In times of austerity, the government is all set to spend crores on a "farewell" gift to a bureaucrat. Civil aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi, who retires next month, and a team of officials will tour six continents for a 16-month-long election campaign. Zaidi has been nominated by his cash-strapped ministry as candidate for president of the council of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Polling for the largely nominal post is scheduled for November 2013.