IAS Inder Jit Singh appointed as new coal secretary; DEA joint secretary S Selvakumar “relieved”

Inder Jit Singh, 1985 batch Kerala cadre lAS and secretary (coordination) in Cabinet Secretariat, has been appointed as secretary in the ministry of coal. Meanwhile, S Selvakumar, 1997 batch Karnataka cadre IAS and joint secretary in the department of economic affairs (DEA), has been received, according to…

How to react when cabinet secretary invites you for a cup of tea? Coal secretary Anil Swarup’s tech talk

Anil Swarup, 1981 batch UP cadre IAS and current coal secretary argues that an administrator does not need to be a technologist to use technology in government. In a speech delivered in 14th Star Nite Awards 2015 recently (it’s available in YouTube), Swarup narrated how the then cabinet secretary Ajit K Seth called him for a cup of tea and gave him an assignment he was not very happy about. Edited excerpts of his speech on use of technology:

Coal secretary Anil Swarup: Meet this officer who tweets till mid-night on coal auction updates

Swarup (right) near the auction display board

SIX minutes past 10 at night on Wednesday. Coal secretary and 1981 batch UP cadre IAS Anil Swarup was still continuing his running commentary in a social media platform about the ongoing coal auction that has made the government richer by Rs 60,000 crore in less than a week of bidding. "Coal block auction status at 2206 : Gare Palma at 3084. Bidding still on", the secretary tweeted. It’s quite unusual that the top bureaucrat of a department…

Know Your Babu: New coal secretary and UP cadre IAS Anil Swarup

Anil Swarup, a 1981 batch UP cadre IAS and additional secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat, will be the new coal secretary. Being the head of the Project Monitoring Group, a mechanism created by the last government to coordinate between warring ministries (for example, coal and power) and clear as many as 215 stalled projects valued at Rs 7 lakh crore, Swarup has been quite familiar…

What if a driver asks for a written order to turn left? Ex-coal secretary Prasanna Mishra on Neta-Babu equations

THE recent Supreme Court order directing the government to frame rules to ensure that a civil servant does not act on verbal orders of the political boss has been hailed by civil servants among others. But what has not been discussed, or debated much, is whether it is feasible for a civil servant to work only under written instructions of political executives. Will such an arrangement not be as unworkable as a driver asking for written order from the owner of the moving vehicle in a busy road instead of his oral order to turn left instead of proceeding straight, asks...

Ex-coal secretary PC Parakh fought to get his official letters out through RTI

PC Parakh as coal secretary (April, 2005 photo)

IN 2009, former coal secretary PC Parakh was fighting a battle at Central Information Commission to access his own communications as coal secretary with then cabinet secretary BK Chaturvedi for the period of 2004-05. He was initially denied those files when he had filed an RTI to the cabinet secretariat. Many believe Parakh’s letters to then cabinet secretary could form the basis of CAG’s key arguments in yet-to-be published report on doling out coal blocks without auction. Last Saturday, the intensity of the PMO’s hard-hitting letter to anti-corruption activist Anna Hazare got diluted as Parakh chose to appear for TV interviews on what’s now known as Coalgate. But who this PC Parakh? In late 1960s, he was a mining geologist working for...

Perti Continues: Why coalgate-hit govt needs this officer in coal ministry

IN AN unusual move, but not the first, 1977 batch Assam cadre IAS Alok Perti has been retained in the same coal ministry where he has retired as secretary. Perti has been appointed as advisor to coal ministry for three months till the end of August and he will continue to enjoy the rank and pay of ...