The iPhone is wonderful

DESARAJU SURYA
Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy is not known to be technology or gadget savvy. But Apple's iPhone has become a rather indispensable tool in his hands these days. The iPhone, of course, is not owned by the Chief Minister. His enterprising and tech-savvy Chief Security Officer Masthipuram Ramesh uses the iPhone and it is coming in handy for RajasekharaReddy to dispose of applications related to the Chief Minister's Relief Fund (CMRF) -- just by using his fingertip. Even if he is touring a remote part of the far-off Srikakulam district or Adilabad or relaxing in his ownbackyard in Idupulapaya, Rajasekhara Reddy never misses the opportunity to clear pending CMRF applications. On an average, about 300 applications are received everyday by the ChiefMinister's Office (CMO) for financial assistance from the CMRF. Not a single application is kept pending as a team in the CMO, led by the Chief Minister's principal secretary P Subrahmanyam and private secretary Kiran Kumar Reddy, processes the applications in quick time and uploads them on the CMRF website. Hitherto, the Chief Minister needed to sit in front of his desktop computer to clear these applications. As he was constantly touring the state as well as other parts of the country, the CMRF applications used to get stuck. "This was creating troubles for the needy people as sometimes they were forced to wait for days to get the Chief Minister's approval for help. In critical cases, this wait could prove costly. So, we decided to integrate the website with the latest mobile handsets so that the applications could be processed in real time," a CMO official said. Initially, the CMO officials tried using the Blackberry device to download the CMRF site and process the applications. "Somehow, it did not work as desired," the CMO official pointed out. Then came Apple's iPhone, which is a virtual palm-top computer. It is fully loaded with a variety of features and browsing the web is amazingly easier. So, a foolproof system has been designed so that only the ChiefMinister, apart from his private secretary, can access the processing and approval part of the CMRF website. The specific page has details about the various applications received, the need for financial assistance and the amount to be sanctioned. A gist of the total number of applications, the sum sanctioned and the amount per person is also listed. During his "reserve" time while on tours, Rajasekhara Reddy opens the iPhone and completes the"formalities." In a flash, the main server in the CMO updates the details as soon as the Chief Minister grants his approval and sends back a message: "Thank you, dear Chief Minister." Rajasekhara Reddy indeed proves that one need not be tech-savvy to make effective use of technology.

Lakes turn cesspools

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Before its transformation into the so-called high-tech city, thanks to the information technology boom, Hyderabad was famously known as the city of pearls and also the city of lakes. When someone talks about Hyderabad's lake system, the first one that strikes the mind is the Hussain Sagar lake, though there were over 532 water bodies in and around the state capital. These lakes, apart from serving as drinking water sources, also effectively helped in rain water harvesting in the semi-arid zone for irrigation. Rapid urbanisation over the past few decades has made the lakes redundant for irrigation. Unbridled discharge of domestic and industrial effluents and sewerage has turned the lakes into cesspools of filth. As demand for land increased with the spurt in population growth, lakes got encroached indiscriminately. Areas adjacent to the lakes were also converted into housing layouts resulting in encroachment of parts of water spread area. Dumping of solid wastes, immersion of idols and landfill activity are also threatening the lakes' existence. All this has also caused widespread ecological degeneration. Now, most of the once-famous lakes in and around the city are in a state of eutrophication. The bacteria and pathogens released into the lake water by discharge of sewage are contaminating the ground water causing water-borne diseases besides encouraging mosquito growth. Thus, lakhs of people living around these water bodies are vastly affected by several maladies. The Hyderabad Urban Development Authority has notified 169 lakes spread over 3000 hectares, of which 87 are moderate to highly polluted. Of these 87, 11 are classified under category-1 that reached eutrophication while others are classified under category-2 -- which too may reach the dangerous stage if neglected. Consider the Ramakrishnapuram (Mukkidi) cheruvu in Malkajgiri municipality, which has a water spread area of 13.7 hectares now. The lakebed is encroached and two inlets carry domestic sewage into the lake leading to heavy pollution. Without the encroachments, the lake's waterspread area should have been 18.66 ha. This lake once used to be an irrigation source but urbanisation has led to development of middle-class housing colonies, altering the land use pattern. The Sudulavani Kunta lake in Kukatpally is another example where encroachments have eaten into the water spread area significantly, resulting in excessive pollution of the water body. From the actual waterspread area of 5.9 hectares, the lake area has now shrunk to 4.9 ha with encroachments on all sides except the northern side where a weir stands. "As Hyderabad is expanding on all sides at a brisk pace, lakes in the erstwhile surrounding municipalities, that are now part of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, have been falling prey to unchecked encroachments. New residential layouts are being developed in areas like Kapra, Serlingampally, RajendraNagar and Kukatpally. This is threatening the existence of water bodies," a top Hyderabad UrbanDevelopment Authority official pointed out. All these years, various government agencies have tried to pass on the blame and wash their hands off even as environmentalists raised alarm over the degeneration of lakes and the adverse impact on the city ecological system. After the flash floods in August 2000, the then government spoke of restoring the waterbodies but that promise remained unfulfilled. Even the present government did not show much interest in the lake restoration work as realtors succeeded in thwarting all efforts of the administration to check illegal layouts and encroachment of water bodies. One reason that the authorities concerned repeatedly cited for not taking up the lake restoration projects was "dearth of funds." But now, with the Government of India generously funding infrastructure projects in urban local bodies, particularly the million-plus cities under the Jawaharlal Nehru NationalUrban Renewal Mission, the state government woke up to do at least something to save the system. The Huda has now completed a survey and prepared a detailed project report for "restoration and rejuvenation" of 11 lakes in the first phase at a total cost of Rs 71.45 crore. Once the Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee of JNNURM clears the project and pumps in funds, these lakes are expected to regain good shape, at least to some extent.

