HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
Issue 20, November 2003
Making life easier
Sam Pitroda, who heralded the tele-
communications revolution in the
country almost two decades ago, is
no admirer of bureaucrats and what
they stand for. His criticism, based on
sordid experiences he has had while
dealing with the bureaucracy here, is
predictably caustic. Just a month ago,
while speaking at the Action-India
launch organized by the Maharashtra
Economic Development Council in
Mumbai he minced no words in
denouncing the bureaucratic tyranny
all over the country. He argued that
while China had made strides in all
fields, our country is far behind, still
limping, thanks mainly to the hurdle-
happy babus. He therefore called for
immediate administrative reforms
along with political and judicial
reforms. Not surprisingly, the audi-
ence cheered and clapped as he
demanded wholesale scrapping of
government procedures.
But surely, Sam Pitroda was not
off his rocker. Nor could his Down
With All Procedures clarion call be
said to be against all procedures, for
that would be tantamount to throwing
out the baby with the bathwater. Nor
did he profess that governments can
function without procedures, for he
cannot be oblivious to the fact that no
society sans rules, regulations and
procedures can ever exist without
causing harm and injustice to its own
citizens. He is cer tainly aware that
procedures are intended to help all by
providing them a level playing field.
He claims that developed countries
have procedures that are people-
friendly and far from archaic. So, what
the telecom wizard averred, to all
intents and purposes, was that we
need to cut red tape substantially and
simplify procedures considerably so
that life becomes easy for all. No
matter where we are, and no matter
what our ordained duty is, it is not
impossible, especially by harnessing
the modern technologies, to stream-
line the procedures and render
services speedily and smilingly. More
importantly, since we bureaucrats are
citizens first and last, it would perhaps
do us immense good to innovate
continuously and thereby make
everyone’s life easier.  over as Joint Secretar y, Planning,
Rameshchandra Kanade
Monthly Newsletter of the IAS Officers’ Association, Maharashtra Branch
IAS Wives’ Association
helps the helpless
The IAS Wives’ Association has
proved again that it is second to none.
This time it has helped street children
with a large number of secondhand
daily use items collected from its
members and others. On 20 October
2003, Association President Prema
Nimbalkar, Vice President Iyra
Nalinakshan and other members of the
Association Sunita Saharia, Mamata
Kanade, and Priya Ubale handed over
the collection and some cash for Diwali
sweets to the social service organi-
zation AASARA at Thane. A ver y
touching gesture, indeed. 
By VS GOPALAKRISHNAN
“Where is the red carpet for me? I had
only declared red tape should go!”  2003 has become a reality thanks
[Mr VS Gopalakrishnan (1961) is
Director General, World Trade Centre,
Mumbai. He can be contacted on:
022-22182879; 24936429; vsgopal2000 @
yahoo.com].  35 trips a year from November to
Who’s gone where?
 V Giriraj (1985) takes over as
Joint MD of MSRDC.  Shreekant
Singh (1986) has been posted
as Addl Municipal Commissioner,
BMC. Jayashree Mukherjee (1986),
Director, Ministr y of Social Justice
& Empowerment, Government of
India, has joined as Commissioner,
Employment & Self-Employment.
 AK Tiwari (1990) has returned from
London Business School, University
of London after doing MBA with
specialization in Finance and taken
Mantralaya.  022-22023472, 22852204).
1
www.iasmah.org
BS Pande retires,
SN Lolge to follow suit this month
Additional Collector Mumbai Suburban
District BS Pande (1995) retired on
31 October 2003. Deputy Settlement
Commissioner Subhash N Lolge
(1991) will retire on 30 November 2003.
The Association wishes them a happy
and healthy post-retirement life. 
Srimali goes to Gujarat...
Bipin Kumar Srimali (1992) has joined
Gujarat Government on inter-state
deputation basis for a period of
three years. He left the State on
29 September 2003 and joined as
Commissioner of Enter tainment
Tax at Gandhinagar by relieving
AK Rakesh who was holding additional
charge. 
... and N Nawin Sona
comes to Maharashtra
N Nawin Sona (2000) has been
allowed cadre change from Madhya
Pradesh to Maharashtra. He has joined
on 6 October 2003. His wife Richa
Bagla (1999) is Chief Executive
Officer of Sangli Zilla Parishad. 
The Deccan Odyssey is
a reality at last
Maharashtra’s Palace on Wheels,
slated to be launched in November
mainly to MTDC Managing Director
Ashish Kumar (1988). Also likened to
Gujarat’s Royal Orient and designed
to carry 104 passengers in each of the
March, the train has cost Rs 26 crore.
The presidential suites and the deluxe
suites will cost $700 and $350, respec-
tively, per night. What is significant,
the train is original and has interiors
that are Maharashtrian, with local
flavour. With 21 coaches pulled by two
diesel engines, the train is a result of
hard work by Ashish for the past three
years. He has studied trains all over
the world and the off-board services
offered by them.A born tourism
wizard, Ashish was formerly the head
of Kerala Tour ism Development
Corporation and brought the tourism
there to a respectable status. Congrats
Ashish! (He can be contacted on

For private circulation only
2 MORE NEWS
Chief Secretary inaugurates
CIDCO’s Data Centre
Chief Secretary Ajit Nimbalkar inau-
gurated state-of-the-ar t data centre
and website (www.cidco india.com) of
CIDCO at its head-office in CBD
Belapur recently.
