What people say about us !

This is the best website for vigilant and information seeking people.

Vikram Singh Meena, DGM, MMTC

Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Society Chairman removed
Sitaram Rane, Chairman of Maharashtra Cooperative Housing Society and close confidant of Industries Minister, Narayan Rane, has been removed owing to differences over land issues.

EC to declare municipal poll dates by December?
It is heard that Election Commission will declare Municipal elections in Maharashtra by December 25.

Pune burns, is he responsible for price rise?
Even as NCP leaders avenge the slapping incident of Pawar, Shiv Sena and State Congress have jumped to his rescue. Sena said it would not tolerate attack on 'Marathi Manus'. NCP said why hold a single man responsible for the incident?

Thackeray meets R K Laxman
Shiv Sena leader, Bal Thackeray, after a long time, met another veteran this time ace cartoonist R K Laxman in Pune.

BUREAUCRACY

B P Sharma appointed new Establishment Officer
B P Sharma has been appointed new Establishment Officer (EO) and Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel. Presently, he is Joint Secretary of Minority Welfare in the Government of India. He is a 1981 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.
(We said this on November 18)

Vishwapati Trivedi takes over as Secretary Mining
Vishwapati Trivedi has taken over as Secretary Mining in the Government of India on Friday.He is 1977 batch IAS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.
(We said this on October 16)

N K Gupta, IRAS, to be Director (Finance), RAILTEL
N K Gupta, IRAS, M/O Railways, has been selected for the post of Director (Finance), Railtel Corporation of India Limited (RAILTEL) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting held on Friday. As many as 12 persons were interviewed for the same.

Now Nirupama Rao V/S Sherry Rehman?
Pakistan has also appointed woman Ambassador in US Sherry Rehman. Nirupama Rao is already Indian Ambassador to US. Now there is going to be a competition in US between the two women over diplomatic networking.

Over 450 charge-sheets filed by CBI against IAS & IPS
Over 450 charge sheets have been filed by CBI against IAS, IPS and other central service officials in the last three years.

Bahuguna appointed Nominee Director, India Tourism Development Corporation
Union Ministry of Tourism has appointed Ashish Bahuguna, Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Govt. of India, Ministry of
Agriculture as the Government Nominee Director on the Board of India Tourism Development Corporation Ltd.

Posting of three IRS officers after promotion as Chief Commissioner
A K Das, Chief Commissioner, Customs, Kolkata, has been made Chief Commissioner of Central Excise, Kolkata while Ms Deepa Dasgupta will now be Chief Commissioner, Customs, Kolkata after promotion and Chitrang Dube is posted as Chief Commissioner, Central Excise, Bhubaneswar after his promotion.

Narendra Singh appointed CMD of Bank of Maharashtra
Narendra Singh has been appointed as new Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Bank of Maharashtra. Singh who is ED Corporation Bank will succeed A S Bhattacharya on January 31.

.
Roy appointed officiating CMD of Agri. Insurance Co. of India
A K Roy, General Manager, GIC, has been appointed as officiating Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Agriculture Insurance Company of India w.e.f. 01-12-2011. He replaces M Prashad who is retiring on November 30, 2011.

Dr Singh appointed in Meghalaya
The Union Health Ministry has appointed Dr Santa Singh as the new Director of NEIGRIHMS in Meghalaya.

Shailey Ranjan joins GoI
Shailey Ranjan has joined the Government of India as Deputy Secretary Food Processing Industry. Ranjan is 2001 batch IFS officer of Jammu and Kashmir cadre.

Upadhyay is Dy Secretary, Environment
Puskal Upadhyay has joined as Deputy Secretary Forests and Environment in the Government of India. He is a 1998 batch IDAS officer.

Swati Pandey joins in Mumbai
A 1997 batch Indian Postal Service officer, Swati Pandey has joined as Director Atomic Energy in Mumbai.

Sheel Bhadra debarred from central deputation
A 1995 batch IRSME officer, Sheel Bhadra is reported to have been debarred from central deputation.

Posting of SPs in Chhattisgarh
Six IPS officers have been posted as SP in Chhattisgarh.New postings are :- Mssrs Deepak Kumar Jha Kondagaon,Abhishek Shandilya Sukma,A M Juri Baloda Bazar,D L Manhar Balod,R P Sai Bemetara and M L Kotwani Mungeli.