Courting controversies

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The Y S Rajasekhara Reddy-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh never tires from overstepping its brief. Looks like the government has scant regard for the rule of law and the statutes.
In yet another controversial move, the state government issued two GOs that clearly undermine the role and authority of the local bodies, both rural and urban, in the state. The GOs, in fact, are a blatant violation of the Constitution (73 and 74 Amendment) Acts as they seek to bypass the established systems in the local bodies. The GOs No. 13 and No. 880 -- issued by the Planning Department and the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department respectively -- empower the respective district incharge ministers to recommend and sanction development works in the local bodies for which separate sums of Rs 992.70 crore (rural) and Rs 200 crore (urban) have been released. Such orders were unprecedented and ostensibly meant to dole out benefits to Congress workers in the form of nominated work contracts in the crucial "election year." The Rs 200 crore released to the urban local bodies (ULBs) are meant for maintenance of internal roads in towns while the sum of Rs 992.70 crore released to the rural mandals is meant for "integrated development of internal cement concrete roads and drainage facilities" in villages. Each rural mandal will get Rs 90 lakh as grant-in-aid to carry out the works while 109 municipalities and 12 municipal corporations (excluding Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam) will get Rs 1 crore each. Besides, ULBs will also get a share in the balance Rs 79 crore as per the population. Towns where roads works are sanctioned under the components of Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission will, however, not get any grants from the state. Normally, the elected Councils of ULBs themselves list out the various works on priority and sanction them even if grants, in any form, are provided by the state or the Centre. But now, the state has entrusted the task of sanctioning the works to the "district incharge minister alone," clearly bypassing the elected Councils. Even the mandal-level works will also be decided and sanctioned by the district in charge minister, leaving no say for the local bodies in the entire process. The respective district Collectors will accord administrative sanction for the works chosen by the district in charge minister. "These GOs are illegal and are a clear violation of the Constitution. We shall launch a state-wide agitation against the orders demanding that the responsibility of sanctioning the works be vested only with the elected bodies," president of AP PanchayatRaj Chamber and member of Legislative Council Y BabuRajendra Prasad told this correspondent. CPM's urban affairs cell leader Ch Babu Rao too strongly opposed the GOs and said they would undermine the local bodies.

