JS level officer wanted at FCI’s Chennai office; to work as ED (South)

AN OFFICER empanelled as joint secretary or equivalent with a willing to relocate himself in Chennai, may find this opening in Food Corporation of India (FCI) interesting. The DoPT on Thursday wrote to all secretaries to the government of India as well as chief secretaries of all states asking them to recommend names of JS-empanelled officers for the post of Executive Director (South) in FCI which comes under…

Babus in Demand: JS ranked officer required to head new PSU BBNL

HEARD of a new PSU called BBNL? If the government has its way, BBNL or Bharat Broadband Network Limited that is planning to roll out a Rs 20,000-crore project in two years, will be a household name in every village in India. Now, the government’s personnel department DoPT has issued a letter to all Union government secretaries and state chief secretaries to…

A joint secretary ranked officer wanted in Raebareli. Will he fly high?

ARGUABLY India’s most powerful bureaucrat and principal secretary to PM Pulok Chatterji was the district magistrate of Raebareli, traditional bastion of Gandhi-Nehru family. That was three decades ago. He was an outstanding officer from day one, but his proximity to Gandhi family has always contributed to his excellence in bureaucratic career. For joint secretary-ranked officers, here is a chance to take up a job at Raebareli in Uttar Pradesh where…

Babus in Demand: Indian bureaucrats wanted for mentoring Afghan civil servants

IF YOU are a civil servant with 10 years of work experience, you have a chance to venture out to Afghanistan for a year’s project and mentor Afghan civil servants. The government is looking for suitable civil servants for sending to Afghanistan under the National Institute Building Programme (NIBP) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The deputation will be for a period of one year. India has been assisting the government of Afghanistan in capacity building progammes of the war-ravaged Asian nation.

The requirement under the project will be for areas like policy and strategy development, project management, financial management, procurement, human resource management and other technical areas. The focus of the NIBP shall be on advisory services for policy development and systems and procedures improvement apart from coaching and mentoring as a tool for capacity development of Afghanistan civil service.

The DoPT issued a circular dated March 4, 2011 with the regard and gave copies to all secretaries of Government of India and chief secretaries of the state governments.

Some of the eligibility criteria include the candidate’s ability to carry out tasks independently, develop concepts, action plans, strategies, programmes etc. Also, fluency in one of the Afghan languages such as Dari and Pashtu is considered to be assets.

Action and Appointments

a) Anup Wadhawan, a 1985 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of commerce in place of Anil G Mukim, a 1987 batch Gujarat cadre IAS who has been appointed as CVO of HUDCO.

b) Ms G Madhumita Das, a 1996 batch Indian Postal Service officer has been appointed as director in the department of revenue under the ministry of finance. 

CIC may have more job openings; sanctioned strength could rise to 160

WITH more appeals and complaints pouring in, the Central Information Commission (CIC) is set to become bigger and have more job openings. The CIC which has now 116 sanctioned posts excluding the information commissioners, may soon have a sanctioned strength to 160 if its proposal gets the government’s nod.

According to information provided by the minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions V Narayanasamy in written reply to question in the Lok Sabha, the CIC has 15,476 pending appeals and complaints as on January 31, 2011. The CIC disposed of 19,482 appeals or complaints during the year 2009-10 and 20,583 during the period April 2010 – January, 2011. The CIC was allocated a sum of Rs 12.33 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 11.83 crore in 2009-10.

Babus in Demand: One at Manila, other at Abu Dhabi

The government has advertised for two foreign posts --- adviser to the executive director, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila in Philippines and counsellor, community affairs (development) at Abu Dhabi. Significantly, officers at the level of deputy secretary and directors of government of India are qualified to apply for the same.

Read

Details for Manila post

Details for Abu Dhabi post

Maoists make fresh demands to free R Vineel Krishna

The initial report that R Vineel Krishna, a 2005 batch Orissa cadre IAS abducted by Maoist extremists was released at Chitrakonda in Malkangiri district on Tuesday night, turned out to be incorrect. Though junior engineer Pabitra Majhi was freed by the Maoists, the fate of the Malkangiri district collector Krishna remained hanging as the Naxals on Wednesday made a fresh demand for release of five key Naxals in exchange of Krishna’s release.

