Bureaucrat-turned Sena activist to train Maharashtrian youths to grab IAS, IPS

FORMER IAS officer Avinash Dharmadhikari, and activist of Shiv Sena will run an IAS-IPS training academy to help Maharashtrian youths with preparing the UPSC exams. The institute, set up by Sena MLA Vinod Ghosalkar and inaugurated by Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray recently, is meant for producing more IAS officers from Maharashtra.

Mr Dharmadhikari who became a newsmaker for his book “Aswastha Dashakachi Diary”, (Diary of a Decade of Agony) was a 1986 batch IAS, but quit the service in 10 years. Some of his major postings as an IAS included additional collector, Pune, district collector, Raigad (Alibag) and deputy secretary to Maharashtra chief minister.

After leaving IAS in 1996, Mr Dharmadhikari got engaged in various social works and founded Chanakya Mandal Pariwar, a network organizations for competitive examinations, career guidance, entrepreneurship development and personality development. Last year, he joined the Shiv Sena and became a full-fledged political activist for the cause of Marathi Manoos.

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PK Basu takes charge as agriculture secretary

Prabeer Kumar Basu, a 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, has taken charge as secretary, agriculture and cooperation in New Delhi on Tuesday, replacing T Nanda Kumar who retired from service on February 28, 2010. He served as additional secretary in the department of agriculture from March, 2007 to November, 2009 before being elevated as special secretary in the ministry from November, 2009.

According to a government release, Basu has been instrumental in the conceptualization and implementation of flagship programme of the ministry of agriculture including Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, and played a special role in the revision of the Macro Management of Agriculture and drawing up the guidelines for the National Food Security Mission. Being the Drought Relief Commissioner earlier, he played a key role in Centre’s attempts to contain draught last year.

Bio-data of PK Basu

Action and Appointments

a) Karan A Singh, a 1984 batch Punjab cadre IAS has been appointed as Protector General of Emigrants (joint secretary level) in the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs for five years with effect from April 1,.2010 or until further orders.

b) PK Mehta, a 1977 batch Haryana cadre IPS, has been appointed as Additional Director General (ADG), Northern Railway, RPF for a period upto November 8, 2011.

c) Anup Chandra Pandey, a 1984 batch UP cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of labour and employment.

d) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for waiver of cooling off requirements and has approved the appointment of Ashok Pal Singh, as Deputy Director General (under non-Central Staffing Scheme) in the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for a period of three years.

e) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for lateral shifting of AK Srivastava, a 1980 batch JK cadre IFS (Indian Forest Service) to the post of Inspector General of Forests under the ministry of environment and forests.

f) The ACC has approved the proposal for the extension of Central deputation tenure of Vipin Kumar, a 1975 batch Haryana cadre IPS as Adviser (Security) in the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) upto November 30, 2011.

g) Navin Kumar, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS has been appointed as Principal Adviser, Planning Commission in the rank and pay of secretary.

h) Arun Kumar Sinha, a 1983 batch UP cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the Department of Public Enterprises.

New agriculture secretary Prabeer Kumar Basu, 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS

IN EARLY 1980s, he was the district magistrate in Bihar’s Monghyr and Darbhanga districts. But for Prabeer Kumar Basu, a 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS officer, the high-points of the career included his stints at the ministry of energy, and then in disinvestment ministry when Arun Shourie was at the helms. Mr Basu has now been appointed as agriculture secretary.

