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SPECIAL ISSUE HAPPENING HARYANA

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April 5, 2016 `


VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

FIRST STIRRINGS
JUSTICE VIKAS
SIRPURKAR

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MAKE IN INDIA DEFENCE

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From the Editor

vol. 10, ISSUE 1 | APRIL 2016


Anil Tyagi | editor
TR Ramachandran | executive editor
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GS Sood | consulting business editor
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NE fine day, the top brass of the Ministry of Defence went to meet
PV Narasimha Rao, the then Prime Minister of India, regarding the procurement of weapons for India. Rao asked the officials, Is there any war
imminent in the near future with any neighbour or an unseen enemy? There was
no answer from the officials. Rao replied, So, why is there such a hurry to buy
weapons. The officials were dumbfounded at the mindset of a Prime Minister,
who thought that weapons should be procured only if there is a threat of war or
possible escalation of war. This, even as the 13-lakh-strong manpower of the
Indian defence forces were clamouring for the modernisation of the forces.
Global experts are aghast and pointing out that despite ranking No. 4 among the
forces of the world, India is lagging behind as a modern force by almost 25 years.
The Indian defence forces recently witnessed the seven-and-a-half-year regime
of the self-claimed honest Defence Minister AK Antony, wherein nothing moved.
Defence procurement is a critical area as public money is spent on the security and safety of India. The history of Indian arms procurement can be roughly
divided into four phases: (a) from independence in 1947 till the mid-1960s; (b)
from the mid-1960s, that is, after the 1962 Sino-Indian and 1965 IndiaPakistan
conflicts, till the mid-1980s; (c) from the mid-1980s to 1996; and (d) 1996 to
the present day. The first phase was characterised by off-the-shelf procurement
through imports, predominantly from France and the UK. During the second
phase, efforts were made to build up domestic defence production, mostly
through assembly under licence from the Soviet Union and the UK. The controversial phase started with large purchases by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhis
Government (198489), while gradual improvements were made in research
and development (R&D) and systems integration for in-country assembly of
weapons. The current dispensation is working with a policy of Make in India
and the new procurement policy revolves around this dictum. gfiles cover story
on the new Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) by the NDA regime indicates
a major shift. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has stressed that the new
policy will ensure that the modernisation of the defence forces remains unaffectedand least due to procedural intricacies. Every word (of the DPP) had
become a gate to stall projects during the previous government, he alleged. K
Subramanian writes, The new DPP gives preference to the private sector and
most importantly, gives preference to equipment designed and developed in
India as against just manufacturing in India. Designing and developing in India
would in large measure deal with the issues of absorption of technology and
intellectual property rights as well. Excluding the defence pensions, an amount
of `258,589 crore has been allocated for defence in the Budget this year. Apart
from this, `78,586 crore has been allocated for capital expenditure of the defence
services. This makes India the biggest arms importer in the world. It appears the
new DPP should be galvanised by the Make in India policy in such a way that not
only are the defence forces modernised, a new sector for job creation is created
so that in future, 1.7 per cent of GDP expenditure on defence can be optimised.
If this happens, it would really make the Indian Army competitive, at least in Asia.
Nothing would be better for the nation. Let us wait and watch.
ANIL TYAGI

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editor@gfilesindia.com

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

CONTENTS

LETTERS
editor@gfilesindia.com

05 Bric-a-Brac

parrikar prevails, builders in haryana,


sibal denied, wakf in sights

government banks. The RBI has given a


deadline of March 2017 for all banks to
clean up their balance sheets, which
also requires these lenders to set aside a
huge chunk of capital in the form of
provisions. It remains to be seen how
much is achieved and what is the level
of clean-up.
Alok M via blog

Cover Story
08 what is stopping defence
production at home?

Security
16 re-assessing the terrorism threat
State Scan
20 madhya pradesh: mohanty in the

limelight

First Stirrings
24 meeting up with justice vikas
shridhar sirpurkar

Silly Point
28 more on intolerance
34 Book Review

the power of judgments

35 Special

happening haryana: investment record

47 Perspective

the right alignment

50 Stock Doctor

take a long-term view

57 By the Way

kejriwals search, nhai posts, bulletproof conundrum, more than just


a posting

Bad loan saga


The article on banks and the extent of
non-performing assets (NonPerforming Assets: Bankers heist?
gfiles, March 2016) was an eye-opener,
to say the least. I wholeheartedly agree
with the writer that there is a distinct
difference in how the banks come
down heavily on small borrowers
and how they treat the big defaulters
with kid gloves. Though the Finance
Minister has reportedly set aside
`70, 000 crore this year to service
corporate NPAs, it is not known how
much of these big guns dues fall in
that category. The health of the
banking sector is itself being called
into question. And why not? At the
core of any banking institution is the
management of its assets in a prudent
and profitable manner.
Shyam Lal via blog
It wouldnt be an exaggeration to say
that state-run banks are on the verge of
a crisis due to their high NPAs, which
constitute over 90 per cent of the total
bad loans of the industry. Investors are
dumping shares of these banks while
there is a sense of uncertainty
prevailing over the extent of troubles in
the banking sector. Nine out of 10 most
stressed banks in the sector are

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

The bad loan saga has crippled the


banking sector. International experience
shows that when the bad loan
recognitions are postponed banks lose
their ability to fund an economic
revivalas is happened in Japan with
zombies after the 1989 crash. And the
other case is Sweden, or the US where
asset values are written down, new
buyers found, and additional capital is
invested. Furthermore, if banks are laden
with bad assets, their ability to lend is
crippled as they focus on recovery of
loans and some even gamble to
compensate for the losses. Who will pay
in the end?
R Shah via email

Power shift
Over the last four decades or so
a major power shift has indeed taken
place away from the legislature and
the executive to the judiciary and the
media (Testing times, gfiles, March
2016). The legislature has today been
reduced merely to a technicality to pass
Budgets and Bills, mostly without any
debate. As a result, the politician and
the bureaucrat have both been reduced
almost to non-entities. The judiciary
and the media have assumed ever
largereven overarchingrole in our
public life. This trend has been abetted
by judicial activism and trials by the
media. The country needs to introspect
on whether this is harmful for our
democracy and intervene before things
spiral out of control.
BC Sharma via email

www.gfilesindia.com

Bric-a-brac
fun & games

Parrikar kills the rumour


arms lobby penetrates rss, but to no avail

EFENCE Ministry has always been important for


those
who
h
h are connected
d with
i h arms production
d i and
d
supplies across the globe. The Defence Minister of
India is not only pressured by arms dealers and lobbyists,
but also by his own party leadership. Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar is no exception. The stakes are very
high as India is on an arms-buying spree worth billions
of dollars. One was, however, aghast to learn that arms
lobbyists seem to have penetrated the RSS too. The
rumour that Parrikar was on his way out was spread by a

top RSS leader. Newsmen got


active as there was no such
indication from the Prime
Ministers Office.
Reporters strived to find
out the truth in this.
Parrikar is a
no-nonsense leader
who has been
taking every
step
shrewdly.
The beat reporters found out that a
particular arms lobby has
penetrated the RSS and is seeking
Parrikars shift from the Ministry.
The news reached Parrikar also; he
invited some important journalists and briefed them
candidly. He said that he did not want to come to Delhi
and join the Ministry, and now that he has joined as
Minister, he is not intending to go. He said, No one can
remove me except the Prime Minister. I am sure that
Nagpur (headquarters of RSS) also likes me. I am here to
stay and complete the agenda of the Ministry. The
rumour was then given a quiet burial.

Catch-22 in Haryana
manohar lal vs builders

HE Haryana builder lobby and its facilitators are a worried


lot. They are unable to figure out how to deal with Chief
Minister Manohar Lal. Leading colonisers and builders
Minister s Office many times for
have approached the Chief Ministers
increasing the FAR (Floor Area
ea Ratio)
and change of land use (CLU)
U)
permissions over the last two
o
years. The Chief Minister
listens to them patiently butt
reportedly does not intend
to move in that direction.
Surprisingly, one of the top
industrialists of the country
pleaded with Manohar Lal
to streamline his SEZ projectt so
000
that he is able to bring `70,000
crore investment into

www.indianbuzz.com

the state. Representatives of the top industrialist have visited


the Chief Ministers Office many times but nothing is moving.
Manohar Lal is facing a tricky situation as his predecessor,
Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had envisaged
the Master Plan of major towns till
2030. The property business is in a
recession and an increase in FAR and
CLU permissions can prove
to be a respite for the
colonisers, but Manohar
Lal is in no mood to oblige,
especially as most of the
builders are known to be
close to Hooda. Any action
would mean indirectly
benefitting Hooda. It is a
Catch-22 situation, indeed.

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

INSIDE EYE

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

The curious case of Sibal


rs nomination sparks
arks congress squabble

APIL Sibal has been


en trying hard to enter
the Rajya Sabha for
or the past two months
but has not been able to make any
head way. It is learnt that
hat he first tried in
Himachal Pradesh, but a very powerful and
resourceful mass leader
r of the Congress
party, Anand Sharma, grabbed the
opportunity. This is irrespective
espective of
Sharmas dislike for Chief
ief Minister
Virbhadra Singh and despite
espite Sibal
fighting all of Singhs tricky
ricky cases in
the courts. Party sources
es revealed that
Sibal then tried from Punjab,
unjab, but Capt.
Amrinder Singh opposed
ed the
move. Finally, he managed
aged
to enter from Uttarakhand.
and.
But, before the move
could materialise, the
government of Harish
Rawat fell. Why did

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

the Congress MLAs rebel against Rawat? There


was no apparent reason for any annoyance.
Sources reveal that the disagreement basically
started on the nomination of Sibal for the Rajya
Sabha seat. The leaders of Uttarakhand opposed the
move to nominate an outsider for the Upper House.
But, as a 10 Janpath loyalist, Rawat was ready to
pitch for Sibal. Vijay Bahuguna, the former Chief
Minister, had another plan: He wanted his son,
Saket, or one of his loyalists to be nominated
for the Rajya Sabha. But, this was acceptable
neither to the High Command nor to
Rawat. So Bahuguna and his loyalists
taught a lesson to those in the Congress
who wanted to run the state from
Delhi by toppling the already
fractured government. It
just needed a small push
and Rawat was off
the throne.

www.gfilesindia.com

Bric-a-brac
fun & games

Targetting the Wakf


gameplan to build perceptions

HE leadership of Wakf Boards across the


country is a worried lot. The ruling NDA
government has drawn up a long-term plan
an
to cleanse the Congress-dominated and nominated
nated
Wakf Boards. As per intelligence sources, the
government has the feedback that these Wakf
Boards are allegedly breeding nefarious activities
ties in
India. Sources, however, disclosed that the NDA
DA
government is being cautious about launching
g an
all-out onslaught and has instead sought to build
uild
the groundwork first. A conference of Sufi scholars
olars
from about 20 countries was organised under the
aegis of The World Sufi Forum in Delhi in March
rch
by top Muslim clerics. All the top Sufi leaders
reassured Modi that they want to make India,
which has a 170 million strong Muslim
community, a hub of moderate Islam. Before this
conference, an anti-terrorism Sunni conference
ce
organised by the All India Tanzeem Ulama-eIslam, was held in February, which spewed venom
nom against
the Wahabi ideology and cautioned the community
unity against
the radicalisation being funded by Saudi and Qatar petro
dollars. The gathering of Barelvi Sufi clerics sought
government action to contain the followers of the Wahabi
sect in Waqf Boards, among other things. But who was
behind the planning and execution of these two conferences?
None other than National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, a

www.indianbuzz.com

former IPS officer of the Kerala cadre. Doval understands


the Muslim psyche and the dynamics of the Arab world. The
idea is to isolate all divisive Muslim leaders, who are proxies
of one party or the other, and control religious outfits. Watch
for the next moves.

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

COVER STORY
defence policy

The fear of
taking
decisions
The Make in India in defence still remains a
dream in-spite of the opening of the sector. The
inertia of the past might have something to do with
this curious resistance
by MK SHUKLA

FTER coming to power in


May 2014 with the countrys
biggest election mandate in
30 years, Prime Minister Narendra
Damodardas Modi unveiled his
Make in India campaign to boost
manufacturing to 25 per cent of gross

domestic product by 2022, up from 18


per cent in 2014-15. The cornerstone
of the policy has been attracting
companies to set up factories in India
for manufacturing.
But the progress in the defence
sectors Make in India programme has
been slow and tenuous. No decision
has yet been taken on the new defence

Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Arun
Jaitley at the Make in India exhibition in Mumbai

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

procurement policy despite an


expert committee having submitted
a comprehensive report five months
ago. Consider this: The report of an
official panel to select private sector
players, who may be accorded strategic
partner status for major military
manufacturing projects, has been put
on hold.
Why? Because various stakeholders, including government departments and services, at a meeting held
in March under Defence Secretary G
Mohan Kumar, objected to the Atre
Committees recommendation on the
ground that the process may lead to
monopolisation and so needs more
deliberation and consultation. The
Atre Committee is said to have picked
up five select areas for the Make in
India programme in defence.
SP Model
While the meeting agreed to the
larger concept of a strategic partnership (SP) model to identify and

www.gfilesindia.com

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Make in India exhibition in Mumbai, where a number of defence companies took part

encourage private sector players to


manufacture hardware, the details of
the reportincluding the suggestion
that only one company be selected
for a particular segment like warship
production or submarine constructioncouldnt muster the support of
one and all.
Also, perceptions differed on the
Atre Committees recommendation
regarding freeing defence manufacturing from the Competition
Act, 2002. The Navy has reportedly
pitched for selection of more than
one private company per segment.
The Air Force is said to have favoured
more consultation on the model.

EVERAL more meetings may be


expected in view of the objections
raised and it is probable that a
clear picture might emerge only after
the government processes the defence
procurement procedure (DPP) 2015,
and takes a final call.

www.indianbuzz.com

Procurement remains stalled


Procurement of defence hardware,
particularly fighter aircraft from
foreign vendors, is also stalled for
one reason or another. Of course,
acquisition of hardware is not an
easy process because of complicated
global defence trade politics involved
in each and every deal. But South
Block seems to be breaking even the
record of previous Defence Minister
AK Antony in deciding issues. Take

The progress in the defence


sectors Make in India
programme has been slow
and tenuous. No decision
has yet been taken on the
new defence procurement
policy despite an expert
committee having
submitted a comprehensive
report five months ago

the case of Rafales acquisition.


Despite the agreement at the highest
level between Prime Minister Modi
and President Francois Hollande, the
purchase agreement is nowhere near
being clinched. Thats because there
is divergence of views between New
Delhi and Paris over the price, scope
of enforceable guarantees regarding
the fighters delivery, performance
and availability. Having done a wide
array of deals with the French in the
past, much of the concerns of Indian
officials are said to be legitimate. But
French negotiators are worried that
the delay may lead to cancellation of
the deal itself. This worry is heightened
by the renewed push of Lockheed
Martin to sell its F-16 fighter jets
as well as of Swedish Saab to sell its
Gripen fighter planes.
Rafale vs F-16
A senior French official with access
to ongoing negotiations between

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

COVER STORY
defence policy

New Delhi and Paris for 36 Rafale


fighters, told a business newspaper
on condition of anonymity: If some
people in the MoD do not want to allow
the Rafale deal to go through, so be it.
We are currently building it for Egypt
and Qatar, and we could have another
customer in Malaysia.