The data centre replete with serv-
ers, centralized network, switch-based
LAN and CCTV system will handle the
prestigious SAP/GIS project. The
SAP/GIS system is expected to
facilitate faster customer service,
accurate billing and feedback infor-
mation, single-window contact, quick
information retrieval, timely infor-
mation for stronger decision making,
foundation for adopting best business
practices, online marketing, tendering,
analyzing market performance besides
enhancing revenue and reducing cost.
CIDCO, engaged in developing new
cities, has launched this project in the
constant pursuit of its goal of giving
the best to its customers. It first
prepared a long-term IT Roadmap with
the help of WIPRO Infotech and then
star ted implementation with WIPRO
as the partner. Based on recommen-
dations of WIPRO, it decided to go in
for Enterprise Resource Planning
and Geographical Information System
(GIS) with System Applications
Product (SAP) and ArcInfo as the soft-
ware. SAP as an integrated applica-
tion will bring with it unification tech-
nology for database, messaging
system, internet, data warehousing,
customer relationship management,
etc.
The project comprises Web design,
facility management, change manage-
ment, configuration and implementa-
tion of SAP modules with minimum
customization. GIS will help creation
of accurate maps by digitization
and their ver ification with IKONOS
imagery data and selective GPS sur-
vey. These maps will be used for GIS
application by upgrading suitable
attributes. Phase II of the project will
include modules on real estate,
customer relationship management,
business warehouse and human
resource modules.  Launched in the memory of the
MotiVating
Handicrafted illuminations
Wives of successful officers are often
equally, and sometimes more,
successful and creative. At least, that
is what one would say after seeing
the captivating glass articles made by
Pooja Lakhina (wife of Mr AK Lakhina,
“ I must do something ” will always solve more problems than “ Something must be done ”.
Ashok Sinha bereaved
Bhishan Sinha, father of Principal
Secretary (Labour) Ashok Sinha
and father-in-law of Ranjana Sinha,
passed away, while in sleep, at
1-00 a.m. on 12 October 2003 at
Suniti, Near Sachivalaya Gymkhana,
Gen. Jagannath Bhosale Marg,
Mumbai 400021.
Born on 24 December 1920,
Mr Bhishan Sinha had no ailment
and died of old age. A scholar of
the Delhi School of Economics, he
was a renowned professor of
Economics who later became
Principal of Raj Rishi College at
Alwar in Rajasthan. Calm and cheer-
ful by nature, he retained the same
cheerfulness till the very end, with his
visage looking contented and
happy. He had been living with
Ashok Sinha since his retirement.
Essentially conscientious and pious,
he never wanted to trouble anyone.
Perhaps, that is why he ‘chose’ a
Sunday to die so that ‘nobody would
be required to take a leave from
wor k’. With daughter, son and
daughter-in-law all in the IAS, he
doubtless lived a happy and full life.
An avid bridge-player, he had many
friends here.
He is survived by wife, Urmila,
daughter Sudha Anchalia (1972)
(who is Pr incipal Secretar y,
Finance, Govt of Gujarat), son
Ashok, daughter-in-law Ranjana,
and four grand-children.
The Association shares the
grief of Ashok and his family
and prays that God rest the
soul of the depar ted in eternal
peace. (RK)
Vice-Chairman & Managing Director of
the Maharashtra State Road Develop-
ment Corporation) almost single-
handedly. Crafted by hand most pains-
takingly and by using the best waxes,
the finest dyes and fragrances and
lead-free wicks, each candle a delight-
ful treat to the eyes.
departed dog Moti, the entrepreneurial
venture produces colourful candles
and exciting stained glass wonders
that throw jewel colours playfully
against the wall. These candles come
in a variety of shapes, sizes, colours
and textures, in folk designs and
abstract motifs. There are floating
candles that can keep the excitement
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
afloat all evening. Apar t from theme
candles, there is a lovely range of all
occasion candles. Customized for
Deepavali and X’mas, the rich gallery
of candles presents blessed light of
excitement to bask in the reflected
glor y of ever y celebration. Truly,
candles transform an ordinary evening
into something special and memorial.
What is most heartwarming, the entire
sale-proceeds go to charitable insti-
tutions caring for stray dogs. With each
candle bearing her unique mark of
creativity, Pooja Lakhina says it all
with flowers and prayer. We
appreciate her work and wish her
the best in her solo service. (She can
be contacted on 022-22829166;
info@moticreations.com). 
How to survive a heart
attack when alone
Nowadays, due to the change in the
life style, hear t attack is common
among people of all age groups. Many
people are alone when they suffer a
hear t attack and get no immediate
help. The person whose heart is beat-
ing improperly and who begins to feel
faint, has only about 10 seconds left
before losing consciousness.
Let’s say it is 6.15 p.m. and you
are driving home alone after an un-
usually hard day on the job. You are
really tired, and frustrated. Suddenly,
you start experiencing severe pain in
your chest that starts to radiate out
into your arm and up into your jaw.
You are still 5 km from the hospital
nearest your home. Unfortunately, you
don’t know if you will be able to make
it that far. You have been trained in
cardio pulmonary resuscitation, but
the person who taught you the course
did not tell you how to perform it on your-
self.
