Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, IITs, IIM among others to house urban Centres of Excellence

INDIA'S two premiere institutions in the field of administration, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie and Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad will be among 13 academic institutions to house newly set-up Centres of Excellence for promoting various facets of urban development and management. Significantly, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (See director's building in picture) is the apex training institution in the country for senior members of the civil services in India. The other institutions selected to house such Centres for producing cutting-edge research, carry out capacity building activities and improve the domain’s technical knowledge base in urban areas are Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Delhi, Chennai and Guwahati, India Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), New Delhi, Centre for Environment and Development, Thiruvanthapuram, Centre for Environment Planning and Transport, Ahmedabad, National Institute of Technology, Warangal and the Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi. While inaugurating a workshop on Centres of Excellence on urban development and urban transport, union minister for urban development S Jaipal Reddy said in New Delhi on Monday that projects and studies taken up by these centres would help in developing managerial, technical and analytical skills which can gainfully be deployed by the Urban Local Bodies.

Awards for Field publicity officers Field publicity officers and field publicity assistants of various regions will be given awards at the valedictory function to mark 50 years of Directorate of Field Publicity (DFP). To mark this occasion, a three-day national workshop to be held at Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) auditorium in New Delhi would be inaugurated by minister of information & broadcasting Ambika Soni on October 28, 2009.

Global Capsule: Hatoyama's tirade against bureaucracy continues Japan's Prime Minister Hatoyama said in his inaugural speech at the Diet that his government was determined to wean Japan away from its dependence on bureaucracy. The "bloodless" changeover in government was "the choice of the people," according to new PM, who promised to end the bureaucratic waste of taxpayers' money and build a more equal Japan-US partnership.

Action & Appointments a) V Venkateshwara Bhatt, a 1976 batch UT cadre IAS, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as Member (Finance), Atomic Energy Commission, Space Commission and Earth Commission, in the rank and pay of additional secretary by temporarily operating the post at the level of additional secretary. b) Dr K Radhakrishnan, distinguished scientist and presently director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre has been appointed as secretary, department of space and chairman, Space Commission for a tenure up to the age of 64 years in place of G Madhavan Nair, on completion of his tenure on October 31, 2009. c) K M Acharya, a 1974 batch MP cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment will hold additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry and child development for a period of three months or until further orders. d) Pramode Kumar Mishra, a 1984 batch IA&AS officer has been appointed as additional financial adviser (joint secretary level) in the ministry of defence for five years or until further orders.

Track Your Officers: CSS officials to have IAS-like ER Sheets now

CALL it following the IAS brigade. The executive record sheets of the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) officers will now be done in the same format as it's recorded in case of IAS officers. In an office memorandum of the department of personnel and training (DoPT), tagged as "important, immediate and timebound" the CSS officicers who have not submitted their data in the new format are now requested to send hard copies of their details in a prescribed format. Once the new ER Sheets are finalised, spotting a CSS officer's career through online medium would be possible. ER section of the CS division will handle the new database. Significantly, the Central Secretariat Service (CSS) is one of the earliest organized services in the country. It's traced back to 1919 when the Imperial Secretariat Service came into being as one of the off-shoots of the Lewllyn-Smith Committee which had been set up on the eve of the introduction of the Montague Chelmsford Reforms. CSS cadre officers are working at the level of assistant, section officer, under secretary, deputy secretary, director and joint secretary or additional secretary under Central Staffing Scheme of government of India. Read: OFFICE MEMORANDUM DATA ENTRY FORM

Action & Appointments K M Acharya, a 1974 batch MP cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry of women and child development for a period of three months or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

NDA & Naval Academy Exam (I), 2010 on April 18, 2010 The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will hold the National Defence Academy and Naval Academy Examination (I), 2010 on April 18, 2010 for admission to Army, Navy and Air Force Wings of NDA for 125th Course and Naval Academy for 45th 10+2 (Executive Branch) Course commencing from December 30, 2010.

Rly officiers to meet Dr Caprez of UNESCO Officials of ministry of railways will hold intensive discussions with an expert team of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) led by Dr Gion Caprez next week to ensure Matheran Light Railway (MLR) a World Heritage Site. Mr Caprez will be in India from 24 - 31 October 2009. Matheran is the tiniest hill station of India, located on the Western Ghats range (about 110 km from Mumbai) in Maharashtra at an elevation of 800 m above sea level. This hill station was connected with Neral station on planes situated nearly midway of the Mumbai-Pune road by constructing a unique two feet narrow gauge railway track by Abdul Hussain, son of the business tycoon, Sir Adamjee Peerbhoy of Mumbai. The construction started in 1904 was finally opened to traffic in 1907.

Why do Goan Netas hate babus? State politicians demand separate IAS, IPS cadre only for Goa

TENSIONS between Netas and babus in India are well known, but it has reached the climax in Goa where politicians have openly criticized their bureaucrats as inefficient and non-cooperative. Tensions have reached the stage when the government of Goa has begun consultation with the Central government to create a separate cadre for the state of Goa only. Currently, Goa (See picture) is a part of the AGMUT cadre (Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Union Territories), where bureaucrats are transferred among those states and union territories. But if there is a separate cadre only for Goa, local politicians will have the power to transfer them at their will. State chief minister Digambar Kamat said in a written reply tabled in the assembly recently that the possibility of having an independent cadre of IAS (Indian Administrative Service) and IPS (Indian Police Service) officers only for Goa was being explored in consultation with the government of India. According to media reports, sole Rajya Sabha MP from the state Shantaram Naik had even accused IAS and IPS officers posted in the state of being inefficient and uncooperative, and added that it was very difficult to get rid of bad, uncooperative officers as that comes under the jurisdiction of the Union home ministry. Read "Netagiri & babudom: A new set of instructions issued to help officers communicate with MPs" posted on August 7. Files To Fields Feeling bored at going through the unexcited files! Here’s a smart alternative. Come autumn, a series of sports events will make civil servants working in various Central government ministries and departments of Delhi engaged allowing them to temporality junk files and join their colleagues in fields. Whereas inter-ministry chess tournament will be held at Nirman Bhawan from September 15 to 25, 2009, the volleyball encounter will take place at Brassey Avenue, Delhi from September 9 to 11. And that’s not all. Central civil servants cultural and sports board in collaboration with Gujarat government is organizing another volleyball tournament from October 6 to 8, 2009 at Gandhinagar. Also read, "WATERLOO: Civil servants may show their talent in a Water Polo event in Delhi" posted on July 29, 2009. Action & Appointments 1) R K Jain, a 1981 batch IAS of Himachal Pradesh cadre has been appointed as chief (joint secretary level), National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) under the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) in the pay scale of Rs 18400-22400 (pre-revised), for a period of three years. 2) K M Acharya, a 1974 batch MP cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in ministry of women and child development from August 29, 2009 to September 6, 2009, and for any extended period of the spell of leave of Anil Kumar, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS.