g -files March 2014

March 5, 2014 `200
vol. 7, issue 12
gfilesindia.com
Elections 2014:
Tough Job
BIG BOSS / vS Sampath
talktim
e
SY
QuraiShip26
GOVerNaNCe mG deVaSahaYam ON eleCtOral iNteGritY p22
JiGNeSh Shah SeekS NeW PaStureS p32
FirSt StirriNGS
mS Gill
p28

3www.indianbuzz.com
gfiles inside the government
vol. 7, issue 12 | March 2014
Anil Tyagi | editor
TR Ramachandran | executive editor
Niranjan Desai | roving editor
GS Sood | consulting business editor
Rakesh Bhardwaj | editorial consultant
Arvind Tiwari | director, business development
Naresh Minocha | associate editor
Neeraj Mahajan | associate editor
Alok Jain | coordinator (maharashtra)
Ajit Ujjainkar | bureau chief (mumbai)
Harishchandra Bhat | associate editor (bengaluru)
Venugopalan | bureau chief (bengaluru)
Kanika Srivastava | editorial coordinator
Mayank Awasthi | reporter
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I
n April and May, your door will be knocked on by prospective
Lok Sabha candidates for your endorsement to the 16th Lok
Sabha. Your decision to vote for a particular candidate or
party will make a lot of difference in the governance of India as in a democracy,
this is the only weapon that the common man has, the only time when he is the
master of the rulers. When you vote, have you ever thought, why you vote for a
specific candidate or a party? Are you fully convinced that your vote will make a
change for the better in the nation or your constituency? Has any political party
consulted any voter, society, group, or community, while drafting its so-called
election manifesto. The answer is no. So, the voter will have to vote as per a
manifesto fabricated to serve political masters or corporate interests. The text
will, of course, be disguised in a lingo that promises to ameliorate the condition
of millions in India. What a paradox! This is a fact of the Indian democracy. It may
sound cynical, but civil society has to ponder over how to have a better political
system for good governance.
This issue of gfiles focuses on the elections for the 16th Lok Sabha. We have
not analysed candidates, parties or possible results and, instead, have made
this issue more thought provoking by reporting on where the road-map of
democracy is looking like. MG Devasahayam writes in his column that the First
Republic is fast becoming a ‘failed state’, with all the characteristics described
by Robert Rotberg in his book, ‘When States Fail: Causes and Consequences’:
“Failed states offer unparalleled economic opportunity only for a privileged
few. Those around the ruling oligarchy grow richer while their less fortunate
brethren starve… The privilege of making immense profits and fortune, when
everything else is deteriorating, is confined to clients of the ruling elite... The
nation-state’s responsibility to maximise the well-being and prosperity of all
its citizens is conspicuously absent... and, escalating levels of venal corruption
mark failed states.” Our Associate Editor Neeraj Mahajan is worried when he
writes, “one of the easiest ways of making money is to float a political party
and play the role of mediator. As compared to just 53 political parties in the
first general elections, today there are over 5,000 political parties in almost
every street corner of India. Almost 1,600 of these parties are registered with
the Election Commission, but some of them have never even contested one
election.” After 66 years of Independence, why is the Election Commission not
empowered enough to check the antecedents of parties and candidates and the
flow of money, given the mushrooming of political parties. India is awakening;
the voter too is awakening to the games played by candidates and political
parties. How long will dirty tricks pave the way to Parliament? Solutions have
to be discovered, evolved and implemented by the people of India as these
parties and leaders will not identify, nor endorse, a way which can catch them
red handed.
Still, there is hope; the President of India Pranab Mukherjee is well aware of
the rot and his responsibility to remedy it. In his acceptance speech as the 13th
President of the Republic, he said: “Corruption is an evil that can depress the
nation’s mood and sap its progress. We cannot allow our progress to be hijacked
by the greed of a few”. He went on to add that the principal responsibility of his
office is to function as the guardian of our Constitution. “I will strive, as I said on
oath, to preserve, protect and defend our Constitution, not just in word but also
in spirit.” Let the spirit prevail.
Anil Tyagi
editor@gfilesindia.com
From the Editor
Download the gfiles app

CONTENTS
www.gfilesindia.com4 gfiles inside the government
JAPAN
AbePlomAcy
Jeff kiNgstoN
p76
m
g
DeVAsAHAyAm
RAce
foR
Pm
p68
February 10, 2014 `200
vol. 7, issue 11
gfilesindia.com
PetitioN iN Public iNteRest submitteD to tHe HoN’ble suPReme
couRt by gfiles RegARDiNg tHe gReAt lAND RobbeRy iN HARyANA.
How HooDA AloNg witH His cRoNies PluNDeReD HARyANA iN His
9 yeARs of Rule. p10
Kunal Bhadoo
Hooda’s son-in-law
Venod Sharma
Congress MLA, Ambala
Arvind Walia
Owner, Ramprastha
Anil Bhalla
Owner, Vatika Builders
Sameer Gehlaut
Owner, Indiabulls
Kabul Chawla
Owner, BPTP
KP Singh
Owner, DLF
De facto
ChiefMinisters?
Haryana’s
6 Bric-a-Brac
polls & goals
10 Big Boss
make no false promises
14 Cover Story
the power of money in elections
Governance
22 urgent need for electoral reforms
32 jignesh shah moves to diamonds,
real estate business
36 green signal to state-ngo
partnership
26 Talk Time
oust criminals, says former
cec sy quraishi
28 First Stirrings
ms gill on his life and times
40 Initiative
emotional intelligence at work
42 Mandarin Matters
when zia-ul-haq and morarji desai
met in kenya
44 My Corner
thumbs down to political intelligence
gathering
46 Silly Point
an agenda for political parties
48 Book Review
analysing the indian voter
49 Stock Doctor
long-term view
56 Perspective
fundamental corruption
57 By the Way
hooda’s colourful officials, health
ministry woes and more
Haryana’s de facto CMs
A very serious story has been covered by
gfiles (February 2014). Very few people
know that there are so many rich build-
ers allegedly contributing to the Haryana
Chief Minister’s office. Many perceived
DLF as the only one that had tied up, by
hook or crook, with the Government of
Haryana. This is often cited as the reason
for why we get dusty and poor roads
and public infrastructure in Gurgaon and
Faridabad. I personally find better public
infrastructure and amenities in Greater
Noida and Noida, a part of the bimaroo
state of Uttar Pradesh.
Rajeev Mishra via email
Kejriwal again
I agree with MK Kaw (Second Coming
of Arvind Kerjriwal, February 2014) that
Kejriwal has now become Kejriwad. It’s
the beginning of the era of the common
man, who’ll get empowerment in the real
sense. This is the beginning of the demo-
lition of business houses that control the
government by using black money.
RS Dahiya on blog
Needs of senior citizens
The article titled Demographic bulge
ahead (February 2014), is appreciable.
Facilities for senior citizens still need to
LETTERS
editor@gfilesindia.com
CONTENTS
be developed on a large scale as many
of them suffer due to ill-health and igno-
rance. The state of facilities provided
to this section of society is very poor. It
would be good if we have a separate bud-
get for amenities needed by the senior
citizens, as mentioned in the article.
Ashok Sinha via email
Moments and memories
The subjects of everyday life captured by
very unique vision of the lovely mates,
Ashok and Novel, did leave a lasting
impact. Readers like me were speech-
less! I congratulate the writer of this arti-
cle for bringing out the best of their work!
Shakuntala on blog
Form IV (See rule 8)
gfiles
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country of origin): Not applicable
Address: 118 2nd floor, DDA Site 1,
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4. Publisher’s Name: AnilTyagi
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6. Name and Addresses of
Individuals who own AnilTyagi
the newspaper and the AbhisshekTyagi
partners or shareholders: 118 2nd floor, DDA Site 1,
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Holding more than one
percent of the total capital Sarvashrestha Media Pvt Ltd
Shareholders: Quality Edumedia Pvt Ltd
I, AnilTyagi, hereby declare that the particulars given
are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
Dated. March 01, 2014
Sd/
AnilTyagi
Publisher

5www.indianbuzz.com

Bric-a-bracpolls & goals
Busy as a bee
check out the prez’
schedule
bonanza for web news portals which are hungry for press
materials and photographs free of cost. Apart from the
media blitzkrieg, insiders say Pranabda is keeping keen
watch on recent political developments even if he is not
expressing his opinion. g
Veterans simmer
politicking heightens
within BJP T
he Bharatiya Janata Party resembles an arena for prime
ministerial candidates. This even though, Narendra Modi,
Chief Minister of Gujarat, has been nominated as the
party’s prime ministerial candidate if the BJP gets majority in
the 16th
Lok Sabha. But in politics, it’s never so cut and dry.
Sources disclose that one possible strategy is that nobody who
is somebody among the old patriarchs may challenge Modi. Lal
Krishna Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, and Jaswant Singh are
bewildered that the boys who used to sit outside their offices
are now holding the fort and daring not to allow them to contest
even the Lok Sabha elections. In this whole game, Rajnath
Singh, the BJP President, is tacitly supporting the
move to eliminate the old school. Clearly, it is a
complicated game. Sources also disclosed that
Advani, Joshi or Jaswant Singh are not likely to
bow before the dictatorial commands to ask them to
sit home or in Rajya Sabha. Maybe, the RSS should take
cognisance of the anger of the veterans, but there too are
few sympathisers. g
P
ranab Mukherjee’s prede-
cessors seldom interacted
with media. But since he became President,
journalists receive innumerable emails with
press releases and photographs from
the President’s Office. Pranab
Mukherjee knows the power of
media very well. He even informs
the press well in advance as to which town, city, university
and hospital, he is going to deliver a lecture. It is well-
known that he is an articulate statesman. His media
department is under severe pressure as there is often no
time in between to issue press statements, releases and
photographs. As a result, the release arrives in the reporters’
computers at 8 a.m. or even 11.30 p.m! Over the year,
Pranab Mukherjee has spoken on a wide range of issues—
Vivekananda, leprosy, health, yoga, libraries, education,
economic issues, child and women rights, and so on. The
President’s speeches do no find a place in newspapers as he
does not supply them with spicy news, but they are the

