Welcome to New Delhi’s gardens of power this Valentine Day!

WOULD like relax at the nearest point of power corridors of Raisina Hill? Yes, you can come and visit the Mughal Gardens of Rashtrapati Bhavan including the Musical Garden, Spiritual Garden, Herbal Garden and Biodiversity Park, which are being opened for viewing by the general public from February 13 to March 11. The gardens will be open to the general public on all days from 10 am to 5 pm, except on Mondays.

For those not so familiar with the site, the garden is situated near all important government landmarks including Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), ministries of defence, home, finance, personnel and external affairs.

This year the special attraction will be the Cactus corner and a Bonsai segment. A Rashtrapati Bhavan release said, Bonsai lovers would be able to enjoy a collection of such plants, which are on special display. The gardens are also known for annual flowers such as enlivening roses, lilies, tulips, double pansy flowers and eye-catching velvet green lawns intercepted with lotus shaped fountains and blue base water canals.

The Mughal Gardens, contiguous to the main building of Rashtrapati Bhavan cover an area of 15 acres. They were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens who was inspired by the beautiful gardens of Jammu and Kashmir, the garden around the Taj Mahal and Persian and Indian miniature paintings. The central lawn is the venue of numerous receptions and “At Homes” hosted by the President of India.

(In Picture: President Ms Pratibha Devisingh Patil with the flower Tulips at Mughal Garden of Rashtrapati Bhawan, in New Delhi on February 12, 2010)

Action and Appointments

a) The Punjab government on Friday transferred 11 IAS officers, 11 IPS and two Punjab civil services officers in the state. Suresh Kumar, IAS, has been posted as principal secretary, technical education and industrial training and is given additional charge of the chairman of Punjab State Board of Technical Education and Industrial Training. Mandeep Singh Sandhu, IAS, has been appointed as principal secretary of school education.

b) Chhattisgarh government today transferred eight IPS officers and a state police officer. IG Anand Tiwari who was with Police headquarters would now be IG (training). The other officers who were transferred include RK Vij, Rajesh Mishra, RC Patel, SK Jha and Anand Chabra among others.

Year 2009: Government turns Santa for its women employees

FOR woman government employees in India, Christmas came much early in 2009, literally. During the entire year of 2009, Congress-led UPA government doled out many concessions and facilities to women government employees, for which the department of personnel and training (DoPT) even issued new guidelines. According to the guidelines, there would be more representation of women members on the various committees or boards which select Group C and D posts in Central government. It was made mandatory to have one woman member in the selection boards or committees where female candidates are expected to be available for service posts.

Yes, government turned Santa for its women employees much ahead of Christmas! In fact, orders were issued by DoPT in July, 2009, exempting women from payment of fees for competitive examinations or direct recruitment by interview conducted by UPSC or SSC. Further, as part of government's 100 days action Plan for increasing representation of women in Central Government jobs, ministry of road transport and highways and the ministry of urban development were requested during the year to make provision of transport facilities to working women for major work places. In addition, the year 2009 witnessed the child adoption leave getting enhanced from 135 days to 180 days and paternity leave to adoptive fathers increased to 15 days.

Finally, ministries have been advised by the DoPT that when both spouses are in same Central Service or working in same department, they may mandatorily be posted at the same station if posts are available.

(In Picture: Indian President Ms Pratibha Devisingh Patil at Christmas Carols at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on December 17, 2009. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's wife Ms Gursharan Kaur is also seen)

Also Read:

India's top 3 most powerful bureaucrats (October 19, 2009)

Indian Railways' Sari cadre (July 31, 2009)

DoPT's guidelines on sexual harassment (July 25, 2009)

Monitoring recruitment in ministries (July 10, 2009)

RTI Regime: President Pratibha Patil hopes bureaucracy to shed image of red-tapism

