5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats 2015: Who are they and how they influence corridors' power dynamics

THE BoI list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2015, is out. As we had mentioned in our December 31, 2015 post, there were very few powerful bureaucrats at the Centre in 2015, making it difficult for the BoI to prepare a more acceptable and error-free list. Since 2009, this website has been publishing an annual list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats sometime in August-September every year. For 2015, BoI finds former IPS, ex-spy and current National Security Adviser Ajit Doval as the most powerful bureaucrat. Yes, there were criticism against him when…

2nd Most Powerful Bureaucrat 2015: Who is Ram Sewak Sharma and how he keeps lobbyists at bay

IN THE backdrop of an estimated Rs 200-crore advertising blitz by internet giant Facebook for its Free Basics campaign in India, coupled with intense lobbying by many telcos, India’s telecom regulator TRAI’s decision on Monday to prohibit differential tariff and calling it “discriminatory” is quite a bold one. And the man behind taking such a decisive stand after withstanding all pressure and preserving what’s called net neutrality is none other than a bureaucrat — a 1978 batch former IAS of Jharkhand cadre Ram Sewak Sharma. A former Mission Director of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) or Aadhaar and ex-information technology secretary, this tech-savvy bureaucrat is now the chairman of TRAI — Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. In BoI’s list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats 2015, Sharma is…

BoI Power List 2015: Why foreign secretary S Jaishankar is India’s 3rd most powerful bureaucrat

Jaishankar with minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj

THE way Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought in S Jaishankar, the topper of 1977 batch IFS, as India’s foreign secretary in January end, 2015, by virtually sacking 1976 batch incumbent officer Sujatha Singh, says it all – Jaishankar is influential, powerful, talented and preferred to his peers to anchor India’s diplomacy. BoI in its assessment has found, Jaishankar is the…

BoI Power List 2015: Bureaucrats with sizeable Twitter followers wield more power, get 4th position

WHEN BoI posted an article on Twitter-saavy bureaucrats in October last year, an anonymous reader added a few more names: “P Narahari, current DM of Indore, MP is a very active user of social media and has used SM effectively to connect with the citizen in his previous posting as Gwalior collector. And also the collector of Kochi who was in news recently. You can also see the municipal commissioner of Nashik, Praveen Gedam who regularly tweeted about the progress of Nashik Kumbh…” Yes, corridors' power rules have changed. A bureaucrat no longer derives power just from signing a file. The power of a bureaucrat also comes from the number of Twitter followers or number of comments that he or she gets in a Facebook post. So, the 4^th Most Powerful Bureaucrat in BoI Power List, 2015, is…

5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat, 2015: Bengal’s Sanyal, Chhattisgarh’s Aman Singh, Assam’s Bhanu

MGVK Bhanu

THE year 2015 was quite unique, at least for Delhi’s power corridors! The bureaucrats in powerful positions made conscious effort to give an impression that they wield no power at all. The fear has been palpable: If you are seen as a powerful bureaucrat, there are chances that you may be pulled down, and that too to a level where from a return journey is impossible. The fear thus is real. After all, will any finance secretary like to be shifted out to the ministry of minority affairs? BoI which has since 2009 published annual list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats (in August/September every year), based on the feedback of bureaucrats, journalists, political leaders etc. decided to…

5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2014: Top slot remains vacant; Doval and "Mishra Square" play key roles

PM Modi with Australian dancers in Sydney. (File photo)

BoI Power List 2014 is finally out. And after considering the views of about 50 people who understand the nuances of changing equation of corridors of power and incorporating Babus of India’s editorial inputs, here are five most powerful bureaucrats under Narendra Modi regime:

PMO’s Mishra Square: India’s second most powerful bureaucrat, 2014

PK Mishra (July 2008 photo)

