Why is Forest Service Association upset with Jairam Ramesh? IAS Association lends support to IFoS body

INDIAN Forest Service Association on Monday took a strong objection of former union environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh’s “corrupt forest bureaucrats” comment, demanding an apology from the senior Congress leader. The IAS Association immediately lent its support stating: “We stand by our colleagues in Indian Forest Service and condemn such sweeping comments against officers”. The issue arose when Ramesh while…

Centre relaxes LTC rules to allow government employees to travel by air to J&K

TIME to explore the beauty of Kashmir valley and get the expenses reimbursed! Sounds good. In fact, the Centre has relaxed the LTC rules to allow government employees to travel by air to Jammu and Kashmir, according to an order issued by DoPT dated June 18, 2010. The same order has made it clear that the employees needed to fly only Air India.

All officers or employees of government of India will now be allowed to avail LTC to visit J&K against conversion of one block of their home town LTC, the order said. They are allowed to fly to any place of J&K either from Delhi or Amritsar airport.

The order will be in operation for a period of two years from the date of issue.

Read DoPT CIRCULAR, dated June 18, 2010

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Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran joins Wipro board

Former foreign secretary and the Prime Minister’s envoy on climate change Shyam Saran, a 1970 batch IFS, is joining the board of India’s software company Wipro Ltd on July, 2010, as an independent director. Mr Saran came into news recently when he was virtually at loggerheads with environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh on a number of issues related to climate change. Mr Saran decided to quit the government when his two batch junior Shiv Shankar Menon was made the national security advisor (NSA) with the rank of a minister of state whereas Mr Saran remained as a secretary rank official. 

Bureaucrats clean bowled by 2 Rameshes --- Jairam and Sachin

CALL it a syndrome of reiterating Netagiri over babudom. Yes, no proactive politician may like bureaucrats to assert on a particular subject, but environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh’s tirade against bureaucrats in the wake of Shyam Saran’s controversial resignation was quite hard-hitting, and some would perhaps argue it as avoidable.

Asserting that he was not a rubber stamp to the bureaucracy, Mr Ramesh said on Wednesday that it’s the job of a politician to set the policy, and bureaucrats are consultants. “Bureaucracy cannot dictate policies”, he told a group of media persons on Wednesday. He too agreed that he had differences with PM’s special envoy on climate change Shyam Saran, adding that bureaucracy can’t dictate policies as it was ultimately the minister who had to face Parliament. He further claimed that he had the support of the Prime Minister on all issues.

In fact, Mr Saran, a former Indian Foreign Service officer of 1970 batch, recently announced that he would quit his job with effect from March 14, though he did not spell out his serious differences with Mr Ramesh. There was a speculation that Mr Saran who now holds the rank of a secretary, would be promoted to the rank of a minister of state.

Significantly, Mr Ramesh’s observation on bureaucracy came at a time when most bureaucrats around the country were watching the superlative performance of another Ramesh – Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who made history by becoming the first batsman in the world to pull a double century in an one-day international match!

It could not be verified whether Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh who himself was a bureaucrat and served as a finance secretary, would back Jairam Ramesh on his outburst against bureaucracy, but PM did send a congratulatory message to the other Ramesh on his reaching yet another milestone at Gwalior match, and termed it a “magnificent achievement”.

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Action and Appointments

a) Shatrughna Singh, a 1983 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS, has been appointed as joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

b) Ms Sneh Lata Kumar, a 1979 batch MP cadre IAS has been appointed as MD, TRIFED under the ministry of tribal affairs at the level of joint secretary for the period from the date of assumption of charge of the post till August 13, 2010.

c) Ms Kiran Chadha, CSS, and joint secretary in the ministry of women and child development, has been appointed as Executive Director, Rashtraya Mahila Kosh under the ministry of women and child development.

Netas upset over bureaucrats assessing them, cabinet secretary’s pet project now at stake

CALL it a new avatar for Indian bureaucrats. Having remained at the mercy of politicians for decades and becoming victims of random transfers and politically-motivated postings, bureaucrats have now discovered a new role --- assessing their political masters!

If Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh-backed innovative idea of assessing his ministries by a group of bureaucrats goes through, it will be the first case of babudom over netagiri in Independent India. Yet, with some senior cabinet ministers opposing the system in public, there are doubts whether the efficiency enhancing tool, aimed at improving administrative delivery and accountability, will actually take off in real sense.

A number of senior Congress leaders have raised their voice against the newly introduced Performance Monitoring and Evaluation System (PMES) as it will allow a select group of bureaucrats assess the work of a minister, according to a media report.

