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BUSINESS LINE

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DECCAN HERALD

ECONOMIC TIMES

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HINDUSTAN TIMES

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TIMES OF INDIA

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CONTENTS

CIVIL SERVICE 3-19

DEFENCE, NATIONAL 20

EDUCATION 21-27

INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS 28-30

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 31-33

JUDICIARY 34-36

LABOUR 37

LIBRARIES 38-40

POPULATION 41-43

PRESIDENTS 44-46

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION 47-49

RAILWAYS 50-52

TAXATION 53

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CIVIL SERVICE

DECCAN HERALD, NOV 2, 2015Centre mulls over time frame for recruitmentMinistries asked to finish test, interviews within 6 months

Concerned with the long delay in completing the recruitment process, the government is now mulling to fix a time limit of six months from the last date of receipt of application to hold tests and interviews.

The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has issued draft guidelines to ministries seeking their comments after it came to light that ministries and departments making direct recruitment for various posts at the Centre by conducting competitive examinations and interviews are “not adhering to the time frame” fixed for the purpose.

“It is seen that in many cases, the time gap between the date of advertisement for the vacancy and date of examination or interview is unduly large and defeats the object of early recruitment,” the draft said reasoning out the need for fixing a time frame.

A delay by more than a year also denies the opportunity to fresh candidates who become eligible during that year, it noted. A senior official said it has come to their notice that on several occasions, it takes around two years to complete the recruitment process.

“All ministries and departments are, therefore, requested that while initiating the recruitment process to fill vacant post(s) by the method of direct recruitment, they may ensure that the recruitment process, i.e., conducting written examination or holding interviews is completed within six months from the closing date of receipt of applications mentioned in the advertisement,” the draft put for discussion said.

It is also planning to extend this to autonomous bodies, public sector units and statutory bodies that are under the administrative control of the ministries.The DoPT has asked all ministries to send their views on the draft by November 16.

TRIBUNE, NOV 5, 2015Whistleblower IAS officers still wait for ‘acche din’

Officers ‘dumped’ at inconsequential postings

Khemka and other whistleblower IAS officer Pradeep Kasni have been 'dumped' at inconsequential postings by the Khattar government after initial significant postings following the formation of the BJP government in the state.Khemka is innocent, says Ram Bilas

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Rewari: State Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the state government had given a clean chit to IAS Ashok Khemka as he was innocent. A probe into the Robert Vadra land deal case is being carried out by a retired judge who will submit his report soon. He was here to inaugurate the 29th Haryana State-Level Primary School Games on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar provided some relief to senior IAS officer Ashok Khemka by withdrawing chargesheet issued against him by the previous Congress Government for his role in cancelling the mutation of the Vadra-DLF land deal.

However, this does not signal “acche din” for whistleblower IAS officers in Haryana, a state notorious for prosecuting upright officers.

The very fact that the withdrawal of the chargesheet against Khemka had taken one year for the Khattar government suggests that the current BJP regime was no different from the previous regimes, especially those headed by Jat leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Om Prakash Chautala.

Khemka and other whistleblower IAS officer Pradeep Kasni have been ‘dumped’ at inconsequential postings by the Khattar government after initial significant postings following the formation of the first BJP government in Haryana on October 26, 2014.

The posting of Khemka to the significant post of the state Transport Commissioner did not last long with ‘vested interests’ in the Transport Department prevailing upon the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) to shift him to the insignificant post of the Director General, Archaeology and Museums Department, after his certain ‘inconvenient’ decisions in the department

After coming to power, the BJP sent Kasni, who was earlier tipped to join the CMO, as the Gurgaon Divisional Commissioner. Kasni was first unceremoniously removed from the post of the Gurgaon Divisional Commissioner and posted as the Director General and Secretary, Medical Education, and Research Department. However, handling of a few ‘sensitive inquiries’ led to his shunting out to the ‘defunct’ archives department.

This is despite the fact that the “victimisation” of the upright officers by the Hooda regime was one of BJP’s major poll issues. After the BJP government came to power, there were reports that Khemka might go on a Central deputation.

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 4, 2015IAS, IPS officers may lose job for unauthorised leave, overstaying foreign postings

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Government sources said 10 IAS officers are currently on unauthorised leave and action is being

taken against them.

Officials from All India Services such as IAS and IPS, who fail to report to duty more than a

month after the sanctioned period of leave, study leave or foreign assignment is over, stand to

lose their jobs under new rules finalised by the government.

Government sources said 10 IAS officers are currently on unauthorised leave and action is being

taken against them.

“A Member of Service (MoS), if remains unauthorisedly absent after the sanctioned period of

leave / study leave / tenure of Foreign Assignment, there shall be a one month waiting period

after the end of leave period/ tenure of foreign assignment etc,” the Department of Personnel and

Training (DoPT) has stated.

If the official concerned remains absent even after the one-month waiting period, his cadre state

will issue a showcause notice, asking him to “explain his case”. If the the official does not return

to duty after that, the state government “shall initiate proceedings of deemed resignation under

rule 7(2) of AIS (Leave) Rules 1955 and forward a complete proposal to the Central Government

for effecting deemed resignation within next two months”.

If the state fails to comply with these instructions and adhere to the timeline, the central

government will “initiate proceedings of deemed resignation under rule 7(2) of AIS(Leave)

Rules 1955 on its own”. Under current rules, an officer is deemed to have resigned if he is absent

without authorisation for more than a year after expiry of sanctioned leave, or continues on

foreign assignments beyond the period approved by the Centre.

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INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 4, 2015CAT refrains Punjab from ‘coercive’ action against senior IAS officer

The decision came from a bench, comprising Sanjeev Kaushik (judicial member) and Uday

Kumar Varma (administrative member), which heard an application moved by the IAS officer.

Written by Sanjeev Verma

THE CHANDIGARH bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) has directed the

Punjab government to refrain from taking any coercive action against senior-most Punjab IAS

officer Himmat Singh and to not force him to join as member secretary of the Punjab State

Women Commission till the pendency of this case.

The decision came from a bench, comprising Sanjeev Kaushik (judicial member) and Uday

Kumar Varma (administrative member), which heard an application moved by the IAS officer.

Himmat Singh had moved the CAT in August challenging the SAD-BJPgovernment’s decision

of keeping him deprived of the “status and responsibility” of post equivalent to that of the chief

secretary for over three years. He has stated that he is entitled to the post as being an 1980-batch

officer. Himmat Singh is known for being close to the former chief minister Capt Amarinder

Singh. The present Punjab chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal is from the 1982 batch.

“Learned counsel for the applicant (Himmat Singh) submitted that despite the assurance given by

three additional advocates general, the respondents (state govt officers) are bent upon taking

coercive action by issuing a fresh communication to the applicant forcing him to join the ex-

cadre post which is not equivalent to the status and responsibility of the post of chief secretary

and they have also sought his explanation,” reads the order dated October 30.

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The IAS officer’s counsel N S Boparai informed the tribunal that despite giving assurances

before the tribunal, the IAS officer was issued letters on September 21 and October 20 seeking

his explanation for being on leave since April 20, and forcing him to join the ex-cadre post.

“Appointed as member secretary of the Punjab State Women Commission on March 16, 2012, I

was made to work under the chairperson of the Commission who had the rank of a Secretary and

such a procedure is totally illegal and without precedent as a junior officer cannot be put in-

charge of the work and conduct of a senior officer,” Himmat Singh has submitted.

Boparai had argued that post of the member secretary to the Commission “has only a clerical

function to perform” and state government’s declaration of equating the post with that of a chief

secretary is “purely an arbitrary exercise of power and only to belittle the petitioner.”

He has also placed on record Punjab government’s letter of March 15, 1995, that says “the status

of chairperson of Women Commission is fixed equal to that of Administrative Secretary” and it

was informed that Himmat Singh was being denied all the facilities to which the officer of Chief

Secretary rank was entitled.

ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 4, 2015Rajasthan government relaxes two-child policy for its employees

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Cabinet today decided to relax the two-child policy which was applicable to the state government employees, allowing them to have a third child in case of remarriage. 

The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. 

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore told reporters tonight that a state government employee will now be allowed to have one child from remarriage. 

As per a government notification in June 2000, a candidate having more than two children is not eligible for government recruitment. An employee, whose third child is born after recruitment, is not given promotion for five years. 

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It was also decided by the Cabinet that permission from Finance department and Department of personnel will not be required for engaging retired government employees on contract basis in government departments. 

When asked about the death of former MLA Gurusharan Chhabra, who was on fast unto death demanding complete ban on liquor in the state, Rathore said that his death was "unfortunate".  

He claimed that 90 per cent of his demand had already been fulfilled by the government. 

The minister said that the government would rename a road after the name of the ex-MLA. 

ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 4, 201520 central civil services up in arms against 'IAS supremacy'

NEW DELHI: About 20 central civil services, including IPS and IRS, have decided to petition seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) to seek job parity and career progression enjoyed by IAS officers. 

A meeting of representatives of central civil services was held here recently and it was unanimously decided to petition the CPC to inform it about job-related anomaly, official sources said. 

The petition, citing in detail the discrepancy, will soon be sent to the seventh Central Pay Commission. The purpose behind sending such a request is to have parity and to end IAS supremacy, they said. 

The move assumes significance as a war of words is going on between officers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and those belonging to other central government services over the issue. 

Officers belonging to Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Railways and other such central services have been seeking pay parity and career benefits enjoyed by those in IAS. 

Opposing this, about 200 IAS officers have written to Department of Personnel and Training, cadre controlling authority for their service, requesting it to stonewall any move that seeks to bring down the edge given to them over other services due to various reasons. 