7www.indianbuzz.com
surprised to know that the land between Vijayawada and
Guntur has been purchased by those very leaders who were
part of the Andhra Pradesh restructuring team, at really cheap
rates. Coming back to the present: We learn that news has
spread that the new capital will be between Vijayawada and
Guntur. The price of land has sky rocketed. Who says, there’s
no opportunity in adversity. Ask the top Congress leaders—
g
I N S I D E E Y E
illustrations:aruna
Capital clout
andhra: opportunity in adversity
I
ndiA’s 29th
state was recently formed. But let’s go back a
bit in time. The local workers of Telangana and the
leadership of the save Andhra movement were busy
demonstrating for their political goals. Meanwhile, some of
the top political leaders were working on the map of the new
capitalofdividedAndhraPradesh.TheCongressleadership
was more than aware that wherever the new capital of
seemandhra would be set up, a jewel
box would open up for builders,
politicians and bureaucrats
alike. Let’s go back a bit further
in time. There were very
few politicians within the
Congress Party who were
aware from the beginning
that Telangana is going to be
reality at the end of the 15
opportunity of a lifetime. gfiles
no opportunity in adversity. Ask the top Congress leaders—
they know better than anybody else. g
ave Andhra movement were busy
demonstrating for their political goals. Meanwhile, some of
the top political leaders were working on the map of the new
capitalofdividedAndhraPradesh.TheCongressleadership
was more than aware that wherever the new capital of
be set up, a jewel
box would open up for builders,
politicians and bureaucrats
alike. Let’s go back a bit further
that Telangana is going to be
th
Lok sabha. They sensed an
gfiles readers will be

Bric-a-bracpolls & goals
CM Sharma?
plan b in haryana
T
here is a general perception in Haryana that there
is no threat to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda. In Congress circles, everybody accepts and
admires him. They are convinced that after Charan Singh
and Devi Lal, Hooda is the biggest crowd puller in the
country. This, they say, has been proven after the
Gohana rally recently where Hooda spoke before
approximately one lakh people. The Congress
leadership in Delhi too has been made to believe that
thereisnothreattoHoodaandthereisnoopposition.
Right now, the opposition in the state is fragmented
and fractured and not united enough to take Hooda
head on. But Hooda and his classmate team has a plan
‘B’ where in any eventuality if everything fails, power
should not go from their clutches. Venod Sharma,
his school-time chum, is the second-in-command for
succeeding Hooda in any eventuality. Sharma is also keen to
fulfil his life time desire to become Chief Minister. Had the
Jessica Lal murder case not taken place, sources reveal that
Venod Sharma was the first choice for CM’s post in 1999. To
better his chances, Venod Sharma has been extensively
touring the state for the last one year, doing Jat, Brahmin and
Dalit rallies. He has everything at his disposal--men, money
and muscle. Venod Sharma’s terror is so much in the Congress
partythatSeljaKumarihadtorequestSoniaGandhipersonally
to send her to Rajya Sabha as Sharma would allegedly obstruct
her chances of winning the Ambala seat in the 16th
Lok Sabha
polls. November 2014 is not very far when the Haryana
Assembly will also go to polls. So Hooda and his friends are
ready to promote the de facto Chief Minister Venod Sharma
as the de jure Chief Minister as they do not want to lose the
state which allegedly sends millions to their coffers every day.
Surprisingly,VenodSharmahadameetingwithBJPPresident
Rajnath Singh to discuss the possibility of working together in
Haryana. The meeting was fixed by his television editor. Is
Venod Sharma joining the BJP? g

COVER STORY / BIG BOSS
v s sampath
COVER STORY / BIG BOSSCOVER STORY / BIG BOSS
V S Sampath is a 1973-
batch IAS officer from thebatch IAS officer from the
Andhra Pradesh cadre. HeAndhra Pradesh cadre. He
was an election commissionerwas an election commissioner
from 21 April 2009 to 10
June 2012, after serving forJune 2012, after serving for
a year as the Secretary fora year as the Secretary for
Energy and Power in the
Government of India. He
played an important role inplayed an important role in
introducing power sector
reforms in Andhra Pradesh.reforms in Andhra Pradesh.
He will serve as CEC until heHe will serve as CEC until he
reaches the retirement age ofreaches the retirement age of
65 on 16 January 2015.
V S Sampath believes thatV S Sampath believes that
the Election Commission
should be given greater
autonomy and more powerautonomy and more power
for its effective functioning.for its effective functioning.
He advocates for a strongHe advocates for a strong
law to curb the practice oflaw to curb the practice of
paid news. He has suggestedpaid news. He has suggested
the Parliament to take up
right to reject. Advocatingright to reject. Advocating
such a move, he said,
“Right to reject is an idea
inherent to democracy,
whose time for execution
has come.” He talks
about the measures beingabout the measures being
taken by the Election
Commission for the
coming general elections
and the challenges it facesand the challenges it faces
in ensuring a free and fairin ensuring a free and fair
election. Excerpts from anelection. Excerpts from an
interview by Kum Kum
Chaddha:
v s sampath chief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissionerchief election commissioner

11www.indianbuzz.com
gfiles: What is the biggest
challenge in the forthcoming
general election?
VS: I would categorise it in two
groups—the challenge of scale and
the challenge of quality. As for
the first, the statistics are mind-
boggling—814.5 million voters, 11
million polling personnel, 1.4 million
electronic voting machines (EVMs),
9.30 lakh polling stations, etc. Then
there are regional, religious, ethnic
complexities and cultural and lin-
guistic diversities, plus the geograph-
ic spread of these elections. These
factors raise intimidating logistics
and management challenges, like
maintaining a database, training
and deployment of polling personnel
and material and transport manage-
ment, ranging from bullock carts
to helicopters—sometimes even
elephants and donkeys. Add to these,
information management and a free
flow of information.
Then there is the challenge to
ensure that elections are free, fair
and peaceful, that a level playing
field is provided to the contestants
in the electoral fray, and that there
is good and genuine participation of
voters, uninhibited by any kind of
money or muscle power.
gfiles: How do you ensure this?
VS: Through a slew of measures
like enforcement of the model code
of conduct, taking direct control
photos: Fotos4INDIA
and supervision of bureaucracy and
police force and, more importantly,
including the weak, vulnerable and
marginalised sections of society in
the electoral process. The bottom
line is to ensure that eligible voters
are included in the electoral rolls
and ineligible are struck off, and
that there is a free and fair election
in the country.
gfiles: Peaceful elections do
not necessarily mean fair elec-
tions. It often translates into
goons being out on the streets
while the disadvantaged and
oppressed remain indoors out
of fear. In such a situation, how
will you ensure a peaceful and
fair election?
VS: Peaceful elections need not
necessarily mean fair elections.
However, we try to ensure that elec-
tions are free, fair, peaceful and
participative. Some steps we take
include deployment of adequate cen-
tral armed police force, special law
and order drives to execute pending
non-bailable warrants, rounding up
of rogue elements, search and seizure
of unlicensed arms and ammunition
and illicit liquor, a comprehensive
mapping of each polling station
for vulnerable pockets of voters,
followed by confidence-building
measures vis-à-vis the vulnerable,
and preventive action against the
intimidators.
‘Political parties should
avoid making promises
difficult to fulfill’

COVER STORY / BIG BOSS
v s sampath chief election commissionerchief election commissioner
gfiles: Your predecessor SY
Quraishi had taken several
steps to strengthen the Election
Commission. How much of his
work are you taking forward
and what are you striking off?
VS: Dr SY Quraishi, my predecessor,
took several initiatives to strengthen
expenditure on monitoring, voter
education and participation, and we
continue to pursue these goals.
gfiles: TN Seshan took the fun
out of elections? Would you do
anything to turn the clock back?
VS: Excuse me for saying so, but
your question is unfair and unin-
formed. Mr TN Seshan is known for
his yeoman service as CEC by arrest-
ing the decline in election standards
and setting benchmarks for purity of
polls. Subsequent incumbents to the
office of CEC have built on that and
taken the process forward.
gfiles: How do you intend
to tackle criminalisation in
politics and candidates with
dubious backgrounds?
VS: The EC has for the past several
years recommended that persons,
against whom charges have been
framed for offences punishable with
imprisonment of five years or more,
should be debarred from contest-
ing elections till the disposal of their
cases. However, till the time the law
is not amended, candidates with
dubious background cannot be pre-
vented from contesting.
gfiles: What about the use
of black money in elections?
How will you curb its use? Is it
possible?
VS: Checking the use of black
money in an election is a major chal-
lenge. The Commission has taken
several steps in this regard, including
24x7 complaint monitoring cell with
a toll-free number, flying squads to
attend to complaints, static surveil-
lance and video surveillance teams
to keep watch on movement of cash
or any major expenditure in the con-
stituency, accounting team to main-
tain Shadow Observation Register
for each candidate, district-level
Media Certifying and Monitoring
Committee (MCMC) to watch all
paid news and advertisements,
associating with income tax depart-
ment to keep a watch on black
money, particularly the hawala
operators and pawn brokers, and
also to alert Air Intelligence Unit in
airports and ask banks and Financial
Intelligence Units to send suspicious
transaction reports relating to
candidates and parties. All the
candidates and parties are asked to
avoid any cash transaction during
the election process.
gfiles: What about the distribu-
tion of freebies? Politicians
circumvent this and get the
better of the EC model code of
conduct by announcing them
much earlier. Once they know
elections are round the corner,
they start making announce-
ments before the code comes
into operation. In that sense,
they defeat the purpose?
VS: The model code of conduct
(MCC) comes into force from the
date of declaration of election sched-
ule. Hence, the EC does not normally
interfere with policies, programmes
and announcement pre-dating the
period of MCC. However, pursuant
to directions of the Supreme Court
and after due consideration of the
views and comments of political par-
ties, the Commission has recently
included guidelines for election man-
ifestos. These include that election
manifesto shall not contain anything
The EC has for the past several years recommended that
persons, against whom charges have been framed for
offences punishable with imprisonment of five years or
more, should be debarred from contesting elections till
the disposal of their cases

