the corridors of power is that the civil servants are now being closely monitored by the government’s secret agencies.