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Dinesh Likhi

Aaj Ki Aawaz

We now have an NRI PM...... every second day he's overseas..... his Boss too is 'out of sight' !!! No wonders Mohna issued the circular on who will be in-charge in his absence!!! Mohna is a perceptive man and I'm sure he must have recognized the fall in his stature overseas..... but domestic compulsions force him to stay overseas!! Surely diplomacy would ensure that all protocol is maintained but I'm sure he must be reading the questions in his counterpart's eyes!!!!! Mohna's image has taken a severe beating!!! He's perceived to be representing the Gandhis.....like their GM....... his honest image is down the tubes.... I would not be surprised if those who shake hands with Mohna count their fingers after shaking hands with him..... in the past it used to be a warm and carefree clasp!!! I think for the rest of his term Mohna will spend more and more time overseas..... on the domestic front seems Rahul under the guidance of his 'minders' , who will be reporting to Sonia on a minute to minute basis, will be the de-facto PM.... but scenario could change after State elections.... and if Congress does badly , especially in UP, Mohna will again take over as PM with full charge..... and Rahul will roam about overseas!!

Mohna Ji long time no see!!!
Mohna ji aap ji kithe kithe gaye si (where where did you go)!!!

The joke doing the rounds .... if there is any disgruntled Wipro employee he or she should contact Digvijay Singh!!!! Digvijay is now the Chief Slammer....... and anyone who speaks up against Congress Digvijay will slam him or her..... and 99% of the those speaking against Congress are in the right!! Digvijay also forgets the 'use and throw' attitude of the Gandhis!!! Because his ludicrous statements which he makes for the Gandhi would be the reason for 'the boot'..... those who live by issuing ludicrous statements perish because of these statements!! Then it's his 'hit and forget' attitude that's causing him damage..... he's made allegations against Bedi and Kejriwal and moved on..... had he the conviction he would have stuck on and taken matters to a logical conclusion!!! His verbal guerrilla warfare is costing him dearly!!

Now Public says he made wild allegations against Anna and his Team!!!
Sonia better get a new 'slammer or basher' as Diggy is fast losing steam!!!

Advani keeps shouting, even his normal tone sounds like shouting, about black money!!!!! When he opens his mouth the first thing that comes to mind is ' this guy was received Hawala money as per Jain's Hawala Diary'..... he got off on a technicality!!!!! However, Congress's rant that what did BJP do on Tax Haven money when BJP was in power does not hold good.... because the Tax Haven goo hit the fan when UPA was in power!!! What I feel is that the minute BJP comes to power it'll change it's tune..... like Congress it'll too dilly and dally on corruption!!!!But Congress as the Opposition will not take over BJP's 'bring back Tax Haven money' mantle.... fact is it cannot afford to!!!! But this time a 'matured' BJP will be more careful in money making.......sadly!!!!! And I expect Congress to be innovative in exposing BJP's corruption!! And God Willing if a Lokpal comes into effect I think both BJP and Congress will be careful on their past corrupt ways!! Political Corruption could soon be standing at crossroads!!!!

In India Congress is the founder of corruption!!!!!
And in the Founder's rule this time there has literally been corruption ka volcanic eruption!!

PS..... WIC is abs right...for his PM dream to come true Pawar is plugging for a fourth front.... third front has rejected him...... though to stay in power he could say 'I'm trying to keep secularism alive in BJP rule' and become a part of NDA! Commies are going to do a 'sit in' on Dalal Street..... Brokers can do a different kind of futures trading and try to convert some of the protestors to investors.... keep in mind Communism is going through hard times in India!! Today if you are pro India you will be automatically anti Congress and totally pro Lokpal!! Modi's proposal titled 'Controlling prices' is gathering dust in PMO....Mohna likes the proposals but he knows it would be poltically suicidal to accept Modi's proposals....for the Nations's sake Modi should send a disclaimer to Mohna..... 'please put my proposals into action and you need not credit me for the proposals'!! India specific..... inimical Party in power and Opposition Party/Parties is good for India and Democracy!!!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

Bihar CM is a full time politician
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar belongs to the breed of full time politicians.

