What people say about us !
Rename it! Call it "TIMES and News of New India". Amazing how you do it. Reminds me of Times of India of 60's, 70's and 80's. Today just not NRI's, but corporate, Diplomats, Heads of States and all those who matter can't forget to visit this News Temple. Though the state of Congress Party in India saddens me. They can't decide on a Cabinet reshuffle, can't punish the corrupt and Congress President has to "request" her Political secretary to accept Rajya Sabha nomination. India wants to be Super Power and Rahul Gandhi does not want to take over reins of power of Younger India?

Lord Swaraj Paul
Indian at Heart

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

Who will garner Brahmin votes in Uttar Pradesh ?
Who will garner Brahmin votes in Uttar Pradesh ? Observers say that while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will this time hardly get 25 percent of them, as against 75 percent last time, the remaining will be equally divided between the BJP and the Congress.

Parliament's session to be preponed
Parliament session may start from July 25, 2011 instead of August 1, 2011 as a lot of business has to be transacted in the parliament. Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister has also got the approval of the Ms. Sushma Swaraj leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

While Ms. Bharati was in tears!
Tears came down rolling from eyes of senior BJP leader Ms. Uma Bharati while she was informed by AICC chief Ms. Sonia Gandhi, that her husband late Rajiv Gandhi's wish was that his ashes be immersed in the holy Ganges. This was one of the things that Ms.Sonia Gandhi shared while Ms. Bharati had called on the former, a few days ago.

BUREAUCRACY

Pulok Chaterji to join PMO on October 1
ED World Bank Pulok Chaterji is all set to join the Prime Minister's Office on October 1.He is 1974 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Kaun Banega RBI Governor (5) R Gopalan
As far as IAS is concerned, Secretary DEA R Gopalan is a strong contender for the post of Governor Reserve Bank of India. He is scheduled to retire in April next year. Will the IAS succeed another IAS D Subbarao ? Gopalan is 1976 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

B.C. Nayak soon to be elevated in IB
B.C. Nayak Special Director Intelligence Bureau (IB) in Government of India (GoI) is soon likely to be elevated to higher pay scale. He is an IPS officer of 1975 batch who belongs to Uttar Pradesh cadre.

BSF soon to have a vacancy of IG
In Border Security Force (BSF), one post of IG level will soon be falling vacant.

CRPF soon to have a vacancy of IG
In Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) one post OF IG level will soon be falling vacant.

Making a beeline for the post of Jt. Secr Coal
While a number of officials are making a beeline for the post of Joint secretary - Coal, several business houses are also lobbying hard to get the officer of their choice appointed. The present incumbent to the post,1987 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre R K Mahajan, has been given three months extension.

Ravi Bangar to be JS (MER ) in MEA
Ravi Bangar will take over as Joint Secretary (MER) soon after his return from Geneva. He is 1982 batch IFS officer.

Who will be Member Traffic in Railway Board ?
Who will be new Member Traffic in the Railway Board ? Tie is said to be between P.V. Murthy GM Metro Kolkata & General Manager of East Central Railway, KK Shrivastav.

Pandey is new AG in Madhya Pradesh
RK Pandey (IA&AS-1994), on repatriation to the department, is transferred and posted as Accountant General (A&E)-II, Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior. He will relieve Ms. Sandhya Shukla.

Rajiv Ranjan Verma appointed as ADG (Adm), CISF
Rajiv Ranjan Verma who so far was Director North-East Police Academy Barapani (NEPA) Shillong in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been appointed as the Additional D.G (Adm) HQ, CISF in place of Kashmir Singh IPS. He is an IPS officer of 1978 batch who belongs to the Bihar cadre.

1985 batch IPS is now ADG in Gujarat
Four 1985 batch IPS officers have been promoted to the rank of ADG in Gujarat. They are Mssrs A K Singh, Ashish Bhatia, Mohan Jha and T S Bisht.

Ashok Singh promoted as Lt. General
Major General Ashok Singh has been promoted as Lt. General in Indian Army.

Capt Sanjay Gahlot nominated for 37th APPPA
Capt Sanjay Gahlot, Director, M/Food Processing Industry, New Delhi, has been nominated for the 37th Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA) commencing at the Indian Institute of Public Administration, New Delhi on July 1, 2011. The programme includes detailed framework of conceptual and applied modules to enable professional exposure on public administration in Indian and international context.

A K Jain is now IG BSF Jammu
A K Jain has joined as new Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF) Jammu Frontier. He is 1987 batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.
( We said this on June 24 )

Siddharth Chattopadhayay transferred to Jullandhar
Siddharth Chattopadhayay, IG, Jammu frontier, BSF is back to the parent Punjab cadre. He is 1986 batch IPS offier.
( We said this on June 22 )

Dr A.P.J. Kalam is maiden visitor of Nalanda global University
Former Indian President Dr A.P.J. Kalam is maiden visitor of the mega Nalanda International University that is coming up in Bihar. It is he with whose signature University's maiden Vice Chancellor will be appointed. Nobel Laureate Dr Amartya Sen is heading the mentor Group. It's a joint venture by all Buddhist nations.

Manish Gupta to be Additional Commissioner MCD
Manish Gupta is poised to join the MCD, Delhi as Additional Commissioner. He is an IAS officer of 1991 batch who belongs to UT cadre.

1993 batch IPS promoted as IG in AP
1993 batch IPS officers Mssrs Amit Garg, Sandeep Shandilya, P V Sunil Kumar and Venugopala Krishna have been promoted to the rank of IG in Andhra Pradesh.

Aruna Bahuguna gets new posting in AP
ADG Training Aruna Bahuguna has been moved to the post of commissioner, printing, stationery and stores purchases. She is 1979 batch IPS officer.

RK Singh holds a budget meeting for MHA
R. K. Singh soon after assuming the charge as Home Secretary held a budget meeting that was attended by the heads of CPMF and senior officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

R.C Nair is Director, MHA
R.C Nair who so far was Deputy Secretary in the central government's Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has been appointed as a Director in the MHA.He is a CSS cadre officer.

Pakistan : US press wants ISI chief sacked
The New York Times (NYT) through an editorial has called upon US government to prevail upon the Pakistani authorities to remove its ISI chief Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha in view of its direct involvement in criminal activities and collusion with terrorists. Meanwhile a senior retired general of Pakistan Army Gen Zulfikar has alleged that the army is the biggest deterrent against enemies of Pakistan and the US is trying to pitch the people of Pakistan against their own army. Allegations were earlier made in the US press that Gen Zulfikar was involved in some shady nuclear deals in collusion with the infamous Dr AQ Khan.

IPS officers shifted in Madhya Pradesh
The Madhya Pradesh government has shifted certain IPS officers. hey are: Ravi Kumar Gupta DIG Balaghat to DIG Khargone range, R.L.Prajapati SP Betul to AIG Police Headquarters Bhopal, KK Sharma SP Dindori to AIG Police Headquarters Bhopal, Sushant Kumar Saxena SP
Sheopur to SP Dhar, Purushottam Sharma SP Railways Jabalpur to SP Dindori , Bhagwat Singh Chauhan SP Mandla to SP Betul .

Interviews for CIL's Director Technical on July 12, 2011 (UPDATED)
Interviews for the slot of Director -Technical in Coal India Ltd (CIL) are going to be held on July 12, 2011.

Raghavendra Rao is GM, NABARD, Kerala Region (UPDATED)
Raghavendra Rao assumed charge as the General Manager, NABARD, Kerala Regional office. Prior to his posting in Kerala, Rao was working as General Manager at NABARD's Head Office in Mumbai, and was responsible for discharge of NABARD's supervisory role covering Co-operative Banks and RRBs


VS condemns Kerala govt's move to reinstate IPS officer (UPDATED)
Kerala government's move to reinstated suspended IPS officer Tomin J. Thachankary took a new turn with the former Kerala Chief Minister and opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan condemning the decision. He said legal options would be looked into if the officer resumes duty.

Hegde is CMD of ISRO's commercial arm, Antrix Corporation (UPDATED)
V.S. Hedge has been appointed as the Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of the Antrix Corporation, the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) commercial arm. Hedge was the Scientific Secretary to ISRO.

