Reigning in bureaucrats is tough; Japan’s new regime backtracks on banning civil servants holding press meets

IF YOU are an Indian babu, you have reasons to cheer about. Reigning in bureaucrats is next to impossible, even globally. In fact, Japan’s new political party which made an electoral promise that it would curtail powers of bureaucrats in the country suffered a major setback in its first attempt to reign in bureaucrats. A few days after the country’s ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) announced a total ban on press briefings by bureaucrats, the government now backtracked and reportedly said that bureaucrats would now be allowed to hold news conferences with permission from their ministers, according to media reports published by Kyodo News which were given wide publicity by western media. According to reports, the ban, which was meant to empower cabinet ministers under the new government, resulted in cancellation of a number of news briefings by important bureaucrats such as Japan’s ambassador to US. But the government finally softened its stand and allowed bureaucrats to hold press meets once permission was obtained from cabinet ministers. All vice ministers of Japan’s ministries are, in fact, bureaucrats who are in a way equivalent to secretaries to government of India. Read Imagine secretary Pillai or Chawla debarred from briefing press; but new Japanese... (Sep 17, 2009) No high profile positions after retirement (Sep 3, 2009)

Check before you land up in airport; Air India strike continues despite PMO’s intervention If you are taking a flight for official reason, or even for LTC purpose in the next couple of days, you need to double-check whether your Air India flight will take off at all or not. The crisis in Air India was not resolved till Monday midnight as agitating pilots remained firm on their stand of no flying till the cut in their incentive pay package was revoked. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) intervened on Monday night urging the civil aviation ministry to ensure “speedy resolution” of the crisis. The strike entered the third day on Monday, forcing cancellation of at least 14 flights. These directly impact bureaucrats as they have to travel through the national carrier alone. Read A spoilsport for bureaucrats’ vacation (Sep 26, 2009)