Dilip Cherian

Mar 31, 2010
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Dilip Cherian

Purge begins

The political change in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu is now being followed by an expected bureaucratic reshuffle that goes beyond the capital. On her very first day in office, Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa removed chief secretary Y.S. Malathi and home secretary K. Gnanadesikan, among others. No doubt, this is only the beginning of the “purge”.

Top job

It’s guessing time again in babudom, with the announcement of the new Cabinet Secretary expected shortly. Though Pulok Chatterjee remains a frontrunner for the position, inevitably there are several other names in the running. Among the key possibilities the prospects of Anup Mukherjee, chief secretary of Bihar, are quite good.

Babu master

The passing away of a dear old friend, K.P. Singh, in Delhi last week was significant in the lives of many senior babus. Though many of his best and senior babu buddies have passed away before Singh, his memorial service was replete with the real heaven-born who were still around. Though never a bureaucrat himself, Singh will be

Highway blues

There’s trouble a plenty at the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), not the least being the pending appointment of a new chairman, which has been hanging fire for some months. Now, apparently, the government has signalled that it would rather have a technocrat heading the organisation than an Indian Administrative Service officer.

Dilli ka babu

In Nitish’s footsteps

In Nitish’s footsteps

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s radical approach towards curbing corruption in government has evidently found many admirers. When Mr Kumar’s government passed a bill in 2009 which empowered it to confiscate personal properties of tainted bureaucrats, it was hailed as “clean” and “proactive”. Mr Kumar’s ensured that the law was implemented and that won him accolades and his re-election as chief minister.

Dilli ka babu

Kabul’s on hold

Feeling the pinch

The government’s inability to fill vacancies in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) through the promotion quota is in focus again, thanks to the Supreme Court which has now taken up the issue with government, following a petition claiming that there were 33 vacant posts in the Union Territory cadre alone.

Agri babus get agro

Why not an Indian Agriculture Service? The question is now being asked by peeved agriculture officials who recently submitted a representation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking an all-India cadre of agriculture officials along the lines of the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Police Service etc.

Dilli ka babu

Quick fix
The seemingly never-ending revelations in this season of scams obviously haven’t done the image of the civil service any good, considering many of the tainted babus were pretty high up in the pecking order. There is now growing concern about the decline in the civil services, especially among ex-bureaucrats who have now moved the Supreme Court to seek a fix.

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