Sexual harassment cases of women officers in armed forces are viewed seriously and investigated, says Antony

AN officer in the rank of a Major General has been sentenced to be dismissed from service after trial by a General Court Martial on the charges of sexual harassment of a woman officer. This is one of the 11 cases relating to allegations of sexual harassment in the armed forces during the last five years. However, the exact sentence has not been confirmed due to the directions of the High Court of Rajasthan. Defence minister A K Antony said in a written reply in Parliament that any complaint of sexual harassment of women officers is viewed seriously and is investigated and dealt with in accordance with relevant provisions of respective Services Acts. For the other cases as well, necessary investigations or Court of Inquiry or General Court Martial (GCM) have been instituted.

From steel pen to pen drive: thoughts of a bureaucrat T C James, who had recently retired as a DIPP director under the ministry of commerce and industry after four decades of the Central secretariat services, sent babu blogger a message. Here are some excerpts: “I started my career in the secretariat when steel pens were the rule and departing when a PC adorns the table of every officer, who now carries his correspondence in a pen drive. This is material progress, indeed and some thing on which India has kept pace with the advanced world. One can be proud of it.” Mr James, who was with the government for 13,578 days, according to a calculation of his friend, further wrote, “We inherited a system designed by an external imperial power who never trusted the subjects. The whole administrative apparatus and financial management systems were built on the foundation of ‘trust not the Indians to do the right thing.” We further added to this, more hierarchical steps which every paper and proposal have to climb up and down myriad times to reach a decision which, in more cases than less, would be a decision to defer the decision by referring the matter to a committee or a meeting. It is time we think of alternatives to this process.”

Action & Appointments a) P K Pradhan, a 1977 batch IAS of West Bengal cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of health and family welfare in the vacancy of G C Chaturvedi, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS who joined financial services division of the Finmin sometime ago. b) Rakesh Singh, a 1978 batch IAS has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of Information Technology under the ministry of communications and Information Technology. c) Anil Bhushan Prasad, a 1976 batch IAS of Bihar cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the National Disaster Management Authority under the ministry of home affairs in the vacancy of Harishankar Brahma, a 1975 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS, who had recently moved to power ministry as the secretary. d) Jitendra Shankar Mathur, a 1982 batch IAS of Madhya Pradesh cadre has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of drinking water supply, in the pay band of Rs 37400-67000/- (PB-4) plus grade pay of Rs 10000, for a period of five years or until further orders.

Bengal officers look for greener pastures outside Left bastion

THE sixth Pay Commission and the current economic uncertainty might have stopped civil servants including senior IAS officers abandoning power corridors and joining the private sector, but the flee of officers particularly from the Left bastion of West Bengal has still been continuing. The difference, however, is that they don’t want to leave the government altogether, but want greener pasture somewhere outside the state. The latest case, as has been reported in a section of media, is the 1988 batch IAS and secretary of animal resources M V Rao, who has joined as the deputy director, National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. Andhra Pradesh happens to be Mr Rao’s home state. He had earlier served as managing director of West Bengal Industrial Development Council (WBIDC). According to media reports, P R Baviskar too had requested the government to send him on deputation to his home state, Maharashtra. In fact, political upheavals at Singur and Nandigram and the subsequent events there made many IAS officers looking for opportunities outside the state. According to reports, industries secretary Sabyasachi Sen and municipal affairs secretary P K Pradhan have also expressed their desire to get out of the state. In fact, personal secretaries to Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, minister of state for shipping Mukul Roy and minister of state for health Dinesh Trivedi are all IAS officers of West Bengal cadre. Families of armed forces sensitized on menace of spying Regular awareness programmes are being conducted to sensitize members of Armed Forces and their families regarding the threat perception and modus operandi being adopted by the adversaries, as a number of spying cases carried out by Pakistan-based intelligence agencies were detected. During 2006 to 2009 (till now), eight such cases were registered and seven serving personnel were arrested. And nine serving personnel of the defence forces were either convicted or dismissed, defence minister A K Antony said in Lok Sabha on Monday.