IES officer Aparna Sinha appointed in WTO, Geneva with “relaxation”; 1997 batch IAS Manish Singh posted in London

Aparna Sinha, a 1999 batch Indian Economic Service officer, has been appointed to the post of counsellor (services) in Permanent Mission of India (PMI), World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva for a period of three years. The appointment, however, was made in “relaxation of a mandatory requirement of having worked for 2 years under the Central Staffing Scheme with the stipulation that the same should not be quoted as precedent”. Also, 1991 batch ITS (Indian Trade Service) officer — Tapan Mazumdar — has been...

3 IAS officers get government nod to move out of NE on inter cadre deputation

THREE IAS officers, two from Assam and one from Sikkim, have received government nod to move out of Northeast for three years on inter cadre deputation. For inter cadre deputation, the officers need to get green signal from other the states -- the present and the destination-- and finally the nod of the Central government too. Here are the three officers and their new workplaces:

First secretary's vacancy in WTO, Geneva; Indian officer with LLB degree needed

THE Central government has been looking for a director or deputy secretary-ranked officer with an LLB degree to fill up the post of first secretary (legal) at Permanent Mission of India (PMI), WTO, Geneva for a period of three years. The officer “should have” experience in trade, commerce, industry and allied sectors either at the Centre or in the state government, according to…

Two more vacant posts in Europe for IAS, Group “A” officers to grab

DAYS after 1988 batch IAS officer Ms Renu Sharma was appointed as Deputy Chief of Mission at Indian embassy in Brussels, the government has advertized two more vacant posts in Europe meant for IAS and other Group "A" services officers. One is the post of Counsellor in Permanent Mission of India at World Trade Organization (WTO) located in Geneva. And the other…

Indian diplomat and trade negotiator cum poet selected for prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana award

Amarendra Khatua, a 1981 batch IFS officer who represents a rare combo of poetry, diplomacy and trade negotiation expertise, has been selected for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Sadbhavana award to be presented in Bhubneswar on May 21, the death anniversary of former Indian Prime Minister in whose name the award was instituted.

A joint secretary in the ministry of commerce, Mr Khatua, has played a key role in India’s negotiations in WTO and also in bilateral trade agreements, but the award will be conferred to him for his immense contribution to the Oriya literature. As BoI had reported earlier, the Appointment Committee of Cabinet (ACC) only a few days ago approved the proposal for premature repatriation of the IFS officer in the ministry of commerce to his parent cadre. Before joining the ministry of commerce, Mr Khatua was a minister in the Indian Embassy in New York, and then India’s ambassador to oil rich Ivory Coast in which India has major strategic interests.

A product of Delhi University, Mr Khatua became a diplomat but the poet in him always remained prominent as he penned a number of poems and attended various Oriya poetry meetings. His Ek Kavi Ka Khamosh Ho Jana, published by Prabhat Prakashan has been highly appreciated in the poetry circle.

Here is an excerpt of one of his poems titled Reaching Out Into Nothingness

One’s own silence pesters wayward motives

to branch out and emote in a

stabilised world of unfamiliar shadows.

Say it again, the familiar human touch

can be so monotonous that one will

prefer to stay back, at least knowing that

shadows are after all shadows, if

once can get hurt by absent images,

then knowledge have not reached yet

regarding what harms these harmless

shadows can bring upon.

Have failed to read the poet's mind? Don’t worry, so long as diplomats and bureaucrats who remain shadows of their political masters get rare distinctions outside the corridors of power! Congrats poet diplomat.

Aam Ka Aadmi: Tharoor’s lone Tweet on bureaucrats

SHASHI Tharoor’s brush with power politics may have ended in a hurry, at least for time being, but his one-year-long political spell would always be remembered for his controversial but smart 140-character-long one liners. Mr Tharoor who had to resign from Dr Manmohan Singh’s government after his link to Kochi IPL team became apparent, might have tweeted on various aspects of work, life and fun in Delhi’s corridor of power, he incidentally tweeted the least about bureaucrats.

After scanning through his tweets ranging from diplomacy to eating mangoes, BoI found just one tweet on bureaucrats. On June 5, 2009, Tharoor tweeted, “Two more dinners! That intriguing Delhi mix of politicians, bureaucrats, media, + socialites.” Not a controversial tweet any which way!

