It is very impressive and a lot of bureaucrats and senior bankers often visit your site.
Anil Kumar

WHY PEOPLE ARE LOSING INTEREST IN DEFENCE SERVICES ?

Despite several measures, including increasing the intake of Short Service Commission (SSC) officers to meet the shortfall, the Indian armed forces are facing a shortage of 15,004 officers which includes around 12,349 in the Army, 1,818 in the Navy and 837 in the Air Force besides the shortage of pilots in the Air Force which is about 426.

The above scenario has generated a question before the nation that Are people losing interest in defence services these days ? And if so - what could be the reason. Whispersinthecorridors.com recently conducted a survey in this context

And the conclusion was that there has been a gradual decline in patriotism post independence due to increase in materialism and lack of any commonly percieved strong external threat.

The other reasons behind the youth losing interest in defence services, according to the respondents, are - not so attractive pay packet, frequent transfers, increasing craze for Engineering, Medical and other lucrative careers, lack of glamour in Military jobs etc.

With their changing mindsets and lifestyles, the youth today have turned less adventurous and more materialistic, say respondents adding, "they have unbridled cravings for lucrative, armed chair and easy going BPO jobs".

Though the government has - to attract youth to defence services - taken several steps such as - All officers, including those in the Short Service Commission (SSC), are now eligible to hold substantive rank of Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel after two, six and 13 years of reckonable service respectively and increasing the tenure of SSC officers from 10 to 14 years to motivate the youth to make armed forces a preferable career option, they have been of little help giving vent to the feeling that concrete measures be taken to check the waning interest of youth in Defence services.

Detailed report of the survey in the April issue of the Whispers in the Corridors magazine.

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> &

<mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Will Gujaral move ?
Grapevine has it that Secretary Surface Transport R S Gujaral is moving to some other Ministry. It is rumoured that new Minister C P Joshi has asked for a new Secretary.

Process for GMs panels delayed
There has been a delay in empanelment of senior officers of Railways for elevation as General Manager (GMs).

Reddy is new Ambassador to Iraq
S.K. Reddy, Joint Secretary at MEA headquarters, has been appointed as the Ambassador of India to Iraq.

Spolia to be PS Finance Delhi Government !
D M Spolia is being tipped to be new Principal Secretary Finance Delhi Government. He is 1979 batch IAS officer of UT cadre..

Kutty is new Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister
1985 batch UT cadre IAS officer Dr M M Kutty is back to the parent cadre from central deputation. Dr Kutty who was Joint Secretary Urban Development in the GoI has now succeeded P K Tripathi as Principal Secretary to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit.

( We said this on February 18 )

Ajit Seth gets additional charge of Secretary security
Ajit Seth, Secretary CMPG in Government of India (GOI) will look after the additional charge of Secretary, Security in place of Bijon K. Dey.
Seth is an IAS officer of 1974 batch who belongs to the UP cadre.

Ganapathy to join MHA in GoI
M A Ganapathy is joining the Government of India as Joint Secretary Naxal Management in the MHA. He is 1986 batch IPS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.

Why delay in deciding about chiefs of BSNL, MTNL?
Why there has been a delay in deciding about chiefs of BSNL, MTNL? This question is hot topic of discussion in corridors of power. As the grapevine has it delay is because Communication Minister Kapil Sibal who is known for his straight forwardness is having divergent approach vis a vis that of Dr. Sam Pitroda Advisor to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure & Innovations.

NHPC chiefs appointment delayed
As the grapevine has it, appointment of new CMD of NHPC is in a limbo. Two candidates who were placed at number one and number two are yet to get vigilance clearance. They were : D.P. Bhargava Director (Technical) of NHPC & Sanjay Kumar Mittal Director & CEO of LANCO Infratech.

Y.K Gautam likely to be elevated as IG in NIA
Y.K Gautam, DIG, National Investigation Agency (NIA), is likely to be promoted as Inspector General (IG) in NIA. He is an IPS officer of 1990 batch who belongs to the Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Udayan Mukherji empanelled as ADG in GOI
Udayan Mukherji, Joint Director, Intelligence Bureau (IB), HQ, New Delhi, has been empanelled as ADG in Government of India (GOI). He is an IPS officer of 1980 batch who belongs to the Karnataka cadre.

Ms. Trishaljit Sethi appointed CVO, Prasar Bharti
Ms. Trishaljit Sethi who is a Director in the Department of Personnel & Training (DoP&T) has been appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer
(CVO), Prasar.Bharti She is an IPoS-cadre officer of 1990 batch.

