OROP II

 FUNCTIONING IN GOVT OF INDIA, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, DEPARTMENT OF EX-SERVICEMEN WELFARE - AT A GLANCE

When the disbursal of arrears of pension to widows and gallantry award winners is to be completed by 30 Apr 2023, as per the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, our Ministry of Defence (MoD) Ex-Servicemen Welfare (ESW) issues the authority letter on 28 Apr 2023 to the Service Chiefs to disburse arrears by the timelines laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.

Some of you are very uncharitable to our officers and subordinates working in MoD (ESW). You have to understand that in the Govt of India, you have to follow laid down procedures to carry out any task. Any minor deviation from the procedures invites severe disciplinary action.

Let me explain how the letter has been issued to the three service chiefs to disburse the arrears in the succeeding paragraphs.

1.     The Attorney General or Solicitor General who received the directions of Hon'ble Supreme Court on disbursal of arrears of OROP- II will send it to MoD (ESW).

2.     MoD (ESW) sends it to Min of Def for arranging funds for disbursal of arrears.

3.     MoD asks its Financial Advisor to demand funds from the Ministry of Finance (Revenue).

4.     Ministry of Finance (Revenue) will take its own time to arrange funds and place them at the disposal of the MoD, which, in turn, informs the MoD (ESW).

5.     The draft letter will be made by their Desk Officer. The Desk Officer sends the file to the Under Secretary. The Under Secretary sends it to the Deputy Secretary duly approving the recommendation of the Desk Officer. The Deputy Secretary sends the file approving the recommendation of the Under Secretary to the Joint Secretary. The Joint Secretary approves the recommendation of the Deputy Secretary to Secretary (ESW). He sends it to the Additional Secretary MoD who forwards it to the Secretary. The Secretary (ESW) takes it to Hon'ble Raksha Mantri who is busy in electioneering in Karnataka. Once he comes back to Delhi, the Hon’ble Minister on file writes “issue letter on disbursal of OROP arrears.” The file goes down from the Secretary (ESW) to the Additional Secretary to the Joint Secy (ESW) to the Dy Secy and finally to the Under Secretary to the Desk officer.

Now the draft letter is made by the Desk Officer. He sends it to the Under Secretary. the Under Secretary sends it to the Deputy Secretary. the Deputy Secretary sends the file to the Joint Secretary. the Joint Secretary sends it to the Additional Secretary and on to the Secretary. The Secretary says “Approved”.

The file comes back from Secretary to Additional Secretary to the Joint Secretary. The Joint Secretary says “See the directions of the Secretary on Disbursal of Arrears on the draft letter. Take immediate action”. The Deputy Secretary writes “ See the instruction of Joint Secretary. Take immediate action” and sends it to Under Secretary. Under Secretary writes on file “ See the directions of the Deputy Secretary. Take immediate Action”. Finally, the Desk Officer instructs all three Service Chiefs to implement.

Service Chiefs says “ We do not disburse arrears to Ex-Servicemen” and sends the file back to Desk Officer.

The Desk officer seeks permission from the Secretary to issue a letter to banks. The Secretary finally gives his approval, “Send the letter to the banks.” The file comes back with the instructions of the Secretary through the chain to the Desk officer.

The Desk officer sends the file to the CPPCs of banks. The CPPCs of Banks reply to the Desk officer that “ We need instructions from PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj.”

The desk officer seeks permission from the Secretary, Min of Def (ESW) to send the letter to PCDA (Pensions). The file is approved by the Secretary, Min of Def (ESW) with instructions “ Send the letter to PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj”. The Desk officer issues a letter to PCDA (Pensions) Prayagaj.

PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj tells the Desk officer “ We need instructions from CGDA”.

The Desk officer sends the file right up to the Secretary, Min of Def (ESW) who says “ Approved. Send the file to CGDA.”. The desk officer issues the letter to CGDA.

CGDA tells the Desk officer “ We need instructions from the Financial Advisor of Defence Services”. The desk officer moves the file to Secretary Min of Def (ESW) seeking his permission to send the file to FADS.

The file comes back from Secretary “ Send the file to FADS”.

The Desk officer sends the file to FADS.

