Korbo, Lorbo…Mamata asks Bengal IAS to perform; to meet IPS officers today

Mamata Banerjee (File Photo)

ON A day West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee acted as a cheerleader and lifted the KKR’s IPL trophy in a victory rally in Kolkata, she also addressed about 250 IAS officers of the state urging them to pull up their socks. Like most other states, West Bengal too has a shortage of about 50 IAS officers where the sanctioned posts stand at 330. Ms Banerjee is likely to talk to state’s IPS officers today. Did she talk about Korbo, Lorbo...?

10 fascinating facts about 5 new secretaries: SR Rao, SK Srivastava, Sudhir Kumar, Bahuguna, Pati…

ON Monday, Pulokaseth (Pulok Chatterji and AK Seth) zeroed in five IAS of 1978 batch to be appointed as secretaries to Government of India. Gujarat cadre IAS SR Rao was appointed as commerce secretary, Assam-Meghalaya cadre SK Srivastava as coal secretary, Rajasthan cadre Ashish Bahuguna as agriculture secretary, Orissa cadre Gokul Chandra Pati as animal husbandry secretary and UP cadre Sudhir Kumar as food and public distribution secretary.

BoI here presents 10 fascinating facts about them, which you may or may not have heard earlier. Read On...

KKR’s Midnight Win: Poonam Pandey’s nude photo; IAS officers’ witty comment

IPL Cheer Leaders

POST Kolkata Knight Riders’ victory in IPL 5 at midnight, avid Twitter lovers were pleasantly surprised by Kingfisher model Poonam Pandey posting a nude photo of hers with a tagline “And here is a Pic as i PROMISED…#OnlyForAbove18”. But it was not just Poonam Pandey who went hyper in the micro-blogging site post-midnight. There were thousands, or even more, who aired their views, made humour and congratulated the winning team. Here are comments of a few IAS officers and MPs after KKR clinched the cup in a cliff-hanger.

Pulok Chatterji’s last two batch-mates due to retire next month

KM Acharya

THE last two officers belonging to the IAS batch of Pulok Chatterji and cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, are retiring next month. KM Acharya and Ranjana Chawdhary, both from Madhya Pradesh cadre are the last of 1974 batch IAS who are in service, and due to retire only next month. Chatterji’s task as principal secretary to Prime Minister is a post-retirement assignment and Ajit K Seth who would have retired last November is on a fixed tenure of two years.

In fact, KM Acharya, currently secretary in department of social justice and empowerment, was recently given the additional charge of the post of secretary, department of disability affairs. Ms Chawdhary is chairperson of Professional Exam Board in Madhya Pradesh. It’s a secretary-level post.

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Vibha Puri Das, a 1976 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS, presently secretary, department of higher education in the ministry of human resource development, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of tribal affairs in place of Arvind Kumar Chugh, a 1974 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS who had retired.

b) Ashok Thakur, a 1977 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS, presently special secretary in the department of higher education, has been appointed as secretary in the department of higher education.

c) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has modified its earlier order and approved that Anil Swarup, a 1981 batch UP cadre IAS, may continue as additional secretary in the ministry of labour and employment for the balance period of his tenure.

Is Narendra Modi helping DoPT? What’s this 500-page Collector’s Manual?

Narendra Modi: Keeping babus in good humour

GUJARAT chief minister Narendra Modi has always been popular among bureaucrats. After all, Modi knows it well his linkage to post-Godhra episode could be wiped out from people’s mind-space only by outstanding delivery of governance. And that can happen if babus are kept in good humour. Modi’s brainstorming sessions with bureaucrats at an exotic locale in Rann of Kutch is an annual affair. And now…

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats; Is Ansari a victim?

Hamid Ansari: Aiming Right?

ON UPA-II dinner party on Tuesday, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hogged the limelight as Congress leaders wooed him by all means. The seating arrangement at the dais was changed at the last minute to give Yadav a prominent seat along with UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a bureaucrat-turned politician. But BoI here presents a few facts on Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats at large and how that will snap former diplomat Hamid Ansari's elevation to Rashtrapati Bhawan.

List of agencies dealing with black money; also on intelligence “think-tank”

THE White Paper on Black Money presented in Lok Sabha by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday listed out the agencies that deal with unaccounted wealth and its consequences in one way or the other. Is there a “Think Tank” among intelligence agencies? Yes, there is one. Read on:

DoPT asks departments to follow rule books while consulting with UPSC

THE delay on the part of departments seeking consultations with Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) have left errant officers escape punishments. An office memorandum issued by DoPT on May 15, 2012 reminded departments how CAT and courts had struck down entire disciplinary proceedings against officers simply on the “ground of delay”.

Whereas departments and ministries need to consult with the UPSC before pronouncing proceedings against officers, the practice is not