Will Paswan join Congress?
Meeting of Ram Vilas Paswan with Sonia Gandhi has fuelled speculations of a merger of his Lok Janshakti Party with the Congress.

BUREAUCRACY

Anjuly Chib Duggal to be new EO?
If top sources are to be believed, Anjuly Chib Duggal is going to be new Establishment Officer (EO). She is 1981 batch IAS officer of Punjab cadre.

1978 batch empanelment files returned to PMO
The Cabinet Secretary has returned the file of the empanelment of 1978 batch IAS officers to the PMO. Now final decision will be taken by the PM.

No change in empanelment policy
Now this is certain that empanelment policy is not going to be changed. Rules applied for the 1977 batch IAS will now also be applicable for 1978 batch IAS officer.

Officers retiring in 2013 to be in secretary empanelment list
Now names of IAS officers belonging to 1978 batch who are retiring in 2013 will now be included in the list of empanelment to the rank of Secretary in the Government of India.

Who will be DG, NIFT?
Who will be new DG, National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT)? Tie is said to be between 1985 batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer P K Gera and 1991 batch Haryana cadre IAS officer Apoorva Kumar Singh.

Railway GMs' proposal not in order: Cabinet Secretary
The proposal relating to postings of General Managers (GMs) in Railways has been sent to the PMO with a note that the Railway Ministry's proposal was not in order.

34 IES officers to get SAG promotion
As the grapevine has it, 34 officers of the Indian Economic Service (IES) belonging to batches of 1985 & 1986 are likely to get elevated to Senior Administrative grade (SAG). They are: Debabrata Das, Ms. Ranjana Raturi Kale, Rohit Kumar Parmar, Ashok Kumar Gautam, V.L.V.S.S. Subba Rao, C.K. Gopalakrishnan Nair, Ms. Sushmita Dasgupta, Anand Singh Bhal, Sudhaker Shukla, Ms. Vinita Aggarwal, N.K. Sahu, Sudhir Kumar Tiwari, Rajat Sachar, G.S. Negi, Arun Kumar Jha, Daljeet Singh, Wanlambok Synrem, O.P. Shemar, S. Chandra Sekar, Om Prakash, Jagdish Chander, Dr. Mohan Chutani, Ms. Mala Dutt, Ms. Vandana Aggarwal, Manoranjan Kumar, Chandrasekhar Mohapatra, Munish Kumar, Dr. P. Anuradha Balaram, Chandra Bhan Singh,Ms. Rupa Dutta, Ms. Nutan Raj, Ms. Srabani Guha ,Ms. Sibani Swain & Ms. Usha Suresh.

Diwakar Mishra appointed PS to Defence Minister Antony
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.

Ashish Joshi re-patriated
Director in the Department of Minority Affairs in the Government of India Ashish Joshi has reportedly been repatriated to the parent (IP & TAFS).

Now Jeevesh Nandan is new CEO NOIDA
Jeevesh Nandan has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Noida. He is 1987 batch IAS officer.

Nabam Tuki not to make bureaucratic changes now
As the grapevine has it, Nabam Tuki who was sworn in as new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on November 1,2011 is unlikely to make any changes in the state bureaucracy.

Arunachal Pradesh CS to continue
As the grapevine has it, Tabom Bam (IAS/ AGMU : 1977batch) will not be changed by Nabam Tuki who was sworn in as new Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh on November 1,2011.

Barua posted as Commissioner & Secretary to Assam Chief Minister
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.

Sanjay Kumar returns to Tamil Nadu cadre
Sanjay Kumar who on central deputation was Zonal Director Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has returned to his parent cadre. He is an IPS officer of 1997 batch who belongs to the Tamil Nadu cadre.

G N Sinha joins as Principal Secretary -Tourism
G N Sinha, IFS (AGMUT-1983) has joined as Principal Secretary (Tourism) in addition to his current charge of Addl. PCCF in Arunachal Pradesh. Sinha has held the charge of Secretary (Planning and Tourism) in Arunachal Pradesh for many years in past. Finally, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik allowed promotion of Aurobindo Behera to the Chief Secretary rank and appointed him as the new Member of the Board of Revenue.

Devendra Singh Chauhan is IG (Pers) FHQ, SSB
Devendra Singh Chauhan on central deputation has joined as IG (Pers) FHQ, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) New Delhi. He is an IPS officer of 1988 batch who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh (UP) cadre.

A.P Shrivastava's deputation extended by 2 years
A.P Srivastava who on central deputation is CVO, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Mumbai has got 2 years extension. He is an IPoS officer of 1979 batch.

Behera gets ACS rank in Orissa
Aurbindo Behra has been promoted to the rank of ACS in Orissa. He is 1978 batch IAS officer.

TRAI to set up ten regional centres
TRAI Chairman J S Sarma is making all efforts to strengthen the working of the organization.In this direction he has decided to set up ten regional centres of the TRAI very soon.

Varma appointed Ambassador to Republic of Nicaragua (UPDATED)
Yogeshwar Varma, presently Ambassador of India to Panama has been concurrently accredited as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Nicaragua, with residence in Panama.

Bhattacharya gets extension (UPDATED)
Additional Secretary and FA in the Department of IT has been granted extension in deputation tenure for six months beginning November 1. He is 1978 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Sharda Prasad gets extension in deputation tenure(UPDATED)
D G Employment and Training in the Government of India Sharda Prasad has been granted extention in deputation period for six months beginning November 1. He is 1981 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

K.Durga Prasad appointed SPG chief (UPDATED)
K.Durga Prasad Additional DGP(P&L)PHQ Hyderabad has been appointed as Director(SPG) Special Protection Force, New Delhi. The order for his joining has been issued and MHA has directed the State Government to relieve him. He is an IPS officer of 1981 batch who belongs to the Andhra Pradesh cadre.
( We said this on October 31 )

SAIL H1 sales turnover rises over 10% to Rs. 23878 crore (UPDATED)
Despite challenging market conditions prevailing during most of the current financial year, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) recorded a sales turnover of Rs 23877.78 crore during April-September (H1), as compared to Rs. 21,628 crore in the corresponding period last year (CPLY), registering an increase of 10.4% y-o-y. The company achieved total sales of 5.6 million tonnes during H1, showing a growth of 4.3% over CPLY while the SAIL's net worth has risen by Rs. 1,493 crore from 31st March '11 to over Rs. 38,562 crore as on 30th Sept. '11. Responding to the results, SAIL Chairman C.S. Verma said, "We are hopeful of demand to pick up in the coming months in the country with projects likely to take off in several major sectors of the economy, particularly Railways, Roads, Power, etc. This along with falling prices of input raw material prices should help the domestic steel industry combat the current challenges."

V N Rai appointed new Director NPA Hyderabad (UPDATED)
V N Rai has been appointed new Director of the National Police Academy Hyderabad.He is 1977 batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre.
(We said this on October 15 )

(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

Occupy Dalal Street?
The global contagion against profiteering corporates is soon to hit India. Occupy Dalal Street is going to be held in Mumbai on November 4, 2011.

Steel demand to slump further: WSA
Steel is the backbone of every economy and so when World Steel Association releases its estimates the world looks upon it. In the latest data released by WSA the outlook on Indian steel demand is estimated to only 4.3 per cent this year. WSA's short-range outlook says the Chinese steel demand growth will shrink to 7.5 per cent in 2011 from 8.5 per cent in 2010. But, there will be a bigger demand fall to six per cent next year.

Yes Bank likely to gain from recent RBI policy change
Yes Bank is likely to gain from liberalization of branch-licensing norms announced recently by the apex bank, this in terms of not requiring RBI approval for opening branches in Tier 2 to Tier 6 centers. The bank is keen on doing business in Tier 2 and Tier 6 centers.

Will liberalization of savings rate hit PSU and private banks?
The impact of deregulation of savings rate is soon going to be seen in the profit margins of SBI, PNB and Union Bank of India from the PSU space and HDFC Bank from the private banking universe. Since, the savings rate has been deregulated at the peak of the interest rate cycle, wherein the gap between Fixed Deposit rates (prevailing at 8-9 pc) and savings rate (4-5 pc) is at its widest the competition to attract more deposits will have each bank committing better rates than the other , this will definitely hit the bottom lines in the immediate future.

