Meet UPSC topper Harshika who is fascinated by cars with red beacons

THE list of highlights that department of personnel and training on Friday released immediately after UPSC results included the following: An alumnus of London School of Economics also figures in the top 25. She is Harshika Singh, 27-year-old girl from Ranchi, the hometown of Indian cricketing icon MS Dhoni. But her passion is not cricket but “economics, anthropology, world affairs and administration”. In her Twitter she wrote:

Meet this non-IAS secretary who wants to make senior performing IAS a lakhpati

SOUNDS odd, but a non-IAS officer Dr Prajapati Trivedi who has spent most part of his life in the World Bank working in no less than 25 countries around the world, is now on a mission to bring in efficiency of government administration, and introduce a performance bonus for employees working in various central government ministries and departments. Dr Trivedi, secretary of the performance management division under cabinet secretariat, has reportedly worked out a proposal under which senior administrators like secretary or additional secretary would get a bonus of no less than 20% of their salary provided his ministry meets 100% target and saves money from non-plan expenditure. That means, a secretary to a highly efficient ministry of the Government of India, who gets Rs 80,000 per month as salary may receive Rs 20,000 more, making him an instant lakhpati. The joint secretaries and other employees in Central government would also be major beneficiaries of this new proposal which has the blessings of cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar and understandably of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. But if the performance of a department/ministry is 70% or less, the concerned officials won’t get a penny as bonus.

Significantly, the government has been toying with the idea of introducing a performance-linked payout to efficient government employees for the last 20 years, but has failed to deliver it so far. Even 6^th Pay Commission recommended a small portion of the government employees’ salary to be linked to performance, but that has not been implemented so far.

In fact, very few people in corridors of power now remember that Dr Trivedi as the economic adviser to government of India during 1992-94, worked closely with Dr Manmohan Singh, then finance minister, and Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, then finance secretary. A product of St. Stephen’s College in Delhi, Dr Trivedi is an MSc in economics from London School of Economics and a PhD from Boston University.

IAS, IPS selected for British government-funded Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence

INDIAN bureaucrats have clinched five out of 12 berths of this year’s prestigious Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence, awarded by the British government for a 12-week-long course in London School of Economics (LSE). The scholarship, which includes full programme fees, living expenses, return airfare from India to the UK and UK student visa fees, is one of the most sought after scholarships even among senior executives of India Inc.

Only in January this year, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) lifted the three-year-old restriction of Indian government employees applying for Chevening scholarship. Those who were selected for the Gurukul Award are Dinesh Arora, a 2002 batch Kerala cadre IAS and Kerala’s Mission Director of NRHM and MD of Kerala Medical Services Corp. Ltd., Arvind Kumar, director in the department of food and public distribution, Delhi, Bandana Preyashi, urban development and housing department (director), Govt of Bihar, Anup Kuruvilla John, 2004 batch Kerala cadre IPS and Superintendent of Police, Kannur, and Alok Tandon, CMD, UP Power Generation Company.

These government officers who were selected from about 1500 applicants from all over the country will now be a part of 12 outstanding future leaders including Lok Sabha MP Madhu Goud Yaskhi, Microsoft India chairman Ravi Venkatesan and Acumen Funds’ CEO Varun Sahni, who will also be attending the programme in LSE.

Significantly, 1993 batch IAS Sanjay Dubey, who recently won the prestigious PM’s award for excellence during the last Civil Servants Day, was a Gurukul scholar of 2005 batch.

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Home Ministry lifts ban on bureaucrats applying for Chevening Scholarship 

Action and Appointments

a) P Uma Shanker, a 1976 batch UP cadre IAS and presently CMD, Rural Electrification Corporation Limited, has been appointed as power secretary in place of Harishankar Brahma, a 1975 batch AP cadre IAS who retired on April 30, 2010.

b) The ACC has approved the assignment of additional charge of the post of Commissioner of Security, civil aviation in the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), to Rohit Nandan, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS and joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation for a period of six months.

c) Arun Kumar Misra, a 1976 batch UP cadre IAS and presently Adviser, Planning Commission has been appointed as Principal Adviser, Planning Commission.

d) The ACRs pertaining to Amaitabh Kant as CEO, DMICDC will be written and reviewed by Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and accepted by the minister of commerce and industry.

e) Deo Dutt Sharma, a 1984 batch Jharkhand cadre IFS has been appointed as joint secretary, in the department of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.

f) The ACC has approved the proposal for the extension of inter-cadre deputation tenure of Vineet Vinayak, a 1995 batch Sikkim cadre IPS from Sikkim to Bihar.

g) IPS officer Vipul Agrawal was arrested in Tulsi Prajapati encounter case, according to Gujarat CID chief VV Rabari.

Know Your Babu: Addl Secretary G C Chaturvedi takes over as head in financial services division of Finance Ministry

G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch IAS officer, joined the finance ministry as an additional secretary on Tuesday and will head the financial services department of the ministry. Arun Ramanathan, who retired as finance secretary last week, was looking after the department dealing with banking, insurance, financial institutions etc. himself. Vinod Rai of 1972 batch, who joined as Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) was earlier secretary to this department. With an additional secretary at the helms now, it would no longer be a full-fledged department. The other four departments in the finance ministry, Department of Economic Affairs (DEA), Department of Revenue, Department of Expenditure and Department of Investment are headed by full-fledged secretary level officials. However, Mr Chaturvedi’s turn to become secretary is not far away as 1975-batche officials are already designated as secretaries to the Government of India. Know Your Babu Fact-file Name: G C Chaturvedi Cadre & Batch: 1977 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre Date of Birth: 17/01/1953 Place of Domicile: UP Mother Tongue: Hindi Indian Languages Known: English, Hindi

Educational Qualification PG, Physics, First division Earlier postings Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs Banking & Insurance, Ministry of Finance (From 26/05/2003 to 19/07/2007) Mission Director & Additional Secretary Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (From 26/12/2007 to 01/05/2009) Foreign Training 1-year course in finance from London School of Economics (LSE), UK, in 1996