I have been watching your website since past seven months and it's been quite interesting. The labour you and your staff are taking to track the information is really praise-worthy. Kudos to your team.
A.G.K. Murthy

Aaj Ki Aawaz

After my morning walk I am seated on a bench in Lodhi Garden when I see a mini Battalion approaching me. I strain my eyes and see a Lady surrounded by guards walking in my direction….. as they get closer I recognize the Lady….. it's Sonia Gandhi! She passes me and gives me a scornful look and then she stops and turns around and comes and sits on the bench I'm sitting.

Me: Good morning Madam
Sonia: Why the hell are you after my Bambino????

Me: Madam I've not written anything about Priyanaka's son…. Sonia: No you fool…. my Bambino and not Priyanaka's Bambino….. Rahul!!!

Me: Madam I just reflect the mood of the Nation Sonia: (mimicking me) I just reflect the mood of the Nation……. sitting in Delhi how do you get to know what the Nation thinks….. I travel all over India and especially in rural India ..........for your info Rahul is looked upon like a saviour!!!

Me: Madam the stage from where you deliver your speeches is far from the people and
I do not think you get to feel the pulse of the people…… you depend on Government
Agencies and local Congress leaders to fill you in on the pulse of the people and duty
bound and like true spoons respectively they feed you what you like……just look at the
crowd through binoculars and you will realize you mistake their 'go away' hand sign as if
they are waving out to you!!!
Sonia: Go take a hike!!!!

Me: Itna gussa Madam ji…… Public is guffawing at the UPA 2 celebration on its
completing two years….. people are saying this is a rare case of celebrations for failing or
flopping!!!
Sonia: Do you think if we called a Chintan Baitak to discuss why we are flopping and to
appropriate blame and to take remedial measures, anyone would have come….. Pawar
would have said he's busy in Baramati….. DMK would have said we are recovering from
jolt in TN and Kani's arrest……PC would have said something pressing that concerns
National Security has come up that requires his attention…… we sent out invitations so
that all would come to party and then we would start the introspection!!! The celebrations
were just a ploy!!!

Me: So did you all introspect ….. what was the outcome????
Sonia: Problem is all came in a partying mood and some even came 'already high' and
some got high and very soon majority of those attending were too high to hear or talk
sense!!!

Me: But I hear you did give a speech in which you said 'corruption will not be tolerated'
…….. why did you not use some strong expletive????? In Gujarat you had used 'maut
ka saudagar' and in UP recently you had used 'andher nagri'………in your speech you
should have said 'this chor and then chori and seena jorri' will not be tolerated!!!
Sonia: I'm done with using expletives…..just rebound on me!!!!

Me: What about the self assessment Report Card???
Sonia: That's our assessment based on inputs from Ministries and Government
Agencies!!!!
Me: Madam have you heard of the adage ..... "channe ke jhaad pe chadhaana"...... this is
exactly what is done!!!! These people do not have contact with the people and they are
far away from the ground reality!!! And believe me practically every PM of India has
been misled by info from Ministries and Intelligence Agencies...... classical case was
your Mom in Law..... The Ministries and Agencies painted such a rosy picture for her
that she felt the Emergency she had put India under was greatly appreciated by Indians.....
Indira Gandhi was informed that 'nasbandi' had become a craze in India and Indians were
falling over each other to get nasbandi done!!!
Sonia: Have you finished lecturing me????

Me: What's with Rahul's beard??????
Sonia: You all keep saying that my Bambino lacks maturity…..NDTV in that Laughter
Show programme even called him a Fairy….. my Bambino has grown a beard so that he
looks mature and manly!!!

Me: Your calling him Bambino negates his beard…… call him Rahul!!!
Sonia: For me he will always be my Bambino…….. okay point taken I'll only call him
Bambino is private!!!!

Me: Hasn't Bhardwaj made a total fool of himself…… why don't you recall him??????
Sonia: Bhardwaj is only doing his job!!!!

Me: Okay I get it..... he's doing his job means he's doing what he's been ordered to do by
you!!!
Sonia: Yeddy is no babe in the woods!!!!

Me: Agreed....... so why don't you get Bhardwaj recalled and then tell BJP now for
Karnataka's good remove Yeddy!!
Sonia: And if after I do this BJP does not remove Yeddy and makes it look as if all the
blame lies with Bhardwaj!!