Post of Addl/Joint Director (Investigation) are vacant in SFIO
Post of Additional/Joint Director (Investigation) have been lying vacant on deputation basis in Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Those willing to apply may send their applications to Central Board of Excise and Customs before December 1, 2011.

Pakistan : SC Directs NAB to investigate corruption in Railways
On a direction from the Supreme Court Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has initiated investigation into alleged massive corruption in the country's railways. The direction follows deposition by the erstwhile railway Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed before a two judge bench of the Apex Court headed by Chief Justice Iftekhar Chowdhary giving details of specific cases of corruption. These included selling of 90 metric tonnes of silver as scrap for just Rs 28000/- and allegation that more than 350 locomotives out of a fleet of 500 are not in running condition because of a failed maintenance and repairs contract signed by the railways with a Chinese company Dalian Locomotives at highly inflated rates. Pakistan railway's GM (operations) who appeared before the court agreed that there were glaring irregularities in the contract as apart from inflated rates it also provided for import of spare parts which were easily available locally and that repairs have not been carried out as the firm in question has failed to keep its commitments.

S K Pattanayak posted as FA & CAO/ IROAF
S K Pattanayak, SAG/IRAS, on return from deputation, has been posted as FA & CAO (Bio Diesel)/ Indian Railways Organisation For Alternative Fuels (IROAF).

Satya Prakash posted as AGM, Central Railway
Satya Prakash, HAG/IRTS, has now been posted as AGM Central Railway. Z A Siddiqui will replace Satya Prakash. Shiv Kumar Chowdhary has been posted as COM, Northern Railway.

Appointment of three Information Commissioners quashed in TN
The Madras High Court has quashed the appointments of three Information Commissioners.

Seven officers of Haryana State Service awarded IAS cadre
Seven officers of Haryana State Civil Service have been awarded IAS cadre. They are: Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, Neelam P Kasni, Jaid Dev Naharwar and Lajvir Singh all in the selection list of 2001. While in the selection list of 2002, three officers, who were awarded, include Pradeep Krishna, Ramesh Krishna and Jai Paul Singh Dahiya. Notably, Jai Dev Naharwar, Lajvir Singh and Jai Paul Singh Dahiya have already retired from the service.

Sinha is Commissioner Raipur Municipal Corporation
Taran Prakash Sinha has been appointed new Commissioner of the Raipur Municipal Corporation.

1st Indian Congress concludes by adopting a charter
With the adoption of 16 point charter four day 1st Indian Forest Congress (IFC)-2011 concluded in New Delhi on November 25, 2011. At the valedictory function chief guest was Ranjan Chatterjee (IAS) who is presently with the Planning Commission of India (PCI).The mega event was held under the umbrella of the Dehradun based Indian Council of Forestry and Education (ICFRE) at NASC complex New Delhi that witnessed participation by more than 650 delegates comprising policy makers from central and state governments, researchers, industry, farmers, students, universities, NGOs, JFMCs, etc. It may be stated that it was inaugurated on November 22, 2011 by Ms. Jayanthi Natarajan Indian Minister for Environment and Forests. During the conclave Dr P J Dilip Kumar Director General (DG) Forests in the Government of India (GOI) & Dr. V K Bahuguna Director General (DG) ICFRE were specially present. It was felt that such an event should held once in two years and on a much larger scale. Dr. Bahuguna said while, the United Nations has declared 2011 as International Year of Forests, and India is completing 150 years of the forestry, the 1st Indian Forest Congress had acquired a vital significance. Three Publications of ICFRE viz. "Voices from the Field", "Status of JFM in India" and "ICFRE Technologies in the Service of the Nation" were released by the chief guest during the opening ceremony. The central theme of the Congress was 'Forests in a Changing World'. Pre-Congress Workshops were organised by five institutes of ICFRE on the themes of the Congress i.e. 'Forests in society' by TFRI Jabalpur, 'Forests in an expanding economy' by AFRI Jodhpur, 'Expanding frontiers of forestry science' by IWST Bangalore, 'Forest biodiversity and landscape' by RFRI Jorhat, and 'Forests and climate change' by HFRI Shimla. More than 600 abstracts were received and screened by the scientific committee and 450 abstracts were selected for oral and poster presentations. Prof. M.S. Swaminathan, Member of Rajya Sabha delivered the presidential address. Ms. Caitilin Wiesen, Country Director, UNDP; Prof. Maharaj Muthoo, President, Roman Forum; and A.K. Mukerji, former Director General of Forests, MoEF, GoI gave theme-based keynote addresses. Dr. D.N. Tewari, ex-member, Planning Commission, GOI was also a special invitee in the inaugural ceremony. ICFRE Publications namely 'Agroforestry research at ICFRE', Extension strategies in forestry research', 'ICFRE information booklet' and 'Desk Calendar 2012' were also released. According to Dr. S S Negi, Director, Forest Research Institute (FRI) about 200 oral presentations and 55 posters were presented and discussed during the four day long congress in five parallel sessions, conducted by the respective five institutes that had organised the pre-congress workshops. Organising secretary and Additional DG, Forest Research Institute (FRI), Dr. V R R Singh said that there were 28 sub-themes under five themes along with four side events viz. Handicrafts bazaar, JFM Conclave (organised by FRI Dehradun), Discussion forum for forest services and Discussion forum for forest science/scientists. A one-day workshop on 'Forest landscape restoration' was also conducted in which Dr. Mike Smith, forest landscape expert of United Kingdom Forestry Commission U K also addressed the delegates. Prof. Anatoly Shvideko, renowned climate change specialist from Austria and Dr. Coosje Hoogendoorn, DG INBAR from China also shared their knowledge and experiences with the delegates during the Congress. A Workshop on 'Forest fringe villages' was also organised by FRI Dehradun in which Dr. J.S. Samra, CEO, NRAA of the Planning Commission gave the keynote address. All sessions were chaired and co-chaired by eminent personalities in the respective themes. In every sub-theme there were lead speakers drawn from among the best brains in the country on the topic of the sub-theme. There was a consensus during the conclave that budgetary allocations for forestry sector should be augmented and be need based.

