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Dinesh Likhi

Aaj Ki Aawaz

Congress' Renuka says Team Anna's intentions are not clean!! Whereas the general perception is Team Anna wants to clean up the dirt that is prevalent today!! It seems Congress has made up its mind to make an utter fool of itself!!!! Congress has tried to rub scum on Team Anna and Team Anna has come out with its image unscathed.... after all it is only human to err!!!! And now Anna has made Congress more uncomfortable .... Team Anna has returned the excess donations to the donors!!! Now for Congress this is unthinkable!!!!

What Congress leaders forget is 'public sabh jaanti hai!!!

And ranting allegations on Team Anna Public nahi maanthi hai!!

In all probability SC will include PC's name in the accused list and PC will have to resign.... okay there could be some dillydallying but he will have to go! Pranab has said that the FM 2 G note was at PMO's insistence..... and tacitly he's stood by the content and the conclusion .... that PC could have stopped the 2 G loot!!! Those involved in the decision making.... PMO, Cabinet Secretariat, MOF, Ministry of Telecommunication, Ministry of Law and above all these Chairman of UPA and President of Congress!!!

Rumours abound that PC was the brain behind 2 G loot!!!!

They say this 'ghoos money plant' has PC as its root!!

Had a fixer close to Yeddy died after he was with Yeddy for two hours.... Guv Bhardwaj would have not only recommended a CBI probe but would have also recommended a CBI Inquiry into the fixer's death!!!! Is NN Vohra sleeping......or has he taken Farrouk's 'a NC worker died so why is Opposition worried' literally..... and he's mum as he feels it is an internal matter of NC!!!! Imagine they've not even filed an FIR!!!! Also please do keep in mind Omar and Rahul are pals and Omar has Rahul's tacit support in 'this hour of crisis'!!!

All is going as per plan.... now a friendly retired Judge will investigate 'this murder'!!!

And after his report they expect this matter 'will not go any further'!!

PS....... Amar is now a changed man....... sasural has changed him...... he's even changed his caller tune.... it is a song from Loot sung my Mika.... vulgar.... but then vulgarity and Amar go hand in hand!! There is a concentrated effort to muzzle Media and Social Media!! Now let me give you an example of doublespeak....Digvijay files a case against comments on him on various Social Media sites.... and he call Modi a fascist.... has used derogatory language against Anna.... it is like heads I win tails you loose!! I hear Rahul has a 'game plan' to curb Media and Social Media!!!! If only he channelized his energy to correct the wrongs rather than try to stop the wrongs from being revealed and the ensuing birckbats...... he'd be on the right path!!

Response to Forum: Editor WIC does exercise moderation.... but he does this with objectivity! Pointing out the wrongs of this Government , and mind you there is literally of flood of wrongs, is not being anti Congress!! I do point our BJP's shortcomings too!!! And I do not use nay abusive language!!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

Cabinet expansion likely?
A Cabinet reshuffle cum expansion is likely before the winter session of the Parliament. Chiranjeevi, Ajit Singh and T R Balu are likely to be inducted.

BUREAUCRACY

New empanelment policy for Secretaries on anvil
As the grapevine has it, under new dispensation in the PMO new empanelment policy for appointment as Secretaries in the Government of India (GoI) was under consideration. Accordingly, two batches per annum will be considered with much stringent norms. This is expected to happen within next couple of months. Owing to this reason number of IAS officers belonging to the 1978 batch chosen for such slots had also shrunk.

Bhattacharya appointed Secretary, Fertilisers
Ajay Bhattacharya has been appointed new Secretary, Fertilisers in the Government of India. He is 1977 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.
(We said this on October 31)

Behuria is now Secretary NDMA
Secretary Fertilisers Dr Sutanu Behuria has been moved as Secretary NDMA. He is 1976 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on October 14)

More names to be added in the list of 1978 batch IAS empanelment
If insiders are to be believed, about half a dozen more names are being added in the list of empanelment of 1978 batch IAS officers to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India. List has so far not been put on the website of the DoPT.

Justice Sen to be SC' Judge?
Grapevine has it that Justice Vikramjit Sen is being moved to the Supreme Court of India early next year.

Will Pillai go as Governor, Nagaland?
In the event of Nikhil Kumar's quitting the job of Governorship of Nagaland, former Union Home Secretary, G K Pillai may succeed him.

Vohra appointed Ambassador Republic of Bolivia
Manpreet Vohra, presently Ambassador of India to Peru, has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Bolivia, with residence in Lima.

