Netagiri vs Babudom: MPs to question on bureaucrats' asset disclosure, retirement age & CVC cases in winter session of Parliament

THE world of babudom will come under more scrutiny during the ongoing winter session of Parliament which began on Thursday. Members of Parliament (MPs) are going to ask a number of questions regarding acknowledgement of MPs' letters, prosecution of civil servants, retirement scheme of government employees etc., according to a provisional list of unstarred questions to be admitted in Lok Sabha dated November 25, 2009. The provisional list of questions admitted for that date includes questions related to quota for IAS and IPS, cases referred to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), modernisation CBI and medium of UPSC examinations etc. It remains to be seen what the government answers on contentious questions like declaring of bureaucrats' assets under the Right to Information( RTI) Act, which is also listed as an unstarred question. The provisional questions also include how to make RTI more effective and legislation for whistle blowers. Read: Netagiri & Babudom: A new set of instructions issued to help officers communicate with MPs (August 7, 2009) Former defence secretary Vijay Singh sworn-in as member UPSC Vijay Singh, former defence secretary of government of India took the oath of office and secrecy as Member, Union Service Public Commission on Thursday. The oath was administered by UPSC chairman Prof D P Agrawal. Mr Singh, a 1970 batch Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS, held several important assignments both in the state of Madhya Pradesh and at the Centre during his 37 year career, a government release said. His assignments at the Centre included director in the department of cultural affairs, joint secretary in the ministry of health & family welfare, additional secretary in the ministry of commerce, ministry of information & broadcasting and in ministry of finance. He became chief secretary of Madhya Pradesh in October, 2004 and served there till January, 2006. Then, he served as secretary to government of India in the department of AYUSH and later in the department of road transport & highways before becoming the country's defence secretary in August, 2007.

Action & Appointments a) The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Sudhakar Rao, a 1973 batch Karnataka cadre IAS (Retd) as Member, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PSEB) for a tenure of three years or until the age of 65 years or until fruther orders. b) Rajiv Mehrishi, a 1978 batch Rajasthan cadre IAS, presently in the cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary in department of agricultural research and education under the ministry of agriculture in the vacancy of A K Upadhyay, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS. c) Alok Kumar, a 1984 batch Assam cadre IAS, has been appointed as joint secretary in the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT). Result for CDS Exam( I )-2009 announced The UPSC has announced the results of the Combined Defence Services Examination (I)-2009 held by the Services Selection Board of the ministry of defence for admission to the 128th Course of Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kerala and Air Force Academy, Hyderabad (Pre-Flying) Training Course or 187th F(P) Course. Results are available at UPSC website --- www.upsc.gov.in

BoI Ranking: India’s Top 3 Most Powerful Woman Bureaucrats are Nirupama Rao, Meera Shankar & Sudha Pillai

HAD current secretary to Planning Commission Sudha Pillai made it to the top as cabinet secretary, India’s top two bureaucrats today would have been women making history in India’s power corridors. Despite being at the top in the merit-cum-seniority list of IAS officers, Ms Pillai missed the bus as the incumbent K M Chandrasekhar was given one year’s extension after the new government was formed. Nevertheless, Nirupama Rao became the foreign secretary in July this year after another powerful IFS and Rao’s batch-mate Meera Shankar (See Picture with US Prez) was made India’s ambassador to US. After BoI’s (babus of india) selection of 5 most powerful bureaucrats, which incidentally had no woman contender, here is the list of top 3 most powerful woman bureaucrats based on feedback of politicians and senior bureaucrats who have an insight of the country’s power corridors. Interestingly, it’s a mere co-incidence that spouses of all three most powerful women bureaucrats who BoI has selected, happen to be senior IAS --- Sudhakar Rao, Ajay Shankar and G K Pillai respectively.

No 1: Nirupama Rao Being the number one Indian Foreign Service officer and only the second woman in the history to become India’s foreign secretary, Nirupama Rao is India’s most powerful bureaucrat today. An MA in English literature, this 1973 batch IFS from Kerala has held key diplomatic positions including minister for press affairs at the Indian Embassy in Washington, deputy chief of mission at the Embassy of India, Moscow, MEA’s official spokesperson and India’s ambassador to China, and yes, she proved her mettle in every important post. No wonder, she was a favourite officer of former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh, and was considered highly efficient during BJP’s regime too. Her biggest challenge today is not just to ensure meaningful diplomacy with Pakistan, but to keep China engaged in a continuous dialogue process. Read: Rao’s take on art of diplomacy (August 25, 2009) No 2: Meera Shankar India’s ambassador to US Meera Shankar who has recently become a newsmaker for writing a letter to Prime Minister’s principal secretary TKA Nair giving details about US companies bribing Indian government officers, is BoI’s choice to be the second most powerful woman bureaucrat today. Born on October 9, 1950, this 1973 batch IFS was earlier India’s ambassador to Germany, and had an earlier innings at Washington (1991-’95) when India liberalized its economy under Dr Manmohan Singh’s tenure as the country’s finance minister. Wife of India’s industry secretary Ajay Shankar, a 1973 batch UP cadre IAS, Mr Shankar’s biggest challenge today is to muster the country’s economic diplomacy and help India achieve a higher than expected growth rate. No 3: Sudha Pillai This 1972 batch Kerala cadre IAS is still considered to be an asset by Team Manmohan Singh, though many in power corridors strongly believe that it was intentional on the part of the government for not giving the highly-sensitive post of cabinet secretary to a woman officer who has better understanding of only social sectors. Her biggest challenger in the race for the post of cabinet secretary was her husband and batch-mate from the same cadre G K Pillai who too lost out after the incumbent Mr Chandrasekhar was given extension. Mr Pillai was then made home secretary with a two-year-term. There’s no doubt that Ms Pillai is still the most powerful women IAS officer today, and keeping in mind her grip on India’s social sector, she is tipped to become the member secretary in the Planning Commission with a rank of a minister! Read: Pati, Patni and Post: It’s Pillai Vs Pillai for next cabinet secretary (May 11, 2009) Read: India’s Top 5 Most Powerful Bureaucrats (August 24, 2009)