India, Brazil and South Africa join hands in creating web resource on public administration

THREE important nations in new world order -- India, Brazil and South Africa – have come together to share best practices of public administration as a web portal was launched in New Delhi on Tuesday by secretary in department of administrative reforms and public grievances R C Misra under IBSA co-operation programme in the field of public administration and governance.

The portal, http://ibsa.cgg.gov.in, which is a virtual centre of excellence in public administration, is a wide ranging web-based resource and an interactive platform for the IBSA partners to facilitate among them an exchange of ideas and knowledge on public administration. According to an Indian government press release, the purpose of the web portal is to create a knowledge base for sharing IBSA experiences and best practices in the field of public administration and development related issues.

It was a tripartite launch with Brazil and South Africa on board. The babusofindia.com which has reviewed the portal, has found that it has a discussion forum and a blog section, but one needs to sign in to get into it. The portal focuses on areas such as citizen-centric administration, accountability and transparency, decentralized governance, non-state actors and governance, and urban governance etc.

Amar Pratap Singh new CBI director

Amar Pratap Singh, a 1974 batch IPS officer from Jharkhand cadre, was on Tuesday appointed the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for two years. He would replace Ashwani Kumar. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the name of the 58-year-old police officer. Singh was serving as Special Director of the investigating agency. He has also held the post of additional Director General in the Border Security Force (BSF) and is a recipient of Indian Police Medal and President’s Police Medal.

SC raises questions on CVC

The Supreme Court has questioned how PJ Thomas can, as the Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), monitor the 2G case objectively as he had served as the telecom secretary. The judges hearing the 2G case pointed out that the CBI which is investigating the case is supervised by the Central Vigilance Commission.