When a cabinet minister sits behind PMO officials in a government function

WHAT could be described as a rare instance in protocol-heavy government functions where sitting arrangement is well-calibrated and pre-determined, a cabinet minister of the Government of India was seen sitting behind PMO officials at a function held in New Delhi on Wednesday. The occasion was the presentation of ideas on governance, science and technology, and energy and environment to Prime Minister by three group of GoI secretaries. As this government-released photo shows, union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar was seen sitting in the second row behind three officials from the Prime Minister’s Office viz…

What PM Modi says about Team PMO

Misra and Mishra of PMO

IF YOU check out the official website of India’s prime minister’s office (PMO) and go through the RTI section, you will come across a sub-head called “official working hours”. It is 9 am to 5.30 pm, Monday to Friday excluding Gazetted holidays, it mentions. But the reality is when the PM himself works till late night, there is no chance for the junior staff to log out at 5.30 pm. And on the day, when Modi Sarkar completed a year, PM Modi chose to sit down with PMO officials and…

PMO’s Mishra Square: India’s second most powerful bureaucrat, 2014

PK Mishra (July 2008 photo)

THE PMO under Narendra Modi has a Mishra Square, quite literally. Two of Modi’s confidants, principal secretary to PM Nripendra Misra and additional principal secretary to PM PK Mishra are calling the shots in South Block, though many in the corridor are convinced by now that between the two, PK is more influential. In BoI Power List 2014, Mishra Square is the second most powerful bureaucrat. When Gujarat cadre retired IAS…

Ordinance route taken to appoint UP IAS Nripendra Misra as principal secretary to prime minister

ON TUESDAY, former Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS Nripendra Misra attended the Narendra Modi-chaired cabinet meeting, the first of the new government, taking the second seat from the left of the prime minister, a place designated for principal secretary to PM (cabinet secretary takes the first seat from PM’s left). But Misra was appointed as principal secretary to PM only with effect from May 28, Wednesday, and that too after the new government swiftly promulgated an ordinance to nullify a provision that disallowed…

Gujarat Model, UP Babu: 5 reasons why PM chooses Nripendra Misra as his principal secretary

WHEN former UP cadre IAS of 1967 batch Nripendra Misra was made principal secretary to prime minister, inarguably the most powerful bureaucrat’s post in any government, many in the corridors got surprised. How come prime minister Narendra Modi decided to handpick this 69-year-old bureaucrat from Uttar Pradesh to assist him in replicating the Gujarat model across India? Here are 5 possible reasons behind Modi choosing Misra as principal secretary: