What people say about us!

Congrats for covering neighbour country (Pakistan). Please cover international whispers in coming days. Best wishes.

Sanjay Kumar Verma

Saif Ali Khan bashed up a South African of Indian descent!!
To this South African's plea to reduce decibel level Saif showed his dissent!!!

He beat up this fellow and his aged Father in Law black and blue!!!!
Though Saif says these people abused him and so in a rage he flew!!

He forgets the close circuit cameras have recorded it all!!!
Unless Police says 'cameras ho gaye theh stall!!!

Mumbai Cops tend to side with the filmy lot!!!!
From Bollywood a lot the Cops have got!!!

In fact in spare time some Cops stand in as bodyguards of Stars!!!
And have even know to side with Stars in Star Wars!!!

I am sure now Saif will start wearing the Fez Cap!!!
Try to elicit from majority minority ' he is Muslim so they targeting
this chap'???

Of course Congress will do its best to help out Chotte Nawab!!!!
Sachcchi in Kapil Bhaji's bhaashah .... Congress da nahi hai jawaab!!

They try to fiddle with EC and then say we are discussing it!!!
They've 'bitten off' 'watchdogs' of the Nation bit by bit!!

CBI is more like a Political tool!!!
And with CAG and CVC too kiya hai Congress ne fool!!

Maybe now that it seems Rahul's UP route to PM's chair has been blocked!!!
The Constitution could get socked!!

Congress could demand that elections are too costly and waste of time!!!!
Wasting both is a crime!!

So appoint the Party that has been in power the most for next 50 saal!!!
I will not put beyond Congress such a chaal!!

They have PC & Sibal JV are there to fiddle with the law!!!!
In so many issues this is what we saw!!!

Seems anger with EC is because it objected to Gandhis flouting EC's diktat!!!
So Congress responded with tit for tat!!

And just see the servility .... Kursheed a Minister and Senior Vakeel!!!
Sat with Rahul's security and driver for hours as Rahul was in his
room having nap after a meal!

Kursheed did not have the guts to knock on the door!!!
Played around with his Mobile for hours as ho raha tha bore!!

Compared to Kursheed Rahul's more like an upstart!!!
But then in Congress 'chamchagiri is a well perfected art'!!

Swamy has filed a petition against CBI's Court Judges verdict!!
SC 'will join the dots' some Senior Lawyers karr rahe hai predict!!

Joke..... Italian team came to India with a gift and a request!!!!
Gift was a salt shaker and request was ' Signora il test di sale' or your salt test!!

Bharat Kumar
aaj_ki_aawaz@yahoo.com

No wrong in elected representative addressing a bureaucrat as "Sir"?
There is nothing wrong in an elected representative addressing a bureaucrat as "Sir" . The above conclusion has been drawn from the responses received during a debate conducted by whispersinthecorridors.com, to elicit whether it is appropriate for an
elected representative to address a bureaucrat as "Sir"?

The issue came to the fore when, recently, Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik asked his Cabinet Ministers to maintain dignity of the office. Patnaik conveyed his mind when a Minister addressed "Sir" to an IAS officer in his presence. "You are Cabinet Minister and should maintain your dignity" the Chief Minister was reported to have said.

The whispersinthecorridors.com , thus, asked its surfers "How far it is appropriate for an elected representative to address a bureaucrat as "Sir". And the majority respondents said - There is nothing wrong in an elected representative addressing a bureaucrat as "Sir".

While some said that Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik's advisory to his Cabinet colleagues to refrain from addressing the bureaucrats as 'Sir', was unwarranted, others said that it reflects his feudalistic and hierarchical mindset .

While K Y Dasu, DIG/Retd. (CISF) said, "An elected representative addressing a bureaucrat as 'Sir', is neither a crime nor political taboo and there is nothing wrong in it", TVS Narayan said "Politicians calling Bureaucrats 'Sir' is perfectly in order. Not every politician need do this. It is a relative equation, where the Politician might be giving value to the person and not to the position. The politician must be a person of propriety and stature who wanted to give due respect to another individual. Nothing wrong in the salutation. I do not say everybody should do it".

Yet another respondent A K Saxena who is a retired civil servant asserted that Patnaik's advisory to his Cabinet colleagues to refrain from addressing the bureaucrats as 'Sir', was unwarranted. "He owns a feudalistic and hierarchical mindset . Ego massage is an important aspect of Communication skill. If an elected representative addresses a bureaucrat as 'Sir', his job is completed quickly and without bribe", he said.

Others like J B Sinha, NVK Prabhakar, S K Tewari were also of the opinion that there was nothing wrong in elected representative addressing a bureaucrat as "Sir".

However, those who feel that a Minister addressing a bureaucrat as 'Sir' is not appropriate said that it was incorrect because though 'Sir' is just an addressing word, in India, it is invariably associated with seniority and superiority. "Therefore in Indian context the minister calling a bureaucrat as 'Sir' is not appropriate", claimed Nandan.

"Bureaucrats are public servants and elected representatives represent the people. Therefore it is inappropriate for an elected representative (of the public) to address a bureaucrat (a public servant) as Sir", says Ajay adding "But this is India, Sab Chalta Hai, Sir"

For details : Read February issue of the Whispers In The Corridors

BUREAUCRACY

Sathyanarayana is new Secretary, IT
J Sathyanarayana is going to be new Secretary, IT in the Government of India. He is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre. The post has been lying vacant for the last one year.
(We said this on Nov 30, 2011 and again on January 16, 2012)

Keshav Chandra to be new Member (Mechanical)?
Keshav Chandra is likely to succeed Sanjeev Handa on March 1 as new Member (Mechanical), Railway Board. Handa is retiring on February 29.

1978 batch IPS empanelment file with PM
Empanelment file of 1978 batch IPS officers to the rank of DG in the Government of India is now lying with the PM.

Khwaja gets additional charge of Culture
Secretary, Tourism R H Khwaja has been given additional charge of Culture in the Government of India. He is 1976 batch IAS officer of AP
cadre.

Brig. J Verma selected as CMD, HDPEL
Brig. J Verma, SM, VSM, DDG (MS) under the Ministry of Defence, has been selected for the post of Chairman and Managing Director of
Hooghly Dock & Port Engineers Limited (HDPEL). Five persons were interviewed for the same.

14 IPS officers of various cadres retiring in February, 2012
As many as 14 IPS officers of various cadres are retiring in February 2012. They include: L Hrangnawna, R K Sharma and U K Chaudhary of Arunachal Pradesh- Goa- Mizoram-UTs cadre; L B Sangma of Assam-Meghalaya cadre; Rajpal Singh of Haryana cadre; Aijaz Ali Raja, Ashok Kumar Gupta and Mohd Amin Shah of Jammu and Kashmir cadre; Santosh Kumar Raut, H S Pawar and S S Choudhary of Madhya Pradesh cadre; C Peter Ngahanyui of Manipur-Tripura cadre; Anup Kumar Patnaik of Orissa cadre; Niraj Ranjan of West Bengal cadre.

Decision about new Steel Secretary
As the grapevine has it, decision about new Steel Secretary is going to be taken soon.

Cabinet Secretary's diktat marred chances of P K Sinha
As the grapevine has it, a diktat from Cabinet Secretary, Ajit Kumar Seth had torpedoed chances of P K Sinha from being appointed as new Steel Secretary. The former had ordained that Minister & Secretary could not be from the same state.

Three Additional Secretary vacancies in Agriculture soon
There are going to be three Additional Secretary level vacancies in the Ministry of Agriculture in the Government of India.

P K Basu to write two novels
Secretary, Agriculture in the Government of India, P K Basu has plans to write two novels after his retirement. He is 1976 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre.

Cadre of IPS officer to be changed?
Nalin Prabhat, DIG, Andhra Pradesh Police is likely to get inter-cadre transfer to Punjab or AGMU cadre. He is an IPS officer of 1992 batch and belongs to the Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Trigunayat to be Ambassador Libya
Anil K Trigunayat is being appointed Indian Ambassador to Libya. He is 1989 batch IFS officer.

