gfiles April 2014

April 5, 2014 `
VOL. 8, ISSUE 1
gfilesindia.com
ASHWANI LOHANI ON ORGANISATIONAL EXCELLENCE p26
GOPINATH MENON ON INDIAN ADVERTISING’S RISE AND FALL p38
FIRST STIRRINGS
SHOVANA NARAYAN
p32
gfilesindia.com
SILLY
POINT
TÊTE-À-TÊTE
W
ITH
RAHUL
GANDHI
p44
Babu as
NETA

3www.indianbuzz.com
gfiles inside the government
vol. 8, issue 1 | April 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
Pranab Prakhar | 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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W
HATkindofIndiadidwedreamof?Thevisionstatement
(read manifesto) of political parties is a dream-selling
document, but the answer to the above question is
blurred by the lust of political masters to capture power by any means. India
has become the most venerable market in the world. Manmohanomics has
changed the dynamics of the economy. Three decades ago, agriculture was a
major contributor to India’s GDP. The current standing is: agriculture 17.2 per
cent, industry 29.1 per cent and services 53.7 per cent. The economy is not
going to remain static, as the entire world is waiting for the election results. It
has to change, but change for whom, for India or the world? Even the service
sector, the main contributor to the GDP, is facing a crisis. China designed its
economic policies for citizens and not for the world to plunder its resources,
whereas India is designing policies that provide scope to the forces of the world
market to exploit. India is facing its 16th election since Independence, yet health,
education, literacy and housing are still core issues. No political party is willing
to highlight these issues as they will not fetch votes. Political parties are talking
about development, but without specifying what kind of development. Do they
mean grabbing land (the fastest money-spinner) of poor farmers in the garb
of the Land Acquisition Act and handing it over to the multinationals to fulfil
their greed? Or, is the development geared only for those waiting to plunder the
400-million middle class market of India? ‘Development’ now smacks of scandal.
Any development that does not create a job market for the youth will be a farce.
Political parties assure they will create the jobs, but do not say how. Do they
think Indians live in a fool’s paradise? Why are all the political parties silent on
the non-performing assets of the banking industry? Because most of the donors
to their coffers are part of the non-performing assets. Diverting attention from
the core issue is their speciality. That is why political parties still fight elections
on the issue of secularism vs communalism, Hindu vs Muslim, upper caste vs
lower caste, rich vs poor and so on. It is with the tacit consent of the political
leadership, because when they come to power they don’t carry any baggage.
When political parties come to power after camouflaging the issues, they are at
liberty to design the economic roadmap according to the fancy of those at their
helm. As a result, India and its citizens are ignored and global forces take over
the administration through their pawns. The last 10 years are a case in point of
this economic mismanagement. India has become a nation of few, run by few.
These issues are more relevant today than in the 1950s. Why? Because at
that point in time, the people had faith in the leadership and hope in the future.
Today, they have neither. The reason is the sidetracking of the mandate which our
forefathers (the constituent assembly) left for future generations to implement.
We have failed to establish the rule of law in its true sense. Governance has
continued in feudalistic mode in its new outfit, i.e. democracy. India is passing
through a transitional phase. Approximately 1,600 political parties and around
10,000 people in these political outfits are in the electoral fray. The desire to
rule the population of a nation is the biggest opiate, a never-ending intoxication.
Historians have analysed that political power is the resolute gamechanger of
society. Politics inveigles, intoxicates and makes people crazy. And, as this is the
month of April, they will make April fools of most Indians. The choice is yours.
ANIL TYAGI
editor@gfilesindia.com
From the Editor
vol. 8, ISSUE 1 | APRIL 2014
Download the gfiles app

CONTENTS
www.gfilesindia.com4 gfiles inside the government
Marchh 5, 220014144 `
VVOOLL. 77, ISSSUOL EE 12
gfilegfgfileesisiinndindigf es ndg a.cocomo
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
5 Bric-a-Brac
feats & seats
8 Cover Story
should babus take to politics?
10 civil servants as political masters
14 civil servants in the fray
18 State Scan
hooda government upbraided for
land grabbing
Governance
22 be more serious about national
security
26 towards organisational excellence
32 First Stirrings
shovana narayan balances dance and
the civil service
37 Initiative
the highs and the lows
38 Advertising
a default profession?
42 My Corner
in contempt of court
44 Silly Point
secret q&a with rahul gandhi
48 Stock Doctor
don’t bank on the elections
56 Perspective
be a seeker
57 By the Way
of forgotten taxes, right-hand men
and outsiders
The power of money
After reading your cover story (March
2014), I must say that it actually
reflected the current flow, especially the
one-to-one interviews of the most
significant people related to elections.
I really admired the interview with CEC
VS Sampath which answered my
questions related to the most discussed
issue these days. The questions were
very straightforward, like that of ‘use
of black money’, TN Seshan, the role of
the government, and so on which is
really appreciable.
Srikant via email
Electoral integrity
A study of the electoral process without
any corruption has been very well
suggested by MG Devasahayam. It is
very much true that we need inner-party
democracy, transparent functioning
and merit-based selection of candidates.
The issue of tainted candidates for
contesting elections is old now, and it is
high time we take a lead from the apex
court of India, in favour of the electoral
integrity initiative.
Moreover, the responsibilities of the
electorate to support a better election
process and the best candidate are also
given equal and significant coverage.
They should not just follow the crowdCOVER ILLUSTRATION: ARUNA
LETTERS
editor@gfilesindia.com
CONTENTS
and get taken in by election propaganda
but should take a wise decision after
reading election manifestos and
examining past efforts and the value of
promises made for the future.
Rajesh via email
The great land robbery
I happened to get a copy of the
February 2014 issue. I was highly
impressed by your story, forthrightly
exposing the misrule in Haryana for the
last decade, contrary to the general
perception that it is a progressive and
efficiently-administered State.
However, the article, “The second
coming of Arvind Kejriwal” by MK Kaw
dismayed and disappointed me. Yes,
Kejriwal’s success in the Delhi Assembly
polls was an extraordinary achievement.
He cleverly exploited public anger
against the Congress corruption scams in
Delhi and the Centre to his one-year-old
party’s advantage. But, sadly, most of
his subsequent actions belied his
promises, underlining their hollowness.
Even a cursory look at Kejriwal’s
49-day rule in Delhi makes it evident that
he was more comfortable with street
agitation and dharnas than offering good
governance to those who voted for him.
A few decisions he announced, like free
water and cheap electricity, turned out to
be largely meaningless; power, in fact,
was made more expensive.
M Ratan via email
Emotional intelligence
The article “Skills required for
interpersonal relations” (March 2014)
helped me in reducing stress in my
personal as well as professional life. It is
good to know that gfiles takes care of
the interests of every category and does
not step back in sharing valuable
knowledge which is helpful for its
readers. I like the study of different
emotions affecting relationships.
Karthik Mathur via email

5www.indianbuzz.com
J
ASWANT Singh, a former Defence, Finance and External
Affairs Minister, is a very sensitive man. He is fighting his
last political battle in Barmer in Rajasthan. He was silently
active within the BJP for the last four-five months and could never
have dreamed that Narendra Modi and Rajnath Singh would not
let him contest as a BJP candidate from Barmer. According to
Sushma Swaraj, denying Jaswant a ticket was not decided in
the parliamentary board or election committee. But the seeds
of discontent between Modi and Jaswant are deep-rooted. The
BJP had a national executive meeting in Shimla and at that time
JaswanthadjustwrittenabookonJinnah–Jinnah:India,Partition,
Independence. Modi was so furious that he banned the book
in Gujarat. Jaswant says, “This is the second time I have been
betrayed by Rajnath Singh. In 2009, soon after the elections,
I was going to attend the party national executive meeting in
Shimla, but was stopped midway by Rajnathji, who asked me not
to attend. Then he rang me up to say that I have been expelled
from the party. I told him, even peons are not dismissed like this.
Bric-a-bracfeats & seats
but I did not disclose the
name of the candidate. I
called Manmohan’s son-
in-law and handed over the
money to him. Manmohan
Singh lost the election. After
2-3 months, one day I got a
call from Manmohan Singh
that he wanted to meet me.
The meeting was fixed for the
very next day. Manmohan
reachedontime.Aftertheini-
tial pleasantries, Manmohan
said, “Sir, I am very thankful
to you, my son-in-law told
me that you have helped me
in the elections with a sum of `2 lakh but, sir, you know that
much money was not required. I have brought the two lakh
rupees back with my sincere thanks to you for helping me at
this crucial juncture. I would have forbidden my son-in-law
but my son-in-law told me about the money he took from
you after the elections were over.” After narrating the story,
Khushwant lapsed into a moment of silence and then said,
“Eho ja imandar Pradhan Mantri kithe milna hai?”(Where
can you find a Prime Minister who is so honest?). g
Man for all seasons
jaswant battles on in barmer
W
riter Khushwant Singh used to go to
Kasauli in Himachal Pradesh as soon
as the summer set in. Though this
is an old anecdote, it is about him and Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh. Khushwant not
only used to write about political personali-
ties but used to help them sometimes in their
political careers also. The gfiles editor hap-
pened to be in Kasauli in 2004 and went to get
an interview with Khushwant for Doordarshan.
Over drinks, in a beautiful hut near the Kasauli
Club, Khushwant narrated the story about
Manmohan’s honesty. Manmohan was contesting the
election from the South Delhi Parliamentary constituency
in 1999 as a Congress candidate (Vijay Kumar Malhotra
defeated him). During this period, Manmohan’s son-in-law
visited Khushwant and said that Manmohan did not have
funds and, without funds, election cannot be managed.
Khushwant listened silently and told him to come back after
two days. As Khushwant narrated, “I called some industrial
friend of mine to give two lakh rupees for election purposes
At that time, I was
expelled because
of my views on
Mohammed Ali
Jinnah. In my
book,Ihadwritten
that it was Pandit
Nehru who moved the Partition
resolution in Congress, and Sardar Patel
had seconded it. Though nobody in the BJP had
read that book, I was expelled.” Nitin Gadkari brought
Jaswant back into the BJP fold. It was a great insult to Jaswant
but being the gentleman he is, he thought that in a democratic
party, one man will not be able to affect his political survival.
But political developments proved otherwise. Jaswant was
denied a ticket and finally the Thakur of Rajasthan had no
recourse but to challenge his party’s decision. Wait and watch
for the election results. g
Honestly speaking
an anecdote from khushwant singh

after touring the whole state for five months, he organised a
rally in Kurukshetra to announce his departure from the
Congress party. But every other party too shut its doors to
him. It can be said about Sharma: “Na khuda hi mila na visale
sanam, na idhar ke rahe na udhar ke rahe (Neither did I meet
God, nor my beloved; I was left stranded).” g
I N S I D E E Y E
ILLUSTRATIONS:ARUNA
Dost dost na raha
venod sharma, hooda part company
O
NE can buy almost everything but no one can buy
reputation—once it is gone, it is gone forever. This
reflects the situation of Haryana’s Venod Sharma. He
did everything to emerge as a political personality in the State,
but no political party cared for him. The honeymoon between
Sharma and the Chief Minister of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh
Hooda, seems to have ended. This is being seen as a key
political development in the State. Both used to share the
same bench in college in Chandigarh in their student days.
They had family ties and very strong bonds but the three ‘Ws’
—wealth, wine and women—can spoil any relation. According
to the grapevine, Hooda and Sharma are at loggerheads due
to a misunderstanding over land and money distribution.
Further, sources reveal that Asha bhabhi (Hooda’s wife) has
latelystarteddislikingSharmabecauseofhisallegednefarious
activities. It is learnt that on a recent evening spent with
Sharma, Hooda took some medicines worked on some parts
of the body. The dose was so strong that it landed him in
hospital. The whole Hooda family was worried about this
friendship. The last straw came from Sharma himself when,