IAS officers get empanelled to a Joint Secretary-level post in 18 years while those belonging to IRS and other services get it after putting in about 20-22 years of service. The early empanelment gives an upper hand to IAS officer, in terms of higher pay and other pecuniary benefits, as compared to their batchmate of other services. 

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ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 4, 2015Salary parity: IAS officers start letter campaign to retain 'superiority' over IPS, IRS

NEW DELHI: Officers belonging to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) have started a letter campaign ahead of submission of the seventh pay commission report later this month, to counter lobbying by other central services like IPS and IRS to bring pay parity and end the "superiority" that the IAS has traditionally enjoyed over them. 

Following WhatsApp messages circulated recently on their closed group, IAS officers have been writing petitions to their central and state associations, apart from secretary, department of personnel & training (DoPT), protesting against attempts by all other associations "to bring in pay parity and do way with the edge enjoyed by the IAS which has been successively upheld by every pay commission till date in a reasoned manner". 

Other central services are obviously not amused by the IAS' bid to hold on to their "edge". Twitter and Facebook is abuzz with counter-campaigns arguing why IAS is not justified in its constant bid to underline its "superiority" when their counterparts in the IPS/IRS are handling more "specialised" jobs. While an IPS official slammed the IAS lobby for "using young officers to push their campaign and, in the bargain, creating an acrimony between various central services", an IIS officer said the letter campaign was a violation of the conduct rules which restrain them from putting down other central services. 

The WhatsApp message that started it all had asked IAS officers to "burn the midnight oil and pour your heart out as to why you came to the IAS and why you deserve what you deserve". 

"Young officers with 20-30 years of service have everything to lose if we don't stand up now," the WhatsApp message said exhorting the officers to shoot off letters to their central and state associations as well as DoPT arguing "as to why IAS is the premier service of the country considering the multifarious tasks we perform and why a notional edge is a sin-qua-non to keep our morale high and confidently discharge our duties". 

"Please don't discuss and start a debate. Huge noises of of anguish and dissent should be heard in the power corridors by the time the 7th Pay Commission sits by the month end to collate its recommendations," said the internal message that showed up on the WhatsApp account of IAS officers over the past couple of weeks. 

The 7th pay panel is set to submit its report to the government by this month end. It will then go through the implementation committee, the finance ministry, cabinet secretariat and the Prime Minister's Office before the approval of the government is given. 

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IAS officers enjoy an edge over other central services like IPS and IRS in terms of promotions, increments as well as empanelment, not to mention their proximity to the political dispensation given their nature of responsibilities. .. 

ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 4, 2015Delhi to decide IAS portfolios: AAP government to HC

NEW DELHI: The AAP government on Monday submitted before the Delhi high court that once an IAS officer is allocated to it by the Centre, the question of deciding the specific portfolio or posting of the bureaucrat would be left to the city administration. 

The submission was made before a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath, which concluded its arguments in a bunch of matters pertaining to the powers of the lieutenant governor on the governance of Delhi.The court will now hear arguments on behalf of the Centre from November 16 onwards. 

Senior advocate Dayan Krishnan, appearing for the city government, said, "In making the posting or the transfer of an IAS, all that the government was seeking to do was to allocate work consistent with the grade of the officer, in their own cadre. It is a well-settled proposition that neither a transfer nor a posting amounts to alteration in the condition of an employment of a public servant," he said, adding that "within Delhi it will be my prerogative, where I (Delhi government) will post the the bureaucrats." 

The city government and the Centre have been at loggerheads over the powers of the LG and the chief minister regarding the governance of Delhi. 

A total of seven cases arising out of the spat between the LG and the Delhi government are being heard together by the bench headed by the Chief Justice. The Delhi government on May 28 has approached the high court challenging the Centre's May 21 notification giving the LG an absolute powers in appointing bureaucrats in the city. 

Delhi government has also challenged the July 23, 2014 notification of the Centre which limited ACB's jurisdiction to Delhi government officials only. PTI 

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 3, 2015Capital Tussle: ‘Assigning work to IAS officer… under state govt domain’

The Centre is now expected to begin its arguments on the issue of interpretation of Article 239AA from November 16. Aneesha Mathur 

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Concluding his arguments in the cases filed by the AAP government on the issue of powers of

the Lieutenant Governor, senior advocate Dayan Krishnan Monday said assigning a portfolio or

work to an IAS officer attached to Delhi would come under the state government.

“Assigning work to an IAS officer does not constitute change in service rules. This is under the

domain of the state government,” argued Krishnan. He added that the high court division bench

had given the decision stating that the Lt-Governor had to act on the aid and advice of the cabinet

on issues where the power had been delegated to the state government.

Krishnan cited last week’s judgment on the CAG audit of discoms which said the Lt-Governor

has a “hybrid position”. In its judgment, the bench headed by Chief Justice G Rohini had said the

Lt-Governor would abide by the decision of the Cabinet for issues under the jurisdiction of the

state government.

The Centre is now expected to begin its arguments on the issue of interpretation of Article

239AA from November 16.

The bench is currently hearing a batch of seven matters arising out of the spat between the Lt-

Governor and the AAP government over power sharing in the capital.

Meanwhile, the Union Home Ministry filed its reply on a plea by former transport department

official M A Usmani. He had challenged the Commission of Inquiry into the CNG fitness scam

case and claimed it was “illegally” constituted by the Delhi government.

BUSINESS STANDARD, NOV 3, 2015Civil servants rush to regulatory bodies as post-retirement jobs dry

When U K Sinha was appointed Sebi chairman in 2011, only six others were interviewed, now the race is between more than 50 peopleNivedita Mookerji 

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Rahul Khullar helped keep call rates low IT Secretary R S Sharma appointed as TRAI chairman Telecom regulator might remain headless for weeks Rahul Khullar: Look beyond the usual suspectsRahul Khullar: Ways to reduce the subsidy burden

Bureaucrats refuse to retire is how a top government official explained the rush for a regulator’s

job. Indeed, 100 applications for the post of chairman of the Competition Commission of

India (CCI), 55 for the top job at Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and a few

months ago as many as 77 aspirants to be the chief at Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(Trai) seem like a rush. Supplies are drying up — ex-bureaucrats are not being appointed as

governors any longer, Planning Commission plum posts have disappeared, and many of the

government committees are being manned by streams other than IAS, pointed out a retired civil

servant who also has been a regulator. “In such a scenario, regulatory jobs have turned more

attractive,’’ he said.

Besides the profile and power of a regulator, the financial compensation adds to the glamour

quotient. A chairman’s position, whether at CCI, Trai, Sebi or any other, implies more than three

times the salary that a top bureaucrat (read secretary) in any ministry draws at the end of his

career. Compared to around Rs 1.6 lakh monthly compensation of a secretary, a chairman at a

regulatory authority gets Rs 4.5 lakh. However, there’s no house and car provided to a regulator,

unlike to a bureaucrat.

Many recommendations have gone to the Pay Commission that a differential of at least 3.75

times should be maintained between the compensation package of a government secretary and

that of a chairman at a regulatory body (other than the Reserve Bank of India), a source said. The

idea is to have a market-linked compensation for a regulator’s job in order to attract the best

talent, rather than make it ''a parking place for a retiring bureaucrat''. According to former cabinet

secretary KM Chandrasekhar, who’s headed many of the search committees in the past, however,

thinks that compensation might not be driving one to the regulator’s job. “People who apply to

these high positions are not particularly concerned about their pay package. There are a large

number of non-monetary aspects that come into play.’’

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That said, the talent pool seems limited—a large number of candidates applying for CCI chairman had earlier tried for Traichief’s post and then for Sebi top job. Chandrasekhar, however, believes that the same names trying their luck at various regulatory openings does not indicate dearth of talent. ‘’If a person satisfies the eligibility criteria for more than one position, there is no embargo on his applying for more posts. In fact, this applies not only to regulatory

positions, but to all posts. A person applying for the civil service, for example, would also have applied to banks, public and private sector establishments, academic institutions and so on, depending on his qualifications and experience,’’ said the former top bureaucrat.

So far, ''not too much talent has come from outside the civil servants' ring,'' argued an official, who did not want to be named.

Also, while the numbers have gone up, some argue that regulator’s job always held promise. For instance, four years ago when a search committee was looking for a new CCI chairman, around 60 had applied for the job and former finance secretary Ashok Chawla made it. Chawla’s term comes to an end in January 2016.

The recent hunt for Trai chairman, after Rahul Khullar’s term ended, had in fact shown the “mad rush’’ for a regulator’s job for the first time. The selection process took months before former IT secretary RS Sharma was appointed Trai chairman in July 2015, following rounds of shortlisting from a total of 77 aspirants. When Khullar was appointed Trai chief in 2012, there were less than 10 candidates in race. Even when UK Sinha was appointed Sebi chairman in 2011, only six others were interviewed. Now, the race for Sebi chief is between more than 50 people.                         

Among those who’ve applied for the post of CCI chairman are Urban Development Secretary Madhusudan Prasad, former I&B secretary Bimal Julka, former RBI deputy governor Subir Gokarn, former deputy director general at WTO Harsha Vardhana Singh, and six CCI members — SL Bunker, UC Nahta, MS Sahoo, Sudhir Mital, Augustine Peter and GP Mittal.

Even as ''unemployment among retiring bureaucrats has risen in the current dispensation'', just about five to 10 per cent in any IAS batch has been able to make the cut to a post-retirement job over the years, according to another civil servant who's been through both the stints.

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INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 2, 2015IAS wages letter campaign to keep ‘edge’ over other servicesSanjay Bhoosreddy, the head of the central IAS Association, said more than 200 officers had so far written protest letters. Praveen Swami

The Indian Administrative Service has begun a campaign to ensure that its historically privileged

position over other central services remains in place, with top bureaucrats writing protest letters

to the Department of Personnel and Training ahead of the Seventh Central Pay Commission’s

recommendations, documents available with The Indian Express reveal.

