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Prakash Pillai is Magazine Editor for our site
Prakash Pillai has joined the family of <whispersinthecorridors.com>as the Magazine-Editor. Pillai is a journalist of repute with a standing of about 18 years. He has worked with Madhya Pradesh Chronicle(now Central Chronicle),News Express -Brunei & The Hindustan Times.
Super time only after 16 years in service
The Indian Government has decided to revert to its old system of giving super time scale to IAS officers after they have completed 16 years. At present super time scale is being awarded to such bureaucrats who have put in 14 years of service.
Raju to return to J & K !
Additional Director in the CBI, R V Raju, is reportedly returning to the parent J & K cadre.1975 batch IPS officer, Raju, has been given DG rank in the parent J & K cadre.
Race for the post of CVO, IOC begins
Race for the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO)in Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has begun. The post will fall vacant in this week as incumbent CVO AS Lamba has been appointed as new Additional Secretary & FA in the Indian Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperatives.
1988 batch of IPS to get IG's rank in UP
IPS officers belonging to the 1988 batch in Uttar Pradesh are expected to be promoted as IG in Uttar Pradesh. At least five DIGs will be promoted. However, those under suspension on charge of bungling in recruitments will not be considered. There are more than seven vacancies of IG in UP.
Successor of Ms. Kakarla Usha yet to be decided
Successor of Ms. Kakarla Usha is yet to be decided. She will be Director of the newly opened Bangalore based centre of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). Ms.Usha who is an IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre belongs to the 1994 batch. At present she is Collector, Chennai.
Rajendra Mishra is back to MP
Rajendra Mishra who so far was Deputy Director Administration (DDA) in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is back to his parent cadre of Madhya Pradesh. He is an IPS officer of the 1987 batch.
Gurudarshan Singh is back as IG Meerut
Gurudarshan Singh, who was earlier removed in the wake of Arushi murder case, has been again posted as IG Meerut. He is an 1984 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Maj Gen Swamy is GOC 16 Corps
Maj Gen R K Swamy has been appointed as new GOC 16 Corps. He will replace Maj Gen R K Karwal, whose posting orders are awaited.
Brig Grewal promoted
Brig A S Grewal, presently posted in Army Headquarters, New Delhi, has been transferred and promoted as GOC Uniformed Force, Reasi, in place of Maj Gen T C Panjikar, who has been transferred and posted as Maj Gen Gen Staff (MGGS), Chandi Mandir.
Book of Didar Singh released
Dr. A Didar Singh's (IAS 1976 ,Punjab) Book, "E-Commerce in India", published by LexisNexis was released by Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Science, on August 25,2008, at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi. In a high-powered panel discussion accompanying the launch and comprising of Arun Maira, Kiran Karnik, Chandan Mitra and Bibek Debroy, the Minister suggested that Dr Singh who is presently Member Finance at NHAI should now consider doing a fourth book on the digital architecture necessary to promote e-Governance.
Sudhir Garg is Director Commerce
Sudhir Garg has joined as Director in the Indian Ministry of Commerce. He is an Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer who belongs to the 1990 batch.
SS Chhabra to be Secretary SAI
SS Chhabra is going to be appointed as Secretary with the Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Central deputation. He is 1993 batch Indian Forest Service Officer (IFS) officer of the Manipur-Tripura cadre.
IFS cadre in MP goes up
Final notification regarding cadre review of Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers in Madhya Pradesh has been issued. In the wake of this cadre strength of IFS officers in MP will go up from 270 to 297 now.
Reshuffle in BSNL
51 General Managers of the BSNL have been reshuffled.
Dr. Maroo included in Core Group on Drought Management
Commissioner Bhopal division Dr. Pukhraj Maroo has been nominated as a member of the Core Group on Drought Management from Madhya Pradesh. Constituted by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Delhi, the Core Group has been assigned the task of preparation of the guidelines at the national level on the drought management. The Core Group includes 12 members who are experts and professionals in the relevant field with years of experience from different states of the country. He is 1980 batch MP cadre IAS officer.