Kaza Sudhakar tipped to be ED, National Housing Bank
Kaza Sudhakar is tipped to be an Executive Director (ED) with the National Housing Bank (NHB). Presently he is a Chief General Manager
(CGM) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Who will appoint new Secretary CVC ?
There is a general belief that no new Secretary can be posted in the Central Vigilance Commission without the appointment of new CVC. Will 1979 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre Anil Kumar continue to officiate or looking into his seniority he will be made Secretary ? One can only wait and watch

IAS and IPS reshuffle in UT cadre in June ?
A major reshuffle of UT cadre IAS and IPS officers is expected to take place after large scale promotions most probably in June.

Nandwani is new Development Commissioner Falta SEZ
Sanjeev Nandwani, Indian Trade Service (1986 batch) has taken over as Development Commissioner Falta SEZ at Kolkata under the Ministry of Commerce. The previous incumbent was A. K. Bit IAS (UP: 1976) who returned to his cadre upon completion of his 5 year term in October 2010. Sanjeev Nandwani was a 'British Chevening Gurukul Scholar' at the London School of Economics for the year 2002. He has also done his Masters in Public Policy and Management as a 'Mason fellow' at the Harvard University in 2006.

Prasad is new CVO NPCC
A N Prasad who was working as Inspector General of Forests and Director, Project Elephant, Ministry of Environment and Forests has been appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer in the National Projects Construction Corporation Limited(NPCC), New Delhi.
He is 1979 batch IFS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Sujata Chaudhary gets extension
Central deputation tenure of Ms Sujata Chaudhry, IpoS(86) as Chief Vigilance Officer, Hindustan Insecticides Limited(HIL) has been extended for a period of three months till August 19.She is 1986 batch IPOS officer.

CVO RINL gets extension in deputation period
Central deputation tenure of K Vidyasagar as Chief Vigilance Officer, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, Visakhapatnam has been extended till June 29.He is 1985 batch IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.

Ms. Lopa Mudra Mohanty appointed a Director, WCD
Ms. Lopa Mudra Mohanty on central deputation has been appointed as a Director in the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD). She is an ITFS officer of 1991 batch.

Vulunmana Vualnam appointed a Director, MHA
Vulunmana Vualnam on central deputation has been appointed as a Director in Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). He is an IAS officer of 1992 batch who belongs to the Manipur- Tripura (M-T) cadre.

Rakesh Kumar to join GoI
Rakesh Kumar is joining the Government of India as Director Health.He is 1992 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.

Nevatia is back to DoPT
Prakash Nevatia who was on deputation to the NHAI is now back to the Department of Personnel as Director.

Srivastava joins as CVO RITES
Praveen Kumar Srivastava has taken over as Chief Vigilance Officer, RITES Ltd. a Ministry of Railways Enterprise. He is 1988 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Alok Kumar's central deputation on the anvil
The Government of India (GOI) in the offer list has retained the name Alok Kumar. He is an IPS officer of 1994 batch who belongs to the Karnataka cadre.

IIS officer Manoj Kumar empanelled for JS rank
IIS officer Manoj Kumar Pandey has been empanelled for the Joint Secretary rank under central staffing scheme. He belongs to 1985 batch.

IA & AS officer Ram Hit transferred
Ram Hit, Senior Deputy Accountant General (Wks-I), in the office of the Principal Accountant General (Civil Audit), Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad has been transferred and posted as Senior Deputy Accountant General (Admn/GE/Wks), in the office of the Accountant General (A&E), Bihar, Patna.

Pakistan : Foreign office postings
Pakistan's Foreign Office is in the process of finalising some senior level postings of career diplomats. Ishtiaq Hussain Andrabi whose posting as Ambassador to Saudi Arabia was abruptly withdrawn last week is likely to be retained as Addl Secretary (Middle East & Africa desk). Special Secretary in FO Haroon Shaukat is being posted as Ambassador to Turkey. Alamgir Babar who till recently has been Ambassador to Brazil is being posted in the FO as Addl Secretary (Americas), against a post lying vacant since transfer of the erstwhile incumbent Attiya Mehmood as Ambassador to Jordan last year.

Rastogi is yet to get posting in Maharashtra
Outgoing Secretary to Maharashtra Governor, Vikaschandra Rastogi is yet to get posting in the Maharashtra Government. He is 1991 batch IAS officer.