The campaign kicked off last week, when a WhatsApp group run by serving IAS officers posted

a message that other services, like the Indian Revenue Service and Indian Police Service, had

successfully lobbied “to bring in pay parity, and do away with the edge enjoyed by the IAS

which has been successively upheld by every pay commission till date”.

“Please burn some midnight oil and pour your heart out,” the message continued. “You deserve

what you deserve. Young officers with 20-30 years of service have everything to lose if we don’t

stand up now… Huge noises of anguish and dissent should be heard in the power corridors.”

Sanjay Bhoosreddy, the head of the central IAS Association, said more than 200 officers had so

far written protest letters. “There is a great deal of frustration among young officers. The status

of the IAS was greatly eroded by the 5th CPC (Central Pay Commission), and has fallen further

since. Fine young minds will not be drawn to the IAS if this trend continues,” he says, adding,

“We are discussing the issue, and will decide on a course of action.”

IAS officers are typically promoted two years earlier than their counterparts in other services,

receive two additional increments, and are empanelled for positions in Central ministries far

earlier in their careers. The other services are seeking parity, saying they have specialist skills the

IAS does not.

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IRS officers have launched a counter-campaign in their own closed WhatsApp group, with one

message released on Thursday saying that the IAS’s proximity to politicians had allowed it to

“not only influence the political system, but also to hijack the developmental narrative. It is

amply clear that a systemic chaos is created to create a kind of oligarchy.”

“Winning a gold medal once does not entitle anyone to an automatic gold medal in every

competition in their life,” the message stated, a reference to IAS officers’ claims that their higher

grade in examinations demonstrates their merit.

The non-IAS services have argued before the Pay Commission for positions to be assigned on

the basis of domain competence, rather than service alone.

Bhoosreddy disagrees. “Look, IAS officers acquire very specialised skills. An auditor might be

an excellent auditor, but that doesn’t mean they’re competent to execute projects… And the fact

is marks matter. If I only got the marks to become a physiotherapist, I can’t demand the same

pay and privileges as someone who qualified to become a surgeon.”

Letters — many bearing near-identical text — have been pouring into the DoPT since the call

went out for IAS officers to make their “anguish” known.

Bureaucrat Sanjeev Kaushik, writing on the IAS Association’s members-only page, said, “The

combined might of every other service is beginning to tell in the unconfirmed reports we are

receiving — which are likely to not only be blatantly unfair to us but are also completely beyond

the purview/remit of the CPC.”

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“For far too long we have held the view that we in the IAS are the decision makers and therefore

cannot behave like unions of other services’ employees,” Kaushik’s post added. “But it’s best to

be aggressive and protective of our turf.”

In one letter, Lower Dibang Valley Deputy Commissioner Ravi Dhawan argued that IAS officers

have skill-sets “incomparable to a person with a desk-job in an office that is insulated from

public interaction”.

“A case in point,” he went on, “can be the IRS (IT) service wherein the entire gamut of

interaction can only be with tax assesses, a number that is less than 4% of India’s population —

one of the lowest tax bases in the world, something that also speaks about the efficacy of our tax

administration.”

Danish Ashraf, a Sub-Divisional Magistrate in Chandigarh, whose letter replicates several

portions of Dhawan’s letter, conceded that “the importance of specialist knowledge… in select

situations is undeniable”. However, he added, “the combination of field experience and subject-

specific posts equips an IAS officer with a superior understanding”.

Narmada district’s District Development Officer Sajalkumar Mayatra, in a letter which also

shares its opening paragraph and several subsequent passages with the other letters, took an

emotional tone, voicing concern for “the future paradigm of a service that I deeply love”.

G Parthasarathy, a former Indian Foreign Service officer, said the campaign reflected “the steady

decline in the dignity and self-respect which traditionally characterised the higher echelons of the

civil services”. “While it would be entirely appropriate for a service association to make

representations on behalf of its members, this individual campaigning is very distasteful.”

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ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 2, 2015State bureaucracy still not fully cooperating: Devendra Fadnavis

NAGPUR: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today said the state bureaucracy was not fully co-operating with the new government and this was posing a hurdle in implementing policies. 

The government has faced stiff resistance from the bureaucracy for quite some time and action has been initiated against about 800 bureaucrats. Now, they have fallen in-line with the government, he said. 

"About 70 per cent of the state's higher bureaucracy has now mended their style of functioning and are following the state government while remaining are still defiant," Fadnavis said. 

Among the lower bureaucracy, the situation was still far from better. About 50 per cent (bureaucrats) were still reluctant to implement the policies and programmes of the BJP-Shiv Sena government for last one year, Fadnavis said at a 'Meet the Press' programme here. 

Therefore, the state government has decided to act tough and initiated action against 800 bureaucrats by placing them under suspension and has dismissed 50 officers. 

Similarly, criminal proceedings have been initiated against 300 bureaucrats, he said. 

Fadnavis, who completed one-year in office yesterday, said the 'Jalyukta Shivar' water conservation campaign has been the most successful project during the one-year rule of his state government. 

He credited public participation for the success of the project and said a huge water storage has been created in rural areas to overcome water scarcity and drought situation. 

The Maharashtra CM also said a Mumbai-Nagpur Communication Expressway of 800 kms with access control, worth Rs 30,000 crores, will soon be a reality. A detailed project report(DPR) will be ready within two months and the actual work will commence in early 2016 

On industrial development, the Chief Minister said the Aerospace project of Anil Ambani-led Reliance group, which will manufacture helicopters, will soon start working on it. 

They are likely to perform a 'bhoomi pujan' in near future, he added. 

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HINDUSTAN TIMES, NOV 2, 2015Civil servants spar on social media, IASNoUsainBolt trendsAloke Tikk|  

India’s civil servants are at war and the battle -- being fought in full public glare – is getting bitter and uglier by the hour, rather by every tweet.

The first shots were fired by officers fighting to retain the supremacy of the much-envied Indian Administrative Service. Aligned against them are men and women from other services, seeking an end to the IAS monopoly of top government positions.

Hard-hitting social media posts to representations to the government, civil servants are resorting to all possible tactics to run down competing services.

And, the IAS seems to be the favourite punching bag.

The hash tag #IASNoUsainBolt was trending for the better part of Sunday. “Poor Usain Bolt competes at every event. Doesn’t demand gold in every event just because he won the Olympic Gold once,” a revenue service officer Satya Prasanth P tweeted.

There was more. “Most of the law and order problems due to malfunctioning of land administration, but they want an edge,” said another tweet.

Rumours in the power corridors that the seventh pay commission could end their near-monopoly of top ranks triggered the public campaign.

Nearly 200 young IAS officers – serving in Arunachal Pradesh in the east to Gujarat in the west – have written to the government opposing the reported move to blunt the edge the 4,800-strong service has over others.

“I guess they were very unhappy and decided to vent their feelings,” said Sanjay Bhoosreddy, secretary of the central IAS association. “The resentment is very real,” he said, arguing the IAS should always have an edge over others.

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He also argued that toppers of the civil service examination -- an annual test which is hugely popularly and fiercely competitive – typically opt for the IAS, the only service offering a 360 degree perspective by virtue of its exposure.But not everyone is convinced.

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DEFENCE, NATIONAL

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 7, 2015Ex-servicemen to return medals over OROP delay, to observe ‘Black Diwali’

The veterans said they will observe Black Diwali and return the medals at prominent locations

across cities on November 9 and 10.

The veterans are also unhappy with the government-announced scheme, claiming it falls short of their demands.

Stepping up their protests against the delay in the implementation of the One Rank One Pension

(OROP) scheme, ex-servicemen Friday announced they will return their medals. The veterans

said they will observe Black Diwali and return the medals at prominent locations across cities on

November 9 and 10.

Later during the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said, “The notification (regarding

OROP)will be issued before Diwali.”

Group Captain V K Gandhi, general secretary, Indian Ex Servicemen Movement (IESM) said,

“We have appealed to ex-servicemen across the country to return their medals at prominent

locations in their respective cities on November 9- 10. We have asked them to call the District

Collectors/ Magistrates to the venue and return the medals as national property. In case the

authorities do not come to take our medals, we will leave them at the site and the authorities

should take blame for misplacing the national property.”

While a formal announcement on OROP was made by Parrikar on September 5, a notification on

it is yet to be issued.

The veterans are also unhappy with the government-announced scheme, claiming it falls short of

their demands.

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EDUCATION

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 7, 2015Delhi HC quashes 60% quota for kids of top civil servants in Sanskriti School

Reserving seats for a particular branch is a disadvantage for kids of those in other branches:

Bench

Written by Aneesha Mathur 

Observing that the Constitutional Right to Education includes the right to “equality in education” which is “perhaps only possible through a Common School System”, Delhi High Court Friday quashed the 60 per cent quota for children of Group A officials of Indian Civil Services in Sanskriti School.

The bench of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Mukta Gupta in its judgment applied the

legal concept of “compelling reasons” for “segregation” evolved by the US Supreme Court,

observing, “Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian Services disadvantages children

of persons engaged in other branches.”

The bench observed the government had justified the funding and reservation allowed to the

school on the grounds that there were “no good schools” or “elite schools” available for the

children of Group A services officers. In its replies to the court, the government had also claimed

there were not enough Kendriya Vidyalayas in the city to accommodate all students. The bench

commented the government could have set up another KV in the city. “The state cannot provide

funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of the society. Unless on

the principles of reverse discrimination a justification can be given to make available funds to a

private individual which establishes a school for the underprivileged, there can be no state

funding to a private individual in the field of education,” said the bench.

