In furtherance of good governance (ias mains+pubad)

Civil servant independence in the country is at best nominal. Nonconformity even to spurn whimsical and arbitrary directives received from above is widely recognised as a very risky proposition

The right to judicial remedies … is a constitutional right of the subjects … Employees of the State cannot become members of a different class to whom such right is not available. — Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice A.K. Sikri of the Supreme Court of India (September 22, 2014) in Vijay Shankar Pandey vs Union of India and Another.

Amid the din raised over the case involving the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) leader J. Jayalalithaa, an important and recent ruling by the Supreme Court of India in an entirely different domain has gone virtually unnoticed. This judgment was in the cause of good public administration, a sector vital to economic development. The message that the top court possibly wanted to send through its order was that an honest civil servant can bank on the Court if blatant injustice has been done to him or her by an unfair executive.

Black money case

The judgment possibly took cognisance of the fact that over the years, the Indian bureaucracy has become a spineless structure that cannot stand up to unethical pressures by the Executive or the moneyed in society, thereby belying the worthy dream of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, free India’s first Home Minister. It was the doughty Sardar’s vision and resoluteness that ensured that efforts in some quarters in post-Independence India to abolish the centrally recruited and overseen All India Services did not succeed. The nation has greatly benefited from the continuance of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS) in particular. Certain events since 1975, viz., the period post-Emergency, have however been the cause for dismay among those who have been looking for a professional, honest and independent civil service that would bolster an equally dedicated political class. It is against this backdrop that one should analyse the recent Supreme Court decision.

It all began in 2010 when V.S. Pandey, a senior IAS officer, Uttar Pradesh cadre, joined hands with Julio Ribeiro, the former police chief, and a few others, under the auspices of a non-governmental organisation-styled India Rejuvenation Initiative (IRI), to file a writ petition on the need to ferret out black money owned by Indians and stashed abroad. The petition culminated in the Supreme Court decision (2011) known as Ram Jethmalani and Others vs the Union of India. Reacting to this, Pandey was served a charge sheet by the U.P. government on five counts for alleged violation of four clauses of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules, 1968.

Charges, exoneration

The gravamen of the charge against Pandey was that, in being a co-signatory to the said writ petition by Ribeiro and others, he had endorsed an affidavit by one Jasbeer Singh that was critical of some senior officers of the Government of India (mainly from the Enforcement Directorate). The charge sheet added that in not having obtained the government’s permission before joining the said NGO and deposing in an inquiry where the Central and State governments were likely to be criticised, he had violated the conduct rules.

An enquiry officer appointed to look into the charges against Pandey exonerated him of all the charges on August 30, 2012. Strangely, a copy of this report of exoneration was not served on Pandey. On September 9, 2012, a selection committee that was considering cases of IAS officers in U.P. for promotion to the super timescale ignored Pandey’s case, although he had been exonerated and was eligible for promotion. The committee’s decision was in a sealed cover, a usual practice in respect of officers against whom disciplinary action was pending.

Worse was to follow. The enquiry officer’s finding was rejected by the U.P. government on September 26, 2012, on the ground that his report was cursory and that he had failed to properly investigate all relevant facts. The State government went on to invoke the Public Servants (Inquiries) Act, 1850 and appoint a two-member committee to look once more into the charges against Pandey. Significantly, the State government’s action came on the same day as the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) dismissing Pandey’s appeal seeking his promotion. Following this, Pandey went to the Supreme Court on a writ that was recently disposed of by a bench comprising Justices Chelameswar and Sikri in favour of Pandey. In doing so, the judges made some comments on what was palpably an act of rancour and vindictiveness by the government. What was striking about this remarkable judicial order was the thoroughness with which the bench demolished each averment against Pandey.