In such a situation, you can help
yourself by coughing repeatedly and
very vigorously. Take a deep breath
before each cough. The cough must
be deep and prolonged, as when
producing sputum from deep inside the
chest. Repeat the breath and cough
every two seconds without let up until
any help arrives, or until the heart is
felt to be beating normally again. Deep
breaths get oxygen into the lungs and
coughing movements squeeze the
heart and keep the blood circulating.
The squeezing pressure on the heart
also helps it regain normal rhythm. In
this way, you can get to a hospital and
hope to survive. 
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
ICS Indians took charge immediately when the British gave up :
Strictly speaking, he needs no
introduction, for he is already known
to our readers because of his series
of ar ticles: The Indians Who Ruled
Men on the Indians who were in the
Indian Civil Service. Son of Mr AK
Majumdar (IAS-49), SUMIT K.
MAJUMDAR is a Chartered Accoun-
tant (England & Wales). He did his PhD
from the University of Minnesota. He
was an Audit Manager in London and
Assistant Professor of Corporate
Strategy at the University of Michigan,
Ann Arbor Professor of Strategic Man-
agement at Imperial College, London.
Presently Professor of Technology
Strategy at the University of Texas,
he writes on technology strategy,
telecommunications economics,
privatization, foreign direct invest-
ment, performance measurement and
other arcania comprising academia.
Sumit extensively researches
the telecommunications sector and
is Editor of the Handbook of
Telecommunications Economics,
published in 2002 by Elsevier.
What makes him interesting for us
is his abiding interest in the Indian Civil
Service and its officers. As his articles
show, he has scanned voluminous old
documents, studied the subject in
great detail and successfully
presented many unknown facts to
today’s generation. The Times of
India in its City Lights has taken note
of his research and complimented him
on showing to us that India was
directly administered by the Crown
from 1857 to 1947 and in those
90 years, the ICS came into its own
as the fundamental institution used for
the governance of India. He observes,
“The Honourable East India
Company’s Ser vice (HEICS), which
was the precursor to the ICS proper,
was deemed a great success as per
the Nor thcote-Trevelyan Repor t of
1854. This repor t helped set up the
British Civil Service in its present form,
copying many of the features of the
ICS in doing so, especially the role of
competive examinations for entry. The
British based their domestic civil
service on the Indian Civil Service. It
was not the other way around!”
He has written with such a sense
of emotional attachment that one
would be tempted to think that he
belonged to the service. Not being a
member of the service is no
handicap with Sumit. In fact, it has
helped him look at the whole subject
with great objectivity. Without taking a
Only dead fish swim with the stream.
IN THE HALL OF HARMONY
SUMIT K MAJUMDAR
dry and statistical approach, he has
made his narration very lively. So Sumit
deserves a big wow from all of us. In
an email chat with him he comes out
a passionate scholar on the subject.
Here are excerpts of the
dialogue with Editor Harmony
Rameshchandra Kanade:
Sumit K Majumdar
Our readers have enjoyed reading your
last three parts about the Indian ICS
officers. Congratulations.
I thank the readers of Harmony. The
story about the ICS is truly very inter-
esting. 25 Indians got into the service
in 1892, almost 30 years after the
service started and they constituted
only 2 per cent of the ICS! The
number rose to 102 in 1914, but was
still only 8.9 percent. The first 102
Indians in the service took more than
half a century, just over 51 years after
the first entrant Satyendra Nath Tagore
got in, to make their presence
noticed. By 1919, the percentage of
Indians in the ICS became about 11.
By 1922, over 200 Indians were in,
par t because of the massive recruit-
ment in 1920. By 1931 a third of total
members were Indians. By 1939,
when the World War II broke out, over
600 Indians were admitted into the
ICS. Their percentage was about 53.
When ICS recruitment finished for
ever, 666 Indians were in the ICS.
Was nobody leaving the service?
Of course, there were retirements,
deaths, resignations and dismissals,
though I am assuming that all
officers were always in situ.If you
adjust for such exits, the propor tion
of Indians at any point in time will get
reduced. Yet, it can be said that at
Independence about 50 per cent of the
total ICS strength was Indian. All these
numbers serve to highlight the speed
of diffusion over time.
The percentage appears to have
improved from 1919 onward. Does it
mean that Indians had decided to fight
the British from within?
3
Whatever the reason, despite the
extreme arrogance of General Dyer,
1919-1920 was a watershed period
after which the growth of indigenous
human capital in India was acceler-
ated in a major way. Thereafter, for the
next two decades, the growth rate of
Indians in the ICS was about 2 per
cent per year until 1939, and then in
the war period dropped to just over 1
per cent. After the war, the ICS was
transformed into the IAS. The war
service plus emergency recruit
statistics of the 1946 to 1949 period
will bump up this growth rate consid-
erably.
What is the significance of the growth
rate of indigenous human capital?
The growth rate of indigenous
human capital has extraordinary
implications for any countr y. In the
initial phase it may take half a
century or more for a process of
growth to unfold. It takes at least that
long for an indigenous institutional
feature to emerge in a meaningful way.
In the academic vernacular you may
say that once there is an installed
base of capabilities which provides a
star ting critical mass, the progress
begets progress. It all depends on the
appropriate trigger. Increasing returns
then start to occur.
Increasing returns?
