Taking Hubli Forward
Source: HDMC Website
A high-level meeting under the chairmanship of chief minister H D Kumaraswamy and deputy chief Minister Yediyurappa will be convened shortly in Hubli solely to discuss the development of Hubli-Dharwad.
This was announced by ministers Jagadish Shettar and Basavaraj Horatti at a review meeting of officiaIs here on Wednesday.
"We are ready to do anything for the development of the twin-cities. The only thing we need is your support," they told the officials, when they came out with a set of proposals to improve the twin-cities.
Shettar also directed Dharwad DC M S Srikar and HDMC chief Manivannan ro prepare a blueprint on ways to take the city forward, focusing on drinking water, roads, footpaths, parks and underground drains.
"It is our job to get the CM and DyCM here and it is up to you to impress upon them," Horatti asserted.
Saturday, July 29, 2006
Why RTI is toothless without file notings
Why RTI is toothless without file notings
They Reflect Officers’ ‘Ulterior Motives’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Last week when The Times of India broke the story that the cabinet was about to approve amendments in the RTI Act to keep file notings out of public purview, there was predictably a furore. Those who had worked for years to empower the Indian citizen with knowledge felt the changes in the law would suck the life out of it. And honest bureaucrats, who believed RTI was a handy tool to keep corrupt bosses in check, saw this as a major setback to cleanse the system.
In a letter to the President, former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole — a man known for his integrity — wrote, “The decision of GoI to amend the RTI Act is highly retrograde and would totally defeat the very purpose of the Act. In fact, making the notings on the file open to people can be the single most effective check on the rampant corruption both at the administrative and political levels. It can also strengthen the hands of officers of honesty and integrity.”
What do the changes propose to do? Under the original Act, file notings on everything, barring defence, security, personal information and commercial information, could be accessed. Now proposal is to keep virtually all file notings under wrap, barring those on “social and developmental’’ projects.
The government says this change is being done to allow bureaucrats to fearlessly put their opinion on paper. Veteran bureaucrats feel the purpose is exactly the opposite — while pliable officers can now hide their consent to their masters’ wrong demands, honest officers can no longer cite the RTI to demand that the masters put their unlawful instructions in writing and more often than not, fob them off.
ToI explains why file notings are inseparable from a meaningful RTI. And why, minus access to them, RTI becomes toothless.
# What is file noting? Contrary to popular perception, file notings are not mere scribbles made by officers on the margins of any document. They are written on a separate green sheet on the left side of files, giving an officer’s considered comments on the issue. While the right side of a file contains the proposal, the left side has an officer’s views on it. After putting his views, the officer passes the file to his superior who, in turn, puts his views expressing approval or disapproval on this page.
# Why are file notings important? The green sheet is a record of the entire decisionmaking process. An officer’s comments on a particular issue — for or against — is written on the file notings. For instance, why a passport should be or should not be issued, or why a contract should or should not be given to a particular party, is all written in the file noting. If you don’t get to know this, you will never know who is misusing his powers.
# Who’s afraid of file notings and why? A file noting can expose whether any officer has written anything illegal or if he has delayed a particular file. In that sense, if file notings are taken out of the RTI Act, dishonest officials have reason to celebrate.
To illustrate the point, when 150 jhuggis were demolished in Mayur Vihar in September 2005, DDA said no land was available to resettle them. However, file notings revealed that 700 plots of land had actually been developed by DDA in Kondli for resettling them.
File notings are important even in routine matters. Suppose one applies for a ration card or a passport, and the babu expects a bribe. Under the present RTI Act, as soon as one files an RTI application and demands to know about a file’s status and asks for the names of officials responsible for the delay, there is usually a flurry of activity.
If the Act is amended this threat will no longer be there. The damning information is on the green page that has file notings. So, is the proposed change a positive step forward — as the PMO has claimed — or really retrograde? Our law-makers will have to take a call later this session.
They Reflect Officers’ ‘Ulterior Motives’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
New Delhi: Last week when The Times of India broke the story that the cabinet was about to approve amendments in the RTI Act to keep file notings out of public purview, there was predictably a furore. Those who had worked for years to empower the Indian citizen with knowledge felt the changes in the law would suck the life out of it. And honest bureaucrats, who believed RTI was a handy tool to keep corrupt bosses in check, saw this as a major setback to cleanse the system.
In a letter to the President, former Union home secretary Madhav Godbole — a man known for his integrity — wrote, “The decision of GoI to amend the RTI Act is highly retrograde and would totally defeat the very purpose of the Act. In fact, making the notings on the file open to people can be the single most effective check on the rampant corruption both at the administrative and political levels. It can also strengthen the hands of officers of honesty and integrity.”
What do the changes propose to do? Under the original Act, file notings on everything, barring defence, security, personal information and commercial information, could be accessed. Now proposal is to keep virtually all file notings under wrap, barring those on “social and developmental’’ projects.
