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Whispers in New Delhi's Corridors of Power
September 28, 2007
GV Krishnan
Presumably, the most read media in New Delhi bureaucratic circles is not The Times of India or Hindustan Times, but a little known Bhopal-based website with a pedestrian title - Whispers in the Corridors -it keeps you posted on impending postings & transfers of IAS/IPS officials; it's about rumors on who's under suspension, who are tipped to go on deputation to the Centre, from where; and whose name is up for reversion to the parent state.

Whispers carries political tidbits, corporate personnel movements and water-cooler gossip. A recent post claimed that intelligence agencies have put together a list of top 50 movers & shakers in politics, who call the shots in corridors of power in various state capitals. The website calls them 'big brothers of political masters'; and it claims the PM has this list, along with details on their proximity to PMO and 10 Janpath.

Whispers doesn't name names, but says a certain Mumbai-based businessman remote-controls Rajasthan; he can get anything done in the state. If you can't guess who, here is a clue - he takes active interest in cricket; holds a diplomatic passport. Another businessman, again from Mumbai, can move matters in Bihar; clue - associated with auto industry. 'A shipping and trading magnet' can do things in Gujarat; a Mumbai builder is the man for Maharashtra. A Delhi-based real-estate developer is said to be calling the shots in Haryana; A promotee police officer is believed to be doing it in UP.

How about Madhya Pradesh? The site has nothing on this. But my guess is Suresh Mehrothra, the man behind Whispers in the Corridors.

Anyway, reading Whispers is fun. Much of it may be hogwash, but many of its hunches, they say, approximate facts. And you can't figure out what is hogwash and which part of rumours would come true. Which is why Whispers, they say, has become required reading for the bureaucrats in the reckoning, besides liaison men and the lobbyists who do the rounds of the Secretariat corridors and the central hall of the Parliament House.

Whispers reminds me of Claud Cockburn's cyclostyled gossip-sheet that kept London's Whitehall on the buzz in the 30s. Called, simply, The Week, the gossip-sheet was read by bureaucrats, by leading politicians, bankers and journalists. Philip Toynbee said, "this cyclostyled sheet, which made public all the news and rumours of news which the official press fought shy of, was a squib which exploded effectively in many strange places".

Claud Cockburn, in an introduction to a book by his wife, Patricia - The Years of The Week - wrote: "Friends and enemies are in agreement at least on one fact. It is that The Week exercised an influence and commanded an attention grossly, almost absurdly, out of proportion to its own resources".

Perhaps, one could say the same about the Whispers of Bhopal. The Week of London was produced with the help of a few part-timers, in a dusty, one-room office in Victoria Street. The Bhopal website is brought out from a modest government quarter (allotted to journalists) at T T Nagar. The Whispers publisher, Dr Suresh Mehrotra, has a degree in medicine, but he has been a journalist as long as I have known him.

The media incarnation of Suresh, I believe, had its beginning as a Hindi journalist reporting for a news agency from Ujjain. Most high-flyers have humble beginnings. Suresh and I came to be posted as newspaper correspondents in Bhopal around the same time, in early eighties. I worked for The Times of India, and he, for the Free Press Journal that had opened an edition from Indore.

For someone new to the print media (he had till then been a UNI wire service reporter), that too, in a paper that had yet to make its presence felt in Bhopal, Suresh kept up a steady flow of 'exclusive' news stories, much to the surprise and envy of his colleagues in the media. He was quick to earn a grudging recognition from media peers; he developed a network of contacts in official and political circles. I found him unfailingly helpful whenever I needed a contact or information on a story I was working on.

Contacts are the life blood of a newsman; and Suresh had it in abundance. Whispers thrives on official shop-talk; and it has sustained for six year now, on the strength of Suresh Mehrotra's extensive contacts. Soft-spoken Suresh has a way with people that makes you swap cell numbers and e-mail addresses on your first meeting. We have not been in touch since mid-eighties, and it was during a recent Delhi visit I learnt of his Whispers.
GV Krishnan

Settled in Mysore. Was Times of India correspondent in Bhopal, Chandigarh and Chennai. Joined TOI, 1978, in New Delhi, from the National Herald, New Delhi. On the editorial desk of British daily, 'The Northern Echo', 1967-68. Now he hosts MysoreBlogPark, a parking lot for a bunch of Mysore-connected bloggers; writes a column -Dateline Mysore - for www.zine5.com