In the interest of transparency, it is expected that
election manifestos reflect the rationale for the promises
and broadly indicate the ways and means to meet the
financial requirements for it
repugnant to the ideals and princi-
ples enshrined in the Constitution;
the Directive Principles of State
Policy enshrined in the Constitution
enjoin upon the State to frame vari-
ous welfare measures for the citizens
and, therefore, there can be no objec-
tion to the promise of such welfare
measures in election manifestos.
However, political parties should
avoid making those promises
which are likely to vitiate the purity
of the election process, or exert
undue influence on the voters in
exercising their franchise. Further,
in the interest of transparency,
level playing field and credibility
of promises, it is expected that
manifestos also reflect the rationale
for the promises and broadly indicate
the ways and means to meet the
financial requirements for it. The
trust of voters should be sought only
on those promises which are possible
to be fulfilled.
gfiles: Does the government
put roadblocks in the way of
effective implementation of EC
measures?
VS: The Commission has been
engaging with the government
for past several years over its
comprehensive agenda for electoral
reforms that includes proposals on
decriminalisation of politics, making
the offence of bribery in elections a
cognizable offence, deregistration of
political parties as well as providing
for compulsory maintenance and
audit of their accounts, inclusion of
paid news as electoral offence and
corrupt practice, ban on government-
sponsored advertisements six
months prior to the expiry of the
term of the House, etc. I will only say
that given the potential that these
reforms have for cleansing the polity,
in general, and the electoral process,
in particular, they brook no delay in
implementation. g

COVER STORY
power
ElEctions 2014: tDuring elections, the Election
Commission of India virtually takes
over governance in its hands till the
time the results are announced and a
formal list of victorious candidates is
handed over to the government.
Nobody dares to challenge the
authority of the Election Commission
(EC) during the election period. This
absolute power is bestowed on the EC
for the conduct of a fair, peaceful and
harmonious election and to restore
the faith of the common man in this
democratic process. However, one
school of political scholars thinks that
the EC is only a tool in the hands of
politicians to facilitate elections—
nothing more, nothing less. They feel
that the EC can’t do much until the
Representation of People Act is
amended drastically. Before the
emergence of TN Seshan, most Chief
COVER STORY
power gamesgames

: thE monEy gamEElection Commissioners (CEC) were
entrenched with the ruling political
parties. The credit must go to
Seshan, who used the powers given
in the Act as a weapon for
deterrence; the cascading effect of
the Seshan era is still felt. For the
first time in India, he ordered political
parties and leaders to behave as per
the Act. Every CEC today understands
the power he has during the time of
elections. Seshan proved that law is
subject to interpretation. To do his
job, the CEC needs courage,
determination and a clear mind as
80 crore voters will watch his
actions closely. Our Associate
Editor, Neeraj Mahajan,
explains how political parties have
today become a haven for a select
few to flout the law for their
personal gain.

COVER STORY
power gamesgames
W
ith elections to the 16th
Lok Sabha round the cor-
ner, all eyes are now on the
Election Commission. With more
than 80 crore voters, 543 seats, near-
ly 10,000 likely candidates and nearly
1,600 registered political parties, the
task before the Commission is huge
and onerous. More so in the current
scenario where the indian polity is
fractured and the use of money and
muscle power to garner votes is being
exercised with impunity.
Politics today has become a lucra-
tive business. No wonder then, that
from just 53 parties in the first gen-
eral election to the Lok Sabha, today
there are nearly 1,600 parties regis-
tered with EC. if you count unregis-
tered parties, the number goes up to a
humungous 5,000. Some of these reg-
istered parties have never even con-
tested one election. But, strangely, all
of them maintain an office and receive
donations from small businesses,
ranging from `10,000 to `10 crore.
Corporate donation is one of the
main sources of income for a politi-
cal party. in the last three finan-
cial years, indian companies have,
according to adrindia.org, report-
edly donated crore of rupees to six
major political parties, including the
Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)
and CPi-M. the BJP got the biggest
chunk, `520.1 crore, followed by the
BSP (`231.2 crore), the Congress
(`168 crore) and the CPi-M (`95.6
crore). Among regional parties, the
Samajwadi Party is way ahead of oth-
ers with `61.98 crore.
there is a lot of confusion in their
books of account as to who donat-
ed, how much or why. this, despite
stringent monitoring of corporate
donations by EC. Earlier, corporate
donations were one of the best kept
secrets—everyone knew that the
money was given, but no one talked
about it. today, there is a major dif-oday, there is a major dif-oday, there is a major dif
ference. Many companies admit to
giving funds to political parties and
have started mentioning it in their
annual reports. According to figures,
the average amount spent per constit-
uency works out to be `1.29 crore—
almost 4 times more than the EC’s
prescribed limit. this includes con-
tributions by volunteers. So, if the EC
limit is to be enforced strictly, almost
half the MPs will be disqualified and
will have to vacate their seats.
Clearly, a political party is one of
the best places to develop contacts
and network with senior government
officials, earn easy money, evade taxes
and manipulate court cases. this is
the reason why many non-serious,
fringe parties, or so called ‘letterhead
parties’ are getting enrolled with the
EC. Many of these parties do not have
a chance of ever winning a seat, but
they still maintain an office, staff and
bank accounts. they allegedly operate
as money laundering dens to convert
black money into white.
Another glaring example of what
happens behind the veil in the murky
business of politics is to be seen in
UttarPradesh,wherehundredsof‘fair
weather’ parties spring up just before
an election. their leaders bask in the
According to figures, the average amount spent per
constituency works out to be `1.29 crore—almost 4 times
more than the EC’s prescribed limit. This includes
contributions by volunteers. So, if the EC limit is to be
enforced strictly, almost half the MPs will be disqualified
and will have to vacate their seats

media attention, giving sound bytes,
and then go into hibernation till the
results are out. the logic behind the
creation of such parties is simple—
though small in size, such parties pose
a big headache forestablished players.
On top of it, there is always a chance
of forming an alliance to play a big
role in the post-poll political negotia-
tions with the national parties. Some
parties even allow themselves to be
used as tools by the bigger parties to
eat into the rivals’ vote bank.
J
AgO Party, a small nondescript
party in Secunderabad, is among
the wealthiest political parties in
Andhra Pradesh. According to the
JAndhra Pradesh. According to the
J
donation receipts submitted by it to
the Election Commission, the party
received about `1 crore, way ahead
of the YSR Congress (`77 lakh), the
tRS (`90 lakh) and the tDP (`18
lakh). Jago Party, and dozens of other
such political parties, have no more
than a handful of members and may
never contest elections. however,
Many political parties are not even registered and
nobody knows why and when were they formed. Many
times, such parties close shop or merge with others to
form a new party. Many such smaller parties provide an
asylum to people with criminal backgrounds, or those
ousted from other parties

COVER STORY
power gamesgames
nothing stops them from enjoying
the tax exemptions. Under Section
29A of the Representation of the
People Act, 1951, donations made to
political parties are fully deductible
under Section 80ggC of the income
tax Act. Political parties also do not
have to pay income tax on the funds
received. this is the loophole that
such parties try to exploit. Most par-
ties, big or small, do not maintain
proper books of records and details
of donors below `20,000. Even big
donations are split up and shown as
below the `20,000 limit. the reason:
Section 29C says that political par-
ties only have to submit a statement
of donations above `20,000. the Law
Ministry prescribed Form 24A for
such reports and income-tax law was
amended accordingly, adding Section
13A, exempting these donations 100
per cent from income tax. Further,
the RP Act was amended in 2003 and
Section 29B was inserted, permitting
political contributions voluntarily
offered to it by any person or compa-
ny other than a government company.
L
A
L
A
L
tAtA ER,aRti,aRti,aR filedbyADRrevealed
that donations account for only 20
Lthat donations account for only 20
Lpercentofthetotalincomereport-
ed by political parties. the source of 80
per cent remains unknown. Many par-
ties often collect amounts of less than
`20,000 in cash through ‘sale of cou-
pons’ for which no record is mandated
to be kept. Many political parties are
not even registered and nobody knows
why and when were they formed.
Many times, such parties close shop or
Under Section 29A of the Representation of the People
Act, 1951, donations made to political parties are
fully deductible under Section 80GGC of the Income
Tax Act. Political parties also do not have to pay income
tax on the funds received

merge with others to form a new party.
Many such smaller parties provide an
asylum to people with criminal back-
grounds or those ousted from other
parties. Many notorious criminals,
like Brajesh Singh, Atiq Ahmad and
Amarmani Tripathi, have used Kaumi
Ekta Manch, Rashtriya Parivartan Dal,
Mahaan Dal, Bhartiya Samaj Party
and Pragatisheel Manav Party to enjoy
the fruits of power in Uttar Pradesh. In
the light of this, it is rather surprising
that the Election Commission tried to
sweep the dust under the carpet by
stating: “It is up to the major parties
not to field criminals as candidates.”
A
peculiar situation developed
A
peculiar situation developed
Ain Ashok Shankar Rao Chavan
Ain Ashok Shankar Rao Chavan
Av/s Madavrao Kinhalkar andAv/s Madavrao Kinhalkar andAothers, special leave petition (C) No.
29,882 of 2011, when the EC tried to
act against Ashok Chavan, the Chief
Minister of Maharashtra, for indulg-
ing in ‘paid news’ during the 2009
elections. This was not reflected in
his statement of election expenses
submitted to the EC. The EC wanted
to disqualify Chavan as he had filed
an incorrect statement of expenses
and was liable to be hauled up under
law. Surprisingly, a Deputy Secretary
to the Government of India, Ministry
of Law and Justice, submitted a note,
which read as follows: “That I am
advised to say that a plain reading of
Section 10A of Representation of the
People Act, 1951 (RP Act) and Rule 89
of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961,
indicates that the power of the EC to
disqualify a person arises only in the
event of failure to lodge an account
of election expenses and not for any
other reasons, including the correct-
ness or otherwise of such accounts.”
The Law Ministry’s interpretation
was that as long as the candidate filed
A RTI filed by ADR revealed that donations account for
only 20 per cent of the total income reported by political
parties. The source of 80 per cent remains unknown.
Many parties often raise income less than `20,000 in
cash through ‘sale of coupons’ for which no record is
mandated to be kept