Me: Then send PC as Guv to Karnataka....... will be Nation's gain and sadly Karnataka's

loss......but Nation's need is greater....... hope you know how our Internal Security is
floundering under him???? Madam you know the truth..... was the situation in Bhatta
Parsaul that bad??????
Sonia: See Rahul's made the accusations and now its Maya's duty to negate these
allegations!!!

Me: But then Maya's responded that Rahul is fibbing...... so will Rahul rebut what
Maya's said with proof?????
Sonia: No ..... no.... it does not work this way..... Rahul was the first to make the
allegations so first Maya should disprove his allegations!!!!

Me: Madam chalo I think Congress will not antagonize Maya because Congress may
need to switch from 'paper support' to active support from Maya..... DMK's on the brink
of leaving UPA!!
Sonia: Leave UPA.... what a joke...... in TN Jaya's after Karuna and his family......2
G ...........Karuna needs support from the Centre!!

Me: Madam tell me do you feel Congress being thrown out of power is now
imminent????
Sonia: Abhi Dilli durr hai (means elections are far away)!!!

Me: Madam I feel this will literally be the situation for you and your Congress post the
next General election!!!
Sonia: Nei tuoi sogni (in your dreams in Italian)!!!!

Me: Il mio sogno il tuo incubo (my dream your nightmare)!!!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

Contact-suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com> &

<mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com>

Who next after Karunanidhi's daughter?
Whose could be next turn after the arrest of Ms. Kanimozhi? Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi? This question is hot topic of discussion in corridors of power. The way connection are growing day by day with Ms. Supriya Sule and her husband, after Shahid Balwa was jailed in 2G spectrum case, problems may pop up for NCP chief Sharad Pawar as well.

Congress trying to woo Jagan Reddy!
The way Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has taken the tally up in Andhra Pradesh, a section of senior Congress leaders suggest that the party is left with no option but to buy peace with him. For this, they have already started approaching Jagan through a different channel by offering him the position of Deputy CM or a minister in Union Government. Congress party has even mentioned of replacing him with Kiran Reddy. Despite this, Jagan has adopted a cold posture towards Congress party's overtures. However, Congress is putting its heart and soul into this effort.

Will Karnataka Governor be a minister at the Centre?
As the grapevine has it, Karnataka Governor Hansraj Bharadwaj may be inducted in the Union Cabinet. An assurance to this effect was given to him by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. As it is, Bhardwaj is quite unhappy with Home Minister P. Chidambaram for the manner in which PC has treated his report on Karnataka to the Centre. The Prime Minister is reportedly learnt to have asked Hansraj Bharadwaj to have faith and patience.

Congress keepings its option for next LS polls
Did Congress Party president Ms. Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh purposely keep themselves away from the oath taking ceremony of Ms. Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata? If whispers' are to be believed the Prime Minister and UPA Chairperson wanted to send a message to Mamata and also keep their options open for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Both had in the past attended the swearing-in of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and Omar Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir.

BUREAUCRACY

Ajit Kumar Seth is now OSD in Cabinet Secretariat
Finally the suspense is over. Ajit Kumar Seth is going to succeed K.M. Chandrasekhar on June 14 as the Cabinet Secretary. Seth, a 1974 batch IAS officer who belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre, has assumed charge as OSD in the Cabinet Secretariat prior to taking over as cabinet Secretary.

Will Pulok Chatterji be new Cabinet Secretary?
You ask anyone in the corridors of power as to who will succeed K.M. Chandrasekhar as Cabinet Secretary? 99 percent bureaucrats will say -Pulok Chatterji. At least whispers will go with one per cent.
(We said this on March 16)

All appointments to be done by seniority
If insiders are to be believed Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is going to stick to
seniority in appointing people at top positions in different departments. Does this imply
to the post of Cabinet Secretary also?
(We said this on March 16)

Will Seth be a Dark Horse?
If the PM goes by seniority then Ajit Kumar Seth should be the successor of Cabinet
Secretary K.M. Chandrasekhar. The 1974 batch UP cadre IAS officer is the senior-most
after Chandrasekhar. He is presently Secretary, Coordination in the Cabinet Secretariat.
Only the Prime Minister knows the name of the new Cabinet Secretary.
(We said this on March 16)

Why Ajit Seth active these days?
The senior-most bureaucrat, after Cabinet secretary, Ajit Seth has become very active
these days. He is now seen attending almost all important meetings. What is the
significance? His name is also doing the round for the post of Cabinet Secretary to
succeed K.M. Chandrashekhar who retires next month.
(We said this on April 8 )

Loretta Mary Vas to be Secretary Disinvestment
Ms Loretta Mary Vas is being tipped to be new Secretary, Disinvestment in the Government of India. She is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Sunil Lohani to be JS CBDT !
Sunil Lohani is being tipped to be new Joint Secretary in the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). He is a CSS officer.

