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POLITICS

When nothing else inspires, History does ! (12)
The birth of a new child and of a new order is accompanied with much suffering.

Who is Dr P K Mishra ?
Entire country is curious to know who is Dr P K Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ? Reason is simple -people have not heard about the name of this soft spoken and low profile officer. Infact, Dr Mishra who is former 1972 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre has served the GoI as Secretary Agriculture prior to his return to Gujarat. On return he was appointed Chairman of the Gujarat ERC and later made Chairman of the Disaster Management Authority. He is well read and considered to be development oriented person.

Who is the 'kiss of death' ?
A former minister in UPA has come to be known as the 'kiss of death' among fellow Congressmen. The tag was coined after the virtual decimation of Congress party in parliamentary elections, in which he was the campaign strategy Advisor to Rahul Gandhi! It turns out that he was a onetime Advisor to Chandrababu Naidu during the last days of his earlier tenure as Chief Minister, and "advised" Naidu to his political wilderness for a good 15 years! Thereafter, he became Advisor to the then Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, only to "advise" Jogi to his political downslide for a decade and more! According to those unhappy with Rahul not sidelining the culprits for congress' debacle, Modi can rest assured that congress cannot reemerge from its defeat at least for the next decade or longer, given the track record of the "kiss of death"!

BUREAUCRACY

Role of Planning Commission to be curtailed ? (2)
The role of planning commission is likely to be reduced to a symbolic importance only as abolition of it would not be acceptable across the country.

After Takru, who next ?
Now there is a talk in bureaucracy after Rajiv Takru who ?May be a Secretary who sat over the file of Gujarat's ambitious Sardar Sarovar Dam's height Raising issue.

Appointments under threat and trust deficit inside the system
With the media reports on appointments, as PS & OSD to few union ministers, being put on hold the corridors of power have suddenly flooded with the buzz that the development symbolizes the 'trust deficit' inside the system.


Singh all set for lateral shifting from Steel to P&NG as JS
As the grapevine has it, Upendra Prasad Singh may soon be posted laterally as Jt Secretary, Dept of Petroleum & Natural Gas vice A Giridhar who has repatriated to Andhra Pradesh. The 1985 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre is presently serving as JS, Dept of Steel.

Jha is now OSD to Rajnath Singh
Nitesh Kumar Jha will be OSD to the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh,. He is 2002 batch IAS officer of Uttarakhand cadre.

No candidate turns up for Director (Fin), HMT Ltd
No candidate has turned up for the interviews held by the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) for the selection of Director (Finance), HMT Limited on June 16, 2014. However, the Board has recommended to the Secretary, Heavy Industry to explore the possibility of appointing a candidate on deputation basis as a onetime measure for a period of five years.

Appointment of Singh as PS to Home Minister put on hold?
The appointment of Alok Singh as PS to Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister has reportedly been put on hold by the Govt of India. The 1995 batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre previously served as PS to Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for External Affairs.


Appointment of Kumar as PS to V K Singh put on hold?
The appointment of Rajesh Kumar as PS to V K Singh, Union MoS has reportedly been put on hold by the Govt of India. He is 1990 batch IPS officer of West Bengal cadre previously served as PS to former MOS Urban Development Saugat Roy and further as PS to Chandresh Kumari Katoch, former Union MoS for Culture.



Who is the mentor of Shakti Kanta Das ?
Who has brought Shakti Kanta Das as Secretary Revenue ?.This is the hot topic of discussion in the bureaucracy. Enquiries revealed that Prime Minister himself picked up Das on the basis of his bio-data. Das holds a Master's degree from St Stephen's College, Delhi has about 12 years of experience in handling finance and related matters, both at the Centre and state level.

Will Sinha succeed Sinha as new CS, Bihar?
Whispers in the corridors of power have it that Alok Kumar Sinha may be given to succeed Ashok Kr Sinha as new Chief Secretary to the Government of Bihar. Ashok Kumar Sinha (1976 batch IAS), the incumbent CS, is superannuating on June 30. Alok Kr Sinha, a 1979 batch IAS officer of Bihar cadre, is presently serving as Development Commissioner, Govt of Bihar.