FADS issues the letter to CGDA. CGDA issues the letter to PCDA (Pensions) Prayagraj.

You all think govt employees do not work. See how much effort has been put in by everyone to issue a simple letter to disburse arrears of OROP- II.

Finally, the letter is issued to the banks that have to disburse the pensions. At times orders are given on the telephone to cut down time.

So do not blame banks if they have not disbursed your arrears. Govt of India loves the rules and regulations laid down by the British though the British changed their method of government functioning decades ago.

QUO VADIS OPPOSITION?

 Mossadegh....and....Modi

Since Iran exports a huge amount of oil to India, the Iran-US conflict is detrimental to our interests. Whenever the conflict escalates, it affects India as well, so our media goes into overdrive about it.

Have you ever wondered "Why Iranians call America "The Devil's Land"?

The British had historically dominated Iran's oil production, with 84% share of Iran's oil production going to England and only 16% to Iran. The Emperor of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was a corrupt man (अय्याश), so he didn't care! 

Iran had a constitutional monarchy, also had elections, Parliament. In 1951, Mohammed Mossadegh, a staunch patriot, became Prime Minister.  He did not like the dominance of foreign companies in Iran's oil production and trade. On March 15, 1951, he presented a Bill for the nationalization of Iran's oil industry in Parliament, which was passed by majority. After this Bill was passed, Iranians began to dream of happiness, that now their poverty would be removed! 

Time magazine called Mossadegh "Man of the year" in 1951! 

But due to these developments, the British lost a lot! The British started many small and big attempts to remove Mossadegh, tried to bribe Mossadegh, tried to assassinate Mossadegh, and attempted a military coup, but because Mossadegh was very experienced and intelligent, the British assassination, bribery plots failed and Mossadegh was very popular among the Iranian people. With a popular PM, a military coup was not possible. Finally, the British asked for help from the Americans.

America's CIA approved a $1 million fund to remove Mossadegh. Then one million US dollars equalled 4250 crore Rials (Iranian currency)! The funds were sent to the American Ambassador in Tehran (the capital of Iran).

 Mossadegh wanted to completely end the monarchy in Iran and give all the power to Parliament, so the Emperor of Iran was also on the side of England and the Americans. Their plan was to create discontent against Mossadegh and remove popular support from him, then overthrow his Government with the help of corrupt Parliamentarians.

A large number of Iranian journalists, editors, and Muslim clerics were paid 631 crore Riyals by the US and those journalists, editors and Muslim clerics had only one thing to do in return, which was to incite the people against Mossadegh.

Members of the Iranian Parliament were paid 46 million Rials each to spread propaganda about Mossadegh's work. Thousands of Iranians were paid to participate in the false protests. Then started marches on the Parliament. Big media around the world also started supporting American propaganda. Mossadegh began to be referred to as "the Dictator" in "The New York Times".  The same "Time" magazine that had praised now called Mossadegh a dangerous entity. Opposition to Mossadegh began at a very low level, with cartoons depicting him as gay.

Realizing that his Government was about to be overthrown by corrupt MPs, Mossadegh dissolved the Parliament, and finally, the US forced the Iranian Emperor to remove Mossadegh from his post as Prime Minister. (Since Mossadegh had the authority to accept or reject the order, the Shah decided to arrest him if he refused the order!). But Mossadegh's soldiers arrested the Army unit that had come to arrest him, and upon learning this, the Shah of Iran fled to Baghdad! 

Finally, by paying a bribe of 210 million Rials, the US instigated fake riots in the capital of Iran, with mercenaries on the sides. Rioters attacked Mossadegh's house, and Mossadegh was forced to flee, (the military helped in the overthrow of Govt), a puppet was made the Prime Minister, citing the old order of the Emperor. After the Emperor returned to Iran, Mossadegh surrendered. He was put on trial, imprisoned, and then held under house arrest until his death. (Mossadegh died in custody at the age of 85.)

After that the Americans and the British started taking of share of 40% - 40% of Iranian oil and the remaining 20% was given to other European companies. For decades the Iranian people had to live under the dictatorship of the Shah, a revolution ended the Monarchy but then the fanatical Khomeini came to power and made the lives of the Iranian people even worse.

