What people say about us!

You are doing a great job. Please .keep it up and all the very best.

Prabhu Jhingran

Has it been a bad year for Sharad Pawar?
It has been a pretty bad year for Sharad Pawar as his name had featured in all controversies and the industrialists who were courting with him - Kingfisher, Lavasa (HCC), Hiranandani, and DB Realty (Shahid Balwa and Vinod Goenka) to name a few - have been in a serious trouble .

Who will next be taken in custody over Adarsh?
It is heard that some political names might see a fall in Adarsh Housing Scam.

Is Maharashtra govt. facing heady task in making new industrial policy?
A lot of brain storming has been going on in the Industries Department of the Maharashtra Government over how to increase employment and yet make the state an attractive industrial destination. Sources concur that there was a faulty industrial policy adopted between 1999-2011besides Special Economic Zones also failed in the state. The idea of encouraging small and medium enterprises by giving them sops is being mooted as big industries are looking at Gujarat and newer destinations in Northern states.

What happened at RSS closed door meeting?
What is the outcome of the RSS' closed door meeting held on March 31? Everyone in the BJP and the Congress is waiting for the outcome besides there is a lot of crystal gazing going on about the fate of Nitin Gadkari.

BUREAUCRACY

Secretary level postings this week
A couple of Secretary level postings in the Government of India are expected to be made this week.

Deb to be new Secretary, Sports!
Pradeep Kumar Deb is being tipped to be new Secretary - Sports in the Government of India. He is 1977 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Will Neeta Choudhury be Secretary Youth Welfare?
Ms Neeta Choudhury is likely to be appointed Secretary Youth Welfare in the Government of India. She is 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Rohit Kumar Singh to be Jt. Secretary, Road Transport & Highways in GOI
Rohit Kumar Singh, 1989 batch officer of the Rajasthan cadre is all set to be appointed Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways. IT savvy Singh, who also holds a Master's is Management and Public Policy from Harvard University could prove to be an asset to the Ministry that got a big boost in this year's budget.

Who will be new DG, NSG?
Who will succeed R K Medhekar as DG, National Security Guards? A panel of six names is ready with the MHA. They include Subhash Joshi, Special Director, CRPF - an Uttarakhand cadre IPS officer of 1976 batch, Satyabrat, DG, Vigilance, Government of Uttarakhand who is an IPS officer of 1976 batch, Atul - an Uttar Pradesh cadre 1976 batch IPS officer, S B Deol - 1976 batch IPS officer of UT cadre, Arvind Ranjan, Special DG, Border Security Force - an IPS officer of 1977 batch and Arun Choudhary, Special DG, CISF who is an IPS officer of 1977 batch.

Justice Kumar to be CJ of J&K High Court!
Justice MM Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court is likely to be appointed new Chief Justice of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

Decks cleared for A K Roy's full time stint as CMD, GIC
A K Roy who has been officiating as Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) for more than three months is soon going to be a full time CMD of the GIC.
(We said this on Dec 1, 2011)

Dr. Kaul, CMD Oriental Insurance Company to retire on May 31
Dr. R K Kaul, who is presently Chairman-Cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, is going to retire on May 31, 2012.

Interviews for new CMD, Oriental Insurance Company on April 11
Interviews for new Chairman-Cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd are scheduled to be held on April 11, 2012.

Cadre allocation of 2011 batch IPS soon
The cadre allocation of 2011 batch IPS officers is under active consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Dr. Nipun Vinayak is Deputy Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat
Dr. Nipun Vinayak on central deputation has joined as a Deputy Secretary in Cabinet Secretariat. He is Maharashtra cadre IAS officer of 2001 batch. Earlier he was Commissioner of the Nanded's civic body.

File of CMDs in PS banks not to be cleared before May 2012
As the grapevine has it, file relating to the appointment of six of 11 Executive Directors (EDs) of Public Sector (PS), banks who have been short listed for the post of CMDs, will not be cleared before May 2012. They are: Mrs. Archana Bhargawa - ED Canara Bank to United Bank, Mrs. V R Iyer - ED Central Bank of India (CBI) to Bank of India (BOI), R K Dube -ED Central Bank of India (CBI) to Canara Bank, Ashwani Kumar - ED Corporation Bank to Dena Bank, Ms. Shubhalakshmi Panse - ED Vijaya Bank to Allahabad Bank & H S Mundra -ED Union Bank of India to Bank
of Baroda.