Rakesh Singh is now Joint Secy, MHA
Rakesh Singh has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Ministry Home Affairs. He is a 1989 batch IAS officer of Karnataka cadre.
(We said this on Feb 6, 2012)

Sanjiv Kumar to be PS to Veerappa Moily
Sanjiv Kumar is being appointed as Private Secretary to Union Corporate Affairs Minister Veerappa Moily. Kumar is an IRS officer of 1993 batch.

Who will be new Chairman of UGC?
Who will be new Chairman of the UGC? Out of the total 81 candidates the Search Committee has submitted a panel of two instead of three. Who is going to be lucky one?

Patnaik appointed Member OPSC
Anup Patnaik has been appointed Member of the Orissa Public Service Commission. 1977 batch IPS officer, Patnaik is retiring on February 29.

Ms Sindhu Pillai transferred to Delhi
Sindhu Pillai, SP Government of Arunachal Pradesh has been transferred to Government of NCT Delhi. She is an IPS officer of 2001 who
belongs to the AGMU cadre.

Ajit Moves to Delhi
Abhyankar Ameya Ajit has been transferred from Arunachal Pradesh to Government of NCT of Delhi. He is an IAS officer of 2007 batch who belongs to AGMU cadre.

Nila Mohanan also moves to Delhi
Ms. Nila Mohanan Spl. Deputy Commissioner, Yingkiong, Upper Siang Distt. Arunachal Pradesh has been transferred from Arunachal Pradesh to Government of NCT of Delhi. She is an IAS officer of 2007 batch who belongs to AGMU cadre.

Franklin goes to Mizoram
Dr.Laltinkhuma Franklin, Sub Collector (South), Pondicherry has been transferred from Pondicherry to Mizoram. He is an IAS officer of 2006 batch who belongs to AGMU cadre.

B B Sharma to join GoI
B B Sharma is joining the Government of India as IG in the BPR&D. He is 1990 batch IPS officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre.

Singh, to get extension?
Janardan Singh, First Secretary (Islamabad), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, is likely to get 7 months extension. He is an IPS officer of 1997 batch who belongs to Nagaland Cadre.

V K Singh to get extension in deputation tenure
Vinay Kumar Singh in Cabinet Secretariat, is likely to get one year extension in his Central Deputation tenure. He is an IPS officer of 1987 batch who belongs to J&K cadre.

Jain relieved to join Prasar Bharti
Delhi Government has relieved IAS officer V K Jain to join as ADG (Administration), Doordarshan.

Jagannath to get extension in Interpol?
S. Jagannath, Assistant Director, Anti Corruption, Sub-Directorate-Interpol, is likely to get one year extension in deputation tenure. He is an IPS officer of 1991 batch who belongs to the Maharashtra cadre.

Giri Ketharaj is OSD to Salman Khurshid
Giri Ketharaj has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty to the Minister of Law and Justice, Salman Khurshid .

Book of IPS officer released
Guajarati version of 'Human in Khakhi', written by Ashok Kumar, IPS. Presently IG, BSF, 'Khakhi Me Manawata' was released in Town Hall
Gandhinagar in a jam packed hall. The Hindi version of the book 'Khakhi me Insaan' has already been selected for G B Pant award by BPR& D. The book has been published in Bengali also.

Who is on top in liquor business these days?
Dr Vijay Mallya is still Number One in the country as far as the business of liquor is concerned. Abhishek Khaitan, however, comes at
number Two.

Dr Vijay Mallya to remain on top in liquor business
Dr Vijay Mallya who is still Number One in the country as far as the business of liquor is concerned, is unlikely to face a tough competition in the next 10 years, it appears.

Which political party does Dr Vijay Mallya support?
Though it a mystery that which political party is supported by Dr Vijay Mallya, many in the higher echelons feel that he lends financial support to all the political outputs worth their name.

Ramanachari opts for VRS
Senior IAS officer in Andhra Pradesh , K V Ramanachari has opted for retirement two months ahead of his superannuation.

