An IAS couple, a course in Cambridge, a photo on mathematical bridge, and an engaging Twitter commentary

Usha and Arvind Padhee

WHEN this Odisha cadre IAS couple of 1996 batch visited UK for a short training programme in Cambridge University earlier this month, their followers in social media— many from their home state Odisha — were excited to find every little detail of their visit, from landing at London’s Heathrow airport to taking leadership lessons from Professor Harold Chee and then taking the photo of India's first licensed pilot JRD Tata at Air India lounge of the airport before taking the return flight to New Delhi — all thanks to their updates in Twitter. Usha Padhee, a joint secretary in civil aviation ministry and Arvind Padhee, a joint secretary in the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, along with a few other bureaucrats…

How to annoy bureaucrats: Moore's tips are still talking points in Britain

Sir Patrick Moore, the man who annoyed the British bureaucrats the most in 1980s, died last month at the age of 89. Moore, a known British astronomer and entertainer in TV shows, resorted to bureaucracy bashing under a pen-name and published what a British newspaper recently described “an irreverent guide to causing havoc and taking vengeance on the people who were burying Britain under paperwork and tying the country up in red tape.” Here are some interesting observations made in his book: “Bureaucrats: How To Annoy Them”...

British civil servants told to do Facebook under ‘totally mad’ plans

THE British civil servants will soon be encouraged to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to engage with public and find out what people are thinking, a report published in London-based newspaper The Daily Mail said. It is an initiative of Sir Bob Kerslake, the new head of Britain’s civil service, under a plan titled ‘totally mad’, the report said.
This is a contrarian view of the use of social media sites by bureaucrats...

R Vineel Krishna, once abducted by Maoists, selected for prestigious British govt-funded scholarship

R Vineel Krishna, a 2005 batch Orissa cadre IAS officer who was abducted and released by Maoists in February 2011, has been selected for prestigious British government scholarship called Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence. Krishna who is now private secretary to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, was a popular district collector in Orissa’s Malkangiri district when he was abducted by 50 armed Maoists.
The other two Indian bureaucrats who also clinched the British scholarships are…

Continued slowdown triggers downsizing of bureaucracy across countries; pay cuts suggested

IN India, bureaucracy has always been an elite service. The bureaucrats are rich, highly privileged and in many ways more powerful than most politicians in the country. During the recent economic downturn, the Indian bureaucrats with a 6^th pay commission-given bonanza remained highly secured whereas those in private sector including top CEOs went through a harrowing time.

As India is chasing a double digit growth story, no one has raised the issue of an ever increasing number of bureaucrats and even the inflated kitty to sustain them. But Indian bureaucrats must not ignore the global trend of downsizing of bureaucracy and regular objections to their fat salaries.

Here is a classic example of how Western media has handled this subject. A recent report in a respected newspaper in Britain said that top bureaucrats of the local authorities should be paid less to save money which could be used for better disposal of garbage. The waste generated by the Christmas celebrations triggered the recent debate whether reducing bureaucrats’ salary could be a way out to manage the bin service better!

In Russia, President Dmitry Medvedev disappointed many bureaucrats when he recently ordered cuts in the bloated bureaucracy which could result in 20 percent reduction of officials in the next three years. The downsizing of Russia’s federal bureaucracy is expected to save USD 1.3 billion. In Canada too, high salaries of top bureaucrats has generated debate.

According to reports, the average salary of a bureaucrat working in New York is about Rs 5 lakh if the amount is converted into Indian rupee. The highest paid bureaucrat, according to a Reuters report, works for Roswell Park Cancer Institute Corporation with a cool pay package of $580,000 (or Rs 2.6 crore) per annum.

Even the Chinese government has recently issued strict guidelines of austerity as the cost of the bureaucrats’ foreign junkets including trips to Las Vegas amount to about USD 60 billion per year.