Yes. The concept of increasing
returns is an ancient one in Econom-
ics. It is also invoked to explain the
contemporary information economy
phenomenon. You can also use it for
describing the growth of the Indian
component in the ICS. Many of the
2nd generation and early 3rd generation
ICS Indians took charge immediately
when the British gave up, threw up
their hands in helplessness and
walked out of India in 1947. The total
installed base of the Indians in the
ICS increased unlike in other British
colonies, say in the African countries,
where indigenous administrative skills
development was just absent. .
(Mr Sumit Majumdar can be contacted on
majumdar@utdallas.edu).
Quality is never an accident; it is
always the result of high intention,
sincere efforts, intelligent direction
and skillful execution. It represents the
wise choice of many alternatives. 
4 IMPLEMENTING
The Right to Information Act
The raging public debate over the truth
and authenticity of information used
for justifying the recent Iraq war flows
from a sweeping global wave in favour
of a public need to access credible
information. Though the right to infor-
mation has a long history (Sweden
being the first country to legislate in
1766), the developed countries were
the first to recognize its importance.
USA enacted the freedom of Informa-
tion law in 1967, which was followed
by similar legislations in Australia,
Canada and New Zealand, all in 1982.
The developing countries caught up
with the movement in the 1990s, when
a number of countries such as
Thailand, South Korea, Per u, and
Argentina enacted their own versions
of law. Almost all the countries in the
Central and Eastern Europe have
passed different variants of the
freedom of information laws in the
last decade. The right to information
has thus become a significant
indicator of democratization and good
governance.
India too has joined the global wave.
The Government of India has intro-
duced the Freedom of Information Bill
in the Parliament in 2000. Various
states like Goa, Tamil Nadu,
Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Delhi have
enacted their own laws on this
subject. Maharashtra joined this
select group in 2002.
Under the Constitution of India, the
state must guarantee and protect
cer tain basic r ights. The Right to
Information flows from the Fundamen-
tal Rights to freedom of speech and
expression and the right to life and
liberty. The Supreme Court of India has
recognized the Right to Information
as a par t and parcel of the right to
freedom of speech and expression.
The basic purpose of freedom of
speech and expression is that citizens
should be able to form their beliefs and
communicate them freely to others. In
sum, the fundamental principle
involved here is peoples’ right to know.
The Supreme Court has also held that
the right to know is part of right to life;
people have the right to have the
information that affects their life,
liberty and dignity.
Thus the Right to information forms
the bedrock of democracy that can
The beginnings of all things are small.
By SANJEEVANEE KUTTY
pave the way for transparency,
openness and accountability in the
governance of the state and ensure
effective participation of the people in
a democratic society.
The Maharashtra Right to Informa-
tion Act has come into force with
retrospective effect from September
2002. The scope of the new law is quite
wide and all public offices in the
State including the administrative
depar tments, the MPSC and the
Registrar of Co-operative Societies
and also societies registered under the
Societies Regulation Act have been
brought within the purview of the Act.
The obligation it casts on public
authorities is two fold: First, they have
a duty to publish information from time
to time suo moto and proactively; and
second, public authorities are under
duty to provide information that people
ask for by application.
Under the former, the Act provides
that the public authorities shall main-
tain all records of their organizations,
publish rules, regulations, manuals
and government resolutions and make
them available to the public. The
authorities shall also publish and
communicate all relevant facts
concerning a project to the people
affected by it.
Under the latter, the Act requires
every Competent Authority to appoint
a Public Information Officer who
will be responsible for providing the
information asked for. The Act also
contains impor tant provisions like
imposition of penalty for failure to
supply the correct information on time
or knowingly giving incorrect or
misleading information, right of
second appeal to the Lok Ayukta or
Upa Lok Ayukta, 15 working days’ time
limit for providing information and
constitution of a Council for reviewing
the working of the Act and a Commis-
sion of Records to advice the
Government to release records and
information for making available to the
public. All these measures provide
teeth to the Act.
The Act immediately calls upon all
administrative departments to initiate
a system of information management,
which will mean storing, sorting and
retrieving information and presenting
them to the public in a proper format.
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
It will mean greater care and circum-
spection in file management, greater
emphasis on creation of databases,
and extensive use of computers. It
means introducing wide-ranging
changes in the ways depar tments
function.
It is not enough to designate a
Deputy/Under Secretary or even a
Desk Officer as the Public Informa-
tion Officer. Such a functionary alone
will not be able to shoulder the respon-
sibility conferred by the Act without
the assistance of other officials in the
department. It is imperative to educate
all the staff about their legal obliga-
tion of assisting the Public Informa-
tion Officer with relevant information.
The public should know where they
can go for information. The name of
the Public Information Officer must be
prominently posted in each office.
Restrictive legislation like the
Official Secrets Act, which is still in
place, and the low level of literacy
rights and awareness among people
are serious obstacles to free flow
of information. Even Information
Technology which is viewed as a
magic wand for dispensing information
is mired in difficulties like lack of
connectivity, lack of electricity, and
lack of software in regional languages.
However, the key impediment to
effective disclosure is the culture of
secrecy within the government. There
should be sufficient orientation as well
as sustained regular training of
government personnel to enable them
to implement the law.
Thus the implementation of the Act
will require considerable investment
in education. The first step is to
sensitize all senior officers of the state
government to the import of the Act.
The officers in turn may educate
subordinates in their departments to
the responsibilities placed upon them
under the Act. It needs to be followed
up by introducing institutional and
logistical changes within each depart-
ment in terms of procedures for
processing files and communicating
decisions, creation of databases, and
acquisition of computers.
