A Tide in the Affairs of Men: A Public Servant Remembers

Prateep K. Lahiri

Description

A Tide in the Affairs of Men are reminiscences of a senior administrative officer from his working in the secretariat in the central government and in the state of Madhya Pradesh to his varied experiences during other relevant postings. From handling students’ agitation in the Guna district of Madhya Pradesh in 1964 to his special posting in Bagladesh after the liberation of East Pakistan in 1971; and from his years in Manila as executive director in the ADB to working closely with Dr Manmohan Singh as revenue secretary, the narrative is a public servant’s journey that relooks at some of the important milestones with passion and candour.

Sujets

• Political
• Lettres et linguistique
• Dr. Manmohan Singh
• Banco Africano de Desarrollo
• Biography
• Guna District
• Central government
• Indian Administrative Service
• Manila
• Civil service
• Diplomat
• Government
• East Pakistan
• Autobiography
• Secretariat
• IAS
• ADB
• Manille
• Madhya Pradesh
• 1971
• Bangladesh

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788193626085
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A TIDE
IN THE
AFFAIRS
OF MEN
Prateep K. Lahiri has had a distinguished career in the civil service as an IAS officer spanning thirty-six years and has held the positions of secretary in the Government of India successively in two ministries: the Ministry of Mines and the Ministry of Finance. Early in his career, as district magistrate in several districts, he had first-hand experience in dealing with communal conflicts and riots.
For about four years, he was India’s executive director on the Resident Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila, with the personal rank of Ambassador. After retiring from the civil service, Lahiri was also associated with the media in the capacity of secretary general of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS), an apex chamber of the newspaper industry in India. He was also the chairman of the General Council and Executive Board of the ISM University, Dhanbad, a leading institute for technical education in the country. Author of Decoding Intolerance , this is his second book.
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ROLI BOOKS
This digital edition published in 2018
First published in 2018 by
The Lotus Collection
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Copyright © Prateep K. Lahiri, 2018
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This book is dedicated to the cherished memory of M.P. Sriwastava, M.S. Chaudhary, Sushital Banerji, S.B. Lal, R.P. Khosla, D.K. Saxena, A.N. Verma and Naresh Chandra – outstanding public servants who were my mentors and role models.
 
Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
FROM THE TRENCHES
1. Scarcity and Sikh Sensitivity
2. Students’ Agitation and Mob Violence
3. Dealing with Drought and Scarcity in East Nimar
4. Communal Conflicts and the Dynamics of Hindu–Muslim Riots
5. Night-landing of the Chief Minister’s Plane
IN THE CORRIDORS OF POWER
6. A Not So Healthy Health Department
7. Of the Tehri Dam and Earthquakes
8. Desperate Measures: Mortgaging of Gold Reserves
9. Corruption in High Places and Low
10. Manmohan Singh, the Man, Minister and Prime Minister
MISCELLANY OF EXPERIENCE
11. Bangladesh after Liberation
12. Encounter with Diamonds
13. The Story of Coal Mines’ Nationalization
14. Sojourn in Manila
15. Environmental Clearance for Development Projects and the Case of the Mumbai–Pune Expressway
16. Of the Print Media, Advertising Business and the Nizam’s Jewels
17. Interaction with Ministers & Thoughts on Achieving Effective Governance
Annexures
Index
 
Acknowledgements
After publishing my earlier book Decoding Intolerance: Riots and the Emergence of Terrorism in India , which was more of a research project on the subject of communal riots in India, I had been mulling the idea of sharing with the reading public certain experiences that happened in course of performance of duties and tasks assigned to me in different roles as a public servant. At the start of this venture I would like to mention the persons who have been there for me.
To begin with I must acknowledge the contribution of both my parents in shaping my destiny. They instilled in me values that have stood me in good stead throughout my life. My father B.N. Lahiri was the first Indian to head UP Police after independence. He remained the Police chief of UP from 1947 to 1953. He was my first ‘guru’ in administration.
In writing this book I have enjoyed the full support of my wife Ratna and our next generation of the family. It is because of their encouragement and interest that this book is seeing the light of day. My elder daughter Ruchira, in particular, read through the draft of the chapters and gave useful inputs.
Among friends and colleagues Satyanand Misra, an eminent former civil servant, went through several of the chapters and gave incisive inputs that were incorporated. Rajat Nag, an internationally known and respected professional in the field of development financing, vetted some of the chapters, especially the one on my sojourn in ADB, Manila and helped in refining the text. Professor Sumantra Bhattacharya of IIT (ISM), Dhanbad collaborated with me in writing the chapter on coal nationalization and extended his help in providing relevant data and updating it. I am grateful to them for the help and guidance I received in completing this project.
I have dedicated the book to a few outstanding public servants, who are no longer in our midst. I acknowledge that the guidance received and my interactions with them have benefited me immensely and their imprint would be there in all that has been written by me.
The book could not have happened without the acceptance for its publication by Pramod Kapoor of Roli Books, who generously and readily took up this and my earlier book for publication. I am greatly indebted for the suggestions and help extended by Neelam Narula of Roli Books, who has edited the book with meticulous care.
In the end I must thank Najeeb Jung, well-known administrator and academic for writing the Foreword, eminent poet and litterateur Ashok Vajpeyi and Rajat Nag, former Managing Director General of ADB, Manila for their endorsements.
– Prateep K. Lahiri
 
Foreword
‘ There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was Veil past which I could not see:
Some little talk awhile of Me and Thee
There seem’d and then no more of Thee and Me ’
These lines of Omar Khayam are reminiscent of the career of Civil Servant in many ways. A Civil Servant often finds himself or herself in unsolvable, peculiar and unpredictable situations. He tackles them to the best of his or her ability, planning with care but often hitting in the dark. Sometimes, with luck, he gets away unscathed but sometimes luck runs out leaving him or her red faced and embarrassed, indeed in trouble. A Tide in the Affairs of Men is full of situations which a civil servant faces through his career.
P.K. Lahiri’s long journey has seen ups and downs which he recounts with great candour in the book we have at hand. I have known Lahiri for close to 38 years, when in 1979 he was my Supervisor in the Gwalior Division of Madhya Pradesh. He was the Commissioner of the Division and I was Collector and District Magistrate, Datia District. It was a period when Mrs Indira Gandhi had just won the national election, returning as prime minister after the Janata Government interlude. She had dismissed the governments run by the Janata Party and imposed President’s rule in various states. Madhya Pradesh was one of them. This was also a time when the Chambal valley had a resurgence of dacoity menace.
Fresh from the Academy, all of five years of service behind me, I was full of theoretical knowledge. I found a sound practical teacher in Mr. Lahiri.