SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 u INDIA TODAY 39

BABUS’ FLIGHTS OF

1,576 officials of

4466 CCeennttrraall mmiinniissttrriieesshave travelled55,,6655,,6622,,442266 kkiilloommeettrreess,,

When Prime Minister ManmohanSingh recently wrote to his cabinetministers, asking them to curtailtheir expenses on air travel andundertake foreign trips only when

deemed “absolutely necessary”, it waswidely dismissed as an exercise in futility.After all, such steps in the past have not ex-actly produced the desired results. Indeed,a look at the volume of the babu traffic tooverseas destinations suggests that theprime minister’s lament amounts to howlingafter the horses have bolted the stable.

Following an investigation on frequent fliers in the UPA Government inFebruary this year, INDIA TODAY filed separateRight to Information (RTI) applications toevery Union ministry except the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) on February 28 thisyear, seeking details of foreign visits madeby officials of the rank of director and above.INDIA TODAY has received the information in1,297 pages. The details of trips related totrainings of over one month have been ex-cluded. The information gathered is a resultof over 80 applications, clarifications, ap-peals and reminders. Despite these efforts,the ministries of Railways, Earth Sciencesand 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 mayhave been transferred or would have retired by now.

The information throws light on the factthat 1,576 officials of the rank of directorand above have travelled more than 5.65crore km and stayed 24,458 days abroadover the past 40 months (from January 1,2005 to April 30, 2008). While details aboutthe total expenses incurred were not madeavailable, information received from 45 ofthe 50 Central ministries (including two de-partments: atomic energy and space) showsthat officials from these ministries spentmore than Rs 56.38 crore on globetrotting.In a few cases, costs include expenses in-curred on delegates or companions but dis-aggregated figures were not provided.

Topping the list of frequent fliers is theMinistry of Commerce whose 101 officialshave travelled more than 1.12 crore km,covering 5,751 days abroad and incurringa cost of Rs 8.99 crore. This mileage clockedby directors, joint secretaries (JS), additionalsecretaries (AS) and secretaries happens tobe more than the one clocked by ministersfrom all ministries put together (1.02 crorekm) during a period of three-and-a-halfyears. This may have been necessary to en-

n By Shyamlal Yadav

SAURABH SINGH

which is equivalent to 74 trips to moon andback. They collectivelystayed abroad for24,458 days (over 67years) and spent over RRss 5566,,3388,,0033,,330000in less than three-and-a-half years (January 1,2005 to April 30, 2008)on official trips.

FANCYAn INDIA TODAYinvestigation showsthat despite callsfor cost cutting,bureaucratic jauntscontinue to bleedthe exchequer

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40 INDIA TODAY u SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 SEPTEMBER 15, 2008 u INDIA TODAY 41

FFiinnaannccee

EXPENSES (in Rs)

K. SUBRAMANIAN, JS 91 24 27,45,654POONAM DUTTA, JS 127 29 38,88,033

DAYS SPENTABROAD

NAME NO OFTRIPS

OFFICIALS TRAVELLED: 119 Expenses: Rs 5,42,55,183Km: 42,97,795 Stayed abroad: 1,726 days

K.M. SAHNI,as SECY, LABOURAND EMPLOYMENT, STAYED 35DAYS ABROAD, SPENDING RS 39,13,810.

T.K.VISWANATHAN,SECY, LAW, SPENT 40DAYS ABROAD costing RS 36,76,761.

V. SUBRAMANIAN, asSECY, NEW AND RENEW-ABLE ENERGY, SPENT 34 DAYS ABROAD,spending RS 35,12,000.

able an increase in foreign trade andbilateral treaties but even then it’shard to justify the magnitude of suchtrips. It is not as if the babus of thecommerce department are the onlyones who are flying high. Besidescommerce, six other ministries in-cluding Water Resources, Finance,Home Affairs, Information andBroadcasting, Agriculture, andScience and Technology have earnedthe distinction of frequent fliers—eachof these ministries have logged 1,000days or more of travel abroad.

In terms of expenditure, officials of18 ministries have spent over Rs 1 crore each. The number oftravellers in each ministry is sizea-

ble with at least 13 ministries havinga minimum of 50 officials who travelled abroad. These ministrieswith Defence in the lead (166) includeHome Affairs, Finance, Water Resou-rces, Commerce, Information andBroadcasting, Agriculture, Health andFamily Welfare, Labour and Employ-ment, Communications and IT, UrbanDevelopment and Science and Technology. However, the Ministry of Defence did not reveal the details of expenses incurred on the trips oftheir 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 officialshave travelled, 2.88 lakh km, spend-ing Rs 43.85 lakh and staying abroadfor 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 stressedthat the trips are “purely official”. TheMinistry of Finance guidelines state,“No officer should undertake morethan four official visits abroad a year”.And if there is an exception, the pro-posal is considered by the screeningcommittee of secretaries for officials ofevery rank. Restrictions have indeedbeen placed on the secretaries. For instance, the Cabinet Secretariat circ-ular says, “Secretaries to the Gov-ernment of India should travel only inthe most essential circumstances andwhen unavoidable.” But such guide-lines are observed more in breach.