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October-a period of uncertainty !
October is going to be a crucial month .Particularly for those who are in high places in India and Pakistan. Their twenty-twenty Cricket fortune have indicated which way the wind is blowing for these countries. Pakistan may be deserted by Lady Luck at the most crucial moment. Like Shoeb Malik ,Musharraf may lose even when things would appear heavily tilted in his favour. Pakistan, stars indicate, is all set for a change-Something incredible and most unexpected may happen.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a Sagittarian ,Jupiter is in the twelth house for him at present and will move over to his ascendent in November end. Mars has moved to his seventh house. All his partnership deals, both domestic and political, may pass through strains .As it is, the Left has already threatened to withdraw its support .Manmohan Singh may act contrary to his natural disposition. Calm and cool Manmohan Singh may lash unexpectedly this month with his unknown harsh tongue. November will herald good times for our dignified Sardar.
Governments both in India and Pakistan will continue to remain on tenterhooks. And fate of their rulers will be unsure and uncertain this month.
October may bring a sad news also .An eminent personality may depart to his heavenly abode and India may see the flag lowered down in mourning.

Minor Secretary level reshuffle likely
A minor Secretary level reshuffle is likely to take place in the Government of India this month.

Will Deepa Jain Singh go ?
Grapevine has it that Child and Women Welfare Secretary in the Government of India Ms Deepa Jain Singh is being shifted .She is 1971 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

Anil Kumar to be Secretary Child and Women Welfare !
Anil Kumar is likely to be appointed new Secretary Child and Women Welfare in the Government of India. He is 1973 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

DG Police to get Rs 60,000 in VIth pay Commission ?

The monthly pay of a Director general of Police is expected to be in the pay-scale of Rs 60,000 - 1.10 lakh after the VIth pay Commission report is implemented.

How frequently Balu changes opinion ?
Till a month ago Union Minister TR Balu was such a big fan of 1974 batch Punjab cadre IAS officer J S Maini that he pleaded with the PM to have him as Chairman of the NHAI. Now the officer has been removed from the post. Strange are the ways of the politicians these days.

Awasthi to join CBI ?
Hitesh Chandra Awasthi is likely to join the CBI as Joint Director. He is 1985 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Shambhu Nath Singh to be JD in IB

Shambhu Nath Singh is being promoted to the rank of Joint Director in the IB. He is 1986 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre.

Selvam to join as PS to Union Minister
R Selvam is joining the Government of India this week as PS to Union Minister of Home Affairs. He is 2001 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre.

Outgoing Army Chief is President DGC

Outgoing Army Chief Gen J J Singh has been unanimously elected President of the prestigious Delhi Gymkhana Club. He will succeed former RAW chief A S Dulat.

Rayalu is new Dy CAG
N R Rayalu has taken over on Monday as new Dy CAG. He has succeeded Mahua Chatterjee who retired on September 30.

Pankaj Kumar is new JS Agriculture
Pankaj Kumar has joined as new Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture. He is 1987 batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre.

Tourism Ministry has no time
Tourism Ministry has no time. This is evident from the fact that the Head of Office posts in Toronto, Tokyo, Frankfurt and London Tourist Offices are still vacant after a lapse of more than six months.

Chandra to be Director RD
Nitin Chandra is joining as Director in the Rural Development Department. He is 1990 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre.

Minister returns the panel for Director Shipping
Indian Minister for Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, T.R. Baalu has reportedly returned the panel for the post of Director in the Ministry of Shipping. The post has been lying vacant ever since P C Dhiman's tenure ended about four months back. The panel comprised incumbents from Indian Ordnance Factory Servive(IOFS) & Indian Revenue Service(IRS).

DGs conference this week
A three day Conference of Director Generals of Police will begin in New Delhi on October 3.

Gen Deepak Kapoor is new Army Chief

General Deepak Kapoor has taken over as the Chief of the Army Staff from General J.J. Singh Sunday.
( We said this on June 7 )

Gopal Sharma to take charge today
Former Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Gopal Sharma is taking over as new chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on Monday. He is 1972 batch IPS officer.

Kumar takes over as GoC Vajra Corps
Lt Gen S S Kumar has taken over as General Officer Commanding of Vajra Corps from Lt Gen Noble Thamburaj, who is taking over as General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Southern Command from October 1.