COVER STORY
power gamesgames
a statement of expenses, there was
nothing wrong—the EC couldn’t delve
into checking those expenses. this,
in other words, meant that even if a
candidate filed a statement saying he
spent one rupee, the EC has to accept
his word.
the matter is pending in court since
then. the result is that Ashok Chavan,
in other six months, would complete
his full term as an MLA despite the
fact that Section 86(7) of the RP Act
specifically mentions: “Every election
petition shall be tried as expeditious-
ly as possible and endeavour shall be
made to conclude the trial within six
months from the date on which the
election petition is presented to the
high Court for trial.”
M
ANY see the first-past-the-ANY see the first-past-the-ANY
post system of the indian
democracy as problem in
itself. According to them, this system
is responsible for taking independent
candidates out of the equation over
the years. the vote share of inde-
pendents has gone down from 19.3
per cent in 1957 to 4.3 per cent in
2004—a fall of 15 per cent. As against
42 elected independent candidates in
1957, there were just two in 2004. As
compared to 60 per cent in 1957, 99.7
per cent independent candidates lost
their deposits in 1996. that means,
only 0.3 per cent of the independent
candidates obtained more that 1/6th
of the votes polled in their respective
constituencies. in other words, an
independent candidate has virtually
no chance of winning an election in
india–except if he or she is a crore-
pati or supported by a crorepati party.
how much money has come into
the political system can be gauged by
the growth in net worth of some poli-
ticians. According to sources in CBi,
Mayawati’s assets increased from `1
crore to `50 crore in just four years.
Between 1998 and 2003, she and her
close relatives came to own 96 plots,
houses and orchards. According to an
affidavit filed before Mayawati’s nomi-
nation to the Rajya Sabha, her estimat-
ed wealth today is over `111.64 crore.
in his book, the Black Economy
of India, Arun Kumar reveals how
one of the first things that politicians
do after winning elections is to tell a
lie. the book narrates an interesting
anecdote as to how a politician report-
edly told the former Chief Election
Commissioner, tN Seshan, that he
spent `55 lakh on election expenses,
while declaring an election expense of
just `483. Another tDP MP confided
to him about having spent `8.5 crore
in his election campaign. Similarly,
a man bluntly told CEC SY Quraishi
that he gave away `35 lakh in cash to
voters in Mumbai in a single night.
Still his party lost. Clearly, whatever
the politicians may think, the vot-
ers are not fools and they do realise
what’s happening. g
While BSP supremo Mayawati’s (top) assets increased 50 times in four years, former
Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan (above) got a reprieve in the paid news case

COVER STORY
elections mg devasahayammg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
Much needs to be done to transform the electoral
integrity campaign, as practised in Tamil Nadu
Assembly elections in 2011, into a full-fledged
movement to make India corruption-free. This is a
task cut out for civil society.
Electoral Integrity:
Keytocorruption-freeIndia
T
he anti-corruption rhetoric
has been the flavour of the last
several seasons with a political
party morphing out of it and briefly
capturing power in Delhi in the winter
of 2013. The party chief-cum-ex-Chief
Minister even came out with the
‘rogue’s gallery’ of the most-corrupt
politicians, who actually run India’s
democracy-turned-kleptocracy.
Incidentally, all of them have come
to occupy positions of power and
influence through the electoral
process.
The ‘Kejriwal List’ had several ‘big
fish’init.Subsequently,hewentahead
and filed an FIR against a much big-
ger corporate shark. The question is:
are these named-and-shamed high-
level kleptocrats on the run, now that
the Lokpal Act has been enacted? Far
from it. Because, the legislation that
has come out of the ‘India Against
Corruption’ (IAC) movement, with
lots of theatrics in full media glare, is
more of a farce. It stands testimony
to India’s immense propensity for
jugaad and dramatises things that
achieve nothing.
Lokpal, as contemplated now, is
unwieldy and top-heavy and its focus
has been heavily diluted by includ-
ing millions of Class III and Class
IV government employees within its
ambit though action on their corrup-
tion would be the responsibility of
the Central Vigilance Commissioner
(CVC). Ironically, the Kejriwal-driven
Delhi Jan Lokpal Bill, that failed
to materialise, is also in the same
electionselections mg devasahayammg devasahayam
PIB

23gfiles inside the government
vol. 7, issue 12 | March 2014www.indianbuzz.com
league—covering all public servants
from the Chief Minister to Group D
employees, making it as unfocused
as the Central Act. This serious aber-
ration would protect the corrupt ‘big
fish’ and end up chasing petty bribe-
takers. In the event, Lokpal would be
damp squib while providing hundreds
of well-paid sinecures and draining
out huge public funds.
even if Lokpal becomes func-
tional, it will only be a top-end, not
an end-to-end solution. India’s gov-
ernance structure has two kinds of
leadership—political and adminis-
trative. While the latter, comprising
of the All India Services and State
Civil Services, have defined rules and
norms for entry, the former, compris-
ing politicians, have none. Anyone
with money and muscle power can
get a ticket and become an MLA or
MP and Minister by openly bribing
and inducing voters by adopting dubi-
ous means. These ‘leaders’ then loot
to their heart’s content and all that
citizens can do is to petition the high-
and-mighty Ombudsman. Since most
of Lokpal would comprise of former
judges, the procedure is bound to be
cumbersome and the wait would be
long and endless.
The best way is to stop these cor-
rupt bandicoots is at the threshold.
The bottom-end solution would pre-
vent corrupt and criminal elements
from contesting elections, and if they
manage to get a ticket and enter the
fray, defeat them. This is possible only
if the electoral contest takes place on a
level-playing field and voting is done
with ethics, and not cash, as the prin-
cipal consideration.
It is here that electoral integ-
rity comes in. Integrity is described
as “uncompromising adherence to
moral and ethical principles; sound-
ness of moral character; honesty”. If
there is one area where this is badly
absent in India, it is in the electoral
process through which political lead-
ers are elected to govern the coun-
try. It is true that the country’s track
record of timely elections has drawn
universal admiration, particularly
because in most other post-colonial
countries, elections have been a major
casualty. This has given considerable
prestige to the election Commission
of India (eC) and legitimacy to India’s
democratic polity and its politicians,
who are the beneficiaries.
But the moot point is what kind of
‘leaders’ get elected? Many of them do
nothavebasicleadershipqualitiesand
are mere henchmen or sycophants of
dynastic/party chieftains. Nearly a
third of elected representatives face
serious criminal charges such as
murder, rape, abduction and offences
relating to moral turpitude. Almost
all of them have amassed wealth
much beyond their known sources
of income. They have no concern
for honest governance or ecological
sustainability.
Absence of ethics in voting and a
skewed electoral playing field—tilting
it heavily in the favour of the criminal
and the corrupt—has prevented
honest, committed and competent
youth from entering the electoral
contest. hence, there is an acute
leadership crisis which is resulting
in the diminishing of democracy and
decay of democratic governance. This
is India’s biggest challenge.
T
heRe are three ways in which
integrity could be brought into
the electoral process:
Political Reforms: This would
involve major efforts to bring inner-
party democracy, transparent func-
tioning and merit-based selection of
candidates, free of criminal and cor-
ruption taint. This is in the hands
of political parties, who do not even
want to be recognised as ‘public
authorities’. No go as of now!
Electoral Reforms: As the
government is controlled by these
very political parties, it is averse
Even if Lokpal becomes functional, it will not be a complete solution
FOTOS4INDIA

COVER STORY
elections mg devasahayammg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
to reforms. Proposals from eC
are pending for several years. No
go again!
Electoral Integrity Initiative:
This requires the electorate to be in
action to make eC stringently enforce
its constitutional mandates, existing
laws and judicial pronouncements
to effectively combat corruption and
criminalisation in the electoral pro-
cess. This is in the hands of civil soci-
ety, of course with the co-operation of
eC. This is the best option.
This option was put into practice
by the Forum for electoral Integrity
(FeI), in the form of an intense
campaign during the 14th
Tamil Nadu
Legislative Assembly election held in
April 2011. The eC was fully involved
and SY Quraishi, the then Chief
election Commissioner (CeC), led
from the front. As a result, electoral
corruption was put on a leash. So
much so, that the widely held public
comment was: “earlier, the eC just
announced the elections. Only now
they are conducting it.” Civil society,
spearheaded by the FeI, played a key
facilitating role in this.
The backdrop to the campaign
was institutionalisation of electoral
corruption through cash, freebies
and liquor during the bye-election
to Thirumangalam Assembly con-
stituency (January 2009). The eC
then was less effective and there
was no civil society force to counter
this venality. In the event, the
‘Thirumangalam Formula’ of cash-
for-votes evolved and was touted as
the sure-shot way of winning the 2011
State Assembly election.
Open brandishing of this ‘terror of
money-power’ demoralised the voters
with most of them losing hope for fair
elections. Besides, being a frontal
onslaught on democracy, this was an
affront to the dignity and self respect
of voters, who were being treated
as purchasable commodities. This
had to be countered and combated.
Only people’s power, in general, and
youth power in particular, backed
by a proactive eC, could do this. For
this, civil society had to assert itself
and voters had to be educated and
mobilised. The eC had to be sensitised
about the realities on the ground
and persuaded to enforce stringent
electoral discipline with the legal and
plenary powers it already had, instead
of endlessly waiting for long-term
electoral reforms and change of heart
of political parties.
T
huS, the FeI was formed as a
civil society coalition in August
2010. The Forum addressed
and interacted with several thousand
students in their campuses, with full
participation of the management and
staff. These interactions brought out
the appalling disconnect between
the ‘first generation voters’ and
the electoral process. There was a
general perception among college
students that they were not relevant
to democracy and vice-versa.
This, perhaps, was the worst failure
of governance in India and the most
dangerous challenge to the country’s
democracy itself. In response, the
electoral integrity campaign sent
out clear and categorical messages
that election is the foundation of
freedom and democracy and vote
is the most basic of all democratic
rights; those who offer bribes for vote
are making voters a ‘partner in loot
and corruption’; once a voter sells
the vote, he/she cannot demand any
other right or services like safety,
shelter, water, sanitation, healthcare,
education, etc.; and, selling one's
vote is like selling one’s honour, self-
respect and dignity and for the youth,
it is bartering their very future. These
forceful messages had their impact.
Commencing from the day of
announcement of elections—March 1,
2011—the eC swung into action with
the police and income tax observers
searching and seizing millions of
rupees (the final total was Rs 620
million) being moved for bribing the
voters. Senior civil and police officials,
who were suspected to be aiding and
abetting the movement of cash were
summarily transferred. Through a
well-knit communication network
using SMS, the Forum facilitated
the steps taken by the eC team. The
impact and enormity of these seizures
was seen from the CeC’s statement
later: “For every million rupees
seized, the eC had possibly prevented
50 to 60 million rupees being given
as bribes!”
Informationonthesedevelopments
spread across the State and voters
gradually regained confidence in the
fairness of the poll. This resulted in
a much higher voter turnout—78.12
per cent compared to 70.70 per cent
in 2006. The ‘additional’ 8 per cent
voters, comprising of youth, urban
middle class and senior citizens,
had been influenced by the Forum’s
campaign and voted in anger. The
result was that the money/muscle
The bottom-end solution
would prevent corrupt and
criminal elements from
contesting elections, and if
they manage to get ticket
and enter the fray, defeat
them. This is possible only
if the electoral contest
takes place on a level-
playing field and the voting
is done with ethics, and not
cash, as the principal
consideration