Justice Mathur to head the Armed Forces Tribunal (UPDATED)
Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, a retired judge of the Supreme Court has been appointed as Chairperson of the Armed Forces Tribunal(AFT). The tenure of appointment of Justice A.K. Mathur as Chairperson in the Armed Forces Tribunal will be for a period of four years from the date of assumption of the charge of post or till he attains the age of 70 years whichever is earlier.Born on August 07, 1943, Justice Mathur was enrolled as an advocate of the Rajasthan High Court in 1967. He served as Assistant Government Advocate and Deputy Government Advocate and later as Government Advocate of Jodhpur from 1969 to 1978. He was appointed as Additional Advocate General of Rajasthan in 1981. Justice Mathur became Additional Judge of Rajasthan High Court in 1985 and Permanent Judge of the same court in 1986. He transferred to the Madhya Pradesh High Court in 1994 and was appointed as Chief Justice of the same court in 1996. Justice Mathur was transferred to Calcutta High Court in 1999.He was elevated as Judge of the Supreme Court of India on June 07, 2004 and retired from there on August 6,2008.

CORPORATE
NBCC Present Dividend Cheque of Rs.55.97 crore to UD Minister
National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC) presented a dividend cheque of Rs.55.97 crore to Indian Minister for Urban Development(UD) S. Jaipal Reddy in Delhi on August 26,2008. The Cheque was presented by the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of NBCC Arup Roy Choudhury. The company has declared a whopping gross profit of Rs.418 crore with a total income of Rs.2025 crore.Reddy congratulated the NBCC team for scaling new heights and asked to maintain the status and standard of the largest Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) in the construction and infrastructure sector. The Minister also advised the CMD to take up more projects with architectural excellence in the North-Eastern States to bring the region at par with other States.The Board of NBCC also declared a dividend of Rs.55.97 crore to be paid to the Government of India, which is 62 per cent of its paid-up Capital of Rs.90.00 crore.
SpiceJet forms Management Committee
SpiceJet has set up a three-member management committee comprising chief commercial officer Samyukth Sridharan, chief financial officer Partha Basu and director Kishore Gupta till the appointment of new CEO.
Uppal quits ABB
Ravi Uppal, ABB Group's Zurich-based president of global markets, has resigned.
SAIL's 5th Steel Processing Unit at Gwalior
Indian Minister for Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on August 26,2008 laid the foundation stone for the fifth Steel Processing Unit (SPU) of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) at Billowa village in Gwalior district of Madhya Pradesh. State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Indian Minister of State for Telecommunications & Information Technology Jyotiraditya Scindia, Gwalior MP Mrs. Yashodhara Raje, members of the Vidhan Sabha, SAIL Chairman S.K. Roongta and Managing Director Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) R. Ramaraju were also present on the occasion.
Yet another first in SAIL's kitty (UPDATED)
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL)of which Chairman is S.K.Roongta has become the first company in India to utilise the Freight Operations Information System (FOIS) of Indian Railways for monitoring the movement of its incoming and outgoing rail freight traffic. The web enabled system has been developed and customized for SAIL by the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS), Ministry of Railways. The new system was formally launched by V.K.Gulhati Director (Technical), SAIL on August 27,2008 and was put in operational use for all SAIL plants & units simultaneously for providing on-line information about incoming raw material wagon/trains starting from the loading points to destinations and movement of finished products from steel plants to stockyards/customers.R.B. Das, Group General Manager (FOIS) from CRIS, present on the occasion mentioned that the system has been exclusively designed for SAIL after a number of interactions with SAIL plants which will help in on-line tracking of inward & outward wagons/trains across the country.

Forum
Can there be any TU more powerful than IAS?
This is in response to RK Singh's views on the rationale as to why it is necessary for only the IAS to man superior posts in the centre and his comments on other central services.
