Your website is so informative, it tempts me to visit your site after every updation for having useful information.

J K Budhiraja

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PM not from BJP even if NDA comes to power
Grapevine has it that the next PM may not be from the BJP even if NDA comes to power after the next Lok Sabha elections. Reason is simple- there are several contenders from the the BJP for the PMs chair. The consensus candidate in such a case would be Nitish Kumar for the post of Prime Minister while Narendra Modi would be the Home Minister.

Who would be the next PM if UPA returns to power ?
Grapevine has it that the next Prime Minister, if UPA returns to power, in any case, would be Rahul Gandhi while the Home Minister in such an event would be Digvijay Singh.

Picture about new Railway Minister still hazy
Picture about new Railway Minister is still quite hazy as it is still not clear that finally with whom the portfolio of Railway Ministry be?.

Will Jitin Prasad be dropped in the cabinet reshuffle?
It is heard that Jitin Prasad, Minister of State for Road Transport, is likely to be dropped in the Cabinet reshuffle. He will be sent to UP to prepare the party for Assembly elections.

AICC overhaul before Cabinet reshuffle (UPDATED)
A major reshuffle in the All India Congress Committee (AICC) is expected to take place before much talked about reshuffle of the Manmohan Singh Cabinet. Sources claimed that AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi is likely to take over as the Working President.

Will major functionaries of AICC join Union Cabinet? (UPDATED)
Whispers are in air that top functionaries of the Congress party (AICC) are expected to join the Manmohan Singh Cabinet following the rejig in party. Will this include Ahmad Patel and Janardan Dwivedi? One can only wait and watch.

Technocrats to join Manmohan singh Cabinet? (UPDATED)
If insiders are to be believed, some politicians who are ministers of the key ministries are likely to be shunted out during the reshuffle. There is a move to appoint a couple of Technocrats in these Ministries to improve efficiency.

Dayanidhi Maran to resign? (UPDATED)
Grapevine has it, that Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran is going to tender his resignation soon.

Jaipal Reddy to get new responsibility! (UPDATED)
Buzz in the corridors of power is that Union Petroleum Minister Jaipal Reddy is likely to get some responsibility in the wake of turbulence on the Telangana issue.

Sri Prakash Jaiswal may be shifted to Petroleum? (UPDATED)
As the grapevine has it, Union Minister for Coal Sri Prakash Jaiswal may be shifted as the new Petroleum Minister.

BUREAUCRACY

Who will be Secretary Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals ?
Post of Secretary Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals in the Government of India has been lying vacant for the last several months. Minister has made it clear that he would like to have either Dr Marutynjay Sarangi or Ajay Bhattacharya. Both the 1977 batch IAS officers are from the Tamil Nadu cadre.

Will Pillai get one month extension ?
So far the GoI has not named the successor of Home Secretary G K Pillai. Now it is rumoured that Pillai is getting one month extension beginning July 1.The new Secretary Home will take over on July 1 as an OSD.

Who will be another Siddharth Behura ?
Who is going to be another former Telecom Secretary in the Government of India Siddharth Behura. Now one Secretary and CMD of a PSU are under the scanning of the CBI. Guess the name.

Vinay Mittal tipped to be Member traffic
As the grapevine has it Vinay Mittal General Manager(GM) Eastern Railway (ER) is poised to be new Member Traffic in the Railway Board.

IPS are now ahead of IAS officers
IPS officers are now ahead of IAS officers in several aspects. For instance, there are now six IPS officers who are Governors in various states. This is something where earlier IAS officers used to rule the roost.

Sisodia to move in place of Sunil Kumar in HRD
R P Sisodia is expected to take charge from Sunil Kumar in the Department of Higher Education in HRD Ministry on June 28.He is 1991 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Ms. Mamata Banerjee to be in Delhi
West Bengal Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee will in Delhi for two days.

P. Nand Kumaran to be MD,State Bank of Travancore
P. Nand Kumaran, Deputy Managing Director in the State Bank of India (SBI), who is in charge of Gujarat Circle, is shortly going to be appointed as Managing Director (MD) of the State Bank of Travancore (SBT).

Sanjay Agrawal and Malini Agrawal to join Police Academy,Hyderabad
1992 batch IPS officer Sanjay Kumar Agrawal and 1994 batch IPS officer of the same cadre Dr Malini Agrawal are set to join National Police Academy ,Hyderabad as Deputy Directors soon.

Basu to be Director (Technical) CMPDIL
B N Basu is being tipped to be Director (Technical) of the Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL).

Dinesh appointed as a Director, MHA
Dinesh has been appointed as a Director, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in the Government of India (GoI). He is a Telecom service officer.

