'Foreign travel is expensive but necessary for the discharge of official duties'
nike free 3 The article austerity of the affluent (The Hindu, May 21, 2012), is so misleadingly distortive on two points that I feel compelled to clarify the position. I have high regard for your newspaper, and subscribe to the notion that there should be full transparency in government. It is in this spirit that I hope these clarifications will be published by you, for the benefit of your readers.
The first error is comparing the daily cost of foreign trips undertaken by me with the Tendulkar poverty line, which incidentally is not on a daily basis, but on a monthly budget basis for a household. This comparison is intended to suggest gross extravagance. Air travel and hotels in major capitals are very expensive, and the class of air travel and the class of hotels are not determined by me, but by government rules applicable to all Ministers, Members of Parliament and senior officials. There is no denying that foreign travel is expensive, but it is often necessary for the discharge of official duties. I should add that each day spent abroad is filled with 14 hours of meetings, and is a day spent away from family and not exactly a holiday. We should, of course, attempt to reduce costs, but we need to consider whether and to what extent this would affect our ability to enter into negotiations immediately on arrival, or have delegation meetings in the hotel room.
The second error in the article is to suggest that the frequency of my travels is unnecessary, as the functions of the Deputy Chairman do not require such foreign travel. I agree that the role of Deputy Chairman itself does not, per se, require extensive foreign travel. But the article omits to note that most of the foreign trips made by me were in the capacity of sherpa for the G 20, or as member of the Prime Minister's delegation. Energy dialogue and the co chair of the India China economic dialogue. These are special assignments and not part of my duties as Deputy Chairman. The decision on who should undertake these tasks is not taken by me, but when chosen to perform these tasks, I consider it an honour, and do the best I can. As in the case of all persons of cabinet rank, each trip is cleared by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Prime Minister's Office.
I should add that G 20 meetings were especially frequent between 2008 and 2010, because of the global financial crisis. In fact, each summit was preceded by two or three preparatory meetings of sherpas. One could, of course, argue that India should not have been represented at these meetings. That would certainly have saved some money, but the question to ask is whether the country would be better served by not being represented. Finally, in the interest of full transparency on foreign travels I have decided to put all my foreign trips on the website of the Planning Commission so that all those interested can find out where I am going and why.
Well, if a primary school kid says that only Rs.26/ per day is necessary for survival for a human today, he will be asked to go back and do his homework properly before answering next time.
If Planning Commission Vice chair says the same, he will become guru of modern economics and get to fly to Davos and Las Vegas for economic "summits"
billig nike free Feeling sorry for my country.
billige nike free run 3 Posted on: Jun 5, 2012 at 15:04 IST
Montek does not know or care about the reality of the poor Indian people. Worse is the fact that he refuses to reach them and simply justifies it using different yardsticks for measuring poverty and for himself. It's a shame on you, Hypocrisy, thy name is Montek.
Posted on: Jun 2, 2012 at 11:43 IST
The Dr's travel excesses in the wake of a call for austerity is painfully indicative of the unabashed approach to spending public money that is rivalled only by the brazen efforts of politicians to lining their pockets without the slightest tinge of conscience. What can one expect from a country whose beaureaucracy and politicians are mired in the slime of filthy lucre and no field of activity is exempt from the reach of their tainted hands. Montekji has made his money, maybe he should step down and allow somebody else to. After all, we are an egalitarian society that believes in equality of opportunity.
Posted on: May 28, 2012 at 20:56 IST
Instead of exposing himself by giving such an insensitive reply justifying his Rs. 2 Lakhs per day expense while advocating Rs. 26 as Poverty Line limit for aam aadmi Dr. Montek should have given following promises to us we the people :
1. He will henceforth travel only Economy Class ;
nike free 5.0 v4 2. During his public funded Foreign trips, he will stay in Hotels abroad with room tariff of not more than $ 100 per day ;
3. He will not further neglect his Planning Commission work and adhere to the timelines for the current Five Year plan.
Posted on: May 28, 2012 at 08:37 IST
Really? A public servant spending 2 lakhs of rupees per day while dismissing 22 rupees as the amount needed for daily survival is a flippant issue? What good is a good Indian "global image" going to do if the people aren't satisfied and happy?Aritra Gupta