Representation by 1990 batch IAS officers
1990 batch IAS officers are believed to have given representation to the Government of India .They say empanelment has been done arbitrarily and it should be reviewed.

Gujarat Tourism gets PATWA
As a result of the fantastic Bachchan advertisement campaign rolled out by Gujarat Tourism, planned and executed by Vipul Mittra, Principal Secretary, Gujarat has been recently awarded "Best Emerging Tourism Destination" by Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) at ITB Berlin. The International Council of Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA) recently awarded Gujarat as the "Best Emerging Tourism Destination" at the annual ITB Convention in Berlin Federal Republic of Germany recently. The Award was given away by Ray Bloom, Chairman, IMEX while Taleb Rifai, Secretary General-UNWTO and Subodh Kant Sahay, Indian Minister for Tourism were specially present during the ceremony amongst a large number of diplomats, state professionals, ministers of tourism and media from all over the world. PATWA organizes international awards every year at the ITB Berlin, which is the world's biggest travel fair, attended by exhibitors from 180 countries and more than 7000 journalists. The PATWA award is given in cooperation with Messe Berlin, to recognize Governments, individuals, organizations involved in promotion of tourism from various sectors such as aviation, hotels, travel agencies, tour operators, government agencies and the like. The PATWA is the world's biggest 'Travel Writers' organization, represented by members from 70 countries across the world. The aim of the PATWA International Award is to honor the destinations entrepreneurs, who have made an invaluable contribution in Aviation, Hospitality and Tourism industry.

Vijayakumaran posted as PD, Regional Training Institute, Chennai
K Vijayakumaran, Accountant General (LBA&A), Tamil Nadu, Chennai, has been transferred and posted as Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Chennai.

361 Navy officers quit service
As many as 361 Navy officers have either taken premature retirement or resigned from the service during last three years. A total of 125 officers quit in 2009 while 114 in 2010 and 122 officers in 2011.

Vivek Tankha to return to legal practice
Additional Solicitor General Vivek Tankha is returning to his legal practice after May 11. He has made it known to the Law Minister that he is returning to the practice before the expiry of his three -year tenure.

AGMUT officers to be shifted after April 15
Officers belonging to the AGMUT cadre in All India Services (AISs) will be shifted only after MCD's election slated for April 15, 2012 were over.

I D Bhandari to be new DGP of Himachal Pradesh
As the grapevine has it, I D Bhandari is poised to be next Director General of Police (DGP) in Himachal Pradesh (HP). He is Himachal Pradesh cadre IPS officer of 1982 batch.

Race for ACS, Home in Kerala begins
A race for the post of Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) Home has begun in Kerala.

Nine posts of Judges vacant in MP HC
As many as nine posts of judges have been lying vacant in Madhya Pradesh High Court against approved strength of 43. They include seven posts of Permanent Judges against 32 approved strength and two of Additional Judges against the, 11 approved strength.

Panda shifted to Bangalore
Amitabha Panda, Deputy Director General, NSSO (FOD), has been transferred to NSSO (DPC), Bangalore as Deputy Director General. He is an Indian Statistical Officer of 1982 batch.

Mishra to go to UK
S K Mishra, who is IG in the Border Security Force (BSF), has been selected for One month Mid career training in UK. He is 1985 batch IPS officer of J & K cadre.

Is the Railway going Air India way?
Is the Railway going the Air India way? Answer to this question is simply "yes" if perception of officers & employees is taken into account. There is a feeling that in such a situation fiscal prudence may take its first toll on sanitation at railway stations.

J & K DG to get extension
DGP of J&K Kuldeep Khoda is likely to get three months extension in service beyond May 31.

