More than seven months have passed when the General Administration Department (GAD), Madhya Pradesh government introduced the system of
monthly diary, but the baabus are not bothered.

According to the response to an RTI application, majority of the officers in the GDA do not make entries in the diary. Out of 241 officers, only 2 made an entry in the monthly diary in July. The figures for September, October and November are 61, 187 and 195 respectively.

In June 2009, the General Administration Department of Madhya Pradesh government issued a directive to the secretaries to maintain a monthly
diary which would keep an account of the important decisions taken and works done, every month. Monthly achievements of the department;
details of trips within the state and outside made by the officers; and number leaves taken, would also be maintained in the diary.

Ajay Dubey, Secretary of Prayatna, a Bhopal based NGO, filed an RTI application in the GDA asking for lists of officers who were not making entries in the monthly report.

 “The system of maintaining a monthly diary is not new. It has been a mechanism since the British era. It is just that the bureaucrats don’t follow it these days,” said Dubey.