Gowri Shankar is Dy Director Nehru Centre in London
IFS officer Gowri Shankar has taken over as Deputy Director ,Nehru Centre in Londan recently.

Onkar Nath posted as Principal Accountant General, Haryana
Onkar Nath, Director General of Audit, Central Receipt, New Delhi, has been transferred and posted as Principal Accountant General (Audit), Haryana, Chandigarh.

Nayak to return to Orissa
On completion of tenure as Joint Director, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Anup Kumar Nayak will be relieved this month. He is a forest service officer of 1985 batch of Orissa cadre.

10 IPS officers allocated AGMUT cadre
As many as 10 IPS officers who had qualified for the all India Police service during 2009 civil services examination have been allocated AGMUT cadre. They are Ravi Dhawan , Ms Benita Mary Jaiker , Amit Sharma , Eish Singhal , Ms Esha Pandey , Sagar Singh Kalsi , Brijendra Kumar Yadav , Ms Shweta Chauhan , Santosh Kumar Meena , Rajendra Prasad Meena

Post of ED in NTPC vacant
The Joint Secretary level post of Executive Director (Land Acquisition and R&R), National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC) is proposed to be filled up soon on deputation basis.

1967 batch IPS officer is now Minister in West Bengal
1967 batch former IPS officer Janab Haider Aziz Safwi is now minister in West Bengal government headed by Ms. Mamta Banerjee. He is the second IPS officer of this batch to don such a mettle. Earlier, R. S. Mooshari 1967 batch IPS officer had become the Governor of the State of Meghalaya.

Pakistan : Three federal secretaries get contempt notice from the apex court
Pakistan's supreme court issued contempt notices to three senior secretaries of the federal government in a case relating to transferring a senior officer of the Federal Investigating Agency (FIA ) Zafar Qureshi while he was still handling investigations monitored by the apex court in a high profile case of corruption. Interior Secretary Chowdhry Qamar Zaman, Establishment Secretary Abdul Rauf Chowdhary and Khushnood Lashari Principal Secretary to PM have received the contempt notice after the apex court went through the written submission of the DG FIA Malik Mohammad Iqbal hauled up earlier in the same case. Malik Mohammad Iqbal has already been shunted out of FIA.

Three IPS transferred in Uttarakhand
The IPS officers have been transferred in Uttarakhand. They are Mssrs :-Santhiyal A. D. K. S, V. S. Karki and S. K. Meena.

IPS changes in Kerala
There is IPS reshuffle in Kerala.DIG T.J. Jose has been posted as Commissioner of Police, Kollam City.P. Prakash will now be Kollam Rural.A Akbar has been made SP Thiruvananthapuram Rural. Other new postings are :-C. Rajagopal SP Kottayam district .C. H. Nagaraju SP Alappuzha, George Varghese SP Idukki, N.P. Dinesh SP Ernakulam Rural, Debesh Kumar Behra SP Palakkad ,Anoop Kuruvilla John SP Kannur, G. Sparjan Kumar SP Kozhikode City and T. Sreesukan, SP Kasaragod district.

Changes in Chandigarh Administration
UT Finance Secretary VK Singh has been given additional charge of RD and Panchayat.in addition to his own duties.Amandeep Kaur, CITCO GM will look after the charge of the post of UT Director Cultural Affairs Chandigarh.Lalit Siwach has also been given additional charge of MCC Joint Commissioner.

Dhillon is new VC of PAU
Renowned agricultural scientist Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) ,

Official orders of Ajit Lal issued (UPDATED)
Official orders of Ajit Lal, presently Special Director, Intelligence Bureau, as Chairman, Joint Intelligence Committee in the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India for a stipulated tenure of three years, on deputation basis, till the date of his superannuation on August 31,2012 have been issued on Friday.
( we said this on May 23 )

DEBATE

Next Lok Sabha-Congress and BJP to get less than 100 seats ?
If today's political scenario is taken into account, both the Congress and the BJP will get less than 100 seats in the next Lok Sabha elections. In such a case, what could be the emerging scenario? Mail your valuable views to us at -

mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com or suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com

CORPORATE

Ghosh is new CEO of Bharti AXA Life Insurance
Sandeep Ghosh has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of the Bharti AXA Life Insurance.

Atul Tandon is EVP of Civil Nuclear India
Atul Tandon has been appointed by the Rolls-Royce as Executive Vice-President, Civil Nuclear-India.

Ghosh appointed GM (Marketing), Godfrey Phillips India Ltd
Arnab Ghosh has been appointed as General Manager (Marketing), Godfrey Phillips India Ltd (GPI).