Ashok Das appointed Ambassador to Iceland
Ashok Das, presently Consul General of India in Vancouver, has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Iceland.

K Jose Cyriac assigned addl charge of Secy, Pharmaceuticals
Additional charge of Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has been assigned to K. Jose Cyriac, Secretary, Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizer, for a period of three months with effect from November 01, 2011. He is an IAS officer of 1977 batch of Kerala cadre.

S N A Zaidi gets addl charge of Secy, Overseas Indian Affairs
Additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, has been given to S N A Zaidi, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, for a period of three months with effect from November 01, 2011. He is an IAS officer of 1976 batch of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Sai Prasad appointed JS, Power
Sai Prasad has been appointed Joint Secretary, Power in the Government of India. He is 1991 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.
(We said this in September)

Pulok Chaterji of A K Antony!
Dr. K.V. Jacob, a CSS cadre officer in the rank of Director, is now considered as Pulok Chaterji of Defence Minister A K Antony. He was directly called by Antony to become his OSD in 2006. When Jacob was Under Secretary, back in 1990s, he was appointed as Additional Private Secretary to Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister AK Antony until the minister resigned on moral grounds. He is one of the very few in civil service to be a gold medalist in Ph.D. in the field of Botany and Genetics. Dr. Jacob is very close confidante of Antony.

Headless Zonal Railways
It is pity that 12 Railway zones/PSUs are being run by proxy, without having GMs. Govt is not able to resolve some minor issues which can be done across the table by DOPT, PMO, and Railway Board. There seems to be no urgency due to convenience of top administration of Railways to carry out dictats from Kolkota. Weak system, easy to manipulate!

Jayanta Kumar Saha to go to West Bengal
Jayant Kumar Saha, Executive Director (Public Grievances) to Union Minister for Railways, Mukul Roy, is poised to join West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee.

U K Bansal takes over as DG BSF
U K Bansal has taken over as new DG BSF. 1974 batch UP cadre IPS officer Bansal has succeeded Raman Srivastava.
(We said this on August 29)

P.V. Deshmukh is HAL's acting chairman
P.V. Deshmukh Director (MiG Complex) of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has taken over as HAL's acting Chairman from November 1, 2011. He has succeeded Ashok Nayak who retired on October 31, 2011. Presently, Deshmukh is looking after the Sukhoi (Su-30 MKI) production and upgradation projects at HAL's Nashik Division. He will hold the post for three months from November 1, 2011 to January 31, 2012.

N.C. Jha as CIL head to get 3 months extension
N.C. Jha Director Technical in Coal India Ltd (CIL) who is acting Chairman of CIL from March 1,2011 is going to get three months extension as CIL chief. He had succeeded Patha S. Bhattacharyya who had retired on February 28, 2011.Thus, Jha will now retire as the CIL chief.

Ms. Renuka Mishra's deputation on the anvil
As the grapevine has it, Ms. Renuka Mishra, IG, Administration UP Police, Lucknow is likely to join on central deputation, shortly. She is an IPS officer of 1990 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

IPS officer Siddharth Bahuguna gets MP cadre
Siddharth Bahuguna, IPS officer of (2010 batch, Tamil Nadu cadre) has got an inter-cadre transfer to Madhya Pradesh as he has got married to Ms. Tanvi Sundriyal Bahuguna,IAS officer of (2010 batch, Madhya Pradesh cadre).

Anil Swarup to go to UN
As the grapevine has it, Anil Swarup is poised to go on an assignment to the United Nations (UN) in a month's time. Presently he is on central deputation as Joint Secretary, Labour. He is an IAS officer of 1993 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre.

IAS changes in Uttar Pradesh
J N Chamber has been appointed as Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Agriculture Education and Research Department.Balwinder Kumar will now be Principal Secretary, commercial taxes and entertainment. Chandra Bhanu would continue as secretary to the CM and commissioner, commercial taxes. Sushil Kumar has been asked to continue as Principal Secretary, Minor Irrigation.

IPS postings in Uttar Pradesh
O P Dixit, DG, Prosecution Directorate, will now be DG, Cooperative Cell. Vijay Singh, an ADG rank officer who is secretary to the CM, has been asked to hold additional charge of Prosecution Directorate. Ms Tilottama on return from CBI has been made IG, Intelligence. Krishna Mohan, Commandant, 37 Bn, Kanpur will hold additional charge of Commandant, 4 th and 42 nd Bn, Allahabad. A K Raghav, SSP, Eatwah, has been made Commandant, 27 Bn, Kanpur. Modak Rajesh will be new SSP, Etawah.