Pal to hold additional charge of Fertilizers
Secretary, Chemicals and Petro-Chemicals Indrajit Pal , will hold additional charge of the post of Secretary, Department of Fertilizers for a period of three months with immediate effect or until further orders, whichever is earlier. He is 1977 batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre.

Buzz of IB verification makes prospective PSs & OSDs apprehensive ?
If some reliable sources are to be believed IB reports over previous track-records of newly appointed PS & OSDs along with prospective ones have made several officers apprehensive. The Government of India is doing massive exercise over the same and reportedly the appointment of as many as five PS/OSDs may be reviewed. One can wait and watch only.

Mishra likely to get posting at Director level in GoI
Diwakar Nath Mishra, who served as PS to former Defence Minister, is expected to get a posting at the Director level in Government of India. He is a 2000 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre.

Mrs Prasad returns to parent cadre
A vacancy of Director (Finance & Admn), Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, has arisen with the end of tenure of Mrs Yatinder Prasad on June 14, 2014. She is a 1993 batch officer of Indian Audit & Accounts Service.


CBI facing the short-fall of over 580 officers across ranks
The premier investing agency of the country has, reportedly, been facing a short-fall of over 580 officers across ranks.

Das likely to join as Director (Fin), BCL on June 28
A K Das, AGM, BHEL, is expected to take over the charge as Director (Finance), Braithwaite & Co. Limited (BCL) on June 28, 2014. The post has been lying vacant since September 2013.
(We said this on January 7, 2014)

Merger of DA with Pay demanded
Unions of Central Government Employees have demanded the Government of India to merge Dearness Allowance (DA) with Pay.

Sridhara promoted as Superintending Engineer in GoI
B T Sridhara has been promoted to the grade of Superintending Engineer (Civil) in Government of India. He is a Central Engineering Service officer.

Karunakaran posted as PD (Audit), Central, Chennai
N Karunakaran, Principal Director of Commercial Audit & Ex-Officio Member Audit Board, Hyderabad, has been transferred and posted as Principal Director of Audit, Central in Chennai.

Central deputation tenure of Topno ends on June 28
The central deputation tenure of Rajeev Topno as Director in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) is ending on June 28, 2014. He is a 1996 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre.

Bidhuri appointed Dy Commissioner, North Delhi MC
Vijay Kumar Bidhuri has been appointed Deputy Commissioner, North Delhi Municipal Corporation on deputation basis. He is a 2005 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre.

Sanjay Kumar appointed Dy Commissioner, South Delhi MC
Sanjay Kumar has been appointed as Deputy Commissioner, South Delhi Municipal Corporation on deputation basis. He is a 2008 batch IAS officer of AGMUT cadre.

Two officers of Manipur awarded IAS cadre
Two officers of Manipur State Civil Service namely Mrs Chitra Devi and Mrs Haobam Rosita have been awarded Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre against the 2012 vacancy.

Modernization is key to any business: RK Tyagi (UPDATED)
As part of business development initiatives HAL intends to diversify into civil aviation and is making efforts to re-open HAL Bangalore airport for short-haul operations, said Dr. R.K. Tyagi, as a key-note speaker at Aerospace Luminary Lecture Series organized by Hyderabad chapter of Aeronautical Society of India recently in Hyderabad. "We are already in a position to operate civil aircraft at HAL, Ojhar (Nasik), just about 200 km from Mumbai and 220 km from Pune. This should give boost to regional economy", he added.
Dr. Tyagi felt that modernization is key to any business, especially in aerospace sector. HAL has cleared modernization proposals worth Rs. 6000 crores in this direction besides focusing on redefining the customer sourcing philosophy, advance resource planning and strengthening project and contract management. HAL will take-up more activities in Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle (UCAV) business segments, he disclosed.
Referring to challenges in Indian aerospace, Dr. Tyagi felt that RCMA, DGAQA, MSQA, DGQA and DGCA need to standardize the processes so that Indian organizations and products go for single standardized process. "The other aspect is our manpower which needs to be reinforced and cross pollinated", he said. He called for bridging information gaps between civil and military to leverage sectoral capabilities and technology diffusion.