Car-pooling: A welcome initiative

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Car-pooling has just begun in Andhra Pradesh state capital Hyderabad. Tinytots who usually commute to school and back home in their own cars are now sharing the means of transport not only to ease the pressure on their parents' pockets but also decongest the city roads. The car-pooling will also help control pollution that is rapidly on the rise with the spurt in number of vehicles. The car-pooling for school kids began on a small note after a high-ranking official in theChief Minister's Office (CMO) took the initiative with his son and his classmates. "I asked my son to collect details of his classmates who commute on the same route to school. We spoke to their parents and started using a single car instead of many to drop the children at school and bring them back," the CMO official, who did not wish to be identified, said. Thus, from Banjara Hills to Geetanjali Public School at Begumpet, some four-five kids have started travelling by the same car. These parents are not into cost-sharing but rather adopting a rotation system whereby each parent uses his\her car on a day of choice as per convenience. Scores of children are usually dropped at school by their parents in private cars daily causing traffic snarls at all important locations during rush hours. The problem could be felt at Secunderabad, Begumpet, Abids, Narayanaguda, Mehdipatnam, JubileeHills, Banjara Hills, Ameerpet, S R Nagar and other prime localities across the state capital. This is not only resulting in waste of time but also waste of precious fuel, which became dearer after the recent round of price hike. The resultant pollution is adding up to the miseries of one and all. A software is now being developed to enable every school management to create a database on place of stay of children and the modes of transport they are using so that route maps could be prepared to make car-pooling effective. A freelance technocrat B Leela Krishna is designing the software which will be supplied to schools in compact discs. Car-pooling is so far confined to major metros like Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru while it is relatively new in Chennai and Pune which have a large number of IT professionals. In Hyderabad, the car-pooling initiative was started just a week ago basically for office-goers. "Right now about 40 people have registered on our free website and started using the car-pool. Another 30-40 people have also shown interest and applied for using the facility," Channel9 Eventz head Srinivas Rahul said. If the car-pooling initiative indeed succeeds, it will augur well for the city traffic and help reduce the pollution levels.

All in the పవర్ game?

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: A serious power tussle between the self-styled torchbearers is virtually threatening to lead to a stillbirth of the much-hyped political party of film star Chiranjeevi. Probably, no other political party-in-the-making in the country might have witnessed such a conflict, even before it formally came into being, as the one that is currently bogging the Chiranjeevi camp. Chiranjeevi is said to be at sea and "thoroughly disturbed" over the goings-on in the camp while his youngest brother and actor Pavan Kalyan -- the man said to be instrumental in shaping Chiru's political moves -- is strangely keeping himself totally away. Pavan is busy reading various books from his huge collection and also preparing for his next film Puli, for which the music is being done by maestro A R Rahman. There are as many as four major power centres apart from another group that too is rather inevitably getting into this wrangle over the Chiranjeevi party. The main group, supposedly the most prominent, is led by Chiranjeevi's Man Friday and brother-in-law Allu Aravind and friend, guide and philosopher Dr P Mitra Reddy. The second group -- power centre rather -- is headed by the actor's younger brother Nagendra Babu and the third is led by P Vinay Kumar, son of former Union minister P Shiv Shankar. The fourth group comprises ex-CPM functionaries like T V Rao, Vithal and others, who are working under the banner Spark. On top of all, there is the "Core Committee" that includes Nagendra Babu, Allu Aravind, Vinay Kumar, Mitra Reddy, Prasad Reddy, Brahma Reddy and Sridhar Reddy. Of course, Sridhar Reddy has become inactive for sometime now, reportedly disgusted with the power tussle among the groups. Mitra Reddy too stopped going to the Geeta Arts office, which is now being turned into the Chiranjeevi party office, following differences with some other members of the Core Committee, insiders say. Aravind had a tough time in pacifying Mitra and bringing him back to the fold, they add. The first signs of the ongoing tussle came to light the day when Allu Aravind announced that Chiranjeevi would indeed launch his political party in August. Within hours, NagendraBabu retorted saying nothing had been decided yet and his brother himself would make any announcement on the political party. On Sunday, Nagendra Babu took his turn to formally "confirm" Chiru's plans and exhort the fans to "keep going." "Everybody knows the kind of rapport between Chiranjeevi and Aravind. In away Aravind is the Karta, Karma, Kriya on all matters related to Chiru. His brothers, however, would like to break this at a time when Chiru is all set to jump onto the political bandwagon. Friction is, thus, natural," a source close to the 'camp' observed. On the other hand, Vinay Kumar is "too busy" trying to take control over the party affairs. He has directed Chiranjeevi fan clubs in various districts to open party offices and has virtually taken the state headquarters here into his grip. If the camp insiders are to be believed, Vinay Kumar has already "selected" 120 candidates for as many constituencies and submitted the list to Chiranjeevi. All this has not gone down well with Aravind, Mitra and even NagendraBabu. While squabbling among themselves for one-upmanship, they are pulling all stops to keep Vinay at bay. But suddenly, another group, which cannot be ignored at any cost, has also stepped up its act and is seeking its share of glory. Led by All-India Chiranjeevi Yuva Sena general secretary Swami Naidu, who is the bridge between Chiranjeevi and his numerous fans, this group is busy rallying youth and getting them ready for the bigshow.
Tailpiece: Chiranjeevi is so perturbed with the happenings in his camp that he has decided to take a "break" and fly abroad to an undisclosed location. At least for a fortnight!

