4 Indian Forest Service probationers assaulted in Rajkot; a former MLA booked; Incident sequences here

FOUR Indian Forest Service (IFoS) probationers of 2017 batch were on Saturday attacked by some locals near Rajkot in Gujarat. Media reports quoting local police have said that a former MLA of Gondal constituency, Mahipatsinh Jadeja, was booked for allegedly attacking the probationary officers when a group of 47 probationers was returning to Ahmedabad by bus. Here’s the sequence of the events as unfolded:

e-commerce boom could help post offices, President tells Indian Postal Service probationers; ICLS officers must work for India achieving a $5 trillion GDP target by 2025

President Kovind with ICLS probationers 

POST offices in India could potentially become "one stop shops" like in some developed countries, and also benefit from the e-commerce boom, President of India Ram Nath Kovind said while interacting with Indian Postal Service probationers at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Tuesday. In a separate interaction with probationers of Indian Corporate Law Service, President said how the ICLS officers have a role to play in fulfilling India’s aspiration of achieving a $5 trillion GDP target by 2025 from the current $2.3 trillion. Here below are 10 things President said:

What President Mukherjee tells IIS, ITS officer trainees

OFFICER trainees of various services such as IAS, IPS and other Group “A” services are always taken to Rashtrapati Bhavan for a meeting with the President of India. A couple of days ago, probationers of Indian Information Service, Indian Trade Service and Indian Posts and Telecommunication Accounts and Finance Service called on the President. The President always makes it a point to give his prescription on governance, apart from having customary photo shoots. Here are 10 key points that President Pranab Mukherjee told to these young civil servants on Tuesday:

PM spells out his tax sutras during 45-minute-long interaction with IRS probationers; 6 prescriptions

A section of IRS probationers

WHEN 167 probationers of the Indian Revenue Service called on the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, it turned out to be a long 45-minute interaction. PM recalled several anecdotes from his life and his political experience, to explain the importance of a sensitive and humane approach, that is required from civil servants, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Thursday. Here are six prescriptions that the PM had for the young IRS officer trainees:

Training Has Fun and More: A young customs officer gives 20 tips for civil servant probationers

THIS Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) officer is better known as Cowmaaa in social media platforms. And he claims, like many veteran civil servants, that the training period of a civil servant is one of the most interesting ones. After all, this phase lays the foundation for the rest of one’s career, and for some individuals it also changes one’s life. Here are Cowmaaa’s 20 tips on how to take initiatives, how to be receptive of change and what all you must do when you find your soul-mate in the academy. Read on:

10 Commandments for Mussoorie-Bound: Any dress code for trainees in LBSNAA? Is drinking prohibited?

LBSNAA

COME September 1, a fresh batch of trainee civil servants will undertake the foundation course at Mussoorie’s Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). The written joining instructions tell them whether they can use a mobile phone, or whether a lady officer trainee (OT) compulsorily needs to wear a saree “in sober colours”? What if an OT is found drinking whiskey? Read these 10 Commandments.

Beyond the Book: K Natwar Singh’s UPSC interview, his IFS probation and Rs 350 salary

One Life Is Not Enough – Former diplomat K Natwar Singh’s new book will make a good fodder for gossips in Delhi’s corridors of power, at least for the next one week or so, as Singh's is an inside story of the corridor’s biggies with no holds barred. In fact, Singh’s 31-year-long diplomatic career and then the political journey that abruptly ended with oil-for-food scam, were well documented. So, BoI here picks out a few nuggets about Singh’s preferences in civil services exam, and the limited choices he had to splurge his huge salary: Rs 350 per month in 1953.

“For every failed bullet, there is life of a soldier at stake”: Why Prez reminds this to some civilian officers

WHEN a section of Group “A” trainee officers belonging to Indian Ordnance Factories Service (IOFS) met with the President of India Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday, he quoted Confucius and said – “What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.” Mukherjee made it a point to say that…

What to do when you are “in doubt”? President gives tips to IRS probationers

IRS trainees during a cultural event at Nagpur Academy (File Photo)

IT WAS a gathering of probationers belonging to Indian Revenue Service (Income-Tax) at Nagpur’s National Academy of Direct Taxes. President of India Pranab Mukherjee asked those future taxmen to apply a test whenever they are “in doubt”, or when the “self becomes too much” with oneself. Here is what Mukherjee said on Monday:

LBSNAA’s Himalayan trek “a metaphor for life”; 5 lessons for officer trainees

Challenges and Opportunities

FOR those who think the Himalayan trek, a mandatory activity for civil service probationers of Mussoorie academy, a mere outing, here are some thoughts from an IAS probationer of 2012 batch. Harshika Singh writes in an internal publication of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) that the Himalayan trek is truly a metaphor for life. After eight-day-long trekking, she comes back “battered, bruised and browned” but with a few learning lessons. Here are those:

FM wants IRS officers to think beyond Chanakya's Koso Moolo Dandah theory

INDIA’S finance minister Pranab Mukherjee quoted Arthasaastra’s author Chanakya while addressing the 64th batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) probationers in New Delhi recently, but wanted them not to blindly follow what has been practiced in tax collections. He wanted the young I-T officers to keep in mind that the assessee is not an adversary and committed taxpayers are the engines of the nation’s economy and hence they are important clients of the revenue department.

Mukherjee said, “When Chanakya says Koso Moolo Dandah in the Arthasaastra, he makes the important point that the treasury and its inflows are the source of a nation’s might. Historically, the focus of the direct tax administration has been on maximal enforcement of the Statute so as to maximize tax revenue and the collections. Both theory and practice has shown that this did not bring in the intended results.”

Mukherjee reminded the probationers that tax assesses need to be treated as clients, but deliberate evaders and offenders must be punished. “We need to constantly adapt to ongoing changes and update, improve and innovate our systems and practices as well as adopt the best from the rest of the world”, he says.

Also, Mukherjee asked the IRS probationers to remain consistently creative throughout their life in public service. Creativity is one attribute that enhances the quality of leadership, and willingness to learn and humility is imperative for the ready acquisition of effective knowledge and skills, he added.

So what’s the final take away? Has the FM advised IRS probationers to go beyond Chanakya and his Koso Moolo Dandah theory of 23 hundred years ago?
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