Ultra modern spice park opened in Jodhpur
The park in Jodhpur was inaugurated by Anand Sharma Union Minister for Commerce & Industry and Ashok Gehlot Chief Minister of Rajasthan on April 8, 2012. The park has common infrastructure and processing facilities for the seed spices especially cumin and coriander. A public private partnership is ensured with 17 exporters to set up state of the art processing lines and also cold storage facilities and also facilities to produce oils and oleoresins from seed spices. The machineries in the Park are capable of the processing of other seed spices like fennel and fenugreek, which are quite ample in this region. Anand Sharma Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, said, "We will be focusing on technological development, with foreign direct investments, establishment of cold storages across the country so that the farming population will be benefited through fair prices. The country is facing nearly 40 percent loss of fruits and vegetable as they perish without proper storing facilities." He cited the example of how farmers in Maharashtra were selling onion in the mandis at Rs Two per kg while ultimate consumer in the terminal markets end up paying Rs 18 per kg. This practice should go and the Government will see that disparity in prices and ensure better return to the farmer. Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced that any extra land available in the vicinity of the park will be given for expanding the Spices Park. Orders were issued to the Revenue Department to transfer the land. He exhorted the farmers to make full use of the facilities in the Park. He stressed the importance of drip irrigation and said 80 percent subsidies are given for this initiative by the farmers. Gehlot also said that the Rajasthan Government had waived off interest on loans by farmers to the extent of Rs 8000 crore. Farmers could now avail interest free loan of Rs One lakh A full line processing facility with a capacity to turn out two tones per hour has inbuilt facilities for pre-cleaning, grading, colour sorting, grinding and packing. The Spice processing facilities available at Spice Park are at par with the international standards, said Dr. A. Jayathilak Chairman Spices Board who was also present on the occasion. He is a Kerala cadre IAS officer of 1991 batch. The higher end processing plants installed is a full processing line which includes pre cleaning, grading, colour sorting, grinding and both bulk and consumer packing ranging from 100 g to 50 Kg, added Dr. Jayathilak.The Spices Board has set up other common infrastructures like Compound wall, Road, Drains, Water Distribution system, Power Station, Weighing Bridge, Common parking area, Truck yard, Warehouses, preliminary Quality Testing facility, Bank counter, Training center, Conference Hall, Canteen facilities etc within the Park. The Board's regional and zonal offices will start functioning from the Spices Parks with more orientation towards the spices growing villages. The other facilities provided include conference hall, training hall, and space for e stablishing mini QC lab, Bank and for Customs.

PESB invites applications for post of CMD, NBCC
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Chairman and Managing Director, National Buildings Construction Corporation Limited (NBCC). Those willing to apply can send their applications to the Board before May 31, 2012.

PESB invites applications for post of Director (Personnel), THDCIL
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Director (Personnel), THDC India Limited (THDCIL). Those willing to apply can send their applications to the Board before April 28, 2012.

PESB invites applications for post of Director (Tech), EIL
Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has invited applications for the post of Director (Technical), Engineers India Limited (EIL). Those willing to apply can send their applications to the Board before May 30, 2012.

DLCCE invites applications for post of Jr. Hindi translator
Directorate of Logistics Customs & Central Excise (DLCCE) has invited applications from the officers for the one post of Junior Hindi Translator. The interested officers can send their applications to P V Subba Rao, Additional Commissioner (Admn) before April 30, 2012.

Will Nalini Bhat be Expert Member of NGT?
Nalini Bhat is likely to be appointed Expert Member of the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

Anandakrishnan re-appointed Chairman, IIT Kanpur
M. Anandakrishnan has been re- appointed Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur.

IPS reshuffle in Gujarat
There is major IPS reshuffle in Gujarat. New postings are :- Mssrs: Satish Verma, Principal Police Training School, Junagarh, S M Katara JCP (Traffic) Ahmedabad, Atul Karwal JD Police Academy Karai, Gandhinagar, S G Bhati JCP Sector 2 Ahmedabad, K D Patadiya ADG CID, Sandip Singh SP Vadodara Rural, V Chandrasekhar DCP Zone 1, A G Chauhan SP CID Crime, Niraj Badgujar SP Bhavnagar, Maninder Pawar SP Vadodara, P C baranda, ACP Anti-Terrorist Squad, H G Patel, DCP, Crime Baroda, Sharath Singhal DCP Zone 2 Ahmedabad, G S Mallik JD ACB,R B Brahmbhatt IG Ahmedabad Rural, R R Bhagat SP Gandhinagar, Gagandeep Gambhir SP Rural Ahmedabad, A K Sharma JCP Special Branch Ahmedabad, Sanjay Srivastava JCP PHQ Ahemdabad, Dr K L N Rao Additional Police Commissioner Rajkot,Nilesh Jhajhadia SP Navsari, Piyush Patel SP CID Crime, B S Jabaliya JCP Sector 1, Surat.

IAS postings in UP
L Venkateshwar Loo, has been appointed commissioner, land consolidation department. Manoj Singh has been posted as commissioner and secretary board of revenue, Lucknow. Mohd Mustafa has been relieved from the additional charge of commissioner land consolidation.