Read

Who is R Vineel Krishna?

Now, Russian bureaucrats to learn English

RUSSIAN bureaucrats are likely to be more fluent in English among other foreign languages as the government has decided to send federal bureaucrats abroad to study foreign languages. The policy of making bureaucrats learn English was outlined in a report last month. According to a report of The Moscow Times, it’s a part of the government’s push to make at least 20 percent of federal officials fluent in a foreign language by 2020.

Also, it has planned that fluent English will become a requirement for newly hired Russian civil servants starting in 2012. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is one of the few politicians in the country who can speak English reasonably well. When Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup, sports minister Vitaly Mutko said, “Let me speak from my heart in English”. The Moscow Times report says it took him two weeks to memorize the speech but that YouTube video of Mutko speaking English in a thick accent became a mega hit with more than one million views.

During the Soviet times, the government handed out bonuses to bureaucrats if they could muster English and other foreign languages. Those who spoke German, French or English got 10 percent bonuses, while Asian languages like Japanese fetched 15 percent bonuses.

Action and Appointments

a) ACC has approved the proposal for in-situ upgradation of the post of Director of Census Operations, Rajasthan (Director level) under the ministry of home affairs, presently held by Ms Shubra Singh, a 1989 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS to the level joint secretary.

b) Civil servants have a huge contribution to the governance of the country and government jobs have wider scope to perform than the private sector service, said former Central Chief Vigilance Commissioner N Vittal while inaugurating an IAS Academy in Chennai.

c) Radha Raman Jha, a 1979 batch Central Secretariat Service officer has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of home affairs in place of AK Yadav, a 1987 batch Sikkim cadre IAS on completion of his tenure on January 22, 2011.

Babus in Demand

It is proposed to fill up the post of Chairman, Spice Board, at Kochi at the level of joint secretary with a pay band of Rs 37400 to Rs 67,000 with a grade pay of Rs 10,000. For details click DoPT Circular

Not just files, Indian bureaucrats too go missing!

SOUNDS odd, but some Indian bureaucrats have virtually gone “missing”. If finance ministry’s latest order of spotting Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers overstaying abroad is anything to go by, several I-T officials have not reported back to work after they had completed training programmes and courses in foreign universities and institutions. Whereas the latest talking point in corridors of power is about missing defence ministry files on multi-billion dollar contracts which eventually surfaced on a south Delhi street, here is a new flavour to the story--- senior officers too go missing!

According to some reports, minister of state for revenue SS Palanimanickam took up the issue by writing a letter to CBDT and wanted Chief Commissioners of Income Tax to report as to how many IRS officers have not reported back to work after they had completed their trainings and studies in foreign universities or institutions. The letter stressed the word “urgently”.

As workload on I-T officials has risen thanks to the revised target of direct tax collections, the spotting the “missing” officers could be of some help. It’s not known how many of such officials have not reported back after undertaking foreign junkets.

Babus in Demand

Are you a deputy secretary or director level officer with two years of experience in Central ministries like Overseas Indian Affairs, Labour or department of financial services? You can bet for a foreign posting at Abu Dhabi. The government has proposed to fill up the post of Counsellor, Community Affairs (Development) under the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs at Abu Dhabi in place of Dr K Ellangovan, a 1992 batch Kerala cadre IAS. The last date is February 4, 2011.

For details, check out this DoPT CIRCULAR, dated January 5, 2011.

CAG’s report card on implementation of social schemes may impact collector’s ACR

AIMING at becoming a Tendulkar or Dhoni by scoring 10 out of 10? The annual confidential report (ACR) of an IAS officer may now depend on administrative skills of an officer in implementing Centrally-sponsored social sector programmes, a report by a national daily newspaper said.

