Dilli Ka Babu: TN babus divided over circular

The recent circular issued by Tamil Nadu chief secretary K. Shanmugam to make babus more responsive has met with a decidedly mixed response. It was certainly not the response he would have expected from the district magistrates and collectors in the state. Sources say that Mr Shanmugam has spelt out a 10-point plan to improve local administration. The plan instructs the district magistrates and collectors to do more field visits, pay special attention to agriculture and allied activities, focus on economic development of rural areas, especially housing, and promote water conservation in their areas. However, a section of babus see the plan as an intrusion into the political space. They argue that they are already doing these activities and are accountable for their performance through multi-layered screening procedures. But others support the chief secretary’s initiative and believe it to be a good step. They point out that a better system of oversight, such as the one suggested by Mr Shanmugam, can help babus avoid being caught in public controversies.

Privacy concerns
The key word here is “safety”. It’s no secret though that the Modi sarkar is obsessed with controlling the channels of information to ensure that it remains in charge of the messaging emanating from the government. So, a 24-page note from the Union home ministry has been circulated cautioning babus against accessing social media on official devices, including mobile phones and computers, unless permitted. It also directed officials not to carry out classified work on computers connected to the Internet and instead use standalone systems.

The ministry’s cyber and information security division deals with cyber crime, the National Information Security Policy and Guidelines (NISPG) and the implementation of NISPG. The current move, according to sources, is to prevent security breaches and ensure the sensitivity of data.

While the government is understandably concerned about ensuring the safety of its data, curiously, it is showing a keen interest in the social profiles of students in the country. Reportedly, the HRD ministry has recently directed all the higher educational institutions to link the social media accounts of students with their respective institutes and the HRD ministry. Sources say that the students’ social media accounts will be linked to those of the ministry and the respective institutes, to share positive achievements and “good work done by the institution”. But what it does feel like is that this is a move to track the social media handles of nearly 30 million college students and 900 universities. The circular from R. Subrahmanyam, secretary, ministry of human resource development, sent to the heads of all higher educational institutions (HEIs) makes it clear that the government is interested in what students post on their social media accounts.
Too much safety, heh?

Deputation blues
It’s no secret that the Centre is struggling to induce states to fulfil their quota of central deputation of IAS and IPS officers. The trend of babus tending to shy away from working at the Centre began in the Modi sarkar’s first tenure. It has continued into the government’s second term.

Sources say that the Centre has opted for a carrot-and-stick policy to persuade the states to fulfil their quota. It has warned that any laxity in this regard may be considered at the time of cadre review.