Dilip Cherian

Mar 31, 2010
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Dilip Cherian

Justice delayed

In Jammu and Kashmir, the wheels of justice seem to grind far too slowly. The state government itself admits that more than 600 corruption cases against public servants, including some ministers and several Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officers, are hanging fire.

Babu quits in protest

These days it is not unusual for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to change horses midstream. The private sector, especially in recent years, has become a potent attraction for many a babu. But eyebrows were raised recently when an IAS officer in Uttar Pradesh reportedly put in his papers because of frequent transfers. Raju

Wanted: Babus

Though right now Bihar is gripped by election fever, there is one issue that the new government, whichever it is, may not be able to sweep under the carpet once the poll din dies down. While many states in India routinely face a paucity of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) babus, in Bihar the crisis is accentuated by the fact that one-sixth

Back to school

“Reforming babus” has been a tireless refrain of the United Progressive Alliance government, so a training programme for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, which the Prime Minister’s Office announced recently, is in furtherance of this noble cause. It includes a five-week mandatory training for senior IAS officers who have put

Weighty question

Jobs for the boys is an honoured though unwritten rule ba­bus live by. For soon-to-be ex-babus, it is indeed a comf­o­r­ting thought that they need not fade away immediately from pu­blic life.

Security on the menu

Though Delhi is no stranger to coteries and cliques of powerful babus as well as netas, the emergence of a new power cabal in the capital has set tongues wagging. This particular Band of Babus has been meeting discretely once a month over lunch to discuss national security issues, a subject that should normally douse hunger

Babus, beware!

It may sound incestuous but the strongest measure recommended to curb corruption in babudom is from a high-powered committee headed by former chairman of the Union Public Service Commission, P.C. Hota. They have recommended to the Prime Minister’s Office that babus chargesheeted for corruption should face immediate

Practice, don’t preach

Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Wajahat Habibullah is moving on to a World Bank assignment next month and will perform the same job there, along the lines of the Right to Information (RTI) Act. But he is leaving the commission with some unresolved issues. Credibility is one issue which has come to the fore, ironically through an RTI inquiry by an activist.

Who wins?

If the unprecedented one-year extension to Cabinet secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar caused considerable heartburn among civil servants, the government’s decision to now ratify a fixed four-year term for Cabinet secretaries is equally surprising. Henceforth, the nation’s top babu could enjoy a four-year term regardless of the age of superannuation.

Sarkari babu, 63, R.I.P.

Callisthenics and maybe even yoga? Expectations on what babus must do next are high. Yet remember this system is 63 now, and under ordinary circumstances (Cabinet secretaries exempted) should be near set to retire. The fact is that the concept of a “changing bureaucracy” is an oxymoron. Indian bureaucracy is today in a

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