Run-Up to Promotions: Ministries are advised to place documents including chargesheets against officers

THE government on Monday issued an office memorandum (OM) advising ministries and departments to place all documents including penalties or chargesheets, if any, against an officer whose name comes up for promotion before…

Odisha IAS Arvind Padhee turns a smart salesman to package his state. How?

MEET this officer who describes himself a “born optimist”. And on April 23, this is what he tweeted: “Am now in one of the hottest places in #Odisha this summer. The warmth n 'no-double speak' attitude of d 'Samalpurias' give pure delight. :).” Arvind Padhee, who is a 1996 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer and secretary to the state’s tourism and culture department, passionately uses his social media handles to promote…

Damaad Shree Video: BJP drags UPSC member and retired Haryana cadre IAS to Robert Vadra land deals

A RETIRED IAS officer of Haryana cadre and current UPSC member Chhatar Singh has been on BJP’s firing line, as the principal opposition party on Sunday sharpened its attack on Robert Vadra’s land deals by releasing a video named “Damaad Shree” and accusing Haryana government and earlier Congress-led Rajasthan regime of colluding with Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law in expediting out-of-turn…

UPSC releases reserve list of Civil Service (Main) 2012 examination; who are those lucky 90?

THIS piece of news comes as a god sent gift to the 90 odd civil services aspirants who would have never thought they would make it into the plum jobs under Central government after they were rejected a year ago. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Thursday released the reserve list of civil services (main) 2012 examinations. The candidates are supposed to check this reserved list at…

Trail Blazers: Why should you always remember these 12 women IFS officers

Muthamma: India's first woman IFS officer

HEARD of Madam Muthamma, India’s first IFS? Or, can you name the first woman spokesperson of India’s foreign office? Or the first pair of sisters in the Indian Foreign Service? And finally, the woman IFS officer who had to resign because she wanted to get married? Here are 12 women officers, taken out of the list of outstanding women IFS prepared by the public diplomacy wing of the MEA, who will always be remembered as trail-blazers in the service. Here it’s why:

Rash Decision? Govt gives extension to space secretary K Radhakrishnan beyond August 29

THE government has extended the tenure of Dr K Radhakrishnan, secretary of the department of space, beyond August 29, 2014, a move that some may argue should ideally be taken by the next government. The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) in an order dated April 22, said Radhakrishnan’s tenure would now continue till…

45 IAS of 1984 batch empanelled as additional secretary or equivalent. Full List

THE government on Monday released the list containing names of 41 IAS officers who were empanelled as additional secretaries and another four as additional secretary-equivalent to government of India. All belong to 1984 batch IAS.
Among the officers, five are from Madhya Pradesh cadre, four each from Tamil Nadu and Assam cadre, three each from Kerala, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh and UP cadre each. Full list below:

When one Delhi locality houses 50,000 aspirants chasing civil services dream

“The IAS-Wallahs”. Amid the high-voltage general elections when apolitical news have virtually disappeared from newspapers, both national and regional, there was a highly readable piece on Sunday in HT’s popular magazine called Brunch about young men and women spending their best years chasing the civil services dream. Putting together many anecdotes and live examples, it also narrates lives of what it calls IAS coaching ghettos of Delhi viz.

India Show in Hong Kong: Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher to lead India delegation

AWAY from the heat and dust of elections in India, there will be an “India Show” in Hong Kong between April 27 and 30. And senior bureaucrat of 1980 batch and Union commerce secretary Rajeev Kher will lead a delegation to this city state, known to be a bridgehead to do business with China. It is expected that Indian exporters will get an opportunity to forge…

YSR Congress nominates Gujarat IAS Devarapalli Kishore Rao from Bapatla in Seemandhra

Jagan Reddy in a rally

A GUJARAT cadre IAS officer Devarapalli Kishore Rao will be YSR Congress party nominee for Bapatla (SC) Lok Sabha seat that falls in Seemandhra region of Andhra Pradesh, according to latest reports. Rao, an officer of 1980 batch who resigned in December last year and had served mandatory 3-month-long notice period, considers himself retired though the government of Gujarat has not actually…

Pulok Chatterji has leftist leanings, never too enthusiastic about PM’s US focus, claims Baru book

Pulok Chatterji (right) with Manmohan Singh

IF Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s former media adviser Sanjaya Baru is to be believed, “affable, pipe-smoking and understated” Pulok Chatterji has leftist leanings. That’s not all. Baru’s new book, “The Accidental Prime Minister” also claims that Chatterji, thanks to his leftist leanings, was never too enthusiastic about Dr Singh’s focus on improving relations with US, a serious charge hurled against one of the top bureaucrats of UPA’s rule for the last 10 years. In UPA-I, Chatterji was a powerful…

Suitable Indian officials asked to apply for public policy programmes in South Korea’s KDI