7www.indianbuzz.com
Bric-a-bracfeats & seats
Hot seat in Gujarat
anandiben patel leads the fray
A
certain political strategist
within the BJP feels that
Narendra Modi should have
resigned as Chief Minister and then
campaigned for the Prime Ministership
but admitted it is not an easy decision,
not only for Modi but also for the BJP
and RSS to immediately relieve
a strong Chief Minister. The
question is if the
BJP gets a majority
and Modi becomes
the next Prime Minister
of this country, who will take over
the reins of the Gujarat
government? There
is a long queue but
sources say, after observ-
ing past trends, Anandiben Patel is likely to be the new Chief
Minister of Gujarat. Patel and her daughter manage the
show and control the power within the State. It is to be
seen whether RSS elements within the BJP who are not in
favour of her gender would like to see her as the first
woman Chief Minister of a BJP-ruled State. Much like
Modi has proved everybody wrong, if NaMo comes
to Delhi, Patel will be the new Chief Minister,
defying everybody. g
Parliament, here I come
chidambaram a step ahead
D
O you think PC Chidambaram will be out of
Parliament 2014? No, as a shrewd politician, he
has already envisioned the roadmap of his politi-
cal journey. The Karnataka Assembly has to elect four
Rajya Sabha MPs in June 2014. Congress sources dis-
close that Chidambaram has been assured a Rajya Sabha
ticket from Karnataka. No wonder, he took a conscious
decision not to contest the election
from the Sivaganga parlia-
mentary constituency
and instead requested
the Congress high
command to allot
the seat to his son,
Karti. He also knew
that he would not
be able to win
from Sivaganga
unless there is an
alliance between
the Congress and
either the DMK or the
AIADMK. Kudos to
Chidambaram for his
forward thinking. g

COVER STORY
elections 2014 prabhat kumar
www.gfilesindia.com
While there may be a couple of exceptions, as a thumb rule, the roles of a civil
servant and a politician are radically different and should be kept separate
Should a civil servant
join politics?
ARUNA

9gfiles inside the government
vol. 8, issue 1 | April 2014www.indianbuzz.com
H
URTLING towards the water-
shed Lok Sabha elections, the
country is witnessing a growing
trend of retired civil servants joining
the ranks of political parties. While it
should not be difficult to guess their
intentions as they know what power
is all about, the question is whether
it is appropriate for civil servants to
join politics.
There are obvious arguments in
support of civil servants entering the
political arena after going through a
prolonged period of policymaking
and implementation of policies. It
seems logical that they can use their
knowledge and experience for more
robust policymaking and advising the
government as an insider, rather than
an impartial slave. In doing so, they
would be able to demonstrate their
loyalties to a political ideology with-
out any reserves and express their
commitment to something they had
been debarred from doing by conduct
rules. It may, therefore, be argued
that with knowledge acquired during
their service period, and educational
endowments, civil servants are well-
equipped for political jobs.
However, it is the rare civil servant
who, despite possessing the necessary
intellectual competence, becomes an
effective political leader. I cannot
think of a single civil servant rising to
the level of a national leader in our
country in recent times. Going by
intellectual calibre, he can perhaps
contribute to nation-building. But, as
a politician, I am not too sure.
The civil servant is trained to be
politically indifferent in his work.
After living a life of political neutrality,
it may be extremely difficult for him to
adhere to the discipline of a political
party. The acknowledged principle of
the Weberian bureaucracy is objectiv-
ity unsullied by any political ideology.
Of course, he, like any other citizen, is
fully entitled to hold personal views on
politics and to exercise his right to
vote. But, he is debarred from express-
ing his political views either in his
work or publicly. More important, a
civil servant is obliged to transfer
his expertise and loyalty from one
elected government to the next one,
irrespective of its colour.
Admittedly, there cannot be a cave-
at about civil servants staying away
from active politics. There may be
some who were born to be politicians,
but who strayed into civil services.
And, even while in government ser-
vice, they played politics of some sort.
But, as a general rule, an experienced
bureaucrat is not trained to adapt to
the mould of a political leader.
My hypothesis is that a quintessen-
tial civil servant is not adequately
equipped to serve as a legislator, or a
minister. I would say that the reverse
is also true. A politician, should he be
laterally brought into the civil service,
would be a complete failure.
I believe that the roles of a civil
servant and a politician are radically
different and should be kept separate.
It beats my understanding as to how
one is expected to jump roles. A civil
servant, in his entire working career,
acts according to the laws of the land
and his conscience. As a member of a
political party, he would not be able to
hold his views against the party line.
In our country, internal democracy
does not exist in political parties. In
case he enters Parliament or a State
legislature, he would be toeing the
party line and voting according to the
whip of the party leadership.
Would former civil servants add
value to decision-making in govern-
ment by being a part of the ruling
political coalition? I have serious
doubts. Are they adept in consulting
people on important public issues? I
do not think so. Have they engaged
diverse stakeholders, either in policy
formulation or policy implementa-
tion? Definitely not. In my opinion, as
a rule, civil servants do not fit into the
role of a politician other than out of
selfish motives. They do not possess
the requisite endowments for trans-
lating people’s wishes into reality, nor
to buck the trend of unscrupulous
abuse of power by political leaders.
The empirical account of retired
civil servants joining politics does not
inspire confidence. They have not
added any value either to policymak-
ing, or to efficient implementation of
policies. Almost all of them are moti-
vated by promoting their personal
fortunes. And, recently, we have also
come across former civil servants
changing their loyalties to parties
with better electoral prospects.
Besides, it cannot be said that all civil
servants maintain the highest stand-
ards of public service while in govern-
ment. There are also instances of
bureaucrats with dubious service
records seeking refuge in politics.
Endpoint: there are those rare
individuals, who quit the security
and comforts of civil service early in
their careers with a positive political
mission. Two recent examples are
Jayaprakash Narayan and Arvind Ke-
jriwal. I salute them for their courage
and conviction even if their political
success is doubtful. g
(The writer was the Cabinet Secretary and
the first Governor of Jharkhand. He can be
reached at pkumar1511@hotmail.com)
The empirical account of
retired civil servants joining
politics does not inspire
confidence. They have not
added any value either to
policymaking, or to efficient
implementation of policies

COVER STORY
elections 2014 mg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
D
ECADES ago, when I entered
the portals of the National
Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie, as an IAS Probationer,
the first principle drummed into my
ears was: “You are a civil servant.
You are only to be seen, not heard.”
Having just arrived after command-
ing soldiers in the field, both in war
and counter-insurgency operations,
I resented the word ‘servant’, but
couldn’t do much about it.
As years passed, I realised as to
why this principle was given so much
of the country. For once, I realised the
true meaning of ‘civil servants’—being
subservient to political masters and
even extra-Constitutional ones! I was
never part of that breed!
Of late, the herd mentality has
taken over and many ‘civil servants’
want to become ‘political masters’ by
joining politics and becoming MPs,
MLAs and ministers! And there are
some variants at that!
NK Singh (Bihar-1964) is the most
typical. This high-flyer extracted
the maximum out of the IAS as the
importance. Despite being members
of the most elite of civil services,
covenanted in the Constitution of
India, subservience had become
the hallmark of most IAS and IPS
officers. The less said the better about
State civil service and police officials.
I saw this in the crudest form when
Emergency was imposed on the night
of June 25-26, 1975, and most of these
worthies crawled when they were
merely asked to bend. The crawling
started from Delhi Administration
and Police and spread to various parts
Yashwant Sinha, who left the IAS to join politics in the 1980s, has vacated his Hazaribagh seat this time for his son

Of late, the herd mentality has taken over and
many civil servants are queuing up to grab a
chance of getting a Lok Sabha ticket and becoming
MPs, MLAs and ministers!
retirement age was increased to 60
yearsin1998,justbeforehewasdueto
retire. He became Finance Secretary
in the Government of India and then
went on to become Secretary to Prime
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and
member of the Planning Commission.
He then joined the Janata Dal (U) in
2008 to enter the Rajya Sabha for six
years and became Bihar’s face in the
super-rich ‘Davos Club’. When Bihar
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar asked
him to run for Lok Sabha, NK Singh
promptly resigned from the JD(U)
and joined the BJP, obviously to
solicit a Rajya Sabha nomination. He
wants to enjoy political power without
facing the electorate, a true case of
running with the hare and hunting
with the hounds!
The case of Yashwant Sinha
(Bihar-1960) is different. He resigned
from the IAS in the early 1980s and
joined the Janata Party. Because of
his political connections, he soon
became a Rajya Sabha member and
briefly adorned the Cabinet of Prime
Minister Chandrashekhar as Finance
Minister. Then he joined the BJP and
was Finance and External Affairs
Minister in the Vajpayee Cabinet.
Having become a full-fledged politi-
cian, he fought the 2004 Lok Sabha
election from Hazaribagh and lost it.
But he won the same seat in 2009.
Having proved his point, he has now
opted out of the race, but not before
getting the seat allotted to his son.
Ajit Jogi (IPS/IAS, Madhya
Pradesh-1968) is the typical bureau-
crat to enter politics mid-course and
make a fight of it. He has been an
Civil
servants as
political
masters!