IAS changes in Rajasthan
There are IAS changes in Rajasthan. New postings are Mssrs :- N C Goel CMD Jaipur Rail Corporation, Rajeshwar Singh Secretary Small Scale Industries, R Venketeswaran Secretary Home, Abhay Kumar Secretary RD and Disaster Management, Tanmay Kumar Secretary Finance nd Kumar Paul Gautam SDO Alwar.

IPS reshuffle in Rajasthan
There is IPS reshuffle in Rajasthan. New postings are Mssrs:- Bhaskar Chatterjee CMD Rajsico, Manoj Bhatt ADG Training Jaipur, Jaswant Sampatram ADG Hqs, Kapil Garg ADG Crime Jaipur, Pradip Vyas ADG Vigilance, Alok Tripathi ADG ATS, Rajiv Dasot ADG Vigilance Mining, Mohan Lathar ADG RAC,M C Meena OSD Housing, Ramphal Singh ADG RPTC Jodhpur, Neena Singh IG Training Jaipur, Saurabh Srivastava IG Jaipur Range, Rajesh Nirvan IG Intelligence, T Guite IG ACB,Govind Gupta IG Bikaner Range, Sunil Dutt IG CID (CB),Amrit Kalash IG Kota, Anil Paliwal IG Ajmer,Anand Srivastava IG CM Security, T C Damore IG Udaipur Range, Vishal Bansal DIG Security, G Meena ACP Jaipur, G L Sharma DIG Bharatpur and Ravikant Mittal DIG RAC.

Bharat Chaturvedi to succeed Pankaj Kumar ? (UPDATED)
Grapevine has it that Bharat Chaturvedi GM Air India is going to replace Pankaj Kumar as head of the T-3 Delhi Airport.

IAS officers transferred in Kerala (UPDATED)
Certain IAS officers have been transferred in Kerala.They are: M.C.Mohandas (2004 batch) Collector Calicut, Sarabh Jain (2002 batch) Collector Additional Excise Commissioner Kerala Government,V. Ratheesan (2004 batch) Deputy Director Kerala Sustainable Urban Development Project (KSUDP),Ajit Kumar (2005 batch) Collector Idukki, Prashant Nair (2006 batch)Managing Director (MD) of Kerala Tourism Development Corporation(KTDC).

Bhandari gets additional charge of Divisional Commissioner (UPDATED)
Ajay Bhandari has been given additional charge of Divisional Commissioner Simla in Himachal Pradesh. He is 1990 batch IAS officer.

A.K. Roy's notification for full time CMD of GIC issued (UPDATED)
Notification regarding appointment of A.K. Roy as full time Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) has been issued on April 9,2012. Hitherto, he was officiating CMD of GIC.

BHEL signs MoU with Ministry of Heavy Industries(UPDATED)
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has signed the Memorandun of Understanding (MoU) for the year 2012-13 with the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises. The MoU was signed by B Prasada Rao, CMD, BHEL and S Sundareshan, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, in the presence of Functional Directors from BHEL and senior officials from the Ministry.

CORPORATE

Is India Inc to show more defaults in 2013?
A survey done by market research company CRISIL has stated that India Inc is going to be defaulting more till 2013. As a result of this poor growth, Indian Inc will remain vulnerable to more debt restructuring and default in 2013 says the study. The three sectors that have performed exceptionally bad are textiles, engineering and construction and steel. Together, they make up 25 percent of total defaults in 2012-13.

Kumar appointed CEO, Vakrangee Softwares Ltd
Pradeep Kumar has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer (Government Business) of Vakrangee Softwares Ltd w.e.f. April 5, 2012.

Shah resigns as Director, Grauer and Weil India Ltd
Rohan Shah has resigned as Director of Grauer and Weil India Ltd w.e.f. March 5, 2012

Gusain appointed as Deputy Company Secy. JK Agri Genetics Ltd
JK Agri Genetics Ltd has appointed Anoop Singh Gusain as Deputy Company Secretary w.e.f. April 2, 2012.

Banthiya appointed Company Secy. Shalimar Paints Ltd
Debendra Banthiya has been appointed as Company Secretary of Shalimar Paints Ltd w.e.f April 2, 2012.