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“As regards Sanskriti School, we direct the Union Government to take an appropriate decision in

light of the present decision and in particular whether the school can be made part of the existing

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan or alternatively in what manner the wrong can be rectified

keeping in view the present decision.”

Noting that the school was situated on 10 acres given at only Re 1 as fee, and had been financed

by grants from various central ministries, the bench held the school would come under the

definition of “state” within the provisions of the Constitution, and could not provide reservation

for the “elite group”.

It added the court’s opinion was “not against the Union Government creating good and quality

schools. The opinion is against creating a good and a quality school with 60 per cent quota

reserved for an elite segment of the society”.

The court had taken suo motu cognizance of the issue in 2006 after reports that the school was

charging “nearly 40 per cent less fee from the children of Group-A officers of the Union

Government vis-à-vis other children”.

* Sanskriti School, in Chanakyapuri, started in 1998. The school run by spouses of top

government officers, had 60% of seats for children of Group A officers, 10% for general public,

5% for staff and 25% for children under EWS category.

* It has been rated among the best schools in the city since 2009.

* Run by Civil Services Society, it was established by the wives of the then serving cabinet

secretary, secretaries of the ministry of external affairs and ministry of commerce and the wives

of Group A officers.

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* Group A officers of the central government are members of the IAS, IRS, IPS etc who enter

service through the All India Civil Services exam.

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 5, 2015Repatriate teachers on deputation: Centre to DPI

The president of UT Cadre Educational Employees Union said that close to 730 govt schools

teachers had not been repatriated to their parent states.

Responding to the concerns raised in an emergency meeting of the Joint Action Committee of

UT Teachers, the Centre has directed the Director Public Instructions (Schools) to repatriate

teachers on deputation to their parent states.

In the meeting held this week, it was pointed out that around 400 contractual and guest teachers

had been prematurely relieved from their duties in the last five months. Additionally, instead of

being sent back to their parent states, the teachers had been made to stay in Chandigarh. The UT

Cadre Educational Employees Union has sent a complaint regarding this to Home

Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister of Human Resource Development Smriti Irani.

In the letter sent to DPI(Schools), the Centre has directed the UT Education Department to take

action in favour of the teachers. A reply regarding the same will also be sent to general secretary

of UT Cadre Educational Employees Union Rakesh Puri. Members of the union stated that if the

education department failed to respond to this issue, they would approach the Ministry of Human

Resource and Development again.

According to president of UT Cadre Educational Employees Union Swarn Singh Kamboj, close

to 730 government schools teachers/lecturers have not been repatriated to their parent states. “In

the last few years, about 500 teachers have been made to overstay in Chandigarh, and out of

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these, many have now even retired after having spent 15-20 years here. In the last five months,

250 teachers who were relieved have not been sent back to their hometowns.”

The UT Cadre Educational Employees Union has also raised the issue of low salaries of part-

time teachers. According to the members of the union, part-time teachers at government schools

in the city are paid Rs 12,000 monthly, which is not even half the amount given to the permanent

teachers. The union has demanded an increase in the salary of a part-time teacher to a minimum

of Rs 21,000.

The union has also condemned the failure of the government in providing salaries to 46 lady

volunteer teachers in the last seven months, and has asked the UT Educational Department to

initiate a process to relieve their salaries.

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 2, 2015National Education Policy: Draft report blames maternity leave for poor basic education in Gujarat

There are 34,000 government primary schools in Gujarat, and 2.04 lakh vidyasahayakas

(temporary teachers) and regular teachers. More than 96,000 teachers are women, according to

government records. RITU SHARMA 

High number of women teachers and subsequent maternity leaves were listed among the 70-odd

factors affecting elementary education in the draft report of the National Education Policy

(NEP)prepared by the Gujarat government.

The draft report, prepared by state education department after a district-level consultation on

school education, also suggested creating a reserve of teachers to combat the problem of frequent

maternity leaves. It will be submitted to the Ministry of Human Resource Development soon.

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There are 34,000 government primary schools in Gujarat, and 2.04 lakh vidyasahayakas

(temporary teachers) and regular teachers. More than 96,000 teachers are women, according to

government records.

As per government rules, a woman teacher gets 180 days of maternity leave, while a man gets

only 15 days of paternity leave.

It also cited “illiterate parents”, “lack of motivation among students” among the reasons for poor

results. These were in response to a question — “What are the likely reasons that hinder our

elementary school children in acquiring age appropriate skills in reading, writing and

numeracy?” — which was part of the survey by the department.

The department stated that “poor quality of faculty” is affecting higher education, and “regular

teachers in higher education should be appointed” instead of contractual teachers .

This goes against the department’s own policy being followed currently, where majority of

appointments are on contract basis.

Besides suggesting penal action on parents whose children are irregular in school, the education

department proposed implementation of “equal work, equal pay” rule as a measure against

underperforming teachers.

The draft report, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, proposed “stopping increments,

promotions and initiating enquiry against the said faculty, transfer and suspension” as penalties

on underperforming teachers, if students’ performance is not up to the mark in a stipulated time

period.

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Strongly objecting to “no detention policy” in the Right to Education Act, the report

recommended “to retain students in the same class till they identify basic numbers and

alphabets.”

“These are the suggestions received from various stakeholders. The report tried to involve

everyone associated with education, even from villages. We have sought suggestions on

improving quality of education from various stakeholders, including media houses,” said state

Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.

The department, after holding a series of consultation meetings and taking feedback from various

stakeholders, also included “use of calculators” that lowered mathematical skills among students

and books lacking sufficient supporting visual elements as factors affecting elementary

education.

The report has been prepared after consultations over the last six months and feedback from

14,050 villages across 26 districts of Gujarat.

The feedback process was monitored by two core groups with eight and six officers each for

school and higher education, respectively.

Also in The Draft Report

1 Rather than bringing them to mainstream, the Gujarat education department suggested separate

schools for children with special needs with hostel facilities. These children include HIV+ve,

visually and hearing impaired and handicapped.

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2 The draft report suggested revival of Sanskrit by including it in both school and higher

education. In higher education, translational studies of regional languages should be encouraged,

it further said.

3 Among steps to improve child health, Gujarat has recommended yoga to be made mandatory in

school curriculum.

DECCAN HERALD, NOV 3, 2015Common guidelines for all universities in State on cards

Vice-Chancellors of various universities in the State have been pitching for common guidelines for all the universities to streamline academics and administration. 

The Karnataka State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) is now in the process of drafting common statutes for all the universities in the State. This means that all the universities will have common parameters for fixing fees, maintaining hostels, conducting convocation, recruitment of faculty and other administrative issues.  

Earlier, the Council brought out uniform calendar of events for all the varsities to streamline the academic year. This was done to ensure that there was no unnecessary delay in exams and admissions. Having common statutes would ensure transparency in administration. 

According to officials in the Higher Education Council, the drafting of common statutes was underway and it would be finalised within another two or three meetings. 

At present, all the State universities are guided by the Karnataka State Universities Act (KSU). 

In order to implement the provisions of the Act, the universities are required to frame regulations in the form of these statutes. 

Each university has been coming up with its own statute, approved by the university syndicate which is sent to the department of Higher Education and is later assented by the Chancellor of the university (the Governor of the state).

“Even from the State government's perspective, having a common statute would make administration easier. 

They can follow common regulations for all universities. As of now, every university is following its own procedures to appoint directors etc,” said Bangalore University Vice-Chancellor Prof B Thimme Gowda. 

In addition, when new universities are set up, this effort will ensure that there is an established framework of regulations based on which they can function, officials in KSHEC added.

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INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS

STATESMAN, NOV 3, 2015Africa SummitSalman Haidar

New Delhi has just played host to a vast gathering of Heads of State and Government from the African continent. There have been comparable Summit meetings in the past that brought African leaders to Delhi but nothing on quite this scale. This great meeting showed India making a special effort to renew ties with Africa, a huge and diverse continent that has had much to do with India in the past. Exchanges between the two have been going on for centuries and in modern times Africa has been a particular focus of Indian attention, so the Delhi event was a significant effort to renew and revive long-established ties. There is much for the two sides to build on, and while economy and business were the chief focus, the deep-rooted historical links also claimed attention. Recently, and even without the stimulus of the Summit, the India-Africa theme has become prominent in a number of ways: the long and distinctive connection between them was celebrated in an exhibition that showed how people from Africa had become part of the medieval Indian elite and risen to positions of high authority in some of the great Indian states, especially in the Deccan. The same exhibition had been an eye-opener in New York’s Harlem, where visitors flooded in to see how the African diaspora found a place in India, not as an exploited group as in many other places, but as participants in the leadership.

There are of course more recent associations to be acknowledged and celebrated. Afro-Asian solidarity was the basic cement of nonalignment, and the first few years of independence, which came about more or less simultaneously on both sides of the Indian Ocean, were a time of unprecedented closeness and cooperation between them. Nehru was the legendary figure who brought them close; as many have remarked, the Indian hosts at the Summit preferred to draw a veil over him but several African visitors paid due tribute to Nehru. In his day, cooperation between the newly emerged countries was valued for the mutual support it provided in consolidating new-found political independence though it was still a long way from the sort of economic cooperation agreed at the Summit, for material resources were in short supply, yet India provided what it could through programmes like ITEC (Indian Technical Cooperation). Standing on one’s own feet was the shared aspiration and Indian technical assistance was intended to strengthen indigenous capacity in partner-nations.