According to a report by The Times of India, the large-scale leakages in many of the social sector schemes are forcing the Manmohan Singh government to ask its official auditor, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), to take the district as a unit to evaluate how it has performed while implementing several developmental programmes funded by the Centre. Till now, CAG had been auditing a particular scheme or evaluating the state’s performance as a whole.

“The ACRs of an administrator in the district and those coordinating and monitoring the schemes at the Centre will take into account the CAG review and the briefing made to the chief secretary in a state,” the newspaper report says. The report has quoted CAG Vinod Rai as saying that the skills of an administrator would be one of the factors in evaluating his performance in future.

The CAG has started district-specific audits in Himachal Pradesh (HP), Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.

Also Read

Can every IAS, IPS or IFS be a Tendulkar? Govt says 'no'

Action and Appointments

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the extension of tenure of Dr Pronab Sen as Chief Statistician of India, with concurrent charge as secretary, ministry of statistics and programme implementation for a period of two months beyond May 20, 2010 or till the appointment of his successor, whichever is earlier.

Babus in Demand

a) Applications are invited for the post of chairman of Rubber Board at Kottayam, Kerala in the rank of a joint secretary.

For details, click DoPT’s WIRELESS MESSAGE, dated May 18, 2010.

b) Applications are invited for the post of secretary, Damodar Valley Corporation, Kolkata under the ministry of power at the level of a joint secretary.

For details, click the DoPT’s WIRELESS MESSAGE, dated May 24, 2010.

Be alive to problems at hand and equipped to tackle them: PM tells Indian bureaucrats

PRIME Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has given Indian civil servants a thumps up while adding that there were areas in which the civil services should have and could have performed better. While inaugurating the Civil Services Day in New Delhi on Wednesday, Mr Singh preferred to encourage the bureaucrats by saying: “On the whole, it would not be an exaggeration to say that our civil services have lived up to this expectation”.

Yet he reminded the bureaucrats that they should not only be alive and sensitive to the problems at hand but should also be well-equipped to tackle them. He emphasized on continuous up-gradation and improvement of trainings. Some excerpts:

On New Problems

The problems and challenges that we face today are not only very different from those which we encountered soon after Independence but are also increasingly complex. Our population has grown manifold, as has the size of our economy. Our country is getting increasingly urbanized. Higher levels of education, income and awareness have raised the aspirations and expectations of our people.

Post Crisis

Our medium term target is to return the economy to an annual growth rate of 9-10 percent. Our civil services have a major role to play in reaching this goal by facilitating the right enabling environment in which enterprise and innovations are encouraged.

On Delivery

Civil servants, particularly those of the All-India Services serving in the states, have a key role in the implementation of all these (Central government) programmes. There is a wide-spread feeling that we have not been completely successful in ensuring that the benefits of our development programmes reach out to the people as intended. This is a massive challenge.

(In Picture: Dr Singh with the awardees of PM’s award for Excellence in Public Administration, at 5th Civil Services Day function, in New Delhi on April 21, 2010)

Also Read

Be imaginative and Creative, PM tells civil servants

Doc's prescription to Indian diplomats

Singh asks PMO officials to be creative

Babus in Demand

Applications are invited from suitable eligible officers for two vacancies of Administrative Members in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), one each at the Ahmedabad and Patna Bench.

For details, read the CIRCULAR, dated April 20, 2010 issued by DoPT secretary Shantanu Consul

Action and Appointments

AK Upadhyaya, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS and secretary in the department of youth affairs will hold the additional charge of the post of secretary, department of sports, during the absence on leave of Ms Sindhushree Khullar, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS from April 20, 2010 to April 30, 2010.