25gfiles inside the government
vol. 7, issue 12 | March 2014www.indianbuzz.com
power did not win the election.
The CeC confirmed this with a text
message sent to the FeI convener:
“Thanks a lot for leading the civil
society campaign against corrup-
tion. I consider our victory against
money in Tamil Nadu more impor-
tant than success in West Bengal.”
Gopalakrishna Gandhi, the former
Governor of West Bengal, who is set-
tled in Chennai, endorsed this in an
email: “The emphatic result in TN is
a mercy. Anything else would have
been flaunted as the public's uncon-
cern with corruption... What a won-
derful performance by the election
Commission! Congratulations to you
for catalysing so much by way of free
and fair polls.”
Newton’s Third Law—‘every action
has an equal and opposite reaction’—
did work with the eC and people
jointly pushing back corruption and
money power in elections, thereby
restoring the integrity and dignity of
election and democracy. One strong
message came out of this Tamil Nadu
experience—in conducting ‘free-and-
fair’ polls, if the eC and civil society
come together, wonders can be
achieved.
Based on this faith, the eC has
now evolved a formal partnership
with civil society through the ‘Frame-
work of engagement’. The goal of
the eCI-CSO Partnership is “to have
every eligible citizen on the electoral
roll and have every enrolled voter to
vote voluntarily, thus ensuring widest
electoral participation and inclusive
elections through information, edu-
cation, motivation and facilitation to
promote informed, ethical voting.”
In the run-up to the forthcoming
Parliamentary elections, the elector-
ate has some new tools to bring about
integrity in the elections and choice
of candidates. These include the use
of NOTA option to dissuade politi-
cal parties from fielding criminal and
corrupt candidates. They can go for
large-scale usage of NOTA as ‘Right
to Refuse’ and take it further as an ef-to Refuse’ and take it further as an ef-to Refuse’ and take it further as an ef
fective instrument of ‘Right to Reject’,
moving towards cancellation and
fresh election with fresh candidates
if NOTA scores the highest votes in a
constituency.
T
he CIC order, bringing politi-
cal parties under the RTI Act,
should also be aggressively used
for seeking information from political
parties on funding as well as criteria
adopted for selecting candidates to
contest elections. Also taking advan-
tage of the Supreme Court’s observa-
tion—“Freebies shake the root of free
and fair elections to a large degree” —
the electorate should mobilise against
this corrupt indulgence. Voters must
also realise that taking bribes to vote
is a criminal offence punishable with
one year imprisonment.
Muchneedstobedonetotransform
the electoral integrity campaign into a
full-fledged movement to make India
corruption-free. This is a task cut
out for civil society. This is what IAC
shouldhavedoneinsteadoffracturing
intoapoliticalparty,formingminority
government in Delhi and making
a mockery of governance. Indeed
unfortunate! g
The article is an adapted version of
the paper presented by the author
at the ‘Conference on Technology,
Accountability and Democracy in South
Asia and Beyond’, jointly organised by
Stanford University and University of
Mumbai on January 17-18, 2014
The writer is a former Army and IAS
officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com
The electoral integrity
campaign in Tamil Nadu
sent out clear and
categorical messages that
the vote is the most basic
of all democratic rights;
those who offer bribes for
vote are making voters a
‘partner in loot and
corruption’
Large motorcades have become part and parcel of Indian election scene today

COVER STORY / TalkTimE
sy quraishi former chief election commissionerformer chief election commissioner
‘Bar criminals from
contesting elections’
If TN Seshan is credited with bring-
ing the Election Commission (EC)
centre-stage, his successors, includ-
ing SY Quraishi, must be thanked
for bringing in reforms to make the
EC proactive, people-friendly and
instilling its officers with a sense of
confidence. Like Seshan, Quraishi
too has often been in the eye of a
storm for taking on those in power.
In this exclusive interview with
Kum Kum Chaddha, Quraishi
talks about the institution and what
needs to keep it going. Excerpts:
gfiles: What are the issues in
the forthcoming election?
SYQ: Every election is essentially
the same, with a little variation.
Fortunately, muscle power is history;
we now have security, advance
planning and vulnerability-mapping
of booths. We have to ensure that the
people vote fearlessly.
gfiles: A peaceful election is not
synonymous with a fair one...
SYQ: Quite right. There could
be peace because people have
been intimidated. So, we have
ensured that people come out and
vote fearlessly. Voter apathy in urban
areas has been a matter of concern.
Now, through communication and
a voter education division, we have
persuaded people to come out to
vote as a matter of right and duty.
Voter slips was an innovation that
worked very well. Every government
acknowledges that move as being
a game-changer. It was first tested
in Bihar in 2010 and the turnout
was very high. We replicated this in
other States and, in some cases, the
turnout was over 80 per cent.
gfiles: I will not take away the
credit due to you, but you would
agree that a high turnout is, at
least in the present context, an
indicator of people’s anger.
SYQ: Incumbency and anti-incum-
bency is an ongoing process. When
we reached out to people, particu-
larly the young, many did not even
know that 18 years was the eligible
age to vote. We told them to vote to
prevent dishonest people from com-
ing to power. A low turnout suits
criminals. People’s anger is a con-
tributory factor, not a decisive one.
gfiles: A great deal has been
achieved. Yet there are gaps
which remain to be plugged.
SYQ: Yes, there are concerns. Those
persons against whom there are
serious criminal cases, should be
debarred from contesting elections.
A debate is on whether this
infringes on their fundamental
rights, but a counter to it is that there
are a large number of undertrials in
jails who too cannot vote. So, if you
can take away their voting rights,
what is the big deal in denying those
the right to contest against whom
cases are pending? We have suggest-
ed safeguards, which include debar-
ring those who have committed hei-
nous crimes, those against whom an
FIR is registered at least six months
before elections and chargesheets
have been framed by a court of law.
gfiles: So the stumbling block
are the governments...
SYQ: Yes, governments are reluctant
for they have a quota for these guys.
gfiles: What about use of black
money in elections?
SYQ: We have taken stern steps
in this regard. The money mafia
attempts to capture power and if a
candidate takes a few crores, he has
to return it in kind. So, the under-
lying necessity is to make money.
Both, the politicians and the bureau-
crats, get involved in this. Once the
two instruments of governance come
together, there is no stopping them.
gfiles: What role does foreign
funding play?
SYQ: In Tamil Nadu, one party,
after spending huge sums publicly,
declared that it knew the winning
formula—the Thirumangalam for-
mula of paying `5,000 per voter.
We were determined to replace it
with the EC formula–to hold fair and
free polls. Several PILs were filed
against us, but they were disposed off
in our favour.
gfiles: The Thirumangalam
formula is now outdated
because the voter is very smart.
He takes the money on offer,
but votes according to his will...
SYQ: You are right. We encountered
this in many places. In Kerala, for

FOTOS4INDIA
instance, we thought petro-dollars
flow in. But people told us that since
voters take money from everyone
and vote according to their own will,
there was no point in wasting money.
gfiles: The model code of
conduct is tokenism because
governments announce welfare
schemes much earlier and,
in that sense, beat the 45-day
deadline...
SYQ: Quite right, but we have a lim-
itation. Before and after the election
we are powerless. We cannot circum-
vent the democratic system. We must
work within a framework. Laws exist
but are not followed, except during
those 45 days.
gfiles: Does that mean that the
EC is more effective than the
government of the day?
SYQ: We work away from political
pressure and political considerations.
The same bureaucracy that is always
under attack, delivers when we are in
charge. They are competent, but they
must be allowed to function. You can
do everything with bayonets except
sit on them. We can, in 45 days, fight a
war, but it’s not a permanent solution.
gfiles: Recently a Chief Minister
announced freebies and the EC
can do little…
SYQ: Freebies can be announced
through an election manifesto, over
which we have no control. Even the
Supreme Court has held that it is not
a corrupt practice. So, how can we
change that?
gfiles: The EC can overcome
this by holding an election a bit
earlier and spring a surprise...
SYQ: In a phased election, 45 days
actually become longer. We tried
advancing the election once and it
was challenged in court on grounds
that the EC is trying to paralyse a
democratic government.
gfiles: Seshan brought the EC
centrestage...
SYQ: Seshan’s contribution to the
EC is singular. He increased its vis-
ibility and enhanced its stature. Hats
off to him. We can disagree with his
language—saying things like “I eat
politicians for breakfast”.
gfiles: So, Seshan cracked the
whip while you brought in
imagination.
SYQ: Our styles were different. I was
soft, but stern.
gfiles: But, he took the fun out of
elections...
SYQ: If that was true, then the
turnout should be low. We are giving
you a people’s festival minus the
noise, nuisance and cacophony.
gfiles: Any advice for the
forthcoming elections...
SYQ: The moral authority of the gov-
ernment has suffered because politi-
cians have developed a bad image.
Public perception is that sab neta
chor hain, which is dangerous for
democracy. We have good leaders. But
the bad elements have to be removed.
My advice to politicians is to remove
the villains. For the people, it is to go
out and vote and things will change. g