RAHUL KHULLAR, AS,COMMERCE, SPENT199 DAYS ABROAD.Total expenses incurred: RS 41,67,277.

G. GURUCHARAN, JS, OVERSEASAFFAIRS, TRAVELLED FOR 63DAYS and SPENT Rs 23,59,413.

**SATWANT REDDY, as SECY, CHEMI-CALS AND FERTILISERS. HE SPENT 39DAYS ABROAD, SPENDING RS 30,90,017.

MMiiccrroo,, SSmmaallll aanndd MMeeddiiuumm EEnntteerrpprriisseess

EXPENSES(in Rs)

**CHANDRAPAL, SECY 50 9 31,76,736PRAVIR KUMAR, JS 37 6 13,69,725

DAYS SPENTABROAD

NAME NO OFTRIPS

OFFICIALS TRAVELLED: 36 Expenses: Rs 1,25,27,031Km: 9,52,211 Stayed abroad: 400 days

AJITA BAJPAYIPANDE, JS, MINES,SPENT 27 DAYSABROAD, costingthe exchequer RS 26,29,923.

CCoommmmeerrccee

EXPENSES(in Rs)

RENU SHARMA, DIR 178 38 35,16,995ANTHONY DE SA, JS 178 35 38,26,131

S.N. MENON, SECY 157 37 54,05,718**G.K. PILLAI, SECY 265 60 82,23,499

DAYS SPENTABROAD

NAME NO OFTRIPS

OFFICIALS TRAVELLED: 101 Expenses: Rs 8,99,15,136Km: 1,12,56,794 Stayed abroad: 5,751 days

78 officials of Health and Family WelfareMinistry were abroad for 778888 DDAAYYSS and spentRs 1,55,30,022 travelling 20,62,221 km.

ANIL RAZDAN,SECY,POWER, WASABROAD FOR 27DAYS. He spent RS 29,08,463.

P.K. Misra** whoretired as Secretary,Agriculture, made

16 trips asSecy, Member Secretary,National Capital RegionPlanning Board and AS,Home Affairs. He stayedabroad for

32 officials of Human ResourceDevelopment Ministry travelled abroad.

Days spent: 465 Cost: Rs 1,62,89,215.

56 officers of Science andTechnology Ministry travelled28,10,972 km, spent Rs1,48,97,837 and stayed 1,018

days abroad.

ssss

71 days,spendingRs 42,17,975.

118officials of the Ministry of Water

Resources travelled 18,86,876 km,spending 1,530 daysat foreign

destinations incurring a total expenditure

of Rs 1,51,18,953.

**Some trips were made as AS. SECY: Secretary, Dir: Director, AS: Additional Secretary, JS:Joint Secretary

ANJALI PRASAD, as JS, AGRICUL-TURE, SPENT Rs 25,94,983 WHILESTAYING ABROAD FOR 71 DAYS..

** In five of eight trips, she wasaccompanied by another official.

** Includes expenses of nine other delegatesin three of his trips as Secretary, Agriculture.

** This includes a trip of six member delegation which cost Rs 8.07 lakh.

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42 INDIA TODAY u SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

R.V. SHAHI, FORMER SECY,POWER, SPENT 69 DAYSABROAD, spending Rs 33,08,411.

Information gathered by INDIA

TODAY shows that along with S.N.Menon (37 trips), Chandrapal (9),T.K. Viswanathan (7), P.K. Misra(8), V. Subramanian (10), NareshDayal (6), Ranjit Issar (5), M.S.Srinivasan (8), R.V. Shahi (15),Radha Singh (8), T. Nanda Kumar(6) travelled frequently as secre-taries in the ministries ofCommerce; Small and MicroEnterprises; Law and Justice;Agriculture; New and RenewableEnergy; Health and FamilyWelfare; Housing; and UrbanPoverty Alleviation; Petroleumand Natural Gas; Power;Agriculture and Consumer Affairsrespectively.

When the minister and secre-tary of a department are requiredto visit abroad, the prime ministeris supposed to be notified. Officialsvisiting foreign shores get a dailyallowance of $75 per day in cate-gory A countries in addition totheir hotel accommodation. If thefood is provided by the Govern-ment, the official gets only 25 percent of this amount. Secretary-

level officials travel first class, ad-ditional secretaries and joint sec-retaries are entitled to travelbusiness class while officials oflower ranks are entitled to travelby the economy class.

Approvals for foreign visitsare clearly defined. Travels of officials up to the level of joint sec-retary are processed in cons-ultation with the financial adviserof the concerned ministry whileforeign trips of officials of the levelof additional secretaries andabove are processed with the ap-proval of the minister concernedand the screening committee ofsecretaries under the chairman-ship of the cabinet secretary.