CVC recommends major penalty proceedings against 70 officers

THE Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) advised imposition of major penalty against 70 officers including 11 from Public Sector Banks, eight from Central Board of Excise and Customs, seven from MCD, six from Department of Telecommunications, five each from United India Insurance Co. Ltd. & ministry of defence, four each from Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan & ministry of railways, three from Central Board of Direct Taxes, two each from National Insurance Co. Ltd., Central Coalfields Ltd., CPWD & DDA, a government release said. The Commission disposed of 472 cases during September 2009 referred to it for advice. Of these, 987 complaints were sent for necessary action/ATR whereas 144 complaints were sent for investigation and report. On the Commission’s recommendations, the competent authorities issued sanctions for prosecution against 26 officers including 18 from CBEC, 3 from ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions, 2 from CBDT and one each from home affairs, BSNL & ministry of railways. Major penalty was imposed on 47 officers. These included 16 from Public Sector Banks, 14 from ministry of railways, 7 MCD and 3 from DDA. Also, conducting of technical examination of some departments led to the recoveries to the tune of Rs 61.25 crore.

Babus In Demand: One vacancy in CAT, Jaipur

Applications are invited from suitable officers for one vacancy of Administrative Member in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) at Jaipur occurring on June, 2010. A Member shall hold office for a term of five years, extendable by one more term of five years. But no Member shall hold office after he attains the age of 65 years. The conditions of service of Chairman and Members shall be the same as applicable to Judges of the High Court. For details check the DoPT Circular DIPP secretary & WIPO DG sign MoU Ajay Shankar, secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) and Dr Francis Gurry, director general of World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for cooperation. The areas of cooperation envisaged include, assisting India in implementing its national IP and innovation strategy; empowering knowledge creators in the use of IP; building awareness on IP as a critical tool for promoting innovation and creativity through public outreach activities, a government release said. The MOU also provides for cooperation between the WIPO Worldwide Academy (WMA) and the National Institute for Intellectual Property Management, Nagpur.

Defence ministry identifies nodal officer to ensure setting up of tented accommodation for C'wealth Games, 2010

THE ministry of defence has recently identified a nodal officer for an action of a different kind. His job will be to identify defence land in and around Delhi for setting up of tented accommodation to make up the shortage of accommodation for 2010 Commonwealth Games. It was revealed during a high-level meeting chaired by Union tourism and housing & urban poverty alleviation minister Kumari Selja and attended by secretary tourism Sujit Banerjee and representatives of governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, ministry of youth affairs and sports, urban development, railways, DDA, NDMC, MCD, Delhi Police, DIAL, ITDC and IHM (Pusa) etc. It was informed in the meeting that the government of Haryana had identified vacant sites at Surajkund and Hodel for setting up tented accommodation. Also, the state government also proposed to earmark suitable land for tented accommodation at Badhkal Lake. It was decided in the meeting that 5,500 residential flats of DDA located at Vasant Kunj and Jasola for the Games which would be furnished and operated by ITDC, should be ready in phases between January to May, 2010.

An ex-bureaucrat to head Japan's postal service; govt criticized A former finance ministry top bureaucrat in Japan Jiro Saito will be the next president of the country's postal service, an appointment that was severely criticized by opposition Liberal Democratic Party which said the choice contradicted the Democratic Party of Japan's stance that elite bureaucrats shouldn't be allowed to grab cushy jobs in government-linked agencies after retirement. Read: Japan's age-old Amakudari (September 3, 2009) Significantly, 73-year-old Saito who would now lead the postal system in the country was the top finance ministry bureaucrat between 1993 and 1995.

Babus in Demand The government is looking for the right candidate currently working in the rank of director or deputy secretary for the post of General Manager, Food Corporation of India, Chennai. The last date of application is November 27, 2009. Read the CIRCULAR

Gen Next File... Noted actor Kabir Bedi will be in Delhi on October 23 to release ‘Ready to Rock’, a book written by Ronen Chatterjee, son of 1975 batch Orissa cadre IAS and secretary, public enterprises Bhaskar Chatterjee. Well known theatre personality and CEO, Lok Sabha Television, Suneet Tandon will read excerpts from the book on the occasion. ‘Ready to Rock’ is Chatterjee Junior's second offering. His first book ‘Fire Within’ was released in 2008.