Mohinder Singh to be CEO of Noida
Mohinder Singh is going to replace Balwinder Kumar as the new Chairman and CEO of Noida Authority.

Lt Gen Bhushan is now head of South Western Command
Lt Gen Gyan Bhushan has taken over as GOC-in-C (Army Commander) of Jaipur-based South Western Command.

Lt Gen Nandal takes over in J & K
Lt Gen AS Nandal has taken over as new General Officer Commanding of the White Knight Corps in J&K.

Pakistan : CJ's poser; how come our engineers produce nuclear weapons and missiles but can't repair a rail engine?

During the course of hearing a petition alleging corruption in the railways, Pakistan's Chief Justice wondered how come Pakistan claiming to be a nuclear and a missile power can't fix rail engines. There are reports that large number of Chinese locomotives are lying in sheds for want of repairs by Chinese engineers and in some cases for want of spare parts from the US. There are allegations that the repairs aren't done locally due to massive corruption in what is known as the 'repairs scandal'. The two judge bench of the apex court hearing the case has directed Secretary railways Javed Iqbal to have all cases of corruption investigated via the NAB.

Milind Deora focuses on ITI's revival, inaugurates gas plant (UPDATED)
Milind Deora, Union Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology, visited ITI and discussed issues related to ITI's revival, its financial performance, manpower, research and development, its diversification and revival strategies. "We have to revive and we want to revive ITI", he told the senior executives of the Company at a presentation held on the Company's revival strategy at the Corporate Office. K L Dhingra, CMD of ITI Ltd welcomed Deora and briefed him about the Company activities. The Minister also assured all the support from the Government for early revival of ITI. He also said that the Government is interested in a long term and permanent solution for ITI. Later, the Minister inaugurated a Gas Plant set up by ITI at its premises in Bangalore. The Plant converts bio degradable waste such as kitchen waste, food waste, dry leaves, garden waste or any other bio degradable waste into organic natural gas which is combustible comprising of methane with 90 to 94% purity. Employees of ITI are enthused with the visit of the Minister in a short span after his taking over.

NERAMAC to hold 6 malls event from November 10, 2011 (UPDATED)
The North Eastern Regional agricultural Marketing Corporation (NERAMAC) Ltd in association of NSFI is organising the Great North East Sun-Shine Festival at six various leading shopping malls of NCR Delhi from November 10, 2011 with the sponsorship of North Eastern Council(NEC) Shillong.This strategic initiative
to promote North East region produces directly in front of high end consumers of NCR Delhi has been planned for the first time by NERAMAC, said it Managing Director (MD)S. Bhattacharjee. It will take a good lead to show case north east in the prime market demand end of the country, he added. NERAMAC & NSFI are also working on GI Registration of different crops of the north east so that once demand is created all financial benefits goes to farmers & producers only. Such mall Festival will surely increase visibility & attraction towards the naturally grown organic products of the region which are mostly unknown to the remaining part of country,opined S Bhattacharjee. These mall festivals will create demand & further supply will be provided by setting up of permanent outlet of NERAMAC in those malls throughout the year. Six malls identified are located in Gaziabad, Noida, Gurgaon & Delhi.

NBCC observes vigilance awareness week (UPDATED)
The Vigilance Awareness week being observed by the National Buildings Constructions Corporation Ltd (NBCC) got off to a start at it's Corporate office on Oct 31. The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of National Buildings Constructions Corporation Ltd (NBCC) Vishnu P. Das, its CVO Arvind Kumar ( IAS), Director (Finance) Ajay K. Garg and Executive Director A.K. Mittal jointly released NBCC Vigilance posters on October 31, 2011, after formally inaugurating the week long event. Earlier in the day, Das and Kumar administered the vigilance pledge to all employees of the corporate office.

P K Mishra visits NMDC (UPDATED)
P K Misra, Secretary, Ministry of Steel, Government of India, visited NMDC today and had brief discussions with Rana Som, CMD and Functional Directors about the progress of the Company. Misra was briefed about the Company's expansion and diversification plans in both India and abroad. Also, there were presentations on mergers, acquisitions and R&D activities by the Managers of the Company. Misra was impressed with the progress made by the Company in all fronts and appreciated particularly the efforts put in by employees for taking NMDC to new heights of excellence.

