1995-97: First posting in Delhi- I It was with reluctance, uncertainty and trepidation that I left Chennai for Delhi when Shri Santosh Nautiyal completed his tenure on 31st May 1995 and I had to join in his place. The shattering experience one of my batchmates in Tamilnadu had in Delhi during his posting as Under Secretary and the lasting impact it had on him ultimately leading to his premature death was weighing heavily in my mind. Moreover, it is always difficult to leave one’s family behind, however professional you are and however self sufficient your spouse is. My wife, by then a Reader in Chemistry, had the penchant for getting things done on her own and had done a remarkable job in bringing up our children as role models for children of colleagues, friends and relatives despite our periodical separation due to my career. Yet, a husband would like to believe that he is vitally needed to take care of his family. That is what male chaunism makes him believe in. He just cannot concede that the family can take of itself without his physical presence. I delayed my departure to Delhi by a week in the process. The post of Joint Secretary in Government of India is vitally important as all major policy issues originate at this level with the subordinate officers rendering a helping hand with materials and inputs necessary for policy making. A good Joint Secretary puts up most files directly to the Minister concerned, routing them through the Secretary only when major policy issues are involved. Most Parliamentary work is handled by the Joint Secretary on his own without involving the Secretary. There was, therefore, pressure on me to join in the Ministry of Steel at the earliest. I joined the Ministry on 5th June 1995. Though my posting was finalized when Mr Mooza Raza was the Secretary, he had retired by the time I joined and Mr J K Bagchee, a fine gentleman, belonging to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre had taken over from him. I had colleagues who had such reputation that it was difficult to believe that I was working with them. Mr Santosh Nautiyal whom I replaced is a wonderful person with pleasing personality and he ended his career as the Chairman, National Highways Authority of India. Most of the work of the Golden Quadrilateral and North-South and East-West Corridors were completed during his long tenure in the NHAI. People are not aware that these projects were the brainchild of Mr Vajpayee, a politician with vision and a fierce nationalist. He had taken a leaf out of Malaysian history, as the development of Malaysia was accelerated by the construction of a Highway of very high quality running from the North to the South of the country. When we were in Malaysia in 1997 we heard the legendary story of the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dr Thunk-ur- Rehman, visiting a farmer who was reluctant to part with his land for construction of the Highway and its completion hinged upon acquisition of his land. The farmer, pleased with playing host to the Prime Minister, finally agreed and the rest is history. Mr A K Basu, from West Bengal cadre, Mr Kipgen from the North East and Mr Jagdish Khattar, from UP, were the other Joint Secretaries though Mr Basu and Mr Khattar left after a few weeks. I learnt a lot from them during the brief period we were together. Mr Basu was instrumental in my joining under the Steel Ministry in 1992 and once when a colleague remarked in a farewell function that he could join the Ministry of Steel due to an act of the God, I said that I could do so because of an act of Mr Basu. He moved on promotion as Adviser in the Planning Commission in the rank of Additional Secretary initially and later became the Secretary, Ministry of Power and ended his career as the Chairman, Central Electricity Authority. Mr Khattar sought voluntary retirement on completion of tenure as Joint Secretary and joined Maruti-Suzuki as Executive Director, later becoming its Managing Director. Mr Prasad, from the Indian Railway Accounts Service and a friend of Mr Bagchee, was the Additional Secretary and Financial Adviser. The two of us thought and acted so much alike and were so comfortable with each other that many in the Ministry referred to us as ‘the gang’. The fact is that both of us were sincere and efficient in our work which we took very seriously. He left the Ministry in 1997 to become Member, Finance, Railway Board. Mr Anil Kumar, from the 1976 batch of the IAS, Nagaland cadre, was Director when I joined and was promoted as Joint Secretary in a few months and was a meticulous and hard working bureaucrat. He ended his career as the Secretary, Department of Indian Medicines, Ministry of Health. Mr Naresh Narad of Madhya Pradesh cadre joined as Joint Secretary a year after me and ended his career as the Chairman, Public Enterprise Selection Board. It became necessary that I worked competently and efficiently to be compared favourably with such colleagues and I set about it with vigour, backed by about 34 months of field work under the same Ministry. I was assigned the same work as my predecessor which included Iron ore Policy and Exports, overseeing the work of Development Commissioner for Iron and Steel, Joint Plant Committee which controlled thousands of crores of Steel Development Fund, National Mineral Development Corporation, Kudremukh Iron Ore Company, Sponge Iron India Ltd and MSTC, Duty and Tax related issues and General Section of the Ministry. I was also nominated as the Ministry’s representative Director on the Boards of NMDC, KIOCL and MSTC. MBA qualification and management skills honed by teaching in the University of Madras for three years came in handy in monitoring the performance of the PSUs and guiding them towards better performance. Board meetings of NMDC and KIOCL allowed me the luxury of visiting Hyderabad and Bangalore periodically and also spend the weekend with my family at least once in two months. A controversial decision of the Cabinet taken in the last week of May 1995 envisaged handing over