deobhoomidiary

Nameless Swan

Thanks to the protracted squabbling among some egotistical Babus, the  state’s former chief secretary N Ravishankar would not figure in the telephone directory to be  published by  the state information department later this month  or early next  month. The seasoned bureaucrat who was appointed CS in  the last quarter of 2014 retired  last month after  singing  his  swan song  of exonerating the  embattled state  government of the  taint  of the RTI-triggered 2013 disaster  scam. To  clear  the publication of the  long-awaited directory of the cobwebs of egotistic tussle, he  had constituted a two- member committee. Now, the committee has given its nod and  the information department has approved the dummy sheet of directory which  will be published  after incorporating  phenomenal changes. However, his name would be conspicuous by  its absence in the new-made  directory for whose publication he  played an instrumental role.

Cheap and palatable, yetIJ

Dehradun being deemed an as expensive  city, good news for the financially  less fortunate, courtesy   the  state government’s ingenious   Indira Amma Yojna,  set to be launched on August 15. You will get nutritious food- two Madua-made chapattis, Dal and sweet dishes made up of Jhangora, for Rs 20 per plate. Such food will be provided to the people at newly constructed MDDA shopping complex at Clock Tower, the bustling heart of the city.  If the response proves good the  same would be started in other parts of the state as well. The state government has embarked on it with three objectives in view- first, ensuring subsidized yet  nutritious  food  to  the unprivileged, second, ensuring market for the farmers’  produce and third, the visitors would be  acquainted  with the state’s  typical cuisines. However, the wise choose to keep their fingers crossed over the viability of such a scheme. Would it bleed the already cash-strapped exchequer whiteIJ  

Curtains-up efficiency

Seemingly edified by the predicament of the stung bureaucrat   Mohammad Shahid, a visibly scared secretary has removed curtains from the windows of his official chamber. It would help him to see whosoever is waiting outside, he felt. However, it would help those waiting outside to see whether  the officer is engaged in  work or he is idling away time. The silver  lining  of  the  sting-triggered transparency is the fact that with people being in position to see the officer at  work through the un-curtained  casements, the Babu would be forced to  be  extra  productive. This would raise efficiency if others follow him with the buzz running that the Babus spend much of time in unproductive babble.  However, the irony of the story is that the officer who has raised the curtains up is the one whose  departments  are always under the lens of everyone for  obvious reasons.