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That was the cold war era and many donors were caught up in rivalry to outshine each other through aid to the developing countries, especially in Africa. They set up large, prestigious projects, among the most spectacular of which was the TanZam built through assistance from China, which was at that stage close to the Soviet bloc. Everything for the railway, including manpower, came from China, and the project aimed at delivering quick and effective results even more imparting training and manufacturing skills. The TanZam project itself ran into difficulty after its impressive start and has had to be resuscitated in recent years with infusion of Chinese capital, but yet it showed what was needed and what could be done. With hindsight it can also be seen as the first step in China’s constantly enlarging investment in Africa, which continues apace and can be a benchmark for efforts by others, including the recent India-Africa Summit.

The Indian diaspora was not much in evidence during the Summit but that should not obscure its significance. Colonial policy in British times created conditions for substantial movement of people from India to different parts of Africa, where they prospered and contributed to the advancement and liberation of society. The Mahatma, of course, was the paradigm. In recent times, strong efforts have been made to bind India’s widespread diaspora more closely to the mother country, and though this theme was not prominent in Summit-related activity, there is much to acknowledge and celebrate, for while official colonial policy facilitated emigration, there was also supplementary non-official movement by enterprising people who set out to make fresh lives for themselves across the seas. Many were professionals who contributed much, for instance in Ethiopia, where Indian teachers have left an indelible mark. As the Summit concentrated on economic issues, with the aim of encouraging state-to-state exchanges and also Indian investment in Africa, some of the other, ancillary themes relating to India-Africa relations did not receive much mention. It should be expected, however, that there will be other top-level meetings in the future where the picture can be filled out and made more complete.

The most substantial move by India at the Summit was the announcement of concessional credit to Africa of $10 billion. This can help place relations on an altogether different basis, for lack of adequate financing has long been seen as the biggest impediment to the development of economic relations. Finally, it would seem, India has the capacity and the appetite to act in a manner and on a scale that can yield important results. With this latest move it can be expected that Indian investment in Africa and its trade will move rapidly upward. The private sector can be expected to play its part though it has not until now had much to show - maybe that is due to change.

The matter of India’s candidature for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council was one of the big issues at the Summit. This is a complicated matter, for the UN Charter is so designed as to make it very difficult to amend its provisions even when the large majority of the members

29

may so desire. The permanent members have to be on board if Charter amendment is to happen, and as yet there is little sign of that. Moreover, though the Summit favoured Indian membership, Africa itself has legitimate demands that are not to be set aside: though it is the largest bloc numerically, the African group has not found representation among the permanent members. No African candidate has as yet emerged of the others as the group’s favoured representative, but African representation is an issue that demands consideration as the move for Charter amendment gathers momentum.

The India-Africa relationship is a richer tapestry than the recent Summit would indicate. Much remains to be explored and renewed, in such fields as culture, people-to-people links, and joint future activities. Trade is still limited and demands imaginative initiatives like the Indian Ocean Rim concept that briefly flourished before going into hibernation. Given the vast potential, the recent Summit should encourage a whole range of fresh activity in many fields, for which the way may now have been cleared.

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INTERNATUIONAL RELATIONS

BUSINESS LINE, NOV 5, 2015A response to Chinese aggressionG PARTHASARATHY

India must create a coalition of Asean and Pacific countries to push back China, while also guarding its subcontinental turf

Pakistan recently announced that it had finalised a deal to acquire eight submarines from China, with four of them being built in Karachi. It currently has five French-designed Agosta submarines. The Pakistan-China agreement is meant to more than double Pakistan’s submarine fleet, and follows one to acquire four Chinese frigates.

It is no secret that as a result of Chinese assistance, Pakistan now possesses plutonium-based, miniaturised tactical nuclear weapons, enabling it to develop ‘full spectrum’ nuclear capabilities against India. Likewise, Pakistan’s missile programme, capable of targeting population centres across India, is almost entirely based on Chinese design and technology.

Containment in South Asia

The JF-17 fighter, which is the main workhorse of the Pakistan Airforce, is a replica of the Russian MiG-29, reverse-engineered by China. Pakistan has served as the primary instrument of Chinese policies to contain and surround India. Beijing has not hesitated to use Pakistan internationally, to thwart Indian ambitions regionally and globally. It has backed Pakistan-sponsored terrorism by opposing and delaying moves in the UN to place international sanctions on Pakistan-based terrorist groups and individuals.

China has also repeatedly thwarted attempts by India to get permanent membership of the UN Security Council and membership of international non-proliferation groupings such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group. It remained hostile to Indian efforts to widen its regional ties with Asean. It blocked moves by India for membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), insisting on Pakistan’s simultaneous admission. It will use Pakistan’s simultaneous admission to undermine India within the SCO.

China has been hyperactive in cultivating India’s South Asian neighbours. The intention is to get these neighbours to embarrass and isolate India, by insisting that Beijing be admitted to Saarc as a full member. Liberal offers for arms supplies to Saarc countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have been made periodically. More ominously, China is making a concerted effort to develop strong lobbies in political parties in countries such as Nepal and Sri Lanka, while discreetly ‘facilitating’ individual politicians and parties.

Eyebrows have been raised at the number of senior Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who visited Nepal in the months preceding the adoption of the new constitution by the

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constituent assembly. Notice has also been taken of Chinese links with some of their ‘fraternal’ contacts among sections of their Maoist brethren in Kathmandu!

Chinese diplomatic efforts are not always successful, despite the economic assistance and ‘goodies’ offered. Project loans offered by China are often not as ‘concessional’ as they are made out to be. The Colombo port city project, which was enthusiastically welcomed by the Rajapakse dispensation, was soon found to be a white elephant. In Myanmar, a number of projects including pipelines, copper mines and hydroelectric power, have been put on hold or rejected. Moreover, the mandarins in Beijing and Yunnan have behaved crudely by permitting armed ethnic groups to operate across the Sino-Myanmar border in Shan and Kachin states.

Likewise, in neighbouring Bangladesh, the Chinese are finding that some of their proposals for investment in port and power facilities may well be rejected as Japan has stepped in with far more attractive offers for port development, power plants and an energy terminal.

Maritime tensions

India and others face challenges from an increasingly assertive China, now prepared to use force, to reinforce its maritime territorial claims coercively. China is rapidly strengthening its navy and expanding its naval presence across the Indian Ocean. China’s aggressive behaviour in enforcing its exaggerated maritime territorial claims has led to differences with South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines are taking proactive measures to counter Chinese unilateralism.

The Philippines has also joined Vietnam and Japan in bolstering defence capabilities in cooperation with the US. Even Russia is strengthening Vietnamese defence capabilities. Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, is embarking on an ambitious programme of naval expansion.

Beijing’s naval power across the Indian Ocean is being steadily augmented, with a Chinese nuclear powered attack submarine being spotted in the Indian Ocean last year. Using the excuse of participating in anti-piracy operations, China has moved into the Gulf of Aden. It has sought berthing facilities in Aden, Djibouti and Seychelles. It has obtained exclusive rights for mineral exploration in 10,000 sq km in the Indian Ocean. New Delhi was caught by surprise when Mahinda Rajapakse allowed a Chinese submarine to berth in Colombo.

Push-back efforts

India can and should balance, and even roll back, Chinese influence across its Indian Ocean neighbourhood. The growth of Chinese power has caused concerns not only in western capitals, but also in regional countries such as Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. There is, therefore, need for India to work for a broad consensus to challenge Chinese assertiveness.

Balancing Chinese military power is even more complex. We are now regularly holding a joint military exercise with the US and Japan. Our maritime ties are expanding with littoral countries

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ranging from Australia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Seychelles, to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

India will now have to strategically fashion a ‘string of pearls’ extending from across the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea if Chinese power is to be balanced and contained. We will have to expand defence ties with Vietnam. If China supplies missiles, frigates and submarines to Pakistan, India should not be inhibited from supplying weapons and equipment such as cruise missiles to Vietnam. Cooperation with and containment of China should go hand in hand.

The writer is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan

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JUDICIARY

TRIBUNE, NOV 3, 2015Ranbir SinghSupreme Court and Ambedkar’s legacy

Consensus is needed on the balance of power between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. A dispassionate dialogue to safeguard the spirit of the Constitution is in national interest and will be a tribute to B.R. Ambedkar.

The reecent decision of the Supreme Court of India to quash the National Judicial Appointments (NJAC) Act (2014) has, it is claimed by some legal experts, saved the Indian Constitution, the legacy of BR Ambedkar. He had drafted it with great care and had got it approved from the Constituent Assembly by adopting the approach of consensus and accommodation. 

This had established the supremacy of Constitution and for ensuring the same; it had not only provided for separation of powers of the legislature, executive and judiciary but also assigned to the Supreme Court of India the power of interpreting and reviewing the Constitution. Attempts have been made by the Parliament from time to time, to undermine the spirit of the Constitution by making amendments. The 24th Constitutional Amendment (1972), that had restored the power of the Parliament to amend Fundamental Rights was a step in that direction. The Supreme Court foiled it by its judgment in the Kesavananda Bharati case (1973), that the Parliament can amend the Constitution but it cannot destroy its basic structure. However, the fact that this Amendment had to be made because the Supreme Court had debarred the Parliament from amending the Fundamental Rights for implementing the Directive Principles of State Policy by its judgment in Golaknath case (1967), should not be ignored. Therefore, the 24th Amendment was, undoubtedly, legitimate. The 42nd Amendment could not be considered as such because it had disturbed the balance between the three organs of the Government of India. It was made during the dark days of the Emergency when democracy remained suspended from 1975-1977. The position of the Supreme Court was rightly restored by the 43rd and the 44th Amendments and further strengthened by its judgment in the Second Judges’ case (1993). The apex court snatched the powers of appointment of judges from the executive and set up a collegium of judges, headed by the Chief Justice of India, to make the appointments of judges to the Supreme Court of India and the High Courts of the states. This, in a manner, established the supremacy of the judiciary over the executive and the legislature. It could happen due to the decline of Parliament in India and weakening of the executive over the years. This could be traced to the

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cumulative impact of forces that had been released by the processes of modernisation, politicisation and economic development. The consequent regionalisation of Indian politics and the fall in the quality of central leadership had accelerated the process.  