Bailadila 11B Iron Ore Block, belonging to the NMDC, to the Ispat Group. The file was placed before me immediately after I took over and I advised the Desk Officer, who put up the file directly to me as the joining of the Director was awaited, to place the file after two days as I wanted to physically settle down before handling important matters. I was staying in the JPC Guest House which had only bare minimum facilities and after three years at home, it took a little time to get used to the living conditions and the rather ordinary food. I was called by the Secretary and advised to expedite issue of the Government Order for implementing the decision of the Cabinet. I went through the file and found that there was no bidding process for transfer of the Block to the private sector. It was one of the first tentative decisions of the Government to privatise and there was no policy governing such transfers. The terms were so one sided that there was a possibility that the interests of the NMDC were compromised. The then CMD and a few other officers of NMDC had unofficially given considerable information to the media which was just awaiting government orders to launch a campaign against the transfer. Some political parties were also waiting on the sidelines to capitalize on the issue. The Bailadila mines have iron ore of the highest quality in the world with over 65 to 67% or in excess of iron content. The 11B deposit had iron ore with iron content of around 67%. A time bomb was, therefore, ticking and waiting to explode which it did when we issued the Government Order in accordance with the Cabinet decision. The media, especially the Statesman, and one M.P. belonging to the CPI made it look as if it was my personal decision to privatise the deposit. The reading of the file and my knowledge of the Mines and Minerals (Regulation and Development) Act had convinced me that the terms of the transfer overlooked government’s and NMDC’s financial interests. However, in the absence of a policy which was yet to be evolved and under which dispensing with the bidding process could be termed improper, I did not find any illegality in the Cabinet decision, though the MMRD Act did provide for a recurring income to the NMDC as royalty which was not one of the terms of the transfer. The Act provided for such transfers though detailed procedures for such privatisation were lacking. I pointed out the omissions during discussions in the Ministry and with the CMD, NMDC, who was a shrewd person capable of pitting one against another for personal gains. After interacting with him, I realized that I had just sampled the nature of top PSU executives. He would get me on phone and use the speakers so that everyone around him could hear the conversation. He was friendly with the Ministers with whom he would have meetings in their bungalows but would make it appear that he was not on good terms with them. My views on privatisation of Bailadila 11B deposit reached the ears of the then Steel Minister. Mr. Santosh Mohan Deb, from Silchar, Assam, where his family has tradition of politics. I understand that his daughter has followed his footsteps in politics as he himself did earlier following his father’s footsteps. He called me to his chamber one day when I informed him of my views. He did not react to my views but said that we would continue our discussions later. The trade unions in NMDC were up in arms against the proposed transfer and the Steel Secretary wanted me to make the Board agree to the transfer. I politely pointed out to him that the Board’s consent should have been taken before moving the Cabinet for approval of the proposed transfer. The Statesman was publishing periodical stories on the transfer. It was baptism by fire as my very first posting in Delhi had a traumatic start. I had no problem otherwise in settling down in the Central Secretariat work as I had by then worked in Government of India, though in the field, for about seven years and for about three and a half years in the West Bengal Secretariat. The Parliamentary work was of no concern either for someone who was meticulous in his file work and had the habit of going through files of the past several years on different topics. Breach of privilege of the Parliament is the weapon used by parliamentarians either acting at the behest of the ministers or on their own to control “inconvenient” bureaucrats and if you are meticulous and do your home work you can handle them easily. Managing the General Administration work was even more easier as anything procedurally inappropriate was rejected outright and after some time the officers knew that I would throw out any proposal inconsistent with government rules and guidelines. But, the Bailadila issue was a nightmare as I had to work against my own conscience as I believed that a better deal for the Government and for the NMDC could have been found through a more transparent procedure; yet in view of the Cabinet decision, taken a few days before I joined, I had no other alternative but to implement it as a civil servant. While individual Minister’s decisions can be questioned on procedures and propriety, Cabinet decisions cannot be disputed y a civil servant as they are made by the highest policy making body in a democracy. The only alternative available in such cases is to quit service or revert to the parent cadre. For some time I contemplated seeking premature reversion to my parent cadre, viz., West Bengal, but desisted from doing so as it would have amounted to running away from problems. A villager never runs away from problems and I was a villager with confidence in himself, his efficiency and honesty. Mr S DM Deb, the Steel Minister, called me to his residence one afternoon for tea. Over tea he explained the policy of the Government on privatisation and that Bailadila deposit was a pioneering effort in privatisation. I told him that I respected Government policies and decisions but reiterated my views that privatisation of Bialadila deposit should have been used to get more