Srivastava is Member of Appellate Tribunal

B K Srivastava has taken over as Member of the Appellate Tribunal. He is 1971 IRS officer.
( We said this on June 15 )

Pradip Mehra is new Administrator Chandigarh

Pradip Mehra has joined as the new Adviser to the Union Territory of Chandigarh Administrator. He is 1975 batch IAS officer of UT cadre.

( We said this on August 8 )

Seven IPS officers suspended in UP

Again seven IPS officers have been suspended in Uttar Pradesh.They are Mssrs:-B.K. Bhalla ADG, ATC, Sitapur; A.D. Misra, IG, Inter-State Border Force, Mirzapur; K.K. Saxena, IG, PAC, Lucknow; Malkhan Singh Yadav, IG, Inter-State Border Force, Varanasi; Prabhat Kumar, DIG, PAC, Meerut; G.K. Goswami, Commandant, 11 PAC Battalion, Sitapur; and V.K. Agrawal, DIG, Economic Offences Wing.

40 IPS officers transferred in Gujarat

In a major IPS reshuffle in Gujarat 40 IPS officers have been transferred.

Gokulram is new Chairman of NHAI
N Gokulram has been appointed new Chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).1974 batch Karnataka cadre IAS officer, Gokulram, will succeed J S Maini.

Maini moves to BRPSE
Chairman of the NHAI J S Maini has been moved to BRPSE. He is 1974 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre.

Vivek Mehrotra is AS and FA Home
Vivek Mehrotra will now be AS and FA Home. He is 1974 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

Raghu Sirohi is now AS and FA DIPP
Raghu Sirohi has been moved as AS and FA in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. He is 1974 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Raghupathy is AS and FA Food
N K Raghupathy is coming to Delhi as AS and FA in the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies. He is 1975 batch IAS officer of West Bengal cadre.

Avni Vaish is MD Trifed
Avni Vaish has been appointed MD of the Trifed. He is 1975 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Ramasubban is new Secretary CVC
K S Ramasubban will be new Secretary of the CVC.1976 batch West Bengal cadre IAS officer Ramasubban will succeed Sujit Banerjee.

Sujit Banerjee moves to Cabinet Secretariat
Secretary in the CVC Sujit Banerjee is moving to the Cabinet Secretariat as Chairman of Chemical Weapons Conventions in the rank of Secretary in the Government of India. He is 1972 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Money is Member (Administration) NHAI

K S Money Chairman Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority(APEDA),Delhi, has been appointed Member (Administration) in the NHAI. He is 1976 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Rahul Gandhi's induction was a well guarded secret

Induction of Rahul Gandhi as an AICC general secretary was highly guarded secret. Everyone except for Ahmed Patel political secretary to Congress chief Mrs. Sonia Gandhi got to know only when the media was being briefed. Even Janardan Dwivedi, who briefed the media, bore such expressions and his body language reflected that he was browsing through the list for the first time. Full marks to Congress styled politics.

14 IFS officers promoted in Orissa
14 Indian Forest Service Officers have been promoted in Orissa. S K Judesekhar has been promoted to the rank of Additional PCCF. Special Secretary Forests P Padhi has also been promoted to the rank of Additional PCCF. Amiya Kumat Mohapatra will now be CCF.

S.Pradhan is Joint Secretary Disinvestments

S.Pradhan has been appointed as Joint Secretary Dinvestments.Pradhan who belongs to the 1977 batch of Indian Revenue Service(IRS) will be there till June 30,2012.Hitherto he was Commissioner of Income Tax ( C) -I,Delhi.

Additional charge to CCITs

Following Chief Commissioners of Income Tax(CCITs) have been given additional charge.Debabrata Das CCIT Nasik gets DGIT (Intl Taxn)Delhi,Utpal Kanjilal CCIT VIII Kolkata gets CCIT Durgapur,T.K.Chatterjee CCIT- I Kolkata gets CCIT- II Kolkata,and M.Narsimhamppa CCIT-Pune gets CCIT-II Pune & P.P.Shrivastava CCIT X Mumbai gets CCIT Thane.

12 Additional/Joint,CITs transferred
As many as 12 Additional Commissioners /Joint Commissioners of Income Tax have been transferred.They are :

FORUM

Too Little!

The Indian Air Force is a vaunted and highly trained force, operationally and technically. While 1500 is some beginning, where none existed earlier, it is sad to see only 12 per cent of the candidates being selected.
Industry needs to be more forthcoming, firstly as part of their CSR, and secondly because of the vast HR pool of talent that is represented in the IAF.