Pratip Chaudhuri soon to be SBI Chairman (UPDATED)
As the grapevine has it file relating Pratip Chaudhuri's appointment as new Chairman of the State Bank of India((SBI) has been cleared by the PMO.

(We said this on December 8, 2010)

Hemant Contractor soon to be SBI, MD (UPDATED)
As the grapevine has it file relating to Hemant Contractor's appointment as new Managing Director (MD) of the State Bank of India((SBI) has been cleared by the PMO.

Krishna Kumar soon to be SBI, MD (UPDATED)
As the grapevine has it file relating to Krishna Kumar's appointment as new Managing Director (MD) of the State Bank of India((SBI) has been cleared by the PMO.

K D Tripathi to be new Secretary, CVC (UPDATED)
Kapil Dev Tripathi is poised to join on central deputation as new Secretary CVC.Tripathi is an IAS officer of 1980 who belongs to Assam-Meghalaya (A-M)cadre. He will succeed K S Ramasubban (IAS WB:1976) who retired on March 31, 2011. The related proposal has been cleared by the PMO.

Namita Chaudhary to be Secretary Minority Commission (UPDATED)
Namita Chaudhary is being appointed Secretary Minority Commission in a day or two.

Gujral gets three months extension (UPDATED)
Acting Chairman of the NHAI R S Gujral has reportedly been granted another three months extension till June 30.

CORPORATE

LIC chief: outsider vs. insider ?
In government insurance sector, it is keenly being observed that whether an internal candidate or an outsider will be brought incumbent as new Chairman of the LIC.

Former Gujarat DGP to join Essar Group
Retired DGP of Gujarat S S Khandwawala is joining business conglomerate Essar as a security and vigilance advisor. He will be based in Ahemdabad.

ITDC posts Pankaj Mittal as Resident Manager Hotel Janpath, Delhi
The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has posted Pankaj Mittal as Resident Manager of the Hotel Janpath, Delhi. Presently, he is, General Manager with Jaipur located Hotel Ashok.
(We said this on march 9, 2011)

Post of CMD, OVL to be advertised
Post of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Oil India Videsh Ltd is going to be advertised. as R S Butola has joined has joined as CMD, IOC. Now the organization is being run by the acting CMD Joeman Thomas. He is also scheduled to retire in December. Basically Joeman Thomas is Director (Exploration), OVL.

Achutan appointed FSLRC member
C. Achutan has been appointed member of the 11-member Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC) headed by Justice (retired) B.N. Srikrishna to simplify and rewrite financial sector legislations, rules and regulations and bring them in harmony with the requirements of India's fast growing financial sector.

BHEL's Bhopal unit registers 13 pc growth
Having completed production worth Rs 4,202 crore and procuring Profit Before Tax of Rs 648 crore for the financial year 2010-11, Bhopal unit of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has registered 13 per cent growth, said Executive Director, M K Dube, according to whom the company achieved a turnover of Rs 4,202 cr surpassing previous year's turnover of Rs 3,708 cr.

Sharma appointed Company Secy. Cosmo Films Ltd
Ms Neetu Sharma has been appointed as Company Secretary of Cosmo Films Ltd w.e.f. April 01, 2011.

Maan Aluminium Ltd appoints additional directors
Maan Aluminium Limited has appointed the following as Additional Directors-- Aditya Jain- (Promoter-Non Executive Director)and Amit Jain- (Independent Director).

Das is now President, BCCL
Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) has elevated Dr Bhaskar Das as the President of the company. Till now, he was Executive President.

Sharma appointed Exec. President, BCCL
Arunava Das Sharma has been appointed as Executive President, Bennett Coleman and Company Ltd . Prior to this, he was with Whirlpool US.

Kochar is Group Director & CEO, Images Group
Jayant Kochar who recently merged his strategic consulting practice with the Images Group, and has assumed the role of Group Director and CEO of Images Group.

Pardiwalla appointed Branch Head, Grey India
Grey India has appointed Kaizad Pardiwalla as Branch Head of its Mumbai office.

Krishnan is VP & Branch Head, Grey India (South)
Hari Krishnan, former Branch Head, Grey India will head the South India operations as Vice President and Head (South).

Term of two UCO Bank directors get over
Ram Niwas Jain and Suresh Chand Gupta, directors of UCO Bank have completed their tenure on March 12, 2011 and have ceased to be the directors of the Bank.

Central Govt approves re-appointment of Deepak Singhania as CMD, LML Ltd
Central Government has granted its approval for re-appointment of Deepak Singhania as Chairman and Managing Director and Anurag Kumar Singhania as Whole-time Director of LML Ltd.

Kapoor appointed as Company Secy. EIL
Engineers India Limited has appointed Rajan Kapur, Deputy Company Secretary, EIL, as the Company Secretary of the Company with effect from April 1, 2011.

Dugar resigns as Non Exec. Director, Impex Ferro Tech Ltd
Chhatar Singh Dugar, Non-Executive Independent Director of Impex Ferro Tech Ltd has resigned from the directorship of the Company w.e.f. April 5, 2011.

Vaswani appointed Chairman of Dell India
Former Wipro Joint CEO Suresh Vaswani has been appointed chairman of Dell India and chief of applications and business process outsourcing organization.

FORUM

This is good !

Appraisers of Customs recruited by UPSC get promoted to Junior Time Scale in 9-10 years. They then get promoted to Senior Time Scale in another 4 years time. Further they get promoted to Junior Administrative Grade in further 5 years time. They then get promoted to Non Functional Selection Grade in further 4 more years time. Then they get promoted to Senior Administrative Grade in further 5 more years time.

So this is how it turns out for an Appraiser of Customs directly recruited by the UPSC:-

1. 9th year- Junior Time Scale in Group A

2. 13th year- Senior Time Scale

3. 17th year- Junior Administrative Grade

4. 21st year- Non Functional Selection Grade

5. 26th year- Senior Administrative Grade

and there are instances of Appraisers getting promoted to Higher Administrative Grade also.

So it means that there are a minimum of 5 (five) distinct promotions for an Appraiser of Customs. This is good is it not!! The CBEC has done enough to take care of the interests of the Appraisers of Customs.

Meena

Empanelment is a joke

Empanelment process for JS and others in GOI is a joke when you come to know that only 2 -3 IAS officers missed the bus. I would suggest that let all of them be eligilbe for the post esp. when no one is going to differentiate between good, efficient and honest (very rare) with others. Can anyone be sure that those who miss the bus are the worst of them? I think civil society must step in to have some say in such employment which is on deputation, not cadre based. We need a person like Anna Hazare to make the system right.

Mohan

Civil Servants retiring at 65?

Why stop at 65? Make it for life. So many stories are already afloat of connivance of civil servants, esp. those approaching retirement, with the politicians resulting in huge loss to exchequer. Therefore on what basis they deserve permitting them to serve beyond 60 years. Sachin Tendulkar is being observed by the public and would leave the day majority of us raise finger at his performance. The same does not apply to bureaucrats. In most cases, they would go on doing what they like or that gives them personal returns, whether the public likes it or not. The need of the hour is stop recruiting civil servants beyond 60 years of age. However, they could be considered for such posts provided they applied for the job before they completed 58 years of age.

C Singh

Fast unto death by Anna Hazare

After the world cup victory,fast unto death by Anna hazare is the best thing to have happened . Corruption has reached such proportions that CBI CVC and other agencies of the govt are hopelessly inadequate to deal with it and Supreme Court has to monitor few cases which come to its notice on a regular basis. When the authorities are hesitant to even depict horrible pictures of victims of tobacco consumption to dissuade people from smoking ,one can very well imagine the reluctance to introduce stringent anti corruption laws like peoples lokpal bill .Persons like Anna Hazare, Agnivesh and Arvind Kejriwal and kiran Bedi Prashant Bhushan have the potential to mobilise the silent majority to persuade the govt to enact an effective Lok Pal bill .

Sudhir Chopra

Good in his spirits and attitude

OP Bhatt is good in his spirits and attitude. But lacks the skills to execute his way without open remarks and stands. Ministry officials could not curry favour and corrupt him. Also he has some moribund views on economics. His opposition to SB interest for whole month and Teaser loans and even some more open stands which are principled are not liked by RBI which is a rubber stamp bank of GOI and FMs. Also he was not having the blessing of the pensioners as he has not taken up their case properly. As he was always contradicted by the ministry he failed to restore pension to SBI officers at the proper level. Old pensioners legitimate grievances were neglected by him. Pranab was willing to raise pensions for the old 5th and 6th bipartite pensioners who are 70 and above now. But he did not present the case properly. He deserves no extension by his own performance, which is claimed by him as saviour of SBI. The truth is SBI is big machine whose various parts are not even known to this Chairman at all.

Venkat

Central Government

Will Central Government will also pass the bill like Delhi and Bihar Govt. for SLA. The officers dealing with cases will directly be responsible for any deficiency in services.