Upholding an individual’s right

First, the Court held that since Pandey never disputed the charges made against him, there were no facts to be investigated by the enquiry officer. Second, relying on the decision (1971) of the Supreme Court in K.R. Deb vs Collector of Central Excise, Shillong, the bench held that a second inquiry against Pandey was untenable. There could at best be a further inquiry, but not a second one on the same facts. And, in the Pandey case, the facts were such that a further inquiry was hardly warranted. As regards violation of a stipulation of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules that an officer could not depose before an individual, or committee or any other authority without the sanction of the government, the bench held that joining in averments made in a writ petition before a court was equivalent to taking part in a judicial process for which no citizen needed to get the government’s nod. An individual’s fundamental right did not get diminished just because he was a member of the civil service.

The two judges were categorical that this was a clear case of harassment of a hapless civil servant. (“The purpose behind the proceedings appears calculated to harass the appellant since he dared to point out certain aspects of mal administration ... The whole attempt appears to be to suppress any probe into the question of black money. A part of the strategy to intimidate not only the appellant but also to send a signal to others who might dare in future to expose any mal administration.”) They did not also fail to notice that while the government chose to proceed against Pandey, it ignored the action of another official, Jasbeer Singh, who had filed an additional affidavit that was critical of the government. The bench allowed Pandey’s petition and went beyond, to award him the costs involved. In doing so it said, “The requirement of (a) democratic republic is that every action of the State is to be informed with reason. State is not a hierarchy of regressively genuflecting coterie of bureaucracy.”

The need for support

This landmark judicial order comes at a time when, in my view, an intimidated civil service needs support. In many States, public servant morale is at its nadir and it requires the oxygen of an unequivocal imprimatur from the highest court of the land that would help to halt the hands of a meddling political class. Nothing else would bring about at least a marginal improvement to what is an undeniably appalling situation. Wide publicity to its salient features would go a long way in reinstilling courage into large sections of the bureaucracy which is baulking in fear of reprisal for its legitimate actions and has been coerced into condemnable passivity.

Civil servant independence in the country is at best nominal. Nonconformity even to spurn whimsical and arbitrary directives received from above is widely recognised as a very risky proposition. Signs of defiance are fraught with such serious consequences that even the most courageous civil servant thinks many times over before turning down even a palpably unethical and illegal direction. The few mavericks who display a semblance of remonstrance are heavily penalised so as to deter potential dissenters. It is this sordid state of affairs that convinces me that Justices Chelameshwar and Sikri will have to be hailed for coming squarely to the rescue of a hapless senior official of the U.P. government for his alleged intransigence.

I view the judgment as bold and imaginative. It sends out a strong signal that the honest and upright civil servant can depend on the higher judiciary for unequivocal support. Wide publicity to the facts of the case and details of the judgment is a must.

I am not pleading here for a total licence to honest civil servants to do whatever they want or indulge in intemperate criticism of a constitutionally installed government. What is required is a freedom to speak their minds in furtherance of good governance. I am happy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first meeting with the Secretaries to the Union Government exhorted exactly this and made himself available to hear them, especially when they were at loggerheads with their Ministers. There cannot be a better way to get the best out of each government official whatever be his status in the hierarchy. The Prime Minister’s Office has again to be complimented for issuing a directive to the bureaucracy that it should not act on oral instructions. I am confident that this stand would greatly promote transparency and honesty in governance.

India’s highest altitude zoo in Darjeeling has variety flora on show

The Darjeeling Zoo, the highest altitude zoological garden in India, housing rare Himalayan animals such as red panda and snow leopard, has over 200 species of trees, shrubs, climbers, medicinal herbs, fungi and micro flora, says a study.

“The study was aimed to identify and highlight the vegetation in the zoo which is overlooked by visitors,” said A.K. Jha, Director of the Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP), popularly known as the Darjeeling Zoo.

Explaining the reasons for such a high concentration of flora at the 67-acre zoo located at the height of 7153 ft (2,150 m) inside Darjeeling town, Mr. Jha said the park was one of very few stretches of natural forest that had remained largely untouched.