Ch KS Sindhu

A very important point of debate

I would like to bring a very important point for debate through your website. There is a general tendency to blame the bureaucracy for all the problems in the country. Everyone right from top to bottom expects that Civil Servants must be honest, follow the rules & a code of conduct, work for the country without any self interest (Niswarth sewa), don't join any private organisation after retirement. They are always criticised for misusing the perks enjoyed by them. An income tax officer/under secretary in the Government has been given the power to prosecute even Mukesh Ambani the fourth richest man in the world.
For an under secretary rank officer In Job: Rs. 20000/- (approx.)
After retirement: Pension : Rs. 15000/-
Cost of living in a middle class life (excluding medical expenses) in a:
Metro City: 35000/-
Other Places: 25000/-
Condition of govt. medical facility are known to everyone
If people expect so much more from us why this should not be made known to them. Is it the way the Govt. should take care of its ex employees who have put in their entire life without any major self interest.
Arvind

Why hue and cry about Government servants ?
When private sector/ MNC salaries are increased by lakhs, there is no hue and cry anywhere in the media about its possible impact on inflation. But when pay commission increases salary of government servants once in ten years or when a DA instalment is announced, there is so much weeping and wailing in the media about its adverse impact on inflation and the economy. Why this dual standard and bias? Is it not hypocrisy? Moreover, it has become a habit of media to address public servants as "BABUS" in a derogatory sense which has crossed all limits of decency and it should end immediately as it only shows the disrespect of media to State .

Sushil

Why the Forest Ministry hide names of consultants ?
As per the RTI, the Ministries/Departments are required to give the names of all employees and their remuneration. Why the MoEF does not mention the names of Consultants posted in that Ministry, who draw fat salaries and write office notes on the Files and run their Divisions as if the JSs/ASs are in their pockets (sic)! Will the Environment Secretary take note !

A Enrabasu

Commendable job of Snehlata Srivastava
Good to hear about Ms. Snehlata Srivastava. Nowadays it is rare to find an officer who would take an initiative for doing some thing good for the people. I hope her male collegues learn some thing out of it.
My best wishes to the lady.

Ravi

I agree with Sindhu
I fully agree with CH K S Sindhu on the ostentatious expenditure incurred on cricketers. Every one knows the differential in living standards is minus to infinity and people should be careful in throwing money like this .Millions of people suffer for one square meal, education and shelter, medical assistance and the Public sector like Air India has done nothing in this direction. They are accountable to public and such expenses are paid out of taxpayers money. The money doled out should be spent for better use.

S .Venkatachalam

Too Little!

The Indian Air Force is a vaunted and highly trained force, operationally and technically. While 1500 is some beginning, where none existed earlier, it is sad to see only 12% of the candidates being selected.

Industry needs to be more forthcoming, firstly as part of their CSR, and secondly because of the vast HR pool of talent that is represented in the IAF.

Ch KS Sindhu

TAIL-PIECE
A man dies and goes to hell. There he finds that there is a different hell for each country.

He goes to the German hell and asks, "What do they do here?" He told, "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour. Then the German devil comes in and beats you for the rest of the day."
The man does not like the sound of that at all so he moves on. He checks out the USA hell as well as the Russian hell and many more.
He discovers that they are all more or less the same as the German hell.

Then he comes to the Indian hell and finds that there is a long line of people waiting to get in.

Amazed, he asks, "What do they do here?"
He told, "First they put you in an electric chair for an hour. Then they lay you on a bed of nails for another hour.

Then the Indian devil comes in and beats you for the rest of the day."
"But that is exactly the same as all the other hells - why are there so many people waiting to get in?"

"Because maintenance is so bad that
· the electric chair does not work,
· someone has stolen all the nails from the bed
· and the devil is a former Government servant, so he comes in, signs the register and then goes to the canteen!!!!! !

Contributed by-Col Satish Dewan

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CORPORATE

Saraf to be Director (Finance) ONGC ?
D K Saraf is being tipped to be new Director (Finance) of the ONGC. The PESB has put his name on number one in the panel.

Rana Som to be CMD ,NMDC
As the grapevine has it Rana Som is poised to become the Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) of the National Mineral Development Corporation(NMDC). At present he is Director HRD in the State Trading Corporation(STC).

Raju is ED of HPCL Visakh
General Manager (operations) of HPCL Visakh Refinery P.A.B. Raju has been appointed Executive Director of the unit. He will succeed A S Rao.