Deveshwar re-appointed Chairman ITC Ltd
Yogesh Chander Deveshwar has been re-appointed as Chairman of ITC Ltd for another five years.

Lee promoted as VP (Asia-Pacific), CNN
CNN has elevated Ellana Lee as the Vice President (Asia-Pacific operations).

Reddy resigns as Director, WYN Aqua Exports Ltd
V. Raja Gopal Reddy, Director, WYN Aqua Exports Ltd has resigned from the Board of Directors of the Company due to some other pre-occupation on June 15, 2011.

Dixit resigns as Whole-time Director, Jaypee Infratech Ltd
Ms Rita Dixit has resigned as Whole Time Director of Jaypee Infratech Ltd w.e.f. June 15, 2011.

Thorns steps down from Cairn India Board
Malcolm Thorns, a representative of Cairn Energy PLC, has stepped down from the Board of Directors of Cairn India Ltd effective June 15, 2011.

Sir Gammell to remain Chairman of Cairn Energy PLC
Cairn Energy PLC will continue to be represented on the Board by Sir Bill Gammell, Chairman.

Bott to continue as ED, Cairn Energy India Pty Ltd
Rick Bott to continue in Cairn India Group as Executive Director and Deputy CEO of Cairn Energy India Pty Limited-- a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Bhavani appointed Company Secy. Cura Technologies Ltd
Ms. P. V. Durga Bhavani, has been appointed as Company Secretary of Cura Technologies Ltd w.e.f. June 4, 2011

Arya to be re-appointed Whole-time Director, Premier Synthetics Ltd
the Board of Premier Synthetics Ltd is to re-appoint Anand Arya as a Whole-time Director of the Company.

Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd appoints alternate directors
Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd has appointed Dinesh Chanda and S. K. Daga as alternate directors to act for Magnus Kreuger and Mats O Hansson respectively during their absence with effect from June 9, 2011.

Agal resigns as Company Secy. Rishabhdev Technocable Ltd
Ms Meena Agal has resigned as Company Secretary of Rishabhdev Technocable Ltd w.e.f. March 22, 2011.

FORUM

Next Lok Sabha-Congress and BJP to get less than 100 seats ?

Bad luck India, not because the Congress or the BJP is not coming to power but India will again be in the pot of Khichri that will never be cooked in a hygienic way.

J Kishore

He would have been the best and ideal choice

The Tribune carried a news item in its issue of June 15 that Subhod Agarwal has said 'no' for the post of Home Secretary. He must have had very strong personal reasons to pull out of this offer but there is no doubt that he would have been the best and ideal choice. Apart from the fact that he is quiet worker he has had exposure to the Home Ministry as Director in the late eighties.

Satya Singal

Is it not corruption?

110 IAS have quit in last 10 years most of them by flouting GoI rules joining same organisations with which they were dealing on behalf of the government. These officers have joined private organisation within the prescribed time set by the government during which they could not have joined. Government has not taken any action against these officers.

Rakesh Tiwari

Kudos to Anna, Ram Dev and Arvind

I am happy that at least somebody could boldly register their protest against the corrupt politicians and bureaucrats. Kudos to Anna, Ram Dev and Arvind. There is no government office under the Sun which is corruption-free and there cannot be a single politician in India known for his or her integrity and honesty as things appear to us. We need to understand one fact that people fought oppression by the British during pre-independence period in one voice, despite the fact that there were different leaders pursuing different ideologies. But, Mahathma proved his commitment to the cause by his simplicity and humane approach and the British had to leave the country. Today also, there may be different people pursuing their fight against corruption, but one among them will ultimately lead the crusade. Today, 9 out of 10 are corrupt, dishonest and lack moral values and patriotism in any society. Inculcating moral values and patriotic feelings in children will go a long way in creating a sensitive and sensible society. If you cut down expenditure, you can save money. Similarly, more money is being given to NGOs, why can't the government give grant in aid to Civil Society organisations to fight corruption. These are not NGOS ? Moreover, CBI wants written complaint from genuine complainants. If a government servant knows about corruption in his office, he cannot write about it to CBI just like that as protection of Whistleblowers is still a question. The accused person might use his political connection to know the name of the complainant as happened in the case of Dubey and Manjunatha. CBI instead of waiting for complaints should watch those offices where corruption is rampant like Income Tax, Central Excise, Regional Passport Offices, etc. Only Mass Movement similar to one in Yemen which drove out the culprit out of the country, could help wipe out corrupt people

