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For Arun Balakrishnan newly-the new Chairman cum Managing Director of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd(HPCL) -one of India's leading Fortune 500 companies, welfare of the staff & thereby ensuring progress of the company are of paramount importance.Politeness,sharpness coupled with dedication are major strengths of Balakrishnan who after assuming the post of CMD of HPCL on April 1, 2007 gave an exclusive interview to <whispersinthecorridors.com> .Hitherto he was Director (Human Resources) with the HPCL--one of the India's leading Fortune 500 companies.

He started his career with HPCL over three decades ago. He has handled various portfolios in Marketing, Corporate and HR of the oil major and possesses a rich experience in the oil sector. He also had a 5 year stint with the Oil Coordination Committee as Director - Planning.

In his capacity as Director - Human Resources, Balakrishnan introduced a number of contemporary People Management initiatives. As a result the Corporation came to be acknowledged as one of the 'Best Employers in India -2004' in the study conducted by Hewitt Associates and CNBC- TV 18. Under his leadership, HPCL was also the recipient of 'Award in Best Work Place Practices' by Asian Forum for Corporate Social Responsibility, Philipines in 2004. HPCL also received the Golden Peacock National Training Award for 2005 and an award for Commitment to Building and Learning Organisation by Peter Senge in 2006.

In the recent past, the All India Management Association has conferred a fellowship and the Institute of Engineers (India) have presented a Scroll of Honour for recognition 'of his outstanding contribution to the profession of Chemical Engineering'.

Arun Balakrishnan feels "current ceilings on product pricing are not very helpful. Hence Finance will be a key focus area." His mind has many innovative ideas which he would share with the concerning authorities & world at an appropriate time. A relaxed but confident CMD of the oil major unfolded his aims and roadmap for steering the company to newer heights.Here goes his interview:

1/Will you please list your at least two priorities?

I have taken over the mantle of HPCL from April 1. The transition itself was uneventful as the HP top team has always been well knit and professional. My predecessor M. B. Lal who superannuated on March 31, 2007, has bequeathed me a well managed Company with well thought out strategic objectives and proven processes. I am thankfull for that.

2/What are your expansion plans?

As the months roll by, challenges will come by. The first and major one would be attracting and retaining talent. It takes about two to three years to train a fresh engineer on the intricacies of refinery operations.Same is applicable for ERP, Finance and HR.

And someone comes and offers him/her three times what he/she gets. Luckily PSU salaries are due for a revision effective January 2007. But even if the salaries are doubled, it would be difficult to match the market. So high levels of recruitment and attrition are going to be part of life.

The second challenge would be project management. We have nearly Rs. 5000 crores of projects to be carried out in the next two years. This is in addition to the huge investment in our Bhatinda Refinery project. Needless to say, some innovative thinking is required to get things done as per schedule.

Third challenge would be managing cash flow. Large projects have large incubation periods. Current ceilings on product pricing are not very helpful. Hence Finance will be a key focus area.

3/What are other issues that need to be addressed?

Taxes and duties are another area of concern. Maybe we need to consider reduction of duties on petrol so as to bring its price in line with that of diesel. This can deter the shift to diesel for cars in India. And probably, more appropriate use of our refinery products

Das to be DG CISF !

Ranjit Kumar Das is being tipped to be new DG of the CISF. He is 1970 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Asha Swarup is new Secretary I & B

Ms Asha Swarup has been appointed new Secretary Information and Broadcasting. She is 1973 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre. Ms Swarup who is considered to be an upright, straight forward and clear headed bureaucrat is presently Special Secretary and FA in the Ministry of Commerce.

Arora is Secretary Sports and Youth Welfare

Secretary Information and Broadcasting S K Arora has been moved to Sports and Youth Welfare. He is 1971 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. Arora would succeed Madhukar Gupta.

Paul to continue as Delhi Police Commissioner

Delhi Police Commissioner K K Paul is unlikely to move to any CPO. He is 1970 batch IPS officer of UT cadre.

