What people say about us!

This is the only site which gives all the information which we cannot get from the government sites. i was the regular viewer of the site since last many years. daily we get the update at 11 am and again in afternoon.
O P Pandey

Sampath for early electoral reforms
Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath who on June 11, 2012 moved further up the ladder from Election Commissioner(EC) to become the 18th Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)will hold the post till January 2015. He is polite, soft spoken,suave and means business as far as electoral reforms were concerned. He will be CEC when country faces polls to the Lok Sabha in 2014.A 1973-batch IAS officer from Andhra Pradesh cadre, Sampath has held different posts and served with distinction. Sampath was Power Secretary at the Centre before he was appointed Election Commissioner in April, 2009. In an interview to <whispersinthecorridors.com> Sampath unveiled his plans about poll reforms and other election related activities that he contemplates taking up. Here are excerpts of his interview that he gave to Sanjeev Majupuria, Editor & Country Head of <whispersinthecorridors.com>

(Note:-The interview had appeared in our group's English monthly magazine titled "Whispers in the Corridors." It is a rare Collector's item because it was a global souvenir that was brought out to mark our website <whispersinthecorridors.com> having crossed tally of 15 million hits.)

What are your priorities as CEC?
I have already been a part of the Commission for over three years. Naturally, I have been very much a part of the Commission's priorities during this period. I also need to underline that the Commission's priorities keep evolving from the past experiences. Even then, there are certain areas which will receive Commission's higher attention in coming days.

Electoral Roll
First and foremost, a clean electoral roll and hassle free registration are among our highest priorities. Every eligible person shall be on the roll and name of every ineligible person shall be removed. There shall be 100% photos on the roll and every voter shall be given an Elector's photo identity card (EPIC) with correct details. We will engage all outreach methods, voters' education and technology to achieve these objectives.

Electoral Reforms
Next, all of us know electoral reforms are long overdue. There have been a number of consultations between the Commission, Government, political parties and public at large. The reform proposals are at last mile stage. The commission will strive for the early implementation of electoral reforms which are key for putting an end to criminalization of politics and undue influence of money power in electoral arena.

Money Power
Use of money power in elections disturbs the level playing field and vitiates the purity of elections. Our objectives will be two fold - to ensure legal expenses like rally, poster, banner, vehicles etc are kept within the ceiling limits, while simultaneously ensuring that illegal expenses like bribing the voters with cash or kind are effectively prevented.

Training
Going forward, training will continue to get a very high focus, if we have to ensure a cent percent error-free election. Our Institute, India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management is about a year old now and has rolled out 45 courses so far. This has immensely helped in recent elections. A comprehensive cascade of training courses has now been built into every election starting from the training of master trainers and District Election Officers at IIIDEM, going right up to the field level functionaries in the interest of better election management. IIIDEM will be made stronger and its doors will be wide open to all countries wanting to avail its services.

What time frame have you set to implement them?
I have mentioned certain areas of Election Management that would receive emphasis. You would appreciate that these are continuous in nature and not subjected to one time targets. We take improvement in electoral system and electoral management as a continuing process.

Do you think more electoral reforms were needed?
Certainly, I think some important reforms are overdue. We see a consensus among Government, political parties, civil society organizations and parliamentarians about the urgent need for such reforms. Hence, it is surprising that some important reforms have not seen the light of the day yet. These relate to core issues like Criminalization of politics, abuse of money power in elections, Regulating political parties etc. Quite a few of Election Commission's proposals for electoral reforms are already with the government. I am hopeful about some major reforms becoming reality soon.

Two years from now you will have the task of holding general elections.
What steps do you envisage to ensure a free fair and violence free election in the year 2014?
You perhaps mean the next Lok Sabha elections. Election preparedness is the Commission's full time job. General elections to the State Assemblies keep taking place in regular intervals, and this in turn, keeps the election machinery fighting fit. As you know, we had several state elections earlier this year and several others are scheduled in the coming months, right up to the time when the next Lok Sabha elections would be due. The Revision of electoral Rolls, review of staff and material position, systematic training of officials, technological improvements, streamlining of various enforcement measures, voters education and outreach programmes are going on all the time so as to ensue free, fair, peaceful, transparent and participative elections every time, whether to a state Assembly or to Lok sabha.