But what remained non-controversial was his tweet on mangoes (June 9, 2009).

“Having lived abroad in places without Indian mangoes, have literally become “aam aadmi” this year, or at least “aam ka aadmi” – eat 6 a day!”

CBI’s big catch in Mumbai…

Investigating agency CBI arrested I-T additional commissioner Sumitra Banerjee and her husband Subrator in a corruption case, as it was found that the couple owns a sprawling property in Malaysia. Their immediate charge was accepting a bribe of Rs 1.70 crore from a builder to reduce his tax liability. CBI teams raided the Banerjees’ residence at suburban Chembur and recovered cash worth Rs 46 lakh and foreign currency worth Rs 10 lakh.

…And then a small fry

A government employee Rajeev Kumar was arrested by a vigilance team for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 at Sitarganj area of Udhamsingh Nagar district of Uttarakhand. He was demanding the bribe for transferring a land deed.

Action and Appointments

a) Ms Rajni Razdan, former secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, took the oath of office and secrecy as Member, Union Service Public Commission (UPSC) on Monday. The oath was administered by UPSC chairman Prof DP Agrawal. Ms Razdan was a 1973 batch Haryana cadre IAS.

b) ACC has approved the repatriation of Ms Rajwant Sandhu, a 1975 batch HP cadre IAS, and secretary, department of drinking water supply to her cadre from July 1, 2010.

c) Ms Kiran Dhingra, a 1975 batch UT cadre IAS and secretary, ministry of housing and urban poverty alleviation, will hold the additional charge of the post of secretary, ministry of tourism during the absence on leave of Sujit Banerjee, a 1972 batch UP cadre IAS from April 16, 2010 to April 25, 2010.

d) US Bhatia, a 1974 batch Orissa cadre IAS has been appointed as Ambassador, Permanent Mission of India, WTO, Geneva, on re-employment on contract basis for a period of three months after his retirement on April 30, 2010, in the rank and pay of secretary to the Government of India.

e) Jayant Dasgupta, a 1981 batch Bihar cadre IAS will be the new Ambassador, Permanent Mission of India, WTO, Geneva, for a period of three years on the completion of the tenure of US Bhatia July 31, 2010.

Geneva-based WTO job on offer for deputy secretary level Indian bureaucrat

YET another high profile global post is on offer for Indian bureaucrats to apply. The DoPT (department of personnel and training) has come out with a circular asking for nomination from officers at the rank of deputy secretary or director to fill up the post of First Secretary (Legal) in Permanent Mission of lndia (PMI), WTO, Geneva. This is the second such major hunt for suitable officers to be posted at WTO's headquarters in Geneva. About four months ago, another hunt for candidates for the post of Counsellor (Services) in the WTO's Permanent Mission of India (PMI), began for a vacancy that was expected to arise on November 21, 2009. The detailed eligibility of the current post of First Secretary (Legal) in Permanent Mission of lndia (PMI), WTO, Geneva are as follows: a) Officers of the rank of deputy secretary/director of Government of lndia or equivalent level are eligible for the post b) Mandatory Requirements i) Officers having 2 years cumulative work experience in commerce, trade and industry ii) Should be familiar with the functioning of the WTO and have knowledge of the legal agreements iii) Should have a degree in Law (LLB) c) Desirable Requirements i) Should have experience in the trade policy division of the department of commerce ii) Should have the ability to handle international negotiations d) It is further required that i) The officer must have worked for at least 2 years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme ii) Should have at least "Very Good" service record iii) Should not be over 54 years of age on the date of occurrence of vacancy iv) The officer should not have been nominated for foreign training or should not be on training or foreign assignment currently v) Should not be on study leave or long leave The names of willing and eligible officers who can be spared by the state government/ministries/departments may be forwarded to this Department along with cadre clearance, vigilance clearance, detailed bio-data and certified ACR grading of the last five years. For officers working in the state government, it may also be ensured that the "Cooling Off", after a previous stint on deputation, if any, is complete and the officer is eligible to be appointed on Central Deputation as per rules. e) Last date of application: 15th December, 2009. Significantly, present current cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, served as Ambassador to the WTO in the Permanent Mission of India (PMI), Geneva. He joined in December 2001 succeeding S Narayanan. Actual copy of DoPT CIRCULAR dated November 16, 2009 Read about the earlier vacancy: A high profile post on offer for WTO, Geneva (August 1, 2009) The actual copy of Haryana chief secretary's list of eligible officers for First Secretary's post at PMI, WTO, Geneva Action & Appointments Following four Judges have been appointed as Supreme Court Judges. In order of seniority, they are: i) Justice Ananga Kumar Patnaik, Chief Justice, Madhya Pradesh High Court ii) Justice Tirath Singh Thakur, Chief Justice, Punjab & Haryana High Court, iii) Justice Kalavamkodath Sivasankara Panicker Radhakrishnan, Chief Justice, Gujarat High Court iv) Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar, Chief Justice, Calcutta High Court