The UPA- II government, headed by Manmohan Singh, initiated the process of making the 99th Amendment to re-establish the supremacy of the executive after the position of the Congress Party was strengthened as a result of 2009 parliamentary elections.

The 2014 parliamentary elections have further de-regionalised Indian polity by making the BJP a strong party, under the strong leadership of Narendra Modi. That is how the present NDA government headed by him has completed it by enacting the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act (2014) and by making the 99th Amendment in Indian Constitution.

The declared aim of these exercises was to improve the system for the appointment of the judges of Supreme Court and High Courts and make it more rational and transparent. The real motive behind these actions was to restore the supremacy of the executive and the Parliament over the judiciary. Therefore, the legal experts felt that there was an inherent danger in these steps. They feared that these could undermine the independence of the judiciary. They also apprehended that these steps would disturb the balance of powers between the executive, legislature and the judiciary that has been made by the Constitution. Hence, they decided to challenge these in the Supreme Court of India which set up a Constitutional Bench to decide their validity.   

The Bench has declared the National Judicial Appointments Commission Act (2014) and 99th Amendment(2014) to the Indian Constitution  invalid and unconstitutional on the ground that these violate the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. However, this decision has been criticised as an attempt to undermine the sovereignty of the Parliament of India. Be that as it may, there is a dire need to remove the defects of the collegium system without disturbing the independence of the judiciary and without violating the basic structure of the Indian Constitution. As a matter of fact, a balance needs to be struck between the independence of the judiciary and the authority of the Parliament. The Indian Constitution, Ambedkar’s legacy, needs to be protected in such a manner that it remains dynamic in character for facing the challenges that have emerged before us in the 21st century on account of the changes in the domestic as well as international situation.

The writer is a Consultant at the Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri.

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TIMES OF INDIA, NOV 4, 2015Delhi to abolish 200 types of affidavits

NEW DELHI: To cut red-tape and enable swifter delivery of public services, the Delhi government on Tuesday decided to abolish 200 types of affidavits, which are required to procure different documents from December 1 and replace it with self-attestation.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by CM Arvind Kejriwal. According to the government, it is the "biggest" relief for Delhiites as they had to face a lot of difficulties while getting different documents, including ration cards, income certificate, transport permits, etc.

After the cabinet's meeting, deputy CM Manish Sisodia said several affidavits were just for "formalities" which were burden on people due to which they have to face a lot of difficulties. "Today, the government has given its nod to abolish 200 types of affidavits sought by various departments. From December 1, affidavits will not be required for different types of certificates," Sisodia said. He said the government has decided to go ahead with only 40 types of affidavits and of them, 20 affidavits come under the Centre and the remaining fall under the state government.

The move will cover major departments like directorate of education, revenue , transport, directorate of local bodies (three MCDs), Delhi Police, etc.

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LABOUR

PIONEER, NOV 2, 2015ON HARYANA DAY, MINIMUM WAGE OF LABOURERS HIKED

To mark Haryana Day, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday announced raising the monthly minimum wage of skilled and unskilled labourers, and said salaries of state government employees may also be hiked soon.

The wage for unskilled labourers has been raised from Rs.5,900 to Rs.7,600 per month and that of skilled labourers from Rs.6,536 to Rs.9,699, Khattar announced at an event in Yamunanagar town, 100 km from here.

The chief minister announced that the social welfare department would set up its centres at the block and sub-divisional levels so that people do not have to visit the district headquarters to get themselves enrolled for various social security pension schemes.

Khattar announced that a new scheme of social audit would be implemented at the village level to ensure transparency in development works and keep a check on corruption.

"The Haryana government is committed to the welfare of government employees and their salaries could also be increased," Khattar said.

"During the previous government, the beneficiaries of various social security pensions did not get their pension on time. During an audit in Karnal alone, a scam of Rs.5 crore in the distribution of old age allowance was unearthed.

"To streamline the pension distribution system, we have decided to disburse the social security pensions through banks and post offices," he said.

Khattar said a survey has been conducted in which about two lakh pension accounts in the state have been found to be fake.

This would save Rs.24 crore for the government at the rate of Rs.1,200 per month, he said.

Haryana was founded on November 1, 1966, after being carved out from Punjab.

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LIBRARIES

DECCAN HERALD, NOV 3, 2015Reinventing the library with books in focusAlberto MangueIf we change the role of libraries and librarians, we must be careful to preserve the centrality of the book

Plato, in the “Timaeus,” says that when one of the wisest men of Greece, the statesman Solon, visited Egypt, he was told by an old priest that the Greeks were like mere children because they possessed no truly ancient traditions or notions “gray with time.” In Egypt, the priest continued proudly, “there is nothing great or beautiful or remarkable that is done here, or in your country, or in any other land that has not been long since put into writing and preserved in our temples.”

Such colossal ambition coalesced under the Ptolemaic dynasty. In the third century BC, more than half a century after Plato wrote his dialogues, the kings ordered that every book in the known world be collected and placed in the great library they had founded in Alexandria. 

Hardly anything is known of it except its fame: neither its site (it was perhaps a section of the House of the Muses) nor how it was used, nor even how it came to its end. Yet, as one of history’s most distinguished ghosts, the Library of Alexandria became the archetype of all libraries. 

Libraries come in countless shapes and sizes. They can be like the Library of Congress or as modest as that of the children’s concentration camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau, where the older girls were in charge of eight volumes that had to be hidden every night so that the Nazi guards wouldn’t confiscate them. 

They can be built from books found in the garbage, like the Yiddish Book Centre in Amherst, Massachussetts, set up in 1980 by the 24-year-old Aaron Lansky from volumes discarded by the younger generations who no longer spoke the tongue of their elders, or they can be catalogued in the mind of their exiled readers, in the hope of resurrection, like the libraries plundered by the Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories of Palestine. 

It is in the nature of libraries to adapt to changing circumstances and threats, and all libraries exist in constant danger of being destroyed by war, vermin, fire, water or the idiocies of bureaucracy. 

But today, the principal danger facing libraries comes not from threats like these but from ill-considered changes that may cause libraries to lose their defining triple role: as preservers of the memory of our society, as providers of the accounts of our experience and the tools to navigate them and as symbols of our identity. 

Since the time of Alexandria, libraries have held a symbolic function. For the Ptolemaic kings, the library was an emblem of their power; eventually it became the encompassing symbol of an entire society, a numinous place where readers could learn the art of attention which, Hannah

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Arendt argued, is a definition of culture. But since the mid-20th century, libraries no longer seem to carry this symbolic meaning and, as mere storage rooms of a technology deemed defunct, are not considered worthy of proper preservation and funding. 

In most of the Anglo-Saxon world (but not significantly in most Latin American countries) the number of libraries has been decreasing. In Britain, close to 350 libraries have been shut down in the past decade. In Canada, the public libraries of Toronto were threatened with closure by ex-Mayor Robert Ford and saved in extremis thanks to a campaign led by Margaret Atwood. In the United States, while the number of libraries that have disappeared is not remarkably high, public libraries have seen their budgets cut, their stocks culled, their staffs reduced and their opening hours shortened. 

But libraries are resilient. Intent on surviving in an age where the intellectual act has lost almost all prestige, libraries have become largely social centres. Most libraries today are used less to borrow books than to seek protection from harsh weather and to find jobs online, and it is admirable that librarians have lent themselves to these very necessary services that don’t traditionally belong to their job description. 

A new definition of the role of librarians could be drafted by diversifying their mandate, but such restructuring must also ensure that the librarians’ primary purpose is not forgotten: to guide readers to their books. 

Libraries have always been more than a place where readers come to read. The librarians of Alexandria no doubt collected things other than books: maps, art, instruments, and readers probably came there not only to consult books but also to attend public lectures, converse with one another, teach and learn. 

And yet the library remained principally a place where books, in all their various forms, were stored for consultation and preservation of “ancient traditions or notions ‘grey with time.’” Other institutions fulfilled other complementary tasks necessary in a civilised society: hospitals, philanthropic associations, guilds. 

Multiple roles

Librarians today are forced to take on a variety of functions that their society is too miserly or contemptuous to fulfill, and the use of their scant resources to meet those essential social obligations diminishes their funds for buying new books and other materials. 

But a library is not a homeless shelter (at the St. Agnes library in New York, I witnessed a librarian explaining to a customer why she could not sleep on the floor), a nursery or a fun fair (the Seneca East Public Library in Attica, Ohio, offers pajama parties), or a prime provider of social support and medical care (which American librarians today nonetheless routinely give). 

All these activities are good and useful, and may grant libraries a central role in society once again, but we must be prepared to invest the system with more, not less funds, to allow it to

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reinvent itself. Librarians are not trained to act as social workers, caregivers, babysitters or medical advisers. 

All these extra tasks make it difficult, if not impossible, for librarians to work as librarians: to see that the collections remain coherent, to sift through catalogues, to help readers read, to read themselves. The new duties imposed on them are the obligations of civilised societies toward their citizens, and should not be dumped pell-mell onto the shoulders of librarians. If we change the role of libraries and librarians without preserving the centrality of the book, we risk losing something irretrievable. 

Every economic crisis responds, first of all, by cutting funds to culture. But the dismantling of our libraries and changing their nature is not simply a matter of economics. Somewhere in our time, we began to forget what memory – personal and collective – means, and the importance of common symbols that help us understand our society. 