The need for training the Public
Information
(Continued on page 6)
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
It was June 1968 when I first assumed
office in a district place as a young
IAS officer. It was with some trepida-
tion that I had embarked on this
journey to Osmanabad from the
National Academy of Administration,
Mussoorie. My posting orders to
Osmanabad had totally flummoxed me.
As it was, I could not locate the
place in the atlases available in the
library and, to top it all, none of my
colleagues who were assigned to
Maharashtra could, to use a bureau-
cratic cliché, throw much light on the
subject. Only the Director, an I.C.S.
officer who had served in the region
and toured extensively in Osmanabad,
offered tea and sympathy and gave
some information about the district
and how to get there. So I promptly
sent off a telegram to the Assistant
Collector and brought myself a ticket
on the Madras Mail from the Victoria
Terminus (as the CST was known
those days) to Sholapur.
At the Sholapur station the Assis-
tant Collector, Osmanabad who turned
out to be Shankar Menon, a senior at
school and college at New Delhi, met
me. “Mr Joshi, I presume,” were the
words that greeted me. I could imag-
ine the impact Dr Stanley’s welcome
had on Dr Livingstone in the heart of
a jungle, deep down in Africa.
Osmanabad was a good 50 km
away, which we negotiated in a jeep.
The road lay through fields of ripe
sugar cane, jowar and bajari. At the
half way mark we passed the pilgrim
town of Tuljapur famed for the temple
of goddess Tuljabhawani. Legend has
it that the goddess had blessed Shivaji
Maharaj by appearing before him and
presenting him with a sword to de-
stroy his enemies.
Osmanabad had a population of
17,065 as per the census of 1961 and
was a small district town. One Super-
intendent of Police used to announce
Osmanabad as a one-horse Sheriff
town. We drove straight into the
Assistant Collector’s small bungalow
located in the heart of the town and
adjacent to the Collector’s bungalow.
We were welcomed by a host of
servants who took charge of my
worldly possessions and disappeared
into the house. Thus began my year-
No man is free who is not master of himself.
DISTRICT DAYS
Re-birthday!
By JAGDISH JOSHI
long association with the house and
Sampangi, Shankar Menon’s cook-
cum-butler.
Sampangi was away to the market
when we had arrived from Sholapur
earlier in the afternoon. We had just
settled down in the sitting room-cum-
library to go over the day’s papers,
which usually arrived in the evening,
when this apparition shimmered in to
announce that dinner had been served.
Sampangi had been a Jeeves to
Shankar Menon for some years now
and ran his house and controlled his
purse. In fact he had a major share
of what Shankar got home as salary
and unsuspectingly most of it was
not spent in the kitchen. Sampangi
had, in course of travels with Shankar,
found time to court a young lady and
marr y her. Unfor tunately both were
rather fond of booze and wherewithal
to procure it had to be managed out
of kitchen purchases with inflated bills.
Shankar who was busy as a young
Assistant Collector auditing Revenue
Officers daftars in the annual
Jamabandi melas had little time
and patience to audit the kitchen
accounts prepared with such guile and
subterfuge by his butler. In the first
week of my stay it transpired that
between us two we had consumed
more than three dozen eggs for break-
fast. That came to using simple
arithmetic, more than five eggs a day
each for breakfast. Similar ly, the
consumption of milk, rice vegetables
and every conceivable kitchen store
came to more than double what we
two souls were actually consuming.
Confronted, Sampangi would
explain away the fudged accounts to
the fact that the quality of eggs was
very poor in the town and that he had
to break five eggs to find two good
ones for Sahib’s omelet or fried eggs.
Milk had the habit of curdling and
the milkman had been given the last
warning to ensure better quality in
future, and so on. The close audit of
Sampangi’s accounts had the desired
effect. The kitchen expenses fell
dramatically leaving us with adequate
savings to spend on books,
gramophone records and weekend
cinemas at Sholapur.
5
Sampangi lay low for sometime
though this led to domestic strife and
violence. Without the suppor t of
adequate dose of the local stuff,
Sampangi and his wife suffered from
what the de-addiction centers would
term as withdrawal symptoms. The
other domestic staff including the
Kotwal on night duty suffered from
Sampangi’s wrath. News of
Sampangi’s wild ways also trickled
down to Shankar who after due
deliberation gave the errant butler a
piece of his mind. There was much
wailing and gnashing of teeth as the
butler and his spouse fell on Sahib’s
feet and begged forgiveness. A final
word of warning was conveyed to
Sampangi. Another word of complaint
and he would get the marching orders.
Life settled down to the usual
routine and peace reigned in the
domestic life of the Assistant
Collector and the Supernumerar y.
There were revenue cases to be
decided, vagabonds to be bonded for
good behavior and habitual offenders
to be externed beyond the district’s
confines. There was a lot of excite-
ment all the time and I absorbed it
all as I was to take over as Assistant
Collector soon in a neighboring
district.
For a youngster fresh out of
college and urban ambience, district
life was fascinating to distraction.
Social life was confined to the district
club that fortunately had a recently
renovated billiards table and a gravel
tennis court. Shuttle badminton could
always be played in the open-air courts
provided there was no wind. Of course
ball badminton could always be played
on all days and this was a new
experience. The shuttle in this case
was substituted for a soft ball, which
was unaffected in its flight by strong
winds but moved with great speed.
