*From To Sathish*-Sathish's new movie Info & Pics pg20! - Page 82

Internal Working of the NaMo govt

The Modi model of has banished power brokers and set in motion a new work culture. The inside story
BY PR Ramesh and Ullekh NP

The new Government has prepared a dossier on lobbyists. In India, they could be arms dealers, middlemen, fixers and other shadowy figures who hang out in the lounges of five-star hotels and exclusive clubs of New Delhi waiting for the kill. Their presence at these privileged zones seems to have diminished. Nor are these men in their Armanis seen swaggering past Delhi's corridors of power with sleek briefcases, or darting back to their luxury cars after dropping by at the ministerial offices of friends. For the time being, they seem to have crawled back to inactivity.

In a big departure, a top-bracket industrialist couldn't meet a young minister recently for a private chat because the instructions of Prime Minister Modi forbade him from doing so. By Modi's diktat, ministers must treat corporate leaders with respect and meet them in their offices, not at residences or hotels. The billionaire tycoon finally met a senior Cabinet minister, but in his office, and in the presence of bureaucrats. "No, we are not anti-corporate. On the other hand, we are pro-business but not pliable to machinations by top industrial houses, like the UPA Government used to be," says a minister who adds that the NDA Government isn't merely posturing here "to prove any point" but "is genuinely committed towards" creating an investor-friendly environment without interference and rule-flouting by big industrialists.

In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, the BJP had come under attack for being soft on some corporate houses, implying that once it came to power, the party would dole out sweet deals to these companies. "It is that perception that the Prime Minister wants to get rid of. No malice to anyone, but no undue favours either' is his policy," says a senior BJP leader.

So far, so good.

In a government where the Prime Minister is the only boss, the message has been sent out time and again that the wishes of business houses won't be the regime's commands. "We mean business," says the minister, refuting charges that the Government is indulging in a mere public relations exercise. If so, he asks, why slap penalties on companies perceived to be close to the BJP-led coalition, like the Adani Group and Reliance Industries Ltd?

His logic is that friendly business houses were never touched' during Congress rule. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani himself had jokingly referred to the UPA as "our own government", as heard quoted by an aide. It wasn't any secret that many UPA ministers were close to Reliance, which had also managed to have favourable' ministers in charge of petroleum and natural gas, its core business sector. Both Mani Shankar Aiyar and S Jaipal Reddy have been vocal about their opposition to tweaking rules to suit the company's needs. And they paid a price for it.

Last week, India's fair-trade watchdog Competition Com- mission of India (CCI) imposed a penalty of more than Rs 25 crore on Adani Gas for violating competition norms by abusing its dominant market position. The CCI ruling was on a case related to the supply and distribution of natural gas in Faridabad by Adani Gas Ltd"a unit of Adani Enterprises, which is part of the diversified Adani Group headed by its founder and chairman Gautam Adani, who is known to be a friend of Modi. "No such considerations are accorded by the current Government. Since coming to power, it has allayed the [fear] that it would allow itself to be run by corporates," says a government official.

Similarly, Reliance Industries, which has been trying to warm up to the Government and earn the goodwill' it enjoyed of the previous regime, was slapped a fourth penalty this week for failing to meet gas-production targets at its Andhra offshore field. With this additional Rs 3,500 crore fine, the total sum of fines imposed on the company stands at Rs 14,200 crore over four financial years starting 1 April 2010. Explaining the Government's move, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said in the Lok Sabha last Monday that the Centre's profit share would increase by $195 million with these actions. A production- sharing contract allows RIL and its partners, BP Plc and Niko Resources, to deduct all expenses incurred on the project before sharing its profits on the sale of gas with the Government. The accounts have been controversial. During the UPA rule, the Oil Ministry under Jaipal Reddy's watch had served violation notices to the company for a total fine of $1.79 billion ($457 million for 2010- 11, $548 million for 2011-12 and $792 million for 2012-13), but he was soon shifted out of the Ministry. RIL, for its part, has maintained that the government's latest move contradicts the contract.

"Lobbying has never been this tough for businesses. It is frustrating for big business houses used to the luxury of walking into ministerial offices or homes of ministers and getting their work done. So far, the new Government has managed to keep them at bay. You never know how long they can resist corporate pressure and wooing. But as =of now, everybody within the Government is scared of being seen talking to corporates. There is fear of Modi," says a Mumbai-based CEO of an IT firm.

While the Government refused to bow to demands by oil-marketing companies to raise gas prices, it has created consultation panels to ease cumbersome procedures for doing business in several key sectors such as power, transport and water. This means, argues the BJP minister, that Modi will not buckle under pressure or yield to lures, but will, at the same time, work towards ushering in a greater level-playing field for entrepreneurs.
The Government has deferred a gas price hike, saying the whole issue as well as the guidelines for gas pricing require a comprehensive discussion to take care of public interest. It is well known that demand for gas in the country far outstrips output, but prices have been kept low for crucial segments such as fertilisers and power.

INSIDE THE GOVERNMENT

Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the Prime Minister, is hands-on and powerful, unlike principal secretaries during the UPA rule who were seen as inefficient. According to people close to the regime, he executes Modi's insistence on the "vertical movement" of files and speed with which they are processed. "To and fro hurling of files is not there now. It is a big change from the days of the UPA, when files got stuck between bureaucrats and ministries over ego issues or lack of clarity on policy," says a Government official. Misra also ensures seamless' communication between ministries over decisions. "He speaks to most ministers in chaste Hindi and leaves no chance for confusion about certain measures," the official adds, emphasising that the former TRAI chairman also vets each Cabinet note and brings it to Modi's attention before it goes to the Cabinet secretary. The new benchmark being set for effective governance is a maximum of four signatures to every file as it goes from a director- level officer to the minister.


Ministries have also been told not to seek legal opinions, often a ruse for delaying files in the past; such advice can be sought only if a clear case is made for it. Besides, if there are conflicts of interest between ministries, the officer concerned has been advised to walk over to the other one and try resolving the issue in person rather than have long letters being shot back and forth. Modi has adopted a zero-tolerance approach' to any unwanted delays in clearing files. This forces many ministers to spend close to 20 hours a day in office.


Unlike in the days of the NDA Government led by AB Vajpayee, who had to negotiate big egos and diverse views within his cabinet, Modi has a well-coordinated team at work, making Misra's job much less abrasive than Brajesh Mishra's (who held the twin positions of principal secretary and national security advisor). Back in those days, Vajpayee and Mishra had to strategise their moves in order to win majority backing of the Cabinet and Council of Ministers over key issues. For instance, to push forward with the disinvestment of some public-sector units, the duo had to first call a meeting of ministers such as Jaswant Singh, Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie, who favoured the action, to gain an edge over its opponents in the Cabinet such as LK Advani. Vajpayee and his team once even managed to secure the support of MM Joshi, typically a votary of Swadeshi politics, to take on the likes of Advani and Ram Naik. Ministers used to take part in debates in the alphabetical order of their names. Then Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission KC Pant used to be the final member to make a statement. "There were very powerful ministers and party leaders in the Cabinet then. Now, Modi has a smoother run," says a former bureaucrat who has worked closely with Vajpayee.

Under the previous dispensation, Cabinet ministers could walk in half-way through meetings or leave before they ended. But not anymore. Modi is the last one to enter a Cabinet meeting and the first to leave. Ministers such as Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Nirmala Sitharaman are the most talkative' ones in the current regime. Modi hears out each minister in a Cabinet session. When it comes to political issues, Home Minister Rajnath Singh is the one whose opinion is often sought by the Prime Minister; Arun Jaitley is given the floor when it comes to economic issues. Modi is intolerant of ministers who come up with frivolous suggestions. Nor are ministers allowed to flout etiquette or procedural propriety. According to people in the know, a request by HRD Minister Smriti Irani to raise an issue over the mid- day scheme for school children was declined because she had not gone through the process of taking suggestions from the PMO on a Cabinet note on the issue.

THE PMO

Modi has put in place a Prime Minister's Office that is similar to the Chief Minister's Office in Gujarat, where it served as the main centre of power, offering quick decisions on crucial matters, including big-ticket project clearances. However, unlike officials at his CMO, officers in the PMO neither remain low-key nor stay away from the media glare. They are, like the CMO staff, hardworking and available on call 24X7.

While Misra, a retired IAS officer of the 1967 batch from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, plays the pivotal role, one of Modi's favourite officers, PK Mishra was brought in to assist him as additional principal secretary. A former agriculture secretary, Mishra is a 1972-batch retired IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre. He had served between 2001 and 2004 as principal secretary to Modi when he was the CM of Gujarat. He was chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission after his retirement in 2008 for a five-year term. Mishra has a long association with the Prime Minister and has known him since his days as an RSS pracharak.

Others who work very closely with Modi include NSA Ajit Doval; Joint Secretary AK Sharma, a 1988 batch IAS officer of the Gujarat cadre who has deftly managed Modi's showpiece Vibrant Gujarat summits; Public Relations Officer Jagdish Thakker; and IT expert Hiren Joshi, who handles the social media for Modi. Other junior officers include his favourites such as Sanjay Bhavsar, who is Modi's point person on appointments.

Thanks to such a closely knit and cohesive team, Modi often ends up impressing rival politicians with his grasp of subjects under review. He will shortly name an IAS officer at the PMO to oversee media affairs.

