Namo’s Sojourn
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to holy shrines of Kedarnath and Badrinath may have rubbed the opposition Congress party in a wrong way for its leaders are weighing its political fallouts as the country is in midst of a crucial Lok Sabha battle.
Politics apart, no one should deny the deep devotion the PM has in his heart for these shrines. The effect of his unflinching faith on Lord Shiva is clearly visible in the renovation and reconstruction works at Kedarnath shrine.
One hopes that apart from paying his obeisance at the sanctum sanctorums of these holy shrines, Modi would be able to witness the progress of his pet project—all-weather road connecting the Char Dhams. If he does, he would surely observe the huge environmental cost of the mega Rs 12,000 crore project on the fragile Himalayan ecology and the problem the surging mass of pilgrims are facing due to obstructions caused by road cutting and other activities associated with the project.
Powerless puppets
Recent resignation of Vice Chancellor of Kumaon University, Nainital, DK Nauriyal is shocking and points towards a disturbing trend.
Though the VC cited personal reasons for his unexpected decision to leave, the resignation has once again brought into fore the uneasiness prevailing in the academic circles over increasing hegemony of the bureaucrats.
While the battle for supremacy between the babudom and the academicians in the educational institutes is quite old, it has become grimmer in recent times in the Himalayan state. The VCs are bestowed with vast and decisive powers under the Universities Act but the all powerful bureaucracy is always proactive in curtailing these powers and keen to foist puppets over key positions in the institutes.
Ever since the creation of the state, the babudom has slowly tightened its clutches over the academic institutions and it has reached to such a level that all important decisions are being taken by Babus leaving the VCs helpless. The academic institutions are paying the price of the pincer like grip of bureaucracy over them making the students worst suffers.
Capricious Babu
The whimsical behaviour and careless approach of a lady Babu deployed in a department which is biggest in terms of employee strength in the state are giving jitters to the officials working under her and testing the patience of the bureaucrat spearheading the department.
The officer has adopted a unique mode of working in which quirky approach coupled with a shield of ignorance does the trick for her. It is learnt that the minister in charge of the department too is not pleased with the officer as she has not visited him even once ever since she was posted in the department.
She is also in the habit of not attending important departmental meetings, sending a subordinate officer instead to such meetings.
Her carelessness is said to have deeply annoyed the top bureaucrat of the department known for his efficiency and no nonsense style of functioning especially at a time when two other senior officers of the department are on a long leave.