revenue for the government and the NMDC. I explained to him also that the rank and file of NMDC was against privatisation of the deposit. He asked the Steel Secretary to join us and I reiterated my views in his presence. The Steel Secretary was then told that either he should control his Joint Secretary or should look for some other Ministry. The then Steel Secretary had some health problem which would not allow him to even hold a tea cup with one hand and started trembling. Then I told him and the Minister that I had given my frank views as any civil servant worth his salt would have, but they could rest assured that if there is a government decision I would implement it to the best of my ability as long as it was not blatantly illegal or unconstitutional. However, before the decision is taken, I would, as any civil servant should, place my views in writing in the file and also point out the best course of action as I felt that it was the role to be performed by a Joint Secretary. That appeared to be a workable and acceptable arrangement to them and that was my approach to work in the government till I retired in early March 2013. Thereafter, I would record my views in the file fearlessly and if the Minister did not agree with the decision proposed by me he would record justification for disagreeing with me and also record his decision. Mr Deb himself faced serious problems in handling the media, Parliament questions and Parliament debates on the Bailadila issue. He was diabetic and parliament debates would sometimes drag on for four to five hours and I sympathised with him when he had problems with his health. Surprisingly, no one would come to his help in the Parliament including the Prime Minister, Mr Narasimha Rao, who would maintain sphinx like silence with the characteristic pout in his lips. Once, apparently, he advised that the Steel Ministry should create another issue which would divert attention of the media and the opposition from the Bailadila issue. We were relieved whenever a Starred Question in the Parliament on the Bailadila issue did not come up for discussion in the Parliament. The Joint Secretary is required to be present in the Officers’ Gallery in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha as the case may be on such occasions and help the Minister by sending materials to him but it is the Minister who has to use them during the debate. More often than not, the material is sent for the officers’ satisfaction as the Ministers find it difficult to browse through them quickly and use the material appropriate for the occasion. The system of briefing the Ministers before the day on which such questions are to be handled by him are in vogue but not all Ministers are good students and not all of them do their own home work either. Many Ministers take more than one briefing on important questions or debates. I stayed in the JPC Guest House, despite its limited facilities, for about three and a half months. My wife and children visited me for a few days during June 1995 and I fainted while taking them around on a Sunday, an indication of things to come on my health front. The blood pressure problem diagnosed in 1985-86 had become worse and the sub-standard medicines supplied by the CGHS Dispensary did not help either. The quality of medicines is much better now in the CGHS Dispensaries. Tablets would crumble in the hand even before placing them in the mouth and in AIIMS one had to wade through hundreds of waiting patients before reaching the doctor with whom prior appointment had been fixed. There was so much work pressure that I had to work for six days a week and also carry papers home to work on Sundays. On Independence Day or Republic Day, in 1995, 1996 and 1997 we had to work till I left the Ministry. Ashok Bhardwaj, IRS, now retired after reaching the level of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, and Mr A K Jain, IRS, who was the Chief Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise, Ahmedabad when I last heard from him in 2010, lent able support to me as Director and Deputy Secretary respectively. Mr Bharadwaj was extremely intelligent and hard working and continued in the Ministry for three years after I left and Mr Jain, systematic in work, stayed for over a year. The PS to the Minister, an IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, offered on behalf of the Minister to get out of turn allotment of an apartment, a ploy normally used to win over the uncooperative officers, but I politely declined the offer saying that I would rather wait for my turn and continue to stay in the JPC Guest House till then. Those days there was ad-hocism in allotment of apartments even to senior officers and it was common knowledge that politicians in the Housing Ministry were promoting the system for obvious reasons. A set of officers had filed a PIL in the Delhi Court to streamline the system but, unfortunately, some of the petitioners themselves had a dubious reputation. Finally, the allotment came in September 1995 in Vinay Marg, Chanakyapuri. Location of the apartment was excellent but its maintenance was bad, to say the least. I shifted to the apartment in a few days after buying a cot and a few chairs. I had visited the United Kingdom during the period April – July 1991 to undergo a course on Management of Public Enterprise. The next opportunity to visit abroad came after I joined the Steel Ministry. The Minister was leading a small delegation to Austria and Italy to look for Foreign Direct Investment in the Steel sector in India and explore the possibilities of technical collaboration for import of technology. He desired that I should accompany him as I was looking after policy issues in the Ministry. I tried to wriggle out of it partly because of I did not relish the idea of being a part of a Ministerial delegation and partly because I had to invest about Rs 10000 in refurbishing my wardrobe for the visit. But, the Minister insisted on my accompanying him to make presentations on Government Policy on FDI