According to experts, when the British came to Darjeeling in the late 19th Century, there was large-scale deforestation for setting up tea gardens in the hills and for building the town.

The study says the zoo has 93 species of trees belonging to 31 families, 34 species of shrubs belonging to 26 families, 9 species of climbers belonging to 8 families and 48 species of herbs from 26 families. Among the non-flowering plants, 31 species of fungi are also present.

The trees include slow-growing Oak, some of which are more than 100 years old, Alder, Birch and other trees belonging to genus Quercus and Castanopsis. The garden has 60 species of orchids.

Among the medicinal herbs present at the zoo are Artemisia vulgaris used to treat high blood pressure and Eupatorium adenophorum used for treating cuts and wounds. A study of micro flora is being conducted.

Govt. schemes to give priority to women

Households with women to get toilets on priority

Precedence will be given to women under the ‘Swachh Bharat Mission’ and the ‘Housing for All by 2022’ schemes.

While households with women will get toilets on a priority basis under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Mission, single women and women-headed households will be considered first for allotment of houses under the slum redevelopment and rental housing components of the ‘Housing for All by 2022’ programme.

The Union Urban Development Ministry, which will provide assistance towards construction of 104.1 lakh toilets in households, has decided to accord priority to those households which have pensioners, girl children and pregnant and lactating mothers.

A senior official in the government said the decision to fast track construction of toilets for women in households, in public places as well as for girls in schools has been taken following the Prime Minister’s instructions in his maiden Independence Day speech in August.

In his speech Mr. Modi had focused attention on the increasing incidents of crimes against women, building separate toilets for girls in schools and putting an end to female foeticide among other issues.

Elimination of open defecation, conversion of insanitary toilets into flush toilets, eradication of manual scavenging and ensuring cleanliness and hygiene in public places are the components of the Swachh Bharat Mission.

As part of the Mission, the Ministry will aid the construction of 104.1 lakh household toilets, 2.52 lakh community toilets and 2.56 lakh public toilets and help 30.6 crore people with solid waste management.

“The Ministry is working out the modalities to implement the PM’s directions. Households with women that have no toilets will soon be identified and the resources will be raised for construction purposes,” an official said.

The Ministry has also taken a decision to register houses constructed under the ‘Housing for All’ scheme in the name of the woman head of the household or in the joint name of the male head of the household and his wife, if applicable.

“A vulnerability analysis will also be carried out as part of the slum-free city plan of action which will be drafted by cities as action plan for Housing for All by 2022 to consider women headed households as vulnerable. States will give priority to single women and women headed households at the time of allotting rental accommodation and also reduce the rent for such households by at least 10 per cent,” an official said.

GSAT-16 in French Guiana ahead of launch

The satellite will be launched by Arianespace

GSAT-16, the next national communications satellite, reached French Guiana this week and is on its way to the space port near Kourou ahead of an early December flight, European launch service company Arianespace has said.

The 3,150-kg satellite is scheduled to be flown on an Ariane-5 launcher numbered Flight VA221. Built at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, GSAT-16 was sent on a chartered cargo plane to the French Guiana capital of Cayenne.

Over the coming weeks, a team of ISRO engineers will routinely check, test and fully ready it for launch.

The satellite carries C-band and Ku-band transponders which will support VSAT (very small aperture terminal) services, television services and emergency communications across the country.

ISRO advanced the launch date of GSAT-16 by about six months to meet increasing demand for INSAT/GSAT transponder capacity from various industry and government users, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan recently told The Hindu. It will replace INSAT-3E, which expired a little prematurely in April, at the same 55 degrees east orbital slot over India.

The assembly of the satellite, its foreign launch and insurance cost Rs.860 crore, more than half of it going towards the launch cost. ISROcontracted Arianespace to launch both GSAT-16 and later the GSAT-15 communication satellite. The national space agency is still perfecting its two-tonne-class launcher, the GSLV, and cannot launch these three-tonne-class spacecraft.