Upadhyaya, Sarma to be Judges of Gauhati High Court (UPDATED)
Justice Arun Chandra Upadhyay and Justice Chitta Ranjan Sarma have been appointed as Judges of Gauhati High Court.

Former Haryana DGP is no more (UPDATED)
BR Lall, former DGP of Haryana and former Joint Director of the CBI has passed away in Chandigarh. He was 1967 batch IPS officer.

Saidur Rehman steps down in Pakistan ( UPDATED)
Saidur Rehman controversial member (finance) of Islamabad's Capital Development Authority (CDA) stepped down (or was he sacked?) leaving the civic authority in its worst financial crisis. With seven more months to go for the current fiscal (ending 30 June 2012) CDA is left with barely Rs 400 million in its coffers out of Rs 22 billion allocated by the federal government for the whole year. Insiders attribute the near bankrupt situation to huge payments released to powerful contractors and reckless approval to huge cost escalations in some of the ongoing projects. Saidur Rehman was earlier indicted by the PAC for his role in the multibillion NLC scam by the PAC who also recommended criminal investigations against him but the powers that be rewarded him with an extended tenure in the CDA. Javed Jahangir an officer of the Audit and Accounts Service of Pakistan has been appointed as the new member (finance) CDA in place of Rehman.

(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

Will FDI in retail soften inflation?
Allowing FDI in retail sector will definitely stem the rising inflation because of the cold storage facility that will come up with the large retailers. Businesses in the retail sector suffer because of lack of proper cold storage facilities leading to waste of nearly 40-50 percent of the produce.

Gupta appointed Addl. Director, Dhunseri Investments Ltd
Amit Gupta has been appointed as Additional Director of Dhunseri Investments Ltd .

Sharma appointed Workmen Employee Director, Dena Bank
The Central Government has appointed Satya Prakash Sharma, Single Window Operator - B, Dena Bank, as Workmen Employee Director on the Board of Directors of Dena Bank from the date of notification of his appointment till June 30, 2014.

Narang appointed Head (Delhi Branch), Dentsu Marcom
The Dentsu India Group has appointed Harjot Singh Narang as Branch Head (Delhi) for Dentsu Marcom.

John appointed Mktg. Head Puma India
Issac John, earlier with Sport18---- the sports marketing division of the Network18 Group has been appointed as Marketing Head, India, Puma.

Shamik appointed COO (Wireless Business), Reliance Communications
Reliance Communications has appointed Shamik Das as the Joint President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) (Wireless Business).