Will deregulation of savings rate mean rush to hinterland?
PSU banks and new age banks like Yes Bank are likely to gain the most if they concentrate on rural hinterland as there will be less competition of interest rates to attract deposits for fixed deposits as well as savings rate. Most banks that were lukewarm about rural area operations are likely to rush to rural India to save their margins .

Jamestin and Hazarika to be Special invitees in MRPL
K.S. Jamestin and A. K. Hazarika two nominee directors of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) who resigned from the board of MRPL will now be special invitees on the board on behalf of ONGC.

Kaji appointed ED, Edelweiss Financial Services Ltd
Edelweiss Financial Services Limited has appointed Himanshu Kaji as an Executive Director of the Company w.e.f. November 1, 2011.

Ramaiah appointed CMD, Andhra Sugars Ltd
The Andhra Sugars Limited has appointed Dr B B Ramaiah as Chairman and Managing Director of the Company with effect from November 1, 2011.

Kulkarni appointed Company Secy. Crest Animation Studios Ltd
Kamlesh Kulkarni has been appointed as a Company Secretary of Crest Animation Studios Ltd effective from November 1, 2011.

Oak resigns as Company Secy. Crest Animation Studios Ltd
Madhav Oak, Company Secretary has resigned from Crest Animation Studios Ltd effective from October 31, 2011.

Anshuman resigns as Company Secy. The Ruby Mills Ltd
Ms. Jayalakshmi Anshuman , Company Secretary of The Ruby Mills Ltd has resigned from the company with effect from October 22, 2011.

Ramakrishnan re-appointed ED, Bajaj Electricals Ltd
Bajaj Electricals Limited has re-appointed R Ramakrishnan as the Executive Director of the company for a period of five years with effect from October 26, 2011.

Gupta appointed Director, Ruchira Papers Ltd
Ruchira Papers Ltd has appointed Vipin Gupta, as Director of the company.

Das resigns as Associate VP, Law & Kenneth, Delhi
Sudipto Das, Associate Vice President at Law & Kenneth, Delhi, has put in his papers.

Vachharajani resigns as Non Exec. Director, Joy Realty Ltd
Deepak Vachharajani, Independent Non Executive Director of Joy Realty Ltd has resigned from the company w.e.f. November 1, 2011.

Dharmarajan resigns as CFO, Shriram EPC Ltd
R. Dharmarajan has resigned as the Chief Financial Officer of Shriram EPC Ltd

Jain ceases to be Director, Western India Shipyard Ltd
Ms. Manju Jain ceases to be a Director of Western India Shipyard Ltd with effect from October 10, 2011 consequent upon withdrawal of her nomination by IFCI Ltd.

Prabhakar resigns as Director, Transport Corporation of India Ltd
K Prabhakar, Director of Transport Corporation of India Ltd has resigned from the company w.e.f. September 30, 2011.

DEBATE (1)

It's on colonial lines and practically open to only IAS officers. It is like a blind distributing alms and offering to his own types only. Very difficult for merit to prevail. Its time to utilize the experience of other AIS and Group A Central services. New policy in this direction can specify quota of 50:50 for IAS and others and the prevailing system of Special Secretaries should be done away with.

Suresh Kumar

Another stunt by Government

The latest circular of DoPT making it mandatory for Departments to initiate the proposals for ACC approval atleast 2 months before the post falls vacant, is another stunt by Government to publicize its so called seriousness in good governance. Earlier moves by Cab Sec and Pr Sec to PM to organize a mela of Secretaries and ask them to identify measures for anti-corruption and good governance in their departments were killed by most of the departments as observed by the Babus in Cabinet Secct who scrutinized the Briefs sent by departments. Why can't the Government fix the responsibility for delays in submitting ACC proposals or submitting half-cooked proposals? Why can't the Government take administrative action against officers who have not reported the ACRs (new avatar APARs) in the time schedule given in its OM dated 23.7.2009? Why can't the Government fix a time limit of 3 weeks for clearance of all ACC proposals, and why should take more than 2 months to clear the proposals? Why can't there be RFD targets for these? This won't happen. There is no seriousness and we are in a phase of Dikhawa.