T the back of this desperate


remark is Frances irritation at
repeated Lockheed offers to set
up an assembly line in India to build
its F-16 Super Viper. The French
official is also quoted as having
taunted: If you dont want the Rafale,
go ahead and build the F-16 here. You
can build it in India and supply it to
Pakistan also.
Reminded that France too was
supplying submarines to both India

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with French President Francois Hollande

Light at the end of the tunnel


The $700 million deal with BAE for M777 guns might be
the first Make in India defence programme
by MK SHUKLA

HE only successful defence Make in India story may


be the likely conclusion of the long-pending $700
million deal to purchase 145 M777 155mm 39 calibre
towed guns. gfiles has learnt that negotiations between
Indian and US governments are in the final stage and the
contract may be signed by the middle of 2016. Following
the formalities, it was cleared in May 2015, having been
scuttled for three-four years.
The quality of the gun and the arrangements made for
indigenising its several critical components have encouraged the MoD to think in terms of placing another multimillion dollar order with BAE Systems for purchasing an
additional 500 of these guns, according to sources.
About 40 Indian defence companies stand to gain
with the M777 offset programme, focussed on localised
defence production, which will be worth 30 per cent of

10

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

the agreed value of the contract. BAE Systems is said to


have been preparing a wide-ranging offset package. We
have an ongoing conversation with Indian companies,
said a BAE spokesperson, adding: As part of the offset
programme, we have included a range of suppliers.
Stating that the company was asked to submit an
offset plan which has references to who BAE will partner
with, the company said it is working on bringing several
Indian partners on board to support its anticipated
contract for the M777 artillery guns.
Among the big domestic names that BAE Systems
negotiated with are L&T, Punj Lloyd, Ordnance Factory
Board, Tata Power, Kalyani Group, Mahindra Group and
others before picking up Mahindra as a strategic partner
for the deal. It is also said to be focusing on State-owned
defence public sector undertakings and medium, small,
and micro enterprises in the defence arena for producing
original equipment for the guns.

www.gfilesindia.com

and Pakistan (DCNS is building


six Scorpene submarines with
Mazagon Dock, after earlier selling
Pakistan three advanced Agosta-90B
submarines with air independent
propulsion), he retorted, That
is different. Pakistan is getting a
different submarine from what we are
providing to India.
On New Delhis demands for sovereign guarantees from the French
government, or a bank guarantee
from Dassault, to cover the possibility of delivery or performance shortfalls, the official declared that the
two countries would soon sign an
inter-governmental agreement (IGA),
which would function as a sovereign
guarantee. The French government
is standing behind the sale. Surely,
India is not asking for a bank guaran-

Even as France tries to


sweeten the Rafale deal,
the scaling down of
Indias order for this jet
from 126 to a measly 36
has opened up a distinct
possibility for entry of
Lockheed and Saab
to get a slice of orders
from the IAF
tee when it has the word of the French
government? asked the official.
When it was pointed out that the
IGA would only outline a supply agreement in broad terms, without detailed
binding clauses and penalties, the
official responded that the IGA was

a strategic agreement between Paris


and New Delhi, and that a phrase
here or a sentence there would make
no difference.
In 1917, when the US abandoned
its isolationism and sent a division of
troops to France to fight in World War
I, it was not because there was some
document with a clause that required
them to fight. It was because of a
common strategic aim. New Delhi and
Paris must have a common strategic
aim on the Rafale, the business
daily quoted the French source as
having remarked.
Armed forces under stress
Even as France tries to sweeten
the Rafale deal, the scaling down of
Indias order for this jet from 126 to
a measly 36 has opened up a distinct

BAE Systems has publicly promised to transfer technology to Indian partners and help them in capability building and improving technical skills, along with integration. Sources indicate that the proposed deal is expected
to enable BAE Systems to make a long-term investment in
India, apart from its $200-million offset investment. The
company has also promised to shift some of its existing
units from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, US, to India and use
them for meeting its global orders.
The tie-up with Mahindra and other Indian partners is
set to help the company develop an Indian supply chain
that could be used for the British multinationals air, land
and sea programmes. The Mahindra deal will also begin
the process of indigenous manufacture of modern artillery in India. The Indian Army has a huge requirement
for modern land systems, both weapons and vehicles,
and we are well positioned to help India fulfil that, John
Brosnan, Managing Director (South-East Asia and India),
BAE Systems, recently stated in an interview.
Joe Senftle, VP and General Manager, Weapon Systems,
BAE Systems Inc, noted in a statement in February: The
facility is a fundamental part of the M777 production
line We will continue to support the two governments
to progress to contract agreement, so that we may begin
the process of Make in India for M777.

www.indianbuzz.com

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

11

COVER STORY
defence policy

possibility for entry of Lockheed and


Saab to get a slice of orders from
the IAF. Thats because the Modi
administration, carrying as it does
the burden of past indifference in
procurement of defence hardware, is
in dire need of modernising Indias
air force, half of whose fleet of 650
planes are said to be more than four
decades old. Some of the planes are
nicknamed flying coffins. Since the
PM has promised
d to
t turn
tur
urn
n India
Indi
In
dia from
the worlds biggest
st weapons importer
into a global hub
b for defence manufacturing, his negotiators
gotiators are equally
under pressure. But they are losing
precious time in
n leveraging Indias
procurement power
ower to turn India
into a global hub
b of production centre for modern armaments.
rmaments. Of course,
they dont have much experience in
this new leveraging
aging
business and hence
ence
they are consuming
uming
time. One has to
o
recognise
thatt
such long-drawnwnout processes may not only impact
defence preparedness
redness which is
already under heavy
eavy stress, but may
also jeopardise the plan to increase
defence exports over 20 times to $3-4
billion in a decade
de from the current
level of about $150
150 million.
million Indias
arms exports are a fraction of the $64
billion in worldwide defence trade,
while its imports exceeded $5 billion
in FY15.
Viper slithers its way
Immediately after it became clear
last year that India might not buy
as many as 126 Rafales, Lockheed
started approaching authorities in
New Delhi for a chance to participate in the IAFs fleet modernisation
programme. Its Chairman, President
and Chief Executive Officer, Marillyn
Hewson, personally made the offer to

12

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

PM Modi in September last year. She


was again scheduled to meet the PM
in March but the meeting was called
off at the last moment for political
reasons. According to Phil Shaw, CEO
of Lockheeds Indian unit, the US and
Indian governments are negotiating
the deal.
The US-Indian relationship has
been developing and could benefit
Lockheed, Jon Grevatt, Asia-Pacific
defence-industry analyst for IHS
Janes, told Bloomberg. But, he added,
I dont see it happening immediately.
This is still in very early stages.
India picked up Paris-based
Dassault Aviation SA in 2012 to build
126 warplanes at an estimated cost

anxious to know the IAFs needs in


terms of both number of planes and
their technical requirements. Until a
requirement is made clear in either a
tender or request for proposals, there
seems to be a lobbying process going
on, IHS Janes Grevatt said.
Shaw said Lockheed is in talks
with Indian companies, including
its existing Indian partner, the Tata
Group, to find a potential partner for
the fighter-jet programme if it wins
the contract.
However, the big question is
whether Lockheed would transfer

Rafale fighter

of about $11 billionat that time the


worlds biggest fighter-jet deal and
one in which Lockheed lost out. As
talks stalled over price and quality
guarantees, Modi flew to France last
April and sought to directly buy 36
fighter jets from the French government in a bid to speed things up.

UT in the corridors of the MoD,


the more you move things, the
more things remain the same.
In negotiations with Indian officials,
Lockheed has been trying to figure
out IAF requirements so that it could
make an offer. Randall Howard,
head of F-16 business development
at Lockheed, said in a February 2016
interview that the company was

F-16
technology
know-how and know-whyor
it would simply set up an assembly
line. According to industry sources, so
far no foreign defence vendor, except
Saab, has offered to share the full
range of its defence technology with
India. In an interview to Bloomberg,
L&Ts Group Executive chairman,
AM Naik, said, All the technology
tie-ups are now programme-oriented.
Though we have increased FDI limit
to 49 per cent in defence offset, I have
not seen anybody wanting to come.
Even if tomorrow you raise the FDI
limit to more than 50 per cent and
make a huge investment, they (foreign firms) will use Indian engineers
as they are using them now in outsourcing centresas a low-cost engineering centre. They do it already.
They have their own captive centre
with several thousand people who are

www.gfilesindia.com

F-16 fighter

working in Bengaluru, Hyderabad


and different parts of India. And they
source them. But they do not pass on
the technology to them.
Swedes step in
Saab AB seems to be the only
exception to the rule. Its India
chairman, Jan Widerstrom, during
the Make in India week in Mumbai in
February, publicly stated the Swedish
company was keen to manufacture
its Gripen fighter aircraft in India.
To meet the requirements to set up
operations for the next-generation
fighter, the company is looking at 100
per cent technology transfer to India,
and investment help from Indian
partners, he added.
Replying to a question, he said,
We are offering complete aerospace
capability, not just manufacturing
capability. We are willing to do a
copy-and-paste
Sweden
factory
here in India for the Gripen. We
are looking at setting up a complete
ecosystem here, which will provide
100 per cent benefit to India for the
next 100 years.
While bidding for the MMRCA
programme that resulted in the
selection of Rafale, Saab had offered

www.indianbuzz.com

60 per cent technology transfer. So,


he was asked how much he offered
this time. His reply was, We are
planning to put up an entire facility
here, right from research and
development, to production to final
testing. We are setting up everything
here, so basically everything will be
located in India, so it would be 100
per cent transfer. With typical Nordic
forthrightness, he clarified, For us,
it is a matter of time, for if we are to
supply our product here, we need to
be here. We need to be local. It is not
such a big thing, though, for we are
setting up a full aerospace capability.
It is a natural part of what we do, and
we are successful.
New bonhomie
Saabs move has the support of the
government in Stockholm. gfiles has
learnt that Swedish Prime Minister
Stefan Lofven spoke to PM Modi
during his visit to participate in the
Make in India week in February; and
the two PMs are said to have promised
each other to work on the issue.

OWEVER, to set up Gripens


entire ecosystem would require
huge investments. Saab representatives are said to be already
scouting for these and putting
forward proposals for not one or two
but several joint ventures to produce a
variety of original equipment domestically in India. We are looking at a
cluster with a number of different
partners and are also looking to develop tier-1, tier-2 and tier-3 suppliers,
Widerstrom said.
For security reasons, he was
unwilling to disclose where he would
set up the Gripen factory. However,
he indicated that they were looking
at a number of places in Karnataka,
Maharashtra,
Andhra
Pradesh,
Telangana and Gujarat... wherever we can get the best place. Due to
security reasons and the fact that we
are manufacturing military aircraft,
we have to listen to our customer,
the Indian Air Force. It is a sensitive,
secretive product that we are building, and we would not mind taking
the help of the IAF in identifying the
best place.
While the Make in India programme for fighter aircraft may take
longer to materialise because of the

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

13

COVER STORY
defence policy

Where to draw the line

The Make in India initiative is bold, but it still does not answer
how much technology can Indian firms absorb
by K SUBRAMANIAN

S Defence Secretary Ashton Carter will be meeting


his Indian counterpart, Defence Minister Manohar
Parrikar, in April in Goa. India wants the US to
clearly spell out the technologies that its companies can
share with India if they want a share of the multi-billion
dollar pie of the Make in India initiate in the defence
sector. Recently, a US delegation made a presentation to
the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on setting up a manufacturing line of F-16 and F-18 fighters in India.
On its part, the US wants India to sign what it calls
the foundational agreements LSA (Logistic Supply
Agreement) that will on reciprocal basis allow US
warships and fighters to use Indian facilities, the
CISMOA (Communication Interoperability and Security
Memorandum Agreement) and BECA (Basic Exchange
and Cooperation Agreement). The previous government
had resisted signing. Indias neutrality and relationship
with countries like Russia, it had reasoned, would be
affected. The NDA government, however, appears to be
ready for a rethink.
On the broader canvas, what do these developments
mean? Under the Modi governments initiative of Make
in India, the country is looking out for technology and
to turn India into a manufacturing hub for high-end
defence systems. For the US, which has shifted its focus
from the Gulf to Asia, the Indian Ocean Region, and specifically India, are critical for the rebalance. So far, the picture looks symbiotic and perfect. But the devil, as always,
lies in the detail. For instance, how much technology can
Indian firms absorb? The Off-Set policya crude version
of Make in Indiadid stipulate that foreign vendors
must source a certain amount from Indian manufacturers. In short, it forced foreign manufacturing giants to
share some technology with an Indian entity and manufacture it on Indian soil. The policy didnt work. Indian
manufacturing couldnt absorb the technology and also
there was reluctance to share critical technology. In all,
thousands of crores worth of Off-Set is still pending.
Taking this into account, the Modi government has
tried to walk a different route. The private sector was

14

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

asked to acquire the technology from the foreign vendor and produce in India. One of the many reasons why
the multi-billion dollar purchase of 126 fighters from
France fell through was because Hindustan Aeronautic
Ltd (HAL) needed more manhours to produce the Rafale
fighters than the French counterpart, pushing per unit
cost through the roof.
The Make in India initiative is bold, genuine and fresh,
but it still does not answer how much Indian industry
can absorb. However, one must accept that a beginning
has been made. In this regard, forcing the Indian Air
Force and HAL to sort out problems of the Light Combat
Aircraft (LCA)the first indigenously produced fighter
and induct it into the Indian Air Force is a step in the right
direction. Powerful lobbies had, till recently, ensured that
the Indian fighter stays out of favour.
The new Defence Procurement Policy (DPP) needs a
mention here. Breaking from the past, it gives preference to the private sector and most importantly, gives a
lot of weightage to equipment designed and developed
in India as against just manufactured in India.
Two things are required now to make this a success,
initiative from the private sector and openness from the
government to inform the entrepreneur about future
requirements. The latter is critical, because unless the
government sheds the veil of unnecessary secrecy on its
requirements, the private sector will have no clue to what
to design and develop.
Moving back to the old question: Should India cozyup with the US to achieve its national interest and,
more importantly, will the US help in that direction?
The reality has changed. Pakistan can no longer cater
to all US interests and the US wants to focus on China,
rather than Russia. India needs to ask, how much of its
long-term strategic goals or national interest is fulfilled
if the veil of neutrality is lifted. After all, the technology
to build a nuclear submarine or a BrahMos didnt come
from the US. And, finally, why should India be part of the
US plan to counter China? India gains more by increasing
trade with China. Shadow boxing with the Dragon on
behalf of the US may lead to encouraging soundbites in
Washington but will that serve Indias interests? g

www.gfilesindia.com

According to industry
sources, so far no foreign
defence vendor, except
Saab, has offered to share
the full range of its defence
technology with India.
Saab ABs India chairman,
Jan Widerstrom, has
publicly stated the Swedish
company was keen to
manufacture its Gripen
fighter aircraft in India

total lack of facilities and huge investments involved, it might already be


working in so far as the Navy is concerned. According to L&Ts Naik, If
you look at shipyards, where a lot of
investment is required, it is all done.
I think India has more than necessary
capability and capacity in the Navy
and its manufacturing. So, what you
need is technology, programme-byprogramme. And when the government really comes out with a policy of
Make in India, what you do is you tie
up with
h the best firms in the world you
want in
n that programme. You take an
example
of thee six
submarines,
arines, the
tenders
rs of which are
likely to be floated sometime before
efore June. What is happening now
ow is the qualification is going
on once
ce again. And, I would say, we
will bee selected in any case in terms
of qualified
alified companies. Maybe others too
o will get selected, but we will
be selected.
ected. Similarly, there are three
or fourr foreign companies which are
showing
ng a great deal of interest and
they are
re willing to tie up with Indian
companies.
anies. And, therefore, two or
three different companies will tie up
with two
wo or three different shipyards
if there
re is competitive bidding. So
where is technology? Technology is
coming with the programme. There is
no point of having technology if there
is no spend on it, or there is no programme for it.

is fair for everyone.


They point out that some
of these MII programmes are taking
a little longer and there are ways to
shorten the period. For example,
the gun contract was approved nine
months ago and is still taking a
year before it can be finalised in the
contract. Procurement policies and
procedures have to be such that it
can get done within three months
after the gun or any military
equipment is accepted.

Industry is hopeful
Despite the delay in the
formulation of the DPP 2016, there is
a sense of relief in industry over the
transparency of decision-making in
the Modi administration. Industry
representatives believe that the DPP
2015 is undergoing fine-tuning to
ensure that the final policy document

HERE there is a great deal of


pain in the private sector is the
foreign exchange variation,
which has been there for some years.
Industry has been tasking with the
government on this. If one imports any
defence equipment, one pays 100 per
cent in foreign exchange. So, one pays
at the rate at which the equipment

www.indianbuzz.com

will be finally shipped. The moment


it is given to the Indian private sector
and if one has 50 per cent import
of raw materials and other
components, something not made
in India initially, it is paid in rupees.
So, two years from now, when the
component comes, if the rupee is
at 67 or 68 to a dollar instead of 65
when the agreement was signed, the
company has to pay an extra `3 (for
the exchange rate variation). This
is a big
g difference. If it is the other
way round, industry representatives
say, they wont mind and reduce the
price. Industry is generally satisfied
with the MoDs promise to look into
this exchange rate variation issue.

Gripen
fighter

Clearly, the policy


ecosystem has to be
defogged. This involves
exorcising the ghost of Antony lurking in every nook and corner of the
MoD and discouraging officers from
doing anything on critical matters of
defence production and preparedness. The grand plan of Make in India
in defence may not speed up unless
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar
and the PM dont push for simplifying
arcane rules and regulations born out
of excessive fear and consequent distrust. They have to exhibit a sense of
urgency in pushing the Make in India
programme for the defence sector. g

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

15

SECURITY
global threat

India vs Pak binaries


The national discourse concerning terrorism is still glued to the age-old threat
from Pakistan. There is a need to re-evaluate terrorism and terrorism studies in
India, keeping in view the rise of global forces like the ISIS
by AKANKSHA NARAIN

The problem

in
promoting
State-sponsored
terrorismbut to highlight that the
problem of terrorism is far graver and
complex than reasons explained by
State-State rivalry.
If one were to look at the emergence
of new factions within the South Asian
terrorist groups, given the intense
ideological differences, especially in
the Afghan and the Pakistan Taliban,
it is clear that there is no single overlord of these groups. Statements like
good Taliban, bad Taliban illustrate
clearly that not all terrorist organisations enjoy the Pakistani States
patronage and vice-versa. While it
is true that Pakistan has had a key
role in funding, training, arming and
harbouring a number of terrorist and
insurgent groups that have wreaked
havoc in Afghanistan, Kashmir and
Punjab, it will take us nowhere to lambast Pakistan now that Frankensteins
monster is beyond control. Pakistan
must be reprimanded and be held
responsible for its role in creating

First, in a vastly altered landscape


of terrorism, both globally and locally,
the Indian authorities and security
experts still seem to be tied down
in India vs Pakistan binaries. The
immediate reaction to any security
mishap within our sovereign borders
is to start pointing fingers at Pakistan.
This is not to deny the role of Pakistan
and Pakistani authorities in various
terrorist incidentsafter all, even
the CIA in its report recognised
the role played by our neighbours

If one were to look at the


emergence of new factions
within the South Asian
terrorist groups, given the
intense ideological
differences, especially in
the Afghan and the
Pakistan Taliban, it is clear
that there is no single
overlord of these groups

INCE 9/11, terrorism has captured global attention; however, India has been battling
the threat for a far greater period.
Unfortunately, the realm of terrorism
studies and subsequent policymaking
and implementation seems to be lacking a nuanced understanding of the
contemporary threat that our country faces today. It appears that the
national discourse concerning terrorism is still glued to the age-old threat
from Pakistan and is overwhelmed by
newer and emerging threats.
During the 2nd Counter Terrorism
Conference (CTC) in Jaipur, held over
February 2-3, 2016, discussions at the
sessions and between them brought
to the fore the problem that has been
afflicting Indias security apparatus
when it comes to the national
discourse concerning terrorism.