COVER STORY
elections 2014 mg devasahayam
www.gfilesindia.com
MP—both in the Rajya Sabha and Lok
Sabha—an MLA and Chief Minister
of a State (Chhattisgarh). Though
disabled and wheelchair-bound due
to a major accident in 2004, his
fighting spirit has not dampened in
any manner.
Haryana is the inventor of the
political expression, ‘Aya Ram, Gaya
Ram’, signifying defection and floor
crossing. In recent times, the State
has gained notoriety for pursuing a
predatory development model rooted
in real estate, the land mafia and the
resultant humongous corruption.
Interestingly, while the list of aspir-
ants for political power among civil
servants is getting longer and long-
er, encompassing most States, in its
intensity the small State of Haryana
takes the cake. Here the trend covers
the wide spectrum of IAS, IPS and the
State Civil Service.
W
HILE IAS officer Abhay
Yadav has taken voluntary
retirement to contest elec-
tions, another IAS officer, HS Rana,
after retirement, has joined the Aam
Aadmi Party. Former IAS officer ID
Swami, who became Lok Sabha MP
from Karnal, was the Minister of State
for Home in the NDA Government,
and former IAS officer Kirpa Ram
Punia was a minister in the Devi
Lal-led State Government. Retired
Haryana Civil Service officer Bahadur
Singh was a minister in Chief Minister
Om Prakash Chautala’s Cabinet. After
retirement, IAS officers BD Dhalia,
Gulab Singh and RS Choudhary have
joined the Indian National Lok Dal
(INLD). RS Malik joined the BJP for
a short time while MS Rathi, who
had joined Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas
Party, was made a member of the
Haryana Public Service Commission.
After retirement, SL Dhani was
made chief of the intellectual cell
of the Haryana Pradesh Congress
Committee. MP Bidlan, who, as DC,
Sirsa, had fled from a function when
fire broke out, resulting in the death
of hundreds of children in Dabwali,
has recently joined the BJP to seek
the party ticket from the Sirsa
Lok Sabha seat.
The IPS crowd does not lag behind
either. Former Haryana DGP AS
Bhatotia revived the State’s ‘Aya
Ram, Gaya Ram’ culture when he
first joined the BJP, then shifted to the
Congress and is now in AAP! Ranbir
Sharma, who was IGP, took volun-
tary retirement and joined AAP to
dedicate himself to swaraj. Parmveer
Rathi, another former Haryana police
officer planning to enter the elector-
al fray, was Chief Minister Hooda’s
intelligence chief and was retained as
adviser in the home department after
retirement. Also, former Haryana
IPS officer VN Rai joined AAP only
to aspire for a ticket from Karnal.
Another former DGP of Haryana,
MS Malik, is a heavyweight in
the INLD and a candidate for the
Parliamentary election.
The charade has gone to such an
extent that the AAP leadership has
offered the Chief Ministership of
HaryanatoAshokKhemka,theserving
AAP is trying to lure Haryana IAS officer
Ashok Khemka to its fold

IAS officer who exposed Haryana’s
land looters and ‘kleptocrats’, if he
decides to join politics and contest
Assembly elections. Wonder whether
Khemka will take the bait!
The other two States with a high
bureaucrat-politician conversion rate
are West Bengal and the Telangana
part of Andhra Pradesh. This is prob-
ably because the emerging leadership
in these States wants to benefit from
the expertise and experience of these
civil servants who have dealt with
multi-dimensional issues and have the
capacityforperceptionandanalysis.In
Tamil Nadu, it is the opposite because
the ‘tunnel-visioned’ Dravidian par-
ties are averse to civil servants with
knowledge and experience.
The Congress in Tamil Nadu has
also fallen in the same rut. The treat-
ment meted out by this party to
Vellayan Selvaraj (IAS-1964), a com-
passionate and competent civil serv-
ant during the 1991 Parliamentary
elections, is a case in point. An ardent
follower of the legendary K Kamaraj
during his student days, Selvaraj won
the college union president election,
both in Loyola College and Madras
Law College. Though he entered the
IAS soon after college, his politi-
cal aspirations remained. During
the 1991 election, he was offered the
Congress ticket from his home con-
stituency of Rasipuram (Reserved)
and was asked to resign from the IAS.
After reconfirming the offer from
the Congress high command (Rajiv
Gandhi), he put in his papers, which
were processed with speed and his
resignation was accepted. During this
period, he was stabbed in the back
and the seat promised to him was
given to the sitting MP. Selvaraj was
left high and dry!
T
HE Election Commission (EC) is
unhappy with the government's
rejection of its suggestion for a
“cooling off” period for bureaucrats
looking to join political parties to con-
test elections soon after retirement or
quitting service. On this I am only
partly with the Commission. They
should not treat the full-tenure-sine-
cure-enjoying bureaucrats on a par
with the ones willing to sacrifice years
of service in the coveted All-India or
civil services. The EC could suggest
different norms instead of making
the ban omnibus. While there should
be no bar on officers resigning from
executive office mid-course to con-
test for political office, there should
be a mandatory cooling-off period for
those who have completed their full
tenure. Those who were re-employed
and did sinecures in addition, and
those who occupied constitutional
positions, should be prohibited from
contesting elections or receiving Ra-
jya Sabha nominations.
Political office-holders are public
servants. When a civil servant who
has sucked the ‘bureaucratic fruit’
to the full and eaten the skin as well,
enters politics he could at best be a
‘political servant’ and nothing more! g
The writer is a former Army and IAS
officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com
While the list of aspirants
for political power among
civil servants is getting
longer and longer,
encompassing most States,
in its intensity the small
State of Haryana takes the
cake. Here the trend covers
the wide spectrum of IAS,
IPS and State Civil Service
NK Singh left JD (U) and joined the BJP because he was asked to run for the Lok Sabha

COVER STORY
elections 2014
Taking the plunge
There are those who choose to opt for politics after retirement and then there
are some who leave a career midway to serve the nation in a different avatar
by NEERAJ MAHAJAN
T
HE debate is on: should civil
servants looking to join poli-
tics soon after retirement or
quitting service be allowed to do so
without any cooling-off period? The
government reportedly turned down
the Election Commission (EC) sug-
gestion for a ‘cooling-off’ period.
The Department of Personnel and
Training (DoPT) was reportedly of the
view that barring ex-bureaucrats from
joining politics immediately upon exit
from service may violate the Right
to Equality enshrined in Article 14 of
the Constitution.
However, the EC has put the ball
back in the government’s court on
the plea that IAS, IPS and All-India
Services officers who have just retired
or resigned should be kept away from
‘electoral politics’ for two years after
leaving service. This is to prevent
bureaucrats with political ambition
from favouring a particular political
party in their final years of service.
Another big question is whether
politicians and bureaucrats have
similar temperaments, or whether
being good in one profession auto-
matically guarantees success in the
other. Also, would the mere fact that
COVER STORY
elections 2014

15www.indianbuzz.com
someone retired as a Secretary from
the Government of India be reason
enough for a party’s rank and file to
step aside and give the bureaucrat
the right of way? How many young
leaders in the party, who have spent
5-10 years waiting for the opportu-
nity, would want a 60-year-old to
by-pass them and start dictating
terms. Moreover, how many former
bureaucrats have really made a big
and lasting impact in politics? For
such bureaucrats, it takes more than
8-10 years after joining politics to
rise through the chain of command
and take some position of power. By
that time, many of them are too old
or they retire from active politics on
health grounds. For people who have
been used to ruling India right from
the day they joined, what good would
they do by being fringe players on the
political sidelines? These are a few
questions begging for answers.
One of the most plausible reasons
for this trend is that, though old,
most retiring government servants
are used to putting in 10-12 hours
of work a day. The fact that they get
pensions and are financially stable,
leaves them with much less worries.
There are, of course, those who join
politics on being invited by a political
leader. Another category is of those
who wish to get important posts.
Traditionally, bureaucracy and
politics are like two banks of the
same river—they rarely meet. Though
usually the relations between them
are civil and cordial, there are occa-
sions when the truce is broken—when
one of them transcends into another
person’s domain. For instance, for-
mer Union Minister Kalpnath Rai
reportedly said: “Bureaucrats are
just like servants…chaprassis, who
bring water when you tell them to.
They should not be allowed to act on
their own.” Likewise, former Punjab
Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairon
was so famous for his short temper
that not many bureaucrats dared to
cross his path. Things came to a pass
when his Chief Secretary stood up
and told him: “Sir, you are elected,
I am selected.”
T
HE list of bureaucrats-turned-
politicians includes names like
PC Alexander, Yashwant Sinha,
K Natwar Singh, Meira Kumar, Pawan
K Varma, Ajit Jogi, KJ Alphons, and
Arvind Kejriwal. It is well known that
mass appeal needs a strong ideologi-
cal focus and the power to convince
and lead others. Such a virtue cannot
be taught at an academy and cannot
be attained by passing certain exams.
In other words, an IAS officer may
or may not be a good leader but a
politician definitely is. Hence, clear-
ing the IAS cannot be a prerequisite
to becoming a politician.
India’s former permanent representative to the United Nations Hardeep Puri (above);
BJP President Rajnath Singh welcomes former RAW chief Sanjeev Tripathi (left)
into the party

