JUST recently Indian minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor landed up into a huge controversy for his tweets when he called economy class travel as "cattle class" after the government issued an advisory for the ministers not to fly business class as a part of austerity measure. Now, a British bureaucrat has published a guide to Twitter etiquette and strategy so that civil servants who are regularly using the popular microblogging service, Twitter, could follow some basic dos and don'ts.
Yes, the Twitter can rock as this is being increasingly used by government departments, Members of Parliament etc. and it has the potential to deliver many benefits in support of the government's communications objectives, the British government guide said. But there's a warning! "Inappropriate content being published in error, such as... protectively marked, commercially or politically sensitive information... Require clearance of all tweets through nominated people in digital media team," the official guide said.
(Courtesy: Tom Green from Oxford University, UK for alerting babu blogger)
Hey there! babublogger is using Twitter. Check at http://twitter.com/babublogger
No army officer receives gifts from American company
No case relating to Army officers being obliged by gifts from American companies, has been brought to the knowledge of the government, defence minister AK Antony said in written reply in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has issued instructions to identify sensitive posts in various ministries or departments of the Union government, and asked those departments (under its advisory jurisdiction) to rotate officials working in sensitive posts to avoid development of vested interest by the people working on these posts. This information was given by the minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
IN AN unusual move, the government has decided not to assign two important departments--- ministry of shipping and department of higher education, to any full-time secretaries, making many a secretary-empanelled aspirant baffled. Though both those posts fell vacant on October 31, 2009, the government preferred not to appoint any full-time secretary but took the route of allocating those departments to woman officers who are already handling fairly important departments.
In fact, Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS, and secretary of ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation has been given additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of shipping for a period of three months with effect from November 1, 2009. (In Picture: Ms Dhingra during a release of a publication titled, "Major Ports of India 2008-09-- A profile" on November 12, 2009 in New Delhi). Similarly, Ms Anshu Vaish, a 1975 batch MP cadre IAS and presently secretary, department of school education and literacy, was given additional charge of the post of secretary, department of higher education under the ministry of human resource development for a period of three months.
Though these two woman officers are considered to be efficient enough to handle additional assignments, but many in power corridors have failed to comprehend the motive behind the government's decision of not appointing full-time secretaries in higher education and shipping! Also, questions have arisen what's if the government makes it a norm and gives more such additional charges for a few more important departments like DIPP where secretaries are scheduled to retire by December end.
HE has been following the right to information movement in India for the last two years, and that makes this Oxford University research scholar to come to Delhi again, and spend time in power corridors of the capital city. And his verdict: Indian babus still have a better time compared to British bureaucrats who are under severe pressure thanks to Freedom of Information Act (FoI), which is the British version of RTI.
A masters student in International Development at the University of Oxford, 25-year-old Tom Green told babu blogger how journalists in UK had been using FoI law to feature high profile scoops. “British civil servants feel FoI (Freedom of Information Act) has exerted a huge amount of pressure on them. Journalists regularly make use of the Act as part of long-term investigations in a way that has not become so common in India. This means the British media regularly features high profile ‘scoops’ and scandalous revelations such as the recent MP’s expenses saga. Compared to this scrutiny, it could be argued that Indian babus have it easy, dealing only with the occasional request for a citizen’s personal data or a visit to the Central Information Commission,” Tom explains.
This Oxford scholar who graduated from the University of Manchester, however, feels that the Right to Information Act 2005 has had a dramatic effect on the public consciousness in India. “It has redefined the relationship between the citizen and the civil service and provided a highly effective new avenue for redressing personal grievances. It has caught the imagination of the public much more than the corresponding British act, the Freedom of Information Act of the same year, has been able to,” he observes.
But Tom is not just gathering information about RTI during this hot Delhi summer! He is watching Bollywood movies here. What he likes most about Delhi – the city’s vibrancy and yes, Nizam’s Kathi Kabab!
Also read, "Govt should create RTI implementation cells: Study" posted on July 20, 2009.
Action & Appointments a) S N Patil, IOFS (1988 batch), joint development commissioner, Kandla SEZ will now be Joint Development Commissioner, Dahej SEZ. b) Narendra Kumar G, a 1989 batch UT cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary & director in the National Authority for Chemicals Weapons Convention under the cabinet secretariat, in the Pay Band of Rs 37400-67000 (PB-4) with a grade pay of Rs 10000 for a period of five years. c) The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for premature repatriation of Anand B Kulkarni, a 1982 batch Maharashtra cadre IAS, presently working as deputy director general, CAPART (joint secretary level) under the ministry of rural development to his parent cadre.