It's really nice.
Supriya

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> & <mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Cabinet reshuffle fails to enthuse Congress workers
Reports reaching from AICC headquarters have clearly indicated that the recent reshuffle in Indian Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh's cabinet has failed to enthuse Congress leaders and workers.

Changes in AICC after a week
Much awaited changes in AICC have been deferred. As the grapevine has
It, changes in AICC will now take place after a week or 10 days.

Gujarat CM appoints Chairman, Office Bearers in 8 PSUs
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi issued appointment orders for the post of
Chairman and senior office bearer in eight important boards
and corporations run by Gujarat government on January 25, 2011.
Here is the list of appointed dignitaries:
1.Bhupendrasinhji Chudasama -Vice Chairman Gujarat State Planning
Commission.
2.Vallabhbhai Kathiriya Chairman- Gujarat Gau Seva Ayog.
3.Jyantibhai Barot- Chairman Gujarat Housing Board.
4.Kaushikbhai Patel- Acting Chairman 20 Points Implementation Committee.
5.Mahendrabhai Trivedi- Chairman Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham Vikas Board.
6.Mansukhbhai Mandaviya- Chairman Gujarat Agricultural Industries Corporation.
7.Purshottam Bhojani -Chairman Jamanagar Urban Development Authority.
8.Punambhai Makwana -Chairman Bechar Swami Ati Pachhat Jati Vikas Board.

BUREAUCRACY

Tenure of Satish Chandra Jha Minister in Berlin to end
Satish Chandra Jha who is Minister in Berlin ( Germany)based Indian Embassy will be completing his tenure by the end of next month. He is an IPS officer of the1981 batch who belongs to the Bihar cadre.

Ranga to be Secretary NCSK
P S Ranga will be new Secretary National Commission for Safai Karmchari. He is 1982 batch CSS officer.

New Books By B.K.S. Ray
B.K.S. Ray (I.A.S., 1972-retd.) has come out with his three new books, namely, Passion's Flying Moments (Poetry), Smiles Beyond The Twilight (Poetry) and Shadows of September (Short Story collection). Ray's poetry and short stories relate to love, despair and human relationships. So far, Ray has authored 15 books and intends to pursue his literary career with a single-minded devotion.

IAS postings in UP
Akhilesh Kumar Barnwal will now be DM of Pratapgarh.C S Verma has been appointed DM of Saharanpur.

Brij Mohan Bansal IOC chief to retire
Brij Mohan Bansal, Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), is going to retire on January 31, 2011.

Promotion of Manipur-Tripura SPS to IPS on the cards
Promotion of Manipur-Tripura state police officers to the IPS officer grade is on the anvil. A meeting in this regard, after the names of such officers found eligible to be IPS were sent to the Union Home Ministry, has already been held and a final decision in this regards is likely to be taken soon.

IA&AS officer Das transferred
P.K. Das, Srenior Deputy Accountant General (SRA), in the office of Accountant General (CW & RA), Orissa, Bhubaneshwar, on relief from his present duties by Bidhan Chandra Mandal is transferred and posted as Director, in the office of Principal Director of Audit, East Coast Railways, Bhubaneswar.

IAS officer convicted in Orissa
A special vigilance court has convicted a retired IAS officer S K Ray and sentenced him to three years' rigorous imprisonment.

IAS changes in Tripura
Manoj Kumar has been appointed Secretary Finance. Sudip Kumar Roy will now be Secretary Urban Development.Nepal Sinha has been made the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TTAADC. Sushil Kumar will now look after the charges of General Administration (Personnel and Tanning). S K Chowdhury will now look after the charges of Minority welfare department along with Sports and Fisheries departments. A Rastogi has been assigned the charges of secretary and director of Planning and Co-operative department.

Capt Thapar appointed Director
Capt. Sunil Thapar has been appointed as Director of Bulk Carriers and Tankers. It comes under the Ministry of Shipping.

440 Republic Day Gallantry and other Defence Decorations Announced
The President has approved awards of 440 gallantry and other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others on the eve of the 62nd Republic Day Celebrations. This includes 05 Kirti Chakra, 21 Shaurya Chakra, 05 Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry), 135 Sena Medal (Gallantry), 02 Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry), 03 Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry), 28 Param Vishisht Seva Medal, 04 Uttam Yudh Seva Medal, 51 Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, 04 Yudh Seva Medal, 02 Bar to Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 38 Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 08 Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 14 Vayu Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty), 02 Bar to Vishisht Seva Medal and 118 Vishisht Seva Medal. In addition a total of five Mention-In-Despatches have also been announced for participating in Operation Rakshak. On January 26, 2011 the President will confer the Ashok Chakra Award on Major Laishram Jyotin Singh (posthumous), announced earlier on Independence Day, August 15, 2010, before the start of the parade at the Rajpath.