COVER STORY
elections 2014
I
N the 2014 election, former petro-
leum secretary RS Pandey, former
home secretary RK Singh, former
Mumbai police commissioner Satya
Pal Singh and former IAS officer KP
Ramaiah are contesting.
If the current mood is any indica-
tion, the Congress’ popularity is on
the wane and the BJP is the favourite
among bureaucrats and army offic-
ers. It started when RK Singh joined
the BJP. RS Pandey followed. Soon
Satyapal Singh too joined the BJP. It
did not surprise many when India’s
former permanent representative
to the United Nations Hardeep Puri
and Maharashtra IPS officer RK Jain
joined the BJP. But what raised eye-
brows was when former RAW chief
Sanjiv Tripathi announced his deci-
sion to join the BJP. Adding to the
list was retired IAS Bhagirath Prasad
who switched to the BJP even after
getting a Congress ticket for the Lok
Sabha polls.
Another strange combination
is the case of Punjab-cadre IPS
officer Arun Oraon who wants to
contest from Lohardaga seat on a
BJP ticket against his brother-in-
law Rameshwar Oraon, a former IPS
officer, now in the Congress.
Another retired IAS officer, PL
Punia, who served as principal secre-
tary to both Mulayam and Mayawati
in Uttar Pradesh, is contesting on a
Congress ticket from Barabanki, a
reserved seat.
Downsouth,theemotiveTelangana
issue is the reason why Principal
Secretary, Rural Development K
Raju, who till yesterday was respon-
sible for implementing MGNREGS,
joined the Congress. The Telangana
Rashtra Samithi (TRS), on its part,
has a way of attracting retired bureau-
crats to its fold, including many who
do not belong to the Telangana belt.
ProminentamongsuchpeopleareIAS
officer AK Goel from Haryana, who
during his postings as Sub-Collector
and Collector for 15 years experi-
enced the backwardness of Telangana
district. Goel reportedly says that
Telangana is like Haryana, which was
carved out of Punjab. Each of them
has a different reason. For instance,
KV Ramanachari, who took part in
the 1969 Telangana movement dur-
ing his student days, has now joined
the TRS to rebuild Telangana.
At the other end of the spectrum,
retired IAS officer Lakshminarayana,
who joined the Telugu Desam, feels
that only a regional party like the
TDP can build a strong Telangana.
Even diplomat Devyani Khobragade’s
father, Uttam Khobragade, wants to
contest the Lok Sabha polls.
There are also some interest-
ing personalities. Born in a tradi-
tional weaver family in Bikaner,
where hardly any student goes to
school, Arjun Ram Meghwal went on
to become an IAS officer and then a
Member of Parliament. After clear-
ing the written examination, he was
shocked to know that he had failed
in the interview for the Rajasthan
Administrative Services. But he did
not give up. He got through in the
second attempt and was promoted to
the Indian Administrative Services.
He worked as District Collector of
Churu district. He took the final leap
in 2009, when the Bharatiya Janata
If the current mood is any
indication, the popularity
of the Congress party is
on the wane and the
BJP is the favourite
among bureaucrats and
army officers
It took Ajit Jogi (left) and Mani Shankar Aiyar more than a decade to make a mark in the political field

Party offered him a Lok Sabha ticket
from Bikaner region.
Another such candidate is a
mother of two, Priyadarshini Iyer,
who could well enter the record
books as the most highly-educated
candidate in the electoral battle. Her
qualifications include MBBS, degree
in forensic science from Canada,
LLB, LLM, PG diploma in medical
laws and ethics (PGDMLE) from the
National School of Law, PG diploma
in forensic science and criminology
(PGFCR) and PhD in International
Law on Counter-Terrorism from the
London School of Law. On passing
the civil services exam, she was allot-
ted the West Bengal cadre but soon
quit to turn to law. She now wants to
join politics. She is contesting on a
JD (U) ticket.
Then there is Jayaprakash
Narayan, who joined the IAS in 1980.
He was an all-India topper [Rank 2].
He resigned from the IAS in 1996 so
that he could work on a grassroots
movement for good governance.
Narayan is the founder member of
Foundation for Democratic Reforms
(FDR), one of India’s leading think-
tanks and research-resource centres
for formulating and promoting fun-
damental reforms in political, elec-
toral and governance spheres and in
critical areas of state policy. Narayan
started the Lok Satta Movement in
1996 to educate the citizens of India
about voting, rights and government.
One has to only look back to know
that civil service officers too have
to prove their mettle in the political
arena. For instance, even though PM
Rajiv Gandhi himself made Ajit Jogi
resign from the IAS, Jogi had to wait
14 years to become the Chief Minister
of Chhattisgarh. Yashwant Sinha
took six years to become Finance
Minister in Chandrashekhar’s cabi-
net. Likewise, Meira Kumar, who quit
the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and
got elected from Bijnor in UP, took
over two decades to get her first
ministerial post in 2004. Similarly,
Mani Shankar Aiyar from the IFS
became the Union Minister for
Panchayati Raj in 2004, 15 years after
entering politics.
I
N Jharkhand, which has witnessed
nine governments in 13 years,
retired IAS officer Mukhtiar Singh
has joined the BJP. Likewise, former
Additional Director General of Police
and Indian cricket team manager
Amitabh Choudhary has decided to
seek voluntary retirement and contest
from Ranchi.
Ironically, the sitting MP, Ajoy
Kumar, is also a former IPS officer.
Former IAS officer Mukhtiyar Singh
has formally joined the BJP. A native
of Sonepat in Haryana, he joined the
Bihar cadre in 1974.
Like this, many former IAS,
IFS and Group-1 officers and their
wives, are contesting elections. In
Andhra Pradesh, Ramaiah holds
the key to win the support of the
Extremely Backward Class (EBC) and
Mahadalits. In Karnataka, retired
DGP Shankar Bidari has floated
his own political outfit, Lok Shakti.
Similarly, retired IPS officers KC
Ramamurthy is keen on contesting
from Bangalore North on a Congress
ticketwhileKempaiahisseekingatick-
et from Koppala in Central Karnataka.
Retired IPS officer Narayana Gowda
and retired Karnataka cadre officer
Abdul Azim are competing for the
Janata Dal (Secular) ticket for the
Bengaluru Central seat.
Retired IAS officer K Siddaiah
wants to contest as a JD (S) candi-
date from Kolar (reserved) constitu-
ency. Similarly, KC Ramamurthy, the
first IAS officer in Karnataka to clear
the civil services examination in the
Kannada language, is interested in
contesting from Chamarajanagara as
a Congress candidate. g
Arvind Kejriwal, a former IRS officer, has risen like a phoenix in the political scenario
RAJEEVTYAGI

STATE SCAN
real estate haryana
Hooda regime’s
‘land grabbing’
under attack
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has passed severe strictures on the Hooda
government, saying the ulterior object is to enable private builders
by RAKESH BHATNAGAR
T
HE Supreme Court held in 2011
that in the name of globalisa-
tion and development, the gov-
ernment is transforming poor land
owners into marginalised people by
acquiring their “mother earth”. This
seems to have been proven correct in
the case of Congress-ruled Haryana.
No wonder then that the people label
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda’s government as that of “prop-
erty dealers” or “land grabbers”.
“In fact, it’s a land grabbing State
and the land acquisition law is an
engine of oppression,’’ a bench of
Justices(bothretirednow)GSSinghvi
and AK Ganguly observed while
questioning the implementation of
the law. Though the observation
was squarely pointed at the ousted
BSP chief Mayawati’s government,
judges saw ill-motive in acquisition of
land by different State governments,
regardless of their hue—saffron, blue
or green.
“The State should protect the com-
mon man’s right, but it’s the other
way around. We can understand if
the State is building canals, barrag-
es, etc., but you are building malls,
hotels, commercial townships,’’ the
top court expressed its anguish as
it lambasted the State. “Residential
area for whom? Those people whose
land was taken away, were they not
needy? You think judges are living in a
fool’s paradise?”
“The State is driving out poor
people. This is a sinister campaign by
many State governments. It is anti-
people,” the top court added.
In the light of the principle estab-
lished by the apex court, the Punjab
and Haryana High Court had the
occasion to pierce the balloon of
development and infrastructure that
STATE SCAN
real estate haryana

In 2010, Hooda government
had released around 95 per
cent of the acquired land
to private builders and
even granted licences to
some for developing
housing projects
had been inflated by Hooda and his
aides. It examined the facts and heard
what the Haryana government had to
say in defence of acquisition of about
1,400 acres of land spread in eight
villages adjoining high-cost Gurgaon
in 2009, a fact that a public spirited
person, Dev Dutt, had brought to the
court’s attention. There were several
aggrieved farmers who had sought the
court’s protection.
In 2010, the Hooda government
had released around 95 per cent of
the acquired land to private builders
and even granted licences to some for
developing housing projects there.
It rubbished the government’s
claim that it’s under obligation to exe-
cute “external development” under
the Land Acquisition Act, and held
that the Act does not cast any obliga-
tion on the State or the local authority
like the Haryana Urban Development
Authority (HUDA), to provide exter-
nal development works. “They can at
best opt for executing such works at
the cost and on the land set apart by
the coloniser for such works. Not an
inch of land is to be made available,
or to be acquired by the State, for the
execution of external development
works as the Act obligates the colo-
niser to set apart the lands for these
works,” a bench of Justices Surya
Kant and Surinder Gupta said in the
landmark verdict.
Judgesalsopassedseverestrictures
on the Hooda government, saying:
“The ulterior object behind acquiring
land for public utilities is to enable
the private builders in exploiting
commercially every inch of their own
land and maximising their profits.”
The land in question, belonging
to small farmers, was “forcibly taken
away for those very purposes. The
allegations made by the farmers
that their land has been acquired by
With the help of the State government,
builders have occupied large tracts of
prime agricultural land in Haryana
giving mischievous and self-serving
interpretation to the 1975 Act so as
to give undue favour to the private
builders-cum-colonisers, thus, carry
weight,” the judges added.
T
HERE’S little doubt now that
the Hooda government nur-
tured the land mafia and this
fact has been pointed out by the High
Court also. “The petitioners appear to
be right in contending that since they
did not come under the pressure tac-
tics of the land mafia prowling in the
area, their lands have been usurped
out of vengeance.”
In doing so, the State machinery
“bent over backwards to favour the
private colonisers” to such an extent
that even though the 1975 Act empow-
ers it to recover the entire cost of
external development works, includ-
ing cost of land from the beneficiary
colonisers, yet the landowners were
denied appropriate compensation.
PHOTOS: RAJEEV TYAGI

