'Use Gandhi names sparingly'
Unhappy with the indiscriminate practice by ministries of using the names of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi for programmes and projects, the Cabinet secretary has directed them to be more selective. HT reports.
Unhappy with the indiscriminate practice by ministries of using the names of Indira and Rajiv Gandhi for programmes and projects, the Cabinet secretary has directed them to be more selective.
“A number of programmes under execution in the country are named after leaders, particularly Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. The practice has become widespread and indiscriminate,” says an October 6 letter from K M Chandrashekhar.
“This reduces the value of identifying programmes with national figures, particularly as implementation and impact of many of these programmes is not always as ought to be. As such, many of them do not merit such association,” he wrote.
The Cabinet secretary’s directive is understood to impress upon ministers that caution needs to be applied while using the names of top national leaders on projects whose proper implementation was doubtful.
A Right to Information reply last year had revealed that 450 government programmes, schemes and institutions across the country were named after the Nehru-Gandhi family, of which 200 have been named after Rajiv Gandhi.