Services of three IPS confirmed in Punjab
The MHA has confirmed services of three 2008 IPS officers of Punjab cadre, Vikram, J Nilambari Vijay and Rahul.

Narang appointed ED, United Bank of India
Deepak Narang, General Manager, Allahabad Bank has been appointed as Executive Director of United Bank of India w.e.f. March 1, 2012.

Veterans of AAI form AAIROF forum (UPDATED)
Veterans of Airports Authority of India have formed a Forum Christened as Airports authority of India Retired Officers Forum (AAIROF). It was formally launched by VP Agrawal, Chairman, AAI on February 19, 2012 at the Airports Authority of India, Officers Institute, Safdarjung Airport, New Delhi. During the function, Bhatia the convener of the forum apprised the management of the aims, objectives of the forum & other facets of the Memorandum of Association. He also, laid due emphasis on the rationale behind creating the Governing Council which will be headed by President & the President would be the previous incumbent of the office of Chairman, AAI. Other members of the Governing Council shall be those duly elected by the members of the Forum. VP Agrawal, Chairman, AAI & other members of the Management of AAI, were very appreciative of the action initiated by the group of retired officers under Shri Bhatia and congratulated them. In fact they were of the view that creation of such a body was rather overdue. They were happy to see one in place & assured that unconditional support & assistance would be forthcoming from the management and were required the services being offered shall be gainfully utilized in the larger interest of the organization. All veterans present expressed their entire satisfaction on the whole hearted & warm response of the management. They were also, happy to get an opportunity to not only interact with the management but also, meeting old colleagues / comrades in arm after lapse of decades, thus taking them down the memory lanes, which truly was 'Nostalgic' to say the least.

Rajiv Mathur is new CIC (UPDATED)
Former Chief of the Intelligence Bureau Rajiv Mathur has been appointed Central Information Commissioner.He is retired 1972 batch
IAS officer of UP cadre.
(We said this on January 12)

Basant Seth is new CIC (UPDATED)
Former CMD of the Syndicate Bank Basant Seth has been appointed Central Information Commissioner.

Vijay Sharma is new CIC (UPDATED)
Former Secretary Forests and Environment Vijay Sharma has been appointed Central Information Commissioner.He is retired 1972 batch
IAS officer of UP cadre. He is presently Member of the Green Tribunal.

R P Singh's order as Director (Personnel) PowerGrid issued (UPDATED)
Appointment order of R P Singh as new Director (Personnel) in the Power Grid Corporation have been issued. Presently he is an Executive Director (ED) in the organisation.
(We said this on September 30,2011)

Vinod Asthana is MD of CWC's subsidiary (UPDATED)
Vinod Asthana who so far was Director -Catering Services(CS) of Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)
has joined as Managing Director(MD) of Central Railside Warehouse Company Ltd. It is a subsidiary of the Central Warehousing Corporation(CWC).
(We said this earlier & on December 28, 2011)

K Veera Raghava Rao posted as Addl. Collector, Cuddalore in TN (UPDATED)
K Veera Raghava Rao, Commissioner, Tiruchirappalli Corporation has been transferred and posted as Additional collector & Project officer
(Thane), Project Management Unit, Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. He is a 1007 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

C Munianathan is now MD, Fisheries Development Corp. in TN (UPDATED)
C Munianathan has been posted as Director Fisheries and Managing Director of Tamil Nadu Fisheries Development Corporation in Tamil
Nadu. He is a 2003 batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre.

K Nagarajan posted as Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) in TN (UPDATED)
K Nagarajan, collector, Dindigul district, has been made Deputy Commissioner (Revenue & Finance) in Tamil Nadu.

N Venkatachalam is now Collector Dindigul district in TN (UPDATED)
N Venkatachalam, Villupuram district Revenue officer, has been transferred and posted as Collector, Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu.