It is also working on the GSLV Mark-III that can lift four-tonne payloads. The first experimental flight of MkIII is slated for November or December.

The GSAT-16 will be put in orbit along with DIRECTV-14, a satellite that will provide direct-to-home television broadcasts across the U.S.

Why Isro succeeds: It’s not that hard, other government departments must exploit its ABCD formula

The outstanding success of Isro’s mission to Mars has deservedly won wide acclaim, both in the country and abroad. Those with deeper knowledge of the challenges and complexities of the effort are even more appreciative of the achievement. The success of programmes like MoM and Chandrayaan (Isro’s Moon mission) generates national pride and widespread praise. However, there are ongoing activities (launch of a navigation satellite a few days ago) in technology development and applications which form the bedrock of the organisation’s achievements.

It is in this context that it is worth reflecting on the basic factors that make Isro so successful. There are certainly lessons here not only for government organisations, but also the private sector.

Success has no guaranteed magic formula but one can seek to glean some major contributory factors. Along these lines, a summarised and simplified Isro recipe can be codified in the acronym ABCD. First, A is for autonomy. While operating within the framework of government rules (Isro is part of department of space similar to any other in government), the Space Commission is a fully empowered body. It has the authority to make all financial and administrative decisions, barring those that are exceptional or of very high financial value. These go to the prime minister. This autonomy coupled with the fact that the PM is the minister of space, ensures there is no interference from politicians or other vested interests.

This structure also helps in keeping out the bureaucracy (the B of the mantra). Isro is managed by professionals, with all functional decisions being made by them. The few bureaucrats within Isro and department of space play an important, but supportive and service role, as opposed to a control function. The fact that the secretary is a space professional is an important element of this.

C is for capital: not of the financial kind, but of the country. It can hardly be a coincidence that the only two government departments which are not headquartered in Delhi (space and atomic energy) are probably the best performing ones by almost any criteria. Arguably, this may also account for the enviable reputation of RBI and SEBI. Being far from politicking, bureaucratic turf battles and power-and-money culture of Delhi clearly helps.

Collaboration is another key element of Isro’s success. Obviously, internal collaboration among various groups and centres within Isro is essential in developing any complex system or programme. The culture of collaboration is nurtured and ensured by structural arrangements, including a matrix management structure. This deepens domain expertise by ensuring that individuals work in and are guided by senior experts in their specialised area.

At the same time, individuals are also accountable to a project manager/director who integrates work across different domains to deliver a project. Equally special is the external collaboration with other government entities (especially for programmes of applications of space technology) and with industry. The long-standing and extremely fruitful interface with corporates — many of which are partners, rather than mere vendors — bodes well for commercial exploitation of India’s space capabilities.

The last alphabet of the acronym is for democracy. Its most valuable form in ISRO’s context is the openness and freedom of speech that is particularly manifest during design reviews, where everyone is equal and young junior engineers are free (and actually encouraged) to argue with their seniors and pick holes in their work.

In a field where there are so many unknowns, with high risk and failure rates globally, the comparatively more successful Isro programme undoubtedly owes a great deal to its rigorous and frank design reviews. They demonstrate the value of scientific temper, where knowledge trumps hierarchy; where not all questions have answers, but all answers can be questioned.

D is also for discussion, dialogue and dedication: all elements of Isro’s work culture.

This somewhat simplistic explanation of Isro’s success could be elaborated, contextualised and added to. For example, vision, motivation and cutting-edge work which provide intellectual challenge can be cited as other key factors. Yet, ABCD may be a formula that other government departments and corporates may well want to emulate.

PMO comes to the rescue of babus tyrannised by oral orders

Non-babus are calling it capital gains. Members of the Delhi Gymkhana and other crack clubs in its neighbourhood are celebrating the quietness of lunch hours these days, all thanks to how Narendra Modi has shaken up the lives of babus. Forget foreign trips, even leisurely tiffins have become a luxury. Because files have to be kept tip-top for a PM who could call for one in the wee hours of day or night.

