Nilekani complains to PM

May 20, 2010 - Mukesh Ranjan |

New Delhi

Former Infosys boss Nandan Nilekani, now chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has finally got a taste of governmental and bureaucratic functioning. Finding it difficult to attract senior bureaucrats to work for him, Dr Nilekani has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that several ministries were not releasing the officers he sought, leaving the UIDAI understaffed.

Informed sources said Mr Nilekani informed the Prime Minister of the difficulties he faced in sourcing top-level talent from within the government thorough a note for the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI dated May 12.
He said while his organisation needed 383 personnel at various levels, for which it had secured the approval of the Empowered Finance Committee as well as the finance ministry’s sanction, progress in filling the posts had not been very encouraging. This newspaper was the first to highlight this in a February 1 report “Nilekani is not able to get babus to join UID”.

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