BoI Power List 2012: Shiv Shankar Menon is 2nd most powerful bureaucrat

Menon with PM

IS India’s second most powerful bureaucrat a Chinese speaking person? You may say so, jokingly. National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon’s mother tongue is Malayalam but he speaks Chinese as fluently as someone from north of the McMohan Line. He speaks German too. But his ability to speak multiple languages does not qualify him to be powerful. BoI has chosen this ultra-low profile diplomat to be India’s second most powerful bureaucrat because…

Centre relaxes LTC rules to allow government employees to travel by air to J&K

TIME to explore the beauty of Kashmir valley and get the expenses reimbursed! Sounds good. In fact, the Centre has relaxed the LTC rules to allow government employees to travel by air to Jammu and Kashmir, according to an order issued by DoPT dated June 18, 2010. The same order has made it clear that the employees needed to fly only Air India.

All officers or employees of government of India will now be allowed to avail LTC to visit J&K against conversion of one block of their home town LTC, the order said. They are allowed to fly to any place of J&K either from Delhi or Amritsar airport.

The order will be in operation for a period of two years from the date of issue.

Read DoPT CIRCULAR, dated June 18, 2010

Also Read

Officials must travel Air India for LTC claims

Exceptions in case of LTC under Railway entitlements 

Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran joins Wipro board

Former foreign secretary and the Prime Minister’s envoy on climate change Shyam Saran, a 1970 batch IFS, is joining the board of India’s software company Wipro Ltd on July, 2010, as an independent director. Mr Saran came into news recently when he was virtually at loggerheads with environment and forest minister Jairam Ramesh on a number of issues related to climate change. Mr Saran decided to quit the government when his two batch junior Shiv Shankar Menon was made the national security advisor (NSA) with the rank of a minister of state whereas Mr Saran remained as a secretary rank official. 

Babus In Demand: Jobs for director level officers in Cochin and Vizag

WISHING to take the challenge of managing Special Economic Zones (SEZs) and be a part of India’s infra story? Here are two posts for officers at the level of deputy secretary and director to apply.

In fact, applications are invited for suitable candidates at the level of deputy secretary or director to fill up post of Joint Development Commissioners in Visakhapatnam SEZ whereas a director level officer is wanted for the post of Development Commissioner of Cochin SEZ. For both the posts, the last date of application is May 15, 2010.

Though in both the cases, deputy secretary or director level officers eligible for appointment under the Central Staffing Scheme are qualified to grab the posts, the mandatory requirement of having experiences of work in the field and district administration would disqualify many non-IAS Group-A officers vying for the posts.

Click Below For

DoPT CIRCULAR for Vizag SEZ, dated April 6, 2010

DoPT CIRCULAR for Cochin SEZ, dated April 6, 2010

Action and Appointments

a) Shiv Shankar Menon, 1972 batch retired IFS has got the ACC approval as the National Security Adviser from the date of assumption of charge and until further orders. He will have an MoS status.

Also Read

Numerological Influence Of Success Behind 1972 Batch IAS?

b) The ACC has approved the repatriation of N Gokulram, a 1974 batch Karnataka cadre IAS, presently OSD in the Cabinet Secretariat, to his parent cadre.

c) The premature repatriation of DK Kotia, a 1981 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS and joint secretary in the ministry of home affairs to his parent cadre has been approved.

d) Ram Phal Pawar, a 1988 batch West Bengal cadre IPS, SK Pandey, a 1988 batch MP cadre IPS and SL Thaosen, a 1988 batch MP cadre IPS have been appointed as Inspectors General in the Special Protection Group.

e) CS Kedar, a 1979 batch Karnataka cadre IAS has been appointed as Director General Employees State Insurance Coporation in the rank and pay of additional secretary with effect from March 26, 2010.

f) Minnie Mathew, a 1976 batch AP cadre IAS, and chairperson of Coconut Development Board has been repatriated to her cadre.

g) Sujit Gulati, a 1985 batch Gujarat cadre IAS has been appointed as Joint Secretary in the ministry of textiles.

h) Rajiv Nayan Choubey, a 1981 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS has been appointed as development commissioner (handlooms) at a joint secretary level.

i) The lateral shifting of Ms Sheila Sangwan, a 1976 batch IRS(C&CE) from the post of financial adviser in the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) to the post of joint secretary and financial adviser in the Department of Science and Technology has been approved.

j) Ms Vandana Srivastava, a 1978 batch IDAS has been appointed as joint secretary and financial adviser in the CSIR/DSIR.

k) The Director Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-India), Arun Goyal and the Director, CBI, Ashwani Kumar exchanged documents of MoU signed between FIU-India and CBI, in New Delhi on April 5, 2010. (See picture)

Behind PMO’s tweet-like message on Shyam Saran’s exit; what stops Dr Singh doling out MoS rank to his key envoy?

ON Friday, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has given a terse release saying “Mr Saran has been permitted to demit office with effect from March 14”. Yet, the exit of Shyam Saran, a 1970 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer and one of the key architects of India-US nuclear deal, was not as simple as this Tweet-like short message was meant to be.

For Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, it has been a tough job to carve out an honourable position for this diplomat-turned climate change negotiator after Shiv Shankar Menon, a 1972 batch IFS was made national security advisor (NSA) at the rank of a minister of state. Though there were speculations that Mr Saran would also be given the rank of a minister of state, as it has been in case of advisor to PM, TKA Nair, it was not done in the backdrop of his disagreements with India’s environment and forests minister Jairam Ramesh.

After all, Mr Ramesh who is a close confidante of the Prime Minister, is also a minister of state, and that means the elevation of Mr Saran to the same rank would make it a complex story as both of them don’t see eye to eye in all crucial climate change matters.

It remains to be seen whether the government would still entertain the views of two other retired officials, C Dasgupta, a 1962 batch IFS and former environment secretary Prodipto Ghosh, a 1969 batch UT cadre IAS, as both of them too were highly critical of Mr Ramesh’s views on climate change!

(In Picture: Saran with former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice; file photo)

Question Time

A question on “assets of officers in public domain” will come up in Lok Sabha on February 24, 2010 during the current budget session. The questions that would come up in Rajya Sabha on February 25 are related to Central resolution on whistle blowers act, CBI cases in Assam, performances of civil servants, and filling of backlog vacancies etc.

Questions in Lok Sabha

Questions in Rajya Sabha

Numerological Influence? 1972 batch bureaucrats continue to grab key posts from RBI Governor, NSA, Home and Defence secretaries...

CALL it sheer talent or influence of numerological calculation, 1972 batch bureaucrats have continuously scripted success stories in occupying key government posts. With Shiv Shankar Menon, a 1972 batch retired Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer getting picked up for the coveted post of national security adviser (NSA) in place of MK Narayanan, and the next cabinet secretary in all probability is going to be a 1972 batch IAS, the journey of the men of that batch in securing important posts may continue for sometime more.

In fact, 1972 batch civil service topper and former finance secretary Dr D Subbarao of Andhra Pradesh cadre was already appointed as the 22nd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, and two of his batch-mates, GK Pillai of Kerala cadre and Pradeep Kumar of Haryana cadre are India’s home and defence secretaries respectively for a period of two years.

As two of the senior IAS of 1972 batch will continue as secretaries in two of the most important ministries, home and defence, the government is unlikely to spring a surprise and appoint someone from 1973 batch (finance secretary Ashok Chawla is a contender) as the next cabinet secretary when current incumbent KM Chandrasekhar, a 1970 batch Kerala cadre IAS, is retiring in mid-June this year. Urban development secretary M Ramachandran, a 1972 batch Kerala cadre IAS is the top contender so far, but there is a rumour doing the rounds that the appointment for the next cabinet secretary could be advanced by a fortnight so as to facilitate Planning Commission secretary and 1972 batch Kerala cadre IAS Sudha Pillai becoming the India’s first woman cabinet secretary. Ms Pillai is retiring on May 31, 2010, but once appointed, she would get a fixed tenure of two years.

There are a few other officers of the batch including Central Information Commissioner and former Information and Broadcasting secretary Sushma Singh, who have managed decent post-retirement postings. Interestingly, the only high profile officer of 1972 batch who has not secured any key post so far is former IPS Kiran Bedi.

Read: Sudha Pillai still a contender for cabinet secretary's post

In Pictures: Menon (top) and Subbarao taking charge as foreign secretary and RBI Guv respectively 

Action and Appointments

a) AK Mangotra, a 1978 batch Manipur-Tripura cadre IAS and presently additional secretary and financial adviser in the department of food and public distribution has been appointed as additional secretary in the department of commerce in place of R Gopalan, a 1976 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS.

b) Desh Deepak Verma, a 1978 batch UP cadre IAS and presently in the cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary and financial adviser in the department of food and public distribution.

c) The proposal of the department of AYUSH for the extension of Central deputation tenure of B Anand, a 1987 bacth Tamil Nadu cadre IAS, as Joint Secretary in that department beyond January 30, 2010 has been rejected.

d) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the period of overstay of AK Dubey, a 1982 batch Kerala cadre IAS, for the period from April 19, 2008 to March 4, 2009, while on deputation to Delhi University as Registrar, as a deputation under Rule 6 (1) of the IAS (cadre) Rules 1954 (deputation under Non-Central Staffing Scheme) on ex-post facto basis.

Women On Top: Jury is not out yet

SHE is back, but not yet on top. The 1973 batch IFS officer and India’s ambassador to China Nirupama Rao’s ability to grab the crucial foreign secretary’s post will determine the degree of celebration for woman leadership in the country. As India’s political leaders prepare themselves to install the first woman Speaker in Parliament, the news of extension of the current cabinet secretary played a spoilsport on a woman getting the key administrative post for the first time. In fact, labour secretary Sudha Pillai was the front-runner for the cabinet secretary’s post as she topped the merit-cum-seniority list. There were also some possibilities of both key bureaucratic posts -- cabinet secretary and foreign secretary – would this time be filled by women. Ms Rao is still the front-runner for the foreign secretary’s post when the present incumbent Shiv Shankar Menon retires in a few weeks time. In fact, Vajpayee government appointed Chokila Iyre, a woman IFS officer, as foreign secretary in 2000, but an extension of former cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi had ealier stalled Reva Nayyar, an IAS from Haryana cadre, becoming the first woman cabinet secretary. Significantly, out of 4537 IAS officers in the country only 609, or 13%, are women officers.