Radha Mitra to be JS, Culture
Radha Mitra is being tipped to be new Joint Secretary, Culture in the Government of India. Mitra is an IDAS officer.

Mohanty to be Joint Secretary, Justice
T.R. Mohanti, an SAG level officer of ISS is joining the Deptt of Justice as Joint Secretary with the special mandate of examining delays in courts resulting in large pendency of cases from the taluk level to the highest court.

13 GMs of PSU banks cleared for elevation as EDs
As the grapevine has it 13 General Managers (GMs) have been cleared who will be elevated as Executive Directors (EDs) in PSU banks. They are: S.K. Widhani and Deepak Narang(both from Allahabad Bank, Raj Kumar-Andhra Bank, Usha Ananthasubramanian - Bank of Baroda ,S.K. Jain-Bank of India, K.K. Mishra Canara Bank, M. Mukherjee -Indian Bank, Atul Gautam-Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), T.R. Chawla Dena Bank, S.K. Sangar Union Bank of India, A.K. Gupta Punjab National Bank, S Chandrashekhar- Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and C.G.Pinto-Corporation Bank.

Vohra appointed Ambassador to Peru
Manpreet Vohra, presently Joint Secretary at headquarters has been appointed as the next Ambassador of India to Peru.

Vinod Kumar is High Commissioner to Kingdom of Tonga
Vinod Kumar, presently High Commissioner of India to Fiji has been concurrently accredited as the High Commissioner of India to the Kingdom of Tonga, with residence in Suva.

PM goes by seniority
Prime Minister Manmaohan Singh has gone by seniority in the appointment of new Cabinet Secretary. Cabinet Secretary designate Ajit Kumar Seth is the seniormost serving IAS officer and topper of 1974 batch IAS.

Will Seth be boss of ten Secretaries?
A piquant situation has arisen in the Government of India after the appointment of Ajit Kumar Seth as Cabinet Secretary in the Government of India. Now there are ten Secretaries in the GoI who are his batchmates. They are Messrs:-K Mohan Das, Deepak Gupta, Alka Sirohi, K.M. Acharya, Vivek Mehrotra, C. Balakrishnan, Raghu Menon, R.S. Sirohi, A.N.P. Sinha and A.K. Chugh.

Rakesh Saxena to be MD of MRVC
Rakesh Saxena is being tipped to be new Managing Director of the Mumbai Rail Vikas Corporation (MRVC).

What is the significance of 59 years of age?
There is a Government notification that an officer attaining the age of 59 years will only be eligible for the post of chairperson, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. Term of 1972 batch Kerala cadre IAS officer P.I. Suvrathan is coming to an end on June 8. Bureaucratic circles are curious to know the significance of 59 years of age.

Negi to join GoI
Himmat Singh Negi is going on deputation to the post of DIGF in NTCA under CSS of MoEF. He is a 1988 batch IFS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Postal service officer Lt. Col. DB Tilak is DDG, Postal Dte.
Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) officer of the Indian Postal service Lt. Col. DB Tilak (1983) has been posted as DDG, Postal Dte.

1 post of DIG vacant in NSG
A post of DIG is lying vacant in National Security Guard (NSG).

Maliwal to join GoI ?
A.K. Maliwal is likely to go on deputation to the Government of India. He is 1983 batch IPS officer of West Bengal cadre.

Subrata Gupta to join GoI ?
Subrata Gupta is expected to join the Government of India. He is 1990 batch IAS officer
of West Bengal cadre.

Six officers are on Cumpolsory wait in West Bengal
Six officials of the Chief Minister's Secretariat have been put on "compulsory waiting for further posting" in West Bengal. This include IAS officer D P Banerjee.

Shiv Basant is new PSC Chairman in Jharkhand
Former Chief Secretary Shiv Basant has been appointed new Chairman of the Jharkhand Public Service Commission.He is 1976 batch IAS officer.

