Key North Block officials behind Pranab Mukherjee’s Budget

CALL it the Team Budget from North Block, or simply backroom boys for India’s finance minister Pranab Mukherjee as he is presenting the General Budget in Lok Sabha in a few hours time from now. Here are the few senior officials who have worked extremely hard for the last one month if not more, to make the Budget to be presented on Monday, July 6, a big success.

Ashok Chawla & His Team A: A 1973 batch IAS of Gujarat cadre, Ashok Chawla, currently finance secretary, directly controls three out of five departments in Finmin --- department of financial services, department of economic affairs (DEA) and department of disinvestment, where there’s no secretary-equivalent officers now. As he held additional secretary’s post in the ministry of finance from April 25, 2005 to January 1, 2007, he had past experiences in Budget preparation. He is aided by some of the brilliant minds in the DEA --- Anup K Pujari (1980, Karnataka cadre), Kumar Sanjay Krishna (1985, Assam cadre), Alok Sheel (1982, Kerala cadre), K P Krishnan (1983 Karnataka cadre), Gobind Mohan (1989, Sikkim cadre) to name a few. Revenue secretary P V Bhide: An IAS from Andhra Pradesh cadre and batch-mate of Mr Chawla, P V Bhide had the earlier experiences of Budget preparation as he held the same post of revenue secretary when then finance minister P Chidambaram presented the Budget in February 2008. He has been the revenue secretary from June, 2007 and had the experience of working as secretary, disinvestment for a brief period. Sushama Nath & Her Woman Team: A 1974 batch IAS of Madhya Pradesh cadre, Ms Nath is heading a team of women officers in the department of expenditure. Ms Nath, who had played a key role in the sixth Pay Commission, is now aided by additional secretary Vilasini Ramachandran and a 1977 batch IAS officer from Gujarat cadre, joint secretaries Anjuly Chib Duggal of the 1981 IAS batch, Meena Aggarwal from Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) and Madhulika Prasad Sukul of Defence Accounts Service. Men Of The Moment: Finance minister is also aided by a number of other key officers in North Block --- chief economic adviser Arvind Virmani, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman S S N Moorthy, and chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) P C Jha.

North Block’s top taxman keeps his door-light on a green mode

THE door is virtually open if you wish to meet one of the country’s top taxmen --- Sudhir Chandra, member (investigation) of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). Unlike all his predecessors in North Block, Mr Chandra has made it a point to keep his door light on a green mode even when he is in a meeting on serious tax matters. Many government officials prefer keeping the door light on a “red” mode even if they are relatively free, thereby discouraging other visitors to enter their rooms. However, Mr Chandra’s logic of not switching on the red light is to facilitate junior officers of the department to walk up to him without any hesitation, officials in the department have confirmed. A 1973 batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) official and batch-mate of CBDT chairman S S N Moorthy, he holds the rank of a special secretary to the government of India. No wonder, many junior officials of the revenue department find themselves quite comfortable now to enter into Mr Chandra’s room and take up serious matters. As the Member, investigation, he monitors all searches conducted by I-T department. Mr Chandra was chief commissioner of Income-Tax in Ghaziabad (Uttar Pradesh) for over two years becoming moving to the North Block.

BoI Extraa… It’s past 12 midnight now, but not dark as yet. I can still see the outside world from my hotel room located in the heart of Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden which witnesses the long days in summer and equally long nights during winter thanks to its proximity to the North Pole. I am told that if I travel 200 km north of Stockholm, I will be able to see the midnight sun! Anyway, I may or may not go further north, but I will definitely give you a sense of Swedish babudom, and common men’s perception towards bureaucracy here.