Govt clears hurdles for ICMR chief Soumya Swaminathan to join WHO in Geneva; Kerala cadre IAS Prasanth Nair joins as PS to minister Alphons

Dr Soumya Swaminathan

THE Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Monday approved the cadre clearance to Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and secretary, department of health research, so that the officer can take up a foreign assignment in Switzerland. A Paediatrics from All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) among other fellowships and distinctions, Dr Swaminathan is joining as Deputy Director General for Programme in the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland, for almost two years — from December 1, 2017 to November 18, 2019. The ACC has also curtailed…

Name change trend by IAS officers continues; Vinita Vasdev Vaid turns Vinita Vaid Singal; Tina Kumar becomes Tina Soni

LAST week, the Central government permitted the change of names for two IAS officers — Ms Vinita Vasdev Vaid of 1996 batch and Dr Tina Kumar of 2007 batch —, thereby continuing the trend of name change by IAS officers across the country. Accordingly, Vinita Vasdev Vaid, who belongs to Maharashtra cadre, will now be known as Ms Vinita Vaid Singal for all official purposes. Similarly, Dr Tina Kumar, a 2007 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS will now be…

1987 batch IAS Lalit Kumar Gupta prematurely repatriated to Tripura; 2007 batch IPS finds berth in environment ministry

THE Centre on Tuesday prematurely repatriated Lalit Kumar Gupta, 1987 batch Tripura cadre IAS and joint secretary in the department of youth affairs, to his parent cadre on grounds of availing promotion in the cadre. Also, Satyendra Kumar, 2007 batch Rajasthan cadre IPS officer, has been appointed as deputy secretary in the ministry of environment, forest and climate change. Meanwhile, the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Tuesday approved…

2007 batch IAS Anurag Tiwari found dead in Lucknow; More about the officer

IN A shocking news in Wednesday morning, 2007 batch Karnataka cadre IAS Anurag Tiwari was found dead outside VIP guest house in Hazratganj area of Lucknow, leaving suspicions on whether it was an unnatural death. Initial reports however suggest that there was no foul play and it could be the result of high blood pressure, but the exact cause of the officer's death will be clearer only after the postmortem report is available. Here are more about this 36-year-old IAS officer:

Know Your Officers: 2 new faces in PMO — Vijay Kumar Mantri, Ms Aishvarya Singh

THE Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) will soon have two new faces — Ms Aishvarya Singh and Vijay Kumar Mantri — both of whom have currently been working in two different Northeastern states, Sikkim and Meghalaya. Ms Aishvarya Singh, a 2008 batch Sikkim cadre IAS officer and Vijay Kumar Mantri, a 2007 batch Assam-Meghalaya cadre IAS, were on Friday appointed as under secretary and deputy secretary respectively in the PMO. The IAS officers are usually brought in to Delhi on deputation at least at the rank of deputy secretaries, and not as under secretaries. According to PMO website, there are currently…

Why govt refers to a writ petition in an IAS officer’s inter-cadre deputation order? More about Shainamol’s protest

Ms A Shainamol, 2007 batch Himachal Pradesh cadre IAS and the one who dragged the government of India to a legal battle over not getting the cadre of her choice, has finally managed an inter-cadre deputation from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala for three years “in relaxation of extant guidelines on compassionate grounds”. But the DoPT in its notification dated January 20, 2014, added that “this approval for inter cadre deputation is without prejudice to the Government’s stand in the Writ Petition which…

A Tale of Two Disasters: Bureaucrats hailed for Phailin evacuation, suspended for MP stampede

Rescue, Relief in Odisha

Dr Krishan Kumar, an MBBS-turned IAS of Odisha cadre and collector of the state’s southern district of Ganjam, front-paged a national daily on Monday as he worked without sleep for about 100 hours to save lives of ordinary people who would have become preys of Cyclone Phailin that hit coastlines of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on Saturday night. In another Indian state, Madhya Pradesh, the shaken chief minister took special permission of Election Commission of India to suspend IAS and IPS including…

How 2 bureaucrat friends are scripting a satire on jealousy, envy and contempt

Ampady (left), Prasanth

IT’S not a script on corridors of power. Two civil servants, N Prasanth and K Ampady have teamed up to pen a satire based on the recent discovery of the God Particle. It will be a script for a new Malayalam film with an unusual title...