The government says this change is being done to allow bureaucrats to fearlessly put their opinion on paper. Veteran bureaucrats feel the purpose is exactly the opposite — while pliable officers can now hide their consent to their masters’ wrong demands, honest officers can no longer cite the RTI to demand that the masters put their unlawful instructions in writing and more often than not, fob them off.
ToI explains why file notings are inseparable from a meaningful RTI. And why, minus access to them, RTI becomes toothless.
# What is file noting? Contrary to popular perception, file notings are not mere scribbles made by officers on the margins of any document. They are written on a separate green sheet on the left side of files, giving an officer’s considered comments on the issue. While the right side of a file contains the proposal, the left side has an officer’s views on it. After putting his views, the officer passes the file to his superior who, in turn, puts his views expressing approval or disapproval on this page.
# Why are file notings important? The green sheet is a record of the entire decisionmaking process. An officer’s comments on a particular issue — for or against — is written on the file notings. For instance, why a passport should be or should not be issued, or why a contract should or should not be given to a particular party, is all written in the file noting. If you don’t get to know this, you will never know who is misusing his powers.
# Who’s afraid of file notings and why? A file noting can expose whether any officer has written anything illegal or if he has delayed a particular file. In that sense, if file notings are taken out of the RTI Act, dishonest officials have reason to celebrate.
To illustrate the point, when 150 jhuggis were demolished in Mayur Vihar in September 2005, DDA said no land was available to resettle them. However, file notings revealed that 700 plots of land had actually been developed by DDA in Kondli for resettling them.
File notings are important even in routine matters. Suppose one applies for a ration card or a passport, and the babu expects a bribe. Under the present RTI Act, as soon as one files an RTI application and demands to know about a file’s status and asks for the names of officials responsible for the delay, there is usually a flurry of activity.
If the Act is amended this threat will no longer be there. The damning information is on the green page that has file notings. So, is the proposed change a positive step forward — as the PMO has claimed — or really retrograde? Our law-makers will have to take a call later this session.
TCS keen on expanding to tier two cities
TCS keen on expanding to tier two cities
The Hindu.com (Business)
Bangalore, July 29. (UNI): IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is keen on spreading its wings to tier two cities in the country and ramp up its operations.
TCS CEO and Managing Director S Ramadorai told newspersons here that TCS was looking at Hubli and Mangalore in Karnataka, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Nagpur in Maharasthra. "We have started operations recently in Kochi," he added.
He said for the next fiscal TCS had already completed campus recruitment in 180 colleges across the country, giving offers to 8,710 freshers. "We will visit 300 colleges this year," he informed.
TCS planned a capital expenditure of Rs 1000 crores on infrastructure and Rs 300 crores on technology for the current year and ramp up manpower by over 30,000.
"The net addition will be 22,000 taking into account the attrition rate," he said adding that during the first quarter of the current fiscal 7000 would be added. The total addition in manpower included 4000 to be hired in other countries. Currently TCS had 71,000 employees on its rolls.
Mr Ramadorai said the Joint Venture would be the first involving an Indian IT company to offer BPO and IT services in China.
He said TCS' current operations in China, having 500 personnel, was likely to merge with the Joint Venture, which would blossom into a 5,000-strong company in four years.
Mr Ramadorai said Tata Consultancy Services (China) would provide IT outsourcing services and solutions to the Chinese domestic market as well as the global market. The key objective of the global initiative was to build the new venture as a role-model for the growing Chinese software industry. China would emerge as the second major global delivery centre for TCS after India.
He said the Joint Venture would leverage the complementary strengths of the different partners in technology, software development management, talent acquisition and training, including the world-class processes and practices of TCS, as well as its experience of handling large and industrial-scale technology projects. It would also leverage experience and resources of the Chinese partners, which run the national software development parks.
Mr Ramdorai said the Joint Venture would have centres across China to tap the talent pool.
TCS also won a mandate from the Chinese retail banker Huasia for implementation of a core banking solution. In the first phase, 20 to 25 branches would be covered, he added.
The Hindu.com (Business)
Bangalore, July 29. (UNI): IT major Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is keen on spreading its wings to tier two cities in the country and ramp up its operations.
TCS CEO and Managing Director S Ramadorai told newspersons here that TCS was looking at Hubli and Mangalore in Karnataka, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu and Nagpur in Maharasthra. "We have started operations recently in Kochi," he added.
He said for the next fiscal TCS had already completed campus recruitment in 180 colleges across the country, giving offers to 8,710 freshers. "We will visit 300 colleges this year," he informed.
TCS planned a capital expenditure of Rs 1000 crores on infrastructure and Rs 300 crores on technology for the current year and ramp up manpower by over 30,000.
"The net addition will be 22,000 taking into account the attrition rate," he said adding that during the first quarter of the current fiscal 7000 would be added. The total addition in manpower included 4000 to be hired in other countries. Currently TCS had 71,000 employees on its rolls.
