Extra constitutional authority has become the order of the day when official positions are misused to harass the common man rather than facilitate him, and the civil servant has ceased to be civil and a servant of the masses.

But we still say India is great and deserves FDI. Yes, we need FDI, but not only in our markets but in our brains too. A friend of mine - a young lady in a Scandinavian country was going with another lady friend for a cocktail party in a huge black car at 11 pm. In the middle of nowhere the car developed a flat tyre. The Indian lady panicked. What are we (going) to do now? She asked.

The Scandinavian lady did not panick. She phoned the police. The cops arrived, escorted the ladies to the party, then went back and changed the tyre of the car and drove it to the party venue, saluted the ladies and left. No bakshish no inam no suvidha shulk...

Akhilesh Yadav has been great in ordering action against the erring special secretary but this is just the tip of the iceberg, he needs to purge the officialdom that has for the last five years indulged in the rape of common man. Every officer should be forced to declare his assets. One simple example: take the Zone 3 of the Lucknow Municipal Corporation during Mayawati's tenure. The peon drives a Maruti 800, the house tax inspector got his son admitted in an engineering college in Ghaziabad through the management quota and the assistant commisioner of the zone went in for a hair transplant costing several lakh rupees during Behenji's tenure.

The rape of Uttar Pradesh by the officials of the state must end, Akhilesh Yadavji and mind it you have been chosen to see to it.