In addition, every governmentservant is required to obtain a NoObjection Certificate from his of-fice before acquiring a passport.All foreign visits must be clearedby the Ministry of External Affairsand if required, from the Ministryof Home Affairs as per the ForeignContribution Regulation Act(FCRA). Even when officials go forpersonal trips, they are

CCoommmmuunniiccaattiioonnss aanndd IITT

EXPENSES(in Rs)

PANKAJ AGGARWAL, JS 105 19 43,06,048M.M. NAMBIAR, SECY 89 20 45,60,005

DAYS SPENTABROAD

NAME NO OFTRIPS

OFFICIALS TRAVELLED: 57 Expenses: Rs 2,71,24,538 Km: 25,21,696 Stayed abroad: 863 days

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 1188 DAYS and

spent Rs 26,69,663.

50 officials of Urban Development Ministrystayed 665566 DDAAYYSS overseas, spendingRs 55,00,343 while travelling 13,00,296 km.

were overseasfor 438 days.They travelled12,09,818 kmcosting the exchequer Rs 50,23,422.

48 officials of Statisticsand ProgrammeImplementation

SURYA P. SETHI, PRINCIPALADVISER, PLANNING, STAYED114422 DAYS ABROAD andspent RS 30,45,944.

RAJKUMAR

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A.K. MISHRA, FORMER SECY,TOURISM, STAYED 58 DAYSABROAD and spent RS 32,78,520 .

required to seek approval fromthe concerned departments.

Normally, the decision on atrip is taken much earlier and thepaper work starts only later. In theSteel Ministry, there are morestartling revelations. Apparently,when delegations like those fromthe National Mineral Develop-ment Corporation propose visitsabroad for price negotiations, theofficials of the ministry success-fully lobby in getting themselvesincluded in the delegation.Similarly, many ministry officialsmanage foreign trips while sanc-tioning grants through academicinstitutions which pursue research projects abroad.

A large number of foreign vis-its are sponsored by internationalagencies like the United Nations.Generally, officials below the rankof a director are asked to go forsuch trips. The question is howuseful these visits are and their efficacy in improving governance.Unfortunately, there is no studynor is there an attempt at doing acost benefit analysis. There is alsothe issue of wastage of the num-ber of hours as the officials are outof office and files pile up. Manyforeign visits can be curtailed bynominating representatives fromour embassies.

There is also no attempt tocurb the bandwagon effect and cutthe number of officials on a dele-gation. There is also the debate onthe thin line between official andpersonal visits. When the min-istries were asked to reveal thenumber of personal visits thattheir officials had made, most ofthem refrained from doing so ongrounds that this was exemptunder RTI. Ministries like Law, Po-wer, New and Renewable Energy,Mines and Tourism provided de-tails of personal visits.

According to the informationmade available to INDIA TODAY, 159officials of 20 ministries have trav-elled 29.80 lakh km abroad, cover-

ing 4,480 days on personalvisits, but in most cases, theexpenses weren’t disclosed.Interestingly, officials re-

veal that many officers have

made personal trips on mileageaccumulated from official trips.The time spent abroad by the offi-cials of the Mines Ministry on per-sonal visits is three times the timethey spent on official visits.

Such disclosures apart, it’saccepted that officials travelabroad quite often to collectfrequent flier mileage

points, given by airline operators,so that these can be redeemed forpersonal tours. Even the Sixth PayCommission, headed by JusticeB.N. Srikrishna, did not mincewords when it stated that, “Thereis an increasing tendency on thepart of Government officials totravel by air in order to gainmileage points which are thenused by them for private travel.”

The Commission was of theview that official tours cannot bemade a source of profit. Accord-ingly, it recommended that allmileage points earned by gover-nment employees on tickets pur-chased for official travel should beutilised by the concerned depart-ment for official travel itself. Anyusage of these mileage points forprivate travel by an official, it said,should be duly acted upon.

According to an estimate, the-re are many official visits that areavoidable and the Centre couldhave saved roughly Rs 25 crore ifthe Government, the concernedministries and departments hadshown some restraint in sanction-ing these trips.

More public money could havebeen saved if the frequent fliermileage points earned by officerswere used for official purposes.With the ministers concernedbeing the final authorities, theybear the responsibility for thetravels of their subordinates. It istime they swung into serious cor-rective action. The coalition ofbabus and mantris seem to gelwell when it comes to foreign trav-els. The issue is not money alonebut neglect of important tasks athome that officers are assigned.

Nine officials of Ministry of Planning

stayed abroadfor 226 days,blowing up Rs 56,22,968.They travelled5,93,712 km.

MEENA GUPTA, as SECY, ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST,STAYED 39 DAYS ABROADand spent Rs 22,01,534 .

For more information, log on to

HEMANT CHAWLA

AJAY PRASAD,as SECY, CIVIL AVIATION,SPENT 76 DAYSABROAD, spendingRS 41,73,346.