Civil Services prelims exam to be held on May 23, 2010; 965 officers' posts to be filled

THE Union Service Public Commission (UPSC) will hold the civil services (preliminary) examination, 2010 on May 23, 2010 for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and certain other group A and Group B Central services or posts. The examination, which will be hel at various centers across the country, has more significance this time as the government decided to increase the total intake from 580 in 2009 to 965 in 2010, a whopping 66% increase.

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Action and Appointments
a) Bijoy Chatterjee, a 1973 batch West Bengal cadre IAS and secretary in the department of chemicals and petrochemicals, ministry of chemicals and fertilizers will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals, ministry of chemicals and fertilizers during the absence on leave of Ashok Kumar, a 1974 batch Bihar cadre IAS from January 9, 2010 to January 24, 2010.
b) The competent authority, in view of the request of the state government of Manipur, not to consider the proposal for extension of tenure of J Sursh Babu, a 1986 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS and chairman, Tobacco Board, has approved that it would not be possible to consider extension of tenure of Mr Babu, on completion of his tenure on January 19, 2010.
c) Manoj Saunik, a 1987 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary, in the department of defence production for a term of two years.
d) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet while approving the continuation of G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS as additional secretary in the department of financial services, has also approved that ex-post-facto approved of the Cabinet will be obtained for creation of a post of additional secretary in the department of financial services for the requisite period.
e) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the ministry of home affairs of in-Situ upgradation of VS Yadav, a 1987 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IPS, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science to the grade of Inspector General (IG) for a period up to Septemeber 9, 2010 or until further orders.

Prez Patil says she is proud of more women joining Indian Police Service

PRESIDENT of India Pratibha Patil wants IPS officers to take a few steps ahead of law breakers and says she is proud to see a large number of women joing Indian Police Service. She was talking to a group of probationers of the 61st batch of the IPS who called on her at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday. The group of 91 officers, in which 22 are lady officers, bring with them the experience from varied backgrounds, with some of them being qualified doctors, engineers and information tech-nologists.
The women officers of this IPS batch described their aspirations to the President, saying that they would strive to sensitize the police on important social issues, help the poor and be leaders, by having a vision.

Defence secretary on China visit from January 6
Defence secretary Pradeep Kumar, a 1972 batch from Haryana cadre, is expected to visit China from January 6 to hold dialogue with the Chinese military leadership, media reports said. It will be the first ever official visit by an Indian defence secretary to Beijing.

Action and Appointments
a) R Gopalan, a 1976 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS, presently special secretary, department of commerce, has been appointed as secretary, department of financial services, ministry of finance by upgrading the post of additional secretary held by G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS to its original level of secretary. In turn, GC Chaturevedi, will remain as additional secretary in the department of financial services until further orders.
b) Rajinder Pal Singh, a 1976 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, presently on compulosry wait in the department of financial services, ministry of finance, has been appointed as secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), ministry of commerce and industry in place of Ajay Shanker, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS who retired on December 31, 2009.
c) Anwar Ehsan Ahmad, a 1976 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS, presently special secretary, ministry of home affairs, has been appointed as secretary, department of border management in the MHA.

Sexual harassment cases of women officers in armed forces are viewed seriously and investigated, says Antony

AN officer in the rank of a Major General has been sentenced to be dismissed from service after trial by a General Court Martial on the charges of sexual harassment of a woman officer. This is one of the 11 cases relating to allegations of sexual harassment in the armed forces during the last five years. However, the exact sentence has not been confirmed due to the directions of the High Court of Rajasthan. Defence minister A K Antony said in a written reply in Parliament that any complaint of sexual harassment of women officers is viewed seriously and is investigated and dealt with in accordance with relevant provisions of respective Services Acts. For the other cases as well, necessary investigations or Court of Inquiry or General Court Martial (GCM) have been instituted.

