Armed forces officers, civil servants to interact on vital security issues

MID-CAREER armed forces personnel and civil services officers will have a series of interactions this financial year on a range of subjects that include security of vital installations, Maoists’ challenges, maritime terror and piracy just to name a few. It’s often alleged that bureaucrats who help political leaders framing policies and those in defence establishment don’t interact much impacting long-term security-related policies. Will this culture begin to change? Here is the calendar of this year’s interactions with venues, topics and dates:

R Vineel Krishna, once abducted by Maoists, selected for prestigious British govt-funded scholarship

R Vineel Krishna, a 2005 batch Orissa cadre IAS officer who was abducted and released by Maoists in February 2011, has been selected for prestigious British government scholarship called Chevening Gurukul Scholarship for Leadership and Excellence. Krishna who is now private secretary to rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, was a popular district collector in Orissa’s Malkangiri district when he was abducted by 50 armed Maoists.
The other two Indian bureaucrats who also clinched the British scholarships are…

Hostage Crisis: Some Orissa politicians blame Patnaik for giving in to IAS lobby

DAYS after R Vineel Krishna, 2005 batch Orissa cadre IAS and district collector of Malkangiri was released by the Maoist extremists, a section of opposition political leaders in the state have questioned Naveen Patnaik government why it gave bureaucrats, mainly the IAS officers, a free hand to negotiate with the Naxals. The CPI leaders are the most vocal among the lot who claimed that the Orissa government had surrendered before the IAS lobby. The CPI in the state further questioned the government whether the authority would have followed up the case with the same rigour had only the junior engineer been abducted.

CPI state secretary of Orissa Dibakar Nayak told reporters that the democratic processes were subverted as the Patnaik government allowed bureaucrats to hold talks and make all announcements without taking politicians into confidence. According to him, the elected representatives including the ministers were ignored during the hostage episode. The party went to the extent of saying that the episode was dangerous for democratic set up.

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Abduction of Orissa IAS

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Vijayalakshmi K Gupta, a 1974 batch IDAS officer has been appointed as secretary (defence finance) in the ministry of defence in place of Nita Kapoor, a 1973 batch IDAS, on her retirement on March 31, 2011.

b) RG Nadadur, a 1980 batch Karnataka cadre IAS, presently Director (PP and PM), Indian Space Research Organisation under the department of space has been appointed as additional secretary and financial adviser in the department of space in place of G Balachandran, a 1977 batch West Bengal cadre IAS. It was also directed that in so far as his work relating to financial adviser is concerned, he should work under the supervision of the Member (Finance), Space Commission.

c) R Desikan, Trustee, Consumer Association of India (CAI) has been appointed as Member of the Civil Aviation Economic Advisory Council(CAEAC). The CAEAC was constituted by the ministry of civil aviation on December 9, 2010 to look and advise the ministry on economic issues relating to the civil aviation sector.

Naxal sympathizer and senior IAS Pancham Lal to contest Parliamentary elections

MEET this Bihar cadre IAS Pancham Lal who is the batch-mate of some of India’s most high profile bureaucrats --- World Bank ED and possibly the next cabinet secretary Pulok Chatterji, Sonia Gandhi-chaired NAC secretary Rita Sharma and Information and Broadcasting secretary Raghu Menon just to name a few.

Pancham Lal, a 1974 batch secretary level IAS, has recently come under a major controversy when he said 90 percent cases against the Maoists are false. Not just that, he suggested withdrawal of all criminal cases against Maoists, a Times of India report said. Union home ministry has not yet reacted to his statement.

In fact, Lal, a Dalit MP and Bihar’s principal secretary of parliamentary affairs department recently sought voluntary retirement to contest assembly elections on a CPI-ML ticket from Naxal stronghold Bhojpur, but later changed his mind to wait for a while and contest the Parliamentary polls instead.

For Lal, Naxalism is not a law and order problem but a pure political issue and it can be resolved through negotiations. According to media reports, he often cites examples Bihar’s former CM Karpoori Thakur who released many Maoists.

It’s not the first time Lal became the newsmaker. A few years ago, he called in Army and police from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh to take on the then Siwan MP Mohd Shahabuddin who had allegedly assaulted a district police officer. In 2002, Lal uttered derogatory remarks about politicians forcing then RJD regime to transfer him. National president of Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas Paswan, then a Lalu baiter, had expressed resentment over the transfer of Lal, then Saran divisional commissioner.

Gupteshwar Pandey, 1987 batch Bihar cadre IPS officer, too sought voluntary retirement to contest elections in Bihar, but he is now very much in the service. Also, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh or RCP, a 1984 batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s private secretary was recently nominated to Rajya Sabha on a JD(U) ticket.