Modi’s holy dip likely on the day of Delhi assembly polling  

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to make a pilgrimage to Mahakumbh and take a holy dip on February 5, the day Delhi goes to polls.

Can Cong address leadership issues in Karnataka?

Disunity has historically undermined ruling parties, often leading to their electoral downfall. In 2023, the Congress approached the assembly elections in Karnataka with a united front. In contrast, the BJP displayed clear divisions during its campaign. Although the Congress has made strides to address leadership issues, internal tensions persist, particularly between supporters of Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar. This ongoing strife has occasionally required intervention from party leadership. The next two years will be pivotal for both Cong and BJP, as history suggests that persistent infighting can be detrimental. A stable leadership structure, coupled with policy consistency, is essential for maintaining political strength.

Rajesh Nirvan is likely to be appointed new DG of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security(BCAS). He is 1992 batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre.

Amrit Mohan Prasad, DG, SSB, has been assigned an additional charge of DG, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) till the joining of a regular incumbent. He is a 1989 batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre.

Viplav Kumar Chaudhary has reportedly been appointed as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) in the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is a 1997 batch IPS officer of AGMUT cadre.

Manu Tentiwal has reportedly been appointed as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) in the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is an officer of Indian Revenue Service of Income Tax.

T Shankar has reportedly been appointed as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) in the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is an officer of Indian Revenue Service of Income Tax.

Padmanabhan has reportedly been appointed as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) in the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is an officer of Indian Revenue Service of Income Tax.

Rajnishdeb Burman has reportedly been appointed as Special Director of Enforcement (SDE) in the Enforcement Directorate (ED). He is an officer of Indian Revenue Service of Income Tax.

As many as six officers: Abhyuday Anand, Ravi Tiwari, Rakesh Suman, Avnish Tiwari, Mayank Pandey and Vinay Kaushal have reportedly been appointed as Additional Directors in the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Some officers: Nishi Vishakh, Dagar, Luhach Prabhakar Prabhat, Praveen Shekar, Satyakaam Dutta have reportedly been appointed as Joint Directors in the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

Amandeep Garg, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, has been assigned an additional charge of Chairman, Central Pollution Control Board till the appointment of a regular incumbent. He is a 1999 batch IAS officer of HP cadre.

Suresh Kumar Gupta, who is presently posted as PCCF (ex-cadre), UT of J&K, is appointed as PCCF & HoFF, Jammu and Kashmir segment of AGMUT cadre. He is a 1991 batch Indian Forest Service (IFoS) of AGMUT cadre.

Subhankar Sen, Executive Director Business Head (Lubes), Mumbai, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is in the race for the post of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL).

Anandji Prasad has assumed the charge as Director (Technical / Project & Planning) in WCL. Before joining WCL, Prasad served as Project Adviser in the Ministry of Coal (MoC) since July, 2021. At the Coal Ministry, he was instrumental in formulating various policies, schemes, initiatives and is actively pursuing several policy interventions in the coal and energy sector.

Sandeep Jain, who is presently serving as Executive Director, Planning (Civil & PSU), Railway Board, has been entrusted with the additional charge of the post of Director (Projects), Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL). He is an Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer.

Four judicial officers have been appointed as Additional Judges of the Telangana High Court. They are: Ms. Renuka Yara, Narsing Rao Nandikonda, Ms. Tirumala Devi Eada, and Madhusudhan Rao Bobbili Ramaiah.

Two judicial officers have been appointed as Additional Judges of the Andhra Pradesh High Court. They are: Avadhanam Hari Haranadha Sarma and Dr. Yadavalli Lakshmana Rao.

Perhaps for the first time, India did not send the Finance and Commerce Minister to WEF at Davos in Switzerland. This time four Union Ministers and three CMs are representing the country.  Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, C R Patil, Chirag Paswan and Jayant Chaudhary and CMs of Maharashtra, AP and Telangana have been sent to Davos.

Due to the rehearsal parade of Republic Day, all Government offices near the India Gate will remain closed on January 23 for half day, till 1300 hrs.  This order applies to private offices, if they are situated in the said area.