STATE SCAN
real estate haryana
The colonisers too did not pay a
penny—the entire burden was passed
on to the plot-holders/allottees.
The State action, thus, is ex facie
unjust, unfair, arbitrary, whimsical
and directly in the teeth of Article 14
(discriminatory) of the Constitution,
the High Court ruled and also
rubbished the Hooda government’s
claim that the acquired land was
lying vacant.
A
SSUMING it to be correct, the
discrimination in invoking
the forcible acquisition by
the Hooda government was “writ
large as the fact that huge chunks of
vacant land had also been released is
undeniable”.
“The land is being expropriated
only because they (owners) refused
to come to the terms unilaterally
dictated to them by the State-
sponsored developers,” it held.
As the Haryana government sought
to justify its illegal action, saying the
land owners were poor and by acquir-
ing their land for “public purpose”
enormous good was done to them
and society, the High Court slammed
the government, saying: “Poverty is a
curse is true. But how can a welfare
Hooda’s public interest farce
T
HE laudable judgment was a fallout of a batch of
petitions filed by farmers whose land had been
“arbitrarily” acquired and residents whose houses
were also taken over by the Haryana government under
the garb of “public purpose”.
They had sought quashing of notifications dated June
2, 2009, and June 2, 2010, under Sections 4 and 6 of the
Land Acquisition Act, 1894, relating to their land which
was acquired for “development”. They had also sought to
summon the records of the lands.
It was alleged that the Haryana government’s
notifications, covering about 1,400 acres of prime land in
Gurgaon and its adjacent areas, were “discriminatory,
mala fide” and “colourable exercise of power” to benefit
big developers and others close to the powers that be.
The HC judgment also recorded the averments made by
the aggrieved petitioners, highlighting that a large tract of
land was proposed to be acquired so as to “scare them
away and put them under the psycho fear of losing their
ancestral lands not even for peanuts.”
“The other seemingly better option was to enter into
‘collaboration’ or ‘sale agreements’ with the private
builders, or other affluent persons.” No sooner did “such
agreements take place than the land proposed or declared
for acquisition was released in favour of the builder
companies and individuals.”
B or C class constructions”.
Recently, the Hooda government
had received flak from the top court
for being ruthless in acquiring land
by indulging in fraud with its owner
in Sonepat.
“This is one of the reasons why
farmers, who are deprived of their
State deny the release of property (to
owners) only because their houses
are poorly constructed or are of ‘C’
class construction (poor)”. It may be
pointed out that the apex court has
repeatedly held that for the purpose
of releasing or acquiring a property,
there can be “no classification, like A,

holdings, commit suicide. It also
appearsthattheconcernedauthorities
are totally unmindful of the plight
of those sections of the society who
are deprived of their only asset like
small house, small industrial unit,
etc,” a bench of Justices GS Singhvi
and Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya
said. The government was asked
to pay a cost of `2.50 lakh for
“illegally taking over the land of
Raghubir Singh Sehrawat” by
“fabricating” the revenue records and
“forging” the signatures of Sehrawat’s
illiterate wife, Moorti Devi, to
show that she had attended the pre-
acquisition proceedings.
To add another ‘feather’ to the
cap of the Haryana government, the
Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) also reveals that during 2012-
13, the Haryana Revenue Department
accepted underassessment and other
deficiencies worth `8.16 crore, involv-
ing707cases,outofwhich`8.14crore,
involving 686 cases, were pointed out
during the year and the rest in ear-
lier years. The Department recovered
only `2.52 lakh in 21 cases pointed out
in earlier years.
The CAG also noticed that 228 col-
laboration agreements, relating to
six districts, were registered between
June 2007 and March 2013 in respect
of land on which stamp duty (SD) and
registration fee (RF) of `1.66 lakh
were levied, not involving the sale of
land. Scrutiny of these agreements
revealed that the land owners author-
ised the developers to take possession
of the land with the right to construct,
build shops-cum-flats and residen-
tial houses in exchange for a share of
the developed land and/or receive
part payments.
T
HE developers were entitled
to dispose of their shares of
developed land in such a manner
as they deemed fit, without requiring
any consent from the owners.
Hence, the development right/
collaboration agreements were con-
veyance deeds and were liable to pay
SD on the sale of property in respect
of the developers’ share of land. As
per rates fixed by the Collector, total
value of land transferred to the devel-
opers worked out to `1,190.76 crore
on which SD and RF of `60.41 crore
was leviable. However, the registering
authorities mis-classified these docu-
ments as agreement to sell, charging a
pathetically low SD of `1.66 lakh.
The CAG also exposed another
scandal relating to revenue jugglery.
Between 2007-08 and 2011-12, the
Haryana government accepted audit
observations involving revenue of
`2,107.11 crore, out of which an
amount of `10.72 crore was recovered
till March 31, 2013. The recovery in
respect of the accepted cases was 0.51
per cent only, which indicated lack of
adequate action to enforce recoveries,
the CAG says.
Meanwhile, on April 14, the
Supreme Court will take a final call on
the law suits filed by HUDA and some
realty and infrastructure developers,
who are aggrieved by the HC
judgment quashing the acquisition
of 1,400 acres of land by the Hooda
government in 2009. g
The Haryana government
sought to justify its illegal
action, saying the land
owners were poor and by
acquiring their land for
“public purpose”, enormous
good was done to them and
society. The HC slammed
the government on this
Another residential highrise coming
up in Gurgaon

GOVERNANCE
security propaganda
www.gfilesindia.com
Corruption and treason are the worst forms of threat to national security.
Are we sure that this combine is not in place in India?
Meddling with
national security?
by MG DEVASAHAYAM
S
OME weeks ago, a group of
Kashmiri students in Meerut
were slapped with sedition
charges just because they cheered the
Pakistani cricket team when it won a
match against India in the Asia Cup.
Some months ago, sedition cases were
registered against hundreds of fisher-
folk in the coastal villages of south-
ern Tamil Nadu, just because they
raised their voice against the unsafe
and livelihood-killing Russian-built
Koodankulam Nuclear Power Plant.
Some years ago, sedition charges
and the National Security Act were
invoked against Dr Binayak Sen just
because he had in his possession
some ‘naxalite’ leaflets and letters.
Section 124A of the Indian
Penal Code describes sedition thus:
“Whoever, by words, either spoken or
written, or by signs, or by visible rep-
resentation, or otherwise, brings or
attempts to bring into hatred or con-
tempt, or excites or attempts to excite
disaffection towards the Government
established by law in India….” In
common parlance this is called trea-
son, the most severe offence against
the State, punishable with imprison-
ment for life. This provision of law is a
powerful instrument to safeguard the
nation’s integrity, security and sover-
eignty and needs to be used sparingly
and with utmost diligence. But, in the
virtual police State that we are, low-
level functionaries, at the behest of
fascist-type leaders and crony vested
interests, misuse this provision indis-
criminately to suppress genuine dis-
sent and protests that cause no threat
to national security.
But, when it comes to big bandi-
coots, who openly indulge in activities
that undermine the nation’s security
and sovereignty, there is not a whim-
per as if they have total impunity.
How else does one interpret the total
inaction by the government on the
explosive formal complaint lodged by
none other than a former Chief of the
Indian Army to the Union Minister of
Home Affairs on November 13, 2013?
Probably this has happened for the
first time in the annals of a democrat-
ic country. This shows the deep dep-
rivation to which India’s governance
has descended to.
The array of charges in the com-
plaint commenced with the April 4,
2012, front-page banner headlined
story in The Indian Express about
the movement of a Hissar (Haryana)-
based mechanised infantry unit
‘towards Delhi’ on January 16, 2012,
coinciding with the day General VK
Singh approached the Supreme Court
on his date of birth issue. The news
report deliberately linked this move
to “June 1984 when some mutineers
from Sikh units had moved towards
the capital in the wake of Operation
Bluestar,” suggesting in a devious
manner that the Hissar troop move-
ment was also part of mutiny. The
news report insinuated that the mili-
tary leadership had turned politically
incorrect and non-professional and
the Central Government had come
under threat from its own Army. This
is a clear case of ‘abetting mutiny by
an officer, soldier in the Army, and
attempt to seduce any such officer
and soldier from his allegiance or his
duty’, attracting Section 131 IPC. This
Act, being prejudicial to the defence
of India and the security of the State,
also attracts Sections 3(1) and (2)
of the National Security Act, 1980.
The mens rea to commit the offence
was evident from the fact that it had
taken nearly three months to concoct,
fabricate and put out a non-existing
The Indian Express made a
blatantly false allegation
that the Army paid money
to J&K politicians to
overthrow the duly elected
government of the State.
The intention was to
promote enmity between
officers and soldiers of the
Indian Army serving in J&K
and the government/
people of that State

coup d'état news story!
The second charge relates to a unit
called the Technical Service Division
(TSD). It is a covert operation agency,
activities of which are directly related
to the safety of the soldiers fighting on
the borders, retribution against the
enemy and the security of the citizens.
By its very nature, the TSD operation
was ‘top secret’. In that event, even
the existence of TSD should never
have been publicised. Further, if there
is exposure of the actual working of
the top-secret unit, leaking informa-
tion about it could be treacherous,
regardless of whether information is
true or not.
Yet, on March 2, 2012, India
Today published a story that, inter
alia, reads: “The Ministry of Defence
(MoD) officials say they are also con-
cerned about the activities of a shad-
owy unit called the Technical Support
Division within MI, which has report-
edly been equipped with surveillance
equipment. Who the targets were and
for what purpose, is still not clear.”
On September 20, 2012, The Indian
Express reported that the Army had
appointed Lt Gen Vinod Bhatia to
head a panel that would review the
functioning and efficacy of the TSD
that had gained notoriety following
several allegations of irregularities.
On September 20, 2013, the same
newspaper published a front-page
banner headlined story, “Unit set up
by VK Singh used secret funds to try
and topple J&K government, block
Bikram Singh: Army probe”, claim-
ing to be a leak of a ‘Top Secret’ Army
‘Board of Officers inquiry’ report on
the working of the TSD. Even the
knowledge of the existence of the TSD
can help the nation's enemies and
subvert the security of the country.
T
he Indian Express made a
blatantly false allegation that
the Army had paid money to
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) politi-
cians to overthrow the elected gov-
ernment of the State. The intention
was to promote enmity between
officers and soldiers of the Indian
Army serving in J&K and the govern-
ment/people of that State, thereby
causing disturbance to harmony and
national integration.
PickingupfromTheIndianExpress
leak on the TSD, on September 24,
2013, The Hindu published a news
story titled, "VK Singh counters
charges, admits ‘pro-India NGOs’
were funded". This story inserted a
blatantly false claim that ‘the pan-
chayat elections of 2011 was a major
achievement of the TSD’, a statement
which the General never made. What
is more, the editor of The Hindu went
into overdrive, got a story generated
from the J&K bureau chief and pub-
lished it on the newspaper’s front
page on September 25, 2013, stating
that “an extremely serious apprehen-
sion of militant attacks on more than
33,000 panches and sarpanches had
arisen because General VK Singh had
completely discredited and maligned
the panchayat elections of 2011.”
The General moved an applica-
tion under the Right to Information
Act, 2005, before the Ministry of
Defence, asking for a copy of the said
report of the Board of Officers and the
details of the action taken in the wake
of the same. While the same Report
PHOTODIVISION
In the eye of the storm: Former Army Chief General VK Singh

