No Lal Batti from May 1; Are senior bureaucrats happy or sad?

THE use of red beacons which symbolize powers, sense of entitlements and VVIP culture in corridors of Delhi and state capitals and also act as incentives for some candidates wanting to appear for the UPSC examinations, will come to an end from May 1 this year. The union cabinet on Wednesday took a decision to delete several sections under 108 rule (use of red, white and blue light) of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, to ensure that no dignitaries including President, Vice-President and Prime Minister, let alone bureaucrats in high positions, will be allowed to use red beacons atop their vehicles. Principal secretary-ranked IAS officer of Haryana cadre Ashok Khemka however took to Twitter to say that…

Cabinet gives its nod to LBSNAA for capacity building of public officials of Namibia

UNION cabinet on Wednesday not only approved the release of an additional installment of dearness allowance (DA) to Central government employees and dearness relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from January 1, 2017, but gave its nod to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie and…

Cadre review for Central Engineering Service (Roads) cleared after 30 years; Cabinet also decides to increase posts

THE government on Monday decided to increase the number of senior level posts of Central Engineering Service (Roads), a lesser known Group 'A' service that comes under the ministry of road transport and highways. Accordingly, the number of posts of CES (Roads) will be as follows: 2 for HAG level, 5 for SAG level and 36 for JTS level. The decision, taken by the Cabinet on Monday afternoon, further said that…

Black Money: New panel comprises revenue secretary, CBI director, IB director, CBDT chairman among others

PM with cabinet secretary Seth and principal secretary Misra

THE Union Cabinet on Tuesday approved setting up of Special Investigating Team (SIT) headed by former judge of the Supreme Court of India, Justice MB Shah, to unearth black money stashed abroad. Only four days ago, the apex court had directed the Centre to keep all papers relating to black money in the safe custody of an officer, not below the rank of revenue secretary in the backdrop of the last Thursday’s fire at Shastri Bhawan. Incidentally, current revenue secretary Rajiv Takru is a Gujarat cadre IAS of…

New ministers and their would-be working relations with secretaries, a snapshot

Newly inducted ministers pose for a photo after the swearing-in

A NUMBER of Union secretaries to government of India will have new bosses, from Monday. After the massive rejig of Manmohan Singh’s cabinet, many a minister will drive down to new Bhawans today, and top bureaucrats are getting ready to brief their new chiefs. Here is a snapshot of what does each of the big-ticket ministerial changes means for top Indian bureaucrats…

THREE CHEERS: 5% increase in DA, second installment of Pay Commission arrear & concession in housing projects…

IN A good gesture for the government employees ahead of the festive season, the Indian Cabinet on Thursday decided to release an additional installment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to all Central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from July 1, 2009. This along with the approval of 1% interest subvention on housing loans up to Rs 10 lakh at a time when government employees are getting their 60% arrear of the 6th Pay Commission, may be seen as huge positives for Central government employees. There are about 5 million employees working with various Central government ministries or departments. In fact, the enhanced installment of DA, which represents an increase of 5% over the existing rate of 22% of the basic Pay, is meant for compensating price rise. The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission, a government release said. The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be about Rs 4355.35 crore in a full year and Rs 2903.55 crore for a period of 8 months from July, 2009 to February, 2010. So far as the housing incentive approved by the Cabinet on Thursday is concerned, it’s meant for all citizens but it could benefit government employees in particular as many realty developers building sub-Rs 20 lakh houses are aggressively wooing government employees and are also doling out special rebate for them ahead of the second installment of the Pay Commission arrear. In fact, interest subvention of 1% will be made available on individual housing loans upto Rs 10 lakh for construction or purchase of a new house or extension of an existing house provided the cost of the construction or price of the new house/extension does not exceed Rs 20 lakh. Inter-ministry Kabaddi tournament The inter-ministry Kabaddi tournament for 2009-2010 is scheduled to be held on October 13 & 14, 2009 at Brassey Avenue Sports Complex, New Delhi. If you feel you can bet for it, you may send your entry in the prescribed proforma duly signed by the welfare officer of the concerned ministry to the office of CCSCSB, Room No 361, B Wing, 3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan, New Delhi along with an entry fee of Rs 50.

Ex-telecom secretary J S Sarma appointed as TRAI chairman

TDSAT member J S Sarma has been appointed the new chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), said media reports on Friday. The final clearance for Mr Sarma to take over as TRAI chairman came after the appointment committee of Cabinet cleared his name. Mr Sarma is a former telecom secretary of the country. He will succeed Nripendra Mishra, who retired on March 22, 2009. At present, TRAI member A K Sawhney is managing the show as the interim chairman of the telecom regulatory body. Mr Sarma was also the Telecom Commission Chairman from June 2005 to July 2006. In fact, the total number of telephone connections as on March 31, 2009, reached 429.72 million whereas the base of the total wireless subscribers (GSM, CDMA and wireless local loop - fixed) stood at 391.76 million.