[IAC++] Human Dignity - Can BJP ever look at the issues objectively from the National Point of view and beyond Petty Vote Bank Politics?

Mr Justice Kamleshwar Nath, Read your interesting views on Human Dignity. I seek your considered views on the Times of India Article reproduced below. ------------------------------------------------------ Arjun's office staff all from general category Rajeev Deshpande, TNN Jun 6, 2008, 03.13am IST NEW DELHI: For a government keen on aggressively pushing the frontiers of reservation — even urging the private sector to consider affirmative action — the number of OBC, SC and ST category officials serving on the personal staff of ministers is minuscule, an RTI inquiry has revealed. While it would be unfair to suggest that caste considerations alone ought to matter in such appointments — it could even be argued that ministers from underprivileged backgrounds have shown a lack of bias — the profiles of staffers say a lot about how quota winds have bypassed ministerial offices. The RTI inquiry filed by Dev Ashish Bhattacharya has shown that there are no OBC officials serving as private secretaries — posts to which incumbents are handpicked. In one case, that of the rural development ministry, where the officer belongs to a scheduled tribe, the ministry's response was coy, stating that service details were unavailable. At the level of private secretaries, there are four scheduled caste and one scheduled tribe officials in the offices of three Cabinet ministers and two ministers of state. If all Cabinet ministers and ministers of state are taken together, there are seven OBC staffers at the level of first PA, six scheduled caste staffers as assistant private secretaries and one as additional PS. There are three OBC staffers as additional PS and one scheduled tribe staffer as assistant PS. RTI responses from offices of 34 ministers and 22 ministers of state show that there are merely 23 staffers from the OBC, SC and ST category compared with 203 from the "general" category. While much has changed since the Mandal revolution and now with OBC quotas being extended to higher education as well, the reason for the unchanged profile of ministerial staffers could be a testimony to their ability to work the system. This is what perhaps allows the capital's large pool of personal staff to survive change of regimes with relative ease, with outgoing ministers themselves handing out generous recommendations. This has seen staffers who were with NDA ministers, and even before that with the United Front, switch to UPA ministers without notice. So, an additional PS who was with Nitish Kumar is now with an MoS in defence, Rao Indrajit Singh. A staffer with Srikant Jena in the UF government is well placed with Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi, I&B minister. The advantage of staffers from the general category seems to lie in their having benefited from the first mover's advantage. Their knowledge of how government works — or does not — from tracking files, keeping ministerial priorities in mind, connecting or ignoring calls, getting appointments, facilitating smooth travel, coordinating speeches and public events and above all, not losing sight of hierarchies, makes them invaluable. While the big picture is interesting enough, responses of some ministries are indicative of how governments think. Railway minister Lalu Prasad's office as well as the PMO itself have, instead of making the disclosure, argued that since reservation rules do not "apply" to appointments made at the "discretion of ministers from serving officers and outsiders" no data with regard to the category, general or otherwise, is maintained. Given that whether reservation rules apply or not was not germane to the query, the reticence of the two offices may be meant to sidestep the issue, perhaps because the personal staff in both cases is largely from the upper castes. In the office of law minister H R Bhardwaj, all staffers are in the general category, minister of social justice and empowerment Meira Kumar has two scheduled caste personnel as assistant PS and first PA, chemicals and fertilizers minister Ram Vilas Paswan has one SC staffer as assistant private secretary and one OBC staffer as first PA, while HRD minister Arjun Singh — the main proponent of OBC quotas in education — has staffers who are all drawn from the general category. In the ministry of tribal affairs, posts of private secretary and additional private secretary are vacant. There is one assistant private secretary drawn from the ST category. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-06-06/india/27749009_1_staffers-ministers-general-category ----------------------------------------------------- With warm regards, --  (Babubhai Vaghela) C 202, Shrinandnagar V, Makarba Road Vejalpur, Ahmedabad - 380051 M -  94276 08632 http://twitter.com/BabubhaiVaghela About me in Annexure at - http://bit.ly/9xsHFj http://www.youtube.com/user/vaghelabd (Administrator - Google Group - Right to Information Act 2005) http://groups.google.com/group/Right-to-Information-Act-2005/about?hl=en --- On Wed, 12/19/12, Justice Kamleshwar Nath <justicekn@gmail.com> wrote: From: Justice Kamleshwar Nath <justicekn@gmail.com> Subject: RE: [IAC++] Shri Arun Jaitley - Can BJP ever look at the issues objectively from the National Point of view and beyond Petty Vote Bank Politics? To: iac@lists.riseup.net Date: Wednesday, December 19, 2012, 1:06 PM Reservation in Promotion is violative of a 'basic feature of the Constitution' viz. Human Dignity. Preamble lays down, inter alia, that the Constitution aims at "FRATERNITY assuring the DIGNITY of the Individual………."  Constitution contains several other provisions to ensure dignity of man. It is plain enough that supersession of a meritorious senior public servant by a non-meritorious junior person, for no better reason than that he belongs to SC/ST class, cuts at the concept of FRATERNITY within the Service as well as DIGNITY of the superior individual.      India is also signatory of Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and several International Covenants which ensure human dignity; violation of such International commitments is betrayal of faith in solemn promises made for good of human race. What for Human Rights organizations are established in all parts of India ?   The concept of 20% cap on reservation in promotions also is unconstitutional and constitutes infringement of powers of the Executive. Unconstitutional, because it infringes equality clause. If 10 promotion posts are open for posting of SC/ST, posting of only 2 and leaving out 8 unfilled on account of the cap is irrational having no nexus to the objective sought to be achieved by reservation. The Executive cannot be forced to keep 8 posts vacant – it would certainly hamper good administration.   Today, reservation in promotions is sought; tomorrow reservation in Supertime Scale or in Deputation posts will be demanded. Next will be the stage for OBCs to demand promotion-reservation. Samajwadi Party has already demanded reservation for Muslims. India has been suffering from Brain Drain for a long time; that drain will be accelerated. So, as time passes, we are going to be a nation of 3rd rate administrators! Can the Nation afford this – specially in the face of Fundamental Duty under Article 51A of the Constitution to ensure Excellence in all walks of life?   Today, Parliament and all Legislatures have substantial number of members who have criminal/corrupt background; Association for Democratic Reforms has been issuing detailed data in support for several years. The Law makers are not at all keen to decriminalize these august institutions because Section 8(4) of Representation of People Act 1951 protects them from being disqualified – that, indeed, is an incentive for lawless elements to contest elections. The result is that a very large number of members would be such whose wards cannot qualify for public services or make their mark while in public service; reservation provides backdoor entry for such elements; hence they very keen to ensure that reservation in all possible spheres is ensured.   It is high time the Nation stood up as one man to oppose any reservation in any form; citizens must stop voting in favour of candidates who demand reservation of any kind – Lok Sabha Elections in 2014 will give needed opportunity to build the Nation on principles of Justice, Equality and Fraternity with human Dignity.               May God be with us all                               KN     From the Desk of : Justice Kamleshwar Nath Retd. : Up-Lokayukta ( Karnataka ), Vice Chairman – C.A.T ( Allahabad ), Judge – High Court ( Lucknow & Allahabad ) Address : `Gunjan', C - 105, Niralanagar, Lucknow : 226 020. Uttar Pradesh , India Phone(s) : +91-522-2789033 & +91-522-4016459. Mobile : +91-9415010746