Mega IAS Reshuffle: Finance Secretary Mayaram shifted as tourism secretary; Anil Swarup coal secretary, Mehrishi DEA secretary

THE day the elections in Maharashtra and Haryana got over, Centre engineered yet another major bureaucratic reshuffle in less than a month, shifting out finance secretary Arvind Mayaram and water resources secretary Alok Rawat, and appointing cabinet secretariat additional secretary Anil Swarup as the new coal secretary. Only on September 23, a mega bureaucratic reshuffle took place. (Read: Reshuffle on Super Tuesday). Mayaram, who was close to former finance minister P Chidambaram and has been working quite closely with incumbent Arun Jaitley as well, has now been appointed as…

Know Your Babu: Financial services secretary Gurdial Singh Sandhu; Mayaram soon to be designated as finance secretary

RAJASTHAN cadre IAS of 1980 batch Gurdial Singh Sandhu has been appointed as new secretary in the department of financial services under the ministry of finance. In somewhat like a musical chair, Sandhu will take the place of 1979 batch Gujarat cadre IAS Rajiv Takru who is…

Actor Hasleen Kaur, shooter Gagan Narang to share their ideas of India with finance ministry officials

Model Hasleen Kaur

MODEL and former first runner-up at Femina Miss India Hasleen Kaur is scheduled to share her ideas of India this weekend at a government-organized retreat in Surajkund, located at the outskirt of Delhi. And her audience? All top finance ministry officials who will be camping there in a three-day-long retreat beginning...

Is Dr Mayaram's FDI prescription an extension of his PhD thesis?

MAYARAM panel report on FDI reforms is the most talked about item in the corridors these day. Whereas the government is likely to go with the recommendations of the panel headed by DEA secretary and 1978 batch IAS Arvind Mayaram, it may face fierce opposition so far as raising the cap of foreign direct investment in telecommunications to 100%,  and FDI in retail and civil aviation to 74%. Interestingly, Mayaram recommendation is an extension of his PhD thesis which he had prepared when he was...

DEA secretary Arvind Mayaram, his PhD and a letter to his departed son

“You would always smile and say 'C'mon dad, you can do it!'. I did it beta.” This is what DEA secretary and one of the key bureaucrats behind today’s Union Budget -- Arvind Mayaram wrote to his son when he received the doctorate on FDI in India. Mayaram lost his 23-year-old son Anirudh, an episode that shattered him and his family. Courtesy Anirudh Mayaram Foundation, BoI presents here the excerpts of Mayaram’s letter to his son dated October 13, 2007…

3 senior most IAS of 1978 batch have an exposure to Bharat, how?

Bharat Vs India

THREE senior most IAS officers of 1978 batch who are becoming secretaries had an exposure to Bharat, quite literally. All of them have worked in rural development ministries either in states or in the Centre during the recent past.

After the topper of the batch Jawed Usmani got himself shifted to UP as chief secretary, three senior most secretary-empaneled officers, Saurabh Chandra (UP cadre), Gokul Chandra Pati (Orissa cadre) and Arvind Mayaram (Rajasthan cadre) have in fact had a long association with rural development ministries.

1978 batch IAS including Usmani, Mayaram and SR Rao will soon be secretaries

VERY soon, 1978 batch IAS officers will be appointed as Union secretaries ending the additional-charge regime in various ministries. As many as 36 IAS officers including Jawed Usmani, an UP cadre IAS and former PMO joint secretary and Arvind Mayaram, a Rajasthan cadre IAS widely known as PPP man, have been empanelled for appointment as secretaries in Union ministries. Nandan Nilekani’s right-hand man in UIDAI Ram Sewak Sharma and Gujarat cadre IAS SR Rao who hogged the limelight in mid-1990s because of his post-plague work as Surat municipal commissioner also figured in the list. The Surat plague of 1994 killed 52 and resulted in a mass migration of over 3 lakh city residents.