Srikanth appointed Non Exec. Director, WYN Aqua Exports Ltd
Mikkilineni Srikanth has been appointed as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of WYN Aqua Exports Ltd w.e.f. April 5, 2012

Rajagopal appointed Independent Director, Nelco Ltd
B. Rajagopal has been appointed as an Independent Director on the Board of Nelco Ltd w.e.f. March 28, 2012

Soni resigns as Company Secy. Euro Ceramics Ltd
Ms Jayshree Soni has resigned as Company Secretary of Euro Ceramics Ltd w.e.f. February 21, 2012

Kohli appointed GM, Formule 1, Greater Noida
Florian Kohli has been appointed as General Manager of Formule 1 Greater Noida

Beware civil Society, Enemies on prowl!

You have run for a pretty long time the survey on who should take the responsibility of decisions in government. One thing must be noted that there is no decision without a policy and there is no policy without a decision. However, the extreme complexity of the answer is hidden in your "simple" question. I write prompted by the media integrity of a national daily that has shown the nerve to put the facts in no uncertain terms for the public . This I shall quote in a while, but before I do that, I demand in all seriousness the Civil Society, including Anna Hazare & Ramdev, to seriously ponder over this complexity before launching any movement. I feel they have not taken into consideration the complexity involved, since crowds don't matter when it comes to providing a clean government. Our Defence Minister or the RM is reported to be in "crosshairs for taking on arms lobby". Our RM is a simple man, but no simpleton, that the arms vendors might have mistaken him for. They tried to create controversy around the Army Chief, thinking our simple RM will quickly bite the bullet. When he showed them how seasoned a politician he is, they have taken him on their radar. Who are these "they"? Let me quote from the Times of India: Antony has antagonised arms lobbies, middlemen, foreign governments and armament firms. The paper has highlighted the words antagonised arms lobbies and foreign governments. Now, those in government in decision making levels understand first hand the multi-cornered attacks on them to destroy their integrity. The TOI has left out letters from the elected representatives and spy rings working freelance or in complicity with media centres of influence. These are no small enemies. If the RM's office was bugged, it might be one of them. If FM's office was bugged it might be one of them. Some people are genetically corrupt and therefore, checking corruption is no Amul Butter. But those taking stands like Gen VK Singh has done, can be dealt with sternly. If the Minister betrays any streak of honesty, he/she can be subjected to more vicious attacks, as Antony suffers now. There would have been no lesson for civil servants, for whom WIC is primarily meant, were it all to come to an end here. Watch out: next on the Radar will be the PMO itself. (Picked up a wonderful expression today from Devon ke Dev Mahadev-satyadrashti darpan). For the RM can not be frightened out of his wits, nor can his General, who else can get them business? Civil Servants must always remember that these powerful enemies are watching them all the time even for the minutest detail and decide on the path they intend to pursue in their service career. Nothing is impossible for these forces to do, they can even get the Head of the Government or State also eliminated, in more strange ways than fiction or films. Till 2014, we will see a lot of esoteric activity.

M L Gupta

Disclosure of "Default Cases" of the Banks The appellant wanted details of default cases which were compromised by the State Bank of India (SBI) during the last three years. The PIO claimed the matter pertained to commercial confidence and disclosure of trade secrets may harm the competitive position of the entity. He also stated that the information sought was vast and disproportionately can divert the resources of the public authority as per section 7 (9) of the RTI Act. The First Appellate Authority (FAA) also upheld the PIO decision. The appellant argued that he was not seeking the names of the defaulting parties and therefore the argument by the respondents of compromising information pertaining to third parties should not arise. The CIC observed that disclosing the year wise aggregate settled amount by the banks with the defaulting parties will help in transparent functioning of the public authority which is the very objective of the RTI Act. Accordingly, the Commission directed the respondent to furnish information limited to the total number of entities who have defaulted and the total settled amount for the past three years. Comments The rising Non-Performing Assets (NPA) in the banks has been a matter of concern for the citizens which has been wrapped in an opaque process. Hopefully, the implementation of this order would help in restoring transparency in banking industry.

Citation: Shri Kulbhushan Jain v. SBI in Appeal: No. CIC/DS/A/2011/000841

Weekly article by Dr. (Mrs.) Anuradha Verma
(dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in), RTI Consultant to IIM, Indore and Co-author of the books: RIGHT TO INFORMATION - LAW AND PRACTICE and PIO's Guide to RTI by Taxmann. (The views are Personal)