In the past there have been reports about misuse of media for paid news by political parties and candidates. How will you address it?
The phenomenon of Paid News, which is a serious malpractice affecting elections, has been causing concern to the Commission. Paid News seeks to circumvent election expenditure laws/ ceiling, causes undue influence on voters and also affects their Right to Information. Political parties and media groups had approached the Commission requesting for strong measures against Paid News. There was consensus among all political parties in their meeting with the Commission on 4th October 2010 and again on 9th March, 2011 that stringent measures should be taken against Paid News. The Commission acted decisively using its available discretion and regulatory mechanism to deal with the problem. Starting with June 2010, it has issued instructions to state and district officers to scrutinize, identify and report cases of Paid News. The Commission has appointed Media Certification & Monitoring Committees (MCMC) at District and State levels for certification of advertisements and to monitor media for Paid News.

Through enforcement of such measures against Paid News for the first time in the Bihar Assembly elections of 2010, Commission had served notices in 121 cases. In the elections in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu in 2011, over 250 notices were issued. In the recently held 5 State elections, over 500 notices were issued. Our action is already having a salutary impact.

The Commission has also proposed amendment to the Representation of People Act, 1951, to provide that publishing and abetting the publishing of `paid news' for furthering the prospect of election of any candidate or for prejudicially affecting the prospect of election of any candidate be made an electoral offence, with punishment of a minimum of two years imprisonment. A proposal for this was sent to the government more than a year ago.

The Commission would require the support and expertise of a professional agency like the Press Council of India to deal with this complex issue. Ultimately, self-regulation by media and political parties is the answer to the problem.

What steps are you initiating to enhance the turnout of voters during polls?
It is a major issue confronting our electoral democracy. If every eligible elector is not enrolled, and each registered voter does not cast her or his vote, we have a deficit participation in our Democracy. The Commission has taken up an energetic programme called Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP). This is based on a scientific approach and involves filling up of all three gaps - Information. Motivation and Facilitation. In this, we have struck partnership with a range of governmental and non-governmental agencies and worked in a campaign mode. One highlight is the observance of the National Voters Day on the 25th of January every year to enthuse all citizens and particularly the youth to enroll and vote. I am happy to inform you that our efforts have yielded significant results. We had consistently higher voters' turnout in the last 11 elections and historic records in six of these elections. The programme will be pursued more vigorously to further enhance turnout and to make our elections more participatory and meaningful.

Why people should vote and why is it important for them to vote?
Voting is both a right and a democratic duty. People should vote because it is one of the most precious rights conferred on them by the our constitution. Through elections, people decide their representatives and by that also decide their own governance. Vote, therefore, is a true power in the hands of the citizens. They must "vote in every election fearlessly and without being influenced by considerations of religion, race, caste, community, language or any inducement", to quote the pledge of our National Voters' Day.

What is your vision?
I would just like to repeat the simple vision that we have set for ourselves for a while now. It is, "Elections that are completely free of crime and abuse of money, based on a perfect electoral roll and with full participation of voters."

GoM set to take up the 'arbitrary and frequent transfers' of government officers today (UPDATED)
GoM meeting convened today, headed by A.K. Antony, may set a new beginning towards the fate of bureaucracy and fortune of the governance; if everything goes in right direction. PM's recent statement had advocated the need for providing shields to the whistle-blower officers, much before the controversy over the 'abrupt' transfer of Haryana IAS officer Ashok Khemka surfaced. The GoM today may discuss and search the possibilities of constituting high-powered Central Civil Services Authority as recommended by the second Administrative Reforms Commission which was led by Veerappa Moily.

Is payoff for coal highest in Maharashtra ?
Private coal suppliers shudder to supply coal to Maharashtra reason being the payoff's in the state are the highest. The coal that is supplied to the state has nearly a 30 percent payoff as against 3-5 percent in other states a private coal producer. One of the reason why the state has high electricity costs. The coal producer says that those in the government take great pride in stating that 'after all you are dealing with Maharashtra and so you should pay more'.We are compelled to give low grade coal and mix it with lots of mud to compensate for the payoff's adds the coal supplier.However expensive electricity which is leading to many industries moving out of the state does not deter those in power. Will CM Prithviraj Chavan be able to curb this ?

