Dilip is considered India's foremost Image Management guru and resident iconoclast. He wavers between irrational exuberance and cataclysmic gloom but can be influenced at mail@dilipcherian.com
The Modi sarkar’s crackdown on corruption is ongoing. Recently, Parliament was informed that the government has dismissed two IAS officers and suspended nine IPS officers on charges of corruption in the past five years. This is apart from the sanction given by the Centre to prosecute 23 IAS officers and four IPS officers under the […]
The removal of Article 370 by the Modi sarkar is being felt intensely by the Ministry of External Affairs. With Indian diplomats busy dealing with the aftermath, the ministry has reportedly cancelled its annual conference of heads of missions slated to be held next week in Gujarat. The decision to call off the meeting was […]
For many years now, especially since the advent of digital media, Doordarshan, the state broadcaster, has been trading on nostalgia. Its efforts to stay relevant have been hampered by successive governments that have shown reluctance to unleash the broadcaster from their clutches. Now there seems to be yet another move to keep the old broadcaster […]
The new Saffrons of Lutyens were a little perplexed at the relatively low turnout at the President’s ‘At Home’ last week. Usually a crowded affair with people in the thousands, this time’s ‘At Home’ was noticeably smaller. It’s by design, said some who believe that the riffraff (read rather irrelevant Lutyen-ites?) and many hangers-on of […]
The Modi sarkar, it appears, is debating not to form any pay commission for increasing salaries and allowances of Central government employees in future. Apparently, this proposal has been placed before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take a policy decision in this regard. Those in the know say that the proposal is based on the […]
In his second term, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is aware of the high expectations from his government. Passing the buck to the UPA era (or even further back to Nehru) will not cut ice. He will eventually need to show performance and efficiency. Known to rely heavily on the bureaucracy, Mr Modi is likely to […]
The recent circular issued by Tamil Nadu chief secretary K Shanmugam to make babus more responsive has met with a decidedly mixed response. It was certainly not the response he would have expected from the district magistrates and collectors in the state. Sources say that Mr Shanmugam has spelt out a 10-point plan to improve […]
‘Dicky’ was Sheila Dikshit’s husband who passed away too young. This column can now reveal (given that both the wonderful elements of that power couple have passed on) that he was, during his days one of the best sources you could find on the inner workings of the Indian bureaucracy. Belonging to the Uttar Pradesh […]
Indian Forest Service (IFoS) officer and whistle-blower Sanjiv Chaturvedi prevails again! His RTI application seeking details of corruption complaints against Union ministers has got a sympathetic hearing at the Central Information Commission (CIC). The 2002-batch IFoS officer had filed an RTI application in 2017 seeking this information, which the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) denied. Against […]
The Centre’s policy to induct talent in the bureaucracy from the private sector has been hailed as a major much-needed administrative reform. But the lateral entry move has been criticized by several Dalit IAS officers as legally untenable as it does not extend the reservation law on such recruitments. Earlier, in April, the government had […]