Chakrapani appointed Head (Consumer Channels Group), Microsoft India
Microsoft India has appointed Chakrapani GK as the Head of Consumer Channels Group (CCG), India.

Wadhwa appointed Senior VP , Dentsu Creative Impact
Amit Wadhwa has been appointed as Senior Vice President, Dentsu Creative Impact.

Debate (1)

The process and criteria for Joint Secretary empanelment at Center may also be shared.

D Verma

All about Railways
Railways is one of the Ministries having largest number of different departments wherein intake ( Group A ) is through various exams conducted by UPSC. As pathetically complained by some of the services in this forum WIC, the main reason is disproportionate intake over the years (1980, 81, 82 being large batches) without much application of mind and planning, and subsequently not maintaining parity in promotions at JAG/SG/SAG level across the services by creating General Management pool. There are several pending remedial recommendations lying dust, during the past 25 years or so. It will not be out of place that Railway Board has obstructed creation of posts of two Members (Stores and S&T) for the past 10 years despite Pay Commission Recommendations and Cabinet approval. Will present Railway Minister do something to boost Morale, for keeping parity, avoiding discrimination and making Railways working meaningful?

MM

Officers of Post Service are great!
You carried a piece of news about Indian Postal Service. The officers of this service are great. They can tolerate any damn thing silently. Even if a secretary like Radhika Doraiswamy down grade APAR of 33.3 % of PMG i.e 25 out of 75, they will just keep silent and wait for another year for her retirement. Now, she is trying for re-employment after retirement. Let's see which department has bad days ahead.

Nandu

ITS officers to destroy another department?
ITS officers have brought BSNL & MTNL to their knees, let's set them on another Department so they can destroy it as well. Wonderful suggestion!

Ratnekar

My feed back

I have been reading the responses from various readers of WIC about the postal department. Sethi and Prasad have hit the nail on the head. In postal department the DDG Vigilance belongs to the same service that is Indian Postal Service and therefore they always post pliable officers. The department of posts has indeed fallen on bad days.

ST

Information about recent changes missed
Most of the information is updated on the site. But information regarding recent changes in Delhi police is missed somehow.

Rishi

Where is price rise?
Where is the price rise? Maybe at the marriage ceremonies! Heaps of food going to the gutter! What a waste! Don't we need a Lokpal Bill here? Instead of slapping the politicians, let us slap the fathers of the brides and the bridegrooms. Guests also... Beware. Empty your plates religiously for the sake of a happy married life of the newly weds. Jai Hind.

Z S Nirwal

Errors in two brief lines

1 - The JMDC no longer exists. Since 1st April 2010, it has been subsumed into the National Jute Board, where I am the Secretary.

2 - I was given additional charge in June 2011 - 5 months ago.

3 - The header says I have been given charge of the Jute Corporation, which is definitely incorrect.

3- Errors in two brief lines, Sir?

AB

DGCA requires a full-time professional

DGCA is an important post which requires a full-time professional at this crisis-period in the aviation sector and the buyers on behalf of the present part-time FA-cum-DGCA should realise that this urging is made to government through this esteemed column.

John Thomas

Biggest hypocrisy by enforcement wings?
CWG was not a flop. CWG Organising Committee is under scanner; has any one questioned the cost incurred or procedures followed by the system? Where are CBI & CAG to see the tax waivers? Biggest hypocrisy by the enforcement wings?????

Bosidini

Non appearance of the respondents before the Commission

Vide order dated 15 September 2011, the CIC had directed that the CPIO must provide the desired information to the Appellant. The CIC further directed that the officer who had received the RTI application but preferred not to act on it thereby preventing the information seeker from getting the information, should appear before the CIC to explain if he had any reasonable cause for his inaction. The CIC noted that in spite of such clear direction, nobody turned up for the hearing. Holding that non-appearance of the respondent shows that the officer concerned has no explanation to offer, the CIC imposed the maximum penalty of Rs. 25,000/- on the Branch Manager of the bank. Further, the CIC directed to provide the information sought for in the application.

Comments

A PIO must use the opportunity to present his case before the Commission during the personal hearing. Failing to utilise this opportunity may cost him dearly.

Shri Deena Nath Prasad V. Uttar Bihar Gramin Bank in CIC/SM/A/2010/001254

- 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)