Orders of Mansingh soon

Formal orders of the appointment of L Mansingh as Chairman of the Petroleum Regulatory Authority are expected to be issued either this week or next week. He is 1970 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

SEZs & Budhadeb's meeting with Sonia Gandhi

There is more to it than meets the eyes as far meeting of West Bengal Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharya with Congress chief Mrs. Sonia Gandhi on Sunday was concerned. As the grapevine has it, Bhattacharya in a very subtle manner explained how a Bombay based industrial house would virtually have monopoly on Special Economic Zones (SEZs),if companies like Tatas were hounded by people with vested interests.

Shatrughna Singh joins Uttarakhand Government

Joint Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat Shatrughna Singh is back to the parent Uttarakhand cadre after completion of central deputation tenure.1983 batch IAS officer Singh is awaiting for his posting.

Rajiv Kumar to succeed Shatrughna Singh

Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer Rajiv Kumar will in all probability be new Joint Secretary (Coordination) in the Cabinet Secretariat in place of Shatrughna Singh.

Kotia to join GoI

Dilip Kumar Kotia is going on deputation to the Government of India. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttaranchal cadre.

Will A K Jain be Member of TDSAT ?

Name of A K Jain is in circulation for the post of Member of the TDSAT. He is retired 1970 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

New Secretary Coordination in Pakistan

Sohail Safdar has been appointed as the first inter-provincial coordination secretary in Pakistan.

Rajeev Chawla too bags PM"s Award

Rajeev Chawla Secretary E-Governance in the Karnataka Government has also won the Prime Minister's Award for Excellence in Public Administration for the year 2005-06.
Chawla receives the award for implementing "Bhoomi", a computerized land records system for delivery, updating and safe storing of land records in Karnataka. Bhoomi enables citizens to access their land records easily and ensures transparency in the management of these records. On line access and creation of electronic database of land records has obliterated the need for manual rewriting and updating of land records. He is 1987 batch IAS officer.
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh had announced the institution of the Prime Minister's Awards for excellence in Public Administration on Civil Services Day, April 21, 2006. Rajeev Chawla will be conferred the award on 21 April, 2007, Civil Services Day.

On his selection as the winner of the Mr.Chawla told <whispersinthecorridors.com>

"I am humbled by the Prime Minister giving me the highest civil services award for excellence in administration. I would still work hard to ensure that the citizens of this country live a peaceful and prosperous life in future."

Department of Atomic Energy requires JS

Officials of Joint Secretary or equivalent rank may apply by April 13 for the JS post in Department of Atomic Energy.

Is the EC empowered to give an extension?

Is the EC empowered to give an extension? This question is being asked in the bureaucratic circles following an extension of three months to the UP Chief Secretary, Shambhu Nath, who was to retire on April 1.

Tenure of IIPA Director expires

Tenure of Director of the IIPA Dr P L Sanjiva Reddy has expired on March 31. S P Verma is now acting Director.

