Don’t race for taking credits, Khurshid tells state secretaries; employment of minorities in govt up by 9%

AS STATES have made attempts to take credit for various schemes meant for the welfare of minorities, minister of minority affairs Salman Khurshid has urged the secretaries and principal secretaries of various states and Union territories to work in unison with Centre while implementing various schemes without indulging in one-upmanship for getting the credit.

Inaugurating the annual conference of state or UT secretaries and principal secretaries for the welfare of minorities, the minister further said how the percentage of priority sector lending to the persons belonging to minorities has increased to around 13% and the employment of minorities in the government/PSUs has also increased to over 9%.

Vivek Mehrotra, secretary, ministry of minority affairs, emphasized the need to have a dedicated department in all the states/UTs to deal with the issues of the welfare of minorities as in the absence of such an arrangement in some states, there occurs a problem of coordination.

CVC recommends major penalty proceedings against 132 officers

The Central Vigilance Commission disposed of 864 cases during March 2010 referred to it for advice. The Commission recommended the imposition of major penalty against 132 officers including 37 from Central Board of Excise and Customs, 13 from Syndicate Bank, 12 from ministry of railways, 9 from Canara Bank, 8 from MCD, 6 from Corporation Bank, 5 each from Bank of India and Vijaya Bank, 4 from the development commissioner (SSI), 3 each from Oriental Bank of Commerce, Central Board of Direct Taxes, Chandgarh Admn., Delhi Development Authority and Delhi Jal Board.

Recoveries to the tune of Rs 45.45 crore were affected after the Commission conducted technical examination of some departments.

Action and Appointments

a) Justice Arvind Mohanlal Kapadia, Judge of the Rajasthan High Court has been transferred as a Judge of the Gujarat High Court.

b) Justice Dipak Misra, Chief Justice of the Patna High Court has been transferred as the Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court.

Prez Pratibha Devisingh Patil to inaugurate UPSC's lecture series on governance today

THE issues regarding contemporary relevance to governance and public administration will crop up for discussion in UPSC's foundation day lecture series today. The inaugural lecture will be delivered by President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil on ‘Governance and Public Service’. Minister of state for personnel, public grievances & pensions Prithiraj Chavan will preside over the function to be held in New Delhi, a government release said. In fact, UPSC may now aggressively position itself as the central player in the field of governance issues, and anchoring this lecture series on governance is one of the key demonstrations towards that direction. It is felt that administrative systems have to keep pace with aspirations of young Indian population for which there is an acknowledged need for modernizing the administrative mechanism. The lecture series is also expected to address the pressing matters of administrative reform, and it may give timely input to the process of reforms. The UPSC has the responsibility of recruiting talents for manning civil services in the country in addition to advising the government on related matters of service which cover personnel policy and human resource management. Envoys of Panama, Paraguay, Serbia, Germany & Iceland present credentials to Prez of India Five envoys presented their credentials to the President of India Pratibha Devisingh Patil at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Wednesday. The envoys were Julio De La Guardia Arrocha, the Ambassador of Panama, Genaro Vicente Pappalardo Ayala, the Ambassador of Paraguay, Jovan Mirilovic, the Ambassador of Serbia, Thomas Matussek, the Ambassador of Germany (See picture above) and Gudmundur Eiriksson, the Ambassador of Iceland. The credential presentation ceremony was attended by senior members of the missions, senior officials of the ministry of external affairs (MHA) and Rashtrapati Bhavan. Action & Appointments a) There has been a cancellation of the approval of the ACC for the appointment of Taradatt, a 1983 batch Orissa cadre IAS as joint secretary in the ministry of minority affairs in place of Sujit Datta, CSS, and it was decided to appoint R Karikal Valaven, a 1989 batch AP cadre IAS in the said vacancy for a period of five years from the date of assumption of charge of the post or untill further orders. b) R Bandyopadhyay, a 1974 batch West Bengal cadre IAS and secretary in the ministry of corporate affairs will hold additional charge of the post of secretary in the ministry of minority affairs during the period of absence on leave of Vivek Mehrotra, a 1974 batch Haryana cadre IAS up to 11th December, 2009. c) S P Seth, a 1975 batch Bihar cadre IAS, presently special secretary in the ministry of coal has been appointed as Principal Adviser, Planning Commission in the rank and pay of secretary in the vacancy of Amitabha Bhattacharya, a 1975 batch AP cadre IAS. d) Rohit Nandan, a 1982 batch UP cadre IAS has been appointed as joint secretary in the ministry of civil aviation for a period of five years.