GOVERNANCE
security propaganda
www.gfilesindia.com
was freely floating among the select
media, MoD informed him that the
information so sought under the RTI
Act could not be provided as it was
classified as secret under Section 8 (i)
of the RTI Act!
Earlier, in March 2012, someone in
the government deliberately leaked a
top secret letter from the COAS to the
Prime Minister, stating, “the Army's
tanks have run out of ammunition,
the air defence is as good as obso-
lete and the infantry is short of criti-
cal weapons”. This leakage has been
reportedly traced to an official in
the Cabinet Secretariat and nothing
is known as to what action has been
taken in this regard so far.
The charges detailed above deal
with very serious crimes of: promot-
ing enmity between people of India,
officers and soldiers of the Indian
Army serving in J&K and the people
of that State; causing disturbance to
harmony and national integration;
deliberately compromising the safety
of the soldiers fighting on the borders
and security of the citizens; abetting
mutiny by an officer and soldier in the
Army and attempting to seduce any
such officer and soldier from his alle-
giance, or his duty; wilfully disclosing
top secret documents, thereby threat-
ening the sovereignty and integrity
of India and the security of the State;
deeply impacting the fighting capa-
bility and effectiveness of the Armed
Forces in protecting citizens and safe-
guarding the nation’s security, integ-
rity and sovereignty and causing seri-
ous prejudice to the defence of India
and the security of the State.
I
N his complaint, the General cat-
egorically states that these serious
offences have been committed due
to abetment and conspiracy indulged
in by civil and military officials (past
and present) in the PMO, MoD, Army
Headquarters and some prominent
media personalities. According to
him, only thorough investigation
would bring out the truth about
who these persons are and what is
their motive for indulging in activi-
ties aimed at destabilising India and
endangering its citizens.
The General is so sure of his facts
that in a recent interview with an
online daily, www.thenewsminute.
com, he said: “What we are dealing
with here is nothing short of treason.
Surely, it must be investigated. You
find something against me, I'll take it
on the chest. But if these people are
guilty, as they most certainly are, why
are you shying away from taking any
action? I think, in most parts of the
world treason is perhaps one of the
most heinous of crimes.”
The Ministry of Home Affairs
(MHA) maintained a stoic and death-
ly silence. The General, therefore,
sent out a reminder on December 9,
2013. In this, he drew attention to a
letter written by former Naval Chief
A report claimed that secret funds in J&K
were used to block Bikram Singh (left)
PIB

Admiral L Ramdas, along with senior
civilian and military officials, on June
19, 2012, to the Prime Minister and
the Defence Minister, raising similar
issues and seeking a Commission of
Inquiry. Despite this reminder, the
MHA remained deaf and dumb till the
General, through his advocate, sent a
legal notice to Sushil Kumar Shinde to
show cause as to why criminal action
may not be initiated against him for
his failure to act on the complaint
regarding grave offences of sedition,
treason and violation of the Official
Secrets Act by certain individuals as
well as dereliction of duty in such a
serious matter that has direct impli-
cations on India’s national security.
T
HE MHA panicked. All they
did was to send the General’s
complaint with backdated
forwarding letters marked ‘secret’
to the Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting and the Ministry of
Defence for ‘appropriate action’.
There was yet another attempted
act of treason blocked by proactive
counteraction by the veteran com-
munity led by General VK Singh
and Lt General Prakash Katoch.
This pertained to the Ottawa-based
Atlantic Council, alleged to have links
with Pakistan’s ISI, announcing in
September 2012 the signing of an
agreement to demilitarise the Siachen
heights as part of confidence-building
measuresbetweenIndiaandPakistan.
This agreement was negotiated by a
22-member India-Pakistan Track II
team, headed on the Indian side by
former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi,
in its various meetings in Bangkok,
Dubai, US and, finally, Lahore. This
was despite the clear stand adopted
by the Army, MoD and the Ministry of
External Affairs against the glacier's
‘demilitarisation’ that has huge strate-
gic value for India. The key facilitator
in this act was a former Army colonel,
now a freelance blogger-cum-col-
umnist, who worked closely with the
PMO to consummate the agreement!
Corruption and treason are the
worst forms of threat to national
security that have caused countries
and governments to crumble and
fall asunder. When both go hand-in-
hand, it is the deadliest of combina-
tions that could destroy any nation
or people. Are we sure this com-
bine is not in place in India? The big
question is, can the country hold? If
so, for how long? g
The writer is a former Army and IAS
officer. Email: deva1940@gmail.com
In the virtual police State
that we are, low-level
functionaries, at the behest
of fascist-type leaders and
crony vested interests,
misuse the provision of
national security
indiscriminately to
suppress genuine dissent
and protests
The three defence chiefs with Defence
Minister AK Antony
UNI

GOVERNANCE
growth ashwani lohani
Making an
organisation tick
The operating ratio of an organisation is the single most
important pointer of excellence
O
RGANISATIONAL excellence
is the need of the hour, and
I wonder what excellence in
organisations is really all about.
Perhaps it is about achieving the
optimum blend of profitability, pro-
ductivity, operating ratio, work cul-
ture, employee and customer satisfac-
tion, ethical values, environment and
corporate social responsibility. Or
maybe much more. I am not an expert
on this subject. Yet, if I am asked to
lay a finger on the one single index
that can be a pointer towards organi-
sational excellence, it has to be the
operating ratio of the organisation.
My first visit overseas was an eye-
opener. It brought me down to earth
and that did me a lot of good in ensu-
ing years. I would, therefore, like to
relate two or perhaps three incidents
that really made me appreciate that
there are no rich and poor nations
but only productive and unproductive
ones. My second visit overseas to the
land of the rising sun, Japan, and then
to England opened my eyes.
By then, I was almost convinced
that the road to prosperity goes via
deliverance. What is needed in our
country is a quantum jump in deliv-
erance—cutting across sectors and
states. Since then, the Hindu rate of
growth failed to impress me for that
would keep the nation relatively at the
same place. Why can’t we aspire for
growth rates in excess of 25 per cent
per annum, especially in the case of
commercial organisations? Perhaps

Firm adherence to ethics,
value systems and genuine
concern for the employees
is what really differentiates
excellent firms from the
routine. This is far more
important than merely
chasing production or
revenues and is not yet
apparent to many of the
corporate, especially those
from the sarkari sector!
therein lies the difference between
capabilities of managers and leaders.
We need to cultivate leaders rath-
er than merely focusing on impart-
ing managerial skills. One defini-
tion of leadership is that it is the art
of achieving many times more than
what the science of management says
is possible. This is one singular trait,
the trailblazing results of which have
been amply witnessed in the cases of
Gandhi from India, Lee Kuan Yew of
Singapore and Mahathir Mohammad
of Malaysia, to name a few.
Leadership is the issue. It is a lot
about believing in yourself even when
none believe in you. It is also about
being more committed to speaking
the truth than seeking the approval
of others; besides, it encompasses all
core managerial and human values.
Now let us look at success. We
all aspire to be successful, yet what
is success all about? It is important
not to measure personal success and
sense of well-being through mate-
rial possessions. Success is not about
what you create for yourself, it is what
you leave behind. Success is the abil-
ity to rise above discomfort, whatever
may be the current state. You can, if
you want, raise your consciousness
above your immediate surroundings.
Success is about vision. It is the
ability to rise above the immediacy
of pain. It is about imagination. It is
about sensitivity to small people. It is
about building inclusion. It is about
connecting to a larger world existence.
It is about personal tenacity. It
is about giving back more to life
than you take out of it. It is about
creating extraordinary success with
ordinary lives.
If wealth gave happiness and
satisfaction, then Mukesh Ambani
should be the happiest person in the
country and if power and position
gave that, then the Prime Minister
should be; yet that is not the case.
There is something else within us that
is the true fountainhead of happiness
and satisfaction. The sooner in life we
understand this simple philosophy,
the better it is.
A
T Patratu in Jharkhand, I
started appreciating the real
value of human resources. The
combined strength of over a thousand
men working in unison delivered
much more than what even the best of
my predecessors expected of the team.
That the men in return expected nei-
ther enhanced wages nor promotions
nor rewards, but genuineness on the
part of management was a realisa-
tion that dawned on me at Patratu
and continued during my next stint
at the Diesel Locomotive Works at
Varanasi. I also realised that unions
are an essential part of any enterprise
with a substantial workforce, yet they
merely thrive on the incompetency
or non-genuineness of primarily the
apex management.
Slowly, with the passage of time,
it dawned on me that whether it is a
parchun ki dukaan, a big corporate or
a nation, it is the top guy who really
matters and everything else is merely
a symptom. Yet how wrong most of
us really are in always attempting to
The renovated New Delhi Railway Station drew applause even from the CAG

GOVERNANCE
tackle the symptoms? Thankfully, our
family doctors are not like us—they
rightly attack the disease!
Tackling the 3 Ms in a defined time-
frame to achieve the desired objective
is at the core of the philosophy of man-
agement. Yet, in the complex maze
of organisations that we live in, we
invariably fail to appreciate that the
“will” to achieve is on a much higher
planethanthehowsandthewhys.The
regular engagement in the hows and
whys of things, therefore, amazes me
no end. There are examples galore of
the tremendous success achieved by
nations and organisations, inspired
merely by the sheer willpower of the
leader. The meteoric rise of Germany
in the 1930s and then again after
total demolition in the Second World
War is a vivid example of willpower. I
often wonder what would have hap-
pened if we Indians were left in the
lurch in 1945 as the Germans were—
we would still be begging the devel-
oped world, the World Bank and the
IMF for dole. What we would have
done with the dole is another matter.
National catastrophes like cyclones,
earthquakes and what Uttarakhand
recently went through have started
emerging as occasions for the rulers
to make hay while the sun shines.
Unfortunate, yet true! How deep is
the abyss, I wonder?
A few days back, one of my younger
colleagues asked me how to differen-
tiate between a good and a bad post-
ing. My reply was that a posting con-
ventionally regarded as good by the
masses is bad and vice versa—provid-
ed, of course, that power and money
are not the aim and making a differ-
ence is. After all, who said that the US
has potential or Germany has poten-
tial? It is India that is still accumulat-
ing potential in almost every sphere
of activities. Potential is indeed a
dirty word and generally postings
regarded as bad, possess tonnes of
untapped potential.
T
ACKLING the tourism major,
the India Tourism Development
Corporation, and that too dur-
ing an era when the nation was
going through the motions of selling
the family silver, was an interesting
assignment. It was no cakewalk. It
was beleaguered on all sides, heavily
loss-making and a corrupt organisa-
tion. With my not belonging to the
elite service of the nation, the ad hoc
appointment and the disinvestment
ministry breathing down our throats,
even paying salaries to staff was a
challenge. And then came 9/11 as the
icing on the cake! Yet Hotel Ashok, the
flagship and the conscience-keeper of
the corporation, posted the biggest
hotel turnaround of those times—its
turnover grew by almost 60 per cent
in the year when the hotel industry
worldwide plummeted. This turna-
round gave jitters to the powers-
that-be and was mainly fuelled by
two components—the turnaround
decision taken by the apex man-
agement and the absolute commit-
ment of the staff in ensuring the
success of the effort that followed.
Innovative and bold promotional
campaigns gave MP Tourism new life

