'Perk-less' Diwali

The usual rush for giving Diwali gifts to bureaucrats and their staff was conspicuously absent in several government departments this year. One such department is the Department of Financial Services in the finance ministry. Public sector banks would make it a point to give rather expensive gifts to officers and staff in the department to keep them in good humour. However, no such gifts were seen this time after a senior officer from the department wrote to the banks asking them not to send any gifts. Not that this effort at integrity has been widely appreciated since several people in the department thought this was one of the perks of the job.