NMDC Limited observes Vigilance Awareness Week 2011 (UPDATED)
National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) Limited is observing 'vigilance awareness week 2011' from October 31 to November 5. It started with the administration of pledge by Rana Som, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, to all the employees of the Corporation in the presence of the Functional Directors and Chief Vigilance Officer. Usha Chandrasekhar, CVO, NMDC in her welcome address emphasized the need for good governance for overall development of the organization and also expressed that participative vigilance by employees would be the most effective means of combating corruption. Speaking on the occasion, Rana Som, CMD, NMDC Limited said that Vigilance is just not a separate discipline in the organization, every individual in the organization should be a Vigilance Officer by virtue of his duties and responsibilities. Addressing the audience on this occasion, the Chief Guest, M Ratan, IPS, Director General (Vigilance & Enforcement), Government of Andhra Pradesh said that strong moral values need to be inculcated in the children to have a positive impact on the society to minimize corruption. During the Awareness Week, eminent personalities will be speaking on Vigilance matters to create awareness among the employees. A number of competitions on Vigilance topics would be organized as part of the Vigilance Week Celebrations.

Barua posted as Commissioner & Secretary to Assam Chief Minister (Updated)
Jishnu Barua, IAS (RR - 1988), Commissioner & secretary to the Government of Assam, Home and Political Department, Border Areas Department and Passport Department is also posted as Commissioner & Secretary to Assam Chief Minister in addition to his substantive post.

Diwakar Mishra appointed PS to Defence Minister Antony(UPDATED)
Diwakar Mishra who so far was Director in the Cabinet Secretariat has been appointed Private Secretary (PS) to Defence Minister A K Antony. He is 2000 batch IAS officer of Assam Meghalaya cadre.

(DEBATE)
EMPANELMENT IN GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Whether administrative procedure for empanelment of Additional Secretary and Secretary in the Government of India is fair and legally sound?
Mail your views to suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Why Reliance wants Valero Energy, but not speaking?
Reliance Industries says it is not in talks to acquire Valero Energy, Inc. but, there is move on the company's part to move to clean fuel segment which is the fuel of the future say sources. Valero is recognized throughout the industry as a leader in the production of premium, environmentally clean products. The denial on part of the company has much to do with strictures of insider trading. A charge that the company is already facing from SEBI.

Blue Star hit by falling real estate demand?
Air condition maker Blue Star has been badly hit by stagnating demand for commercial real estate. It is likely to face this in times to come.

United Phosphorous to gain from rising food prices
With the global agriculture sector rejuvenating and reviving on the back of rising food prices and food security to be a top priority for most governments agro-chemical maker United Phosphorous sees a bright future. It says that global market demand is likely to look positive in the coming years and so will its exports.

Correcting pesticide prices hit Rallis India
With the reviving of Chinese pesticide business post Olympics Rallis is facing a rough weather in exports market. There has been a correction of prices in the pesticides market due to bulk production from China which has also hit Rallis India.

AGM of SBI's MP State Pensioners Association on Nov 20
AGM of SBI MP State Pensioners Association to be held on 20th November at Indore. NK Jain, Retd. GM (SBI) is President of the Association.

Khanna appointed CFO, PNB
Punjab National Bank has appointed V. K. Khanna, General Manager, as the Chief Financial Officer of the Bank in place of Krishnan Ramiah, General Manager, who attained superannuation on October 31, 2011.

Kumar resigns as Company Secy. Atlas Cycles (Haryana) Ltd
Sanjeev Kumar has resigned as Company Secretary of Atlas Cycles (Haryana ) Ltd with effect from October 31, 2011.

Sinha resigns as Director, Ballarpur Industries Ltd
Dr. Pramath Raj Sinha, Director of Ballarpur Industries Ltd has tendered his resignation with immediate effect due to personal reasons.

Venkataraman resigns as Group President & CEO, Vakrangee Softwares Ltd
Ravi Venkatraman, Group President and CEO of Vakrangee Softwares Ltd has resigned from the company.

BoI appoints new Director on Board of Rama Phosphates Ltd
Bank of India has withdrawn the nomination of A. P. Mohanty as the Nominee Director of Rama Phosphates Ltd and instead appointed P. K. Srivastava as the Nominee Director of Bank of India with effect from August 10, 2011.

Kanoria appointed Addl. Director, Texmaco Rail and Engineering Ltd
Hemant Kanoria, has been appointed as an Additional Director on the Board of Directors of Texmaco Rail and Engineering Ltd w.e.f. October 21, 2011

Goel resigns as Non Exec. Director, IEC Education Ltd
Lal Chand Goel, Non-Executive Director, IEC Education Ltd has resigned from Board of Directors of the company.