THE PMO under Narendra Modi has a Mishra Square, quite literally. Two of Modi’s confidants, principal secretary to PM Nripendra Misra and additional principal secretary to PM PK Mishra are calling the shots in South Block, though many in the corridor are convinced by now that between the two, PK is more influential. In BoI Power List 2014, Mishra Square is the second most powerful bureaucrat. When Gujarat cadre retired IAS…

Home Secretary Anil Goswami: How “Kaki” is India’s 3rd Most Powerful Bureaucrat

Inspecting a toilet as part of Clean India campaign

DAYS before Narendra Modi took charge as the Prime Minister of India, home secretary and 1978 batch IAS officer Anil Goswami had a chance to brief him about internal security. As the meeting proceeded, it appeared, Modi had already known quite a lot about this Jammu and Kashmir cadre officer who was divisional commissioner of Jammu, chief executive officer of Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (first CEO after it was taken over by the government in 1986) and principal secretary to the then chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad. And that meeting itself cleared doubts that…

Why is foreign secretary Sujatha Singh India’s fourth most powerful bureaucrat?

Sujatha Singh in Japan

FOR 1976 batch IFS officer Sujatha Singh, it was not a cakewalk for getting appointed as India’s foreign secretary succeeding Ranjan Mathai in July last year. A year down the line, with another government at the helm, Mrs Singh has turned a key person behind prime minister Narendra Modi’s highly successful diplomatic venture so far. In BoI Power List 2014, diplomat Singh is India’s 4th Most Powerful Bureaucrat. In fact, when Modi Sarkar took charge in May this year, there were credible reports that Mrs Singh’s junior and…

India’s 5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat: Why Mr Peon is powerful?

FOR the sixth consecutive year, BoI is coming out with a power list that includes India’s 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats. Like in the past, our ranking is based on off-record interactions with at least 50 bureaucrats, apart from considering inputs from politicians, academics and journalists who understand corridor’s changing power equations. Then, who is India’s 5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat, 2014? For that you have to first read what…

India's Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2013: Corridors’ Durgas 1st, Pulokaseth 3rd

WHEN young Indians fearlessly question the conduct of India’s high and mighty, a top-ranked post may no longer give a license to a bureaucrat to flex his muscles. The BoI Power List 2013, based on the opinions of about 100 people including politicians, bureaucrats and civil society activists, has ranked Durgas of bureaucracy as India’s Most Powerful Bureaucrat, 2013. Those who understand the nuances of corridors of power say…

BoI Power List 2013: CBI director Ranjit Sinha ranked 2nd most powerful bureaucrat

A Caged Parrot. Really?

WHEN 1974 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer Ranjit Sinha was appointed as CBI director in November last year, there was nothing much about him in public domain, except that he was friendly with RJD leader Lalu Prasad, and he had some issues with Prasad’s successor in the ministry: Mamata Banerjee. The Opposition BJP did not like Sinha’s appointment, and it continued to term CBI as Congress Bureau of Investigation. And the Supreme Court called it a “caged parrot” as late as May this year. But very soon, the government of the day realised that forcing Sinha to toe its line was tough. In fact, Sinha draws his power not so much from his chair but from the…

Know Pulokaseth of Delhi’s corridors? Chatterji-Seth combo ranked as 3rd most powerful bureaucrat

Seth-Chatterji

BoI has always called this combo, of principal secretary to PM Pulok Chatterji and his batch-mate, friend and cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth, as Pulokaseth. Between the two, Chatterji is more authoritative and decisive. But Seth’s indispensability had emerged when the Prime Minister took a call to extend his two-year tenure by one more year in May last, even as then DoPT secretary PK Misra was considered...