FIRST STIRRINGS
ms gill former chief election commissionerformer chief election commissioner
‘EVMs have solved
many problems’
M
y village Aladinpur did noty village Aladinpur did noty
have a school for higher stud-
ies, I had to walk up to Tarn
Taran, a small town close by, for stud-
ies. My mother used to pack paran-
thas and pickles as refreshment for
me. Sometimes I used to run after a
tonga to reach home. The boys also
used to take a dip in the nearby canal.
Those were wonderful days.
I come from a family with military
background—my grandfather, father
and cousins, all served in military. My
father, Pratap Singh Gill, served as a
Colonel in undivided India and later
as Governor of Goa when Morarji
Desai was the Prime Minister of India.
One question I could not ask my
father, which I still regret, is what
inspired him to get me and my broth-
er and sisters admitted in St George
College, Mussoorie. I feel, that
changed my life; for me, it was like a
step to the moon.
When I went to St George College, I
did not know a word in English. My
classmate–I still remember his name,
In those times, there were few
career opportunities. For IAS, only
three chances were permitted between
the age of 21 to 24. Today, the age limit
has gone up to 35 years and I don’t
understand how a person of that age
can be moulded. I feel the UPSC has
messed up the selection process. What
is an MBBS doing in IAS? He has stud-
ied medicine, he should go and treat
the people; but, he is running admin-
istration. They have introduced all
language papers. This has nothing to
do with administration. The IAS exam
should focus more on political science,
history, geography and economics.
Once I was visiting Kerala, I met an
officer who had passed the IAS exam
with a language paper. He made no
sense while talking to us. Clearly,
UPSC has to be cleaned up. UPSC
interviews too have become a joke.
I, with BS Ojha, filled up the form
for IAS while appearing for MA final
examination. Patiala was the exami-
nation centre. It was tough for us—we
had to rush to Patiala and then come
Mervyn Ledlie–used to say, “you are a
monkey”. But, I was sharp enough
and within a year I learnt the language
to be a topper in the school. After
school, I appeared for Defence
Services exam and cleared it. The day
I was to board the train to join the
Defence College in Dehradun, I
changed my mind. I decided to go for
higher studies. Next day, I went to
Ludhiana and took admission in BA,
English literature, in which I later did
my masters. With me in college were
people like BS Ojha, former Chief
Secretary of Haryana, and NN Vohra,
Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
The UPSC has introduced
all language papers in
IAS exam. This has nothing
to do with administration.
The IAS exam should
focus more on political
science, history, geography
and economics

Himalayan Mountaineering Institute.
I trained with Norgay and climbed up
to 20,000 feet.
Our family is a part of Majja peo-
ple; struggle is in our blood. I never
hankered for a plum posting–for
that, you need a mentor in Delhi. I
simply did my job, wherever I was
posted. When I was the Chief Election
Commissioner, our team drafted the
election manual. We introduced the
Electronic Voting Machine; half the
problems have been solved by tech-
nology. The man passes on, but the
institution remains vibrant, if you
have taken care of it well. Election
is the celebration of democracy. Its
spirit should be always kept alive.
I
have three daughters, Natasha,
Gauri and Kaveri. My duty was to
educate them well. All are doing
quite well in their respective fields.
Kaveri is a world renowned photogra-
pher. I am a firm votary for girls’ edu-
cation. As a member of Rajya Sabha,
not only did I sanction lot of money
for girl schools in Punjab from my
quota, I also visited them wherever
and whenever I was invited by them.
I have written many books–
Himalayan Wonderland: Travels
in Lahaul-Spiti, An Indian Success
Story—Agricuture and Cooperatives
and The Electoral System in India.
These are some of my books which
give an insight about my works and
thought process. I have worked with
four Prime Ministers–Rajiv Gandhi,
VP Singh, Narasimha Rao, IK Gujral
and Atal Bihari Vajpayee—and I
am an MP under the leadership of
Manmohan Singh. I will not comment
who is the finest in my eyes, but what I
can say is that anybody who becomes
the Prime Minister of India cannot be
a small man in totality. Rajiv Gandhi
had a larger vision for India. g
(as told to Anil Tyagi)
photos: Rajeev tyagi
back to Ludhiana for MA examina-
tion. I never expected I will clear the
IAS in one go–I got the 11th rank and
Ojha got Railways, though he later
made it to the mains.
I joined IAS on July 1, 1958, and
was allotted the Punjab cadre. After
training, I joined the Punjab govern-
ment on April 1, 1960, as Assistant
Collector. Pratap Singh Kairon was
the Chief Minister then. He was the
greatest leader of Punjab and deserves
a book. He is my guru; I emulated him
in my career. He was the one who
brought green revolution to Punjab. I
am emotionally attached to the State.
I am sad that Punjab’s administra-
tion is ineffective today and the use of
liquor is highly prevalent in the State.
It is a great tragedy!
I was 22 years old when I decided
to go for a posting in Lahaul-Spiti–
the reason was that I didn’t like sit-
ting in office and doing cushy jobs. I
have walked with tribal people and
worked with them. I have served as
DC Ambala and Mahendergarh. The
DC today is reduced to being a public
relations agent of the government.
When we were trainees, we went on
Bharat darshan. I then met Tenzing
Norgay, the famous mountaineer.
Mountaineering fascinated me.
When I was posted in Mahendergarh
district, I requested the government
to allow me to go for training at the

POLIT
SON R
CONG
BH
BH
Is
IN7Years
Young

GOVERNANCE
FERTILISERS: wRONG
mEdICINE p26
POLITICS
SON RISE IN
CONGRESS p34
INTERVIEw
AIR CHIEF
NAK BROwNE
p22
February 2013 Rs 200
vol. 6, issue 11
gfilesindia.com
5yearsyearsyearsyearsyears
5years
POLITICS
BJP:OVER
TO
RAJNATH
p38
BHAI
BHAI?
Israel
INDIa
JAPAN
AbePlomAcy
Jeff kiNgstoN
p76
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p68
February 10, 2014 `200
vol. 7, issue 11
gfilesindia.com
PetitioN iN Public iNteRest submitteD to tHe HoN’ble suPReme
couRt by gfiles RegARDiNg tHe gReAt lAND RobbeRy iN HARyANA.
How HooDA AloNg witH His cRoNies PluNDeReD HARyANA iN His
9 yeARs of Rule. p10
Kunal Bhadoo
Hooda’s son-in-law
Venod Sharma
Congress MLA, Ambala
Arvind Walia
Owner, Ramprastha
Anil Bhalla
Owner, Vatika Builders
Sameer Gehlaut
Owner, Indiabulls
Kabul Chawla
Owner, BPTP
KP Singh
Owner, DLF
De facto
ChiefMinisters?
Haryana’s
Thanks

GOVERNANCE
scam jignesh shahjignesh shah
Another trade
to dupe?
Jignesh Shah got a head start when the Government of India arbitrarily lifted
the 33 year ban on commodity futures—against expert advice in 2003. He then
managed to use the opportunity to decimate everyone in his path to control
most of India’s assets: equities, stock exchanges, agricultural commodities,
derivatives, power, gold, silver and currency. This was until the bubble burst.
Now, of course, half his designations are useless. He is an alien in most of the
companies he started. Neeraj Mahajan analyses the fall of the titan.
T
HERE was a time when Jignesh
Shah was acclaimed as a pio-
neer in developing the com-
modities and futures industry in the
Indian subcontinent. He was the
Founder Chairman and Group CEO
of the Financial Technologies Group,
Chairman of Bahrain Financial
ExchangeLimited(averagedailyturn-
over $175 million), Vice-Chairman
of Multi Commodity Exchange of
India Limited (MCX), Vice-Chairman
GBOT, Mauritius (average daily turn-
over $25million), Vice-Chairman IBS
Forex Limited, Vice-Chairman Dubai
Gold and Commodities Exchange
(average daily turnover $2.2 bil-
lion), Non-Executive Director Indian
Energy Exchange Limited, Vice-
Chairman Singapore Mercantile
Exchange Pte Ltd (average daily
turnover $81 million), Vice-Chairman
National Spot Exchange Ltd, Vice-
Chairman and Group CEO MCX
Stock Exchange Ltd and Director,
National Bulk Handling Corporation
Ltd, besides being on the board
of several companies, includ-
ing Bourse Africa Limited, a pan-
African stock exchange yet to
start trading.
Today, he is nowhere. Shah and his
two lieutenants—Joseph Massey and
Shreekant Javalgekar—have been
declared unfit and improper, mean-
ing they cannot be on the board, man-
agement or hold more than 2 per cent
stake in any recognised commod-
ity exchange, individually or through
other entities.
The 44-year-old poster boy of
India’s financial markets is today
but a financial wreck. He is on the
verge of losing control over all that
he built—the world’s largest networks
of 10 exchanges, including Indian
Energy Exchange Ltd (IEX), India’s
first power exchange. The number
of promoter nominees on the MCX
board is down to one and institutional
shareholders have all but taken over
the MCX-SX board. The post-NSEL
crisishasforcedhimoutoftheboardof
MCX-SX, an exchange he set up after
hectic lobbying in the government
and a big fight with regulators and
rivals. The jinxed NSEL exchange—a
100 per cent FT venture—is expected
to down its shutters anytime now,
leaving the poor investors, who
pumped in their lifetime savings,
in a lurch. But does anyone in the
government care? All they reportedly
want is that Shah should be let off
without much damage.
According to the latest information
available with gfiles, Shah is invest-
ing his money—Rs 200 crore out of
the `12,515 crore, FT (`4,815 crore)
and MCX (`7,700 crore)—in some
diamond mines and real estate pro-
jects. Technically, he can afford to
take another risk because it’s not his
money that he is playing with.
But the moot question is, where
does this place the 13,000-odd
investors who trusted him with their
entire savings? Why isn’t anyone
trying to prevent the flight of money?
TRUST DEFICIT
There is a saying--a man is known
by the company he keeps. When it
comes to that, Shah has a rather dubi-
ous circle of friends. Not many people
know that National Spot Exchange
(NSEL) was not the only fiasco asso-

investigators also found evidence
about the prevalence of the age-old
practice of buying at one exchange
and selling at another, to cash in on
the price differential between the two
exchanges by the foreign institutional
investors (FIIs).
L
IkEWISE, the name of DLF
Commercial Developers, the
Delhi-based group, was found to
be involved in the infamous Bhoruka
Financial Services scam and many
unlawful transactions on the Magadh
Stock Exchange (MSE). The Bhoruka
case came into limelight when its
stock last traded on the Bangalore
Stock Exchange for `5, about 17 years
ago. It was admitted in the MSE
at `4,490 per share by Bhoruka’s
promoters and acquired by DLF.
The MSE at Patna was among
ciated with Shah. His name is today
linked to a string of failed commod-
ity exchange ventures that collapsed
overnight, landing thousands of
investors in a financial lurch. His
flagship company, La-fin Financial
Services, itself means ‘the end’.
Intermsoffailedbusinessventures,
the only person who comes close to
challenging him is his one-time lieu-
tenant Anjani Sinha, who presided
over the shutdown of the Magadh,
Ahmedabad and Safal exchanges
before being picked up by Shah to
head NSEL. There were allegations
of fraudulent trading activities dur-
ing Sinha’s tenure at all the bourses,
resulting in the suspension of the
board of one of them by the Securities
and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
Sinha, a chartered accountant and
law graduate, was the Chief General
Manager and Chief Executive of
Magadh Stock Exchange (MSE) for
nine years before it closed down due
to allegations of irregularities in deal-
ings of shares. A few brokers initi-
ated legal proceedings against him
and the exchange in Calcutta High
Court. SEBI superseded the board of
the exchange following complaints of
malpractice, financial mismanage-
ment and administrative breakdown.
Butnotmuchcameoutandthevictims
were not even compensated. Many
exchange brokers were found to be
indulging in irregularities in issuing
contract notes, non-maintenance of
books of accounts, not reporting off-
market transactions, not maintain-
ing separate client accounts, delaying
payment to clients, non-payment of
turnover fees and non-fulfillment of
capital adequacy requirement. SEBI

GOVERNANCE
scam jignesh shahjignesh shah
the 21 regional stock exchanges in
India registered as limited company,
under Section 25 of the Companies
Act, 1956. It was the only regional
stock exchange in India to trade on
the National Stock Exchange (NSE),
Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE),
Calcutta Stock Exchange (CSE) and
Interconnected Stock Exchange
(ISE). It had got clearance of CSE to
do vyaj-badla and get finance in lieu
of securities. MSE had also signed a
MoU with the CSE to provide CSE’s
online trading facility to its brokers
in Patna. The SEBI refused to renew
the recognition of MSE when it found
that the exchange has failed to estab-
lish a settlement guarantee fund
(SGF). Besides the failure to create an
investor protection fund, some of the
other grounds for the refusal included
failure to appoint an executive direc-
tor at the exchange, inadequate infra-
structure, non-recovery of dues from
members and listed companies.
A
few years later, Sinha was
A
few years later, Sinha was
Aagain in the news for being
involved in a share-inducedAinvolved in a share-inducedApayment crisis as the Chief Executive
of the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange
(ASE), the second oldest exchange
in Western India recognised by the
Securities Contract (Regulations) Act,
1956. ASE, the third-largest exchange
in Gujarat, did not meet SEBI’s pre-
conditions, like $16.12 million net
worth, $161 million trading turnover
and 5 per cent cap on sharehold-
ing. Separate investigations by SEBI
found its members to be involved
in irregularities in issue of contract
notes; dealing with unregistered sub-
brokers; not maintaining proper cli-
ent database and order books; evad-
ing carry forward margins; indulging
in off-market transactions and cross-
deals; delaying delivery of securi-
ties to the beneficiaries account (in
one case, the written authority by
one client to keep the shares in pool
account was found to be unsigned);
non-segregation of clients’ account;
and, depositing clients’ funds into the
general account (in many instances,
brokers were deducting their own
office and petrol expenses from client
accounts).
SEBI investigations also revealed
the following irregularities: No pre-
printed serial numbers on contract
notesandnoclientacknowledgement;
improper maintenance of client reg-
istration and agreement forms; pay-
ment of office expenses from client’s
account; delay in security pay-out
from the pool account on many occa-
sions; dealings with unregistered sub-
brokers; and, non-payment of turno-
ver fees to SEBI. Many brokers at ASE
were opposed to the move to start
trading in commodities because they
were asked to pay `71,000, including
`11,000 membership fee for the com-
modities exchange, `50,000 security
deposit and `10,000 for trade guar-
antee fund. The brokers were angry
because the exchange had reportedly
levied these charges without any dis-
cussions with them. Finally, in March
2003, SEBI stepped in and super-
seded the ASE Board, led by Sinha,
for failing to curb illegal vyaj-badla
and carry-forward transactions by the
brokers inside the exchange premises.
In a significant development, SEBI
derecognised the ASE, despite it
being one of the eight stock exchang-
es in the country that enjoyed per-
manent recognition like Bombay
Stock Exchange, Bangalore Stock
Exchange, Calcutta Stock Exchange,
Delhi Stock Exchange Association,
Hyderabad Stock Exchange, Madhya
Pradesh Stock Exchange and
Madras Stock Exchange. When Pune
Stock Exchange, Coimbatore Stock
Exchange, Cochin Stock Exchange,
Interconnected Stock Exchange and
Magadh Stock Exchange faced simi-
lar action, Sinha should have seen the
writing on the wall–but he didn’t.
This even led Prakash Mani
Tripathi, the chairman of the Joint
Parliamentary Committee on Stock
Market Scam, to comment in its
report in the thirteenth Lok Sabha:
“Looking at the future, illegal financ-
ing in various forms appear to be
resurfacing in stock exchanges like
Ahmedabad. Synchronised deals and
gathering of brokers, at a fixed time
on a particular day in a week, in trad-
ing hall of the exchange/corridors of
the exchange to fix badla charges is
common knowledge. There is need for
SEBI to take immediate action.” This,
seemingly, was reason enough for
some regulatory agency to put a stop
to people with dubious track records
from taking over one exchange man-
agement after another, but this glar-
ing necessity was overlooked.
Meanwhile, one of Sinha’s con-
temporary and would-be colleague,
Joseph Massey, the Executive
Director of Vadodara Stock Exchange
Limited, left it on the verge of closure
like the ASE and Saurashtra kutchkutchk
Stock Exchange.
It is intriguing how both these
‘exchange destroyers’ were allowed to
join Shah without any clearance from
the FMC, SEBI or RBI, that too within
According to the latest
information available with
gfiles, Shah is investing
his money—`200 crore out
of the `12,515 crore, FT
(`4,815 crore) and MCX
(`7,700 crore)—in some
diamond mines and real
estate projects

a few months of the ASE fiasco. Sinha
was picked up by Shah as the CEO
of MCX and later shifted as MD and
CEO of NSEL and Director of MCX,
while Massey was offered the post of
MD, MCX-SX. Massey, incidentally,
was one of the highest-paid employ-
ees, drawing $0.29 million from the
FTIL and MCX group till he was axed.
C
URIOUSLy,URIOUSLy,URIOUSL the first venture
that Shah, Massey and Shah put
together was the Safal National
Exchange of India (SNX)—a joint ven-
ture between FTIL-MCX and National
Dairy Development Board. Launched
amidst much fanfare, it was India’s
first electronic spot exchange and
online platform for trading fruit and
vegetables. With the vision of ‘One
India One Market’ possible because
of internet reach and software-ena-
bled trading, it offered contracts in
mango, onion, potato, tomato, grape
and bananas in December 2007.
On the face of it, the exchange
offered an opportunity to small farm-
ers to access national markets and
negotiate better price for their pro-
duce in a transparent manner, with
the involvementofasfewintermediar-
ies as possible. SNX’s greatest attrac-
tion was it being an electronic spot
market, offering quality, transparency
and payment and delivery guaran-
tee for the benefit of large number of
sellers and buyers across the country.
The seven board members of SNX
included Shah, Massey, Amrita Patel,
Deepak Tikku, V Hariharan, Nisar
Ahmed Shaikh and Ramachandran
Nathan kutty. Incorporated on Junekutty. Incorporated on Junek
14, 2006, SNX initially attracted a
lot of interest from farmers, but soon
came to a grinding halt. One of the rea-
sons was that the exchange manage-
ment, traders and farmers couldn’t see
eye-to-eye on quality, price and other
business modalities. As a result, SNX
was officially shut down.
Among the theories propounded
for its failure was that FT and MCX,
which together held 51 per cent stake
in SNX, wanted to drive traffic to its
100-per cent venture NSEL, then
in a nascent stage. Some investors
and members also filed complaints
with the Economic Offences Wing,
alleging misuse of $0.80 million by
SNX promoters. It was alleged that
MCX-FT did not return the mem-
bership fee of $4,183 each to its 200
investors when it stopped trading
without any intimation to the mem-
bers. Overnight, information about
its members, directors and contact
details was removed from its website
and SMS enquiry facility was stopped.
All business development officers and
supply chain employees were sacked.
Interestingly, the FT’s 2010 annual
report only tried to justify writing off
an investment of $0.73 million in the
venture without going into the rea-
sons why it was terminated. Later,
when SNX members were given the
option to migrate to NSEL, it rein-
forced the conspiracy theory of a FT
ploy to secure more NSEL members.
What followed was a trail of fail-
ures. FTIL had to sell its 100 per
cent stake in Singapore Mercantile
Exchange—launched three years ago
for trading in metals, energy, currency
and agriculture commodities—to ICE
Singapore Holdings, an entity owned
by Atlanta-based ICE group, for
US$150 million. Today, FTIL Group’s
ecosystem is in a state of flux. g