Bio-data

Name: Prabeer Kumar Basu

Cadre and Batch: 1976 batch IAS

Date of Birth: May 23, 1952

Place of Domicile: West Bengal

Educational Qualifications

PG in Physics

Major Postings

a) District Magistrate, Monghyr,

(From June 1, 1982 to May 1, 1983)

b) District Magistrate, Darbhanga,

(From November 1, 1983 to June 1, 1984)

c) Director, Finance, Cadre

(From June 1, 1984 to June 1, 1987)

d) Special Secretary, In Cadre

(From June 1, 1990 to August 1, 1991)

e) Registrar, In Cadre, Agriculture and Cooperation

(From August 1, 1991 to April 1, 1992)

f) Director, Ministry of Power, New Delhi

(From April 1, 1992 to September 1, 1996)

g) Joint Secetary, Ministry of Power,

(From September 1, 1996 to July 13, 1997)

h) Secretary, JS Level, State Electricity Board, In Cadre,

(From November 1, 1999 to March 1, 2000)

i) Joint Secetary, Ministry of Disinvestment,

(From November 15, 2000 to November 14, 2005)

j) Commissioner and Secretary, Additional Secretary Level

In Cadre, Disaster Management

(From April 20, 2006 to February 28, 2007)

k) Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi

(From march 6, 2007 to November 24, 2009)

l) Special Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, New Delhi

(From November 24, 2009 till recently)

Foreign Training

8 weeks course at Sydney (Australia), 1985

Awards or Publications

Nil

Behind the scene saga of tax hounds targeting IAS officers’ premises

IF THE recent spurt of income tax raids at the premises of all powerful IAS officers of the country is any indication, there is an underlying message – the high and mighty of Indian administration too have to pay a price for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. But who has taken this key decision of intruding into IAS officers’ citadel?

Does it mean that politicians of the ruling party have suddenly woken up to the fact that some of its top administrators, read Arvind or Tinoo Joshi, or Babulal Agrawal, have amasses huge cash-in-hand giving complexity to the country’s most corrupt politicians? Or else, does it mean IAS officers had all along been clean, and their resorting to corruption is a relatively new phenomenon?

Both these arguments are absurd, and rather ridiculous. But why then IAS or retired IAS officers (read former mining secretary of Jharkhand, Jaishankar Tiwari) are being repeatedly targeted by tax sleuths only now? If sources close to the development are correct, I-T officials (IRS officers) who are numbered over 4000 have been silently waging a war to end supremacy of IAS in the department, and in the process have shown their strength by targeting the vulnerable lot among the powerful IAS.

In fact, unlike in the railways or postal departments where IAS officers don’t dictate terms, the IRS officers ultimately come under the revenue secretary of the ministry of finance, and the top IRS officer, or the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, holds the rank of a special secretary – one notch below the full-fledged secretary. In other words, the current CBDT chairman, for example, is two batches senior to revenue secretary Sunil Mitra, a 1975 batch IAS, but in the rank he is junior to Mr Mitra.

Significantly, the relations between top taxmen of the country and former revenue secretary PV Bhide, a 1972 batch AP cadre IAS, reached all time low, particularly after the direct tax code was unveiled without consulting the CBDT board members. As the Code proposed to curtail the power of the taxmen by making them a mere a tax collecting entity, all IRS officers fought the battle in unity, and virtually paralyzed the idea originally mooted by former finance minister P Chidambaram and a handful of his key officers. But current finance minister Pranab Mukherjee agreed to the taxmen’s concerns, and the Code is unlikely to get featured in the forthcoming General Budget.

It now remains to be seen whether the country’s top taxmen succeed in converting CBDT into a full-fledged department in line with Indian Railways or India Post, but their recent targets in IAS officers’ premises have sent jitters through powerful administrators across the country who otherwise find their premises almost impregnable from all quarters including the tax hounds!

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Action and Appointments

a) Prabeer Kumar Basu, a 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS has been appointed as secretary in the department of agriculture and cooperation in place of T Nanda Kumar, a 1972 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS who is retiring on February 28, 2010.

b) The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has approved that SK Singh, A 1984 batch IPS may be relieved with effect from the receipt of orders.

c) The extension of tenure of Rajive Kumar, a 1981 batch UP cadre IAS and joint secretary in Cabinet Secretariat has been approved for a period of one year with effect from March 13, 2010.

Young at 65! Planning Commission’s definition of “young professionals”

Sounds funny, but the Planning Commission has been looking for filling up the post of Young Professionals with the maximum age of 65 years! Read YESTERDAY'S POST on jobcorridor.com