Reshuffle likely on Oct 27 with a message; 'whatever it takes'
The Congress leadership seems to give a tough message through reshuffle which may take place on 27 October; albeit in a different manner. In spite of a series of scams, graft charges causing embarrassment to the leadership the reshuffle would be kept restricted to as many as sixteen changes; most of them necessary but accommodating in nature. With no significant changes in top ten portfolios it seems to aim at conveying two things; first, the party leadership stands by its leaders inside the government and secondly, all the graft charges and issues of corruption are assumption based and subject to the investigations only. If highly place sources are to believe one Minister of State would be dropped and one new face may be inducted into the council of ministers. Out of four 'Minister of State' three may get independent charge and one may get berth as Cabinet Minister.

Is Achutanandan in trouble ?
It is heard that veteran CPM Kerela leader VS Achutanandan is in trouble over allotting land to his relative when he was the CM. There is a vigilance inquiry going on against him and that has led the CPM central leadership to breathe down on him. Will the central leadership succeed or will VS meet his waterloo this time needs to be seen.

Why did Mulayam Singh Yadav praise N D Tiwari ?
Why did Mulayam Singh Yadav praise veteran Congress leader of Uttarakhand N D Tiwari on Thursday ? One can read between the lines.

Here is how our politicians fumbled with 'Foot in Mouth disease'
Rajiv Gandhi in Bofors case 'firangi ko nani yaad dila denge' Sonia Gandhi on Vajpayee 'Mungheri Lal ke Sapne' ; on Narendra Modi 'Maut ke Saudagar' Beni Prasad Verma 'Salman should not bark like a dog day and night' Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde invited all-round criticism saying people will soon forget Coalgate as they forgot the Bofors issue . Sriprakash Jaiswal was caught uttering that an old wife didn't have much charm. A Samajwadi Party minister was caught asking bureaucrats not to swindle everything they can lay their hands on but be do some work and make do with a small amount of corruption. The suave, normally diplomatic Shashi Tharoor of the Congress brought grief upon himself by calling passengers travelling economy class in flights the 'cattle class'. And now Salman Khurshid will fight not only with the pen but also with blood.

BUREAUCRACY

Will Meena be DG, BSF ?
Now rumours are rife that Rajasthan, DGP, H C Meena will succeed U K Bansal as new Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF).Earlier his name was in circulation for the post of DG, CRPF. Meena is a 1976 batch IPS officer.

Meeting for new CBI, Chief now on October 30
Scheduled meeting to prepare panel for the post of new CBI, Director did not take place on Thursday. Now the meeting will take place on October 30.

Who will be new Secretary, Heavy Industries ?
Who will succeed S Sundareshan on November 1 as Secretary, Heavy Industries, in the Government of India? Infact, the Minister Praful Patel has so far not agreed on any name.

D S Dhesi appointed as Additional Secretary, Commerce in GoI
D S Dhesi, presently, Director General, DGS&D under the Department of Commerce, has been posted as Additional Secretary, Department of Commerce. However, he will continue as DG, DGS&D until the appointment of a regular incumbent. He is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre.

Member CBDT and CBI ?
What is the connection of CBI query against a Member of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) ? Answer lies with the CBDT authorities.

Jawed Ashraf is new JS in PMO
Jawed Ashraf will be new Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's office. He is a1991 batch Indian Foreign Service Officer.

Kaveri Bannerjee to be Member, PSB
Kaveri Bannerjee is reportedly going to take over as Member (PLI), Postal Services Board.

Pranay Sahay is also DG, SSB
Pranay Sahay, Director General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), has been assigned an addition charge of Director General, Sashastra Seema BAL (SSB) until a new incumbent assumes the charge. Sahay is a 1975 batch IPS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre.

Shekhar Saran selected as Director (Tech.), CMPDIL
Shekhar Saran, CGM, ECL, CIL, has been selected for the post of Director (Technical), Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited (CMPDIL) at a Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) meeting held on October 18, 2012. As many as 11 persons were interviewed for the same.

