Dilli Ka Babu: Babus Shaken and stirred in UP

The conviction of a retired IAS officer H.C. Gupta in the coal scam has shaken not just the serving IAS officers but also retired IAS officers in Uttar Pradesh, the cadre to which he belonged. The retired officers, who have their own association called UP Retired IAS Officers’ Association, took out a candle march in support of Mr Gupta, who, most maintain, is an honest officer.

Retired babus in UP now want protection from their political bosses. They feel an urgent need to protect officials in cases where they are innocent. The case is cited of former chief secretary D.S. Bagga whose post-retirement benefits were withheld because he happened to be at the helm of affairs when the Taj Corridor scam took place. The babus also blame a former chief minister who started the trend of suspending IAS officers without serving even a showcause notice. She suspended a total of over 70 officers in her four terms as chief minister.

The Retired IAS Officers’ Association has not only passed a resolution urging the government to protect upright officers, but has also decided to set up a legal cell to offer legal aid to officers. The UP IAS Association has remained relatively quiet on the issue.

Babu leaves PMO to help Yogi
The premature repatriation of 1981-batch IAS officer Rajeev Kumar has fuelled speculation that he might take over as the new chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh. One of the senior-most officers of the state, Mr Kumar, until recently, was secretary of shipping.

After the change of guard in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Kumar was on the top in a list of over 10 IAS officers sent to the Centre by chief minister Yogi Adityanath requesting that they be posted back in UP. While the Centre relieved six officers, there was no word on the repatriation of Mr Kumar . 

Now that he is back in his home state, babu-watchers are speculating whether current chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, who is a year junior to Mr Kumar, will have to make way for him. Mr Kumar is reportedly close to the Prime Minister and he also enjoys a decent rapport with principal secretary Nripendra Mishra at the PMO. Apparently, the Centre agreed to relieve Mr Kumar even before he completed his term since Mr Modi, with an eye on the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, wanted an experienced officer at the helm in UP.

Babu promoted to champion Aadhaar
It’s another visible indication of just how serious the Centre is about making Aadhaar biometric identity number mandatory, a sceptical Supreme Court notwithstanding. The Centre has promoted the Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI’s CEO, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, to the position of secretary. Mr Pandey is a 1984-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre and has been the head of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) since September 2015.

The decision was taken by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier too, finance minister Arun Jaitley had sought to make the 12-digit number mandatory for filing income tax returns and Permanent Account Numbers. 

Since then, the Supreme Court has relaxed its stand and said that Aadhaar should not be made mandatory for seeking benefits but can be used for services like opening bank accounts.

At present, there are about 78 schemes, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme, Pahal for cooking gas subsidies as well as various scholarship schemes that give direct cash transfers in the beneficiary’s account instead of a subsidy. 

So Mr Pandey’s elevation is in tune with the government’s determination to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing the benefits of various government schemes and services.