For the full list of the recipients of gallantry and other Defence decorations to Armed Forces personnel and others click below :

744 police personnel awarded on R-Day
A total of 744 police personnel have been awarded this Republic Day. While Gallantary Medals have been given to 129 peronnel,, President's Police medals have been given to 82 personnel and 533 police personnel have been awarded with Police medals for meritorious service.
Click on the headings below for detailed list of awardees.
Gallantry awards
President police medals
Police medals
Correctional medals

AP modifies transfer orders of 3 Forest Service officers
Andhra Pradesh government has modified the earlier transfers of two Forest Service officers. Y. Srinivasa Reddy, Deputy Conservator of Forests will be Divisional Forest Officer, Rajampet (Wildlife) Division and Dr.B. Prabhakar, Deputy Conservator of Forests (State Cadre) will continue as Divisional Forest Officer, Nirmal Division till March 31, 2011.

Malegaon' Additional District Collector burnt alive
Additional District Collector of Malegaon, Yashwant Sonawane, has been burnt alive, about 10 kms from Malegaon in Maharashtra's Nashik district on Tuesday afternoon, allegedly by people involved in black marketing of petrol and diesel..

Dushyant Singh CSO, MHA gets Police Medal
Dushyant Singh Chief Security Officer, Ministry of Home Affairs has been awarded Police Medal for Meritorious Services. He is a MHA cadre officer. Singh is a receipient of Police Medal for anti-dacoity operations at district Sasharam in Bihar earlier.

The President revokes charge sheet against IFS officer
The President of India, has revoked the charge sheet pending for more than three years against Sanjiv chaturvedi, (IFS, Haryana Cadre, 2002 batch officer) on 19-1-2010, noting that the charge sheet was issued to the officer because of his implementing the Supreme Court orders and exposing financial irregularities and hence the charge sheet is not sustainable. This is for the first time in the history of independent India that the charge sheet issued to an All India Service Officer by a state Govt., has been revoked by the Central Government. Earlier also in January 2008, the Central government had to intervene to revoke the suspension of theofficer. The order will act as a very strong precedence for future.

DEBATE

CAN RAHUL GANDHI BECOME "MAHATMA GANDHI " IN THIS "KALYUG"?
He is an icon for the Indian youth in more than one way who wants to build cadre of Congress at grassroots and striving hard to do a Mahatma Gandhi in today's " Kalyug "by injecting a whiff of fresh air. Yes, he is none other than AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi who has been going from place to place. Whispers has decided to conduct a debate on"Dos' " and "Don'ts" for Rahul Gandhi. Surfers are requested to mail their views to mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com or suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com.

CORPORATE
SAIL signs MoU with Governor, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia
Chairman of the Maharatna Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Chairman, International Coal Ventures Private Limited (ICVL), C.S. Verma, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Governor of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, H.E. Agustin Teras Narang for development of mineral deposits, setting up of mineral processing facility, steel plant and required infrastructure in the province of Central Kalimantan. The MoU was signed in the presence of President of Indonesia, H.E. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Govt of India, Mr Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs Mr E. Ahamed, and senior officials of the Government of Indonesia. The MoU envisages setting up of steel plant and mineral processing facility by optimization of large natural resources of Province of Central Kalimantan, such as coking and thermal coal, iron ore and other minerals for economic development of the Province and meeting the requirement of coal of the promoter companies of ICVL through mutual partnership. ICVL is a Joint Venture of SAIL, Coal India Limited (CIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), NMDC Limited (NMDC) and NTPC Limited (NTPC).

Paranjpe, Vaswani step down as CEO, Wipro's IT business
Girish Paranjpe and Suresh Vaswani, chief executive officers of the Wipro's IT business, are all set to step down from their posts by Feb 1.

Wipro appoints Kurien as CEO
The country's third-largest software firm Wipro has appointed T K Kurien as chief executive officer of the Wipro's IT business. He will also be on the company's board as Executive Director.

Patel elected Chairman, IFFCO
N.P. Patel has been elected as the Chairman of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO), world's largest manufacturer and marketer of processed fertilizers in the cooperative sector. The Election was held because of untimely demise of the Chairman Surinder Kumar Jakhar. Patel is a distinguished co-operator from Gujarat and is currently the chairman of Gujarat State Cooperative Marketing Federation Ltd. (GUJCOMASOL).

Nakai elected Vice-Chairman, IFFCO
Balvinder Singh Nakai has been elected unanimously as the Vice-Chairman of IFFCO. He is currently the Chairman of Malwa Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative Marketing-cum-Procurement Society Limited. He has earlier served as Vice Chairman of IFFCO for two terms.

Chetan Ahuja appointed General Manager, TME Mumbai
TME Mumbai has appointed Chetan Ahuja as General Manager. Prior to this Ahuja, who has around 13 years of experience in the media industry, was with Media Directions.