Gokulchandran to retire this month end
K B Gokulchandran, Special Director (Intelligence Bureau), is going to retire on October 31, 2012. He is West Bengal Cadre IPS officer of 1977 batch.

Will Ahmed be Member, CAT?
Nayaj Ahmed is likely to be appointed as Administrative Member in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). He is a retired1974 batch IPS officer of Bihar cadre.

Harish Gujarati to join DFCIL soon
Harish Gujarati, presently, posted in Railway Board, will soon join as Director, Operations and Business Development in Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCIL).

Sushma Singh appointed CVO, CSIR
The Competent Authority has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Science & Technology for appointment of Ms. Sushma Singh, IRS(IT-90) as Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) in Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

DPC for IFS Grade III on November 3
The meeting of the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Grade III has been scheduled on November 3, 2012.

Mihir Kumar to be Director, Financial Services
Mihir Kumar is joining as Director Financial Services in the Government of India. He is 1996 batch IDAS officer.

Central deputation tenure of Kannan covered
DoPT has covered the central deputation tenure of Prachish Kannan, Joint Secretary equivalent to Director UPSC, into long foreign training w.e.f. August 21, 2012 to September 2, 2012. He is an ITS officer of 1996 batch.

Orissa is short of 78 IAS officers
As against the total authorized strength of 226 IAS officers in Orissa only 148 are presently serving the state.

Rajesh Agarwal to move to Ottawa
First Secretary in Tripoli, Rajesh Agarwal has been moved to Indian High Commission in Ottawa.

PESB seeks applications for Director (Comm), Air India Limited
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Director (Commercial), Air India Limited falling vacant in October, 2013. Those willing to apply can send their applications to PESB before November 28, 2012.

Ad-hoc promotion term of 63 PPS extended
The term of ad-hoc promotion of as many as 63 Private Secretaries (PS) as Principal Private Secretaries (PPS) in Government of India has been extended. They include: K S Kanthimathi, WCD; Sunil Bajaj, Environment; Naresh Chibber, Power; Deepak Kumar, Agriculture; R S Rawat, Defence; Manjeet Kumar Chawla, Urban Development; V Kurien John and M Ramji of Agriculture; R V R Sesharatnam, Planning Comission; D K Sharma, IP & P; P Jagadesan, Telecom; K Sunder, Commerce; K Venkatesan, MHA; Sangeeta Jain, Planning Commission; Ashok Kumar Gupta, Environment; D Jeevaraj, Health & FW; Latha Venkatesan, Planning Commission; H P Sreeramana, Defence; Vandana Banerjee, Posts; Chander Parkash Sharma, Expenditure; R Rangarajan, MHA, S Chanrasekharan, Posts, Mukesh Bali, Urban Development; V S R Murthy, Agriculture; Manbar Singh, Health & FW; Bharat Bhushan Bhatnagar,Planning Commission; Harish Kumar Lakhera, Environment; Jaya Sadanandan, MHA, Anoop Seth, Legal Affairs; Suman Taneja and D K Rathore of Urban Development; Subrata Basak, Posts;S K Gulati, MHA; Brij Bhushan Sharma; Ms Rashmi Minocha and Anil Kapoor of I&B; Ms Machiraj Sarada, IP&P; Narendra Kumar Sharma, Culture; Subhash Chander, MHA; Pradeep Kumar, HRD; Satyabrata Padhy, MHA; Shobhana Menon, Fertilizers; Ms Usha G Rajee, Power; Anandaraman S, Legal Affairs; Satish Kumar Batra, Health & FW; Ms P Gayatri, Expenditure; Dalip Kumar Sharma, MHA; Musthaq Ahmed, Water Resources; M N Radhakrishan, Health & FW; Ms Himalini Prashar, Power; Surender Kumar Sharma, MHA; Baldev Singh, Planning Commission; T V Paulose, MHA; Ms Surinder Kaur, MHA; Anandavalli Raman, Water Resources; Sampuran Singh, Agriculture; A Y Anand Raj, DoPT; Sanjay Kumar, Environment; Anand Kumar, Legal Affairs; R Rengarajan, UPSC; Lekh Raj, Defence and Mrs Suman Mahi of Food.