WHAT WAS MOSSADEGH'S CRIME? 

His idea that the economic sectors of our country should be dominated by indigenous companies instead of foreign companies. This policy was his crime..? Under Mossadegh's leadership, Iran would have become a fully democratic country before 1955, and 100% of the oil production would have benefited Iran. 

The decades of torture inflicted on the Iranian people would not have happened in a strong democracy and a Government that favours indigenous companies, Iran would probably be a more prosperous country than Saudi Arabia today. But Iran's corrupt parliamentarians, journalists, editors and protestors sold Iran's rich future for just one million dollars.

During this period of oppression, the Iranian people began to realize that America had a hand in overthrowing Mossadegh's Government. In 1979, the Iranians detained Americans in the US embassy for 444 days, and 77 volumes of documents the Iranians found in the embassy were released, in which there was evidence of the American hand and how they helped the oppressive puppets in Iran.

That's why Iranians call America, "Satan's Country"! 

Mossadegh could not complete the policy of breaking the dominance of foreign companies and promoting indigenous companies, he made enemies with the two superpowers of the world. In the end, he had an unfortunate end, as in Bollywood films the hero doesn't win every time.

Finally, who were the real villain for Iran..? Journalists, editors, MPs and activists who had been sold to America! 

Had these people not been sold, the Iranian people would have stood behind Mossadegh and America would not have succeeded like England. But for a few dollars, the patriotic leader of Iran was called "Kumshah" and soon the whole country was ruined! 

Our country 'India' is also on the same path today. 

It is a great misfortune that the common citizens do not notice the ongoing conspiracies unless they suffer endless atrocities.

It is wise to be alert in time and not fall prey to corrupt media propaganda, trust our patriotic present Indian leadership and stand firmly behind it.

Otherwise, a disaster like Iran is inevitable....and this is why intelligence agencies of big capitalist countries are working day and night. These intelligence agencies are making many politicians of India work as their agents and there are also some journalists, urban naxals, pseudo-liberals and NGOs working with the aim of selling the country for dirty money. 

It is no longer a secret that a campaign for regime change in India has been launched by foreign agencies. It is said that our destiny is in our own hands, we just need to understand it properly.

From Balu's Twitter feed 05 Feb 2023

NEW NATURAL LAWS

 AN UPDATE ON LOADED PRINCIPLES

1. Solomon's Paradox: We're better at solving other people's problems than our own because detachment yields objectivity. But Kross et al (2014) found viewing oneself in the 3rd person yields the same detachment, so when trying to help yourself, imagine you're helping a friend.

2. Cunningham's Law: The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question, but to post the wrong answer, because people are more interested in criticizing you than helping you.

3. Bonhoeffer's Theory of Stupidity: Evil can be guarded against. Stupidity cannot. And the world's few evil people have little power without the help of the world's many stupid people. Therefore, stupidity is a far greater threat than evil.

4. Brooks's law: "Adding manpower to a late software project makes it later.

5. Gibson's Law: “For every PhD, there is an equal and opposite PhD.”

In courtroom trials & political debates, anyone can find a subject-matter expert who supports their view, because having a PhD doesn’t make someone right, it often just makes them more skilled at being wrong.

6. Surrogate Activities: The more we eliminate struggles from our lives, the more we create artificial struggles – sports, video games, Twitter culture wars – because the mind wants peace, but also needs conflict.

7. Shirky Principle: To ensure survival, institutions will try to preserve the problem to which they are the solution. E.g. Arms manufacturers lobby politicians to push for new wars, and light bulb manufacturers deliberately make their bulbs short-lived so you buy them more often.

8. Babble Hypothesis: According to multiple studies, what best predicts whether someone becomes a leader? Their experience? Their IQ?

        No. The amount of time they spend talking. It doesn't even matter what they say, just how
        much they say it. We suck at picking leaders.

9. Noble Cause Corruption: The greatest evils come not from those seeking to do bad, but from those seeking to do good and believing the ends justify the means. Ironically, few things justify the immoral treatment of others more than the belief that you're more moral than them.