POWER CENTRES

With his ascension as BJP President, Amit Shah is clearly the second- most powerful person in the NDA regime. He also takes a keen interest in running the Government, according to people close to the party's affairs. "That he enjoys Modi's blessings in no secret. Modi also expects him to come up with out-of-the-box ways to improve governance," says one of them

Shah, it is learnt, has made crucial suggestions to officials and ministers to envision projects and come up with ways to ease India's myriad infrastructural bottlenecks. The Government is currently toying with the idea of Israel-style' implementation of infrastructure projects, by which it ropes in various arms of the State for civilian undertakings.

With the Modi Government laying a lot of emphasis on water, power and transport, many such projects are likely to take shape in the near future, say officials. The internal target of the Modi Government is to cover 75 per cent of India's homes with round-the-clock power over the next five years. Suresh Prabhu, a former minister and power-sector expert, has been roped in to advise various ministerial panels and stakeholders in refurbishing the country's power sector. While the Centre isn't pleased with one of the BJP- led state governments for not cooperating well enough in aiding the generation of a higher quantum of electricity in the short term, it has put in place mechanisms to iron out differences between various states over generating and distributing extra power.

In addition, reforestation, Ganga cleaning and railway modernisation are also top priorities of the Government. Others include running trains to pilgrimage centres considered holy by Hindus, such as Badrinath, Kedarnath and so on. "Many officers are working in silence towards meeting many internal goals set by the Prime Minister," says an official.

Shah, like Modi, will also be closely monitoring various government projects. At least one junior minister has disclosed that the BJP President doesn't take kindly to sloppy work. Says a government official: "That Shah is watching every minister and how they work puts them on their toes. Besides Modi's instructions, Shah's capacity to monitor each and every person in the Government and his or her movement puts fear in the minds even of bureaucrats who could be approached by corporates."

The BJP heavyweight, whose stature in the party has risen rapidly over the past year thanks to his proximity to Modi and his own skills at poll campaigning, and Finance Minister Jaitley have been closely watching the country's coal sector"as part of efforts to reduce the shortage of this fossil fuel. The country's coal production was 566 million tonnes last fiscal year, but its demand was in the range of 715-720 million. The Power Ministry recently launched its first major new project in at least five years at the Amrapali open cast pit in Jharkhand. The country has so far failed to raise output despite sitting on the fifth- biggest reserves in the world, making it the third-largest coal importer. The opening of this mine highlights the Modi Government's priorities in the sector, Power Minister Piyush Goyal had said.

The Cabinet often has senior ministers chipping in with advice for junior colleagues. While External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj remains largely low-profile, since Modi steers foreign policy, it is Jaitley who often plays the mentor's role for many colleagues such as Pradhan, Goyal and Sitharaman, as also Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, among others, besides handling finance-related issues.
It helps that Jaitley was senior to most others in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the BJP's students wing, as well as in the party. As Defence Minister, Jaitley knows only too well that he faces insurmountable odds to modernise the Soviet- era weaponry of a country that has in the recent past seen a lot of scams related to deals for the purchase of helicopters and other defence equipment. After a lull following an election year, defence manufacturers from across the globe have now arrived in the country, the world's largest defence importer, peddling their products. "One has to take extreme care in the process of purchase. The Government's tenacity will be tested as it goes ahead with replacing obsolete weaponry and buying new [equipment]," says a Defence Ministry official.
Meanwhile, the Government has earned negative publicity over the its refusal to name Gopal Subramaniam as a Supreme Court judge"the apex court expressed its displeasure over the controversy that ended with Subramaniam pulling out of the race. Similarly, the appointment of Y Sudershan Rao as chairperson of the Indian Council of Historical Research raised many eyebrows over his qualifications.
With Modi's great expectations from his colleagues to work hard and preserve integrity, business houses accustomed to buying their way through to secure major gains are feeling the pinch. For them, a curtain has descended over Raisina Hill"and power has shifted from The Chambers and Belvederes to Shastri Bhavan and South Block."It is a time of dread for them. The idea should be to get them used to it," forewarns a senior bureaucrat.
The Modi model of governance abhors the secret hand.

TOP TEACHINGS

Never under any circumstances take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.

Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me for the path is narrow. In fact, just piss off and leave me alone.

Some days you are the dog, some days you are the tree.

No one is listening until you pass wind.

Sex is like air. It's not that important unless you aren't getting any.

Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

If you think nobody cares whether you're alive or dead, try missing a couple of mortgage payments.

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day

Good judgment comes from bad experience ... And most of that comes from bad judgment.

A closed mouth gathers no foot.

Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when your lips are moving.