PM continues to retain key officers to bring in continuity; now joint secretaries in PMO get extension

IT SEEMS India’s Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has made it very clear that continuity of key officers in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is indispensable to effectively execute government’s major action plans during the second innings of the current UPA government. If joint secretary in PMO R Gopalakrishnan’s extension of tenure till June 30, 2011 after the extension of tenure of joint secretary Ms Vini Mahajan and secretary in PMO M N Prasad is any indication, the continuity of key civil servants seems to be a norm in South Block which houses India’s Prime Minister’s Office. Mr Gopalakrishnan, who was overseeing the Bharat Nirman programme in the PMO from the time of its inception, is a 1979 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS. He first got an extension upto September 30 before the term was further extended till June, 2011. Recently, another joint secretary and 1987 batch Punjab cadre IAS Vini Mahajan’s tenure was extended till April 29, 2011. Earlier, Prime Minister decided to retain secretary in PMO and 1972 batch Bihar cadre IAS M N Prasad on a contract basis even after his retirement. No wonder, after Dr Singh assumed office for the second time in May this year, he retained national security adviser MK Narayanan and principal secretary TKA Nair in the same posts with a rank of a minister of state. Also, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar who would have retired in June, 2009, was also given one year’s extension.

Babus In Demand The ministry of home affairs (MHA) in its report card for September said that newly set up National Investigative Agency continues to recruit more officers to strengthen it. In order to fill Group A and Group B posts immediately, a one-time special recruitment process was approved in consultation with the UPSC. A 1975 batch IPS, Radha Vinod Raju, heads the Agency as its Director General.

Action & Appointments a) Air Marshal Ajay Shriniwas Karnik would take over as Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO), of one of the senior most operational commands of the Indian Air Force on October 1, 2009. A Fighter Combat Leader and a Qualified Flying Instructor, he is an alumni of Air War College, University of USAF, Montgomery, USA. b) Lt Gen AS Lamba took over as GOC-in-C Army Training Command, Shimla. The Officer has a vast experience of conventional warfare and unconventional Counter Insurgency operations and had participated in the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War and served in Nagaland, Manipur, and also in Sri Lanka with the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). c) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the placement of Anil Bhushan Prasad, a 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS on compulsory wait in the department of administrative reforms & public grievances in the rank and pay of additional secretary during the period from June1, 2009 to July 23, 2009.

Action & Appointments: Missile scientist Dr VK Saraswat is new DRDO chief; to act as scientific adviser to A K Antony

Who is Vijay Kumar Saraswat? Current position: Distinguished scientist and chief controller research and development (missiles and strategic systems) in DRDO. New Role: Secretary, department of defence research & development, scientific adviser to the defence minister and director-general, DRDO. Educational Qualifications: PhD in Combustion Engineering Achievements: a) Padmashri Dr Saraswat spearheaded the development of country’s strategic and tactical missile systems including the ‘Agni’ series of strategic missiles covering a range up to 3,000 km. b) As project director ‘Prithvi’, he steered the design, development, production and induction of the first indigenous Surface-to-Surface missile system into the armed forces. c) The successful testing of ‘Dhanush’ missile on board a moving ship with high terminal accuracy brought a new dimension in the national defence capability. d) Pioneered the concept of theatre defence system and integration of national Air Defence elements. Awards & Recognition: Received several awards including Prof Jai Krishna Memorial Award of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) and National Systems Gold Medal by the Systems Society of India. International Academy of Engineering, Russia elected Dr Saraswat as a member of the Academy and honoured him. Other appointments a) Vivek K Tankha has been appointed as Additional Solicitors General of India (direct taxes) in the Supreme Court of India. b) Manoj Chandran, ITS (1991 batch) has been appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer in the Cochin Port Trust. Babus In Demand The government has been looking for a suitable candidate to fill up the post of secretary-cum-controller of examinations, Staff Selection Commission with headquarters at New Delhi in the pay scale of Rs 37,400-67,000 (price band-4) with a grade pay of Rs 8700 at the level of a director. For any more detail, please contact Suneel K Arora, under secretary to the government of India, ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions (department of personnel and training), Room No 215-A-II, North Block, New Delhi-l10001. The last date of receiving applications is October 16, 2009.