10. Noise Bottlenecks: Consuming online content makes us feel like we're learning, but 90% of the content is useless junk—small talk, clickbait, marketing—which crowds out actual info from our minds. As such, we feel we're getting smarter as we get stupider.

11. Walson's law: If you keep putting information and intelligence first at all the time, money keeps coming in.

12. Clarke’s Second Law: The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.

13. Clarke’s Third Law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

14. Godwin’s Law: As a discussion on the Internet grows longer, the likelihood of a person/s being compared to Hitler or another Nazi increases.

15. The Streisand Effect: When an attempt is made to remove a piece of information (because it is not meant for that audience), it gets much more publicity than intended, and becomes known more widely.

16. Kidlin's Law: If you have a problem, write it down clearly and that's half done.

17. Falkland’s Law: When there is no need to make a decision, don't make a decision.

18. Gilbert's Law: The biggest problem at work is that none tells you what to do.

19. Amara's Law: We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.

20. Andy and Bill's Law: When a computer chip is released, new software will be released to use up all of its power.

21. Benford's Law of Controversy: Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available.

22. Betteridge's Law of Headlines: Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word ‘no'.

23. Dilbert principle: "the most ineffective workers are systematically moved to the place where they can do the least damage: management.

Gall's Law: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked.

23. Brandolini's Law: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.

24. Campbell's Law: The more any quantitative social indicator is used for social decision-making, the more subject it will be to corruption pressures and the more apt it will be to distort and corrupt the social processes it is intended to monitor.

OUR INDIAN EDUCATION RACKET

THE INDIAN EDUCATION RACKET

In a society that has almost normalised the practice of corruption, is it surprising that we are hearing the never-ending tales of scams in the educational sector? Yet, despite this routinisation of corruption — and even its societal acceptance, when we find a Vice-Chancellor (VC) involved in selling fake degrees, or a minister and his associates manipulating the entire process of recruitment of school teachers, it becomes difficult to remain silent. The reason for this anguish is that if we continue to destroy the realm of education and devalue the vocation of teaching, none can save our children and activate their creative potential. In the process of worshipping money, or celebrating the newly emergent ‘heroes’ — techno-managers and traders as educationists, and politicians as agents of the corporate elite — we have almost forgotten that a society that has lost its teachers, the carriers of the illuminating light of education, is already dead.

WHITHER INDIAN EDUCATION

Switzerland with a total population of 8+ million tops the Ranking in the Global Innovation Index (indicates innovation performance). Ironically, India stands 52nd in the same list despite having a population of over a billion and producing over 1 million engineers annually. No Nobel Laureates in Science from India since independence. The US has 100+ Nobel laureates with a far smaller population. PhD holders applying for clerk jobs is a common sight.

What’s failing? Despite having such a high number of graduates passing out each year, where are we lacking? Do we detect signs of a fraudulent system anywhere?

Manav Bharti University (MBU) of Solan in Himachal Pradesh has been embroiled in a massive scam, understood to have been ongoing since around 2009 when the institution was opened. Issuance of fake degrees numbering over 36,000 to students across 17 states was first unearthed when an anonymous complaint was registered with the University Grants Commission. The UGC then proceeded to inform the authorities about the fraud back in 2019.

The education system that we follow was set up during the East India Company rule under the guidelines of Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay in the 1830s. This system was based on the British requirement. They wanted Indians as clerks and labour, performing all the low-level work. Communication was also a challenge. Hence, subjects like English, Math and Science made it to the curriculum putting aside any holistic approach in studies and suppressing creative thinking. Unfortunately, even after independence, we’re still a slave to this curriculum.

In most cases, the education system fails to teach the relevance of subjects in practical life. The pattern is such that the students are gauged on the basis of their cramming abilities barring any creative approach to learning. Decent marks do not assure proper learning and actual application ability. A banal example is how the students cram Sanskrit textbooks in schools and score high marks but when it comes to speaking, they fail miserably. Limited options of courses are another hurdle for students trying to make unconventional career choices.

