UIDAI Vacancy: Govt sends reminder on recruitment of UIDAI assistant DGs; last date now extended to 1st week of January, 2010

THE government has given a reminder to all chief secretaries of state to forward the names of the willing and eligible officers to fill up the vacancies of Assistant Director Generals (ADGs) at the level of deputy secretary or director for Nandan Nilekani-chaired UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) under the Planning Commission. As the last date of application now is extended to the first week of January, 2010, it may indicate that the UIDAI has not been able to attract the right applicants so far. It was believed that the process of filling up the said posts was already completed. Babus of India (BoI) could not verify the reasons behind the extension of the last date of application. The posts to be filled up now are located in seven cities --- Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ranchi, Guwahati and Bangalore, also indicating that the government has probably zeroed in the candidate for Hyderabad which also figured in the vacancy circular dated September 25, 2009. The last date of application was the third week of October, 20009. "It is again requested that the names of willing officers at the deputy secretary/director level who are eligible to work at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme may please be recommended to this office", said the reminder issued by the establishment officer of the department of personnel and training (DoPT). Read the actual text of the Wireless Message (Reminder), dated December 4, 2009 Related Posts: 1) Nilekani needs additional DGs in eight cities (October 2, 2009) 2) JS level officers wanted for heading the Project’s 5 regional offices (October 12, 2009) Babus as Authors Urban development secretary M Ramachandran has come out with yet another book, this time on urban renewal. The book, Urban Renewal: Policy and Response, was released by S Jaipal Reddy in New Delhi on Monday in a function which was attended by several senior bureaucrats including principal secretary to Prime Minister TKA Nair who described Mr Ramachandran as his "good friend and colleague". In addition to most senior IAS from the ministry of urban development attending the function, additional secretary in the ministry of rural development Arvind Mayaram and additional secretary in Panchayati Raj ministry J M Phatak were in the guest list. Former Tamil Nadu cadre IAS and CEO of IL&FS UIML L Krishnan was also present in the function.

Ramachandran's Earlier Book

Imagine secretary Pillai or Chawla debarred from briefing press; but new Japanese govt bans bureaucrats holding press meets

IMAGINE home secretary G K Pillai being debarred from holding press meets, or finance secretary Ashok Chawla being told that you can’t brief the media on the budget or inflation! It may sound odd, but that’s precisely going to happen in Japan. In fact, Japan’s new government announced on Wednesday that it would stop holding news conferences by top bureaucrats because only elected representatives, not bureaucrats should represent the ministries. The newly appointed chief cabinet secretary said it after the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Yukio Hatoyama took oath as Japan’s new Prime Minister. Mr Hatoyama’s team has former bureaucrats in it, but the government had already proclaimed that it would curtail the power of 3,60,000-strong Japanese civil servants. Significantly, former finance ministry bureaucrat Hirohisa Fujii is now the new finance minister. New foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, is a former bureaucrat. Naoto Kan, as the head of the new National Strategy Bureau, is however charged with wresting control of policy-making from the country’s powerful bureaucracy. Read “Japanese bureaucrats may no longer be able to practise age-old Amakudari; what’s about Indian retired babus?” posted on September 3, 2009. Minister S Jaipal Reddy wants bureaucrats to write books Urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy wants bureaucrats to write their rich experiences in book form as it was done by his secretary M Ramachandran. This is very much in line with the government’s recent decision to document books, articles, citations, and awards that an official has written or received, in Executive Record Sheets, or ER sheet --- the only publicly available document to track an officer’s career. Mr Reddy may or may not be aware of the recent DoPT circular, but speaking at a function of launch of urban development secretary’s book, “An Alternative Approach to Project Planning in Public Works – The Indian Context” in New Delhi on Tuesday, he encouraged civil servants to document their experiences by writing books. Read, “Government encourages IAS officers to take up writing seriously; medals and citations to count from now”, posted on July 22, 2009.

Implementing government projects is not easy, principal secretary to PM, TKA Nair tells UIDAI chairman Nilekani

IN A lighter vein, principal secretary to Prime Minister T K A Nair gave a strong message to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani that implementing a large project within the government set-up was not an easy task at all. Speaking at a function of the formal launch of urban development secretary M Ramachandran’s book, “An Alternative Approach to Project Planning in Public Works – The Indian Context” in New Delhi on Tuesday, Mr Nair said, “Now Nandan will realize what a project implementation in public sector means”, making everyone in the gathering including urban development minister S Jaipal Reddy break into laughter. For the beginners, Mr Nilekani who was the co-founder of Infosys Technologies, a start-up which has now become India’s second largest software exporter, joined government in one of the rare instances of a private sector honcho experiencing the corridors of power. Significantly, Mr Nair further suggested that Mr Nilekani should finally write a book for which he should keep everyday notes on the progress of his project that will give every Indian citizen a unique identity number. Read, “Will Nilekani make Ram Sewak Sharma a secretary at the rank of additional secretary?” posted on July 24, 2009. Also read, “Urban development secretary M Ramachandran presents the first copy of his book to PM” posted on July 8, 2009. Doc’s assessment of Indian Police force (Excerpts from Dr Manmohan Singh’s speech at All India Conference of DGPs and IGPs in New Delhi on Tuesday) Praise Many terrorist modules have been dismantled and arrests of several important terrorists have taken place. It is on account of your alertness that we have not had a serious terrorist attack since November last year. Caution But our success in preventing terrorist attacks can be sustained only at the price of unrelenting vigilance… We also need to understand better why many more local youth are being induced into participating in terrorist activities and how they are being recruited, indoctrinated and trained. The factors that cause social disharmony and alienation should be clearly known so that we can work to eliminate them. I urge you to pay particular attention to these aspects. Left Extremism The Left Wing Extremism is, perhaps, the gravest internal security threat our country faces. We have discussed this in the last five years and I would like to say frankly that we have not achieved as much success as we would have liked in containing this menace. New-age Policeman We need a new-age policeman who is more professional, better-motivated, suitably empowered, well-trained, one who places greater emphasis on technology for investigation and other tasks. Read, “Doc’s prescription to diplomats: Link diplomacy to India’s domestic economy, says Manmohan Singh” posted on August 26, 2009