16

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

and arming the monster, but it does


not make for an effective strategy to
contain the monster.
Second, the competition generated between Al Qaeda (AQ) and the
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS),
including in the South Asian region,
further pushes the need to alter the
lens through which the Indian authorities have been evaluating terrorism.
Having been pushed out of the Iraq
and Al-Sham region as the primary
player by ISIS, Al Qaeda has been
desperate to establish its prominence
in other regions. Therefore, in the
September of 2014, Al Qaeda, under
the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri,
announced the formation of the Al
Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent
(AQIS) and introduced Asim Umar,
an Indian, as its emir. This resulted in
a competition of bayah (oath of allegiance) by already existing terrorist
groups in the subcontinent between
AQ and ISIS.
While it is hard to ascertain the
significance of AQIS in the region
though its affiliates continue to remain
activegiven that it has already been
more than a year since its inception
and it has been unable to successfully carry out any significant attack
in the region, the impact of ISIS has
reached Indian shores. In the run up
to this years Republic Day there were
numerous arrests that were made
across the country in connection with
possible ISIS sleeper cells, recruiters
and operatives.

www.gfilesindia.com

F CTC 2016 was any indication,


India, much like the rest of the
world, is overwhelmed by the rise
of the ISIS and by the role played by
its social media propaganda machinery. Unfortunately, the paranoia concerning ISIS social media presence
has turned a highly convoluted phenomenon into effective propaganda
by jihadists.

How is it different?
Changing terror landscape
and locale
Al Qaeda, the erstwhile face of
terrorism, employed the strategy
of localised terror in a globalised
world, i.e. it uses local issues and
grievances, such as the Palestine,

www.indianbuzz.com

Kashmir, Uighurs and Rohingya


issues, to motivate people to join AQ
and/or its affiliates in the region.
On the other hand, the ISIS, while it
continues to exploit local issues, has
amassed great swaths of territory and
is urging people to migrate (hijrah)
to the self-proclaimed Islamic
Caliphate. Furthermore, it attempts
to incite terror by making use of Lone
Wolf terrorists who sympathise with
their cause.
Thats not all! Before black flags
were reported in Kashmir, a number of Indians from the southern
parts of the country were found to
be either ISIS sympathisers or supporters. The @ShamiWitness Twitter
account was being run by Mehdi

Masroor Biswas, originally from West


Bengal, while working in Bengaluru.
In May 2015, intelligence agencies
dismantled an ISIS-linked five-man
unit in Karnataka and that provided
the Indian authorities with information on Indians who had joined the
terrorist organisation. According to
news in November last year, a report
by Indian security agencies found
that 23 Indians were among the ISIS
ranks and six Indians had been killed
while working for them. Out of the
six, two were from Bengaluru, one
from Bhatkal and three from the rest
of Karnataka. A Thane youth, Saheem
Faroque Tanki, who had gone to join
the ISIS with Areeb Majeed from
Mumbai, was killed. Furthermore,

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

17

SECURITY
global threat

two young men from South India


were deported from Turkey while
attempting to get in touch with the
ISIS in Syria last year.
In a break from the past, ISIS content has been translated into Tamil
so as to attract youth from South
India. It was found that speeches by
Abu Bakr al Baghdadi and videos by
Al Isabah media, one of ISIS media
arms, have been translated into Tamil
along with Hindi and Urdu. A video
titled, Al Gurabha - The Chosen Few
of Different Lands, released in July
2014, was found to be subtitled in
Tamil too.

HILE the most imminent


threat of terrorism in the
past, both in terms of infiltration and support base, has been in the
North given its proximity to Pakistan

18

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

and the unrest in Kashmir, today the


ISIS is finding considerable traction
in Southern India, which is a matter
of grave concern. It forces Indians to
step out of the Pakistan-backed terrorism box and re-evaluate its antiterrorism strategy in the light of the
changing scenario.
Social Media: Just a medium
The global focus on the use of social
media has to some extent made the
medium, and not the message, the
centre of all attention. While Marshall
McLuhan did claim that the medium
is the message, it would be nave of
us to actually ignore the message.
The communist revolutions had
posters, the Iranian revolution had
audio tapes of the Ayatollahs sermons
and the earlier jihadists had grainy
videos of Osama Bin Laden. Today

we have the social media to facilitate


instant global two-way communication with vines, twitter, Facebook,
etc. Social media and the online world
were instrumental in the Arab Spring
and the Anna Hazare movement.
However, to credit the success of
these movements to new media alone
would be nave. Similarly, to credit
the social media with popularity of
ISIS seems to make a claim that the
public is susceptible to being wooed
by the media; its a claim that seems
eerily similar to the claims made by
the Chicago School in propaganda
models and theories propounded by
them post the Second World War.
The assumption that the media (or
the medium) could implant messages
like a magic bullet or a hypodermic
needle into the minds of an audience, which was largely passive, was

www.gfilesindia.com

rampant during the 1950s and should


probably stay in there.
Herein, it is imperative to unwrap
the ISIS narrative and study the reasons why it resonates with its supporters and sympathisers. Why is it
that the worlds now most dangerous
terrorist organisation has been using
the end of time narrative? Why has
it named its magazine Dabiq? The
global paranoia, which was evident
at the conference, surrounding the
medium takes our attention away
from these pertinent questions and
from pinpointing grievances, whether
real or perceived, of those running
and of those joining groups like ISIS.
Further, it has become a barrier in our
ability to address many of these issues.

The way forward


It is imperative that India develops
a broader framework to counter
terrorism. It should begin with the
study of the landscape of terrorism
by removing blinkers that limits
its vision to Pakistan/ISI/Armyterrorist nexus. As mentioned earlier,
a number of groups that Pakistan
created and backed have spiralled
out of their control and are biting
them. Unfortunately for India, this
means that there are more actors

www.indianbuzz.com

It is imperative to unwrap
the ISIS narrative and
study the reasons why
it resonates with its
supporters and
sympathisers. Why is
it that the worlds
now most dangerous
terrorist organisation has
been using the end of
time narrative?
that have a vested interest in spoiling
Indo-Pak peace processes and have a
lot to gain from spreading a reign of
terror in the region. Furthermore, the
new bad boys of terrorism, aka ISIS,
are trying to make a global presence
like never before and this change
must be reflected in Indias counterterrorism policy.

URTHER, a massive overhaul is


urgently required in the area of
security studies in the country.
The top think-tanks and experts in the
country are dominated by the armed
forces. It is imperative that the civilian
involvement in this field increases
so as to bolster cross-discipline

cooperation in terrorism studies. The


fact that there is a dearth of security,
strategic and terrorism studies in
Indian universities, contributes to this
problem. Therefore, it is important
that both the Indian government
and private players introduce these
subjects at the undergraduate and the
postgraduate levels.
Lastly, the government needs
to further strengthen its counterterrorism efforts. Its attempt to
revive the National Intelligence Grid
(Natgrid), which is an ambitious
project conceived to integrate data
from 21 different agencies, is a step
in the right direction. It is reported
that three names have already been
sent to the Prime Ministers Office
for the selection of the next CEO of
Natgrid. However, given the nature
and magnitude of sensitive data
which it will be handling, it must be
set up in a thoroughly planned and
structured way. g
The writer is a Research Analyst with the
S Rajaratnam School of International
Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological
University, Singapore. She did her Masters
in Strategic Studies with specialisation in
Terrorism Studies from NTU. She recently
attended the 2nd Counter Terrorism
Conference (CTC) in Jaipur, held over
February 2-3, as a delegate.

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

19

STATE SCAN
mp controversy

From tainted
to trusted
SR Mohanty, the multicrore scam accused, has
wriggled his way into the
good books of the MP
Chief Minister and is in
the race for the Chief
Secretarys post
by RAKESH DIXIT

EN years ago, 1982-batch Indian


Administrative Service (IAS)
officer Sudhi Ranjan Mohanty
was facing prospects of being sent
to jail. Now the Additional Chief
Secretary is fervently coveting the
state Chief Secretarys post. Mohanty,
56, is an accused in the multi-crore
inter-corporate deposit (ICD) scam
that rocked the Digvijay Singh
government in 2003.
Few, if any, officers in the annals
of IAS history have wrought such
a stupendous turnaround in their
career. Mainly two factors made the
scam-tainted Mohantys gradual
transformation from a pariah in the
BJP government to one of the most
trusted officers of the Chief Minister
possible: one, his sheer administrative
competence; and two, Chief Minister
Shivraj Singh Chouhans unmistakable
preference for go-getters over honest

20

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

bureaucrats. In choosing go-getters,


the Chief Minister doesnt seem to
mind their dubious antecedents. All
he sees in them is how useful they are
in his scheme of things. Little wonder,
then, that a majority of Chouhans
trusted officers are the ones who were
his predecessor, Digvijay Singhs
blue-eyed boys too. Mohantys
redemption is the most glaring
example of the Chief Ministers team
selection criteria.
Soon after he assumed charge
as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
in November 2005, Chouhan had
publicly averred that his government
would vigorously pursue a probe into
the ICD scam and that the accused
would not be spared. Ten years down
the line, the same Chief Minister
is continuing to dither on giving
permission to the State Bureau of
Investigation for Economic Offences
(SBIEO) to put up a chargesheet
against Mohanty and others. That the
Chief Minister is keen to save Mohanty
was evident in the manner in which
the state government pleaded with
the Madhya Pradesh High Court to
dismiss the public interest litigation
(PIL) seeking expeditious trial of the
ICD scam accused. The government,
in its reply on March 17, said, the
question of investigation against the
senior IAS officer (SR Mohanty) and
not promoting him, as raised in the
PIL, is purely an administrative and
service matter. It is not a matter of
wider public interest and, therefore,
the petition be dismissed.
Although the government told
the court that it was considering
the report that found the IAS officer
guilty in the scam, nobody in the
bureaucracy is willing to buy this
assurance. For, it is almost five years
since the Supreme Court asked the
SBIEO to probe the ICD scam afresh
and file a chargesheet within 90 days.

www.indianbuzz.com

The agency officers say they are ready


with the chargesheet and awaiting the
government nod for Mohantys prosecution. The government, however,
seems in no mood to oblige the economic offences investigation wing.
The State governments refusal to
give the nod for prosecution of the
ICD scam accused, coupled with its
spirited defence of the tainted IAS
officer in the High Court, has fuelled
speculation that the Chief Minister
may have made up his mind to promote the Additional Chief Secretary to
the Chief Secretarys post. Incumbent
Chief Secretary Antony de Sa is due
to retire in October this year. Over

Bureaucratic circles are


particularly keen on two
officers who are considered
each others archrivalSR
Mohanty and Raghav
Chandra. It was Chandra
who queered the pitch for
Mohanty, his predecessor,
as managing director of the
MP State Industrial
Development Corporation
half-a-dozen IAS officers are in the
reckoning as de Sas successor. They
include Mohanty, Additional Chief
Secretary, BK Singh, Additional Chief
Secretary, Aruna Sharma, Secretary,
Electronics and IT Ministry, JS
Mathur, Additional Secretary in the
information and broadcasting ministry, Raghav Chandra, chairman of
the National Highways Authority
of India; and Iqbal Singh Bains,
Principal Secretary in the Chief
Ministers office.
Three factors brighten Mohantys
chances for the top job. One, his
administrative competence; two, he

could remain in the Chief Secretarys


post till 2020; and three, he is ever
willing to manipulate administrative
machinery at the behest of his political master. He has amply demonstrated the last quality in the service of
Digvijay Singh in the 1998 Assembly
election. So, Chouhan too might be
inclined to leverage Mohantys skills
in the forthcoming election due in
2018 for the ruling partys benefit.

ESPITE the ICD scam, the


Congress is unlikely to oppose
Mohantys elevation because
the partys stand has been that he was
falsely implicated in the ICD scam.
As far as opposition within the BJP
is concerned, the Chief Minister has
already tamed his detractors within
the party effectively.
Bureaucratic circles are particularly keen on two officers who are
considered each others archrival
Mohanty and Chandra. It was
Chandra who queered the pitch for his
predecessor as managing director of
the MP State Industrial Development
Corporation after the BJP stormed to
power in December 2003 under Uma
Bhartis leadership.
In the run-up to the 2003 Assembly
election, the ICD scam was one of the
major poll issues. The MPSIDC had
launched the ICD scheme in 1998
to disburse loans to industrialists.
Mohammad Pasha Rajan was the
managing director of the corporation.
Two years later, Mohanty succeeded
Rajan, who took voluntary retirement
from the IAS amid serious allegations
of corruption. Loans worth `714
crore were advanced to companies
and individuals, most with dubious
credentials, under the scheme. The
amount, including interest, now due
from the defaulters has risen close
to `2,200 crore. The corporation
went to the extent of raising crores

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

21

STATE SCAN
mp controversy

Mohanty is not only in the good books of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (left) but was also close to Digvijay Singh (right)

through bonds, which were bought by


Mumbai-based co-operative banks,
IDBI, Bank of Punjab and Syndicate
Bank, among others. The `714 crore
thus raised was disbursed to select
industrialiststhe list reads like
the virtual whoswho of Madhya
Pradeshon mere promissory notes.
Under the Article of Association
of the Company, the governments
permission is necessary for any
disbursal of loan over `3 crore. It was
violated in almost all the cases. Being
a blue-eyed boy of the then Chief
Minister, Digvijay Singh, Mohanty was
sitting pretty as MPSIDC managing
director. He allegedly speeded up the
process of loan disbursal to friendly
industrialists without compunction.

OHANTYS troubles began


with the BJP routing the
Congress in the 2003 elections and Uma Bharti succeeding Singh as Chief Minister. Bharti
replaced Mohanty with Chandra as

22

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

In the face of the Supreme


Court order for prosecution
of the ICD scam accused
and DOPTs insistence on
following the apex court
order, the Chief Minister is
left with only one option to
save his trusted officerto
indefinitely delay
permission to the SIB
to file the chargesheet
in the case
MPSIDC managing director in 2004.
Chandra blew the lid off the scam. On
his report, Bharti ordered a probe by
the SBIEO. It was in 2005 that the
SBIEO filed an FIR against 84 persons,
including Mohanty. Two other prominent accused in the case are Rajendra
Kumar Singh and Narendra Nahata.
Both were chairmen of MPSIDC and
successive commerce and industry

ministers in Singhs government.


The SBIEO probe upset Mohanty.
Bhartis keen interest in the probe
convinced him that his goose was
cooked. To flee the hostile atmosphere in Madhya Pradesh, Mohanty
applied for deputation to the Centre.
Since the UPA government was at the
Centre, Mohanty was confident that
his proximity to Singh would bail him
out. But the probe in the ICD scam
was a major hurdle in his plan.
Mohanty moved the MP High Court,
praying for an order directing the
General Administration Department
(GAD) to give him vigilance
clearance in its communication to the
Government of India. The GAD filed
an affidavit in 2006 not only giving
a clean chit to Mohanty, but also
emphasising that his action caused
no loss to the state government. The
affidavit had been filed without the
knowledge of Chouhan, who was
heading the GAD.
When Chouhan came to know

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of it, he removed the then Chief


Secretary, Vijay Singh, the then
Principal Secretary and Deputy
Secretary to GAD, Abha Asthana and
Suresh Daphne, respectively, from
their posts. An angry Vijay Singh
immediately sought deputation to
the Centre from where he retired as
Defence Secretary.
The High Court ruled in Mohantys
favour but the state government filed
a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the
Supreme Court, saying the bureaucrats were not authorised to file the
affidavit, and hence there was no question of giving a clean chit to Mohanty.
Four years later, the Supreme Court
upheld the state governments stand
and asked the economic offences wing
to start a probe into the scam afresh.
When the affidavit fiasco happened,
Chouhan
was
bubbling
with
idealism. Or so he showed. He vowed
repeatedly to root out corruption
in the state. He also warned that
the ICD scam accused would not be
spared. As proof of his commitment,
he put Mohanty in an insignificant
postas managing director of the MP
Leather Development Corporation.
For three years, the officer remained
in the bureaucratic doghouse before
being appointed Secretary, Bhopal
Gas Relief and Rehabilitation and
Health departments.
As the sword of the SBIEO probe
dangled over him, Mohanty decided to
work his way into the Chief Ministers
good books. Even his bitterest critics admit, though grudgingly, that
Mohanty is a competent officer. For
this alumnus of the Indian Institute
of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad,
his acquired management skills
stood him in good stead. But the ICD
scam was too high-profile a case for
the Chief Minister to simply brush it
under the carpet. The state government issued him a chargesheet and

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Uma Bharti acted against Mohanty when she was the Chief Minister

after finding Mohantys explanation


unsatisfactory, instituted a disciplinary inquiry against him. At the
same time, the state government
sent his file relating to sanction
of prosecution to the Government
of India on June 28, 2011.

