BEE SMART: Mayawati’s top cops muster the art of showering praise...

FOR Indian police, it was one of the most bizarre investigations ever when Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ms Mayawati asked her state cops to investigate how and why a swarm of bees hovered around her as she delivered her speech on her birthday rally in Lucknow on March 15, 2010.

But equally bizarre were the results of the investigation as it said there were 1.5 lakhs bees disturbing the chief minister during the rally, and what’s more, the high-level police report prepared by Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), showered lavish praise for Mayawati’s “calm and composure” during the bee attack! The rally became controversial when a garland made out of Rs 1000 notes (with a value of around Rs 5 cr) was presented to the chief minister on the occasion forcing I-T department investigate the sources of that huge cash.

Significantly, in UP, the thin line between officials working for the government and the ruling party has vanished altogether, and those who don’t follow the CM’s diktat get immediately shunted out to inconsequential postings.

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Second mysterious death of an IAS

Home Ministry’s clarification on biometrics in North Block

The ministry of home affairs (MHA) has clarified that unlike some media reports, there has not been any declining trend in attendance recorded in the Biometric Attendance Control System installed there. As against an average of 1087 employees who marked their attendance in December, 2009, the figure has risen to 1173 in January 2010 and 1240 during February 2010. In fact, MHA has introduced flexi-timing under which those who reach late need to compensate by working overtime.

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MHA directive: Don't be late in office

Action and Appointments

a) BS Meena, a 1975 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS, presently special secretary and financial adviser in the ministry of steel, has been appointed as secretary, department of heavy industries in ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises in place of Satyanarayana Dash, a 1973 batch Kerala cadre IAS who retired on March 31, 2010.

b) Jamini Kumar Sharma, a 1975 batch MP cadre IAS has been appointed as Member Secretary, Tariff Commission under the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the ministry of commerce and industry, in the rank and pay of secretary in the vacancy of Raghubir Singh, IA&AS(1972 batch) (Retd). 

All about Maya: IAS, IPS face transfers in UP

In yet another instance of bureaucrats taking the wrath of politicians, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Ms Mayawati, who showed a poor political show during the Lok Sabha elections, finally used the time-tested weapon of transfers to punish babus. In fact, in a major administrative reshuffle, UP government transferred 10 IAS officials on Friday after it had transferred 34 IPS officers, including police chiefs of 17 districts, media reports said on late Saturday. The action includes the transfer of Rae Bareilly DM Anita C Meshram, Kanpur divisional commissioner Dinesh Singh and chief development officer Agra Surendra Singh. Babu Blogger’s take: Let’s give more power to the state chief secretaries and cabinet secretary at the Centre in transfer-related matters. In many cases, transfers do demoralize efficient bureaucrats.

A former bureaucrat appointed as PDP's chief spokesman Former tourism secretary of J&K Naem Akhtar was appointed as Peoples Democratic Party's chief spokesman, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti announced on Saturday. Mr Akhtar, who took voluntary retirement in 2008, served in health, public works and several other departments of the state as a Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officer.

Babus in demand: A Job offer at Trai There is a job opportunity at Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) which has asked for applications to fill up the post of a senior research officer on deputation basis on foreign services terms. The pay scale is Rs 15600—39100, plus a grade pay of Rs 6600 in addition to allowances according to government rules.