Lack of Maharashtra IAS officers in Delhi hurting state’s interests – Times of India
MUMBAI: Maharashtra has a strong presence in the Union cabinet, but there is only one secretary-rank officer in the central bureaucracy. Sanjeevani Kutty, a 1983-batch IAS officer, is one of the secretaries in the Union home ministry headed by Rajnath Singh. Maharashtra leaders—Nitin Gadkari, Suresh Prabhu, Anant Gite, Prakash Jawdekar, Piyush Goyal and Hansraj Ahir—hold key posts in Delhi.
Recently, when there was a huge reshuffle in the bureaucracy, it was expected that some senior bureaucrats, who have been empanelled, will get an opportunity to serve at the Centre, but it appears that they have missed the bus. Some decades ago, veteran bureaucrats from Maharashtra held posts of cabinet secretary and headed the home, finance, energy and food production ministries. When the NDA government redrafted the norms for empanellment, many IAS officers were in the zone of consideration, but only four, including civic chief Ajoy Mehta and Aadhaar chief executive officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey were empanelled for appointment as secretary. Others were considered for appointment on equivalent posts. A former chief secretary said that due to lack of state bureaucrats in Delhi, Maharashtra does not benefit in decision-making.
Steel frame or steel cage?
The head of the state level task force for cultivators’ welfare Kishore Tiwari feared that the debt waiver may not succeed due to the “hostile approach” of bureaucrats. Tiwari said from a cursory glance over the government resolution, it appeared that many farmers have been excluded from the scheme. Tiwari said that at a juncture when the cabinet was in favour of the loan waiver, cooperation and finance departments’ bureaucrats inserted many conditions to defeat the purpose of the scheme. The CM declared that 36 lakh farmers will become debt free, but the rider is that they will have to clear the interest and only then they will be eligible for a fresh loan.
Many farmers are not in a position to pay interest as a result, they will not be eligible for fresh credit. While a uniform loan waiver scheme has been drafted for the entire state, the condition of farmers in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Puntamba in Ahmednagar, from where the agitation began, is different.
Disappearing act
It has more than six months now, the ACB is yet to restore a crucial page on its website. After Praveen Dixit took over the reins from Sanjeev Dayal, he brought about drastic changes in the ACB’s functioning. Dixit ensured that cases in which personnel had been trapped were put up on the website on the same day. One of the most important information that was available on the website was the present status of the open inquiry against public servants.
The disclosure included information on the date on which a proposal for open inquiry was submitted and the date on which the ACB was granted permission, the records included specific case details. Through the site, probes against Chhagan Bhujbal, Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare became public. Now the webpage has been removed.
