3 young IAS officers’ fascinating posts of their past

Sweta Agarwal, IAS

FROM West Bengal cadre IAS Sweta Agarwal's childhood fascinations for the Khaki uniform to an Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, Gopalkrishna Ronanki’s struggle from a study room with no electricity to turn an IAS topper, the Facebook posts of many a young officer are a fascinating read. Here below are the gist of three such posts, courtesy to an open FB page, Humans of LBSNAA:

Know Your Babu: Andhra Pradesh’s new chief secretary Anil Chandra Punetha

THE Andhra Pradesh government on Friday announced that the state’s new chief secretary -- Anil Chandra Punetha, a 1984 batch IAS. He was serving as the chief commissioner of land administration (CCLA) in the state. Here below are more about the new Andhra chief secretary:

IAS officers of Andhra Pradesh and Punjab donate one-day salary to flood-ravaged Kerala

IAS officers of at least two states, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, have announced donating one-day salary for the people reeling under severe floods in Kerala, the worst since 1924. IAS Officers Association of Andhra Pradesh in a statement issued on Sunday said that it had resolved to contribute one-day salary of its members to CM’s relief fund of Kerala as a “token” of their “shared pain” with the flood-ravaged people of the state. Meanwhile, special chief secretary of Punjab and 1984 batch IAS KBS Sidhu informed in social media site, Twitter, that…

This photo of an Andhra cop goes viral; what forces him to fold his hands and bow his head?

THIS photo of an Andhra Pradesh cop with folded hands pleading to a family of five on a scooter (and without helmets), has gone viral in the social media in the last couple of days. The IPS Association too commented on the photo saying “This is DANGEROUS and puts to risk your precious lives. Be good and help us. #PoliceIsGood #TrafficRules”. According to local media reports, the cop in the photo is…

N Chandrababu Naidu addresses IAS, others at LBSNAA, Mussoorie; talks about Amaravati, happiness index

ANDHRA Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday talked about his state’s real-time governance model and methodology of governance that attaches importance to the people's happiness index. In fact, Andhra Pradesh is the second state in India after Madhya Pradesh to start a separate department on happiness. Naidu was addressing about 450 officers of All India Service and civil services at…

Know more about the first three 2000 batch IAS posted as GoI joint secretaries

UNION joint secretary is a position being held by officers with a wide age-gap; they belong to a seniority gap of 10 to 12 years as well. With the three 2000 batch IAS officers getting appointed as GoI joint secretaries just days after 26 of the batch got empaneled, they are without doubt the junior-most, if not the youngest. Know more about these three 2000 batch IAS — Dr N Saravana Kumar (Bihar cadre), Niranjan Kumar Sudhansu (Maharashtra cadre) and S Suresh Kumar (Andhra Pradesh cadre): 

PVRK Prasad, an obituary: 1966 batch retired IAS and close aid of former PM PV Narasimha Rao died, aged 77

A book written by PVRK Prasad

IN MID-1990s, PVRK Prasad was one of the most influential bureaucrats in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). During his four and half years tenure in the PMO, he first served as the joint secretary and then the additional secretary during which period he also handled the post of media advisor to the then prime minister PV Narasimha Rao. PVRK Prasad is no more. According to reports, Prasad…

Know more about 103 years old ICS officer Valluri Kameshwara Rao

ON SATURDAY last, the oldest ICS officer Valluri Kameshwara Rao or VK Rao as he is popularly known, turned 103. A 1937 batch Indian Civil Service officer, Rao was chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh and principal secretary to the President N Sanjeeva Reddy et al. In a message in a social media post, the IAS Association said: “Warm greetings to the oldest ICS officer Shri VK Rao ICS who turns 103 today on July 15. #Amazing #ICS #IAS #Salute #Respect”. The British-day ICS later came to be known as IAS, or Indian Administrative Service. A product of Loyola College and Cambridge University, Rao was first posted at...

PV Ramesh: This doctor-turned IAS is new CMD of Rural Electrification Corporation

PV Ramesh, a 1985 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, took over as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Rural Electrification Corporation Limited (REC). A trained physician from the Christian medical college and hospital, Vellore, Ramesh was serving at his cadre as special chief secretary, environment, forest, science and technology and also…

Who is GK Dwivedi? And why are his colleagues lobbying for the revocation of his suspension?