Sivakumar

Instructions for Deputation

It has been the growing tendency of the officials working in the Establishment/ Administration Division of the Central Government Ministries/ Departments not to forward the applications of the deserving officials who apply for deputation under the pretext of shortage of staff. It has been hampering the future prospectus of the deserving candidates prepared to work hard and whose services can be better utilised in the Ministries/Departments/PSUs etc. Secondly, by this way, the parent Ministry/ Department stops the promotional avenues to the officials waiting for their promotions. DP&T, to tackle this situation, may kindly issue the instructions to the Ministries/Departments for forwarding the applications of the deserving candidates liberally and intimate the DP&T on quarterly basis. DP&T can promote the officials waiting for their promotions. After the expiry of the tenure of the officials, candidate can be accommodated against the existing vacancy and in the event the Department does not have any vacancy, the officials may be asked to report to DP&T for further nomination where the vacancy exist. By this way, the officials appointed on deputation would gain rich experience and become versatile by working in various organisations as well as get financial benefit.

The other beneficiary would be other officials promoted on the higher capacity and, thus, financially benefitted. This would resolve the problem of acute stagnation to some extent. DP&T may kindly take a view in this regard urgently.

V P Sharma

Opportunity to push forward the Lokpal Bill

It is a unique opportunity to push forward the Lokpal Bill in line with aspirations of common people. If not this time, no one knows when such opportunity come again.

Majority of people want that PM, Judiciary and conduct of MPs in parliament must be in the Bill. It must be a strong bill. Nothing has worked to stop corruption and malaise in the administration over the last 60 years so now the demand of civil society must be give consideration.

It is well known that about 10000 people (politicians and bureaucrats)who thrive on this corrupt system and are very powerful will fight tooth and nail to thwart efforts of the civil society led by Anna Hazare. But the most surprising part is that even so-called honest and upright politicians are also giving way to these corrupt people.

May God give strength and understanding to the people and India and good politicians and leaders not to miss the opportunity to make india move ahead by adopting powerful Lokpal Bill and bring this great country at par with other developed nations.

Mohan

Focus must be on the domestic black money

I completely agree. Focus must be on the domestic black money. One major way to do it is to authorise a Judicial Committee, headed by a sitting Supreme Court Judge and assisted by revenue and intelligence people with high integrity to (a) examine and assess ALL the land and property transactions in the last 10 years in NCR, Mumbai (including Navi Mumbai), Hyderabad, Banglaore and Chennai, (b) find their real Owners (as majority are Benami transactions) and reconcile with UIA's IDs, (c) assess the real market value of the asset at the time of purchase, and (d) identify the source of money which funded its purchase. By this way, many such assets will NOT have any declared owner, which the Government can take over and use for Public Purpose. This will also unearth huge amounts of black money and collect high tax revenues for the government. There are rumours about much of the money stashed abroad has been making its way into India now (in last 2 years) before the foreign accounts are finally disclosed. Most of it is being invested in land in and around metros. That is why Gurgaon's land price doubled last year. So urban land and property holdings must be the focus of any anti-corruption drive. If government does not take any action on this, Supreme Court should be requested for direction through an SLP.

Shiv Dar

An inspiring story

A Mother was reading a magazine and her little daughter every now and then distracted her.

To keep her busy, she tore one page on which was printed the map of the world. She tore it into pieces and asked her to go to her room and put them together to make the map again.

She was sure her daughter would take probably whole of day to get it done. But the little one came back within minutes with perfect map.

When he asked how she could do it so quickly, she said, "Oh Mom, there is a man's face on the other side of the paper. I made the face perfect to get the map right." she ran outside to play leaving the mother surprised.

Moral of the Story:

Perhaps there is always the other side to whatever you experience in this world. This story indirectly teaches a lesson. That is, whenever we come across a challenge or a puzzling situation, look at the other side...and there will be surprised to see an easy way to tackle the problem.

Ashok K Bhimani

Are Ministers covered under definition of 'public servants'?

The appellant desired copies of instruction under which Ministers are covered under the definition of public servant and the rule under which the Ministers could remain missing from their official duty for weeks and devote themselves for their party works leaving behind their official work unattended. He also wanted to know whether such prolonged absence from official work could be treated as a part of their official duty and whether a Minister could draw pay & perks for the period of absence from official duty to attend personal or party work. The PIO stated that as per records available there are no
specific definitions of whether Ministers are public servant or not. The CIC felt it necessary for the Government to define whether Ministers are public servant or not and this should be available as a requirement of Section-4 declaration.

Comments

The section 4 puts certain obligations on the public authority to pro-actively disclose certain facts about themselves. The civil servants have been at the receiving end for delay or absenteeism but the performance of ministers has not been questioned. Would the RTI
Act be able to force the attendance of the Ministers?

Mr. H.P. Sharma v. Cabinet Secretariat in CIC/SM/A/2011/000263/SG/12650

- 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)