HE same state government, however, promoted him to Principal


Secretary a year later and
posted him in the Non-Conventional
Energy Department.
The disciplinary inquiry against
him is still on and the criminal case is
still pending for sanction of prosecution. Yet, Mohanty got another promotion as Additional Chief Secretary.
The second paragraph of his
conditional
promotion
order
reads: This promotion is subject to
the final outcome of the petition filed
in the Central Administrative
Tribunal by Mohanty against issuing him a chargesheet and institution of disciplinary inquiry.

Having promoted Mohanty, the


state government sent a proposal to the Government of India to
exonerate him in the ICD case. But
the Government of India returned
the proposal. The Department of
Personnel and Training (DoPT)
remarked that the state government had failed to convince the
Government of India that it had
followed the orders of the Supreme
Court regarding such cases.
In the face of the Supreme Court
order for prosecution of the ICD scam
accused and DoPTs insistence on following the apex court order, the Chief
Minister is left with only one option to
save his trusted officerto indefinitely delay permission to the SIB to file
the chargesheet in the case. And that
is precisely what he is doing. Chouhan
has selectively forgotten all his promises of ensuring strict action against
the accused who incurred losses to the
tune of several crores of rupees to the
state exchequer. g

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

23

FIRST STIRRINGS

justice vikas shridhar sirpurkar

Law
in his
blood
Most of Justice Vikas
Shridhar Sirpurkars
family members are legal
luminaries. He himself
started at the young age
of 21 and retired as a
Supreme Court judge

24

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

USTICE Vikas Shridhar Sirpurkar


found his calling at an age when
many youths find themselves at
a crossroads. When the Maharashtra
Bar Council handed him a Sanad
(certificate to practise as a lawyer)
on July 22, 1968, he decided that the
legal profession would be his career.
He was only 21 then.
I realised I was always inclined to
take up the profession. I stopped preparing for the IAS,Justice Sirpurkar,
who did his LLB from University
College of Nagpur after doing his
graduation from Morris College in the
city in the same year, recollects.
For Justice Sirpurkar, the legal

profession also happened to be a


family vocation. His father, Shridhar
Sirpurkar, practised law while his
mother, Sunanda, was the first
female lawyer at a taluka court in
Warora where he was born and
completed schooling.
His uncle, RV Sirpurkar, was considered an expert in mining cases
while the latters son, SR Sirpurkar,
practised law in Chhindwara. His
father-in-law, BK De, was a lawyer
while his grandfather-in-law, Rai
Bahadur GB De, retired as a judge. His
younger brother, Sanjay Sirpurkar,
still practises at Chandrapur. His sister, Manju, is also a qualified lawyer

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but does not practise. His cousin CV


Sirpurkar, is a judge in the Madhya
Pradesh High Court while wife
Kumkum, son Sangram and daughter-in-law Renuka are also lawyers.
Justice Sirpurkar practised as a
lawyer for 24 years. He argued cases
related to every streamrevenue,
trusts, cooperatives, crime, preventive detention, elections and the constitution. A longside, he was elected
Joint Secretary and Secretary of the
High Court Bar Association, Nagpur.
He successfully contested the death
sentence awarded to three persons (a
total of eight persons were awarded
death sentence) accused of a highway
robbery. Subsequently, his wife, a
senior advocate, got the five others
acquitted in the Supreme Court.
Justice Sirpurkar says he never lost
any of the election petitions he argued
in the courts.
In 1990, Sirpurkars name was
considered for the post of Bombay
High Court judge but he did not
make it for some reason. About two
years later, on November 9, 1992, he
was finally elevated to High Court
judge. He was 46 then. When he
was receiving bouquets and being
garlanded for the promotion, relatives
of the highway robbery case accused,
whom he got acquitted, were weeping
in his chamber.
His wife, Kumkum, was his junior
in the University College and once
directed him in a play. In 1971, the
two were on opposite sides of the
fence for a while. He represented
Jambuwantrao Dhote, who was
elected to the Lok Sabha in 1971 from
Nagpur, while Kumkum argued the
case of RC Sharma, who had lost to
Dhote in the polls. He won the case
both in the Bombay High Court
and later in the Supreme Court.
Subsequently, the two opposing
lawyers joined in matrimony.

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In December 1997, Justice Sirpurkar


was transferred to the Madras High
Court. There he also held the post
of Executive Chairman of the Tamil
Nadu State Legal Services Authority
and was instrumental in starting a
judicial academy, Judicial Officers
Training Institute (JOTI), at Madras.
On July 25, 2004, he was notified
as the Chief Justice of Uttaranchal
(former name of Uttarakhand) High
Court. There too he started a judicial
academy called UJALA (Uttarakhand
Judicial and Legal Academy) and set
up courts in 17 remote areas.

Justice Sirpurkar
condemns the violence at
Patiala House court
against accused JNU
Students Union president
Kanhaiya Kumar and
mediapersons. That was
completely unjustified.
Law should not have
been taken into hands,
he says

n March 20, 2005, Justice


Sirpurkar was transferred as
Chief Justice of Calcutta High
Court. He ordered removal of 123
squatters from the court premises and
cleaning of Kalighat, a Hindu Shakti
Peeth in the city, apart from starting
a judicial academy. He also administered oath of office to 16 High Court
judges, increasing the actual strength
of the court from 28 to 44 judges
(against the sanctioned strength of
49 judges). On January 12, 2007, he
was appointed a judge in the Supreme
Court and demitted office four years
and seven months later.
In the apex court, he confirmed the
death sentence of Pakistani terrorist
Mohammad Arif alias Ashfaq in
the 2000 Delhi Red Fort attack as
a member of a two-judge bench
(the other judge was Justice TS
Thakur, the current Chief Justice
of India). The Red Fort attack case
happened to be the last case probed
by the Delhi Police Special Cell
Inspector, the late Mohan Chand
Sharma. He credits the confirmation
of the death sentence to the brilliant

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

25

FIRST STIRRINGS

justice vikas shridhar sirpurkar

investigation done by Sharma.


Justice Sirpurkar does not agree
with the Jawaharlal Nehru University
students and teachers and others who
call the hanging of Parliament attack
accused Afzal Guru a judicial murder. I dont at all agree with them.
He (Guru) was outwardly and inwardly given a fair trial, he claims. But he
would not support trial of disagreeing students and teachers under the
contempt of court law. He terms the
opposition an insignificant opinion.
Justice Sirpurkar, who served
as Chairman of the Competition
Appellate Tribunal (COMPAT), for 27
months, from May 22, 2012 onwards
after retirement from the SC, condemns the violence at Patiala House
courts against accused JNU Students
Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and
mediapersons. That was completely
unjustified. The law should not be
taken into ones hands, he says.
Justice Sirpurkar, who has chaired
the Authority of Advance Rulings
(AAR) since December 4, 2014, wants
lawyers not to be identified with the
accused. Lawyers are also officers of
the court. They are supposed to make
correct statement of law. Detachment
is expected (from them), he advises.

USTICE Sirpurkar does not


believe the judiciary has ever
transgressed on the rights of the
executive or Parliament. There is
no overreach. Whatever is done is a
dire necessity. We have to be true to
the Indian Constitution, he says and
credits the balance among the three
organs of the Indian democracy to the
Constitution. The judiciary only tests
the law. Parliament can only create
the law, cant interpret. The executive
implements the law, he opines.
He blames pendency of cases on
inadequate number of judges and
infrastructure and backs the creation

26

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

He does not believe the


judiciary has ever
transgressed on the rights
of the executive or
Parliament. There is no
overreach. Whatever is
done is a dire necessity.
We have to be true to the
Indian Constitution,
he says
of fast courts, Lok Adalats, mediation,
arbitration, plea bargaining and
development
of
better
work
culture in the courts. Create good
infrastructure. Avoid unnecessary
adjournments, he counsels.
Justice Sirpurkar also wants
improvement in policing, use of
modern technology and better
amenities for policemen. The kind of
respect the police gets in London or
United States, it does not get here,

he points out. Justice Sirpurkar feels


senior judges do not get influenced by
media reporting and must have power
to observe. He has taught at many
judicial academies and visits Bhopal
Academy every month. He wants
court reporters and lawyers to imbibe
the Indian philosophy under which
the judiciary in the country works.
Justice Sirpurkar once asked trainees in a judicial academy, What is
the motto of the SC? Fifty hands
went up and everyone answered
Satyamev Jayate, which is not the
correct answer. The correct answer
is, Yato Dharma, Tato Jaya (Where
there is righteousness, there is victory), a statement Gandhari made
when Duryodhana approached her
for blessings before the start of the
war in Kurukshetra.
According to him, the idea behind
the blindfolded deity of justice
is not Roman or English, but the
Mahabharata mothers unbias. g
As told to Narendra Kaushik

www.gfilesindia.com

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27

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.indianbuzz.com

b zz co
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FOLLOW US ON :

Silly Point
humour mk kaw

A modern-day
churning

HOSE of you who remember


the story of Samudra Manthan
will recall that the Devtas led
by Lord Indra had lost heaven to the
Daityas and were very keen to recover
it. However the curse pronounced
by Rishi Durvasahad divested the
Devtas of their powers and they were
rendered ineffective in their struggle
against them. They went to Lord
Vishnu, who advised them to forge
an alliance with the Daityas and try
to partake of the amrit (the celestial
elixir) so as to regain their strength.
In this hazardous task Lord Vishnu
promised to help them.
What are the analogies that one
can draw between the situations
prevailing then and now? Depending
on your political affiliation you will
either consider the UPA government
as the Devtas who have been ejected
from heaven and the NDA coalition
of political parties as the Daityas who
have usurped the throne. Or else it
will be the reverse.
Now suppose Manmohan Singh
and his chief advisers call on
Pranab Mukherji seeking his advice.
Unfortunately here the analogy fails.
In our brand of democracy, presidents
are constitutional authorities and
can ill afford to take sides in political
battles. So Pranab will keep his
personal opinions to himself and not
air them in public.
What is amrit? In the modern context, the strength of a political party
does not depend on the quantity of
the celestial elixir imbibed by its individual members. It is contingent on

28

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

the election funds they have accumulated, the electoral alliances they have
forged and such similar factors.
In todays context, we have to look
at a host of disparate factors like
manifestoes, promises, statements
made to the electronic and social
media; personal interviews in live
interactions, comments offered by
party spokespersons, and so on. Some
of these would contribute amrit and
some halahalvish to the partys image
and electoral performance.
Many commentators throw up their
hands in despair about the future of
India as a country, a nation or a State.
They would worry about any and
every crackle in the opinion bush.
The whole thesis of this article is that
one need not be bowled over by small
incidents, but should be able to take
everything in our stride, notching up
pluses and minuses in our popularity
scale as each element comes into play.
The interesting fact about life
is that there is nothing clear-cut
about anything. Let us take a few
illustrations. Let us start with food.
What should a person eat or not
eat? Even nutritional experts are not
unanimous about what is desirable
for the human body and what is
not. When we travel to the plane of
morality, the matters become even
more difficult. An extreme view
could be that man should eat only
vegetarian food. If he eats animals, he
causes pain to other living beings who
have as much a right to survive and
prosper on this planet.
The matter is far from over with

the choice you make. If you permit


non-vegetarian food, should it be
blanket permission or should there be
graded permissions? Some persons
may wish milch cows to be exempted
from this permission, as they yield
milk. Others would cast the net wider
by including the cow, the bull and
even calves. On the other side, some
might prohibit only the killing of
milch Indian cows. In India, the cow
has traditionally been revered and
we have discovered great benefits
from even her urine and her excreta.
Should killing be prohibited or even
eating banned? Should possession
of beef be an offence? There are a
trillion questions.
A fundamental question: should
society or the State at all interfere in
this vast area of choice and tie itself
into knots or should it leave each
individual to make his choice and let
the market forces decide.
A similar conundrum awaits
the ideologue when we take up the
complicated issue of liquor. At what
age should a person be considered
adult enough to decide whether
he will imbibe spirituous liquors?
Should he be allowed to purchase
liquor all the week through or should
there be restrictions on where he can
buy, the days or dates when such sale
is permissible, the timings of sale, and
so on. Can a liquor shop be located
within 100 yards of a school? Can a
person be allowed to drive if there
is liquor on his breath? Or when a
breath-analyser finds him exceeding
the prescribed level?

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Any solution that you find has


consequences for your amrit-vish
balance. It gets you votes or gets
people to vote against you. It is as
simple as that.
When you come to the more
complicated aspects of life, the
situation becomes murkier. Is marriage
a sacred institution? Should everyone
be hustled into marriage irrespective
of his desire, need or preparedness?
Should only heterosexual marriages
be recognised? What is the moral
quotient of relationships?
Should rape be equated to murder
and be subject to similar punishment?
Can a husband rape his wife? Can we
justify a rape on the ground that there

was grave and sudden provocation


by the girl wearing too revealing an
outfit? If a court of law orders a rape
victim to marry the rapist, is it fair to
the girl?
Why do some people in contemporary India have the feeling that India
is becoming intolerant?

think that by far the biggest reason


for this feeling is that India is
currently the most open, tolerant,
democratic society in the world.
Take conversions, for example. You
cannot profess any religion other
than Islam in Islamic countries.
Leave aside propagating a religion;
you cannot even keep a photograph

of a deity, saint or incarnation in


your purse. China does not permit
mass conversions on its soil. And we
had the Pope telling his Cardinals
that India was the land they should
concentrate on, if they wished to have
more converts to Christianity.
We have such a laid-back attitude to Hinduism that even foreign
commentators have worried about
it. It is only in India that Maqbul
Fida Hussain could draw pictures of
Hindu goddesses in the nude. When
Hindus protested, he went into a huff
and ran away to foreign climes, and
stayed there to bask in the reputation
of being an iconoclast, while the fate
of Salman Rushdie is too well known

ARUNA

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

29

Silly Point
humour mk kaw

30

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

31

Silly Point
humour mk kaw

to need any comment.


A more recent example is that of
Aamir Khan, who chased a person
dressed as Shiva in P.K. much to the
merriment of all. He also made a celebrated comment about his Hindu
wife asking him whether they should
continue to live in an intolerant India.
Nothing has happened to Aamir Khan.
Why there is so much talk of intolerant India is due to the combined
impact of a number of factors.
The first reason is that Indians like
to talk. And we have almost no controls on what a person can say or not
say. Look at the outrageous things
leaders of different communities keep
on throwing at one another. A Hindu
fringe element will say, Those who
do not like India should migrate to
Pakistan. The Muslim fringe element
shouts back, Even if you cut me into
pieces, I will not shout Bharat Mata
ki Jai. What have they achieved? A
few more votes from the fence sitters
on both sides, but also a few less votes
from the saner elements in both communities. Someone has to calculate
the shift in the amrit-vish ratio.

HE second reason is that


everything in India gets
politicised. Children have been
shouting Vande Mataram or Bharat
Mata ki Jai for decades in school and
college functions, without looking
at the religious messages that might
be embedded in them. If one looks
at the emblems of government.
establishments, universities, etc.,
we find quotations from the Vedas
all over. Even the national slogan
Satyameva Jayate has deep religiospiritual connotations which have not
yet percolated down to the Owaisis.
Of all things they have latched on to
the exercise titled Surya Namaskar in
Patanjalis Yoga Sutras and refused
to perform it on the grounds that the

32

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

prophet has prohibited their bowing


down to anyone other than Allah. So
they cannot bow down to the Sun.
The interesting part is that the
Government of India deleted Surya
Namaskar from the exercises listed
for World Yoga Day.
Contrast the stand taken by us with
that of the Government of Australia.
In an address to the nation on national
television, the Prime Minister stated
his position quite emphatically. All
immigrants had come to Australia of
their sweet will. No one had forced
them to come. Now that they have

In India no one talks


frankly on core issues. We
are afraid of the
repercussions and hide the
problems under the carpet.
All issues relating to
minorities, specially
Muslims, are lying under
the carpet, be it the temple
at Ayodhya, Article 370,
common civil code or
whatever. They stay there,
smouldering like ticking
time bombs, and detonate
when we least expect them
settled down here, they have to obey
Australian laws. In schools, their
children will have to sing the national
anthem and recite the prayers to God
as laid down in the school curriculum.
If they do not like these rules, they are
at liberty to leave.
No doubt the Muslims did not
enter India as immigrants. They came
more as invaders and traders. They
also ruled the country for centuries.
But even they had a choice in 1947:
either to join an Islamic State of
Pakistan or to continue in the secular

state of India. They made their choice


and now they have to bow down to
the national consensus as it emerges.
They cannot sit on their high horses
and be the tail that wags the dog.
But in India no one talks frankly on
such core issues. We are afraid of the
repercussions and hide the problems
under the carpet. All issues relating
to minorities, specially the Muslims,
are lying under the carpet, be it the
temple at Ayodhya, Article 370,
common civil code or whatever. They
stay there, smouldering like ticking
time bombs, and detonate when we
least expect them.
The third reason is that suddenly all
the disparate elements which mostly
held their tongue have come out into
the open. This may partly be due to the
euphoria generated by Modis landslide victory in the Lok Sabha polls.
It brought out the RSS and its sister
organisations under the supposition
that the days of Hindutva had arrived.
The gays have an international lobby.
Modi lashed out at the international
NGOs and they are a powerful lot. The
gender lobby also found some rallying
points like the Nirbhaya rape. There
was a huge backlash of the Anna
Hazare movement, the clean sweep
of Delhi assembly by Arvind Kejriwal
and his rickshaw drivers and so on.
Suddenly, anything seemed possible. The whole hullabaloo about India
being intolerant should be seen as a
modern day Samudra Manthan, albeit in a democratic setting. Today it cannot be on eMandrachaaaaaalParvat.
The whole polity is our Mandrachal.
Amrit has to be collected drop by drop
from a million mutinies. It is somewhat like the Arab spring also.
That is why the disorder, the
seeming lack of direction. g
MK Kaw is a former Secretary, Government
of India. (The views expressed are those of
the columnist.)