Jaya reconstitutes TN State Planning Commission (UPDATED)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa has reconstituted the state planning commission. Apart from retired IAS officer Mrs Shanta Sheela Nair who is the Vice-Chairperson the new members include Dr V Shanta (Health), Plastic Surgeon Dr. K Sridhar (Health), Karpagam University Vice-Chancellor Dr. K Ramasamy (Agriculture and Irrigation), Industrialist Dr. A.C. Muthiah (Industry) and former Anna University Vice-Chancellor Dr E. Balagurusamy (Education).

Cabinet reshuffle tomorrow ? (UPDATED)
Much awaited Cabinet reshuffle cum expansion of Manmohan Singh Government is going to take place on Tuesday.Five Ministers of Cabinet rank and five of the State Minister rank are being dropped.There will be ten new faces.

Siddharth heads Tea Board (UPDATED)
Siddharth who on central deputation is a Joint Secretary in Commerce Ministry has taken over the charge of Chairman Tea Board from Dinesh Sharma,since the latter is returning to his parent cadre. Siddharth is an IAS officer of the 1983 batch who too is from the West Bengal cadre.Dinesh Sharma, an IAS officer of 1983 batch from the Kerala cadre on central deputation is the CEO of Price Stabilisation Fund under the Commerce Ministry.

CORPORATE

Purandare quits PriceWaterHouse Coppers
Jairaj Purandare, managing partner at consultancy firm PriceWaterHouse Coppers (PwC) is believed to have put in his papers after seven years sting with the company. PwC has been in controversy ever since Satyam's founder Ramalinga Raju fabricated his company's accounts audited by the PwC.

Mahendra Patel is GCCI president
Mahendra Patel, the CMD of Mamta Group, has taken over as the president of the state's apex trade body, the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI). Prakash Bhagwati would assume the post of the senior vice-president. Shankerbhai Patel has been appointed as the vice-president.

White resigns as President & CEO, Orient Express Hotels
Orient Express Hotels President and CEO Paul White has resigned from the company.

Dabur India Chairman Emeritus Ashok Burman is dead
Ashok C. Burman, Chairman Emeritus of Dabur India Ltd has passed away in London aged 82.

Atanasio appointed Senior VP (Commercial Operations), Fiat India
Fiat India has appointed Enrico Atanasio as the Senior Vice-President (Commercial Operations).

Parameswaran takes over charge as MD, Tamil Nadu Telecommunications Ltd
V. S. Parameswaran has taken over charge as Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Telecommunications Ltd w.e.f June 15, 2011 in place of M Sengupta.

Kesariya appointed Company Secy. JIK Industries Ltd
JIK Industries Limited has appointed Rajit A. Kesariya as a Company Secretary with effect from July 7, 2011.

Mirza resigns as Director, ESAB India Ltd
Nawshir Mirza has resigned as a Director of ESAB India Ltd with effect from July 1, 2011 from the Board of the Company.

Rekhi appointed Director, Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd
Vijay K Rekhi has been appointed as a Director of Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd w.e.f. July 6, 2011.

Chandramouli resigns as Director, Kothari Petrochemicals Ltd
N. Chandramouli, Director, Kothari Petrochemicals Ltd has resigned from the Board of the company with effect from July 1, 2011.

Banga appointed on Global Board of Marks & Spencer Group
Former Hindustan Unilever Chairman Manvinder Banga has been appointed on the Global Board of Marks and Spencer Group as a Non Executive Director.

Promotions for defence officers

Do you know? Only 3 percent of Army officers become Maj Gen (JS equivalent). Less than one percent become Lt Gen (Addl Secy equivalent). Only 0.0003 percent officers reach Army Cdr level (Secy equivalent).

This much for senior ranks. 70 percent officers retire at col rank (non functional) and that too after 26 years of commissioned service. All Cols retire at the age of 54 years. What a shame for our country ?

Anil

Reduce retirement age to 58 years

Retirement age for Central Government employees needs to be reduced to 58.It will cleanse the system and enhance opportunities for youngsters.

Sham Sunder Juneja

It has become a norm in CBEC and CBDT

In CBEC and CBDT, it has become the norm to have senior Chief Commissioners relegated to nondescript posts and junior Chief Commissioners posted to the important charges. Why is seniority given the short shrift in these two Boards?