Kataria is PS to Labour Minister Kharge (UPDATED)
Rajender Kumar Kataria has been appointed new Private Secretary (PS) to Indian Minister for Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge. He is an IAS officer of 1996 batch and belongs to the Karnataka cadre. Presently, he is Managing Director(MD), Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board. He was appointed on this post after his completion of his six years successful tenure on inter-cadre deputation to Haryana. He also completed his mid career training (MCT) programme phase IV in LBSNAA, Mussoorie. During the last six year he had worked as Joint Secretary Finance, Deputy Comissioner-cum-District Magistrate in districts of Kaithal ,Panchkula and Gurgaon and had also worked as Administrator, HUDA, Panchkula. During the period as Deputy Commissioner-cum-district Magistrate, Gurgaon, Rajendra Kataria was awarded twice the following :-"Award from Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Salman Khurshid both Indian Ministers September 3, 2010 for the promotion of Tourism in the NCR Haryana." On the occasion of Digital Inclusion Day i.e. September 22, 2010, jointly organised by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in collaboration with National E-Governance Plan and Skoch Development Foundation, Indian Minister Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy Minister Urban Development at Hotel Shangrila, New Delhi was awarded Skoch ICT Award-2010 for the commendable efforts and re-engineering put forward in providing better e-Governance in the project "Property Registration - Gurgaon" .

Three IRS officers shifted (UPDATED)
Three officers of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) have been transferred and posted at different places. Accordingly, Nitin Garg has been shifted from UOP, CCIT (CCA) NWR to CCIT (CCA), Delhi while Malikarjuna Anumala from UOP, CCIT (CCA), Kochi to CCIT (CCA), Delhi and Govind Manish is being shifted from CCIT (CCA), Kolkata to CCIT (CCA), Patna.

Sudhir Pratap Singh (IPS) deputed as IG, CRPF in GoI (UPDATED)
Sudhir Pratap Singh, ADGP (Training), Rajasthan, has been deputed as Inspector General (IG) of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Government of India. He is a 1983 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Anand Trivedi selected as Director (Marketing), MMTC Ltd (UPDATED)
Anand Trivedi, CGM, MMTC, has been selected for the post of Director (Marketing), MMTC Limited at Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting held on Friday. As many as 12 persons were interviewed for the same.

Ms Indrakala appointed as Addl. Judge of Karnataka HC (UPDATED)
Justice B S Indrakala has been appointed as Additional Judge of Karnataka High Court.


Punjab & Haryana HC gets three Judges (UPDATED)
Three new Judges have been appointed at Punjab & Haryana High Court. They are: Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar, Justice Ram Chand Gupta and Justice Ms Ritu Bahri.

PAKISTAN WHISPERS

Bungling in Minorities Welfare Fund: High Court Notice to Sindh Chief Secretary
A division bench of the Sindh high court has issued notice to the Chief Secretary and Minorities Affairs Secretary of the provincial government in a petition alleging irregularities in Rs 150 million minorities welfare fund. According to the petition filed by Advocate Abid Hussain on behalf of a Hindu Laxman Rana Maharaj Rs 100 million were made available in the budget of 2011-12 for repair and maintenance of mandirs, gurudwaras and churches and for scholarship to deserving students from the minority communities. Another Rs 5o millions known as 'Diwali fund' were allotted by the government to be given to poor Hindu families for celebrating their festivals. The amount was however distributed to some 2500 workers of the ruling PPP while more deserving poor families were deprived of the benefit.

We thought he was just the delivery boy of the memo but Mansoor Ijaaz says he was the author too
Recording his statement before the supreme court appointed judicial commission via video link from London the central character of the case Mansoor Ijaaz stated that the first draft of the memo seeking US assistance to stave off a military coup that he got delivered to Admiral Mike Mullen was in fact authored by none other than he himself. What he wrote in the memo was however based on 'points given to him by the former Pakistani ambassador to US Hussain Haqqani. And hold on; Hussain Haqqani told him that the points had actually been conveyed to him by President Asif zardari.

