Gujarat IAS Ananya Das transferred to Odisha on grounds of marriage to Muhammed Abdaal Akhtar

Ananya Das, 2015 batch Gujarat cadre IAS, has been transferred from Gujarat cadre to Odisha cadre on grounds of marriage to Muhammed Abdaal Akhtar, 2015 batch Odisha cadre IAS. Ananya, 28, originally belongs to Assam, according to DoPT records. In her social media handle, she calls herself an IAS officer, semi-voracious bookworm, amateur painter and the last but not the least an…

1994 batch IAS Aparajita Sarangi quits IAS; likely to contest Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket

Aparajita Sarangi (Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Aparajita Sarangi, a 1994 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer who took voluntary retirement early this month, is joining the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP), thereby becoming the second IAS officer in the recent time to quit IAS and join the party that has been ruling the Central government. Only in August this year, 2005 batch Chhattisgarh cadre IAS, OP Choudhary, resigned from the elite service to join the BJP. He contested from Kharasia constituency of the state in the assembly poll that was held on November 20. The results will be out on December 11. In Sarangi’s state, Odisha, the BJP is, however, in the…

Food for Thought: Odisha’s Keonjhar police starts a canteen with a theme on cops in Bollywood

ODISHA’s Keonjhar has a unique canteen now. Named as Cops Bollywood Canteen, this open air canteen inaugurated recently in Reserve Police Line of Keonjhar, has a theme on police in Bollywood, possibly the first of its kind where food, cops and Bollywood go hand-in-hand. IPS Association in a social media post has thanked Superintendent of Police of Keonjhar for creating this hangout place for police personnel to de-stress themselves. Some of the characters choose n in the canteen include…

Debjani Chakrabarti’s appointment in CVC cancelled; she will now be ED in Rural Electrification Corporation

THE Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) last week first cancelled 2002 batch Odisha cadre IAS Debjani Chakrabarti’s appointment as director in the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on a lateral shift basis, and then appointed her as the executive director in Rural Electrification Corporation (REC). She has been in the Central deputation since...

IAS Archana Patnaik gets nod for inter-cadre deputation to Odisha; 2 new appointments in National High Speed Rail Corporation

Alignment of India's 1st high speed rail corridor

THE government last week gave its nod to inter-cadre deputation of 2002 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS Archana Patnaik from Tamil Nadu cadre to Odisha cadre for a period of three years on “personal grounds”. The order issued on November 16 said:

Gauri Prashar Joshi: The IAS officer who reached home at 3 am with blood stain on her clothes; 10 Things to Know

IN THE last couple of days, social media has been abuzz with the way an IAS officer — Ms Gauri Prashar Joshi — handled the situation when followers of Sirsa Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim turned violent, forcing even the cops to flee from the scene. All had happened at Haryana’s Panchkula on Friday soon after Ram Rahim was convicted of rape. Ms Joshi who is Panchkula’s deputy commissioner and is also the mother of an 11-month-old, had minor injuries, reaching home as late as 3 in the morning, with blood stains on her clothes. Want to know more about this brave lady IAS officer? Here are 10 things to know about her:

Obituary: Ex-IAS and “Chanakya of Odisha politics” Pyari Babu; 10 things to know

ON SUNDAY, Pyarimohan Mohapatra, a 1963 batch retired IAS officer and former political advisor to Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik died, aged 77 years. One of the very few IAS officers playing a more exciting second innings in politics —he was also a Rajya Sabha Member—Mohapatra was instrumental in Patnaik’s rise in Odisha politics till the CM suspected Mohapatra’s “coup attempt” to topple him when he was away in London in 2012. Here are the 10 things to know about the former IAS who many fondly called as Pyari Babu:

DoPT secretary-headed panel gives its nod to Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal’s inter cadre deputation to Bihar; rejects Rahul Singh’s proposal for Haryana

INTER cadre deputation of 2005 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS Rahul Ranjan Mahiwal from Maharashtra cadre to Bihar cadre has cleared a hurdle, as secretary DOPT-headed committee in a meeting dated November 18 decided to give its go ahead. The proposal, however, needs to be approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. The same secretary-headed committee rejected the proposal of inter cadre deputation of Rahul Singh, 2013 batch AGMUT cadre IAS, from AGMUT cadre to Haryana. Here are six cases of inter-cadre deputation or their extension, and decisions on those:

UP Singh redesigned as DG of National Mission of Clean Ganga; 3 IAS got shunted out of this “jinxed” post

UP Singh, 1985 batch Odisha cadre IAS, has been re-designated as Director General in National Mission for Clean Ganga in the rank and pay of additional secretary of the government of India with retrospective effect from October 7, 2016, according to an order dated November 21, 2016. Singh was a powerful bureaucrat in the ministry of petroleum, where he first served as joint secretary and then additional secretary, before getting laterally shifted to…

An IAS couple, a course in Cambridge, a photo on mathematical bridge, and an engaging Twitter commentary

Usha and Arvind Padhee

WHEN this Odisha cadre IAS couple of 1996 batch visited UK for a short training programme in Cambridge University earlier this month, their followers in social media— many from their home state Odisha — were excited to find every little detail of their visit, from landing at London’s Heathrow airport to taking leadership lessons from Professor Harold Chee and then taking the photo of India's first licensed pilot JRD Tata at Air India lounge of the airport before taking the return flight to New Delhi — all thanks to their updates in Twitter. Usha Padhee, a joint secretary in civil aviation ministry and Arvind Padhee, a joint secretary in the ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, along with a few other bureaucrats…

Govt may prematurely repatriate Dr Adapa Karthik to Punjab cadre; asks KS Raj to wait before getting inter-cadre deputation to UP

THE government may soon prematurely repatriate 2008 batch Punjab cadre IAS Dr Adapa Karthik from AGMUT (Chandigarh administration) to Punjab cadre, but has rejected the proposal of inter cadre deputation of 2011 batch Punjab cadre IAS Kumar Saurabh Raj from Punjab cadre to Uttar Pradesh cadre, as he has not completed the required service of nine years in the cadre to be eligible for inter-cadre deputation, according to...