From steel pen to pen drive: thoughts of a bureaucrat T C James, who had recently retired as a DIPP director under the ministry of commerce and industry after four decades of the Central secretariat services, sent babu blogger a message. Here are some excerpts: “I started my career in the secretariat when steel pens were the rule and departing when a PC adorns the table of every officer, who now carries his correspondence in a pen drive. This is material progress, indeed and some thing on which India has kept pace with the advanced world. One can be proud of it.” Mr James, who was with the government for 13,578 days, according to a calculation of his friend, further wrote, “We inherited a system designed by an external imperial power who never trusted the subjects. The whole administrative apparatus and financial management systems were built on the foundation of ‘trust not the Indians to do the right thing.” We further added to this, more hierarchical steps which every paper and proposal have to climb up and down myriad times to reach a decision which, in more cases than less, would be a decision to defer the decision by referring the matter to a committee or a meeting. It is time we think of alternatives to this process.”

Action & Appointments a) P K Pradhan, a 1977 batch IAS of West Bengal cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of health and family welfare in the vacancy of G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS who joined financial services division of the Finmin sometime ago. b) Rakesh Singh, a 1978 batch IAS has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of Information Technology under the ministry of communications and Information Technology. c) Anil Bhushan Prasad, a 1976 batch IAS of Bihar cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the National Disaster Management Authority under the ministry of home affairs in the vacancy of Harishankar Brahma, a 1975 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, who had recently moved to power ministry as the secretary. d) Jitendra Shankar Mathur, a 1982 batch IAS of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of drinking water supply, in the pay band of Rs 37400-67000/- (PB-4) plus grade pay of Rs 10000, for a period of five years or until further orders.

Finance secretary Ashok Chawla given additional charge of disinvestment; now controls 3 out of 5 Finmin departments

FINANCE secretary Ashok Chawla, a 1973 batch IAS from Gujarat cadre, has proved once more that he is one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the country holding additional charges of two departments which were earlier held by full-fledged secretaries. Mr Chawla, who was recently elevated from the post of secretary in the department of economic affairs (DEA) to finance secretary, has now been given additional charge of the post of secretary, department of disinvestment under the ministry of finance for a period of three months or until further orders, a government announcement said. The appointment, which gives Mr Chawla a conplete control of three out of five departments in finance ministry, is effective from June 11, 2009. The post was vacant after disinvestment secretary Rahul Khullar, a 1975 batch IAS, was made commerce secretary. Earlier, he was given additional charge of the department of financial services since May 1, 2009 where an additional secretary level officer, a 1977 batch IAS officer G C Chaturvedi, was appointed to lead the department. Now, out of five departments in finance ministry, only two has full-fledged IAS at the helm --- secretary Sushama Nath in the department of expenditure and revenue secretary P V Bhide. The bestowing of additional charge of the disinvestment department to Mr Chawla is a significant development in the backdrop of a possible announcement in forthcoming Budget that the government may take a slew of measures on divestment, thereby converting the department into an active zone. Significantly, Mr Chawla and urban development secretary M Ramachandran are the two key contenders for cabinet secretary’s post next year.

Know Your Babu: Addl Secretary G C Chaturvedi takes over as head in financial services division of Finance Ministry

G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch IAS officer, joined the finance ministry as an additional secretary on Tuesday and will head the financial services department of the ministry. Arun Ramanathan, who retired as finance secretary last week, was looking after the department dealing with banking, insurance, financial institutions etc. himself. Vinod Rai of 1972 batch, who joined as Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was earlier secretary to this department. With an additional secretary at the helms now, it would no longer be a full-fledged department. The other four departments in the finance ministry, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Revenue, Department of Expenditure and Department of Investment are headed by full-fledged secretary level officials. However, Mr Chaturvedi’s turn to become secretary is not far away as 1975-batche officials are already designated as secretaries to the Government of India. Know Your Babu Fact-file Name: G C Chaturvedi Cadre & Batch: 1977 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre Date of Birth: 17/01/1953 Place of Domicile: UP Mother Tongue: Hindi Indian Languages Known: English, Hindi

Educational Qualification PG, Physics, First division Earlier postings Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs Banking & Insurance, Ministry of Finance (From 26/05/2003 to 19/07/2007) Mission Director & Additional Secretary Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (From 26/12/2007 to 01/05/2009) Foreign Training 1-year course in finance from London School of Economics (LSE), UK, in 1996