But Modi isn’t just pushing babus to work longer, harder, faster. He’s also got their back. In June during his first direct interaction with some 70 secretaries who head the bureaucracy in various ministries, he urged them to work without fear, saying he was available to protect them via phone and email. Modi reportedly even promised, gasp, ‘You can meet me at any time’!

Now he has taken this protectiveness a big step forward. A memorandum at the PMO’s behest advises staff across ministries to carry out oral orders of seniors only after getting a written confirmation. Everyone knows the pen is mightier than the sword. PMO is reminding everyone that the pen is also mightier than the spoken word.

Sometimes babus do seem beaten like a drum, where one side pulls them up for the mistakes of ministers and the other side for kowtowing to ministers. But the new PMO decree brings order to this kowtowing, because a neta can’t just tell a babu to do his bidding. He now needs to do this telling in writing.

Tough Love is what Modi is giving babus. They are free of the tyranny of oral communications. In exchange they have got to come to office on time, maybe work five to nine, dress sharp and clear files double sharp, take a jhadoo to the dust and mop up the rust.

Cynical ‘kuch nahi hone wala hai’ camp questions the power of a memorandum or two to change the status quo. As Modi himself noted in his June meeting with the secretaries, a person can attain moksha by travelling to chaar dham but files can go to chatees dham without attaining moksha. Can babus clocking in on time and demanding written orders really deliver salvation?

Or are the PMO’s notes just another manifestation of Modi’s penchant for a presidential style? Where there’s the One Ring to rule them all, to find them, to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Sceptics and sycophants alike should note the extent to which Modi’s formula for achhe din hinges on well-performing babus. He can’t afford a demoralised bureaucracy. Carrots or sticks, he’s trying to pump up their performance. Meanwhile, it’s reported that babus’ working hours have eased a bit back in Gujarat. One surely hopes Modi’s absence from Ahmedabad is not the explanation!

Make in India vs. Make in China

Markets across Indian towns and cities that are flooded with Chinese products, more so around festivals such as Diwali, are grim reminders of how Made-in-China has come to dominate our offices and homes.

Last Tuesday, Tata Motor’s Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) opened its first plant in Changshu, China. The luxury car-maker’s $1.78-billion Make-in-China push has come a little over a month after Tata Group chairman Cyrus Mistry confessed to be greatly encouraged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership to join the “Make In India” programme that, he said, brings together industry and government for crafting a new future.

This was at the glittery launch of “Make in India” in Delhi where a galaxy of global corporate leaders ranging from Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries Ltd. to Lockheed Martin India CEO Phil Shaw in response to Mr. Modi’s call had pledged to invest and manufacture in India.

The pitch had its origin in the Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech when he invited global companies to pick India to locate factories, promising to replace red tape with red-carpet welcomes.

The jobs and incomes for Indians these factories would generate, he said, would in turn create the market for their output.

The goal the Modi government has set is to make India break into the top 50 in the World Bank’s ease of business index ranking from the current 134th position.

When companies such as Tata Motors choose where to locate a new factory, they consider a range of factors. But India fares badly on most of the counts. For instance, contract enforcement takes 1,420 days and going through the 12 procedures for starting business typically takes 27 days.

India’s chronic infrastructure and logistics deficit with inefficient transport networks makes it tough for manufacturing companies to achieve just-in-time production.

The Modi government has said it wants to radically de-bureaucratise, deregulate, change officers’ mindsets, cut paperwork and remove the notorious legal and infrastructure hurdles to starting and doing business in India. This is not the first time India is focussing on its manufacturing sector. In 2006, the UPA government put out a national strategy for manufacturing. It even dubbed 2006-15 as the “decade of manufacturing in India.” The five-year period of 2005-06 to 2009-10 was one of a smart 10 per cent plus growth for the manufacturing sector when several advantages — engineering skills, a growing domestic market, a raw material base and a large pool of skilled labour — trumped the vast barriers to doing business in India.

