White towels are a legacy of British era, when there were few roads, fewer cars and no ACs. Officer toured on horses and towels were an integral part of hygiene routine.
British left, horses were sent away, but towels stayed!
It’s not just towels, the size of tables and colour of ink are also defined by hierarchy.
When I was working at Joint Secretary level with the Vice President of India, I had to fight a stiff battle of sorts to order a smaller table that would fit better in my office. The system would not approve of a smaller table!
Regarding the colour of ink to be used for noting and signature, Sh. Arun Shourie has written a hilarious, if not ridiculous, memoir as minister.
In 1999, two officers in the Ministry of Steel made notings on files using red and green ink.
This raised a furore as they were junior officers. The seniors were scandalised and an enquiry was initiated.
India’s bureaucracy spent 13 months debating which colour ink officers could use on files.
The enquiry was routed through several ministries and departments:
Ministry of Steel wrote to Dept of Administrative Reforms
It referred to Directorate of Printing (ink experts)
Printing referred to Dept of Personnel & Training (DoPT)
DoPT threw the ball back: “it’s your Manual, you decide”
National Archives was consulted for longevity of ink colours
Ministry of Defence consulted for Army ink hierarchy
Conclusion after 13 months: juniors wrote in blue-black or blue ink, because that has the longest life of impression. In British era, the files had to travel to Britain, so juniors would write in ink that would stay for the longest.
The top brass would sign in green and red.
Ruling:
Two new paras were added to the manual of office procedure:
Para 32(9) says that only officers of Joint Secretary level and above may use red or green ink, and that too only in rare cases. Para 68(5), on the other hand, does not limit the use of these colours to any particular rank (as modern ball pen ink have no issues of shelf life for any colour!)
The white towel on the officer’s chair. The red telephone on the desk. The peon standing at the door. The green ink reserved for the senior sahib.
These are not accidents of history. They are architecture, the physical grammar of a bureaucratic culture that worships hierarchy.
FYI, “Mumbai baddies” roaming freely at night owe a lot to Koli women, who’ve been lining up at Sassoon fishing harbour since 4am for generations. Women have occupied the streets here since the late 1900s. When women take up space, they watch for each other & the city behaves.
Even the most modern infrastructure that India is building today is more backwards than what Europe built over over 5 decades ago
Not a single metro rail infrastructure in India is future fit or built to cater the largest population in the world
Hello Smita
That's a Blue Chalo Premium Bus
Rs 25 for trip to station
You should look for Red BEST Buses instead
Rs 12 Ac
Rs 10 Non Ac
Here's a pic of line for Red BEST Buses
Outside World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade
Two lines
One to CST Station
Other to Churchgate Station
The level of infra corruption in MH is genuinely astounding at this point.
The most stupid ideas have approval. The most obvious ones? Nil.
Virar walon ko local train chahiye. Sealink nai.
BKC walon ko bus/police/light metro chahiye, BabaGadi (PodTaxi) nai.
Uttan walon ko ek bridge chahiye. Ferry nai.
Delhi’s 8000 DTC buses have a daily ridership of around ~4.1 million.
Mumbai’s 3200 BEST buses have a daily ridership of around ~3.5 million
With limited resources, @myBESTBus is already carrying massive ridership. It’s show the service and efficient capacity of BESt. Now imagine the relief for Mumbaikars if the fleet scaled up to 8,000 buses in the next 18 months the city’s travel burden would transform overnight.
@Dev_Fadnavis please make this happen for Mumbai. People need last-mile to reach metros.
I often get asked "How are you going to compete against MNC giants?"
My Answer: "By standing on their shoulders and winning the shelf space online and offline."
P.s: This is a picture of a store in a tier 2 city, Nashik.
Pakistan Journalist: So do you think the Kashmir crisis is Pakistan's fault?
Sushma Swaraj in 2002: If I answer that, I'll have to give you a very harsh answer. But I'm a guest here in Pakistan and answering harshly will be a breach of my country's code of conduct.
आप पैसे खर्च करके देश के हर पेट्रोल पंप पर या राशन के झोलों पर या फिर शौचालय के प्रचार-प्रसार पर अपनी फोटो छपवा सकते हैं।
लेकिन कैम्ब्रिज विश्वविद्यालय के हॉल में तो डॉक्टर साहब की ही फोटो मिलेगी । कैम्ब्रिज डॉ मनमोहन सिंह के नाम पर स्कालरशिप भी देता है। क्यों कि डॉ मनमोहन सिंह ने कैम्ब्रिज से ही पीएचडी की थी। बाद में वे डी फिल के लिए ऑक्सफोर्ड चले गए थे। जहां अब उनकी लिखी छः किताबें पढ़ाई भी जाती हैं।
आज उनका जन्मदिन है 🙏🏻🎂💐🍰🎁
(रश्मि त्रिपाठी जी की पोस्ट)
@sejallpurohit Take local from bandra to dadar, change to central line, then take train from dadar to Matunga east. Come out of that station from stairs and walk a little bit, you will find Ramashray . You’re welcome