Memo sought US help for Kayani to stand down or step down?
Covering Mansoor Ijaaz'z video link statement from London Pakistani media reported Ijaaz as stating that as per Hussain Haqqani there was imminent threat of a military coup after the May 2 raid by US Navy Seals in Abbottabad in which Osama Bin Laden was killed and President Zardari wanted the US to send a message to COAS Kayani to 'step down'. However on 23 February when the commission reassembled to continue with the recording the chairman of the judicial commission Justice Faez Isa took exception to the irresponsible reporting by the media as Ijaaz had stated that the assistance sought from the US was to ask Kayani to 'stand down' and not 'step down'.

Petrol, diesel price hike round the corner?
According to a presentation made by the top ranking officers of petroleum and finance ministries to a special committee of the national assembly on oil prices the price of petroleum and high speed diesel are to be increased by Rs 2.68 and 94 paise respectively w.e.f February 29 2012. Petroleum prices according to the officers making the presentation are to be determined from time to time as per a formula approved by the parliament which in turn is linked to fluctuation in the international price of crude oil. Thus, when international prices go down the domestic prices too go down and vice versa.

Kataria is PS to Labour Minister Kharge (UPDATED)
Rajender Kumar Kataria has been appointed new Private Secretary (PS) to Indian Minister for Labour and Employment, Mallikarjun Kharge. He is an IAS officer of 1996 batch and belongs to the Karnataka cadre. Presently, he is Managing Director(MD), Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board. He was appointed on this post after his completion of his six years successful tenure on inter-cadre deputation to Haryana. He also completed his mid career training (MCT) programme phase IV in LBSNAA, Mussoorie. During the last six year he had worked as Joint Secretary Finance, Deputy Comissioner-cum-District Magistrate in districts of Kaithal ,Panchkula and Gurgaon and had also worked as Administrator, HUDA, Panchkula. During the period as Deputy Commissioner-cum-district Magistrate, Gurgaon, Rajendra Kataria was awarded twice the following :-"Award from Dr. Farooq Abdullah and Salman Khurshid both Indian Ministers September 3, 2010 for the promotion of Tourism in the NCR Haryana." On the occasion of Digital Inclusion Day i.e. September 22, 2010, jointly organised by Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in collaboration with National E-Governance Plan and Skoch Development Foundation, Indian Minister Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy Minister Urban Development at Hotel Shangrila, New Delhi was awarded Skoch ICT Award-2010 for the commendable efforts and re-engineering put forward in providing better e-Governance in the project "Property Registration - Gurgaon" .

DEBATE - Should bureaucrats alone be held accountable for policy decisions ?

Bureaucrats now feel that Ministers and Politicians also be held responsible for 'policy decisions' taken by the government. They also want that entire cabinet should be held accountable for policy decisions. How far they are correct in their thinking ?

Mail your to the point views to suresh.mehrotra@yahoo.com or mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com

CORPORATE

Which way will the rupee go?
The policies of the US and Indian governments and the policies of the US and Indian central banks will determine the value of the currencies in the coming year. Much has to be seen in the administrations on both sides, and the treasury calls as regards the respective economies say market men.

More revenues from commodities market in the budget?
With a reasonably good pick up in the Commodities trade it is likely that a Commodities Transaction Tax (CTT) is likely to be levied in the
coming budget.

Is there a rush of retail investor in the stock markets?
Marketmen say that there is a rush of retail investors in the present rally on the bourses, much of the market behavior is guided by the reviving strength in the economy. The feeling that the government is in inaction seems to be over, and there is also a rush of foreign investors in the equity markets. The rally is likely to continue till the monsoon season at least and the budget is likely to be populist.

Ms Nayar to quit Kotak Investment Banking
Ms. Falguni Nayar is quitting Kotak Investment Banking as Managing Director to become an entrepreneur.

Ms Kambara likely to join as MD, Kotak Investment Banking
Ms. Shanti Kambara is expected to join as Managing Director of Kotak Investment Banking.

Sawhney to be re-appointed MD & CEO, Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd
The Board of Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd will re-appoint Arun Sawhney as Managing Director and CEO of the company for a period of five years effective January 1, 2012.

