NK'S POST

My tribute to Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, the chairman of Bhaskar group of publications DB Post 13 April 2017 NK SINGH The invite had come in the name of  Ramesh  Chandra Agarwa l, the chairman of Bhaskar group of publications. But, unlike most of the proprietors of regional newspapers, Rameshji did not jump at the opportunity to accompany the Prime Minister on his foreign trip. Instead, he recommended my name ---- I had just joined Dainik Bhaskar, DB Post’s sister publication ---- and ensured that the invite was re-routed to include me in Atal Bihari Vajpayee ’s official press party. When I landed in New York in the fall of 2000 to cover the  Prime Minister’s visit to USA, Switzerland and Germany , I was in for a surprise. The media contingent was teeming with ow ner-editors of regional newspapers, particularly Hindi newspapers, eager to reap the double benefit of proximity to PM and a subsidised foreign junket. It was then that I realised the i...

NK SINGH There is no doubt that we need police commissioner system in larger towns of Madhya Pradesh. The much needed administrative reform is long overdue. Sky has not fallen in the 70 odd cities of the country where the system already exists, giving wide sweeping powers to men, and women, in khaki. There is also little doubt that along with this reform we also need, immediately, a robust system of dealing with complaints against police.   A police commissioner is not a magic bullet for crime control, the first and foremost duty of a government. The controversy over police commissioner system is essentially a war of hegemony between upper caste IAS and lower caste IPS. I was part of a committee on police reforms, constituted by MP Government in 1994, that recommended police commissioner system, as did many commissions and committees before that. The committee was headed by MC Trikha, a retired IPS officer known for his expertise in intelligence work. Ashok P...

NK SINGH Finally, the BJP regime’s radical endeavour curtailing MLAs’ rights to ask questions and move no-confidence motion against government in MP vidhan sabha could last less than a week. The speaker of state assembly has practically rescinded the amended rules that had become effective only on March 15. The amendment banned legislators from raising enquiries about communal riots, sensitive incidents, confidential matters and any question that might encourage secessionism. It also curtailed effectively their right to move no confidence motion against government. The opposition had described the amendments to rules of assembly procedure as an abortive “attempt to stifle democracy”. Speaker Sitasharan Sharma announced this week that he was sending back the controversial amendments for reconsideration to assembly’s rules and ethics committee. Interestingly, Sharma himself heads the committee that had earlier recommended curtailment in legislators’ rights. The vidhan ...

MP Chief Minister rarely travels by road So they call him helicopter wale mamaji नरेन्द्र कुमार सिंह आओ बच्चो खेलें खेल चिड़िया उड़ , तोता उड़ , मामा उड़ ...... मध्यप्रदेश की सरकार ने हाल ही में 2 लाख 20 हज़ार रुपये प्रति घण्टे की दर से एक जेट हवाई जहाज एक साल के लिए किराये पर लेने का फैसला किया है। सरकार ने इस जहाज को हर महीने कम से कम 30 घण्टे की उड़ान भरने की गारंटी दी है । यानी सरकार जहाज के मालिक को 66 लाख रुपये हर महीने देगी , चाहे उस महीने उसका जहाज एक घण्टा भी हवा में उड़े न उड़े। हवाई उड़ान के मामलों में हमारे प्रदेश में 1999 में बने कानून कायदे कहते हैं कि आकस्मिक हालात में किसी भी प्राइवेट प्लेन को किराए पर लिया जा सकता है। नियमावली में ये आकस्मिक हालात साफ साफ दर्ज हैं। जैसे राज्य का अपना विमान उड़ने की हालत में न हो या अगले छह घण्टों तक उसके उपलब्ध हो पाने की संभावना न हो या फिर कोई प्राकृतिक आपदा के चलते इमरजेंसी आन खड़ी हो। यों सरकार के पास उसका अपना हवाई बेड़ा है। इसमें एक प्लेन और तीन हेलीकाप्टर शामिल हैं। हाजिर भाव में इन चारों की कीमत क...

NK SINGH I was happily surprised to find a large number of readers appreciating my last week's column published in DB Post of 2nd January 2017. The response has been overwhelming. The article, ' Officers who made a difference in MP in 2017' , has already emerged as the most read piece on my site, nksmp.blogspot.com. This is the power of the positive. We encounter so much negativity in newspapers, TV and internet, that any positive news comes across as a fresh whiff of air. The three most read pieces on my site, as of today, are: No. 1 :  Officer who made a difference in MP , in which I have tried to put togather a list of public servants who made a difference in the lives of people through their work in 2017. Carried in DB Post of 2nd January 2018.  No. 2 : My interview with Narendra Modi where he talks about his troubled relationship with VHP leader Praveen Togadia among other things. This was the first interview granted by Modi, who was then Gujarat'...

NK SINGH Less than five months ago, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was adamant that MP Government would not ban sand mining. He said that although he was committed to check illegal mining, but “stopping legal sand mining was not the right thing to do”. The Chief Minister was responding to a Congress demand for ban on sand mining on December 10, a day ahead of the commencement of his much-touted Narmada Seva Yatra. Two months later, on January 30, he ordered a crackdown on sand mafia after a fearless mining inspector of Sehore, Chouhan’s home district, seized four overloaded truck owned by one of his nephews, embarrassing Chouhan and kicking up a political storm. In an attempt to clear his name, he praised the mining officer “for not succumbing to any influence”. But he was equally clear that stopping sand mining was not the answer. He instructed the district collectors in a video conference: “The mining department should ensure that legal mining and transportation (of s...

Those magnificent CMs in their flying machines NK SINGH Madhya Pradesh Government recently decided to hire a jet plane for a year at the rate of Rs 2.20 lakh per hour. According to a report in DB Post the Government has guaranteed a minimum use of 30 hours per month. It means the Government will have to pay Rs 66 lakh every month even if it uses the aircraft only for an hour. MP Government Rule for Hiring of Planes/ Helicopters 1999 says that the Government can hire private planes only in cases of exigencies. The rules are clear ---- if the state aircraft is out of order, or it cannot land in a particular area, or it is not available for the next 6 hours, or there is an emergency like natural calamity. The Government at present owns a fleet of one aeroplane and three helicopters, purchased at a  cost of Rs 152 crore, at current prices. One of the choppers has been put on sale. One nine-seater plane and two helicopters, which can carry six and four passengers respectiv...