Larry Page to take over as CEO, Google
Google co-founder Larry Page will take over as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Google w.e.f. from April 2011. He will succeed Eric Schmidt.

Eric Schmidt to move as Executive Chairman, Google
Eric Schmidt, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Google will move as the Executive Chairman and will play an advisory role w.e.f. April 2011. Schmidt had became the CEO in 2001.

FORUM
(The views expressed in this column are of the contributors. We do not owe any responsibility, whatsoever, of the views of our surfers as they are their personal opinion. However, we would also request our contributors not to be personal, directly or indirectly, in presenting their views. Instead of countering the views which ‘X’ has already expressed, our contributors are advised to present their own views. Also be brief, say about 200 words at the most since any views longer than that if eliminated at our end would carry the risk of the contrbutor’s item losing its original essence)


Deploy retd Sr Citizens as social workers to check corruption

The only solution to the corruption in MCD/DDA etc is Retired Senior Citizens be deployed as social workers and share the so called over-burdened employees. Their voice should be final in public dealing offices.

Harish Kumar

A ray of hope

Congrats Saxena sahib. After your retirement, DHI has become a headless.Whatever you said is true. Will the present government act to wash out corruption. Forget about 2G spectrum. Over the above no eagle will fly. Such are the present leaders and ministers, even certain IAS officers, in various departments in GoI, especially in Delhi. Sir, I repeat that there will be a tomorrow with a clean sky ?

C S Panikar

What is CSS?

Why RK Aggarwal is speaking so high of CSS ?

SIS

About CSS

Regarding R.K.Agarwals's observations about CSS, one can definitely say that CSS has no equation with the army services irrespective of rank and file. CSS is an honest and dedicated service. CSS Officers do not indulge in corruption and nepotism. Officers from other services and Ministers come to the Ministries with their own agenda. It is the CSS which enforces the rule of Law on everybody from top to bottom. If there is one service which is fearless in upholding the rule of Law, it is the CSS. Let us not talk about the Army services. Even Generals are being Court marshalled for Corruption !

Rajeeva

It needs to be condemned

One fails to understand the contemptuous language used by RK Agarwal against the CSS. He apparently wanted something not permitted under the rules to be done which some diligent CSS officer has refused to do or inspite of his best efforts he has not been able to get through even the clerks grade exam. The way he has abused an entire service needs to be condemned. He is not fit to be even a clerk or even a safai karmachari.

Pulipra

It is very simple

Yes I have an answer to Ruhan Singla's question. Simple. Allow your child to grow with good moral backing and allow him to grow as a good human being, rather than telling him to compete the world and beat everybody in every field by whatever means. The next question would immediately follow "whether one individual can fight the whole bloody system". Yes you can immediately cite the names of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, etc but never fail to mention the name of Mahatma Gandhi, because the individuals who misuse the democracy often fails to recognise him.

K K M

Apropos Ruhan Singla's question, none of the three greatest martyrs mentioned and many other heroes would ever regret. Infact, they would be thanking their stars for having gone without having to see all this rot. It for us to regret that we don't have any more of these and many other heroes of the freedom struggle amongst us today to save the country. Jai Hind.

M Raghu

Corruption in Noida Development Authority.

As per Supreme Court judgement, the society house owners in Noida shall have to get their flats registered with Noida Development Authority. Besides registration fee and expenses incurred on advocate for drafting etc. one has to pay about Rs. 11000/- as bribe. Out of which, Rs.5000 to NDA, Rs.5000 to Sub- Registrar's office and Rs.1000 to the peon. Bribe takers say 'hissa' (share) goes right upto the top. Will Ms Mayawati bell the cat?

Y. MISHRA

RTI

Information provided by public servants

Copy of certificates regarding the marital status of a Civil Judge etc. were refused u/s 8(1)(j) claiming the information to be personal. The Commission held that disclosure of information about the marital status of a public servant cannot be considered as unwarranted invasion on the privacy. All information provided by public servants is information which is provided in the course of public activity to satisfy a statutory requirement. The Commission ruled that the information sought by the Appellant is not covered by Section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.

Comments

In the case of public officials, the right of privacy is not available with respect to their acts and conducts relevant to the discharge of their official duties. However, this does not mean that a person loses his privacy by virtue of joining the government job. Unless the marital status has a bearing on one's appointment, this information cannot be disclosed. The Commission appears to have grossly erred in stating that all information provided by public servants is information which is provided in the course of public activity to satisfy a statutory requirement. Would the Civil Servants reading this article pause for a few seconds and think of 'Right to Privacy Law' already available to citizens of many countries?

[Peeyush Gakhar v. Office of District and Sessions Judge-II, Tis Hazari Courts in Decision No. CIC/SG/A/2010/002811/10995]

- 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)