India’s Planning Commission was set up on March 15, 1950. It drew up the country’s Five-Year Plans. It reported directly to the Prime Minister, and Jawaharlal Nehru was its first chairman. The Prime Minister was its ex officio chairperson.
On January 1, 2015, a Cabinet resolution replaced the Planning Commission with NITI Aayog. Its chairperson is the Prime Minister.
On November 8, 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced at 8 p.m. that 500 and 1,000 rupee notes would be scrapped. The board of the Reserve Bank of India had taken the decision at 5:30 p.m. the same day. Before the Cabinet met that evening, ministers and officials were asked to switch off their mobile phones.
“When I went to the cabinet meeting, I had no idea such a big move would be announced,” the minister Piyush Goyal said later.
On March 24, 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation at 8 p.m. He announced a lockdown of the whole country for 21 days, beginning at midnight. The legal order followed about 30 minutes after his speech.
According to Scroll, the Union government had not discussed the lockdown with the states.
A Hindu Undivided Family holds its property, and often a business, in common. Its manager is the Karta. Traditionally the Karta is the senior-most male member. The Supreme Court has held that “the senior most member in a HUF would be a karta.”
In Sujata Sharma v. Manu Gupta, decided in December 2015, the Delhi High Court ruled that a woman can hold the role. “If a male member of an HUF, by virtue of his being the first born eldest, can be a Karta, so can a female member.”
The case concerned the eldest female coparcener of the family.
On October 24, 2016, the board of Tata Sons removed Cyrus Mistry as chairman of the Tata group. Ratan Tata became interim chairman.
In a letter to the directors, Mistry wrote that he had been turned into a “lame duck” chairman, despite an assurance of full independence. He described a change in “the rules of engagement between the trusts, the board of Tata Sons, the chairman, and the operating companies.”
Jii huzuur. Yes, sir. The Rekhta dictionary describes it as a reply of agreement, said out of respect or as flattery.
Hukm aankhon par. The order is on my eyes. In Rekhta’s Hindi gloss, the order is accepted from the heart, with great pleasure.
Hukm-bardaar. One who carries out orders. Rekhta translates it as obedient.
A story about the army chief Sam Manekshaw is told often in India. In April 1971, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi wanted the army to move into East Pakistan. Manekshaw told her the army was not ready and offered to resign. The war came in December 1971.
Some writers doubt the story. Jairam Ramesh notes that there is “no documentary evidence to support this claim.” The diplomat and scholar Chandrashekhar Dasgupta has argued that the Prime Minister had no intention of going to war in April.
On July 19, 1969, an ordinance nationalized 14 of India’s banks. In the same days, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi removed Morarji Desai as finance minister and took charge of the ministry herself.
Desai wrote to her: “If you wanted a change in the Finance Ministry, you could have discussed it with me… But now, you have behaved towards me in a manner in which no would behave even with a clerk.”
The Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure governs how files move in India’s ministries. Its phrases include “put up the file to Section Officer,” “orders of the appropriate authority may be obtained,” and “draft for approval.” The office manual of the Tea Board defines one more term: “‘Competent Authority’- The Chairman of the Board.”
In the Sabha Parva of the Mahabharata, Duryodhana envies the wealth of his cousin Yudhishthira. His maternal uncle Shakuni offers him a plan: “I promise to win all that wealth of his, and thou, O Duryodhana, shalt then enjoy the same.” He adds: “I will defeat him repeatedly at every throw by practising deception.”
Duryodhana takes the plan to his father, King Dhritarashtra, and presses him: “It behoveth thee to grant him permission to do so.” The game of dice follows.