GOVERNANCE
ngo partnershipspartnerships
Linking the last mile
Sustained priority to grassroots institutional arrangements that
lead to outcomes and impacts in social development through
the state-NGO partnership is a must
by AbhilAksh likhi
L
ocal participatory development
isastrategythatisbeingdeployed
by governments in developing
countries to achieve a variety of
socio-economic goals. These include
sharpening of poverty targeting,
improving service delivery,
expanding livelihood opportunities
and strengthening the demand
for effective governance. Without
doubt, an engaged citizenry
involved in achieving these goals,
especially in rural hinterlands,
could hold the government more
accountable.
according to the World Bank, there
are two major modalities for induc-
ing local participation—community
development and decentralisation.
While the former supports the efforts
to bring villages, neighbourhoods or
household groupings in the process
of managing resources without rely-
ing on formally constituted local gov-
ernments, the latter refers to efforts
to strengthen village and municipal
governments on both the demand
and supply sides.
However, what is critical for
effective as well as inclusive
governance is a public-private
partnership, wherein the ‘demand
side’ enables citizen participation
through access to information.
Further, that it fosters mechanisms
for deliberative decision -making at
the grassroots.
In the above context, India’s 12th
Five Year Plan (2012-17) envis-
ages strengthening of State-non-
governmental organisation (NGo)
partnerships to scale up approaches
that are innovative, both in terms of
programme content and strategy.
Innovations could focus on technol-
ogy, social mobilisation, local institu-
tional building, architecture of part-
nership, management techniques,
and so on. Imagine the possibilities
of generating synergies for both dia-
logic empowerment and programme
implementation in rural areas, with
over 2,60,000 gram panchayats, in
unison with over two million NGos
in the fray!
The proposed setting up of the
Bharat Rural livelihoods Foundation
(BRlF) as a dedicated institution to
facilitate such partnerships at the

The proposed setting up of
the Bharat Rural
Livelihoods Foundation
(BRLF) as a dedicated
institution to facilitate
State-NGO partnerships at
the grassroots is a step in
the right direction
grassroots is thus a step in the right
direction. Each project (whether for
link roads, market yards, electrifica-
tion, school buildings, health sub-
centres, drinking water facilities,
and the like) facilitated by BRlF will
attempt to leverage the vast resources
being made available by the central
Government to the gram panchayats
for flagship/special area programmes
on food security, rural employment
guarantee, livelihood security, health,
education, sanitation, power, rural
housing, and so on.
B
EFoRE outlining the challenges
for such a partnership in India’s
diverse agro-climatic and
regional equity context, it is pertinent
to highlight a few examples of
innovative interventions by dedicated
NGos in the rural-urban continuum.
Myrada (Mysore Resettlement
and Development agency), that isagency), that isa
currently managing 18 projects in 20
backward districts, aims at securing
the rights of women and children to
develop livelihood strategies leading
to food security and sustained
incomes. It is using community
radio as a major development
communication tool for community
empowerment and behavioural
change in its projects.
on the other hand, cINI’s (child
In Need Institute) nutrition projects
focus on the issue that the problem of
malnutrition is not a straightforward
case of lack of food. Many families,
who have a limited amount of food, do
not always share it equally. Mothers
and infants, therein, are the worst
The State-NGO partnership (above) could be extremely useful in disseminating relevant information through innovative social
mobilisation strategies for vulnerable groups, especially rural women (below)

GOVERNANCE
ngo partnershipspartnerships
sufferers. Thus, CINI educates preg-
nant and lactating mothers through
local health workers. In addition, it
also runs Nutrition Rehabilitation
Centres for severely malnourished
children, where balanced food is pro-
vided in small but frequent amounts
to increase a child’s weight safely over
a period of several weeks.
Pratham provides education to
children in the slums of Mumbai
city. Effective monitoring and evalu-
ation is integral to Pratham’s endeav-
ours in child education programmes.
Given the large expanse of their pro-
grammes and the sheer number of
people involved, it ensures that the
grassroots impact can be measured.
This enables them to make chang-
es in their strategy and models to
increase scheme/project efficacy. For
instance, ASER (meaning impact) is
the largest household survey of the
organisation that measures enrol-
ment as well as reading and arithme-
tic levels of children between the age
group of 4-16 years.
The diversity and quality of
social mobilisation skills through
which dedicated NGOs like the
above make an impact at the last
mile is undisputed. The first big
challenge, therefore, to strengthen
their partnership with gram
panchayats (more than two lakh,
comprising approximately six lakh
villages) is capacity enhancement
of approximately 30 lakh elected
representatives and related official
functionaries at the grassroots
every year.
To make this possible, the
Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana
(RGSY) and the Backward Regions
Grant Fund (BRGF) of the Ministry
of Panchayati Raj should be
efficiently used to strengthen the
training needs of these target groups
while plugging crucial gaps in local
infrastructure (of connectivity, both
digital and physical).
In addition, what is also needed to
be pushed and scaled aggressively is
‘activity mapping’ and the consequent
provision of the backbone 3Fs (funds,
functionaries and functions) to
gram panchayats by the provincial
governments through legislation
(activity maps prepared by Kerala
could be a good reference point).
Simultaneously, a supplementary
impetus needs to be given to the
MissionModeProjectofe-Panchayats
through broadband, that can enable
gram panchayats to electronically
track flagship/area programme
funds, improve internal management
processes and, in fact, supervise
converged flow of funds efficiently.
A
good example of the State-
A
good example of the State-
ANGO partnership is the
ANGO partnership is the
Ause of ‘Cluster FacilitationAuse of ‘Cluster FacilitationATeams’ under the flagship pro-
gramme, MGNREGA (Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act). These teams are to
address, on priority, the locally rel-
evant needs of community blocks
of dense populations with landless
agricultural labourers, Scheduled
Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other
vulnerable groups. They also serve
clusters of gram panchayats to fill
the gap assessed on account of non-
availability of requisite expertise in
land development activities at the
local level (Tamil Naidu and Kerala
have successfully benefited from such
a partnership).
In fact, intensive intervention,
during the next five years, in such
community blocks needs to focus on
convergence with NGO-supported
Self Help Groups (SHGs). Such
groups are being nurtured through
the livelihood collective approach
under the National Rural Livelihood
Mission (NRLM).
This partnership could be extreme-
ly useful in disseminating relevant
information through innovative
social mobilisation strategies by
NGOs on, for example, entitle-
ments under the MGNREGA scheme
to vulnerable groups, especially
rural women.
The state-NGO partnership faces
a major challenge from intra-State
inequalities in the specially designat-
ed rural local governance structures
of the mountainous North-Eastern
States as well as the ‘Schedule Five
Areas’ of nine backward States in
the heart of the country, includ-
ing Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand and Odisha (with areas
affected by left-wing extremism).
Besides, the partnership would be put
to test by the socio-economic back-
wardness of individual districts (for
instance, Mahendragarh and Mewat
in Haryana), several of which are
located in States that are doing well
economically.
Sustained priority to grassroots
institutional arrangements that lead
to outcomes and impacts in social
development through the State-NGO
partnership is a must. g
The writer is an IAS officer and currently a
Senior Fellow at South Asia Studies, SAIS,
Johns Hopkins University, Washington,
DC. The views expressed are personal.
What is critical for effective
as well as inclusive
governance is a public
private partnership,
wherein the ‘demand side’
enables citizen
participation through
access to information

INITIATIVE
workplace dalip singhdalip singh
T
he skills that are necessary for
good relations with others are
the most important skills any-
one can learn in life. When it comes
to improving organisational effective-
ness, administrators, management
scholars and practitioners are begin-
ning to emphasise the importance of
emotional intelligence. At the heart
of service are relationships: inter-
personal relationships; intergroup
relationships; and, interdepartmen-
tal relationships. This is because
managers who do not develop their
emotional intelligence have difficulty
in building good relationships with
peers, subordinates, superiors and
clients. An emotionally intelligent
administrator can induce desirable
responses in others by using effec-
tive diplomacy. They have the ability
to change someone’s views, attitudes
or behaviour in a positive way. Being
in harmony with their emotional self,
they have skills to influence and com-
municate to others in a way that gains
support. A person with emotional
intelligence is a strong mind mapper
who understands others well and this
plays a key factor for the development
of effectual communication. They are
good at assessing verbal signals, non-
verbal gestures and body language.
They communicate their views and
feelings in a calm, direct and respect-
ful way while respecting equally the
views of others. There is a common
tendency for leaders to try and keep
hold of tasks, activities and processes.
As the old saying goes, ‘No person will
make a great business who wants to
do it all himself or get all the credit.’
Skills required for
interpersonal relations
The unique quality that distinguish-
es an emotionally intelligent man-
ager from others is the capability to
develop others in team. They have the
ability to sense how their employees
feel about their work situation and
to intervene effectively when those
employees begin to feel discouraged
or dissatisﬁed. They manage their
own emotions, with the result that
employees trust them and feel good
about working with them. People who
are good at building bonds cultivate
and maintain extensive informal net-
works, seek out relationships that are
mutually beneficial, build rapport and
keep others in the loop, and make and
maintain personal friendships among
work associates. In order to make
better use of the special talents avail-
able in a diverse workforce, building
strong interpersonal bonds among
employees is important. And in virtu-
ally every case, emotional intelligence
must play an important role in satis-
fying this need. A person with emo-
tional intelligence are aware of their
own feelings and those of others, are
open to positive and negative aspects
of internal experience and are able
to communicate them when appro-
priate. An emotionally intelligent per-
son is often a pleasure to be around,
has good influence and makes others
feel better.
People good at collaboration and
cooperation balance the focus on the
task with attention given to relation-
ships, share plans, information and
resources; they promote a friendly,
cooperative climate; and they spot
and nurture opportunities for col-
laboration. An effective manager
must possess emotional intelligence
to establish mutual trust, respect,
warmth and rapport with members
of their group. People having strong
bonding with group members prove
to be more successful as it leads to
group synergy which helps in accom-
plishment of collective and shared
goals. If there are healthy interper-
sonal relationships among the team
members, they certainly tend to work
collectively towards the prescribed
goal. Teamwork also contributes a
lot to a healthy work environment.
employees feel good about working
if there is a favourable environment
at the workplace. If employees have
a mutual understanding with each
other, there are very less chances of
any kind of workplace conflicts. It
has also been observed that strong

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