44 CBEC officials selected for Presidential Awards, GST Council JS Shashank Priya to be awarded; Full List

AS MANY as 44 employees of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) department including GST Council joint secretary Shashank Priya, Additional Director General in  Directorate General of Vigilance (DGoV) Ms Neeta Lall Butalia, down to two drivers and a head havaldar have been selected today on the eve of the Republic Day, for Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate for specially distinguished record of service. The officials have been selected on the basis of their…

How civil servants celebrated 67th Republic Day; their comments, photos and videos

AS THIS article is being written, Indian civil servants including diplomats stationed across the world have continued to post photos, comments with creative description of their moments of satisfaction while celebrating the 67th Republic Day on Tuesday. BoI picks out this photo of 2009 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS G Veerapandian while receiving an award for a tableau from Andhra Pradesh governor in Vijayawada. The reason? Very few people may be aware of Veerapandian's background and he had to work part-time in tea shops and make parathas at roadside eateries at night to support his education in Madurai. This 34-year-old IAS did his graduation from Loyola College, Chennai, before getting into IAS. Here below are the comments of over a dozen civil servants on how they had celebrated this big R-Day:

India celebrates Republic Day on Tuesday; BoI remembers Delhi Police’s first woman officer Shakuntala Vasishta

AS INDIA is celebrating the Republic Day on Tuesday, with French president Francois Hollande being the chief guest in the parade, it’s the Delhi Police which is taking the challenge in keeping the capital city safe. City’s commissioner of police Bhim Bassi has given messages in social media sites on how to stay alert. “If you notice anything suspicious, inform Delhi Police on tele no 100 or 1090”, he tweeted. But Delhi Police is not about one person or one boss. It has evolved over the years as a strong police force. BoI here remembers Shakuntala Vasishta, the first…

Service at the Risk of Life: Full list of 40 customs and central excise officers winning Presidential Award

Full dress rehearsal for Republic Day Parade-2014

ON THE eve of the Republic Day, the government has announced the names of 40 officers of the Customs and Central Excise Department, selected for the Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificate. Whether it’s catching of smugglers of contrabands and narcotics drugs or detection of tax evasion and trade-based money laundering, these officers…

Bureaucrats, diplomats enjoyed President Patil’s high tea party at Mughal Garden

Thai PM Shinawatra, Indian President Patil during the tea party

IT was Thursday afternoon. The 63rd Republic day parade was over by then. Country’s top bureaucrats, diplomats, armed forces officials along with their spouses reached the backyard of Rashtrapati Bhavan to join the high tea party hosted by President Pratibha Patil. The menu of the President’s “At Home” party included samocha, pakora, fish fries and sweets. And of course tea and coffee!
President Patil who is completing her five-year term in July this year seated at the VVIP enclosure along with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia among others.
But the bureaucrats and diplomats enjoyed the moment by roaming around the sprawling and elegantly manicured Mughal Garden at Rashtrapati Bhavan. It was a sunny afternoon, and none of the 1000 guests was in a hurry to go back home. Chief Vigilance Commissioner Pradeep Kumar and his wife were greeted by many officials present there. Ex-US ambassador Meera Shankar and her husband Ajay Shankar, a former industry secretary, were also spotted chatting with their friends in the corridors. Montek Singh Ahluwalia's adviser Gajendra Haldea, ex-CBDT chairman PK Mishra and minority affairs secretary Surajit Mitra were among those seen chatting with friends and colleagues. A number of secretaries, former governors and political leaders were also present during the occasion.
None of the officials and armed forces bigwigs probably had any idea that 44-year-old Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was by then one of the top 10 Twitter trends in India. But Shinawatra wearing a cream skirt and jacket was the cynosure of all eyes during the high tea party. Those who were present near the VVIP enclosure said woh! when Thai PM said: Namaste India. 
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FM presents Presidential Awards to revenue officials; list includes officials from CBEC, DRI and High Commission of London

ON THE eve of the Republic Day, Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee presented the Presidential Awards to the officers of the Customs and Central Excise and Directorate of Enforcement for exceptionally meritorious service.

While appreciating their role, Mukherjee gave a few lessons to revenue officials. “As our country strives to become a global economic power in a constantly changing world, the guardians of economic frontiers and revenue officials would need to be efficient and friendly with those who comply with the law. They would need to be equally vigilant and swift in dealing with those who hoodwink the system for their personal gains,” FM said. (In picture: FM with the winners in New Delhi)

Whereas Satish Hari Kulkarni, Inspector, Customs Commissionerate of Pune won the award for exceptionally meritorious service rendered at the risk of life, New Delhi-based Additional Director General Debi Prasad Dash and Commissioner (Central Excise), Central Board of Excise and Customs Ajay Jain won awards for specially distinguished record of service.

The other officers who also won Presidential award of appreciation certificate include Navneet Goel, Director (Drawback), CBEC, MK Singh, First Secretary (Trade), High Commission of India, London, Subhagata Kumar, Additional Director, Directorate General of Systems and Data Management, New Delhi, Sunil Tated, Additional Director, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Suresh Kumar, Additional Commissioner, Customs Air Cargo Complex, Bangaluru, Manish Kumar Sinha, Additional Commissioner, Central Excise Commissionerate, Pune-III, SD Chand, Deputy Director, Directorate General of Valuation, Mumbai, R Ravikumar, Deputy Director, Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Chennai, SM Mani, Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, Zonal office, Chennai, Dharmvir Singh, Officer on Special Duty, TRU, CBEC, New Delhi, G Gururaghavendran, Superintendent, Directorate General of Systems and Data Management, Chennai, VS Syed Mohammed, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Regional Unit, Cochin, Jayaraj PG Nair, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Zonal Unit, Mumbai, Surinder Singh Dangi, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Zonal Unit, Ahmedabad, I Ramalingeswara Rao, Superintendent, Central Excise Commissionerate, Vishakhapatnam-II, Prabir Kumar Bhadra, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Sub-Regional Unit, Berhampore, KC Meena, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Regional Unit, Jaipur, Manish Immanuel, Senior Intelligence Officer, Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence, Regional Unit, Ludhiana, Bijender Singh Yadav, Superintendent, Central Excise Commissionerate, Delhi-III to name a few.

IAS officers’ wives celebrate winter carnival

Members of IAS Officers Wives Association, or IASOWA gathered in New Delhi’s Chanakyapuri on Saturday to celebrate the annual winter carnival with much extravaganza of fun and frolic. According to reports, thousands of people thronged the venue that saw setting up of 70 stalls. The sunny morning made everyone spirited. Significantly, it raised funds for Prerna School meant for children of daily wage earners and Thyagraj Stitching and Computer Training Centre for the needy, both of which are being run by IASOWA.