With regard to his comments on "trade unionism" can there be any trade union more powerful in this country over and above the IAS???. It is a fact that this service functions as a powerful trade union and almost always gets away with all their demands unlike other services. The way this service, over the years, has manipulated the Central Staffing Scheme to its own advantage much at the cost of other services is a well known fact. For Mr. Singh's kind information there is no post under the Central Government which is known as an "IAS" post. There are only encadre and ex-cadre posts. By definition, ex-cadre posts are open to members of all services including the IAS. It is presumptuous on the part of Singh to consider these as proprietary posts reserved exclusively for the IAS and reveals an astonishing (but not surprising!!!) level of ignorance on his part. The grievance of other Central Services is that over the years, officers from other Central Services have been systematically discriminated against for these posts. By manning all key posts in various Ministries including the Department of Personnel & training, the IAS have established a pattern which ensures that it is only their tribe that makes it to the higher echleons of the bureaucracy.
When Singh talks about the need for the IAS to have a right mix of both policy as well as field level experience, I guess the same should also apply for other services as well. While it is true that this kind of an arrangement was envisaged for the IAS by the makers of the Constitution, this was most certainly not at the cost of having an equal representation from other services. The fact that they have manipulated this provision to their advantage at the cost of depriving other services to these posts is what is highly objectionable and not in consonance with the spirit of civil services. It is also regrettable that Singh seems to suggest that officers from other services have no experience or training for manning posts at the policy level at the centre. Singh, will realize to his surprise, that given an opportunity, and that too a fair opportunity, officers from other central services can perform as well or even better than officers from the IAS. It is this fair opportunity which has been denied over the years to many officers from other services. Talking of training, experience , may I know from Singh as to why the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, is almost always an IAS officer, albeit a retired one. Does Singh expect us to believe that an IAS officer has more experience or training in audit than officers from the IAAS? There are numerous other examples which I can cite to prove that Singh's views are incorrect.
The issue is much more serious and it is well known fact that if India is to progress economically, there has to be a recognition of the capabilities of other central services and history has shown that only those countries have progressed who have given due importance and recognition to specialist services and treated them on par with generalist services such as the IAS. The day is not far off when people like Singh will eventually see the writing on the wall.
Suresh Kumar
CS division needs strengthening
CSS is the back bone of the Central Secretariat and CS division needs strengthening so that it can ensure that all the important positions at DS/Dir level are held by CSS officers. This is precisely the role that CSS and IAS is expected to play in the Central Secretariat.
CS division should ensure that all CSS officers should be given the placement in SAG on completion of 21 years of Pay Band 3 at par with all other services. Similarly there is need to cap the deputation from other group A services who not only have faster promotions in their own cadre but also usurp a fair share of CSS promotions.
In fact there is already a situation where there should be a five year ban on central service deputation.
Group A direct recruitment in CSS should be opened again through Civil Service so that the deputation requirement from other services is permanently stopped. CSSS also needs to be phased out in this IT enabled office environment. CSSS has now become an anachronism and like teeming millions in lower staff category, a reminiscent of the days of Raj.
Central secretariat needs a big overhaul, a pressing need which pay commission has completely neglected. If India has to catch up with China, Indian Government needs a strong CSS, which can take decisions and merely involved in clerical work.
Dr Chander Dutta
Respected Secretary Sir,
Is time for revolutionary changes ripe?
I am delighted to read your praiseworthy note on my views expressed through this forum. I am extremely thankful and feel further energised to express my views on this forum. However, with due respect, I would like to ask you, whether these views have some weight to change systemic errors at least to some extent, and if yes, then in my view time is not far when some revolutionary changes will take effect to improve the Government working and its image in the public at large.
Thanks a lot once again.
Ashok Kumar Bhimani
Why Delhi and Mumbai charge are overstaffed in CBDT?
Is there anybody in the CBDT to tell as to why Delhi and Mumbai charge are overstaffed and others are starving. Can someone find and report about sanctioned and working strength of 10 major revenue contributors to exchequer.