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

33

BOOK REVIEW

by ANCHAL CHAUDHRY

non-fiction judiciary

Mirroring society through judgments


Justice Kailash Gambhirs book is a must-read for lawyers and students

HE book, The Voice Within.


Social
messages
through
Judgments, by Justice Kailash
Gambhir, looks at the ills plaguing
society which have been given profound treatment, not only legally but
also as a voice of society. It is an amalgamation where Justice Gambhirs
law researchers, who worked at
different times of his tenure, have
come together to compile the social
messages given by him on various
issues while delivering his judgments.
This is a one of a kind attempt to bring
forth the dilemmas a judge faces while
delivering his verdict on issues which
we pass off as normal problems in
our society, be it dowry deaths, bride
burning, rape, road rage, drunken
driving, and so on.
As the author says, one of the
responsibilities of a judge is to do
complete justice between the parties
before it and also to serve the cause of
social justice whenever an opportunity presents itself. Justice Gambhir did
that as he in his journey came across
cases where he saw social evils of
society and felt the pain and penned
down a few lines in the hope that

34

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

Title: The Voice Within...Social


messages through Judgments
Author: Justice Kailash Gambhir
Publisher: Universal Law Publishing

they would have a positive impact on


society. This book is indeed a testament of his quest for social justice.
The book has been divided into
chapters topically, like crime against
women, education, motor accidents
and claims, matrimonial cases and
includes a chapter on the speeches
and articles, which is worth reading.
The title of the book justifies its philosophy, the voice within, which is
the voice of justice when confronted
with bitter realities of our society. For

example, in the case of Beeru vs State


of NCT of Delhi (2014(1) JCC 509,
page 11), while dealing with a rape
case after the gruesome Nirbhaya rape
and murder case had created a frenzy
in the country and new laws came into
place, Justice Gambhir impressed
upon the Central and state governments to undertake some effective
measures to sensitise, educate and
create awareness amongst the people dealing with sexual offences. He
wrote about the barbarity of the crime
in the following words:
Such cases show as to what extent
a person can stoop down just to satisfy his lust for sex. In a society where
the custodian of the trust betrays the
same and the protector of the dignity and honor becomes the violator,
it would not be wrong to say that
no one can easily be trusted. Such
offences pollute the sanctity of relationship which were said to be made
in heaven. A momentary pleasure
out of lust for sex leaves an indelible scar, not only physically but also
emotionally on the victim.
From the above passage it is clear
that a veteran and erudite judge like
Justice Gambhir through his poignant words reflected deeply on the
socio-legal aspects of the cases and
tried successfully through the mighty
power of the judicial pen to use law
as a powerful and potent weapon of
social change. This book is thus a
unique and innovative attempt by
researchers to immortalise Justice
Gambhirs judicial conscience and
humanistic spirit. The book will be
undoubtedly valuable for lawyers and
students; its a must-read. g

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April 2016 `


VOL. 10, ISSUE 1

gfilesindia.com

HAPPENING HARYANA
GLOBAL INVESTORS SUMMIT-2016

Resounding success
357 MoUs signed in the two-day summit with a massive
proposed investment of `5.84 lakh crore

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MILESTONE INVESTMENT

APPENING Haryana Global


Investors Summit-2016, the
maiden investment summit
organised by Haryana in Gurgaon by
the Manohar Lal led BJP government
in March proved to be a resounding
success. Exceeding the expectations
of the state government, as many
357 Memoranda of Understanding
(MoUs) were signed in the two-day
summit with a massive proposed
investment of `5.84 lakh crore.
Successful in positioning Haryana as
the numero uno investment destination in the country, the investment
summit created the potential for 5
lakh jobs in the state.
Despite taking place in the shadow of the violent Jat protest in the
state demanding reservation, the
Happening Haryana summit proved
the faith and confidence of the major

36

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

investors of the country and abroad in


Haryanas economy as they not only
attended in large numbers, but also
pledged to invest huge amounts in the
state. As many as 15 Union ministers
attended the summit along with the
Whos Who of the Corporate India.
Twelve countries were given partner
status in the summit. These included
the Czech Republic, Japan, Mauritius,
New Zealand, Peoples Republic of
China, Republic of Korea, Republic
of Malawi, Republic of Peru,Republic
of Poland, Spain,the United Kingdom
and Tunisia.
The summit showcased the key
enablers for sustainable manufacturing growth, states policies, focus
sectors, connectivity, infrastructure,
skilled labour and strengths in manufacturing, proved to be a common
platform for the key industry stake-

holders to interact and exchange ideas


on growth opportunities in Haryana
which is celebrating the golden jubilee of its foundation this year. The
persuasive powers and the sustained
efforts of Chief Minister Manohar
Lal, Finance and Industry Minister

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Captain Abhimanyu and their team


of officials, including Industries
Secretary Devendra Singh who held
roadshows in different parts of the
country, ensured the success of the
summit, placing Haryana as the most
preferred investment destination in
the country.
Representatives of the 12 partner
countries and many multinational
companies (MNCs) were among
the large number of participants at
summit. Stressing on converting
the MOUs into major projects, the
Chief Minister said that the Haryana
State
Industries
Infrastructure
Development Corporation (HSIIDC)
would appoint Relationship Managers
to facilitate the investors and ensure
implementation. The state has also
made provision for the fast-tracking
clearances of the projects and ensured
that there will be no inconvenience to
investors in setting up their projects,
he said.
To facilitate implementation of the
projects signed in the MoUs, land
would be made available from the
developed land bank in the state. The
HSIIDC has also started the system
of Online Geo-referenced Display to
provide investors with information
regarding vacant lands in the industrial estates. Encouraged by the tre-

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As many 357 MoUs were


signed in the two-day
summit with a massive
proposed investment of Rs
5.84 lakh crore. Successful
in positioning Haryana as
the numero uno investment
destination in the country,
the investment summit
created potential for creation
of 5 lakh jobs in the state
mendous response to the investors
summit, the Chief Minister said the
second summit would be held in 2018.
The government promised to ensure
uniform development of the state as
seen from the fact that MoUs were
signed by the state for all districts.
It was also a reflection of the
confidence of the investors that as
many as 37 MoUs had been signed
for 19 projects in the Jat agitationaffected three districts of Sonepat,
Jhajjar and Rohtak with a total
investment of `1.46 lakh crore. The

uniform development of the state


was ensured with as many as 39
MoUs worth `1.28 lakh crore signed
for districts which do not fall in the
National Capital Region (NCR). This
proved the point that the investors
were not just interested in setting
up business in the developed areas
of the NCR, but even in the remote
areas of Haryana which for long have
remained industrially backward.
Out of the total agreements made
at the summit, as many as 10 per cent
of the MoUs were signed with MNCs
which showed that Haryana has
become the first preferred destination
for investment in the country. This
could result in flow of additional foreign direct investment (FDI) into the
state, which would boost Haryanas
economy further.
The BJP government assured the
investors that it was committed to
strengthening the infrastructure sector in the state to facilitate business
opportunities. As a result, 40 per
cent of MoUs alone were signed for
manufacturing projects. This augurs
well for the states economy. The
state government announced that it
was committed to make the ambitious project Make in India of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi a huge success. Investors were told that ancillary

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37

MILESTONE INVESTMENT

units will be set up near major projects to accelerate the pace of development, and generate job opportunities.
The focus of the summit was on the
setting up of mega projects.
The break-up of the investment
proposals makes interesting reading.
As many as 16 per cent of MoUs were
signed for projects worth over `1,000
crore. As much as 30 per cent of the
projects were over `100 crore worth.
Since MSMEs constituted the backbone of industrial development and
enhanced job opportunities, 26 per
cent of MoUs belong to this sector.
Haryana has become the first state of
northern India to attract investment
of such magnitude.
Two MoUs were signed for aerospace and defence sector, 10 for education and skill development, 117 for
manufacturing, 22 for real estate, 16
for infrastructure, 48 for agro, food
processing and allied industries, 39
for energy, renewable energy and
solar parks, 35 for electronics, IT and

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

ITeS, eight for pharma and chemical


industry, 13 for auto, components
and light engineering, 15 for textile,
apparel, knitting, embroidery and
technical textiles, 9 for footwear and
accessories, and 23 in other sectors.
Some investment MoUs for the
promotion of agriculture sector were
also signed. These MoUs were signed
in the presence of State Agriculture
Minister, OP Dhankar during the
sectoral session on Re-energising
the agri-business: Untapped potential of Haryana. Union Minister of
State for Food Processing Industries,
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was also present on this occasion. Four companies
were handed over the agreements on
the spot. These included MoUs of
`150 crore with Sambhaji Tech Agro
Limited, another of `100 crore with
Farm Agro Food Private Limited,
`55 crore with PMP Agro Industry
and that of `40 crore with Compact
Industry Private Limited.
As many as 37 MoUs involving an

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investment of `1.28 lakh crore were


signed during the two-day investors
meet in Gurgaon. These investments
would be made for the non-NCR areas
of the state. Incidentally 57 per cent
of Haryanas area falls in the NCR
and it is more developed than the
areas outside it. This is so because of
the proximity to the national capital
and easy availability of funds for the
required projects. Said Sudhir Rajpal,
Managing Director of HSIIDC, This
is a very healthy sign for the development and progress of the backward
areas of the state. The signing of
MoUs for non-NCR areas shows that
there is a change of perception of the
investors towards the backward and
interior areas of Haryana.

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It was also a reflection of the


confidence of the investors
that 37 MoUs were signed for
19 projects in the Jat agitation
affected three districts
Sonepat, Jhajjar and Rohtak
with a total investment of Rs
1.46 lakh crore. Out of the
total agreements made at the
investors summit, as many as
10 per cent of the MoUs were
signed with MNCs

It is true that industrial big-wigs


like NR Narayana Murthy, Indira
Nooyi or Adi Godrej did not announce
any fresh investment in Haryana, but
their presence itself acted like a tonic
to the investment meet. As many as
20 corporate leaders attended the
inaugural session of the summit on
March 7. Four top business tycoons
were present at the closing session
the next day.
The biggest investment in the state
was made by Dalian Wanda Group of
Wang Jianlin, the richest Asian. Wang
committed to invest `60,000 crore in
an industrial park at Kharkhoda near
Sonepat. However, the MoU for this
was signed before the investors summit. Speaking at the summit, Wang

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

39

MILESTONE INVESTMENT
Jianlin, Chairman, Dalian Wanda
Group, China said, We attach great
importance to partnership with the
state of Haryana. We are working with
the Haryana Government to set up a
super large project, where 150,000200,000 jobs will be created.
Indiabulls Group also announced a
major investment in the state, promising to invest `25,000 crore in the
next 7-8 years. It will directly lend
through home loans and also indirectly lend to the developers of various projects, especially in affordable
housing projects.
Real estate giant DLF announced
plans to invest `20,000 crore. Bharti
Enterprises announced `2,000 crore
in the electronics and information
technology sector. Baba Ramdev and
Patanjali Ayurved announced investment of `5,000 crore to set up a university and an international health
care centre. Ikea and Walmart committed themselves to `2,000 crore
and `500 crore investment, respectively, in the state.
The HSIIDC also signed MoUs with
several companies including Vatika
Limited and IREO Private Limited
worth `45,365 crore for infrastructure development. A MoU of `23
crore was signed for skill development
with All India Plastics Manufactures
Association, of `500 crore for logistic
park with Allcargo, of `680 crore for
solid waste management with Alqimi
India Private Limited and another
involving an investment of `125
crore for skill development with the
Amartex Group.
Apart from these, a MoU involving an investment of `200 crore was
signed for agriculture implements
with Beri Udhyog, `552 crore for food
processing plant with Boortmalt India
Holdings Private Limited, `8,650
crore for solar energy with CLP, `90

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

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crore for cotton yarn spinning with


Colour Creations Private Limited,
`6,132 crore for infrastructure with
Countrywide
Promoters
Private
Limited, `110 crore for CSR Initiative
with DLF Foundation, `200 crore for
manufacturing of LED and Non-LED
indoor lighting, fixtures and downlighters, home decoration and furniture products and parts thereof with
Eglo India Production and of `30
crore for manufacture of abrasives
with Excel Abrasives Private Limited.
Likewise, an MoU of `3,678 crore

The Solar Power Policy,


released on the occasion,
aims at creating a conducive
atmosphere for investment in
the solar energy sector and
with the help of this policy, it
is envisaged to add 4,000 MW
of solar power by 2022
for food processing plant was signed
with Indo European Sustainable
Development (IESD) with associate partner ASACA India Private
Limited, `1,500 crore for R&D with
IOCL, `1,000 crore for electronic
cluster with Jaina Mobile Industries
(Karbon Mobile), `280 crore for food
processing with Karnal Foodpack
Cluster Limited, `850 crore for Solar
Energy with Lanco, `8,749 crore and
`5,500 crore for infrastructure with
Omaxe and Puri Construction Private
Limited, respectively, `100 crore for
healthcare with Sobti Foundation
(Maxwell), `710 crore for tourism
with Swiss International Hotels, `300
crore for automatic parking with UBE
Industries, `1,000 crore for electron-

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

41

MILESTONE INVESTMENT
ics, IT and ITeS with Vodafone and
`490 crore with Wanfeng-Aluminium
Wheel (India) Private Limited.
The other MoUs which were signed
included an MoU of `15,000 crore for
financial services signed with ICICI,
`2,000 crore for electronic, IT and
ITeS with Bharti Airtel. Similarly,
MoU of `283 crore was signed with
Star Wire (India) Limited for manufacturing special and critical steel
adopting high-tech technologies.
Also, an MoU of `200 crore was
signed with Minda Kosei Aluminium
Wheel Private Limited for automobile
parts alloy wheels, of `190 crore with
Honda for worker housing, and of
`150 crore with Plasser India Private

Limited for manufacturing unit for


track maintenance machines.
Apart from these projects, MoUs
of `100 crore each were exchanged
with Minda Industries Limited and
Mindarika Private Limited for automobile parts switches, and `80 crore
with TG Minda Private Limited
for automobile parts rubber hoses.
An MoU was also exchanged with
Snapdeal for e-commerce.
On the second day of the
Happening Haryana Global Investors
Summit, Haryana also released its
Solar Power Policy 2016 to promote
generation of green and clean power
using solar energy and to harness
the enormous solar power poten-

tial of the state, in the presence of


Union Minister, Road Transport and
Highways, Nitin Gadkari, Haryana
Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki and
Chief Minister, Manohar Lal, Union
Minister of State for Defence, Rao
Inderjit, Haryana Finance Minister,
Capt. Abhimanyu, Haryana Health
Minister, Anil Vij, Haryana Woman
and Child Development Minister,
Kavita Jain, Haryana Minister of State
for Renewable Energy and Mines and
Geology Nayab Singh Saini, Swami
Ram Dev and CII Northern Region
Chairman, Shree Kant Somany.
The policy aims at creating a conducive atmosphere for the investors
to invest in the state in the solar ener-

Haryana has a lot to offer

aryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal said that Haryana


is looking forward to enhance ties of cooperation and
mutual sharing of interests. Delivering the keynote
address during partner countries session on the first day of
the two-day Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit at
Gurgaon, the Chief Minister said, Sector specific technology,
best practices and investment opportunities are the obvious
starting points of our bilateral dialogue and cooperation.,
The Chief Minister said that Haryana has a lot to offer
across sectors to those willing to explore. With a 3.5 per cent
contribution to Indias economy despite having only 1.3 per
cent of its area, Haryana is an important Indian state. Our
manufacturing and services sector together contribute more
than 80 per cent to the states economy. Even then, we are at
heart an agriculture friendly state.
The Chief Minister said, You will be surprised to know, that
such a small state is the second largest contributor to the
national corpus of food grains. We are a significant manufacturer of automobiles, agriculture implements, textiles, automotive parts, scientific instruments, and several ancillaries.
Besides manufacturing, Haryana is a large IT/ITes exporter of
the country. He assured his full support to the future business
karma of the people and their companies in Haryana.
The Chief Minister said that his government planned to
amend the Factories Act to exempt industrial units, using
power and employing less than 20 workers, and also, units

42

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

not using power and employing less


ss than 40
workers. The Payment of Wages Act
ct will also
be amended to remove the anachronistic
hronistic
condition that wages must be paid
d in
cash to workers drawing salary of up
to `18,000 per month. Listing somee
of the key initiatives taken to make
things easy for investors, he
said Haryana had already
ended the uncertainty over
future enhancements in
the cost of industrial plots,
launched e-biz portal, introduced automatic CLUs in 75
blocks, done away with the requirement of CLUs in 31 blocks, and set up
auniquethree-tier grievance redressal system, for both existing and new
investors, covering the entire regulatory and governance spectrum.
Whatever little remains, is in the
works and would be yours, very
soon, the Chief Minister added.
Haryana Industries and Finance
ce
Minister Capt Abhimanyu spokee
about the growth and prospects off

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gy sector and with the help of this policy, it is envisaged to add 4,000 MW
of solar power by 2022.
The Solar Power Policy would provide an enabling environment for fulfilling the vision of Prime Minister
Mr Narendra Modi to add 1,00,000
MW of solar power by 2022. For giving a boost to the solar energy sector,
various incentives like industrial status, exemption in change of land use
approval, electricity duty, besides free
wheeling and banking facility, exemption of T&D, cross subsidy charges
have been provided in the policy. The
government has also decided to purchase solar power over and above the
solar Renewable Purchase Obligation

(RPO) subject to a limit of 200 MW.