SC has passed an order that Private hospitals in NCR will provide free medicines and services to poor families limited to 10% IPD and 25% for OPD. Can government take a decision that at least all private hospitals who have been provided land at reduced rates provide medical facilities to CGHS employees for which hospitals get payment at the rates fixed by the government. There should not be any exception like Sir Ganga Ram Hospitals who considered themselves as super body and not bothered for CGHS beneficiary for treatment.

R K Mishra

Emotional touch and nothing else

Aprops comments of some individuals claiming that ITS officers are responsible for poor condition of BSNL/MTNL and some voices asking for reverting ITS to DOT. The statement is only having an emotional touch and not worthy of being commented. The poor show of BSNL/MTNL is due to various flawed policy decisions taken by some great bureaucrats and politicians and few of them are languishing in jail and many more should go. Few manufacturers of copper cable approached a Minister and some bureaucrats and overnight it was decided to connect all villages with 10 pairs of copper cables and thousands of crores were spent in procurement of cable. Overnight, policy was changed for UASL to help out a particular group to launch its mobile services. BSNL/MTNL were denied the right for providing cellular services. When they started a particular Minister and its set of bureaucrat got alrmed with the success of BSNL/MTNL as it was the company which won the heart of massses by providing connectivity along the highways. Then the game started of denying BSNL/MTNL to award fresh tenders for procurement of new cellular towers and equipment. It was ensured by all that tender is not awarded at any cost till they lost out to other competitors. TRAI which is always headed by ex Telecom Secreatry ensured that policies are made to favour private operators at the expense of BSNL/MTNL. Further, BSNL/MTNL pay salaries to around 3 lakh employees of DOT era. How can any company survive with such a huge workforce. Is ITS responsible for this? The person who wrote this comment critcising ITS must be an absorbee of BSNL/MTNL and he is repenting as he made a wrong decision of getting absorbed in BSNL/MTNL. Actually he was naive to believe in the leadership of his cadre who actually fooled the masses for their personal benefits. Even now, DOT does not release money to BSNL for providing services in unrenumerative areas which lie in rural India. Private operators were supposed to provide coverage but they have refused and bureaucrats are acting as puppets by not even imposing penalty as mandated in the licence condition.

The workforce recruitment was done in mid eighties and most of them are only 8/10th pass. Can you throw them out. The answer is big NO. There were Ministers and bureaucrats who virtually forced BSNL/MTNL to hire the building for opening exchanges in areas which defied logic and that too at exorbitant rates. I remember a particular minister/buraucrat friend took franchisee of premium service (being offered at that time like astro service, dial a friend etc.)It was done on revenue share basis where 80% goes to franchisee. Since it was premium based service the call was made through ISD in those days and the office of that person actually continued to make call deliberately from offcie leading MTNL to suffer heavy losses as all calls from office were at government expense and premium was paid by MTNL. A particular group disguised international call as local call to cheat BSNL of revenue sharing and Minister/Bureaucrat office disallowed termination of services. Further, a bureaucrat who is in jail forced BSNL despite adverse noting of DOT finance and telecom wing to take services of Boston Consulting Group because his daughter was employed there. Dear friend, the list is endless. It is not ITS but someone else who is playing hte games.

Manish

Demand is justified

The Demand of ITS officers is apparently justified...But, being associated with DoT (BSNL) from outside for over 24 Yrs, I know that both the ITS officers and staff are unprofessional and are responsible for its present plight. Exceptions exist.

CMD from inside or outside will not make difference unless the rot within is addressed.

Babu RVB

Rita Menon deserves to be Cabinet Secretary

Rita Menon should be made Cabinet Secretary. She is honest and a fine officer.

Charanjit

Opinion of PIO

The Appellant had sought the opinion of the PIO on pay revision of an official. He raised queries such as whether fixation of pay is correct as per CCS (RP) Rules, 2008 and which rules of CCS (RP) would be applicable etc. The CIC noted that there was nothing on record and the PIO has given his own interpretation of how the pay revision should
occur. A warning was issued by the CIC to the PIO holding that this is an error on his part since he is not expected to create a record.

Comments

In the definition of "Information" under section 2(f) of the Act, the term 'opinions' and 'advises' means those opinions and advises which are available on the record. The PIO should give what is the matter of record and not give his own opinion.

[Raj Kumar Anand vs. Deputy Director of Education, Delhi in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2011/000196/11644].

- 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)