Did you miss Khemka’s “Sicilian mafia” comment? And guess why Shailaja Chandra was so happy on Tuesday

Ashok Khemka

DID you miss how Haryana IAS Ashok Khemka compared Vyapam of Madhya Pradesh with Sicilian mafia? Or what former Kerala IAS K Mohandas witnessed in London last week?  And guess which of the two --IAS or IPS Association -- actually condemned “threats and intimidation” of Amitabh Thakur? Finally, why was former IAS Shailaja Chandra so happy on Tuesday? Read on:

Should IAS Sudhir Kumar rewrite his book on railways turnaround?

CALL it bankruptcy to millions rather than billions! Should Sudhir Kumar, influential 1982-batch Bihar cadre IAS officer and ex-OSD to former railway minister Lalu Prasad rewrite his much talked about book “Bankruptcy to Billions: How the Indian Railways Transformed” if current railway minister Mamata Banerjee's white paper painting the turnaround saga in black, comes true? Will Harvard University which too did a case study on Indian Railways' financial success now review its conclusions in the backdrop of the white paper's claim that a cash surplus of nearly Rs 90,000 crore ($18 billion) during Lalu Prasad's tenure as railway minister, was an inflated figure thanks to the changes made in accounting methods. The introduction of a concept called "investible surplus", also inflated the cash reserve by another Rs 23,584 crore ($4.7 billion), the paper said. The question is now whether Sudhir Kumar who was OSD to Mr Prasad from September 1, 2004 to May 22, 2009 will rewrite his book, explaining his side of the story. Mr Kumar who has been a joint secretary in the ministry of power since May 22, 2009, attracted quite a lot of enemies in the Rail Bhawan because of his handholding in all important events of the ministry. No wonder, Indian Railways with 1.4 million employees is one of the very few government ministries which are not headed by all powerful IAS officers. Reacting to babu blogger’s earlier post on why Sudhir Kumar should help Lalu, never known to be a mathematical wizard, in recalculating Rs 90,000 cr surplus in railways, one of the readers commented, “Could it be a case of Alice in Wonderland?”. Post your comments too. Earlier Post Sudhir Kumar should help Lalu recalculating Rs 90,000 cr surplus (July 13, 2009) Action & Appointments a) A Didar Singh, a 1976 batch Punjab cadre IAS, presently Member (Finance), National Highways Authority of India, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs in the vacancy of K Mohandas, a 1974 batch Kerala cadre IAS who is the new shipping secretary. b) Pradeep Kumar Pujari, a 1981 batch Gujarat cadre IAS has been appointed as Executive Director (North) in the Food Corporation of India (joint secretary level), under the department of food and public distribution.

A tribute to S Santhanam, a batch-mate of National Security Advisor M K Narayanan

DURING his heydays, 1958-batch IAS S Santhanam who worked very closely with two chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, NT Rama Rao and M Chenna Reddy, was a well-known figure in power corridors of Delhi. The former bureaucrat, who also served as the secretary to Governor during 1972-'75, breathed his last at the age of 75 in Hyderabad on Monday. He is survived by his wife and two daughters. An alumnus of Loyola College of Chennai, Santhanam was also the additional chief secretary and special chief secretary in AP. He was highly accessible even to common men, and was known for his humour. In fact, the only retired bureaucrat (an IPS) of 1958 batch who is still one of the most powerful babus in capital's power corridor is M K Narayanan, National Security Advisor who retired in 1992. Significantly, the other known name who is a contemporary to Santhanam is J&K Governor N N Vohra, a 1959 batch IAS who retired in 1994. Only September last year, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) organised the golden jubilee retreat for the 1958 batch of IAS. What's more, the first part of the book, "Governance and the IAS: In Search of Resilience" edited by R K Dar gives excerpts of memoirs of 12 officers of the 1958 batch covering administration in Orissa, UP, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, WB, Haryana, Bihar, Assam-Meghalaya and the Central Secretariat. And yes, the 1958 batch belonged to the last batch that was trained at Metcalfe House, Delhi which was in fact the house of Sir Thomas Metcalfe, Governor-General's agent at the Imperial court of the Mughal Emperor and later Commissioner of Delhi. Related Story: A tribute to Gopi Arora of Rajiv era (November 7, 2009) Madhu Koda case to haunt IAS officers now Income tax officials have questioned a few serving IAS officers allegedly involved in former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda's Rs 2500 cr money laundering scam. Mr Koda who was arrested on Monday, has denied such allegation of money laundering or other fraud. A section of media has claimed that the officers under scanner include a former secretary and a principal secretary of mining both of whom are incidentally the serving bureaucrats. The retired bureaucrats are also being questioned. Read: Know the super taxman in North Block anchoring the Madhu Koda episode (Nov 9, 2009) Action & Appointments a) Dr Srikumar Banerjee, Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has been appointed as secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman Atomic Energy Commission for a tenure up to the age of 66 years in place of Dr Anil Kakodkar who is retired on November 30, 2009. b) New shipping secretary K Mohandas, a 1974 batch Kerala cadre IAS will hold additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs with immediate effect for a period of three months or until further orders. c) Sanjeev Kumar, a 1986 batch IDAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of social justice and empowerment.

