Edelweiss Financial Services appoints ex-finance secretary Sunil Mitra as independent director

Sunil Mitra, a 1975 batch West Bengal cadre IAS and former finance secretary, has been inducted as an independent director of Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd, a financial services company engaged in asset management, capital markets, credit, housing finance, insurance services etc. Mitra who had served as disinvestment secretary and revenue secretary was designated as finance secretary only for a month after 1974 batch IAS Sushama Nath, incidentally the first woman finance secretary in India, retired in May 2011.

It was widely speculated that Sumit Bose would succeed Nath as finance secretary, but the finance minister Pranab Mukherjee chose to follow the seniority criteria and designated Mitra as finance secretary for a month. It was another matter that RS Gujral, then road transport and highways secretary and batch-mate of Sumit Bose had by then joined as revenue secretary and surprised everyone to become finance secretary on the strength of his higher position in 1976 batch merit-cum-seniority list.

Mitra was additional chief secretary of the West Bengal government before he moved to New Delhi to become disinvestment secretary in July 2009. Earlier, Mitra was on a Central deputation and was director in the ministry of defence between 1989 and 1991.

Action and Appointments

a) It is proposed to fill up the post of financial adviser in North Eastern Council (NEC) secretariat at Shillong in Meghalaya. The post will be at the rank of a joint secretary. The officers empaneled at the joint secretary level are eligible to apply.

b) Ms Kavita Gupta, a 1985 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS, has been appointed as additional Director General of Foreign Trade at the joint secretary level. She will be posted in Mumbai.

c) V Venkatachalam, a 1977 batch UP cadre IAS, has been appointed as special secretary in agriculture ministry.

Mining lobbies' hands suspected in a newspaper advertisement wishing an AP bureaucrat happy and peaceful retirement days

HOW should a bureaucrat react if there’s a newspaper advertisement greeting him on his impending retirement? M Veerabhadraiah, a promoted Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS of 1988 batch and AP’s industry and mining secretary, has suspected a foul play when he saw advertisements in various newspapers on Saturday wishing him a peaceful life after his retirement on March 31, 2010. The ad which carries the officer’s photograph also praised his recent official visit abroad, a section of media reports said.

Mr Veerabhadraiah, who is tipped to get an extension as mining secretary, complained to the state government and the Hyderabad police about the advertisement. According to reports, the officer finds the episode a “mischievous act”. Significantly, he has been handling court cases involving Karnataka minister and BJP leader Gali Janardhana Reddy, and there have been instances in which he took on the mining mafia after taking charge as the mining secretary!

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Skoch for M Ramachandran and Sunil Mitra

Urban development secretary M Ramachandran and revenue secretary Sunil Mitra are among the Skoch Challenger Awardees for 2010. Whereas Mr Ramachandran, a 1972 batch IAS, won the award in the field of urban development, 1975 batch IAS Mitra, got it in the category of governance. The other awardees include luminaries like Dr Vijay Kelkar, former NASCOM chairman Kiran Karnik and Microsoft Corporation (India)’s chairman Ravi Venkatesan.

And yes, Skoch award has no connection with scotch whisky!

Behind the scene saga of tax hounds targeting IAS officers’ premises

IF THE recent spurt of income tax raids at the premises of all powerful IAS officers of the country is any indication, there is an underlying message – the high and mighty of Indian administration too have to pay a price for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. But who has taken this key decision of intruding into IAS officers’ citadel?

Does it mean that politicians of the ruling party have suddenly woken up to the fact that some of its top administrators, read Arvind or Tinoo Joshi, or Babulal Agrawal, have amasses huge cash-in-hand giving complexity to the country’s most corrupt politicians? Or else, does it mean IAS officers had all along been clean, and their resorting to corruption is a relatively new phenomenon?

Both these arguments are absurd, and rather ridiculous. But why then IAS or retired IAS officers (read former mining secretary of Jharkhand, Jaishankar Tiwari) are being repeatedly targeted by tax sleuths only now? If sources close to the development are correct, I-T officials (IRS officers) who are numbered over 4000 have been silently waging a war to end supremacy of IAS in the department, and in the process have shown their strength by targeting the vulnerable lot among the powerful IAS.