Eight posts in Orissa High Court vacant
As many as eight posts of Judges have been lying vacant in Orissa High Court against approved strength of 22. The vacant posts include three posts of Permanent Judge against 17 approved strength and five of Additional Judges against five approved strength.

8 IRS-IT officers transferred
As many as eight officers of Indian Revenue Service-Income Tax (IRS-IT) in the grade of Additional/Joint Commissioner of Income Tax have been transferred and posted at different places. Accordingly, Sanjay Goyal has been shifted to Directorate of Vigilance under DIT, North Zone, Delhi while N C Swain was shifted to Additional CIT (OSD), Technical Matters in Media Coordination Division, CBDT and Paramita Mondal Biswas is transferred to DGIT (Admin), Delhi. Similarly, Anurag Goyal has been transferred to DGIT (L&R), Delhi for NJRS project; Sheela Chopra to Additional CIT (OSD), A & J Division CBDT; Shrawan Kumar Gotru to DGIT (Admin), New Delhi; Kesang Sherpa to CCA, Delhi and Vivek Sharma has been shifted to Directorate of Infrastructure, Delhi under DGIT (Logistics).

Mohanjeet Singh yet to join A&NI
Mohanjeet Singh, Development Commissioner, Daman & Diu & DNH, who was transferred to Andman and Nicobar Islands (A & NI) in August, has not joined the new place of posting so far. He is a 1991 batch IAS officer of AGMU cadre.

BHEL successfully deploys Space Grade Solar Panels & Batteries on GSAT-10 Satellite (UPDATED
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) under the chairmanship of B P Rao has achieved a major landmark with the successful deployment of its Space Grade Solar Panels on the GSAT-10 Satellite of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Launched from French Guyana, the satellite is the heaviest Indian satellite built by ISRO and caters to the country's telecommunications and TV broadcasting requirements. The four Solar Panels supplied by BHEL for GSAT-10, have an area of 5.36 sq. mtrs. each and comprise multi-junction Solar Cells in series and parallel combinations, with a total power capacity of 4000 Watts. In addition, BHEL has also supplied two sets of Li-ion batteries, each consisting of 40 Li-ion cells with a power storage capacity of 160 Ampere-Hours, for GSAT-10. Both the space grade solar panels and batteries were manufactured and tested to strict space quality standards at the BHEL facility by highly skilled manpower. The panels were further subjected to detailed testing by ISRO such as vibration test and thermovac tests as part of the space quality requirements to validate their mechanical, electrical and thermal performance. BHEL, in collaboration with ISRO, has established state-of-the-art 10,000 class clean room facility at its Electronics Systems Division in Bangalore for the assembly and testing of Space Grade Solar Panels using high efficiency Solar Cells. BHEL has had a long association with ISRO and has earlier supplied several Space Grade Solar Panels and Space Quality Batteries to ISRO for use in their satellites. BHEL has so far supplied 55 solar panels totalling to 250 square metres of area and 40 batteries for various satellites of ISRO.

DFCCIL, (O&BD) Director retires (UPDATED)
P N Shukla, Director (Operating & Business Development) in Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL), has retired this week.

Two relieved ADRMs get postings (UPDATED)
E V Krishna Reddy, IRAS/SAG/SCR, on being relieved from the post of ADRM/GTL, has been transferred to SECR and posted in the cadre while G John Prasad, SAG/IRTS/SCR, on being relied from the post of ADRM, Secunderabad, was posted in the cadre of South Central Railway.

Names of IRS-IT officers of 1988, 89 batches sought for JS empanelment in GoI (UPDATED)
The Department of Revenue, Government of India has sought proposal of IRS (IT) officers belonging to 1988 and 1989 batches to be sent to Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) for their empanelment for the post of Joint Secretary or equivalent in Government of India.

Niel Jain posted as First Secy., Embassy of India, Yangon (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service-Income Tax (IRS-IT) officer, Niel Jain has been appointed as First Secretary (Development Cooperation Wing), Embassy of India, Yangon, Myanmar on deputation basis for a period of three years.