Weekends were mostly spent in
Sholapur, which was a ver itable
Oasis for us youngsters. These week-
end trips would find us shopping for
essential commodities like butter,
ketchup, biscuits and a host of other
house hold goods, which those days
were hard to come by in Osmanabad.
Evenings were reserved for movies
and late night dinner at the local Club.
(Continued on page 6 ).
6 MISCELLANY
Harsheen to Hunter:
Just for money,
It isn’t funny,
You kill animals.
Each one of them has a life,
You just can’t take out your knife,
And kill more and more,
First it’s one animal, then two and
soon its four.
So many animals are in pain,
I’m telling you again and again,
STOP!! Or the animal race won’t go on,
And when you are sorr y, all the
animals would have gone.
Animals should get what they
deserve,
Animals you have to preserve.
It’s all I’m going to ask,
It isn’t such a difficult task,
Hurry and go,
Please do so.
Hunter to Harsheen:
I know every animal has a life,
But I have one too,
I do it for money,
The Right to Information
Act
(Continued from page 4)
Officers need not be overstated. The
YASHADA, Pune could play an impor-
tant role in training and sensitizing.
Right to information is now a regular
part of the training given to new civil
servants at the LBSNAA, Mussoorie.
Fortunately, the Right to Information
has been supported by several people
in the government whose advocacy
has lent credence to the issues raised
by civil society groups and has helped
to counter some of the standard
challenges raised by bureaucrats.
The Maharashtra Act should be
seen as an act of par ticipation in a
global covenant. We may come
across a view in some quarters that it
is merely a new fad, but a light-hearted
view of the Act would be a serious folly.
It is an Act which confers rights upon
people, and not upon the state. The
Act creates a locus standi in the people
which they could use very
effectively. This is a significant depar-
ture from the environmental laws
where the locus standi exists with the
state. Soon the Act will generate a
momentum of its own in the state
public life and pose serious problems
to those who remain unprepared for its
implementation.  stay in the hospital, the butler was
Creative imagination is the core of happiness.
A Farewell to Harms
By HARSHEEN MADAN
Harsheen Madan
As jobs are ver y few.
I need hunting money to live,
As basic things are very expensive,
And if I stop hunting life,
I wouldn’t be able to survive.
So I have to hunt for sure,
There isn’t any cure,
I have to hunt more and more.
Harsheen to Hunter:
Put yourself in an animal’s place,
Imagine the pain you will face,
Seeing your loved ones die,
While you helplessly lie,
And can only cr y.
[Ms Sanjeevanee Kutty (1983), a
conscientious officer, wrote this piece, on
request, on the basis of her short stint in the
GAD. Back from Washington after a long spell
of three years, she joined the GAD and now
is MD of the Film City, all set to create world
class cinema infrastructure. She can be
contacted on 022-28400270, 22837262]. evening followed by a desert of bread
Re-birthday!
(Continued from page 5)
Returning from one of our trips from
Sholapur we found our entire house-
hold waiting at the gate minus
Sampangi. We were quickly conveyed
the news of the grave illness of the
butler’s wife, who apparently had
a miscarriage and instead going to
the district hospital had called a local
mid-wife to assist her. One thing
led to another and her excessive
bleeding would not stop. She had been
rushed late at night to the District
Hospital where after emergency
surgery her life could be saved. She
was in dire need of blood and her rare
type blood was not available locally.
We rushed to the hospital. After a
few tests it was discovered that
Shankar’s and her blood group
matched. The timely blood transfusion
was a life saver and after a week’s
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
So, STOP this cruelty now,
You can earn a living, I’ll tell you how,
Work hard on any job you can learn,
And you’ll be happy with the money
you earn.
Hunter to Harsheen:
Thank you for what you made me
realize,
I will cer tainly follow your advice,
I will sweep, clean or mop,
But hunting I will surely stop. 
[Harsheen, 11, is a daughter of UPS &
Kiran Madan. She studies in standard 5 in
the JB Petit High School, Mumbai. Fond of
writing poetry, whenever given the choice
in school, she prefers to write a piece in
poem form. Harsheen is a very sensitive
child, inclined towards charity and helping
the under-privileged. She can be
contacted on 022-22821826; kiran_madan
@ hotmail.com]. 
back on his post of duty. You could
see a sea change in Sampangi. He
was more than courteous to his peers;
the kitchen accounts were more
accurate and even his cooking had
more life in it. We were served some
excellent Hyderabadi biryani that
ka meetha, as the shahi tukda is
locally called. Even Shankar was
bowled over by the fuss created by
the butler and modestly enquired
whether it was his bir thday today.
Sampangi fell on his feet and wept.
No Sir, not mine. It is my amma’s
re-birthday, thanks to you, Sir. 
[Mr Jagdish Joshi (1967), Additional Chief
Secretary (Planning), is well-known to our
readers as a prolific writer. He expresses
himself with great feel and effect. He resides
at Ambar, Malabar Hills, Mumbai and can be
contacted on 022-22029496, 23671144,
9820145077]. 
Sirf sharaab
Doodh mein urea,
Paani mein caustic soda,
Sabjee mein larva,
Cola mein pesticide,
Cadbury mein keede,
Hava bhi kharab.
Pure bachi hai sirf sharaab! 