Thirteen IRS(C&IT) officers of 1995 batch  have been empanelled for promotion as Principal Commissioner. They are-  Neerav Kumar Mallick, Ms Anice Joseph, Ravi Pratap Singh, D. Venkateshwara Reddy, Ata-ur Rehman, Vijay Mohan Jain , Samir Subhash Bajaj, Sudha Koka, Manish Saxena, Sanjiv Gautam, Rajeev Agrawal, Ajay Kumar Pandey and N. Padmasri.

Ms Vidyotma Singh has been appointed as DCIT (OSD) in the office of Principal CCIT, Delhi on return from deputation. He is an IRS-IT officer.

Sanjeev Mishra, who is presently working as Principal Chief Materials Manager (PCMM) at Rail Coach Factory (RCF), has been transferred to Northern Railway (NR) on his own request and posted as Principal Chief Materials Manager (PCMM) (PHOD). He is an Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS) officer.

Raj Kumar, who is presently working in Rail Coach Factory (RCF), has been posted as Principal Chief Materials Manager (PCMM) (CHOD) in RCF itself. He is an Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS) officer.

Tableaux of 16 States/UTs & 10 Ministries, Departments to roll down on  Kartavya Path during Republic Day Parade2025. These tableaux would showcase India’s diverse strengths and its constantly-evolving cultural inclusiveness marching into a glorious future.

Eight officers of State Forest Service (SFS) of Uttarakhand have been promoted to Indian Forest Service (IFoS) against the Select List of 2020, 2021 and 2023 and allocated Uttarakhand cadre. The officers are: Anil Kumar Tamta (against SL of 2020); Karuna Nidhi Bharti, Umesh Chandra Tiwari, Navin Chandra Pant, Prakash Chandra Arya, Rang Nath Pandey (all against SL of 2021) and Devi Prasad Balooni and Dhruv Singh Martolia (against SL of 2023).

Consequent upon repatriation from Bihar Govt, Dr Satish Chandra Jha has reported back to his parent DoT. He is a 1998 batch IP&TAFS officer.

Vaibhav Jain has joined the DoT HQ as Director. He has been transferred from DHT. He is an ITS officer.

Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (iBRIC-inStem) under the Ministry of Science and Technology has advertised for the post of Administrative Officer.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has advertised for the post of Consultant (Forestry and Wildlife) in the National Authority, National Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA)

Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) is seeking Assistant Technical Examiner, Assistant Technical Examiner (Horticulture) and Junior Technical Examiner on deputation basis.

As many as 29 candidates have been shortlisted for the post of Deputy Central Intelligence Officer (Technical)(DCIO/Tech) in the Intelligence Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs. Interview dates will be announced shortly.

T K Ramachandran, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, had an insightful visit at the Alang Ship Recycling Yard, Gujarat, accompanied by Sushil Kumar Singh, IRSME, Chairman, DPA.

Adil Khan, Secretary to the Government of Assam, Transport, Welfare of Minorities Development, holding additional charge of Secretary, Environment & Forest, will also hold charge of Secretary, Barak Valley Development. He is a 2011 batch IAS officer. 

Ms Sruti Pathak, Assistant Director (Official Language), AFHQ, has been appointed as Second Secretary (Hindi & Culture), at the High Commission of India, Port Louis (Mauritius) on deputation basis for a period of three years.

The central deputation tenure of Pankaj Sharma working as Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services has been extended for a period of six months. He is a 2000 batch ICAS officer.

Ms. Meena Ganesh has been appointed as an Additional Director (Non-Executive Independent) at Pidilite Industries Limited.

Vivek Raghavan has been appointed as an Additional Director (Non-Executive Independent) at Pidilite Industries Limited.

Sagar Agarwal has been appointed as an Additional Director (Non-Executive Independent) at Real Growth Corporation Limited.

Aniket Talati has been appointed as an Additional Director (Non-Executive and Independent) at TCPL Packaging Limited.

Shamim Adil Michal has been appointed as an Additional Director (Non-Executive Independent) at Remedium Lifecare Limited.

Mrs Shikha Sharma has been appointed as a Non-Executive Independent Director at Gravita India Limited.

Praveen Kumar Dutt has been re-appointed as an Independent Director at Morepen Laboratories Limited, effective August 13, 2024.