Mr Ramadorai said the Joint Venture would be the first involving an Indian IT company to offer BPO and IT services in China.
He said TCS' current operations in China, having 500 personnel, was likely to merge with the Joint Venture, which would blossom into a 5,000-strong company in four years.
Mr Ramadorai said Tata Consultancy Services (China) would provide IT outsourcing services and solutions to the Chinese domestic market as well as the global market. The key objective of the global initiative was to build the new venture as a role-model for the growing Chinese software industry. China would emerge as the second major global delivery centre for TCS after India.
He said the Joint Venture would leverage the complementary strengths of the different partners in technology, software development management, talent acquisition and training, including the world-class processes and practices of TCS, as well as its experience of handling large and industrial-scale technology projects. It would also leverage experience and resources of the Chinese partners, which run the national software development parks.
Mr Ramdorai said the Joint Venture would have centres across China to tap the talent pool.
TCS also won a mandate from the Chinese retail banker Huasia for implementation of a core banking solution. In the first phase, 20 to 25 branches would be covered, he added.
Ensure WTO does not affect Indian farmers: Shettar
Ensure WTO does not affect Indian farmers: Shettar
The Hindu.com
Staff Correspondent
Need to create awareness about WTO among farmers stressed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Developed countries giving huge amount of subsidies to their agricultural sector
# Share of developing countries in world agricultural trade is very small
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUBLI: Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar has said that India needs to ensure that developments in World Trade Organisation do not affect Indian agriculture.
Inaugurating the Seminar on "World Trade Organisation and its implications" here on Thursday, he said: "It is a matter of concern that developed countries are giving huge amount of subsidies to their agriculture sector, which could be detrimental to our economic growth as 70 per cent of our population is dependent on agriculture."
The seminar was organised the Export Promotion Council of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in cooperation with the British High Commission, New Delhi, under the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth Office project.
Mr. Shettar said after the collapse of talks at Geneva recently, there was need to organise such workshops in small cities so that the stakeholders were aware of the implications of the WTO arguments on their business and activities.
"It is strange that India being founder member of the WTO is still in a disadvantageous position. Developing countries represent 90 per cent of the farmers in the world, but still their share in world agricultural trade is very small, whereas in European Union and the United States, only two per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture. But still they account for 50 per cent of the world trade in agriculture," Mr. Shettar said.
Chetan Bijesur, Senior Assistant Director of WTO, FICCI, stressed the need for creating awareness about WTO among farmers, businessmen and the people. He felt that the Indian industrial sector should transform itself qualitatively if it had to compete in the global market.
Shankaranna Munavalli, President, KCCI, welcomed the gathering and Mahendra Ladhad, honorary secretary proposed a vote of thanks. Office bearers of KCCI V.C. Hiremath, L.V. Magajikondi, Shivashankar Moogabast and others were present.
Later in the technical sessions, A. Jayagovind, Vice-Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and Prabhash Ranjan of CENTAD, New Delhi, delivered lectures on various issued related to WTO and interacted with the participants.
The Hindu.com
Staff Correspondent
Need to create awareness about WTO among farmers stressed
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Developed countries giving huge amount of subsidies to their agricultural sector
# Share of developing countries in world agricultural trade is very small
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HUBLI: Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar has said that India needs to ensure that developments in World Trade Organisation do not affect Indian agriculture.
Inaugurating the Seminar on "World Trade Organisation and its implications" here on Thursday, he said: "It is a matter of concern that developed countries are giving huge amount of subsidies to their agriculture sector, which could be detrimental to our economic growth as 70 per cent of our population is dependent on agriculture."
The seminar was organised the Export Promotion Council of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in cooperation with the British High Commission, New Delhi, under the U.K. Foreign Commonwealth Office project.
Mr. Shettar said after the collapse of talks at Geneva recently, there was need to organise such workshops in small cities so that the stakeholders were aware of the implications of the WTO arguments on their business and activities.
"It is strange that India being founder member of the WTO is still in a disadvantageous position. Developing countries represent 90 per cent of the farmers in the world, but still their share in world agricultural trade is very small, whereas in European Union and the United States, only two per cent of the population is dependent on agriculture. But still they account for 50 per cent of the world trade in agriculture," Mr. Shettar said.
Chetan Bijesur, Senior Assistant Director of WTO, FICCI, stressed the need for creating awareness about WTO among farmers, businessmen and the people. He felt that the Indian industrial sector should transform itself qualitatively if it had to compete in the global market.
Shankaranna Munavalli, President, KCCI, welcomed the gathering and Mahendra Ladhad, honorary secretary proposed a vote of thanks. Office bearers of KCCI V.C. Hiremath, L.V. Magajikondi, Shivashankar Moogabast and others were present.
Later in the technical sessions, A. Jayagovind, Vice-Chancellor, National Law School of India University, Bangalore, and Prabhash Ranjan of CENTAD, New Delhi, delivered lectures on various issued related to WTO and interacted with the participants.
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