Elaborating further on the policy
initiatives, Ankur Gupta, Principal
Secretary,
Renewable
Energy
Department, Haryana, stated that the
policy is to bring significant investment from project developers. Solar
Parks will be set up in the State.
Also, the installation of Solar Power
Plants on canals tops/banks shall be
encouraged in the state. Besides this,
the policy also aims to promote small
investors by reserving 20 per cent of
the target for the projects of capacity
of one MW to two MW. For such projects, a price preference of 2 per cent
will be given to those who set up their
plants within Haryana. Sale of power

medium and small scale industries He said With a view


to encourage small and medium enterprises, the
Haryana Government has decided to reserve 20
per cent of its purchases for this sector. A
new policy would soon be introduced
for this purpose. Also, the Government
would create an e-com portal which
could be used by anyone for marketing their
products, he said while speaking during the
sectoral session on MSMEs: The backbone of
Haryanas Economy .
The Minister said that the Summit, was
the first step taken by the State Government
towards entrepreneurship readiness and
developing
conducive
environment
for
entrepreneurship development. He said that
more such initiatives would be taken up by
the State Government.
When the Summit was conceived
five months ago, it was designed as
thefirstevent towards realising the goal
of achieving an investment of `1 lakh
crore or US$16 billion set when the policy was announced on August 11, 2015.
But now, I am told by our Chief Secretary
that the commitments so far had already
exceeded this target by two hundred per cent. We
hope by tomorrow, this number will see a still more

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to Haryana Government or to a third


party is permitted without levying any
charges under the policy. Due to land
constraints, the installation of rooftop
solar power project has been encouraged by allowing the sale of power to
government at the last lowest discovered tariff without tendering. Rooftop
Solar Power Plants can be set up without any permission from the building
plan sanctioning authority.
Transmission line for evacuation
of solar power will also be provided
by power utilities free of cost. The
space between the installed solar
panels could be used for commercial floriculture or horticulture related activities. Under the policy, the

substantial increase.This reflects a resounding endorsement of


our policy commitments and an appreciation of the steps taken
by my government to implement these,the Chief Minister said.
Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, Confederation of
Indian Industry, "The fact that 12 countries are taking part
in the Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit-2016 is
a testimony to the confidence Haryana enjoys as a favourite
investment destination in the global business community.
The CII will continue to work with the Haryana Government,
especially in sectors such as social development, for which
an MoU has also been signed. The CII would like to work as
a partner with the Haryana Government and pledge to
work in the social development sector for such projects as
Beti Padhao-Beti Bachao programme and to empower the
people of Haryana.
Sumit Mazumdar, President,CII said Haryana is the land
of karma and of people who are proactive doers. The state's
Enterprises Promotion Policy-2015 has set the pace for growth
of industry in the state. Haryana has become a hotspot for
investment both global and domestic. Food processing and
agriculture industry can leverage the productive agricultural
sector of the state. The CII pledges to partner with the Haryana
government in all ways possible," said Mazumdar.
According to Haryana Chief Secretary DS Dhesi, the
Happening Haryana Global Investors Summit-2016 was
organised three weeks after the Make in India Programme. This
summit was a step forward in achieving the vision of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi of a growth-oriented economy.

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43

MILESTONE INVESTMENT

installation of Agricultural Solar


Powered Pump sets will be promoted
to meet water or irrigation energy
needs. The surplus power generation from the solar pump sets might
be bought by the Haryana Power
Purchase Centre (HPPC) at Average
Power Purchase Cost (APPC) rate of
the year.
Union Railway Minister Suresh
Prabhu also committed investments for projects in Haryana and
announced the setting up a rail
coach factory. Minister of Road
Transport and Highways, Nitin
Gadkari announced `33,000 crore
for national highways in the state. He
announced a special plan for decongesting the Delhi-Gurgaon stretch of
NH-8 through construction of four
flyovers, two bypasses and a tunnel
at Dhaula Kuan. Gadkari announced
that the first waterways would be
made available to Haryana connecting Wazirabad to Delhi.
Nitin Gadkari also announced that
for the first time in India, the DelhiManesar stretch would get Metrino

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vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

Twelve countries were


partner with Haryana in
the summit. These included
Czech-Republic, Japan,
Mauritius,New Zealand,
Peoples Republic of China,
Republic of Korea, Republic
of Malawi, Republic of
Peru,Republic of Poland,
Spain,the United Kingdom and
Tunisian Republic
rapid transport system, a network
of small, fully automatic pods which
travel independently by using
overhead wires. They are a good and
a pollution-free mode of transport.
The project would cost around `4,000
crore. This will be a cheaper and a
quicker mode of transport for the
people, said Gadkari.

Principal Secretary, Industries


Devender Singh, on behalf of Haryana
Government and the British Deputy
High Commissioner, David Lelliott
exchanged MoU documents in the
presence of Chief Minister Manohar
Lal to support the ease of doing business in Haryana during the Partner
Countries Session.
Ambassador, Embassy of Czech
Republic, expressed gratitude to
Haryana Government and CII for
inviting the Czech Republic as a partner country in the summit. He said
Haryana is one of the fastest growing
states in India as the state has made
tremendous efforts to promote entrepreneurship. As a result, the state
has become a major production base
and export hub of a large scale. Czech
Republic is interested in partnering
with Haryana in the areas of power
generation, renewable, water and
biomass, he said.
Ambassador, Embassy of the
Republic of Korea said that Haryana is
the best investment destination as of its
proximity to Delhi and other reasons.

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He also invited the Chief Minister to


visit Korea. High Commissioner New
Zealand High Commission Grahame
Morton
appreciated
Haryanas
success story. Ambassador Embassy
of the Republic of Peru Jose JG
Betancourt R described Haryana as a
great state as it is doing its works in
an outstanding way as like Republic of
Peru. We are looking forward to this
event, he added.
British Deputy High Commissioner
David Lelliott said that they were
planning to make an investment of
Rs 1,000 crore in the healthcare sector in Haryana which would expect to
generate 3000 jobs. We look forward
to continue to support the growth of
Haryana. Deputy Chief of Mission
Embassy of Tunisia Jamal Boujdaria
hoped for all success of this event and
thanked the government for making
Tunisia a partner country.
Director General (South Asia)
Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry (METI) Japan Seiji Takagi
said that traditionally India and
Japan has long lasting relationship.

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The biggest investment was


made by Dalian Wanda Group,
of Wang Jianlin, the richest
AsianRs 60,000 crore in an
industrial park at Kharkhoda
near Sonepat. Indiabulls Group
promised to invest `25,000
crore in the next 7-8 years. It
will lend through home loans
and also to developers of
affordable housing projects
More than 300 Japanease companies
have their base in Haryana. Haryana
is one of the most important states in
DMIC. We look forward to increasing the Japanese investment in wonderful state of Haryana, he added.
Director,
Ocean
Economy,
Mauritius, Seewraj Nundlall said
that Haryana and Mauritius have lots

of similarities in language, culture


and in terms of business. Haryana
is focusing on ease of doing business which is very important to conduct the business in a smooth manner. We also have been promoting
ease of doing business in Mauritius
for last 10 years. We are more than
willing to help in implementation of
ease of doing business in Haryana,
he added. He also invited the Chief
Minister to lead a delegation to
Mauritius. Representatives from the
High Commission of Malawai and
Embassy of Japan also presented
their remarks on mutual business and
investment opportunities.
The Happening Haryana Global
Investors Summit-2016 proved to
be a great success from the investment point of view. It gave the most
tangible proof of the faith and confidence industry and investors have
in Haryanas Enterprises Promotion
Policy. The steps taken by the government to usher in a new era of balanced
regional growth met international
recognition from investors. g

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

45

MILESTONE INVESTMENT
HAPPENING

HARYANA
GLOBAL INVESTORS SUMMIT-2016

46

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

PERSPECTIVE
cosmos sadhguru

F we looked at the world around


us with some attention, we would
see that existence is essentially
geometry. Every aspect of creation
from a leaf to a human being to planet
Earth is just a dynamic interplay of
shape and form. How effectively you
can walk, play, or simply handle life is
determined by your understanding of
this complex geometry.
Ever since my childhood, what first
drew my attention in anything I saw
was its geometry. The most significant aspect of a tree, for instance, lay
not in the colour of its leaves or the
beauty of its flowers, but in its shape
and form. Just by looking at the way
it stands, the whole story of the tree
can be unravelled. This is how I see
life even today. Geometry is the first
thing I notice, whether in a stone,
a tree, or a human being. Physical
reality is all about shapes, sizes and
angles, but most people get so lost in
the psychological process that they
miss this. With just a little attention,
this intrinsic geometry of the universe
can be perceived.
Although I am not a qualified architect, all the buildings in the Isha Yoga
Centre are designed by me. But I dont
claim to be original. These buildings
are a straight copy from Nature! They
are a small imitation of creation,
which offers us the most fantastic
architecture imaginable.
The ashram buildings stand only
because of the perfection of their
geometry, not because of the strength
of their material. Modern buildings,
made of cement, steel and concrete,
stand because the material binds
them. Additionally, they are held
together by tension. In most constructions, there is a continuous struggle
between the roof and the force of
gravity. Gravity wants the building
down; the tensile material wants to
keep it up. One day gravity will win.

www.indianbuzz.com

Geometric allure
In the ashram, however, the buildings are bound together with natural
material: brick, lime and mud. The
simple logic is that all the bricks are
trying to come down at the same time,
so they cannot fall. The logic is simple: if 10 people try to go through a
door simultaneously, they will be
unsuccessful; only if one of them steps
back can the others enter. The same
rationale holds true here. The buildings here are relaxed, in perfect harmony with the forces of the planet. There is no tension whatsoever.
You can even say they are meditating!
I often tell people, When the buildings themselves are meditating, you
should be an easy case!
The whole universe happens
because of a certain perfection of
geometry. The planet is going around
the sun because the perfection of
geometry is keeping it in orbit. If the
planet goes off orbit even a little, the
games up! It will hurtle off into space.
When the Unmanifest begins to
manifest itself, the first and fundamental form to emerge from a state
of nothingness, is an ellipsoid. This
form was known in this culture as a
Linga. It is from this simple form that

existence assumed a bewildering plurality of shapes. But fundamentally,


nothing has changed. Existence is
simply geometry in varying degrees
of complexity: from simple physical
geometry to a more complex chemical geometry, from a sophisticated
atomic geometry to a far more sophisticated energetic geometry.
The whole process of yoga is to align
the geometry of the body to the geometry of existence. In these days of dish
antennae, people dont face this problem anymore. But some years ago,
you would be watching your favourite soap opera or cricket match, and
suddenly the image would be gone. A
single rain would mean you had to go
and adjust the TV antenna.
If the body is held right, it can
become a phenomenal antenna that
can receive the profoundest mysteries of existence. For this, it needs to
be in a certain state of ease. If there
is rigidity or compulsiveness, it will
be unsuccessful. But if you fine-tune
the geometry, this human body can
download the entire cosmos. g
Sadhguru, a yogi, is a visionary,
humanitarian and a prominent spiritual
leader (www.ishafoundation.org)

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

47

SPOTLIGHT
The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural
Gas (Independent Charge), Dharmendra
Pradhan, at the signing ceremony of
agreements and MoUs between Rosneft and the
Indian consortium of Oil India Limited, Indian
Oil Corporation Ltd and Bharat PetroResources
and between Rosneft and ONGC Videsh Ltd, in
New Delhi. The Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum
and Natural Gas, KD Tripathi, and other
dignitaries were also present.

The CMD, Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC), MK Goel,


presenting the interim dividend cheque of `402.71 crore for
the Financial Year 2015-16 to the Minister of State
(Independent Charge) for Power, Coal and New and
Renewable Energy, Piyush Goyal, in New Delhi on March 1.
The Secretary, Ministry of Power, PK Pujari, is also seen.

The Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Colonel


Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, presenting the Life Time
Achievement award to Bhawan Singh, at the 5th National
Photography Awards Ceremony, in New Delhi. The Secretary,
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Sunil Arora, and
other dignitaries are also seen.

Commerce Secretary Rita A Teaotia at the CAPINDIA 2016


Chemicals and Plastic exhibition in Mumbai.

The Vice Chief of the Army Staff, Lt. Gen. MMS Rai
with the Indian Army Everest Expedition Team during the
Flagging Off ceremony in New Delhi.

48

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

PHOTOS: PIB

The Union Minister for Finance, Corporate Affairs and


Information & Broadcasting, Arun Jaitley, releasing a
brochure at the seminar on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima
Yojana (PMFBY) and Unified Package Insurance Scheme
(UPIS) in Mumbai. Secretary, Department of Financial
Services, Anjuly Chib Duggal, and other dignitaries were
also present.

The Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), BP Sharma,


lighting the lamp at the launch of The Longitudinal Ageing
Study in India (LASI) in New Delhi. The Secretary, Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment, Anita Agnihotri, and the
Secretary (DHR) and DG (ICMR), Soumya Swaminathan, are
also seen.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the World Sufi Forum


in New Delhi.

The Union Minister for Defence, Manohar Parrikar, at the


inauguration of the 9th Edition of Defexpo in Goa. Union
Ministers Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, Rao Inderjit Singh
and Shripad Yesso Naik, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar, Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh, Chief of
Naval Staff, Admiral RK Dhowan and other dignitaries are
also seen.

The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas


(Independent Charge), Dharmendra Pradhan, releasing a
publication at the inauguration of the 2nd Indian Oil Gas
Conclave with the theme Natural Gas : Vision 2025
Challenges and Opportunities in New Delhi. The Secretary,
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, KD Tripathi, and
other dignitaries are also seen.

Compiled by Kanika Srivastava

www.indianbuzz.com

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

49

STOCK DOCTOR
dr gs sood

Sweet spot for investors

N observation of the day-today movement of the market


during the last few sessions
is indicative of the onset of a bull
run. The government also seems to
be doing everything right with the
RBI going in for a thorough asset
quality review of the banking sector
that will strengthen the system to
take up the challenges ahead a
concern I have been pointing out in
most of my previous columns. With
the budget mainly focusing on the
rural sector and infrastructure, the
Indian economy will be much better
prepared to meet global shocks.
The global economy is recovering
albeit weakly and may be subject
to downside risks. The present
government is credited with having
achieved macro-economic stability,
raising the threshold limit for FDI
in various sectors and improving the
business environment in general.
Initiatives such as Make in India,
Startup India-Stand up India, Skill
India, Swachh Bharat, smart cities,
and promotion of alternative sources
of energy will considerably improve
the competitiveness of the country.
However, the economy still suffers from low investment and the
government needs to increase capital
expenditure. Investment as percentage of GDP has been falling sharply,
from 39 per cent in 2011-12 to less
than 33 per cent in 2015-16. The
savings rate has also declined and is
currently in the range of 31-31.5 per
cent of GDP. Though the economy
has benefitted from low oil prices, the
same has led to another curse wherein
7 million Indian workers from states

such as Kerala who draw a major


chunk of their revenues from remittances are staring at a bleak future.
Remittances are getting choked due
to falling oil prices resulting in mass
job losses. It is worth noting that 96
per cent of annual labour exports
from India are to the Gulf nations
and only 4 per cent to the rest of the
world. The country received remittances worth $69.8 billion in 2014-15.
The focus of the market will now
shift to corporate earnings and
interest rates. Given that a lot of
correction happened due to lower
than expected corporate earnings
during the last many quarters, the
earnings are likely to bottom out and
there may be a pick-up from the firstsecond quarter of Fy16-17. Though the
market has already discounted a 25
basis points cut by the Reserve Bank,
any deviation may bring in a surprise
for it. The valuations on the whole

have started to look a bit reasonable,


looking to the future. We have again
witnessed some unseasonal rainfall
that has damaged the winter crop.
This may again pose a question mark
on the revival of the rural economy
and food prices and may make the job
of the government more challenging.
Overall, the worst seems to be over.
The emerging markets per se have
turned into favourable risk reward
metrics and have started attracting
increased FII flows. India stands
much better relatively and is a sweet
spot for world investors.
Investors are advised to take a
long-term view of the market and
invest in stocks that the Budget has
focused on. The sectors that investors
can look out for one cement, road
construction, retail, private banks
and NBFCs, urban consumption, and
stocks that stand to benefit from
government spending. g

Stock Shop
BY

RAKESH BHARDWAJ

Madhucon Projects
(CMP `52)

HE company is involved in infra projects and its business relates to construction of highways, flyovers, dams and
tunnels. The companys expertise in EPC
projects is rich and its railway projects
are very impressive. With the increased
focus of the government on infrastructure
and huge sums being set apart for the
same, the company is well positioned to
take advantage of this. The government

has also promised to clear all the stalled


projects by May 26, 2016, and this will
directly benefit the company. The interest rate cuts in the days to come will be
icing on the cake.
The stock is available at reasonable
valuations as compared to its peers. The
current market price discounts the TTM
EPS of `4.44 by a PE of mere 11.75 as compared to the industry average of 22.21.
The book value is more than `100. With
power contracts set to yield higher revenues from June 2016, the stock can give
decent returns over a period of 2-3 years.