Poonam
Tremendous change of AIS since inception overlooked
The esteemed author while justifying the holding of higher post by the IAS seems to have overlooked the tremendous degree of change that has taken place since inception of the AIS. The observations seem to be detached from the ground realities. The knowledge has no boundaries today and only commitment, sincerity and other such virtues make a star performer. It needs to be appreciated that senior posts in the central govt. are not reserved for a particular service. Besides officers from other services have proved to be equally good if not better than the IAS whenever they got a chance. The idea is to pick up the best and competent people irrespective of their service affiliation. The Monopolistic and Restrictive Bureaucratic Practices need to be stopped and merit and talent, which is not a monopoly of any particular service, needs to be welcomed and allowed in. The average/ below average in any service should not be preferred over the bright and competent just because he happens to be born in a particular service. There are all shades of officers in every service
R Singh
IAS must get due edge over other civil services
IAS being the number one services must get the due edge over the other civil services. There should not be second thought about it. However, other services including IPS & I Forest Services should be given their due share in top level postings by maintaining that edge uniformly........But who has to do that.....only IAS....that's why I want to say .......andhere mein jo baithen hain zara unpar bhi nazar dalo are o roshni walon.
Richa
Increase in age limit would promote honesty
Bah! Whatever be the justifications preferred for increasing age of retirement, that it would promote honesty is no argument. Given the ground reality, where you see everyone milking the system dry, where respect is measured by the unaccounted assets you hold, the amounts you splurged on your daughter/sons wedding, the diamonds your wife flashes, the gadgets/designer clothes your offsprings flaunt..........No questions asked about the wherewithal that funded all this.
Come on, no kidding!! Increasing the retirement age would ensure some more quick lining of the Nest ,some more fixing of jobs/contracts for relatives, some more time for swinging deals to ensure post retirement assignments with companies you favoured.
How can it promote a virtue which was given the go by, at the start of careers? Practice makes Perfect, they say!
Shobha S
Anomalies in recommendation of 6th CPC
As per the recommendation submitted in March 2008; employees with Grade Pay of Rs.5800 and above are entitled to travel by Air for purpose of LTC. These persons are in PB-3. Mostly, enokitees from PB-2 sit late during Parliament Session and other exigencies with senior most officers. But unfortunately these employees; maximum percentage of them at the lower and slightly higher level in this Band are available in office for more than 2 hours and late sitting in their case does not arise. Apart from this; they are entitled reimbursement of telephone charges and newspaper though it is not genuine. Do they deserve this? I request that all the employees in PB-2 should object to this. This facility of air travel should be extended to PB-2 also or else it should be restricted to JS and above officers only. The dealing hand would take adequate precaution while submitting the file in this connection.
Rajiv Kulkarni
How may Officers deputed for training abroad ?
How may Officers from CSS have been deputed for training abroad as in the case of so called IAS officers ?
Pt Ram Kanwar
Mera Desh Mahaan
India's jubilation over winning a gold medal is being celebrated across the country. Good enough, if compared to previous Olympics. India's performance in individual events has certainly enhanced people's feel good factor but not to the extent of nationwide jubilation But is this euphoria justified ?I think, not ? It is most disgraceful for the second most populous country in the world to feel jubilant about its dismal performance. Let us learn from the host country China which has bagged the maximum number of gold medals, beating even the most advanced country USA which had retained No:1 position for decades. This reversal of position has not come about due to some divine intervention but due to sheer hard work and well thought out sports planning by China . This country, after talent hunt ,took excellent care of its sportspersons by giving them regular salaries besides meeting their housing needs and healthy diets at govt. cost. In short, everything was professionally managed to achieve a goal .Such facilities were and are never made available to the existing Indian sportspersons, a majority of whom come from humble background and from rural sector untouched by urban sophistication and the compulsions of realpolitik! A retired IAS bureaucrat turned Chief Election Commissioner suddenly exhibited interest in sports and was promptly made Minister of Sports! Our masters have always been interested in building sports infrastructure and naming them after their leaders to give them political perpetuity instead of raising sportspersons and looking after all their needs. The white elephant like the Sports Authority of India over manned by superannuated bureaucrats is , more often than not, busy in foreign jaunts or waiting for the directions of their political masters It has outlived its utility. At least now, six decades after independence, the government should have a relook at the Sports policy, if there is one ,and accept China as our role model in spoors matters and prove India's potential at the next Olympics!