In fact, unlike in the railways or postal departments where IAS officers don’t dictate terms, the IRS officers ultimately come under the revenue secretary of the ministry of finance, and the top IRS officer, or the chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes, holds the rank of a special secretary – one notch below the full-fledged secretary. In other words, the current CBDT chairman, for example, is two batches senior to revenue secretary Sunil Mitra, a 1975 batch IAS, but in the rank he is junior to Mr Mitra.

Significantly, the relations between top taxmen of the country and former revenue secretary PV Bhide, a 1972 batch AP cadre IAS, reached all time low, particularly after the direct tax code was unveiled without consulting the CBDT board members. As the Code proposed to curtail the power of the taxmen by making them a mere a tax collecting entity, all IRS officers fought the battle in unity, and virtually paralyzed the idea originally mooted by former finance minister P Chidambaram and a handful of his key officers. But current finance minister Pranab Mukherjee agreed to the taxmen’s concerns, and the Code is unlikely to get featured in the forthcoming General Budget.

It now remains to be seen whether the country’s top taxmen succeed in converting CBDT into a full-fledged department in line with Indian Railways or India Post, but their recent targets in IAS officers’ premises have sent jitters through powerful administrators across the country who otherwise find their premises almost impregnable from all quarters including the tax hounds!

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Action and Appointments

a) Prabeer Kumar Basu, a 1976 batch Bihar cadre IAS has been appointed as secretary in the department of agriculture and cooperation in place of T Nanda Kumar, a 1972 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS who is retiring on February 28, 2010.

b) The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) has approved that SK Singh, A 1984 batch IPS may be relieved with effect from the receipt of orders.

c) The extension of tenure of Rajive Kumar, a 1981 batch UP cadre IAS and joint secretary in Cabinet Secretariat has been approved for a period of one year with effect from March 13, 2010.

Young at 65! Planning Commission’s definition of “young professionals”

Sounds funny, but the Planning Commission has been looking for filling up the post of Young Professionals with the maximum age of 65 years! Read YESTERDAY'S POST on jobcorridor.com

Training Course in Japan for urban development, health officials

LIKE to spend this summer in Japan? If you are working either in Central or local govts, and are working on urban policies or urban projects, and are aged between 30 and 40, you may apply for a Japan training course on urban policies with a focus on land readjustment measures, the core part of which will be held in Japan from May 23, 2010 to July 15, 2010.

The duration of the programme is from April 2010 to September 2010, out of which the core part will be held in Japan and the candidate will be trained in his own country for the remaining period.

The candidate should have university degree or equivalent, and more than 5 years of

professional experiences in urban development, which means many professionals in urban development ministry, state governments and local urban bodies are eligible to take a chance. The course is designed to improve the methods and systems of urban development in participants’ respective countries. Japanese agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) covers the cost of a round-trip ticket between an international airport designated by JICA and Japan; travel insurance from arrival to departure in Japan; and includes allowances for accommodation, living expenses, outfit and shipping; expenses for study tours; free medical care for participants who may fall ill after reaching Japan (costs related to pre-existing illness, pregnancy, or dental treatment are included). The participants are not allowed to take any family member during the training course.

Click Here for details of the programme and the application form

Training in maternal and child health in Japan

The Japanese government has also funded a group training course in maternal and child health, to be held in Japan from May 1, 2010 to June 26, 2010. The candidate should be a head nurse or equivalent in charge of nurse and midwife training in hospital, or be a professor or lecturer or equivalent in charge of nurse or midwife training in university or equivalent.