Government encourages IAS officers to take up writing seriously; medals and citations to count from now

IN WHAT could be interpreted as a direct incentive for an IAS officer to write a book or publish an article, the government has decided to document those along with citations and awards that an official has received, in Executive Record Sheets, or ER sheet --- the only publicly available document to track an officer’s career. The move may make many IAS officers virtual journalists or writers rather than remaining on the background as “sources close to a development” which is commonly used by newspaper journalists. Maintained in digital formats by the career management section of the establishment officer’s division, the ER sheets in their present avatar contain the personal details of the officers including only educational qualifications, experiences, postings and trainings. The department of personnel training (DoPT) has now asked the IAS officers to submit details of the citations or awards that they have received, or the articles and books that were published so far, in a prescribed format and send those through the official channel. The necessary permission for accepting the awards or citations needs to be duly accorded, a DoPT circular date July 20, 2009 said. Yes, pen could be mightier than your official files! UPSC declares IES, ISS results; Abinash Dash & Ambika Anand top the lists Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has selected 15 candidates for Indian Economic Service (IES) and 10 candidates for the Indian Statistical Service (ISS) after announcing the results of the Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Examinations 2008. Whereas Abinash Dash has topped the IES examination, Ambika Anand is the topper among successful candidates of the Indian Statistical Service examinations. Babus In Demand Applications are invited for the post of development commissioner, Special Economic Zones (SEZ), Dahej to be located at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. The post is at the level of a joint secretary, and the selected candidate would get a salary in the pay band of Rs 37,400—67,000 (PB-4) with a grade pay of Rs 10,000.

Govt to monitor recruitment trends of women in various ministries

IN ORDER to monitor recruitment of women in government, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has directed all ministries and departments to submit a consolidated report including attached or subordinate offices on the total number of posts and employees group-wise and gender-wise as on March 31, 2009 latest by August 31, 2009. Indicating that it would be an annual process, the department has further said that the consolidated annual position as on March 31 of every year may also be furnished thereafter by May 30 of that year. In fact, the government has initiated steps to ensure better representation of women members on various committees or boards concerned with the selection to posts in Central government and also to monitor the trend in recruitment of women. DoPT has further written to the secretaries of all ministries/departments of government of India to instruct all appointing authorities to scrupulously observe that selection committees should compulsorily have one woman member for making recruitment to 10 or more vacancies. Even if vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should be made in finding a woman officer for inclusion in such committees or Boards, the directive said. It further said that in the event of such an officer not being available in the ministry or department itself, there is no objection to nominating lady officer from any other office at the same station.

Babus In Demand At least 26 joint secretary level officials are likely to be recruited for National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure that minister of road transport and highways Kamal Nath’s ambitious target of 20 km of building highways in a day will be fulfilled. Just wait for a few days to see advertisement regarding this.

Urban development secretary M Ramachandran could be the dark horse for clinching defence secretary’s post

