INSA CGST (Inspectors, Supdts and ACs from CGST)

  The Republic is essentially a Constitutional State.  While the Independence Day becomes an occasion to remember the great sacrifices our earlier generations had to undergo to get rid of the foreign yoke, the Republic Day is an occasion to remember the pangs of setting up the constitutional frame work which guarantees us protection, freedom and dignity in life. On this occasion, we remember the great souls who created this frame work, even though it might be called as an evolution from the previous administrative set up, but by enshrining some sacred rights and mechanisms of checks and balances to ensure that these rights are allowed to be exercised. This administrative set up is being run by highly qualified minds that are selected through various methods.   Some by election, some by examination, some by nominations, etc.   These highly evolved minds are that are responsible to ensure that the constitutional frame work is protected. But, there were some greater min...

  There is a video doing the rounds in Face book.   A Labrador is seen seated between a young man and an old man.   The young man takes away the TV remote from the elder.   The lab snatches it from the young man and gives it to the old man.   When the young man again tries to snatch it back from the old man, the lab gets all over the young man and thwarts his move.   The vide could have been shot with a script.   All those featured in it would perhaps be actors.   But there is another video showing the reaction of a monkey in the face of discrimination. The experiment found on you tube is by one Frans de Waal called the ‘fairness experiment’.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KSryJXDpZo See the angry reaction of the monkey which is given cucumber when the other one is given grapes, for the same stones in exchange. Do humans react like this? Having been on an evolutionary hierarchy we ought to be. The answer lies in the ‘Ultimatum G...

  ( Sanjay Srinivasan 21.02.1970 - 12.01.2022 ) Sanjay’s departure has been so sudden that words refuse to come out to express anything about him.   Right from the morning of Wednesday (12.01.2022) when I came to know about the devastating news, I have been trying to put my thoughts into words.  Whenever I attempted,  I felt like Sanjay coming near me and saying with his sweet smile, ‘for what?’.   (‘Edhukku?’, he would have told in Tamil) That was his typical quintessence.   He would not say a word which has no relevance or would not be understood by the others.   And for that reason, his words carried weight and substance. Yet, I could feel some deep pain which I put in the Face book on Friday. What pains had you carried in your heart Sanjay That it gave way without even a notice. What pains you carried about the cadre, What pains you carried about your colleagues, What pains you carried over the deplorable spot we are in, Over your w...

Why we were weak In the earlier post we saw some of the reasons for being weak. This post intends to explore another reason for the weakness of our Associations earlier.   This applies to the Inspectors’ Association till a point of time (prior to 2003) and the Superintendents’ Association prior to May 2017. Our cadres, unlike in other departments has had the habit of accepting the leadership which the Administration accepts or patronises. It could be seen in the simple fact that those who are considered to be close to the higher ups are given too much of importance, whatever might be the personal reputation of such individuals.   Persons who were given key posts or sensitive posts are revered.   Even if the others despise them and foul mouth behind their back, in their presence, they show utmost reverence. People gather around them and make them feel happy and important.   Those intermediaries in turn go into the cabins of the higher ups (or even their homes)...

  Let us be vigilant and have patience - R. Manimohan The cadres of Inspectors and Superintendents are on the edge. There are rumor mills working overtime.   The speed at which information or misinformation gets carried due to the multiple access to modes of communication has enabled the spread of these.   Sometimes, due to Whatsapp messages getting forwarded, some old and stale rumors get carried again and again after a time gap, just because someone decided to see them only then or to forward them again. The present generation therefore is on an edge.   The Cadre Review of the CBIC has been pending for more than 3 years now.   Anticipations and apprehensions are therefore rife. In CGST, for the cadre of Superintendents, it is the issue regarding stagnation and zonal imbalances while for the Inspectors, it is the case of ICTs. Both these cadres put together constitute more than 40% of the entire work force of the CBIC.   Yet, the CBIC has failed ...

Pl see the previous blog 'Mumbai rocks'. In the same week, another unit, which was once upon a time very vibrant at the local as well as at the national level, but which had become dormant almost for the past several years, NAGPUR, has been revived. An Extra-Ordinary General Body meeting in which 74 members participated has decided to revive the unit by a democratic process and send a delegate to the Chennai Convention. The resolutions passed in the meeting are seen in the photo given above.

The wave of quest for democracy in the Superintendent body has started all over India. Many units, which were hitherto defunct or were being represented for years together by persons elected long long ago, have started the process of setting up of an elected body, truly representative in nature. One of such units is Mumbai.  CESA which saw its elections more than 4 1/2 years ago has gone to polls this month. Many members there were under the belief that the tenure of an elected body was 5 years (like in Parliament) and did not know that as per the Constitution of the Association it had to be conducted every two years. An adhoc body formed by the Superintendents appointed Election Officer who conducted the elections. The certificate of election issued by the Chief Election Officer, Shri.Santosh Shetty, Assistant Commissioner, CEx, Mumbai I is seen in the photo above. The wave is to take in it's sweep more territories. We salute CESA, Mumbai for having shown the wa...