Dilip Cherian | New CM, new team: Mohan Yadav signals change in MP

The winds of change are sweeping through the administrative corridors of Madhya Pradesh as new chief minister Mohan Yadav is moving quickly to assemble his core team of officers. Mr Yadav’s proactive approach hints at a shift in the state’s governance dynamics, and an attempt, undoubtedly in close consultation with the Centre, to leave the legacy of his predecessor Shivraj Singh Chouhan behind.

In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed a flurry of appointments and reallocations, with senior babus, emblematic of Mr Chouhan’s tenure, gracefully stepping aside to make room for fresh faces and new perspectives.

Sandeep Yadav’s appointment as commissioner of public relations and Sameer Yadav’s assignment as the head of the CM’s security underscore the new CM’s intent to infuse vigour and competence into critical positions. Additionally, the elevation of Raghuvendra Singh to the role of principal secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office reflects a strategic move to blend experience with innovation. Others in the new team include Bharat Tadav, Avinash Lavania, Chandrashekhar Walimbe, Aditi Garg and Anshul Gupta.

The chief minister’s recent meeting with director general of police Sudhir Saxena signals an imminent reshuffle of IPS officers as well, sources have told DKB. With change comes opportunity, and Mr Yadav’s administration appears determined to capitalise on it.

The ‘paper’ wars

The white papers and the black papers on the economy have sent a lot of bureaucrats scurrying around for data. Everybody recognises that these papers are almost political weaponising of data figures. Still, at the moment, both former bureaucrats and current bureaucrats are locked in an almost death-like struggle to thread out new figures that can justify the policy measures that they had initiated during their terms in office.

Amid this struggle, there came an extremely erudite data stream from ex-Tamil Nadu finance minister and current DMK IT minister P. Thiaga Rajan, hailed by some as a financial statesman, who was able to show how the Dravidian model has outdone the Gujarat model and any national model, especially the current flavour, the Uttar Pradesh model, as far as economic growth and its benefits are concerned.

Mr Rajan argues that the UP model is more a chimera than a fact, even with the continuous net transfer of tax revenues from better-off states such as Tamil Nadu to less developed Uttar Pradesh. He showed data that at an accelerated growth rate that is two per cent higher than Tamil Nadu’s every year; it would still take 64 years for Uttar Pradesh’s per capita net SDP to catch up with Tamil Nadu’s!

But for the babus at the Centre, the UP success story is a great narrative to run with as we head into the poll season. Why let reality interfere with a dream?

Navigating the nexus

Serving and retired IAS officers, retired IPS and IFS officers, district judges and officials working in various departments are among the 370 people who have applied for the six posts of information commissioners in Karnataka.

The government issued a notification to fill six posts of information commissioners — five in Bengaluru and one in Belagavi — in November. Among the applicants are IAS officers Mamata B.R. and Richard Vincent D’Souza, and retired IAS, IPS, IFS officers A B Ibrahim, B Balagopal, Allappa R., M.G. Hiremath, Ashit Mohan Prasad, K.T. Balakrishna, M.V. Amaranath and Rajeev Ranjan. The list also has four district judges, over 30 retired officials who served in posts ranging from directors to joint secretary and first division assistants.

With a diverse pool of candidates, the process appears to be teeming with potential. However, beneath the surface lies a contentious issue that has plagued such appointments for years — the influence of political connections over meritocracy.

An activist who has revealed lapses in several departments through RTI said successive governments have ignored the basic principles during selection. Instances where individuals with dubious records or questionable integrity have been appointed to such positions undermine the very essence of transparency and erode public trust in institutions. The ramifications of such appointments are dire. How will Karnataka decide?