Playing safe Despite the current coal crisis, the search for a new chief for Coal India Limited, which accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the country’s total coal supply, will probably continue into next year. The process to replace Partha S Bhattacharya, who retired in February, has moved in fits and starts. Now, according […]
Official hai! Street lingo as officialese? Hinglish may be how most of us communicate, but for decades the government insisted on the use of “shudh” Hindi or English by its babus. Now Hinglish has gone “sarkari”, with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) finally giving the nod to babus to use a convenient mix of […]
Toiling babus The devastating floods in Orissa have had at least one unfortunate fall-out for babus in the state. Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, known to be soft on bureaucracy, has transformed into a rather tough taskmaster. Consequently, many babus spent the Puja holidays in their offices, working on relief and rehabilitation for the millions of […]
In the hot seat The much-awaited Pulok Chatterji is back at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as principal secretary to the Prime Minister. Though familiar with the corridors of power, Mr Chatterji has returned at a time when the UPA sarkar is reeling under various crises. Dilli knows this is no ordinary change of guard. […]
Law & the jungle Environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan’s crackdown on corrupt officials in the forest department has babu circles buzzing. Though barely two months old in the ministry, Ms Natarajan has already acted against three senior forest officials. The most recent instance is the transfer of an inspector general of forests, C.D. Singh, […]
Pressure tactics It’s not surprising to learn that babus spare no efforts to wrangle a stint abroad. The chief attraction of course is the special allowance which can range from Rs 70,000 per month to Rs 1.15 lakh per month. But the Ministry for External Affairs (MEA) is clearly unhappy with the situation since it […]
Banking on corporates Although final licensing may still be some time away, there is much excitement in Dilli over the prospect of granting new banking licences. With corporate majors like Tata, Mahindra & Mahindra, AV Birla and L&T among those publicly hopeful of entering the banking sector, the suspense is naturally high. Industrial houses have […]
Performance pain Wonder how this will sit with the Finance Minister’s revived austerity drive. Mounting government expenditure has have made Pranab-da issue a circular on austerity to be observed by Central government ministries, a throwback to the situation in 2008-09. But it’s not clear whether the austerity drive will now put a stop to performance […]