Vivek Nangia appointed ADG, UIDAI, Delhi (UPDATED)
Indian Revenue Service-Income Tax (IRS-IT) officer, Vivek Nangia has been appointed as Assistant Director General in Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Delhi on deputation basis.

34 IRS-IT officers get HAG (UPDATED)
As many as 34 officers of Indian Revenue Service-Income Tax (IRS-IT) have been granted non-functional upgradation in Higher Administrative Grade (HAG). The officers include: Archana Ranjan, T Jayashankar, Kamaresh Sarkar, Surbhi Sinha, Vivek Varun Prasad, Indla Suresh Babu, Anil Kumar Singh, Ravi Mathur, Rajiv Nayan Prasad, A K Sinha, Parvela Raghu, Kulvinder Singh, Lav Kumar Saxena, Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj, Pradeep R Sethi, gurpreet Singh, Ashwini Kumar Mehta, Amit Chatterjee, Raj Kumar Rattan Kishore Bajaj, Sidharath Mukherjee, Shebha Bhattacharya, Narayan Prasad Bhagat, Amarendra Kumar Tewary, Fakir Mohan Mohanty, vijay Kumar Bakshi, Gunjan Mishra, Sushil Kumar Sahai, Nishi Singh, L H Manne, Har Prasad Kain, Jagtar Singh, Hari Krishan and C L Dengzongpa.

N P Gangwar made Election Observer for HP election (UPDATED)
N P Gangwar, Secretary, Energy Department and Chairman & Managing Director, Rajasthan Renewal Energy Corporation, Jaipur, has been deputed as Election Observer for Vidhan Sabha elections in Himachal Pradesh. He is a 1994 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

S K Aggarwal gets additional charges (UPDATED)
S K Aggarwal has been assigned additional charges of Secretary, Energy Department and Chairman & Managing Director, Rajasthan Renewal Energy Corporation, Jaipur. He is a 1986 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Joseph to join as CMD, AIC on Oct 22 (UPDATED)
P J Joseph, who was appointed as Chairman and Managing Director of Agriculture Insurance Co Ltd, will be joining on October 22, 2012. Earlier, he was General Manager, United India Assurance.

Neeraj Kumar Gupta repatriated to parent cadre (UPDATED)
Neeraj Kumar Gupta, Executive Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) under Commerce & Industry department, has been repatriated to parent Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is a 1982 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

CBI DIG admitted to Max hospital in Delhi (UPDATED)
Suresh Kumar Palsania, DIG, CBI Anti-Corruption, has been rushed to Max hospital after his health deteriorated. He is a 1996 batch IPS officer of Orissa cadre.

Punjab IAS Association announces executive body (UPDATED)
Punjab State IAS Officers' Association has announced an executive body of 20 members and assigned them different assignments for the year 2012-13 after the election of President and Senior Vice-president. Accordingly, Gurkirat Kirpal Singh has been made General Secretary while Vijay Zade will now be Joint Secretary and Ms Kavita Singh is Joint Secretary. Besides D K Tiwari has been appointed Hony Treasurer and Nilkanth is Associate Treasurer. Other members, who have been inducted and assigned the works in the Association body, include: Satish Chandra as Chaiman Sports Committee; P S Aujla as Vice Chairman Sports Committee; Priyank Bharati as Coordinator (Field) Sports Committee; Anurag Aggarwal as Coordinator (Hqs) Sports Committee; T R Sarangal as Chairman Adventure Committee; Bhawna Garg as Coordinator Adventure Committee; Ms Raji Srivastava as Chairperson Literary Committee & Editor in Chief of The Occasional File & Association Groupmail; R K Kaushik as Editor of The Occasional File; Jagpal Singh Sandhu as Chairman Cultural Committee; Venu Prasad as Coordinator Cultural Committee; G K Singh as Associate Coordinator Cultural Committee; Ms Vini Mahajan as Chairperson Health and Emergency Medical Care Committee; Ms Anjali Bhawra as Vice Chairperson Health and Emergency Medical care Committee; V K Singh as Coordinator Health and Emergency Medical care committee; Vikas Pratap as Chairman Blood Donation Committee; K S Pannu as Chairman Media Committee; Anirudh Tiwari as Chairman Ethics Committee; Mr Roshan Sunkaria as Chairman Welfare Committee; N S Kalsi as Chairman Central Deputationists Coordination Committee and Ms Seema Jain - Chairperson Special Projects Committee. It may be noted that Sarvesh Kaushal (1982) was already elected as new President while Suresh Kumar (1983) as Sr. Vice President and Ms Kusumjit Siddhu (1979) as Vice President of the Association.