Sameer Verma appointed PS to Ms Uma Bharati (UPDATED)
Sameer Verma, who is presently in the cadre, has been appointed as Private Secretary to Ms Uma Bharti, Minister for Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation. He is a 2002 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre.

Officers once again proud AAI in the international arena (UPDATED)
Airports Authority of India's (AAI) officers do its organization proud at ACI General Assembly in Seoul where 96 participants achieved IAP Status, out of which 20 officers were from India. The IAP team of AAI is considered to be a new line of leadership which is ready to spearhead the direction of airport business in India and make a lasting impression in international airport business. It may be noted that ACI in partnership with ICAO, ASI and SITA has been running The Global ACI-ICAO Airport Management Professional Accreditation Programme (AMPAP) since March 2007. The course seeks to develop a new generation of airport leaders in all functional areas of the airport business, promote the adherence to the highest professional standards and effective sharing of best managerial practices-all in a cross-cultural, highly interactive learning environment and provides its participants with the opportunity to broaden their career horizons as they earn the ACI-ICAO International Airport Professional (IAP) designation.

No suitable candidate found for Chairman, AAI (UPDATED)
The Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) has failed to find a suitable candidate for the post of Chairman, Airports Authority of India (AAI) despite having conducted interviews of seven persons on June 17, 2014. Now, the Board has decided to see more candidates for the same.

10 IAS Probationers posted as Assistant Collectors in AP (UPDATED)
As many as 10 Probationers of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of 2013 batch have been appointed as (trainee officers) Assistant Collectors in Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, Adwait Kumar Singh has been posted as Assistant Collector at Srikakulam while Himanshu Shukla was appointed as Assistant Collector, Vishakhapatnam and K Shashanka Assistant Collector at East Godavari. Similarly, Pattanshetti Ravi Subash has been appointed as Assistant Collector at West Godavari; Sagili Shan Mohan at Prakasam; Shruti Ojha at Chittoor; Siva Sankar Lotheti at Guntur; Srijana G at Krishna; Vijaya K at Ananthapur and Lakshmisha G at Kurnool.

CORPORATE

Vishwanath to step down as Chairman, Alstom T&D India Ltd
T S Vishwanath is to step down as Chairman of Alstom T&D India Ltd w.e.f.July 1, 2014.

Augonnet to assume charge as Chairman, Alstom T&D India Ltd
Michel Augonnet, Non Executive Director is to assume office as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alstom T&D India Ltd w.e.f. July 1, 2014

Nair appointed MD & CEO, AGC Networks Ltd
AGC Networks Ltd has appointed Anil Nair as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the company with immediate effect

Thapar steps down as Director, JCT Electronics Ltd
Man Mohan Thapar has stepped down as Director of JCT Electronics Ltd.

Chatuvedi appointed CS, ACE Edutrend Ltd
ACE Edutrend Ltd has appointed Ms Shweta Chaturvedi as Company Secretary of the company .

Prithviraj appointed Addl. Director, Can Fin Homes Ltd
Can Fin Homes Ltd has appointed K N Prithviraj as an Additional Director of the company

Khandelwal appointed Addl. Director, Ankit Metal & Power Ltd
Ankit Metal & Power Ltd has appointed Prem Narayan Khandelwal as an Additional Director of the company.

Chauhan appointed Independent Director, Pan India Corporation Ltd
Pan India Corporation Ltd has appointed Harish Kumar Chauhan as an Independent Director of the company

Shah appointed Addl. Director, Relish Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Relish Pharmaceuticals Ltd has appointed Harsh Shah as Additional Director of the company.

Patel resigns as Director, Relish Pharmaceuticals Ltd
Shailesh Babubhai Patel has resigned as Director of Relish Pharmaceuticals Ltd

Heerwal resigns as Independent Director, Karnimata Cold Storage Ltd
Jay Prakash Heerwal has resigned as Independent Director of Karnimata Cold Storage Ltd .

