Whispersinthecorridors.com is a wonderful site that enables all kinds of views of thinkers to be floated and read by all. Thanks for the wonderful site !
R S Liven

Dr V Rajgopalan is being appointed Additional Secretary Chemicals and Petro-chemicals in the Government of India. He is 1978 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Sailas Thangal an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1996 batch on his return from The Hague has assumed the charge as Director External Publicity in the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Hitherto he was Counselor in The Hague.

The services of Dr. S. Swarna, IAS, Joint Commissioner (DM & M), Revenue Administration and Project Director (in charge), Tsunami Sustainable Livelihood Programme, Chennai are placed at the disposal of the Government of India for appointment as Joint Development Commissioner (Deputy Secretary level), Madras Export Processing Zone(MEPZ), Chennai under the Department of Commerce with effect from the date of relief.

(The views expressed in this column are of the contributors. We do not owe any responsibility, whatsoever, of the views of our surfers as they are their personal opinion)

WHO WILL BE THE QUEEN'S CHOICE FOR PRIME MINISTER AFTER DR. MANMOHAN SINGH?
Question is wrong
Given the political system the India follows, perhaps your question is wrong. The question should read like Who will be the people's choice for Prime Minister after Dr. Manmohan Singh?
DK dkvfeb@hotmail.com

Corruption and currency of 1000 and 500 notes
So the solution lies not in raiding 5-10 officers but in removing currency of notes of thousand and five hundred Rupee from the circulation. There should be smaller notes of 5,10,20,50 and maximum 100 rupees In India.

If the above is implemented then corruption will be eradicated conveniently. There will not be any need for raiding the premises of powerful bureaucrats and politicians. Because if one officer wants to take a bribe of 1 crore – he will have to build a big godown to store 1 crore Rupees of denomination of 50-100 notes. And the one who will give 1 crore bribe will have to hire 5 trucks to transport it to the officer! With this fake currency will also be eliminated – since nobody would risk printing 50 rupee note and get caught.

Therefore, through this esteemed website, may I request the readers as well as the authorities concerned to take immediate steps to stop printing one thousand and five hundred rupee notes and take back the notes of these denominations from the public by exchanging with smaller notes within a short span of time. India is a rich country with poor people – let its people be rich as well.

I request Whisper corridors to start a discussion on the above so that people can exchange their views on stopping the notes of 1000 and 500 Rupees, in the interest of common man of India.
Kaushal

It calls for some more explanation
It calls for some more explanation as to why there are very few IAS officers domiciled from Gujarat. How I wish if you had given state wise comparison of officers domiciled from various states in various category i.e. General, SC, ST & OBC?

In my view the cream of Gujarati youth do not find IAS lucrative. They find employment in other sectors attractive. The seconf best from Gujarat compete with the best of other states. The second best can't match the best from other states. If comparisons of IAS officers from various category is available, perhaps my hypothesis will be put to proper test.
Prem Kumar Gera
Change pattern of declaring gazetted holidays
I would like to bring it to the notice of concerned officers in the Ministry of Home and Department of Personnel that there is a need to change the pattern of declaring gazetted holidays, from the pattern we are following for the past 50 years.  The gazetted holiday is declared to facilitate the government employees and others  to use the day judiciously for some purpose, eg: for a religious function, for a festival, etc. Therefore, declaring a gazetted holidday on October 2nd and August 15 are of no use to anyone. Instead government should consider declaring gazetted holidays on Shivratri and Raksha Bandhan. On both these occasions, it is found that attendance in government office is very thin. Many of the government employees go on a 'french leave', without any information to the office or taking permission. Everybody in the office does not bother about it. The officers harass those few people who are present in the office with the load of work - and it is a punishment to those who have come to office sincerely.  More than this, the amount of petrol wasted, electricity and water wasted in the offices, on such days are enormous. Most the State Governments and private compaies/ institutions observe a holiday on Shivratri and Raksha Bandhan.  
 
Therefore, I feel that government should consider giving a gazetted holiday on Shivratri and Raksha Bandhan and in lieu of that declare October 2nd and August 15 as working days. It will be in the right spirit because combined output of all the staff in offices, factories, etc. will boost the economy of the country than the whole nation idling and wasting these two days at home, sipping tea, playing cards, boozing , quarrelling, etc. Because on these two days people have nothing else to do. Whereas if it is a religious or festival holiday, people would be busy praying, celebrating , etc.
 
So, in view of the depleting economic situation in the country, the people have to contribute for the progress of the country. Such small and judicious measures will go a long way in boosting the economy of the country - instead of wasting the valuable time.
 
I would like to elicit the views of the readers on this and if everyone agrees with me, the authorities concerned should think about it.
NK Neelakantan

Important points missed in the entry about TN Lakshmi Narayanan
Almost the entire basic industrial infrastructure of Tamil Nadu and the major development institutions including the Tamil andu Industrial Development Corporation were set up during the tenure of this officer as Industries Secretary of the State under the guidance of the then Minister of Industry R Vankatraman later the President of India. Lakshminarayanan was the Advisor to the Governors of Tamil Nadu and Kerela when the States were under Presidents rule. His son in law Arun Ramanathan was the Union Finance Secretary at the time of his retirement.

It is a comment on the falling standards of decency today that neither the Government of Tamil Nadu nor the leading industry bodies like FICCI, CII etc chose to send a representative to lay a wreath for this extraordinarily pleasant and competent officer. Minus the vision and work of this officer and R Venkatraman, the State would have lost the headstart it has now which the current Government and the captains of Tamil Nadu industry are taking advantage of.
Kuppuswamy M