A top Indian bureaucrat and a diplomat meet Obama’s cabinet colleague to discuss about municipal bond, PPP etc.

FAMILIAR with photo ops of an US bureaucrat meeting top Indian leaders? Yes, the reverse too has become a reality now. A top Indian bureaucrat, urban development secretary M Ramachandran and one of the senior most diplomats, Indian ambassador to US Meera Shankar recently met a senior colleague of US president Barack Obama, and discussed a whole range of issues including municipal bond market and public private partnership among others.

Mr Ramachandran and Ambassador Shankar took up a number of issues like urban sanitation and energy efficiency with Shaun Donovan, secretary in US department in housing and urban development. Mr Donovan’s rank is equivalent to a minister in India.

In fact, Mr Ramachandran who single-handedly initiated a big-ticket loan from the World Bank during his US visit last year, has now made a serious attempt to hard-sell Indian cities to big US investors. In addition to packaging India’s urban story to US companies, over-enthusiastic Mr Ramachandran invited Peter M Rogoff, administrator of US Federal Transit Administration to visit an urban mobility conference to be held in Delhi only in December 3-5, 2010. Yes, the conference will take place five months after he retires as urban development secretary!

(In picture: Mr Ramachandran addressing a gathering of India US Business Council in mid-January, 2010)

Write to babu.blogger1@gmail.com to air your views on how a bureaucrat’s personal initiative makes a difference.

Also Read

Ramachandran turns author 

A key contender for cabinet secretary's post

Why ambassador Meera Shankar so powerful?

NTPC’s workshop on RTI

Leading power PSU, NTPC organized a workshop on implementation of RTI Act in PSUs in New Delhi on Tuesday which was participated by public information officers from ONGC, MMTC, CIL, BHEL and Powergrid to name a few. “A Practical Handbook on Right to Information Act-2005” written by SR Khaneja was released by NTPC chairman RS Sharma.

Also Read

Chief Justice under RTI net

200 officers face music over RTI

What makes an Oxford scholar to decipher RTI?

Action and Appointments

a) Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad, Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court has been appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

b) Two CSS officers of deputy secretary rank, SK Gupta and SK Jain, have been promoted to the level of director. Whereas Mr Gupta who is now in the department of administration reforms and public grievances will be posted as a director in the ministry of home affairs, Mr Jain will now be a director in the ministry of commerce.