Negi joins in Punjab
DIG, ITBP I.S. Negi has taken over as the head of the force's Logistics and Communication (L&C) sector in Chandigarh. Earlier, he was DIG Anti-Naxal Operations in Chattisgarh. He takes over from Harbhajan Singh, who has been posted to the North- West Frontier.

Pakistan : Investigation team for PNS Mehran incident to be headed by a Rear Admiral
The federal government of Pakistan has announced an investigation team headed by a rear admiral of the navy with senior officers from the air force, rangers, naval intelligence and the federal intelligence agency as members to 'review the incident (of terrorist attack on PNS Mehran), collect evidence and record statements of on-duty officers on the field'. Due to security reasons the names of the head of the team and its members have not been made public. Pakistani Interior Ministry's disaster management cell has estimated the loss caused due to the incident to be around 6.47 billion rupees.

A. Navaneethakrishnan is TamilNadu AG
A. Navaneethakrishnan has been appointed the Advocate General of Tamil Nadu. V. Sethuraman, S. Gomathinayagam and K. Chellapandian will be Additional Advocates-General.

Mitra to be Advocate General in West Bengal
Anindh Mitra is likely to be appointed new Advocate General in West Bengal.

Mohanty is CVO NALCO (UPDATED)
P K Mohanty has been appointed as Chief Vigilance Officer in the National Aluminium Company Limited(NALCO),Bhubaneswar .He is 1985 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.
Chidambaram inaugurates BSF Kala Mela -2011 (UPDATED)

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, on Wednesday inaugurated a four day arts & crafts exhibition "BSF Kala Mela 2011" organized by the BSF Wives Welfare Association (BWWA), at Lalit Kala Academy, New Delhi. He appreciated the paintings and artifacts of various artists -comprising of serving personnel, their wives and children - put on display at the exhibition. Chidambaram also released the BWWA Song Video depicting the efforts being made by BWWA in creating awareness amongst women in BSF. President BWWA Mrs. Anjali Srivastava and Raman Srivastava, DG BSF, were among those present on the occasion. .

Viswanath is now JS Food and Public Distribution (UPDATED)
C. Viswanath presently Joint Secretary, Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) has been appointed Joint Secretary Food and Public Distribution.He is 1981 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

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

Interview for Cochin Shipyard today
The PESB will hold interview for the post of Director (Operations) Cochin Shipyard on Wednesday.

Interviews for SBI's for DMDs on May 25, 2011
As many as nine Chief General Managers (CGMs) figure in panel for elevation as Deputy Managing Directors (DMDs) in the State Bank of India (SBI) inerviews for which will be held on May 25, 2011. They are: Mrs.Soundara Kumar CGM Bangalore, R. Nand Kumar CGM Gujarat Circle, R.K. Garg CGM North-East Guwahati, R.K.Saraf CGM of IT, P. Pradeep Kumar Managing Director (MD) of the State Bank of Travancore(SBT), Bhagwant Rao CGM Madhya Pradesh Circle, B. V,. Chaubal CGM Stressed Assets Management group (SAMG), Atanu Sen CGM Mumbai Circle and Achal Kumar Gupta CGM in SBI's CAG unit.

Baruah appointed VP (Marketing), The Oberoi Group
The Oberoi Group has appointed Prasanjeet Dutta Baruah as Vice President, Marketing.

Mitra appointed GM & Company Secy. Nicco Corporation
Indranil Mitra has been appointed as General Manager & Company Secretary of Nicco Corporation Ltd with effect from May 4, 2011 with retrospective effect.

Balachandran appointed Addl. Director, Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Orchid Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals Ltd has appointed Bala V. Balachandran as Additional Director with effect from May 18, 2011

Upputuru promoted as National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom
Titus Upputuru, Executive Creative Director, has been elevated as National Creative Director, Dentsu Marcom.

Agarwal promoted as Senior VP, Dentsu Marcom
Chandana Agarwal, Vice President, has been promoted as Senior Vice President, Dentsu Marcom.

Sharma appointed VP (Strategic Planning), Dentsu Marcom
Shaleen Sharma has been appointed as Vice President (Strategic Planning), Dentsu Marcom.

Prakash appointed VP (Account Mgt.), Dentsu Marcom
Sunita Prakash has been appointed as Vice President (Account Management), Dentsu Marcom.

Saiwal appointed Country Manager & ED, Morganite Crucible India Ltd
Morganite Crucible India Ltd has appointed Hitesh Saiwal as Country Manager and Executive Director with effect from February 1, 2011.