Surendra Mohan

CBDT uses ACR only for promotion

CBDT uses ACR only for promotion, and some times for presenting to the Courts when called upon to do so. It has never in living memory used ACR for the purposes of posting. When phone calls can be employed for posting, why take the trouble of going through ACR

BR

CBDT's ills

Alok M is right in diagnosing CBDT's ills. Since the prime body is actively engaged in currying favors to the select few, that is those close to the powers that be ,those willing to do errands, plain sycophants and the all purpose handymen, it has since a long time lost the respect of the officers it purports to administer, let alone the public. Have you seen any CBDT top honcho come out in public policy statement or analyze any issues which lies in it's domain. So much so that in the black money debate ( which principally is owing to CBDT's inaction for decades ) no body has ever heard of it's voice. It is good to be felt ,in higher government circles. ,rather than repeatedly heard or seen. But CBDT is neither seen, nor heard ,nor felt in the appropriate circles, and since long it has delegated it's duties to assorted mandarins of MOF for jobs it should be doing. Now the only work of CBDT is transfer and posting and who to accommodate and at what pric

Berate

Complete mismanagement in Zonal Railways

This is what happens and the result is mismanagement. These Zonal Railways people are making merry go round, not attending office and having good jolly time as there is no boss and complete mismanagement.

Kunal

Row between Coal India and NTPC due to acute coal shortage

Big row has erupted between Coal India and NTPC due to acute coal shortage in power plants. The root cause is that Government of India has been unable to appoint a full time CMD of Coal India resulting in a headless Navaratna in a rudderless mess. Is it Good Governance ?

T K Ghosh

Are IAS officers bright?

It has been pointed out in Forum that IAS officers are not as bright as they pretend to be as very few of them have managed to get full scholarship in prestigious American universities through GMAT/GRE scores. The fact remains that UPSC does a good job of selecting the brightest people in the IAS. Our social structure being what it is, the primary ambition of an honest civil servant is to satisfy his/her ego. Especially in the IAS there is a tendency to believe that they know everything. Singularly devoid of imagination, smug and self-satisfied, they remain convinced that the world was made specially for their benefit. They go through life untroubled by doubt and see no need for further intellectual development.

Prof N C Saxena

Congress - Saviour of the country

This is regarding Kusum's observation that Congress is required for progress of the country. If this be the case, then why this country is going down day by day. Why this 4% procurement from Dalits and why this reservation for Muslims ? The moto of Congress is just to divide the country and please the Madam.

Kaushal

Consultancy Scams in GoI?

DoPT is sleeping on appointment of consultants in various Ministries of GoI. As per rule 165 and 168 of General Financial Rules 2005 of GOI, engagement of consultants may be resorted to in situations requiring highly technical services for which the Ministry / Department does not have the requisite expertise. Further, before engaging consultant, an advertisement is to be published in the national dailies and the Ministries' web sites detailing the broad scope of work or service, eligibility criteria including past experience etc. At best, 3-4 consultants could be appointed in a ministry. No government servant could be appointed through contract after the age of superannuation of 60 years. Several ministries/departments/autonomous organization under GOI, are illegally appointing non-technical officers as Consultants immediately after their retirement. The discretionary powers are being misused for rewarding the favorites. Will the GoI look into these latest scams and punish the culprits.

Radha Raman.

Bhattacharya - a competent officer

A Bhattacharya is one of our balanced, committed and competent officer from TN

J C Kala

Plight of NHPC's retired employees

NHPC has medical scheme for its retired employees. As per this scheme, employees are entitled for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred out door and indoor in some empanelled hospitals. There have been cases that some retired employees got treatment from the non entitled hospitals in emergency to save their lives. The claims of these employees were rejected forthwith on the plea that there is no provision in the NHPC retired employees medical scheme for relaxation though such provision exist in the scheme for employees in service.

Amongst the retired employees whose claims were rejected was the claim of an Ex CMD also.Now with the change of regime in NHPC a special relaxation has been given by ABL Shrivastva in case of this Ex CMD as a special case whereas the cases of other poor employees who have suffer a lot have not been taken care of.

SK

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)