Govt ends adhocism; appoints full-time shipping & higher education secretaries

THE government has finally chosen the candidates for filling up two key secretary level posts --- ministry of shipping and department of higher education --- a long 24 days after the incumbents got retired. BoI's post on November 21 asked "Why does Indian government skip appointing full-time secretaries in shipping & higher education?" Now, suave and soft-spoken K Mohandas, a 1974 batch Kerala cadre IAS with stints at ministry of finance, and now in the ministry of overseas Indian affairs will be the new shipping secretary whereas Vibha Puri Das, a 1976 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS and currently additional secretary in the ministry of personnel has been appointed as secretary, department of higher education under HRD ministry. It's not known when they would take over their new assignments. Significantly, Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS, and secretary of ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation was recently given additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of shipping for a period of three months or until further order with effect from November 1, 2009. In the same manner, Ms Anshu Vaish, a 1975 batch MP cadre IAS and presently secretary, department of school education and literacy, was given additional charge of the post of secretary, department of higher education for a period of three months or until further order.

Action & Appointments a) Ms Savita Anand, a 1981 batch Rajasthan cadre IFS has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of land resources. b) M F Farooqui, a 1978 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS and presently in the cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the ministry of environment and forests in the vacancy of B S Parsheera, a 1974 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS. c) M R Anand, a 1981 batch IES has been appointed as Deputy Director General, in the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) (joint secretary level) under the department of rural development. d) The government has approved in-situ elevation of Ramesh Chandra Misra, a 1976 batch Orissa cadre IAS as special secretary and financial adviser in the department of information technology, ministry of communications and IT. e) The government has approved in-situ elevation of Ms Bhupinder Prasad, a 1976 batch UT cadre IAS as special secretary in the department of justice, ministry of law and justice. f) P Michael V Siromony, a 1982 batch Kerala cadre IAS, and presently joint secretary(training), National Human Rights Commission under the ministry of home affairs has been appointed as director, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development (RGNIYD) (joint secretary level) at Sriperumbudur (TN) under the ministry of youth affairs and sports. Officials to undergo training to check corporate frauds The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has established Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) to act as the capacity building support for its officers on issues relating to effective corporate functioning and regulation. The Institute will also design and deliver training programmes on such areas relating to corporate laws and regulations on specific requests from any ministry, department and an organisation, a government release said on Tuesday.

Know Your Babu: Secretary of Ministry of Shipping K Mohandas, 1974 batch IAS

Biodata of K Mohandas Name: K Mohandas Batch: 1974 batch IAS Cadre: Kerala Date of Birth: February 18, 1952 Place of Domicile: Kerala Mother Tongue: Malayalam Indian Languages Known: Tamil, English & Hindi

Educational Qualifications PG, Finance, First Division

Major Postings a) Collector, Kottayam District (June 8, 1981 to July 23, 1983) b) Managing Director, Deputy Secretary Level), Finance, (August 1, 1983 to August 1,1986) c) Special Secretary, Cadre, Finance, (October 3, 1989 to July 16, 1991) d) Additional Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, (March 17, 2005 to January 2, 2008) e) Special Secretary, (Secretary Equivalent), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi, (January 2, 2008 to February 4, 2008) f) Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, New Delhi, (From February 4, 2008 till now) Foreign Training a) Diploma in finance, UK (52 weeks in1988) b) Colombo Plan Management for 6 weeks in UK (1996) c) HR Management for 3 weeks in UK (1998) d) Public Enterprises Reform for one week in UK (2000) Awards/Publications NIL