A high-profile Indian Administrative Service couple – Sanjiv Khirwar and Rinku Dugga – were shunted out of Delhi to Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh a few days ago. Their transfers came soon after ‘The Indian Express’ newspaper published a photo showing the couple walking their dog in New Delhi’s Thyagaraj stadium at a time when athletes should have been using the sports facility’s tracks.

The transfer orders likely flowed from an official desire to punish the couple for doing wrong. They also stirred up a hornets’ nest by pointing to both Ladakh and Arunachal as dumping grounds for erring officials. It is not for the first time that a government has resorted to a punishment posting. In this episode, we decode this issue and the emotions that go with it.

Guest: Pradip Phanjoubam, Imphal-based senior journalist and editor of the Imphal Review of Arts and Politics

Host: Amit Baruah, Senior Associate Editor, The Hindu

Edited by Ranjani Srinivasan

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