Backroom boy of FDI in retail RP Singh a top contender for Trai chairman’s post

RP Singh

RP Singh, ex-industry secretary and one of government’s key backroom boys pushing FDI in retail, is back in action. Singh’s name has been doing the rounds as one of the two top contenders for the prestigious TRAI chairman’s post, as a selection committee comprising cabinet secretary Ajit Seth and principal secretary to PM Pulok Chatterji is finalizing the man who would play a crucial role in coming 2G auctions following the cancellation of 122 telecom licences by India’s apex court.

The telecom regulator Trai chairman’s post will lie vacant in May. The other IAS contender for the post is defence production secretary and 1977 batch IAS Sekhar Agarwal. Agarwal has been in defence ministry since February 2008, and he was RP Singh’s colleague in the ministry when Singh was in South Block. Singh then moved to Udyog Bhawan as secretary, department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP).

Those who know RP Singh from very close quarters say he is a doer, and does not really care about political interventions. Unlike most of his suave and diplomatic IAS colleagues, Singh is talkative and highly informal in most occasions.

Many within the government were also surprised when Singh as the DIPP secretary first made the discussion paper on FDI in multi-brand retail public in July, 2010. He asked his junior officials to transparently place all comments on the discussion paper public too. Interestingly, Kamal Nath as commerce and industry ministry first tried to open up FDI in multi-brand retail during the UPA government. But it was UPA chairwoman Sonia Gandhi who stopped the move then by writing a formal letter to Nath.

A director level job only for entrepreneurial IAS

HERE is a job post for IAS officers in the rank of director of the Government of India with an experience in institution-building at some stage in their career. It’s a rare occasion that the government is actually giving an advertisement mentioning the entrepreneurial ability of an officer as a precondition to apply for a post. The government is looking for suitable candidates for filling up the post of deputy director (administration) in the project cell of the AIIMS-like Institution at Rishikesh under the ministry of health & family welfare in the pay scale of Rs 37,400-67,000 with a grade pay of Rs 8700 on deputation basis.

In a DoPT circular dated June 29, 2010, marked to all secretaries in Government of India, and chief secretaries of state, it was urged that “the post may be circulated amongst all the director level officers in the state governments on priority basis”. The tenure of deputation is for three years. The last date of receiving applications is August 11, 2010.

DoPT CIRCULAR, dated June 29, 2010

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Aadhaar for a national authority

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is setting up as a statutory authority by the name of National Identification Authority of India, mainly to issue identification numbers (aadhaar numbers) to residents and providing means to authenticate aadhaar numbers. The proposed draft Bill (National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010) is ready, and once the new Authority will be set up, it may open another window to many job seekers in corridor.

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In a bizarre case of two warring families of Panchkula over a pet dog, a 1991 batch Haryana cadre IAS has reportedly used his official letterhead to support one family, according to a report in Indian Express. The other family has now protested against the officer currently working as MD in a state PSU, for using his position to help the other family possessing the three-year-old black Labrador. Yes, every dog has its day!