BoI Power List 2013: Diva of Diplomacy Nirupama Rao ranked India's 4th most powerful bureaucrat

Nirupama Rao is former foreign secretary of India. Post-retirement, she has been assigned the job of India’s ambassador to US. Why then BoI chooses to call Rao, a 1973 batch retired Indian Foreign Service officer as India’s fourth most powerful bureaucrat? BoI Power List 2013 is based on the opinion of about 100 people including politicians, bureaucrats and civil society activists who understand the nuances of corridors of power. And the reason why Rao has figured in the list is because of her immense…

India's Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2012; Pulok Chatterji tops BoI list

Pulok Chatterji (Middle). Menon, Mathai are also seen

THE final BoI List of India’s Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2012, is here. And this is the fourth year in running, www.babusofindia.com has come out with the list of 5 most powerful Indian bureaucrats. This time, the selection is based on opinion of about 100 people including politicians, bureaucrats and civil society activists who understand the nuances of corridors of power: who goes up and who is lagging behind. The power list incidentally includes a seasoned diplomat, a state chief secretary and even a joint secretary for the first time.
And ladies and gentlemen, the most powerful Indian bureaucrat in 2012 is none other than…

BoI Power List, 2012: Mr Investigator is 3rd Most Powerful Bureaucrat

Rai (Left) with CBI Director AP Singh

WITH high-voltage corruption cases being probed across the country, India’s investigators continue to be a highly powerful breed of bureaucrats. Directly or indirectly, the investigators are inspired by auditor Vinod Rai who took on the Prime Minister’s Office to give a subtle message that independent authorities should be fearless, and must not buckle under political pressure. Rai, who was BoI’s most powerful bureaucrat in 2011, has lost his earlier sheen as the same “formula of presumptive losses” may not always work. But BoI has…

BoI Power List, 2012: UP chief secretary Jawed Usmani is 4th powerful bureaucrat

IF YOU go deeper into the growing political bonhomie between Samajwadi Party and the Congress in the recent months, you may come across the groundwork done at the bureaucratic level to facilitate such a political meeting of minds. For UP, which has failed to emerge as Uttam Pradesh so far, this could be a phase where “friendly” Central government doles out huge grants, and goes an extra mile in clearing projects that are stuck at the Central level. And the Lucknow-based bureaucrat, the 1978 batch senior-most IAS officer Jawed Usmani, has used most of it thanks to his personnel rapport with…

BoI Power List, 2012: PMO official BVR is 5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat

THIS is the fourth year the BoI (www.babusofindia.com) is coming out with its annual list of India’s 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats. As we repeatedly mentioned in the past, the power list does not necessarily reflect the conventional bureaucratic hierarchy. Instead, those powerful bureaucrats are chosen on the basis of an officer’s connect, capabilities and power to influence the system. The list of the movers and shakers of the power corridors is prepared after evaluating off-record opinions of 100 people including politicians, bureaucrats, civil society activists etc.
And BVR Subrahmanyam, a 1987 batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS, is India’s 5th Most Powerful Bureaucrat, 2012. First, read what Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh himself has to say about BVR:

Who are 5 Most Powerful Indian Bureaucrats, 2011? CAG Vinod Rai tops list

Rai with his wife after swearing-in on January 7, 2008

HERE is the final BoI (www.babusofindia.com) list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats of India, 2011. Surprisingly, it’s not a PMO babu who is ranked top, but 1972 batch retired IAS Vinod Rai has been chosen as India’s most powerful bureaucrat, 2011. Rai, who took over as Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in January 2008, has been a game-changer, forcing the government guessing what damning report comes next in this season of scams. On certain occasions, Prime Minister himself took on Rai, but the CAG remained unperturbed and indirectly dragged the PMO in Commonwealth Games fiasco.

In this BoI power list, third in last three years, Rai has piped those like Pulok Chatterji and TKA Nair. The list has been prepared after evaluating the opinions of 50 politicians and bureaucrats in Delhi’s corridors of power, and using inputs from BoI’s own assessment.

Rai, who was the Union banking secretary before joining as CAG, has cornered the government with his reports on 2G scams and Commonwealth Games. India’s investigating agency CBI has so far arrested 17 honchos including a former telecom minister, former telecom secretary and several top business executives in connection to the 2G scam. Rai is however being criticized by a section in the government for entering into the policy space which auditors are not supposed to intrude.