DEBATE
Is FDI in retail in the interests of economic independence of India? Mail your views to Mehrotra.suresh@gmail.com or Suresh.mehrotra@yahoo. com.

CORPORATE

D K Mittal inducted in High Level Committee of RBI
D K Mittal has been inducted in the 'High Level Committee' set up by Reserve Bank of India to spearhead efforts to ensure accessible financial services in the country.

Anand Garg is now President of Reime
Anand Garg has joined as the President for Reime. In this role, Anand will be responsible for Reime P&L, customer management & growing the Reime business further. Anand brings with him more than two decades of professional business leadership experience in diverse industries such as Telecom Infrastructure, Telecommunication, Lubricants and Office Automation. He is a techno commercial professional with a strong Sales & Marketing background. Anand joins Reime from Viom Networks, where his last role was Chief Officer for South West hub, wherein he was responsible for overall success and governance of the South-West Hub for the last 3 years; a P&L responsibility for the technical and commercial operations of the company spread across 8 states. In his role with VIOM Anand managed a cross functional team of 1000 employees. His key customers included telecom operators such as Airtel, Idea, Vodafone, Reliance, TTSL and leading internet service providers as Head of Key Accounts nationally, in addition to the Chief Officer role. Prior to VIOM, Anand was associated with Tata Communications providing project support to its subsidiaries in South Africa & Nepal. Anand has also worked with Neotel Pty. Ltd. in South Africa for more than 2 years where he was deputed to set up and grow the Rural Business with regards to internet, broadband and data connectivity, based in Johannesburg. During his career, Anand has worked across different industries & has done various roles with organizations like Castrol, Xerox India, Modi Industries & Usha International. Anand's wife Alpana is a homemaker. His elder son Apratim is in USA pursing his second year engineering and younger son Akshat is studying in 11th std. Anand will report into Sandeep Sethi.

Beena quits APIDC
B R Beena, IAS, Nominee Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation Ltd., (APIDC) has resigned from the Board of Directors of Andhra Petrochemicals Ltd.

Ratho appointed MD, Jindal Synfuels ?
Subrat Ratho,a 1986 batch IAS officer of Maharashtra who took VRS is reported to have been appointed as Managing Director of Jindal Synfuels.

Thakran appointed Addl. Director, PVR Ltd
Ravinder Singh Thakran has been appointed as an Additional Director of PVR Ltd.

Sethi is National Culinary Head, Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd
Rakesh Sethi appointed National Culinary Head , Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd

Chaudhry ceases to be Company Secy., Arvind International Ltd
Ms Neha Chaudhry has resigned as Company Secretary of Arvind International Ltd.

Singh appointed Company Secy., Arvind International Ltd
Ms Deepa Singh has been appointed as Company Secretary of Arvind International Ltd.

Mayo appointed CEO, Bates
David Mayo has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bates

Memani quits S Mobility Ltd
Kashi Nath Memani has resigned as Independent Director of S Mobility Ltd.

Roquette quits Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols Ltd
Marc Roquette has resigned as Independent Director of Riddhi Siddhi Gluco Biols Ltd.

Salgame appointed CEO (Growth Ventures), Tata Communications
Tata Communications has appointed Rangu Salgame as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) (Growth Ventures).

