What does chief secretary Jawed Usmani mean when he compares UP with a big aircraft?

WHEN BoI tweeted UP chief secretary and 1978 batch IAS Jawed Usmani’s statement on Saturday that “Uttar Pradesh is like a big aircraft which cannot be turned around quickly”, there were endorsements as well as sharp reactions. One Akhil Shastry wrote back saying that UP is like the Kingfisher aircraft which has been…

Dear Usmani, ask your men to be “civil servants”, not servants to any minister

Usmani

FIRST we would like to congratulate you. You could have become either the commerce or economic affairs secretary, had you not ventured into becoming chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh, one of the most problematic states with a population of whopping 200 million, or 40 times than that of Norway. Many in corridors firmly believe you are a future cabinet secretary. No one doubts your talents; nor should anyone question your administrative skills.
Having said that, the “badtameez” episode that took place on Tuesday may not only demoralize bureaucrats across the country but also dent your image if you prefer to remain silent.
For our readers, here is the summary of Uttar Pradesh’s badtameez incident displaying the worst form of Netagiri:

BoI Power List, 2012: UP chief secretary Jawed Usmani is 4th powerful bureaucrat

IF YOU go deeper into the growing political bonhomie between Samajwadi Party and the Congress in the recent months, you may come across the groundwork done at the bureaucratic level to facilitate such a political meeting of minds. For UP, which has failed to emerge as Uttam Pradesh so far, this could be a phase where “friendly” Central government doles out huge grants, and goes an extra mile in clearing projects that are stuck at the Central level. And the Lucknow-based bureaucrat, the 1978 batch senior-most IAS officer Jawed Usmani, has used most of it thanks to his personnel rapport with…

Pulok’s trusted man Jawed Usmani may be named India’s next commerce secretary

Jawed Usmani, a 1978 batch UP cadre IAS and one of Pulok Chatterji’s most trusted men, is likely to be named as India’s next commerce secretary. As incumbent Rahul Khullar of 1975 batch is likely to take up an assignment at Brussels in March, the government may bring in star bureaucrat Usmani who had two innings in Prime Minister’s Office, the first between 1996 and 2001, and then under Manmohan Singh between 2004 and 2007. Usmani then moved to Washington DC to join as senior adviser to India’s executive director in the World Bank. Being the senior most IAS of 1978 batch, Usmani’s appointment will also mean all his secretary-empanelled batch-mates immediately getting an elevation from the current rank of additional secretary to the position of special secretary.
A product of IIM-Ahmedabad, Usmani is also armed with a degree of MSc, social policy and planning from London School of Economics. Since November 2010, Usmani has been on sabbatical, and was based in New York. He was affiliated with Center for the Advanced Study of India (CASI) under the University of Pennsylvania as a visiting scholar, doing research on climate change and India.

Both in PMO and World Bank, Usmani worked under Pulok Chatterji, current principal secretary to PM. The cabinet secretary with suggestions from PM (read principal secretary to PM) decides secretary’s placements.

DIPP secretary PK Chaudhery, a 1977 batch Haryana cadre IAS and his batch-mate and financial services secretary DK Mittal are the two other contenders for the coveted commerce secretary’s position. Chaudhery has recently been given additional charge of the textile ministry after Rita Menon’s retirement. Mittal is also a contender for another key post, DEA (department of economic affairs) secretary that may crop up soon, as 1976 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS R Gopalan is retiring in April 2012. A 1977 batch UP cadre IAS, GC Chaturvedi, who is now the petroleum secretary, may also be considered for the post of DEA secretary. Once Usmani is placed, another 1978 batch IAS Arvind Mayaram, who had a long innings in finance ministry, may get a secretary’s posting in one of the economic ministries.

1978 batch IAS including Usmani, Mayaram and SR Rao will soon be secretaries

VERY soon, 1978 batch IAS officers will be appointed as Union secretaries ending the additional-charge regime in various ministries. As many as 36 IAS officers including Jawed Usmani, an UP cadre IAS and former PMO joint secretary and Arvind Mayaram, a Rajasthan cadre IAS widely known as PPP man, have been empanelled for appointment as secretaries in Union ministries. Nandan Nilekani’s right-hand man in UIDAI Ram Sewak Sharma and Gujarat cadre IAS SR Rao who hogged the limelight in mid-1990s because of his post-plague work as Surat municipal commissioner also figured in the list. The Surat plague of 1994 killed 52 and resulted in a mass migration of over 3 lakh city residents.

Here is the list of the empanelled 1978 batch IAS officers in order of seniority: Jawed Usmani (UP cadre), Saurabh Chandra (UP cadre), Gokul Chandra Pati (Orissa cadre), Arvind Mayaram (Rajasthan cadre), Prem Narain (UP cadre), Rakesh Singh (Punjab cadre), Anoop Mishra (UP cadre), SK Srivastava (Assam cadre), SR Rao (Gujarat cadre), Sudhir Kumar (UP cadre), Anil Goswami (Jammu and Kashmir cadre), Pankaj Agarwal (UP cadre), Rajiv Mehrishi (Rajasthan cadre), R Parasuram (MP cadre), Stuti Narain Kackar (UP cadre), Pankaj Jain (Jammu and Kashmir cadre), Sanjay Kothari (Haryana cadre), Vivek Rae (UT cadre), R Bhattacharya (AP cadre), Desh Deepak Verma (UP cadre), Lakshmi Venkatachalam (Karnataka cadre), AK Mangotra (Manipur-Tripura cadre), V Chhiber (Manipur-Tripura cadre), Ram Sewak Sharma (Jharkhand cadre), Sudhir Mittal (Punjab cadre), Rahul Asthana (Maharashtra cadre), Bipin Bihari Srivastava (Bihar cadre), KN Desiraju (Uttarakahnd cadre), Gop Bandhu Pattanaik (UP cadre), M F Faroogui (Tamil Nadu cadre), KN Srivastava (Karnataka cadre), Ashish Bahuguna (Rajasthan cadre), AP Joshi (Karnataka cadre), V Rajagopalan (UP cadre), P Panneervel (Gujarat cadre) and Uttam Kumar Sangma (Jharkhand cadre).

Six other IAS officers have also been empanelled for secretary-equivalent posts. They are: V Venkatachalam (UP cadre), P Prabhakaran (Kerala cadre), K Jayakumar (Kerala cadre), RC Mishra (Manipur-Tripura cadre), MM Srivastava (Gujarat cadre), Virendra Narayan Gaur (Nagaland cadre), Subha Kirti Majumdar (Bihar cadre) and R Chandramohan (UT cadre)

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Loretta Mary Vas, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS and currently special secretary in DEA, has been appointed as secretary in the department of pharmaceutical in place of Mukul Joshi, a 1975 batch Punjab cadre IAS who retired.

b) Radha Krishna Mathur, a 1977 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises in place of Uday Kumar Varma, who was recently appointed as Information and Broadcasting secretary.