and the state of Steel Sector in the country and I had to undertake the trip. We landed in Rome Airport and took another flight to Vienna, Austria, where according to our itinerary we had to stay for four days. I ran into an IPS officer, then working in an Indian Embassy, at the Rome Airport and called out to him. He came near me and whispered that his name outside the country was not the same as his natural name as he was working with an Intelligence Outfit. For the first time I realized how difficult it is to work in an intelligence outfit as you have to use an assumed name. The next nine days were a swirl with us constantly on the move, moving in and out of the meetings, lunches and dinners. When we landed in Vienna, it was snowing, my first experience with snow and it was bitterly cold. I had borrowed an overcoat from my colleague and was ready for the bitter winter of Europe. That evening we went sightseeing when it was still snowing and our escort advised us to wear light woollens. It was a wrong advice as we were taken to an unheated cave which served as a factory for assembling German Aircrafts and the temperature was in sub-zeros. That was only the third and last time in my life that I had hard liquor- Schnapps- gulping tow glasses of it down to keep myself warm. Austria had joined hands with Hitler during the Second World War to escape the devastation that the other European Countries had faced. Austrian soil was used by the Nazis to build factories and Concentration Camps. The Austrians are not proud of this part of their history but do not regret it either. We visited the site of an old Concentration Camp too, now stripped of the buildings in which abominable activities of genocide took place. Austrians are bilingual with equal facility in German and English. The movie “Sound of Music” brings out all these aspects of Austrian history and culture with great clarity. It was nice to see the Austrian Minister looking after the steel industry walking on the roads with no security at all and watching an Opera like anyone else. Of course, all that had to change in view of the assassination of the Swedish Prime Minister in a few months and the looming threat of global terrorism with no country escaping from its impact. September 11, 2001 changed things further and now security is given paramount importance in precedence over nearly everything. I was not and still am not used to dinners lasting well after midnight and getting up at 5 am in the morning for visits. With no exercise and rich food you had to eat in order not to displease your hosts, it was very difficult. Visits to steel plants where the current steel technology was evolved and perfected were enjoyable no doubt but they showed no tangible interest in investing in the steel sector in India. Transfer of expensive technology providing huge amounts of royalty to the technology provider was sought from the Austrian side for obvious reasons. The Visakapatnam Steel Plant of the RINL used licensed technology from one of these steel plants and there was a vigilance inquiry on the need for accessing technology at such cost. But I admired the stamina of Mr Deb, who was not fully fit, in coping with the pressures of a demanding tour. We left for Rome after four days to visit steel plants in Italy, especially Danielli, to reach which we had to take an early morning flight to Venice and travel for two hours by road from the Airport directly with no time to see the famous city. The Chairman of Danielli told us an interesting story about a young Indian who approached him a few years before our visit with his meagre savings of USD one million and wanted to buy an ailing steel plant belonging to Danielli in a South American country. The Chairman of Danielli was so impressed with the young man that he agreed to take a down payment of the money and hand over the plant to him with the assurance of payment of the balance amount later. The young man also wanted the permission of Danielli to use the star in their logo in the logo of his company which was agreed upon. The Indian is one of the richest living man in the world now and is none other than Lakhsmi Narayan Mittal who owns the Ispat Group. After seven days into the visit I was so tired that I took permission of the Minister to withdraw from the last leg of the tour which was to take us to Great Britain. I broke from the delegation at Milan where I could spend a few hours visiting the city’s art museums housing some of the most famous paintings of the master artists of the Renaissance period, including the Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci, and returned to Delhi via Rome. I never accompanied a Minister during his foreign visit again till 2004 turning down an offer to be a part of the delegation to visit Australia a few months later. My health continues to deteriorate though I did not allow it to adversely affect my official work. I could get considerable relief for the Steel sector, Salem Steel Plant, KIOCL, Ship breaking industry etc with well argued proposals for the 1996 budget drawing from my field experience during 1992-95. The PSUs I was looking after werenot happy though as for the first time detailed analysis of their physical and financial performance was made on monthly basis and formally communicated to them. There is also an elaborate mechanism for fixing of targets for the PSUs through the Department of Public Enterprise and achievable but difficult targets were insisted upon leading to unpleasantness. Nobody wants stiff targets though they can easily be achieved with a bit of effort. The PSUs keep very low targets for themselves with the cooperation of officials and achieve the soft targets easily earning ‘Excellent Rating’ which have no relevance to potential for performance. The entire system is faulty and is perpetuated with the so called experts in the Department of Public Enterprise, mostly retired senior civil servants and PSU Chiefs being willing parties.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 06:07:26 +0000