Here is the list of the empanelled 1978 batch IAS officers in order of seniority: Jawed Usmani (UP cadre), Saurabh Chandra (UP cadre), Gokul Chandra Pati (Orissa cadre), Arvind Mayaram (Rajasthan cadre), Prem Narain (UP cadre), Rakesh Singh (Punjab cadre), Anoop Mishra (UP cadre), SK Srivastava (Assam cadre), SR Rao (Gujarat cadre), Sudhir Kumar (UP cadre), Anil Goswami (Jammu and Kashmir cadre), Pankaj Agarwal (UP cadre), Rajiv Mehrishi (Rajasthan cadre), R Parasuram (MP cadre), Stuti Narain Kackar (UP cadre), Pankaj Jain (Jammu and Kashmir cadre), Sanjay Kothari (Haryana cadre), Vivek Rae (UT cadre), R Bhattacharya (AP cadre), Desh Deepak Verma (UP cadre), Lakshmi Venkatachalam (Karnataka cadre), AK Mangotra (Manipur-Tripura cadre), V Chhiber (Manipur-Tripura cadre), Ram Sewak Sharma (Jharkhand cadre), Sudhir Mittal (Punjab cadre), Rahul Asthana (Maharashtra cadre), Bipin Bihari Srivastava (Bihar cadre), KN Desiraju (Uttarakahnd cadre), Gop Bandhu Pattanaik (UP cadre), M F Faroogui (Tamil Nadu cadre), KN Srivastava (Karnataka cadre), Ashish Bahuguna (Rajasthan cadre), AP Joshi (Karnataka cadre), V Rajagopalan (UP cadre), P Panneervel (Gujarat cadre) and Uttam Kumar Sangma (Jharkhand cadre).

Six other IAS officers have also been empanelled for secretary-equivalent posts. They are: V Venkatachalam (UP cadre), P Prabhakaran (Kerala cadre), K Jayakumar (Kerala cadre), RC Mishra (Manipur-Tripura cadre), MM Srivastava (Gujarat cadre), Virendra Narayan Gaur (Nagaland cadre), Subha Kirti Majumdar (Bihar cadre) and R Chandramohan (UT cadre)

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Loretta Mary Vas, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS and currently special secretary in DEA, has been appointed as secretary in the department of pharmaceutical in place of Mukul Joshi, a 1975 batch Punjab cadre IAS who retired.

b) Radha Krishna Mathur, a 1977 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises in place of Uday Kumar Varma, who was recently appointed as Information and Broadcasting secretary.

Can an IAS officer’s note create rift between PM and Sonia?

NO SENIOR bureaucrat in Delhi would like to be associated with this headline: “Babu hand in Sonia-PM rift”. But Arvind Mayaram, a 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS has hogged the limelight for his reported objections to a hike in minimum wages paid under the flagship NREG Scheme after interpreting Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget speech. That’s not all. A note by Mayaram, additional secretary in rural development ministry, formed the basis of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s rejection to Sonia Gandhi-led NAC’s recommendations that minimum wages for NREGA workers be enhanced, according to a report in Hindustan Times. But the rural development ministry finally hiked the wages and sent out a press release last week giving details about the hike of minimum wages for NREGA workers in different states. The Hindustan Times report further said Mayaram to be close to 10 Janpath.

Over a year ago, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat obtained the minutes of a meeting called on July 10, 2009 to discuss the policy of revising the wage rates where Mayaram reportedly interpreted what finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said about the hike of NREGS wages during the General Budget. It was probably the first such instance of a senior politician obtaining the details of an internal meeting of officers by filing an RTI application.