FORUM

Retirement age should not be hiked

There is absolutely no logic as to why retirement age should be increased. Let the younger lots get a chance to rise in the ladder. However, there should be some retirement age for the politicians to become ministers and for the IAS chaps to head committees and commissions!

B.N. Mishra

Sensible decision

If it is true, it is a very sensible decision. When Millions of youth are unemployed, thinking of increasing the retirement age to 62 years is beyond imagination.

RTY

Retirement age should be upped

In today's environment when the medical science is so advanced, one can maintain a very good health and the average age of the human has been increased, people can easily work up to the age of 65 years. The retirement at the age of 60 is under-utilisation of human resources. This will indirectly affect the economy of the country. Therefore, the age of retirement should be increased suitably so as to have optimum utilization of the human resources.

R.K. Agrawal

Lower retirement age- follow Kerala model

In fact Govt. should seriously think of reducing the retirement age to 58 years. Kerala Govt model is the best which allows a state government employee to relive his / her duties at the age of 55 years. This will reduce the financial burden on increments, reduce cash outflow by way of pensions as the pension is linked to last drawn salary and increase the employment levels and reduce the burden on salaries as new staff would be given less wages and moreover, the retired staff will get more time to take care of his/her health and a lead a stress free life thereby enhnace the life span.

P.B. Nair

No hike in retirement age

Instead of raising retirement age from 60 to 65, it could be 35 years of service or 60 years age, whichever is more. One cannot serve more than that.

A retired Govt. officer

Retirement age at 60 is appropriate and need not be raised at all.

Singst

Cadre management

Cadre management is a very important thing to fulfill the aspirations of the officers of the service, growth of the service and most importantly to ensure successful delivery of service to the common man by a satisfied cadre of officers. But, it has completely been neglected by any services like IES, IDES etc. spoiling the goals set for the services. Though there are any number of Govt orders and guidelines, the concerned people are in deep slumber. There is no effective mechanism to supervise the implementation of Govt orders on service matters and it is appearing to be a serious malady in Indian administration. Is there any remedy?

Daya Rajan

Rectify transfer policy for postal services

Apart from rectifying the transfer policy for postal service officers, the communications minister must also look into the circumstances which led to scrapping of periodic inspections of postal circle offices by the postal directorate once in four years which happened about a decade ago. The then secretary of the postal department cleverly engineered the move to ensure that he could get the wrongs committed through his crony CPMGs without being ever coming to light. Interestingly more and more powers were delegated to the CPMGs thereafter on the plea that now they were now in additional sceretary's grade. And now the CPMGs have been kept outside the transfer policy too. Neither inspection nor transfer! Well done indeed.

S.K. Sharma

FICCI Secy Gen

Dr. Rajov Kumar is the most suitable and right choice to be the Secretary General of
FICCI.

Kishore Dudani

What is PC trying to convey?

Union Home Minister visiting father of an accused in 2G scam involving a piffling Rs 1.76 lakh crore : What a fantastic message to the Prosecutor and Investigator in that case. Then to say Prosecution has not made out a case. An absolute scandal, if there is one!

RTY

CCTV Footage of Station

A copy of CCTV footage for 5 days of Andheri Railway Station, Mumbai was denied u/s 8 (1) (a) claiming that it would be detrimental to the Nation's security. The appellant argued that the location is not a prohibited area and is available on commercial charges for films, TV serials etc.. He also claimed that the CCTV will provide instances of RPF personnel taking bribes from illegal hawkers against which he has lodged a complaint. The contention of the appellant that any individual with a small camera/mobile phone can capture footage of any train or any corner of the platform was accepted by the CIC. The Commission made a distinction between those CCTV cameras which are in full public view and which are hidden. It was held that the footage of CCTV cameras kept at secret locations cannot be shared as it would indeed reveal the location of these cameras. The CIC directed to allow the Appellant to watch the footage of only those CCTV cameras which have been placed in full view of the public in the presence of PIO for the period of 5 days and if the Appellant's allegation against RPF personnel taking bribes from illegal hawkers is found true from this footage, to give a copy of that visual.

Comments

CCTVs are used in many areas including possible soft targets for a terrorist attacks. This order opens up the access to all such recorded data in public interest even when it is perceived as security risk.

(Mr.Samir Vijay Zaveri v. Western Railway, Mumbai in CIC/AD/A/2011/000439)

- 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)