IN A rare comment on Indian bureaucracy, President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil said on Monday that Right To Information which was getting embedded into civil society, would bring in urgency to negate the image of bureaucracy as that of red-tapism and certain opaqueness. Inaugurating the 4th Convention on RTI, held in New Delhi beginning Monday, President said, “Institutions are increasingly coming under greater scrutiny. Information is no longer the preserve of a few and there is greater emphasis on transparency of work and accountability. However, there are many occasions where the bureaucracy, evokes an image of red-tapism and certain opaqueness. It is my hope that as the Right to Information gets further embedded into our civil society, there will be even more urgency felt to take action to negate this perception, which at times may be wrong. Good governance and corruption free systems are what people are rightfully expecting, and they can use the Act to get it in full measure.” Meanwhile, minister of state for personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithiraj Chavan said during the convention that the government may make the process of getting information through RTI more user-friendly by deploying suitable technology and removing some legal infirmities. The minister said that the Planning Commission gave an ‘in-principle’ approval for extending a centrally sponsored Plan scheme to strengthen the working of the State Information Commissions to cover IT interventions/E-governance for RTI which would address the issues on both the demand and supply side through the use of technology. Mr Chavan also said that attempts would be made to further strengthen the RTI Act by initiating some legislative changes and more information would be placed in the public domain. (In Picture: The President lighting the lamp to inaugurate the RTI Convention) Straight From Files Dr Manmohan Singh’s prescription for IAS (May 30, 2009) Manmohan Singh asks PMO officials to think creatively (June 12, 2009) Doc’s prescription to diplomats (August 26, 2009) Action & Appointments a) Orders of the ACC for the appointment of Alok Perti, a 1977 batch Assam cadre IAS as additional secretary in the ministry of coal in the vacancy of Rajiv Sharma, a 1976 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS, communicated vide this Department Communication No. 20/11/2009-EO(SM-I) dated 8.9.2009 be held in abeyance till he is accommodated in some other vacancy. b) Rajneesh Kumar Mahajan, a 1987 batch Bihar cadre IAS, has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of coal for the period upto April 23, 2011 from the date of assumption of charge of the post or till further orders. c) Rao Kameswara Simhambhatla, a 1984 batch Indian Information Service officer has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of health research for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or until further orders. d) Inter-cadre deputation of SS Srivastava, a 1994 batch Punjab cadre IPS from Punjab to AGMU cadre has been extended for a period of one year with effect from September 10, 2009. e) Nalla Bhuma Narayan Rao and Samudrala Govindarajulu have been appointed as Additional Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court for a period of two years. f) Piyush Mathur has been appointed as Additional Judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court for a period of two years. h) Alok Singh has been appointed as Judge of the Uttarakhand High Court.

7 foreign babus present their credentials to Indian President Pratibha Devisingh Patil

CALL them foreign babus who presented their credentials to President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil. Yes, seven envoys presented their credentials to the Prez at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Thursday. The envoys are Javier Manuel Paulinich Velarde, the Ambassador of Peru, Peter Joseph Noozhumurry Varghese, the High Commissioner of Australia, Ms Nafsika Chr Krousti, the High Commissioner of Cyprus, Terhi Hakala, the Ambassador of Finland, Janez Premoze, the Ambassador of Slovenia, Adli Shaban Hassan Sadeq, the Ambassador of Palestine and Sami Mohammad SM Al-Sulaiman, the Ambassador of Kuwait. In her interaction with the envoys who babu blogger likes to call as foreign babus, the President welcomed them to India and conveyed India’s desire to intensify bilateral relations with their countries. The President also said that the international community should work collectively to combat terrorism as it hampers peace and harmony in societies and adversely impacts the process of creating prosperity. Referring to the global financial crises, the President emphasized the need for reform in international financial institutions. The credential presentation ceremony was attended by the senior members of the missions, senior officials of the ministry of external affairs and Rashtrapati Bhavan. In picture: High commissioner-designate of Cyprus, Nafsika Chr Krousti presented her credentials to the President, Pratibha Devisingh Patil, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on September 24, 2009. Post comment on whether it’s right to call envoys from other countries working in India as foreign babus, and Indian Foreign Service officers as Global Indian babus?

Action & Appointments AS MANY as 325 candidates selected as assistant commandants of Central Police Forces. The result of the Central Police Forces (Assistant Commandants) Examination, 2008, held by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has been announced. A total of 325 candidates have been recommended for appointment which include 145 General, 113 Other Backward Classes, 48 Scheduled Castes and 19 Scheduled Tribes candidates. These services include Border Security Force; Central Reserve Police Force; Indo-Tibetan Border Police; Sashastra Seema Bal, and the appointment will be made according to number of vacancies available in each service.

Business of aisle and window seats Many Indian bureaucrats are now placing special request to Air India for getting front seats of the economy class or at least for a window or an aisle seat, and definitely not a middle seat. Hurt by the austerity drive of the government which is applicable to their political masters as well, bureaucrats who are otherwise entitled for business class flights are now fully satisfied with grabbing an aisle seat if not one on the front row of the economy class!