Book of Raghav Chandra released

The release of Principal Secretary, MP, Raghav Chandra's (IAS, 1982) book, 'Soul, Mind Body, Mapping the Global Citizen' at India International Center a few days ago by the Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah before a very celebrity audience(those present included Secretary Telecom DS Mathur, Secretary Tribal Affairs, Ms Meena Gupta...CMD Indian Airlines V P Trivedi, Joint secretary Department of Information Technology Mr Pankaj Agarwal, Many Senior officers from various Ministries, Senior Counsels in Supreme Court, Vivek Tankha and Manmohan and environmentalists Vandana Shiva and Meera Shiva and media). It will go down in the annuls of history for being the first time that a Global Perception Rating Framework for defining and describing the global citizen has been enunciated and simultaneously the concept has been put to use by the launch of an interactive website www.scratchmysoul.com. Amongst the dignitaries, former Chairman TRAI Pradeep Baijal, said that in due course, Chandra's work could prove to be just as revolutionary as the invention of the fax machine. Wajahat Habibullah read out excerpts from the book and upheld the need for people to be 'sensitive to other cultures' and 'environmentally conscious' and 'to have high ethical values in their lives and work'. In fact, he stated that this concept of societal perceptions was almost akin to the concept of Right to Information that he was enforcing.
The GPR Framework's objective is to respect diversity in cultures and heterogeneity in lifestyles, but to inspire homogeneity in societal obligations by having people see the societal mirror. The website is already pre-populated with about 20,000 names of prominent public figures and celebrities from India and abroad. All one has to do is to register and login and then begin, "scratching the soul/mind…" of somebody he knows in the workplace/neighborhood/relationship etc. New souls can also be introduced by anybody. One can also enhance and scratch ones own profile to reflect true facts as per ones own perception. There is also provision for sending gifts and flowers to people to encourage and compliment people to be better citizens. People should "do unto others as they would have done unto them" for a more happy, cohesive and peaceful world. Society is Watching; Society is Conscience is the motto of the site. Raghav Chandra is an alumnus of St Stephens College, Delhi University and Harvard University, USA. His articles have been published in the Economic Times, Hindustan Times, Foreign Trade Review, Discover India, Dainik Bhaskar and other reputed journals. Chandra can be contacted at raghavchandra@yahoo.com

A prodigal genius

Believe it or not a Delhi born Economist has been offered jobs as an Assistant Professor at three top Institutes of UK viz.London School of Economics,University of Cambridge & Oxford University.This genius who has brought laurels to India,did his graduation from Delhi School of Economics.Then he went on to do his Post Graduation & Doctorate from the London School of Economics(LSE),London.

Ajitabh cold shouldered

Ajitabh Bachchan despite his having sought an appointment with Congress president Sonia Gandhi could not meet her,though he was able to meet her daughter Mrs.Priyanka Gandhi Wadhra.Uncle Ajitabh had gone to deliver invitation card of his nephew Abhishek Bachchan's wedding with Aishwarya i.e.slated to be solemnized on April 20,2007.At 10 Janpath the card was recived by Mrs.Gandhi's staff member Madhavan.However,Priyanka had personally received the invite from uncle Ajitabh.It may be recalled that Shweta Bachchan and Priyanka Gandhi had tied the nuptial knot at one day's difference in 1997.While,Bachchans' had graced the Priyanka's wedding ceremony,Madam Gandhi and her family members were conspicuous by their absence during Shweta's wedding.

Performamce linked contracts by BCCI likely

The Board of Control for Cricket in India(BCCI)is contemplating to sign performance linked contracts with cricketers,coaches,managers & officials.Such a practice prevails in the games of Rugby & Lackros which are quite uncommon in India.Interestingly,with India's humiliating defeat during the ongoing Cricket World Cup,no member of the BCCI is willing to become spokesperson for the media.Rajiv Shukla is reportedly desperate to get rid of this.Even high fliers like Lalit Modi have disappeared into the thin air.

Delhi & Kirit Chelliah

What is common between Delhi and Congress MP from Assam Kirit Chelliah. He was handpicked by the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi & asked to jump into the poll arena from Parliamentary constituency of Guwahati. At present he is key advisor to Rahul Gandhi. Besides, he is emerging as the pointsman of the Gandhi family & Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh , in Assam.

1990 batch IPS promoted in Haryana

Three 1990 batch IPS officers Desh Raj Singh, S S Kapoor and Ranbir Singh Sharma have been promoted to the rank of DIG in Haryana.

IAS changes in Punjab

Ajit Singh Pannu,Bhawna Garg and Karam Singh will now be DCs of Jullandhar, Nava Shahar and TaranTaran respectively.Krishna Kumar has been made CEO of Greater Mohali Development Authority.Jaspal Singh has been appointed Special Secretary Higher Education.Manisha Trighatia will be ADC Jullandhar and Rajat Agrawal ADC Muktsar.

