Thank God, Indian government’s social media posts are liberal, though not humorous

A TWEET by Delhi police’s traffic department a few days ago (screenshot photo here) virtually gave a tip-off to the wrong-doers about a particular road to be avoided for escape! It says: “Traffic is heavy on road no 13 A Sarita Vihar due to checking of local police”. In other words, a tech-savvy carjacker would know which road to avoid! This could be a faux pas, but the fact remains that Indian government departments’ twitter policy is highly…

Not all whistleblower laws inspire bureaucrats: A Canadian experience

FIVE years after a whistleblower law was passed in New Brunswick, one of the Maritime provinces of Canada, there is virtually no taker. The Public Interest Disclosure Act, popularly called whistleblower law, was introduced in 2007 to allow civil servants to report illegal or dangerous actions by their co-workers. But…

Canada faces a new challenge of ex-bureaucrats grabbing big contracts

1771 Painting Depicting A Canadian Battle

THE trend of retired bureaucrats grabbing high-valued contracts has become a problem in Canada. The Canadian government has now said, any contract worth Canadian dollar of 10,000 or more, or roughly Rs 5.4 lakh, have to be publicly disclosed. The issue cropped up when auditors spotted an instance when a retired public servant, also a pensioner, received a contract of whopping...

Applications invited from JS level officers to take up assignment in Canada

A Flight to Montreal

FOR joint secretary level officers, here is a chance to board a flight to Canada, quite literally. The government is proposing to fill the post of Representative of India in Council of International Civil Aviation Organization at the level of a joint secretary. The selected candidate will be based out of Montreal in Canada.

If a joint secretary level officer has completed at least two years under Central Staffing Scheme and is below 54 years, he or she will be eligible for the post, according to a DoPT circular dated March 19, 2012. The other eligibility criteria include two years of experience in the field of civil aviation. If a joint secretary level officer is already on a foreign assignment, he or she will not be eligible to take up this assignment. The post will be vacant on July 22, 2012.

The desired qualifications include experiences in dealing with UN bodies and other multilateral organizations.

Who Gain in UP’s Bureaucratic Rejig

Anurag Yadav: This 2000 batch IAS will now take over as the new DM of Lucknow. He was earlier DM in Jaunpur. He is currently working as additional commissioner in rural development department.

MP Agarwal: This 1997 batch IAS who was serving as Faizabad DM has become new Kanpur DM. Agarwal who is armed with a MA degree in governance from an UK university is replacing Hari Om.

Santosh Kumar Yadav: This 1995 batch IAS will be new Commissioner, Meerut.

As many as 30 IAS officers, including 11 DMs, were transferred in a major bureaucratic rejig undertaken by new UP government on Sunday. Mohindar Singh, chairperson of NOIDA and Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority was also transferred.

Canada may dole out iPads to its bureaucrats to save paper costs

iPads are yet to be officially launched in India, but governments of western countries wish to dole it out to their bureaucrats mainly to cut cost on paper and printings. After several American cities had given iPads to municipal officials to replace printed documents, the federal government of Canada is now mulling offering iPads to bureaucrats, Toronto Sun reported.

For the pilot project, about 20 treasury board workers in Canada have been using the high-tech device. Even in India, a number of Parliamentarians and businessmen have imported this device from the West. The iPad is the first tablet computer developed by Apple Inc, and it is part of a device category between a smart-phone and a laptop computer.

In Canada, the iPads, not laptops, were picked for the pilot project because they are lightweight and user-friendly in addition to having a long-lasting battery. It also allows the user for easy note-taking. It’s estimated that if Ottawa’s roughly 6,743 high-level bureaucrats are given this device, it would save the exchequer about $7 million, but the use of the iPad could save about $700 per person per year, said the Toronto Sun report.
Google is getting ready its own tablet computer to rival Apple’s iPads.

Action and Appointments

a) A Delhi Court refused to grant bail to suspended 1994 batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh who is accused of passing official information from MHA. He was a director in the home ministry when he was detained by police.

b) The Andhra Pradesh government’s move to select state senior officials for the promotion to the Indian Administrative Service may kick off a controversy as there are allegations that the selection process is not fair. The state government have reportedly finalized a list of 15 officers for three IAS posts.

Canadian top auditor airs views in support of bureaucrats, what's in Rai's mind?

AS Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai’s team is unearthing one corruption after another in Indian government, here is an interesting observation on bureaucrats by his Canadian counterpart. Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser recently commented that she had not found the kind of “inappropriate spending” by bureaucrats as Harper government tightened bureaucrat’s spending in hospitality, travel and conferences. During her decade long career as the top auditor, she has found only a few cases of bureaucrats living the high-life. “I personally don’t think there is a big problem in government with hospitality and travel. The government may want to reduce travel with more video conferences and that’s reasonable — but as for individual cases, they are the exception, not the rule,” she is quoted as saying by Ottawa Citizen. Woh! When can you expect India’s top auditor air such an observation?

Action and Appointments

a) Suspended 1994 batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer Ravi Inder Singh, who was recently suspended from home ministry for allegedly passing official information, recently sought bail from a Delhi court saying he was innocent and can account for all his assets.

b) Dr Alka Bhargava, a 1987 batch Assam cadre Indian Forest Service officer has been reappointed as director in the ministry of human resource development in New Delhi for a period up to June 10, 2012 against the existing vacancy of Saubhagya Ranjan Dhall in that ministry.