(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)

No quality work for many existing employees

1) No qualitative work for many existing employees in PSUs Govt. If the working days raised to six, many employees shall remain without qualitative work and rather consume scared resource for six days. Task lies in effectively and efficiently utilizing the existing manpower.

2) There should be option for women to get retired on attaining age of 55 years with all the benefits. These shall improve quality of family life and in many cases new blood can be inducted in PSUs / Govt job.

V K Shah

Stop use of vehicles at govt cost

Narendra Modi is talking of taking tough actions for the sake of economy. One of the suggestion is stop use of vehicles at the Government cost including that of the PSUs. Almost 60% fuel is consumed by Government Departments. If we strictly stop this, Government will be saving huge amounts on subsidy, environment will become cleaner and there would be no traffic jams. The culture of exploiting PSUs (especially for vehicles) should also end once for all. The Ministries like Petroleum, Power, Steel, Mines and Fertilizers are the biggest defaulters. As per an RTI reply the Department of Expenditure have clearly stated that per Staff Car rules the Ministers are entitled for only one staff car. If somebody in his personal staff is taking vehicle facility, then he should not take Transportation Allowance with his salary. A CBI inquiry could also be organized in this area like LTC scam.

B B Srivastava

Finance Minister


User friendly forms

Few days back, Cabinet Secretary has written letter to each secretary about the simplification of Forms and suggested the Form should be normally of one page so public can use it in more friendly way. These forms are required for various purposes by the public. This letter came to Finance Secretary and Secretary Revenue and marked to different divisions. The letter might have reached to CBDT who has to simplify the ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4 etc. but the old mind set continues and no action to make these Forms simpler. First is ITR-1 and used to be one page few years back and was known as SARAL. It has become SAHAJ but it is not Sahaj. CBDT tweaked with this Form and made un-usable for majority of tax payers by putting riders like tax-exempt income should not be more than first Rs.10,000/ and now it is Rs. 5000/ including agriculture income. There are 20 heads under which income is tax exempt then what is this Rs. 5000/limit? This form is used by maximum salaried/ pensioners having income from interest and owning one house. CBDT has made it complex for these category of people. This type of riders to be taken off immediately from these Forms. ITR-2,3 and 4 should also be simplified. Allow these Forms to be used if taxable income is more than certain limit say 20/50/100 lakhs not by small tax payers. Make the IT rules simple and user friendly. 80% of man power energy and time is spent only chasing small tax payers. The number of tax payers whose taxable income more than 1 crore still remains 42,800 and not varied since last two years because no useful work is done to increase the numbers. Best of luck new Secretary revenue to work in this direction.

N Prakash

This govt will be PMO driven

Narendra Modi is a strong administrator, far sighted and has the guts to question status quo. Therefore this Government will remain a PMO driven Govt. So far so good. Now what is required of the Ministers is that they should read the File Notes submitted by Babus and study the file correspondence. Babus are known to submit half baked information, withhold crucial facts, submit evasive notes, mention wrong rules etc. Due to decline in caliber of officers and poor ethics Babus have developed their own vested interests. The real reason behind fall of Congress Govt. under MMS was that Babus had become too powerful. Ministers were easy going, did not want to exert & merely initialed files. Thus things were left to Babus who were not accountable to anyone. They fulfilled all targets on paper, kept the Politicians happy but on ground nothing had happened. Thus while Babus got Outstanding ACRs for zero work and hoodwinking Ministers the Politicians got a Very Poor Report card from people of India. As a result Congress party lost. NaMo Ministers should avoid this situation and must question the Babus wisdom, read files and put queries. To do all this they will have to work really hard. But Babus will have to work harder as they will realize it is not easy to fool any of the hard working Ministers who study files and have ability to even ask questions & call for explanations if need be. This step will be enough to tame the bureaucracy.

Lok Nath Mehra


Well deserved promotion

The clear thinking and excellent human relationship, his two main attributes would certainly contribute to his success in this slot.

Maj Gen Nilendra Kumar

DATE WITH RTI

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