(Representative image)

IN AN unusual move, as many as 15 joint secretaries working in the ministry of home affairs (MHA) met home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to plead for Gopal Krishna Dwivedi, also an IAS officer, suspended last week for renewing the FCRA licence to controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Nair's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) even though there were pending cases against his organization. The group of joint secretaries reportedly told the home minister that Dwivedi is an honest officer, and the decision to suspend him would demoralize other officers. But who is Dwivedi?…

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, his IAS father, Naxalism and “dead revolutionaries of Srikakulam”

Nadella while listening to PM Modi at San Jose, California

EVERYONE knows who Satya Nadella is. No prize for guessing it. He is the CEO of Microsoft. But some of you may be unaware of a factoid -- Nadella is the son of an IAS officer named BN Yugandhar. Yugandhar, a 1962 batch IAS had trained and influenced many officers including former foreign secretary Nirupama Rao in Mussoorie academy. Later he became a member of Planning Commission of India, now called NITI Aayog. On Saturday night, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi attended the Digital India dinner at San Jose of Silicon Valley, Nadella referred to an incident of Naxalism that he…

Know Your Babu: CEC Harishankar Brahma, his tech priorities, and views on doubtful voters

Taking Charge: New CEC Brahma

LAST week, 1975-batch former IAS from Andhra Pradesh cadre Harishankar Bramha took charge as India’s 19th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) succeeding VS Sampath, also a former IAS from Andhra Pradesh cadre. Brahma, who is the second person from the North-East to become CEC after JM Lyngdoh, originally hails from…

After Maharashtra, 3 more states-- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab effect massive IAS reshuffle

ON WEDNESDAY, three states --- Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab – effected massive administrative reshuffle of IAS officers. It was a pure coincidence that all those states, ruled by regional parties, chose to undertake the exercise on the same day. The move came just four days after Maharashtra witnessing a Maha reshuffle transferring as many as 42 IAS officers. In Andhra Pradesh where…

Why Hyderabad High Court expresses displeasure over IAS officers’ attitude?

A DIVISIONAL bench of the Hyderabad High Court has expressed displeasure over the attitude of IAS officers for not implementing the court’s order. The bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sen Gupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar on Thursday pulled up an IAS officer named…

Would be finance secretary RP Watal chants Sanskrit verses to explain investments, savings

RP Watal

IT’S only a matter of time that expenditure secretary and 1978 batch IAS of Andhra Pradesh cadre RP Watal will get a new designation – finance secretary, as he is the senior most among all five finance ministry secretaries after Arvind Mayaram’s exit of North Block. As expenditure secretary, Watal does not give any television interview, but on Tuesday, his articulation and oratory skill came to the fore when he chanted a…

Former CVC Pratyush Sinha to head the panel for determining which IAS or IPS will move to Telangana

A 2006 file photo of Pratyush Sinha

IN A few weeks’ time, a panel headed former CVC and 1969 batch retired Bihar cadre IAS Pratyush Sinha will suggest the government on how to distribute cadres of three All India Services viz. IAS, IPS and Indian Forest Service between two states: Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. In fact, India’s…

Who all will work in Telangana? Govt sets up advisory panel under retired IAS Kamalanathan

COME June 2, 2014, Telangana will formally be India’s 29th state. But what will be the fate of the government employees including officers currently working across Andhra Pradesh? The government has now constituted an advisory committee under 1965 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre retired IAS CR Kamalanathan, mainly to determine who will work in Telangana and who in the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh. The other members of the panel include...

JD Seelam: How an IAS officer’s high risk appetite makes him a Union Minister

COME August, IAS-turned Congress leader from Andhra Pradesh Jesudasu Seelam will turn 60. That means, had he continued in bureaucracy which he had left in 1999 to join active politics, Seelam would have retired in two months and gone into oblivion like most of his senior colleagues in bureaucracy. On Monday, this two-time Rajya Sabha MP…

Know Your Babu: Andhra IAS who shares birthday with Sachin Tendulkar

Tendulkar after swearing-in as an MP (June 4, 2012)

AS legendary cricketer Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar turned 40 on Wednesday, there were celebrations all around. At Kolkata, the birthday boy cut the cake with his wife Anjali standing beside him, and hundreds of camera persons capturing the historic moment. Somewhere in Andhra Pradesh, a 1998 batch IAS officer who shares the birthday with Tendulkar,…

Andhra IAS Rafath’s prescriptions in his book “Bureaucracy and Politics”

ANDHRA Pradesh cadre IAS Mohammed Ali Rafath in his recent book, “Bureaucracy and Politics” has not only made a serious attempt to map the historical evolution of Indian civil service leading to the creation of All India Services such as IAS, IPS, IFS etc. but also dealt with the highly sensitive issue of…