SOUTH Korea’s KDI School has invited applications for master of public policy and master of development policy, the programmes which will begin from September 15, 2014. DoPT’s training division has invited applications from suitable officers who need to…

Corridors of Inequality: How non-IAS officers belonging to 36 services get discriminated

THE empanelment for posts at the level of joint secretary and joint secretary equivalent is “a thesis on inequality, unfairness, hegemony, greed and injustice”, says Hyderabad-based Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Satya Prasant P in a blog post. His argument? Non-IAS officers are simply “trampled by the IAS lobby when it comes to appointments under the Central Staffing Scheme through the highly skewed process of empanelment.” In a well-researched piece, Satya Prasant talks about some “deliberate manmade procedural bottlenecks” which actually hamper…

What Sanjaya Baru’s book says about TKA Nair and Pulok Chatterji; PMO reacts

SANJAYA Baru, former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called PM’s adviser TKA Nair “a bureaucratic lightweight” who except for a stint in the IK Gujral’s PMO, had neither held the rank of secretary in “any of the powerful ministries on Raisina Hill-home, finance and defence-nor in any key economic ministry”. Baru’s 301-page book titled “The Accidental Prime Minister--The Making and Unmaking Of Manmohan Singh”, published by Penguin, has not even spared current principal secretary Pulok Chatterji, who “like Nair, suffered from…

P Chidambaram opposes bureaucrats’ second innings in politics, but why?

No Politics Please, We Are Babus!

AT A time when more and more retired IAS and IPS offers are contesting the current Lok Sabha elections, senior Congress leader and Union finance minister P Chidambaram has aired his views against such a trend, arguing that it may set a dangerous precedence. The seasoned lawyer-turned politician who has opted out of the fray in favour of his son Karti Chidambaram this time, said that the Constitution…

List of two dozen IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS officers contesting 2014 Lok Sabha polls

Yashwant Sinha, Ajit Jogi, Manishankar Aiyer --- all these and many more known names in Indian politics have one thing in common. All of them excelled as bureaucrats before joining the political bandwagon and deciding to come to Parliament though a harder route — election. As the world’s biggest election process is currently underway in India, BoI here presents a list of 24 contenders who earlier had worked IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS etc. They…

EC-Mamata Row: Who are the IAS, IPS officers Banerjee agrees to transfer, “only for time being”?

THERE is nothing unusual in Election Commission’s transfer-dictate to bureaucrats in states. But West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s  threatening on Monday not to follow the EC order would have created an unprecedented constitutional crisis which was averted only after Didi blinked on the next day and agreed to follow the poll panel’s order. Her face-saver: transfers would be made "only for the time being”. First, here are the names of the bureaucrats who Banerjee had initially refused to…

Battle of Dausa: Brothers and former IPS officers enter into political big fight

Meena Brothers

Dausa Lok Sabha seat in east Rajasthan is witnessing an electoral battle between two former IPS officers, Namo Narain Meena of 1969 batch and Harish Chandra Meena of 1976 batch. If you are not convinced that it’s something unusual, here is more. Namo Narain, union minister of state for finance and the Congress candidates is the elder brother of the BJP candidate…

A Tale of Two IRS: What BJP’s Udit Raj has to say about his “junior” Arvind Kejriwal

Udit Raj: Attacking his junior in IRS

DID Aam Aadmi Party chief and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s performance as an income-tax officer below par? Let’s have a look at what his senior in Income-Tax department Udit Raj has to say. Raj, a BJP candidate from North West Delhi Lok Sabha seat, says…

Summer coaching camps for children of govt employees in basketball, cricket, football, tennis

Revenue secretary Takru on a strike (File Photo)

COME this summer, children or dependents of the Central government employees could attend coaching sessions in basketball, cricket, football and tennis in New Delhi. The children aged between six to 16 years will be allowed to attend camps to be held between May 15 and…

Officer wanted as minister (economic) in High Commission of India, London

FOR officers currently working at the level of joint secretary or a director at the Centre, here is an opportunity to get a posting in London. Union secretaries and state chief secretaries have been requested to nominate officers for the post of minister (economic) in London’s High Commission of India in place of…

Former CVC Pratyush Sinha to head the panel for determining which IAS or IPS will move to Telangana

A 2006 file photo of Pratyush Sinha

IN A few weeks’ time, a panel headed former CVC and 1969 batch retired Bihar cadre IAS Pratyush Sinha will suggest the government on how to distribute cadres of three All India Services viz. IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service between two states: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In fact, India’s…

Who all will work in Telangana? Govt sets up advisory panel under retired IAS Kamalanathan

COME June 2, 2014, Telangana will formally be India’s 29th state. But what will be the fate of the government employees including officers currently working across Andhra Pradesh? The government has now constituted an advisory committee under 1965 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre retired IAS CR Kamalanathan, mainly to determine who will work in Telangana and who in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. The other members of the panel include...