PMO monitors probe against officers, claims a news channel

THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a probe against some government officials, who are accused of taking bribes from US companies. India’s Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is monitoring the investigations, says an Indian news channel. The news which was repeatedly on air, further said that allegation of corruption by babus was brought to the PMO’s notice by Indian ambassador to the US Meera Shankar, who wrote a letter to principal secretary to the Prime Minister T K A Nair on May 12 saying a number of Indian companies had received illegal payments from some US companies. The letter also made several references to payments made by US companies to Indian officers, the channel claims. Among the companies named in the report for allegedly paying bribe were Mario Covino of Control Companies, Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation and Dow Chemicals. BoI (Babus of India) could not independently verify the allegations.

Officials meet to discuss SMEs The first meeting of the Sub-Group on the Infrastructure/Technology/Skill Development of the Task Force constituted by the Prime Minister’s Office was held in New Delhi recently under the chairmanship of Dinesh Rai, secretary, ministry of micro, small & medium enterprises. Additional chief secretary to Tamil Nadu P Selvam suggested that there should be some earmarked quota of industrial plots for MSEs. Several officers including Saurabh Garg, secretary-cum-commissioner gave valuable inputs. Prime Minister to address CMDs today Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh will address the chief executives of public sector enterprises and present the MOU and SCOPE Excellence Awards on October 15, 2009 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. Four PSEs which will receive MOU awards for two consecutive years 2006-07 and 2007-08, are CONCOR, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. (PGCIL) and Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd. (RCF). Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) will receive two MOU Excellence Awards in the mining and metal sector and also in the category of listed CPSEs for the year 2007-08. SCOPE excellence awards for the year 2007-08 will be received by S K Roongta, chairman, SAIL (Individual Category); CIL (Institutional Category); HEC (Special Institutional Category) etc.

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