Two Alternate Directors demit office from Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd Board
Dinesh Chanda and S. K. Daga, Alternate Directors to Magnus Kreuger and Mats O Hansson respectively on the Board of Birla Ericsson Optical Ltd have demitted office with effect from February 14, 2012 following return of original directors to the state wnere meetings of the Board are ordinarily held by the company.

Two Independent Directors appointed to Tobu Enterprises Ltd Board
Tobu Enterprises Ltd has appointed Tulsi Nath Bansal and Harish Aggarwal as Independent Directors of the company.

Sekhar appointed Director (Sales & Mktg.), Le Meridien, Kochi
Sreekumar Sekhar has been appointed as Director (Sales and Marketing) at Le Meridien, Kochi.

Kumar resigns as Director, Tobu Enterprises Ltd
Pawan Kumar has resigned as Director of Tobu Enterprises Ltd.

Nassuato resigns as MD, Vulcan Engineers Ltd
Davide Nassuato has resigned as Managing Director of Vulcan Engineers Ltd w.e.f. February 22, 2012.

Desai appointed ED (Finance & Corporate Services), Vulcan Engineers Ltd
R. G. G. Desai has been appointed as Executive Director, (Finance & Corporate Services) of Vulcan Engineers Ltd w.e.f. February 22, 2012.

Pierret appointed Senior Director (Corporate Development), Travelport
Travelport has appointed Nicolas Pierret as Senior Director (Corporate Development) for the Asia Pacific region.

Punamiya resigns as MD, Royal India Corporation Ltd
Manoj Punamiya, Managing Director of Royal India Corporation Ltd has resigned from the company citing personal reasons.

Bakhtawar appointed VP (HR), The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has appointed Jeewan Samuel Bakhtawar as Vice President (Human Resources).

DEBATE (1)

Whole Government runs on two principles (i) Collective responsibility and (ii) false certification by Class I and above. I feel all the players who take the policy or any important decision (normally collective) be held responsible for all purposes. This is what is leadership quality also defines.

Harish Kumar

DEBATE (2)

It is important in this day and age that appointments /nominations made to crucial bodies both national and International are done fairly and transparently. It should not become the domain of one service(IAS).Case in point is positions in statutory bodies like TDSAT/TRAI/WTO/ILC where the best person for the job should be selected to serve the interest of the country. Hence, the selection procedure should be open and transparent for all to see. Let's hope we mature as a system.

Vijya

FORUM

Important projects

Handa has launched certain very important projects like 5500 HP loco etc. but as far as cleanliness of tracks is concerned, he has moved a little. Neither bio toilets nor vacuum toilets will see the light of day. Country will continue to stink, thanks to railways.

Babu Ram

Unjustified and unwarranted

The Indian Post and Telecom Accounts and Finance Service officers should also be sent to Surplus cell along with the ITS officers. This service has been shouting from roof tops and sending instigated representations to Cabinet Secretary, PMO etc. to appoint Sadhna Dixit as Member Finance. Member Finance DoT is a selection post and blaming a person like A K Antony for not making it to the post by Sadhna Dixit is most unjustified and unwarranted. This only shows the peevishness of the aspirant. No job in Government is a matter of right and one has to be fit to be selected. It has been noticed that WIC is particularly favoring the posting of Sadhna Dixit as Member T C. You have published about her appointment at least four or five times and blamed PMO. Now you'r targeting MR A K Antony--for no reason. Your being misguided by vested interests to publish wrong information which is motivated. By indulging in such self-diminishing tactics Sadhna Dixit is only bringing more and more discredit to herself and is showing her abject desperation to get the job by hook or crook.

V K Sinha

DoT and ITS in BSNL

BSNL luring efforts to bring back ITS has alomost taken a beating now. None is willing to even apply . Reasons being the similar way of (mis)handling it by so called "all powerful" ones. BSNL RR has court case, so is the order of DoT for making all ITS with Govt option as Surplus!!! All clarifications issued by BSNL have created more doubts amongst ITS. On top of all , Video Conferencing and personal address by Secy/CMD etc have a clear signal that like earlier futile effort, this time again BSNL RR is not going to be successful. One is loosing salary / seniority/ certainty of govt job if choses BSNL RR. Nothing CBM done so far by Mngmnt/Deptt to assure officers of making up loss. 100 Days of 400 officers with no work.