The most successful Indians we see, top business tycoons, sportspersons, politicians, et al, have not fallen victim to this age-old education trap. Most of them have either educated themselves in what they actually want to do or have pursued education in foreign countries rather than just aiming to get a degree. The plight of the Indian Education system is well-known to everyone, this is the reason why most Politicians and big shots prefer to send their kids to foreign lands for education. What then, is the need of the hour? is to eradicate this system and emphasise an overall holistic development approach. The world is changing dramatically and new technologies are emerging with each passing day opening up a different arena. Jobs like that of Influencers, SEO managers and Artificial Intelligence Engineers weren’t even dreamt of back in the day. We will see new jobs in the coming future that we might even not have heard of.

Think of a huge tree in Santiniketan, and under its shade Rabindranath Tagore and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi sitting together, reflecting on education, culture and civilisation, and inspiring a nation with new dreams and aspirations. Think of an educationist like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad in Nehru’s Cabinet, and educating the political class. Think of some of our great VCs like Ashutosh Mukherjee and Gopalaswami Parthasarathy. Think of great professors like CV Raman and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. And think of many unknown, yet, immensely dedicated, teachers who drew their inspiration from the likes of Maria Montessori and Gijubhai Badheka, and sought to implement a creatively nuanced and life-affirming agenda of education. Think of a generation who loved to converse with Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich, or was fond of listening to Jiddu Krishnamurti’s talks on education. Think of some of our finest minds — historians, physicists, social scientists — giving up lucrative careers, choosing to work with rural and marginalised children, and making it a point that the Eklavyas in new India should not be deprived of light education.

Possibly, the new generation would not believe it. The reason is that they are already disillusioned as they hear an altogether different story, say, the notorious tales of some of our VCs. Recently, the Hyderabad police arrested a current and a retired VC of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan University, Bhopal, for providing degrees — from B Tech to MBA — in exchange for money. And the chairman of a university in Himachal Pradesh has been accused of selling 55,000 degrees. There seems to be no end to the tales of these multi-crore scams. Yet, in another recruitment scam in state-run government-aided schools in West Bengal, the minister concerned, it appears, was involved in manipulating the merit list for the recruitment of out-of-turn persons in 2016. No wonder, the Calcutta High Court did not hesitate to instruct the daughter of West Bengal’s junior education minister to return the salary which she has received since 2018; she has also been barred from entering the school premises where she was working as an assistant teacher. Amid the constant flow of this sort of news of corruption and nepotism, is it really possible for the new generation to believe that the world can be different?

How do we make sense of this education racket? There are many reasons —the naked form of commodification of education (money can buy a cup of Starbucks coffee; likewise, money can buy a B Tech, BEd, MBA or even MBBS degree); the unholy alliance of the political class and the traders of education resulting in the mushrooming growth of poor quality medical colleges, and technical universities with ‘management quota’ and capitation fee; and the chronic diploma disease that urges many, even the most disinterested ones, to get a BA/MA or even PhD degree at any cost.

But then, what about people like us — English-educated, urbane, professional middle-class? We are no less responsible for this pathetic state of affairs. Do we really value the vocation of teaching? Do we really want our children to be nurtured by great teachers? Do we really come to the street, and demand that our children need good libraries in schools, creative and experimental pedagogic practices, and good teachers who make them realise that education, far from being a mere technique of cracking standardised tests, is essentially the integration of intellectual cognition and aesthetic imagination, or sensitivity that generates humility, kindness and a sense of altruism? Do we raise our voices for saving some of our good public universities from the ongoing political assault? Or do we think that we need not bother because our children would leave India, go abroad, and settle down comfortably? Or, are we only searching for some brands, or, for that matter, coaching centre strategists, Ed Tech companies, and packaged ‘success manuals’?

How many of us realise that a teacher is not a technician who forces the child to memorise that ‘A’ means apple; or 19x19 is 361; instead, a teacher is a catalyst who, even at the time of playing with mathematics and physics, or history and geography, seeks to arouse the child’s hidden faculties? We seem to be in a hurry. In the age of instantaneity, we need instant results — a seat in a medical college at any cost, or admission to a foreign university. No wonder, we passively watch this severe blow to the vocation of teaching and allow the mafia to run the emergent education industry.

Without a people’s movement to save education, there seems to be no escape from this rot.