Vijay Kumar

Post-mortem approach to controlling corruption

We are doing a post-mortem approach to controlling corruption, letting persons do what they want clandestinely over the years and if any information leaks at all through some disgruntled elements, we start nitpicking and try to lock the stable after the colt has bolted.

Before committing the corruption, the participants had numerous meetings and visit the ministers and secretaries' offices and homes and negotiate the deals, which is just now happening for the future scams. How come public servants are allowed to meet industrialists and businessmen clandestinely all the time and we expect them to do 'clean' and 'transparent' service to the public.

If any industrialist meets a public servant in private, the proceedings should always be made public.

Everyday all the ministers and secretaries should publish their day's and week's engagements and appointments so that the public and even the competitors will know what the policy-makers are upto, so that they can intervene at the right moment and the intention of the public servants and businessmen to make some mega-mischief to loot the poor people's treasury for filthily enriching themselves can be prevented.

We need to create preventive anti-corruption measures by making the public servants to function in public and making their every action transparent day to day on an ongoing basis, which is very easy through the technology. All ministries and departments have websites and the engagements, meetings and appointments of the ministers and secretaries can be published daily. Interested media also can source the information from the websites and publish it or broadcast it. In a way, the Courts are already publishing their Cause-Lists for every day thereby making known what the judges are going to be doing that day. Hence it is not an altogether new concept, only an application to be adopted by the ministries and secretariats.

Kulkarni

Activities across the country at a standstill

It is absolutely true that activities throughout our country has come to a standstill because of lack of postings in various zones. As a result major policy decision and promotion effecting many officers has been affected. It is high time that rulers in the top place realise this.

M R Joseph

Attacking 'Dalaals' ?

Dalaals are not attacked even on the Dalal street! Why then should they be treated so contemptuously in UP? Like father, like son ! Rajiv attacked the dalaals, banned them from defence deals (maaldaar ministry) and every one knows how he was done in by his own confidante and finance minister ! Had he not gone hammer & tong against the institution of dalals, he might not have been dethroned that easily ! One secret of the successes of successor governments was the shift in the loyalty of the dalals from one set of political combination to another. Those who have been shouting the loudest against corruption had frightened the dalals so much that they could never form their own government and when they did succeed in stitching some kind of an arrangement in the company of several other spoilers on experimental basis, they were allowed to survive a full term, till the others bought back their loyalty. Nobody can wish away the sway of dalals: they can make or mar chances of governments and even HAG in huge budget assignments. These assignments get them highly valuable fringe benefits without ever being corrupt, in addition to post retirement sinecure! It was not without wisdom that a street was named as the Dalal Street: its activities can shake not only the North Block but also the South Block any day! So, please caution the mentors and speech writers to be wary of the Dalaals. No need to provoke them, as nobody other than Rajiv has chosen to challenge them. Without them even Delhi is not assured, not to talk of UP !

M L Gupta

Incorrect posting

This is an incorrect posting and misleads people around the world. To state that a secular state as Singapore is a 'Buddhist Nation' is as incorrect as to say that India is a 'Hindu' nation. Singapore is a multi-ethnic and multicultural nation with equal respect for all religions. The state has no religion. Please correct this anomaly at the earliest.

Roy from Singapore

Minutes of meeting

Minutes of the meeting of the Religious Committee were denied u/s 8(1) (a) and 8(1) (g) claiming that it contains a report regarding law and order received from Delhi Police which is marked as Secret. In response to a show cause notice for imposition of penalty, the CPIO & Joint Secretary (Home) submitted that when the RTI application was received he was on leave. He explained that when the First Appellate hearing was held he became aware of the RTI application. He further
informed that the information was denied since there was some tension at that time because of demolition of certain religious structures. Since the minutes revealed issues regarding different religious structures, he felt that revealing the information could lead to some strife. While dropping the penalty proceedings, the PIO was warned by the CIC to ensure that some reasons are detailed when claiming exemption.

Comments

Merely stating an exemption without giving any reasons cannot be a valid ground to deny information under the RTI Act. A CPIO must outline the reasons, at least briefly, when denying the information. A CPIO should ensure that proper system to receive an application is in
place even in his absence.

Mr. Tariq Qamar v. Home Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi in CIC/SG/A/2011/000866/12726Adjunct

- 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)