Babuz no 3: Cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar is India’s third most powerful bureaucrat behind Pulok Chaterji & TKA Nair

A WEEK before the announcement of Parliamentary results in May this year, cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar, a 1970 batch IAS of Kerala cadre, ordered all secretaries to prepare a 100 days agenda for their respective ministry or department. By then, it was strongly anticipated that Congress would lead a coalition government, and by the time the government was actually formed, its 100 days agenda should be ready. No wonder, once Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh began his second innings from his South Block office, he had no qualm about Mr Chandrasekhar getting a one-year extension. Yes, K M Chandrasekhar who is well regarded among top echelon of civil servants in India is India’s No 3 most powerful bureaucrat. He is babuz no 3, just behind 1974 batch IAS from Uttar Pradesh cadre, Pulok Chaterji and principal secretary to PM TKA Nair, according to feedback received by babu blogger from senior civil servants and politicians. Also, read “babuz no 1: Pulok Chaterji is India’s most powerful bureaucrat” and “babuz no 2: principal secretary to PM TKA Nair is India’s second most powerful bureaucrat” posted on August 17 and 18 respectively. A former ambassador & permanent representative of India in World Trade Organization (WTO) and revenue secretary in the ministry of finance, Mr Chandrasekhar has a post graduation degree in management studies from the University of Leeds in United Kingdom. In fact, Mr Chandrasekhar had a close tie with another secretary three batch junior to him for the third position as many senior IAS officers in power corridors have rather vouched for the latter to be more powerful than the cabinet secretary. Anyway, the 1973 batch officer is babu blogger’s choice as the fourth most powerful bureaucrat in India. Watch out this space in the coming days to check out who are babuz no 4 & 5.

State secretaries to discuss urban issues in New Delhi today Principal secretaries or secretaries of urban development of states and union territories would meet on August 19 in New Delhi to discuss project completion in 65 Mission Cities under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), submission of Quarterly Project Reports (QPRs), utilization of funds and projected requirement of funds etc. The state government officials will also discuss other urban schemes such as national urban sanitation policy, pilot project on implementation of service level benchmarks and accelerated urban water supply programme (AUWSP) etc.

Babus In Demand: A high profile post on offer for WTO, Geneva

THE government has been looking for locating the right candidate to fill up a high profile post to be based out of Geneva in Switzerland. In fact, the department of personnel and training (DoPT) has issued letters to all state chief secretaries and secretaries of Central government ministries and departments to get an officer at the rank of deputy secretary or director to be posted as Counsellor (Services) in the Permanent Mission of India (PMI), World Trade Organization (WTO), Geneva. The vacancy will arise on arise on November 21, 2009. Officers applying for this post should have the following qualifications and experience: 1) Officers having 2 years cumulative work experience in Commerce, trade and industry. 2) Should be familiar with the functioning of the WTO and have knowledge of the legal agreements. 3) Must have worked for at least 2 years at the Centre under the Central Staffing Scheme. 4) Should not be over 54 years of age. 5) Should be at least 3 batches below the next batch to be considered for empanelment as joint secretary. Last Date of application: August 30, 2009

Action & Appointments a) V Sridhar, IRS (Customs & Central Excise) of 1973 batch has been appointed as chairman, Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) in the department of revenue, ministry of finance. Mr Sridhar who is presently Member, CBEC succeeds P C Jha, IRS (C&CE) who superannuated as Chairman, CBEC on Thursday. b) Pradeep Kumar, a 1972 batch Haryana cadre IAS today took over as the defence secretary on Thursday. Read “Know Your Babu: New defence secretary Pradeep Kumar” posted on July 15, 2009.