HERO is ZERO

By Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: What is the brand value of Chiranjeevi, the prospective political leader? If Television Audience Measurement (TAM) ratings are any barometer, then Chiranjeevi scores a negligible 0.8 per cent. Telugu television news channels, that have been going ga-ga over Chiranjeevi's much-anticipated political arangetram and devoting counteless hours of air time for the past few months, have realised to their horror that as a would-be politician the 'mega star' arouses little interest among the public. Here is a case in point. A day after the attack on a vernacular newspaper office by suspected activists of theMadiga Reservation Porata Samiti, the leading Telugu satellite news channel ran a two-hour special programme with MRPS leader Manda Krishna Madiga trying to justify the attack. A couple of days later, noted film producer and Chiranjeevi's brother-in-law Allu Aravind went to town claiming that the actor would indeed jump into politics soon. Within minutes, Telugu news channels were quick on the uptake and started beaming out "special episodes" for a few hours, giving vivid details about the actor's upcoming moves. Alas, there were no takers for all that stuff! "Manda Krishna's two-hour special earned us a TRP of 2.4 per cent whereas the four-hour show on Chiranjeevi's political moves garnered a mere 0.8 per cent," a dismayed production in-charge of the leading Telugu news channel pointed out. Worse is the case of other Telugu channels which had an average TRP of about 0.4 per cent. "Anything positive about Chiranjeevi seems to be not selling these days," the executive observed. At the height of his daughter Srija's marriage a few months ago, TV channels made merry with TRPs touching an astounding six per cent or more on prime time. Television news channels, particularly the vernacular ones, would normally be happy if the TRP touches two per cent but with the Chiranjeevi (political) episodes not even crossing the one per cent TRP many a time, channel bosses are a worried lot. Two rather new Telugu news channels have been vying with others and focusing so much on Chiranjeevi to improve their ratings but have so far failed to cross even the 0.5 percent mark, channel insiders say. Their obvious game plan was to step up the hype over Chiranjeevi's political ambitions and thereby boost their channels' ratings. That, however, failed to happen as there seems to be a certain scepticism over the actor's moves and motives. "Five or six months ago when there was widespread anticipation about Chiranjeevi's political foray, TV viewership was reasonably good with news TRPs being between 1-2 per cent. But as months passed without the actor himself saying something on what's exactly in store, people are apparently showing no inclination to take things seriously," a top functionary of the news channel remarked. Now, the channels are eagerly awaiting the day when Chiranjeevi will open his mouth and ultimately announce the "arrival of our train." That should, hopefully, cheer up one and all!

