Know Your Babu: New Chairman Railway Board, VK Yadav

VINOD Kumar Yadav, the General Manager of South Central Railway, is the new Chairman of Railway Board. The appointments cabinet of the committee (ACC) on Monday night accorded its approval for Yadav's appointment in place of Ashwani Lohani who retired yesterday. Here are 10 things you may like to know about the new CRB, VK Yadav:

RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das: Another 1980 batch retired IAS appointed in a high-profile post

Shaktikanta Das, 1980 batch retired IAS, has today assumed charge as the new Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in place of Urjit Patel who had resigned on Monday. With Das’ appointment to this Mint Street post, the number of 1980 batch retired officers occupying high-profile positions has increased to at least four. The other 1980 batch retired officers in high positions include…

Know Your Babu: Vishwesh Chaube, the newly-appointed Member (engineering) of Railway Board

Vishwesh Chaube, a 1980 batch IRSE officer and General Manager of the Northern Railway, has been appointed as Member (Engineering) in the Railway Board in place of MK Gupta, also an IRSE officer who is retiring on Thursday. IRSE or Indian Railways Service of Engineers, is a Group “A” service. 

Chaube is a B.Tech (civil) from IIT-BHU and M.Tech (structures) from...

We need to move people, not cars, says NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant as he rides a bicycle in Delhi

CYCLING  is the future of India, NITI Aayog CEO and 1980 batch IAS of Kerala cadre, Amitabh Kant, said in New Delhi on Sunday, before cycling with minister of state for home  Kiren Rijiju and hundred others as a part of the programme, Movelo Cyclothon, organised by the government think-tank near the India Gate, Delhi. Kant, 62, who had recently uploaded a video with his kick-boxing action, termed cycling as an...

“Kickboxer” Amitabh Kant: NITI Aayog CEO posts video of his fitness secrets

A video grab of Kant practising kickboxing

AMITABH Kant, 1980 batch former Kerala cadre IAS and CEO of the government think-tank, NITI Aayog, made a social media buzz on Tuesday morning when he uploaded in Twitter a 34-second-video, showing him practicing kickboxing in a garden, understandably in Delhi. Wearing navy blue shorts, T-shirt and sneaker, the 62-year-old bureaucrat is seen doing “cross-fit training and kickboxing” as a reply to a fitness challenge posed by actor…

5 Civil Servants to Watch Out For, 2018: At No 2 is next cabinet secretary probable Kapil Dev Tripathi

WHO will be the 32nd cabinet secretary of India? As incumbent Pradeep Kumar Sinha’s extended term ends on June 13 this year (he was originally appointed for two years and then granted one year of extension), speculations begin on who could be the next top bureaucrat in India. And if the government decides not to extend Sinha’s tenure any longer, as was the case of the then foreign secretary S Jaishankar, it’s the present petroleum secretary and 1980 batch IAS Kapil Dev Tripathi who could be the frontrunner for the top bureaucrat's post. As on June 13, Tripathi will be the…

5 Civil Servants to Watch Out For, 2018: At No 3 is an incredible bureaucrat — Amitabh Kant

MANY of his colleagues call him a “rockstar bureaucrat”; some say, “hero”. Amitabh Kant, the bureaucrat behind the creation of some of India’s memorable campaigns — Incredible India, Make-in-India etc. — continues to occupy the centerstage in the corridors of power, wielding immense influence in the affairs of the Central government. Yes, by the end of the next month, Kant’s two-year-term as the CEO of the government think-tank, NITI Aayog, will come to an end. But will it make it any difference? Will the government discontinue him? In BoI’s list of “5 Civil Servants to Watch Out For, 2018”, Amitabh Kant is No 3. The other two bureaucrats who BoI had already profiled were…

IAS Arvind Mehta appointed OSD in Advance Cell of 15th Finance Commission; Vipul Bansal as PS to defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman

THE government has kickstarted the process of forming the 15th Finance Commission after appointing 1984 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS Arvind Mehta as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Advance Cell of 15th Finance Commission, at the rank of a union additional secretary. The advance cell is created to make preparatory arrangements for setting up of the Commission. Meanwhile, the government had approved the appointment of five private secretaries to ministers including Nirmala Sitharaman (defence), Suresh Prabhu (commerce and industry) and Piyush Goyal (railway). Here below are the details of the appointments:

Babus Over Netas: Story of 4 former bureaucrats getting berths in Modi’s ministry

IAS-turned-politician KJ Alphons while taking oath

ON SUNDAY, four former bureaucrats — two IAS, one IFS and one IPS — were made ministers at the Centre giving a clear signal that Prime Minister Narendra Modi banks more on former bureaucrats than typical Netas when it comes to performances. Whereas former Kerala cadre IAS KJ Alphons was given independent charge of the ministry of tourism, former IFS Hardeep Singh Puri will now handle urban affairs, independently. Also, former home secretary Raj Kumar Singh will handle two ministries -- power and the ministry of new and renewable energy; and ex-Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh has been made the MoS in two ministries -- HRD and water resources, river development and Ganga rejuvenation. Here are more about these four babu-turned Netas:

Ex-IAS V Ramani’s 10 Survival Tactics for IAS: Be humble, maintain paper trails and don’t sit in the office beyond 6 pm…

A WRITE-UP by former Maharashtra cadre IAS V Ramani on 10 survival tactics for IAS officers was the talking point in the corridors late last week. Ramani who quit IAS in 2010 to work in a UNICEF-supported nutrition programme in Maharashtra, elaborated how IAS officers need to downplay their achievements, be humble, insist on paper trails and due processes, remain out of a rat race in career, be always in good company, and yes, not to sit…