If libraries are to be not only repositories of society’s memory and symbols of its identity but the heart of larger social centres, then these changes must be made consciously from an intellectually strong institution that recognises its exemplary role, and teaches us what books can do: show us our responsibilities toward one another, help us question our values and undermine our prejudices, lend us courage and ingenuity to continue to live together, and give us illuminating words that might allow us to imagine better times. According to the Greek historian Diodorus Siculus, one of the ancient libraries he saw in Egypt carried above its entrance the words: “Clinic of the Soul.” 

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POPULATION

HINDUSTAN TIMES, NOV 2, 2015China’s reversal of one-child policy will have economic implications

A girl walks with her grandmother at a market in Beijing, China, in this November 25, 2013 file photo. China will ease family planning restrictions to allow all couples to have two children after decades of the strict one-child policy, the ruling Communist Party said on October 29, 2015, a move aimed at alleviating demographic strains on the economy. (Reuters Photo)

In the 1970s Deng Xiaoping explained that China’s one-child policy was being introduced to ensure “the fruits of economic growth are not devoured by population growth”.

Last week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s rationale for officially abandoning the policy was the reverse: To ensure economic growth is not wrecked by population decrease. But it is probably too late to change China’s demographic future.

China’s population has begun to age — and age rapidly. The working-age population between 15 and 59 has fallen 3.7 million since 2013 and the drop is accelerating. Just as telling, the old-age dependency ratio is rising. The number of elderly relatives supported by a young Chinese has doubled since 1980.

Why does this matter economically? At the heart of Mr Xi’s economic reforms is a shift from investment-based to consumption-driven growth. But the more elders a young Chinese has to support, the less likely she is to splurge on the good things in life.

While Mr Xi wants to move away from being the world’s manufacturing hub, he wants a soft landing. A rapidly shrinking workforce means skyrocketing wages and factories moving out faster than Beijing wants. China’s problem is that its people are already too wealthy for the change in policy to make a difference. As incomes rise, couples invest more in fewer children. Inevitably, fertility rates fall below replacement levels. China is already an upper middle-income country, largely urbanised, and its couples driven to spend heavily on their children’s education, health and other comforts of life. One or two kids is about all they can afford.

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It is often forgotten that Beijing relaxed the one-child policy back in 2013. If a couple included one member who was a single child, they could apply for a second child. Barely one million couples bothered — 13% of those eligible.

Japan is the demographic parallel for China. The question is whether China will face Japan’s economic fate. Old-age economies can still grow, but must pour money in education, technology and health to extract more wealth creation from fewer people. Japan has been trying that, but with minimal success.

In India’s case, it has a large and youthful population, but has underinvested in it and strangled its businesses for decades. It remains unclear if it will be able to cash in on its demographic dividend or find itself with a population liability of millions of underemployed.

Demographer Yi Fuxian warned recently: “China is turning grey on an unprecedented scale in human history, and the government, even the whole of Chinese society, isn’t prepared for it.” The title of his once-banned book says it all: A Big Country with an Empty Nest.

STATESMAN, NOV 2, 2015Two kids

China has effected a break with family planning by ending the one-child era that was introduced in 1979. One momentous decision follows another under the supposedly reformist dispensation of President Xi Jinping. Exactly two years after the Communist Party’s Third Plenum, that endorsed the policy of market economy, the country is poised for a demographic revolution, with citizens being allowed to have two children. The one-child per family norm has been jettisoned by the central committee of the Communist Party of China and the imprimatur associated with the Maoist era has effectively been binned. The restriction was enforced for over three decades with ruthless severity, mirrored in forced abortions and sterilisations. From 1979 to 2015, the policy can be said to have covered a generation. Contextualised with the endorsement of market economy (October 2013), last Thursday’s signal announcement on matters familial marks a landmark impetus to the reformist agenda of the Xi regime. Most importantly, it signifies the end of a draconian family planning policy that was enforced by a generation of leaders whose ideology is palpably on the decline and who have now come to be known as China’s “little emperors”.

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The paradigm shift in social reconstruction has without question been effected to counter the ageing tide... a disturbing phenomenon that has worked to the detriment of the workforce. Neither the CPC nor the Xi dispensation can be impervious to the World Health Organisation’s cautionary projection that 35 per cent of China’s population will be over 60 by 2050. Thursday’s announcement is without question an attempt to avoid such an imbalance in the demographic construct. On closer reflection, it has been a follow-through to the declaration adopted at the Third Plenum that the one-child policy would be relaxed in “select provinces” from March 2014. That signal of intent is now set to attain fruition and throughout the country. The nub of the matter is that there aren’t enough young people in China to ensure productivity in industry, agriculture, and the service sector - between them the thermometer of growth and development. The two-child norm is essentially a strategy to streamline demographic development and the utility of human resources in the wider perspective. Clearly, the compulsion that prompted the one-child norm has ceased to be relevant - to arrest the surge in population in Mao’s China and the resultant pressure on water and other resources. Thirty-six years later, increasing expenses and pressures of raising children in a highly competitive society may yet deter many couples from opting for another child, if the immediate response of parents is any indication. Yet these are essentially matters familial. It is the dramatic change in State policy that is of profound import.

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PRESIDENTS

HINDU, NOV 4, 2015Government must heed President’s wordsSACHIN KALBAG

On March 28, 1987, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi met President Giani Zail Singh after over a month of what was termed as a constitutional crisis, thanks to a cold war between the elected head of government and the head of state. The President, after all, had questioned several decisions made by the Gandhi-led Congress government.

The Prime Minister, on the other hand, did not trust the President, who had, on at least seven occasions, questioned the government’s bills in Parliament or decisions taken by the Cabinet, or worse, refused to sign bills into law. For example, President Singh asked why the government had no clear policy on the appointment of judges. At a time when there was only one television channel, the state-run Doordarshan, the news producers focussed only on the Prime Minister and his activities, giving less or no weight to any other person or event. Singh questioned Doordarshan’s coverage policy. More significantly, he questioned why his broadcast to the nation on Republic Day was edited.

There were other issues on which the two fought tooth and nail, mostly through government emissaries such as then Home Minister Buta Singh.

In 2015, President Pranab Mukherjee has, on at least five occasions, made it a point to speak about India’s diversity and secular nature, in what seems like jibes at the current government.

Mr. Mukherjee did not stop at that. On October 30, he commented on the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the constitutional amendment on a National Judicial Appointments Commission, and to continue with the collegium system.

“No one can meddle in the process (of judicial appointments),” Mr. Mukherjee said at the Delhi High Court’s golden jubilee celebrations. “An autonomous judiciary is a vital feature of democracy. Yet, being an important pillar of democracy, it must reinvent itself through introspection and self-correction, as and when necessary.” He added, “Judicial activism should not lead to the dilution of separation of powers. Each organ of our democracy must function within its own sphere and must not take over what is assigned to the others.”

Perhaps the President’s words have been subdued by the media coverage given to writers, filmmakers and industrialists, but given the atmosphere of distrust between the government and the public intellectuals, the repeated advice to the government could possibly be seen not as words of presidential wisdom but as the utterances of a former Congress leader.

Mr. Mukherjee’s first speech on the topic came on October 7, soon after the lynching of a Muslim man, Mohammad Akhlaq, by alleged Hindutva activists in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, on

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suspicions of storing beef. The President said at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan: “We should not allow the core values of our civilisation to wither away. Over the years, our civilisation has celebrated diversity, plurality and promoted and advocated tolerance. These values have kept us together over the centuries.”

On October 19, in West Bengal, he said: “Assimilation through receiving is a characteristic of Indian society. Our collective strength must be harnessed to resist evil powers in society. Indian civilisation… has always accepted dissent and differences… We have a Constitution that accommodates all these differences.” Interestingly, the Rashtrapati Bhavan release was headlined: “Is tolerance and acceptance of dissent on the wane, questions the President.”

There has been no official government reaction yet to Mr. Mukherjee’s speeches. The Prime Minister made a reference to plurality in India in one of his election speeches in Bihar, but there has been no reference to Mr. Mukherjee’s speeches.

However, various BJP ministers, including Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, have spoken out against public intellectuals for their criticism of the government on intolerance, and have also denounced the returning of national awards. This could mainly mean either of two things: the Cabinet feels that the President’s words are not important enough to react to (after all, the President’s office is mainly a ceremonial one), or it wants to take remedial measures to speak to the States and rein in fringe elements using appropriate laws to control what many feel is a vitiated atmosphere of intolerance. The latter seems improbable.

A third possibility could be that the government is waiting for an appropriate time to respond to the President’s views.

If the first option is correct, then it questions the very role of the President. It could well mean that the government is ignoring the President as he is seen as a Congress appointee more than a constitutional authority. He or she is constitutionally the most powerful person in the country, even if in reality, the post is more or less ceremonial.

If the government has committed to maintain the constitutional integrity of the President’s office, then it is obligated in some way to respond to Mr. Mukherjee’s speeches. This could be a benign statement that it respects the President’s views and will take them into account while making sure that incidents promoting intolerance will be dealt with appropriately under the law. It could also respond saying that though the President has put his views forward, it respectfully disagrees for various reasons.

But it should not keep quiet on an issue that has cleaved the country’s opinion makers, and the public, into two. On the one hand, you have the government and its supporters denying anything is wrong. On the other, you have the President, the highest officer of the land, speaking his mind.

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This is why it is important to learn from the 1987 cold war between Gandhi and Singh. The government must realise the stature of the President comes from him occupying the highest constitutional office, not merely as a representative of a political party.

sachin. kalbag@thehindu.co.in

If the government has committed to maintain the constitutional integrity of the President’s office, then it is obligated to respond to Pranab Mukherjee’s speeches

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PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

STATESMAN, NOV 4, 2015Where will PM find his officers?Debaki Nandan Mandal

When Narendra Modi took over as prime minister on 26 May 2014, it was believed that the Gujarat model of governance would be replicated in the National Capital. It is no secret that the government in Gujarat was run by Modi through his bureaucrats. The latter often bypassed ministers and spoke to him directly. He used to hold direct video conferences with them at the district level.

