Back to school
“Reforming babus” has been a tireless refrain of the United Progressive Alliance government, so a training programme for Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, which the Prime Minister’s Office announced recently, is in furtherance of this noble cause. It includes a five-week mandatory training for senior IAS officers who have put
in 28 years of service. This involves a week interacting with management and education experts from Harvard University and taking refresher courses for four weeks at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration at Mussoorie.
This aspect of the training programme has put the Maharashtra government in a quandary. Among the batch of babus from the state being sent back to the classroom are the chief minister’s principal secretary A.K. Jain, cultural affairs secretary Anand Kulkarni, finance secretary Vidyadhar Kanade, Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority vice-chairman Gautam Chatterjee, cooperation secretary S.K. Goyal, protocol secretary Sumit Mallick and general administration secretary K.P. Bakshi. The concern is that if all these high-flying babus opt to go off for training at the same time, who’ll run the show?
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Relief for Sibal
Kapil Sibal’s move on reforms in higher education may have stalled, but babus at the human resources development (HRD) ministry have received a much-needed boost from the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Last year Mr Sibal had suspended R.A. Yadav, the controversial chairperson of the All-India Council for Technical Education, following corruption charges. Since then Mr Sibal and his babus have had to stave off “political pressure” from some MPs who claim that Mr Yadav was being “victimised” and should be restored to his position.
However, with the CVC and the CBI now recommending action against Mr Yadav, Mr Sibal’s stand has been vindicated. This is welcome relief for Mr Sibal and HRD babus, still smarting from the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act debacle in Parliament.
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Retirement bonus
Though transferring babus is always the prerogative of government, certain aspects of this policy have always been dreaded by babus. Most inhuman is a transfer ordered just when the babu is on the verge of retirement. However, a recent ruling from the Central Administrative Tribunal may now come to the rescue of these babus. According to the order issued by N.D. Dayal, member of the tribunal, babus on the verge of retirement will now be able to choose the place where they wish to retire.
The ruling should come as a relief to superannuating babus and allow them to plan in advance for a more predictable life after retirement.
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