Click Here for details of the programme and the application form

IT chief commissioners brainstorm on tax collection

All cadre-controlling chief commissioners of Income Tax brainstormed on Thursday to discuss strategies for achieving the revenue collection target at Rs 3,70,000 crore (Rs.3.7 trillion) and internally reset at Rs 4,00,000 crore (Rs 4 trillion). The meeting was addressed by the member (revenue) and CBDT’s chairman SSN Moorthy. The newly appointed revenue secretary Sunil Mitra also attended the meeting.
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Welcome to North Block: Pranab Mukherjee gets Bengal officer Sunil Mitra as new revenue secretary, Sumit Bose for disinvestment

Sunil Mitra, a 1975 batch West Bengal cadre IAS and currently secretary in the department of disinvestment in the ministry of finance, has been appointed as the next revenue secretary in place of PV Bhide, a 1973 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS who is retiring on January 31, 2010. Mr Mitra’s elevation as revenue secretary is happening at a time when finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s team has been working hard on the Budget proposals to be presented on February 26, and India is targeting to achieve Rs 4 lakh crore only as direct tax collection. Significantly, the current revenue secretary Mr Bhide has not been very popular among senior IRS officers and the rift between the super taxmen in the North Block and revenue secretary came out quite in open in many occasions including during the adoption of the new direct tax code.

Meanwhile, another Bengali babu Sumit Bose, a 1976 batch MP cadre IAS and presently secretary, 13th Finance Commission, has been appointed as secretary in the department of disinvestment in the ministry of finance in place of Sunil Mitra.

Profile: New revenue secretary Sunil Mitra

In Picture: The camel contingent at the rehearsal for the Beating the Retreat Ceremony, near North Block in New Delhi on January 21.

Other Appointments

a) BK Sinha, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS, presently director general, national institute of rural development, has been appointment as secretary in department of rural development in place of Ms Rita Sharma, a 1974 batch UP cadre IAS, who is retiring on January 31, 2010.

b) Mathew C Kunnamkal, a 1976 batch Kerala cadre IAS, presently special secretary and financial adviser in the department of chemicals and petrochemicals, has been appointed as Director General, National Institute of Rural Development in place of BK Sinha, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS.

Lieutenant General VK Singh will be India’s next Army chief

Lt Gen VK Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, presently GOC-in-C, Eastern Command has been appointed the next chief of the Army staff in the rank of General with effect from March 31, 2010 in place of General Deepak Kapoor.

Lt General VK Singh was commissioned into the Rajput Regiment on June 14, 1970. He participated in the 1971 war and IPKF operations against LTTE militants in Sri Lanka. He is presently serving as the Eastern Army Commander.

Besides being an ‘Honours Graduate’ of the US Army Infantry School, Georgia, USA, Lt Gen Singh studied at the Defence Services Staff College, the Army War College and the US Army War College, Carlisle.

He is married to Mrs Bharati and they have two daughters, the elder one is married to an Army officer. The younger daughter is working in the corporate sector.

Shiv Shankar Menon to have a status of a minister of state

The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shiv Shankar Menon, a retired IFS of 1972 batch as the National Security Adviser in place of MK Narayanan who is moving into West Bengal Raj Bhawan. The man who superseded over a dozen officers to become the country’s foreign secretary in September 2006, is back in the South Block, this time with a status of a minister of state.

Know Your Babu: Disinvestment secretary Sunil Mitra

SUNIL Mitra, a 1975 batch West Bengal cadre IAS, has been appointed as secretary, department of disinvestment under the ministry of finance. Finance secretary Ashok Chawla has been overseeing the department directly after disinvestment secretary Rahul Khullar, also a 1975 batch IAS, was made commerce secretary.

Name: Sunil Mitra Cadre: IAS, West Bengal Batch: 1975 Date of Birth: June 24, 1951 Place of domicile: Delhi Mother Tongue: Bengali Educational Qualifications Graduate in chemistry, physics and mathematics. Key Postings a) Deputy secretary in the ministry of defence (From September 1, 1986 to June 1, 1989) b) Director, in the ministry of defence, (From July 1, 1989 to July 1, 1991) c) Principal secretary (JS Level) Industries d) Additional Chief Secretary, West Bengal (Secerary Level ) in Power Department (From May 1, 2008 till now) Foreign Training Nil