Also Read

Brinda Karat's RTI on Mayaram's view

Action and Appointments

a) The Supreme Court has allowed the Kerala government to go ahead with the trial in the palmolein oil scam involving chief vigilance commissioner and 1973 batch Kerala cadre retired IAS, PJ Thomas. CVC Thomas will now have to face trial in the case. Former Kerala CM K Karunakaran and seven officials including Thomas were chargesheeted in 2000. Thomas was then the Kerala food secretary. The then chief secretary of the state, additional secretary and Kerala state civil supplies corporation’s MD GG Thomas were also named as accused in the FIR.

b) Govind Mohan, a 1989 batch Sikkim cadre IAS, has been appointed as the joint secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat for a period of six months. He has been a director and then a joint secretary in department of economic affairs under finance ministry.

c) New vice-chairman of DDA, GS Patnaik, a 1980 batch IAS officer of Union Territory cadre, has spelt out the reforms that he would be undertaking soon. Creating land record would be one of his priorities. Patnaik would further like to make changes in the field of design innovation of DDA flats. 

2010 Guidebook: Three things an Indian bureaucrat must not do this new year

IF you are an Indian bureaucrat handling the politics of governance in a fairly complex environment, you really don't need any tips from an outsider. Yet, many of you may not realise that 2010 could be a different ball-game altogether, and you won't be able to beat the system through age-old formulae which were repeatedly proved effectve so far. Principal secretary to Prime Minister TKA Nair recently said in a lighter vein during a book launch function of a bureaucrat that a few contractors tried to teach him how to manipulate tenders when he was a young IAS! But gone are the days when getting three tenders to award the contractor of your choice is enough.

Here are 3 things you must not do in 2010.

1) Don't take a casual approach when you write on an official file. After the DoPT finally conceding that disclosure of file notings comes under the Right to Information (RTI), it is now clear that every word you write on hitherto secret sarkari files is like a spoken word in a press conference. When you write something in a file, imagine you are writing on a big black-board in front of millions of people with everyone having a mike and lots of queries. And it's not file notings alone, that are in public domain. Every word you speak in an internal meeting where minutes are being taken, you imagine you are in front of a large gathering. Remember how CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat took the RTI route to get what additional secretary of rural development ministry Arvind Mayaram (1978 batch, Rajasthan cadre IAS) said in an internal meeting. In 2010, more journalists and politicians are likely to file RTI applications than to wait for answers of Parliamentary questions.

2) Yours is no longer just a 9 to 5 job. Reason? Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's second innings of UPA will be judged on the basis of performance as the Congress this time got a pure positive mandate. That means many of the ministers would make it a point to prove their mettle and the fallouts will be more work-load on backroom boys like you. But you can't take your career too lightly either. The numbering system of appraisal which is now being practised now only for some select cadres like IAS and IFS would be followed for all Group A services. Also, third party assessment of bureaucrats has already begun on a pilot basis as 1990 batch IAS became the first officers in the country to be appraised by a group of outside experts, all former bureaucrats, when they were picked for joint secretary's posts. The bottomline is clear --- your performance will now be better monitored.

3) You have always been careful of CVC and CBI. But now, threats have come from various other quarters thanks to the new-age technology. India has 500 million cell phone users with many of those handsets having advanced feaures such as camera, MMS etc. That means almost every person around you is carrying a camera with him and he may click your picture and record your conversation with anyone knowingly or unknowingly. The moment you step out of your white ambassador, remember, you are amid millions of photographers though they are not paparazzi following celebrities. Only some days back, White House gatecrasher socialite Michaele Salahi photographed herself with India's deputy chief of mission in US Arun K Singh (actual photograph) and happily posted the picture in her Facebook! Not a big deal as she even shook hands with US president Obama and hugged American Vice President! But remember, you can be easily be featured in much popular social networking sites and make you an instant hero or a villain. No harm in trying out such platforms yourselves to understand the power of new-age media like blogs, facebook, twitter etc. But don't wait for first commiting a mistake as minister Shashi Tharoor did, or wait for a formal DoPT clarification to come on how to use such a medium. Frame your own set of dos and don'ts while reaching out to the young audience. Already, a British bureaucrat's guide to Twitter etiquette and strategy has drawn a laxman rekha. Simply follow that!