The system, the first phase for which is implemented in 59 of 84 ministries and departments from January 1--March 31, 2010, allows the Committee on Government Performance (CGP) reviewing the performance a ministry. Incidentally, the committee comprises cabinet secretary, finance secretary, expenditure secretary, secretary (Planning Commission), secretary (Performance Management) and secretary of the concerned ministry or department. According to the PMES, Results-Framework Document (RFD) tracking the targets of a ministry, needs to be signed both by the concerned minister and secretary which then is reviewed by the group of secretaries (CGP), thereby giving bureaucrats an upper-hand over their political masters.

Those ministers who are opposed to this move, believed to be a pet project of incumbent cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar, include health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, road transport minister Kamal Nath, information and broadcasting minister Ambika Soni and minister of state for environment Jairam Ramesh.

“I would like to make it clear that the very concept of evaluation of the performance of a minister by a bureaucrat is totally ill-conceived. It is the minister who is supposed to evaluate the performance of the bureaucrat and not the other way round,” Indian national daily Hindustan Times quoted health minister Azad saying it. According to the report, both Kamal Nath and Jairam Ramesh have not signed the document so far.

The ministers who are however kept out of this assessment are finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, external affairs minister SM Krishna, defence minister AK Antony (defence) and home minister P Chidambaram.

On November 3, 2009, cabinet secretary inaugurated a workshop on Results Frameworks Documents (RFD) which was attended by 250 officials.

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Action and Appointments

Nine IAS officers transferred in AP

In a major reshuffle of senior officers in Andhra Pradesh, Shekhar Prasad Singh (1983 batch) has been appointed principal secretary information and communications whereas MT Krishna Babu (1993 batch) will be the CMD of AP Central Power Distribution Company Limited. The other appointments are:

G Sai Prasad (1991 batch): Vice-chairman of AP Housing Board

D Vara Prasad (1997 batch): Collector of Nizamabad district

D Sambasiva Rao (1984 batch): Secretary, secondary education

K Sunitha (1996 batch): Director, Youth Services

D Kadmiel (1993 batch): Chief Commissioner of Land Administration (CCLA)

R Subba Rao (1992 batch): Secretary SC, ST Commission

Yogita Rana (2003 batch): Deputy Commissioner Commercial Taxes

Urban development secretary M Ramachandran presents the first copy of his book to PM

THE dateline is New Delhi’s Nirman Bhawan. And byline? Yes, urban development secretary and 1972 batch Uttaranchal cadre IAS M Ramachandran has turned into an author. He presented the first copy of his book titled, “An Alternative Approach to Project Planning in Public Works - The Indian Context”, to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Monday, July 6, 2009.
Among those who were also present during his 15-minutes-long interaction with the Prime Minister were minister for environment & forests Jairam Ramesh, Planning Commission Member B K Chaturvedi, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan and Mrs M Ramachandran (See picture above).
Mr Ramachandran, who is a strong contender for the cabinet secretary’s post next year, had an M Phil in economic planning from the University of Glasgow, UK and PhD in project planning. In fact, the book is an outcome of his PhD project on project planning which provides an insight into the procedural hiccups and perhaps for the first time, suggests an alternate approach.


Babus In Demand

A) Member, CAT at Patna: Applications are invited from eligible officers for one vacancy of Administrative Member in the Central Administrative Tribunal at Patna occurring on September 11, 2009. The Member shall hold offices for five years, and the conditions of service shall be the same as applicable to Judges of the High Court. Last Date: August 10, 2009
B) Judicial Members, CAT at Ahmedabad and Chandigarh: Applications are invited from suitable candidates for filling up two vacancies of Judicial Members in the Central Administrative Tribunal in Ahmedabad and Chandigarh Bench. The conditions of service will be the same as applicable to Judges of the High CourtLast Date: August 10, 2009. If you have any doubt, just pick up the phone and call the office of secretary, the ministry of personnel, at 011-23094848.

Action and Appointments
A) Anu Aggarwal, IAS (Nagaland, 2001) will be considered for Inter-Cadre deputation to Punjab cadre only after completion of six years in her cadre and after completion of 'cooling off' requirements.
B) The proposal of the ministry of home affairs for the inter-cadre deputation of J Ajay Kumar, IAS (Assam, 1997) from Assam-Meghalaya to Andhra Pradesh for a period of three years has been approved.
C) The appointment of A K Singh, IFS (Assam, 1984) as Controller (Admn.) in the National Technical Research Organisation has not been approved
D) The extension in Central deputation tenure of Umesh Kumar, IPS (Assam, 1984), IG, CISF has been approved for one year beyond June 11, 2009 or until further orders.