As CM Gujarat, his relations with the bureaucracy were cordial and effective. Initially, after walking in to 7 Race Course Road, the prime minister started doing the same with chief secretaries of states, and holding regular meetings with senior secretaries to the Government of India. There were no mass-scale transfers of senior officials. A September,2014 report disclosed that both Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and Home Secretary Anil Goswami had briefed the PM directly bypassing their ministers. For an ambitious bureaucrat, it seemed to be a Ramrajya under Modi sarkar.

Within sixteen months, things have changed dramatically. If everything was so alluring for the career-bureaucrats, why are they fleeing Delhi prematurely? Since May 2014, at least 56 IAS officers have left their central posting for state cadres before expiry of their deputation period. In 2013, only three left prematurely. What is more intriguing than those leaving are those not coming in to Delhi. Few from the states appear eager to fill the vacancies. Only four IAS officers came forward against 30 vacancies in the joint secretary rank.

So a pertinent question must be raised: what has happened to the senior bureaucrats? Is it because the slothful among them who wanted to ride out their tenure in cushy postings in the capital are fleeing New Delhi? Has the prime minister, a hard task-master, changed the rules of the game which are directly in conflict with the traditional laid back culture of the civil service?Officers have now to reach office time. There is no scope for fudging as bio-metric attendance linked to one’s Aadhar number is mandatory. The 9 (read 10) to 5 government culture is in danger. Everyone knows that there is someone in the PMO who works 24/7.

Long leisurely lunches at Delhi Gymkhana Club have to be sacrificed.The driveways of the Delhi Golf club look deserted during office hours.

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Senior officers who still have a five-day week schedule have to attend office on Saturdays to clear files because nobody knows when the PMO will call asking for a file.

A fear factor has been instilled in the minds of senior bureaucrats. The manner in which three high-profile secretaries, Arvind Mayaram, Rajiv Takru and GS Sandhu were sent to inconsequential positions is making everyone at the top highly insecure. And the list of new appointments, promotions is released at night. Also key appointments like the ones of CBI director and RAW chief were announced on a Saturday night. The officers with RSS links are said to be at an advantageous position in the North Block corridors.

Meanwhile, the number of vacancies at director and joint secretary level had crossed 80 in April 2015 with many organizations functioning headless or stretched thin with the director of the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in Jammu also overseeing the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow some 1000 kms away.

The vacancies cannot be filled up because the pool of available officers has shrunk owing to delays in empanelment that allow central service officers to be eligible for the ranks of joint secretary and above. But according to a former cabinet secretary, the prime minister is both ‘a control freak and a travel freak.’ Which means in mid March some 6,000 files were pending as opposed to 1,500 during Manmohan Singh’s time.

The insidious factor of language has also played a crucial role. The new dispensation’s emphasis on Hindi for all official work has left some bureaucrats, mainly from South India, in a tizzy. The story goes that a senior officer in the Agriculture Ministry was sent back to his parent cadre for failing to take a note in Hindi.

Again, as reports go, there are not too many takers within the IAS for deputation as joint secretary to the central government. According to former home secretary Gopal Pillai, this lack of enthusiasm in IAS ‘could be due to a noticeable loss of morale’. This is a real surprise and runs counter to the prevailing impression of a bureaucrat-friendly PM.

The central issue, therefore, revolves around the quality of in-house capacity for governance. Publicly available data from the UPSC reveals a rather disturbing trend. Of those who finally joined the IAS,15.1 per cent were between 21-24 years of age in 2012 compared to 17.4 per cent in 2002. As many as 35.8 per cent of those selected in 2012 were older than 28 years. During the mid-1950s until the late 60s, candidates joined the civil service straight after graduate/post-graduate degrees, the age-ceiling being 24 years.

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The rise in the share of senior entrants is due to growing interest in civil services among professionals - doctors, engineers, and management graduates whose share has more than doubled between 2002 and 2012. There are also reserved category candidates - SCs, STs and OBCs who have a higher age eligibility. Their share has risen to a whopping 54 per cent in 2012.

The older entrants are empirically found to be under-motivated, less idealistic, driven more by pelf and power, and guided by a Chalta hai attitude. It is now common knowledge that the IAS tag carries a price of more than Rs 10 million in the marriage market in some states. Toppers in colleges and universities who used to join at an early age are now rather lukewarm about joining the civil services.

Obviously, the bandwidth for governance has not been improving over time. The only option before the prime minister to take care of this demoralising reality is to recruit talent from the market. But whether the influencial bureaucratic lobby, the strongest trade union in the country, will allow him to do so is the million dollar question. And in that eventuality the mantra of Minimum Government, Maximum Governance will remain a distant dream.The writer is a former joint secretary to the government of West Bengal.

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RAILWAYS

ECONOMIC TIMES, NOV 1, 2015Waitlisted railway passengers to get confirmed berth under 'Vikalp' scheme

NEW DELHI: Railway is launching a new scheme tomorrow under which waitlisted passengers

can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train if they opt for the option while

booking their tickets online. 

Known as Viklap, the alternative train accommodation scheme will take off in trains running on

Delhi-Lucknow and Delhi-Jammu sectors from November 1, on a pilot basis. 

Initially, Vikalp BSE 5.00 %  scheme will be available only for the tickets booked through

internet for six months and option will be limited to mail and express trains on the two selected

routes, said a senior Railway Ministry official. 

As per the scheme, waitlisted passengers of a train would be given option of getting confirmed

accommodation in the next train running on the route. 

Railway aims to achieve the twin objectives of providing confirmed accommodation to waitlisted

passengers and ensure optimal utilisation of available accommodation by this scheme. 

While there is a huge demand for train berths in certain sector round the year, some routes

witness increased rush during festive season. 

Describing the scheme as a "passenger friendly" move to provide confirmed accommodation to

waitlisted passengers in alternative trains, the official said, the scheme will be extended to

reservation booking counters and also on other routes after getting the feedback. 

Passenger, if opts for the Vikalp scheme while booking tickets online, will get SMS alert on their

mobile phone about getting confirmed accommodation in alternative train. 

As per the scheme, there would be no extra charges taken from the passenger or any refund

provided for the difference of fare. 

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The name of passenger who have been provided accommodation in the alternative train will not

figure in the waitlisted charts of their original train, the official said, adding a separate list of

passengers transferred in alternative train will be pasted along with the confirmed and waitlist

charts.

INDIAN EXPRESS, NOV 7, 2015Cancellation fee of train ticket doubled

While the cancellation fee of a second-class confirmed ticket in 48 hours before the scheduled

departure of the train will be increased from Rs 30 to Rs 60, the third AC ticket will cost Rs 180

as against Rs 90 earlier.

The aim of the amendment in the Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of Fare) Rules, 2015, is to plug the scope of misuse, said a Railway official.

Railways has doubled the ticket cancellation fee and changed the refund rules to not allow any

cancellation after the departure of a train, according to a notification on Friday.

While the cancellation fee of a second-class confirmed ticket in 48 hours before the scheduled

departure of the train will be increased from Rs 30 to Rs 60, the third AC ticket will cost Rs 180

as against Rs 90 earlier.

For waitlisted and reserve against cancellation (RAC) tickets, one has to avail the refund up to

half-an-hour before the scheduled departure of the train and there will be no refund after that, as

per the new rules. The second sleeper class cancellation charge has increased from Rs 60 to Rs

120, the second AC has doubled up from Rs 100 to Rs 200.

The aim of the amendment in the Railway Passengers (Cancellation of Ticket and Refund of

Fare) Rules, 2015, is to plug the scope of misuse, said a Railway official.

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Now between 48 hours and 12 hours before the scheduled departure of the train, cancellation fee

is 25 per cent of the ticket price. Earlier, between 48 hours and 6 hours before the scheduled

departure of the train, the cancellation fee was 25 per cent of the cost of the ticket.

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TAXATION

HINDUSTAN TIMES, NOV 7, 2015Swachh Bharat cess: All services to become expensive from Nov 15To provide a boost to the clean India initiative, the government on Friday said it will impose a Swachh Bharat cess of 0.5% on all services liable for service tax, effective from November 15, 2015.

In his budget speech in February, finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed an enabling provision to levy the cess at a rate of 2% or less on all or certain services, if the need arose. This had come along with the increase in the service tax rate from 12.36% plus education cess to 14%.

“Swachh Bharat Cess is not another tax but a step towards involving each and every citizen in making contribution to Swachh Bharat. The 0.5% levy will translate into a tax of 50 paisa only on every Rs 100 worth of taxable services,” the finance ministry said in a statement. The proceeds from this cess will be exclusively used for Swachh Bharat initiatives of the government, it added.The Swachh Bharat cess will be an additional levy, making the effective service tax rate 14.05% against the current 14%.

In budget 2015-16, the government had put the service tax collection target at over `2.09 lakh crore. It is expected that the Swachh Bharat cess would yield Rs 400 crore over and above the service tax collections.

Explaining the rationale behind the levy, the ministry added that given the current population of more than 1.2 billion, India needs to have a “fair share of cleanliness concerns”.

Given the impact of cleanliness on public health leading to generation of diseases such as malaria, dengue, diarrhea, jaundice, cholera etc. the cess will help in improving public health.“Expenditure on health adds up to Rs 6,700 crore annually (approximately `60 per capita). Increased allocation for Swachh Bharat Abhiyan can prevent many of these diseases, with consequential benefit to one and all,” the statement said.

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