UIDAI Vacancy: Govt sends reminder on recruitment of UIDAI assistant DGs; last date now extended to 1st week of January, 2010

THE government has given a reminder to all chief secretaries of state to forward the names of the willing and eligible officers to fill up the vacancies of Assistant Director Generals (ADGs) at the level of deputy secretary or director for Nandan Nilekani-chaired UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Planning Commission. As the last date of application now is extended to the first week of January, 2010, it may indicate that the UIDAI has not been able to attract the right applicants so far. It was believed that the process of filling up the said posts was already completed. Babus of India (BoI) could not verify the reasons behind the extension of the last date of application. The posts to be filled up now are located in seven cities --- Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ranchi, Guwahati and Bangalore, also indicating that the government has probably zeroed in the candidate for Hyderabad which also figured in the vacancy circular dated September 25, 2009. The last date of application was the third week of October, 20009. "It is again requested that the names of willing officers at the deputy secretary/director level who are eligible to work at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme may please be recommended to this office", said the reminder issued by the establishment officer of the department of personnel and training (DoPT). Read the actual text of the Wireless Message (Reminder), dated December 4, 2009 Related Posts: 1) Nilekani needs additional DGs in eight cities (October 2, 2009) 2) JS level officers wanted for heading the Project’s 5 regional offices (October 12, 2009) Babus as Authors Urban development secretary M Ramachandran has come out with yet another book, this time on urban renewal. The book, Urban Renewal: Policy and Response, was released by S Jaipal Reddy in New Delhi on Monday in a function which was attended by several senior bureaucrats including principal secretary to Prime Minister TKA Nair who described Mr Ramachandran as his "good friend and colleague". In addition to most senior IAS from the ministry of urban development attending the function, additional secretary in the ministry of rural development Arvind Mayaram and additional secretary in Panchayati Raj ministry J M Phatak were in the guest list. Former Tamil Nadu cadre IAS and CEO of IL&FS UIML L Krishnan was also present in the function.

Ramachandran's Earlier Book

Guess how CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat obtained details of what additional secretary Arvind Mayaram said in an internal meeting?

USING the tool of Right To Information (RTI) Act, CPI(M) politburo member Brinda Karat has alleged that a section of bureaucrats might delay the implementing the Centre’s announcement that real wages under the flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) would now be raised to Rs 100. Most states pay less than Rs 100 per day to a labourer under the Central scheme. What could probably be the first such instance of a senior politician getting the details of an internal meeting of officers by filing an RTI application, Ms Karat obtained the minutes of a meeting called on July 10, 2009 to discuss the policy of revising the wage rates where additional secretary and financial advisor of rural development ministry Arvind Mayaram reportedly interpreted what finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said about the hike of NREGS wages during the General Budget. As was shared with a section of media by the CPI(M) about the findings of the RTI, Mr Mayaram pointed out that the finance minister in his announcement had merely said that “we are committed” to provide rural wages of Rs 100, but never said “we shall provide” it. The meeting, attended by officers from Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), finance ministry, rural development ministry and the ministry of labour, decided that the issue of raising the wages to Rs 100 would be taken up only if states approach the Centre. Ms Karat later wrote to rural development minister C P Joshi that it was an attempt by senior officers to sabotage the promised wage increase. In fact, it’s now possible to get details of file noting of bureaucrats, in addition to minutes of inter-departmental meetings, by filing an RTI. Mr Mayaram is a 1978 batch IAS from Rajasthan cadre who had earlier worked as a joint secretary in the ministry of finance and had made an immense contribution to fledging public private partnership (PPP) initiatives in India. Also Read DoPT’s online course on RTI (September 8, 2009) Oxford Scholar’s understanding of Indian RTI (August 29, 2009) 200 officers face music under RTI (July 30, 2009)