"Do not become hostage to special interest groups", Vice President Ansari cautions young civil servants; 10 Tips

"My mind goes back to the day in June 1961 when I entered this campus diffidently with a multitude of thoughts, an admixture of anxiety and expectations, fears and fancies, racing through the mind. Today therefore is homecoming for me…” This is an excerpt of Vice President of India and former Indian diplomat M Hamid Ansari’s speech while inaugurating 89th Foundation Course at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), Mussoorie. Here are 10 things a young civil servant must take into account:

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats; Is Ansari a victim?

Hamid Ansari: Aiming Right?

ON UPA-II dinner party on Tuesday, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav hogged the limelight as Congress leaders wooed him by all means. The seating arrangement at the dais was changed at the last minute to give Yadav a prominent seat along with UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a bureaucrat-turned politician. But BoI here presents a few facts on Yadav’s growing dislike of bureaucrats at large and how that will snap former diplomat Hamid Ansari's elevation to Rashtrapati Bhawan.

UPSC Foundation Day: Vice President Hamid Ansari to deliver key address in lecture series on governance

Vice President of India Hamid Ansari will participate in a lecture series on governance and public service in New Delhi on Monday, mainly to generate fresh thinking for Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). This is the second time, such a lecture series is being organized on the UPSC Foundation Day (May 3).

The lecture is expected to touch upon the issues like the need for reorientation in governance structures so as to make them more accountable, transparent and outcome driven. “Administrative systems have to keep pace with people’s aspirations. There is also an acknowledged need for modernizing the administrative mechanism. The central role of the public service in reorienting the administrative mechanism is agreed upon,” a DoPT release ahead of the UPSC Foundation Day lecture said.

ED may attach IAS couple’s properties

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may provisionally attach the properties of suspended IAS couple of 1979 batch, Arvind and Tinoo Joshi, who were raided by Income-Tax department in February 2010, according to media reports. The couple has allegedly amassed wealth worth Rs 350 crore, according to I-T assessment.

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Tinoo and Arvind Joshis' Guwahati connection!

R Vineel Krishna becomes Director, ST SC department

In a major reshuffle of IAS officers, Orissa government on Friday shifted nine district collectors and seven secretaries. Malkangiri district collector R Vineel Krishna who was abducted and later released by Maoists in February, has been posted as director of Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Development department.

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Hostage Drama

PM refers to R Vineel Krishna

Babus In Demand

a) The government is looking for filling up the post of Member Secretary in Central Silk Board, Bengaluru at the level of a joint secretary. Those officers who hold joint secretary or equivalent post at the Centre are eligible for it.

b) Deputy secretary and director level officers can apply for the post of Assistant Director General in the office of Unique Identification Authority of India. The post will be located at Guwahati.

“Wild” life of IFS officer MN Jayakumar brings home international photo award

FOR MN Jayakumar, a 1979 batch Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer and Karnataka’s Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, an affair with camera developed nearly two decades ago. Jayakumar has now been selected for an UNESCO award, MFIAP, the highest distinction awarded by International Federation of Photographic Art for 20 of his images named “Spectacular Indian Birds”. According to reports, he is the fourth Indian to have been awarded Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) and MFIAP, two of the highest distinctions awarded in the field of photography for nature photography.

A passionate environmentalist who travels extensively to capture some defining moments in the world of forest, the forest officer won over 50 awards and 50 certificates of merit in national and international photography. Jayakumar’s photographs were displayed at exhibitions in countries such as England, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Finland, Australia, Scotland, USA and South Africa, apart from getting recognition at various forums in India.

In addition to co-authoring a book in on wildlife, he was also a member of the Indian team at the 14th FIAP nature biennial world cup competition for nature photography held in Spain which won the silver medal in the nature prints category. (In picture: One of Jayakumar's photographs) 

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Dramatic move of an IAS

Bureaucrats can do better than politicians, says Vice President

Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari said in a function in Kerala that there are vital areas where the contribution of civil servants could be more than politicians as bureaucrats are “better equipped to work out details of projects”. He was speaking at AK Nair memorial award function. The award this year was given to TKA Nair, one of the most powerful bureaucrats in the country and principal secretary to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Civil servants as a species are notoriously reticent to write about their experience of governance, says Vice President of India

Civil servants as a species, particularly the senior most ones, are notoriously reticent to write about their experience of governance and statecraft, said Vice President of India M Hamid Ansari while releasing a book entitled “GovernMint in India – An Inside View” authored by former chief secretary T S R Subramanian at a function in New Delhi on Wednesday, May 13. His observation on civil servants’ reluctance to narrate their experiences in power corridors was made when he argued that those who were willing to share their experiences need to be read “both for what they say and for what they knowingly refrain from saying.” Interestingly, Mr Subramanian in his book, argues the rule of law in India is under serious threat. Vice President particularly mentioned the author’s conclusion that “the disease is well advanced. However, it is not too late to make serious attempts to cure it”. But can the bureaucracy apply pressure for reforms? “This is a laughable thought in the present context. The business community is irrelevant to the debate on this point. The media is interested in conflict and in ‘news’ – they have no real interest in reforms. The judiciary indeed has the ability to force reforms. It is however highly unlikely that they will bestir themselves in this regard,” said the author in his book. The book has, however, given a surprising solution on page no 197. Hope is expressed for “a new messiah who will rise from the political class to deliver the nation… Once a person like this emerges, the whole country will rise up to support him; the era of coalitions at the Centre would end – the country then will be on its way to reach its tryst with destiny”. Babu Blogger’s take: Sir, I fully agree with your diagnosis and the necessity for a future vision. But Mr Subramanium, your theory of an end of coalition politics is well ahead of time, and is rather out of place as the countdown for the May 16 results has begun.