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

We need Manmohan Singh of 1991
There cannot be any disagreement as far as reduction of posts in the IPS cadre is concerned, particularly above the SP level. However, this view seems to be limited, not encompassing the bureaucracy as a whole, of which the IPS is also a part. What is happening in the IPS cadres is also happening in almost all All India Services & Central Services cadres be it posts of Principal Secretary and Addl Chief Secretaries in the IAS, or CCFs and Addl PCCFs in the Indian Forest Service, or similar 'redundant' posts in other Services, the rat race is on. Do you think that the IPS should continue with the age old system of one DIG Range for three or more districts, a few more in the PHQ, and one IG/DGP rank officer as head of State Police. In such case, the officer joining the IPS will retire as a DIG, at best an IG, while his colleagues in other Services will attain three higher levels. This is not to deny the fact that a large number of posts in the IPS at higher levels have much less work, both quality and quantity wise. But, as I said, they also have to, compulsorily, subscribe to the rat race. I may add that an effective and highly useful way of gainfully putting to use the services of these higher level posts in the IPS is to scrap the archaic Police Act, 1861 and create Police Commissioners, at least in Metros with a one million population. This will be in accordance with provisions of the Cr.P.C.,1973. A large number of States have nearly four to six such Metros, which will account for as many Addl DGs, and two or three times the number of IGs and DIGs.It is not to suggest that Police Commissioners should be created solely to absorb the senior level posts. This is very much the demand and requirement of the day. Several Police Commissions, including those in the pre-independence era, have recommended this form of city policing. All developed world including Europe and the US have been successfully following it. We need a Manmohan Singh of 1991 to liberate us from the this jacket.

G S Mathur (Former DGP) Madhya Pradesh

Strength of IPS be reduced
I agree that strength of IPS needs to be reduced. In the good old days there used to be one I.G. in the concerned state as head of the Police Force, besides one I.G.(Home Guards). Now as against the IPS cadre strength of 3300, there are 100 DGs,300 Addl DGs and 700 IGs i.e. one out of three IPS officer is IG or above. Is it the way to serve the public by having top heavy Police setup? As no jobs at the top are available, many IPS officers have been appointed as DG(Manual),DG(Coordination),DG(Police Housing)etc to accommodate everybody on time scale basis i.e. one is granted the pay scale of IG after 18 years of service of that of Addl DG after 27 years of service and that of DG after 32 years of service irrespective of number of vacancies/workload etc. Hence there is acute shortage of field functionaries and the top level is not available for any job as they are holding sinecure jobs due to time scale promotion enmasse. Contrast this thing with Army which is highly disciplined as it is pyramidical service with well defined chain of command.

Sitendra Kumar

How JS positions have been misused ?

Imagine Khemka a 1991 batch IAS whining for not getting a JS post in central staffing when officers of 1983 batch on other services like IRS Income Tax or Indian Railway Service wait and watch IAS 10 batches their junior gobble up all posts in central staffing, so much so that central government's finance division has only IAS and not a single IRS as its JS. Imagine a technical function of the government being run by officers having proven skills of arranging disability camps, distribution of water pumps and free mid day meals. Khemka's case should expose how the JS positions in central government have been misused to prevent the deserving from coming in and make a difference and promoting the underlings and how other services have been selectively sidelined.

BB

Degree of shamelessness
Story related to Khemka and likewise tells us the degree of shamelessness with which all of us are confronting , everyday. We will have to reassure ourselves that the change will have to begin from us, the individual. We dont have to depend on others to save us or generation next. If we are true childern of our motherland, we must move forward in our respective system, ensure that rules are followed. Honesty must be adhered to and the day is not far when we will find ourselves at a respectable place and position on this earth.

Sanjeev

Incredible Nation!

What a fantastic foresight of the war time Prime Minister of England! He could feel the pulse of the Indian leadership and its people sitting thousand of miles away. Certainly he would have based his judgement on the basis of reporting of day-to-day affairs of the Indian political scene prevailing pre-independence. On the contrary, our leadership and bureaucracy are totally indifferent to the feelings of its brothers and sisters living under the same roof. Our elders were right in saying that [the British Raj was better than this Raj]. Everybody is required to look into his conscience.

Z S Nirwal

Good fortune

A N Singh my batchmate was an outstanding person of great calibre, always very kind, generous. hospitable and I had the good fortune of being one of his closest friends alongwith Mehrotra in AN Singh office. with VN Singh former CP, Delhi. when I visited Bhopal when I was Secretary Security I was lucky to meet.

Y Hari Shankar