ZERO HOUR: Does PM really want Babu-mukt Governance?

Babus will do everything? Because they became IAS (officers), they’ll run fertiliser factories, because they are IAS, they will run chemical factories... even fly planes... What is this big power we have created?” PM Modi asked in Parliament, questioning the traditional wisdom of vesting all power in the hands of the bureaucracy. He had the last word as he was the last one to speak!

But at least one retired Babu wondered why the Prime Minister replaced the RBI Governor with an IAS officer. Aadhaar had Nandan Nilekani as chairman but why does it have an IAS officer occupying the position now? Why did the PM, when he was the Gujarat CM, appoint IAS officers to head fertilizer PSU?

Why, the PM has not found anyone more capable than an IAS officer to head the committee for the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya. The chairman of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India is also a Babu, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) is headed by a Babu as is the chairman of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Even the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) is an IAS officer. Why couldn’t the Prime Minister find an expert to head these bodies is the question!

Vaccine nationalism

With the hype of ‘the fourth highest vaccination in the world’, India, which started vaccination on January 16 this year, went on a bout of chest thumping. But the actual numbers on February 15 were sobering enough.

US: 52.8 million

China: 40.5 million

UK: 15.6 million

India: 8.4 million

India planned to vaccinate 250 million people with the first and the second dose by July. But in the first month, only 3.4% of them had received the first dose. Meeting the target in the next five and a half months appears to be a tall order.

Prickly headlines

While on vaccines, a headline in the Times of India tickled retired bureaucrat Avay Shukla to write in his blog, “…Now, one was aware that our journalism had descended to Mariana Trench depths in recent times, but this takes the lemon tart. The article refers, of course, to the vaccine wall being figuratively built by the government to protect its citizens, but the terrible pun is an error of phallic proportions. It is certainly not a printing error- one prick can be a printer’s devil, but two pricks has to be the editorial board! One has read of arm in arm friendship, hand in glove chicanery, ball by ball commentary, but a prick by prick wall is a first for me.”

“And finally, of course, there are all those questions about Vaccine Immunity: how long will the antibodies last? A friend of mine informs me that the only chaps who are not bothered about this are our judges: you see, they already have plenty of immunity-- from accountability, prosecution and criticism. Which is why it makes no sense for them to stop physical court hearings-- nothing can touch them, for if a virus were to attack them that would be ultra vires, wouldn’t it?”

Doval presents Doval trophy

The headline ‘Doval presents Doval trophy’ caused a lot of amusement, especially with the photograph of the National Security Advisor Ajit Doval handing over the trophy to men in army uniform. But no, the trophy was not named after the NSA. It was after his father, Major Gunanand Doval who had spent 36 years serving Bengal Sappers or the Bengal Engineer Group (BEG) at Roorkee, one of the oldest regimental centres in the Indian Army. Reports did not specify whether this was the inaugural year but since Doval Sr was apparently an avid hockey player, the trophy went to the winner of a hockey tournament.

Security drill in Srinagar?

When police trucks were parked just outside the gate, preventing vehicles from moving in or moving out of his house, former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah saw red. “This is the “naya/new J&K” after Aug 2019. We get locked up in our homes with no explanation. It’s bad enough they’ve locked my father (a sitting MP) & me in our home, they’ve locked my sister & her kids in their home as well. Chalo, your new model of democracy means that we are kept in our homes without explanation but on top of that the staff that work in the house aren’t being allowed in and then you are surprised that I’m still angry & bitter,” he tweeted last Sunday.

The Srinagar Police tweeted that all VIP movement had been stopped because of a threat perception. Abdullah was not satisfied. “Please tell me under which law you have detained me in my home today? You can advise me not to leave my house but you can’t force me to stay in, using security as an excuse,” he fumed.

Tailpiece

Trust author and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik to pull no punches. In one of his tweets, he says:

Sunni says: Shias are not Muslims.

Catholic says: Protestants are not Christians.

Thervadis say: Mahayanis are not Buddhists.

Hindutva says: Dissenters are not Hindus.

This is how religions destroy themselves...with politics.