All bark, no bite?

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) succeeds where the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) failed! The CBI recently arrested central excise commissioner Anup Kumar Srivastava for his alleged role in a tax evasion case. This followed a raid by CBI on Mr Srivastava’s premises earlier this month. But the curious thing about this episode is that Mr Srivastava was already on the radar of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), which had recommended that the official be tran .....

A rare joy

Whistleblowers among the tribesmen (yes, that rare breed still exists) rarely find their careers sailing smoothly, even in these enlightened days where the cry for accountability and transparency is shaking babu bastions. Ask Sanjiv Chaturvedi, a lowly Indian Forest Officer in Haryana, who clearly rubbed the powers that be the wrong way during his five year tenure in the state forest department. For exposing irregularities and violations of the Wildlife Act, the forest babu suffere .....

Hectic political activity seems to have eclipsed everything else in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. But the usual business of babudom continues amid the election din. Chief Minister Mayawati’s relationship with her babus has been prickly at best, especially with those who have refused to kowtow to her wishes. In September the state’s senior-most IAS officer Promilla Shankar, who was posted as commissioner in the NCR region cell found herself suspended for invoking Behanji’s ire. As reported earlier in .....