JLR’s China launch has set alarm bells ringing for the Modi government: “Make in India” will have to go quickly from being a statement of intent to real action on the ground. Markets across Indian towns and cities that are flooded with Chinese products, more so around festivals such as Deepavali, are grim reminders of how Made-in-China has come to dominate homes and offices. From furniture and gadgets to industrial equipment, India is importing almost all products from its neighbour, even yarn for saris. It is estimated that over 99 per cent of Bangalore silk saris are being made with Chinese silk yarn.

As a result, the rapidly growing bilateral trade between the two neighbours is tilting heavily in China’s favour, at a rate that India has termed unsustainable. Bilateral trade crossed $65 billion in 2013, but while India exported $15 billion worth of goods to China, but imported $51 bn. The quality of trade also goes against India. India exports raw materials such as iron ore but imports manufactured goods.

In pursuit of its reforms agenda of 1979, China has followed a more-exports-at-any-cost policy to boost its economy. The Chinese government’s support to manufacturing in the form of affordable cost of funds, cheap inputs and world-class infrastructure gives it an advantage over Indian manufacturers. The Confederation of Indian Industry estimates that Chinese manufacturing as a result enjoys a cost advantage of about 10 per cent over Indian manufacturing.

A fallout of which is dumping of products on big markets like India. To protect domestic manufacturers, India has been imposing an anti-dumping duty on 159 products — ranging from chemicals, petrochemicals, pharmaceutical, steel, fibres and consumer goods — imported from China since 1992.

The spurt in factory imports from China has coincided with a sharp slide in India’s manufacturing sector despite the UPA government’s efforts to push the sector.

Manufacturing output grew barely 1 per cent in 2012-13. In 2013-14, factory output contracted (-) 0.7 per cent. The share of the jobs-creating sector in the GDP has declined to 14.9 per cent in 2013-14 from the peak level of 16.2 per cent in 2009-10.

India’s advantage

But there is hope still. A new index of manufacturing costs, including productivity-adjusted wages, electricity, natural gas and currency movements, created by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) of the world’s 25 biggest exporters shows China’s traditional cost advantage is now under pressure denting its attractiveness. Under pressure from the U.S., China has had to appreciate its currency by 30 per cent since 2006, which is eroding its exports’ cost competitiveness. Just-in data from the International Monetary Fund show that China is no longer the largest trade surplus economy in the world.

Therein lies an opportunity “Make in India” must tap. India’s labour costs are among the lowest in the world. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, average labour compensation (including pay, benefits, social insurance, and taxes) in India’s organised manufacturing sector increased only marginally, from $0.68 an hour in 1999 to $1.50 an hour currently. The average compensation in China’s manufacturing sector in contrast rose 20 percent year-on-year in the same period to $3 an hour.

Besides, the cost competitiveness, India boasts a nearly 500-million-strong labour force comprising unskilled workers and English-speaking scientists, researchers, and engineers, making it a potential destination for cost-effective research and development-oriented manufacturing.

Recent sporadic instances of the odd Chinese manufacturer setting up shop in India and a few Indian companies moving production bases back home from China are encouraging. Havells, Godrej, Micromax and auto-components maker Bosch are amongst a handful of companies that have recently moved back to India some part of their manufacturing or outsourcing in China owing to currency, labour and other cost advantages.

As Chinese factories move up the value-chain to hi-tech manufacturing, opportunities would open up for Indian entrepreneurs but they are up against stiff competition. On the BCG ranking, however, several countries, including the U.S. and Mexico, are better poised and ranked above India as of now to take gain from China’s loss of competitiveness. The coming together of smart entrepreneurs, employees, infrastructure and know-how could overtime become a durable advantage, as had happened in China’s case.