Sh. Sanjiv Chaturvedi- the whistleblower

A very recent news item about him in Times of India contained following:

'Twelve transfers in five years, an illegal suspension order, a fabricated chargesheet, denial of promotion and a spoiled annual confidential report (ACR). That's what forest service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi was awarded by the Haryana government. His 'crime'? He unearthed a multi-crore scam involving senior officials, implemented the Supreme Court's orders preventing a wildlife sanctuary from being destroyed and stopped government money from being spent on private lands of politically influential people.

For three years, the Prime Minister's Office, state information commission, environment ministry, Central Administrative Tribunal and cabinet secretariat tried to stop the relentless harassment of the young officer, but Haryana chief minister B S Hooda's office paid no heed. Ministers, officials in the CM's office and senior bureaucrats continued to hound Chaturvedi at every possible chance...'

It is the last para which should be ringing alarm bells in the ears of those at the helm of affairs in the Govt, if there is one in India today, and the media, if there is a responsible one in India today. What were they doing when a young officer daring to be professionally correct was being harassed and hounded during best period of his life; while his colleagues, keeping their political bosses happy at the cost of public whose servants they are supposed to be, were being rewarded with choice postings and promotions? With this example before them, what line does society expect the budding young officers to adopt? But the real alarm lies in the reported fact that despite best efforts of none less than the PMO and the concerned Ministry, his harassment continued for years. That tells what the PMO and the Ministry are worth and what their efforts were worth. How many times can one say 'shame' to those very people?

It does not give me any pleasure in the fact that this news item again confirms what I have been posting in my blog all along.

We, the half-hearted warriors

Excerpts from an article by Mr Rajinder Puri published in 'The Statesman' yesterday.

'......In the natural course, such silent cross-party collusions would have resulted in major political realignment across the political spectrum. But that is unlikely to happen. Indians are half-hearted warriors who fight only with half-measures. They are always willing to wound but afraid to strike. Political realignment seems out, more chaos seems in.'

The two italicized sentences above interested me a lot. How true! Most of our evils do flow from these so well defined characteristics.

Year 2010 and a Happy new year

As I start writing this, the year 2010 is just ending. A bad year? A year of scams and scams? No, a wonderful year when the scams which had been brewing since years ago surfaced so that people of India could know how deep and widespread the muck was. Courtesy RTI Act? Could be. Let us hope the necessary cleansing takes place in the new year that has ushered in (by this moment). Wishing all non-existent (and existent if any) readers of my blog a very happy new year!

M for Mamata, M for Metro Rail

Today I learn from newspaper advertisements that Metro Rail will be getting status of a Railway zone. When I was working in Metro Rail, I realized, and all my colleagues agreed, that interests of Metro Rail and Indian Railways would have been served much better had Metro Rail been a division or a sub-division in Eastern Railway. Today's development shows that our momentous decisions and actions are not driven by common sense or common prudence but considerations of self-interest. One could argue that to be driven by self interest is also common prudence. But I hold that to be driven by larger interest is better prudence, as self-interest also gets better served (though we don't realize it). Self-interest is nothing but a subset of larger interest.

The event is also a strong statement that the top bureaucracy, at least in Indian Railways, does not have backbone any more. And why should they have when they know that their very existence as it is, depends on the whims of one individual i.e. the Hon'ble Minister for Railways? Survival must come first. Problem doesn't lie with them but the system that turns men into moles.

If we look back, we find that most of our political decisions are governed by same approach or thinking that has been governing Ms Mamata Banerjee since she took over as Railway Minister. Indian Railways have become Bengal Railways at the cost of the organization. Those in the organization know it but are either not bothered or feel helpless. I know morale of officers is at its all time low, with proximity to Ms Banerjee or her coterie deciding most of top level postings and her whims reigning supreme. An example of how a great political leader, and a greater individual could be a disastrous administrator when keeping counsel of only self-serving sycophants. Driving force~ whether larger interest or parochial thinking~ will distinguish between a Statesman and a neta. Alas! no statesman is around.

Nothing is new under the sun

Every individual is unique, no doubt. At times we also feel doing great and unprecedented things. But hard fact remains - nothing is new under the sun. We just survive in our own way.

Binayak Sen

CWG was a massive scandal- as considered by media and public. CAG report on 2G spectrum allocation, a Rs. 176000 crore perceived loss to public exchequer, made CWG scam look insignificant in monetary terms, though its political significance on account of personal involvement of a seasoned MP continues. Now comes life sentence to Dr. Binayak Sen. This issue doesn't involve any monetary loss while compared with scandal after scandal involving thousands of crores of rupees of public money. But is it not the greatest scandal of all? A well meaning person~ his ideologies may be debatable~ is sentenced for life for sedition on some flimsy evidence, as one learns from media reports and human right activists protesting over the Globe. People say he is free to appeal to higher court and this is not the end. Yes, but why should such absurd miscarriage of justice take place in the first place? Why should he and his family suffer and be miserable till justice is done. No one knows how many years it will take, given our judicial system. We take pride in being a free democracy and here is a soul, being tortured for doing what it thought good for the masses, for the people. Because he dared to raise voice against establishment for its wrong doings. Whom do we deceive saying we are free? We are worse off than in colonial times because now the feudal forces rule in garb, the garb of democracy.

By above I don't mean to sympathize with the Maoists. I condemn, and can't condone violence. But I am not able to understand how could Dr. Binayak Sen be so dangerous or unlawful in his acts as to deserve life imprisonment while perpetrators of such massive scams as referred above not only roam free but rule. Was he in any way instrumental in killing of innocent people? It is an open secret that the State allowed Anderson, the man responsible for killing and maiming thousands of countrymen, a safe passage. Might remains right whether it was English rule or 60 years after independence. Then we got trampled upon expecting so, now we get same or worse treatment, not expecting. May not be wrong to say that we are more a colony now than we were before independence. We, as a nation, are burying ourselves into a deeper hole on daily basis. It is our innate goodness as individuals that is still keeping us afloat.

India- A free State

Who said India was a failed state? Did I? I must have taken free for failed. Today it is a free state for sure. Free for all. A Minister is clearly implicated in a multi-thousand crore rupees scam and his party comes out openly in his support. Prices of everything keep on spiraling freely. Media feels free in making noises as they like, side tracking or dumping the issues altogether again as they like. The corporates are free to act through Radias. Radias are free to act through top journalists who in turn are free to access and influence the government.

The opposition feels free to raise hell on issue of corruption by the ruling alliance but will allow its own tainted chief minister to continue. The ruling alliance of course is free in allowing or having allowed scam after scam, each bigger than the previous one, to brew and then not be sorry either when the scams surface. They are free to imply that loot became their right as soon as they came to power. They are free to go on repeating false promises. They are free to always talk about welfare of common man and do everything to screw him. Good men are free not to do anything, bad men are free to do whatever they like. The top functionaries are free to be epitomes of incompetence and corruption. The common man is free to find ways and means of his very survival. India is a truly great free country. Even whistle-blowers like me are free to blow the whistle and then get screwed by very those for whose benefit they blew the whistle.