The author has no exposure in the stock recommended in this column. gfiles does not accept responsibility for investment decisions by
readers of this column. Investment-related queries may be sent to editor@gfilesindia.com with Bhardwajs name in the subject line.

50

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

birthdays
IAS officers birthdays April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

IAS officers birthdays April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

J Sathyanarayana

Romila Dubey

KV Satyanarayanan

DS Dhok (Rajurkar)

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

snarainj@ias.nic.in

dubeyr@ias.nic.in

snvenkat@ias.nic.in

01MH045311@ias.nic.in

Arnab Roy

Shashi Kant Sharma

RM Pillai

Anil Chandra Punetha

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: UNION TERRITORY

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

royarnab@ias.nic.in

s.k.sharma@ias.nic.in

rm.pillai@ias.nic.in

punethaa@ias.nic.in

Kamal Kant Mittal

Praveen Kumar Kolaventy

K Chandramouli

R Vineel Krishna

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: ODISHA

mittalkk@ias.nic.in

kolavent@ias.nic.in

cmoulik1@ias.nic.in

rv.krishna@ias.nic.in

Sarada G Muraleedharan

Vikrant Pandey

JD Patil

Adhar Sinha

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

msardag@ias.nic.in

vikrant.p@ias.nic.in

jdpatil@ias.nic.in

sinhaa1@ias.nic.in

HM Cairae

Vinita Kumar

Mahesh Kumar Gupta

Harjot Kaur Bamhrah

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: BIHAR

cairaehm@ias.nic.in

kumarv1@ias.nic.in

guptamk1@ias.nic.in

bamhara@ias.nic.in

Vijay Kumar Gautam

Arvind Agrawal

Ajit Ranjan Bardhan

Kedar Lal Sharma

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

gautamvk@ias.nic.in

arvinda@ias.nic.in

bardhana@ias.nic.in

kedarlal.ias@ias.nic.in

MS Srikar

Bijay Kumar Dhal

T Natarajan

Anita Singh

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

srikarms@ias.nic.in

dhalbk@ias.nic.in

nataraj2@ias.nic.in

sanita@ias.nic.in

Asha Thomas

Antara Acharya

P Annamalai

BS Mundhe

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

thomasa@ias.nic.in

antara.ias@ias.nic.in

pamalai@ias.nic.in

bsmundhe@ias.nic.in

Jagmohan Singh Raju

Srikant Nagulapalli

Pankaj Kumar

Arvind Singh

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: ANDHRA PRADESH

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

rajujs@ias.nic.in

nagulapa@ias.nic.in

kumarp12@ias.nic.in

sarvind@ias.nic.in

Neeraj Kumar Gupta

Nishant Warwade

Harjit Singh

Om Prakash li

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: UTTARAKHAND

guptank82@ias.nic.in

nwarwade03@ias.nic.in

sharjit@ias.nic.in

prakash@ias.nic.in

Longki Phancho

Anil Garg

Sunil Sharma

Alok Perti

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: TELANGANA

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

phanchol@ias.nic.in

garga1@ias.nic.in

ssunil@ias.nic.in

pertia@ias.nic.in

Ashok Kumar Angurana

S Suhail Ali

Rahul Jain

V Ponnuraj

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

angurana@ias.nic.in

suhailali.ias@ias.nic.in

rahul.jain@ias.nic.in

ponnuraj@ias.nic.in

Alok Kumar

Ashwini Kumar

Thomas Mathew

Aswathy S

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: ODISHA

kmralok1@ias.nic.in

kashwini@ias.nic.in

mathewt@ias.nic.in

aswathys@ias.nic.in

16-04-1954

16-04-1966

16-04-1958

17-04-1965

17-04-1956

18-04-1961

18-04-1975

18-04-1963

19-04-1963

19-04-1958

20-04-1952

20-04-1956

21-04-1965

21-04-1951

21-04-1950

21-04-1964

22-04-1979

22-04-1953

23-04-1960

23-04-1949

24-04-1976

24-04-1973

25-04-1976

26-04-1970

27-04-1959

28-04-1975

29-04-1954

30-04-1951

01-05-1953

02-05-1959

03-05-1964

04-05-1964

05-05-1971

05-05-1960

06-05-1962

07-05-1951

08-05-1964

08-05-1980

09-05-1956

09-05-1956

10-05-1959

10-05-1980

11-05-1962

11-05-1967

12-05-1959

12-05-1964

13-05-1955

14-05-1963

14-05-1962

15-05-1952

15-05-1973

15-05-1977

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

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gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

51

IPS officers birthdays April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

IPS officers birthdays April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

Soorya Thankappan

Arvind Ranjan

Rajeev Sabharwal

K Ramachandra Rao

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

soorya@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

aranjan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rsabharwal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kramachandrarao@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Yoshwant Kumar Jethawa

Solomon Yash Kumar Minz

Satish Golcha

G Venkataraman

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: MADHYA PRADESH

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

yoshwantjethawa@mail.svpnpa.gov.in sykminz@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

satish@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

vankataraman@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Mubarik Ahmed Ganie

Akshaya Kumar Mishra

Bhanu Bhaskar

RG Kadam

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

ahmed@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

akmishra@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bhanubhaskar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

kadam@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Sanjay Kundu

Arpit Shukla

Mukesh Sahay

Amitabh Ranjan

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: MANIPUR-TRIPURA

sanjaykundu@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

arpit@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mukeshsahay@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

amitabhranjan@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Guite Thangkhanlal

SK Upadhyay

Ram Singh

Binod Kumar Singh

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: ODISHA

CADRE: PUNJAB

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

thangkhanlal@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sk_upadhyay@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ramsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

binod@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Sanjay Srivastava

Sandeep Goel

J Rajendran

Ashish Bhatia

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: GUJARAT

sanjay_s@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sandeepg@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jrajendran@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

ashishbhatia@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Jaijeet Singh

Padam Kumar Garg

Mukesh Kr Meena

Balram Kumar Upadhyay

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: KARNATAKA

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: KERALA

jaijeetsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pkgarg@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

mkmeena@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

bkupadhyay@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Keshav Kumar

Ranjan Dwivedi

SN Seshasai

Anita Punj

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: TAMIL NADU

CADRE: PUNJAB

keshavkumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

rdwivedi@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

seshasai@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

anitapunj@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rupinder Singh

Deepak Choudhary

Sandeep Shandilya

SR Samuel

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: TELANGANA

CADRE: JAMMU & KASHMIR

rupinder@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

cdeepak@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sandeep@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

srsamuel@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Saurabh Srivastava

K Padmakumar

AK Surolia

Samant Kumar Goel

CADRE: RAJASTHAN

CADRE: KERALA

CADRE: GUJARAT

CADRE: PUNJAB

saurabh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

padmakumar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

aksurolia@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

skgoel@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Rajesh Kumar Yadav

B Shiva Dhar Reddy

Anand Pratap Singh

Arun Jeji Chakravarthy

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: TELANGANA

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: KARNATAKA

yadavrk@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

shivadhar@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

apsingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

arunjejic@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

Siddh Nath Gupta

Niket Kaushik

Atul Verma

Jacob Thomas

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

CADRE: MAHARASHTRA

CADRE: HIMACHAL PRADESH

CADRE: KERALA

sngupta@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

nkaushik@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

atulverma@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

jacobthomas@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

S Narayan Singh

Sanjay Bainiwal

SM Tarde

Pranav Kumar

CADRE: ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

CADRE: AGMUT

CADRE: UTTAR PRADESH

CADRE: WEST BENGAL

snarayansingh@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

sanjayb@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

tarde@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

pranav@mail.svpnpa.gov.in

16-04-1976

17-04-1968

18-04-1958

18-04-1964

20-04-1961

20-04-1963

21-04-1964

21-04-1961

21-04-1971

21-04-1963

22-04-1973

22-04-1966

22-04-1964

23-04-1955

23-04-1971

24-04-1961

24-04-1966

25-04-1963

25-04-1966

26-04-1961

26-04-1956

26-04-1976

27-04-1965

28-04-1966

29-04-1971

29-04-1964

30-04-1969

30-04-1967

01-05-1973

01-05-1958

02-05-1969

03-05-1956

03-05-1963

04-05-1960

04-05-1964

05-05-1960

05-05-1971

06-05-1965

06-05-1965

07-05-1966

08-05-1968

08-05-1960

09-05-1965

09-05-1971

10-05-1962

10-05-1970

11-05-1967

12-05-1973

13-05-1960

14-05-1967

15-05-1960

15-05-1980

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

52

gfiles inside the government

vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

www.gfilesindia.com

birthdays
Lok Sabha Members April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

Lok Sabha Members April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016

Thangso Baite

E Ahamed

Natubhai Gomanbhai Patel

BJP (Maharashtra)

04-05-1972

dilipmgandhi@gmail.com

INC (Manipur)

IUML (Kerala)

BJP (Dadra and Nagar Haveli)

t.baite@sansad.nic.in

eahamed@hotmail.com

dnhmp2009@gmail.com

Uma Saren

Kariya Munda

Meenakshi Lekhi

Rama Devi

AITC (West Bengal)

05-05-1949

uma.saren@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Jharkhand)

BJP (NCT of Delhi)

BJP (Bihar)

kariya.munda@sansad.nic.in

mrs.mlekhi@gmail.com

rama.devi19@sansad.nic.in

K Varkey Thomas

P Karunakaran

Janardan Mishra

Kamla Devi Patle

INC (Kerala)

05-05-1966

prof.kvthomas2014@gmail.com

CPI-M (Kerala)

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

BJP (Chhattisgarh)

pkarunakaranmp@gmail.com

janardan.bjp@gmail.com

kd.patle@sansad.nic.in

Vijay Kumar Singh

MK Raghavan

Anto Antony

B Senguttuvan

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

06-05-1956

veekaysingh@gmail.com

INC (Kerala)

INC (Kerala)

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

mk.raghavan@sansad.nic.in

anto.antony@ymail.com

senguttuvanb.adv@gmail.com

Anoop Mishra

Jayant Sinha

Bijoy Chandra Barman

Shailesh Kumar

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

06-05-1975

anoop.mishra@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Jharkhand)

AITC (West Bengal)

RJD (Bihar)

jsinha21@gmail.com

bijoychandrabarman@gmail.com

shailesh.kumar19@sansad.nic.in

Mehboob Ali Kaiser

P Kumar

Naba Kumar Sarania

Keshav Prasad Maurya

LJSP (Bihar)

07-05-1969

mahboobali.kaiser@sansad.nic.in

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

Independent (Assam)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

p.kumar@sansad.nic.in

saranianabakumar@yahoo.com

keshav.prasad@sansad.nic.in

K Kamaraj

Naranbhai B Kachhadiya

Ravindra Kumar Ray

Muzaffar Hussain Baig

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

08-05-1946

k.kamaraj@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Gujarat)

BJP (Jharkhand)

PDP (Jammu and Kashmir)

mpamreli@gmail.com

rkraibjp@gmail.com

muzaffar.baig@sansad.nic.in

Asaduddin Owaisi

Subhash Patel

Satish Chandra Dubey

Shivaji Adhalrao Patil

AIMIM (Telangana)

08-05-1956

asad.owaisi@sansad.nic.in

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

BJP (Bihar)

SS (Maharashtra)

subhash.patel@sansad.nic.in

satishchandra.dubey@sansad.nic.in

shivajirao@vsnl.com

Mamata Thakur

Joice George

Elumalai V

Dilip Kr Mansukhlal Gandhi

Independent (Kerala)

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

joicegeorgeadv@gmail.com

v.elumalai@sansad.nic.in

Prasanna Kumar Patasani

Uma Bharati

BJD (Odisha)

BJP (Uttar Pradesh)

prasanna.patasani@sansad.nic.in

uma.bharati@sansad.nic.in

Ravindra V Gaikwad

PK Sreemathi Teacher

SS (Maharashtra)

CPI-M (Kerala)

prof.ravi@sansad.nic.in

pksreemathi@gmail.com

17-04-1953

20-04-1936

20-04-1945

21-04-1952

21-04-1963

21-04-1971

25-04-1955

25-04-1978

26-04-1970

27-04-1946

27-04-1960

29-04-1938

30-04-1967

01-05-1956

01-05-1957

01-05-1957

01-05-1969

02-05-1958

02-05-1975

03-05-1955

03-05-1959

04-05-1949

Ponnusamy Venugopal

Konakalla Narayana Rao

AIADMK (Tamil Nadu)

TDP (Andhra Pradesh)

p.venugopal@sansad.nic.in

knro12699@gmail.com

Anupriya Patel

Sidhant Mohapatra

Apna Dal (Uttar Pradesh)

BJD (Odisha)

anupriyasingh.patel@sansad.nic.in

mpsidhant@gmail.com

28-04-1952

28-04-1981

04-05-1950

04-05-1966

For the complete list, see www.gfilesindia.com

www.indianbuzz.com

09-05-1951

09-05-1984

10-05-1946

10-05-1951

13-05-1956

13-05-1958

13-05-1965

13-05-1969

15-05-1967

AITC (West Bengal)

mamatathakur67@gmail.com

Rajya Sabha Members April 16, 2016 May 15, 2016


Mukul Roy

Meghraj Jain

AITC (West Bengal)

BJP (Madhya Pradesh)

roy.mukul@sansad.nic.in

meghraj.jain@sansad.nic.in

Sachin Tendulkar

KK Ragesh

Nominated

CPI-M (Kerala)

sachin.t@sansad.nic.in

kk.ragesh@sansad.nic.in

Anil Desai

Vijay Jawaharlal Darda

SS (Maharashtra)

INC (Maharashtra)

anil.desai@sansad.nic.in

vijaydarda@sansad.nic.in

Hishey Lachungpa

Tiruchi Siva

SDF (Sikkim)

DMK (Tamil Nadu)

h.lachungpa@sansad.nic.in

tiruchi.siva@sansad.nic.in

17-04-1954

24-04-1973

02-05-1957

10-05-1967

13-05-1943

13-05-1970

14-05-1950

15-05-1954

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

53

Tracking
G GURUCHARAN
The 1982-batch IAS officer of the
Karnataka cadre and Special Secretary,
Consumer Affairs, has been appointed
Secretary (Performance Management),
Cabinet Secretariat, Government of India.

HEM KUMAR PANDE


The 1982-batch IAS officer of the West
Bengal cadre and Special Secretary,
Environment, Forest and Climate
Change, has been appointed Secretary,
Department of Official Language, Ministry
of Home Affairs, Government of India.

For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary,


Government of Arunachal Pradesh.

RAMESH NEGI
The 1984-batch IAS officer of the
AGMUT cadre and Chief Secretary,
Arunachal Pradesh, has been transferred
to GNCTD.

ARUN KUMAR
The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Haryana
cadre and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of
Civil Aviation has been assigned charge of
Airports Authority of India.

JITENDRA SHANKAR MATHUR

CV DHARMA RAO

The 1982-batch IAS officer of the Madhya


Pradesh cadre & Special Secretary,
Information & Broadcasting, has
been appointed Secretary, Ministry of
Panchayati Raj, Government of India.

The CSS officer has been appointed Joint


Secretary in-situ in the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare, Government of India.

RAJIV GAUBA
The 1982-batch IAS officer of the
Jharkhand cadre has been appointed
Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development,
Government of India.

ANINDO MAJUMDAR
The 1985-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT
cadre has been appointed Chief Secretary,
Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

SHAKUNTALA GAMLIN
The 1984-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT

VD SHARMA
The officer has been promoted as Joint
Secretary (Legal & Treaties) in the
Ministry of External Affairs, Government
of India.

GYANESH BHARTI
The 1998-batch IAS officer of the UT
cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate
Change, Government of India.

SK DEV VERMAN
The 1988-batch IAS officer of the Manipur
cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of
India.

VIVEK JOSHI
The 1989-batch IAS officer of the Haryana
cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary,
Department of Expenditure, Ministry of
Finance, Government of India.

SANTOSH D VAIDYA
The 1988-batch IAS officer of the UT
cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary,
Ministry of New & Renewable Energy,
Government of India.

RK SUDHANSHU

The 1993-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT


cadre has been appointed Administrator,
Daman, Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli.

The 1997-batch IAS officer of the


Uttarakhand cadre has been appointed
Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics
& Information Technology, Government of
India.

VIKRAM SINGH GAUR

OP CHAUDHARY

The 1986-batch IFS officer of the


Jharkhand cadre has been appointed Joint
Secretary, NITI Aayog.

The 1989-batch IFS officer of the MP cadre


is now Joint Secretary, Department of
Animal Husbandry, Government of India.