Rajiv

A deeper conspiracy to ruin IITs to make way for Foreign Universities

Something is wrong with our educational system! Why would someone like to destroy a brand which has proved to be successful for 50 years in the name of an experiment to provide relief to thousands of students of the country. JEE has been a succesful exam which has been able to get the best brains to IIT. All through these years the IITs have not relied on Class XII marks from the Boards, at least not to the extent that they would be counted in the JEE rank. The reasons are many: It is not that IITs do not trust the Boards but the issue is that of providing a common unbiased platform to all students. The syllabus, marking patterns, scores, all vary across the 42 Boards. Thus IITs have used the Board marks only as a cut-off. Now our great minds have decided that this should be done away with and so the Board marks will contribute to the IIT rank. It has been told that a normalization formula will be provided by the ISI and this will make all State Board marks fall on a straight line when normalized.

Without checking the formula, our Minister in a hurry, has decided to implement this scheme from 2013 itself. All this when most IIT faculty and IIT Senates are against this stand. But let us not blame the babus of MHRD and Minister alone. Equal or greater culprits are some Directors of IITs who have not conveyed their views in the IIT Council meeting but have mutely agreed to the proposals of MHRD. One of these has even gone against his own draft report where he suggested that IITS should have a second exam after screening based on Class XII Board marks and an aptitude test.

Why are the Directors doing this? Are they not supposed to convey their Faculty decisions and Senate decisions in these higher bodies? Well some are afraid to speak, others are nearing their tenure end and so they want extensions/ some other petty postings from the Government. One of them is targeting to be the head of the new testing service which will replace JEE. But then why is the Government doing this? They explain: to reduce stress on the students; to free the students from the clutches of coaching.

I am sorry none of this is going to happen with your proposed scheme. Now with only one exam for all colleges on one day, the stress will be much more. More cases of depression will be reported in case students have a bad day on that exam day. Earlier the students had an option: if they did not do well in JEE they could still try AIEEE. Now it is only one exam on one day. But the MHRD says stress will reduce and MHRD is

an honorable institution.

They say Coaching will reduce: Coaching classes have already geared themselves to teach Class XII, aptitude test and advanced test. Students have no clue so they will only have the option of going to coaching classes. As long as there are 5000 seats in IIT and 5 Lakh aspirants, coaching will continue. But MHRD does not think like this and MHRD is an honorable institution.

I hope some sense prevails in our honorable institution and they do not break a time honoured system just for the heck of it. Or is there a deeper conspiracy to ruin the IITs so that Foreign universities can set foot in the country.

An Observer

CBI is doing its job correctly

I fully agree that CBI is doing its job correctly. It's reputation is now great. It must expose all corrupt officers in top positions.

Siddhartha

Evidence of corruption or human rights violation necessary for schedule II organisations

Theappellant filed an application under the RTI Act seeking certain information from the respondent organization. The Commission noted that the respondent is an exempted organization listed under Schedule II of the RTI Act and therefore, is not amenable to any provision contained in the Act by virtue of Section 24. Furthermore, the information sought by the Appellant does not pertain to any violation of human rights and allegation of corruption, and therefore, does not fall under Proviso (I) to Section 24 of the RTI Act. The Commission ruled that an 'allegation of corruption' does not mean mere conjectures and surmises. Allegations ought to be supported by cogent and sound evidence which can lead the Commission to frame a prima facie view about corrupt or malpractices being involved in any given case. The Commission rejected the appeal ruling that such element is clearly missing as no evidence or material has been placed by the Appellant to establish prima facie case of corruption or violation of human right.

Comments

In cases of organisations which are beyond the purview of the RTI Act, an applicant must put up evidence of corruption or human rights violation for his application to be considered as a valid RTI application.

Shri Anil Prasad v. Sashastra Seema Bal in No.CIC/SS/A/2011/001855

- 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)