Gujarat's top babus & netas camp at tented accommodation in Rann of Kutch to brainstorm easy admin solutions

GUJARAT'S top bureaucrats and politicians are now camping in an exotic locale of far away Rann of Kutch to participate in a four-day-long brainstorming session organised at the behest of the state chief minister Narendra Modi. The chintan shibir, which is now an annual feature is being attended by chief minister, some of his cabinet colleagues and senior officers, mainly to settle complex administrative problems then and there, and lay down a vision of development for the state. In fact, the officers will not strictly follow the hierarchy in articulating their views for the next few days, as they will be engaged in free and frank discussion till December 7. Former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam is expected to address the political leaders and officials. Interestingly, politicians and bureaucrats are now camping in tents in a rural hamlet in Rann of Kutch.

Jobs in CIC: 116 posts sanctioned THE government has sanctioned 116 posts for the Central Information Commission which in turn has constituted a committee to assess its staff requirement. The government shall examine the report of the committee as and when received. The commission has been allotted a plot of land in Delhi for construction of a building of the Commission. Though staffing and providing accommodation and other facilities to the State Information Commissions are the responsibility of the state governments, the Centre is now providing some assistance to the State Information Commission under a Centrally sponsored scheme, according to minister of state in the ministry of personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithviraj Chavan in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha. Action & Appointments a) Syamal Kumar Sarkar, a 1979 batch West Bengal cadre IAS, presently joint secretary in department of personnel and training (DoPT), ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has been appointed as additional secretary in DoPT in place of Vibha Puri Das, a 1976 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS who was appointed as secretary, higher education recently. b) Retired Maharashtra chief secretary Johny Joseph took over as the new Upa Lokayukta. The veteran bureaucrat was administered the oath of office by chief minister Ashok Chavan in the presence of Lokayukta M B Gaikwad, a former judge of the high court and senior officials.

Govt ends adhocism; appoints full-time shipping & higher education secretaries

THE government has finally chosen the candidates for filling up two key secretary level posts --- ministry of shipping and department of higher education --- a long 24 days after the incumbents got retired. BoI's post on November 21 asked "Why does Indian government skip appointing full-time secretaries in shipping & higher education?" Now, suave and soft-spoken K Mohandas, a 1974 batch Kerala cadre IAS with stints at ministry of finance, and now in the ministry of overseas Indian affairs will be the new shipping secretary whereas Vibha Puri Das, a 1976 batch Uttarakhand cadre IAS and currently additional secretary in the ministry of personnel has been appointed as secretary, department of higher education under HRD ministry. It's not known when they would take over their new assignments. Significantly, Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS, and secretary of ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation was recently given additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of shipping for a period of three months or until further order with effect from November 1, 2009. In the same manner, 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 for a period of three months or until further order.

Action & Appointments a) Ms Savita Anand, a 1981 batch Rajasthan cadre IFS has been appointed as joint secretary in the department of land resources. b) M F Farooqui, a 1978 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS and presently in the cadre has been appointed as additional secretary in the ministry of environment and forests in the vacancy of B S Parsheera, a 1974 batch Andhra Pradesh cadre IAS. c) M R Anand, a 1981 batch IES has been appointed as Deputy Director General, in the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) (joint secretary level) under the department of rural development. d) The government has approved in-situ elevation of Ramesh Chandra Misra, a 1976 batch Orissa cadre IAS as special secretary and financial adviser in the department of information technology, ministry of communications and IT. e) The government has approved in-situ elevation of Ms Bhupinder Prasad, a 1976 batch UT cadre IAS as special secretary in the department of justice, ministry of law and justice. f) P Michael V Siromony, a 1982 batch Kerala cadre IAS, and presently joint secretary(training), National Human Rights Commission under the ministry of home affairs has been appointed as director, Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development (RGNIYD) (joint secretary level) at Sriperumbudur (TN) under the ministry of youth affairs and sports. Officials to undergo training to check corporate frauds The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has established Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) to act as the capacity building support for its officers on issues relating to effective corporate functioning and regulation. The Institute will also design and deliver training programmes on such areas relating to corporate laws and regulations on specific requests from any ministry, department and an organisation, a government release said on Tuesday.