Security drill

It has taken the government almost a month to appoint new chiefs of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the National Security Guard (NSG). The delay was surprising but perhaps the Uri terror attack spurred the government into action. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet named O.P. Singh, a 1983-batch Indian Police Service officer from Uttar Pradesh, as the new director-general of the CISF and Sudhir Pratap Singh, a 1983-batch IPS officer from Rajasthan, as the new director-general of the NSG. Both have admirable track records, for a start.

Interestingly, the NSG has seen 29 director-generals in 32 years, with an average tenure of a year and a few months. Many DGs have served for just a few months. That’s worrying in these days. Let’s hope these appointees have larger terms.

Meanwhile, in another high-level appointment R.K. Pachnanda, a 1983-batch IPS officer from West Bengal, has been named DG of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). Now interest of the top IPS officers is likely to shift to who should become the next chief of the Central Bureau of Investigation and of the Intelligence Bureau as the term of those incumbents too are ending in December.

Overworked CBSE The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has written to the Union human resources development ministry saying that the practice of it being asked to conduct various examinations, which are outside its purview, is creating an “extraneous burden” on it.

Sources say that CBSE chairperson R.K. Chaturvedi has said that while the CBSE is fine with conducting school-level examinations, in recent times its resources get stretched when it has to undertake other large-scale exams. Mr Chaturvedi’s missive has been sent ahead of the UGC-NET exam, which is likely to be held early next year. Most, however, believe that despite Mr Chaturvedi’s concerns, the board may have to conduct the exam until an alternate system is put in place.

But Mr Chaturvedi is probably voicing the view of many in the CBSE that the board should focus more on its core responsibilities. Apparently, the CBSE had also agreed to conduct recruitment exam for teachers for Kendriya Vidyalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas, but suggested that a different mechanism should be set up for this exercise. The HRD ministry is yet to respond.

A nomadic life First there was Ashok Khemka, the whistleblower Indian Administrative Service officer from Haryana, who lost count of the number of times he was transferred, no matter which political dispensation was in power in the state. His travails are well known by now. But he has competition.

Haryana cadre IAS officer Pradeep Kasni too has faced a similar fate in his career. Most recently Mr Kasni was transferred within 12 hours of taking charge as secretary in the state finance department, two days after he was transferred from the science and technology department, where he somehow managed to last three whole months!

By now, of course, Mr Kasni is quite used to being shuffled around. He has seen 66 transfers since he joined the state civil service in 1984. In December 2014, just a month after he was posted as the Gurgaon divisional commissioner, the Khattar government transferred him two days after his report to the government revealed how some revenue officials in the district were hand-in-glove with land-grabbers. Earlier, in 2006, Mr Kasni was transferred just 30 minutes after he took over as secretary, state electricity regulatory commission.

He was director of industrial training for just three days in 2012. Sometime soon a more detailed analysis of others in similar states surely deserves space. Keep watching for more and send us examples you may know.