20 months of adhoc CMD in Oil India; New advt says, experience in oil sector only “desirable"

UP Singh, IAS

AFTER 20 months of running India’s second largest public sector explorer, Oil India Ltd (OIL), with an adhoc CMD, the government has issued a fresh advertisement looking for suitable candidates from Central Public Sector Enterprises, Group “A” services (joint secretary on a deputation) or officers from armed forces holding the rank of major general or above to fill up the post of chairman and managing director (CMD) currently being held by petroleum ministry’s additional secretary and 1985 batch Odisha cadre IAS Upendra Prasad Singh. Singh, considered to be the most powerful bureaucrat in the petroleum ministry because of his…

IAS officer on “10 years of study leave” deemed to have resigned; others still missing in action

THE government on Wednesday issued a notification to be published in Gazette of India that 1976 batch Odisha cadre IAS Jayanth Kumar Dev is deemed to have resigned from IAS with effect from May 10, 2007, after repeated attempts by the Centre to locate him, the most recent being its direction to the government of Odisha on September 9, 2014 to make available of the status of the show-cause notice issued to Dev. According to records available with the department of personal and training (DoPT), Dev, originally hailing from Tamil Nadu is 63 years old and was on...

Sam Pitroda is new tech advisor to Odisha govt; Will he put together a team of non-bureaucrats once more?

NOTED telecom guru and inventor Sam Pitroda on Wednesday was appointed as technical advisor to Odisha government. The man who has immense contribution in India's telecom revolution from late 1980s onward, is now expected to play a key role in making Odisha, currently a laggard in IT and telecom, a front-runner, as the state turns 100 years in 2036. Pitroda is expected to anchor the preparation of the state’s Vision 2036, according to the press statement issued by the state chief minister’s office. But keeping in mind Pitroda’s earlier innings, it can safely be assumed that he won’t bank on bureaucrats much, but will cobble together a team of technocrats comprising…

RIP APJ Abdul Kalam: How IAS, IPS, IFS officers remember this former President

Joint Secretary Usha Padhee with Kalam (File photo)

WHEN the news surfaced on Monday evening that India’s Missile Man and former President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam died in Shillong aged 83, a number of sitting and former bureaucrats took to social media platform to express their condolences, narrating their earlier associations with the man who dreamed big for the nation. 1996 batch IAS Usha Padhee released her photo with Kalam. Read more to know about the IAS who received his graduation certificate from Dr Kalam, the IFS officer who once organized Kalam’s visit to Sydney and the officer who chose to tweet a Sanskrit verse on Kalam's farewell:

Know Your Babu: 10 things about Odisha’s new chief secretary Gokul Chandra Pati

Gokul Chandra Pati, a 1978 batch IAS, is becoming the new Odisha chief secretary. After the Centre had given its nod to repatriate the officer, currently working as union defence production secretary, there have been lots of excitement in Odisha babudom. State tourism and culture secretary Arvind Padhee on Tuesday tweeted like this:

Know Your Babu: 2 new cabinet secretariat JS, Tuhin Kant Pandey and Deepti Umashankar

Deepti Umashankar, IAS

CABINET secretariat has recently got two new faces, 1987 batch Odisha cadre IAS Tuhin Kant Pandey, currently in Planning Commission and 1993 batch Haryana cadre IAS Deepti Umashankar, now in DoPT. One is an MBA from a UK school, and the other knows French! Let’s know more about these two officers: Pandey and Umashankar.

Odisha IAS Arvind Padhee turns a smart salesman to package his state. How?

MEET this officer who describes himself a “born optimist”. And on April 23, this is what he tweeted: “Am now in one of the hottest places in #Odisha this summer. The warmth n 'no-double speak' attitude of d 'Samalpurias' give pure delight. :).” Arvind Padhee, who is a 1996 batch Odisha cadre IAS officer and secretary to the state’s tourism and culture department, passionately uses his social media handles to promote…

Know Your Babu: New Hupa secretary Anita Agnihotri is a noted Bengali writer, poet

“Those Who Had Known Love”—is an English translation of Bengali lyrical novel Jara Bhalobesechhilo written by an IAS officer of 1980 batch, Anita Agnihotri. As Agnihotri of Odisha cadre has recently taken over as secretary of the ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation (Hupa), BoI here presents some of the highlights of Agnihotri’s career as a writer, and also as an…

A year later, 1979 batch IAS topper Hrusikesh Panda empanelled as secretary; batch-mate Kusumjit Sidhu elevated too

Hrusikesh Panda, 1979 batch Odisha cadre IAS who most people in the state know more as a fiction writer than an administrator, has finally got his due. Panda, who was incidentally the topper of his batch, was empanelled on Thursday as Union secretary after the secretary-empanelment of his following batch, (1980 batch), got over. Almost a year ago, BoI wrote a piece on how…