Bend it like YSR

By Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: It's the self-styled "God's own administration" in Andhra Pradesh. The self-proclaimed God here is a despot who cares a damn about the rule of law.
If you are aspiring to become a sub-inspector (SI) of police, ensure you have the right political connections as it may help you land in the job even if you do not qualify by any chance. The Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government will create supernumerary posts, if required, and "adjust" you in those posts, as it has done in the case of a woman candidate from Kadapa district, who failed to make it in the recruitment drive way back in 2003.
Throwing all rules to the wind, the government recently issued a GO creating two supernumerary posts of SI in Kurnool Range only to accommodate one Nagireddy Aparna of Gurappagaripalli village in one of the posts. The GO (No. 12) was issued by the Home Department after Badwel MLA D C Govinda Reddy made a representation to the government in the year 2005 to appoint her as the SI of police under "women category." Aparna appeared for the recruitment test conducted by the State-LevelPolice Recruitment Board (SLPRB) in 2003 but was not selected as the vacancy was reserved for Scheduled Caste-B category. However, this post could not be filled as there was no eligible candidate, highly-placed official sources said. Though Aparna's candidature was considered under the 30 per cent women quota, she could not get selected as she was not in the first seven in the order of merit. In 2005, she approached the Badwel MLA Govinda Reddy, who promptly made a representation to the government on Aparna's behalf and everything started moving. The government informed the Director General of Police in October 2007 that it has decided to appoint Aparna "duly creating two supernumerary posts in the particular recruitment" and requested him to send proposals to the effect. The DGP promptly complied with the government directive and wrote a letter to the principal secretary (home) on November 6,2007. Subsequently, the home department issued a GO (No. 12) creating the two supernumerary posts and requested the DGP and the SLPRB chairman to "take necessary action accordingly." Of course, the GO is yet to be implemented. "It is an unprecedented and utterly implausible act. How could the government create additional posts years after a particular recruitment drive has ended," wondered a top-ranking police official. If Aparna is given the job as per the GO, it will only lead to a legal tangle as other eligible candidates who lost out because of similar reasons may contest it, police authorities fear. Meanwhile, one ruling party MLA from Guntur district walked into the SLPRB chairman's chamber the other day and reportedly spoke in a threatening voice seeking "favours" on behalf of two candidates in the recruitment of sub-inspectors. "If you don't do it, I will tell the Chief Minister and get it done," the MLA, known for his controversial acts, thundered. Police top brass say they are under immense pressure from many Congress MLAs, who are seeking favours in the fresh round of recruitment of sub-inspectors. "When MLAs are so confident of getting things done by bending the rules, can the recruitment drive be fair," a top official wondered.

An Inverted Pyramid

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: Bureaucracy in Andhra Pradesh looks like an inverted pyramid -- wide and heavy on the top and narrow and trifle at the bottom.
The state has as many as 10 officers of the Chief Secretary\Special Chief Secretary rank, over 80 officers of the Principal Secretary rank and over 70 of the Secretary rank.
In contrast, eight of the 23 districts have non-IAS officers as joint collectors, which indicates a severe shortage of junior officers. Similarly, 29 posts of deputy secretary\joint secretary and additional secretary in the Secretariat have been allotted for the IAS cadre but not more than three or four officers are serving in those posts.
While administration at the district level and Integrated Tribal Development Agencies is suffering due to shortage of joint collector-rank officers, administrative business in the Secretariat is also worst hit due to absence of junior and middle-level officers. "So worse is the scene that efficient hands are missing even to draft GOs. A pitiable state indeed," secretary of a key department remarked. The many goof-ups and legal cases over many GOs in recent times are being attributed to the poor drafting.
"I used to draft many GOs myself to ensure they are foolproof and get them issued by the secretary concerned," a senior official said, recounting his experience as the commissioner of prohibition and excise.
Junior and middle level officers are said to be showing no inclination to work as joint secretary or additional secretary in the Secretariat, resulting in lack of hands in seat of state administration. Even key departments like revenue, finance and municipal administration are devoid of eligible IAS officers below the ranks of principal secretary and secretary.
The state bureaucracy now has at least 20 officers of different Central Services like Indian Railway Technical Service, Indian Revenue Service and others working on "deputation." These officers, who have no knowledge of the state subjects and laws, are posted in key departments but are allegedly serving no purpose. "The only eligibility, apparently, for most of these officers on deputation is the suffix to their names. Otherwise, they would not have found a place in the state administration," senior bureaucrats aver.
"The IAS or IPS cadre review in the state has not been done for over a decade now. The needs of the administration have changed significantly but we are unable to get young officers allotted. We are now preparing a report for cadre review so that we can prevail upon the Government of India to allot more direct recruits to the state," a senior official of the General Administration Department said.
Till the time a proper cadre review is done, the state will have to bear with the shortage of efficient officers. And unless political interference in bureaucratic postings stops, the rot will only spread.

A Languishing Cadre

Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: "What is the state of bureaucracy in the state of Andhra Pradesh," a high-ranking Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been asked.
"Very sorry," was his simple reply.
Counted as one of the most efficient and upright officers in the state, this bureaucrat was evidently perturbed over the state of affairs, particularly in the last four years, in the state administration and the manner in which the political bosses have been running roughshod over the bureaucracy.
"Barring a minority of officers who have obvious leanings towards the powers that be, bureaucrats in general are certainly disgusted, to say the least. To say that the force is highly demoralised will not be an exaggeration," he observed.
Of course, this officer is not alone in lamenting over the sorry state of affairs as there are several others who echo similar feelings.
A certain despondency has crept into the bureaucracy as it increasingly feels the cadre management is awful. "Bad cadre management is adding to the problems of the already beleaguered ranks," many bureaucrats point out. With too much of politics in play in the posting of officials of various cadres, IAS officers are increasingly seeking political patronage to land in posts of choice.
"When an officer owes his position to a political master, can you expect him to be objective in his work? This scenario is also resulting in bad blood between the bureaucrats as well," another senior officer lamented.
The general complaint is that in the last four years, political masters have literally prevailed over the bureaucracy and vitiated the administration. So much so that some young officers are turning down coveted posts like the district Collector while some incumbents are desperately seeking to move out.
A very recent example establishes how worse the cadre management in the state is. A young IAS officer was posted as joint collector of a district but the order was revoked the next day. He was then kept waiting for 15 days for another posting despite clear vacancies in his cadre. Since the officer had no political patronage, he had to virtually beg the Chief Secretary and other senior officials in the Chief Minister's Office for a posting. "Such instances only leave the officers demoralised. If it is an young officer who is into his second or third posting, the impact is grave," a senior bureaucrat noted.
During the previous regime, top level bureaucrats had direct access to the Chief Minister and any new ideas used to be communicated to the top boss directly. Now, bureaucrats say, the scene has changed. "We will first have to please the secretary concerned in the Chief Minister's Office to put any new idea or proposal across to the Chief Minister. If this 'middleman' is not satisfied for whatever reason, the file is dumped in the dustbin. So, many highly-placed officers have stopped coming up with anything new or innovative and are content with doing whatever comes their way," one officer explained.
All this has resulted in antipathy and many senior officers are opting to leave IAS in search of better pastures. Many officers started feeling "out of place" in the current set up and are hence putting in their papers. Many others are seeking a deputation either to the Government of India or their home states.

THE INVISIBLE CRUSADERS

By Desaraju Surya

Hyderabad: There is something serious happening in the state administration, the bureaucracy in particular. It's nothing fishy, of course.

Five young Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers of the state cadre have teamed up to fight corruption within the administration. For now, nobody knows who the officers are, what they do and how they do but the group does its job silently, within its means and tries to correct a system -- to the extent possible. The group has a mentor, a senior bureaucrat known for his integrity, who guides it by offering advise and all necessary inputs. Informally, the group members call themselves "The Invisible Crusaders." The group's modus operandi is something like this: Each officer first identifies the sincere and honest employees under him and with their help identifies the corrupt ones as well. Thus begins the fight. Rather than taking disciplinary action straightaway, the officer would initiate steps that would clearly let the corrupt ones know they are being marked. At an opportune time, the corrupt ones will be hit. "Once hit, the corrupt employee will be doomed for life. Our action will be so drastic, within the legal means," an Invisible Crusader said. The idea for forging the Invisible Crusaders' group germinated when one of these young officers got frustrated with the so-called "red tape." "Before joining the service, I always wondered what this 'red tape' is. Once in service, I slowly started understanding it. Would anyone believe that one department employee has to grease the hands of his counterpart in another department for getting an official file cleared? As an IAS officer, I am witness to such blatant corruption in the administrative ranks. I discussed this with some of my fellow bureaucrats and thus hit upon the idea of forming a group that fights corruption in the ranks," the young IAS officer pointed out.

Bureaucrats normally know the antecedants of their fellow babus and it's not so difficult to mark the black sheep. The Invisible Crusaders would also like to list out the corrupt babus in their ranks and collect necessary evidence to get them nailed. "There are many officers with utmost integrity like there are the notoriously corrupt ones in the IAS. These days, some officers are getting into the slush even in the early years of their career, which is a highly worrying trend. Such elements are further degenerating the bureaucracy. To the extent possible, we shall fight such elements as well," a key member of the Invisible Crusaders said. For now, the Invisible Crusaders will have just five members but may add some more members in the days to come. "Our wave lengths should match. Only then can we take some more officers into our fold. But ideally we want to restrict the maximum members to 10. Some upright senior officers will always be there to guide us from outside," the key member added.