Air Vice-Marshal is new Commandant

Air Vice-Marshal A. Saikia is taking over today as new commandant of College of Defence Management.

FORUM

Shortage of accommodation in Delhi

Due to shortage of accommodation central services officers when posted to Delhi have to wait for long periods government accommodation .Many officers have to contend with below entitlement
accommodation. In such a situation there is no justification for those officers whose departmental pool accommodation has already been constructed to keep on occupying general pool accommodation, thereby denying deserving officers of accommodation. In Raksha Sampada Bhawan near Delhi airport, type 5 and 6 flats/duplex bungalows constructed at huge cost are lying vacant since SEPT/ Oct 2005 and offers have now been invited for allotment of above entitlement flats.This has been done to show full occupancy so that retention of general pool accommodation by some officers can be justified even after construction of departmental accommodation. In such a situation where departmental pool accommodation remains vacant for more than six months it should be transferred to general pool accommodation so that waiting period is reduced. After all accommodation constructed at govt. cost should not remain vacant because some officers can manage to occupy general pool accommodation. Directorate of Estates needs to be very alert and vigilant about this especially after Honble Supreme Court's judgement coming down heavily on unauthorised occupants.
Sudhir Chopra

Mobile towers in Defence lands

The mobile towers have mushroomed on defence lands all over the country. Ironically they have come up unauthorisedly and without sanction of the Ministry of Defence who is the licensing authority of defence land for this purpose. It is shocking that the valuable defence land, whose acqusition for defence related needs cost the government huge financial burden is being allowed to be encroached this way for private commercial purposes. The unauthorised cell phone towers pose a threat to security environment of defence areas. Reportedly, there is no policy laid down by the government for construction of mobile towers on defence lands. This shows the absolute lack of responsibility with the authorities entrusted with the control and management of defence lands all over the country and possible connivance in the whole issue. A serious note by government for fixing the responsibility and avoiding such happenings in future will be in the interest of state.
P S Murthy

Posting of junior IAS indication of changing trend

The posting of a junior 2004 batch IAS officer as collector definitely indicates a changing trend wherein junior officers irrespective of the tenure of service they have put in or the scale of pay are being posted as heads of district. A strong political influence behind this can not be overlooked. The concerned department must take a note with concern especially when the PM is talking about strengthening the public services and has lot of reform proposals on his agenda. The other Gr A civil Services are also suffering from a similar aberration and one of these is Indian Defence Estates Service which altogether lacks a policy for transfer and postings of its officers. The seniors follow a junior and vice versa irrespective of the nature and responsibility of post but depending on the whims and fancies and likes and dislikes of the transferring authority. MoD should take a note of such adhoc attitude which not only mars the carrer progression of officers but also makes government to suffer from inefficiency of officer due to lack of adequate exposure given to him or her.
Shobhana Mishra

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Now listen to Mulayam's maya…… says Congress is forcing Rahul to lie,
And Mulayam says this with a deep sigh!!!

By the way he's not let us know who does he mean when he say 'Congress'????
Who has got the power joh Rahul ko to say this karr saktha/sakthi hai press!!!

And does he mean that Rahul does not think on his own….. Baba being force fed,
Or is he trying to say that Rahul is brain-dead????

Maybe he got muddled…… it's actually his own son who does so,
When Chacha Amar says yes he says yes and when Chacha says no he say no!!!

And Mulayam continues his diatribe against EC…… says EC is prejudiced,
Says that by anti SP forces EC is being used!!!

Questioned that in case SP needs supports in a hung House then whose support will SP take???
Mulayam says not Congress's or BJP's…. and for his info Mayawathi calls him a fake!!!

If SP needs MLAs it will go straight to the MLAs and 'get' the required numbers,
After all in every there are the perpetual grumblers!!!

But the chance that SP will come in striking distance to form Sarkar are bleak,
SP's chances to come back are very weak!!!

And mark my words communal tensions in UP will be made to rise,
And for guessing who will be behind the tension rise there is no prize!!!