Culture of bouquets, protocol, subordinates receiving senior officers should also end with red beacons: Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani

ON May 1, red beacon culture came to an end, officially. A number of sections under 108 rule (use of red, white and blue light) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989 were deleted to ensure that no politician or bureaucrat can use red beacons atop their vehicles. Air India chairman and managing director and 1980 batch Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME) officer Ashwani Lohani said on Monday that…

Jaishankar’s extension ends hopes for Wadhwa, Sujata Mehta; But Vijay Gokhale is still a contender to be the next foreign secretary

Vijay Gokhale

THE Centre’s recent decision to give one year-extension to foreign secretary and 1977 batch IFS S Jaishankar last week beyond his two-year-long fixed term did not raise any controversy as such. He is considered a highly efficient officer and has done a good job in the last two years after he was appointed in a not-so-smooth change of guard two years ago by curtailing the tenure of the then foreign secretary Sujatha Singh. But the one year bonus to Jaishankar, that too after making changes in a British era rule (a provision of Fundamental Rules, 1922) has, however, ended hopes of at least three senior-most IFS officers who were hoping for the top job. There were speculations that…

How DEA secretary and 1980 batch IAS Shaktikanta Das answers a question in Tamil

AT THE inaugural session of economic editors conference in New Delhi, televised by some TV channels, finance minister Arun Jaitley got puzzled for a moment. “Kya” (what?) — he asked his officials sitting next to him, as one of the editors from Tamil Nadu began by asking a question in English before shifting to Tamil language. The question was on investment awareness among common people. The media person from Tamil Nadu got a reply from union secretary of the department of economic affairs (DEA) Shaktikanta Das who hails from Odisha but...

CBDT has a new chairman; but two ministries are left with no full-time secretaries

Sushil Chandra, 1980 batch IRS-IT officer, on Tuesday took charge as chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), replacing Rani Singh Nair who had retired from service on Monday. Since December 2015, Chandra was serving as Member (Investigation) in CBDT, considered to be the most significant post in the Board. An IIT product, Chandra will retire in May, 2017. Chandra also…

Why retired IAS SK Panda is given Louis Pasteur Award — the "Nobel Prize" in sericulture, silk industry

SK Panda

LAST month, former union textile secretary and 1980 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre retired IAS Sanjay Kumar Panda received a unique recognition — Louis Pasteur Award for the year 2016, an award considered as the Nobel Prize in sericulture and silk industry. Panda was given the award during the 24th International Congress on Sericulture and Silk Industry held last month in Thailand’s capital city of Bangkok. Panda, who did his post-graduation in chemistry before getting into IAS, actually took sericulture on a mission mode so much so that it was for his study on mulberry sericulture that he was awarded PhD in economics by Odisha’s Utkal University. In fact, Louis Pasteur was a…

Do you know India’s new finance secretary Ashok Lavasa is also an avid photographer?

A photo exhibition by Ashok and Novel Lavasa (File photo)

DO YOU know, India’s new finance secretary and 1980 batch Haryana cadre IAS Ashok Lavasa is an avid photographer? On Tuesday, the government designated Lavasa as finance secretary, following the convention of designating the senior-most of the five secretaries in the ministry of finance as the finance secretary. Lavasa, holding the post of secretary, expenditure, is ranked higher than his batch mate of Tamil Nadu cadre…

Archana Ramasundaram: 10 things to know about the first woman IPS to head a paramilitary force

IPS officer Archana Ramasundaram was the first woman joint director in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). That innings was however much earlier than her controversial appointment as special director in the CBI in 2014, when the apex court forced her not to handle affairs in the investigative agency. Was she penalized by her home cadre because of her husband’s (a former IAS) reported proximity to Tamil Nadu's ruling party AIADMK’s rival, DMK? As Ms Ramasundaram is now appointed as director general of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) making her the first woman officer to head a paramilitary force, BoI picks out 10 facts about this officer with an outstanding track record:

Rakesh Garg in Mayaram, Takru, LC Goyal club; Loses telecom secretary's post; List of new secretaries

1980 BATCH UP cadre lAS Rakesh Garg, who will retire in November this year, has become the third union secretary serving in high-profile department to have been shifted out (or demoted?) to the ministry of minority affairs, in the last 20 months of the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, the first two being 1978 batch IAS Arvind Mayaram (from finance secretary to secretary, minority affairs) and 1979 batch IAS Rajiv Takru (from revenue secretary to chairman, national commission for minorities). On the secretary-level reshuffle undertaken on Friday, Garg, a mechanical engineer-turned IAS, was shunted out of the high-profile ministry of telecom possibly because of…

When a picture is worth a thousand words: “Indonesia at our hearts” say 2 IFS batch-mates

AT TIMES a picture is worth a thousand words. Here is a powerful photo of two senior Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers – ambassador designate to Indonesia Nengcha Lhouvum and ambassador designate to Germany Gurjit Singh. Singh till recently was India’s ambassador to Indonesia, and now Ms Lhouvum will shortly take over charge in Indonesia. Posted in a social media site, the message said:

Thoughts behind Incredible India campaign; Will Amitabh Kant succeed creating brand NITI?

Kant with PM Modi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel (file photo)

LAST week, DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant was appointed as full-time CEO of NITI Aayog, the body that had replaced Nehruvian institution, the Planning Commission. Kant, known for marketing and branding skills, has possibly been brought into the NITI for giving it a major makeover. In his book, “Branding India: An Incredible Story” Kant spelt out how he had created Incredible India campaign amid many challenges. Maybe, Incredible India, and then Make in India will inspire him in NITI too. Here are some of his thoughts as he created the “Incredible India” brand: