Babu Marriage: IAS toppers Tina Dabi and Athar Aamir Khan get married in Kashmir

Tina Dabi, Athar Aamir Khan (Photo Courtesy: Tina Dabi Instagram)

THERE is nothing new in two IAS officers falling in love during probation in Mussoorie’s IAS academy, LBSNAA, and then getting married. But on Sunday, the marriage of Tina Dabi and Athar Aamir Khan at a Pahalgam resort in the trouble-torn Kashmir Valley was the talking point both among officers and also in social media. But why? First, the IAS couple who…

Bureaucrats in Social Media Age: What they wear, where they eat…

IAS Sonal Swaroop: A dress with a cause (Photo: Twitter)

THE bureaucrats who were faceless in pre-social media era now get attention and even wide publicity not just on what they do, but what they wear, where they eat and when and how they are “wrongfully” charged or media-trialled. Sample this. Deputy Commissioner of West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh was showered praise last month by none other than union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju. “Very encouraging to see young IAS Officer and DC of my home District Dr Sonal Swaroop donning…

201 GoI officers engaged in GST implementation; told to use social media, video-conferences for feedback

AS MANY AS 201 officers currently working as joint secretaries or additional secretaries in various Central government ministries have been appointed as nodal officers to monitor the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST). Each officer is allotted one district where he or she needs to monitor the GST implementation touching upon areas such as registration of traders, display of tax rates in shops, awareness camps and publicity, GSTN functioning, proper billing in shops et al. They are also asked to activate and utilize channels including social media, call centers, web portals, video-conferences etc. to…

“…Times of gunny bags and suitcases gone”: How senior bureaucrats are reacting to govt’s surgical strike on black money

New Rs 2000 note to be introduced on Nov 10, 2016

WHEN prime minister Narendra Modi announced on Tuesday night that the legal tender character of bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 would get cancelled from that mid-might, there were shock, confusion, and also a sense of happiness among people across society. Former IPS officer and Lt Governor of Puducherry Kiran Bedi said in Twitter, “…Times of gunny bags and suitcases gone”, talking about the end of decades old practice of carrying illicit cash. BoI here presents how some of the senior most bureaucrats and former bureaucrats reacted in social media to this surprise government move: 

How civil servants celebrated 67th Republic Day; their comments, photos and videos

AS THIS article is being written, Indian civil servants including diplomats stationed across the world have continued to post photos, comments with creative description of their moments of satisfaction while celebrating the 67th Republic Day on Tuesday. BoI picks out this photo of 2009 batch Tamil Nadu cadre IAS G Veerapandian while receiving an award for a tableau from Andhra Pradesh governor in Vijayawada. The reason? Very few people may be aware of Veerapandian's background and he had to work part-time in tea shops and make parathas at roadside eateries at night to support his education in Madurai. This 34-year-old IAS did his graduation from Loyola College, Chennai, before getting into IAS. Here below are the comments of over a dozen civil servants on how they had celebrated this big R-Day:

Who are these IAS, IPS, IRS, IRTS officers who set up a virtual communication room to help Chennai flood victims?

AS Chennai drowns under the heaviest rain ever, here is a team of bureaucrats comprising 15 officers belonging to IAS, IPS, IRS, IRTS etc. who set up a virtual communication room by leveraging their social media expertise, and helped in turn many flood-hit victims by using their bureaucratic clout and connect. “Kamakshi Memorial Hospital in Pallikaranai is without power. There are patients in ICU and needs dialysis. Please make sure they are rescued” -- is one of many messages the center had received, and the bureaucrats located across states intervened immediately. The bureaucrats who set up the 24X7 virtual communication center include…

7th Pay Commission rumours force IAS officers to get more active in social media

AS rumours of a possible recommendation by the 7th Central Pay Commission on pay parity of IPS, Indian Forest Service and other Group “A” officers with IAS getting louder, the IAS officers in particular have of late resorted to social media platforms in full force to argue that the “edge” that they have enjoyed till now must continue for a larger good of the nation. A large number of IAS officers have also written to cabinet secretary, the top bureaucrat of the country, arguing the same. Let’s first have the excerpts of blogs of a couple of young officers to see how they are presenting their case:

Thank God, Indian government’s social media posts are liberal, though not humorous

A TWEET by Delhi police’s traffic department a few days ago (screenshot photo here) virtually gave a tip-off to the wrong-doers about a particular road to be avoided for escape! It says: “Traffic is heavy on road no 13 A Sarita Vihar due to checking of local police”. In other words, a tech-savvy carjacker would know which road to avoid! This could be a faux pas, but the fact remains that Indian government departments’ twitter policy is highly…

Manmohan Singh asks top cops to find “creative solutions” to curb misuse of social media

PM and Home Minister with a section of cops

PRIME Minister Manmohan Singh has asked the top cops from across India to find creative solutions to curb the misuse of social media and SMSes while reiterating the merits of the social media, particularly the ease of communication through it. The following is what PM said while addressing at the annual conference of DGPs in New Delhi on Saturday:

Social Media Black-box for Indian Bureaucrats: How Nirupama Rao can help

ONE social media study of public diplomacy undertaken recently at George Washington University, placed India’s ambassador to US Nirupama Rao at the top of the chart among all diplomats and missions based out of Washington DC. As the research study itself says, Rao is “doing something right” to woo a huge number of followers. But, have the other Indian civil servants treated the technology associated with social media as a “black-box” and…

Social Media Corridor: Which bureaucrat is a bird watcher and sky gazer?

Anil Trigunayat: What's his latest passion?

WITH social media users in urban areas becoming India’s newest voting bloc, a study by IRIS Knowledge Foundation says social media is likely to influence politics and elections in 160 of India’s 543 Parliament constituencies. While more and more netas are joining the bandwagon of Facebook, Twitter and Google plus, the bureaucrats too are cautiously testing social media platforms to get their voices heard and tell people a little more about themselves. BoI here presents a few offbeat taglines that civil servants are using in their social media profiles.

Corridors of Social Media: Bureaucrats toss power ideas, and get witty, seriously

Nirupama Rao with an Indian delegation

WHY are gardens not flourishing in Indian cities? In this age of social media, you do spot fascinating conversations among senior bureaucrats on a subject like this. Gone are the days when government officers reserved their comments only for file-notings, hesitating to air their personal opinions on subjects that might fall into the domains of other departments. Here is a Twitter conversation between Amitabh Kant, the IAS officer behind Incredible India and his senior colleague Nirupama Rao, a career diplomat and India’s ambassador to US:

5 ways for Indian police to break the ice and enter social media

Indian Police: New Race With Social Media

FIRST, let’s read about Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s concerns of the new challenge called social media. “The use of bulk SMSes and social media to aggravate the communal situation is a new challenge that the recent disturbances have thrown before us…

Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's take on anonymity in social media Vs. police investigators

A woman police officer receiving police medal

ANONYMITY in social media is testing capacities of even most experienced police investigator in India, Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said while inaugurating the annual conference of DGPs and IGPs in New Delhi on Thursday. “Police forces will have to develop skills in this area (in social networking) not just for locating malicious...

Who is babu blogger? A retired IAS attempts to imagine and draws a cartoon

babu blogger as imagined by an ex-IAS

FOR two and half years, there have been intense speculations about the identity of babu blogger who has broken news, spotted trends and analyzed hits and misses of India’s corridors of power. Amid the raging controversy over Indian government’s recent move to regulate online content, and social media’s continuous attack on communications minister Kapil Sibal who had announced the move, babu blogger has demonstrated how you can remain anonymous and yet become highly objective, formal and impartial.

But what’s about babu blogger’s identity? Is babu blogger a serving government officer with a passion to chronicle events of Raisina Hills? Or is he, or she, a retired babu who is well versed with power equations? Or is he/she a smart private secretary of a powerful politician? If not so, is babu blogger a female journalist with an easy access to high and mighty of Lutyen’s Delhi?

Hold your breath. Here is the first serious attempt to imagine how babu blogger looks like, and who he or she could be. And the guesswork is done by none other than a veteran ex-IAS officer. Look at this babu blogger’s caricature made by 1962 batch retired Maharashtra cadre IAS VS Gopalakrishnan who passionately sings, blogs and paints even after 16 years of retirement. Here is Gopalakrishnan’s guess: “The BB (babu blogger) is retired. So, not young looking. Wears specs (thick due to reading habits). Prefers polka-dot shirt. Hails from Bihar, worked in UP cadre and settled down in Delhi!”

babu blogger often receives emails with various guesses about who he or she could be. Everyone is convinced that babu blogger is well versed with action-packed Indian bureaucracy, and he or she is impartial and has also a nose for news. But is babu blogger an outsider, or very much a part of the Great Indian Babudom? Any guess? You can post your comments below this write-up, and also take part in BoI’s Guess Game placed at the left top corner of this site. Enjoy every moment of your visit to BoI action zone.

Mubarak Ho: How protesters at Cairo targeted bureaucratic hotspot -- Mugamma

Are tech-saavy IAS officers trained on dos and don'ts of internet?

THE groundbreaking social media-led revolution in Egypt that culminated in President Hosni Mubarak’s stepping down on Friday, has also witnessed another facet – paralyzing bureaucracy. During the protests, the efforts were made to block all entrances of Egypt’s imposing central administrative complex, Mugamma el-Tahrir.

Smart, young protesters were aware of the fact that they needed to cripple bureaucracy if they wanted their voice to be heard. So Mugamma that houses 14 government departments with about 18,000 employees working there, remained the target during the protests that began on January 25, 2011.

The Mugamma, the hotbed of Egypt’s bureaucracy, remained shut for first 14 days of protests before it was partially opened on last Sunday when bureaucrats were asked to take the back-door entrance to avoid wrath of the protesters.

According to media reports including one by AFP, the Mugamma over the years has become a symbol of the heavy burden that bureaucracy imposes on Egyptians in their everyday life. This 13-storey government building at Cairo was the main setting for the 1992 movie comedy “Terrorism and Kebab” with a focus on corruption. The lead character of the movie inadvertently ends up taking the mammoth building hostage.

Have these young IAS probationers (picture on top) who met Indian Prime Minister and Vice President in New Delhi, adequately been trained to tackle any crisis including new-age protests through Facebook, Twitter and Blogs? It’s the time the IAS Academy at Mussorie must emphasize on a few training modules on social media!