Kiran Dhingra appointed as new textile secretary

Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS, is back to her favourite zone: Ministry of Textile. Ms Dhingra who was joint secretary in textile ministry for five years beginning 2000, has been appointed as India’s new textile secretary.

When Rita Menon, her batch-mate in IAS, retired last month, there were intense speculations in the corridors that Ms Dhingra would replace her. But to everyone’s surprise, PK Chaudhary, secretary in the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), was given additional charge of textile for a period of three months.

But only a fortnight later, the government changed its mind and made current Panchayati Raj secretary Dhingra as textile secretary. Whereas most of 1975 batch IAS officers have either retired or are retiring in next few months, Ms Dhingra will continue in office till January 2013, thus giving her one full-year term in the ministry.

A post-graduate in English literature, Ms Dhingra was deputy secretary and then director in human resource development ministry during 1987-1992, and in between she had a stint as OSD to transport minister in 1990-91. She had also worked as Director General (Shipping) and chief secretary of Goa.

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Loretta Mary Vas, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS and special secretary in the department of economic affairs, has been secretary in the ministry of Panchayati Raj in place of Kiran Dhingra.

b) Dilsher Singh Katha, a 1977 Punjab cadre IAS, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as secretary in the department of pharmaceuticals.

Hey there! British bureaucrat issues guide on Twitter etiquette; any cue for Indian babus?

JUST recently Indian minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor landed up into a huge controversy for his tweets when he called economy class travel as "cattle class" after the government issued an advisory for the ministers not to fly business class as a part of austerity measure. Now, a British bureaucrat has published a guide to Twitter etiquette and strategy so that civil servants who are regularly using the popular microblogging service, Twitter, could follow some basic dos and don'ts. Yes, the Twitter can rock as this is being increasingly used by government departments, Members of Parliament etc. and it has the potential to deliver many benefits in support of the government's communications objectives, the British government guide said. But there's a warning! "Inappropriate content being published in error, such as... protectively marked, commercially or politically sensitive information... Require clearance of all tweets through nominated people in digital media team," the official guide said. (Courtesy: Tom Green from Oxford University, UK for alerting babu blogger) Hey there! babublogger is using Twitter. Check at http://twitter.com/babublogger No army officer receives gifts from American company No case relating to Army officers being obliged by gifts from American companies, has been brought to the knowledge of the government, defence minister AK Antony said in written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has issued instructions to identify sensitive posts in various ministries or departments of the Union government, and asked those departments (under its advisory jurisdiction) to rotate officials working in sensitive posts to avoid development of vested interest by the people working on these posts. This information was given by the minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

Action & Appointments a) Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS and secretary, ministry of housing & urban poverty alleviation, will hold additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of urban development during the absence on leave of M Ramachandran, a 1972 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS from December 21, 2009 to January 8, 2010. b) Medithi Ravi Kanth, a 1986 batch Kerala cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of power for a period upto June 20, 2012, from the date of assumption of charge of the post, or until further orders. c) Harbhjajan Singh, a 1983 batch UP cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of heavy industry. d) R C Misra, a 1976 batch Orissa cadre IAS, presently special secretary and financial adviser in the department of information technology in the ministry of communications and information technology has been appointed as secretary in the department of administrative reforms & public grievances and department of pension & pensioners welfare in place of Ms Rajni Rajni, a 1973 batch Haryana cadre IAS.

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.

Why does Indian government skip appointing full-time secretaries in shipping & higher education? Two women IAS made in-charge, for now

IN AN unusual move, the government has decided not to assign two important departments--- ministry of shipping and department of higher education, to any full-time secretaries, making many a secretary-empanelled aspirant baffled. Though both those posts fell vacant on October 31, 2009, the government preferred not to appoint any full-time secretary but took the route of allocating those departments to woman officers who are already handling fairly important departments. In fact, Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS, and secretary of ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation has been given additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of shipping for a period of three months with effect from November 1, 2009. (In Picture: Ms Dhingra during a release of a publication titled, "Major Ports of India 2008-09-- A profile" on November 12, 2009 in New Delhi). Similarly, 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 under the ministry of human resource development for a period of three months. Though these two woman officers are considered to be efficient enough to handle additional assignments, but many in power corridors have failed to comprehend the motive behind the government's decision of not appointing full-time secretaries in higher education and shipping! Also, questions have arisen what's if the government makes it a norm and gives more such additional charges for a few more important departments like DIPP where secretaries are scheduled to retire by December end.

Envoys of 5 nations present credentials to President of India Five envoys presented their credentials to the President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. The envoys were: Jaime Virgillo Nualart Sanchez, the ambassador of Mexico, Jose Maria da Silva Vieira de Morais, the high commissioner of Mozambique, Ara Hakobyan, the ambassador of Armenia, Alexander M Kadakin, the ambassador of Russia, and Robert Tachle-Menson, the high commissioner of Ghana. In her interaction with the envoys, the President said that the global agenda was now full of complex issues such as terrorism, climate change, energy security and eradication of poverty, hunger and disease. The President felt that there was a necessity for developing an equitable world where all can live with dignity, which requires clear vision, determined action and the need for nations to work together. The credential presentation ceremony was attended by the senior members of the missions, senior officials of the ministry of external affairs and Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Also Read: 7 foreign babus present their credentials to Indian President (September 25, 2009) Doc's prescription to Indian diplomats (August 26, 2009)

IAS officers reportedly sabotage a fellow IAS receiving a prestigious state award of Chhattisgarh

A LAST minute decision of debarring public servants from receiving state awards by the Chhattisgarh government forced an IAS officer to face the humiliation of reaching an award venue only to return empty handed. A Chhattisgarh cadre IAS officer of 1999 batch Sonmoni Borah reached an award function in state capital Raipur on November 1 only to realise that his name was deleted at the last moment reportedly at the behest of a few senior IAS officials close to chief minister Raman Singh. Shahid Veer Narayan Singh Award, which is conferred every year on the state’s Foundation Day, was earlier received by an IPS officer Ramesh Sharma, now IG of Bilaspur. Mr Borah, the Bilaspur district collector, was selected for this year's Shahid Veer Narayan Singh Award for his “exemplary service in the field of development” among tribal and backward communities by a committee under the chairmanship of Sohan Potai, a tribal MP from Kanker and four other tribal MLAs. Significantly, diktat from the Chhattisgarh government came at a time when Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which maintains the profiles of IAS officers, has decided to include awards, citations, articles, books etc.in the Executive Record Sheets, or ER sheets of IAS. Sources said that Borah’s name was deleted at the last moment following a section of senior civil servants of the state raising an objection and conveying their views to chief minister Raman Singh who was then in South Africa.

Home secretary Pillai leaves for Kathmandu today for high level talks The Union home secretary G K Pillai is leaving for Kathmandu today for home secretary level talks between India and Nepal. The talks will be held on the 6th and 7th October. During his visit, Mr Pillai is likely to call on the Prime Minister and Home Minister of Nepal. The last home secretary level talks between the two countries were held on 31st October and 1st November, 2008 in New Delhi. Action & Appointments a) D R Meena, ILS, presently additional secretary, department of legal affairs, has been appointed as secretary department of legal affairs for a period of one year from the date of assumption of charge of the post in place of T K Viswanathan, ILS who completed his tenure on 31st October, 2009. b) Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry of shipping for a period of three months with effect from 1st November, 2009. c) The competent authority has approved the induction of Ashok Tewari, a 1993 batch IPS from Himachal Pradesh cadre as DIG in the CBI for a period of 5 years in accordance with the IPS Tenure Policy, 2000 with effect from the date of his joining in the CBI.