URBAN development secretary M Ramachandran, a 1972 batch IAS, may emerge as a surprise candidate for the post of defence secretary after current incumbent Vijay Singh retires in the end of July. Though current secretary of the department of defence production Pradeep Kumar, also a 1972 batch IAS from Haryana cadre, is believed to be the front-runner for the post thanks to his experiences in defence department for sometime now, the government may place Mr Ramachandran for the post as a run-up to his candidature for India’s next cabinet secretary. In fact, Mr Ramachandran, who has played a key role in implementing the government’s flagship urban programme JNNURM, is a key contender for the post of cabinet secretary when K M Chandrasekhar’s one-year extension term comes to an end in June next year. It’s believed that Mr Ramachandran’s experiences in defence would make him even a better candidate for cabinet secretary’s post. Extension & Appointment of Officers Central deputation tenure of M Deena Dayalan, IA&AS (1978), joint secretary & financial advisor, in the department of expenditure has been extended beyond July 11, 2009 till his date of superannuation on February 28, 2010. IPS Posting: The proposal of the ministry of home affairs for the induction of the following IPS officers into the ‘hard-core’ of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has been approved. The officers are: (i) S K Sinha, IPS (Bihar, 1983) (ii) Ms Kala Ramachandran, IPS (Haryana, 1994) (iii) A K Shukla, IPS (MT, 1986) (iv) M Madana Mohan, IPS (MT, 1987) (v) Rithwik Rudra, IPS (Himachal Pradesh, 1993) Dr Zaidi’s Additional Charge: The government has approved the assignment of additional charge of the functions of Representative of India (ROI) on the Council of International Civil Aviation Organization, (ICAO) to Dr Nasim Zaidi, IAS (UP, 1976), Director General of Civil Aviation under the ministry of civil aviation, for a period of three months beyond April 22, 2009 or till new incumbent on the post of ROI, ICAO is appointed. Babus In Demand The government wants application for filling up the post of Financial Advisor (Joint Secretary level) in Khadi & Village Industries Commission at Mumbai, under the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises in the pay band of Rs 37400-67000 (PB-4) and grade pay of Rs 10,000 on deputation basis. IAS officer in MP suspended on sodomy charges An IAS officer in Madhya Pradesh was suspended on charges of committing sodomy on a Panchayat secretary in Bhopal on Friday. Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan himself announced the suspension of Bhopal district Janpad Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Gyaneshwar Patil, who was allegedly caught by a group of mediapersons when he was with a panchayat employee in the office washroom.

My Take: Be a netizen and help making e-civil service a reality

AS THE world is getting flat thanks to the IT revolution pioneered by a few countries including India, why should Indian civil servants shy away from making themselves equipped with GenNext tools of the virtual world? Why can’t Indian bureaucrats use the online platforms more often to interact with citizens who are fast becoming netizens? In fact, I am inspired to write his comment after I read an article by D C Misra, former chairman of Task Force for IT policy for Delhi in a national newspaper a few days ago. Mr Mishra very rightly pointed out in his article how after the outstanding success in e-commerce in railway reservation among others and e-banking, there is no reason why 24x7 online public service delivery, or in other words e-civil service, will remain a distant dream in India. Already, smaller European cities have begun introducing online interaction platforms between government city managers and ordinary citizens. And believe it or not, some of the Indian IT companies including Infosys Technologies have been trail blazers in making them equipped for future. I may not like to name anyone, but many of our top bureaucrats can’t even check their e-mails, and are heavily dependant on their private secretaries to type out simple notes. Mr Mishra further pointed out in his article that the central issue in governance today is the yawning gap between the state and citizens. Yes, it’s the age of Facebook and Twitter, and not of anachronistic one-way traffic from government to citizens! As all officers above the rank of deputy secretary are now eligible to carry an official laptop, according to the recent DoPT circular, let’s start it right away. If you are not a netizen yourself, you would always be a stumbling block, knowingly or unknowingly, in creating e-civil service across the country.

Babus In Demand Nominations are invited from all India Group A services officers of deputy secretary or director level for filling up four posts of joint development commissioners for the newly created Special Economic Zones under the ministry of commerce at Mandals (Andhra Pradesh), Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Bharuch & Surat (Gujarat). The department of personnel and training (DoPT) has recently sent a message to all chief secretaries to recommend names of suitable candidates. Two HC Judges transferred Justice Uma Nath Singh, Judge of the Punjab & Haryana High Court has been transferred as a Judge of the Allahabad High Court with effect from 1st July, 2009. Similarly, Justice Sushil Harkauli, Judge of the Allahabad High Court has been transferred as a Judge of the Jharkhand High Court and is directed him to assume charge of the new office on or before 1st July, 2009.