We are born naked, wet and hungry, and get slapped on our arse - then things just keep getting worse.

musings


It was quiet for it was still night and not enough light
High among the branches the family of crows snoozed
mostly grey and a few ravens of black
the feeding has continued from our past
and the birds know to wait on our window sill
fattened with the cooked egg yellows and curd rice
a year and a half has passed since we migrated to this present state
and nothing has changed but for the caws and strange vocals of the raven
I walked away for my morning run or should i name it anew
run,jog,walk and crawl back home all mashed and not in that order
i came back to the hues and cries of all the crows in my compound and a few relations of their
who had come to have a caw about some pressing matter
familiar for me as it meant a dead crow or lying injured
multitude black flickering heads and eyes stared down at me
and i saw the reason for the wails of the crows
one crow couple hovered in a branch just above my head
and they knew me from my biscuits and hand outs of curd rice
in the neighbouring compound lay a small next generation crow
but having already preceded its parents to the next life
i looked up and pin drop silence extended for a few seconds
as if the birds thought i could perform some miracle
like raising lazarus from the dead
but i remembered the slokas from the gita
NA JAYATE MRIYATE VAA KADACHINNAYAM BHOOTVA BHAVITA VAA NO BHOOYAHA
AJO NITYAHA SASHVATOYAM PURANAM NA HANYATE HANYAMANE SHAREERE

i picked up the small broken baby crow and the flock flocked me
and they gathered around as i placed him near the garbage dump
far from my house and me far from the wails and cries
couple of hours later i heard a conch blow and drum beats
or better kuthu beats and noisy crackers fill the air with their din
i stood in mute as i saw a group of humans pass with their own dead kin
the son shaved carried a pot and he looked pretty uncomfortable
as if he didnt belong there or he was just cursing his dead for having to
go through all this shaving of nut and arm pits
i think he was more embarassed with the antics of the drunken folk
who went before the dead,dancing to beats of the dead
i wondered whether all the kuthu paastu songs are just a preparation
for the final journey and straining my eyes i saw the family of crows
now quiet,now crying hovering over their dead child
what a difference a passing makes and how differently we mourn
over our dead.
the crows continued all day until the garbage took away their young one
and the men dancing for the dead went ahead for more tasmac booze and feasting
the shaved head will sprout hair and one day will go the same way
the drunken men will keep dancing to the kutthu paatu
and will not spare a thought about who will dance
when they are being carried

asocyan anvasocas tvam
prajna-vadams ca bhasase
gatasun agatasums ca
nanusocanti panditah

The body is a lump of matter, so what is the value of lump of matter? Either while it is moving or while it is not moving, it is a lump of matter. Suppose we are now moving with this body with nice coat, pant, hat. That's all right. But what it is? It is a lump of matter. Either coat, pant, or these bones and the skin and the blood and the stool and urine, whatever this body is composed of, it is all material. And when the living entity goes away from this body, the same lump of matter... Does it change? So we are not lamenting at the present moment because it is moving. And as soon as the movement is stopped, I say, "Oh, my father has gone. My son has gone," and we lament. So actually the body is the same. The same body is lying here as dead body, whom we are lamenting, "my father," but you have never seen your father. You have seen only the coats and pants and the body. That is your education.

An ode to human skin...through its living years

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HayjgPlyKoA

Ajeet Seeds - 199 Marathi Ad By D Yamuna Kishore

Hi everyone,
I was in chidambaram for the past two days shooting for mangaldeep agarbattis.Had a great time for we shot inside the temple and i just went around absorbing all the sights and emotions.I felt the temples vibration and its significance of the akasa lingam one of the five elements and i realised that though we have forms we are all formless before we come to life and we all come from the same mix and deep down we are all connected and same and of a single cell origin.you breathe the same air i breathe and the same air that every life on this planet breathes.wow,it is so humbling and reminds me not to take myself or this present form seriously.fame,fortune,glory,awards are all man made and temporary.but the love of friends and well wishers are true and permanent.I wish you all and your families the very best of love and life.I know i have let that story of dhana hanging,but i promise i will recharge myself and resume it very soon.the past two months have been physically draining and my mind has been drifting and once it anchors itself i will pen the next chapter.be well.

love
satish

Chaithanya Eye Hospital - Eye Health Awareness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8pOADC3RdE

You Reap What You Sow

A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.
Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. "The young executives were Shocked, but the boss continued. "I am going to give each one of you a SEED today - one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one
I choose will be the next CEO."
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Everyday, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew
Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.
By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn't have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by -- still nothing in Jim's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing
Jim didn't say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil - he so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.
Jim told his wife that he wasn't going to take an empty pot.
But she asked him to be honest about what happened.
Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.
When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful - in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the CEO. "Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!"
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified... He thought, "The CEO knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!"
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him the story.
The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, "This is your next Chief Executive Officer!
His name is Jim!" Jim couldn't believe it. Jim couldn't even grow his seed.
"How could he be the new CEO?" the others said.
Then the CEO said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed.
I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today.
But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead - it was not possible for them to grow.
All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.
Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!"