Why is Sharad Pawar trying to get Sarkar to lift the ban on Forward Trade????
Forward Trading in certain commodities by Sarkaar has been stayed!!!

Speculation in essentials should be kept at bay,
In speculation Farmer does not benefit and exorbitant prices consumers have to pay!!

It's the speculators and middlemen who rake in the moolah,
The poor end up with nothing on the choolah!!!

Amrinder has been advised not to apply for Anticipatory Bail,
Advised that application would fail!!!

So now Amrinder wants to slink into Delhi ….. will make Delhi his home for some time,
After all shifting to Delhi is no crime!!!

Now very soon he's going to get to know Badal's foreboding … Raja would wilt in jail,
When he'll have to sleep on a hard bed , no ac and eat food that's stale!

Told you that Manmohan's detractors will start their games,
Now they say for Presidency Manmohan's is one of the names!!!

In fact now they are trying that Mulayam or Amar praise Manmohan Singh,
By this more negativity for Manmohan in Sonia's books they'll be able to bring!!!

But then would they also name the next Prime Minister,
All have political ambitions and this Sonia considers a sinister!!!

Manmohan is the only one who will not raise his own political flag,
When it comes to political ambitions Manmohan karta hai dismally lag!!!

Now it's come to light that a clause in the Foreign Trade Police is being misused,
To save swindling Channa and Dal exporters this clause is being used!!!

But what cannot be refuted is the croc tears that Congress shed,
Allowed exports to go on as on account of rocketing prices household budgets bled!!

So both in the Delhi MCD Polls and UP Polls seems Congress will continue to pay,
In UP Congress will continue to languish whereas in Delhi MCD will be shown bahaar ka way!!

Sonia Ji its time to do some chintan…. contemplate,
Please do so before it's too late!!!

Don't you think a Coach has to be master at what he's coaching???
A Batsman coach will be on Bowling Coach's territory encroaching!!!

Why not appoint an all rounder as a Coach,
All facets of the game who can coach!!!

Or why not just appoint a Panel of Coaches as the selectors…. choose and coach,
Select and coach the Team could be a new approach!!

Sensex and Nifty hai ek dumm bewafaa,
Nowadays with both investors and Punters are khafaa!!

Question is that now is the Bull Market khalaas...... Bulls say no and Bears say yes,
But whatever both may say small investors are in a financial mess!!!

People forget though the long term story is intact,
But you have daily short term requirements to meet and this is a fact!!

The long and short is just look at your own requirements and invest,
Your own requirements only you know best!!!

My heart goes out to those who in this slide have lost shirt, pant and chaddi,
Who've had to shift to Public Transport after selling of their gaddi (Punajbi for car)!!!

Dream big but have your feet planted firmly on the ground,
Be careful if you are lucky to have a 'next time around'!!!

Bharat Kumar

Aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

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CORPORATE

Gupta to be ED of Bank of Baroda

General Manager of the Bank of India S C Gupta is being tipped to be ED of the Bank of Baroda.

Nandigram episode & software cos.

The Nandigram episode is already having its ripples felt in the software sector of India.As the grapevine has it Azim Premji's "Wipro" has decided to go slow on their investments in West Bengal.Instead of this they have decided to move towards Middle East.

Dismissal of SBI Officer recommended

The CVC has recommended dismissal from service of J Pinheiro a senior officer of the State Bank of India.

Lt Gen Ghazi to be Chairman of PIAC

Lt-Gen (retd) Tariq Waseem Ghazi, a close confidant of President General Pervez Mushrraf is being appointed chairman of the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIAC).Meanwhile resignation of PIAC Chairman, Tariq Kirmani has been accepted.

Major Gen Rao gets extension

DG of the Survey of India Major General M Gopal Rao has been granted six months extension beginning April 1.

Chandrasekharan is Technical Member

TamilNadu Government has appointed S. Chandrasekaran as the Technical Member (Patents) of the Intellectual Property Appellate Board, Chennai.