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
Applying for Government Funding for a Film on Mahabharat
The following is an un-edited version of a letter said to have been sent to renowned Hindi film producer BR
Chopra. Apparently, he was slighted that his proposal to make a movie on MAHABHARAT and hold its
muhurat on 11 October 2003 (61st birthday of actor Amitabh Bachchan, who has been roped in to play an
important role) could not fructify due to (what else?) bureaucratic delays.
To
Shri BR Chopra,
M/s BR Chopra Films, Mumbai
Sir,
Jai Arjun! Mera Bharat aur Mahabharat
dono Mahan!
The undersigned is directed to state
that the Government has examined
very carefully your proposal for financing
a film called Mahabharat. A Very High
Level Committee was constituted for
this purpose and their observations
are as under:
1. In the script submitted by you it
was shown that there were two sets
of cousins, namely, the Kauravas
numbering hundred and the Pandavas
numbering five. The Depar tment of
Family Welfare has pointed out that
these numbers are well above the
norm prescribed for the families by
them. It is pointed out that when the
Government is spending huge
amounts for promoting family planning,
this will send wrong signals to the
public. Therefore, it is suggested that
there may be only three Kauravas and
one Pandavas.
2. The Ministr y of Par liamentar y
Affairs has raised an issue whether
it is suitable to depict kings and
emperors in this democratic age.
Would you consider depicting the
Kauravas (because of their larger
number) as Honourable Members of
Par liament (Lok Sabha) and the
Pandavas as an Honourable Member
of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)?
3. The manner of birth of Kauravas
is suggestive of human cloning, a
technology banned in India. It must be
changed to normal birth.
4. The National Commission for
Women has objected that the father
of Pandavas, one Sr i Pandu, is
depicted as bigamous, and there is
only one wife for the Pandavas in
common. However, with the reduction
in number of Pandavas this issue can
be addressed. You may like to
consider whether the two wives issue
can be resolved by letting the earlier
wife die or declare her missing! Also
The Association is thankful to the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd for its support to Harmony.
OFFICIALDOM
with the number of Pandavas being
reduced to one, you have to suitably
incorporate changes about Arjuna
marrying King Virata’s daughter, Bhima
having an affair with that Demon’s
sister, etc.
5. The Depar tment of Social
Justice and Empowerment has
obser ved that the por trayal of the
visually impaired character
Dhr itharastra shall be derogator y.
Therefore it is decided that the
character shall not be shown as
visually impaired. Also they would like
a more prominent role for Vidura with
highlighting his backward class
background. This would avoid
showing Gandhari as a blindfolded
woman (suggestive of your following
a certain politician’s description of the
leader of opposition).
6. It is felt that showing the
Pandavas and the Kauravas as
gamblers may not be appropriate.
Therefore, they should be shown to
have engaged in horse racing. (Hon.
Supreme Court has held racing not to
be gambling). Or if you wish to follow
the lead by the CM of Karnataka, you
may go in for a suitable variation of
instant lottery. But avoid any reference
to death of any one as suicide of
farmers, which may be dubbed as
politically motivated by the Opposition.
7. The Pandavas were shown
as wor king with the King of Virat
desh without receiving any salar y.
According to Swami Agnivesh, this
amounts to bonded labour. This may
be corrected at once.
8. In the ensuing war, the character
‘Abhimanyu’ was shown as fighting.
The former chairperson of now defunct
National Labour Commission has
observed that the said character
being 13 years old, it can be construed
as a case of child labour. This may be
amended. You may like to portray him
as some thing equivalent to ‘carrying
the drinks’ as in Cricket. Even
the External Affairs Ministry has
pointed out that our criticism of a
neighbouring country training
non-adults in subversive activities
to create terror in India would be
7
weakened. Best place for children
is in school and not in battle field
(including at Ayodhya as our Minister
for Human Resource Development
would like to prove in his case before
the High Court!)
9. The character ‘Shri Krishna’ is
wearing a peacock feather, an offence
under the Wild Life Act. This must not
be depicted. Also, Smt Maneka
Gandhi is strongly opposed to use of
elephants or horses in the war scenes.
10. In pursuance of the standing
orders of Department of Expenditure
on austerity measures, it is informed
that in the battlefield sequences, only
ten soldiers may be allowed for each
side. Also, all the characters must be
shown to have obtained a valid license
under the Arms Act.
You are therefore requested to
modify the script along the lines
indicated above and resubmit it in
quadruplicate to the undersigned at the
earliest. Please note that in your case
e-submission would be inadvisable.
We are also separately examining
a proposal to refer to the CBI as to
how this matter got leaked to the press
during the current Film Festival at Siri
For t Auditor ium. If you have any
information please do let us know. The
Government is concerned at the
reported attempt of linking this matter
to the sister of the present Minister
for I & B, or to the daughter of the
Deputy Prime Minister, or to the
daughter of the Minister for HRD, who
in their own right are noted media
personalities.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/- Desk Officer
Copy to all concerned including the Press
Adviser to PM and to the Public Relations
Officer of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and RSS
office.
All you need ...
All you need in life is ignorance
and confidence, and then
success is sure. 
Mark Twain
8 MUJHE KUCCH KEHNA HAI!
The city of Mumbai is like a living
being. The city, it seems, talks to you.