The CAG report on Air India and KG Basin will be tabled in the House today (Tuesday). The KG Basin report is likely to raise uncomfortable questions to India’s most powerful business house, Reliance Industries.

A post-graduate in economics from Delhi School of Economics and public administration from Harvard University, Rai spends his spare time in playing tennis.

In Order

Chatterji 2nd Most Powerful

When UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi was reportedly admitted in New York’s Sloan-Kettering hospital for an undisclosed surgery in August, it was Pulok Chatterji who according to some sources, arranged all the logistics keeping the Indian Embassy in Washington in dark. The big question is: Will Chatterji be able to do the same magic in improving UPA-II’s deteriorating health?

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The man close to 10 Janpath

Kumar 3^rd Most Powerful

In this season of scams and growing anti-corruption movements, it’s not unusual that power centre shifts from the conventional powerful bureaucrats to those who check-mate the high and mighty. Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) Pradeep Kumar is the third most powerful bureaucrat, according to BoI.

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Kumar may check-mate high and mighty

Seth 4^th Most Powerful

Those who know Ajit Kumar Seth from close quarters say he is not a power hungry bureaucrat, and in many ways represents the same culture that his predecessor KM Chandrasekhar. He is cool and down-to-earth and does not enter into the other person’s domain. But Seth’s woos may come from the fact that it’s not a honeymoon time for the government.

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Seth’s power and problems

Nair 5^th Most Powerful

Principal secretary to PM, TKA Nair, who was the second most powerful bureaucrat in BoI’s list of 2009 and 2010, has slipped to the fifth position in the list of 5 Most Powerful Indian Bureaucrats in India, 2011. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has recently divested Nair’s power as he would no longer be the principal secretary to PM from October 3, 2011. Yet, Nair will continue to exert influence in high-voltage power scene in the year to come. BoI in earlier occasions dubbed him as a master bureaucrat comparing him with Henry Kissinger of yesteryears.

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Nair loses AAA rating

BoI Power List: Pulok Chatterji ranked 2nd most powerful bureaucrat, 2011

TWO years ago, when BoI (www.babusofindia.com) ranked Pulok Chatterji as the most powerful Indian bureaucrat despite being stationed in US, many readers got surprised. BoI then said: “A 1974 batch IAS from Uttar Pradesh cadre, Pulok Chatterji could now be posted far away in Washington DC as an executive director of the World Bank, but his one phone call carries more weight than many important files doing round the power corridors of Delhi.”

Pulok Chatterji, who is joining as principal secretary to PM in the first week of October, is ranked second in BoI list of 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats, 2011. But what makes him so special and powerful? There is no prize for guessing. Chatterji’s proximity to UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi says it all.

Chatterji’s joining the PMO as the top bureaucrat may even facilitate Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi’s elevation to the top job in the event that 78-year-old Manmohan Singh demits office before May 2014. Chatterji is supposed to be an effective conduit between the PMO and 10 Janpath, ensuring fast-tracked implantation of flagship schemes that may determine the fortunes of the UPA-II in the next general elections.

Chatterji’s personal equation with Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s family goes back to the days when he was Rae Bareli’s district magistrate in early 1980s. The bond only got strengthened when Chatterji became director in the PMO during Rajiv Gandhi’s time, a secretary (joint secretary equivalent) in Rajiv Gandhi Foundation in early 1990s, and then private secretary to Sonia Gandhi when she was the leader of the Opposition.

No wonder, when 64-year-old Ms Gandhi was reportedly admitted in New York’s Sloan-Kettering hospital for an undisclosed surgery in August, it was Chatterji who according to some sources, arranged all the logistics keeping the Indian Embassy in Washington in dark. The big question here is: Will Chatterji be able to play key role in improving UPA-II’s deteriorating health?