VIKRAM DEV DUTT

Moving On: IAS officers retiring in April 2016


ASSAM-MEGHALAYA

JAMMU & KASHMIR

PUNJAB

BIHAR

KERALA

RAJASTHAN

CHHATTISGARH

KARNATAKA

HM Cairae (1978)
Dr Anupam Kumar Roy (1999)
Alok Kumar Sinha (1979)
Shakti Kumar Negi (1981)
Dibyendu Sekhar Misra (1982)

GUJARAT

BK Thacker (2003)

HARYANA

Praveen Kumar Jain (1981)


Dr Dalip Singh (1982)

JHARKHAND

Sudhir Prasad (1981)


Vishnu Kumar (1983)

54

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

Ashok Kumar Angurana (1980)


Zaffar Ahmad Bhat (2001)
Pradeep Kumar Mohanty (1980)
Ajay Kumar Gupta (1981)
DN Narasimha Raju (1984)
Adoni Syed Saleem (1999)
Dr DS Viswanath (2002)

MAHARASHTRA

Kusumjit Sidhu (1979)


Suresh Kumar (1983)
Sunil Arora (1980)
Ajit Kumar Singh (1983)
Shreemat Pandey (1984)
Anil Kumar Chaplot (1980)
SS Panwar (2001)

UTTAR PRADESH

Shahbuddin Mohammad (1997)

Sunil Soni (1981)


Prakash Krishnrao Thube (2003)

UTTARAKHAND

ODISHA

WEST BENGAL

Hadibandhu Singhsardar (2001)


Lakra (2001)
Debraj Mishra (2001)

Nani Mali (2005)

Nandadulal Bhakat (1999)

www.gfilesindia.com

NIKUNJ KUMAR SHRIVASTAVA


The 1998-batch IAS officer of the MP
cadre has been appointed Joint Secretary,
Department of Personnel & Training,
Government of India.

SC BARMMA
The 1987-batch IPS officer has been
appointed Joint Secretary, Department of
Justice, Government of India.

NAVNEET MOHAN KOTHARI


The 2001-batch IAS officer of the Madhya
Pradesh cadre has been appointed Private
Secretary to Union Steel and Mines Minister
Narendra Singh Tomar.

ANKUR GARG
The 2003-batch IAS officer of the
AGMUT cadre has been appointed Private
Secretary to Civil Aviation Minister P Ashok
Gajapathi Raju.

JUSTICE PERMOD KOHLI


The retired Chief Justice of Sikkim High
Court has been appointed Chairman of the
Central Administrative Tribunal.

SRIVATSA KRISHNA

been appointed Chairman-cum-Managing


Director, MSTC Limited.

KALLOL ROY
The Outstanding Scientist, BARC has been
appointed Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd.

NATARAJAN CHANDRASEKARAN
The CEO and MD, Tata Consultancy
Services, has been appointed Part-Time
Non-official Director, RBI.

JUSTICE SJ MUKHOPADHAYAYA
The former Judge of Supreme Court has
been appointed Chairperson of the National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).

SUDHIR KUMAR RAKESH


The 1983-batch IAS officer of the Bihar
cadre has been appointed DG, Bihar
Public Administration and Rural
Development Institute.

SANJAY BHATIYA
The 1985-batch IAS Officer of the
Maharashtra cadre has been appointed
Chairman, Mumbai Port Trust.

The 1994-batch IAS officer of the


Karnataka cadre has been appointed
Chairman, Karnataka Urban Infrastructure
Development & Finance Corporation,
Government of Karnataka.

KK SHARMA

KRISHNA SAINI

The 1981-batch IPS officer of the Telangana


cadre has been appointed Director-General
of CRPF, Government of India.

The 1981-batch retired IT officer has been


appointed Chairman, Delhi Electricity
Regulatory Commission.

BB SINGH
The Director (Commercial), MSTC, has

The 1982-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan


cadre has been appointed Director-General
of BSF, Government of India.

K DURGA PRASAD

RAHUL KAPOOR
The IRAS officer has been appointed
Director, Finance (PPP), Railway Board.

APPOINTMENTS TO SETTLEMENT COMMISSION


ASHOK KUMAR SINHA (1979 IRS-IT) has been appointed Member, Settlement
Commission (Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for New Delhi Bench. SUNIL KUMAR MISRA
(1981 IRS-IT) has been appointed Member, Settlement Commission (Income Tax/Wealth
Tax) for Chennai Bench. BALDIP SINGH SANDHU (IRS-IT 1981) has been appointed
Member, Settlement Commission (Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for New Delhi Bench.
SUDHIR KUMAR (1981 IRS-IT) has been appointed Member, Settlement Commission
(Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for Mumbai Bench. SM ASHRAF (1981 IRS-IT) has been
appointed Member, Settlement Commission (Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for Kolkata
Bench. HUKUM CHAND JAIN (1982 IRS-IT) has been appointed Member, Settlement
Commission (Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for Mumbai Bench. K RAMALINGAM (1982 IRSIT) has been appointed Member, Settlement Commission (Income Tax/Wealth Tax) for
Chennai Bench.

www.indianbuzz.com

ROHIT PARMAR
The IRAS officer, East Central Railway,
has been appointed Director, Finance
(Expenditure)-II, Railway Board.

RAJAN AGRAWAL
The 1984-batch IDSE officer has been
appointed Director, Agriculture
Research and Education, in the Government
of India.

KULDEEP PARWAL
The 2000-batch IoFS officer has been
appointed Deputy Secretary, Ministry of
Defence, Government of India.

ANIL RANGA
The 1998-batch IOFS officer has been
appointed Director, Economic Affairs,
Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

CHANDRADEEP KUAMR JHA


The 2000-batch ISS officer has been
appointed Director, Industrial Policy
and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce
and Industry, in the Government of India.

JOSEPH PLAPPALLIL J
The officer has been appointed Wholetime Member, Insurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India.

K CHAUDHARY
The Director (Project), NBCC has been
appointed the new CMD of IRCON Ltd.

NM PANALI
The 2004-batch IAS officer of the
Karnataka cadre has been appointed
Special Deputy Commissioner-I,
Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka.

MANGESH KUMAR TYAGI


The 1983-batch IFS officer of the
Madhya Pradesh cadre has been deputed
as Chief Advisor, Atal Behari Vajpayee
Institute of Good Governance & Analysis,
Government of Madhya Pradesh.

SAROJ KUMAR SADANGI


The 1988-batch IRSS officer has been
appointed Chief Vigilance Officer, Kolkata
Port Trust, Kolkata.

NEETA VERMA
The Scientist G has been appointed
Director General, National Informatics
Centre (NIC).

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

55

Tracking

For a complete list of appointments & retirements, see www.gfilesindia.com

APARNA VAISH
The ADG Operations has been appointed
acting Director General, Doordarshan.

HITESH CHANDRA AWASTHI


The 1995-batch IPS officer of the Uttar
Pradesh cadre has been empanelled for the
post of Additional Director-General in the
Government of India

GITANJALI GUPTA KUNDRA


The 1996-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT
cadre has been transferred from GNCTD
to Mizoram.

ASHISH KUNDRA
The 1996-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT
cadre, Administrator, Daman Diu and Dadra
& Nagar Haveli has been transferred to
Arunachal Pradesh.

RAMAN
The Executive Director, SAIL has been
appointed Director (Technical), Steel
Authority of India Limited.

GAURI PRASHAR JOSHI


The 2009-batch IAS officer of the Haryana
cadre has been appointed Director,
Tourism, Govt. of Haryana.

HK DASH
The retired IAS officer has been appointed
Vigilance Commissioner, Gujarat.

SS KHUNTIA
The DGM, ONGC Videsh Limited has been
appointed Director (Finance), Balmer Lawrie
& Company Limited (BLC).

MK SINGH
The IRAS officer has been appointed
Director (Finance), IRCON International Ltd.

VISHVAS VIDU SAPKAL


The 1998-batch IFS officer has been
appointed High Commissioner of India to
the Republic of Fiji.

RK MISHRA
The 1986-batch IPS officer of the
Bihar cadre has joined as IG, Personnel,
at CRPF HQ.

B SATHEESH BALAN
The 2004-batch IPS officer has been
appointed ADC (Police) to Haryana
Governor Kaptan Singh Solanki.

56

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

HARYANA IAS RESHUFFLE


ARUN KUMAR has been appointed
Chief Administrator, Housing Board,
Haryana as additional charge;
PRADEEP KASNI was made DG,
Industrial Training; RAMESH KRISHNA is
Director General, Supplies & Disposals,
Haryana and Secretary, Human Rights
Commission; BRIJENDRA SINGH has
been appointed Managing Director,
Haryana Warehousing Corporation;
VIKAS GUPTA is Director, Urban Local
Bodies and Mission Director, State Urban
Livelihood Mission; SANJEEV VERMA
is Deputy Commissioner, Mahender
Garh at Narnaul; ATUL KUMAR is
Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak and
Commissioner, Municipal Corporation and
KHETMALIS MAKRAN PANDURANG is
now Deputy Commissioner, Sonepat and
Commissioner, Municipal Corporation,
Sonepat. Besides, the posting orders of
DUSHMANTA KUMAR BEHERA and RAJIV
RATTAN will be issued later.

GARGI SHARMA GOEL


The IRS officer has been appointed Joint
Commissioner of Income Tax, O/o Principal
CCIT, Delhi region.

Director, Department of Industrial Policy


and Promotion, Government of India.

ANUPOMA DAS
The Deputy Director, Publications
Division, has been posted as Joint
Director, DFP.

SAPTARSHI ROY
The Regional Executive Director,
NTPC, has been appointed Director
(Human), NTPC.

ARUN KUMAR SINHA


The 1987-batch IPS officer of the Kerala
cadre has been appointed Director,
Special Protection Group.

AJIT KUMAR
The 2006-batch IAS officer of the Kerala
cadre and Deputy Secretary in the
Cabinet Secretariat has been appointed
Deputy Secretary in the PMO.

PRAKASH MISHRA
The 1977-batch IPS officer and former
Director General of CRPF has been
appointed Advisor to the Governor of
Uttarakhand.

RAVINDRA SINGH

The 1987-batch IPS officer has joined as


DIG, Procurement, at ITBP HQ.

The 1979-batch IAS officer of the Uttar


Pradesh cadre and former Secretary,
Culture, has been appointed Advisor to
the Governor of Uttarakhand.

DHARMENDRA KUMAR

ANAND BARDHAN

The 1984-batch IPS officer of the


Uttarakhand cadre has been appointed
ADG, CISF HQ.

The 1992-batch IAS officer of the


Uttarakhand cadre has been appointed
Secretary to the Uttarakhand
Governor, KK Paul.

PC DANGWAL

DINESH BHATIA
The 1992-batch IFS officer has taken over as
Consul General of India in Toronto.

PREM SINGH RAGHUVANSHI


Sr. PS to Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh
has been elevated as OSD to Chief Minister,
Government of Himachal Pradesh.

VIPIN KUMAR BANSAL


The officer has been appoint Deputy
Inspector General, Forests in NTCA under
the Ministry of Environment, Forests &
Climate Change, Government of India.

DEEPAK RAO
The officer has been appointed Deputy

DEEPAK CHHABRA
The IRTS officer has been appointed
Additional Member (C&IS), Railway
Board.

VSK KAUMUDI
The 1986-batch IPS officer of the Andhra
Pradesh cadre has been appointed
Inspector General in the National
Investigation Agency.

AMIT KISHORE
The 2011-batch IAS officer of the Uttar
Pradesh cadre has been appointed
Director of Information and Public
Relations, Government of Uttar Pradesh.

www.gfilesindia.com

...by the way


Right connections

Hot seat

elhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is in a bind;


he is not getting the right kind of civil servants to
administer the Capital. Sources revealed that he once
asked Parimal Rai, former NDMC Chairman during the
Commonwealth Games, if he was willing to be the Chief
Secretary of Delhi. Rais response was that he desired
to serve the central government. The answer didnt
go well with Kejriwal, who retorted, You seem to be
corrupt since you are not with us. The strained relations
between Vijay Dev, Advisor to the Administrator of
Chandigarh, i.e. Governor of Punjab, came as a godsend
opportunity for Rai. He immediately moved the wheels
using his close relations developed while working in
Goawith a powerful cabinet minister. Lo and behold,
orders were issued overnight and Rai was in Chandigarh
the next day. Dev was transferred to Delhi but he has
not joined, as he too is reportedly trying to get a central
deputation. Meanwhile, Kejriwal is anxious that
Dev joins because of his good record as Chief Election
Officer of Delhi. g

www.indianbuzz.com

s Home Minister Rajnath Singh aware of what is


happening in his ministry? Is he sure that the civil
servants are not taking him for a ride? Just look at
the case of the appointment of the new Administrator
for Daman, Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. When the
NDA government came to power in May 2014, it was
decided that an officer who had served as a PS to
Ministers in the UPA government would not be
appointed to any key posts. But this tacit
understanding is being overlooked in the Home
Ministry. First, they appointed Ashish Kundra, a
1996-batch IAS officer of the AGMUT cadre, as an
Administrator of Daman, Diu and Dadra & Nagar
Haveli. Kundra has served as PS to Anand Sharma,
former Union Minister for Commerce. Now he has
been transferred mid-tenure, without completing
three years. There was some talk that he will be
shifted out after December
ber
2015. It is a precedent that
hat
in such cases the Home
Minister generally consults
ults
the local MPs. Accordingly,
gly,
Nathu Bhai Patel, MP
from Dadra & Nagar
Haveli, and Lalu Bhai
Patel, MP from Daman
and Diu, were
expecting to be
consulted by the
Home Minister. But,
it never happened.
However, the
appointment of Vikram Dev
Dutt, a 1993-batch IAS
officer of the AGMUT cadre,
adree,
as Administrator, Daman Diu and Dadra &
Nagar Haveli, came as a shock to them. They rushed
to the Home Minister the very next day to get the
order cancelled. It is learnt that the order is
irreversible. Dutt too has served as PS to Ajay Maken,
a former Minister of State. Sources disclosed that
Vikrams appointment was managed by a former
administrator sitting far away in Arunachal Pradesh,
utilising his closeness with his batchmate, a very
powerful officer in the Prime Ministers Office. Who
says connections do not work! g

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

57

...by the way


Basits travel woes

Favoured one

hen the Ministry proposes, the Prime Ministers


Office disposes. Or so it seems. The latest
episode relates to three vacant posts in NHAI, viz.
Member-Administration, Member-Public Private
Partnership (PPP) and Member-Technical. It is learnt
that more than 30 aspirants applied for each of these
posts. The practice in the ministry is that they wait for
applications to be routed through the respective
cadre-controlling authorities. Vijay Chhibber, former
Secretary in the Ministry of Transport, was a man in a
hurry due to his fast approaching retirement in
December 2015 and constant pressure from higherups in the Ministry. The search committee headed by
the Cabinet Secretary, therefore, met in December
itself with the limited number of applications received
from the cadre-controlling authorities, ignoring other
applicants. The gameplan was reportedly to install the
protg of the then Secretary in these crucial posts.
The search committee recommended Neeraj Verma
for Member-Administration, Rohit Kumar Singh for
Member-PPP and BS Singla for the post of MemberTechnical. It is learnt that the PMO took its own time
and did a due diligence and returned the proposal
with directions to re-advertise the posts of MemberAdmin and Member-Technical. However, Neeraj
Vermas name was cleared for Member-PPP even
though the search committee had recommended him
for the post of Member-Administration. Nobody
knows what came in the way for the fall guys. g

58

gfiles inside the government


vol. 10, issue 1 | April 2016

t is learnt that Home Ministry officials are


worried about the security and well-being of the
High Commissioner of Pakistan, Abdul Basit. The
issue is so serious that they may have to take
immediate steps. Basit has had a strained
relationship with India. Sources disclosed that
keeping in mind the security threat, Basit is allowed
to travel in a bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz provided
by the Government of Pakistan. Generally,
Mercedes-Benz has a reputation that if it is
maintained properly, it seldom breaks down. But
Basits Merc is out of action and needs major
repairs. As per information available from North
Block, Basit sent the car for repair to the authorised
workshop of Mercedes-Benz. The car was examined
and an estimate of `20 lakh was suggested to Basits
office. The High Commission officials and Basit
were flabbergasted. The High Commission was in
no mood to pay the cost of the repair and the
Mercedes-Benz has since been sent back to
Pakistan. Basit is now travelling without a bulletproof car in Delhi. Home Ministry officials are,
therefore, discussing whether to provide such a car
to Basit or not. The logic given by some MHA
officials is that providing a bullet-proof vehicle is
the responsibility of Pakistan, and not India. g

ILLUSTRATIONS: ARUNA

www.gfilesindia.com

10
ENTERING

th

YEAR

THANKS
to our Patrons, Subscribers,
Advertisers, Writers
and, above all, our
esteemed Readers
for being with us
on the journey of

... about, for, of and by

the powerhouse that runs


the Indian growth engine
59

Regn.No.DL(C)-14/1161/2016-2018 Licence No. U(C)-03/2016-17,


Licence to post without prepayment Posted on 7th & 8th of every month at SPM SRT Nagar,
Post Office, New Delhi 110055 R.N.I. No: DELENG/2007/19719.
`200, vol. 10, issue 1 | Date of Publication: 5/4/2016 | Pages 60

60

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