Firm adherence to ethics, value sys-
tems and genuine concern for employ-
ees are what really differentiate excel-
lent firms from the routine. Clamping
down on corrupt practices, imbibing
value systems and providing genuine
leadership to the men, therefore, has
to be the fundamental focus area of
the top guy. This is far more impor-
tant than merely chasing production
or revenues and is not yet apparent
to many of the corporates, especially
those from the sarkari sector!
In the sarkari domain, most of
us are often at a loss to decide from
where to start, and therefore there
are umpteen sad stories of confining
ourselves to planning and PowerPoint
presentations that paint a rosy future
yet fail to impress. Grandiose futures
emerging from dingy rooms occupied
by demoralised employees are just
not acceptable. Therefore, in all my
postings, I literally begin with a clean-
up drive. I cannot visualise a bubbly
enterprise in the absence of smart
offices, units and workplaces. The
men have to start feeling the change
and that is what started happening
at the dingy headquarters of Madhya
Pradesh Tourism in 2004 and contin-
In all my postings, I literally
begin with a clean-up drive.
I cannot visualise a bubbly
enterprise in the absence of
smart offices, units and
workplaces. The men have
to start feeling the change
and that is what started
happening at the dingy
headquarters of Madhya
Pradesh Tourism in 2004
and continued to happen for
the next five years
ued to happen for the next five years.
The organisation turned around in
the very first year and the turnover
rose so fast that the profits at the end
of five years were almost double the
turnoveratthebeginning.Meanwhile,
rapid strides in infrastructural devel-
opment, innovative and bold promo-
tional campaigns and making things
easy for private sector entry propelled
the State to the forefront of tourism
in the country—an achievement cel-
ebrated by a number of recognitions
in the form of national awards.
While managerial excellence
played a major role, the almost ver-
tical growth was made possible by
inculcating ethical values, rooting out
corruption and genuine concern for
the men of the corporation.
W
HAT, however, took me by
surprise was the tremen-
dous positive response of
the railway staff in the Delhi division
of Indian Railways. Infrastructural
development works that normally
take decades were completed in
record time and at such low costs
that even the CAG profusely compli-
mented the renovation work at New
Delhi Station in its audit report of the
CWG Games. Here again, a transpar-
ent environment, genuine concern for
the men, quick decision-making and
regular emphasis on value systems
played a major role.
All great performances appear
smooth, be it Geet Sethi playing bil-
liards or Sachin Tendulkar scoring
centuries, and all bad performances
give an impression of tremendous
activity. The test is that if an organisa-
tion and its constituents appear to be
at peace with themselves, it is almost
always certain that it is on the road to
achieving excellence.
Leaders clearly differentiate
between remaining busy and deliv-
ering. They also quickly separate
the grain from the chaff. For them,
achieving organisational excellence
is simple, though it often appears
impossible. It only requires the
will, commitment, genuineness and
integrity on the part of the manage-
ment. Once the decision to achieve
excellence is taken, the next step
is to put life and soul into achieving
the objective. g
The author is CAO, Indian Railways
Organisation for Alternate Fuels
Delhi’s Hotel Ashok posted profits after 9/11 in a remarkable turnaround

GOVERNANCE

FIRST STIRRINGS
shovana narayan
‘You’ve gotta dance like
there’s nobody watching’
by SHAILAJA CHANDRA
F
INDING an unusual retired
woman civil servant proved to be
a challenge. Some have achieved
high visibility but I needed a compel-
ling story, not a list of achievements.
And then the name of Kathak maestro
Shovana Narayan, recipient of Padma
Shri (1992) and until 2011 a full-time
member of the Indian Audit and
Accounts Service, came to mind! And
the cherry on my story would be her
marriagetoHerbertTraxl,anAustrian
diplomat. To have fulfilled three pur-
suits–dancer, officer and diplomat’s
wife–concurrently, and without a
crinkle of controversy, would certain-
ly make an unusual story.
The questions were obvious: What
led her to dance and what drove her to
excel? How difficult was it to manage
two professional careers as a classical
dancer and as a member of the
Indian Audit and Accounts Service?
Did marriage and long periods
of separation affect the couple’s
relationship?
Shovana calls herself a “plodder”
and attributes her success to two
factors—hard work and determina-
tion. Looking at her family back-
ground, that may not be entirely true.
Although she may not have been born
with a silver spoon in her mouth, she
certainly had bells on her toes before,
as a toddler, she got shoes!
Shovana was greatly influenced by
her mother and the atmosphere in
which she grew up. She belonged to
an enlightened Bihari zamindar fam-
ily where two influences were at work.

before, she sensed that the audience
was getting restive. It was a desperate
moment for her and one that needed a
quick response. In that moment, beset
with forebodings about what loomed
ahead as a maiden failure, she learnt a
universal truth: every performing
artiste must inevitably discover the
untaught technique of stagecraft—
and quite literally dance to the tune of
those who care to listen and watch. It
became the turning point of her inde-
pendent dancing career as she whirled
round and round, faster and faster,
pirouetting to a perfect finish and a
resounding applause.
Shovana’s reputation as a gifted
danseuse soared from then on. But
it was her first tour abroad which
actually catapulted her into the inter-
national limelight. Performing the
role of Kapalkundala, the whirlwind
female fiend of mythology, she bared
her teeth and spread her nails remi-
niscent of eagle claws before whirling
herself frenziedly across the stage.
There was tumultuous applause as the
curtain came down. On her return to
Delhi,thedoorsofRashtrapatiBhavan
were opened for the first time—the
On the one hand, mehfils and kavi-
sammelans were a constant feature in
the household. On the other, a strong
sense of nationalism was infused
in the older generation. Shovana’s
maternal grandfather, Bapu Shyama
Charan, and two of her uncles lost
their lives in the freedom struggle.
Her grandfather was the first Indian
to be jailed as a part of the national-
ist movement in Bihar. Her mother
was a close associate of Indira Gandhi
and connected with the All India
Congress Committee.
When Shovana had hardly started
towalk,hermother—herselfaproduct
of the Benares Hindu University and
a music-lover—took her to Sadhona
Bose, a prominent dancer-actress of
the 1950s. Shovana’s initiation into
dancing began right then, when the
diva held her tiny feet and thumped
them to the reverberation of ta thai
that tat—sounds that were destined
to resonate in Shovana’s ears for the
rest of her life. A 1957 black-and-
white photograph shows six-year-old
Shovana with her little chest bearing
an array of medals and an even larger
shield alongside.
The government house in Bharti
Nagar where her parents lived was
visited by famous singers and musi-
cians, including Bhimsen Joshi and
Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Once she was
a little older, Shovana’s mother took
her to the Sangeet Natak Academy
and the Bharatiya Kala Kendra for
coaching. It was here that the young
girl was initiated as a pupil of Birju
Maharaj, who accepted his new pupil
but did not appear impressed by her
studious looks. She was handed over
to a senior student who took her under
his charge. But even Birju Maharaj
could not ignore the girl’s persistence
and doggedness. Reluctantly at first,
Birjuji became aware of his pupil. The
rehearsals were gruelling and became
more and more demanding as time
went by.
Even as this tutelage continued,
Shovana pursued her education.
Her good performance in science led
her to join Physics Honours at Delhi
University. Hardly a winning combi-
nation for a dancer, but Shovana was
made of sterner stuff. With a Physics
Masters under her belt, she secured
a CSIR junior research fellowship for
solid-state physics, a pursuit which
could not be further removed from
classical dance!
A
S Shovana started accompany-
ing Birju Maharaj onstage, it
gave her extraordinary expo-
sure and high visibility; but a dancer
does not emerge into her own until
she can command a solo performance
accompanied by her own musicians.
The first such opportunity arose in
1971 at the Shanmukhananda Hall in
Bombay. It was there that she got a
chance to test her talent for connect-
ing with the audience and to face the
distinction between the theory and
practice of dance. As she performed
what she had rehearsed so many times
Receiving the Padma Shri from President R Venkataraman in 1992

FIRST STIRRINGS
shovana narayan
ultimate State recognition. Thereon,
her audience comprised visiting
heads of State and foreign dig-
nitaries—Prince Charles, Lord
Mountbatten, President Kenneth
Kaunda and President Jimmy Carter.
Later, in 1982, at Moscow she danced
before Indira Gandhi and President
Brezhnev. It was here that an infatu-
ated guest broke the security cordon,
simply to shower flowers at her feet.
Meanwhile, in 1975, Shovana had
appeared for the civil services and
had been selected for the Indian
Audit and Accounts Services. She
proudly recounts how at certain stag-
es of her official career, particularly
in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, she
handled double and triple charges to
cushion an acute shortage of officers.
Throughout a 35-year-long career and
thanks to the advice of the doyenne
of culture, Kapila Vatsayan, Shovana
scrupulously avoided postings which
had anything to do with the world of
culture. Even so, combining official
life with Kathak was like performing a
trapeze act day after day. While work-
ing hours could be devoted to office,
rehearsals and performances had
perforce to be fitted into the early
mornings and evenings.
S
HOVANA realised early enough
that she had to be scrupulously
punctual as the slightest laxity
could jeopardise her dancing career.
The prevailing mindset expected
24-hour commitment from an officer
and hobbies and extra-curricular
pursuits of a serious kind were
considered a waste of time. The only
way to sustain her dancing schedules
was to lead a double life and do it
as quietly as possible. Shovana left
office on time and drove directly to
the auditorium every day—her
costume, accessories, ghungroos and
musical instruments crammed into
the back seat.
Despitefollowingagruellingsched-
ule, it was abundantly clear that she
would not be taken seriously either
as a civil servant or a classical danc-
er, if one world heard of the other.
While she crossed the career hoops
on schedule, this was often attrib-
uted to her prominence as a dancer.
Cultural organisations considered
non-khandani artistes as interlopers
and her other role as a stodgy bureau-
crat would not have endeared her
to them. Shovana, therefore, had to
maintain discretion by never reveal-
ing one world to the other. To add to
her chagrin, her success as a dancer
was often attributed to her European
diplomat husband, who was credited
with opening doors for his wife! That
he lived thousands of miles away from
India and had his own career to pur-
sue never stopped tongues wagging.
Indeed, her marriage to Traxl, an
Austrian diplomat, is a story in itself.
In 1979, a fortune-teller predicted that
she would soon be marrying a non-
Indian. That December, Shovana met
Herbert. What followed was a long-
distance courtship and the dilemma
of deciding whether to give up the civil
service, her dancing career, her family
life in Delhi and follow her Austrian
husband-to-be around the world. As
she puts it, it was Herbert’s sincerity
and goodness that vanquished all her
doubts and they got married in 1982.
Bhupinder Prasad, Shovana’s batch-
mate who registered the marriage,
recalled the various wedding ceremo-
Shovana married Herbert Traxl in 1982