Two directors cease to be on Board of MRPL
K.S. Jamestin and A. K. Hazarika, both ONGC Nominee Directors have resigned from the Board of Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) consequent upon withdrawal of their nomination as Directors by ONGC from the Board of MRPL with immediate effect.

Shah appointed Addl. Director, Bhagwati Autocast Ltd
Bhagwati Autocast Ltd has appointed R. J. Shah as Additional Director of the company.

Khan appointed MD, Dollex Industries Ltd
Dollex Industries Ltd has appointed Anis Khan as Managing Director of the company.

Mishra appointed Director (Finance), HAL
Union Ministry of Defence has appointed Ashok Kumar Mishra as Director (Finance) of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL).

Where has gone the well tested ACC decision, which remained in force for decades, that the Minister and the Secretary of a Ministry/Department shall not be from the same State.

P P Kalra

Bureaucracy is accountable

To enforce Lok pal bill, bureaucracy is accountable otherwise scrap the IAS Cadre.

Rahul Khandekar

Incredible India

Schoolteacher retires at 62 years

College teacher in Arts, at 65.

Chairman Rly Board, ONGC, SAIL, at 60.

Secretary to G0I, DGP at 60.

Are skills required for a school teacher more scarce than to become Chairman ONGC or Secretary to GoI?

Mani

Consultancy Scams in GoI ?

The UPSC has re-employed their 15 retired officers as Consultants who have been continuing for years. Similarly, the Staff Selection Commission has engaged several retired officers as Consultants instead of making fresh recruitments.

Ankur Dewan

Consultancy Scams in GOI ?

Kudos to Dr Suresh Mehrotra posting the expose by G V Rao . The discretion to appoint retired officers as Consultants ,is being widely mis-used by ministries for non-technical work.This violates DOP&T orders.These consultants draw high fees for doing nothing, pinching govt stationaries, misusing telephones and occupying office space. Senior officers also misuse them for doing errands.

Prashant Pandey

Consultant after retirement

Not only appointing consultant till the age of 65 years afterwards getting appointed trough private consultancy organisations at a very handsome salary and doing the same job and there is no age limit. There are large number of professionals , which I know are there at the age of 67+ years and they may be there till the end. Besides consultancy scam there are large number of other scams, one such is official transport to not entitled officers, even for going to office and back. God save this country , where UPA govt is supreme in scams without any punishment at all. Only Anna Act may save this country, if at all it is possible ?

Gupta

"Views expressed in Aaj ki Aawaz need to be moderated".

I am comfortable with the "Hinglish" language. If Bharat Kumar is brutally honest, his writing is bound to be harsh. After all, it is Aaj Ki Aawaz, the Vox populi, not the newspaper Editorial that conforms to norms set by the Media Czars. The WIC like any retired civil servant, is exercising its Right to Freedom of Speech.

A K Saxena ( A retired civil servant)

I absolutely agree

It now appears that Whispers is actually running an anti congress campaign instead of sticking to its core objectives. Even today, Congress appears to be the only hope for further progress in the country.

Kusum Chaudhary

Ills of CBDT

Greeta was correct in diagnosing the ills of CBDT. The entire service officers are held to ransom by the select community of officers who succeed in currying favour with the board members and are posted in the best cities and best charges again and again. There is disillusionment amongst the youngsters and even at the ac-dc officers there is widespread despair and stories of how members can be courted. why single out any cadre even the conduct of dgit is highly suspect.

Alok M

Is information related to outsourcing covered under the RTI Act?

The appellant sought certain information about written test including the marks obtained, both sides of O.M.R. answer sheet, answer key of his question booklet and cut-off marks of every category. The CPIO refused the OMR answer sheet and key answer claiming that they do not possess the required information as the examination was held by the another agency which conducted the examination on behalf of Bank. The CIC observed that, if any other body is given the job to conduct examinations it must be in complete control of the Public Authority. The Commission directed the PIO to use the full force of the law and obtain the sought information. In case the examining body refuses to part with the information the Commission recommended that the Bank should consider either changing the examining body or ensuring it is able to access all information with respect to the examination.
Comments
The Government organization cannot deny the information merely on the grounds that they have outsourced for the job and do not possess the information. If any other body is given the job to conduct various functions, it must be in complete control of the Public Authority and the information available with such sources should be made available under RTI.
[Mr. Ashwani Kumar Avasthi v. Vijaya Bank in CIC/SM/A/2011/001455/SG/15158]

- Weekly article by Dr. (Mrs.) Anuradha Verma
(dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in), RTI Consultant to IIM, Indore and Co-author of the book: RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE by Taxmann. (The views are Personal)