Ranjit Khattar has been appointed as an Independent Director at Morepen Laboratories Limited, effective August 12, 2024.

Vijay Pandey has been appointed as an Additional Whole-Time Director, designated as Executive Director, at Polycab India Limited.

Sumit Malhotra has been appointed as an Additional Director, designated as Independent Director, at Polycab India Limited.

Justice Alok Verma has been appointed as an Additional Non-Executive Independent Director at Dilip Buildcon Limited.

Mukesh Dudhoria has been appointed as an Additional Independent Director of GDL Leasing & Finance Limited, effective January 22, 2025.

Ashish Jain has been re-designated from Whole-Time Director to Non-Executive Director of GDL Leasing & Finance Limited.

Rachita Mantry Kabra has resigned from the position of Whole-Time Director and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of Capfin India Limited.

Trump's economic policies

Donald Trump's economic policies may be against India's interests. Trump's claim of calling India a tariff king on the basis of its highest duties is not correct, because many other countries have higher duties than India. Japan's highest duty is 457 percent, South Korea's is 887 percent and America's highest duty is 350 percent while India's highest duty is only 150 percent. The highest duty is usually imposed to protect sensitive commodities. For example, Japan imposes high duty on rice to protect the interests of its farmers. In fact, the true picture of a country's import duty is obtained only from its average tariff. However, the rules of global trade are set by the WTO and India does not violate its duty-related rules, but America does so. Although America often expresses concern by naming India, it has not challenged India's high tariffs in the WTO because it knows that India's tariffs are within the limits agreed by the WTO.

Nancy Singh

Compensation by the Department of Social Welfare

A complaint dated 17.12.2024 for non-compliance of CIC’s order dated 22.07.2024 was heard by the CIC. In the order dated 22.07.2024, the CIC had admonished the casual conduct of Mr. RP Yadav, Supt.-cum PIO, Social Welfare (South), GNCTD, Delhi and had directed to revisit the RTI Application and provide a revised reply. The CIC noted that there is a substantial delay in compliance with the order and the respondent failed to explain the reasons for the delay. The CIC referred to the criteria for processing or sanctioning of the application, under the Financial Assistance to Persons with Special Needs (popularly known as Disability Pension). The CIC noted that Ms. Madhu (Appellant’s niece) is a physically challenged person; an orphan; a member of scheduled caste; a girl child; unmarried who cannot carry out her daily activities without assistance; and has no independent means of livelihood. The CIC observed that “The extraordinary circumstances and adverse conditions faced by Ms. Madhu establish her as the weakest of the weak and poorest of the poor, being the most deprived citizen whose case deserved extra sensitivity, and it certainly could not have been dealt with in an ordinary manner by the respondent public authority in the department of Social Welfare. The appellant, being her aunt, is the only support Ms. Madhu has”. For the loss, harassment and detriment suffered by her, the Department of Social Welfare was directed by the CIC to pay a compensation of Rs. 92,000/- to the appellant within a week.

Comments

In this case, the application for compensation of Disability Pension to Ms. Madhu was forwarded to the Deputy Director (FAS), New Delhi and was pending on the date of hearing. The case was dealt with in a very casual and insensitive manner as per the CIC and the action was condemned. The CIC observed in the order that the insensitivity as established based on the records is appalling to put it most euphemistically.

Citation: Ms. Devki v. Supdt. (South), Department of Social Welfare, New Delhi, CIC/DSWGD/A/2023/119725; Order dated 14.01.2025

Citation: Piyush Sharma v. O/o the Executive Engineer (E), PWD, New Delhi, File No: CIC/PWDDL/A/2023/132711; Date of Decision : 29.10.2024

Dr Anuradha Verma (dranuradhaverma@yahoo.co.in) is a RTI Consultant currently working with IIM Vishakhapatnam. She has co-authored the books PIO’s Guide to RTI and Right to Information – Law and Practice. Her weekly article is being published since 2008 on this site. She offers consultancy on RTI matters and third party audit to individuals / organisations. Her other articles can be read at the website of RTI Foundation at the link https://www.rtifoundationofindia.com