nies and also recounted a rather trag-
ic story and the courage her dancer
friend had shown. Shovana’s father
had been killed in a railway accident
and it was left to the eldest daughter
to single-handedly unearth his man-
gled body from a mass of corpses.
On the few occasions that Shovana
lived with her husband in Europe,
she did manage to get a ringside view
of Western music and dance. This
enabled her to start collaborations,
which culminated in an extraordinary
repertoire of fusion dance that
blended Kathak with Western
ballet, the Spanish flamenco and the
American tap dance.
No story would be complete with-
out a word from Shovana’s husband.
I skyped Ambassador Traxl in Vienna
and asked him how he fell in love with
Shovana. He laughed and told me:
“Initially I was intrigued by Shovana’s
rare talent for dancing, combined
with the career of a senior civil serv-
ant. What puzzled me even more was
that she had a Masters in Physics
which made her a unique combina-
tion of science, art and civil service.
I got to know and admire her more
and more, but one thing was clear:
Shovana needed her environment in
Delhi. If I uprooted her, I would be
taking away what made her happy. So
we decided to live as we have done. A
strong relationship does not depend
on physical proximity, it needs trust
and understanding.”
I
N 1992, Shovana was awarded the
Padma Shri for her contribution to
dance. Her regret was that her
mother who had given her all the
opportunities to excel was by then no
more. She missed her mother’s pres-
ence at the ceremony and the emo-
tional upheaval she experienced
engulfed her once more when she
received the Sangeet Natak Academy
Award a few years later.
All through their courtship and
marriedlifeandaslongastheypursued
individual careers, Shovana and
Herbert lived on different continents.
They bridged the gap by exchanging
audio cassettes with each day’s highs
and lows, long before Skype became
a reality. A five-year posting which
brought Herbert as Ambassador
to India was a reward for having
lived separately for years. Shovana
gives full marks to her husband for
what she calls his “ego-less friction-
less self” without which her marriage
and dancing career would have
been on the rocks.
Throughout a 35-year-long
career and thanks to the
advice of the doyenne of
culture, Kapila Vatsayan,
Shovana scrupulously
avoided postings which
had anything to do with
the world of culture. Even
so, combining official life
with Kathak was like
performing a trapeze act
day after day The proud mother: Shovana with son Ishan

FIRST STIRRINGS
shovana narayan
Their time together was not with-
out lighter moments. On a visit to
Mauritius, Herbert was met on the
tarmac by an official from the Protocol
Department of the Foreign Ministry.
Shovana followed her European
ambassador husband, clad in a sari.
When the officer noticed Shovana
tagging along, he asked her to go back
and join others in the arrival hall.
It was only then that the Austrian
Ambassador informed him, “That’s
my wife.” “Are you sure, Sir?” was the
response!
A
S Shovana puts it, to be married
to a diplomat was like being
married to a gypsy. Her hus-
band had selected postings as near
Delhi as possible, which gave the
choice of Ethiopia, Madagascar,
Mauritius, South Yemen, Djibouti
(Iran) and Thailand, with accredita-
tion to Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.
Two years after they were married,
Shovana became pregnant, which pre-
sented a new dilemma—in the world
of dance there is great insecurity and
anabsencetohandlematernalrespon-
sibilities could have grounded her
dancing career, making a comeback
far from easy.
Shovana continued to dance till
the end of the fifth month when the
bulge began to show. Forebodings
about abnormalities kept gnawing at
her, but no gynaecologist would cer-
tify anything. When she was 34 years
old, she gave birth to a boy, who grew
up sharing nine months of the year
with his mother and three months
alternating between his Indian and
Austrian grandmothers.
As the years passed, complex ques-
tions arose: Which language should
the boy speak in? Where should he be
brought up? Where should his school-
ing take place? The solution left the
little boy in Vienna with a grand-
mother and two aunts and an Indian
maid servant’s son, Chotu, 13 years
older than him, as a playmate. What
longing and yearning must have vis-
ited mother, father and child can only
be imagined. I spoke to Ishan, now
28, with two Masters in Economics
and Law under his belt. I asked him
whether he felt the pangs of separa-
tion and whether he hated the pity
that must come his way. His answer
was measured, but cool: “By the age
of 8, I understood very well why my
parents stayed in different countries.
Once I knew the reason, I accepted
it and never felt sorry for myself. No
one in Vienna ever pitied me; they
were interested in how I was doing,
nothing more.”
In the 1990s, what had sounded
like a charmed life, suddenly changed.
Shovana noticed that her face was get-
ting very dark and had begun to peel,
even bleed. The condition spread to
theneckanddespiteundergoingevery
conceivable medical treatment, noth-
ing worked. It just got worse. Around
the same time, Shovana also suffered
a hairline fracture, tedious for anyone
but critical for a dancer. And then
the final blow came in 2000, when
she awoke with the loss of peripheral
vision in both eyes, akin to wearing
blinkers all the time. At a functional
level, her condition forced a depend-
ency on drivers. Far worse than that,
Shovana was destined to hide behind
layers of make-up to conceal the dis-
colouration. Remarks about her heav-
ily powdered face were hurtful and
continue even today.
Reba Som, a music academic and a
friend of Shovana’s, told me:
“What Shovana has been through
could have sent her into despair
and depression. It could have
ended her dancing career, to say
the least. But the way she has faced
up shows her detachment from her
outward beauty while her attach-
ment to dance continues. It is a
blessing of sadhana. Whenever
I think of Shovana, I think of her
brilliant smile. It is not a façade
behind which she hides. Behind
that smile, there is enormous depth
that enables her to talk easily about
her situation with no rancour or
self-pity. It is remarkable.”
The last five years of a 35-year-long
careerinthecivilservicegaveShovana
the opportunity she needed before
retirement—association with the
organisation of the Commonwealth
Games as Special Director General,
directly involved with the delivery of
the opening and closing ceremonies.
Indeed, the life of this unusual
woman can be summed up with a
memorable quote:
“You’ve gotta dance like there’s
nobody watching,
Love like you’ll never be hurt,
Sing like there’s nobody listening,
And live like it’s heaven on earth.”
g
More stories written by Shailaja Chandra
at over2shailaja@wordpress.com
In 1992, Shovana was
awarded the Padma Shri
for her contribution to
dance. Her regret was that
her mother who had given
her all the opportunities to
excel was by then no more.
She missed her mother’s
presence at the ceremony
and the emotional
upheaval she experienced
engulfed her once more
when she received the
Sangeet Natak Academy
Award a few years later

INITIATIVE
workplace dalip singh
Y
OU may not be able to choose
many of the events in your life,
but you can choose how to react
to them. You are responsible for your
thoughts, emotions and consequen-
tial actions. Your emotional response,
as is generally believed, is not your
destiny but your own conscious deci-
sion. How you use your emotions to
tackle day-to-day problems is what
reflects the amount of EQ you have.
Since EQ is important, it is necessary
to know the consequences of having a
low or high EQ.
Consequence of high EQ is
the feeling of general happiness.
When you have a high EQ, you are
more likely to recognise the source
of your emotions, and have the con-
fidence to take appropriate actions,
thus increasing long-term happiness.
You will set your own standards by
closely examining your own values
and beliefs. You will lead your life
according to your own terms, rather
than be governed by society’s norms.
Finally, the higher your EQ, the more
you will assume responsibility for
your own happiness, and depend
less on society. Research on EQ has
Consequences of high
and low EQ
revealed that people high on EQ are
happier, healthier and more success-
ful in their relationships. They strike
a balance between emotion and rea-
son, are aware of their own feelings,
are empathetic and compassionate
towards others and also show signs of
high self-esteem.
Consequence of low EQ is the
feeling of general unhappiness. If
what you can’t deal with upsets you
easily, and if you are uncomfortable
with yourself, you need to check your
EQ. The benefits of being aware of
how you feel from an interpersonal
point of view will not be available to
you if your EQ is on the lower side.
You may not be able to choose a friend
who is best suited to you because you
are not aware of your own inner emo-
tions. If your EQ is not high, it is likely
that you will choose a friend who is
not well suited to you. You may even
choose as friend a person who makes
logical sense but who just cannot
make you feel ‘good’. The cost of this
may be very high. Eventually, you may
find excuses to end such a friendship.
We may conclude by saying that
emotional intelligence is the capacity
to create positive outcomes in your
relationships with others and with
yourself. Positive outcomes include
joy, optimism, and success in work,
school, and life. Increasing emotional
intelligence (EQ) has been corre-
lated with better results in leader-
ship, sales, academic performance,
marriage, friendships, and health.
Learning some emotional skills such
as expressing emotions, identifying
and labelling emotions, assessing
the intensity of emotions, manag-
ing emotions, delaying gratification,
controlling impulses, reducing stress
and knowing the difference between
emotions and actions can make you a
star performer. g
Dr Dalip Singh, a 1982-batch IAS officer of
the Haryana cadre, has a PhD in psychol-
ogy from the University of Delhi.
He can be contacted at www.eqindia.com
TABLE: Consequences of Levels of EQ
LOW EQ HIGH EQ
Unhappiness Failure Happiness Satisfaction
Frustration Dejection Elation Contentment
Emptiness Anger Peace Freedom
Bitterness Dependence Awareness Appreciation
Depression Loneliness Acceptance Motivation
Instability Stress Comfort Desire
Low self-esteem Fragile ego High self-esteem Balanced ego

gfiles April 2014

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