Friday, September 19, 2014

Bandana Preyashi appointed as Ravi Shankar Prasad’s PS: Why many in Siwan called her “sir”?

Bandana Preyashi, 2003 batch IAS and the one who is considered a hard taskmaster among Bihar bureaucrats, has been appointed as private secretary to minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in the department of legal affairs. Preyashi, 40, who as Barh sub-divisional officer hogged the limelight for locking the foodgrain godown of don-turned-JD (U) MLA Anant Singh alias Chhote Sarkar, continued to remain a news-maker in the state where young civil servants…
face a lot of challenges in enforcing law. Only recently, she was given additional charge of Bihar rural livelihood project in addition to her current assignment as additional secretary, general administration and director of centre for good governance society.
It was during 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Preyashi as the returning officer of Siwan district of Bihar, demonstrated her administrative skill and conducted a largely peaceful poll. It was the same Siwan district where as many as 171 electronic voting machines were broken in large-scale poll violence and rigging during 2004 elections.
She reportedly carried four cell phones to constantly get in touch with her officials. She instilled fear among the local goons and mapped the vulnerable areas of the district so as to correctly deploy the forces. And finally, a peaceful poll could be a reality there.
A product of St Stephens College, Preyashi is an MA and MPhil in English literature.
Apart from Siwan, she worked as collector of Bhagalpur and Gaya, and also served in the state industries ministry.
In Siwan, many called her “sir” rather than “madam”. “This chair (the DM's) is asexual. It does not matter if you are a man or a woman. Everyone here calls me Sir," Preyashi was quoted as saying in an April 2009 article in the news site rediff.com.

6 comments:

  1. The question is why anybody needs to call her "sir" or "madam". In US even President is addressed as Mr. President. In democracy,people are not below public servants. People should not abuse but need not show servility to public servants. Another problem is lawyers calling judges your lordship. It's like we are living in feudal society. DM or judge is just a job. It is no more important than say a doctor's or scientist's. We don't call any doctor your lordship.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sure... by your socialist logic, a worker on the shop floor is as important as a CEO..

      Grow up sid! DM/CM/PM are "the" most important positions in the government and make disproportionate impact on society.

      Delete
    2. So, according to you,a scientist who discovers drugs and saves billions of lives should grovel before a DM. In countries like Greece, where government provides most jobs and have less private sector jobs have been finally forced to lay-off government officers. Without private sector workers, government servants can't survive because they on the whole don't contribute much to society and have little impact. Therefore, I think a worker contributes more to the society than IAS officer. Actually in India,government is so ineffectual that nobody will miss them if all IAS officers are sacked tomorrow.

      Delete
  2. we indians seem to oversimplify things , an IAS officer is only a refelction of what the society is like. At 27 -28 when a man or a woman joins the IAS he is not given any injection laced with inefficiency, or corruption. The only give back to the society what they have learned. We indians are hypocrites who always find a scape goat but never own our own contribution. In the IAS there are good officers and there are bad officers the ratio is similar to the goodness n bad that we have in the society so stop over simplifying things.

    ReplyDelete
  3. During 26th July Mumbai floods, civil administration completely disappeared. People helped each other and survived. During Mumbai terror attacks, Maharashtra home secretary was in Taj hotel. We saw on TV how home secretary was shaking with fear after rescue. During Uttarakhand floods, IAS and administration was nowhere to be seen.Army has to come to rescue. During recent Kashmir floods again administration was absent and army saved people. Then there was case of district collector in Orissa hiding below peon's bed in peon's house when Naxalites attacked. So, supposedly lower level army jawans and officers are putting their life on line to save people when it is not their job.IAS,IPS whose job is to save people are usually running away like cowards when they are most needed.We don't need IAS who sit in offices and hinder India's progress earning undeserved pay from taxes of hardworking citizens. There may be few good officers but overall IAS is good for nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello. You are the best dm of Gaya.

    ReplyDelete