Punctuality drive
The Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab has been quick to adopt the new work culture that is taking shape at the Centre. At least that’s how observers in Punjab view the state government’s sudden insistence on punctuality and discipline. And apparently the change is flowing from the top. Chief secretary Sarvesh Kaushal, for example, reaches office well before the 9 am reporting time, which means that babus working in the secretariat cannot dawdle over breakfast and saunter into office later.
To ensure that the babus comply with Mr Badal’s new directives, Mr Kaushal apparently conducts surprise checks in offices of senior Indian Administrative Service officers to ensure that they are at their desks. Whether this punctuality drive is momentary or will becomes the new work culture remains to be seen. Most people, however, are wishing that this “reform” is here to stay!
At a disadvantage
Among all the states vying to build bridges with the Centre, Jharkhand is at a disadvantage. For months, chief minister Hemant Soren has been unable to appoint a full-time resident commissioner for the state in Delhi to represent and protect its interests. The position was vacated by Vimal Kirti Singh who, early this year, quit the Indian Administrative Services and went into full-time politics. Since his departure additional resident commissioner Sanjay Kumar, an Indian Forest Service officer, has been holding the responsibility.
Sources say that though there are IAS contenders like U.P. Singh, S.K.G. Rahate and M.S. Bhatia for the resident commissioner’s post, the state government has been unable to take a decision. Consequently, many crucial Centre-state meetings have taken place without proper representation from Jharkhand. They point out that recently at one such meeting the state government was represented by a junior official. Obviously, this concern is not shared by the Soren government which shows no signs of remedying the situation.
A rare relenting
It appears that the government has relented after meeting resistance from several Union ministers on the order on the appointment of personal staff. The department of personnel and training has now “clarified” that only those who served as personal staff to ministers in the UPA government are barred from serving the BJP ministers.
The previous order had put ministers in a fix, especially those who had retained staff from the Manmohan sarkar. Apparently they had even written to Narendra Modi against the blanket ban. Unfortunately, the “relaxation” of the diktat may have come too late for home minister Rajnath Singh who was forced to remove his private secretary, Alok Singh, who had previously worked with Salman Khurshid, and bring in another Indian Administrative Service officer. Similarly, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju had dropped Abhinav Kumar for the “sin” of having served with the UPA minister Shashi Tharoor.
