Dear cabinet secretary Seth, don't be so modest; remove your ex-boss' photos

Cabinet secretary Ajit K Seth with his ex-boss Chandrasekhar (L)

ONE year after Ajit Kumar Seth became India’s cabinet secretary, the top bureaucrat in the country, the photo gallery of the cabinet secretariat gives an impression as if his four batch senior in IAS, KM Chandrasekhar, still occupies the hot seat! Have you checked the15 photos which were uploaded in the official cabinet secretariat website till Sunday night? Here are those.

Discarding antiquated laws will bring in transparency: Cabinet secretary Ajit K Seth

CABINET secretary and 1974 batch UP cadre IAS Ajit Kumar Seth has described the use of computers and electronic medium and doing away with antiquated laws and procedures as important steps to bring in transparency in government. Seth was addressing senior officers at the rank of joint secretary and director from 42 ministries or departments of government of India. Seth inaugurated a workshop on capacity assessment and enhancement process organized by the department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG).

Seth further noted that the government is in the process of taking a number of initiatives for ensuring better service delivery, enhanced transparency and accountability and in general, about improving governance.

DARPG secretary Ramesh C Misra highlighted that the basic mindset of the civil servant has to be oriented towards timely and quality service. He further noted that the civil servants have to remember that citizen centricity is the essence of any vibrant democracy which is linked to good governance.

The workshops mainly aimed at sensitising the participants on integrating and translating the commitments made in the Citizen’s Charter into their day-to-day functioning with a view to ensuring effective delivery of services to the citizens and faster grievance redressal. This was the second in a series of four workshops on capacity building for Sevottam in 2011-12.

S Dutt Mazumdar, chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs and industry body Ficci’s Quality Forum head Sanjeevan Bajaj participated in the workshop.

Action and Appointments

a) The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has approved the proposal of the

ministry of home affairs for extension in Central deputation tenure of PM Nair,

a 1978 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer and additional Director General of Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) for a period of six months up to April 17, 2012.

BoI Power List: Ajit Kumar Seth ranked India's 4th most powerful bureaucrat

DURING the Baba Ramdev stand-off in June, 2011, Ajit Kumar Seth, then appointed as OSD in cabinet secretariat in the run-up to his elevation to the top bureaucrat’s job, was seen in Delhi airport’s Terminal-I. For Seth, a 1974 batch UP cadre IAS, it was a challenge, and also an opportunity. The UPA government took an unprecedented move to send four cabinet ministers, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, telecom minister Kapil Sibal, parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and tourism minister Subodh Kant Sahay, to the Delhi airport to persuade the Yoga Guru not to go for his proposed fast. The move back-fired and was severely criticized by many including some from the ruling party itself. Seth had his first on-the-job experience of mighty decisions and their faulty execution!

Those who know 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 inculcated. 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. The anti-graft crusade is at its peak, and the government is under fire for its decision, or rather lack of it. In BoI (babusofindia.com) list of 5 Most Powerful Indian Bureaucrats, 2011, Ajit Kumar Seth is ranked fourth.

When Seth’s appointment as India’s cabinet secretary was announced in May 2011, BoI wrote: “When all powerful man in PMO Pulok Chatterji dictated terms in Raisina Hills during UPA-I, his batch-mate from the same UP cadre Ajit Kumar Seth was the resident commissioner in New Delhi’s Uttar Pradesh Bhawan. Seth had a higher rank in 1974 batch IAS merit list, but no one even bothered to bet on Seth that this man from UP might one day snap the country’s top bureaucratic job. For six long years, Seth -- known for his honesty and meticulous work -- remained a mere resident commissioner in UP Bhawan. Finally, he got the break when he was appointed as secretary, coordination and public grievances in cabinet secretariat in January, 2009. And the rest is history now…” And that sums up the rise of Seth in Delhi’s corridors of power. Seth’s success now lies in his ability to make concerted efforts with his batch-mate Pulok Chatterji who is joining as principal secretary to PM on October 3, 2011.

But before you think more about the unprecedented challenge that India's most powerful bureaucrats including Ajit Kumar Seth are facing today, you need to loudly recite this poem by Tennyson:

Forward, the Light Brigade!

Was there a man dismayed?

Not tho’ the soldier knew

Someone had blundered;

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die.

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Why is TKA Nair still as powerful as a dollar

Ajit Kumar Seth appointed as next cabinet secretary; what’s in store for Pulok Chatterji?

WHEN all powerful man in PMO Pulok Chatterji dictated terms in Raisina Hills during UPA-I, his batch-mate from the same UP cadre Ajit Kumar Seth was the resident commissioner in New Delhi’s Uttar Pradesh Bhawan. Seth had a higher rank in 1974 batch IAS merit list, but no one even bothered to bet for Seth that this man from UP might one day snap the country’s top bureaucratic job. For six long years, Seth -- known for his honesty and meticulous work -- remained a mere resident commissioner in UP Bhawan. Finally, he got the break when he was appointed as secretary, coordination and public grievances in cabinet secretariat in January, 2009. And the rest is history now.

Ajit Kumar Seth has been appointed as India’s next cabinet secretary from June 14, 2011 replacing his four year senior KM Chandrasekhar. He will be an OSD till he takes up the assignment in mid-June for a period of two years. For the last two years, many veteran bureaucrats like current Member Secretary of Planning Commission Sudha Pillai, her husband and home secretary GK Pillai and their batch-mate M Ramachandran, all from 1972 batch, lost the race for the top job as incumbent Chandrasekhar secured two serial extensions. Now, Seth will have the privilege to become the boss of two of his seniors, home secretary Pillai and defence secretary Pradeep Kumar at least for a month.

A post-graduate in chemistry from St. Stephens college, Seth struck the right chemistry with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh when the former got a chance to interact with the PM several times during his two and half years old stint at the cabinet secretariat. Seth has a master’s degree in development finance from Britain’s University of Birmingham too. As a junior officer, Seth had worked in the ministry of textile, and one of his few important assignments was the First Secretary’s position in Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations at Geneva, Switzerland in 1980s.

The big question now is what Pulok Chatterji would get once he is back from his World Bank stint. Will Chatterji be made the Principal Secretary to PM paving the way of two UP cadre batch-mates, Seth and Chatterji, calling the shots in Delhi’s corridors of power? But that can be a possibility only when master bureaucrat TKA Nair heads for a Raj Bhawan!