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IN ORDER to monitor recruitment of women in government, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has directed all ministries and departments to submit a consolidated report including attached or subordinate offices on the total number of posts and employees group-wise and gender-wise as on March 31, 2009 latest by August 31, 2009. Indicating that it would be an annual process, the department has further said that the consolidated annual position as on March 31 of every year may also be furnished thereafter by May 30 of that year.
In fact, the government has initiated steps to ensure better representation of women members on various committees or boards concerned with the selection to posts in Central government and also to monitor the trend in recruitment of women. DoPT has further written to the secretaries of all ministries/departments of government of India to instruct all appointing authorities to scrupulously observe that selection committees should compulsorily have one woman member for making recruitment to 10 or more vacancies.
Even if vacancies against which selection is to be made is less than 10, efforts should be made in finding a woman officer for inclusion in such committees or Boards, the directive said. It further said that in the event of such an officer not being available in the ministry or department itself, there is no objection to nominating lady officer from any other office at the same station.
Babus In Demand At least 26 joint secretary level officials are likely to be recruited for National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to ensure that minister of road transport and highways Kamal Nath’s ambitious target of 20 km of building highways in a day will be fulfilled. Just wait for a few days to see advertisement regarding this.
UNION minister of road transport and highways Kamal Nath’s appeal to his officials to change in attitude to have a sense of fulfilment and recognition is believed to be well in line with a few UPA ministers’ “make it or break it” policy to bring in changes in their ministries or departments.
Setting an ambitious target of building 20 km of highways per day, particularly in the backdrop of virtual roadblocks to progress of highway project during the last government, Mr Nath is aware that targets would be achievable only if officers put in their extra bit. As many as 38 public private partnership (PPP) projects bid out by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) before the last Lok Sabha polls received no bid at all, explaining the state of affairs of the road programme which was successfully rexecuted by the earlier regime of the BJP.
Mr Nath, who visited the NHAI office in Delhi’s Dwarka area a couple of days ago, stressed upon complete sense of urgency and asked the officials to bring the issues to his notice which require his intervention. He called upon every official to have one common objective and to play their role in keeping India on a growth trajectory by building good highways.
He urged NHAI officials for a change in the work culture to speed up the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP).
A BUREAUCRAT may not have any option to choose his political master, but a right minister always motivates his babus and increases their productivity manifold. If the feedback that I have managed to receive from several top bureaucrats in Delhi is any indication, bureaucrats by and large don’t enjoy working under current home minister P Chidambaram as much as they would have been under say railway minister Lalu Prasad or commerce minister Kamal Nath.
As Dr Manmohan Singh is finalizing the list of his cabinet colleagues for the 15th Lok Sabha, BOI (Babus of India) has short-listed some probable ministers in the next cabinet and tried to figure out whether they are babus’ choice or not.
Pranab Mukherjee
Sure to get one of the key portfolios like external affairs or finance. Bureaucrats working under him don’t enjoy much but those who would build a good personal rapport with the most important man in the cabinet after the Prime Minister, may surely expect to reap benefits for the next five years if not more.
P Chidambaram
Unlikely to get back his pet portfolio – finance. Yet, he is likely to remain in the North Block as the country’s home minister. He is not at all popular among his own bureaucrats as he likes to go into the nitty-gritty of every issue. Babus in his ministry lose their independence, and at times need to bear with his shouting.
Montek Singh Ahluwalia
Current deputy chairman of Planning Commission and a close confidante of Dr Manmohan Singh may get the finance portfolio during this difficult time of the global economic meltdown. I have interacted with him a number of times during the last five years, and have witnessed how efficiently he uses his key men. He is popular among bureaucrats as he always respects their views but never allows them to formulate any policy against the broad theme that he has okayed first.
Kamal Nath
He is the darling of India Inc who wants him to be the finance minister this time. Yet, he is unlikely to be in the North Block though he has a chance to be the country’s next external affairs minister if Pranab Mukherjee is made the finance minister. He always makes good personal rapport with bureaucrats and is extremely popular among them.
Disclaimer: This analysis is based on my own assessment and on the feedback that I have received from bureaucrats and politicians working closely with them.