It talks to you through its ancient
buildings built in gothic style of
architecture, through the towering
skyscrapers, through the slums and
open gutters, through the huge
hoardings of fancy products featuring
beautiful people, through the beggars
and through the many homeless that
it houses.
The Arabian Sea witnesses it all. It
watches everything that happens in
this city. In the monsoon when rains
wash and carry the dirt, it seems to
be roaring with rage. It roars and sours,
even in the summer and during the
insignificant brief winter but it resumes
its mass and power in the monsoon.
Very few amongst us hear the city and
the sea.
Every day an enormous mass of
living beings moves towards its
common goal, that is, to survive. The
vehicles on the roads, the trains, the
buses full of people run through this
city like its veins. Enormous amount
of polluting gases, chemicals, waste,
filth and excreta is produced and
disposed of ruthlessly and thought-
lessly anywhere and everywhere.
The city, which I said is like a living
organism, does not seem to have an
excretory system! And given the
scale of rising pollution it would stop
respiring very soon. The human beings
are like millions of cells of this being.
Some cells have multiplied and are
dangerous like cancer cells, some
are unwanted and useless to the
functioning, therefore are like tumors,
some cells are vestigial, some cells
are lifeless, we can call them dead
cells. Very few of these human beings
are useful to the city, which are like
the functioning, essential cells in the
body of an organism. It is because of
these very few good cells that the city
is still alive.
The night sky is never dark. The
dazzling nightlife leaves it hazy. This
city never sleeps, it is said. That is
why it looks so exhausted in the
morning, breathing out smog and the
leftover pollutants, which neither the
Published at Mumbai for the IAS Officers’ Association, Maharashtra Branch by the Editor: Rameshchandra Kanade
Email id: harmony@iasmah.org  r_kanade@hotmail.com  Phones: 022- 22703785; 22834329
Oh Mumbai!
By BILKISS GAIKWAD
trees can assimilate, nor the sea can
replenish. And we the ‘cells of the city’
breathe the same stale air and go on
surviving.
People who erect tall buildings,
glittering shopping malls and elite
restaurants are not beautifying the city;
they are killing it. They are sucking
even the last drops of the life juices
that are left in this city. They are no
better than the thousands of poor slum
dwellers who are frowned at for being
some ugly parasites. Their multistoried
dreams are not helping this dying city.
It is often described as a vibrant,
throbbing, happening city. It’s like
calling Kolkata the ‘city of joy’! It
sounds like they are talking about the
beauty of an actress who is sick with
cancer and hides her real face with
make up. But people do not want to
know or talk about her illness as long
as she is available and decked up.
It looks great at night. Yes, it does
look bearable in the dark. It is a
cosmopolitan city where very few
people have a sense of belonging. For
them it is the land of their dreams and
not their land.
It is very difficult to watch this city
perish every day in bits and pieces.
Yes, there are flashes of its beauty
and the old charm but just for a while.
One needs to have a lot of money to
live happily in this city, to escape the
reality. To travel on the dug up, clogged
rods in air-conditioned cars and to live
in the multistoried buildings to see
the spread of slums. To visit the
multiplexes in order to enter the ‘make
believe’ world of Bollywood where
middleclass men in the city go to
Switzerland in a matter of a second to
sing songs and dance. One needs
money to make the life bearable and
to forget why you have to take efforts
to make your life bearable. Simple
joys of life are rare to find here. A cup
of warm coffee made in clean,
hygienic conditions or a glass of
orange juice without flies and
cockroaches can cost you a lot more
than their real wor th. I can go on
complaining. That’s what it sounds like
doesn’t it?
HARMONY, NOVEMBER 2003
We need to work on improving this
city and not just sit and describe its
plight. True. We need to change the way
we look at our city. We need to stop
abusing it and stop anybody who does
that. The task is mammoth and
extremely difficult. May be we wont
live to see the day it is healthier and
happier. But we can’t live letting our
beloved city die. A lot of thinking,
planning and money will go into
curing this city but we will have to do
what it takes. Or we will live and die
as the weak cells of a dying
organism. 
[The sensitive writer, Billkiss, is the youngest
daughter of Deputy Secretary (Finance)
Jayant Gaikwad (1993). As readers would
recall from Harmony issue of June 2003,
Bilkiss was a winner of the Best Speaker
Trophy in the prestigious Justice MC Chagla
Moot Court Competition held in the Govt Law
College, Mumbai. She was also the Best
Student of KC College, Mumbai for her excel-
lent academic and extra-curricular perfor-
mance. She had secured 81 per cent in the
BSc exam from Jai Hind College, Mumbai
before switching over to law. An avid reader
of the English Literature, she has just got
a flying start to her career with a posting in
the Air India. She can be contacted on
022-24974367].
Readers do write ......
I think that in an otherwise
infor mative ar ticle : The Men
Who Ruled India : Par t III
published in the October 2003
issue of Har mony, there is an
error. You have referred to ‘Sir
Vepa Ramamurthy’. I think it is
not an amalgam but should read
as ‘Sir Sonty Ramamurthy’. You
may please check.
S. Ramamoor thi, Buena
Vista. 
Sumit Majumdar replies:
Actually the initials were SV
Ramamurthi and thus the ’Vepa’
is the ‘V’ part of the name. I think
now that ‘V’ may have stood for
Venkata. But you are right, S
stood for Sonti.... I hope all is
well in Mumbai.
Best wishes, Sumit.