Babus’ flights of fancy

[sidmis]

Babus’ flights of fancy
as reported by Shyamlal Yadav, India Today September 5, 2008


When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently wrote to his cabinet ministers, asking them to curtail their expenses on air travel and undertake foreign trips only when deemed "absolutely necessary", it was widely dismissed as an exercise in futility.

After all, such steps in the past have not exactly produced the desired results. Indeed, a look at the volume of the babu traffic to overseas destinations suggests that the prime minister's lament amounts to howling after the horses have bolted the stable.

Following an investigation on frequent fliers in the UPA Government in February this year, India Today filed separate Right to Information (RTI) applications to every Union ministry except the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on February 28 this year, seeking details of foreign visits made by officials of the rank of director and above.

India Today has received the information in 1,297 pages. The details of trips related to trainings of over one month have been excluded.

The information gathered is a result of over 80 applications, clarifications, appeals and reminders. Despite these efforts, the ministries of Railways, Earth Sciences and the Department of Personnel and Training are yet to give a final reply.

Also, the designations and postings of a few officials may not be the latest as they may have been transferred or would have retired by now.

The information throws light on the fact that 1,576 officials of the rank of director and above have travelled more than 5.65 crore km and stayed 24,458 days abroad over the past 40 months (from January 1, 2005 to April 30, 2008).

While details about the total expenses incurred were not made available, information received from 45 of the 50 Central ministries (including two departments: atomic energy and space) shows that officials from these ministries spent more than Rs 56.38 crore on globetrotting. In a few cases, costs include expenses incurred on delegates or companions but disaggregated figures were not provided.

Topping the list of frequent fliers is the Ministry of Commerce whose 101 officials have travelled more than 1.12 crore km, covering 5,751 days abroad and incurring a cost of Rs 8.99 crore.
This mileage clocked by directors, joint secretaries (JS), additional secretaries (AS) and secretaries happens to be more than the one clocked by ministers from all ministries put together (1.02 crore km) during a period of three-and-a-half years.

This may have been necessary to enable an increase in foreign trade and bilateral treaties but even then it's hard to justify the magnitude of such trips. It is not as if the babus of the commerce department are the only ones who are flying high.

Besides commerce, six other ministries including Water Resources, Finance, Home Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Agriculture, and Science and Technology have earned the distinction of frequent fliers-each of these ministries have logged 1,000 days or more of travel abroad.

In terms of expenditure, officials of 18 ministries have spent over Rs 1 crore each. The number of travellers in each ministry is sizeable with at least 13 ministries having a minimum of 50 officials who travelled abroad.

101 officials of the Ministry of Commerce have travelled over 1.12 crore km, covering 5,751 days abroad and incurring a cost of Rs 8.99 cr

These ministries with Defence in the lead (166) include Home Affairs, Finance, Water Resources, Commerce, Information and Broadcasting, Agriculture, Health and Family Welfare, Labour and Employment, Communications and IT, Urban Development and Science and Technology. However, the Ministry of Defence did not reveal the details of expenses incurred on the trips of their officials.

At the other end of the spectrum is the Ministry of Environment and Forests where despite the global buzz on climate change, only five officials have travelled, 2.88 lakh km, spending Rs 43.85 lakh and staying abroad for 111 days.

Thirty five officials of the Ministry of Textiles have travelled more than 10 lakh km and stayed 559 days abroad spending over Rs 1.32 crore.

All the ministries have stressed that the trips are "purely official". The Ministry of Finance guidelines state, "No officer should undertake more than four official visits abroad a year".

And if there is an exception, the proposal is considered by the screening committee of secretaries for officials of every rank.

Restrictions have indeed been placed on the secretaries. For instance, the Cabinet Secretariat circular says, "Secretaries to the Government of India should travel only in the most essential circumstances and when unavoidable." But such guidelines are observed more in breach.

Ministers' travel tales

• T.K.Viswanathan, Secy, Law, spent 40 days abroad costing RS 36,76,761.
• P.K. Misra** who retired as Secretary, Agriculture, made 16 trips as Secy, Member Secretary, National Capital Region Planning Board and AS, Home Affairs. He stayed abroad for 71 days, spending Rs 42,17,975.
  (Includes expenses of nine other delegates in three of his trips as Secretary, Agriculture.)
• K.M.Sahni, as Secy, Labour and Employment, stayed 35 days abroad, spending Rs 39,13,810.
• Anil Razdan, Secy, Power, was abroad for 27 days. He spent RS 29,08,463.
• V. Subramanian, as Secy, New and Renewable Energy, spent 34 days abroad, spending RS 35,12,000.
• Anjali Prasad, as JS, Agriculture, spent Rs 25,94,983 while staying abroad for 71 days.
• G. Gurucharan, JS, Overseas Affairs, travelled for 63 days and spent Rs 23,59,413.
• Satwant Reddy, as Secy, Chemicals And Fertilisers. He spent 39 days abroad, spending Rs 30,90,017.
  (In five of eight trips, she was accompanied by another official.)
• Rahul Khullar, AS, Commerce, spent 199 days abroad. Total expenses incurred: RS 41,67,277.
• R.V. Shahi, former Secy, Power, spent 69 days abroad, spending Rs 33,08,411.
• S.K. Arora, as Secy, Information and Broadcasting, spent 22 days abroad. Total Cost: RS 31,96,590.
• V.K. Thakral, JS, Mines, was overseas for 18 days and spent Rs 26,69,663.
• Surya P. Sethi, Principal Adviser, Planning, stayed 142 days abroad and spent RS 30,45,944.
• A.K. Mishra, former Secy, Tourism, stayed 58 days abroad and spent Rs 32,78,520.
• Meena Gupta, as Secy, Environment and Forest, stayed 39 days abroad and spent Rs 22,01,534.

See the whole of this Interesting artcle here.
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