NHPC officers' Silver Jubilee celebrations?
Eyebrows have been raised in the Central Power Utilities
about the way the NHPC Officers' Association celebrated
its Silver Jubilee recently. NHPC Management virtually declared
half holiday on 21st September to enable officers and their
families to reach Sri Fort Auditorium in Delhi by 4.00 P.M. The
headquarters of the Corporation are located in Faridabad. NHPC
has huge residential complex in Faridabad but for the convenience
of a few Ministry officials, the function was organized in Delhi.
Huge money was spent on hiring of Sri Fort Auditorium and the
dinner hosted plus hiring of cultural troupe.
Other corporations like NTPC are worried that their own associations
may also ask for same facilities. They also argue that NHPC
Officers Association should have better kept highly poor performance of the Corporation during the 10th Plan in view while gloating over their achievements.

Hotel Ka Guru' from Travelguru
If you want to select a hotel as per your need & choice in an unknown city of India then it is no longer a cumbersome exercise. Thanks to Travelguru, India's largest hotel network and premier travel portal has announced a new consumer interactive, marketing initiative - Hotel Ka Guru, Travelguru. It introduces a novel approach to customer service. Through this newly launched service, a customer can speak to the 'Hotel Ka Guru' who is a specialist for the geographical location that the customer plans to visit.

OKI & Wipro join hands for semiconductor design services
Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. & Wipro Technologies, the global IT services arm of Wipro Limited entered into a strategic partnership in the area of design services for the semiconductor market. As part of this partnership, Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Oki Techno Centre Singapore Pte. Ltd.(OTCS) including its own Intellectual Property Rights in an all cash deal over a period of one year. Wipro will also establish a dedicated development centre for OKI.

Castrol award for Dhoni's Team
The platinum jubilee(75 years)of Indian Test cricket will be celebrated at the Castrol awards for cricketing excellence ceremony, to be held in Kochi on October 2,2007. The Castrol Awards have been synonymous with Indian cricket since their inception in 1997-98. This year's ceremony will however witness a departure from the usual tradition of honoring Indian cricketers for their outstanding performances in the previous twelve months. The attraction of the function will be the presence of most of the captains who steered and shaped Indian cricket. Former skippers like Nari Contractor, Ajit Wadekar, Chandu Borde, Sunil Gavaskar, Gundappa Vishwanath, Bishen Bedi and Dilip Vengsarkar, to name just a few, will be honoured for their contribution to Indian cricket at the function. Amongst the current cricketers, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag - all of whom have captained India in Test matches, will also be felicitated.As part of the Castrol cricketing awards, each year, there is a special award given away for outstanding performances. Last year's winner was Jhulan Goswami who has just been awarded the ICC Women's Cricketer of the year award. Goswami will attend the function in Kochi. This year, the Outstanding Performance award will be given away to Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team for their victory in the T20 World Cup.

Rajasthan seeks investment from Mumbai
The'Resurgent Rajasthan' summit will be held in Jaipur over two days, on November 30 and December 1, 2007, in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).Sectors on which focus will be are infrastructure, education & HRD, automobile. While leading a delegation of senior officials from the Rajasthan government Rajasthan's Minister of Industries, Mr Narpat Singh Rajvi has urged investors in Mumbai and Maharashtra to come and invest in Rajasthan.He also invited them for attending the event.

BHEL to take over PIL !
There is a serious move to takeover the Palakkad unit of Instrumentation Limited (IL) by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).

Srinivasan is Chairman of SIMA
Dr K.V. Srinivasan, Managing Director of Sree Narasimha Textiles Pvt Ltd, has been elected Chairman of the Southern India Mills Association (SIMA).

Aditya Shastri is CEO for People Pictures

People Group of which Chairman cum Managing Director (CMD) is Anupam Mittal has appointed Aditya Shastri as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for People Pictures. Hitherto he was CEO with the Corporate Division of UFO Moviez in India.

Raghu Ram is Head of Rediffusion DY&R, Chennai

Rediffusion DY&R, Chennai has roped in Raghu Ram as Creative Head. Hitherto he was Associate Creative Director with TBWA\India, Bangalore.

10/Sharmeeshta Rajwani is CEO of SaharaOne

The Sahara media group has roped in Sharmeeshta Rajwani as Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Sahara 1. Hitherto she was MD with Ten Sports,India .