A K Saxena (A retired civil servant)
Corruption in Estate Office - Sky is the limit
About the bungling in Directorate of Estates as stated by one reader on 24-8-2008, less said the better. This being the election year, the level of corruption has scaled new heights A large number of irregularities are being got regularised by getting ex-post facto approval of the Cabinet committee on Accomadation. This appears to be a revival of the corrupt regime of Late Mrs. Sheila Kaul, the then minister of Urban Development and her cohorts! Will the Supreme Court kindly order the CBI and CVC to seize all relevant records of the Directorate of Estates relating to irregular allotments to ineligible employees and then give a report within 30 days. Alternatively, will some public spirited activist preferably a lawyer file a PIL on the lines of 1991 scam in which case the Apex Court had issued serious strictures against the then Government of India headed by Narsimha Rao as PM. Many officials were imprisoned for this cash for house scam.
Sudha Chattopadhyay
To the persons who are waitlisted for 1st (Type-III) in Lodhi Colony
Recently one Gopal, AE, who had given technical acceptance for change in Lodhi Colony (Block Any) in end-2005 has been allotted Block No.(Qr.No.616). Persons who had registered in 2004 are waiting for allotment and their numbers are going up and down with the result their chance of allotment is getting already delayed. It is strange how this persons of 2005 has got this allotment out of the way though he belong to General Pool category. His Registration ID No. is 10078004 and this quarters was allotted on 12.8.2008.Before this allotment he had refused for allotment twice in another area in the same year. His change Registration No. is14548. Persons who are already waiting and senior to this person may kindly feed this ID Registration No.10078004 in the web site where allotment details are available to get clear information about this. They may clarify this from Type-III section of Estate Office so that the persons waiting in the seniority list are not affected. Already last week in this web there was some information about this.
A K Raja
Why is public fund being wasted ?
I pray for the attention Minister for Urban Development and MoS for Urban Development. As I am a responsible citizen of India, I would like to ask a question to the higher authorities of the said ministry - Why the public fund is being wasted by utilizing in a office like "Office of the Asstt. Controller of Stationery", Regional Stationery Office, Netaji Nagar, New Delhi. This office is supposed issue stationery items to Government of India Offices including all ministries situated in North India. How many Ministries/Department are procuring stationery items from the above said organization? the answer is - no ministry and only few department from Defence and Delhi government are taking supply. The only reason behind this, items supplied by this office are substandard " If you physically check these items you will surely recommend to preserve these items in the national museum" so that the coming generation can see the age old qualities of stationery stores that are used by their forefathers.
It is imperative to state that this office is presently supplying two type of Xerox papers, ink violet, pencils, register. For this purpose I think nearly Rs.10 crores is being spent on salaries and approximately one crore for purchase of these items. What a waste of government fund. It is learned that due to insufficient work strength, a lot of public dealing departments of government of India are suffering. Why don't government can think about closing this office so that a work strength of nearly 1000 employees of this department can be adjusted in Ministries/ Department/ Attached Offices or any other Government of India Offices where posts are vacant. By doing this government will benefit in two ways.
I hope the above suggestions will fetch the attention of the concerned officers.
Mitra
NIFT Shillong
Why are we troubling Ms LJ Syiemiong to become Registrar of NIFT.? Presently, majority of NIFTs are headed , for some strange reason, by IPS/IFS officers. Don't we have suitable expertise amongst 'fashion' professionals , to take on these specialist jobs? That will release our officers to concentrate on their primary duties of forestry/ policing etc., which are crying for their attention.
K D Joyal
Tail piece
Does management know who you are?
On walking into the factory, the MD noticed a young guy leaning against the wall, doing nothing.
He approached the young man and calmly said to him, "How much do you earn?"
The young man was quite amazed that he was asked such a personal question, but he replied none the less, "I earn R2000.00 a month, Sir. Why?" Without answering, the MD took out his wallet, removed R6000.00 cash and gave it to the young man saying, "Around here I pay people for working, not for Standing around looking pretty! Here is 3 months' salary, now get out and don't come back".
The young man turned around and was quickly out of sight. Noticing a few onlookers, the MD said in a very upset manner, "And that applies for everybody in this company". He approached one of the onlookers and asked him, "Who's the young man that I just fired?"