Jai Ho: Railway officials finally break free from an influential IAS

SENIOR officials at the Rail Bhawan have finally discovered that they are no longer under the dominance of an IAS officer. With former railway minister Lalu Prasad’s all powerful officer on special duty (OSD) Sudhir Kumar (See Picture) leaving the Rail Bhwan to join as a joint secretary in the ministry of power, top railway officials have regained the lost ground and become hyper-active to demonstrate their abilities to the new railway minister Mamata Banerjee. In fact, Indian Railways with about 15 lakh strong employees is the only government department which is not controlled by an IAS officer. Yet, during the last five years, the minister bestowed all power to 1982-batch Bihar cadre IAS Sudhir Kumar who in turn acted like a CEO of a company and micro-managed the show. In fact, he took many a bold decision to script the turnaround saga of Indian railways. Whereas Mr Prasad just monitored the macro issue and took only the politically sensitive decisions such as not hiking the passenger fare, it was Mr Kumar who remained a backseat driver to achieve a profit of whopping Rs 90,000 cr (about $18 billion) for the railways during the last five years. Along with Shagun Mehrotra, Mr Kumar finally penned a book titled “Bankruptcy to Billions: How the Indian Railways Transformed In Four Years” to share the secret of success. As the new minister has already zeroed in a Central services officer as her OSD, the Rail babus don’t need to worry a repeat of an IAS dominating the Indian Railways any longer.

Babus in demand: Job at Central Electricity Authority The Central Electricity Authority under the ministry of power urgently requires the suitable candidates for filling up the post of Member (Planning) and Member (Economic & Commercial) in the revised scale of Rs.37400-67000 with a grade pay of Rs 12,000. They would be given ex-officio status of additional secretary to the government of India.

Babus In Demand: Planning Commission to recruit 35 joint secretary level officials

THE PLANNING Commission of India is recruiting 35 officers at the level of joint secretary or equivalent, the department of personnel & training, or DoPT has announced. It is proposed to fill up the posts of Unique Identification (UID) Commissioners (Central government’s joint secretary level) one each in the capital of each state and union territory of India in Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Planning Commission. The pay scale is Rs 37400-67000 (PB-4) with a grade pay of Rs 10,000. It’s also announced that the names of willing officers empanelled to hold joint secretary or equivalent posts at the Centre may be recommended within four weeks. The applicants need to be clear from any case with vigilance and their integrity have to be certified. For the starter, the government made a provision of Rs 100 crore in the interim budget for 2009-10 its ambitious unique identification project which will give a unique number to every citizen of the country. An authority called Unique Identification Authority of India was already set up, and the government has already notified that.

All about Maya: IAS, IPS face transfers in UP

In yet another instance of bureaucrats taking the wrath of politicians, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ms Mayawati, who showed a poor political show during the Lok Sabha elections, finally used the time-tested weapon of transfers to punish babus. In fact, in a major administrative reshuffle, UP government transferred 10 IAS officials on Friday after it had transferred 34 IPS officers, including police chiefs of 17 districts, media reports said on late Saturday. The action includes the transfer of Rae Bareilly DM Anita C Meshram, Kanpur divisional commissioner Dinesh Singh and chief development officer Agra Surendra Singh. Babu Blogger’s take: Let’s give more power to the state chief secretaries and cabinet secretary at the Centre in transfer-related matters. In many cases, transfers do demoralize efficient bureaucrats.

A former bureaucrat appointed as PDP's chief spokesman Former tourism secretary of J&K Naem Akhtar was appointed as Peoples Democratic Party's chief spokesman, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti announced on Saturday. Mr Akhtar, who took voluntary retirement in 2008, served in health, public works and several other departments of the state as a Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officer.

Babus in demand: A Job offer at Trai There is a job opportunity at Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) which has asked for applications to fill up the post of a senior research officer on deputation basis on foreign services terms. The pay scale is Rs 15600—39100, plus a grade pay of Rs 6600 in addition to allowances according to government rules.